10 Stay FAT Holiday Diet Tips

If you want to slim down while you laugh it up, you've just got to tune into my yesterday's interview on VividLife Radio. A full hour of the best weight loss and wellness wisdom ever, peppered with laughs, giggles and chortles.

One of the best of the gleeful chuckles occurred when we were talking about my infamous and most popular Beliefnet special gallery post "What's Your Stay Fat Strategy?"

Sometimes, people have to see the picture of failure before they can be motivated toward success!

Tongue-in-cheek style, today, Our Lady of Weight Loss and Janice Taylor (that's me) give to you ...

"10 Stay Fat Holiday Diet Tips"
that are guaranteed to help you succeed in NOT losing weight!!!

1. GO HUNGRY! Studies show that we eat faster and more when we are hungry, so if you've got a party or an event to go to, go hungry!

2. SUPER-SIZE! The bigger your portion, the better. Seriously folks, this could be your last supper!

3. EAT FAST! It takes twenty minutes for the brain and the stomach to communicate with each other, sending the "I am Full" signal. Those first twenty minutes are prime eating time. Take advantage of them.

4. STAND! There's no point in sitting down and eating like a 'lady' or 'gentleman.' Whether you are standing, walking, running or sitting, it doesn't matter, as long as you keep on eating!

5. DO THE HALF THING! Eat Half of the Pie. Half of the Turkey. Half of the Ham. Half of the Stuffing Casserole. Save the other half for later!

6. DRINK! Alcohol is known to lower one's inhibitions. So drink, loosen up, and have yourself a ball!

7. THE FORK TRICK! Instead of dipping the fork in the salad dressing and then into the salad, load your fork with a nice hefty couple of pieces of lettuce and then dip it in the dressing until it is drenched in heavy oil!

8. COVET thy neighbor's food. Always check out your friends' and neighbor's plates. See what they are eating and need be, pick off their plates!

9. ANYTHING CHOCOLATE! Chocolate can act as a mood booster. Happy, Happy, Happy!

10. LEFTOVERS! Makes sure that you save some of the leftovers for a late night snack. You definitely want to end your happy stay fat evening on a fat note!

Weight Loss Sabotage: Eating "Light" Foods

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When you go grocery shopping, you'll see a plethora of "light" packaged foods. From crackers to chips to salad dressing to beverages, many people trying to lose weight pack these items into their carts so they can feel good about eating healthier versions of the foods they crave. The problem is, these foods actually end up being just as unhealthy, but in a slightly different way. Companies can't just remove the fat or lower the number of calories without affecting the flavor. To compensate, they add extra sugar, sodium, additives, or chemicals. Or in the case of these Light Lays, they add fake fat (Olestra), which is believed to interfere with the body's absorption of important vitamins, and can cause diarrhea.

Light foods are just bad news, so it's OK to embrace real food that contains real fat. According to Women's Health, "many nutritionists recommend eating full-fat food in smaller portions to lose or maintain weight." Balance is the key. Enjoy the foods you love — like steak, French fries, and ice cream — in moderation, and don't get obsessed and go on a fat-free diet. Our bodies need certain types of fat in order to function normally, and they also help satiate your hunger longer, so you avoid overeating. Be a label reader and give foods made with healthy fats such as olive oil, nuts, and fish the green light. Limit the amount of saturated fat you consume by opting for lean meat and nonfat dairy products, and completely avoid trans fat, including hydrogenated oil. Only 20 to 35 percent of your diet should include fat, so shoot for 44 to 77 grams of fat a day (for a 2,000-calorie diet).

Extreme diets: Life on 800 calories a day

Her death made headlines around the world: Samantha Clowe, a 34-year-old British woman, died suddenly this fall from a previously undiagnosed heart condition. At the time of her death, Clowe was following a plan called LighterLife, a very low-calorie diet designed to help obese and severely obese patients lose weight.

She was consuming 530 calories a day.

"Samantha came to LighterLife with a BMI of 37, weighing more than 17 stone [238 pounds]," says a spokesperson for the company. "Although she managed to lose 3 stone [42 pounds], her health may have already been compromised." An inquest determined that Clowe most likely died from cardiac arrhythmia but could not determine what role, if any, Clowe's diet played in the development of her condition, only that her death "may be related to her low calorie diet and weight loss."

Very low-calorie diets have been used to help obese and severely obese patients lose weight for more than two decades. "Next to bariatric surgery, nothing is more effective for weight loss than a VLCD, including pills and other diets," says Dr. John Hernried, medical director for OTC Medical Weight Loss Group, a weight-loss clinic in California.

