ThinStick

7 Simple Strategies to Help You Stick With Your Plan

2011-07-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

by JJ Virgin
Hey let’s face it, a weight loss plan only works…if you work it. And there are a lot of challenges along the way that can throw you off if you let them. Here are some of my top “stick” strategies to help you stay on the plan long enough so that it becomes your new way of living. After all, if you live, think and feel like a healthy lean person you will become one over time.

Get a clear picture of the result you are going for by taking a picture of your favorite celeb body out there and pasting your head on it. Put a copy of these everywhere – keep on in your purse, put one on the frig, etc. You have to see it to believe it!
Make lateral shifts – trade your peanut butter for almond butter, your wheat pasta for rice pasta, your milk for coconut milk (unsweetened of course), your morning whey smoothie for a pea-rice blend, your butter for olive oil.
Add before you take away – add more veggies, your morning smoothie, iced green tea between meals and you will crowd out the foods you shouldn’t be having.

Focus on what you can have and experiment with new foods in this category. The best place to do this is at your local farmer’s market – check out arugula, mache, pomegranate, kale, cashew butter, coconut milk kefir, quinoa pasta….you’ll forget all about the foods you are eliminating.
Focus on how much better you feel. Take an initial assessment of your overall wellness: gas & bloating, fatigue, excess fat, skin issues, focus & mental clarity, pain & inflammation, sleep quality, cravings and mood. Reassess weekly to check your progress. Quite often we forget how rotten we felt when we start to feel better!
Create negative associations to help you break free from unhealthy food choices. I know what happens when I eat foods that I react to and that has created a major negative association for me. I just don’t look at cheesecake or sourdough bread as favorably anymore as I know I will pay for it later and it just isn’t worth it.
Build in rewards to celebrate your success along the way. Plan to treat yourself to something special when you hit your short and long term goals. Be sure these are NOT food rewards! Some great ideas are a mani-pedi, a massage, a new journal etc.

JJ Recommends

Walnut Lentil Salad

As you may know, I am a Paleo Gal - I believe we should eat clean lean animal protein along with healthy fats, non starchy veggies and a small amount of “slow, low” carbs. While I don’t subscribe to Veganism, there are some great recipes we can grab from the Vegan world that help deliciously increase our veggie intake. I hope you enjoy this one from my new pal, the vegan expert, Alex Jamieson, CHHC, AADP. Author of Vegan Cooking For Dummies, Living Vegan For Dummies & The Great American Detox Diet
Walnut Lentil Salad
1 ½ cups cooked brown lentils, cooled and drained
¼ cup sliced green onions, green part only
1 cup packed thinly sliced baby spinach
½ cup halved cherry tomatoes
8 kalamata olives, pitted and roughly chopped
¼ cup chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic or umeboshi vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 clove garlic, crushed
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

In a large mixing bowl, combine the lentils, green onions, spinach, tomatoes, olives, and walnuts. Mix well with a wooden spoon and set aside.
In a small mixing bowl, combine the oil, vinegar, mustard, rosemary, garlic, salt, and pepper and whisk together. Pour over the lentil salad and mix well.
Allow the salad to set at room temperature for at least 20 minutes, stirring a few times before serving. Alternatively, refrigerate in an airtight container for at least and hour hours before serving.

*Refrigerates for up to 3 days for picnics and lunch leftovers!

By Alexandra Jamieson, Plant-Based Wellness Expert
www.DeliciousVitality.com

©2011 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Nutrition and Fitness Expert JJ Virgin is a the author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy and the co-star of TLC’s Freaky Eaters reality series. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to grab her free audio: Top Ten Hottest Tips to Get Slim and Sexy Fast

Easy Grilled Vegetable Marinade

2011-07-05T16:19:00.000-07:00

It's BBQ time! One thing I particularly love to do is grill vegetables. Here is an easy "go-to" marinade that can be used on all sorts of vegetables including: asparagus, broccoli, zucchini, mushrooms, peppers, onions etc...

Ingredients:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 water
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder (or 1 clove grated fresh garlic)
1 tsp ginger powder (or 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger)

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and pour over vegetable of your choice. Make sure the veggies are cleaned and prepped before marinating. Allow to soak for about 30 minutes for optimal flavor absorption. Grill on bbq, make sure to rotate/flip the veggies as needed. When tender, remove from grill and enjoy!

Taco Salad Recipe

2011-07-01T16:03:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef
1 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning mix + water as directed
1/2 (14.5 ounce) package tortilla chips
2 cups shredded Pepper Jack cheese
1/2 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
1/2 cup light Best Foods® Mayo
1 tsp Tabasco® Sauce
chopped tomato
chopped lettuce
chopped green onion

Directions

Place ground beef in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring to crumble until well done; drain. Stir in taco seasoning mix, water and kidney beans. Set aside to cool.
Place chips into a large bowl, and crush into bite-size pieces. Combine with seasoned meat, cheese, beans, tomatoes, lettuce, and green onions. Top with mayo and Tabasco, and toss to coat. (The Tabasco mayo makes a surprisingly flavorful dressing) Enjoy!

Photo courtesy Allrecipes.com

Are You Eating Propylene Glycol?

2011-06-29T15:37:00.000-07:00

by JJ Virgin

You eat organic food whenever possible, you drink filtered water, you use environmentally healthy cleaning products and you wash your hair and moisturize your body with …. Phthalates, parabens, gluten, hydrogenated oils and GMO’s? I hate to break it to you but even some of the most well known products out there claiming to be organic and safe may still contain harmful chemicals that can increase your body burden of toxins. Just the bottles alone are often doing the product in by adding harmful plasticizers and xenoestrogens into your product.
Remember your skin is a sieve, if you are washing with it or slathering it on your skin, you are effectively eating it. When you think about it that way, it makes you really re-evaluate the products you are using! I did a fascinating interview with a toxicity expert, Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis* and she went into detail about what we are getting in our personal care products (and guess what, just because you spent a lot of money on those products doesn’t mean they are organic or safe).
She recommended we all go check out the info on the environmental working group’s website (http://ewg.org) where they have compiled the list of products and their safety ratings. I was dismayed to find out that my favorite mascara didn’t make the grade (some of the top brands even had mercury in them) nor did my lipstick.
Turns out many lipsticks and lip balms contain propylene glycol. And while toxicology reports show that this substance (used also as anti-freeze) poses no health risks (or so they say) at minute amounts, consider that over the course of a year you EAT (yep, eat) over 10 pounds of lipstick. Then combine this with the other chemicals you are getting in your shampoo, conditioner, Brazilian Blowout (I knew that was too good to be true- can you say silicone!), moisturizer, eye cream….etc.etc. and guess what, Houston, we could have a problem here because these chemicals all get absorbed into your skin and then your body has to handle them. And one of the top places to store these toxins is in your fat cells. Dr. Angelo Tremblay showed that rats with higher toxic burdens actually had 30% lower metabolisms!
Hey, there’s no way around it, we live in an increasingly toxic world. So we have to control what we can control by reducing our toxic burden in every way possible while improving our daily detoxification. I realized recently after spending an enlightening evening with a skin care products expert, Jama Russano, that I was getting toxic exposure in places I wasn’t even thinking about! So you will start to see me talk more about this in the coming weeks AND I will also be giving you amazing skin & hair care alternatives that will support your quest for optimal health. For now I want you to become aware of what is in what you are currently using and make that decision to extend your healthy habits to your beauty regimen as well!
Here are a few of the things that SHOULDN’T be in your personal care products or the containers that are transporting them: artificial colorings & fragrances, benzene, bisphenol A, dimethicone, EDTA, formaldehyde, gluten, GMO’s, hydrogenated oils, mineral oil, parabens, petrolatum, plastics, phthalates, PVC’s, PEG’s(1,4-dioxane), propylene glycol, silicates, silicones, sodium lauryl sulfates, wheat, triethanolamine.
So just like we have you read the labels in the grocery store, start checking out the labels in the drug store and beauty counters and insist on organic, non toxic products just like you do for your food!
*you can grab this enlightening (okay and a bit disturbing) interview free here: Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis

©2011 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Nutrition and Fitness Expert JJ Virgin is a the author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy and the co-star of TLC’s Freaky Eaters reality series. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to grab her free audio: Top Ten Hottest Tips to Get Slim and Sexy Fast

Oh-So-Refreshing Blended Watermelon!

2011-06-21T10:17:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:
1-2 Cups Watermelon, seeded and chunked
5 or 6 ice cubes
1 Tablespoon sugar, or a sprinkle of Truvia
Splash of fresh Lime Juice
1 mint leaf (1 additional for garnish, if desired)
1 Packet ThinStick™

Directions:
Blend all ingredients in blender, adding ice to reach your desired consistency. Enjoy a satisfying, refreshing and hydrating beverage! :)

Frozen Hot Chocolate

2011-06-18T08:49:00.000-07:00

Now, I know that this is not a "healthy treat". However, if you are going to splurge once in a while, might as well get filled up so that you don't need to snack on anything else!

Ingredients

3 oz. chocolate pieces ( I like Trader Joe's Belgium Dark Chocolate)
1 Tablespoon hot chocolate mix
1 Tablespoons sugar or 1 packet Truvia
1 1/2 cups milk, used in two parts (skim or almond, if you don't want to go too overboard!)

3 cups ice
1 packet ThinStick™
Whipped cream (optional)

Directions

Break the chocolate pieces into smaller chunks and put in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in microwave in 20 second intervals, stirring in between, until melted. Once melted, add the hot chocolate mix and sugar. Stir until combined. Slowly add ½ cup of milk until smooth. Cool to room temperature.

In a blender, place the remaining cup of milk, the room-temperature chocolate mixture, ThinStick™ and the ice. Blend on high speed until smooth. Pour into a large glass and top with whipped cream (optional).

Cilantro Smoothie?... Really!!

2011-06-14T10:44:00.000-07:00

Why Cilantro?
Recent research shows that consumption of significant amounts of cilantro can accelerate the excretion of heavy metals like mercury, lead and aluminum from the body. Research performed by Dr Omura found that fresh cilantro removes these heavy metals from the body in less than two weeks. He also discovered that patients had fewer colds and flu symptoms after removing the heavy metals. It seems that viruses and bacteria like to accumulate in organs contaminated by heavy metals.

Ingredients:

1 cup milk (almond works well)
1 cup mango
1 cup cilantro
8-12 strawberries
4 dates
1 packet ThinStick™
1 cup +/- Ice cubes

Source: http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/cilantro-chelation-therapy-heavy-metal-detox.html

Reality Bites: Lessons from TLC’s Freaky Eaters

2011-06-10T19:19:00.000-07:00

By JJ Virgin

Not a day goes by where someone doesn’t share with me their food or drink “habit” and ask me if they are a “Freaky Eater”. By our show’s definition, a freaky eater is someone who has taken an eating habit to the extreme and it is damaging their health, their relationships and their finances. They are quite often in denial about it, they hide their habit and they are powerless to stop. While it is unlikely that your “habit” has reached that magnitude (if it has, we are casting for Season 3!) but I believe that nearly everyone has a bit of a freaky eating habit that could be keeping them from being their very best.
Fortunately you can use the same format that we have created on the show to turn around the toughest of cases in a week or less. These are people who have been struggling for years, sometimes even decades and if they can do it, you definitely can….that is, if you want to.
It all starts with acknowledgment. You need to come clean that there is a behavior/habit that you would like to change. By the way this can apply to staying up to late, skipping your workouts, etc. but for now we are going to focus on food. Let’s say that you have the bad habit of snacking at night.
Start a food journal so you can capture exactly what and how much you are eating at night. By doing this you can really see the magnitude of what you are doing. If you are eating a few extra hundred calories each night, and most likely these are the worst type of calories – refined carb and sugar calories, this can undermine everything you are doing as it is telling your body to store fat all night long and those extra calories gotta go somewhere. Look at what this behavior is doing to your overall health - is it stopping you from being as lean, energetic and vibrant as you could be? Is it getting in the way of your relationship (how about quitting the snacking and spending some cuddle time with your spouse instead?) Are you wasting money on these treats? It all adds up and you need to take a hard look at what you are really doing to yourself.
Next set up a course of action. On the show there are two strategies we employ here. First we add before we take away. I would make sure that you are eating enough at your 3 meals so that you aren’t hungry at night. I would add a glass of water as it was shown in a University of Chicago study that an 8 ounce glass of water shut down 100% of midnight hunger pangs. Then we use lateral shifts. Quite often this means replacing a less healthy food with a healthier option like replacing ice cream with Greek-style yogurt topped with berries and sliced almonds. However it can also mean replacing a bad habit with an incompatible one. For example, instead of reaching for a snack, go relax in a hot bath with a great book.
Figure out what will work for you here and lay out your action steps to make it happen. Start easy, don’t give yourself more than three things to do and make sure that they are things you can have success with.
Get support while you are changing your habit. You need to accountable to someone. The going might get a little rough during the transition and if you can call a friend or a coach and get talked down it can help ensure your success. By the way, we have set up special one month coaching programs for this very reason (link here) so if you don’t have a friend you feel comfortable discussing this with, we are here to help. You will probably find that you not only have a friend who will help, he or she will probably want the favor returned so they can break their own “freaky food habit”.

What to do with that left-over broccoli?...

2011-06-06T19:21:00.000-07:00

...Blend it in to your morning smoothie!!

Ingredients:

1 cup of frozen blueberries
1/2 cup of steamed broccoli
1 cup of 100 percent cranberry juice
1/2 cup of low-fat plain yogurt
1 packet ThinStick™ or 2 scoops ThinStick Shake
ice cubes, as desired
For additional antioxidants, blend in some strawberries or other fresh berries you may have

Combine all ingredients in your blender and enjoy!

Put Your Fork Down!

2011-06-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

Simple Strategies to Help You Eat Less Effortlessly
by JJ Virgin

Dashboard dining, TV dinners, movie munching – let’s face it, we are becoming a society of mindless eaters which can wreak havoc on our waistlines. The good news is that you can build simple eating behavior strategies into your lifestyle that can help you easily eat 20% without even noticing the loss (except on the scale that is).
Remember too much healthy food is still unhealthy. Calories do count, of course where they come from counts most so while I am telling you to shrink your plate and slow it down, I am always going to emphasize loading up with non starchy veggies.
Strategy #1: Learn from the French Women: stop eating when you are no longer hungry RATHER than continuing to eat until you are full.   And since it takes 20 minutes or more for us to register being full anyway it is easy to overeat if we are racing through our meals.
Strategy #2: Dine with slowpokes and pace your eating to theirs. I am a notoriously fast eater and this strategy along with reminder myself to CHEW and put my fork down during bites has helped slow me down tremendously.
Strategy #3:   Shrink your plate. Turns out our dinner plates have been getting bigger (yep supersizing is happening on the home front too). So shift over to the salad plates and soup bowls. My only exception is for salad greens and steamed veggies – load up on these!
Strategy #4: Serve the right amount of food (live by my balanced plate of clean lean protein, healthy fats, a rainbow of non starchy veggies and a small amount of high fiber, low glycemic starchy carbs) and then pack up the rest BEFORE you start eating. The only additional food that should be at the table are (you guessed it) non starchy veggies.
Strategy #5:   Drink up, between meals. Quite often we are mistaking hunger for thirst so crank up the pure spring water and green tea between meals. Carry a safe drinking bottle with you so you can track your amounts because what you measure you can improve.
Strategy #6: Get the enemy out of the house, the glove box, the office….out of sight = out of mind.
Strategy #7: Know your numbers. More and more restaurants are posting calories now but the studies still show people aren’t paying attention and tend to UNDERESTIMATE the calorie load of their meals on an average of 25% especially if they perceive the meal to be “healthy”. It’s easy for the calories to crank up with “secret sauces”, hidden sugars and damaged fats and these are the type of calories that make you better at storing fat and creating inflammation so read the labels and know what you are getting.
Be proactive with your eating strategies, it’s much less painful than having to fix the damage that mindless eating can wreak after the fact.

©2011 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Nutrition and Fitness Expert JJ Virgin is a the author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy and the co-star of TLC’s Freaky Eaters reality series. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to grab her free audio: Top Ten Hottest Tips to Get Slim and Sexy Fast

Easy Grilled Ginger-ale Chicken

2011-05-25T08:41:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:
1 cup Ginger Ale
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
2 cloves garlic crushed or grated
2 Chicken Breasts

Directions:
Place chicken breasts in a sealable plastic bag. Pour remaining ingredients over top. Allow mixture to marinate for the day in the refrigerator. (Can be prepared as soon as two hours before grill time) Grill Chicken on your BBQ like normal, no extra sauces or spices needed during grilling. If you are cooking this chicken inside in a skillet or wok, you may want to slice the chicken into strips before you marinade.

Serve with some fresh steamed or grilled vegetables and whole grain rice. I also like to include a serving of Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce for the chicken and vegetables. :)

Decadent Chocolate Recovery Smoothie

2011-05-21T08:05:00.000-07:00

This smoothie is great to drink after an intense workout. The protein/sugar balance helps your muscles repair and recover faster. Enjoy! It's not only good for you, it tastes good and will keep you full for hours!

Ingredients:
(Serves 2)

2 cup of milk
2 tablespoons chocolate syrup
1/2 teaspoon dry chocolate pudding mix
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 banana
1 cups ice
2 scoops ThinStick Shake or 1 packet ThinStick

ThinStick Testimonial

2011-05-13T09:23:00.000-07:00

"Thin stick is the best supplement I have used to decrease patient's hunger I have seen nothing work better to stop night-time snacking. For patients who snack, Thin Stick is the answer. It stops hunger, period. My patients have the hardest time after dinner, sitting in front of the TV, snacking on bad food in the house. Thin Stick STOPS these cravings. Diet and exercise must be used in any weight loss protocol, and Thin Stick must be used for anyone who has snack cravings. If you don't want to be hungry for 4 hours, take a Thin Stick!"

Dr Jared Skowron - Senior Naturopathic Physician

Tart Cherry Smoothie

2011-05-06T07:49:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:
1 cup Frozen Raspberries

1 cup Tart (unsweetened) Cherry Juice
1 Banana
2 scoops Thinstick Shake™ or 1 packet ThinStick™
1 cup ice

Directions:
Add to blenger in order listed above, blend on high power until smoothie churns over by itself or until smooth. Enjoy!

*Note- we have no endorsement, but we have tried Lakewood's and it was really good! ;)

Could Your Belly Be Making You Fat?

2011-04-28T13:30:00.000-07:00

by JJ Virgin

I bet you will agree that there is nothing worse than feeling gassy and bloated but what you might not realize is this could be a symptom of bigger things going down in your gastrointestinal tract that could be making you gain or hold onto fat, crave the very foods that are hurting you and zap your energy. If you are struggling with joint pain, fatigue, brain fog/mood swings, skin issues, constipation and/or diarrhea, congestion or gas/bloating, read on, I have some simple tips that could make all of the difference!

Try eliminating the most common culprits – believe it or not, some of those “healthy foods” could be hurting you as they are higher in potential sensitivities AND these intolerances grow when you eat something on a regular basis. Try pulling dairy, soy, gluten, corn, peanuts, yeast and sugars/artificial sweeteners from your diet for 21 days and track your symptoms, you will be amazed! And yes, there is still plenty left to eat – think raw nuts & seeds, a rainbow of veggies, low glycemic fruits and clean, lean protein which is what your diet should focus on anyway, ahem.
Take time to digest well. Repeat after me, no more mindless eating, no more dashboard dining, no more_______ (fill in the blanks). Make time for your meals, slow down, put your fork down between bites and don’t overload the fluids (which dilutes your stomach enzymes) during the meal. I have found digestive enzymes to be a lifesaver here as well.
Search, find and destroy and kill….microbes, yeast and parasites. Gut bacterial overgrowth can extract more calories from the food you eat and store it as fat, yeast overgrowth can wipe out your energy and make you crave carbs like crazy and parasites can send you running to the bathroom. If you suspect this, work with your integrative health practitioner to clear things up. I also recommend a daily dose of garlic to keep things in check. I have been using Kyolic Aged Garlic Digestion Formula 102.
Build your defenses. Add a daily probiotic to help rebuild your gut flora and boost your gut immune system through high quality whey protein (if you aren’t dairy sensitive) and saccharomyces boulardii.
Cool things off. Help reduce your gut and overall inflammation by making an oil change and getting in wild fish 3-4 times a week and supplementing with a balanced essential fatty acid product that contains EPA, DHA and GLA. Freshly ground flaxseed meal mixed with applesauce is very gut soothing and healing and makes a wonderful afternoon snack.

