Regulation would discourage innovation, limit solutions
While I share the authors’ concerns about misleading advertising claims by commercial weight loss providers, attempting to have governments regulate the industry would be a huge mistake.
To see the CMAJ editorial go to http://www.cmaj.ca
The first challenge to the proposal would be to establish an accreditation program void of political agendas and special interests [i.e. pharmaceutical companies] while at the same time encouraging innovation and new solutions. Given that no existing major private company offering or medically approved program can be said to meet a realistic criteria of long-term success, limiting entry into this field by requiring new participants to abide by dated and flawed principles would doom our ‘ever-growing’ population to a lifetime of the same end result-getting fatter and less healthy.
The second challenge is the sheer scope of the proposition. The CMAJ editorial focuses on weight loss products, but this is a small part of the $5billion Canadians spend trying to address this health challenge. Outrageous weight loss claims are also made throughout the exercise industry, and recently we have seen the food industry join the fray as the dairy industry and high-fibre food products industry have begun making weight loss claims for their products.
For weight control without misleading claims go to www.keepcanadaslim.com.
Much of this money is also spent on books, CDs, DVDs, and website programs which also make various claims. And finally the media itself is constantly reinforcing stereotypes of dieting such as The Biggest Loser television show, and ongoing coverage of anyone anywhere who achieves significant weight loss – no matter how temporary or what the long-term health costs may be. Does the CMA propose the government regulate all of these industries since they all contribute to the problem? And since much of this industry originates in the US, regulation by Canadian governments would have little overall impact.
In terms of diet products and their claims we already have substantial regulation in place. What is required is a strengthening of these regulations and perhaps a review to reflect more accurately a consumer protective stance. The supplement industry recently won the right to make limited claims about the benefits of their products after an exhaustive multiyear battle. All products approved for sale in Canada are proven safe when taken in recommended dosages. There is no value in wasting energy trying to reverse this position. Ephedra, mentioned in the editorial as having “fatal consequences” is illegal in Canada as I'm sure the authors know. And medical supervision of a very low calorie (VLC) diet offers no benefit over a medically supervised VLC diets. Both versions are unsafe and unhealthy.
If a consumer looks carefully at these outrageous claims they should find an adjoining statement that says "results not typical" or "results may vary". It may be useful to change labeling legislation to require these consumer warnings to be larger and more prominent, perhaps in the same type size as the claims themselves.
In closing, I would suggest the CMA and it's members open its doors to the many innovators, entrepreneurs, researchers and private companies that would like to help find a solution to weight gain and obesity, rather than expending energy fighting a massive battle that even if won, might provide no benefit to those in need. Let's do a better job of educating consumers so they are better able to recognize misleading advertising claims.
Let's become "pro-something" rather than "against something".
For a complete list of Keep America / Keep Canada Slim newsletters go to http://www.keepcanadaslim.com/index.cfm?page=archives
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Exercise & Dieting: Why it Fails so Often
Exercise Without Proper Eating will Fail
Let me say it right up front – Exercise is an add-on to a successful weight control program, not a foundation. In fact exercise actually complicates your program if you haven’t fixed your eating habits first. Allow me to explain.
If you ask 100 people the key to weightloss you can expect 97 of them to say “eat less and exercise more.” But if you’ve had a weight problem for any length of time you know that this equation doesn’t always work. In truth, it generally only works the first or second time you do it. Each time you re-commit to an exercise program you have probably found it less and less successful.
In fact, many of our clients are stuck on a permanent plateau while ‘eating less’ and continuing to ‘exercise more’.
For more about our program go to www.keepamericaslim.com
The simple explanation is that you are not prepared nutritionally to support exercise. Most people blindly head to the gym, sign up for some aerobics courses or jump on the treadmill and assume that the fat will simply slide off their body. The truth is the new demands you are placing on your body require a new approach to eating, as well as exercise.
Now don’t get me wrong, there are many great reasons to exercise, so if you want to exercise for all the right reasons, please go ahead. However if you make it the foundation of your weight control you will eventually fail. Injuries, pregnancy, a change of job, new romance, lack of motivation – there are any number of reasons why people stop exercising. However none of us will ever stop eating. The foundation of any successful long-term weight control program is learning how to shop, cook and eat properly. Only when you have established that foundation should you add exercise.
But there’s more. Exercise in combination with a low-calorie diet can actually undermine your program – not enhance it. This is because it puts you even deeper into Starvation Metabolism.
Starvation metabolism is our genetic response to under-eating. Our body shifts from burning fat for energy to preserving fat for the future. We begin to burn muscle for energy and store fat. Eventually you stop dieting but the body is now trained to store calories so you gain back all you lost – and usually more.
Consider this typical scenario: A 160-pound woman who wants to be 130 pounds needs to eat a minimum of 1350 calories for safe weight loss, but she starts a diet, limiting herself to 800 calories per day. This automatically puts her into starvation. Then she adds exercise.
Let’s say she does 45 minutes on a treadmill, burning about 300 calories. Since she is on a diet she doesn’t want to eat more food, so this new demand for energy puts her even further into starvation. Even if she loses weight, one-third of the loss will be muscle. Her body will fight against the loss of more body fat – essential for survival during starvation - guaranteeing a plateau at best and a yo-yo response at worst.
So what to do? First, choose muscle building exercises instead of aerobic exercise. This has the ability to restore muscle lost from previous dieting. Second, if you exercise, you must eat more food. In the Keep America / Keep Canada Slim program we recommend adding 75 per cent of the calories burned back into your diet. In the above case, this means an additional 225 calories, taking her up to 1575 calories. Then she would have safe permanent weight loss and get the full benefits of her exercise program.
Unfortunately, we don’t see this happening in North America.
In the Keep America / Keep Canada Slim program we typically see a loss of 10% of a person’s bodyfat in six weeks without exercise. This is more than most people can achieve at the gym without a properly balanced food plan. So if you are planning a weightloss program, start with food first.
Keep America / Keep Canada Slim is a comprehensive weight control program sold through the website, www.keepamericaslim.com and through independent consultation offices across Canada.
Let me say it right up front – Exercise is an add-on to a successful weight control program, not a foundation. In fact exercise actually complicates your program if you haven’t fixed your eating habits first. Allow me to explain.
