If you are a lover of fast food, but still want to lose or keep off the pounds, you are going to love this next diet, available at your local fast food restaurant, Taco Bell:  This article is from SmallbitesAndybellatti.com.

Taco Bell’s latest advertising project? The Taco Bell Drive-Thru Diet®.

Their spokesperson, a real-life dieter identified as Christine, claims to have lost 54 pounds over the course of two years “by choosing Fresco items from the Drive-Thru Diet® menu and making other sensible choices.”

As if the “other sensible choices” part wasn’t enough of a hint that there’s more to this than meets the eye, we then learn that Christine simply reduced her total caloric intake by 500 calories for a total of 1,250 calories a day.

It seems that even the folks at Taco Bell are aware this campaign is a bit of a stretch.

Not only does Christine herself share that “these results aren’t typical” and that “as you know,” (?) “the Drive-Thru Diet® menu is not a weight-loss program”, the Taco Bell website makes this statement:

“For a healthier lifestyle, pay attention to total calorie and fat intake and regular exercise. Fresco can help with calorie reductions of 20 to 100 per item compared to corresponding products on our regular menu. Not a low calorie food.”

This comes back to a point I often make on this blog — actual weight-loss can be done with almost any food.

In fact, this campaign reminds me of a similar one by Special K cereal a few years ago.  The gist was that Special K helped you lose weight, provided — of course — that you had a bowl of it as your lunch.

Christine could have consumed 1,250 calories worth of ice cream, french fries, and pizza and still have lost the weight.

The added challenge comes from achieving weight loss while meeting nutrient needs and providing the body with sufficient energy and care.

A 1,250-calorie diet of junk food will result in weight loss, but also in completely inadequate nutrient intakes.

It’s also worth pointing out that one can consume 320 calories in a half cup of premium ice cream or a salad chock-full of vegetables, dressed with one tablespoon of olive oil and generous amounts of lemon juice.

In that sense, all calories are most certainly NOT created equal!

Furthermore, while I understand what Taco Bell is trying to do here (reminding customers that their menu offers lower-calorie items), two things bother me:

1. This campaign is completely carried by a woman, once again reiterating the stereotype that only women care about managing their weight and seeking healthier options
2. All this talk of healthier options is a little silly when you consider that some Fresco items contain half a day’s worth of sodium

Rather than create this gimmick, why didn’t Taco Bell simply advertise their lower-calorie items with a “At Taco Bell, low calories are no problem”-ish campaign?

Source

Weight loss medication in the most recent health news is something known as Orlistat. There are not many prescription based weight loss pills on the market but Orlistat, also known as Xenical is one of the latest. Orlistat has been around for at least a decade and is claimed to promote weight loss by preventing digestion and absorption of fat in the intestine.

All fat when ingested is broken down by an enzyme released from the pancreas. The pancreas releases the enzyme lipase which breaks up the fat which can then be absorbed from the intestine into the body. Orlistat acts by blocking the lipase enzyme so that the fats are not broken down and hence not absorbed. The blockage on the lipase enzyme is not 100% but average about 50%-75%. The unabsorbed fat is then excreted into the stools.

Orlistat has been approved by the FDA for use in North America. There is also a lower dose of the drug available over the counter. The generic brand name sold over the counter is known as Alli and requires no prescription.

For weight loss, Orlistat has to be taken on a daily basis for 2-3 months. However, the pill itself does not always work in all individuals. Physicians recommend that Orlistat must be combined with exercise and a reduced intake of calories for the medication to have the most benefits. If the patient is suffering from weight gain as a result of hormone imbalance, the patient must first stabilize hormone levels and follow a hormone diet which achieve weightloss. The drug is often prescribed for individuals who are moderately obese (BMI > 25 kg/m2).

Studies indicate that the average weight loss with Orlistat after six months averages about 12-15 pounds.

The prescription pill (120mg) is taken three times a day, one hour before each meal.
Because Orlistat inhibits fat absorption, patients taking fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) should not take Orlistat at the same time.

While Orlistat is generally a safe drug it does have a few unpleasant side effects. The most common side effect includes soiling of the underwear. The soiling is from the unabsorbed fat which can occur at any time. Passage of excess gas, loose and oily stools is also common. Some individuals also develop abdominal cramps and bloating. The inability to control bowel movements is also a common complaint. These side effects do not occur in all individuals but when they do occur, they are disturbing. The side effects generally start a few weeks after starting treatment and in a few patients may resolve. However, in the majority of individuals the symptoms will persist as long as the pill is taken. To decrease the side effects, it is recommended that one eat a low fat diet and decrease the dose of Orlistat.

A rare side effect of the drug is the development of kidney stones.

Orlistat is not an inexpensive product. The average cost for 30 pills is about $60-$90. And remember one takes 3 pills a day and so it is an expensive undertaking with no guarantee of any benefit plus a definite chance of developing some type of side effect.

Speak with your physician if you feel you would like to try this medication before you embark on your weight loss program.

Want to live longer, look better as you age? Research has found that eating less and therefore consuming less calories seems to help as far as anti-aging goes. Read the following health news article from the BBC news on how a reduction of calories will benefit you as you age.

“Cutting calories may delay the ageing process and reduce the risk of disease, a long-term study of monkeys suggests.

The benefits of calorie restriction are well documented in animals, but now the results have been replicated in a close relative of man over a lengthy period. Over 20 years, monkeys whose diets were not restricted were nearly three times more likely to have died than those whose calories were counted. Writing in Science, the US researchers hailed the “major effect” of the diet.

It involved reducing calorie intake by 30% while maintaining nutrition and appeared to impact upon many forms of age-related disease seen in monkeys, including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and brain atrophy. Whether the same effects would be seen in humans is unclear, although anecdotal evidence so far suggests people on a long-term calorie-restricted diet have better cardiovascular health.

The precise mechanism is yet to be established: theories involve changes in the body’s metabolism or a reduction in the production of “free radical” chemicals which can cause damage. Seventy-six rhesus monkeys were involved in the trial, which began in 1989 and was expanded in 1994. Half had their diets restricted, half were given free rein at feeding time.

The rate of cancers and cardiovascular disease in dieting animals was less than half of those permitted to eat freely.
While diabetes and problems with glucose regulation were common in monkeys who ate what they wanted, there were no cases in the calorie controlled group. In addition, while most brains shrink with age, the restricted diet appeared to maintain the volume of the brain at least in some regions. In particular, the areas associated with movement and memory seemed to be better preserved. “Both motor speed and mental speed slow down with ageing,” said Sterling Johnson, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine.

“Those are the areas which we found to be better preserved. We can’t yet make the claim that a difference in diet is associated with functional change because those studies are still ongoing.”

Read the rest of the story here.