Healthy Aging: Body, Mind & Spirit

What I’ve learned so far about losing weight with Slimgenics

First of all, this program only has centers in Colorado, California and Minnesota right now.   The rest of their clients must use the “Home Program.”

I’m really glad we have it nearby because I NEED all of my questions answered and the daily pep talks from the counselors.   I can’t imagine paying that much money without a  full explanation from an actual person.   Even then I felt mildly ripped off when I left the center on my first day.   Why?   Because I didn’t fully understand that I would be required to buy 54 boxes of “Thermo-snacks” (for my individual program), on top of the hefty program fee I had just given them.   The entrance fee is determined by how much weight you and your counselor decide to shot for.   More weight, more money.   In my case, take your weight loss goal times 10 for your dollar amount.   Use the $50 coupon online if you can!

For the “Center Program” you start out on a three day Slim-start Prep.   The purpose of this is “to prepare your body for rapid weight loss” by stimulating a thermogenic response in your body and get it in the right chemical balance so that when your program begins you will lose weight the safest and fastest way possible.   This is kind of tough because, besides the supplements, you can only eat 2 eggs, plus unlimited protein and RAW veggies for 3 days.

The thermo-boost drink felt like caffeine on steroids to me.   Sure made my morning walks and exercise class a lot easier to get through, but it felt like a lot to me.   In addition, raw vegetables and NO STARCHES is a tough one for me, but I made it through.

These three days are partially a colon detox, and also helped with my water retention problem (adema). What didn’t help was that I decided to try out the “cleansing tea” I received in my starter kit.   BAD IDEA!   This stuff tastes GREAT, but come to find out it has a powerful laxative effect!

The most interesting new information I have received through this program is how important water is in weight loss.   Did you know that water is possible the most important catalyst in losing weight and keeping it off?   Not only is a great appetite suppressant, it also helps the body metabolize stored fat.   Less water intake may cause an increase in fat deposits!  Who knew?   Low water intake taxes your liver so it cannot work as efficiently to metabolize stored fat into energy.

I’m just on my second day of my actual program today.   I get some fruit and small amounts of starch now, but the list of foods is limited and pretty specific.   Yesterday I never really felt hungry, but you do have to pre-plan every meal very carefully at first.   I just got a new ounce scale over at Harbor Freight to weigh my meat portions.   Those two thermo-snacks help a lot.   The Peanut Butter Crunch bars are delish!

I know overall, this doesn’t sound like much fun, but feeling lighter and more confident and proud of myself will make this all worth it!   Being on a plan also adds new motivation to exercise more than normal, that and the lovely cool weather we’ve been having lately!

Unfortunately this is really impacting my moods.   Mike would say I’ve been acting a bit manic-depressive lately, but he loves the fact that I’m on a plan and I’m on my way to a healthier me!

How will I lose this extra midlife weight?

Talk about a midlife crisis, check out how many of us are overweight or worse in our 40s and 50s!

According to Dr. Oz, women over age 50 burn 200 calories less per day because of estrogen loss.   But when fat builds up in places like our belly or upper arms, which is common after 50, extra estrogen is also stored, which can lead to even more cravings for fat and carbohydrates.   Also, we may tend to exercise less as we age, maybe because we feel hopeless about ever being in good shape again, or because our arthritis is getting out of hand.

Granted every restaurant in the world is literally plotting to get you further addicted to salt, sugar and fat!   If you don’t believe me, read The End of Overeating by David S. Kessler, former commissioner of the FDA.   The food industry knows that these substances are like heroin to our brains and they need to keep us coming back for more, like a pig to the trough.

If you are reading this post, you know personally the ins and outs of feeling fat and disgusting, but also hopeless at ever changing this fact on your own.   “So, what’s a boy or girl to do?”

A few months ago I ran into an elder co-worker from my previous life as an academic librarian.   She said “Hi”, but I simply did not recognize her.   She was half the size I remembered her! I felt amazed, totally impressed and mildly depressed! She said she had been working with Slimgenics for a year or so, and then she warned me:  It’s EXPENSIVE, but very effective.

Flash forward to last Wednesday.   I heard on the radio about some talk show host who had lost over 100 pounds through Slimgenics and kept it off, so I decided to go in and check it out.   I had tried Weight Watchers twice and felt certain that wouldn’t really  work for me.   Why?   Because I need a lot of individual attention (as in counseling), and I’m a natural cheater when it comes to measuring all my foods, etc.   In other words, discipline is a problem!

