Medifast is being used successfully by thousands for healthy weight loss, and for a source of income part-time. If you are interested in a healthy meal plan that will assist with your diet and weight loss efforts, The Health & Wellness Institute recommends Medifast. Here's an update from Baltimore Business Journal.com --

Diet product company Medifast reported that profits rose 62 percent in the third quarter, fattened by a surge in the firm’s direct sales segment.

Owings Mills-based Medifast (NYSE: MED) earned nearly $1.55 million in the quarter, or 11 cents per share, compared with $954,000, or 7 cents per share, during the same period a year ago.

The company matched forecasts set by Wall Street. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of 11 cents a share.

Third-quarter revenue climbed to $27.3 million, up 25 percent from the same period last year when the company had sales of nearly $22.2 million.

Revenue was driven by a 99 percent year-over-year increase from the company’s direct sales arm, Take Shape for Life. The number of active health coaches, or salespeople selling Medifast products, grew from 1,650 to 3,200 in the last year. Read the full report...

NOTE: Diet and exercise are important for maintaining good health. While some people struggle to stick with a healthy diet, Medifast can help provide the right balance of macronutrients. Those interested in earning a part-time income can share sign up as a Health Coach and help others with their diet and weight loss. Check out Medifast today. For more information about becoming a health coach, send an email with details to medifast at inlink.com.

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.

Do we really need to talk about a 'safer' obesity drug? Since when did any diet drug become 'safe'? For that matter, most drugs have dangerous side effects. That is why we recommend The Vice Busting Diet Plan for healthy and lasting weight loss. And if it is a meal plan you need for easy meal planning, then Medifast is healthy and balanced. This report comes from Science News--

Once hailed as a miracle weight-loss drug, Fen-phen was removed from the market more than a decade ago for inducing life-threatening side effects, including heart valve lesions. Scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center are trying to understand how Fen-phen behaves in the brain in order to develop safer anti-obesity drugs with fewer side effects.

In a study appearing in the Nov. 25 issue of Neuron, the researchers define a circuit in the brain that explains the ways fenfluramine, a component of Fen-phen, suppresses appetite.

"Our findings provide evidence that the neural circuit we've proposed is sufficient for the neurotransmitter serotonin to regulate food intake and body weight, " said Dr. Joel Elmquist, professor of internal medicine and pharmacology at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study. "Fen-phen works directly on this pathway. Unfortunately, that drug also adversely affects peripheral tissue such as the heart."

Comment: The only real solution to obesity is behavorial changes. According to the Annals of Behavioral Medicine, modifying lifestyle habits is the key to lasting change with weight and overall health. ABH goes on to say that small simple changes can be more effective than any strict diet. The Vice Busting Diet Plan provides such an approach - one where you make one simple change at a time and work up to more difficult ones (which actually become easier because you're ready for them!). Stick to the basic actions for good health instead of dangerous diet drugs.

The Health & Wellness Institute

Medifast provides a meal plan that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat.

When it comes to Medifast or any diet plan, there are certain to be times when you need a snack to keep you going during the day. One reason that Medifast is a healthy and balanced meal plan is for the snacks choices. But the best way to be sure you're getting something healthy is to plan. Plan on taking a piece of fruit - banana, apple, orange, etc. And be sure to bring bottled water so you can curb your appetite and stay hydrated. But if there was another snack you might want to consider that will provide some satiation (make you feel full), while giving you some added health benefits including some minerals, then it's the almond nut. Eating fruits may not make you feel full for very long because they are water-rich, so they will pass through you quicker than say oatmeal.

New research suggests the very best food you can nibble on between meals – and especially after a meal – is the almond nut.

Even a modest daily intake of no more than 73 grams – or around three ounces – can dramatically reduce ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol levels, it can lower the body’s insulin output, and it may even help with gut health.

These good effects can be seen after just four months of eating almonds every day, new research has discovered. Although the health-giving effects of almonds have been known for some time, the new research underpins just how good almonds can be for us.

Two new studies, presented to the Experimental Biology conference, discovered that eating almonds every day reduced LDL cholesterol levels by 24 per cent, while three further studies have shown that almonds can reduce the body’s production of insulin, especially if the nuts are eaten immediately after a meal.

