Sunday, December 19, 2010
My Life's Biggest Project: Combo of Old Pills Creates New Diet Pill
My Life's Biggest Project: Combo of Old Pills Creates New Diet Pill: "Diet pills have been a controversial thing for several years. Most of the time the company tries to get a celebrity to endorse them thus mak..."
Combo of Old Pills Creates New Diet Pill
Diet pills have been a controversial thing for several years. Most of the time the company tries to get a celebrity to endorse them thus making us all believe that they are good for us and inevitably we end up spending boo-koo's of money on something that really doesn't do much of anything. When I was in high school I remember watching the Trim Spa comercials with Anna Nicole Smith ("Trim Spa baby yeah", you guys remember what I'm talking about?). Well I also remember when she passed away adn many people were talking about the insane drug addictions she had. I was on the bus early my sophmore year of high school and I remember some kids talking about Trim Spa and they were basically alluding to the fact that sure we could look like Anna Nicole if the distributers were to put cocaine in the product because that was what was making her thin. I don't know whether any of that is true, but I do know one thing about diet pills and that is the one's you buy over the counter can be overwhelming because there is just too much.
Fen-phen was the ingredient in weight loss pills in the '90's that was supposed to cause amazing results. Well it may have helped with weight loss, but it also caused problems with heart valves, thus the FDA taking it away in 2007. This year like any other year, people have been trying to find a solution to growing obesity rates in medication. In 2010 alone two diet pills have been "nixed" according to health.com because of possible links to cancer. However a third drug has gotten approval from the FDA panel and its name is Contrave.
What makes this pill so different you may ask, well it seems that it is a combination of two different pills that are already approved. It is a combination of naltrexone, a medication prescribed to treat alcohol and cocaine addiction and bupropion, more comonley known as Welbutrin, a medication used to assist peopel when they quit smoking and an antidepressent.
"It's kind of a neat little approach. They've taken two drugs that have been around for a very long time with relatively good safety profiles and put them together, hoping that the combined action might be better at controlling eating," said Paul Kenny, PhD, associate professor of molecular therapeutics at Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida. "It's a double whammy."
They may have found the key to assisting in the fight of obesity in America.
"Obesity is really a crisis," says Michael Aziz, MD, an internist with Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Two-thirds of the U.S. adult population is either overweight or obese while a growing number of adolescents are climbing into the danger range, many developing type 2 diabetes at younger and younger ages. The problem is not a pill but the way we live our lives."
Aziz is not alone in this thought process, Gene-Jack Wang, MD, a senior scientist with Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York agree's that a lifestyle change is really what is going to matter.
"I don't think any medication [will work] without behavior change," said Wang. "If you don't change your behavior, nothing will help you."
The FDA's advisory committee has given the tumbs up, but that doesn't mean that the FDA has to approve the new medication, however they normally follow the advice given by the panel. This was a fascinating story and if it is something that works than that would be fantastic, but no matter what remember that there is no miracle pill out there to make everything go away. Medication is mearly in existence in terms of weight loss to assist. A lot still lies on our own shoulders to make the right food and exercise decisions. What do you think about this new creation? Is this something you would try? Have any of you tried diet pills in the past? Do you know of any that have assisted you? Let me know!
To read the full article about this new medication that I learned all about on CNN. Feel free to click on the link to read in much more detail.
Fen-phen was the ingredient in weight loss pills in the '90's that was supposed to cause amazing results. Well it may have helped with weight loss, but it also caused problems with heart valves, thus the FDA taking it away in 2007. This year like any other year, people have been trying to find a solution to growing obesity rates in medication. In 2010 alone two diet pills have been "nixed" according to health.com because of possible links to cancer. However a third drug has gotten approval from the FDA panel and its name is Contrave.
"It's kind of a neat little approach. They've taken two drugs that have been around for a very long time with relatively good safety profiles and put them together, hoping that the combined action might be better at controlling eating," said Paul Kenny, PhD, associate professor of molecular therapeutics at Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida. "It's a double whammy."
They may have found the key to assisting in the fight of obesity in America.