These tips are from my brand new 7 Step Gut Healing program to help you break through your weight loss resistance and claim the energy, vitality and body of your dreams! If you would like to be one of the first to experience this program, watch your inbox for how you can get this as a special bonus in May!

©2011 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Nutrition and Fitness Expert JJ Virgin is a the author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy and the co-star of TLC’s Freaky Eaters reality series. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to grab her free audio: Top Ten Hottest Tips to Get Slim and Sexy Fast

Pineapple Pleasure

2011-04-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

Pineapple is a great source of vitamin C, B1 and smaller amounts of B2, B3, B5 and B6. It is also an loaded with manganese, copper, magnesium, potassium, beta-carotene, folic acid, and dietary fiber.
A unique feature of pineapple is it's Bromelain contents. Bromelain has the special ability to help our body balance and neutralize fluids so that it's neither too alkaline nor too acidic.

Bromelain is a protein-digesting enzyme which also reduces inflammation and swelling. People who suffer from aches and pains, drink up! Drinking pineapple juice after a meaty meal helps your bodies digestion, as the protein-digesting enzymes help do the extra work of digesting for you.

As pineapple juice has an anti-inflammatory effect, it can can be beneficial for people who suffer from Gout, arthritis, and recent injuries or surgeries. Drinking pineapple juice also reduces the soreness and redness in the throat.

Eat it fresh: A few hours before you plan to eat the pineapple, cut off the crown and then turn the fruit upside down on a plate and leave in the fridge. The sweeter juice at the bottom of the pineapple will be nicely distributed throughout the entire fruit when turned over!

Pineapple Smoothie- Combine the following ingredients:
1 cup fresh pineapple (cubed)
1 cup light coconut milk
2 scoops ThinStick™ Shake, or 1 packet ThinStick™
7+ ice cubes (to desired consistency)

Blend until smooth, enjoy!

Pineapple fact information source: Juicing-for-health.com

Have you checked out this Blog?

2011-04-20T19:23:00.000-07:00

Here is an excerpt from one of our favorite bloggers. We thought this was very relevant to our customers so we wanted to share it. By the way, Elizabeth Somer also writes a bi-weekly nutrition-alert that is full of wonderful information. Please follow the link to see her full blog.

I am trying to lose weight. Should I stick to 3 meals a day? Sally in Tacoma, WA

Probably not. In an effort to stem the tide, we often resort to the very eating habits that aggravate weight gain, such as limiting our food intake to two or three meals each day. Instead the research shows that we might be better off eating more often, not less.
Researchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health report that women who divided their food intakes into several little meals and snacks throughout the day were leaner with less body fat than were women who ate the same calories, but packed them into two or three big meals.
The benefits of dividing your intake into several small meals and snacks each day extend beyond your waistline. Nibbling lowers blood cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and insulin levels, and improves insulin sensitivity. The trickle down effect on health is a lowered risk of diabetes, heart disease (the number one health concern for postmenopausal women), and possibly even cancers of the colon and breast.
But giving the green light to snacking doesn’t mean a license to binge on junk. Snack on watermelon, berries, baby carrots, and other colorful fruits and vegetables. Or, open a bag of Fresh Express lettuce, add some dried fruit and red onions for a filling salad snack.
Finally, eating breakfast and eating at consistent times each day also curbs hunger and prevents overeating later in the day. For example, researchers at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee found that women who ate breakfast had an easier time controlling cravings and consumed less fat throughout the day compared to breakfast skippers. Keep it simple: Have a Seneca Farms Oatmeal & Fruit Cup (takes 45 seconds in the microwave) along with a glass of Tropicana Orange Juice and tub of low-fat yogurt.

Read more on her blog....

Blackberry Melon Smoothie

2011-04-14T07:54:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

1/2 cup watermelon
1/2 cup honeydew melon
1/2 cup cantaloupe
1/2 cup blackberries
2 handfuls of spinach
1 banana
1/2 cup water
1 cup ice
2 scoops ThinStick™ Shake or 1 packet ThinStick™

Summer is approaching and it's a perfect time to start fortifying your diet with much needed antioxidants and vitamins from fresh melons and berries. One reason we really like this smoothie is because you will have enough remaining fruit, if you chop your melons all up at once and store in refrigerator, for additional smoothies and to add as sides to meals. In essence, one morning of chopping and preparing will prepare you for many meals to follow!

Enjoy!

Obesity is Catching

2011-04-13T10:56:00.000-07:00

Obesity is infectious, you get it from your friends,

according to research from Harvard University. The
researchers reported back in 2007 that if someone’s
friend is overweight, that person’s chances of
becoming obese increases by more than half. This
might explain why the same researchers recently
found that obesity, which now plagues a third of all
Americans, will rise to 42% of the nation in the next
few years. A mathematical model for four decades
of data from the long-running Framingham Study
was used to investigate the probability of becoming
obese and its causes. Since 1971, a person’s
contact with friends who are overweight or obese
has increased dramatically. Using this model, the
researchers found that an American adult has a
2% chance of becoming obese in any given year
and each obese social contact increases the risk of
obesity by 0.5% per year. Unfortunately, befriending
lean friends does not appear to have the opposite
effect of helping a person lose weight. “You can’t
really catch healthiness,” states Alison Hill, lead
researcher on the study. But, it appears that excess
body fat is very catching!

In Perspective: As of January 2010,
68% of Americans are overweight with BMIs of 25
or more (the equivalent of being 5’5” and weighing
150 pounds), according to U.S. Government
researchers. That excess poundage increases a
person’s risk for heart disease, diabetes, hypertension,
cancer, vision loss, suppressed immune
function, dementia, depression, infertility and sexual
dysfunction, arthritis, shortened life expectancy, and
much, much more.

Article from: Nutrition-Alert.com

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Green Banana Smoothie

2011-04-07T08:27:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

2 bananas
1 apple
1/4 of a cucumber, peeled if not a seedless or "English cucumber"
1 cup spinach
2 scoops ThinStick™ Shake or 1 packet Thinstick
1/2 cup peach puree or juice
1 cup water
6 or 7 ice cubes

Blend all ingredients in a high power blender until smooth, enjoy!

Is the Recession Making You Fat?

2011-04-05T14:16:00.000-07:00

Five Things You Can DO to Recession Proof Your Health Right Now!
by JJ Virgin

With the economic downturn showing no end in sight…the unemployment rates climbing… those who have jobs working more and earning less…a general feeling of lack of control…the one certainty is higher stress levels for all. You may be noticing that you are craving more sugar and carbs, you feel like you are on overdrive and you can’t turn it off at night so your sleep suffers (and your sex drive, forget about it!), you are "tired yet wired" and your overall fatigue means your workouts suffer if you manage to find time to workout at all and you are noticing your stress meter (read your waistline) is expanding even if you aren’t eating more (in fact you might even be eating less, so not fair).

If you are letting the recession stress you out, then that stress is making you fat!
Yep, STRESS can make you fat, look and feel older than your years and lose your sex drive. Your adrenal glands produce two hormones, DHEA and cortisol. When you are under stress, your adrenal glands shift from producing optimal levels of DHEA to produce more cortisol to deal with the crisis. Over time , you can’t keep up with the demand and cortisol starts to decrease as well. Lower DHEA means that your body can’t burn fat as well and can lead to lower levels of testosterone, which reduces your ability to build muscle and impacts your sex drive. High cortisol raises blood sugar, increases sugar and carb cravings, makes you anxious, breaks down muscle and can cause you to lay down fat around your waistline and worst yet, raises the ‘setpoint’ at which you can burn off that fat. When you exhaust your adrenals from long term chronic stress, you can’t produce as much cortisol anymore. This lower cortisol sends your body goes &ld quo;famine physiology” where it lowers your metabolic rate and conserves energy making it darn near impossible to lose weight AND if you try to do so by drastically lowering your caloric intake and over-exercising (if you are even able to get moving at this point) you just get worse.
RECCESSION PROOF YOUR LIFE STYLE!
Thankfully, I have some solutions that you can deploy NOW to start digging out of this metabolic black hole that are also fiscally sound as well! So no excuses, quit whining and get into action, the responsibility to turn things around begins with each of us!
Sleep! Turn off your deluxe cable package, pare down to the basics to keep your phone and wireless working and skip the TV programs at night and go to bed earlier. The single biggest way to help your adrenals is by getting 7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night. Can't sleep? Be sure you "power down" an hour before bed (yes, shut the computer off), get in a hot bath with some Epsom salts and baking soda and read a good (but not great) book.
Eat Real Food! That processed, packaged chemical cuisine is not only not your best choice for your health but also more expensive. Get back to basics with real food-lots of nonstarchy veggies, chicken, etc and hit the local farmer’s market for great bargains on produce that is grown locally and is in season.
Toss the Water Bottles! Repeat after me, reduce my carbon footprint, reduce my carbon footprint...so getting rid of those plastic water bottles helps the environment and can help lower your overall toxic burden. Travel with your safe stainless steel drinking bottle and you will save a fortune on bottled water too. (hint, the hotel gyms are a great place to fill up!)
Fit Fitness In! Dump the gym and hit the park and grab some natural vitamin D (i.e. sunshine) along the way. Run the stairs, jump rope, do a parcourse, chase your kids, sprint with your dog, climb a mountain, the opportunities to move and challenge your body are endless, just walk outside!
Lose the Latte and Go Green! I tallied up my Starbucks bill and realized I could feed a family in a third world country with what I am spending there. While I am not willing to stop my Starbucks experience (I simply love them calling my name and handing over my venti cup of heaven), I have made the change to a green tea instead. My venti green tea costs less than half of what a deluxe coffee drink does AND It benefits your health as well. Green tea boosts your metabolism, supports healthy adrenals due to its theanine content and is rich in antioxidants. Plus I can fill it back up with hot water and get another whole cup!

©2011 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Nutrition and Fitness Expert JJ Virgin is a the author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy and the co-star of TLC’s Freaky Eaters reality series. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to grab her free audio: Top Ten Hottest Tips to Get Slim and Sexy Fast

TIPS FOR EASY USE

2011-03-30T09:16:00.000-07:00

Plan ThinStick into your day: What time of day do you normally get hungry? Is it mid-morning? Drink a beverage mixed with ThinStick about an hour before the clock strikes your hunger time. Put it on your calendar or in your Blackberry for the same time every day so you’re prepared. See how surprised you are when 1:30 p.m. rolls around and you not only did not get hungry mid-morning, but you’re not even ready for lunch!

On the go: Instead of wishing you’d brought some ThinStick along, put a week’s worth in your purse or backpack every Sunday night. You’ll be ready for a craving-free week!

Frothy fun: For the smoothest drink, use one of those little coffee frothers in your glass, or a cocktail shaker. Your ThinStick break will be frothier than ever.

Sustained slimming: ThinStick works best when used twice a day. If you drink a Thinstick Shake with breakfast and before lunch, you’ll notice you’re free of the usual between-meal hunger and you’ll eat less at meals without feeling deprived.

Learn more at thinstick.com

Cranberry Madness Smoothie

2011-03-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

1 cup of frozen cranberries
1 pear
1 cup spinach
3-4 mint leaves
1 banana
1 cup of coconut water
1 cup of ice
2 scoops ThinStick™ Shake or one packet ThinStick™

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend til smooth. Fill up your thermos and enjoy your morning of antioxidant rich delightfulness!

Stress – Our New Epidemic

2011-03-17T16:57:00.001-07:00

by Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP

In recent years, the word stress has taken on negative connotations, but from your body’s point of view, stress means any type of demand or challenge that requires the body to expend extra energy. Getting up out of your chair and moving across the room is a minor stressor because it requires more effort than remaining seated. Mobilizing energy and focusing on any given activity – getting dressed, playing with children or even preparing dinner causes your body to expend energy – and it’s an essential part of living. But our stress response was never meant to be a permanent condition.
In today’s world women are just inundated with stress - stress that doesn’t let up. Careers, relationships, kids, parents, the constant flow of electronic information, environmental stressors, hormone shifts, chronic health issues and even changes in our diets all add up to a heavy stress load on our bodies and minds. We’re all familiar with what causes stress, but what we aren’t so familiar with is our body’s response to this stress and the ways in which the stress we face today ends up depleting our energy and affecting our health.

Sometimes we are also acting out the effects of historical stress: reactions to present-day events that are made more difficult or intense because of our past experiences.

Do you find yourself unable to slow down during the day – feeling the need to keep up a pace which seemingly gets faster ever day? Do you lie awake at night physically exhausted but mind racing? Do you wake every morning feeling overwhelmed and exhausted? Do you struggle through your days feeling forgetful, depressed, tired and irritable? Do you reach for caffeine to jump start you at the beginning of your day or keep you going through the day? Do you crave sweets during the day? Are you losing muscle mass and gaining fat? Do you get frequent headaches?

If you answered yes to some or all of these questions, you aren’t alone! Thousands of women experience these same feelings every day. And getting more sleep just isn’t the answer. You may be experiencing adrenal dysfunction.
You may not think much about your adrenals, but they are crucial to your health, mood and well-being. Our adrenals are walnut-sized glands located on top of each kidney. These glands serve as important manufacturing centers for many of the body’s hormones. The innermost section of each gland produces adrenaline and noradrenaline. The layers outside the center, called the adrenal cortex, produce other hormones, including cortisol, DHEA, progesterone, estrogen and testosterone.
Cortisol is a great hormone which converts fats and proteins into energy, calibrates our heartbeat, balances electrolytes, keeps us alert and counteracts inflammation.

Under ordinary circumstances our adrenals are designed to give us bursts of strength from the little burst of energy that is needed to wake us up in the morning to the stimulating hormones that keep us alert, awake and focused throughout the day. Ideally as evening comes, our adrenal production is supposed to steadily decline and allow us to relax and eventually sleep.

When we experience a stressful situation like an unexpected crisis at work, or a car accident, your adrenal glands pull all your body’s resources together into the ‘flight or fight’ mode by increasing the production of adrenaline and cortisol. These instantaneously increase your blood pressure and heart rate, sharpen your senses, release your energy stores for use, and shut down digestion and other secondary functions. This is exactly what your body should be doing. But it shouldn’t be doing it for very long. When chronic stress repeatedly forces our adrenal glands to continually produce high levels of cortisol, the adrenals slow down in their ability to regulate your other hormones. And the continual flood of cortisol may start to damage healthy tissue.

Women with adrenal dysfunction often have trouble in a wide variety of ways: sex-hormone imbalances, thyroid abnormalities, blood sugar dysregulation, fibromyalgia anxiety, depression, cardiovascular issues, inability to concentrate, poor memory or poor immune function.

Stress just isn't uncomfortable and unpleasant - it can actually be dangerous. Numerous studies have linked chronic stress to such life threatening conditions as heart disease, diabetes, as well as migraines, thyroid abnormalities, digestive disorders and backache. Stress has also been linked to a variety of autoimmune disorders (sometimes making them worse or sometimes setting them off) such as Crohn's disease, lupus, asthma, multiple sclerosis and Hashimoto's thyroiditis. It makes sense that stress is dangerous because none of our body's systems operate in isolation. There is a lot of cross talk between all our systems, including adrenals, sex-hormones, thyroid, gut and brain.

Although men and women have the same basic biology, when it comes to adrenal function, I sometimes think that women carry an extra burden. Women often put other's needs before our own - both at home and at work. Women also may have more than their fair share of trouble saying 'no’, setting limits and taking time for themselves. This is something I always encourage my patients to be aware of - and to try to make changes accordingly. Mothers may also have an additional layer of stress. Child rearing has many demands that may not let up until your children are college age or even beyond! While caring for others is important, so is taking care of yourself!

If you think you may have adrenal dysfunction the first step is to have a full physical exam to rule out any serious underlying conditions which may be causing your symptoms. The good news is that once you have identified adrenal dysfunction as your condition, you can address all your symptoms and heal the underlying problem that is causing them. You can change your diet, adjust your lifestyle, and reprogram the emotional patterns which are stressing you out.

Marcelle Pick, author of The Core Balance Diet, earned a B.S. in Nursing and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of New Hampshire and an M.S. in Nursing from Boston College–Harvard Medical School. Certified as nurse practitioner for both OB/GYN and pediatrics, Pick has served as medical advisor to Healthy Living Magazine. She also writes a bi-monthly newsletter for WomentoWomen.com. Her radio show, Core Balance for Women’s Health, airs weekly on Hay House Radio.

Apple Raspberry

2011-03-16T20:14:00.000-07:00

The raspberry and apple balance the flavor of the calcium rich kale. This smoothie not only tastes good, it is super nutritious!

1 apple
1 cup of raspberries
Large slice of your favorite melon, skin removed
1 big leaf of kale (stem removed)
1 handful of spinach
Juice of 1 lemon (omit if using with Thinstick)™
1 banana
3/4 cup of water
10 +/- large ice cubes
1 packet ThinStick™ or 2 Scoops ThinStick™ Shake

Artichoke Chicken Salad

2011-03-08T19:29:00.000-08:00

Servings: 2
Prep Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:
1 can (12 oz - I prefer Costco brand) white meat chicken chunks, drained
1 can (14 oz) artichoke hearts in water, drained and course chopped
1 English cucumber, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 Tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, shredded or minced
Salt and Pepper to taste

Combine above ingredients and drizzle with 1/3 cup Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing. Serve over a bed of lettuce and enjoy!

What Could I Have Not Eaten Today?

2011-03-07T18:59:00.001-08:00

What Could I Have Not Eaten Today?

I remember it so vividly – I was in Las Vegas watching Zumanity (a very strange Cirque du Soleil show, not my fave) totally mesmorized by the amazing bodies. I turned to my friend and said, “I keep wondering…what I could have not eaten today?” Of course if you are like me and hey, we are like everyone, the minute you start thinking of taking things away, of deprivation, it makes you want it even more! So I have reframed this question to say, what do I need to make sure that I eat and drink today so that my energy is steady, my mood is upbeat, I am de-aging and burning off fat.
I am the co-star of TLC’s reality series, Freaky Eaters. These people are obsessed with a particular food (this season it’s cheesy potatoes, French fries, meat, cornstarch, ice cream bars and maple syrup) and they don’t eat other things. We have successfully turned even the toughest cases around by adding in new foods rather than focusing on taking away their obsession. These healthier choices then naturally crowd out the bad obsession.
So what do you need to make sure you eat today? I was thinking about it, and I have some definite things that I make sure I do daily no matter where in the country I happen to be. Here are some of the items I include in my daily diet to keep me at my peak:

A green drink – I use Evolution Fresh Essential Greens if I am in Cal or AZ, otherwise I carry a powdered green drink with me

A glass of red wine :)

An ounce of dark chocolate – I go for raw whenever I can find it

A few cups of green tea

Coconut milk – I use unsweetened organic So Delicious brand in my smoothie

My vegan protein powder with extra fiber blended in (usually flax or chia seeds)

Organic berries (usually tossed into my smoothie)

As many non-starchy veggies as I can get in!

Clean lean protein at each meal and wild cold water fish at least 3 times a week

Black beans or lentils

Phase 2 carb blockers (I use the Natrol brand) – these are in my purse at all times!

Emergen-C 1-2 packets

I have been taping Season 2 of Freaky Eaters for the past 2 ½ months and it has been pretty grueling. If I wasn’t a stickler about getting in these superfoods on a regular basis (along with my 7-9 hours of sleep and regular HARD exercise like my 4X4 workout) I would have never been able to keep this pace up. It is what you do on a daily basis that makes the big difference to your energy, your body composition and your overall health so be sure you are creating your own customized health roadmap that incorporates healthy options every day.
You will notice a major difference even with the smallest of changes.