Come to find out, Slimgenics is VERY EXPENSIVE, but I think that’s one of the reasons it works!   Try plunking down over a $1000 up front for the program and some of the required “Thermo-snacks” and then challenge yourself to cheat.   No way!   You have already spent the money, so now you NEED TO SEE SOME SERIOUS RESULTS!!!   And long-term results too!

Lucky you!   You get to join me in this emotional journey of confronting all of my own cheap excuses and bad moods as I FINALLY change my life by changing my food intake.   I’ll let you know all of the thrills and spills involved in serious midlife weight loss!   I’m shooting for a 50 pound weight loss!

“Do at least one thing every day that scares you.”   – Eleanor Roosevelt

Magnets can cut diagnosis time, saving lives

POTENTIALLY fatal infections could be diagnosed in hours rather than days thanks to two techniques involving magnets, cutting waiting times and saving lives.

Each year, over 90,000 people in the US are infected with a fungus called Candida, which has a 40 per cent mortality rate.  Unfortunately, most infections are caused by one of five species of Candida and an antifungal that can treat one species can make another worse.  It currently takes three days to determine which species is behind the infection as the pathogen has to be extracted and cultured to be identified, but a person can die within two.

Learn more here.

Green leafy vegetables may reduce diabetes risk

A diet rich in green leafy vegetables may reduce your risk of developing diabetes, UK research reports.    In an analysis of six studies into fruit and vegetable intake, only foods like broccoli, cauliflower, spinach and cabbage were found to have a significant positive effect.

It is not clear why green leafy vegetables may have a protective effect, but one reason may be they are high in antioxidants, such as vitamin C and another theory is that they contain high levels of magnesium.

My own theory is if you fill up on healthy fruits and vegetables, you’ll be much less likely to eat those nasty processed foods full of too much salt, sugar and fat!

What is the connection between sugar and cancer?

After hearing Dr. David Servan-Schreiber, the author of the book “Anti-Cancer” mention there is some connection between sugar and cancer growth,  I went in search of a better explanation of this concept.

I found this excellent article which explains how sugar, insulin and cancer growth are related.

I have been following a low to no sugar diet for over one year now, because of my tendency towards Candida overgrowth.

I’ve never felt better, my Candida is finally under control, and I’ve lost twenty pounds!   I find that by consuming a lot less sugar and other sweets, I rarely feel as hungry as I used to.   I have come to see eating high sugar foods as extremely addicting, and probably toxic.  I have found all of the diet advice in that article mentioned above to be excellent and absolutely true!  I now substitute stevia and ingredients like unsweetened applesauce and other fruit (like bananas!) in my baking, and never even miss the sugar!   I also always use whole wheat flour for extra fiber, and cut the oil in half in my recipes.

Iodine supplementation, kelp and arsenic poisoning

ScienceDaily — A study of herbal kelp supplements led by University of California-Davis public health expert Marc Schenker, concludes that its medicinal use may cause inadvertent arsenic poisoning and health dangers for consumers, especially when overused.

Schenker and two researchers evaluated nine over-the-counter herbal kelp products and found higher than acceptable arsenic levels in eight of them.

This study was prompted by the case of a 54-year-old woman who was seen at the UC-Davis Occupational Medicine Clinic following a two-year history of worsening alopecia (hair loss), fatigue and memory loss.   The woman’s symptoms had begun with minor memory loss and fatigue.    Her primary care physician initially found nothing wrong with the woman and thought the symptoms were related to menopause.

With no specific diagnosis or treatment recommendations, the patient started taking a variety of herbal therapies, including a kelp supplement, fish oil, ginkgo biloba and grape seed extract. The kelp supplement was the only herbal therapy she took regularly throughout the course of her illness.

Over a period of several months the woman’s short- and long-term memory became so impaired that she could no longer remember her home address. She also reported having a rash, nausea and vomiting, which made it very difficult to work and forced her to leave a full-time job. The woman actually increased her dosage of kelp from two to four pills a day after her doctors still could not find a clear diagnosis.