But the diet "is not indicated for someone who wants to lose 10 pounds." Most programs screen potential participants to ensure they are psychologically and medically stable enough to begin the process.

Free Monthly Weight Loss Surgery Seminar in Georgetown

Thursday, October 08 2009, 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Start time: 6 p.m.
End time: 7 p.m.

Date: Oct. 8
Location: St. David’s Georgetown Hospital, 3 South Administrative Conference Room, 2000 Scenic Drive, Georgetown, TX 78626
Contact person and number: 478-3627

Event title

Free Monthly Weight Loss Surgery Seminar in Georgetown

Date

Oct. 8

Time

6 to 7 p.m.

Location

St. David’s Georgetown Hospital, 3 South Administrative Conference Room, 2000 Scenic Drive, Georgetown, TX 78626

Details

St. David’s Georgetown Hospital is offering a free monthly weight loss surgery seminar for the public. The seminar is designed for those who are preparing for weight loss surgery or need more information and options to change their lifestyles.

A Central Texas Bariatrics physician will lead presentations pertaining to weight loss surgery options.

Interested participants are encouraged to make reservations to attend. To reserve your spot at the next seminar please call 478-3627.

Bottled water is available at every seminar. There is free parking in the front lot of the hospital campus or next to the Emergency Room.
Location: St. David’s Georgetown Hospital, 3 South Administrative Conference Room, 2000 Scenic Drive, Georgetown, TX 78626
Contact: 478-3627 or www.stdavids.com

Weight Loss Helps Sleep Apnea

Participation in an intensive lifestyle intervention can lead to significant and clinically relevant improvements in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) among older obese patients with diabetes, researchers report.

The study randomised 260 overweight patients (average age 61) with type 2 diabetes and OSA (average apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), 23 events per hour) to an intensive lifestyle intervention using restricted caloric intake and moderate exercise, or to a series of three group sessions on diabetes management (control group).

At 1 year follow-up the intensive-intervention patients had lost significantly more weight (10.8 kg vs 0.6 kg; P < .001) and showed a significant improvement in sleep apnea.

Compared to the control group, they had an adjusted decrease in AHI of 9.7 (2.0) events per hour (P<.001). At 1 year, more than three times as many participants in this group had total remission of their OSA, and the prevalence of severe OSA was half that of the control group.

The greatest benefit was observed in men, in participants with more severe OSA at baseline, and in participants who lost the most weight.

The researchers said the increase in AHI over 1 year in participants who were weight stable suggests that OSA is a rapidly progressing syndrome that will worsen without treatment. However, they cautioned that the results should not be generalised to younger patients, to patients without type 2 diabetes, or to patients with milder degrees of OSA.

50-Pound Weight Loss Just a Click Away

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Picture yourself 10, 20, 30 or even 50 pounds lighter. It might be hard to imagine and standing in front of a funhouse mirror or looking at pictures of a slimmer you from years ago just doesn't cut it.

Now there's a way to see yourself with less weight in minutes, thanks to a Web site that instantly drops pounds from your uploaded image.

Weight Mirror is motivation for people struggling to drop some excess weight. The only exercise you have to do is a simple rep of point, click and drag.

You can even add pounds to yourself in an instant, perhaps motivation stay slim and it's kind of fun to see what you might look like with enhanced (or reduced) body parts.

Unsolicited Online Weight Loss Sponsored by High Street Chemists

Controversial weight drug Alli (no relation) has been criticised for its ready availability on the web without prescription or professional advice.

More worryingly, people with eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia say they’re able to buy Alli on the internet from respected chemists like Boots.

The drug stops the body from absorbing fat but claims to work in tandem with a healthy diet and exercise.

On the boots website I was able to obtain Alli simply by lying about my BMI which was the only measure they employed to obstruct users of a (sub) healthy weight.

Boots say every order placed online is checked by a pharmacist and rejected if the patient or application doesn’t meet the right criteria and claim to turn away between eight to 10 per cent of orders of Alli.

But people with eating disorders are shrewd enough to lie about their BMI and would rather deal with a household name than buy Alli from a bootleg pharmacist or some back-street dealer.

Manufacturers GlaxoSmithKline say they worked closely with the profession to put checks in place to stop vulnerable people and those with eating disorders getting hold of the drug.

Experts believe unsolicited use of the pills could cause the patient to become mentally addicited to them which could make an eating disorder worse. As the patient is unregistered as having taken them, intervention is less likely.

Susan Ringwood, chief executive of Beating Eating Disorders (BEAT) said: “We thought by having the pharmacist involved it was one of the ways companies could guarantee the safety of this drug.”

“We were really concerned when people started to contact us saying they could get Alli online, because we simply didn’t know it was possible to do that.”