Those who have tried and used Medifast are quickly noticing that a diet plan does not need to be difficult. Medifast offers a meal plan that is not only appealing, but satisfying to even the most discriminating taste buds. There are many people who seek to lose weight and know that it is not easy. The surveys that have been conducted by us at the www.JuliaHavey.com website over the years, have revealed that most people have been "dieting" for about 20 years. That's right, 20 years! This startling discovery led us to inquire more about the habits and trials of the majority of people who are almost always "on a diet". 

What we found are some interesting facts. The first of which is most people find it difficult to get started on a diet. This we find is common because of the major hurdles that seem to be present for any new diet. That is, if it's a "diet" that is to be started, the belief is that there will be some major changes that are required - altering food choices, where to eat, what to cook and when, and of course a new shopping list for the supermarket. All this adds up to an inherent belief that if you're going to diet, then you better muster the energy for what appears to be a life-changing overhaul.  The second and most obvious discovery was that most dieters find it difficult to maintain their diet. What a revelation! (yeah, right!) After the seemingly impossible dramatic changes that took place - what is being eaten, new cooking methods, combinations, possibly calorie-counting, and even consuming things that aren't appealing - it is no wonder we can't stick with a diet. Even too many changes in too short of a time span makes it difficult to maintain those changes.

If you don't think so, try changing your entire wardrobe, styling your hair different, using a different toothbrush, and going to bed an hour earlier and waking up an hour earlier...everyday for the next week.  That shouldn't be that hard.  You may ask, but where's the motivation to do that? The motivation is to prove to yourself that you have the ability to adapt to the changing needs of your body and life. Ok, just try it anyway. While this isn't a long-term need particularly, it more reveals a stronger point about dieting. And that is, that the motivation must be stronger than the diet itself.  Most people are not motivated enough to stick to such rigorous diets that require so many changes, so any degree of difficulty with any diet is doomed to be a failure.

This is why Medifast has been such a successful solution to those who have tried it. Not only is the plan easy and the foods tasty, but with just a little motivation to just stick with it for a couple of weeks, some results are noticed, which is a definite confidence booster. Now with the positive feedback of a few pounds lost, you have more motivation to keep moving forward toward your goal. Given a couple more weeks and a few more pounds lost, the motivation grows and gets stronger. The realization becomes 'this is pretty easy and the foods are pretty good... I can do this!'  And soon, your confidence becomes so great that you see that it hasn't been you that's the problem, it's been the approach that was provided in the past.

Now, before you get too excited and want to use Medifast to jump right in and go losing 20 pounds today, realize a couple of things. First, as stated before, you've got to approach weight loss with simple, doable, sustainable steps. Consistency is the key. Don't get all excited to change your entire diet tomorrow only to do it half as good the following day. You'd be better off starting by changing one meal tomorrow and sticking with that change for an entire week.  In either case, we've seen enough success stories out of failed diets to know there are a few things you want to help guarantee your success.

First, is being a part of a group of people who have achieved weight loss. There is no substitute for doing what's been done successfully by many others before you. Second, is having a coach.  With your Medifast order, you will have access to Julia Havey who lost 130 pound herself and for more than 10 years has been helping others reach their weight loss goals.  A personal diet coach to help you get started and keep you motivated is a definite plus to keep you on track.

If you've put off getting the body of your dreams - let's be honest, one that may be more attractive, but truly one that is much healthier because in the long run that's what's going to matter to you most - then take a step and try Medifast. Once you order, you will be contacted by your health and diet coach - Julia Havey - personally, and you can start feeling confident about your weight loss and your health.  You will also join others in the community of people who are doing the same.

The Health & Wellness Institute
With Medifast, get the diet plans that are being used around the country: The Vice Busting Diet Plans, from Julia Havey.

*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.

Today it seems as though we're sending more of our children off to college without the proper training and skills to maintain and support a healthy lifestyle. One of the biggest difficulties is sticking with a healthy diet. Some suggest that Medifast may be a smart way to provide simple, easy, and healthy foods to prepare that won't break their budget - financial or temporal. Medifast may be what college kids can stick with, since they are new to time management, money management, and all around lifestyle habits that support being healthy and fit. Just look at the growing obesity problem to believe that this is the case. My guess is that kids don't have the proper dietary habits for getting healthy meals everyday, and three times a day. With cell phones and text messaging at an all-time high helping facilitate attention deficits, food planning and preparation may just be too inconvenient or time consuming (at least the perception).

Are we letting the lesson of health slip through the cracks where the next generation is not going to take it seriously enough? Will this cause a backlash of more disease at an earlier age? Only time will tell, but it is defnitely an issue to be concerned with. As more and more kids go back to school, it is important to start with and emphasize what should be the highest priority: health. It's not that difficult to use fruits as snacks, have water bottles available, and to avoid fast foods. But it seems that getting regular exercise may be a big part of what's missing in college life. With new found freedom comes responsibility, and many times with it comes a hard lesson. Here are some additional points to keep in mind if you have a child that is off to college --

Medical History
Your children should know their health histories. Many kids have chronic illnesses or complex medical histories that could lead to serious problems if they don't know their own health histories. Studies have shown this. Make sure your child has his or her health insurance card. You'd be surprised how many kids forget to keep it with them and can't get treatment when they need it.

Get Emergency College Contacts
It is parents' greatest fear for a child to get sick at school because they won't be there. The parent should make sure they know who their child's resident adviser is, how to contact the campus police and the number of the local emergency room.

Talk About Alcohol Dangers
Kids often don't want to hear about the dangers of drinking, but you can -- and should -- talk to them and emphasize your concerns about alcohol. An article in USA Today just pointed out that extreme drinking is a rite of passage for more than 80 percent of college students on their 21st birthday. So, talking about the dangers is very important.

Watch for Stress-Related Problems
The college lifestyle can lead to stress, depression, sleep issues and eating problems. You need to be alert that your child is more vulnerable to all those problems.

Discuss Sexual Issues
You need to talk to our children about sex. It's a fear for all parents, and you need to have a frank discussion about your values and about sex in general. Read the full report...

Bottom line: Our children need to be taught the importance of a healthy lifestyle, and what it takes to maintain that health. Diet is certainly a big factor, with exercise, a positive attitude, adequate rest, and avoiding stressful factors that don't need to be included in their life (i.e. alcohol) - all important in avoiding sickness and having a positive and productive college experience...and life!

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.

Certainly a meal plan like Medifast is not going to provide the same quality of nutrients as fruits and vegetables. But with the compromised quality of plant sources, more and more people are relying on their own gardening and farming skills to provide nutrients from their backyard. Not that Medifast isn't a balanced way to manage your weight and diet. But if there is a way you can control the source of your fruits and vegetables, via growing your own, then by all means do it. Relying on sources that are hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of miles away just doesn't seem very safe. For those who have gardens, chickens, or other sources of sustenance in or around their backyard (literally!), the quality and nutrition is certain to be better than if your food has travelled a couple of days, on a few tracks, and a truck to get to the shelves from which you buy it.

