When you are considering getting involved with a weight loss program, you are right away going to be bombarded with an extensive amount of questions that you will want answered. It is very important to have all your questions answered, but you may find it is hard to get your questions answered. If this is the case, then you may want to avoid that weight loss program.

With the vast amount of selections available, it is right away hard to make a decision, but at the same time, easy as you have many options available.

The Answers You Need

There are a variety of ways you can understand your weight loss program successfully, and the first step would be asking the right questions.

The following are a few of the questions that you will want to have an answer to:

• Do you offer a meal replacement diet or will I be supplying all the foods?
• What are your recommendations for improving my weight loss?
• What is the support like with your weight loss program?
• Are there any hidden fees/costs?
• Will you help me get off of your weight loss program when I’ve reached my weight loss goal?
• Do I receive free days where I can eat whatever I want in amounts I want?

A weight loss program should have the ability to answer all of these questions for you, and if they can not, then continue on searching for a better option.

A Weight Loss Program That Helps

One program that has the ability to answer all of these questions, plus any other additional questions you may have is the Medifast Diet. They are a diet designed around you, your health and your future. With Medifast, you are NOT going to have any hidden fees or costs, they will help you get off your weight loss program, they will supply you with Medifast meals, they have such an amazing support system behind their program that you’ll never feel alone through your dieting and they will help make the diet work better for you.

Medifast also allows you to eat one Lean and Green meal a day, so you never feel like all you are consuming is diet foods, meaning the likelihood of you wanting that “free day” never happens, especially since a free day is never a proper recommendation for anyone participating in a weight loss program.

When it comes to dieting, you not only want the ability to lose weight, but have all the help you require throughout. Instead of feeling overwhelmed and stressed with your diet, choose something that will help you every step of the way.

It is recommended to discuss with your doctor about your weight loss program before settling with a decision. Your doctor can help you understand your health more thorough and direct you in the right path of losing weight safely. Medifast also recommends that you discuss your weight loss wants with your doctor before starting their diet as well.

Even though it is backed by over 20,000 doctors nationwide, you have to take your health seriously and get the right information before beginning. If your doctor feels Medifast is the right diet for you and your needs, then consider using our Medifast coupon codes to save instantly on your Medifast Diet. It is a great way to lose weight while still saving money.

We have a lot of silly names for it: BMs, caca, doo-doo, turds, and of course, poop.

We don’t generally discuss it in our daily conversations.

But asking some important questions about your bowel movements might give you some insight into your gastrointestinal health. Here’s the scoop on poop.

ABCs of Poop

Bowel movements are the end result of your body taking the nutrients it needs from the food you eat and eliminating what’s left.

“Bowel movements are important for your health because they are the body’s natural way of excreting waste from the body,” says Eric Esrailian, MD, section head in general gastroenterology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

When it comes to frequency, color, shape, and size, a general rule of thumb is that normal bowel movements are defined as what’s comfortable for you. But being knowledgeable about your digestive process can help you identify when normal goes awry.

Frequency: “There is no normal when it comes to frequency of bowel movements, only averages” says Bernard Aserkoff, MD, a physician in the GI Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

It’s average to go once or twice a day, he says, but many people go more, and some go less — maybe every other day, and or as infrequently as once or twice a week. As long as you feel comfortable, you don’t need to give your BMs much thought.

Color: “Bowel movements are generally brown in color because of bile, which is produced in the liver and important to the digestion process,” Aserkoff tells Medifast Health.

The food you eat typically takes three days from the time you eat it until it finishes its journey in your toilet, Aserkoff says. If it takes a shorter time, the result may be greener stool because green is one of the first colors in the rainbow of the digestive process.

Color can be a red flag when it’s a drastic change, Aserkoff says.

“If stool is black, it can mean that you are bleeding internally, possibly as a result of an ulcer or cancer,” he says. Stool that is black due to bleeding is also “sticky” (tarry) and smells bad. However, black stools are common when taking a vitamin that contains iron or medications that contain bismuth subsalicylate.

Stool that is light in color — like grey clay — can also mean trouble if it’s a change from what you normally see. Although it doesn’t happen often, very light-colored stool can indicate a block in the flow of bile or liver disease.

Size and shape: “We used to believe that size was indicative of a problem if the stool was ‘pencil-thin,’” Aserkoff says. “But recent research indicates that this is actually not true.”

Size and shape are irrelevant, Aserkoff says, if what’s coming out is normal for you.

Odor: Bowel movements usually smell. But is it normal if your trips to the bathroom mean that the rest of the family has to avoid that part of the house for an hour or two?

The answer is yes. It’s normal, and probably a good sign that your gut is abundant with bacteria that is working hard to keep you healthy.

