It's one of those familiar sayings - you think you can't afford to eat 'well', but really you can't afford NOT to!  It turns out that low income families have poor dietary habits, eating more processed foods and less fruits and vegetables (although it is a studied fact that the majority - like 95% - of Americans don't get the minimum recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables, so this may be a mute point!).  But the reality is that if you want to get out of poverty, you've got to strive for better. For starters, that means better health. A healthy diet doesn't have to be expensive. Exercise doesn't have to be expensive (last time we checked, a 20 minute walk didn't cost anything). These two variables are the start of building a foundation of a healthy life. A better diet means the brain functions better. Just the discipline of striving for good health will create a ripple effect into other areas of life - doing a better job at work, setting goals to 'move up' and get promoted, more creative thought, improved relationships, and so on. Here's more on the subject of low income families and their poor diet --

Three studies published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association have found that people with lower income do not consume enough fruits and vegetables, largely due to cost factors.

"Cost is one of the factors often cited as contributing to less fruit and vegetable consumption among low-income populations," wrote Alanna Moshfegh in an introductory article. "Cost, as well as convenience, has been shown to be a leading influence on food choice for low-income individuals."

The three articles appear in the November issue of the journal, which is devoted to issues of poverty and nutrition as part of the Council of Science Editors' Global Theme Issue on Poverty and Human Development. More than 230 scientific journals have participated on the council. Read more...

Bottom line: a healthy diet is the beginning of a healthy and balanced lifestyle that can lead to increased productivity and a healthier way of life (you know, the American Dream!)

Note: If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed. See if Medifast is an affordable diet for you!... and get a personal diet consultant when you order!

What you eat can determine the health of future generations. Or can it?  If the food that you eat and the liquids that you consume can influence the health of your DNA, does it stand to reason that your offspring's health could be influenced by the meals you are eating today?  Possibly, and logic would say sure, why not? On a broader level, diet and the influence on the cell and DNA is apparently an important and significant enough subject to require a conference with some very bright minds sharing their research and thoughts on the subject. Here's more --

The question of how the food we eat influences the behaviour of our cells – including our genes – is the focus of a major international conference that starts today in Melbourne.

The three-day ‘3rd Asia Pacific Nutrigenomics Conference 2008: Diet-Gene Interaction in Human Health and Disease’, has attracted food scientists, nutritionists, dieticians, doctors, nurses, food industry representatives and food regulators from around Australia and the world.

Conference Chair, the Director of the CSIRO Preventative Health National Research Flagship Dr Richard Head, says that better understanding human genes and cellular function will provide us with better ways of understanding chronic diseases and retarding or contributing to their prevention. This is of interest to the broader biomedical community including those involved in nutrition and food sciences.

The conference will feature a thorough review of current science in the area, presented by leading international experts in the field, as well as exploring industry perspectives and regulatory issues. The areas covered in the Conference include the interaction of diet and genes in obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and inflammation. In addition, there will be discussions on the most recent technologies available for understanding these interactions. More on this here....

Bottom line: Diet must be one of the most important influential factors on the future health of mankind. And certainly the quality of the foods we do have and the ground on which it is grown, needs to be taken care of in the utmost degree.  Where will we be without nutrient-rich soil and plenty of fruits and vegetables from which to choose? We don't want to find out.

HWI

If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Every year in every country, state, province, and city, there are more laws written and proposed - some passed, some not - for the sake of providing a better and more controlled and stable place to live. The real reason that more laws are proposed is to give some politicians importance and purpose when most of the time they just aren't necessary. The 63,000 plus pages of tax code should be indication of this fact. When government starts to intervene with the companies that make natural supplements and dietary products to help support a natural way of health and healing, then the only ones who win are companies that have a vested interest in seeing the products 'regulated' - i.e. pharmaceutical companies.

In Canada, for instance, a new law has been introduced that may outlaw about 60% of natural health products and even make it a crime for parents to give their children supplements. For those of us who seek to support our diet and our health through supplementation, this could be the start of a major negative effect on the health of a nation. While not all supplements or supplement companies are on the "up and up", the ones that do provide a valuable resource for nutritional support, for example, may be compromised in their ability to provide their useful and beneficial products. This would translate into a further decline in the health of that country's citizens, and further perpetuate the use of doctors and medications. Here's more on what's going on in Canada --

Among the changes proposed by the bill are radical alterations to key terminology, including replacing the word "drug" with "therapeutic product" throughout the Act, thereby giving the Canadian government broad-reaching powers to regulate the sale of all herbs, vitamins, supplements and other items. With this single language change, anything that is "therapeutic" automatically falls under the Food and Drug Act. This would include bottled water, blueberries, dandelion greens and essentially all plant-derived substances.

