Widening Waistlines Mean Rising Costs

Widening Waistlines Mean Rising Costs: "America's widespread obesity problem is leading to more than expanding waistlines -- it is also a huge contributor to ballooning health care costs. In a report released yesterday, researchers found the obesity-related health care cost increased by 1000 percent over a 15-year period.
According to a report published in Health Affairs, money spent treating obese patients rose from $3.6 billion in 1987 to $36.5 billion in 2002 -- a tenfold increase. In 2002 alone, nearly 12 percent of all healthcare spending was aimed at obese patients.
Kenneth Thorpe, lead author of the study and chairman of the department of health policy and management at Emory University in Atlanta, compared the obesity epidemic with health concerns of previous decades. "We need to have the same type of societal attention on this issue that we gave to smoking 20 years ago," Thorpe said, as quoted by ConsumerAffairs.com"

Idiot Proof Diet Review

Idiot Proof Diet: "This diet plan will work for those who have tried everything else and failed. If you fall in to this category, then you are overweight because of the most simple of reasons. You are eating the wrong foods, wrong type of calories per meal and probably your meal patterns are wrong too. Food, more clearly the type of food is more powerful than any prescription weight loss pills because the food that you eat can either make you thin or fat.
You cannot get fat because of lack of exercising -- this is a myth. You get fat because you do not eat the right foods at right intervals every day. Again, the outline that you choose to have your meals each day is more powerful than any program you might have followed or prescription weight loss pills you might have taken. This is true since your body is more or less a kind of engine and it needs certain fuels (food) at certain intervals each day. Also, if you do not consume the right foods at the right time, then it would not burn those calories and you will wind up storing these calories as fat tissues.
You cannot possibly lose weight by starving yourself (using a low calorie diet) because your metabolism will detect any major drop in calories and will immediately start adjusting itself by burning fewer calories each day. Our body is a wonderful machine that learns to adapt quickly to a pattern. "

Local woman drops 105 pounds on Subway diet

Local woman drops 105 pounds on Subway diet: "Friends call her Jared's sister, Jen.
That's Jared Fogle, the former overweight Indiana University student made famous by his own diet plan - eat a Subway sandwich a day and watch the pounds melt away.
And no, the two Hoosiers, Fogle of Indianapolis and Jennifer Cooper of Muncie aren't related, though they do have a diet plan in common.
In February 2003 Cooper wore size 20 pants and weighed in at 255 pounds. A single mother of two boys, she struggled to keep up with her sons.
'They're getting older and more active,' she said of Tayler, 10, and Dalton, 6.
Now, Cooper is a size 10 and weighs 150 pounds. She carries a tattered and torn photograph of the 'old Jennifer' in her purse."

Soda surging in daily diet

USNews.com: Health and Medicine: Soda surging in daily diet (6/6/05): "Health advocates have been saying for years that massive consumption of soda and sugary drinks is destroying the American diet and contributing to rising rates of obesity. The soft-drink industry, on the other hand, has argued that its products are only one small part of a balanced diet for the majority of people. A forthcoming study from researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center at Tufts University may shed new light on the debate.
Based on data collected in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, soft drinks and other sweetened beverages now contribute the largest number of calories among all food types in the diets of the more than two thirds of Americans who drink them. Soft drinks have replaced the traditional staple of white bread for the 67 percent of people who say they drink soda, constituting some 14 percent of total daily calories. For those who drink sweet fruit drinks or similar beverages, these make up about 11 percent of their total diets."

Study Challenges Dairy's Weight Loss Claim

FOXNews.com - Health - Study Challenges Dairy's Weight Loss Claim: "A growing body of research is taking aim at the claim that there is something special about milk and other dairy foods that help people lose weight.
In a study published in April, women who added extra milk to their diets for a year lost no more weight than women who consumed the same number of calories, but drank less milk. Now a new study in older children and teens shows that drinking more than the recommended three servings of milk a day actually promotes weight gain. But the dairy industry doesn't see it that way.
Harvard Medical School researcher Catherine S. Berkey, ScD, who led the research team, says the evidence regarding milk and weight loss is far from conclusive."

Fat Substitute Reduces Calories of Everyday Meals without Affecting Taste

Fat Substitute Reduces Calories of Everyday Meals without Affecting Taste: "Z-Trim, an all-natural, zero-calorie fat substitute made from grains, which was originally developed by the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is now available through FiberGel Technologies, Inc. The Z-Trim fat substitute has been shown to help people lose weight without giving up the foods they love, or allow them to eat more of their favorite foods without the fear of gaining weight.

By adding Z-Trim to their high fat foods such as mayonnaise and butter, people can now lower their fat and calories up to 50% without affecting the taste or texture of foods. One other major benefit is that Z-Trim will improve digestion and does not carry any negative side effects associated with some other fat substitutes.

"With the Center for Disease Control declaring obesity an epidemic, Z-Trim is an ideal solution," said Triveni P. Shukla, Ph.D., Vice President of Technology Development at FiberGel Technologies, Inc. "When Z-Trim is used to lower calories in your food, you can eat more of the foods you love while staying under your calorie allowance, and still lose weight."