Your intestines are swarming with trillions upon trillions of bacteria that enhance digestive and metabolic processes. They are also the reason why poop smells — a direct result of the bacterial activity in your GI tract. So although it’s no bed of roses, it is normal for your bowel movements to stink.

Poop Problems

So what happens when your poop process gets out of whack? The first sign that your intestines aren’t up to par is a shift from your normal GI routine, and as a result, discomfort below the waist.

Constipation and Diarrhea

Constipation is a concern when you normally have a bowel movement once or twice a day, and that changes — maybe you haven’t gone in three days, or more. However long it’s been, you now feel gassy, bloated, and generally uncomfortable. When you try to go, you have to push and strain, and what comes out is a whole lot of nothin’.

Constipation can have many causes. It might be that you’ve had a shift in your diet, such as a drop in fiber intake, or maybe because you’re not drinking enough water each day, or because your physical activity level has decreased, slowing your metabolic processes down, including digestion. Certain medications (such as narcotic pain medicines and iron supplements) can also cause constipation problems.

Although constipation causes one set of problems, diarrhea can also mean digestive disaster. Whether it’s caused by a meal that just didn’t sit right, or a harmful bacterium or virus, it’s categorized by loose stool, and another hallmark of GI trouble — discomfort.

“Diarrhea can be caused by any number of factors,” Aserkoff says. “But the problem with diarrhea, in addition to the obvious, is that it can cause other health problems, like dehydration, if you’re living with it for more than two or three days.”

Generally, you recoup from a bout of diarrhea or constipation in a day or two, Aserkoff says. If not, it’s probably worth a trip to the doctor for further GI troubleshooting.

Blood in the Stool

“One of the most significant warning signs when it comes to bowel movements is blood in the stool,” Esrailian says.

Blood in your stool could be a symptom of something as significant as cancer and warrants a call to your doctor right away — even if you think it could be hemorrhoids, or tiny tears in the anal tissue, as a result of constipation and straining, he says. If you’re over 50, or if you have a family history of colorectal cancer, a colonoscopy is probably in order.

Other warning signs to watch for when your bowel movements have taken a turn for the worse are fever, abdominal pain, or dehydration — any one of which could be tied to GI trouble, such as a virus, appendicitis, or food poisoning.

Good GI Health

Tricks to keeping your poop on track are simple ones: a healthy diet high in fiber, lots of water, and regular exercise.

“Generally, 20-25 grams of dietary fiber per day is recommended, and for many people, you get this much in a healthy diet,” Esrailian says. “If you are having infrequent bowel movements and are experiencing discomfort, then the first easy way to correct it is to increase dietary fiber through food, supplement, or both.”

High-fiber powerhouse foods are whole-grain cereals and breads, fresh vegetables and fruit, and nuts. Usually, a day or two of a fiber-focused diet will put your trips to the bathroom back on track.

Proper hydration is also key for your colon, ensuring you have enough fluid in your body to move stool through the digestive track and out the other end on a regular basis, Esrailian says.

Exercise is also beneficial for your bowels. It helps improve GI “motility,” he says, and can often alleviate constipation by improving your metabolic and digestive processes.

Overall, normal is a pretty easy mark to make when it comes to your bowel movements, both experts say, and aside from the warning signs they offered, what goes in one end usually comes out the other with minimal problems along the way.

They say that home is where the heart is. But what you may not know is that it’s also where 65% of colds and more than half of food-borne illnesses are contracted. The things we do around the house every day have a big impact on both our long- and short-term health. Here are six common household activities that may be making you sick.

Using a Sponge

The dirtiest room in everybody’s home is the kitchen, says Phillip Tierno, PhD, director of clinical microbiology and diagnostic immunology at the New York University Langone Medical Center and author of The Secret Life of Germs. “That’s because we deal with dead animal carcasses on our countertops and in the sink.” Raw meat can carry E. coli and salmonella, among other viruses and bacteria.

Most people clean their countertops and table after a meal with the one tool found in almost all kitchens: the sponge. In addition to sopping up liquids and other messes, the kitchen sponge commonly carries E. coli and fecal bacteria, as well as many other microbes. “It’s the single dirtiest thing in your kitchen, along with a dishrag,” says Tierno.

Ironically, the more you attempt to clean your countertops with a sponge, the more germs you’re spreading around. “People leave [the sponge] growing and it becomes teeming with [millions of] bacteria, and that can make you sick and become a reservoir of other organisms that you cross-contaminate your countertops with, your refrigerator, and other appliances in the kitchen,” Tierno explains.

Solution: Tierno suggests dipping sponges into a solution of bleach and water before wiping down surfaces. “That is the best and cheapest germicide money can buy — less than a penny to make the solution — so that you can clean your countertops, cutting boards, dishrags, or sponges after each meal preparation.”