©2010 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Nutrition and Fitness Expert JJ Virgin is a the author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy and the co-star of TLC’s Freaky Eaters reality series. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to grab her free audio: Top Ten Hottest Tips to Get Slim and Sexy Fast

Drink Your Greens!

2011-03-01T11:01:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

1 cup of frozen cranberries
1 apple (peeled)
1 pear
2 leaves of collard greens
1 bunch of mixed baby greens
3-4 mint leaves
1 banana
1 cup of coconut water
1 cup of ice
2 Scoops ThinStick™ Shake

Berry Yummy Smoothie!

2011-02-23T10:00:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:

1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup strawberries
1/2 cup blackberries
1 medium carrot
1 cup milk
1 cup pomegranat seeds
2 cups ice
2 scoops ThinkStick™ Shake

Servings: 2

The 10 Most Common Diet Myths

2011-02-21T11:12:00.000-08:00

Let’s set the record straight on a few diet misconceptions.

1. Skip Breakfast, Lose Weight: People who
skip breakfast may cut back on calories at first, but
once they start eating later in the day, they don’t
stop and end up consuming more food and calories
between noon and bedtime than do people who took
time to eat a nutritious breakfast.

2. Don’t Snack: Contrary to many dieter’s
beliefs, snacking is a dieter’s friend. People who
don’t snack or who let more than four or five hours
go between meals are more likely to overeat later
in the day, and store fat more easily than do people
who nibble regularly. Spreading your food intake
evenly throughout the day doesn’t mean adding
more food to your current diet. It means taking what
you already eat and distributing it more evenly. For
example, save half the turkey sandwich from lunch
for a mid-afternoon snack.

3. Salad is Diet Food: Crispy greens, crunchy
carrots, and luscious winter pears are a weightwatcher’s
dream. However, salad dressing is the
number one source of fat in women’s diets, which
attests to the confusion over what is really a healthful
salad and what is a fat-laden disaster. Skip the
crispy chicken, cheese, croutons, and mayo, too.

4. Calories Don’t Count When You Eat Standing
Up: Unconscious nibbling is a dieter’s bane.
You’re better off deciding what you want to eat, then
putting a serving on a plate. That way you get the
full range of information on how much you’re eating
and are less likely to overdo it. That means no nibbling
from the container, at the serving platter, while
cooking, or off the kids’ or your spouse’s plates!

5. A Portion is My Customary Serving: An
official serving for a muffin is about 1-1/2 ounces.
Most commercial muffins weigh closer to 6 ounces,
or four servings of grain. A recommended serving of
meat is 3 ounces, but a typical serving, say a deli
turkey sandwich contains up to 16 ounces of meat,
or 5+ servings! Use a scale and measuring cups
to learn correct portions.

6. Margarine Contains Less Fat Than Butter:
Whether it’s olive oil, margarine or butter, all fats
contain 40 calories per teaspoon. Some of the “diet”
margarines are whipped with water, which cuts the
fat and lowers the calories.

7. Dieting Is the Best Way to Lose Weight: As
long as “diet” implies a short-term effort, it’s doomed
to fail. A life-long commitment to low-fat foods and
regular physical activity is the only solution to weight
management.

8. Potatoes and Breads Are Fattening: Just
the opposite, carbohydrate-rich foods should be the
mainstay of all diets. But, avoid their high-fat friends,
butter, cream cheese, and sour cream.

9. Chicken Has Less Fat Than Beef: Yes and no.
A skinless chicken thigh contains more than twice
as much fat as an equal serving of an eye of round
roast. Skinless chicken breast is a low-fat alternative
to beef, as long as it is prepared without fat.

10. If You Are Thinking About Food, You Must
be Hungry: Thirst, boredom, fatigue, anxiety and
avoidance of unpleasant tasks (to name only a few)
are often mistaken for hunger. Try drinking a large
glass of water, taking a nap or going for a walk before
heading for the refrigerator.

By Elizabeth Somer
From the Nutrition-Alert Newsletter
Subscribe the the Nutrition-Alert Newsletter

Quit Relying on Willpower

2011-02-18T09:05:00.000-08:00

Quit Relying on Willpower

We make things far too hard on ourselves. Case in point, the other day I was picking up a few things at the grocery store and I bought some dark chocolate covered almonds to bring over to my boyfriend’s house. Unfortunately, they never made it…in fact they didn’t last past the parking lot!
One of the toughest things we try to do is rely on our willpower to keep us from overeating or choosing less than healthy options (although arguably I can certainly make a case for the health benefits of the dark chocolate covered almonds)! Honestly, if we had willpower we wouldn’t be here, we would have perished centuries ago. We were built to feast so that we could survive famines and to seek out sweet and fat to do so.
Fast forward to the 21st century where we not only will never face a famine unless we are a contestant on Survivor, but we also are faced with an abundance of addictive foods on a daily basis. Research shows that visual cues are very powerful which is why Starbucks has those muffins (AKA cupcakes), cookies and scones staring you in the face during your java wait and you are surrounded by candy in the checkout line at the supermarket. And there is more to it than just the visual triggers, it is clear that many of the processed and fast foods contain ingredients that are actually addictive. For example, gluten, the protein found in wheat and several other grains, can exert a morphine like effect on the brain. Casein, from milk protein can also do this. And if you eat the same foods on a consistent diet (the typical American eats dairy, gluten, soy, eggs, corn and peanuts on a daily basis) you can build up a sensitivity to them which crea tes a craving for them as well.
But this, my friend, is just the tip of the iceberg. My specialty is overcoming weight loss resistance and this past year I have been focusing on genetics’ impact on weight loss resistance. One of the areas I find most interesting is that of eating behavior traits. It turns out that many behaviors that we believe are within our control have strong genetic ties including snacking, decreased satiety, increased appetite, sweet tooth, eating disinhibition and increased food desire. Fortunately your genes don’t have to be your destiny and when you identify your genetic tendencies for certain eating behavior traits you can proactively put strategies in place so that you don’t fall victim to them.
For example, one of my clients, Lisa, has eating disinhibition and a sweet tooth. Eating disinhibition is where you overeat in response to a specific stimulus including stress, fatigue or social situations. Lisa ate in response to stress, especially late at night. Her downfall was picking at her kids’ treats after everyone had gone to bed. We built in a small amount of dark chocolate (1-2 ounces) to healthily appease her sweet tooth and found alternative stress busting solutions to that late night stress eating.
I have another client, Jill, who has decreased satiety so we have made sure that at each meal she gets protein and fiber to help slow down stomach emptying and suppress ghrelin which helps her feel fuller longer, a moderate amount of healthy fat to trigger CCK which tells the brain she is full and lots of water and green tea between meals (a glass of water before bed shut down 100% of evening hunger pangs in a study done on dieting and hunger). If that isn’t enough for someone with decreased satiety or increased appetite, I have them use 1-2 ThinSticks a day.
Here are some of my favorite all round defensive strategies that can swing your gene expression in a favorable direction:

Don’t bring the enemy into the house
Find healthier options of the foods you crave – try lateral shifts like trading soda for sparkling water with Emergen-C
Follow the three polite bites rule – eat three polite bites ONLY of the food you crave
Be accountable for what you eat and drink – write it down and report that to a coach
Replace bad habits with incompatible ones – if you always raid the frig late at night go take a hot bath instead
Add before you take away – add in more veggies, up your fiber, start the day with a healthy substantial breakfast….
Don’t confuse hunger with thirst, be sure to get in pure spring water and green tea between meals.

If you have been battling a sweet tooth all of your life, you feel like you are hungrier than you should be, you want to snack all of the time, you think about food all of the time or you reach for food in response to specific stimuli, you may have genetic tendencies at work. But remember your genes don’t have to be your destiny, after all, genes may load the gun but your lifestyle pulls the trigger. Arm yourself with the best proactive ammunition so that you can win the battle of wellness and long term weight loss.

©2010 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Nutrition and Fitness Expert JJ Virgin is a the author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy and the co-star of TLC’s Freaky Eaters reality series. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to grab her free audio: Top Ten Hottest Tips to Get Slim and Sexy Fast

Statistical Results of ThinStick Studies

2011-02-10T11:44:00.000-08:00

Reported in International Journal of Obesity (2000, 2006) and European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2001)

The ingredients in ThinStick™ have been researched in four robust scientific studies conducted in Europe and published in medical journals. These studies have shown the following.

ThinStick™ has an immediate effect. Four and eight hours after consuming ThinStick™:

Subjects reported feeling 30% less hungry
Subjects reported a 25% reduction in their desire to eat and 16% reduction in preoccupation with or thoughts of food.
Women who took ThinStick™ (with yogurt) at breakfast consumed 25-34% less food at subsequent meals, with no compensatory eating for a full 24 hours.

ThinStick is an excellent tool for maintaining weight loss. Study participants completed 8 weeks of a weight loss regimen, then 4 months of weight maintenance. Those who took ThinStick daily during the weight maintenance phase experienced no significant weight gain! In the same 4-month period, control participants (who did not take ThinStick™) gained back 50% of the weight lost.

After 25 weeks of taking ThinStick™, participants reported a reduction in overall feelings of hunger.

View more research results on our website:
http://www.thinstick.com/Thinstick/ThinStick-THINSTICK-SCIENCE.html

Banana Bread ThinStick™ Shake

2011-02-07T09:18:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:

2 scoops ThinStick™ Shake

1 Banana

1/2 Cup Old Fashioned Oatmeal (*prepared)

3/4 Cup Bran Flakes

1 Cup water

1 Cup ice

Sweetener of choice to taste

* Cook oatmeal as directed with water in microwave or stove top, place in refrigerator to cool.

I was amazed to discover that I wasn't hungry

2011-02-05T09:07:00.000-08:00

“At the Institute for Functional Medicine Symposium, I stopped by the Metabolic Maintenance Products booth and was introduced to their new product, ThinStick. As a formerly obese person I am always interested in, yet skeptical of, any kind of "quick fix" when it comes to products for weight loss or weight maintenance. Given the science behind the ingredients in their ThinStick product, I hesitatingly tried the powder and was pleasantly surprised to find it mixed well with water and had almost no taste, then went on with my day.

“Five hours later at a special dinner, I was amazed to discover that I wasn't hungry and wasn't tempted by anything available. I feel ThinStick may be a viable tool to support satiety, assist with portion control, and help manage the food part of a weight loss program.”

- Paula Mendelsohn - Registered Dietitian

Braised Balsamic Chicken

2011-02-01T07:31:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon garlic salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

Directions

Season chicken breasts with ground black pepper and garlic salt. Heat olive oil in a medium skillet, and brown the onion and seasoned chicken breasts.
Pour tomatoes and balsamic vinegar over chicken, and season with basil, oregano, rosemary and thyme. Simmer until chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear, about 15 minutes.

Recipe from Allrecipes.com

Who believes in ThinStick?

2011-01-26T19:23:00.000-08:00

As the leading authority in Weight Loss Resistance, I am always looking for natural ways to give my clients an edge over their appetite. ThinStick appeals to me as it is all natural, food based and scientifically founded. More importantly, it works—it really works! I use ThinStick myself everyday and I have been amazed to find that my mid-morning and mid-afternoon hunger pangs have completely vanished. ThinStick is my secret weapon for overcoming weight loss resistance!

JJ Virgin - Celebrity Health and Nutrition Expert, and the creator of the Weight Loss Resistance Revolution ™

Learn Your Brain Type to Loose Weight

2011-01-24T12:50:00.000-08:00

Dr Daniel Amen

When I first started to do our brain imaging work at the Amen Clinics in 1991 I was looking for the one pattern that was associated with depression, ADD, or bipolar disorder. But as I soon discovered there was clearly not one brain pattern associated with any of these illnesses. They all had multiple types. Of course, I then realized, there will never be just one pattern for depression, because not all depressed people are the same. Some are withdrawn, others are angry and still others are anxious or obsessive.
As we looked at the brains of our overweight patients, we discovered that again there was not one brain pattern associated with being overweight, there were at least 5. We saw patterns associated with brains that tended to be compulsive, some were impulsive, others were sad, and still others anxious, in various combinations.
This is exactly the reason why most diets don’t work. They take a one size fits all approach, which from our brain imaging work makes absolutely no sense at all. The Amen Solution Brain Type Questionnaire will help you know your brain type or types. You can take the quiz at http://amenclinics.com.
Here are the 5 Types:

Brain Type 1 is “The Compulsive Overeater”

People with this type tend to get stuck on the thought of food and feel compulsively driven to eat. They often say that they have no control over food and tend to be night time eaters because they worry and have trouble sleeping.
Compulsive overeaters do best when we find natural ways to increase serotonin. Serotonin is calming to the brain. Physical exercise boosts serotonin as does using certain supplements, such as 5HTP or St. John’s Wort. 5HTP actually has good scientific evidence that it can be helpful for weight loss, and in my experience I have found it to be especially helpful for this type.
One other secret, stop the night time eating after dinner. New research suggests that people who eat late at night tend to gain even more weight than people who eat the same number of calories during the day. I know many people who say that the only time they feel hungry is at night, but that is usually because they have a lot of bad brain habits, like skipping breakfast or going too long between meals.

Brain Type 2 is “The Impulsive Overeater”

People with this type have poor impulse control, they get distracted easily, and just reach for food without thinking.
Impulsive overeating is common among people who have ADD or attention deficit disorder, which has been associated with low dopamine levels in the brain. People with ADD struggle with a short attention span, distractibility, disorganization and impulsivity. Research suggests that having untreated ADD nearly doubles the risk for being overweight. 42% of morbidly obese people, in one study, had ADD. And, without proper treatment, it is nearly impossible for these people to be consistent with any nutrition plan.
My research team and I have published several studies showing that when people with ADD try to concentrate they actually get less activity in the prefrontal cortex, which will cause them to have even less control over their own behavior. For these people, literally, the harder they try to lose weight the worse it gets. Overweight smokers and heavy coffee drinkers also tend to fit this type.
We help impulsive overeaters by boosting dopamine levels in the brain and strengthening the prefrontal cortex. Higher protein, lower carbohydrate diets tend to help, as does exercise and certain stimulating medications or supplements, such as green tea or l-tyrosine.
Any supplement or medicine that calms the brain, such as 5HTP, typically makes this type worse, because it can lower both your worries and your impulse control.

Brain Type 3 is a combination of types 1 and types 2 and is called “The Impulsive-Compulsive Overeater.”

On the surface it seems almost contradictory. How can you be both impulsive and compulsive at the same time? Think of compulsive gamblers. These are people who are compulsively driven to gamble and yet have very little control over their impulses. It is the same with these overeaters. Our scans tend to show too much activity in the attention region of the brain, so people over-think and get stuck on negative thoughts, but they also have too little activity in the prefrontal cortex so they have trouble supervising their own behavior.
People with this type benefit from treatments that increase both serotonin and dopamine, such as exercise with a combination of supplements like 5HTP and green tea.

Brain Type 4 is “The SAD Overeater.”

People with this type overeat to medicate their feelings of sadness and to calm the emotional storms in their brains. They often struggle with depression, low energy, low self-esteem, pain symptoms and they tend to gain weight in winter.
For this type, besides boosting vitamin D when it is low … exercise, fish oil and certain supplements, such as SAMe, can be very helpful to balance the brain, improve your mood, help with energy and decrease pain.

Brain Type 5 is “The Anxious Overeater.”

People with this type medicate their feelings of anxiety with food. GABA often works well to help reduce anxiety.
You can take the test at http://amenclinics.com

©2010 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Nutrition and Fitness Expert JJ Virgin is a the author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy and the co-star of TLC’s Freaky Eaters reality series. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to grab her free audio: Top Ten Hottest Tips to Get Slim and Sexy Fast

Super Easy Smoothie

2011-01-20T09:25:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:
1 cup water
2 scoops ThinStick™ Shake
3/4 cup frozen fruit (peaches, blueberries, strawberries, etc)
1 apple or 1/2 banana
handful of ice cubes

Directions:
Add ingredients in order as listed, blend until smooth!

Servings: 1
Prep time: less than 5 mins

Remembering basic structure like 8 oz of water for 2 scoops Shake and adding 1-2 servings of fruit can help you feel more confident in your smoothie variations using ThinStick™. Just remember to avoid acidic foods like oranges and lemons because these can reduce the effectiveness of ThinStick™.

Peaches and Green!

2011-01-17T13:51:00.000-08:00

Servings: 2 (reduce by half if you just want one smoothie)

Ingredients:
1 apple
1 banana (peeled)
1 Tangelo or Orange or 3 small tangerines (*exclude if incorporating ThinStick into the smoothie)
1 cup Greek Yogurt -or- 2 scoops ThinStick™ Shake
1 cup romaine lettuce, tightly packed
1 cup frozen white peach slices
1/4 cup pomegranate juice or seeds
8-10 ice cubes (more or less as needed to reach desired consistency)

Directions:
Layer ingredients in blender, with orange(if using) and bananas first, then the remaining non-frozen ingredients followed by frozen ingredients on top. We have noticed that adding the frozen ingredients to the top helps prevent the blender from clogging and makes for a more uniform smoothie texture.

*Remember- ThinStick does not work as well when combined with citrus foods or juices. So exclude these items from your recipe, may be substituted with additional apple or additional peaches.

How to Loose Weight

2011-01-12T09:06:00.000-08:00

Be More Active + Eat Less = Loose Weight

Oh, so that's how you do it!?!?! Don't we already know that? We also know small steps we can take to be more active like using the stairs, parking further from work, going on walks or to the gym, etc... But don't you ever notice when you do these things that require more energy, you feel more hungry?!?! That doesn't help much for the whole weight loss equation...

Ok, so I'm more hungry because I had a pretty intense work out this morning... Well, I guess I could make smarter food choices like having an apple with almond butter instead of a bag of chips or granola bar. That was an easy switch and I feel pretty good about it! But, come lunch time I am still super hungry. Now what do I do?

Dun-dada-Duuuhh! Here's where ThinStick™ comes in!!

Finding ways to integrate ThinStick into your meals like having a ThinStick™ Shake for breakfast or adding a ThinStick packet to your morning beverage can help you feel more satisfied throughout the morning. This, in turn, will help you to snack less... Come lunch time (you can't believe it's already lunch time because your stomach isn't even grumbling) you are less tempeted by quick and easy junk food and are able to make another smart food selection. Plus, you have just browsed our blog so you can think of several ways to integrate ThinStick™ into your lunch! Today, you didn't feel like a shake so you made a delicious Orange-Creme fruit dip using a ThinStick™ packet instead.

Flash forward and you can't believe it's already time to eat dinner, you're not even hungry! Regardless, you know you need to get your body some much needed nutrition so you fix up a very healthy dinner with lots of fresh vegetables and lean proteins. You are so proud of yourself for going through the day without caving into to many of the body sabotaging snacks that usually tempt you until you can't resist. You even went to bed without your ritual bedtime snack!

Tomorrow, you are thinking about adding a little more exercise into your routine!

Oranges and Creme Fruit Dip

2011-01-11T09:58:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:
1 cup cottage cheese
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1 tsp orange peel
Drop of Orange Extract (optional)
1 packet ThinStick™ (optional)

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Servings: 2

Directions:
Blend all ingredients together in a blender or food processor until smooth, about 30 seconds.
Spoon into a small bowl and serve with fresh fruit (like strawberries, apples or bananas).

This is a great, high protein snack that will satisfy your hunger and provide much needed nutrients to get you through the afternoon lull. :)

*For people who are watching calories, using low-fat cottage cheese and light, low-fat yogurt will significantly reduce total calories.

What's It Going to Take America?!

2011-01-05T18:24:00.000-08:00

The latest statistics on obesity in America are frightening. While just 13% of the population was obese in the 1960s, today one in three are obese, an almost 26% increase since 2007 alone. That is 2.4 million more Americans tumbling into the obese category in the past two years. Almost 45% have abdominal obesity, defined as a waist size of 35 inches or more in women and 40 inches or more in men. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of US States where at least 30% of the adult population is obese has tripled to nine. Ten years ago, no state had an obesity prevalence this high. CDC Director, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden says, “Over the past several decades, obesity has increased faster than anyone could have imagined it would.”