If you ask 100 people the key to weightloss you can expect 97 of them to say “eat less and exercise more.” But if you’ve had a weight problem for any length of time you know that this equation doesn’t always work. In truth, it generally only works the first or second time you do it. Each time you re-commit to an exercise program you have probably found it less and less successful.
In fact, many of our clients are stuck on a permanent plateau while ‘eating less’ and continuing to ‘exercise more’.
For more about our program go to www.keepamericaslim.com
The simple explanation is that you are not prepared nutritionally to support exercise. Most people blindly head to the gym, sign up for some aerobics courses or jump on the treadmill and assume that the fat will simply slide off their body. The truth is the new demands you are placing on your body require a new approach to eating, as well as exercise.
Now don’t get me wrong, there are many great reasons to exercise, so if you want to exercise for all the right reasons, please go ahead. However if you make it the foundation of your weight control you will eventually fail. Injuries, pregnancy, a change of job, new romance, lack of motivation – there are any number of reasons why people stop exercising. However none of us will ever stop eating. The foundation of any successful long-term weight control program is learning how to shop, cook and eat properly. Only when you have established that foundation should you add exercise.
But there’s more. Exercise in combination with a low-calorie diet can actually undermine your program – not enhance it. This is because it puts you even deeper into Starvation Metabolism.
Starvation metabolism is our genetic response to under-eating. Our body shifts from burning fat for energy to preserving fat for the future. We begin to burn muscle for energy and store fat. Eventually you stop dieting but the body is now trained to store calories so you gain back all you lost – and usually more.
Consider this typical scenario: A 160-pound woman who wants to be 130 pounds needs to eat a minimum of 1350 calories for safe weight loss, but she starts a diet, limiting herself to 800 calories per day. This automatically puts her into starvation. Then she adds exercise.
Let’s say she does 45 minutes on a treadmill, burning about 300 calories. Since she is on a diet she doesn’t want to eat more food, so this new demand for energy puts her even further into starvation. Even if she loses weight, one-third of the loss will be muscle. Her body will fight against the loss of more body fat – essential for survival during starvation - guaranteeing a plateau at best and a yo-yo response at worst.
So what to do? First, choose muscle building exercises instead of aerobic exercise. This has the ability to restore muscle lost from previous dieting. Second, if you exercise, you must eat more food. In the Keep America / Keep Canada Slim program we recommend adding 75 per cent of the calories burned back into your diet. In the above case, this means an additional 225 calories, taking her up to 1575 calories. Then she would have safe permanent weight loss and get the full benefits of her exercise program.
Unfortunately, we don’t see this happening in North America.
In the Keep America / Keep Canada Slim program we typically see a loss of 10% of a person’s bodyfat in six weeks without exercise. This is more than most people can achieve at the gym without a properly balanced food plan. So if you are planning a weightloss program, start with food first.
Keep America / Keep Canada Slim is a comprehensive weight control program sold through the website, www.keepamericaslim.com and through independent consultation offices across Canada.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Is Your Job Making You Fat?
Making Work, work for you
As most people know, many jobs require long periods of physical inactivity, often sitting at a desk for hours at a time. But lack of activity is not the whole story on why your job is making you fat.
Other careers require extended periods of concentrated efforts which dictate your day’s schedule, causing you to skip meals. Believe it or not, this work habit will also cause you to gain weight.
In our consulting program we often hear these explanations as to why people can’t eat properly during the day: “I’m too busy at work to stop and eat,” or “I’m not allowed to take a break between lunch and the end of the day.”
For more information about our program go to http://www.keepamericaslim.com/.
In both cases, their job or career is making them fat.
Consider this: a person can gain weight while eating 1500 calories per day; the same person can lose weight while eating 1500 calories a day – without any change in their activity.
The secret is in balancing meals – when you eat and how much you eat at each meal.
Let’s say at 7:30 a.m. you eat a typical breakfast of cereal with milk and black coffee. You might consume 200 calories. If you have a quick lunch at 12:30, maybe a salad with fat-free dressing, yogurt and an apple; or soup and half a sandwich; you might eat 300 calories there. Then you get home after a 60-minute commute, take an hour to settle and make dinner, then eat a 1,000-calorie meal at 7:30.
Because you have eaten so little during the day, your body is in ‘starvation’ mode by dinner time, something we explain in detail in our program. In starvation, you will store pretty much all of that dinner. In addition, you can’t burn off 1,000 calories before your next meal, so some of that storage is still there when you have breakfast the next day.
Compare that routine to this one: You eat a little more for breakfast – maybe add an egg and hit 300 calories. At 10:30 you have a low-fat muffin with low-fat cream cheese and an apple with your coffee – another 300 calories. At 3 o’clock you eat a whole wheat chicken wrap for another 300 calories.
When you get home, you’re not that hungry, so you have a small plate of pasta with tomato sauce and some fresh chopped veggies at 7 p.m., adding another 300 calories to your day. About 10 o’clock you feel like a snack so you have that last piece of apple pie you’ve been saving for another 300 calories.
The difference with this meal plan is that it has kept your metabolism moving at a steady pace all day. You never go into starvation metabolism, so you don’t store any of it.
Think of your metabolism as a fire. If you feed it wood regularly it will burn steadily, consuming the fuel, producing energy and leaving a little ash. On the other hand if you cut back on wood for extended periods of time the flame will die down. Then you dump three times the regular amount of wood on it and the flame is suffocated, causing incomplete combustion and leaving a lot of wood only partially burned.
That’s the way it is with your metabolism. Feed the flames a steady flow of fuel and you will not store it. This is one of the key strategies we teach in the Keep Canada Slim program
Keep Canada / Keep America Slim is a comprehensive weight control program sold through the website, http://www.keepamericaslim.com/ and through independent consultation offices across Canada.
As most people know, many jobs require long periods of physical inactivity, often sitting at a desk for hours at a time. But lack of activity is not the whole story on why your job is making you fat.
Other careers require extended periods of concentrated efforts which dictate your day’s schedule, causing you to skip meals. Believe it or not, this work habit will also cause you to gain weight.
In our consulting program we often hear these explanations as to why people can’t eat properly during the day: “I’m too busy at work to stop and eat,” or “I’m not allowed to take a break between lunch and the end of the day.”
