TotalHealth Magazine

1. Eat protein at every meal, including breakfast.
2. Eliminate wheat- and flour-based products for the time being. And yes, that definitely includes bread and pasta.
3. Eliminate “food products.” Ninety percent of what you eat should be food that could have been hunted, caught, gathered from the ground, plucked from a tree or grown.

Can stress cause weight gain? The short answer is "yes." This is one of the many topics covered in the User's Guide to Weight-Loss Supplements (Basic Health Publications User's Guide paperback) and the discussion there explores one of the reasons that weight loss programs often fail. In a 1986 Dutch study, men who experienced many life events in a short period of time — one definition of stress — gained weight. This study also showed the importance of identifying and treating the problem (stress) rather than the symptom (weight gain). In these men the excessive weight had disappeared in almost all subgroups a year later. The exception was the subgroup that had tried to lose weight by dieting. The men who had dieted had gained yet more weight.

Dear Pharmacist,

I take four different medications for blood pressure in the morning. The labels all say, “Take once daily.” Is that the best way to take them? I only ask because I bought a blood pressure monitor and I test myself, and my blood pressure is great all day and rises by nightfall.

You are about to discover the key to effective and lasting weight loss is not dieting or deprivation, but rather eliminating excessive hunger and increasing the feelings of pleasure and satisfaction from food. The Hunger Free Forever program provides a near effortless program for safe, effective, and lifelong weight control that has evolved from major scientific discoveries we have made in the field of appetite regulation. Our discoveries have been effectively applied in community weight-loss programs conducted over the past few years on hundreds of people. This simple approach allows you to reach and easily maintain your body weight goals utilizing exciting new scientific breakthroughs to normalize your appetite and consistently enjoy a high degree of satiety from the food you eat.

In a Duke University study researchers found that Splenda may not be as healthy as previously thought, and may instead cause weight gain, kill beneficial intestinal bacteria and block the absorption of prescription drugs.

Solving the Mystery of the Multivitamin Part III

This article is the third in the series begun with “Solving the Mystery of the Multivitamin” and continued with “The Special Nutritional Needs of Women.” Here it is observed again you do not need to believe “men are from Mars, women are from Venus” in order to accept that men and women have different nutritional needs. Men lead in eight of the top ten causes of death in the United States. As it is often remarked, because men are more reluctant than women to seek medical care, when they do so, their illnesses typically have advanced to a more serious degree. It would seem that men, even more than women, would do well to adopt defensive measures to preserve their health. However, men should not depend on the supplements used by their wives or women friends. Some preventative measures are strictly gender-specific. The following suggestions are designed to help men take charge of their health while the ball is still in their court.

Obesity has gone prime time. We Find evidence of its presence where ever we look: in every neighborhood, every mall, every school and every workplace. Hardly a day goes by without the news reporting on some aspect of the looming obesity crisis. However, the epidemic is not confined to just the wealthy developed world. Even desperately poor countries such as Nigeria and Uganda are wrestling with the dilemma of obesity. China, which was once one of the world’s leanest countries, is not immune. In fact, it has one of the fastest-growing obesity rates in the world and one quarter of its urban youth is presently overweight. It is projected that by 2015, 200 million Chinese will be not just obese, but morbidly obese. The looming obesity epidemic is sending chills through the global community. Worldwide, more than 1.3 billion people are overweight, whereas only 800 million are underweight—and these statistics are diverging rapidly.

You don’t need to believe that “men are from Mars, women are from Venus” in order to accept that men and women have different nutritional needs. Men lead in eight of the top ten causes of death in the United States. As is often observed, because men are more reluctant than women to seek medical care, when they do so, their illnesses typically have advanced to a more serious degree. It would seem that men, even more than women, would do well to adopt defensive measures to preserve their health. Women are not only the fairer sex, but when it comes to health, they are in general, also savvier. However, men should not depend on the supplements used by their wives or women friends. Some preventative measures are strictly gender-specific. For example, whereas calcium and iron are good for women, these minerals may not be good supplement choices for men.

Addressing the external influences on the rise of childhood obesity: Breastfeeding, Home Environment and Toddler Nutrition

The steady rise of obesity rates in America’s children should be a wakeup call for everyone, especially parents. Yet, it seems that those who should take the strongest course of action consistently ignore this growing epidemic. In a time when external factors make it more and more difficult to raise healthy children, it is important to recognize the environmental and nutritional aspects associated with childhood obesity. The common claim that, “he’s just big-boned” can only rationalize a child’s unhealthy weight so much. At some point parents need to look beyond genetics.

In case you think that headline is an unwarranted scare tactic, I didn't make it up.

I borrowed it from an article published in the Houston Chronicle. They got their information from the researchers at the University of Texas San Antonio, who did a study of middle-aged adults who drink soft drinks. Are you ready for this?

Do you drink diet soft drinks, in the hopes it will diminish the circumference of your waistline? Forget it. The study monitored the weight and soda-drinking habits of over 600 normal weight adults, aged 25 - 64. After following the participants for eight years, they discovered that diet soda drinkers were 65 percent more likely to be overweight (with just one soda per day), and two or more calorie-reduced drinks raised the odds of becoming obese or overweight even higher.