"Obesity is really a crisis," says Michael Aziz, MD, an internist with Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Two-thirds of the U.S. adult population is either overweight or obese while a growing number of adolescents are climbing into the danger range, many developing type 2 diabetes at younger and younger ages. The problem is not a pill but the way we live our lives."
Aziz is not alone in this thought process, Gene-Jack Wang, MD, a senior scientist with Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York agree's that a lifestyle change is really what is going to matter.
"I don't think any medication [will work] without behavior change," said Wang. "If you don't change your behavior, nothing will help you."
The FDA's advisory committee has given the tumbs up, but that doesn't mean that the FDA has to approve the new medication, however they normally follow the advice given by the panel. This was a fascinating story and if it is something that works than that would be fantastic, but no matter what remember that there is no miracle pill out there to make everything go away. Medication is mearly in existence in terms of weight loss to assist. A lot still lies on our own shoulders to make the right food and exercise decisions. What do you think about this new creation? Is this something you would try? Have any of you tried diet pills in the past? Do you know of any that have assisted you? Let me know!
To read the full article about this new medication that I learned all about on CNN. Feel free to click on the link to read in much more detail.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
My Life's Biggest Project: Detox Diet
My Life's Biggest Project: Detox Diet: "If you get on aol.com under trending now on the homepage this was one of the things that was trending, under Reese Witherspoon and ginger br..."
Detox Diet
If you get on aol.com under trending now on the homepage this was one of the things that was trending, under Reese Witherspoon and ginger bread cookies. I know a little bit about this particular diet and I figure I'll go ahead and share it with you. A lot of different things show up when I clicked on the link. This certainly was a fad diet that sprung because actress/singer Beyonce Knowles (Mrs. Jay-Z, you all know who she is) lost 20 pounds according to reports while prepping for her role in the movie Dream Girls. There are lots of different names for this particular diet. Detox Diet, Master Cleanse, Lemonaide Diet, and I'm sure there are more, but these are probably the most well known ones.
One of my sorority sisters did this and said that it wasn't so bad and that she lost weight doing it, but there are lots of studies out there according to thatsfit.com. That say that there are many dangers with doing it. Basically what this diet consists of is creating a drink concoction that one is supposed to drink for ten days. You are not allowed to eat anything, just drink this drink you mix up that consists of water, fresh lemon juice, cayyanne pepper and Grade-A organic maple syrup. The claims are that it gets all the built up gunk in your body out and causes you to no longer crave things that are bad for you.
Medical experts say that by removing nutrients from your system that creates havoc on your metabolism as well as the fact that there is no evidence that this age old detox really does what it says. If you are working out you need to be eating right or your body will not drop pounds. If you are essentially starving yourself then your body goes into shock mode and starts storing fat as opposed to burning fat. To read more about the hidden dangers of the detox diet click on this link and it will tell you all about it.
According to edetoxify.com people who have done a detox diet say that they have improved skin, energy levels are boosted, and increased concentration levels. The problem is that there is so much information out there it is hard to decipher what is the right information. Scientifically it makes sense to me that if you starve yourself you are going to gain weight, but with results like Beyonce's and all the great things that other Web sites and people say that live by detoxing it is hard to make up one's mind about what the right answer is. What do you think it is?
Webmd says that they are simply a myth and not good for the body. Have any of you tried this before? What are your thoughts pertaining to it? I began this particular diet over the summer. I got to day four and then was put on an antibiotic that required me to eat or I would be sick. If I was just going to throw up the medicine it obviously was doing me no good so I had to stop the diet (not saying that I made good food decisions when I started eating again). I can honestly say from personal experience (note that I only made it through day 4), but I didn't feel like I was starving, I also didn't feel any different at all. I have thought about trying it again, but hearing all of the negatives kind of scares me too. Any thoughts? Let me know what you think the right thing to do is. In the meantime I will not being doing it until I get some kind of feedback.
Medical experts say that by removing nutrients from your system that creates havoc on your metabolism as well as the fact that there is no evidence that this age old detox really does what it says. If you are working out you need to be eating right or your body will not drop pounds. If you are essentially starving yourself then your body goes into shock mode and starts storing fat as opposed to burning fat. To read more about the hidden dangers of the detox diet click on this link and it will tell you all about it.