For more information about our program go to http://www.keepamericaslim.com/.
In both cases, their job or career is making them fat.
Consider this: a person can gain weight while eating 1500 calories per day; the same person can lose weight while eating 1500 calories a day – without any change in their activity.
The secret is in balancing meals – when you eat and how much you eat at each meal.
Let’s say at 7:30 a.m. you eat a typical breakfast of cereal with milk and black coffee. You might consume 200 calories. If you have a quick lunch at 12:30, maybe a salad with fat-free dressing, yogurt and an apple; or soup and half a sandwich; you might eat 300 calories there. Then you get home after a 60-minute commute, take an hour to settle and make dinner, then eat a 1,000-calorie meal at 7:30.
Because you have eaten so little during the day, your body is in ‘starvation’ mode by dinner time, something we explain in detail in our program. In starvation, you will store pretty much all of that dinner. In addition, you can’t burn off 1,000 calories before your next meal, so some of that storage is still there when you have breakfast the next day.
Compare that routine to this one: You eat a little more for breakfast – maybe add an egg and hit 300 calories. At 10:30 you have a low-fat muffin with low-fat cream cheese and an apple with your coffee – another 300 calories. At 3 o’clock you eat a whole wheat chicken wrap for another 300 calories.
When you get home, you’re not that hungry, so you have a small plate of pasta with tomato sauce and some fresh chopped veggies at 7 p.m., adding another 300 calories to your day. About 10 o’clock you feel like a snack so you have that last piece of apple pie you’ve been saving for another 300 calories.
The difference with this meal plan is that it has kept your metabolism moving at a steady pace all day. You never go into starvation metabolism, so you don’t store any of it.
Think of your metabolism as a fire. If you feed it wood regularly it will burn steadily, consuming the fuel, producing energy and leaving a little ash. On the other hand if you cut back on wood for extended periods of time the flame will die down. Then you dump three times the regular amount of wood on it and the flame is suffocated, causing incomplete combustion and leaving a lot of wood only partially burned.
That’s the way it is with your metabolism. Feed the flames a steady flow of fuel and you will not store it. This is one of the key strategies we teach in the Keep Canada Slim program
Keep Canada / Keep America Slim is a comprehensive weight control program sold through the website, http://www.keepamericaslim.com/ and through independent consultation offices across Canada.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Taking the Yo out of the Yo-Yo
Why diets don't work and how to create a lifestyle that does!
Ask 100 people the key to weight loss and 97 will say “eat less food." In our Keep Canada / Keep America Slim consulting program, we find that 97% of our clients are actually already eating too little to have permanent success. Until you clearly understand and act on this apparent contradiction you will never gain control of your weight.
It’s true that people initially gain weight because they eat too much, but losing weight and keeping it off is more complicated than simply starving yourself. And each time you go that route you make future attempts at weight control more difficult.
For more detailed info go to our website at http://www.keepamericaslim.com/.
Suppose you need 2000 calories a day to support your life’s activities, but you eat 2200 calories. You would store 200 calories each day. Since 3600 calories equals one pound, you would gain a pound every 18 days. Do this for a year and you have gained 20 pounds. Consider that half a large muffin is 200 calories and you can see how easy it is to gain weight.
So you go on a diet. Most commercial programs average 800 calories per day, so at this rate your body will burn 1200 calories from storage. This results in weight loss.
However, 800 calories is less than your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) – the minimum number of calories you need to simply exist. You are actually starving and your body reacts by metabolizing muscle for energy. This is part of our genetic programming, and dates back to our days as cavemen when food was scarce. During periods of food shortage, our bodies adapted for survival by storing fat, which protects inner organs and helps maintain body temperature, and utilizing muscle mass for energy. On a low-calorie diet up to one-third of the weight lost is muscle. This includes the muscles of the heart and other internal organs. (Anorexics often die of heart failure because they have lost so much heart muscle).
Muscle burns calories even at rest, so when you lose muscle through dieting you reduce your body's need for calories. Going back to our example, you would now need perhaps 1800 calories per day because you have less muscle. Resume your normal eating habits (2200 calories) and you are storing 400 calories per day and gaining weight at twice the previous rate. Soon you have gained back all the weight.
So you diet again, eating 800 calories a day. This time you lose a little slower, 1000 calories per day (1800-800), but eventually reach your weight goal. Again, one-third of the weight lost is muscle.
Now your caloric requirement has been reduced to 1600 calories per day and the weight comes back faster.
What’s worse is that the weight you gained back is all fat, so your body fat percentage begins to increase, going from a healthy range of 11-19% (men) or 17-25% (women) to 30, 40, 50% or more. And this excess body fat and muscle loss is the foundation of almost all degenerative diseases, from heart disease to many cancers, diabetes, osteoporosis and so on.
The more diets you go on, the fatter you become! Don’t believe me? Talk to the fattest people you know and ask them to tell you their history. They will tell you they have been on “every diet” but they get fatter and fatter each time they stop. These diets are all based on the 4 Myths of Dieting. To learn more about these myths go to
http://www.keepcanadaslim.com/index.cfm?page=myths.
So next time you decide to lose weight be sure to eat more than your Basal Metabolic requirements. This varies for everyone. Start at 1200 calories for a woman who wants to be 100 pounds, and increase by 50 calories for every 10 pounds of goal weight. For a man, start at 1500 calories to reach 130 pounds and add 75 calories for every 10 pounds of goal weight.
Keep Canada Slim is a comprehensive weight control program sold through the website, http://www.keepcanadaslim.com/ and through independent consultation offices across Canada.
Ask 100 people the key to weight loss and 97 will say “eat less food." In our Keep Canada / Keep America Slim consulting program, we find that 97% of our clients are actually already eating too little to have permanent success. Until you clearly understand and act on this apparent contradiction you will never gain control of your weight.
It’s true that people initially gain weight because they eat too much, but losing weight and keeping it off is more complicated than simply starving yourself. And each time you go that route you make future attempts at weight control more difficult.
For more detailed info go to our website at http://www.keepamericaslim.com/.