There have been estimates that more individuals would start being self-reliant when it comes to getting food - growing, raising, picking, preparing...you name it, all because of the costs associated with food prices today, as well as a possible threat of missing deliveries.  Here's what the AP reports on this growing trend --

Tidy lawns have been replaced by a jumble of hot peppers, tomatoes, peas, peaches, berries and plums in the front yards of two next-door neighbors.

And that's just a sampling.

"What aren't we growing?" said Kelly Sandman, who along with her neighbors dug up their front lawns in April and planted fruits and vegetables.

An increasing, albeit small, number of people are trying edible landscaping — growing fruits and vegetables mixed in with traditional, ornamental flowers — to save money on food, eat healthier and ensure their fresh food is safe.

It goes beyond the traditional garden. Broccoli and cabbage plants are popping up in flower beds once occupied by tulips and daisies.

Some are using fruit trees or edible plants as fences, replacing hedges with raspberry bushes or screening backyard pools with towering stalks of sweet corn.

The idea goes back centuries, to times when... Read on..

Bottom line: Why not take an interest in one of the most important aspects mankind - our individual health and the health of the planet. Taking time to not only plant fruit trees and vegetables is not only rewarding, but also may provide a better quality of nutrition for your body, not to mention the benefits that having more plants and trees has for the Earth! You can use Medifast to get the macronutrients - proteins, carbs, fats - while growing your own fruits and veggies and getting the plethora of micronutrients. Live healthy, eat healthy.

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...
300,000 Americans Diet from Obesity related causes!
And—Obesity contributed to another 2.6 million deaths!

Is Medifast a Possible Solution?

There are many alarming statistics when it comes to obesity and the ways it effects the health of millions of people every year, not the least of which is death. One very obvious symptom of the worsening average American diet is the increase in cholesterol readings. This means more clogged arteries and more heart attacks. One option is using a diet plan like Medifast, which will help a dieter avoid foods that contribute to high cholesterol. Medifast is not a meal plan that causes worry of high cholesterol. Instead, fast foods and fried foods are most often the culprit.

Even while drug companies make record profits each year providing drugs to treat the symptoms, more people continue to indulge in the type of foods and lifestyle that continues to perpetuate the problem. If diet is responsible for a rise in cholesterol, wouldn't diet be responsible for getting it under control and maintaining healthy levels? The number of people on cholesterol-lowering drugs (statins) is extremely high, and I would guess that most have no idea about the dangerous side-effects that go with them. Here's more on a case of how more people are starting to look at other ways to lower their cholesterol (from the AZ Republic) --

In a single morning recently, Phoenix cardiologist Edward Diethrich saw four patients who wanted to talk about alternatives to cholesterol-lowering statin drugs.

With more than 13 million Americans taking statins, at times with troubling side effects, such conversations are becoming increasingly common. High cholesterol is a key risk factor for heart attack and stroke, and efforts to lower blood levels of the fatty substance have turned statins such as Lipitor and Zocor into the top-selling class of prescription drugs in the United States.

"There's rising interest in being able to accomplish the same goals without statins," said Diethrich, founder of the Arizona Heart Institute. "Everybody's asking about this." Read on...

Every year new drugs are created to "treat" a health problem, and the cycle continues. In order to break the cycle, we need a strong movement toward better health, diet, and a lifestyle that includes regular exercise. This isn't rocket science, yet we seem to continue to ignore the problem and turn a blind eye to the obvious causes. One reason that Medifast may be a good option, because most people want the ease of cooking, planning, and making their food choices simpler. Other than lack of good choices, let's just consider the main things that contribute to obesity.

Excluding exercise, which must be an action taken by an individual and will have a substantial impact on their health, here are the main items that continue to keep the obesity statistics on pace. First are beverages - soft drinks and sugary drinks. These are the easiest calories to consume and generally the least healthy. Being so easy to consume, it is understandable how too many people can easily get too many calories from drinking these unhealthy beverages. Second is fast food. Again, it's easy. But not healthy. High in fat and salt make most fast foods a huge contributor. Lastly is a larger category - sweets. This includes cakes and cookies and anything that resembles either one. These are easy to consume, everyone loves to snack on 'em, and always seem to be the perfect ending to a big meal (with friends and/or family). Trading in these items for water, fruits and vegetables, and something you can come up with that is healthier than any of those, will be what saves the health of the US and reverses the growing obesity epidemic.

HWI

If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your diet plans and weight loss, 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.

Considering how unhealthy most diets are today and the effects of poor diets, The Health & Wellness Institute recommends Medifast to help balance the nutritional intake. While Medifast is not necessarily the answer to health problems, it may just improve the mood of most dieters because of the stress that a poor diet can cause. In today's stress-filled world, it is not uncommon for many people to come down with bouts of depression, or symptoms related to depression - anxiety, fatigue, low energy, sluggishness, lack of ambition, headaches, and so on. The reality is that there are many types of stres that can lead to depression. The most obvious of these that can be controlled are diet, one reason for our recommendation of the Medifast diet and meal plan. A proper diet that is balanced, and filled with plenty of fruits and vegetables, one that avoids processed foods like burgers and fries and soft drinks, can make a substantial difference in the body and how 'it' feels.  Certain chemicals in the brain, that are responsible for the way you 'feel', can be shut down or stimulated depending on the diet.

The second most common variable that can be controlled is exercise. Exercise is known to boost levels of certain chemicals in the brain that are responsible for "feeling good".  How many people do you know who exercise everyday are depressed? My guess is a very low percentage relative to those who experience depression and do little to no exercise. One relative of mine who was jobless for 3 years, maintained a very positive attitude and managed to be optimistic about his future the entire time. This, I would attribute, was due to the fact that he didn't let more than a day go by without some form of exercise. And not just low-impact, low-stress exercise, but the type that leaves you feeling exhausted and exhilerated at the same time - like a 40 mile bike ride or 1 hour of non-stop cardio strength training.

When it comes to depression, there are more people who experience short-term episodes of feeling down, as well as though who are more chronic - that is, are dealing with a long-term clinical version more true to the textbook definition and diagnosis. Whatever the case, we all can relate on some level to a 'depressive' mood. Here are 10 lifestyle changes that can improve your mood, make you feeling happier and more optimistic about life --

1. Food and Mood

Many of the drugs and treatments for depression are based on improving energy flow in the brain. How does this relate to food?