The Act also changes the definition of the word "sell" to include anyone who gives such therapeutic products to someone else. So a mother giving an herb to her child, under the proposed new language, could be arrested for engaging in the sale of unregulated, unapproved "therapeutic substances." Learn about more of these freedom-squashing changes to the law at the Stop51.com website: http://www.stopc51.com/ .  Read more from Natural News.com ....

Bottom line: Protect your right to access nutritional supplements or the health of a nation may spiral further out of control.

If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed.

The Health & Wellness Institute, DC PC

The fat acceptance gals are NOT going to like this but from the desk of Health & Wellness, out of CHICAGO - New research challenges the notion that you can be fat and fit, finding that being active can lower but not eliminate heart risks faced by heavy women.

“It doesn’t take away the risk entirely. Weight still matters,” said Dr. Martha Gulati, a heart specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Previous research has gone back and forth on whether exercise or weight has a greater influence on heart disease risks.

About two in five U.S. women at age 50 will eventually develop heart attacks or other cardiovascular problems. Excess weight can raise those odds in many ways, including by increasing blood pressure and risks for diabetes, and by worsening cholesterol. Exercise counteracts all three.

“It is reassuring to see that physical activity really does make an impact,” said lead author Dr. Amy Weinstein of Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. However, she added, “If you’re overweight or obese, you can’t really get back to that lower risk entirely with just physical activity alone.” read teh entire article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24356209/

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Commentary

I was recently the KeyNote speaker at a large American Heart Association "Go Red" luncheon. 300 women attended the event to learn about heart health and how to improve theirs. I spoke for about 45 minutes about the importance of exercise, water, healthy diet, fruits and vegetables and empowerment. I then asked "who here will commit to eating 2 more raw fresh fruits or vegetables, just 2 additional servings than you already do and I swear to you, only 7 hand raised! 7 out of 300 women there to learn about getting healthier felt they could commit to eating 2 servings more a day.

How sad. How easy to see why the studies say what they do. We have reached a day where people say they want to be healthier but they really don't want to put forth the effort it would take to actually get themselves healthier--they want a pill, powder or potion to do it for them.

Fortunately, there are some that exist! 

Compared with normal-weight active women, the risk for developing heart disease was 54 percent higher in overweight active women and 87 percent higher in obese active women. By contrast, it was 88 percent higher in overweight inactive women; and 2½ times greater in obese inactive women.

Note: If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed.

With a headline like that, you may think twice before picking up a bag of potato chips. Yet not only are chips a source linked to an increase in cancer risk, but so too are sweet biscuits, certain breads, rolls, toast, or most fried, roasted, or grilled foods - all which contain the carcinogen acrylamide. This substance can be contained in certain foods, but also the result of those types of preparation methods. Grilling has long been known to create carcinogenic substances that can be detrimental to good health.

A study of more than 60,000 post-menopausal women has linked the chemical - produced when sugars and amino acids are cooked at temperatures greater than 120 degress - to ovarian and endometrial cancers. The Dutch report examined data from the Netherlands Cohort Study, which involved 120,000 people aged 55-70 years, about 62,000 of them women.

Here's the kicker. After 11 years, the group was analyzed and those who had consumed high levels of acrylamide, that is 40 milligrams a day or the equivalent of what is in one pack of potato chips, were twice as likely to develop ovarian or womb cancer as those who ingested a smaller amount. These findings were published in the journal Cancer, Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention.

Since the study was performed prior to 1997, the consumption of foods like french fries and other similar foods has increased, and therefore would be safe to conclude that the risk of these cancers has gone up even more!

Bottom line: If you're eating a healthy diet, one that contains more raw foods and unprocessed foods than anything else, then you're not going to have to worry about levels of acrylamide in your system. It's one thing you shouldn't have to worry about when it comes to your health - and that is preventable conditions based on what foods and beverages you consume. So stick to mainly water, fruits, vegetables, fish, 12 grain breads, and organic foods if you can. You'll be glad you did in the years to come.

HWI

Note: If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed.

Almost everyone seems to know someone who has a child on Ritalin. As you may know, use of Ritalin doesn't come without risk. As with any drug, there are unwanted side-effects that can occur. Even with the research and studies showing such promising results for children with Attention Deficit Disorder, all drugs come with side-effects and can even be life threatening. 

While this author doesn't necessarily agree that Ritalin is the answer to ADD, the drug companies have certainly capitalized on the deficit children seem to be in.  But I think that "deficit" comes from the lack of physical activity - the kind away from a computer or TV.  Getting out and observing those things that are not digital is such a key to having a calmer and more focused mind. This is not research, but just common sense, that tells us the TV and computers and cell phones are electronics that put the eye and brain's focus no more than 3 feet away.  When you can put the focus on natural things that are beyond the world that exists within 10 feet of your being, you take on a picture of the world that is much greater than the many minute details that can be consuming to the brain. It is our opinion that the calming effect to the mind and possibly the attention disorder can be helped by this approach.