Suppose you need 2000 calories a day to support your life’s activities, but you eat 2200 calories. You would store 200 calories each day. Since 3600 calories equals one pound, you would gain a pound every 18 days. Do this for a year and you have gained 20 pounds. Consider that half a large muffin is 200 calories and you can see how easy it is to gain weight.
So you go on a diet. Most commercial programs average 800 calories per day, so at this rate your body will burn 1200 calories from storage. This results in weight loss.
However, 800 calories is less than your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) – the minimum number of calories you need to simply exist. You are actually starving and your body reacts by metabolizing muscle for energy. This is part of our genetic programming, and dates back to our days as cavemen when food was scarce. During periods of food shortage, our bodies adapted for survival by storing fat, which protects inner organs and helps maintain body temperature, and utilizing muscle mass for energy. On a low-calorie diet up to one-third of the weight lost is muscle. This includes the muscles of the heart and other internal organs. (Anorexics often die of heart failure because they have lost so much heart muscle).
Muscle burns calories even at rest, so when you lose muscle through dieting you reduce your body's need for calories. Going back to our example, you would now need perhaps 1800 calories per day because you have less muscle. Resume your normal eating habits (2200 calories) and you are storing 400 calories per day and gaining weight at twice the previous rate. Soon you have gained back all the weight.
So you diet again, eating 800 calories a day. This time you lose a little slower, 1000 calories per day (1800-800), but eventually reach your weight goal. Again, one-third of the weight lost is muscle.
Now your caloric requirement has been reduced to 1600 calories per day and the weight comes back faster.
What’s worse is that the weight you gained back is all fat, so your body fat percentage begins to increase, going from a healthy range of 11-19% (men) or 17-25% (women) to 30, 40, 50% or more. And this excess body fat and muscle loss is the foundation of almost all degenerative diseases, from heart disease to many cancers, diabetes, osteoporosis and so on.
The more diets you go on, the fatter you become! Don’t believe me? Talk to the fattest people you know and ask them to tell you their history. They will tell you they have been on “every diet” but they get fatter and fatter each time they stop. These diets are all based on the 4 Myths of Dieting. To learn more about these myths go to
http://www.keepcanadaslim.com/index.cfm?page=myths.
So next time you decide to lose weight be sure to eat more than your Basal Metabolic requirements. This varies for everyone. Start at 1200 calories for a woman who wants to be 100 pounds, and increase by 50 calories for every 10 pounds of goal weight. For a man, start at 1500 calories to reach 130 pounds and add 75 calories for every 10 pounds of goal weight.
Keep Canada Slim is a comprehensive weight control program sold through the website, http://www.keepcanadaslim.com/ and through independent consultation offices across Canada.
Monday, February 9, 2009
The Magic Secret to Weight Loss - The Four Myths of Dieting
The 4 Myths of Dieting
Mention weight loss at any social gathering and everyone has an opinion to offer and a ready audience to listen. With 71% of Americans and 61% of Canadians overweight, people are always looking for the magic secret – the one thing that will instantly give them a solution to their lifetime of weight control challenges.
In truth, successful weight control starts by understanding why your efforts have failed so often in the past and then choosing a different approach. Chances are very high (90 per cent according to the Canadian Obesity Network) that you have lost weight in the past but gained it back – and usually more than you lost. Many people have done this several times. It’s called Yo-Yo Dieting.
Most people simply try the same approach every year, and get fatter and fatter because of it.
Many people today understand that success comes from a ‘lifestyle’ approach, but then turn around and choose a diet as their ‘lifestyle’, proving that they don’t really understand the difference at all.
To have long-term success and keep the weight off, you must avoid following the Four Myths of Dieting. How many of these do you believe?
To download your copy of the 4 Myths of Dieting go to http://www.keepcanadaslim.com/index.cfm?page=myths
Myth # 1: You must eat less to lose weight. Eat less than what? Ninety-seven per cent of people trying to lose weight are already currently under-eating. If you eat less than your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) requirements you will undermine your metabolism as you lose weight, then rebound once you are off the diet. Your BMR requirements are the minimum calorie level for basic metabolic function, i.e. if you are sleeping 24 hours per day. This is generally about 10 calories per day for each pound of your goal weight. Eating less than this causes the body to switch to ‘Starvation Metabolism’ and metabolize muscle while storing fat. Most people diet on between 800 and 1200 calories per day. This means their goal weight would be between 80 and 120 pounds. I think you can see why this equation doesn’t work.
Myth # 2: You must exercise more to lose weight. Exercise is an add-on, not a foundation of weight loss. If you make exercise the foundation of your weight control program sooner or later it will fail. Injuries, family situations, illness, lack of motivation, there are many reasons why people inevitably cut back on exercise. You must understand food to have permanent control. You must also understand food to have a successful exercise program. You need to eat more food on days that you are exercising to avoid yo-yo diet metabolism. Most people don’t do that. If you have tried exercise you have probably already experienced some of these drawbacks and therefore know that this is true.
Myth # 3: Faster weightloss is always better. Your body can only lose weight safely and permanently at a certain rate, usually 1-2 pounds per week. Faster weight loss can only be achieved through starvation (low-calorie) dieting or artificial stimulants. Both undermine your health and metabolism and make this weight loss temporary.
Myth # 4: Measuring pounds lost is the true measure of success. Your body is made up of six kinds of weight. These are fat, muscle, organs, bone, water and fecal matter. If you are only measuring pounds, you could be losing healthy weight as well as fat. Anorexics are often clinically obese when they die, and can die of heart failure because they have lost so much heart muscle tissue through starvation dieting. You’ve been doing much the same thing on diets. Post-menopausal women can lose up to 3% of their bone density in six months on a low-calorie diet. The weight you want to lose is bodyfat, so start measuring that. Healthy men should be between 11-19% and women between 17-25%. High performance male athletes may be lower.
Keep Canada / Keep America Slim is a comprehensive weight control program sold through the website, www.keepamericaslim.com and through independent consultation offices across Canada.
Mention weight loss at any social gathering and everyone has an opinion to offer and a ready audience to listen. With 71% of Americans and 61% of Canadians overweight, people are always looking for the magic secret – the one thing that will instantly give them a solution to their lifetime of weight control challenges.