• There is much scientific evidence that the food we eat can clog up and block the flow of energy in the brain.
• We simply may not have enough of the vitamins and amino acids in our diet, especially when we are under stress, to make the neurotransmitters that our brains need -- we may lack minerals such as magnesium and lithium in the diet, which are thought to play a crucially important role in maintaining healthy brain activity.
• So ensure good nutrition, especially when you are under increased physical or emotional stress

2. May the Force be with You

Scientific evidence strongly suggests that people who are religious cope better with illnesses or crises. The latest scientific evidence shows that humans, as a species, are unique in having a part of the brain capable of having religious experiences.

Meanwhile, research shows that Buddhist chanting or saying the rosary helps people to achieve peace of mind. So believing in a higher being or a force for goodness, and praying for help and comfort, succeeds in helping people cope with feelings of anxiety and fear.

3. Self-esteem

People’s lives can be made miserable by comparing themselves (and sometimes their partner) with images of tall thin young women, and muscular lean men from movies and magazines. This can be a particular problem for those suffering from low self-esteem.

Yet studies show that generally, if you look better, your self-esteem will improve — the trick is to try to be realistic. Try to think of someone who is your type, who you admire, who looks good — and try to learn from them.

Tackle weight or skin problems by improving your diet. Some people’s whole appearance can be lifted by a new hairdo, and a recent study confirms that make-up can help women’s self-esteem. read on...

Bottom line: Changing your diet, for instance using a meal plan like Medifast that supports balanced nutrition and calorie intake, and getting some exercise are both very significant steps toward improving your mood, especially if your diet is lacking in proper nutrients or is filled with stress-causing foods and beverages (salty foods, high-fat foods, soft drinks, too much caffeine and sugary drinks). And exercise can make a big difference as well, especially long-duration exercises like jogging for 45 minutes, or bike riding for an hour at higher speeds - enough to leave you feeling exhausted, like you're leaving the stresses in your mind behind you or "drained" from your mind.

The Health & Wellness Institute, DC PC

If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your diet plans and weight loss, 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 feel better and get to a healthy weight.

*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.

You've heard the saying, you missed the forest for the trees. In the case of a healthy diet, there may be too much focus on the risk of being deficient of one vitamin, when an overall balanced diet should be the concern. With those who use Medifast, they may find that their nutritional needs are covered much more than their current diet. When you consider the lack of nutrition with most types of fast foods and processed foods, following a Medifast diet plan (Take Shape for Life) is exponentially better, relatively speaking. However, it's hard to say you should worry about a possible Vitamin D deficiency when there are probably numerous deficiencies going on at the same time. While research as to the effects, benefits, risks, and so forth related to specific vitamins is nice to know, there is a bigger problem than a lack of vitamin D in a typical diet. That problem is a lack of overall nutrition. Here's more on the research on the importance of Vitmain D to your health (from ScienceDaily.com) --

Researchers at Johns Hopkins are reporting what is believed to be the most conclusive evidence to date that inadequate levels of vitamin D, obtained from milk, fortified cereals and exposure to sunlight, lead to substantially increased risk of death.

In a study set to appear in the Archives of Internal Medicine online Aug. 11, the Johns Hopkins team analyzed a diverse sample of 13,000 initially healthy men and women participating in an ongoing national health survey and compared the risk of death between those with the lowest blood levels of vitamin D to those with higher amounts. An unhealthy deficiency, experts say, is considered blood levels of 17.8 nanograms per milliliter or lower.

Of the 1,800 study participants known to have died by Dec. 31, 2000, nearly 700 died from some form of heart disease, with 400 of these being deficient in vitamin D. This translates overall to an estimated 26 percent increased risk of any death, though the number of deaths from heart disease alone was not large enough to meet scientific criteria to resolve that it was due to low vitamin D levels. Read more...

This goes hand in hand with the fact that many health problems could be solved or even prevented by diet changes - one of the reasons that The Health & Wellness Institute recommends Medifast for those trying to get their weight under control. Most of the foods consumed today have many additives and chemicals and things used in them that can't even be pronounced, all of which may just be adding to or even causing problems. No matter what the diet, plenty of fruits and vegetables are needed to provide a plethora of nutrients important to the health and wellness of the body. When you can keep things as simple as "eat 7 servings of fruits and vegetables each day, avoiding processed foods, drinking plenty of water, eathing lean protein sources including fish, and getting exercise almost everyday" then you can rest assured that you are supporting good health. After developing good dietary and exercise habits, then you can get more detailed and start nitpicking - analyzing your vitamin balance and intake, count calories, keep track of protein grams, and so on. But to worry that you're not getting vitamin D in your diet when you're eating fast foods 5 days a week may be equivalent to worrying about a small cut on your finger when you've got a concussion.

Bottom line: worry about the big picture of your health before addressing the details.

The Health & Wellness Institute

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.

It certainly is a tall order - reversing a statistic that has been growing for the past few decades alongside the growing waistlines of more and more Americans. Is Medifast a solution? Is there any solution without willing participants? Medifast may help, but no matter what the diet plan, it takes people who want "it" (health, that is) and are willing to make a commitment to a healthy lifestyle.

At The Health & Wellness Institute, when looking at diet and the average diet and health in the US, there is one statistic (actually several) that we look at to determine whether or not our mission and purpose is realizing results: the obesity stat.  With obesity still on the rise, the health and future of US citizens becomes questionable. Not even Medifast can put a 'dent' in this problem when more unhealthy and addictive foods are brought to the market every year. It makes for more and greater "calorie" temptation from the dieter. It's just impossible to do.

The percentage of overweight or obese individuals is a true measure of whether or not the US is getting healthier or not, on a broad scale.  The health of a country's citizens can be measured to a large degree by the percentage of people whom are overweight (and by how much). Sure, there are other illnesses, diseases, and conditions from which people may have a shortened lifespan but none so purely based on the freedom to choose than is obesity.

This isn't to say that if (and when) these statistics start going down it will be due to the efforts of sending out messages like these, published books, audio content, along with the several other channels that spread the message that getting fit is a matter of personal decision and one that should be made for many reasons that would take a book to fill - and would be all to The Health & Wellness Inst's credit.  No, you may see a statistical decline because of many other people, organizations, other's efforts, or other factors and variables. One such variable that is even more concerning - you may see a decrease in the obesity stat because there aren't as many people around to keep that stat going up.  Here are the actually numbers as being reported on WebMD --

Millions of Americans are watching our countrymen compete in the Olympics. But fewer and fewer of us bear any resemblance to those lean, fit figures.

The latest annual state-by-state obesity rankings don't paint a pretty picture:

• Number of states in which adult obesity rates went up: 37
• Number of states in which adult obesity rates went down: 0
• Number of states in which adult obesity rates went up for the third year in a row: 19
• Percentage of population that is obese in Colorado, this year's least obese state: 18.4
• Percentage of population that was obese in the four most obese states in 1991: 15% to 20%
• Number of states in which at least 1 in 4 adults is obese: 28
• Number of states in which at least 1 in 5 adults was obese in 1991: 0

These are just a few of the shocking numbers in the fifth annual "F as in Fat" report from the nonprofit Trust for America's Health, with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Senior author of the report is Jeffrey Levi, PhD, executive director of Trust for America's Health and associate professor of health policy at George Washington University School of Public Health.