Subsequent laboratory tests finally revealed arsenic in the patient’s blood and urine. At her physician’s suggestion, the patient discontinued the kelp supplement. Within weeks, her symptoms disappeared, and within several months arsenic was no longer detected in her urine and its levels had dropped significantly in her blood. She later was referred to the UC Davis Occupational Medicine Clinic as a follow-up to her primary care.

“It’s unfortunate that a therapy that’s advertised as contributing to ‘vital living and well-being’ would contain potentially unsafe levels of arsenic,” said Schenker, who is a professor of Public Health Sciences and a leading authority on occupational and environmental diseases and respiratory illness. “Concentrations of materials contained in herbal supplements, including both the expected benefits and potential side effects, should be studied, standardized, monitored and accurately labeled.”

To assess the concentration of arsenic present in commercially available kelp supplements, the UC Davis investigators purchased nine over-the-counter kelp samples from local health food stores. Included were samples from three different batches of the product consumed by the patient.

The researchers sent the samples to the California Animal Health & Food Safety Laboratory in Davis, which operates in partnership with UC Davis, the California Department of Food and Agriculture and others to provide specialized testing that helps protect both human and animal health. Investigators found detectable levels of arsenic in eight of the nine kelp supplements by using a hydride vapor generation method with an inductively coupled argon plasma spectrometer. Seven of the supplements exceeded the tolerance levels for food products set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“Part of the problem,” said Schenker, “is that the FDA has limited control over dietary supplements. It can’t scrutinize products like herbal kelp before they enter the market, so it has to rely on adverse reports to determine product safety.”   He noted that none of the kelp products in the study had labels indicating the presence of arsenic, nor were there any warnings about the potential dangers of ingesting large quantities of the supplement.

Arsenic is a heavy metal that occurs naturally in the environment and as a by-product of some agricultural and industrial activities. Due to high arsenic concentrations in algae and marine micro-organisms, seafood is the highest dietary source of arsenic for consumers. While long-term human exposure to arsenic from food sources such as fish does occur, it is usually significantly lower than anything approaching toxic levels. However, dietary supplements, which are largely unregulated, have raised health concerns.

There have been a number of published studies highlighting cases where the use of homeopathic remedies to relieve everything from asthma to rheumatoid arthritis have caused arsenic poisoning.    Schenker’s findings offer a cautionary tale for consumers who use herbal treatments and dietary supplements. The kelp samples analyzed in the study had consistently elevated levels of arsenic, but they were considerably lower than previously documented concentrations found in other herbal remedies.

“What concerns me,” said Schenker, “is that chronic exposure to contaminated herbal supplements, even those with moderately elevated concentrations of arsenic, can still be toxic. Consumers won’t find such label information on these products, so they could end up like that woman in our study who consumed dangerously high amounts of a toxic substance without realizing it.”

The complete article was published in the April 2007, Environmental Health Perspectives  — entitled “A Case of Potential Arsenic Toxicity Secondary to Herbal Kelp Supplement,” is co-authored by Eric Amster, from the UC Davis School of Medicine, and Asheesh Tiwary, from the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and the California Animal Health & Food Safety Laboratory System.

Following up on this article, Mike had a 24-hour urine test for lead, mercury and arsenic, and tested very low for each.   We’ve been taking Puritan’s Pride Sea Kelp for about one year.

More evidence linking sugar and heart disease

I’ve been talking about this for the past few years.    If you don’t believe me, then go see what the American Heart Association is saying now!

Too much sugar is a cancer causing toxin

In case you missed the message in my previous post, eating too much sugar (in ANY FORM!) makes you fat, spikes your insulin levels, and is linked to premature aging, cancer and a compromised immune system.

Check out the latest research which suggests that more than a can of soda per week correlates with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer.

If you’re a daily soda drinker – like some 60 percent of Americans – you need to cut back. That daily soda could give you pancreatic cancer.   But it’s the high-level of mainlined sugar that is toxic to your system, so don’t think a switch to fruit juice will be any healthier.  Switch to antioxidant-rich teas, and then add a little stevia for that sweet taste!

People who drink at least two sugary sodas a week have an increased risk of developing cancer of the pancreas, and researchers suspect the culprit is sugar, a new study shows.

Analysis of data collected on 60,524 Singapore adults over a number of years, showed that those who drank two or more sugar-sweetened soft drinks a week, were at a 87% greater risk of developing pancreatic cancer compared with individuals who did not.  This study was just published in the medical  journal: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.