In addition, once you’ve used your sponge, be sure to let it air-dry. Dryness kills off organisms. Another way to keep bacteria from building up in your sponge is to microwave it for one to two minutes each week. “Put a little water in a dish and put the sponge in that,” Tierno advises. “That will boil and distribute the heat evenly [throughout the sponge] and kill the bacteria.”

Vacuuming

Conventional vacuum cleaners are intended to pick up and retain big pieces of dirt, like the dust bunnies we see floating about on our floors. But it’s the tiny dust particles that pass right through the porous vacuum bags and up into the air. So, while our floors may look cleaner after running a vacuum over them, plenty of dust, which can exacerbate allergies, remains.

Pet allergens and indoor dust, which contains the highest concentrations of hazardous materials like heavy metals, lead, pesticides, and other chemicals, are found in higher concentrations in the smallest particles of the dust, explains David MacIntosh, MD. He is principal scientist at Environmental Health & Engineering (EH&E), an environmental consulting and engineering services firm based in Needham, Mass.

“The everyday habit of cleaning with a conventional vacuum cleaner results in a burst of particles in the air and then they settle back down over the course of hours,” says MacIntosh.

Solution: Look for a vacuum cleaner with a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter. Unlike those in conventional vacuums, HEPA filters are able to retain the small particles and prevent them from passing through and contaminating the air you breathe in your home.

Sleeping With Pillows and a Mattress

The average person sheds about 1.5 million skin cells per hour and perspires one quart every day even while doing nothing, says Tierno. The skin cells accumulate in our pillows and mattresses and dust mites grow and settle.

If that’s not gross enough for you, Tierno explains that a mattress doubles in weight every 10 years because of the accumulation of human hair, bodily secretions, animal hair and dander, fungal mold and spores, bacteria, chemicals, dust, lint, fibers, dust mites, insect parts, and a variety of particulates, including dust mite feces. After five years, 10% of the weight of a pillow is dust mites. This is what you’re inhaling while you sleep.

“What you’re sleeping on can exacerbate your allergies,” says Tierno.

Solution: Cover your mattress, box springs, and pillows with impervious outer covers.

“Allergy-proof coverings seal the mattress and pillow, preventing anything from getting in or out, which protects you,” Tierno says. He also suggests that you wash your sheets weekly in hot water. Make sure the temperature range of the water is between 130 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit.

Grilling Meat

So much for the summertime staple: Barbecuing meat creates the cancer-causing compounds polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heterocyclic amines (HCAs). When fat drips from the meat onto the hot grill, catches fire, and produces smoke, PAHs form. That’s what’s contained in that delicious-looking charred mark we all look for on our burger. HCAs form when meat is cooked at a high temperature, which can occur during an indoor cooking process as well.

Solution: “Limiting your outdoor cooking, using tin foil, or microwaving the meat first is a sensible precaution,” says Michael Thun, MD. He is emeritus vice president for epidemiology and surveillance research with the American Cancer Society.

Wrapping meat in foil with holes poked in it allows fat to drip off, but limits the amount of fat that hits the flames and comes back onto the meat, Thun tells Medifast Health. Some of the excess fat can also be eliminated by first microwaving meat and choosing cuts of meat that are leaner. There’s some evidence that marinating meat may lower the amount of HCAs formed.

Opening Your Windows

When the weather turns nice, many of us throw open our windows to breathe in the fresh spring air. But that may be an unhealthy move, considering the combination of seasonal allergies and poor air quality of many cities throughout the U.S. According to a recent report by the American Lung Association, 60% of Americans are breathing unhealthy air. And the pollution inside our homes may be worse than outdoors. The Environmental Protection Agency lists poor indoor air quality as the fourth largest environmental threat to our country. Bacteria, molds, mildew, tobacco smoke, viruses, animal dander, house dust mites, and pollen are among the most common household pollutants.

Solution: Shut the windows and run the air conditioner. All air-conditioning systems have a filter that protects the mechanical equipment and keeps them clean of debris.

“Pollen and mold spores that have made their way indoors will be run through the air-conditioning system and taken out of the air as they go through the duct work,” MacIntosh says.

But much like with the vacuum cleaner, these filters can only capture the largest particles. “The conventional filters just pick up big things, such as hair or cob webs,” says MacIntosh. “Filters intended to remove the inhalable particles, which are very small, exist on the market and some are very effective.”

They may also be worth the investment. A recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine showed that cleaner air might add as much as five months to a person’s life.

Tierno says that air purification systems are important, particularly in a bedroom where bacteria are teeming.