Almonds have the highest protein content of any nut and are a valuable food for vegans and vegetarians. Almonds are rich in minerals, magnesium, potassium, phosphorous and especially high in calcium. Almonds are high in mono-unsaturated fat which helps to lower cholesterol, especially the bad cholesterol (LDL). Almonds contain a high degree of oleic acid, which is believed to be the ingredient in olive oil that protects against heart disease.

(Source).

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.

Medifast continues its growth as many people jump on the healthy diet and meal plan for weight loss, while other diets are seeing a decline because of the unusual or strict nature of their food choices. Unlike Medifast, the Mediterranean Diet is seeing such a decline it is being labeled as 'endangered'. According to CNN.com, the Med Diet is succumbing to the addictive qualities that Fast Foods offer, as reported here from London--

Famed for keeping people slim, healthy and living longer, the Mediterranean diet has followers all over the world. However, the diet is being increasingly shunned by people who live in the Med as the convenience of fast food gains popularity.

The renowned low-fat, high-fiber diet has "decayed into a moribund state" in its traditional regions, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

So sharp is the decline that governments from the region are scrambling to protect their traditional fare from becoming an "endangered" species.

Populations surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, such as Greece, Spain and Italy, tend to eat these foods, and governments there have joined forces to apply for their diet to be placed on the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Heritage list.

Those lobbying for UNESCO protection have argued that its inclusion would ''fend off the watered-down clones assailing its integrity worldwide in this age of killer fast food.'' read the full report

Note: While this report suggests more of a plan to keep the name of the diet strong, regardless of its use, the fact is that fast foods are overtaking the palettes of those around the world, thereby increasing the rate of obesity and health problems associated with the condition. In order to regain the healthy weight and avoid the many health problems that are showing up in countries where fast foods are becoming popular, or already are, we have to get back to 'normal' diets - ones rich in fruits and vegetables for starters. While a meal plan like Medifast may assist with weight loss, the problem is much larger than any plan like Medifast can solve. The fast food machine that exists, continually expanding around the globe is certain to be the nail in the coffin of good health, if something doesn't change. The best option at this point is individual choice - give up fast food entirely. It's the only way to 'kick' the habit. For more on why and how to elminate these 'diet vices', check out The Vice Busting Diet Plans, approved by Oprah's Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. David Katz.

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.

At any given time, close to 70% of Americans, when asked, are considered to be on a diet. If it's Medifast, Jenny Craig, or just keeping a closer eye on what they're consuming, or their own nutritional and exercise changes, the majority of Americans fall into the category of being 'on a diet'. How does this relate to the promise of health care reform from the President-elect and soon-to-be new administration? With over 45 million uninsured citizens and rising health care costs, it is one of the biggest factors in addressing the issue of health. And here's why...

First, individuals can only be responsible for factors that are in their own control. Namely, how they eat and the lifestyle they choose - one that supports good health, or one that falls short. On many levels, individual choice is going to result in either increased likelihood of health problems or a much better chance of prevention of sickness and disease. While there are certainly a percentage of health problems that are genetic or brought on by genetic tendencies, excluding trauma cases that require emergency intervention, they account for a very small percentage of the total dollars spent on health care. A healthy diet that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables, good sources of fiber, plenty of water, and one that is void of fried foods, fast foods, soft drinks, and processed food, is one that will support good health and help in the prevention of sickness, and in the long run, disease. A lifestyle that includes plenty of regular excercise, no tobacco, a minimum of alcohol, and includes habits such as adequate sleep, a strong spiritual life, and even meaningful goals, is also one that will support good health. These are not things for which any entity or group or person can hold any one individual accountable. A healthy lifestyle must be chosen and followed, and the benefits will be realized in many forms.

Second, with so many uninsured Americans believing, or being sold on the idea, that health care reform is somehow going to make their life better, the problems of health do not go away just by having affordable access to a physician. The problems still remain and the issue will still be the same - without a healthy lifestyle, you can't expect to be healthy. A visit to a doctor is not going to change that, only a change in habits will, barring the exceptions noted.