The most shocking figure in last year's report was that more than 30% of Mississippi adults were obese. This year, Mississippi's problem is even worse -- and now Alabama and West Virginia have adult obesity rates over 30%. Obesity in the U.S. is less like a rising tide than like a hurricane surge, suggests James Marks, MD, MPH, senior vice president and director of the health group at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

"This is the fifth annual report, and with each and every year we see more evidence the obesity epidemic is gaining speed and destructive force," Marks said at the news conference. Levi and Marks stress that a change in direction will take serious efforts from federal, state, and local governments; from corporations and small businesses; from communities; and from individuals. But they say none of this can come together without leadership from the top. read more...

Bottom line: Make your health a priority. Don't be afraid to be a voice for health at the office, at home, wherever - in favor of a change of two. What is being served at work? Donuts? Suggest bringing a fruit plate or other healthy alternative. We don't have to be radical to make changes. Radical is the majority of the population being overweight and nobody caring. A few simple diet changes can make a big difference. If you read this, spread the word, even if it is subtly. These numbers do not need to continue this way if we all just started by changing one thing - say, eliminating sugary drinks in favor of water. That one action could stall these numbers and even turm them around after a year or two.

More things will die than just a few people or a small segment of the population. The future of mankind depends on the health of the inhabitants of the planet. Think about it.

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.

Medifast or any other meal plan or diet plan isn't necessary to lose weight and achieve a healthy and fit body. What is necessary is a proper balance of nutrition, plenty of wholesome nutrients - i.e. from fruits and vegetables mainly - along with regular exercise. Now couple that with a proper balance of calories consumed and calories expended and you are on your way to achieving the appropriate weight that was meant for your body. Add some strenght training a couple times a week as well, and avoid fatty foods, salty foods, sugary foods and drinks, as well as tobacco products... and, you may live a long and healthy life. (Sigh...) Hundreds of thousands of food products, how do we do it?

However, a large majority of people have gone down an unhealthy lifestyle road for too long that losing weight is just not so simple in reality. The habits and routines of picking up certain foods, drinking soft drinks, sitting and watching tv, all sometimes too much to overcome without help. This is one reason that Medifast can be of help, since you can have a meal plan without a lot of fuss. The real kicker though, is making that transition to a healthy lifestyle without too much pain. When we feel an inordinate amount of pain associated with an action, our mind may tell us that just going back to our previous lifestyle 'feels' better than making these changes. So, as it is, weight loss and a healthy lifestyle must be achieved without the mental anguish that most people are accustomed to when starting a diet. Another reason that a diet and meal plan like Medifast may help.

One weight loss plan that has been getting good reviews is The Vice Busting Diet. A diet vice is the food or drink that you're consuming too often and too much of, that is keeping most of the weight on, according to Julia Havey, and they must be 'busted' all together in order to reach a healthy weight. There are no pills or powders with the plan, just a sound approach to healthy living.  Julia also recommends Medifast and is available as a Health Coach when you order her Program and /or the Medifast plan - Take Shape for Life.

Bottom line: Weight loss may seem like a huge hurdle to get over if you've got 50, 100 or more pounds to lose. If you stop focusing on the weight, and just start focusing on what one action am I going to do today to improve my health , then you've got a good start on a path that will allow you to make a smooth transition. With Havey's plan, you will be provided those individual steps each day to focus on, so your journey is easier. And with Medifast, you don't have to think about what foods, how much, where to get them, etc. Medifast makes it easier.

Start your journey to better health and fitness today!

Medifast to provide 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.

The one benefit of having a diet plan like Medifast is keeping you from 'straying' outside the set plan. This happens too often when we sit down to watch TV and get the urge to eat while watching. Medifast can help you adhere to the plan and avoid those urges, especially when you may be subjecting yourself to stimulating urges that you might not have realized.

Apparently, the emotions that are stimulated by seeing images of death or dying on the TV, can stimulate the urge to eat. On the flip side, if you focused on doing something else with your life (other than TV), and experiencing the joys it has to offer, you just might be more inclined to stay away from food and be healthier. With television, the penalty is twofold - not burning any calories, and adding calories if you're eating. This may be an eye-opener for those who are trying to not only lose weight, but achieve something greater in their life than just maintaining the status quo --

The latest research in the Journal of Consumer Research from ASU marketing professor Naomi Mandel shows that people who are exposed to death-related images and ponder their own mortality tend to overeat.

Mandel and Dirk Smeesters, a professor from the Netherlands, worked together to conduct several experiments in the United States and in Europe. They asked people to write an essay about their feelings toward their own deaths. Participants then checked off items they wanted to buy from a grocery list.

The researchers found that those who wrote about their deaths wanted to consume or spend more than those in a control group who wrote about undergoing a medical procedure.

“People who thought about the idea of dying chose to consume more food in general, whether it was healthy or not, to put these thoughts out of their mind,” Mandel says.

The researchers found that an explanation for the overconsumption is cultural standards. In the United States, people tend to overspend on luxury items and overeat to meet a high standard of living. This made participants wonder if they had not lived up to these expectations.

“They started to question whether they have made a significant mark on the universe,” Mandel says. “If they felt they had not lived up to cultural standards, they wanted to escape from awareness by eating.” Read more...

Bottom line: We've discussed this before - the top 3 diet vices being soft drinks, fast foods, and TV. Now there seems to be even more to watching television than we previously thought (as if sitting and doing nothing for hours each day isn't enough) - the stimulus of eating when faced with images of death. While it may be the TV show that delivers these thoughts, the fact remains that sitting and being idle with nothing but the influence of outside thoughts from the TV, is certainly not healthy. Making your own decisions, thinking positive thoughts, and controlling what goes into your brain, are all important pieces to feeling and being productive in life.

We use to call the TV a 'mind zapper' because you could tell when a person watched TV for too long - they just didn't seem like they were connected to reality. And if it means another opportunity to eat, especially while sitting and burning no calories, not to mention thinking negatively, then the conclusion is avoid the TV all together. Educational channels, ok. Comedy, ok. Anything else, no. And while you're at it, do some exercise if you absolutely feel you have towatch. You can have the best of both worlds this way.

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.