In truth, successful weight control starts by understanding why your efforts have failed so often in the past and then choosing a different approach. Chances are very high (90 per cent according to the Canadian Obesity Network) that you have lost weight in the past but gained it back – and usually more than you lost. Many people have done this several times. It’s called Yo-Yo Dieting.
Most people simply try the same approach every year, and get fatter and fatter because of it.
Many people today understand that success comes from a ‘lifestyle’ approach, but then turn around and choose a diet as their ‘lifestyle’, proving that they don’t really understand the difference at all.
To have long-term success and keep the weight off, you must avoid following the Four Myths of Dieting. How many of these do you believe?
To download your copy of the 4 Myths of Dieting go to http://www.keepcanadaslim.com/index.cfm?page=myths
Myth # 1: You must eat less to lose weight. Eat less than what? Ninety-seven per cent of people trying to lose weight are already currently under-eating. If you eat less than your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) requirements you will undermine your metabolism as you lose weight, then rebound once you are off the diet. Your BMR requirements are the minimum calorie level for basic metabolic function, i.e. if you are sleeping 24 hours per day. This is generally about 10 calories per day for each pound of your goal weight. Eating less than this causes the body to switch to ‘Starvation Metabolism’ and metabolize muscle while storing fat. Most people diet on between 800 and 1200 calories per day. This means their goal weight would be between 80 and 120 pounds. I think you can see why this equation doesn’t work.
Myth # 2: You must exercise more to lose weight. Exercise is an add-on, not a foundation of weight loss. If you make exercise the foundation of your weight control program sooner or later it will fail. Injuries, family situations, illness, lack of motivation, there are many reasons why people inevitably cut back on exercise. You must understand food to have permanent control. You must also understand food to have a successful exercise program. You need to eat more food on days that you are exercising to avoid yo-yo diet metabolism. Most people don’t do that. If you have tried exercise you have probably already experienced some of these drawbacks and therefore know that this is true.
Myth # 3: Faster weightloss is always better. Your body can only lose weight safely and permanently at a certain rate, usually 1-2 pounds per week. Faster weight loss can only be achieved through starvation (low-calorie) dieting or artificial stimulants. Both undermine your health and metabolism and make this weight loss temporary.
Myth # 4: Measuring pounds lost is the true measure of success. Your body is made up of six kinds of weight. These are fat, muscle, organs, bone, water and fecal matter. If you are only measuring pounds, you could be losing healthy weight as well as fat. Anorexics are often clinically obese when they die, and can die of heart failure because they have lost so much heart muscle tissue through starvation dieting. You’ve been doing much the same thing on diets. Post-menopausal women can lose up to 3% of their bone density in six months on a low-calorie diet. The weight you want to lose is bodyfat, so start measuring that. Healthy men should be between 11-19% and women between 17-25%. High performance male athletes may be lower.
Keep Canada / Keep America Slim is a comprehensive weight control program sold through the website, www.keepamericaslim.com and through independent consultation offices across Canada.
Friday, February 6, 2009
The Truth about Ghrelin
Advice: Eat before you shop for groceries
You may have read the article or seen a report on television recently about a so-called breakthrough in which Canadian researchers at McGill University have identified the fact that a hormone called ghrelin seems to cause people to overeat. Let me try to answer questions you may have on this issue.
Ghrelin as we mention in the Keep Canada / Keep America Slim materials is only one of a number of hormones that impact our appetite, satiety, and food metabolism. It is no more or no less important than any of the others. These other hormones include insulin, serotonin, leptin, cortisol, dopamine and others. Learn more about our program at http://www.keepamericaslim.com/.
Each one has a role to play in telling us when to eat and when to stop eating and also in helping us utilize food. When your body and your metabolism is in balance these hormones are in balance and do their job successfully. Alternatively if these hormones are out of balance your eating and fat-storing habits will be negatively affected.
In the case of ghrelin this hormone is created in our stomach and tells us that it's time to eat. Without ghrelin we might go days without food. This would not be healthy.
The articles about ghrelin, in the typical unbalanced media perspective, suggest that in the future we might have a drug that could control our ghrelin levels so that we don't want to eat. The concept would be that this drug would help us control ourselves while surrounded with all the food choices we have in the modern world. The underlying analysis is that overweight people have no self-control and are constantly gorging themselves on whatever foods pass their line of vision, apparently because of ghrelin gone wild.
All of this is wrong on several counts. First off as we know the vast majority of North Americans have tremendous willpower when they decide to go on a diet. They are not over-eating. The problem is quite the opposite - the common North American diet approach is to eat fewer calories than you need to maintain basic metabolic function and therefore put yourself into starvation metabolism. The result of this naturally is to initially stimulate ghrelin levels which then make us feel very hungry.
For more on our natural approach to weight control go to www.keepcanadaslim.com.
Since we are using our willpower to overcome this natural urge, we begin to create internal stress. This in turn generates cortisol, the stress hormone, which makes us want to eat more. We don’t, because we are on a diet, so next we don’t stimulate serotonin, which tells us when we have had enough. Low serotonin leads to depression and makes us feel that we are depriving ourselves when we choose not to eat. This negative association makes weight loss an unhappy prospect for most people.
If we maintain our caloric level above our basal metabolic rate level and below our maintenance level, as explained throughout the KCS - KAS materials we don't over-stimulate ghrelin and therefore don't have this issue to deal with.
I hope this explains to you how dieting and chronic under-eating causes hormones to be out of balance. When people continually live on a low-calorie diet as is the case today with many adults of all ages, especially postmenopausal women, they eventually disturb hormone levels and ghrelin and the other hormones become less effective. It could to be that over time by constant dieting ghrelin is not even created in sufficient quantities to stimulate appetite. Our biggest challenge as many of you know in the Keep Canada / Keep America Slim program is to actually get our clients to eat enough food every day. None of our clients are over eating and therefore none would require a drug to reduce ghrelin levels.
In actual fact the true breakthrough in this study is the discovery that possibly ghrelin levels could be used to stimulate appetite. The first target group for this would be anorexics and people recovering from surgery who have no appetite. The second target group would be people who have conditioned their metabolism to live on a low-calorie starvation diet and are now struggling to eat sufficient calories to release starvation metabolism and achieve success with long-term weight control, such as that presented in the KCS - KAS lifestyle.