Lastly, with more Americans choosing to live healthy, the rising costs of health care will eventually subside. Why? Because drug companies will put their focus on those conditions that have the highest need, instead of trying to create a pill for every so called health 'problem' that has a ICD code - that is a diagnostic code (here's a reference to give you some idea -- ICD Codes. 'Health Care' has gotten so out of hand, and probably abused, from visits for a sniffle to a stubbed toe, that the industry has exploited the very existence of human beings, practically labelling anyone as unhealthy or posessing some sort of condition that requires a subscription or other intervention, until proven otherwise. Sounds absurd, but if you take a look at the number of conditions that there is a diagnostic code for, you'll understand. So with more Americans focused on taking responsibility for their own health and doing what's necessary to live healthy, the demand for health care goes down, and hence the cost.

While health care reform is not a bad thing, the basic premise of reform for sake of getting everyone access to 'health care' should not be the final goal. Certainly, making health care affordable is not such a bad goal, but going about it with a shotgun approach (just shooting/cutting/eliminating everything that looks expensive or unnecessary) is not productive either.

Here's a somewhat general idea that should be followed if reform is to be done. One, a full analysis of drugs that are on the market and their costs should be done - to determine a) the degree of importance, and b) the reimbursement rate. Obviously, medications like antiobiotics may be one of the more important to make the list, and certainly some chemotherapy ones, as examples. These types of drugs could be classified as those that get a different reimbursement rate, while those that are not life-saving get a different one. That way, only those that offer some form of 'real' treatment for a 'real' problem are fully paid for, while those that just 'help' a symptom are not. A second and probably not so popular guideline, would be to cap the lawsuits that are brought against doctors and insurers. Let's face it, if you're not a lawyer, you'd probably agree with the general attitude most people have toward lawyers. Why is it that someone always has to pay when someone gets hurt, only with the lawyers getting most of it anyway. When it comes down to it, lawsuits have been a big reason for the rising costs of health care. Just ask a doctor why his or her premiums are so high. Some doctors don't want to practice in some states because their premiums have sored so high with their specialty. Lawsuits have made only one profession richer - lawyers. And lastly, make a mandate that every person be given a physical exam to determine their level of health and fitness (subject to certain criteria, of course). Those who are healthy would pay less for health care, while those who are not pay more. Aren't those who are healthy now essentially footing a portion of the bill for those who aren't? Ok, we aren't a heartless society that doesn't help those less fortunate, but in some way there needs to be incentive or some sort of mandate for healthy living. Be it employer programs that require 1 hour a day 3 times a week for exercise, or a specific diet implementation - even if it's just required fruit and vegetable consumption - that can be followed, and where real results can be measured...that may make a big difference.

Bottom line: Don't wait for some government reform to make life better for you, no matter what the issue. Take charge and responsibility, as you have Unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. It is in your best interest to pursue a life of health and fitness.

The Health & Wellness Institute

Support your diet with Medifast Meal Plan.

While a diet pill seems to make weight loss sound so easy, it doesn't go without dangerous side effects. A diet and meal plan like Medifast that has a healthy balance of calories and nutrition is a better choice over dangerous drugs. Every drug company strives to find the 'golden pill' for weight loss - one that is effective in helping dieters lose weight, without dangerous side effects. The only side effect of Medifast is weight loss and better health, if followed properly. And if you know anything about drugs, there are always side effects, otherwise known as unwanted effects. One of the highest profiled diet drugs is being pulled off the shelves. Accomplia may see it's last pills in circulation soon as the maker has pulled it in Europe.

You may have heard the saying when it comes to doctors, do no harm, yet this isn't the case when prescribing Accomplia because of the psychiatric side effects that have been seen in too many patients. Even one doctor claims that the side effects are outweighed by the potential benefits.

OBESE PATIENTS in the Republic have lost a potentially useful weapon in the fight against the condition. That's the response of consultant endocrinologist Dr Donal O'Shea to the news that the anti-obesity drug Acomplia - used by about 3,000 people in Ireland - was being temporarily taken off the European market by manufacturer Sanofi-aventis because of a risk of psychiatric side effects. Read more...

