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Will it be a new buzz word in the battle of the bulge? Fatorexia, coined by British author Sara Bird is simple and catchy enough to grab on to the social lexicon quickly. In the same way someone who is suffering from anorexia might dismiss their unhealthy thin appearance as being to heavy, Ms. Bird discovered for herself she had the opposite problem. A former 140 pound part-time model, Bird had piled on another 100 pounds to her 5’10" frame with the passing of time. But she didn’t see it, both via self denial and clever ways she subconsciously hid her extra girth.

In this San Francisco Chronicle story, Bird talks about the subtle things she did that fed her "fatorexia" issues. Avoiding full length mirrors, wearing lose fitting clothing that featured elastic waistbands instead of form fitting lines, and piling on eye catching jewelry and flashy fabrics to draw attention away from those extra pounds. Plus, she just preferred not to acknowledge the fact that she was in the obese category. Even when she was forced to place talc on her thighs to prevent chaffing when they started to rub together, she convinced herself that she had just gotten a little heavier. But, she was obese and a trip to the doctor for a check-up hammered the point home.

While we might agree that fatorexia is hardly in the same league as the clinically proven and life threatening issue of anorexia, it does hit home on the fact that as a society, we are every day getting more and more complacent with our extra pounds. Bird drives this point home with statistics and great quotes. A 2008 study by the British Medical Journal found that 25% of over weight or obese people did not view themselves as too heavy. If you are 5’10 and 238 lbs as Bird was, you are either overweight or an extremely ripped (and height challenged) outside linebacker in the NFL. 

So, how do you get out of your fatorexia funk as Bird did when she lost 20 lbs? It takes a brush with reality, whether it be a doctor visit, a look at some old pictures from college, or a comment from one of those kids who hasn’t learned to censor his social commentary yet. The biggest thing Bird says is to embrace that reality and make subtle changes to reset your expectations. Her 20 pound weight loss was due mainly to getting some exercise walking her dog and some better eating habbits. No huge changes, no stomach staples, no crazy maple syrup diets.

If you live in an area like Houston, Texas, your perception is going to be challenged by your environment as well. When you see lots of other plus sized people around you, the chances of viewing yourself as truly over weight or obese is much lower than if you lived say in Boulder, Colorado with its active population. You need to set your expectations based on guidance from a physician. Sure, the BMI index gets a bad rep for true accuracy, but that is mainly from people who are active and muscular. If you don’t exercise much and your BMI is 29, it isn’t because your muscle density. It is a good baseline to establish if you need to look deeper and visit your doctor for advice.

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While this definitely falls under the more fringe theories as to why our waist lines seem to be ever increasing, there is some evidence to back up theories that children with moderate to severe history of ear infections are at a higher risk of obesity.

Several studies were presented in 2008 at the American Psychological Association conference with some startling data. Children with a history of consistent and strong middle-ear infections (otitis media) were 62% more likely to be obese later in life. Research scientists speculate the relationship between ear infections and obesity comes down to the damaging impact of these infections on nerves central to our ability to taste certain types of food. Thus, impacting our food choices later in life.

University of Florida College of Dentistry taste researcher, Linda M. Bartoshuk, states that over time, frequent ear infections may alter taste awareness in a way that leads to a heightened preference for high-fat and highly sweetened foods, which, in turn, leads to obesity. While this definitely needs more study, it certainly could be a potential cause for concern for new parents. A tympanostomy tube might not only make your little one healthier and less exposed to ear infections, but also keep them from greater obesity risk as well.

A just released Harvard School of Public Heath study is raising some eyebrows in the world of nutrition and red meat. What is surely likely to make cattle farmers happy and Johnsonville Brats not so much, data pooled from over 20 studies performed throughout the world shows that risk of heart disease and diabetes comes primarily via processed meats (bacon, hot dogs) and not so much from unprocessed meats (steak, hamburger, lamb).

