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HCG Diet:  Should Starvation Be An Acceptable Weight-Loss Plan?

Have you heard of the hCG diet plan?  It’s been around since the 70’s and is making a comeback in today’s quick-fix society.  With promises of quick weight loss and little hunger, it sounds like the weight loss miracle we’ve all been hoping for.  But SURPRISE!  There is no miracle, just deception.  And much worse, this diet plan will most likely do you more harm than good.

With so many women trying to lose weight in this country, it scares me to think of how many of them may be taking this “diet plan” seriously.  It’s not a diet at all, it’s a dangerous consumer deception.  With a 500 calorie a day limit, this plan is nothing more than a starvation diet combined with a medical gimmick, and no good can ever come from it.

The New York Times — Diet Plan With HCG, a Fertility Hormone, Has Fans and Critics…

Ms. Brown, 35, is not taking hCG to help her bear a child. She believes that by combining the hormone injections with a 500-calorie-a-day diet, she will achieve a kind of weight-loss nirvana: losing fat in all the right places without feeling tired or hungry. “I had a friend who did it before her wedding,” Ms. Brown said. “She looks great.”

Before I even touch on all the problems with hCG injections, let’s look at the daily calorie intake for this “so called” diet.  Are they kidding?  Limiting the amount of calories you consume in one day to 500 is nothing more than starvation.  There is absolutely NO WAY to limit your daily calories to 500 and be healthy, it’s pure insanity.

Women like Ms. Brown are streaming into doctors’ offices and weight-loss clinics all over the country, paying upward of $1,000 a month for a consultation, a supply of the hormone and the syringes needed to deliver it. More than 50 years after a doctor at a Roman clinic began promoting hCG as a dieting aid, it is as popular as ever, even though there is scant evidence that it makes any difference.

Again, are you kidding me?  If you used that $1,000 a month to buy all healthy foods to stock your kitchen with for a month, you would still have more than enough money left for a gym membership.  Not only would you lose weight this way, but you would also lower your risk for heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer — and that’s not a gimmick, that’s a fact.

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Did you know that more women die from heart disease than men in our country?  It’s true.  But when it comes to researching treatments for heart disease, women are being left behind.  So I wasn’t surprised when I read a recent article that highlighted the continued disparities of heart disease treatment between men and women.

From an ABC News article — Heart Device Studies Leave Women Behind…

Cardiovascular device development remains skewed against women, with too few trials adequately addressing gender despite long-standing requirements by the FDA, researchers found.

I contacted Carolyn Thomas of Heart Sisters to ask her if I could get her thoughts on this latest report for BlogHer, and she was kind enough to agree.  Carolyn writes about women and heart disease from a very unique perspective — She is a Mayo Clinic-trained heart attack survivor.   What she has to say about women and heart disease, we ALL need to hear.

My first question was…

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There is a lot of stigma and misinformation surrounding eating disorders, and I imagine the biggest misconception about eating disorders is that it’s somehow the patient’s fault…But that couldn’t be further from the truth.  Since this week is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, I thought I would dedicating this post to providing as much information and facts about this disease as possible.

From NEDAwareness Week…

Mission: Our aim of NEDAwareness Week is to ultimately prevent eating disorders and body image issues while reducing the stigma surrounding eating disorders and improving access to treatment. Eating disorders are serious, life-threatening illnesses — not choices — and it’s important to recognize the pressures, attitudes and behaviors that shape the disorder.

This year, NEDA asked everyone to do just one thing to help raise awareness and provide accurate information about eating disorders.

This is from Manolo for the Big Girl — Myths and Facts About Eating Disorders…

So how do we turn the mass of misinformation around? We educate ourselves. We learn what the latest research has to say and listen to the voices of recovery. We keep our ears, eyes, minds, and hearts open. And once we have educated ourselves, we talk.

Here are some the the facts and statistics about eating disorders.