Sitting in Front of the TV

Sitting in front of the television has become a national pastime and one of our least healthy behaviors, particularly because we often do it while snacking on food that is high in calories.

“When you’re sitting there in a trance, you can really pack on some calories,” says Thun. “Today, more than one-third of the U.S. population qualifies as obese and one-third qualifies as overweight. Thirteen million Americans are morbidly obese.”

Excess body weight puts us at greater risk for heart disease, cancer, arthritis, and a host of other diseases, Thun says. “That poses a greater health risk than the toxic cleansers under our sinks.”

Solution: Turn off the TV, put away the bag of chips, and go for a walk.

On the today show this morning, the author of “Eat This! Not That!”, which is a great series, was on to give his grades of some of the fast food chains out there and this is what he had to say …

McDonald’s – B+. While the author claims that McDonald’s has gotten healthier in recent years, and while that may be true, they still aren’t that healthy. Take the Egg McMuffin. I don’t know one person who can eat one and feel full, so you end up eating two. Each is packed with 820mg of sodium. If you eat two you have already exceeded your daily allowance in sodium if you have cardiovascular issues. Sure it is just 300 calories, but you need to ensure the sodium levels are normal. They aren’t here.

Olive Garden – D+. They are very high in sodium and most of their dishes are 1,000+mg of sodium. But check this out, if you order the Chicken Parmigiana, you are getting not just 1,090 calories and 49g of fat, but you are getting 3,380mg of sodium! That is more than 1,000mg more than you should get ALL DAY LONG!!!  What is the calorie equivalent? Eating a dozen Rice Krispie treats!

Red Lobster – A-. The most improved award, as they received an F just four years ago. While their calorie counts are low, their sodium levels are still way too high. Their BBQ Shrimp and Scallops packs nearly 1,700mg of sodium. Sorry, but I just can’t recommend a dish where you get nearly a full day’s worth of sodium in an entree.

Chick-Fil-A – A-. They don’t have a single sandwich that goes over 600 calories. While true, calorie count isn’t everything, and one sandwich he praised, the Chargrilled Chicken Club has just 410 calories, but 1,350mg of sodium.

Chipolte – C-. They do a great job with fresh ingredients but their portion sizes are huge. Many of their burritos are over 1,000 calories.

Having a “no diet” solution can help people, but the bottom line is, this isn’t just about weight, it is about your health and you can’t have good health when you are injecting it with the sodium levels that the fast food industry delivers. Be careful out there.

Whether it’s pounding the pavement, logging miles on the bike, or climbing those stairs that seem to go nowhere, it’s all about cardio exercise. But other than a sweaty t-shirt, what do you have to show for your workout? A slimmer stomach? Killer quads? Are you exercising for the right amount of time to reap the full health benefits of cardiovascular fitness, or often enough?

Exercise experts, including fitness maven Denise Austin, answer cardio questions for Medifast Health, so you can make the most of your muscle burn.

Cardio Exercise: The Heart of the Matter

“Cardiovascular exercise is any type of exercise that increases the work of the heart and lungs,” says Tommy Boone, PhD, a founding member of the American Society of Exercise Physiologists. “Walking, jogging, and running are common forms of cardiovascular, or aerobic, exercise.”

From running and walking, to swimming, elliptical cross-training, biking, Stairmaster, and rowing — to name a few — the physical benefits of cardio exercise abound, explains says Len Kravitz, PhD, senior exercise physiologist for IDEA Health and Fitness Association. They include:

Reduced risk of heart disease

• Improved blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels
• Improved heart function
• Reduced risk of osteoporosis
• Improved muscle mass

“The American College of Sports Medicine and the CDC recommend, for health, that adults should accumulate 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most days of the week,” says Kravitz, who is also a coordinator of exercise science at the University of New Mexico. “And to improve cardiovascular endurance, they recommend 20 to 60 minutes on three to five days per week.”

Now that you know the benefits of cardio exercise, where should your heart-pumping fitness plan begin?

Getting Into the Zone

To help you make the most of your cardio exercise workout — help your heart, increase muscle, and lose fat — Denise Austin, fitness expert, author of seven books, including Shrink Your Female Fat Zones, and star of 50 fitness videos, gives us some tips.

“To reap all the benefits of a cardio workout, you should sustain your workout for 20 minutes or more — I do 30 minutes myself — on a schedule of about three to four times per week,” says Austin.

Not only that, but you need to get in the zone, which calculates into burning calories and fat.

“The best way to find out if you are burning fat is to take your pulse halfway into your cardio workout for six seconds, then add a zero to that number,” Austin tells Medifast Health.

This number is your heart rate per minute.

Next, calculate your zone.