Americans also are in serious denial about the problem. Being fat has become normal, so many people don’t even realize there are overweight. In a Harris Survey, people gave their heights and weights, which then were calculated to obtain body mass index (BMI) scores. A third of those in the overweight category thought they were normal size, while 70% of those classified as obese thought they were simply overweight. Among the morbidly obese, almost 60% toned down their opinion of how dangerously fat they were, while another 39% considered themselves merely overweight. Interestingly, about half of obese people don’t think they are eating the wrong foods and only 27% of morbidly obese people think they eat more than they should. (In case you are doubtful of what constitutes obesity it is a BMI of 30 or more. For example, a 5’4” woman weighing at least 174 pounds, or a 5’10” man who weighs at least 209 pounds would fit this description.)

Being overweight undermines mental and physical health and life quality in general. Even a few extra pounds hinders function of cells that line blood vessels, increasing the risk for hypertension and atherosclerosis. Serious weight problems are a time bomb for disaster, increasing a person’s risk for heart disease, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, dementia, arthritis, vision loss, depression, infertility, suppressed immunity, shortened life expectancy, cancer, and much more. Chubby little girls begin puberty as early as age 7- or 8-years-old, increasing their risk for breast cancer down the road. In addition, as weight has increased, the number of healthy days each year that Americans lose because of weight has doubled, with many overweight people adding an additional 24 days of sick time to their already illness-prone lives.

At this rate, obesity will break the back of the healthcare system with its enormous burden of disease and disability, lost work time, and strain on almost every industry. More people are working fewer years and need more social support. Public facilities and transportation must be redesigned to accommodate heavier people with more health problems who also can’t walk or climb stairs, let alone fit into airplane seats or public toilet stalls. What’s it going to take America to put down the doughnuts and pick up the gym membership?! The obesity issue is no longer just an individual matter. It is a social issue that will require the same efforts as were taken with tobacco. Taxes on junk food, public service announcements, increased social incentives to walk, more recess and P.E. time in schools, insurance companies that pay for prevention, as well as increased deductibles for people with high BMIs are all being considered.
Elizabeth Somer, M.A.,R.D.

No More Resolutions!

2011-01-01T09:37:00.001-08:00

by JJ Virgin

Making resolutions is like deciding to start your diet on Monday. Sunday becomes a total free for all of debauchery in preparation for the austerity. When you know that you are going to “start a diet, join the gym, start going to bed earlier” come January 1, it gives you permission to live it up as much as possible before then.
We don’t change overnight, we change over time by incorporating small, simple action steps into our daily life until they become completely habitual. These small steps ultimately and cumulatively add up to big change over time.
So let’s dump the idea of these overwhelming resolutions and instead set an intention that inspires you into taking these action steps. For example, if your intention for 2011 is to lose weight, clearly identify how much weight you want to lose AND what losing this weight will do for you (e.g. boost your confidence, reclaim your wardrobe, improve your dating life, etc.)
Then make a list of simple action steps that will support this goal and build them into your life one by one. Do not add a new one until you have fully incorporated the previous one. Some of my favorite actions steps that will significantly impact weight loss are:

Follow the diet that is based on your genotype (http://jjvirgin.com/fitgenetics)
Set your alarm clock an hour before you need to go to bed to ensure that you power down and get your 7-9 hours of quality sleep
Carry a water bottle around to ensure that you drink 64 ounces or more of pure spring water in between meals
Gradually increase your fiber intake by incorporating raw nuts and seeds, legumes, berries, apples and non starchy veggies into your diet.
Incorporate my new 4X4™ workout into your schedule 3 times a week (get it free at www.jjsfit club.com)
Start the day with a healthy smoothie that includes protein, fiber and healthy fat. Here is the link to my favorite smoothie recipe: http://jjvirgin.com/jjs-favorite-shake/
Increase your non starchy vegetables to get 5-10 servings per day
Build in bliss time daily to help lower those stress hormones
Stop eating 2-3 hours before bedtime. If you habitually snack at this time, replace this with pleasurable non-food activity.
Get the enemy out of the house – if that candy isn’t in the pantry, nightstand table or … glove box, you can’t eat it (or at least not as easily!)

Be sure to keep a journal. Write your intention in big bold letters at the front. Be clear on why you are doing this and what it will do for you. Find a picture of the body you aspire to have and paste your face on it and put it in the book. Record your current action step daily until it becomes truly habitual.
Don’t wait to start this! Do it now and you will be starting the new year already ahead!

JJ Recommends

JJ’s Pumpkin Cheesecake

Crust
3/4 cup crushed graham crackers
3/4 cup ground almonds
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp butter In food processor grind almonds (still slightly chunky – not into fine meal), add all the other ingredients and process together.
Pat this mixture in the bottom of a 10″ springform pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes.
Watch for burning! Allow to cool completely.
Filling
2 – 8oz Neufchatel cheese (low-fat cream cheese)
3 – 8oz cream cheese
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp xylitol
3 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
In a mixer, blend Neufchatel, cream cheese and xylitol until creamy, add eggs one at a time (blending well after each addition), add the pumpkin and blend thoroughly. Should be light and creamy.
Spread over cooled crust and bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, then lower temperature to 300 degrees and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes.
Cool, refrigerate overnight. Serves 16

©2010 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Nutrition and Fitness Expert JJ Virgin is a the author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy and the co-star of TLC’s Freaky Eaters reality series. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to grab her free audio: Top Ten Hottest Tips to Get Slim and Sexy Fast

Vegetarian Black-Eyed Pea Salad

2011-01-01T09:33:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

1 cup dehydrated sun-dried tomatoes
2 (15 ounce) cans black-eyed peas, drained
1/2 small red onion, chopped
1 small green bell pepper, chopped
1 (6 ounce) package crumbled feta cheese
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon honey

Directions

Place sun-dried tomatoes in a small bowl with enough boiling water to cover. Allow to sit 3 minutes, or until softened. Drain, and cut into strips.
In a medium bowl, mix the sun-dried tomatoes, black-eyed peas, onion, bell pepper, and feta.
In a separate bowl, whisk together olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, and honey. Drizzle over the salad, and gently toss to coat. Refrigerate 1 hour before serving.

From AllRecipes.com

Pomegranate Smoothie

2010-12-21T08:31:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Pomegranate Seeds
1/2 cup Frozen Raspberries
1 apple
1 ThinStick™ packet, or 1 scoop ThinStick Powder
6 Ice Cubes
Water or Pomegranate Juice to acheive desired consistency. (Start by adding a small amount and add more as needed to help the smoothie blend)

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a blend, frozen stuff on top, and blend until smooth. Enjoy!

The Naughty List of Holiday Foods

2010-12-20T08:30:00.000-08:00

What are they?
Turkey Skin, Stuffing, Buttery Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Potato Casserole, Pecan Pie, Fancy Finger Foods, Pigs in a Blanket, Potato Pancakes, Caramel Popcorn, Egg Nog, Mixed Drinks, Cakes and Cookies, Milk Chocolate...

Avoid Naughty Holiday Foods

Knowing which foods are naughty is only half the battle. Help yourself resist temptation with these tips:

Engage in conversation to slow the pace of eating
At parties, sit far from the buffet table
Excuse yourself from the dinner table once you’ve had enough to eat
Chew gum to reduce the desire to nibble

Read the Article at WebMD:

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/slideshow-naughty-list-of-holiday-foods?ecd=wnl_wct_121710

Do Calories Really Count?

2010-12-13T11:14:00.001-08:00

by JJ Virgin

It seems like there are two weight loss camps out there – one that holds strictly to calorie counting for weight loss and the other that focuses on limiting or excluding altogether specific food groups for weight loss. I think that the most confusing section in the bookstore is the weight loss/diet section! So who is right?
Calories Count…well sort of
Calories count, but where they come from counts more. The bottom line is too much healthy food is unhealthy. But there is clearly a difference between consuming 1000 calories from clean lean protein, fruits, veggies and nuts versus Twinkies, chips and soda (the latest “convenience store diet fat”). And intuitively, we all know this but we are always searching for a program where we can lose weight and eat what we want and how much we want of it.
Our body isn’t a bank account
There is more to losing weight than merely creating a caloric deficit, especially when you focus on fat loss rather than overall weight loss. Remember, if you lose weight but not fat, or lose fat from your arms and legs but not off your belly, you are not getting healthier and in fact you could actually be hurting yourself and damaging your metabolism even more.
Your body is both a chemistry lab AND a history book
Food is information. It can tell your body to

burn fat or store it
build muscle or burn it
balance blood sugar or send it spinning!

It does this through the hormones that are triggered. This happens due to meal composition, meal size and meal timing. If you overeat, you can trigger a bigger insulin response. If you eat a higher carb diet, especially refined carbs you can trigger a bigger insulin response. If you eat small higher carb meals and snacks every few hours you may cause insulin to rise and stay higher longer than it should. Higher insulin basically locks the doors to the fat cells, causing you to hold onto fat and burn sugar.
Conversely if you go too long without eating, you can raise the stress hormone cortisol which can cause you to break down muscle and store more fat around your waistline. Eat right before bed and you will suppress ghrelin, the hormone produced in the stomach that helps trigger the release of growth hormone as you sleep.
You can’t trade your turkey for the pumpkin pie
An interesting study by Bernard Wolfe showed that when people exchanged some of their carbohydrate calories for protein calories they lowered their LDL cholesterol and triglycerides. So don’t think you can eat what you want as long as you are managing your calories. Treats are treats and should be handled as such. I teach clients to use the “three polite bite rule”. If they are craving something they can have three polite bites of it. In order to avoid eating more of it, don’t bring it into the house and ideally share it with someone who has a really fast fork!
So how many calories of what should you be eating?
You should strive to be eating nutrient dense calories from clean lean protein, healthy fats, non starchy veggies in a rainbow of colors and low glycemic, high fiber starchy carbohydrates and fruit.
Overall caloric needs are determined by your age, sex, activity level, height and weight and will be impacted by your hormones, especially thyroid, insulin and cortisol.
Where your calories should come from – ie how many from protein, fats and carbs is determined by your genotype.
Stanford University completed a study in March 2010 that found that when people ate per their genotype (lower carb or lower fat), they lost 2 ½ times the weight as compared to when they didn’t.
A simple spit test can tell you which genotype you are as well as help you identify any eating behavior traits that may impact your overall success including increased appetite, increased food desire, a sweet tooth and even a dislike of veggies!
If you want to learn more about this go to http://jjvirgin.com/fitgenetics

HOW DOES THINSTICK™ WORK?... and other FAQs

2010-12-08T10:25:00.000-08:00

HOW DOES THINSTICK™ WORK?
ThinStick™ is an all-natural tool to help you stick with your diet! It helps reduce cravings between meals for up to 4-6 hours. ThinStick™ works by triggering the natural appetite control mechanism known as GLP-1. ThinStick’s microstructure delays the digestion of the palm oil in the stomach and small intestine which allows it to pass undigested to the ileum. There, a signaling mechanism known as the Ileal Brake Mechanism signals to the body that it is satiated, and that there is no need to take in more food.

HOW SHOULD I USE THINSTICK™?

Simply add ThinStick™ to a glass of water, low-fat or nonfat milk, coffee, tea or other low-fat beverage or food, such as yogurt. One ThinStick™ with breakfast and another with lunch helps reduce cravings between meals and appetite at subsequent meals, making portion control easier.

ARE THERE ANY LIQUIDS OR FOODS THINSTICK™ DOES NOT WORK WELL WITH?

If a beverage is boiling hot or icy cold, the efficacy of the ingredients is lessened. If adding to hot tea or coffee, let your beverage cool for a couple of moments before adding ThinStick™. High fat foods and acidic beverages are also not advised for ThinStick™ to work its best. The simplest and best way to use ThinStick™ is simply add to water, milk, yogurt or hot but not boiling coffee or tea.

It’s the Temptation Season… Arm Yourself QUICK!

2010-11-28T09:10:00.000-08:00

by Pete Bissonette, Learning Strategies

Delightful treats from a long-time vendor arrived at the office on Monday—the first of many that will tempt our taste buds this holiday season.
The temptation to overindulge in calorie-laden goodies is front and center. It can be overwhelming with all of the parties, buffets, and family gatherings. The added busyness of shopping, decorating, hosting, and traveling can heap on stress that may sabotage even the strongest resolve not to indulge.
Since food is a basic physical requirement and a powerful sedative, we often turn to food when stressed. Food provides instant gratification and an easy escape from taking responsibility for one’s choices.
Once we get out of touch with what the body needs for basic nutrition and energy, our relationship with our bodies can suffer, and we can put on weight.
However, holiday weight gain is not the five to ten pounds most people believe. According to the National Institutes of Health, most Americans have an average weight gain of about a pound between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.
The problem is that the weight is not lost during the remainder of the year. As the extra weight accumulates through the years, it becomes a major factor.
Prevent that extra weight from taking hold this holiday season with these tips:

Don’t hover around buffet tables at parties. Avoid auto-grazing by staying as far from the buffet as possible.
Watch your portion sizes. Use a smaller plate, and do not go back for seconds. Enjoy the food and be satisfied with one plate.
Avoid high-calorie drinks such as eggnog.
Reach for the healthy, non-starchy carbohydrates such as vegetables and fruits. They are a better choice than crackers and cheese, chicken wings, roasted nuts, and cookies.
Get additional exercise. Add an extra 10 to 15 minutes to your workouts, do a few extra laps around the mall while shopping, and take more walks.

Finally, learn to disconnect emotional issues from eating. Take time to re-establish your connection with your inner nature using a simple process from our Ideal Weight Paraliminal.
Relax your body and close your eyes. Think of a situation around eating that has been a problem for you or could be a problem, such as an upcoming family gathering. How would you like to behave in that situation? Imagine new behaviors that can lead you toward your desired goal.
Food nourishes you and is essential for the maintenance of your health. Increasing your eating awareness helps you naturally select the right foods in the right quantities.

©2010 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Nutrition and Fitness Expert JJ Virgin is a the author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy and the co-star of TLC’s Freaky Eaters reality series. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to grab her free audio: 7 Steps to Break Your “Freaky” Food Habits Fast & Forever.

ThinStick – Turn any meal into a weight loss tool!

2010-11-21T20:42:00.000-08:00

The ThinStick™ packet is available on its own for those times when you don’t want a meal replacement, but still want something to help you reduce cravings. Just add the ThinStick packet to water, yogurt, or other beverages and food. ThinStick works best in non-fat and low-acidity foods and beverages

Warm Up, It’s Winter! 5 Strategies to Beat the Winter Blues

2010-11-18T18:17:00.000-08:00

By JJ Virgin

Wow, I can’t believe it is November already. This past summer we taped the first series of shows for Freaky Eaters which meant 12 hour days three days a week on top of an already crazy schedule. Between that and the June Gloom of La Jolla that extended out til October, I never felt like I had a summer. So the shorter days and cold mornings are taking me by surprise!
I love the sunshine and warm weather which is why I live in Palm Springs so I always struggle with the transition this time of year. I have found a few things to help warm me up to the fact that it is winter.
Make your own sunshine! I live in So Cal because I tend to suffer from S.A.D. – Seasonal Affective Disorder. I make sure I get out in the sunshine daily but if you don’t have that option where you are then you can fake it with full spectrum lighting. When you wake up in the morning be sure to flip all of the lights on to trick your body into thinking it is bright and sunny out! And as a side note, be sure to check your 25- hydroxyvitamin D levels as less sunshine means lower levels of this precious nutrient. You want your levels to be 60-80 ng/ml and you may need to increase your supplementation during the winter (be sure to take a vitamin D that also contains vitamin K).
Sleep in! Take advantage of the shorter days to sleep longer. You need 7-9 hours of consistent sleep nightly so during the winter go for the 8-9 side of the equation. I want you to turn the lights on bright in the morning and then dim them down at night to help prepare your body for sleep.
Get cold, get hot, get cold again. One of the factors that has been attributed to weight loss resistance is static temperature.
When you get cold your body has to work harder to heat you up. When you heat up, your body has to then push a bit to cool you down.
When I take my dog out without her jacket in the brisk mornings, she shivers which means her metabolism is boosted. You can do the same! I don’t mean you need to freeze, but allow yourself to get a bit cold to make your metabolism turn up the heat.
A great way to warm up once you get back inside and keep that metabolism fired up is with a big mug of green tea. Green tea boosts metabolism, calms you down due to its theanine content and protects your cells with its great antioxidant punch. The research shows you need quite a few cups to get these benefits so you may also want to take a green tea supplement (the active ingredient is EGCg).
Get crocked! During the winter big entrée salads just don’t cut it for me. This is when I drag out the crock pot and get creative. Start with a base of organic veggie or chicken broth and then add some lentils or beans, loads of veggies (I like mushrooms, zucchini, peppers, onions, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage) and your clean lean protein of choice (I throw in cooked leftovers like chicken or turkey). Spice it up with some herbs – I love basil and rosemary, and you have a meal in under 15 minutes of prep time. You can take some with you for lunch in a thermos (remember those?) and be the envy of your office :).

©2010 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Nutrition and Fitness Expert JJ Virgin is a the author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy and the co-star of TLC’s Freaky Eaters reality series. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to grab her free audio: 7 Steps to Break Your “Freaky” Food Habits Fast & Forever.

Avacado Smoothie

2010-11-10T11:47:00.000-08:00

This is a fun variation to step away from the traditional fruit smoothie routine. I made this and thought it was very satisfying, will make again!

Ingredients:
1 avacado (skin and seed removed)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup Greek Vanilla Yogurt
2 scoops ThinStick Shake™ or 1 packet ThinStick™ + 2 Tbsp Splenda (or honey)
8 ice cubes

Directions:
Place all ingredients in blender, with ice on top and blend on high until smooth, add more ice as desired.

These Deserve a "Graham-y"

2010-11-08T18:43:00.000-08:00

I am all about indulging in a few snacks here an there. Many are easy for me to turn down because they don't taste all that great. I always have a scale of "Calorie Worthiness", if it doesn't taste good enough to justify the calories then I don't eat it, not matter how good it looks! The other day I made some Red Velvet cupcakes for an event and I had some extra whipped heavy cream from the frosting. It was in my fridge for a while and I couldn't decide what to do with it... I love REAL whipped cream, but normally have to have something to eat it on. My son likes graham crackers and one day I came up with this special treat for him, but I have to admit these are dangerous for parents because they are WORTH THE CALORIES!!!

Ingredients:
Graham Cracker
Real Whipped Cream
Banana
Chocolate Syrup (optional)

Directions:
1) Break one full graham cracker in half
2) Spread a thin layer of whipped cream on each half
3) Place a few banana slices on one half
4) Drizzle a little chocolate syrup over the bananas
5) Enjoy, make some more, and enjoy those too! :)

Superfoods to the Rescue

2010-11-03T14:34:00.000-07:00

Luscious strawberries dipped in rich, dark chocolate. Grilled salmon. Mashed sweet potatoes dusted with cinnamon. Spinach salad tossed with cranberries and walnuts.

A gourmet's delight? Definitely. A huge dose of heart health--from good fats and fiber to powerful antioxidants and essential vitamins and minerals? Without a doubt.
Superfoods such as the five described below work better than supplements to slash your risk of heart disease. Not only do they entertain your taste buds like a four-star chef, they also battle all six deadly heart attackers at the same time. Specifically, these amazing foods can:

Reduce your risk of artery-clogging atherosclerosis
Whittle away at cholesterol
Lower your blood pressure
Cool inflammation
Neutralize damaging free radicals
Reduce your chances of developing metabolic syndrome by keeping blood sugar lower and steadier
When eaten in healthy portions, help you lose weight

You don't have to go to the health food store to find them; just wheel your cart through the supermarket. (Hint: Most are in the perimeter aisles, including the produce, meat, and dairy departments.) More good news: We've pulled together the quickest, tastiest ways to cook and serve these healing foods, from tried-and-true favorites to fresh, new ideas. Healthy eating doesn't have to take extra time out of your busy day--reaching for an ounce of dark chocolate or a fistful of walnuts is as quick as grabbing a bag of chips. And the taste? Out of this world.