And finally there is a way that you can utilize this new understanding in a positive way. One practical application of this discovery is in the explanation of why we tend to buy more food at the grocery store if we are hungry when we go shopping. The higher levels of ghrelin in our body make food more attractive and we therefore buy more than we intended, and perhaps more than we need.
So the successful application of this new discovery would be to have something to eat before you go grocery shopping. This will satisfy the ghrelin impulse and help you to have balanced hormones when you are grocery shopping, which will result in more rational purchases.
Contact Big Skinny at bigskinny@keepcanadaslim.com
www.keepamericaslim.com
You may have read the article or seen a report on television recently about a so-called breakthrough in which Canadian researchers at McGill University have identified the fact that a hormone called ghrelin seems to cause people to overeat. Let me try to answer questions you may have on this issue.
Ghrelin as we mention in the Keep Canada / Keep America Slim materials is only one of a number of hormones that impact our appetite, satiety, and food metabolism. It is no more or no less important than any of the others. These other hormones include insulin, serotonin, leptin, cortisol, dopamine and others. Learn more about our program at http://www.keepamericaslim.com/.
Each one has a role to play in telling us when to eat and when to stop eating and also in helping us utilize food. When your body and your metabolism is in balance these hormones are in balance and do their job successfully. Alternatively if these hormones are out of balance your eating and fat-storing habits will be negatively affected.
In the case of ghrelin this hormone is created in our stomach and tells us that it's time to eat. Without ghrelin we might go days without food. This would not be healthy.
The articles about ghrelin, in the typical unbalanced media perspective, suggest that in the future we might have a drug that could control our ghrelin levels so that we don't want to eat. The concept would be that this drug would help us control ourselves while surrounded with all the food choices we have in the modern world. The underlying analysis is that overweight people have no self-control and are constantly gorging themselves on whatever foods pass their line of vision, apparently because of ghrelin gone wild.
All of this is wrong on several counts. First off as we know the vast majority of North Americans have tremendous willpower when they decide to go on a diet. They are not over-eating. The problem is quite the opposite - the common North American diet approach is to eat fewer calories than you need to maintain basic metabolic function and therefore put yourself into starvation metabolism. The result of this naturally is to initially stimulate ghrelin levels which then make us feel very hungry.
For more on our natural approach to weight control go to www.keepcanadaslim.com.
Since we are using our willpower to overcome this natural urge, we begin to create internal stress. This in turn generates cortisol, the stress hormone, which makes us want to eat more. We don’t, because we are on a diet, so next we don’t stimulate serotonin, which tells us when we have had enough. Low serotonin leads to depression and makes us feel that we are depriving ourselves when we choose not to eat. This negative association makes weight loss an unhappy prospect for most people.
If we maintain our caloric level above our basal metabolic rate level and below our maintenance level, as explained throughout the KCS - KAS materials we don't over-stimulate ghrelin and therefore don't have this issue to deal with.
I hope this explains to you how dieting and chronic under-eating causes hormones to be out of balance. When people continually live on a low-calorie diet as is the case today with many adults of all ages, especially postmenopausal women, they eventually disturb hormone levels and ghrelin and the other hormones become less effective. It could to be that over time by constant dieting ghrelin is not even created in sufficient quantities to stimulate appetite. Our biggest challenge as many of you know in the Keep Canada / Keep America Slim program is to actually get our clients to eat enough food every day. None of our clients are over eating and therefore none would require a drug to reduce ghrelin levels.
In actual fact the true breakthrough in this study is the discovery that possibly ghrelin levels could be used to stimulate appetite. The first target group for this would be anorexics and people recovering from surgery who have no appetite. The second target group would be people who have conditioned their metabolism to live on a low-calorie starvation diet and are now struggling to eat sufficient calories to release starvation metabolism and achieve success with long-term weight control, such as that presented in the KCS - KAS lifestyle.
And finally there is a way that you can utilize this new understanding in a positive way. One practical application of this discovery is in the explanation of why we tend to buy more food at the grocery store if we are hungry when we go shopping. The higher levels of ghrelin in our body make food more attractive and we therefore buy more than we intended, and perhaps more than we need.
So the successful application of this new discovery would be to have something to eat before you go grocery shopping. This will satisfy the ghrelin impulse and help you to have balanced hormones when you are grocery shopping, which will result in more rational purchases.
Contact Big Skinny at bigskinny@keepcanadaslim.com
www.keepamericaslim.com
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Top 10 Worst Fast Foods
A&W tops list of Keep Canada Slim 2008 Worst Fast Foods
HAMILTON: A&W took two of the top three spots in Keep Canada Slim’s 2008 Worst Fast Foods in Canada competition, announced today.
A&W’s aptly named “Chubby Chicken Dinner,” won the Worst Dinner/Lunch Award, while their large Chocolate Milkshake won in the Worst Drink category. A&W narrowly missed a sweep when their Deluxe Bacon & Eggs finished third in the Worst Breakfast category behind Burger King’s Enormous Omelette Sandwich.
Note: The complete list in chart form would not "paste" into this format, so we have made it available on our website newsletter archives at http://www.keepcanadaslim.com/index.cfm?page=readArchives&newsletterId=12.
Burger King topped the list with 4 awards followed by A&W with 3, Wendy’s, Harvey’s and Subway with two each. McDonalds, KFC and Taco Bell rounded out the list with one award each. Subway and KFC also received special dishonourable mentions.
Keep Canada Slim (KCS) President Lee Fairbanks said the awards were created to focus attention on food choices. “We are asking these companies to remove these foods from their menu,” said KCS President Lee Fairbanks. “No Canadian should be encouraged to eat them. In the meantime we urge Canadians to boycott these items by refusing to purchase them.”
Worst Dinner/Lunch
The Chubby Chicken Dinner clocked in at 1230 calories with a whopping 68 grams of fat and 3180 mg of sodium. In second place in the Dinner/Lunch category, Wendy’s Triple Everything with Cheese offers 980 calories, 60 grams of fat and 2010 mg of sodium. Third place went to KFC’s Poutine with 970 calories, 54 grams of fat and 2610 mg of sodium.
“Considering that Canada’s Food Guide suggests an average woman consume no more than 2000 calories and 2400 mg of sodium, these choices virtually guarantee weight gain,” said Fairbanks. “Most people would add a side order and a drink to these meals, and if they are not careful, could consume their entire day’s calories in one sitting. The Chubby Chicken dinner wins our Heart Attack on a Plate award.”