“Take the number 220, then minus your age, then calculate 70% of that number for your target beats per minute,” says Austin, and that’s your zone. “If your heart rate halfway through your workout is over that 70% mark take it down a level, and if under, pick up the pace.”

Not a math wiz? There are easier ways to figure it out.

“Another great way to find out your zone is to get a pulse monitor, which takes the math out of it,” says Austin. “Or very simply, take the talk test: while you are doing aerobics, talk a sentence. If you are too winded to finish the sentence, you are overdoing it, or if it’s too easy to say, kick it up a notch!”

Getting Cut With Cardio

If you’re looking for ripped abs and toned arms, interval training will help get you there — especially if you throw in some weights.

“I love interval training because it consistently jump-starts your metabolism,” says Austin. “Let’s say you are walking — you could power-walk really fast for three minutes to get the burst of calorie burn, and then walk calmly and slowly for one minute, which offers recovery. By switching back and forth, you push the muscle and let it relax over and over and this gives you maximum results.” You can do interval training on any type of cardio exercise machine — alternating a high intensity with a more moderate level.

Austin suggests doing weights during your recovery time, such as bicep curls or tricep toners, to reap the benefits of both cardio exercise and weight training, and along with interval training, add dedicated weight sessions to your regimen to burn fat and sculpt muscle at the same time.

“Do cardio four days a week for 30 minutes, and add a weight-training workout at least two times a week at 20-minute sessions,” says Austin. “Cardio will burn the fat, and it’s the weight training that gives you the toned sculpted look that will have you bikini ready.”

Cardio’s Best Fat Burner

So you want the bottom line: Which cardio exercise will fat-bust the best?

“Running is the best option for calorie burning, in my opinion,” says Niki Kimbrough, personal fitness expert with Bally Total Fitness. “Whether it’s outside or on a treadmill, it’s the best exercise because you’re burning calories and you’re strengthening your legs and heart — it’ll get you nice and lean.”

Beginners should start with 20 minutes, explains Kimbrough, and work their way up.

“It takes about 20 minutes for your body to get going, and then your body starts to kick it to another level,” says Kimbrough. “Ideally, you want to run for about 30 or 45 minutes.”

For those with bad knees, Kimbrough recommends the elliptical machine as a good second choice.

In case running isn’t your game, Kravitz takes another track.

“I really feel the most important message is to chose a cardio modality or modalities that you like,” says Kravitz. “Because in the final outcome, if a person enjoys a mode of exercise, that is what all research shows they will choose.”

Splitting It Up

While it may not be the fastest way to a body built for the beach, splitting up your cardio exercise still has its benefits.

“In order to achieve the best results, and also in order to maintain a healthy heart, it is best to not split up your cardio workouts,” says Austin. “You need the consistency of 20 minutes or more of an elevated pulse to ensure great results. However, something is better than nothing. If all the time you have is 10 minutes or even five minutes, it is better than sitting still; you will still be garnished benefits and lose weight.”

Let’s be honest — cardio exercise can get boring after awhile. How can you jazz it up and make it interesting again? The experts recommend never letting it get stale in the first place.

“I believe you should do different types of cardio exercises during the course of a week, if possible,” says Austin. “The thing to remember is that too much repetition will fatiguemuscles and you will plateau, which will slow your results down. By adding variety to your workouts you give muscle groups a chance to recover on their days off and you can maintain a steady progress.”

Kravitz agrees with adding options to cardio exercise.

“Vary the mode, vary the place you train, vary the workout, vary the time of day, vary the intensity of the workout, vary the duration — vary, vary, vary,” says Kravitz. “That is what I have found to work the best for exercise compliance.”

Before starting a new exercise program, it is important to have a discussion with your doctor about types and levels of activity. Your doctor can advise on any limitations or restrictions you may have.

Spend a lot of time thinking about when your last bowel movement was? Constipation is actually a pretty common gastrointestinal health problem. Up to 80 percent of people are estimated to suffer from it at some point during their lives. Taking measures to stay regular will make living more pleasant, and certain types of fibre can offer additional health benefits such as reducing your cholesterol.

While the frequency of bowel movements varies for everyone, generally, you are constipated if you pass stools fewer than three times per week, they are hard and dry and/or you need to strain to have a movement. The root cause of constipation is too much water absorption by the colon or slow colon muscle contractions. Here’s how to prevent this from happening. Remember to add fibre to your diet gradually to help alleviate gas and bloating.