Probably not. Medifast may not be the type of diet that a fit 93 year old is going to be seen using. Why not? Because he is and has been fit for all of his life and doesn't need help with his diet, although for most of us Medifast is a good option considering the kinds of foods available today. So who is this 93 year-old of age and fit that you're going to get fitness and diet advice from? If you guessed Jack Lalanne, you're right. He's been working out and taking his fitness and diet seriously since he was 15. Think that has anything to do with his longevity? Absolutely. How else could a man with his travel schedule, lecturing and teaching throughout the world, keep up? Think of how differently that is from the thousands of people younger than he - even in their 60's - who require living assistance because of their poor health, many of whom are the result of an unhealthy lifestyle. Here's more from as reported on EdmontonSun.com --

No time to work out? Too busy?

Tell that to Jack LaLanne and you're liable to get an earful from the legendary 93-year-old fitness phenom.

"That's a bunch of bull," he says in a recent phone interview from his office in Morro Bay, Calif. "They've got time sitting on their big butt drinking drink after drink and watching television for hours. And they don't have 30 or 40 minutes to take care of the most priceless possession in the whole damn world - your body? They gotta be sick."

NO EXCUSES

Indeed, the tough-talking LaLanne - who's affectionately known as the godfather of fitness - doesn't mince words.

He's heard every excuse in the book and he doesn't buy any of them, especially the one about blaming your parents for bad genetics.

"So many people say, 'I'm fat because my mother was fat,' " he says. "My dad died at 50. Does that mean I have to die at 50? My dad wouldn't listen. I tried to get him to exercise and eat right."

LaLanne - born Sept. 26, 1914 - has been working out since he was 15 years old, long before the days of bosu balls and core training. That's 78 years of pumping iron and he's still going strong.

A pioneer in the fitness industry who counts Arnold Schwarzenegger among his friends, LaLanne says he still works out two hours a day, seven days a week.

Hard to believe, but it's the truth, he insists.

"You know why I never lie? Got a lousy memory," chuckles the former host of a popular TV exercise show that aired from 1951-85. "These politicians better have good memories."

His vigorous training sessions, which typically begin at 6 a.m. in one of two gyms at the California home he shares with his 80-year-old wife Elaine, involve 90 minutes of weights, including classic exercises such as military presses, bench presses, bent-over rows, biceps and triceps curls, and weighted chins and pushups.

"Every workout I do is to muscle failure. It's hard," the San Franciso-born father of three adds, noting he changes his program every 30 days and focuses on different muscle groups each workout.

LaLanne, a fit and feisty 150 pounds at five-foot-seven, tops off his daily workout with 30 minutes of swimming.

When he's travelling while conducting fitness seminars and making personal appearances, he hits the gym and pool in his hotel.

"I feel great," says the man credited with opening the first modern health spa. "Of course, I have a few aches and pains once in awhile. You name me one athlete that trains hard who doesn't have an ache or pain sometimes.

"Life is tough. Dying is easy. Living, you gotta work at it. Living's an athletic event. You gotta work through it. You gotta be tough." Read more...

Bottom line: Jack Lalanne is definitely the example of a healthy lifestyle, the epitome of health and fitness. While you may not think that you can do what he does, you certainly can't unless you take the time to exercise and eat a healthy diet.

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..

Whether or not a change in diet is necessary for better health or just a factor of the economy, they are happening. Most of these changes are being seen in other parts of the world though. In the US, it seems to be convenience as usual as Americans don't like to cook. Medifast is one example of a diet and food plan that may save money and time, in addition to providing weight loss. While too many people are more interested in the grab-and-go meals, the consequences are unhealthy calories and too many of them. For this reason, Medifast is a good alternative that may help support a healthy weight. This article sums up the problem in the restaurant industry in some parts of the world, while "fast" still rules in the US. From TimesOnline.co.uk --

The restaurant recession is taking down multi-billion-dollar restaurant companies and “mom-n-pop” restaurants alike. In the heart of New York, restaurants are closing down on streets still thronging with tourists. It’s the same across the country.

Between January and July, the percentage of restaurant and bar workers filing unemployment claims in Hillsborough County, Florida, surged 54% higher than during the same period last year, according to The Tampa Tribune. The number of unemployment claims among all industries is up 38%.

The biggest losers are expected to be the “casual dining” chains such as Benni-gan’s and rivals Applebee’s, TGI Fridays and Outback Stea-khouse. Having done a lot of driving – and eating – in America I know whereof I speak, and the trouble with most of these “concepts” is that, apart from the lettering above the door, they are all exactly the same.

Eating in them gives you déjà vu every time. At the moment, they are all mad about “sliders” – mini burg-ers. Before that they were smothering everything in teri-yaki sauce.

Unfortunately it’s not winning them enough business. Their customers are moving on. But not back home: America doesn’t want to cook. Once again the middle ground is being squeezed out, leaving a small set of restaurants at the top end and a huge market for faster and cheaper rivals. read more...

Medifast Nutrition

Bottom line: The economy will improve as the health of Americans improves, and that will take some diet changes that includes less fast food and soft drinks, and more home cooked meals and healthy snacks that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables. Wth the Medifast plan, you can get balanced meals and healthy foods that are easy to prepare and a good balance of nutrition and calories.

HWI

Learn more about Medifast.

*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.

Some questions arise with diets like Medifast and the need for better quality nutritional sources. Well, while much is said about quality of organic foods, a new report suggests that there are certain foods which don't need to be organic in your diet. The issue for most people is not a lack of good health because they are getting fruits and vegetables that lack nutrients. Most people are just not getting anything! If you are using Medifast for instance, you are more concerned about the calories you're consuming than you are about plenty of healthy nutrients (although these should be a top priority!). Yet, when you choose fruits and vegetables, you naturally assume that you're getting good nutrition. That seems to be the case, organic or not, with many of these foods.   Here's more from Mercola.com --

The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization that advocates for policies that protect global and individual health, produces the Shoppers' Guide to Pesticides in Produce. It is based on the results of nearly 43,000 pesticide tests.

Organic fruits and vegetables are by definition grown without the use of pesticides. But some find the expense of organic foods prohibitive.

Of the 43 different fruit and vegetable categories in the Guide to Pesticides, the following twelve foods had the lowest pesticide load when conventionally grown. Consequently, they are the safest conventionally grown crops to consume:

• Broccoli
• Eggplant
• Cabbage
• Banana
• Kiwi
• Asparagus
• Sweet peas (frozen)
• Mango
• Pineapple
• Sweet corn (frozen)
• Avocado
• Onion

More from Mercola.com

Bottom line: You can worry about your quality of fruits and vegetables after you have given up soft drinks, sugary drinks, fast foods, and sugary foods. The nutrients you may be missing from non-organic to organic is insignificant if you're feeding your body foods that add to the oxidative stress level in your system. That means avoiding the junk.

Use Medifast for a balance of calories and macronutrients in your diet.

HWI

*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.