1. AlmondsSuper nutrients. Monounsaturated fat, magnesium, calcium, potassium, fiber.
Serving size. 1 ounce (about 24 almonds); 160 calories.
Benefits. A single serving of these crunchy, protein-packed nuggets provides a whopping 9 grams of monounsaturated fat to help slash LDLs ("bad" cholesterol) and boost HDLs ("good" cholesterol). Simply choosing almonds instead of a doughnut, chips, or pretzels for two snacks a day could cut LDLs nearly by 10 percent. Almonds also pack 6 percent of your daily calcium quota and 20 percent of the magnesium you need--two minerals proven to help lower blood pressure. Bonus: You get 35 percent of the Daily Value (DV) for vitamin E, an artery-protecting antioxidant, as well as 3 grams of fiber. Just be sure to stop with one handful at snack time--advice that holds true for all nuts because they're calorie-dense.
Good ideas:

One serving of almonds fits neatly into an empty Altoids mints tin. Fill the tin each morning and slip it into your purse or briefcase
Toss some almonds into salads, stir-fries, fruit salad, or hot or cold cereal
Keep slivered and sliced almonds on hand (store them in the freezer for freshness) to add to vegetable dishes, muffins, and cookies

2. ApplesSuper nutrients. Antioxidants, fiber.
Serving size. 1 medium; 80 calories.
Benefits. Red Delicious, Granny Smith, and Gala apples earned spots on the USDA's top-20 list of antioxidant-rich foods thanks to hefty quantities of the flavonoid quercetin (flavonoids are natural chemicals in plants that, when in your bloodstream, remove free radical molecules, fight inflammation, and impede cancer). Bonus: Apples are a rich source of pectin, a soluble fiber. In a recent study at the University of California, Davis, people who ate two apples a day had fewer oxidized, artery-attacking LDLs than non-apple eaters.

Good ideas:

Chop an apple and add to hot cereal
For a portable snack, cut up an apple and place the slices in a zipper-lock plastic bag with 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Carry it with you in an insulated lunch bag (with a freezer pack) to eat at lunch or as a snack. It tastes like apple pie, without the crust or the sugar
For a quick baked apple, core an apple, pack the center with raisins and walnuts, and dust with cinnamon. Place it in a bowl with 1/4 cup of orange juice, apple juice, or water and microwave on high for 5 minutes, or until done

3. Carrots
Super nutrients. One of nature's top sources of beta-carotene, an artery-protecting antioxidant.
Serving size. 1 medium; 32 calories.
Benefits. Carrots are color therapy for your cardiovascular system. These veggies' brilliant orange hue is a sign of super-high levels of beta-carotene, an antioxidant that guards against artery-clogging oxidized LDL cholesterol. Only foods like carrots offer this protection--recent studies suggest that antioxidant pills don't help your heart. Cooked carrots have twice the antioxidant power of raw carrots because heat breaks down tough cell walls so that your body can use what's inside. Carrots also provide blood pressure-lowering potassium and magnesium, plus the homocysteine-lowering combination of folate; vitamin B6; and the antioxidants alpha-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin.

Good ideas:

Set out a bowl of baby carrots when you're cooking as a healthy snack that won't fill you up with unwanted calories or wreck your appetite
Buy sliced and shredded carrots in the produce department; add them to soups, salads, and casseroles.
Instead of chips, serve presliced carrots with dip
Add finely grated carrots to muffins, tuna or salmon salad, and casseroles
Microwave baby carrots and stir in a dollop of honey for a sweet side dish
Roast carrots in the oven with olive oil

4. MilkSuper nutrients. Great source of blood pressure-lowering calcium, magnesium, and potassium.
Serving size. 8 ounces 1% milk;110 calories.
Benefits. Your heart--and your waistline--love it when you have a milk mustache. (So, of course, do your bones!) A growing stack of research proves that calcium and other minerals in milk help lower blood pressure by keeping arteries flexible and helping your kidneys flush pressure-boosting sodium out of your body. A glass of cold moo juice at lunch or a generous splash on your morning cereal could cut your risk of insulin resistance--a potent heart disease risk factor--by 71 percent
and help you lose weight. How? Mayo Clinic researchers suspect that calcium "down-regulates" fat absorption by fat cells and "up-regulates" fat burning.

Good ideas:

A favorite cocoa recipe: Mix 1 cup of fat-free or low-fat milk, two packets of sugar substitute, and cocoa in a small saucepan or microwaveable cup and heat for about 1 minute
Cook hot cereal and low-sodium instant or canned soups with milk instead of water
Make milk your drive-through thirst quencher. Most fast-food restaurants offer the low-fat variety in cartons or single-serve bottles
Order a latte with fat-free milk instead of black or with cream at your favorite coffee shop
Make sugar-free instant pudding with low-fat or fat-free milk and serve it with berries
Use fat-free evaporated milk in place of regular milk in baked goods, soups, and sauces. A cup contains 742 milligrams of calcium--more than double the amount in low-fat milk
Whip partially frozen fat-free evaporated milk for a high-calcium dessert topping that has one-tenth the calories of regular whipped cream
Puree fat-free or low-fat cottage cheese and fat-free evaporated milk with some lemon juice and rosemary for a light pasta sauce

5. Kidney BeansSuper nutrients. Soluble fiber, folate, potassium, magnesium.
Serving size. 1/2 cup; 112 calories.
Benefits. Eating beans four times a week--in baked beans, bean dip, chili, or a salad sprinkled with chickpeas or black beans--could cut your risk of coronary heart disease by 20 to 30 percent. Make some of them kidney beans; they're rich in LDL-lowering soluble fiber (2 grams in a 1/2-cup serving) and homocysteine-controlling folate, as well as blood pressure-easing potassium and magnesium.

Bonus: Thanks to healthy doses of fiber and protein, beans give you steady energy, not a sudden rise (and fall) of blood sugar that ups your risk of metabolic syndrome and weight gain.

Good ideas:

Rinse canned kidney beans before using to remove sodium. Toss them into chili, casseroles, and soups
For a quick tamale pie, serve warm kidney beans over a piece of cornbread and top with grated cheese
Make a better three-bean salad: Combine kidney, black, and white beans, then mix in chopped tomatoes and scallions. Dress with olive oil, lemon juice, and black pepper
In a food processor or blender, combine cooked kidney beans with garlic, cumin, and chili peppers for a delicious spread that can be used as a dip for crudités or a sandwich filling

From Reader's Digest 30 Minutes a Day to a Healthy Heart. Buy this and other books at the Reader's Digest Store. All Recipes.com http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Superfoods-to-the-Rescue/Detail.aspx

Immune Boosting Foods

2010-10-28T08:58:00.001-07:00

Elizabeth Somer appears on AM Northwest to share some good advice for the upcoming flu season!

See the video here:
http://www.katu.com/amnw/segments/104713209.html

Building Strong Bones for Life!

2010-10-27T08:51:00.000-07:00

By JJ Virgin

Not a week goes by without getting an email, phone call or Facebook Fan Page post asking “I have reduced or stopped eating dairy products, but now I am worried about getting enough calcium!” Rest assured, you do NOT need dairy products to build strong bones and in fact, quite often the acidifying nature of them can negatively impact your calcium balance. I realize that this statement that might rock your world a bit but as you read on you will see that it makes sense when you look at the big picture of bone health as well as overall health as you must take an integrated approach to both. Diligently swallowing your calcium supplements each day is NOT the answer to building strong bones.
I have developed a 7 step plan for building healthy bones for life that you can start and see improvement at any age. I have pulled out three of my top recommendations here for you to get started on right away.
Be Balanced
You must maintain a tight balance of acid and alkaline throughout your body. This balance varies throughout your body depending on the functions performed. If you are higher in acid then necessary, your body must buffer your pH back to normal. It uses alkalizing minerals to do so and the biggest reservoir we have for these is the calcium in our bones. If you are consuming a high acid load diet of dairy products, grains, coffee, sugar, alcohol, animal protein and soda you could be at increased risk of bone loss. Soda is especially bad as it contains phosphoric acid which can further leach calcium from the bones. The take away here is to lower your acid load and then balance the healthy acid loading foods (like clean lean animal protein, Greek style yogurt, quinoa) with a rainbow of fruits and veggies. Simple things like adding a green salad to your meal, throwing organic frozen berries into your smoothie and having a daily green drink support good acid-alkaline balance.

Get Some Sunshine
I am thrilled to hear the press that Vitamin D is consistently getting in the media. Michael Hollick, the foremost Vitamin D researcher in the world says “That Vitamin D is an unrecognized epidemic in children and adults” and recommends blood levels above 80 ng/ml. Vitamin D helps the body absorb and maintain calcium and is essential for bone health as well as overall health; its deficiency has been implicated in many diseases including Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis and diabetes. When you are going to your doctor for your annual checkup be sure to request a 25- hydroxyvitamin D blood test. Your goal is 80 ng/ml which means you may need to supplement with additional Vitamin D. Remember Vitamin D levels will vary throughout the year if you live in a seasonal climate. Strive for 20 minutes a day of sunlight where you are bare armed and legged and sunscreen free. If th is isn’t possible, you may need to supplement with additional Vitamin D beyond what you are getting from your wild fish intake to get your levels to optimal.
Eat Your Fish!
Wild fish has so many amazing health benefits including reduced inflammation, lowering triglycerides, and improving mood, but you may not know that is also helps with good bone health. Omega 3 fats from wild fish and seeds supports bone remodeling. Your bones are alive, they are constantly in a state of breaking down and remodeling. You don’t want “old bones” nor do you want bones that are breaking down faster than they are getting remodeled or built back up. Eat wild fish 3 times a week and add some freshly ground flaxseeds to your morning smoothie to support consistent bone remodeling.

©2010 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Nutrition and Fitness Expert JJ Virgin is a the author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy and the co-star of TLC’s Freaky Eaters reality series. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to grab her free audio: 7 Steps to Break Your “Freaky” Food Habits Fast & Forever.

Statistical Results of ThinStick Studies

2010-10-25T09:01:00.000-07:00

Reported in International Journal of Obesity (2000, 2006) and European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2001)

The ingredients in ThinStick have been researched in four robust scientific studies conducted in Europe and published in medical journals. These studies have shown the following.

ThinStick has an immediate effect. Four and eight hours after consuming ThinStick:

Subjects reported feeling 30% less hungry
Subjects reported a 25% reduction in their desire to eat and 16% reduction in preoccupation with or thoughts of food.
Women who took ThinStick (with yogurt) at breakfast consumed 25-34% less food at subsequent meals, with no compensatory eating for a full 24 hours.

ThinStick is an excellent tool for maintaining weight loss. Study participants completed 8 weeks of a weight loss regimen, then 4 months of weight maintenance. Those who took ThinStick daily during the weight maintenance phase experienced no significant weight gain! In the same 4-month period, control participants (who did not take ThinStick) gained back 50% of the weight lost.

After 25 weeks of taking ThinStick, participants reported a reduction in overall feelings of hunger.

Are Your GENES Making You Fat

2010-10-21T07:06:00.001-07:00

by JJ Virgin

As you know, I am NOT a fan of the bank account model of metabolism. I have always said that your body is a biochemistry lab, not a bank account and that in order to lose the fat and keep it off you need to find out what is causing your weight loss resistance, what has damaged your metabolism, and fix it.

Over the 25+ years of working in this field I have seen countless people who eat well, exercise consistently and still can't lose the weight. I have identified 7 different areas of weight loss resistance that I have used to help clients finally lose the fat and keep it off but I always sensed there was more to it. About a year ago I had a meeting with a fascinating group out in San Diego, Pathway Genomics. They wanted to hear about my theories on weight loss resistance to see how they played into their genetic testing profile on obesity that was in development. Over the course of the year I had the ability to get a group of my clients tested with their new obesity profile and most recently, I was able to use this profile on the TLC reality series, Freaky Eaters. Concurrently, they tested their profile with the Biggest Loser candidates. And guess what they found? There are some common gene variants in people who are overweight or obese that thinner people typically don?t share.

Can I blame genetics on my hatred of Brussels sprouts?

The information I have learned over the past year through the testing and the research has been nothing short of miraculous. Genetics can have a major impact on your ability to lose weight and keep it off, the likelihood of you regaining weight and even which type of diet you are best suited to. Genetics can play a huge role in your degree of appetite, your food triggers and your tastes. We tested a couple of the Freaky Eaters participants who HATED vegetables and it turned out that they both had genetic issues with bitter taste which made eating vegetables way more difficult for them.

You can use this info to change your life.

Now all of this would be useless if you couldn't do something about it. The good news is that once you know about your genetic profile you can create the diet, exercise program and lifestyle that will best support your health and help you reach your goals. For example, if you found out that you are someone with the gene variants for increased hunger and snacking, we can move you from 3 meals to 4 smaller meals, increase your fiber significantly to slow down stomach emptying and suppress hunger and increase your water in between meals. If you have genetic variations with eating disinhibition then we would make sure that you got your trigger foods(remember my line, "Get the enemy out of the house") out of sight and out of reach, in fact we would put as much distance between you and them as possible!

No Fair! That chick has better GENES than me!

The other thing that finding out which your genetic profile does for you is help you forgive yourself, acknowledge that some things really may be more difficult for you then that skinny chick down the street who seems to be able to eat ANYTHING so that you can get over it, make changes to help you handle it and then focus on more important things like what do you want to do today for your burst workout.

I will be sharing more about this fascinating subject, great case studies and how you can get it for yourself so stay tuned!

2010 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Nutrition and Fitness Expert JJ Virgin is a the author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy and the co-star of TLC?s Freaky Eaters reality series. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to grab her free audio: 7 Steps to Break Your "Freaky" Food Habits Fast & Forever.

Anytime Smoothie

2010-10-18T08:12:00.000-07:00

If you are like me, then the arrival of Fall can always be a little disappointing. Not because I don't enjoy all the changes and some cooler weather but because it means the end of the large variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. My smoothie making gets a little more inventive in the winter trying to maintain the best tasting ingredients. This summer I preserved (canned) a lot of peaches in a very light simple syrup to help satisfy that fresh fruit craving in the winter months. Today I tried a smoothie recipe using some of those peaches and I have to say, it was VERY good!

Anytime Smoothie

1 Cup Canned Peach Segments (juice drained)
1 banana
1/2 cup apple cider
1 apple (sliced in quarters)
1 Tbsp Flax Seed
1-2 scoops ThinStick Shake
1 1/2 cups ice (more or less depending on your preference)

Place the items in the blender in the order shown for best results. Blend until smooth and enjoy!

12 Hunger-Squashing Snacks | Eat This, Not That

2010-10-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

12 Hunger-Squashing Snacks | Eat This, Not That

Yet Another Reason to Seek Natural Alternatives for Weight Loss...

2010-10-12T07:27:00.000-07:00

Oct. 8, 2010 -- At the FDA's request, Abbott Laboratories is withdrawing the weight loss drug Meridia from the market.

The FDA says the drug, approved in 1997, raises the risk of heart attack and stroke but offers little benefit.

In September, an FDA expert advisory panel split in an 8-8 vote over whether the drug should be allowed to stay on the market.

"Meridia's continued availability is not justified when you compare the very modest weight loss that people achieve on this drug to their risk of heart attack or stroke," said John Jenkins, MD, director of FDA's drug evaluation branch.

The estimated 100,000 U.S. patients taking Meridia are advised to discard any remaining pills in their possession and to consult their doctors about alternative weight loss plans.

Concerns about Meridia risks were raised at the time the drug was considered for approval. At that time, the drug was shown to increase heart rate and blood pressure. But since weight loss was supposed to reduce this risk, it was thought that the drug's benefit would more than make up for the risk.

However, European drug regulators insisted that Abbott carry out a postmarketing clinical trial to evaluate heart risk. The trial, called SCOUT, enrolled overweight and obese patients with risk factors for serious heart disease. Most of these patients would not be prescribed Meridia in the U.S. But Abbott expected the study to show that even these patients benefited from the drug.

Instead, Meridia slightly increased the SCOUT patients' risk of heart attack and stroke.

"The fact that it showed no benefit but actually harm was important new information," Jenkins said at a news teleconference. "When we started reviewing that data, we realized that all patients using this drug are at risk of those events, even though the risk in any individual patient might be very small."

Drug Found in 'Supplements'

Unapproved drugs, often sold as supplements, are frequently found to contain various amounts of sibutramine, the active ingredient in Meridia.

Coincidentally, the FDA today warned that a "supplement" called Slimming Beauty Bitter Orange Slimming Capsules contains dangerous amounts of sibutramine. The product is sold over the Internet by Beautiful Health Inc., formerly LL Health and Beauty.

The label falsely says the product is "100% herbal." The mislabeled drug was distributed in Chicago at the Mexican Independence Day parade and may be distributed at other community events.

People taking the pills can experience anxiety, nausea, heart palpitations, a racing heart, insomnia, and elevated blood pressure. It may be very dangerous to people with underlying heart conditions.

Read the Full Article from WebMD Health News

FDA Rejects Weight Loss Drug Meridia
Meridia Withdrawn From Market; FDA Cites Risk to Heart
By Daniel J. DeNoon
Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

Chicken Enchiladas

2010-10-05T17:58:00.000-07:00

Servings: 4

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken breast
4 green onions sliced
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
2 cans (14oz) green enchilada sauce
8-10 corn tortillas
1 cup shredded mozzarella or jack cheese
2 cups lettuce shredded
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup light sour cream
1 tomato, diced
1 small can sliced olives

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350º, coat 9x13 pan with cooking spray
2) Boil chicken breasts in large pot. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until no longer pink in center, about 15 minutes. Drain and let slightly cool. Shred chicken and set aside.
3) In a large skillet, coat with cooking spray and place over med-high heat. Add green onion, cilantro and jalapeño. Sauté for 2 minutes. Add shredded chicken and 1 can enchilada sauce. Cook, stirring occasionally until heated through, about 5 minutes.
4) Heat remaining enchilada sauce in microwave safe bowl, about 2 minutes. Dip each tortilla in heated sauce and fill with chicken mixture. Roll up and place seam side down in the prepared baking dish.
5) Pour remaining heated sauce over enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese and olives. Bake until cheese is melted, about 15 minutes.
6) Serve enchiladas on top of a bed of shredded lettuce. Top with a spoonful of sour cream and tomatoes and salsa! Enjoy!!

Life Without Bread

2010-09-24T13:01:00.000-07:00

By JJ Virgin

I am writing this while I am taking a break from packing for a trip to San Francisco, which I consider to be the bread capitol of the United States (and I am willing to arm wrestle anyone who disagrees).
I grew up in Berkeley (yep I am a high maintenance hippie) in what is known as the San Francisco Bay Area, which means easy access to SF sourdough on a daily basis.

One of my fondest memories of Junior High and High School was walking home with one of my best friends, Nina and sharing a loaf (a LOAF!) of sourdough bread. Nina liked the insides and I liked the crust (I am talking extra sour, late bake here, can you feel it?) which is probably why we got along so well.
Honestly we literally ate a LOAF of bread a day. Thankfully, I am a total bread snob and to me, nothing (well except if I am in France) compares to real FRESH San Francisco sourdough bread, so cutting my loaf-a-day habit happened automatically when I left to go to college at UCLA. Of course, along the way I started studying nutrition formally and learned that a loaf a day of bread (or even a few pieces for that matter) was not a good long term strategy for health or weight management.
Now I can already hear people ready to argue with me on the whole grain front, but I beg to differ due to the issues with both lectins and gluten, which is why I am advising you to try “Life Without Bread” (there is a book out there with this title, I just love it!).

If you aren’t ready to go cold turkey, let me give you a few lateral shift to ease you into it:
Go Topless – take the top off your sandwich and use a beefsteak tomato slice or butter leaf lettuce leaf instead. If you are using luncheon meat like no hormone added sliced turkey then you can use that as the topper instead.

Go Green – use lettuce leaves in place of bread. You may have seen this done at some of the popular Chinese restaurants but you can take it much farther than chicken and soy sauce. I did a video on lettuce wraps the other day and used butter leaf as the wrapper (don’t you dare do the iceberg), added chopped red pepper and red onion, chicken, garbanzo beans, avocado and walnuts (just a little of each). It was fabulous!