• Eat a high fibre diet. Consuming a diet in high fibre foods, such as legumes (beans and lentils), fruit and vegetables, and whole-grain cereals and breads, will help you reach the 21 to 38 grams of fibre you need daily.
• Try fibre supplements. Over-the-counter fibre supplement products like Metamucil help keep stools soft and regular*. They may also help reduce your total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein or LDL (the bad cholesterol) levels when taken with a low-fat diet**.
• Drink plenty of liquid. Staying hydrated is important for regularity, especially when you increase your fibre content -otherwise you may worsen constipation. Aim for up to eight glasses of caffeine-free fluid a day.
• Exercise regularly. Getting at least 30 minutes of exercise most days of the week – even walking – can help stimulate intestinal function. Of course, exercise is pivotal to maintaining a healthy weight, and has been shown to reduce risk for cardiovascular disease, depression and some cancers.
• Cut out low-fibre foods. You don’t want to counteract all the “roughage” you’re ingesting by loading up on foods that are high in fat and sugar, which tend to be low in fibre content. Avoid ice cream, cheese and processed foods, which can worsen constipation.
• Don’t wait to evacuate. Try not to delay nature’s call. When you delay the urge to have a bowel movement, more water is absorbed from your stool, causing it to become harder.

With a little planning, you can make sure to prevent the discomfort of constipation and reap the benefits of a healthier lifestyle, including a fibre-rich diet and more exercise. Incorporate the Medifast Diet into your healthier lifestyle and you’ll see even larger weight loss improvements!

* Use as directed. ** Consult a doctor if you are considering use of this product as part of a cholesterol-lowering program.

People with positive attitudes generally enjoy life more, but are they any healthier? The answer is often “yes.” Optimism is a resource for healing. Optimists are more likely to overcome pain and adversity in their efforts to improve their medical treatment outcomes. For example, optimistic coronary bypass patients generally recover more quickly and have fewer complications after surgery than do patients who are less hopeful.

Your body responds to your thoughts, emotions, and actions. In addition to staying fit, eating right, and managing stress, you can use the following three strategies to help maintain your health:

Create positive expectations for health and healing

Mental and emotional expectations can influence medical outcomes. How well any medical treatment works depends in part on how useful you expect it to be. The “placebo effect” proves this. A placebo is a drug or treatment that provides no medical benefit except for the patient’s belief that it will help. Many patients who receive placebos report satisfactory relief from their medical problem, even though they received no actual medicine.
Changing your expectations from negative to positive may enhance your physical health. Here’s how to make the change:

• Stop all negative self-talk. Make positive statements that promote your recovery.
• Send yourself a steady stream of affirmations. An affirmation is a phrase or sentence that sends strong, positive statements to you about yourself, such as “I am a capable person” or “My joints are strong and flexible.”
• Visualize health and healing. Add mental pictures that support your positive affirmations.
• Don’t feel guilty. There is no value in feeling guilty about health problems. While there is a lot you can do to reduce your risk for health problems and improve your chances of recovery, some illnesses may develop and persist no matter what you do. Some things just are. Do the best you can.

Open yourself to humour, friendship, and love

Positive emotions boost your health. Fortunately, almost anything that makes you feel good about yourself helps you stay healthy.

• Laugh. A little humour makes life richer and healthier. Laughter increases creativity, reduces pain, and speeds healing. Keep an emergency laughter kit that contains funny movies, jokes, cartoons, and photographs. Put it with your first-aid supplies and keep it well stocked.
• Seek out friends. Friendships are vital to good health. Close social ties help you recover more quickly from illness and reduce your risk for diseases ranging from arthritis to depression.
• Volunteer. People who volunteer live longer and enjoy life more than those who do not volunteer. By helping others, we help ourselves.
• Plant a plant and pet a pet. Plants and pets can be highly therapeutic. When you stroke an animal, your blood pressure goes down and your heart rate slows. Animals and plants help us feel needed.

Appeal to a higher power

If you believe in a higher power, ask for support in your pursuit of healing and health. Faith, prayer, and spiritual beliefs can play an important role in recovering from an illness. Your sense of spiritual wellness can help you overcome personal trials and things you cannot change. If it suits you, use spiritual images in visualizations, affirmations, and expectations about your health and your life.

When it comes to getting a little added support with your weight loss adventures, turn to Medifast to help you. They have the ability to provide you with the support you need and the direction you want to be successful at losing weight. You can also save instantly on your Medifast order with the use of our Medifast coupons, that are available each and every month.

Your body needs a certain number of calories each day for you to function and keep doing your daily activities. After your body meets its needs, it stores extra calories as fat. Your weight remains steady when your body takes in the same amount of calories that it burns. To lose weight, you have to use up more calories than you take in.