From Eating Disorder Statistics — Mortality Rates…

• Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness
• A study by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders reported that 5 – 10% of anorexics die within 10 years after contracting the disease; 18-20% of anorexics will be dead after 20 years and only 30 – 40% ever fully recover
• The mortality rate associated with anorexia nervosa is 12 times higher than the death rate of ALL causes of death for females 15 – 24 years old.
• 20% of people suffering from anorexia will prematurely die from complications related to their eating disorder, including suicide and heart problems

From FamilyDoctor.org — Warning Signs of an Eating Disorder…

• Unnatural concern about body weight (even if the person is not overweight)
• Obsession with calories, fat grams and food
• Use of any medicines to keep from gaining weight (diet pills, laxatives, water pills)

More serious warning signs may be harder to notice because people who have an eating disorder try to keep it secret.  Watch for these signs:

• Throwing up after meals
• Refusing to eat or lying about how much was eaten
• Fainting
• Overexercising
• Not having periods
• Increased anxiety about weight
• Calluses or scars on the knuckle (from forced throwing up)
• Denying that there is anything wrong

From Psych Central — Eating Disorder Recovery (an in-depth Q&A)…

In honor of NEDA Week, I wanted to talk about the common obstacles on the road to eating disorder recovery and how individuals can overcome these obstacles.

If you’re struggling with an eating disorder, know that you can absolutely recover. It’s normal to experience setbacks and challenges. Everyone does.

Here is a very informative video about the facts about eating Disorders, with Lynn Grefe, CEO of the National Eating Disorders Association…

Sometimes less is more, and in the case of breast cancer surgery this seems to the case.  In a  just released study on women with breast cancer, it turns out that the removal of cancerous lymph nodes may not always be necessary.   The results of this study will facilitate major changes in the way breast cancer is treated, and could be hard for a lot of women to accept at first; since most of us are programmed to want all cancer removed.  But it turns out that about 20% of breast cancer patients who have cancer in their lymph nodes and who would normally have those nodes removed, will not need this aggressive surgery.

The new study concludes that the decision of whether or not to remove the lymph nodes should now be based on what stage the breast cancer is in, rather than the finding of cancer in the  nodes.

This is from the New York Times - Lymph Node Surgery for Breast Cancer Not Always Needed…

The new results do not apply to all patients, only to women whose disease and treatment meet the criteria in the study.

The tumors were early, at clinical stage T1 or T2, meaning less than two inches across. Biopsies of one or two armpit nodes had found cancer, but the nodes were not enlarged enough to be felt during an exam, and the cancer had not spread anywhere else.

So why is this such an important discovery in the treatment of breast cancer?

It’s because in patients where the removal of these nodes do not change the outcome of survival or re-occurrence, the benefits of removal do not outweigh the risks.   Not only is the removal of these lymph nodes very painful to recover from, but the complications (such as infection and lymph edema) can be very serious, even disabling.  So if doctors can eliminate this complication for over 40,000 women a year, that is a very good thing.

Here is a video discussing this latest study…

From the Washington Post – Breast Cancer Study Questions Lymph Node Removal…

The study, involving nearly 900 women who were treated at 115 sites across the country, found that those who did have their lymph nodes removed were no more likely to survive five years after the surgery than those who did not, the researchers reported in a paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Even though the cancerous lymph nodes will not be removed during surgery for patients meeting the new criteria, the cancer in those nodes is eradicated when the patient is given chemotherapy after surgery.

More from the New York Times article…

Removing the cancerous lymph nodes proved unnecessary because the women in the study had chemotherapy and radiation, which probably wiped out any disease in the nodes, the researchers said. Those treatments are now standard for women with breast cancer in the lymph nodes, based on the realization that once the disease reaches the nodes, it has the potential to spread to vital organs and cannot be eliminated by surgery alone.

Experts say that the new findings, combined with similar ones from earlier studies, should change medical practice for many patients.

What do you think about this new study and how it will affect the treatment of breast cancer?  Do you agree with the findings of the study?  What would you want to do if you fell into this new criteria, and the recommendation was to not remove the lymph nodes?  Please let us know your thoughts in comments.

(cross-posted to BlogHer)

Nutrition:  Are Women Getting Enough Vitamin D and Calcium? (cross-posted to BlogHer)

How much vitamin D do we need?  A recent report calls for a small increase in the daily recommendations of vitamin D, but does not go as far to recommend the much higher levels thought to possibly prevent chronic illness (such as cancer and diabetes).  The US-Canadian report reviewed nearly 1,000 published studies along with testimonies from scientists and other experts, and it concluded that there is not strong enough evidence (at least at this time) that vitamin D can prevent chronic illness.

