Posts Tagged ‘Weight loss’

Today’s pulse on 542542: Tapeworm Diet

Thursday, November 12th, 2009
The scolex of Tenia solium
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kgb_ Special Agents are relentless and squeamish at times in their search for the answers to America’s questions.  And what does America want to know, you ask?  Well, today’s buzz centers on fad diets:

Is the tapeworm diet for real?

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The Tyra Show recently discussed the tapeworm diet.  As you may know, a tapeworm is an intestinal tract parasite found in animals and, at times, humans.

The premise behind the tapeworm diet is the hopes that the tapeworm will eat half the food an individual consumes and weight loss will occur as a result.

While the diet is illegal in the United States, there appears to be a thriving black market business in tapeworm eggs.

To begin the diet, a tapeworm egg is consumed.  The tapeworm attaches to the intestine and starts consuming some calories.  While there may be no symptoms related to consumption of the tapeworm, abdominal pain, diarrhea and even seizures can occur.  When one is done with the tapeworm, a drug is consumed and the tapeworm is evacuated on the toilet.

The diet is unsafe as tapeworms can become gigantic (ten feet long and over, sometimes up to 50 feet) and the things have the capacity to travel to the brain…not good.

What next?

E! Investigations:  The Tapeworm Diet

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Source:

“The Tyra Show” explores the tapeworm diet

Tyra Banks publicizes tapeworm diet

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Today’s pulse on 542542: Fitness Trends for 2010

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
Personal trainer showing a client how to exerc...
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kgb_ Special Agents are energetic and aerobic in their search for the answers to America’s questions.  And what does America want to know, you ask?  Well, today’s buzz centers on getting fit:

What’s a good way to get fit?

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The American College of Sports Medicine recently announced their list of the Top 10 Worldwide Fitness Trends for 2010.  Here we go:

1. Educated and Experienced Fitness Professionals

It has become increasingly clear that as the market for fitness professionals becomes even more crowded and more competitive, workers in the fitness field will be better trained and certified in their field than in previous years.

2. Strength Training

Look for both men and women to incorporate more strength training into their exercise routines.

3. Children and Obesity

If childhood obesity trends continue, the next generation of young people may not live as long as their parents or grandparents. The health and fitness industry has recognized this problem and will be providing more programming for obese youth.

4. Personal Training

As more professional personal trainers are educated and certified, they become more accessible to the general public, not just the rich and famous.

5. Core Training

This is a trend that emphasizes strength and conditioning of the stabilizing muscles of the abdomen and back. Core training uses stability balls, BOSU balls, wobble boards, and foam rollers, among many other pieces of equipment.

6. Special Fitness Programs for Older Adults

This is a trend that emphasizes and caters to the older adult. As the baby boom generation ages into retirement and because they may have more discretionary money than their younger counterparts, fitness clubs will capitalize on this growing market.

7. Functional Fitness

This is a trend toward using strength training to improve balance, coordination, strength, and endurance to improve one’s ability to do activities of daily living. Exercise programs reflect actual activities someone might do during the day.

8. Sport-Specific Training

This is a trend that incorporates sport-specific training especially for young athletes. For example, a high school athlete might join a commercial- or community-based fitness organization to help develop skills during the off-season and to increase strength and endurance.

9. Pilates

Pilates is a form of exercise that targets the core of the body (i.e., the abdomen, back, and hips) while using the entire body during a training session. It also increases flexibility and improves posture. The exercises are typically done lying down on a mat and involve a series of controlled movements of the arms and legs that strengthen the abdominal muscles, hips, and back.

10. Group Personal Training

This trend expands the personal trainer’s role from strictly one on-one training to small-group training. The personal trainer works with two or more people (but in a small group) and offers discounts for the group.

Other popular trends that did not make the Top 10 include:  Exercise and Weight Loss, Wellness Coaching, Yoga, Spinning, Boot Camp, Stability Ball and Balance Training among others.

How do you BOSU?

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Source:  WORLDWIDE SURVEY REVEALS FITNESS TRENDS FOR 2010

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Today’s pulse on 542542: The Camera Diet

Monday, November 2nd, 2009
Behind the scenes at Alexis's food blog
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kgb_ Special Agents are tireless and relentless in their search for the answers to America’s questions.  And what does America want to know, you ask?  Well, today’s buzz centers on the latest weight-loss fad:

What is the camera diet?