The key seems to be the massive amounts of salt that are used to process meats.According to the Havard researchers, this is where the main issues truly lie. Even though both types, processed and unprocessed, are high in saturaged fats, it is the salt that is most likely contributing to the heart disease and diabetes that is most often associated with all red meat.

The study found that eating processed meats such as bacon, hot dogs, and processed deli meats (hello baloney!) resulted in a 42% higher risk of heart disease and a 19% higher risk of type 2 diabetes. By contrast, the research demonstrated that there was no statistical link to higher risk of heart disease or type 2 diabetes by eating the unprocessed meats like pork, beef and of course the much maligned hamburger. 

Before you go out and buy a huge New York steak or start dreaming about a 1/2 pound burger for lunch, there are still issues with red meat that can affect your health. Namely, the aforementioned saturated fat. We really don’t need much of it, and too much is of course too much. According to the researchers of this study, the primary take away is that if you are going to eat red meat, it is best to eat unprocessed red meat. So, if you are at the fair and are trying to decide between a brat and a burger, it is best to go with the burger.

This really shouldn’t be a huge surprise to anyone. There is an ever increasing amount of evidence to suggest that any processed foods present potential health challenges to our bodies. Loads of processed sugar, tons of salt, chemicals that even Latin majors cannot pronounce. We have not evolved to eat high fructose corn syrup. So, we likely should not be shocked that a slice of baloney is not terribly healthy for us. When was the last time you saw a wild baloney out in the woods? 

Havard School of Public Health press release.

This quote from an article in the New York Times today by Alessandra Stanley really hit home with us.

“Television used to ignore obesity; now it wallows in it. But the effort to portray the problem — and the solutions — mirrors the way most Americans eat: the most basic facts are larded with sugary entertainment and creamy dollops of instant gratification.”

We tweeted last week about how our society is more likely to follow advice doled out from celebrities in US Weekly and on TMZ than they are to listen to their doctors. Who wouldn’t rather drink a maple syrup drink and look like Naomi Campbell than slog through a daily 45 minute work-out and eat some fruits and vegetables and look like themselves? Most of us apparently.

Just like our inability to plan for retirement is dying off with our older generations, our inability to understand that weight loss shouldn’t occur all that much faster than weigh gain demonstrates again just how much of a gotta have it now society we have become?

It took you ten years to put on that extra 50 pounds. Why do you think that your body can cope with losing all of that in a matter of a couple of months? Sure, it won’t take you ten years to lose that 50 pound weight gain, but expectations of doing it in less than a year are unhealthy and counterproductive. We don’t have to go any further than our celebrities for examples of how well these hyper aggressive diets work. Oprah needed a new wardrobe about every six months for years. Kirstie Alley? She could plant a forest with all of her tabloid covers chronicling her every changing body.

So, it really comes down to what you want to do with yourself? Do you want to be a size 10 for your 20th high school reunion and then return to your size 14 pants a few months later or do you want to be a size 8 by your 39th birthday and stay that way? One requires little discipline and effort. The other is actually easier over the short-term and becomes part of your daily life.

Even commercial diet companies know this. You don’t see Medifast, Nutrisystem or Jenny Craig making claims that some of these less reputable companies are making about how much you can lose in a specific time period. Medifast claims 2-5 lbs. per week as a reasonable target. Someone who is grossly obese will be able to shed pounds faster, mainly because they intake so many more calories than they actually need. Someone who is looking to lose 20 lbs is definitely going to not drop pounds as quickly.

The moral of this blog post? Make diet decisions based on long-term health benefits, not on whether or not you will look good on your vacation to Hawaii next month. Wouldn’t you rather look good in Hawaii the next five years as well?
 

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So, what is an aging supermodel to do in order to keep the inevitable pounds off her perfectly sculpted body? With the big 4-0 just around the corner, it appears that Naomi Campbell has found her new secret diet tip. That’s right it is out with the mercurial beauty’s infamous cigarette diet, and in with her ‘sweet’ new diet plan.