Here are some tips for cutting back on calories:

1. Fill up on fruits and vegetables, which are low in calories.
2. Think of meat as a side dish. Choose low-fat versions, such as low-fat ground beef, ground turkey breast, and skinless chicken. Trim fat off of meats before cooking.
3. Avoid high-fat meats, such as organ meat, fried chicken, fried fish, lunch meat, sausage, and hot dogs.
4. Choose low-fat and non-fat dairy products.
5. Instead of whole eggs, try egg substitutes or egg whites only.
6. Use cooking methods with little or no fat, such as broiling, steaming, or grilling.
7. Chill soups and stews after you cook them so that you can skim off the fat after it gets hard.
8. When you bake muffins or breads, replace part of the fat ingredient (oil, butter, margarine) with apple sauce, or use canola oil instead of butter or shortening.
9. Choose oil and vinegar salad dressings instead of creamy dressings.
10. Check the labels of “fat-free” cookies, candies, chips, and frozen treats. Some of them have more calories than the regular versions.
11. Try to limit soda, fruit drinks, and alcohol drinks. Drink water instead.

Tips for eating out

1. Order foods that are broiled or poached rather than fried or breaded.
2. Cut back on the amount of butter or margarine that you use on bread.
3. Order sauces, gravies, and salad dressings on the side, and use only a little.
4. When you order pasta, choose tomato sauce rather than cream sauce.
5. Ask for salsa with your baked potato instead of sour cream, butter, cheese, or bacon.
6. Don’t upgrade your meal to a larger size.
7. Watch portion sizes. Share an entree, or take part of your food home to eat as another meal. Share appetizers and desserts.

When it comes to weight loss, there are a lot of things you’ll be considering, including calorie cutting. Try making dieting easier now with the help from the Medifast Diet. This diet incorporates a proper meal plan and gets you back eating healthy amounts of calories assisting you on learning how to eat the right portion sizes and meals again. The Medifast Diet is the perfect alternative for many, and with the Medifast Coupons that are available, it makes it a budget friendly weight loss plan!

What is a healthy weight?

A healthy weight is a weight that lowers your risk for health problems. For most people, body mass index (BMI) and waist size are good ways to tell if they are at a healthy weight. But reaching a healthy weight isn’t just about reaching a certain number on the scale or a certain BMI. Having healthy eating and exercise habits is even more important. When you’re active and eating well, your body will settle into a weight that is healthy for you.

If you want to get to a healthy weight and stay there, healthy lifestyle changes will work better than dieting. Reaching a certain number on the scale is not as important as having a healthy lifestyle.

Why pay attention to your weight?

Staying at a healthy weight is one of the best things you can do for your health. It can help prevent serious health problems, including:

• Heart disease.
• Stroke.
• High blood pressure.
• Type 2 diabetes.
• Sleep apnea.

But weight is only one part of your health. Even if you carry some extra weight, eating healthy foods and being more active can help you feel better, have more energy, and lower your risk for disease.

What can you do?

If you decide that you do need to make some changes, here are the three steps to reaching a healthy weight:

• Improve your eating habits. Do it slowly. You may be tempted to do a diet overhaul and change everything about the way you eat. But you will be more successful at staying with the changes you make if you pick just one eating habit at a time to work on.
• Get moving: Try to make physical activity a regular part of your day, just like brushing your teeth.
• Change your thinking. Our thoughts have a lot to do with how we feel and what we do. If you can stop your brain from telling you discouraging things and have it start encouraging you instead, you may be surprised at how much healthier you’ll be—in mind and body.

For those looking for help with their weight management, consider turning towards the Medifast Diet for assistance. This diet is a great alternative to your usual diets and also has the option to save on your diet plan with the use of our Medifast Coupons. These coupons help you save instantly on your Medifast diet plan and also gets you a discounted price on your weight loss management process. Remember, dieting isn’t scary, if you are in the right direction.

Diets come and go, many of the most popular weight-loss plans these days being a variation on the popular low-fat or low-carb approaches. The exception, of course, is Medifast as it is backed by 20,000 doctors.

Another option you have along with the Medifast Diet is The Perfect 10 Diet Plan, named for the way it helps the body balance 10 hormones that are important to weight loss. Internist Michael Aziz, MD, founder and director of Midtown Integrative Medicine and attending physician at Lenox Hill Hospital, both in New York City, developed the program, which guides people in losing weight rapidly and comfortably while also optimizing long-term health. A year after its introduction, thousands of people have successfully lost weight and noticed an improvement in their health.

How the Diets Stack Up

We are a nation in “hormonal chaos” and that flawed research was behind the initial popularity of low-fat diets. Few doctors understood the difference between good fats and bad, so dieters were urged to shun all fats and eat lots of carbohydrates instead. However, eating like this triggers excessive insulin, a hormone that stores fat, makes people hungry, and can start people down a path toward diabetes.