According to edetoxify.com people who have done a detox diet say that they have improved skin, energy levels are boosted, and increased concentration levels. The problem is that there is so much information out there it is hard to decipher what is the right information. Scientifically it makes sense to me that if you starve yourself you are going to gain weight, but with results like Beyonce's and all the great things that other Web sites and people say that live by detoxing it is hard to make up one's mind about what the right answer is. What do you think it is?
Webmd says that they are simply a myth and not good for the body. Have any of you tried this before? What are your thoughts pertaining to it? I began this particular diet over the summer. I got to day four and then was put on an antibiotic that required me to eat or I would be sick. If I was just going to throw up the medicine it obviously was doing me no good so I had to stop the diet (not saying that I made good food decisions when I started eating again). I can honestly say from personal experience (note that I only made it through day 4), but I didn't feel like I was starving, I also didn't feel any different at all. I have thought about trying it again, but hearing all of the negatives kind of scares me too. Any thoughts? Let me know what you think the right thing to do is. In the meantime I will not being doing it until I get some kind of feedback.
Friday, December 17, 2010
My Life's Biggest Project: Post Op News
My Life's Biggest Project: Post Op News: "So I went to my first post op appointment yesterday and had my drain removed! I couldn’t be happier about that, however the stitches are sti..."
Post Op News
So I went to my first post op appointment yesterday and had my drain removed! I couldn’t be happier about that, however the stitches are still there. This part I was not so happy about, but the doctor said that everything is healing up nicely and that he wants to see me again for my next post op appointment in three weeks. That would be January 6 to be exact (2 days after my 24th birthday). What does this all mean? Well unfortunately for me it means that exercise is still going to be delayed.
This is the sixth time that I have had this same surgery done since I was 18 and I do not want to jeopardize the healing process in any kind of way, however I also am a little sad because this certainly makes meeting my own personal goals a lot harder. This couldn’t have come at a worse time, however if this is what it takes for me to get in tip top shape that’s what matters right? I mean what is the point if I’m not healthy because health is really the foundation to being in shape isn’t it?
I am trying to remain positive and will continue to do minimal exercise and watch what I’m eating. I’m not going to lie it has been tough just hanging around the house all day not being able to get out of bed most days and also reminding myself how much I don’t want to just pick something up that’s bad for me. That may be the easy route, but it isn’t the smart one. So I simply have to try to keep thinking in terms of my glass being half full and that this time will be the last time and that I can stop putting my life on pause and putting on a big fake smile that everything is OK. Everything has not been OK for me physically for a long time so I cross my fingers and pray that this time it will be.
I’m not faking it for myself anymore. I want to be healthy! In all aspects of my life which means there is a need for a lot of change. BIG changes! It’s not only got to be an outer body makeover, but an inner body one as well. This reminds me of a quote from one of my favorite movies Definitely Maybe. Ryan Reynolds says, “your shit is a mess” and that’s pretty accurate, my health has been just that because of these surgeries. I just need it to be known that no matter how dark it may seem some days I will come up on top! In the words of Tupac, “You gotta keep yo head up”.
I will. If anyone has ever had a polynidal cyst removed or knows of anyone else who has they know that the healing process is a long one. I myself like to think I’m so hardcore and I may have always just tried to bounce back to quick. If you can suggest or think of any workouts that will not be painful please let me know. I can’t squat or lift heavy things still, but I’m willing to do whatever it takes. Thank you all for reading and I’ll keep writing. I always love to hear what everyone else is thinking so keep your thoughts and ideas coming my way. To leave this on a high note, with all of the ups and downs of the last month I have still managed to lose 12 pounds since I began this project of mine. YAY!!! More to come in the next 24!!!
Thursday, December 16, 2010
My Life's Biggest Project: Get Your Drink On
My Life's Biggest Project: Get Your Drink On: "Some of you may look at this post and think it is funny that after posting something about being stressed I then write about drinks, even th..."
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