It's too bad that more research isn't done on ways to motivate individuals to live healthier, including a healthy diet and regular exercise. It's hard to develop a pill that can be sold for that purpose. According to Bloomberg.com --

Drugmakers from New York to Tokyo have been searching for weight-loss treatments as the world's 1 billion overweight and obese people face greater risk of heart attacks, strokes and diabetes. Companies developing obesity medicines may struggle to find partners to share costs and sales as the products become more of a regulatory gamble, analysts said. Read more...

Bottom line: The only possibility for a pill to hit the market that has any benefit to weight loss is if it's one that effects the body on the genetic or chromosone level. This is just an opinion, but based on the hundreds of studies done on ways to combat obesity, it seems to be the case. The way to effectively combat the obesity epidemic is to promote, teach, educate, motivate, and provide incentive to individuals to strive for optimal health and fitness. This would result in lower health problems and medical bills, and decrease the cost of health care in every country. It may force food makers to change their menus and products, but it would be for the greater good. Or, we can just let things go as they are and let someone else 'figure it out' and come up with a way to take care of what is essentially each individual's own responsibility. But I don't think so.

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.

In this update from the American Dietetic Association that includes current trends with diet and nutrition, there are 3 categories of dieters. While those using Medifast may be active in trying to achieve a healthy weight, it is important to know that a healthy lifestyle involves more than just a healthy diet. Nonetheless, there are 3 general categories of people when it comes to dieting -- 1) those who are doing it; 2) those who aren't doing it but know they should; and 3) those who don't want to be bothered with any info on what they should or shouldn't be doing.  The number 2 group probably lacks motivation either to get started or to stick with a healthy diet plan and lifestyle, while the number 3 group it's safe to say just doesn't care. The number 3 groupl may suffer from either lost hope, lack of goals and/or purpose, and possibly coupled with lack of motivation - afterall, how many people do you know that are all motivated to get something more out of their life but just end up chasing their tail!? Here's more as reported on ScienceDaily.com --

ScienceDaily (Nov. 6, 2008) — Increasing numbers of American adults are aware of the importance of nutrition and physical activity and are taking steps to eat a healthy diet and engage in exercise, according to the American Dietetic Association's nationwide consumer opinion survey, Nutrition and You: Trends 2008.

In each ADA survey since 1991, ADA has used respondents' answers to a number of different questions to segment consumers into three groups representing people's overall attitudes toward maintaining a healthy diet and getting regular exercise:

I'm Already Doing It: Consumers who feel that maintaining a healthy diet and regular exercise are very important; are concerned about diet, nutrition and overall fitness; and feel they are doing all they can to eat a healthy diet.

I Know I Should: Consumers who feel that maintaining a healthy diet and regular exercise are very important, but may not have taken significant actions to do all they can to eat a healthy diet.

Don't Bother Me: People who do not feel diet and exercise are very important to them and are the least concerned with their overall nutrition and fitness. read more...

Bottom line: One of the easiest things to do if you have trouble sticking to a diet plan or just getting started, is to take it one simple step at a time. If you were going to climb a mountain and you had never been climbing before, you certainly wouldn't expect to climb it in the first day, or even the first week of setting out to accomplish your goal. While weight loss and fitness isn't climbing a mountain, it does require preparation, education, training, tools, and a manageable plan. Afterall, you're going to want health and fitness for the rest of your life...don't you? One simple change that creates at least some positive results is the best way to boost what little motivation you may have, in order to fuel your drive to continue on. This is why the first step(s) in any diet or weight loss plan are very critical to your success - you want to minimize the risk of failing. The Vice Busting Diet Plans are laid out in such a way that maximizes your chance for weight loss, fitness, and a permanently healthy lifestyle, because it takes into consideration human nature! That is - 1) that change is not always easy; 2) changing your overall lifestyle is not something most people can conceive doing; and 3) success needs to come quickly, otherwise the notion is that failure is setting in. For this reason, the steps to The Vice Busting Diet Plans are meant to be easy, gradual, and provide the feeling of success for each step made (and there are 26 steps in all!), and eventually the 'look' of success - weight loss and fitness - comes about too. So don't be in group #2 or #3. Take care of yourself, your body - it's the only one you have!