Go Gluten Free – estimates are about 1 in 133 people have celiac disease (basically a dangerous, damaging intolerance to gluten) and possibly as many as 30% of the population are sensitive to it which can cause a host of symptoms from belly pain to moodiness. Try changing over to gluten free bread and rice wraps and give yourself a break from gluten to see if it makes a difference for you.

©2010 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Celebrity Nutrition and Fitness Expert JJ Virgin is a the author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy and the co-star of TLC’s Freaky Eaters reality series. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to grab her free audio: 7 Steps to Break Your “Freaky” Food Habits Fast & Forever.

Snack Smarter

2010-09-18T08:22:00.000-07:00

On Your Snack Break

• Drink sparkling water instead of soda.
• Move your stash of Hershey's Kisses at least 6 feet away from your desk—you'll dip in half as often.
• Drain the heavy syrup from your can of fruit cocktail and then rinse the fruit with water before digging in.
• Have 1/2 cup of fresh grapes instead of that little snack box of raisins.
• Lay off the Lay's Classic potato chips and have a handful of Rold Gold pretzels.
• Munch on a bag of Orville Redenbacher's Smart Pop Kettle Korn, not Movie Theater Butter.
• Chase down the ice-cream truck for a Good Humor vanilla sandwich, not a King Cone.

More from Woman's Health Magazine

Albacore Tuna Casserol

2010-09-14T16:09:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

1 package (about 1 lb) whole wheat rotini pasta (or pasta of choice)
2 cans albacore tuna, drained
1 can reduced fat, low sodium cream of mushroom
1 can reduced fat, low sodium cream of celery
1/2 cup light sour cream
Small amount of Milk, as needed
2 cups frozen peas
1/2 large yellow sweet onion, chopped coursely
Dash of Seasoning Salt
1 cup shredded mozzeralla cheese
1/2 grated Parmesan

Directions:
1) Preheat Oven to 350º F
2) Cook pasta according to package instructions
3) Lightly coat a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray
4) Combine cooked pasta, tuna, soups, sour cream, peas, onion, seasoning salt and milk(to thin, if needed) in a large bowl - Mix well then add to baking dish
5) Top with cheese, cover and bake about 30 minutes or until bubbly. (remove cover during the last 10 minutes for cheese to brown)
6) Let stand for 5 minutes, then enjoy.

This meal can be prepared for the entire family, and a packet of ThinStick™ can be mixed in to individual servings right before eating.

Don’t Go on a Vacation From Your Health

2010-09-10T07:37:00.001-07:00

By JJ Virgin

Having trouble losing weight and keeping it off?
Could be your on-again, off-again relationship with food. Curling up with quinoa and fresh veggies one week, then rebounding with ice cream and French fries the next is often a recipe for weight loss resistance. Don’t assume you can easily work off those extra calories at the gym following a weekend of sweets or a carbo-loaded vacation.
These short-term lapses in healthful eating habits can have a long-term impact on your health and well-being. A recent study out of Sweden found that people who upped their caloric intake and dropped their fitness regimen for just a month still retained some of that weight gain two and a half years later, even after they’d returned to their normal fitness and nutrition plans.
The study authors said this could be because overindulgences boost your body fat levels and even change your body composition. I suspect there may be additional factors at work as well, because the more you treat yourself to sweet, salty, or fatty foods, the more you crave them and the harder it is to stop.
Higher carb and damaged-fat food can also contribute to leptin and insulin resistance, which then makes you better at storing fat and worse at burning it off and adds to the problem. And by quitting the exercise, you lower your ability to handle stress well and could lose precious metabolism boosting muscle mass.
The easiest way to avoid this situation is to not let it happen in the first place. You may be thinking that is easier said than done, but there are a few easy strategies that you can deploy to keep you on the straight and narrow:
1. Keep a food journal
2. Hire a coach
3. Follow the “three bite rule”
4. Weigh and measure weekly
It’s often a self-defeating pattern, but you can bust out of that pattern by focusing on clean, nutritious foods like lean protein, healthy fats and non-starchy fruits and vegetables. When you make that shift, substituting more nutritious foods for your former fall-back foods and staying focused on your new lifestyle, those stubborn extra pounds often disappear AND stay off because you are healing the damage done to your metabolism.
If you want to attain and maintain your ideal body weight, then think of healthful eating, burst training and resistance exercise, stress management and consistent high quality sleep as long-term commitments, not a one-night stand. If you cheat by sneaking soda or candy, then you’re really cheating on yourself!

©2010 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Celebrity Nutrition and Fitness Expert JJ Virgin is a the author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy and the co-star of TLC’s Freaky Eaters reality series. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to grab her free audio: 7 Steps to Break Your “Freaky” Food Habits Fast & Forever.

Summer Blast Smoothy

2010-08-30T08:26:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:
1 frozen banana
1 1/2 cup frozen/fresh boysenberries (if using fresh, you may add a few large ice cubes for consistency)
1 large or 2 small nectarines, pit removed
1 Tbsp Flax Seed
1 packet ThinStick
1 cup rice milk

Blend all ingredients together for a nutrition and delicious smoothie that will hold you all the way from early morning through your lunch hour.

Thin Tip) Whenever your bananas start to get too ripe for your taste preference, peel them and place them in plastic bags in your freezer. These are great additions to any smoothy. They add sweetness with out adding refined sugars!

Egg Salad Sandwich

2010-08-25T11:38:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
4 hard boiled eggs
1 Tbsp Light Best Foods® Mayo
1 Tbsp Mustard
1 Stalk Celery, finely chopped
1/4 Yellow or Orange Bell Pepper, chopped
1 tsp sweet or dill pickle relish
1 Tbsp fresh parsley
1 slice whole-grain bread
1 leaf of lettuce
1 packet of ThinStick™

Directions
1) Chop 1 whole egg and 3 egg whites (discard the three extra yolks)
2) In a small mixing bowl, combine chopped eggs, Light Best Foods® Mayo, ThinStick packet, mustard, celery, bell pepper, pickle relish and parsley.
3) Toast whole grain bread and top with lettuce leaf and egg salad mix.

ThinTip) Keep a half dozen boiled eggs in your fridge at all times. Great for adding to salads, sandwiches or just a last minute protein snack!!

ThinStick Science

2010-08-21T16:02:00.000-07:00

The Studies: Several double-blind, placebo-controlled studies all tested administration of a yogurt containing this fat emulsion (studied under the name Olibra) versus a control yogurt with an equivalent added amount of milk fat. Group sizes, demographics, and study designs varied, but the results were consistent in demonstrating significant decreases (13-34%) in caloric intake at 4 and 8-hour intervals post-yogurt in the test versus control subjects receiving the placebo yogurt. One study tested long-term effects of single-dose administration of yogurt containing 5g Olibra, and noted significant decreases in caloric intake by up to 30% (dose-dependent) over an extended 36-hour period. Subjects also filled out subjective questionnaires, and in one study they reported feeling 30% less hungry, had a 25% reduction in their desire to eat, and a 16% reduction in preoccupation with thoughts of food. The most recent study, published in the International Journal of Obesity in 2007, shows very promising results regarding long-term weight management. During a 25-week trial including 50 overweight women (BMI 25-32 kg/m2), two 5 gram daily doses of Olibra-containing yogurt were administered to the test group from weeks 8 through 25. As a result, there was no significant re-gain of the weight lost in the test subjects, whereas the placebo group showed a mean 40% re-gain! In addition, the test group demonstrated reduced waist circumference after 25 weeks, while the control group it increased.

Clinical Applications: Based on the research, there is now an effective dietary tool to support patients with their weight management through improved appetite control. Help them to increase satiety, decrease food cravings, and decrease their total caloric intake in the short-term. And in the long-term it can support them in maintaining the benefits of the weight they lose as a result of other medical, dietary and lifestyle interventions. This is especially important for patients with increased abdominal fat, which is associated with adverse clinical effects such as hyperinsulinemia, dyslipidemia, glucose tolerance, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and even some cancers.

This fat emulsion powder is available in the US as ThinStick (6 grams Olibra) and as a meal replacement formula, ThinStick Shake (12 grams Olibra, plus protein and vitamin/mineral combination), both produced exclusively by Metabolic Maintenance Products.

7 Ways to Save Money While Eating and Drinking Healthy

2010-08-20T08:54:00.001-07:00

By JJ Virgin

Okay, I admit it. For the past year I have been flatly refusing to participate in the recession. I have been in total denial about its existence and figured if I didn’t give it any energy, it would go away. Unfortunately, it is clearly not just up to me and from what I am hearing, things are not turning around anytime soon.

Since my mission is to empower the world to be proactive about their health by consistently implementing simple action steps, I realized that I needed to make sure that I removed as many “excuses” as possible. I realize that the two reasons I hear most often as to why people don’t take better care of themselves are time and money.
Now, I do agree, when we tell you to switch to organic and buy wild fish and high quality grass fed beef it can definitely cost more. So here are some cost-cutting techniques to compensate for that increased and necessary expense.

1. Spin your salad.
Okay, so I broke down and bought a salad spinner (they have very cool ones at Target) because I realized that I was spending a small fortune on bagged lettuce that I still had to wash (yep, you do remember that e. coli scare, right?), so I really wasn’t saving any time and it was definitely costing more money. Actually, Leanne Ely and I were recording our Ultimate Meal Planning Guide and she was talking about which kitchen tools you must have and she went on a tear about salad spinners and I didn’t want to admit that I didn’t have one!

2. Go to your local farmer’s market.
Go to your local farmer’s market and get to know your local growers. Many growers use organic growing principles but don’t have the $$$ to spend to get the organic “label”. This is also great because it ensures that you are buying local and seasonal which means fresher, more nutritious food.

3. Pack your own.
I carry a safe drinking bottle with me to fill out with filtered water on my travels – no more $4 plastic water bottles at the airport for me. Plus, I always keep PaleoBars with me so I have emergency food. The last time I forgot I ended up having to spend $9.50 for a small bag of turkey jerky at the airport. I also travel with nuts, apples and jerky so I don’t get caught empty handed and have to choose some high cost, low nutrition option that will hurt my body and my bank account.

4. Go simple.
Okay, I admit that I do have a daily Starbucks habit, but I have an Americano (half decaf/half caf) which is far less than those gourmet coffee drinks. Plus I usually end up working there for an hour or so, so I justify it as paying office rent . If you are having one (or more…) of those $4 gourmet coffee drinks daily, switch over to green tea, an Americano or coffee and look at how much money you save over the month.

5. Stock up.
When your local grocer is having a sale on grass fed beef, free range chicken, organic olive oil, etc, stock up! And the same goes for those coupons. I always laughed at them but the ones they hand me at the store are usually for things that I am already buying so I now carry them in my wallet. BTW, in the spirit of saving money, I have decided that we are going to have a 24-hour “Buy 3, Get One Free” Stock Up Sale on our shakes, bars and supplements soon, so stay tuned for that.

6. Brew your own.
Have you checked out how much they charge for organic iced green tea in plastic bottles (so you are paying for toxic phthalates from the plastic too) at the store? Our local grocery sells it for $5 per quart of brewed tea whereas I can make a gallon for $5 worth of organic tea bags. My favorite green tea of all is Japanese Cherry from Coffee Bean -- it makes amazing iced green tea.

You’ll be amazed at how much you can actually save each month by following these simple tips (easily $100 to $200 each month). Finally, there are the items that you want to spend all that saved money on: high quality cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil, wild fish and grass fed beef.

©2010 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Celebrity nutrition and wellness expert JJ Virgin is a media personality, in-demand public speaker and best-selling author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy, The 5-Step Plan to Sleek, Strong and Sculpted Arms. Get her biweekly LEANzine chock full of tips to get you slim and sexy fast at www.jjvirgin.com.

Grilled Chicken Salad with Seasonal Fruit

2010-08-13T07:08:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup pecans
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 onion, minced
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 heads Bibb lettuce - rinsed, dried and torn
1 cup sliced fresh strawberries

Directions

Preheat the grill for high heat.
Lightly oil the grill grate. Grill chicken 8 minutes on each side, or until juices run clear. Remove from heat, cool, and slice.
Meanwhile, place pecans in a dry skillet over medium-high heat. Cook pecans until fragrant, stirring frequently, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside.
In a blender, combine the red wine vinegar, sugar, vegetable oil, onion, mustard, salt, and pepper. Process until smooth.
Arrange lettuce on serving plates. Top with grilled chicken slices, strawberries, and pecans. Drizzle with the dressing to serve.

Thanks to AllRecipes.com

12 Fast, Low-Cost Tips for a Stress-Less Summer

2010-08-09T07:52:00.001-07:00

By Sandi Smith

I don’t want to stress you out, but we really do need to do something about our stress levels.

The last survey that came out of the American Psychological Association showed that our kids are getting headaches, having difficulty sleeping, and eating too little or too much due to pressure from school and household finances.The worst part is that the study showed that most parents were not aware of the severity of their children’s stress.

Many adults reported not knowing what to do to change their lifestyle so they could reduce their stress, so it just makes sense to talk about this a little. Here are the most common stress-reducing tasks that some people do, according to the survey:

Listen to music.
Exercise or walk.
Read.
Watch TV.
Spend time with friends or family.
Surf the internet or play video games.
Nap.
Pray.
Eat.
Spend time on a hobby.
Go to church.
Shop.
Smoke.
Drink.
Play sports.

Most of these activities do reduce your stress slightly, and a few are excellent for stress reduction (exercise and spending time with friends and family). Some of them actually increase your stress (watching TV, playing video games, eating, smoking, and drinking even normal amounts).

It’s important to take a big picture perspective to understand stress better. Chronic stress is a negative emotion rooted in fear. It’s your fear system—your fight or flight system designed in cave man days—gone haywire for the 21st century.

When we can get our fear under control, we can get our stress under control too. Here are some tips you might not normally associate with stress, from my latest book “30 Days to a Stress-Free Life: Simple Strategies for Women Who Want Balance, Bliss, and Big Bucks from Their Business.”

Breathe deeply. Do this several times a day or make a habit of it. When you learn how to really breathe, you’ll be taking a micro-vacation each time you do.
Set an intention for the day. Do you have a question for the universe? A problem you’re working on at work? A goal you want to achieve? Or even just a theme for the day that you could share as a game with the kids? Set a statement, question, or keyword for the day. As you move through the day, look for things that support your intention. Listen to what your intuition is showing you. Have fun with your theme.
Be extra polite to wait staff, service people, receptionists, and customer service agents. This act of kindness will help you feel better yourself.
Learn how to change any catastrophic thinking you might have. This is when your mind thinks, “I’ll never be ___.” “I’m always ___.” Etc.
Find something in your day that makes you feel awe-inspired.
Avoid talk radio and loud rock music, especially first thing in the morning and late at night when your brain is extra sensitive. Instead play soft instrumentals, classical, or Reiki music that is calming and nurturing.
During the 3:00 afternoon blahs at your office, pipe rock music (which is okay at this time) over the sound system or simply turn up your iPod and dance or conga your way around the office.
Get rid of any clutter in your environment that when you walk by it, your inner nag voice goes off saying you need to do it.
Connect with a coach, mentor, mastermind, or someone who is a support for you.
Water your plant and prune its leaves, or stare out the window at a nature scene. Or sit on a park bench and watch the butterflies, birds, babies, or passersby.
Sing or whistle. At 87 years old, my dad still whistles every day.
Go to bed earlier (at 10:00 pm).

Try these low-cost ideas to reduce your stress so you can enjoy summer.

Drowning In Junk

2010-08-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

By Elizabeth Somer

Hundreds, if not thousands, of studies are published each month attempting to identify why Americans are fatter than ever. It can’t be genetics, since this phenomenon has escalated far faster than our genes can evolve. The obesity epidemic, distilled to its essence, is basically a result of eating too much and moving too little. Researchers at the RAND Corporation found that what we are eating is too much junk. They conducted a survey in 228 urban areas around Los Angeles and Southern Louisiana to estimate calories consumed from fruit, vegetables, cookies, candy, salty snacks, sweetened soft drinks, and alcohol in 2,767 people. They found that most people in Los Angeles averaged 60% more, while folks in Louisiana averaged 120% more, than the maximum recommended allotment for “extra” calories from sugary or fatty junk foods, yet consumed far too few nutritious foods, such as vegetables and fruit. The researchers conclude that “...unless the excessive consumption of salty snacks, cookies, candy, and sugar-sweetened beverages is curtailed, other interventions focusing on increasing physical activity and fruit and vegetable consumption will have a limited impact on obesity control.”

Cohen D, Sturm R, Scott M, et al: Not enough fruit and vegetables or too many cookies, candies, salty snacks and soft drinks? Public Health Report 2010;125:88-95.

TIPS FOR EXERCISING AND MOVING MORE

2010-07-29T08:29:00.001-07:00

Even though you may feel desk-bound for most of the day, you’d be surprised how much better your day will go if you can fit in even a short burst of physical activity.

Skip the elevator – and take the stairs

Forgo email – and walk your message over to your colleague’s office

Stretch it out – there’s no rule (that we know of) that says you can’t do a few yoga or running stretches when your energy is lagging!

Cedar Plank Salmon

2010-07-24T14:28:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

3 (12 inch) untreated cedar planks
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 (2 pound) salmon fillets, skin removed

Directions

Soak the cedar planks for at least 1 hour in warm water. Soak longer if you have time.
In a shallow dish, stir together the vegetable oil, rice vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce, green onions, ginger, and garlic. Place the salmon fillets in the marinade and turn to coat. Cover and marinate for at least 15 minutes, or up to one hour.
Preheat an outdoor grill for medium heat. Place the planks on the grate. The boards are ready when they start to smoke and crackle just a little.
Place the salmon fillets onto the planks and discard the marinade. Cover, and grill for about 20 minutes. Fish is done when you can flake it with a fork. It will continue to cook after you remove it from the grill.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cedar-Planked-Salmon-2/Detail.aspx?ms=1&prop25=41078573&prop26=DailyDish&prop27=2010-07-23&prop28=DailyRecipe&prop29=FullRecipeLink&me=1

How to Deal With the Food Pusher in Your Life

2010-07-24T14:16:00.001-07:00

By JJ Virgin

Last year was a very stressful year for me.

Yes, I know all of the tricks—burst training, extra B vitamins, Emergen-C packets, getting consistent sleep, taking time out for bliss daily, and I did them all, really, but I still managed to tweak my gut a bit with the result being delayed food sensitivities to dairy and egg.

I confirmed this with an IGG Food Sensitivities Profile and then I followed our 28 Day Break Free Program to break myself of these offending foods. When I re-challenged dairy and eggs, I discovered that they really don’t work for me, so I have kept them out of my diet because I prefer to live without skin flare-ups, gas and bloating, fatigue and achy joint. Can you blame me?

I was home last week to lead our annual board retreat for the National Association of Nutrition Professionals and I decided to combine the meeting with a visit with my mother. The first night home we went out to dinner at Skate’s restaurant in Emeryville which is great because every seat has a view of the water and the Bay Bridge.

My mom wanted to split a Caesar salad to start and I explained to her about my gut issues and why I no longer eat dairy and eggs. This started a chain reaction of food pushing that amazed me! After I had to pass on the Caesar Salad, she tried to get me to have the salad with blue cheese. When the focaccia bread came to the table (dairy and eggs) she insisted I try it. I declined and she kept urging that I have just a little piece, that couldn’t hurt me.

Now she wasn’t doing this to be mean or irritating (as I kept reminding myself, while being totally grateful that I didn’t have a Pinot Noir sensitivity) but she honestly couldn’t wrap her brain around the fact that I wasn’t going to eat dairy and eggs. She was upset for me. She saw this as a major issue that could really hurt my enjoyment of life. I figured this wasn’t the time to tell her I had gone gluten-free too. It probably would have pushed her over the edge.

The next morning she offered me yogurt, a sweet roll and a muffin. (I kid you not, I was raised on Captain Crunch and Pop-Tarts and have been detoxing ever since!) I was met with disapproving glances as I made my PaleoMeal Dairy Free protein shake with a fresh peach (yum) and swallowed a handful of supplements.