There are many places you can pick up a meal - restaurants, gas stations, quick shops, grocery stores, even Sam's Club and Walmart. The record shows that when someone else is preparing your food, it's most likely not going to be healthy, and more likely, unhealthy. In the case of most low-end restaurants, what is being served may be subject to new limitations. This has been discussed before - how restaurants want the freedom to serve the foods and beverages of their choice, but are abusing this freedom. With freedom of choice comes responsibility. If you were in charge of feeding the citizens of a country, do you think you would provide hamburgers, fries and soft drinks? Maybe if you just wanted to help them stay alive for a brief time period. But iff you really wanted to 'feed' a country, you would teach them how to farm and grow orchards and gardens for the benefit of long-term sustenance.

So when restaurants that serve fatty hamburgers, fatty and salty french fries, and high-sugar high-calorie soft drinks, continue to do so with no regard to the long-term effects on the weight and health of the individuals consuming them, then the inevitable will eventually happen. Either a large percentage of people will experience a plethora of health problems and/or the government will step in with new legislation. And let's be honest, these foods are nothing less than addictive. The indirect costs to society probably can't be measured, but must be in the hundreds of Billions of dollars.

Well, now it seems as though one city in California, where most health actions begin, is proposing such legislation that may restrict some of the 'unhealthy fare' that is being served. Here's more from MercuryNews.com --

Three San Jose City Council members Thursday proposed a one-year citywide moratorium on new fast-food restaurants, arguing that the prolific eateries are fattening people - especially kids - with unhealthy fare. The proposal is similar to a moratorium the Los Angeles City Council approved last month for south Los Angeles. The San Jose proposal also calls for an indefinite ban on new fast-food restaurants within 1,000 feet of schools.

"Obesity is a huge problem within our society and among children," said Councilwoman Nora Campos, who was joined by councilmen Forrest Williams and Kansen Chu. But skeptics - from hamburger lovers to restaurant lobbyists to the mayor himself - raised doubts about the proposal.

The California Restaurant Association, which represents 22,000 of the state's 90,000 restaurants and opposed the Los Angeles moratorium, called such restrictions unfair. The industry has also been on the defensive about eliminating trans fats and adding calorie counts to its menus. read more...

Comments: The top two diet 'vices' that contribute to the obesity epidemic are soft drinks and fast food (in particular, hamburgers and fries). It could be said that if these are eliminated, the average American's weight would drop significantly over the course of 1 year. The argument could also be made that once you remove one unhealthy food, another unhealthy one will take it's place just by human nature. Either way, the fact remains that we are slowly killing the health of all mankind with these unhealthy foods. And the more expensive food items become, the more research into methods to cut costs are taken - loosely translated, even more unhealthy these foods become.

One of the reasons The Health & Wellness Institute recommends Medifast is for the same reason that most people like to pick up a meal at a drive-thru - convenience. Medifast has a meal plan that makes it easier to manage the calories consumed, while also providing a good balance of nutrition, although fruits and vegetables are still a must, as with any diet.

Bottom line: Keep your freedom of choice by choosing healthy foods like fruits and vegetables in greater quantities than you do now, and choose a diet plan that will keep you at a healthy weight. Not only your freedom, but your health depends on it!

HWI

For a meal plan to help manage your weight, try Medifast.

*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 is the maximum estimated potential lifespan for a human? Most authorities and researchers estimate that a human body is capable of living to be 120. Yes, years. That is significantly different than the average life expectancy of around 75 (a little higher for females). What makes it possible to live to be 120?

For starters, you could easily list a few things that may move the average down, for example deaths from car accidents. There are even the more obvious things that take a life too early that may be prevented - i.e. cancers. So what are the basics that can provide an increase in the number of years that most of us are expected to live? The number one element that has been shown to add years to an average life has to do with diet, and specifically reducing the number of calories consumed. This is referred to as Calorie Restriction (CR). Not just reducing the total number of calories, but reducing intake to those absolutely-essential calories, such as those that come from foods high in antioxidants - namely, plants.

Here's more from an individual who has put much of his life into the subject, not only from the standpoint of research but also personal experience --

Those interested in calorie restriction should read Roy Walford's books listed in the Resources section of this manual. Calorie restriction (CR) is the only method currently proven to slow the aging process at its fundamental level. Other current methods may have some minor effects on slowing the basic aging rate, but they are mainly targeted at greatly slowing the manifestations of aging. There is good reason to believe that, by staying alive and healthy using the non-CR methods, one can stay alive long enough to be able to use future non-CR life extension techniques that will stop the underlying processes of aging completely.

To put it another way, only calorie restriction can currently push the maximum lifespan significantly beyond its current limits (about 120 years in humans). It is likely, however, that full application of the current non-CR techniques of life extension can increase the average life expectancy well beyond the (currently-typical) mid-seventies by stretching the healthy middle years by about three decades.

Anyone seriously pursuing a program of life extension or advanced preventive medicine should read at least 80 percent of the books listed in the Recommended Books section at the back of this manual and learn how to use a medical library and to research the National Library of Medicine online. See: National Library of Medicine Search Page 

This may seem like a lot of work, but the most common mistake made in this area is to spend large sums of money on nutritional supplements while paying attention to only one or two "experts" in this field. It is important that anyone who plans to spend the remainder of an extended lifespan on a life extension program make sure that the time and money that such an endeavor requires is spent wisely. Self-education and reading about these subjects with a skeptical mind is the only way to do this. No one should entrust their health to any one source of information, not even this manual. This manual is written by a science writer, not a physician. Read more...

Comments: The subject of anti-aging or slowing the aging process is more and more becoming mainstream. We at The Health & Wellness Institute make every effort to motivate others to get on the road to a healthier lifestyle through proper diet and regular exercise, in addition to antioxidant supplementation. One reason for suggesting Medifast is because it does help individuals restrict their calories to just what is on their meal plan. In the past, HWI avoided recommending any meal plans because, for one, we just didn't find any good ones out there; but two, because they didn't provide the dieter with adequate nutritition. In either case, what we know now about anti-aging is just the beginning of what may soon be more well-known and proven methods for reducing sickness, disease, and increasing years to life while adding life to more years. The basic foundation of health and longevity, though, begins with a diet that is complete with plenty of fruits, vegetables, or any other plant-based foods - all of which contain high levels of antioxidants. Antioxidants seek out free radicals and render them harmless so they can be excreted out of the body without causing inflammation, which is one general cause of speeding up the aging process. Medifast is a good addition to help reduce the calorie intake that is too high for most Americans, and in the wrong form (i.e. fast foods and soft drinks!). Here's one last comment made on the same site referenced above which I think sums up the subject of anti-aging quite well -

In the case of anti-aging medicine, if you choose to be in the control group (not using any kind of anti-aging medicine), then you can pretty much know what the results will be. Visit any local nursing home for examples of what the future may be like for those in the control group. For those of us in the experimental group in life extension and anti-aging medicine, the future is uncertain; but it is likely to be much more pleasant than what the control group will be experiencing.