KFC won dishonourable mention in this category for their listing of Original Recipe Chicken by the piece.
“Each piece has up to 300 calories, 19 grams of fat and 860 mg of sodium, so if you ate 3 or 4 pieces this product would be in the race for first place,” Fairbanks points out.
Subway also received a dishonourable mention for their Ranch Dressing, 320 calories, 35 grams of fat and 560 mg of sodium.
“This is really liquid fat and salt, and has more calories and 7 times as much fat as their 6-inch low-fat sandwiches,” says Fairbanks. “And again, most people aren’t even counting their dressing as a meal, so these rank as ‘hidden calories’.”
Worst Drink
First place in the Worst Drink category went to A&W’s large chocolate milkshake, registering 1720 calories, 47 grams of fat and an amazing 254 grams of sugar.
“This is really 4 or 5 meals in a glass,” offered Fairbanks, “plus about a week’s worth of sugar. Two hundred and fifty-four grams is about 60 teaspoons of sugar. It amazes me that any company could even create such a product as this. The shake also has 1130 mg of sodium. Most of us wouldn’t consider a milkshake as a major source of salt in our diet.”
Second place in the Worst Drink category went to Burger King’s large Fruitopia with 860 calories and 213 grams of sugar, with Harvey’s 14-ounce chocolate milkshake in third. The Harvey shake has 870 calories with 47 grams of fat and 92 grams of sugar. Fairbanks points out that many parents might think Fruitopia is a good choice for children.
“Considering that Fruitopia is fat-free, the calorie count is very high, and it’s mostly from sugar/glucose-fructose. This combination drives the sugar quickly into the bloodstream and is guaranteed to create a sugar high followed by a dramatic energy drop. I would call it Mood Swing in a Cup.”
Worst Breakfast
In the Breakfast category, Burger King’s Enormous Omelette Sandwich took home First Prize at 730 calories with 44 grams of fat and an even 2000 mg of sodium. The McDonalds Big Breakfast (640-38-1250) and A&W’s Bacon & Eggs Deluxe (650-37-1010) were second and third.
“Most people should aim for 3-400 calories for breakfast and focus on high fibre, low fat and low sodium foods. This sets them up for the day and allows room for higher-fat food choices later in the day when choices become more difficult,” suggests Fairbanks.
Rounding out the Top Ten list for Lunch/Dinner are: 4 - Wendy’s Baconator (840-51-1880); 5 – Burger King Poutine (750-42-2720); 6 – Burger King Original Double Whopper (850-51-990); 7 – A&W Grandpa Burger with Cheese (752-49-1200); 8 – Taco Bell Fiesta Taco Salad (850-45-1690); 9 – Subway 6-inch Double ColdCut Trio (660-39-2160); 10 – Subway 6-inch Double BMT (630-34-2640).
All contents were taken from company websites and were current as of April 7, 2008.
More info at
http://www.keepcanadaslim.com/
Lee Fairbanks
bigskinny@keepcanadaslim.com
HAMILTON: A&W took two of the top three spots in Keep Canada Slim’s 2008 Worst Fast Foods in Canada competition, announced today.
A&W’s aptly named “Chubby Chicken Dinner,” won the Worst Dinner/Lunch Award, while their large Chocolate Milkshake won in the Worst Drink category. A&W narrowly missed a sweep when their Deluxe Bacon & Eggs finished third in the Worst Breakfast category behind Burger King’s Enormous Omelette Sandwich.
Note: The complete list in chart form would not "paste" into this format, so we have made it available on our website newsletter archives at http://www.keepcanadaslim.com/index.cfm?page=readArchives&newsletterId=12.
Burger King topped the list with 4 awards followed by A&W with 3, Wendy’s, Harvey’s and Subway with two each. McDonalds, KFC and Taco Bell rounded out the list with one award each. Subway and KFC also received special dishonourable mentions.
Keep Canada Slim (KCS) President Lee Fairbanks said the awards were created to focus attention on food choices. “We are asking these companies to remove these foods from their menu,” said KCS President Lee Fairbanks. “No Canadian should be encouraged to eat them. In the meantime we urge Canadians to boycott these items by refusing to purchase them.”
Worst Dinner/Lunch
The Chubby Chicken Dinner clocked in at 1230 calories with a whopping 68 grams of fat and 3180 mg of sodium. In second place in the Dinner/Lunch category, Wendy’s Triple Everything with Cheese offers 980 calories, 60 grams of fat and 2010 mg of sodium. Third place went to KFC’s Poutine with 970 calories, 54 grams of fat and 2610 mg of sodium.
“Considering that Canada’s Food Guide suggests an average woman consume no more than 2000 calories and 2400 mg of sodium, these choices virtually guarantee weight gain,” said Fairbanks. “Most people would add a side order and a drink to these meals, and if they are not careful, could consume their entire day’s calories in one sitting. The Chubby Chicken dinner wins our Heart Attack on a Plate award.”
KFC won dishonourable mention in this category for their listing of Original Recipe Chicken by the piece.
“Each piece has up to 300 calories, 19 grams of fat and 860 mg of sodium, so if you ate 3 or 4 pieces this product would be in the race for first place,” Fairbanks points out.
Subway also received a dishonourable mention for their Ranch Dressing, 320 calories, 35 grams of fat and 560 mg of sodium.
“This is really liquid fat and salt, and has more calories and 7 times as much fat as their 6-inch low-fat sandwiches,” says Fairbanks. “And again, most people aren’t even counting their dressing as a meal, so these rank as ‘hidden calories’.”
Worst Drink
First place in the Worst Drink category went to A&W’s large chocolate milkshake, registering 1720 calories, 47 grams of fat and an amazing 254 grams of sugar.
“This is really 4 or 5 meals in a glass,” offered Fairbanks, “plus about a week’s worth of sugar. Two hundred and fifty-four grams is about 60 teaspoons of sugar. It amazes me that any company could even create such a product as this. The shake also has 1130 mg of sodium. Most of us wouldn’t consider a milkshake as a major source of salt in our diet.”