Thankfully I was headed to the NANP board meeting where we had a fabulous catered lunch of wild salmon, grape leaves, organic greens and dark chocolate from Whole Foods. I was amongst my peeps who all chose to live this way and are on a mission to heal the world with food and healthy lifestyle shifts.

It made me realize though how difficult it can be out there. Honestly, there are food pushers everywhere. While some are truly out to sabotage you like my college roommate (Barb, I knew what you were doing and it wasn’t nice missy) who would bring home all of the foods that she knew I couldn’t resist anytime I announced I was going on a diet, but I bet most just really don’t get it and are coming much more from a place of misunderstanding. They want you to join in the fun, they don’t want you to miss out and hey, let’s face it, it could also be that they also don’t want to feel guilty about their own diet transgressions by being around someone who isn’t partaking.

Of course, if you have gotten the sugar or any of your food sensitivities out of your diet then you know that what you are missing out on—false fat, gas and bloating, diarrhea and constipation, skin eruptions, fatigue, sinus issues, headaches and moodiness. These are things you are happy to be doing without. And it confirms my notion that most people have no idea what it feels like to be truly healthy and if they could really feel that for a day, they would gladly toss the chips, cookies, sodas and ice cream…. FOREVER.

So what should you do if you have a food pusher in your life?

I think that the approach varies depending on the personality of the pusher and the situation. Sometimes explaining that you have a serious health problem and have to avoid certain foods will do it. Often it is easy to simply say, “No thanks” or “I’ll pass on that” and smile and that will end it, especially if you don’t make a big deal out of your abstinence. Or the excuse of “I just ate, I am so full” can work too. If someone is insisting, you can always let them know that you don’t care for any now but would love to take a piece home (to your circular file).

Do you have a food pusher in your life? What strategies do you use when you encounter this? I would love to hear your story. Please email me at jj@jjvirgin.com with the subject “food pusher.”

Detox Diets: Purging the Myths

2010-07-21T15:17:00.000-07:00

Detox Diets: Purging the Myths

ThinStick Video

2010-07-19T18:40:00.000-07:00

JJ Virgin's secret weapon for weight loss.

ThinStick Testimonials

2010-07-18T10:57:00.000-07:00

We have many customers who send us short notes about how impressed they are with the results of ThinStick™. ThinStick really helps fight those overbearing cravings and can help you find success with your weight loss program. If you would like to share your story, please email us at info@thinstick.com.

We love hearing your stories!

Thank you!

Tart Lemon Ice Cream Recipe

2010-07-13T14:15:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

1 large lemon, juiced and zested
1 cup white sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream, chilled

Directions

Combine the lemon zest and sugar in the container of a food processor. Blend until the zest is very fine. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar and milk until sugar has dissolved, then stir in the lemon juice. In a separate bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff but not grainy. Gently fold the whipped cream into the lemon mixture until evenly blended.
Pour the mixture into a 9x5 inch loaf pan, and cover with plastic wrap. Freeze for 3 hours, or until firm.

Thank you, allrecipes.com

Amber's Sesame Chicken

2010-07-12T14:11:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds, divided
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
5 (6 ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into chunks
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 yellow onion, cut into wedges
1/2 cup green bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
2 tablespoons honey

Directions

In a large resealable plastic bag, combine flour, 1/4 cup sesame seeds, black pepper, five-spice powder, and red pepper flakes. Place a few pieces of chicken at a time into the bag, and shake to coat. Remove to a platter.
Heat oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Place chicken into skillet, and brown on both sides, about 5 minutes. Remove chicken, and set aside. Stir onion wedges and bell pepper slices into skillet; cook until slightly browned, about 2 minutes. Remove, and set aside.
Return chicken to skillet, and reduce heat to low. Mix in teriyaki marinade, 1/4 cup sesame seeds, and honey; stir until sauce thickens. Return onion and bell pepper to the skillet. Warm through, and serve.

From allrecipes.com

Parents: Weight Won’t Budge? Get Your Zzz’s

2010-07-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

By JJ Virgin

You seem to be doing everything right: exercising regularly, eating three lean, clean meals per day, drinking water instead of soda or coffee. How come you still haven’t shed those extra pounds?

Sleep may be the culprit. More specifically, lack of sleep.

Many people are chronically sleep-deprived and don’t even realize it because they’ve been living that way for so long! However, numerous studies confirm the importance of quality sleep as part of a healthy lifestyle. In fact, people who get five hours of sleep per night are 50% more like to be obese. Those who get six hours are 23% more likely to be obese.

Sleep is especially important when you’re exercising because that’s when your body repairs and rebuilds muscle. Just one night of poor sleep can make you hungrier, more stressed, better at storing fat, and worse at burning it off.

This is why I urge you to get a solid seven to nine hours of sleep per night if at all possible. Yes, I’m a mother myself, and I get that sleepless nights or intermittent sleep is sometimes part of being a parent.

But quality sleep will improve your mood, your mental acuity, and your overall health, which can make you a better, more patient parent. If you can fit in a catnap in the afternoon after lunch between 1 and 3 pm, studies show that you wake up and have the same mental acuity that you did first thing in the morning. Ideally, your nap would last at least 20 minutes, but no longer than 2 hours, so rest up while your little one does.

Another sleep strategy is to trade off with your partner. One night you get up when baby cries, and the next night it’s his responsibility. Then on weekends, you get one day to sleep in and he gets the other day.

Other sleep saboteurs include caffeine, alcohol, and cigarettes. Nicotine mimics the effects of adrenaline, keeping you from falling asleep. There are plenty of other health hazards of smoking, so make quitting a priority if you smoke.

It’s sometimes challenging as a parent to get enough sleep, but it’s necessary for health and weight loss.

©2010 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Celebrity nutrition and wellness expert JJ Virgin is a media personality, in-demand public speaker and best-selling author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy, The 5-Step Plan to Sleek, Strong and Sculpted Arms. Get her biweekly LEANzine chock full of tips to get you slim and sexy fast at www.jjvirgin.com.

6 Superfoods in Disguise

2010-06-30T07:36:00.000-07:00

Full-Fat Cheese
This dairy product is an excellent source of casein protein—one of the best muscle-building nutrients you can eat. Danish researchers found that even when men ate 10 ounces of full-fat cheese daily for 3 weeks, their LDL (“bad”) cholesterol didn’t budge.

Iceberg Lettuce
Conventional wisdom suggests this salad staple is nutritionally bankrupt. But as it turns out, half a head of iceberg lettuce has significantly more alpha-carotene, a powerful disease-fighting antioxidant, than either romaine lettuce or spinach.

Mushrooms
This fungi’s metabolites — by-products created when mushrooms are broken down during digestion — have been shown to boost immunity and prevent cancer growth, report researchers in the Netherlands.

Pork Chops
Pork contains almost five times the selenium — a mineral linked to a lower risk of prostate cancer — of beef and twice that of chicken. And Purdue University researchers found that a 6-ounce serving daily helped people preserve muscle while losing weight.

Red-Pepper Flakes
A Dutch study found that consuming a gram of red-pepper flakes — about half a teaspoon — 30 minutes prior to a meal reduced calorie intake by 16 percent. Plus, new research suggests its active ingredient, capsaicin, may help kill cancer cells.

Vinegar
Scientists in Sweden discovered that when people consumed 2 tablespoons of vinegar with a high-carb meal, their blood sugar was 23 percent lower than when they skipped the antioxidant-loaded liquid. They also felt fuller.

Eat This Not That - Men's Health

Worst Foods in Your Fridge

2010-06-27T18:48:00.000-07:00

10 unhealthy foods that are probably lurking in your refrigerator or freezer right now.

By Elaine Magee, MPH, RD
WebMD Expert Column

You know you're courting nutritional disaster if you order the fettucine alfredo or double bacon cheeseburger when you're eating out. But what about unhealthy foods right in your own refrigerator? If you're like most of us, it probably holds some basic food products that are adding extra calories, salt, fat, and/or sugar to your everyday diet -- perhaps without you even realizing it.

To make my top 10 list of unhealthiest foods, the products had to be commonplace, and they had to be high in trans fats, saturated fat, sugar, and/or salt. Here's my list:

1. Mayonnaise

It's white, it's goopy -- and it's really easy for the calories and grams of fat to add up when you're slathering on the mayonnaise.

The truth is that regular mayo isn't too bad, if you're talking about a teaspoon or two. But most mayo users spread it on thicker than that. And if you're a true mayonnaise lover, you can rack up 360 calories and 40 grams of fat in a 1/4-cup serving.

Mayo maniacs have three better option: they can use a lower-calorie condiment instead of mayonnaise (mustard, BBQ sauce, salsa chili, or taco sauce); they can switch to a light mayonnaise (35 calories and 3.5 grams of fat per tablespoon); or they can pare down their portion of real mayonnaise to a couple of teaspoons (contributing 60 calories and 6.7 grams of fat).

2. Soda and Other Sweet Drinks

Sugary drinks are everywhere. Not only are they standard fare in restaurants and vending machines, but the drinks sold in supermarkets are usually sweetened as well (bottled teas, fruit drinks, sports and energy drinks, etc.).

Sweetened beverages are the epitome of "empty calories." Soda, sweet tea, and fruit drinks generally contribute no nutrients, but plenty of calories. And recent research suggests that we don't tend to compensate by eating less when we drink sweet drinks --- so these are truly "extra" calories.

Plain water is best for hydrating the body, and should make up most of what we drink each day. But there are several beverages without calories, like green and black teas, that not only hydrate but contribute healthy antioxidants. And while skim or 1% milk has some calories, it also has key nutrients, such as calcium, vitamin D, B-12, potassium, and magnesium.

3. Alcoholic Beverages

Not only is it possible to overconsume and abuse alcohol, but from a nutritional perspective, there are definitely better beverages you can have in your fridge.

Alcohol calories are empty calories because the body can't use them as energy. The liver is forced to break alcohol down into fatty acids, which then accumulate in the liver. In fact, fat accumulation can be seen in the liver after a single night of heavy drinking. Liver cells and brain cells actually die with excessive exposure to alcohol.

And then there are the calories. One glass of wine (8 ounces) has around 170 calories and a bottle of beer (12 ounces) has 150. Each 1 and 1/2-ounce shot of liquor (gin, rum, vodka, whiskey) has about 105 calories, not including any soda or mixers you might drink along with it.

Less is more when it comes to alcohol. If you're going to imbibe, do so in moderation. At parties or happy hours, instead of alcoholic drinks consider drinking mineral or soda water with a wedge of lemon or lime; hot or iced coffee or tea; or diet soft drinks in moderation.

4. Processed Lunch Meat

Lunch meats, including deli cold cuts, bologna, and ham, make the unhealthy list because they contain lots of sodium and sometimes fat, as well as some preservatives like nitrites.

Processed meat -- defined as any meat preserved by smoking, curing, or salting or with the addition of chemical preservatives -- is linked to an increased risk of colon cancer, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research. Some experts suspect that certain substances used as preservatives in processed meats may change into cancer-causing compounds in the body.

Further, the sodium in one small serving of lunch meat (one slice of bologna or five slices of salami) ranges from 310 to 480 milligrams. A diet high in sodium is thought to increase the risk of high blood pressure, a major cause of heart disease and stroke.

What should you eat instead? You eliminate the sodium and preservatives and get straight to the protein, vitamins, and minerals when you use freshly roasted and sliced turkey, chicken, or roast beef in your sandwiches. Roast your own, or look for deli brands low in nitrates and sodium.

5. Hot Dogs and Sausage

Also part of the "processed meat" category, hot dogs and sausage are a staple in many a refrigerator. Many people turn to them for a quick dinner entree or, in the case of sausage, as a featured food at breakfast or brunch.

Hot dogs and sausage tend to contain lots of sodium (520-680 milligrams per 2-ounce serving) and fat (up to 23 grams total fat and 7 grams saturated fat per serving). Most Americans take in more than double the recommended amount of sodium recommended, according to CDC statistics.

It's a good idea to substitute lower-fat and lower-sodium meats, such as roasted poultry, pork tenderloin, roast beef, and shrimp for frankfurters and sausage in meals and recipes. Even grilled vegetables such as portabella mushrooms, eggplant, or roasted red pepper will often suffice.

But if it's got to be a frankfurter or sausage, consider the lower-fat options available in most supermarkets, such as "light" franks, turkey kielbasa, or soy-based sausage substitutes. They may not be much lower in sodium than traditional products, but the amounts of total and saturated fat are often cut in half.

6. Whole-Milk Products

While dairy products contain protein, calcium, B-12, and riboflavin, whole-milk products also have ample amounts of fat and cholesterol. If you drink 16 ounces of whole milk a day, for example, it adds up to 1,904 calories, 105 grams of total fat, 59.5 grams saturated fat, and 315 milligrams of cholesterol in a week's time.

The good news is that lower-fat options are available for most dairy products, be it milk, cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, or cream cheese.

7. Gourmet Ice Cream

In many an American freezer, you'll find a pint of gourmet ice cream or a box of decadent ice cream bars, thanks to Ben & Jerry or Haagen-Dazs.

Even if you stick to the modest 1/2 cup serving size suggested on the box, it can send your daily totals of saturated fat, total fat, and calories into overload. A serving of Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, for example, has 260 calories, 14 grams of fat, 9 grams saturated fat, 65 milligrams cholesterol, and 23 grams sugar. One-half cup of Haagen-Dazs White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle will give you 290 calories, 16 grams fat, 9 grams saturated fat, 90 milligrams cholesterol, and 27 grams sugar. And a more typical serving for most of us is one cup, which doubles the totals for fat, calories, cholesterol and sugar.

Instead, try some of the great-tasting lower-fat, lower-sugar and lower-calorie ice cream options you can find in any supermarket. The light version of Safeway brand Mint Chocolate Chip, for example, drops the calories to 120, fat to 4.5 grams, saturated fat to 3.5 grams, and sugar to 14 grams for a 1/2-cup serving. For an even healthier dessert, enjoy some fresh fruit with plain yogurt.

8. Creamy Salad Dressing

How many bottles of creamy salad dressing are sitting in your refrigerator? The standard refrigerator fare includes ranch, Thousand Island, and/or blue cheese.

Each two-tablespoon serving of these traditional creamy dressings adds about 120 calories, 12 grams of fat, 2.5 grams saturated fat, and 380 milligrams of sodium to your salad. Here's the worst part though: most people drizzle on double this amount of dressing (1/4 cup).

So aim for downsizing to a two-tablespoon serving. You might also find some lighter dressings that you enjoy. Try Newman's Own Lowfat Sesame Ginger or Ken's Lite Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette, which offer fewer calories and less fat.

9. Stick Butter or Margarine

If it can hold its shape in stick form, your butter or margarine is probably high in saturated fat, because it's the saturated fat that makes fats more solid at room temperature. In years past, most margarine also contributed high amounts of unhealthy trans fat, though many have been reformulated.

9. Stick Butter or Margarine continued...

It's easier to use more stick margarine or butter than you think because its firm texture makes it difficult to spread lightly on food. And each tablespoon will give you 100 calories and 11 grams of fat. While butter has 7 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon, stick margarines have 2 grams saturated fat and 1.5 grams trans fats per tablespoon.

Switching to canola oil or olive oil in your cooking and baking when possible is the best option because these are "smart" fats -- rich in mono- and polyunsaturated fat. But if you need a spreadable fat on the table or in a recipe, try a reduced-fat margarine with no trans fat and low amounts of saturated fat. If only butter will do, use whipped butter instead. It's easier to spread lightly, and cuts the calories, fat, and saturated fat by a third.

10. Frozen French Fries

Potato side dishes such as hash browns, French fries, or tater tots are popular accompaniments for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Most American freezers have a bag of frozen potato products ready to bake with a moment's notice.

Just one small serving (3 ounces) of some popular potato products, like criss-cut French fries, tater tots, or curly fries, contains 8 to11 grams of total fat, around 3 grams of saturated fat, 390 to 540 milligrams sodium, and about 190 calories. And many potato lovers eat double this amount in one sitting.

Your best bet is to eat unprocessed potatoes, like baked potatoes or roasted red potatoes, because they give you all the nutrients of potatoes without added fat, saturated fat or sodium. Some frozen hash browns contain no added fat, so look for zero-fat grams on the label. If you need frozen French fries, the steak fries are often the lowest-fat option, but check the label to be sure.

Elaine Magee, MPH, RD, is the "Recipe Doctor" for WebMD and the author of numerous books on nutrition and health. Her opinions and conclusions are her own.

Worst Foods in Your Fridge

Your Summer Cookout Survival Guide

2010-06-27T18:37:00.000-07:00

By JJ Virgin

Summer is a great time to get in shape (the bikini for motivation, the sunshine for running outdoors), but it also introduces a host of health and nutrition challenges, among them, the summer cookout. Potato salad, hot dogs, and chips are all summer cookout staples, but they’re also nutritional disaster zones.

It’s fun to catch up with friends and family and catch some sunshine, so I’d never suggest that you forgo summer cookouts. Instead, here are some sensible survival tips.

1. Focus on friends, not food.
Instead of planting yourself in front of the food table and chowing down, find a seat next to a friend and catch up. Watch your kids play together, admire the host’s gorgeous garden, or chat about your summer travel plans. Make the celebration more about socializing than stuffing your face. Let other people serve themselves first, then meander over to the food later when you’re less rushed. Then choose a small plate of the most nutritious foods available, avoiding anything fried, breaded, or covered in mayo. Be sure to sit down and be mindful when you eat so you are totally aware of what is going into your mouth.

2. Make smart substitutions.
I suggest bringing something nutritious that you’ll want to eat so you won’t be so tempted by the fat & carb bombs in front of you. Instead of seven layer nachos and chips, bring guacamole and sliced veggies. In place of potato salad, bring a garden salad loaded with a rainbow of veggies and tossed with olive oil vinaigrette. Consider bringing turkey or chicken breast patties or fish for grilling so that you can bypass those ribs or burgers. Also, summer fruit makes the perfect dessert, so consider bringing fruit kabobs with strawberries, nectarines and apricots.

3. Side step the beverage black hole.
Those margaritas or wine coolers contain more sugar and calories you’d think. Instead, make iced green tea with flavored green tea bags for a touch of zing. I love mandarin orange! I’ll brew up a pitcher full and add some orange slices for some extra flavor. It makes for a great presentation, too. If green tea isn’t available, stick to water, sparkling water, or a glass of pinot noir (it’s the best and most delicious source of resveratrol, which protects against heart disease and cancer).

4. Follow the three-bite rule.
If you’re dying for an ice cream sandwich or a juicy burger, then observe this simple rule: you can have three small, ladylike bites and then you’re done. Throw the rest away before your first bite so you won’t be tempted to finish it off.

That’s it. Now you’re ready to have fun and enjoy the cookout without stressing about what to eat!

©2010 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Celebrity nutrition and wellness expert JJ Virgin is a public speaker and author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy, The 5-Step Plan to Sleek, Strong and Sculpted Arms. Order your copy today!

ThinTip- Here's why you might choose chocolate milk!

2010-06-17T06:54:00.000-07:00

Secret #1: The Calcium Effect

Researchers have known for years about the role that calcium plays in building strong bones, but a more recent development deals with they way it affects your belly. A series of studies have shown that calcium can actually impede your body’s ability to absorb fat, and when researchers in Nebraska analyzed five of these studies, they were able to estimate that consuming 1,000 mg more calcium can translate to losing nearly 18 pounds of flab. What’s more, other studies have shown that dairy foods offer the most readily absorbable calcium you can find. Knock back three servings of brown cow and you’ll reach that crucial 1,000 mg threshold. At that point, any other calcium that you eat or drink is a bonus.