Pancreatic cancer begins in the pancreas, an organ that creates digestive enzymes, hormones and insulin.  Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer, with 230,000 cases globally. In the United States, 37,680 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in a year and 34,290 die of it.  The five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is only around five percent.

In a nutshell, there’s a definite link between pancreatic cancer and high-levels of sugar consumption.  My advice, cut back, lose weight and feel so much better!  Want to know how?  Check out this previous post for details. The biggest myth connected to sugar is that it gives you energy…WRONG!!!  It takes it away!

The End of Overeating – A book review

If you would like a well-written, easy to read summary of recent research on why we eat what we eat, and why we apparently cannot quit eating so much of it, go find yourself a copy of:  The End of  Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite, by David Kessler.

In this book, the author takes a personal journey into what about our foods today make them absolutely irresistible to the point of obesity, including recent brain research into why rats cannot resist junk food.

Have no doubt, scientists in the food industry are studying us daily to see how they can convince us to purchase and eat ever more of their products.

“Higher sugar, fat, and salt levels make you want to eat more,” a high-level food industry executive told the author.  When asked whether they designed food specifically to be seductive and addictive, the food industry consultant responded with, “Oh, absolutely!”

Major changes in the American diet started in the 1980s.  In 1960, women ages 20-29 averaged about 128 pounds; by the year 2000, women in that same age group average around 157 pounds!  The food industry has done their homework.  They know how to keep us overeating.

Read this book so you can begin to fight back against this take over of the American brain!  At the end of the author’s conversation with a high-level food industry consultant, the expert concluded,

“We are the manipulators of the consumers’ minds and desires!”

This, of course, leaves the food industry with the same conundrum as the tobacco industry: There is NO FUTURE in knocking off YOUR BEST CUSTOMERS!

How to lose your belly fat

For years we’ve heard the same old conventional wisdom: eat less and exercise more to lose weight.  Americans have spent billions on diet programs which offer them less food with less nutrition.

New studies suggest the key to weight loss and maintenance is eating a diet that keeps our insulin levels low.  The hormone insulin helps your body store fat, and makes sure it stays put.  This means that if you control insulin, you control fat.  It’s that simple.

Eating too much sugar (in ANY FORM!) makes you fat, by triggering insulin.  It’s also linked to aging, cancer and a compromised immune system.  If you would immediately cut your sugar intake down to 10-15 grams per day (a couple teaspoons), you would greatly reduce your risk for illness, diabetes and cancer.  Cutting down on your body’s production of insulin is key to reducing fat production.  One apple equals 12 grams of sugar.  The American Heart Association recently suggested limiting sugar consumption to under six teaspoons per day.

It is also important to increase the fiber in your diet.  Fiber promotes belly fat loss by creating optimum digestive health.  When you do consume sugar, if you eat it with a good amount of fiber, like an apple, you ease the amount of  sugar going directly into your system.  Artichokes, oats, beans and whole grain products are excellent sources of fiber.  Also add a morning dose of acidophilus to your diet to promote intestinal health!

Exercise to strengthen and tone your muscles and to relieve stress, not to look better.

I know of what I speak from personal experience!  I cut out all sugar, alcohol, antibiotics, most dairy and artificial sweeteners (EXCEPT STEVIA) from my diet this past April, because of an overwhelmingly bad case of Candida overgrowth.  I limited my diet to meat and vegetables and then added in a few apples and blueberries gradually.  And amazingly enough, I found that I was hardly ever hungry!

I now bake my own breads and desserts so I can make them with Stevia instead of sugar.  And I feel 1000% better, lost 20 pounds and inches from my waist and thighs!  The weight comes off slowly, but it does come off.

A friend of mine had terrible headaches and sinus infections with lots of antibiotics for about a year.  Then she spoke to me and cut the sugar and aspartame (Diet Coke) out completely.  A few weeks later,  she’s feeling so much better!

Learn to choose healthier snacks.  Popcorn (my personal favorite!) reigns supreme among whole grain snack foods, with the highest level of antioxidants.  Focus on looking for whole grain snacks (the first ingredient in the list), which are rich in antioxidants.

To learn more about what I learned through my own transitions, please read my books: Midlife Magic: Becoming the person you are inside! and my Midife Change Workbook.