Final note: Start taking steps in the direction of better health. It just takes one change at a time, and in one year you will be living fit, healthy, and have a higher likelihood of a long life free of sickness and disease.

The Health & Wellness Institute, DC PC

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, and will help with Calorie Restriction. The Take Shape for Life Medifast Diet Plan 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.

Type II Diabetes is the kind that is brought on diet, most of the time barring very few exceptions. With those who are obese in particular, the body just can't keep up with the demands that are placed on it when a large amount of sugar-laden foods are continually consumed. The pancreas is the organ responsible for producing insulin, and over years of stress placed upon the pancreas to do it's job, the response can be very unfavorable. As the body continues to be fed foods that are high in sugar - i.e. soft drinks, sweets like cookies, cakes, candies, and so on - the pancreas becomes overburdened with the task of handling such high amounts of sugar in the bloodstream. Eventually, as the individual becomes overweight and even obese, the stress is too much for the pancreas to handle. This is why a change in diet is necessary to manage and even possibly reverse the symptoms brought on by this type of lifestyle and diet.

Medifast is one option for a dieter who needs to not only gain control over their calorie consumption, but also regain a healthy weight. Medifast is not necessarily a 'cure' for Type II Diabetes, but is one viable solution for managing a healthy diet. (Anything labeled a 'cure' would be classified a 'drug' according to the FDA, and we know this is not a drug!) Here's more on how weight loss through a healthy diet can have a positive impact on those who are dealing with Type II Diabetes from dbtechno.com --

Boston (dbTechno) - Researchers from the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research have reported in a new study that they have found a direct link between weight loss, and long-term success in terms of people being able to control their diabetes. Researchers tracked the weight patterns of over 2,500 patients who were recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

The idea was to track how much weight they had gained and/or lost during a period of time, and then check how it had an impact on the disease. They found that some of them lost no weight at all, while others were able to drop over 20 pounds a few months after they were diagnosed. read on...

Bottom line: A healthy diet is the best way to not only prevent sickness and disease, but often times reverse the damage caused by an unhealthy diet and lifestyle. While Medifast is one option for a balanced diet, it is not the only route to getting back to good health. Daily exercise and avoiding processed foods and soft drinks is certainly important too. So if you want to give yourself the best chance to stay healthy, choose the foods that will provide the proper nutrients that your body needs, instead of those that just taste good. Plenty of healthy foods taste good, so choose from those.

For more on the Medifast meal and diet plan, visit Medifast. Get five weeks of Medifast for the price of four, and have Julia Havey, who lost 130 pounds and has kept it off, be your weight loss coach!

*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.

There are more and more anti-aging centers and clinics popping up around the country. Considered a $97 Billion market, with everything from pills, lotions, hormones, diet, supplements, drugs, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some others, it is growing every year. It's not hard to imagine with a huge population expected to make up a growing percentage of the over 55 market, how more discoveries and increased knowledge of supplements in particular will spark the interest of those who would like to feel and look younger.

The great Dr. Oz and co-author Dr. Roizen have put out a book on the subject - YOU: Staying Young - that may give some insight into how diet and certain superfoods and supplements, among other things, can assist with not only anti-aging but reversing some of the normal effects from aging. Here's more from eMaxHealth.com --

After the runaway success of their first few books, doctors Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz are back with a new guide to staying health and living longer with his Green Drink recipe.

You: Staying Young is the latest book from Oprah Winfrey's favorite doctors, who are also the authors of You: The Owner's Manual, You: The Smart Patient, and You: On a Diet.

In the book, doctors detail their claim that many of the effects of the aging process are not just preventable but even reversible with lifestyle changes, such as the Dr. Oz green drink recipe that they mentioned on the Oprah show. (The Dr. Oz green drink recipe contains ingredients such as spinach, parsley, ginger, and cucumber, which sounds very healthy... wonder how it tastes?). read more...

Comment: This is a time when we can get excited about all the new developments and discoveries on the care, prevention, and even reversal certain conditions. There are a plethora of superfoods to add to your diet and can assist with the helping avoid disease and sickness; there are new discoveries related to genomes and genetic mapping that may soon allow a treatment program for a patient with a disease, by using that patient's own cells and cultivating them to higher strengths and reinjecting them back into their own body. (It would be like taking your very best, elite trained soldier and cloning him a million times to fight a battle).

The bottom line for maintaining good health and wellness is to stick to a balanced diet, get plenty of exercise (recent reports suggest running or jogging is one of the best for maintaining your youth), and add some superfoods or phytonutrients to your diet and meal plan. Antioxidants are what "it" is all about for good health. And, who knows, maybe in the next 10 years with the computer and software technology, a discovery will be made to adjust the genetic makeup to allow 20 years of healthier, longer life.

HWI

Meal plan for maintaining a healthy diet and weight: Medifast

*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.

While we like to talk about the benefits of a healthy diet in preventing sickness and disease, as well as increasing longevity, there are other factors that contribute to a long and healthy life. Like being married for instance. It turns out that marriage is a good thing for adding years to your life, and life to your years (although I'm sure there'd be a couple or two who might not agree with that statement!). Although with so many divorces and re-married people, it may be hard to know if it's just marriage that makes for a long, healthy life or the only-once married couple who have a lifetime commitment. My thought is probably the latter. Here's more from US News & World Report --

People who've exchanged wedding vows tend to be healthier than their single, divorced or widowed peers, but new research shows that health gap may be narrowing.

Interviews with today's never-married men suggest they are healthier than never-married guys were three decades ago, researchers say. And that's helping single males gain some ground, in terms of their health, compared to married people.

"One of the most-often documented facts is that married people are healthier than non-married people, but the difference between married and unmarried people has changed over the past few decades," said the study's lead author, Hui Liu, an assistant professor and sociologist at Michigan State University in East Lansing.  Read more...

Comment: There are many factors that contribute to one's health and longevity. Having a partner is just one piece of the puzzle. Diet, regular exercise, adequate sleep, belief in a Higher Power, prayer, relaxation, grattitude - these are all important to, according to studies.  Keeping things simple is a good start, and from which you can build a foundation for being successful in all areas of your life.