Who knew that New England was sitting on one of the biggest diet secrets known to supermodel-dom? Word has it that Naomi has dumped the Marlboro Man in favor of Mrs. Butterworth. The secret is out, maple syrup is the way to go if you want to be a rail thin model with a bit of a temper. Naomi dropped this little dieting nugget for Oprah and her billion fans when she wasn’t sobbing during a recent taping. Was she crying out of remorse for past indescretions or because her sugar high had worn off? 

To be fair, there is more to it than maple syrup. You can’t forget the lemon juice, cayenee pepper, and some water to…well, water it down a little we guess. To a supermodel it appears this is something of a detox diet, a way to cleanse the photogenic soul perhaps.With only 600 calories a day, you can see how anyone outside of a coma could lose weight on this one. Naomi like to take her maple cocktail diet out for a spin up to three times a year, for as many as eighteen days at a time. She also jumps rope, which she claims is good for losing lbs from that proplem area, her face.

Even her billionaire Russion boyfriend Vladimir Doronin helps her maintain her spicy sweet dieting technique. According to Naomi, he supports her with uplifting nuggests such as this. "If there is bread on the table, he says: ‘Don’t eat bread’," she said. How can you fall off the wagon with a support system like that? 

Shockingly, Naomi isn’t the first famously attractive woman to down some grade B Medium syrup to shed a few pounds. Beyonce Knowles reportedly used it to get into her retro outfits for Dreamgirls and even Gwyenth Paltrow has been known to indulge from time to time. So, next time you feel like you are barely fitting into your size 2, pour yourself a nice glass of Vermont’s finest with a dash of cayenne and a spritz of lemon.

You always rest assured that here at TheMedifastPlan.com, we will always have the latest and greatest Medifast coupons and promotions. The May Medifast coupon codes are out.

Save anywhere from $25, $50, or even $200! Not only do we have great coupon codes, but check out the Medifast VIP plans as well. Sign up for it today and get the following FREE: 

- Two Weeks Free Food

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Want to look twelve years older? Not many people do, save for maybe some teenagers trying to buy a six pack at their local convenience store. Ironically, that six pack could help them reach their target perhaps faster than they would like. New research out of the UK that followed 5000 British adults for 20 years is shedding light on just how damaging certain bad habbits can be on our bodies. And just how much they can accelerate the aging process and increase risk of health related death. The four culprits:

- Smoking
- Drinking Too Much (more than three drinks per day for males, and two drinks per day for females)
- Inactivity (less than two hours of activity per week of physical activity)
- Poor Diet (not eating your fruits and vegatables)

On their own, they each contribute to reducing one’s healthiness. But combined together, they can be quite devastating to your lifespan according to the results. The study offered up this sobering statistic. 314 people of the 5000 that were studied had all four unhealthy habits. During the study period, 91 died, or 29 percent. Of the 387 healthiest people with none of the four habits, only 32 died, or about 8 percent. As you can see, there is no guarantee that healthy behaviors will keep you from dying, but the numbers also point to a significantly higher risk of death or serious health issues if you go the other route.

Lead researcher Elisabeth Kvaavik of the University of Oslo pointed out that collectively, the folks that combined these habits increased risk of death and on aggregate made the people seem 12 years older than their healthy counterparts.

The interesting and encouraging thing from the study was that you don’t need to be extreme in your healthy habits in order to reap the benefits. There is a cumulative benefit to partaking in a more healthy lifestyle overall, not just in one particular area. A carrot, an apple and a glass of orange juice cover the minimums for the study. Hardly a restrictive vegan diet.

For example, one carrot, one apple and a glass of orange juice would suffice for the fruit and vegetable cutoffs in the study, Kvaavik said, noting that the amounts are pretty modest and less strict than many guidelines.
U.S. FDA guidelines typically recommend about four cups of fruits or vegetables daily for adults. Depending on age and activity level, around 2.5 hours of exercise weekly is the guideline.