Secret #2: The Vitamin D Factor

All the calcium in the world isn’t going to help you if you don’t get a good dose of vitamin D to go with it. That’s because vitamin D is responsible for moving calcium from your food to your body, which means if you’re running low on D, you’re probably also missing the calcium you need to stay slim. Other symptoms of the D deficiency are weak muscles, easily breakable bones, and depression—not a great combo for success. Now here’s why this is significant: Most experts agree that the average American isn’t getting enough D. Some estimate that only half the population is meeting the requirement and one study published in the journal Pediatrics found that 70 percent of American children had low levels of D in their diet. The thing is, your body makes vitamin D naturally when you expose your skin to sunlight, but most people spend too much time indoors to benefit. And intentionally spending more time in the sun could put you at risk for skin cancer. The solution? Drink up. Chocolate milk, like most milk, is fortified with vitamin D.

One caveat here: Drink 1% chocolate milk. Vitamin D won't work without a little fat to help break it down. You want to skip the whole milk, too, as it has too many calories to make it a regular habit. The best option is 1%, or low-fat chocolate milk. It has the fat you need to absorb crucial vitamins, yet at three cups a day, it will save you 120 calories over whole milk.

Secret #3: The Endurance Boost

If you want to lose the gut, you’ve got to exercise—no surprise there. But here’s a fact that’s not so obvious: Drinking chocolate milk can improve your gains. In a study published in The International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, subjects given chocolate milk before hopping on the stationary bikes were able to ride 49 percent longer than subjects given a generic carbohydrate-replacement beverage. And on top of that, they pedaled even harder. Total work performed by the chocolate-milk group was greater than the work performed by subjects drinking carbohydrate-replacement drinks or electrolyte-fortified sports drinks. The reason? Milk has naturally occurring electrolytes that keep you hydrated—more hydrated then water, in fact, which I revealed recently on my Twitter account—and its natural sweetness helps push more energy into your muscles. Another study from 2009 found similar results, but it went one step further by asking participants which beverage they thought tasted better. Not surprisingly, 100% chose chocolate milk.

Secret #4: The Protein-Body-Weight Connection

Want to know the secret to staying thin? You need more muscle. That’s because muscle burns more calories than fat, so for every new muscle fiber you create, your resting metabolism receives another surge of fat-torching energy. And chocolate milk can help you do that. Researchers have determined that the ideal protein load for building muscle is 10 to 20 grams, half before and half after your workout. How much protein will you find in low-fat chocolate milk? Eight grams per cup. (That means one serving before your workout and one serving after will give you a total of 16 grams of highly effective whey protein—a perfect serving.) Add that to the extra cup you drank first thing in the morning and you’re looking at a turbocharged metabolism that keeps you burning calories all day long.

Thanks, Eat This Not That and Women's Magazine, for this great information!

Pineapple-Chicken Kabob Packets - Global Flavors - Eat Better America

2010-06-16T16:34:00.000-07:00

1/3	cup pineapple preserves
2	tablespoons packed brown sugar
1	tablespoon soy sauce
1/4	teaspoon crushed red pepper
4	boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2-inch cubes (1 lb)
1	medium red bell pepper, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
1	medium green bell pepper, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
1	cup pineapple chunks
1/4	teaspoon salt

1.	Heat gas or charcoal grill. In small bowl, stir together pineapple preserves, brown sugar, soy sauce and crushed red pepper.
2.	Cut 4 (24x12-inch) sheets of heavy-duty foil. Divide chicken, bell peppers, pineapple chunks and pineapple preserves mixture among foil sheets. Sprinkle with salt. Bring up 2 sides of foil so edges meet. Seal edges, making tight 1/2-inch fold; fold again, allowing space for heat circulation and expansion. Fold other sides to seal.
3.	Place packets on grill over medium heat. Cover grill; cook 6 minutes. Using tongs, carefully turn packets over, taking care not to puncture foil. Cook 10 to 12 minutes longer or until chicken is no longer pink in center and vegetables are crisp-tender.

Pineapple-Chicken Kabob Packets - Global Flavors - Eat Better America

Blueberry-Almond Turtles

2010-06-11T18:06:00.000-07:00

7 Tbsp (2.5 oz) 60% cocoa bittersweet chocolate chips (such as Ghirardelli)
1/4 cup dried wild blueberries (sold in produce section)
1/4 cup sliced almonds

Microwave chocolate in a glass bowl for 60 to 75 seconds or until melted. Stir in blueberries and nuts, then drop 5 rounded tablespoons onto parchment paper. Cool in refrigerator for 2 to 4 minutes or until firm.

Makes 5 turtles.

Per turtle: 104 cal, 8 g fat (3.5 g sat), 0 mg sodium, 9 g carbs, 1 g fiber, 2 g protein

Maureen Callahah, R.D.
Photo: Lisa Shin
Women's Heath Magazine

Bone Health- More Than Calcium

2010-06-09T07:54:00.000-07:00

Most people know that consuming ample calcium and vitamin D are critical to bone health and the prevention of osteoporosis. A review of the research on diet and osteoporosis clearly shows that there is much more to the diet-bone relationship. Numerous studies show that optimal intakes of milk, as well as colorful fruits and vegetables are important protective factors for bone health. In addition, several nutrients, including magnesium, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin K, several B vitamins, and the carotenoids, aid in bone formation and maintenance. Protein intake is important for bone status, particularly in older adults, while preliminary research also shows the omega-3 fats might aid in strong bones. Regular intake of cola beverages shows negative effects and moderate alcohol intake shows positive effects on bone, particularly in older women.

Author: Elizabeth Somer, from her Nutrition Alert Newsletter

Source: Tucker K: Osteoporosis prevention and nutrition. Current Osteoporosis Report 2009;111-117

Moroccan Pomegranate Mint Yogurt

2010-06-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

1 packet ThinStick™

1/2 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
1/3 cup pomegranate seeds
2 tsp thinly sliced fresh mint (about 5 leaves)

Fold mint and ThinStick into yogurt. Layer yogurt mixture and pomegranate arils in a clear dessert dish.

Makes 1 serving.

Per serving: 145 cal, 0 g fat (0 g sat), 69 mg sodium, 19 g carbs, 4 g fiber, 16 g protein

Women's Health Magazine
Maureen Callahah, R.D.
Photo: Lisa Shin

Over 40, Fit, and Ready to Bare Arms

2010-06-06T18:52:00.000-07:00

Over 40, Fit, and Ready to Bare Arms

Show me the research!

2010-06-01T16:18:00.000-07:00

IS THERE ANY RESEARCH ON THINSTICK?

Yes. ThinStick has been extensively researched in scientific, controlled, double-blind studies. Research results include:

ThinStick creates satiety and reduces caloric intake.

ThinStick may significantly decrease food intake at subsequent meals.

ThinStick helps maintain weight loss and supports further weight loss over 6 months.

ThinStick reduces overall feelings of hunger long-term.

ThinStick works immediately with the first serving.

SHOW ME THE RESEARCH

Thyroid Secrets Revealed: 5 Simple Steps to Improve Your Thyroid Function

2010-05-27T19:43:00.000-07:00

By Alan Christianson, NMD
http://www.integrativehealthcare.com

Did you know that thyroid disease can cause unexplained weight gain and fatigue? It can also cause depression, hair loss, anxiety, dry skin and poor memory. When tested randomly, at least 10% of adults are found to have thyroid disease. An additional 10-15% of adults may have early thyroid disease.
Unfortunately, many with early disease are tested and found to have 'normal' thyroid function. Furthermore many being treated for thyroid disease still have many of the symptoms remain.

Why is it that so many people are not diagnosed? And why are half of those already on treatment not feeling better?

Simply put, the shortcoming is in the "normal range" numbers of the thyroid tests that most doctors rely on. Laboratory ranges can be decided on or just averaged.

For blood sugar levels, for example, panels of researchers review glucose levels in people who have become diabetic and compared it to what their blood sugar levels were in the years preceding their diagnosis. Those whose morning fasting blood sugar levels are under 99 were found to have lower rates of becoming diabetic. Therefore 99 is considered the upper limit of the "normal range".

For thyroid disease the ranges are simply averages. What this means is that a lab will review 10,000 scores from a thyroid test and create a high and low range based on this group. The low range is the lowest 2.5% of scores and high range is the highest 2.5%.

The problem with this method is that these normal values are only reflective of whomever is being tested. Who gets a thyroid test done? Primarily two groups: those known to have thyroid disease and those suspected of having it. These two groups should not be expected to have the same thyroid blood levels as those with optimal thyroid function, yet this is the assumption inherent in the normal ranges.

So what is the solution? If you or someone you love has possible hypothyroid symptoms, have a complete panel of tests done including TSH, thyroid antibodies, free t3 and free t4. Look for your TSH to be in the optimal range of 0.3 - 1.5.

If it is not or if the other tests are abnormal, you may benefit from thyroid treatment. If you doctor does not agree, look for one recommended by thyroid patients such as www.thyroid-info.com/topdrs/index.htm.?

Whether you have thyroid disease or not, here are five easy steps you can take to improve your thyroid function:

1. Get the Right Amount of Iodine.
You want iodized salt for use at home. Sea salt can also be found in iodized forms. All the extra salt we get in processed foods and at restaurants gives us too much sodium but no iodine. Eat seafood, any kind helps. Have some seaweed every now and then like Nori found on sushi. Take a multi that contains about 100 mcg of iodine. Avoid very high doses of iodine found in kelp and iodine supplements. Too much is as bad or worse than too little.

2. Consume selenium.
This mineral helps your body better utilize thyroid hormones. Getting your needed 200 mcg can be as easy as 1 brazil nut per day or a good multivitamin.

3. Minimize Mercury.
Seafood is great but be aware of high-mercury seafood. The biggest no-no is don't eat tuna daily. The most complete current data is from the FDA:www.cfsan.fda.gov/~frf/sea-mehg.html Avoid mercury amalgams. Getting new fillings? Get porcelain or ceramic. Got old ones that the dentist says should go? Get them out and ask us about ways to detox.?

4. Avoid Perchlorate.
This is a toxic by product from rocket and jet fuels. It also forms spontaneously in the arid Southwest soil and ends up in our water. We absorb it from our skin and intestines. Once in our bodies it prevents our thyroid glands from absorbing iodine. Solutions: drink purified water only, not tap water. Ideally use a filter for your shower also. We also get this from dry cleaning. Take your clothes out the bag ASAP and ideally let them off-gas in the sunshine for a few hours before wearing.

5. Exercise.
The more aerobic activity you do the lower your odds are of developing thyroid disease. Keep your blood moving!?In the case of suspected thyroid disease or any other symptom, never assume that you need to suffer. Educate yourself and take action. You deserve to feel your best!

About Alan Christianson
Dr. Alan Christianson, NMD, is founder and president of Integrative Health clinic in Scottsdale, AZ. Integrative Health offers a fresh approach to living well by using a novel formula for science-based natural medicine. He and his team of physicians discover the cause of each patient's troubling symptoms and protects their long-term health and quality of life.

Dr. Christianson's primary focus is diagnosing hidden cases of thyroid disease and assisting those already diagnosed to resolve hypothyroid symptoms including weight gain, fatigue and hair loss.

Currently he is co-authoring The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Thyroid for Penguin publishers, and the thyroid section for the Textbook of Natural Medicine - both due for publication in mid-2011.

Cinnamon-Peach Cottage Cheese Pancakes

2010-05-26T23:04:00.000-07:00

Try adding one packet ThinStick™ or one scoop ThinStick Shake™ to this recipe. Also, try it with different fresh fruits, whichever are in season!

Ingredients

4 eggs
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 peach, shredded
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 pinch salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

Mix eggs, cottage cheese, milk, vanilla, butter, and peach in a large bowl. Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Stir flour mixture into the cottage cheese mixture until just combined.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle over medium-high heat. Drop batter by large spoonfuls onto the griddle, and cook until bubbles form and the edges are dry. Flip, and cook until browned on the other side. Repeat with remaining batter.

Thanks to Allrecipes.com for this recipe.

Thin Tip

2010-05-22T07:33:00.000-07:00

Invent Incentives

There's motivation, and then there's motivation. A recent study (one we wish we'd taken part in) found that people whose employers paid them for every pound they lost dropped as much as 12 percent more weight than those who received no dough. Boss not ready to fork over cash? Make your own reward. "Put aside cash for every pound you lose," says licensed psychotherapist Stacy Kaiser of VH1's Celebrity Fit Club. Use it to treat yourself to a manicure or earmark it for a favorite charity. If moolah doesn't move you, buy a teeny bikini and hang it on your refrigerator. Read more at womenshealthmagazine.com

Black Forest Pudding

2010-05-19T18:48:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

1 cup cold skim milk

1 scoop ThinStick™ Shake

2 Tbsp fat free, sugar free instant chocolate pudding mix

1/2 cup Cherry Pie filling (sugar free)

1/2 cup Cool Whip® Fat Free

Directions:

1) Pour milk in blender and add ThinStick, pulse blend about 10 seconds

2)Add pudding mix and blend on high until thickened, about 30 seconds, scrapping sides as needed

3)Pour half the pudding into two small glasses (save the remaining half) Layer Cherry pie filling on top of pudding, then pour the remaining pudding on top.

4) Chill in refrigerator for about 20 minutes. Top each glass with the cool whip, serve and enjoy this guilt free, super satisfying dessert!

Shape your arms for Summer!

2010-05-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

Want Hot Arms? Then Head to the Kitchen!By JJ Virgin
http://www.jjvirgin.com

Of course, the right exercise is crucial for shaping slim & sexy arms, but it is only one part of my integrated program for creating the arms and body of your dreams. You must also feed your arms so that you are building muscle while burning off the fat. I am sharing three of my top tips from Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy that you can put into action right away.

How to "Feed Your Arms":

1. Drink up. Be sure to drink eight or more glasses of water in-between meals to keep your appetite at bay, support metabolism and burn fat. Don't drink more than a few ounces with your meals because too much water during meals can dilute stomach acid and impair digestion. Drinking pure spring water throughout the rest of your day will also help your stress hormones stay balanced as even mild dehydration can raise stress hormones. And remember sodas, coffee and sugary sports drinks pretending to be water do not count as your daily water intake.

2. Eat a substantial breakfast. Research shows that people who eat a substantial balanced breakfast of clean lean protein, high fiber carbs and healthy fat lose more weight AND keep it off. Make a little time in the morning and indulge in a satisfying meal that will keep you going for hours. By the way, you don't need to eat "breakfast" for breakfast. If you want a turkey wrap for breakfast, then enjoy!

3. Follow your workout with clean lean protein and a high fiber carb. The amino acids from protein support muscle growth and recovery, plus your body uses carbs to refuel your muscle stores of energy (glycogen) to set you up for success during your next workout. Please skip the sports nutrition bars, which I always dub "adult candy bars." And remember: Just because you worked out doesn't mean it's okay to saddle up to Ben or Jerry.

©2010 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Celebrity nutrition & wellness expert JJ Virgin is a public speaker, co-star of TLC’s Freaky Eaters and author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy, The 5-Step Plan to Sleek, Strong, and Sculpted Arms available now. Order your copy now and receive her 10 Hottest Tips to Get Slim and Sexy Fast Audio (a $14.95 value) FREE at www.sixweekstosleevelessandsexy.com

2010-05-11T18:05:00.001-07:00

This is my absolute favorite sandwich/ wrap/yummy bread!!

My favorite way to eat it is like this:

1 whole wheat + flax Flatout™ flatbread

2 tablespoons of hummus

lettuce

tomato slices

sliced mini bell peppers

cucumber

sprinkle of Mrs. Dash™ Tomato Basil

I love these flatbreads because they are soft yet strong enough to fill with lots of vegetables and not break! Also, they are loaded with fiber and really low calorie, only 100 for a very generous size wrap. Click on the picture to read more about these great new products that you can even find at your local wholesale store! ;-)

The Most Nutritious Whole Foods - A to Z

2010-05-03T16:44:00.001-07:00

Vitamin A

What is it: A pale yellow crystalline compound also known as retinol.

Why you need it: It preserves and improves your eyesight as well as fights viral infections.

BEST SOURCES
Raw carrots (1 cup, 53 calories)
686 percent daily value
Cooked spinach (1 cup, 41 calories)
294 percent daily value
Baked sweet potato with skin (95 calories)
262 percent daily value
Cooked turnip greens (1 cup, 28 calories)
158 percent daily value
Baked winter squash (1 cup, 80 calories)
145 percent daily value
Cooked collard greens (1 cup, 49 calories)
118 percent daily value
Cantaloupe (1 cup, 56 calories)
103 percent daily value
Romaine lettuce (2 cups, 16 calories)
58 percent daily value
Steamed broccoli (1 cup, 43 calories)
45 percent daily value
Cooked green peas (1 cup, 134 calories)
19 percent daily value

Vitamin B1

What is it: Also known as thiamin. Helps cells' enzyme systems convert oxygen into usable energy.

Why you need it: Maintains your energy, coordinates nerve and muscle activity, and keeps your heart healthy.

BEST SOURCES
Raw sunflower seeds (1/4 cup, 205 calories)
54 percent daily value
Cooked yellowfin tuna (4 ounces, 157 calories)
38 percent daily value
Cooked black beans (1 cup, 227 calories)
28 percent daily value
Cooked corn (1 cup, 177 calories)
24 percent daily value
Sesame seeds (1/4 cup, 206 calories)
18 percent daily value
Oatmeal (1 cup, 145 calories)
17 percent daily value
Cooked asparagus (1 cup, 43 calories)
14 percent daily value
Brussels sprouts (1 cup, 60 calories)
11 percent daily value
Cooked spinach (1 cup, 41 calories)
11 percent daily value
Pineapple (1 cup, 76 calories)
9 percent daily value

Vitamin B6

What is it: Involved in more than 100 enzyme reactions throughout the body.

Why you need it: Helps your nervous system, promotes proper breakdown of starch and sugar, and prevents amino acid buildup in your blood.

BEST SOURCES
Banana (108 calories)
34 percent daily value
Roasted chicken breast (4 ounces, 223 calories)
32 percent daily value
Roasted turkey (4 ounces, 214 calories)
27 percent daily value
Cooked cod (4 ounces, 119 calories)
26 percent daily value
Baked potato (1 medium, 133 calories)
21 percent daily value
Avocado (1 cup, 235 calories)
20 percent daily value
Garlic (1 ounce, 42 calories)
17 percent daily value
Raw red pepper (1 cup, 24 calories)
11 percent daily value
Watermelon (1 cup, 48 calories)
11 percent daily value
Cooked cauliflower (1 cup, 28 calories)
10 percent daily value

To View the rest visit Eat This Not That's Website Here!

Want Hot Arms?

2010-05-02T08:53:00.001-07:00

Then Head to the Bedroom!
By JJ Virgin
http://www.jjvirgin.com

Of course, the right exercises are crucial for shaping slim and sexy arms but this is only one part of my integrated program for creating the arms and body of your dreams. You must also snooze or you will lose. It's crucial to get your 7-9 hours of quality sleep nightly in order to give your body the time to recover and rebuild. I am sharing three of my top tips from my new book,Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy, available for preorder on Amazon.com, that you can put into action right away.

1. Set your alarm clock before you go to sleep. Most of us are used to groaning when the alarm rings in the wee hours of the morning. Instead, I want you to set your alarm to ring an hour before a reasonable bedtime. This is your signal to power down your night. This means you turn the TV off, shut down the computer and turn off your cell phone (or put it in another room). Don't do anything that will rev you up or that's stimulating to your mind including phone calls, work, watching the news or cleaning up the house. This is time to take it down several notches.

2. Create a sleep ritual. Don't make going to sleep a haphazard nightly event. Create a sleep routine, which might include having that alarm go off each night at 9 p.m. and then the bathroom, the toothbrush and the half hour of reading in your cool, dark bedroom. Or perhaps you will take a hot bath, sip some herbal tea or listen to soothing music like Enya or Jim Brickman. It's your prelude to a peaceful 7 to 9 hours of unbroken, quality sleep. Half an hour later, you're under that nice comforter and the lights are off. Inform your family of this ritual. Unless the house is burning down, no one is to disturb you.

3. Get up at the same time each day. Your body is a creature of habit. Get it in the habit of waking at a certain time each day and make sure that becomes your routine. Soon, you won't even need an alarm clock in the morning because your rested body will naturally wake up, energized, to start a new day.