HWI

Medifast meal and diet plan: Medifast

Every athlete who competes at the highest level knows that there is no room for error.  Be it diet, the training regimen, or the mental focus - i.e. visualization - that must be adhered to each day, it is all equally important. If you had a chance to see the first even where Michael Phelps took Gold in the 400 IM, it was quite a site. To think how intense and difficult the preparation is can really be a motivator for those of us who just strive for a "normal" fit and healthy body. Although Medifast or any other diet or meal plan can help with weight loss or even maintaining weight, it takes a whole lot more than that to work your way up to the competitive level of the Olympics. Even the (U.S.) President was on hand to root for Phelps and give him a thumbs up after winning. Here's more from The Guardian --

U.S. swimming sensation Michael Phelps demolished his own world record on Sunday to win the first of what he hopes will be an unprecedented eight golds in a single Olympics. His splash of speed lit up the Games, eclipsing worries over security, heat, air pollution and intolerance of dissent that marked the Olympic build-up and lingered into the first day. Listening to hip-hop on headphones as he walked to the blocks, Phelps went on to win the 400 metres individual medley at China's futuristic and full-to-capacity Water Cube. His time was 1.41 seconds quicker than a previous best he set just six weeks ago. He was watched by U.S. President George W. Bush and cheered by flag-waving compatriots and thousands of Chinese.

"I'm pretty happy with that ... it was all adrenaline," said Phelps, calling a thumbs-up by Bush in the stands "pretty cool". Even if Phelps wins only half his eight race competitions, he will hold more Olympic gold medals than any other athlete. But the 23-year-old looks in great shape to at least match his six golds at Athens in 2004 and then beat Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven wins at one Games. read on...

Comment: It is a life of dedication to fitness, technique, style, form, and just overall perfection that leads to winning a Gold in the Olympics. For most of us, we don't need to put in the hours of dedication each day in order to realize a fit or slimmer figure. We just have to avoid the foods and beverages that contribute to the weight. You won't find these athletes eating fast food burgers and fries, no matter what any commercial may lead you to believe... including Coca-Cola. Stick with the simple stuff, you know what I'm talking about. You'll be feeling great and looking great. And hey, maybe you'll even aspire to go out and win a Gold.

HWI

If you need help with a meal plan to assist with your weight loss, try Medifast.

*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.

The problem with most diet and meal plans? They either aren't the foods you like or they aren't the foods you want to prepare. Medifast is an example of how you can find foods you like (some you may not, it's a matter of pallette), and find that they are easy to prepare. However, with many diets, people get into consuming unhealthy foods, and you might not even be aware of it. Here's an overview of the foods that are doing some of the most damage in most American diets. The three whites - sugar, salt, and flour - should be avoided, along with many tens of thousands of other things. If you focus on what you should eat and drink (water?), it makes a healthy diet a whole lot easier. Here's more from Fox --

SEATTLE - Right now, one in three Americans is overweight, but a new study says that all Americans will be overweight in 40 years. Billions of dollars are spent each year on diet foods. But some choices are better than others.

"There's never going to be one particular food that's marketed to help you lose weight that's going to do it," said Dr. Ann Kulze, nutrition and wellness expert. Low-calorie frozen meals are usually a good choice, but not always. "Avoid the great white hazards, these refined carbs, white flour, white rice, white potatoes, sugar," Kulze said.

Another diet food loser is the liquid lunch. "Liquid calories simply do not suppress the human appetite to the same degree of solid food calories," Kulze said. Low-carb foods? Proceed with caution.

"Just because something is labeled low-carb does not mean it's going to be low in calories or even healthy for you," Kulze said. Fat-free foods have also lost steam. "The only fat-free food I recommend to anyone -- people that want to lose weight or people that are healthy weight -- is fat-free milk," she said. read more...

Bottom line: You can take the guess work out of your diet if you just start by focusing on the obvious. That is, fruits and vegetables are to be consumed more than you do now - since, according to statistics (or estimates), the average American consumes less than half of what they need per day. Second, just don't drink anything with sugar in it. Period. That will eliminate a lot of calories, unhealthy ones if you consider that most have high-fructose corn syrup as their main source of sugar. And, if you need a SIMPLE diet plan where you don't have to guess about what foods and when, then try Medifast. It's not everything, but it's a great start to a healthy and fit figure. Those things will get more than 75% of the way to your weight loss goal (if you have one!). The Health & Wellness Institute recommends you focus on healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle, and let your body's weight take care of itself...which it will!

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.

It's the Omega 13 - atom rearranger that will transform your body (and the universe), reversing damage done from years of poor dieting. Ok, that's the Omega 13 from Galaxy Quest, just watched it, and it is quite funny. But for real, there are Omega 3's that are good and needed by the body for certain things. First, why do we need Omega's - and we do need both 3 and 6?  (Also, omega comes from where the double bond exists on the chain, boring stuff but there it is nonetheless).

These are essential nutrients that can only be obtained from food. This is important in a Medifast meal and diet plan, or any diet. EFAs are important. There are many benefits and as listed on Wikipedia are as follows.

People with certain circulatory problems, such as varicose veins, benefit from fish oil. Fish oil stimulates blood circulation, increases the breakdown of fibrin, a compound involved in clot and scar formation, and additionally has been shown to reduce blood pressure. There is strong scientific evidence that n−3 fatty acids significantly reduce blood triglyceride levels and regular intake reduces the risk of secondary and primary heart attack.

There is a promising preliminary evidence that n-3 fatty acids supplementation might be helpful in cases of depression and anxiety. Studies report highly significant improvement from n-3 fatty acids supplementation alone and in conjunction with medication. Some benefits have been reported in conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and cardiac arrhythmias.

Some research suggests that fish oil intake may reduce the risk of ischemic and thrombotic stroke. However, very large amounts may actually increase the risk of hemorrhagic stroke. Lower amounts are not related to this risk, and many studies used substantially higher doses without major side effects. (Check out good sources of these EFA's on Wikipedia).

Here's more from Cooking Light --Marine sources of omega-3s are rich in eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), the two most frequently studied forms and those that have been most strongly linked to potential health benefits. Plant sources contain higher levels of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA).

Your body absorbs and uses each type of omega-3 in different measures. Most potential health benefits are attributes to EPA and DHA, which are readily absorbed and put to use. Enzymes in your liver convert plant-sourced ALA to EPA, but this process is innefficient. "When you eat plant sources of omega-3, only about five percent is converted to EPA, says Penny Kris-Etherton, PhD, professor of nutrition at Pennsylvania State University. For this reason, many scientific studies use fish and fish oil, which both contain fats composed mostly of EPA and DHA, interchangeably. Use the chart below to monitor your own consumption of omega-3 fatty acids: (reference)

Fish Sources:

1. Atlantic Salmon
2. Pacific herring
3. Sardines
4. Pink Salmon
5. Halibut
6. Oysters

Some Plant sources

1. Walnuts
2. Canola oil
3. Walnut Oil
4. Flaxseeds

Bottom line: Essential Fatty Acids like Omega 3s and Omega 6s are the GOOD fats. Like most things, too many may not be good, but they are still ESSENTIAL (meaning you have to get them from food!) to the health and wellness of your body. Don't forget your fruits and vegetables, too! A balanced diet with proper nutrition is where you need to put your emphasis.

The Health & Wellness Institute

Medifast meal plan: Medifast