The new recommended levels are somewhat higher than the ones set in 1997 (the last time a government panel examined vitamin D intake).  However, the new recommendations are much lower than many doctors and supplement advocates had been suggesting, and some are even suggesting there is a cover-up going on.

The panel focused primarily on skeletal and bone health to determine their new recommendations for both vitamin D and calcium.

The good news is — Most American’s and Canadian’s do seem to be getting enough vitamin D in their diet for healthy bones.

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Weight Loss:  It’s Not About The Twinkies, Stupid – (cross posted at BlogHer Health & Wellness)

Here’s what I think about the Twinkie Diet and the professor who claims to have lost weight on it…

In an unprecedented show of nutritional and scholarly savvy, a forward-thinking professor of nutrition was seeking to prove that limiting calories is the key to weight loss.  And incredibly, his theories have turned out to be correct.

Wait a minute, wait a minute, am I being Punked?  Isn’t it already a fact that eating less calories than your body burns is the key to losing weight?  I guess we can overlook that minor detail, because it’s how the professor lost the weight that is so astonishing.

You see, the real excitement of this story is how Twinkies and junk food are finally taking their rightful place in the war against obesity.

Yes, it’s true…

A one-man pseudo-research experiment has proven without a doubt that eating Twinkies can lead to weight loss (just as long as you consume considerably less calories than your body requires).  I know, it’s a shocking revelation.  It’s being dubbed, the Twinkie Diet, and you can actually eat just about anything (candy, cookies, chips, cake. fruits, vegetables) and still lose weight, just as long as you are taking in much less calories than your body burns.

If it sounds like a miracle diet, IT’S NOT.

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Understanding The Latest Research About Hormone Replacement Therapy

For years there have been suspicions and studies linking Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) to breast cancer, but new research is now definitively linking HRT to an increase in breast cancer death rates.

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The Choose You Breast Cancer Health Kit is a wonderful resource for all women, and anyone who loves one.  It basically puts all the information you need about breast cancer prevention at your fingertips.

The Health Kit takes you step by step showing you everything from prevention tips to getting an early diagnosis, and it is also filled with many additional invaluable links and tools.

Best thing — The same lifestyle changes that can help you prevent breast cancer, can also help you prevent heart disease, other cancers, and even many chronic illnesses.  So check it out, and if you haven’t already…Choose You.

Choose You Breast Cancer Health Kit

This is my personal story of how I lost those last 10 pounds.  It started over two years ago when I lost 30 of the 40 pounds I had gained.  Those first 30 came off just by making healthier food choices, but the last 10 were proving to be much more difficult.   But I did it, and so can you.

Many of you who read my BlogHer posts are familiar with the struggles I’ve had with weight loss over the years.  For the most part I’ve been successful, although it took almost two years to finally get rid of those last ten pesky pounds.  But before I tell you my “how I did it” story, I want to share with you my “how I got there in the first place” story.  I think it’s just as important to recognize how and why we gained the weight, as it is to actually lose the weight.  Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with all the details, but in a nutshell two things had the greatest contribution to my (rather rapid) weight gain of about 40 pounds…

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A few weeks ago my daughter and I were at the mall doing some back-to-school shopping and walked by a kiosk selling what looked like cigarettes.  We both thought it was odd, but we assumed it must be some type of “quit smoking” devise.  But, on the way out we actually saw a man demonstrating this product which looked exactly like a cigarette (including the smoke).  I have to admit, it was very strange seeing someone smoke in a mall, you just don’t see that anymore (except for right outside the mall).  As we walked by I noticed a sign that claimed it was a “clean” way to smoke.  At the time we just rolled our eyes at the ridiculousness of it all, and wondered why anyone would want to pay money for something that looked like a cigarette but wasn’t?

Fast forward to a few days ago when I was asked to write a post about the controversy surrounding the e-cigarette.  I hadn’t heard of an e-cigarette, but after researching it, I realized it was the same thing we saw being sold at the mall.

After reading more about e-cigarettes, I have mixed feelings about their benefits.  On one hand, the manufacturers of the e-cigarettes are claiming they only want to give smokers an easier way to quit smoking.  But on the other hand, they are marketing the product by glamorizing a new “cleaner” way to smoke.  So what is it?  It’s clear the real motivation (as always) is in making money, not so much the health or best interest of the consumer.  And that’s why I’m happy to hear that the FDA is cracking down on these “questionable” products.

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