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Essentially, with the camera diet, dieters have to take a picture of everything they eat with either their cellphone or other camera at hand.

It is the work involved in taking a picture of everything one eats that appears to make people more conscious of what goes in their mouth. Participants in the diet report that the effort involved in recording a snack or a second helping of food prompts them to re-think whether they actually want to eat it.

The diet is based on a pilot study entitled Think Before You Eat, by Lydia Zepeda and David Deal from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  The researchers found that keeping a photographic food diary influences attitudes and behaviors about food choices.

Keeping a food diary is not a new idea as dieters have been using the act of writing their food intake in a diary for decades.  The photo diary offers a new slant however, as pictures must be taken before the food is eaten – unlike written diaries, often recorded when it is too late to change one’s mind.

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Source:   Dear Photo Diary

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Today’s pulse on 542542: The Cookie Diet

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
Dr Siegal Eating Cookie 400
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kgb_ Special Agents are tireless and relentless in their search for the answers to America’s questions.  And what does America want to know, you ask?  Well, today’s buzz centers on America’s preoccupation with losing weight:

What’s the cookie diet?

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Not Medical Advice: From the Grapefruit Diet to Atkins, there seems to be a diet for everyone.  Welcome Dr. Siegal’s Cookie Diet.

The Cookie Diet consists of eating six prepackaged cookies a day.  Oh yeah, you get one real meal too, something like skinned chicken and vegetables, steamed.

According to Dr. Sanford Siegal himself, an estimated 500,000 people have lost weight on the diet.  The cookies cost $56.00 a week. The philosophy:  Eat cookies and lose up to 10 pounds a week.

Critics complain that the cookies have questionable nutritional value and people lose weight because they’re consuming only 800 to 1,000 calories a day. They say the severe calorie restriction is unhealthy.

Dr. Siegal created the diet in 1975 but for decades limited the sale of the cookies to patients in his own medical practice in Miami as well as other doctors he supplied.

The popularity expanded in 2006 when CookieDiet.com was launched and the cookies were sold at Walgreens and GNC.  There’s even a Cookie Diet store in Beverly Hills and endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Hudson and Kelly Clarkson.

Copycat cookie diets have popped on the scene including Smart for Life, the Hollywood Cookie Diet and Soypal Cookies.  (Soypal is touted as the most popular diet in Japan.)

While its makers report the Cookie Diet cookies are nutritionally sound, a seven-day supply of multivitamins are included in each weekly package just to be on the safe side.

“I’ve never felt like I was in the cookie business. I’ve always been in a feel good feeling business. My job is to sell joy. My job is to sell happiness. My job is to sell an experience.”  ~Debbi Fields

Mike & Juliet Investigate: The Cookie Diet

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Source:   A Few Cookies a Day to Keep the Pounds Away?

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Today’s pulse on 542542: Tongue Patches

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
tongue
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kgb_ Special Agents are tireless and relentless in their search for the answers to America’s questions. And what does America want to know, you ask? Well, today’s buzz centers on America’s never ending quest to lose weight:

What’s a tongue patch?

Know more:

Not Medical Advice:

The Chugay Tongue Patch is touted by its inventor as a means of weight loss never before offered by weight loss physicians around the country.

Take a look at the tongue patch here.

Dr. Nikolas Chugay, a plastic surgeon in private practice in Beverly Hills, Long Beach and Irvine, California, developed the tongue patch as a temporary way to lose “20 to 40 pounds.”

The patch is a postage stamp size mesh square that is surgically attached to the tongue. The result – a really unpleasant experience when dining. Chowing down is very difficult and painful with the patch.

Some weight loss medical professionals are not amused, like the following MD:

“I’d say the Chugay Tongue Patch is a daily reminder of how just because your physician has an MD behind their name it doesn’t mean they’re bright.”  ~Canadian obesity doctor Yoni Freedhoff

The key to the tongue patch is that it limits patients to a liquid diet resulting in weight loss up to 28 pounds in the month long program. The liquid diet is reported to meet the nutritional needs of the patient.

Ten adventurous souls have undergone the treatment and were typically able to return to work the following day after surgery.

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Source: Weight-loss fad using tongue patches makes eating painful

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