Second place in the Worst Drink category went to Burger King’s large Fruitopia with 860 calories and 213 grams of sugar, with Harvey’s 14-ounce chocolate milkshake in third. The Harvey shake has 870 calories with 47 grams of fat and 92 grams of sugar. Fairbanks points out that many parents might think Fruitopia is a good choice for children.
“Considering that Fruitopia is fat-free, the calorie count is very high, and it’s mostly from sugar/glucose-fructose. This combination drives the sugar quickly into the bloodstream and is guaranteed to create a sugar high followed by a dramatic energy drop. I would call it Mood Swing in a Cup.”
Worst Breakfast
In the Breakfast category, Burger King’s Enormous Omelette Sandwich took home First Prize at 730 calories with 44 grams of fat and an even 2000 mg of sodium. The McDonalds Big Breakfast (640-38-1250) and A&W’s Bacon & Eggs Deluxe (650-37-1010) were second and third.
“Most people should aim for 3-400 calories for breakfast and focus on high fibre, low fat and low sodium foods. This sets them up for the day and allows room for higher-fat food choices later in the day when choices become more difficult,” suggests Fairbanks.
Rounding out the Top Ten list for Lunch/Dinner are: 4 - Wendy’s Baconator (840-51-1880); 5 – Burger King Poutine (750-42-2720); 6 – Burger King Original Double Whopper (850-51-990); 7 – A&W Grandpa Burger with Cheese (752-49-1200); 8 – Taco Bell Fiesta Taco Salad (850-45-1690); 9 – Subway 6-inch Double ColdCut Trio (660-39-2160); 10 – Subway 6-inch Double BMT (630-34-2640).
All contents were taken from company websites and were current as of April 7, 2008.
More info at
http://www.keepcanadaslim.com/
Lee Fairbanks
bigskinny@keepcanadaslim.com
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Don't be The Biggest Loser !
Weight Loss Expert Warns: Do Not Become The Biggest Loser
Hamilton: Joining your company’s “Biggest Loser” competition may seem like a good idea if you want to lose weight, but one Canadian weight loss expert warns not to do it.
“Results indicate time and time again that any weight lost on these crash diet programs always comes back, and often brings more weight with it,” explains Keep Canada Slim President Lee Fairbanks. “And worse than that, crash dieting virtually guarantees that you will lose valuable muscle as well as fat, whereas you will likely only gain back fat.”
This loss of muscle combined with additional fat gain is the foundation of obesity, says Fairbanks, and leads to higher disease risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke and some forms of cancer.
Fairbanks quoted a recent Hamilton Spectator story on Laurel Steel’s (Burlington) annual “Biggest Loser” challenge (Big Steel Weighs In – Good diet, healthy weight – company and employees win” Jan 22, 2009) to prove his point.
“The so-called ‘winner’ two years ago went from 228 pounds to 194 pounds on the Challenge and then back up to 242 pounds,” he points out. “This rebound effect is built in to every rapid weight loss program.”
“A quote from the ‘winner’ highlights the complete disconnect from reality that diets encourage,” explains Fairbanks “He said ‘you're going out with the guys and they are all having two pounds of chicken wings and you’re there eating carrots.’ The proper solution to this situation would be to cut down from two pounds of chicken wings to one pound of chicken wings -- and then add the carrots.”
Fairbanks warns Canadians that only by committing to permanent lifestyle changes, which have nothing to do with a short-term diet, can they hope to turn the corner on obesity and start to build a healthier country.
“We need to encourage our employees and corporate wellness departments to embrace a New Year’s Resolution to promote healthy approaches to weight loss rather than supporting pop-culture entertainment vehicles which use humans as fodder for fun and games at the cost of their health,” he suggests.
Keep Canada Slim educational material is available through their website at http://www.keepcanadaslim.com/, as well as through a network of certified consultants across the country. The company also offers a free school program for Grade 3 students called the Healthy Eating Challenge. The Challenge was run in 31 Hamilton classrooms last year by Mohawk College students.
Contacts
Lee Fairbanks
President, Keep Canada Slim
905-628-0279
bigskinny@keepcanadaslim.com
Hamilton: Joining your company’s “Biggest Loser” competition may seem like a good idea if you want to lose weight, but one Canadian weight loss expert warns not to do it.
“Results indicate time and time again that any weight lost on these crash diet programs always comes back, and often brings more weight with it,” explains Keep Canada Slim President Lee Fairbanks. “And worse than that, crash dieting virtually guarantees that you will lose valuable muscle as well as fat, whereas you will likely only gain back fat.”
This loss of muscle combined with additional fat gain is the foundation of obesity, says Fairbanks, and leads to higher disease risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke and some forms of cancer.
Fairbanks quoted a recent Hamilton Spectator story on Laurel Steel’s (Burlington) annual “Biggest Loser” challenge (Big Steel Weighs In – Good diet, healthy weight – company and employees win” Jan 22, 2009) to prove his point.
“The so-called ‘winner’ two years ago went from 228 pounds to 194 pounds on the Challenge and then back up to 242 pounds,” he points out. “This rebound effect is built in to every rapid weight loss program.”
“A quote from the ‘winner’ highlights the complete disconnect from reality that diets encourage,” explains Fairbanks “He said ‘you're going out with the guys and they are all having two pounds of chicken wings and you’re there eating carrots.’ The proper solution to this situation would be to cut down from two pounds of chicken wings to one pound of chicken wings -- and then add the carrots.”
Fairbanks warns Canadians that only by committing to permanent lifestyle changes, which have nothing to do with a short-term diet, can they hope to turn the corner on obesity and start to build a healthier country.
“We need to encourage our employees and corporate wellness departments to embrace a New Year’s Resolution to promote healthy approaches to weight loss rather than supporting pop-culture entertainment vehicles which use humans as fodder for fun and games at the cost of their health,” he suggests.
Keep Canada Slim educational material is available through their website at http://www.keepcanadaslim.com/, as well as through a network of certified consultants across the country. The company also offers a free school program for Grade 3 students called the Healthy Eating Challenge. The Challenge was run in 31 Hamilton classrooms last year by Mohawk College students.
Contacts
Lee Fairbanks
President, Keep Canada Slim
905-628-0279
bigskinny@keepcanadaslim.com
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