Other than that, it is simply a matter of drinking in moderation and not smoking. Not terribly complex or demanding, especially in our 2010 world that frowns on smoking so much anyway.

Study participants were 4,886 British adults aged 18 and older, or 44 years old on average. They were randomly selected from participants in a separate nationwide British health survey.

The study appears in Monday’s Archives of Internal Medicine. To see more: http://www.archinternmed.com

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Diet drugs are an interesting phenomenon. While there are literally scores of short-term weight loss solutions, there are only two recognized long-term drugs that have any sort of success in treating the obese. An appetite suppressant called sibutramine, which is a non-addictive cousin of amphetamines, and the fat blocker orlistat, better known to you and I as the OTC product Alli.

The problem is, even these products have issues. Sibutramine has demonstrated a less than ideal side effect of increasing blood pressure. When your target market is already chocked full of hypertension riddled customers, asking them to take a pill that will exacerbate the issue isn’t exactly good medicine.  With Alli, the primary side effect can best be summed up in two of the least appealing words ever mentioned on these pages, fecal urgency. That is right, you can see it for yourself right on the box of Alli at your local Walgreens. In fact, they go so far as to suggest wearing dark pants and bringing a change of clothes to work.

The other issue with these two products is that they stop being effective as soon as you stop taking them. Alli can’t block fat and sibutramine won’t suppress your appetite unless you have them in your system.  With such a massive (and lucrative) market, which can’t the drug makers come up with something that works?

That might have something to do with how diet drugs currently work on our brain. Diet drugs are typically built around a process of boosting certain desirable chemical signals already present within our normal brain activity. The chemical signals travel from one cell to another communicating everything from mood, energy level, pain and hunger. Most diet pills are trying to manipulate the frequency or volume of these chemicals in an effort to control mood levels and/or appetite. Chemicals can get ‘stranded’ between the nerve cells and then get reabsorbed into the transmitting cell. This has the effect of diminishing the value of the message. A new experimental drug called tesofensine is currently undergoing tests that will block this reabsorption of stranded cells to allow more of the message to get through.

The problem with this is that none of the current crop of diet drugs works particularly well with that great controller of appetite, the hypothalamus. Without controlling, the input and output of the hypothalamus, we are simply masking the issue and not attacking it at the source. The latest research and experimentation is focused primarily in this area and holds a lot of promise. The idea is to manipulate the levels of hormones communicating with the hypothalamus in order to reduce the appetite levels.

Unfortunately for anyone battling against being significantly overweight or obese, we are still years away from effective long-term treatment. The brain is a very mysterious and powerful system. Combine that with our other internal organs and their interaction with the brain and the task of finding the great weight loss pill is daunting.
 

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You may recall our coverage of NFL head coach Andy Reid of the Philidephia Eagles losing weight with Medifast last summer. In August of last year Andy had lost around 75 lbs using Medifast. Now, we have another coach who has had great success using Medifast.

Now the University of Maryland head football coach Ralph Friedgen is joining in on the fun, dropping 105 lbs using the Medifast diet plan. Thats right, 105 lbs! Pretty impressive. No football coach likes losing, but we think Coach Friedgen made an exception in this case and enjoyed losing every pound. "The Fridge" as he is known in College Park decided it was high time to drop some weight and drop down into the ‘Cooler’ class perhaps.

In nine months, Ralph was able to make some serious headway toward making his nickname far less fitting.

Not only has Ralph lost a ton of weight and has been keeping it off, his two daughters are now using Medifast as well with great results. His first daughter to try the plan has already lost 45 lbs. Pretty sweet.

One of the biggest bonuses of Medifast for Ralph was the structure of the diet and having the meals mostly prepared and ready to eat. Finding time in an 18 hour day during the season to cook and prepare food can be quite a challenge. But with Medifast everything was structured and laid out for him.