The in-home test calculates how much fat a person absorbs, how carbohydrates are metabolized and how a person responds to exercise. So you can find out what diet and exercise plan works best with your genetic makeup.

They’ve got them for smokers, Girl Scouts and ripped jeans. So why not a patch for weight loss?

That’s what plastic surgeon Dr. Nikolas Chugay thought. So he invented the Chugay Tongue Patch, which is sewn onto the tongue and makes eating food painful. (I wonder if it makes you talk funny, too.)

Since chewing solid foods will be “very difficult and painful” with this patch, patients are limited to a liquid diet. Which is all well and good if you follow a nutritional liquid diet, but my fat kid mentality would try to live off of ice cream, hot chocolate and frappes. (And then I’d wonder why I gained weight with this “miracle patch”!)

"I'd say the Chugay Tongue Patch is a daily reminder of how just because your physician has an M.D. behind their name it doesn't mean they're bright," obesity Dr. Yoni Freedhoff told the Sun Sentinel. "That a physician believes that 'doing no harm' involves promoting physical discomfort as the key to helping inspire long-term behavioral change in patients is truly depressing, both for his patients and for the profession."

So far a whopping 10 people have tried it and some have lost as much as 20 lbs in the first month. (No duh. If you can’t chew you probably won’t be able to ingest Doritos and donuts … unless you puréed them …)

I think I’d rather just hire a friend to pinch me every time I try to eat cake.

What do you think? Would you want wire mesh surgically applied to your tongue?

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Labels: weight loss patch

A new study shows some fats sabotage our brains and make us eat more, according to the LA Times.

They're totally plotting to make you fat. You can see it in their eyes.

Labels: overeating, saturated fats, weight gain

Maybe that's not just water Serena's drinking.

For women, those who liked to “bend the elbow” exercised 7.2 minutes more a week than sober survey participants. I wonder how many are sauced up on the elliptical. That might be dangerous. But maybe a tipsy workout is where it’s at. You probably wouldn’t “feel the burn” as much. I think they’re onto something here.

What do you think? Does this sound right to you? Do you like rum AND running?

Labels: drinking, exercise

The Biggest Loser trainer Jillian Michaels is with us again this week to share another slim-down secret.

“Always look for foods that are whole, meaning foods that came from the ground or had a mother. Then you'll get a healthy balance of protein, fat, and carbs throughout the day, and you’ll be getting the most nutrition for your calories!”

Sounds so simple, right? But American households spend 90% of their food budget on processed foods, according to Readers’ Digest.

Sticking to whole foods will help you avoid partially hydrogenated oils, artificial colorings, preservatives, flavor enhancers, sweeteners, salts, artificial flavors and trans fats.

Trans fats
Research shows trans fats cause 30,000-100,000 premature heart disease deaths in the US each year.

Replacing trans fats with good fats could cut your heart attack risk by a whopping 53%, according to RD.

But be careful. A food that claims to be trans fat free may in fact contain up to 0.5 grams of partially hydrogenated oils, a source of trans fats, according to WebMD.


Refined Grains
Studies show those who eat more whole grains have 20-30% less heart disease. But don’t take packaging at face value. WebMD warns a food that trumpets itself as containing whole grains may actually have more sugar than grains. To find the sugars, look for ingredients that end in the word ‘ose.’ Research suggests high-fructose corn syrup upsets the metabolism and raises the risk for heart disease and diabetes.

Salt
75% of the sodium we eat is hidden in processed foods. And too much salt raises your blood pressure. So stick to 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day – less than a teaspoon of salt.

Labels: Biggest Loser, Jillian Michaels, packaged foods, reading labels

I blame my parents for a lot of things: my poor eyesight, my Catholic guilt, my big nose. But several studies, cited in the LA Times, give me something else to blame on them: my level of fitness bliss.

The studies suggest you may enjoy exercising more because of your genes.

Don’t get me wrong. This doesn’t mean those without these magic genes don’t exercise, but it does explain why some people have a harder time hitting the gym.

"We all know people who can't sit still and we all know people who can't get off the couch," says J. Timothy Lightfoot, an exercise physiologist at the University of North Carolina.

A Swedish study found twice as many identical twins, who have the same exact genes, share exercise habits compared to fraternal twins, who only share half their genes.

"We now have more than 20 twin studies showing almost unanimously that [identical] twins are more alike in their physical activity than [fraternal] twins," said geneticist Claude Bouchard.

Not only are exercise habits linked to genes, workout enjoyment is also a major factor. A study of mice’s brains showed those that ran a lot got more pleasure out of it than regular mice. And human studies have also linked exercise frequency to dopamine.

What’s the point of all this? "Some day we could be giving people pills to make it more pleasurable to run,” said physiologist Theodore Garland at UC Riverside. I’m all for that. As it is I think the illustrious “runners high” is basically a spin on the Emperor's New Clothes, but maybe that’s just because I have the wrong genes.

What do you think?

Labels: fitness genes

I remember watching the Golden Girls while chomping on a PB and fluff Wonderbread sandwich and slurping some whole milk. Then came Oprah, the Cabbage Soup diet and the wheat wave. I don’t know the year exactly, but it was right around the time I had finally mastered spreading the fluff without ripping my wonderful Wonderbread. Anyway, there’s a point to all of this. I swear.

So for a while, wheat was the newest thing since (yes I’m going there …) sliced bread. But now the tide is turning and there’s a new toast in town: rye.


A new Swedish study published in the Nutrition Journal says rye makes you feel full and causes you to eat less later on in the day compared to wheat bread. Authors of the study believe this is because rye is chock full of dietary fiber.

Rye bread has also been found to lower cholesterol and combat type 2 diabetes by keeping blood sugar in check. And it contains only a little fat.

So reach for rye if you want to feel fuller longer.




Just curious: What do you keep in your bread box?

Labels: hunger, rye bread, satiation, wheat bread