Other disadvantages: Eating so many carbs also negatively impacts other hormones, including human growth hormone (HGH), which helps people stay youthful, leptin (an appetite-regulating hormone), and the sex hormones (testosterone, estrogen and progesterone). All this leads to a sluggish metabolism that makes weight loss harder.

On the other hand, low-carb diets (including the popular Atkins diet) urge people to minimize carbohydrates and load up on fats in order to keep insulin in check. This helps you shed pounds, but doesn’t address the problems related to other hormones. Plus, it also overloads people with unhealthy amounts of protein, slowing thyroid function, which is crucial for weight control. Furthermore, Atkins and these other low-carb eating plans allow lots of nitrite-rich processed meats, including bacon and cold cuts, which are linked to several types of cancer.

In contrast, The Perfect 10 Diet Plan considers all 10 hormones that are key to weight loss and control, which are…

• Insulin
• Leptin
• Human growth hormone (HGH)
• Thyroid hormones
• Cortisol (the “stress hormone”)
• Glucagon (which controls blood sugar)
• Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA, which combats depression and fatigue)
• Testosterone
• Estrogen
• Progesterone

Perfect 10 Foods

In his book, The Perfect 10 Diet, Dr. Aziz explains that calorie restriction is not the key to successful and lasting weight loss, rather the point is to avoid “diet” foods (he calls them “fake foods”) that have chemical ingredients added. Instead choose whole foods that contribute to a healthy metabolism, helping with weight loss while also satisfying your hunger.

To follow the Perfect 10 Diet, you should base your daily caloric intake on a 40/40/20 formula, get 40% of your calories from carbohydrates, 40% from fats, and 20% from protein. You can select from the following foods:

Vegetables: you may have unlimited amounts of greens (including peas and beans) and other nonstarchy veggies, while starchy ones (such as potatoes and corn) are allowed only occasionally, in very small amounts.

Fruits: especially berries and citrus fruits packed with vitamin C. Limit yourself to two servings a day since fruit is high in fructose, which is used only by the liver, leaving the excess stored as fat.

Proteins: mostly seafood, poultry (including zinc-rich dark meat, important for the productions of sex hormones), whole eggs, and if you like it, a serving of red meat once in a while.

Saturated fats: you may have one serving per day of butter (one pat) and use coconut oil (one serving is one tablespoon) as needed both for cooking or to spread on vegetables. Dr. Aziz explains that many studies over the years have confirmed that saturated fats can be helpful because they boost production of sex hormones, thus contributing to more rapid weight loss. Other allowable fats: Olives and olive oil, avocados and avocado oil, and nuts, all of which are rich in nutrients.

Forbidden Foods

The Perfect 10 Diet strictly forbids foods that act against good hormone balance. In addition to those fake fats, you should avoid…

Artificially “fat-free” and “low-fat foods” (including dairy). Foods in this group are manipulated to have less fat than their unprocessed forms, and as a result, they usually have higher amounts of sugar that spike insulin release.

Soy protein isolates. This food ingredient may sound healthful, but it is in fact highly processed and may disrupt hormonal balance due to increased concentrations and potential imbalances in isoflavones (antioxidants found in plants). Be on the alert for this ingredient in weight-loss shakes, protein bars, low-carb products and many other processed foods that are labeled “healthy.”

Off to a Quick Start

To help you take off and then keep off excess pounds, the Perfect 10 Diet includes three stages:

Stage One gets you off to a rapid start. Each day, you may have three meals plus one or two snacks from the accepted food list, but no grains of any sort or alcohol. Follow this for about three weeks.

Stage Two supports continuous weight loss but provides additional choices (whole grains and a bit of alcohol). Once weight loss has begun in earnest and you have grown accustomed to following the diet regimen and exercising regularly, you may add one to three servings of whole grains per day, including whole-grain pasta, and an occasional glass of organic wine.

Stage Three is a weight-maintenance plan that also is an excellent choice for general good health, says Dr. Aziz. Now you may add yet another whole-grain serving each day and even have an occasional sweet treat such as a piece of dark chocolate.

In summary, eating whole foods that nourish rather than challenge your body will result in naturally balanced hormones, which will help you lose weight and feel great. Since it is smart to continue to keep a close eye on your hormone balance, in his book Dr. Aziz also provides advice on what lab tests you should ask your doctor to perform at the start of your diet and periodically thereafter. He also includes recipes and other suggestions for making this way of eating satisfying and one that can be healthfully maintained as time goes on, the true measure of a successful diet for health!

Source(s):

Michael Aziz, MD, attending physician, St. Vincent’s Hospital, and founder and director, Midtown Integrative Medicine, both in New York City. He is author of The Perfect 10 Diet(Cumberland House).