The Health & Wellness Institute

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.

If you jump on a 'diet' that is recommended by someone in Hollywood, you may be risking some negative consequences. One thing about Medifast is it's not a craze, but a meal plan that is balanced and will help you get to a healthy weight. When it comes to fad diets and fitness crazes, all it takes is one celebrity to give it the thumbs up and people are quick to jump on board. You don't have that worry with Medifast, because it's just boring enough that you won't hear a celebrity mention it, but it's still exciting enough based on the results so many have gotten.

When it comes to fad diets, just look at what Beyonce Knowles did for the maple syrup diet. When the bootylicious star needed to shed some pounds for her role in the movie Dreamgirls, she eschewed meals for the potent mix of maple and palm tree sap, mixed with water, lemon juice and cayenne pepper. Otherwise known as the master cleanse, the plan promises weight loss of a stone in 10 days. Beyonce followed the plan for 14 days and lost a staggering 22 pounds.

The revelation sparked a worldwide trend; only while we were rioting in health shop aisles, she decided to publically denounce it. I would not recommend it if someone wasn't doing a movie, because there are other ways to lose weight," she said.

Actress Liz Hurley follows a similar diet plan, only she omits the maple syrup. It's called the Starvation Diet. The Austin Powers star once candidly admitted to eating almost nothing to stay trim.

"I maintain my figure by eating very little breakfast, not too much lunch," she said, "then only tiny little snacks in the day. But really boring snacks like a banana or six raisins. "The only meal I have is dinner. I'm on a good old-fashioned low calorie diet -- I'm going to bed hungry."

Rachel Zoe, the stylist blamed for spearheading the size zero look in Hollywood, made a similar revelation when asked about her typical lunch.

BORE

"Truth? I don't," she answered bluntly. "I'm not a lady who lunches; it's a lull in the day. When I'm on downtime, like on vacation, I take care of myself. But when it's me working on my own, it's 7pm and I've had coffee and a grapefruit."  It's certainly more interesting than Gwyneth Paltrow's diet, though, which could bore the best of us to tears.

The Academy award-winning actress avoids dairy, sugar, white flour and alcohol. She also follows a macrobiotic diet and practices yoga everyday. (If everyone did this there wouldn't be an obesity epidemic!)

Still, at least she's being honest. There's nothing worst than an emaciated starlet telling an interviewer that she's "addicted to junk food" as she swallows three whole French fries for added effect. Celebrity trainer Gunnar Peterson, who has trained Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lopez and Penelope Cruz, once revealed how disingenuous celebrities about their diet and fitness regimes.

"I had one actress training with me four times a week in addition to daily exercise bike classes. When the press asked how she'd 'transformed' her body, she said: 'Oh, I do yoga and hike with my dog'. It makes me laugh." 

The truth is, almost all celebrities diet and work out excessively. Furthermore, almost all celebrities follow fad diets and fitness crazes. Almost all celebrities will use the help of whatever dietary aid they can get their hands on. It's just they'd prefer we didn't know; they'd like us to think that they're blessed with a naturally slender physique, a figure that comes sans starving, purging or pumping.

Unfortunately it sets an unreachable touchstone, particularly for their more impressionable fans. It's a bit like that friend who shakes her head vigorously (while simultaneously pulling out her newly loosened waist band) when you tell her that she's lost weight.

Diets in celebrity land are a smoke and mirrors production. Sudden weight loss is pawned off as "just a rilly, rilly high metabolism"; "stress" is a euphemism for "starving" while "work exhaustion" is what's otherwise known as borderline anorexia. (More here...)

Bottom line: Follow what common sense would tell you to eat (and do!) - that is, plenty of fruits and vegetables, regular exercise, and add some supplements to support good health. There is no 'secret' about losing weight and getting fit. The celebrities have no 'secret' either...other than some don't want you to know they're bulemic, or have had lipo, or do dangerous drugs to suppress their appetite. You don't need any crazy formula for losing weight. You need to find what motivates you, and stick to a healthy plan. One that will not only make you look good, but feel good, healthy.

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.