According to the Medical Observer, "children who use Ritalin for a long period of time could be more at risk of deliquency and substance abuse." For this reason they suggest 'taking a break' from the drug after 3 years, because "the more days of prescribed medication, the more serious the risk."

It is the opinion of The Health & Wellness Institute that a diet that is deficient in proper nutrients - i.e. fruits and vegetables - and filled with stimulants like sugar and caffeine, will also contribute to the symptoms of those diagnosed with ADD.  This evidence is shown in studies where children were put on a healthy diet and after a year the results showed better grades, less conflict, less absences, and more participation in school activities. While there may not be a direct relationship between the two, there should be at least some logical deduction that diet plays a big role in the health of the mind and therefore should provide noticeable benefit to those with ADD.

Bottom line: a diet that is rich in fruits and vegetables, and without processed foods, high amounts of sugars - i.e. soft drinks or fruit drinks - and even including some regular exercise, will always be beneficial to anyone, no matter what condition they may be diagnosed with.

HWI

Note: If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed.

There is always debate about what diet is healthy and which one work best - is Atkins safe, is low-carb better, are carbs the enemy, what food combinations work, is low-fat better? The questions are endless, and the solutions seem to be even more so. However, there is one truth about a healthy diet that rings true throughout the diet community, and that is that simple sugars are the enemy. That is, sugar is so prevalent in so many foods and drinks that it is hard for most people to get away from consuming too many. And with sugars like high-fructose corn syrup you're sure to lose on all levels - bad calories, unhealthy, and too many easily consumed. Here's more about how sugar can creep into your diet --

A bran muffin and a flavored coffee drink are not unusual choices for a breakfast on the run. But along with fiber and caffeine, you may be getting something you hadn't bargained for: a day's worth of added sugar in just one small early morning meal.

We shouldn't consume more than 40 grams -- about 10 teaspoons -- of sugar a day, based on a 2,000-calorie diet, said Andy Bellatti, a graduate student at New York University's department of nutrition and food studies who blogs about diet and health at Small Bites. "It's very easy, though, to go way above that because that's basically one can of soda," Bellatti said. "So although 10 teaspoons sounds like a lot, it's actually not really that much."

Though the World Health Organization recommends that added sugar should make up no more than 10 percent of our daily caloric intake, the average American eats about double that. A muffin could have 11 teaspoons of sugar added, and a grande vanilla latte at Starbucks has about seven teaspoons. Read more...

Final note: do yourself a favor and avoid products that have sugar, except for fruits and vegetables. Even with a good effort you'll find that you're getting some in foods and drinks that you didn't expect.

HWI

If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

What happens after the fat pants are gone?

Some are surprised to discover the struggle doesn't end when they hit their goal weight. While the outside world sees a slimmer body, their personal body image often remains distorted. Katz remembers the pain of standing out in a crowd as “the fat one.” As a result, she regularly feels the nagging worry of “Will I gain it back?”

For all the celebration over people who lose massive amounts of weight, diets usually fail in the long run, studies show. A recent weight-loss maintenance study from Duke University found that after losing an average of 18.7 pounds over six months of diet and exercise, most dieters regained an average of nine pounds over the next 2 ½ years. Up to two-thirds of dieters gain back most of the weight they lost, according to an analysis of 31 diet studies released by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles last year.

What dieters often don’t realize is, while they can relax a little about how much they eat, they have to remain vigilant. The worst mistake dieters who have lost a lot of weight make is to think that they're "done," and that they no longer have to choose their food wisely and responsibly.

Whether you’ve lost 10 pounds or 100 pounds, there’s a greater chance of keeping it off if you incorporate better habits into your lifestyle, instead of radically changing it as many diet plans promote.

--------commentary-------

I guess this really sums up the big differences from my approach that has successfully helps so many men and women across this great nation, is that I do to lie to them so that they will like me, rather I am honest with the and tell them that if they want to lose weight and keep it off some things about their daily habits, choices and actions do need to be changed forever--not just for awhile!

People be they "big losers" from a TV show that were put through "torturous" workouts for up to 10 hours day now have to go back to their real jobs, their real life, their friday night routine and I don't think Jillian stays to kick their butt day and night if they slip up.

Should be interesting to see what happens nest. Probably going to mean a few pounds creeping on--but it doesn't have to. Do the gradual slow way, the Vice Busting diet way and you can stay forever the biggest loser!

From NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” to TODAY’s “Joy Fit Club” and Jenny Craig commercials, there’s no shortage of promotions for people who have transformed themselves by losing 100-plus pounds through diet and exercise programs. “ I am a whole new woman," Ali Vincent, who lost 112 pounds and this week became first female winner of the hit show “Loser,” told TODAY.

She must continue to adhere to healthy choices and commit to a healthy lifestyle in order to truly be successful. A lifetime comitment of health is what it's all about.

If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed.

Statistics show that most people watch 3 hours or more television per day on average, and with so many food advertisers seen on TV, it's no wonder that a dieter will have a difficult time resisting.  There are a few things going against the dieter with this scenario - 1) sitting for too many hours doing nothing; 2) watching ads that appeal to the palette, and are high-calorie, unhealthy foods or beverages; and 3) grabbing one of these foods and going back to the TV.  All of this ads of to more calories than needed, and too little physical movement. Unhealthy calories and too many of them and no exercise - a perfect combination to create an epidemic. Here's more about advertisements and how dieters see them effecting their efforts --

More than 80% of people believe junk food advertising is making it difficult to feed children a healthy diet, according to research. The survey for consumer watchdog Which? found 84% of consumers want the Government to do more to control the marketing of unhealthy food to children. The survey also revealed 83% think irresponsible advertising is making it harder to encourage children to eat healthy food.

Which? said rules governing junk food advertising on the internet and on packaging were weak or non-existent, while current regulations for television advertising did not apply to the programmes most watched by children. A Bill to introduce robust restrictions on unhealthy food advertising to children is due for its second reading in Parliament next week. It aims to introduce a 9pm watershed for junk food advertising and protect children from other forms of marketing. Read on...

Final note: This is not an issue that should be taken up by the government, but instead an effort should be made to get "dieters" off their duff and doing something other than sitting.  While ads may be a problem, the true problem is the quality of foods that are being made and allowed on TV.  These foods should be banned. Let the ads go on, just get rid of these ridiculously unhealthy foods, period.

If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed.

Our fear of a dwindling healthy food supply from the environmental contaminants and soil depletion may now be trumped by the FDA. Yes, the FDA may actually take care of compromising the quality of our best sources of nutrients by demanding they be irradiated before being put on shelves and tables for consumers.

In case you don't know, the idea behind irradiating food - or any item for that matter - is to sterilize it. That means all live pathogens that may be present on that item is put in check so that it can't take hold in your body or some other living organism. Big problem here. The way we improve our immune system's ability, function, and strength is not just by consuming healthy foods. Believe it or not, we also need to be exposed to certain things so that our immune system builds up defenses. Not everything, but some things. Vaccines are an artificial way of exposing the body and although there is debate on that issue, it still holds true. The immune system is like an army of fighters. But they need to be trained, need not be complacent thinking everything is fine, and is and will always be fine. 

However, without some bacteria and certainly without the optimal amount of nutritional value provided by the fruit or vegetable, the body won't have either to support the immune system. Here's more as reported on NaturalNews.com --

There's a new plot underway to sterilize your food and destroy the nutritional value of fresh produce. The players in this plot are the usual suspects: The USDA (which backed the "raw" almond sterilization rules now in effect in California) and the American Chemical Society -- a pro-chemical group that represents the interests of industrial chemical manufacturers. The latest push comes from USDA researchers who conducted a study to see which method more effectively killed bacteria on leafy green vegetables like spinach.

To conduct the study, they bathed the spinach in a solution contaminated with bacteria. Then, they tried to remove the bacteria using three methods: Washing, chemical spraying and irradiation. Not surprisingly, only the irradiation killed nearly 100 percent of the bacterial colonies. That's because radiation sterilizes both the bacteria and the vegetable leaves, effectively killing the plant and destroying much of its nutritional value while it kills the bacteria. Read on...

Bottom line: our food supply and it's quality is one of the most, if not the most, important part of supporting the health of mankind. Without proper nutrients from fruit and vegetable sources, we risk even poorer health, more sickness and disease. Support the effort to maintain and even improve the quality of the fruits and vegetables in our food supply. Contact your local and state representatives expressing your concern!

Note: If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed.

The Health & Wellness Institute, DC PC

Dangerous diet products are causing problems amongst dieters who seek an easy solution. Everything from headaches, stomach aches, and illness have been reported from people using them. In particular, a new "formula" has made the news because of the many reactions that unsuspecting weight loss seekers have experienced. Here's more --

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week reported the recall of Total Body Formula in tropical orange and peach nectar flavors and Total Body Mega Formula in the orange/tangerine flavor.

Beth Fisher, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Department for Public Health, said the products were sold in Louisville, Owensboro and Middlesboro, as well as 14 other states. It was not sold in Indiana.