Left: September 2010. Right: July 2011.
Jersey Shore’s season four debuted last night with 8.8 million viewers, making it the most-watched MTV premiere ever. The show is getting back to its roots, shooting in Italy.
Most of the Jersey girls have publicly lost weight as the show’s success skyrocketed, but none have had quite the dramatic transformation as Jenni “JWOWW” Farley. There have been no official reports if JWOWW has lost weight recently, however she appears dramatically thinner. She did report losing 20 with the help of Abdominal Cuts Natural Supplements, which she also endorsed. She says she used the pills in combination with working out five days of the week with her boyfriend, who does weight training.
Read Full Post >
The use of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) for weight loss is a controversial topic, with many medical professionals arguing that 500 calories per day is dangerously low. Those who support the use of hCG argue that the hormone, when combined with a low calorie diet, causes the body to break down only non-essential fats, and not muscle or structural fats that cushion organs.
HCG was first used to aid in weight loss by Dr. Albert T. W. Simeons, who also created the first hCG diet protocol. This protocol was outlined in a pamphlet called Pound and Inches: A New Approach to Obesity that was published in 1954. This publication is available widely online and can be downloaded for free. The document still serves as the basis for all hCG diets, although some medical professionals who administer hCG choose to make certain modifications.
In Pound and Inches, Dr. Simeons emphasizes that the make-up of the of the calories consumed while taking hCG is extremely important. The diet consists primarily of vegetables and proteins. There are absolutely no sugars, added fats or processed food permitted on this diet.
Read Full Post >
Fast food restaurants try really hard to fool us into thinking their foods are good for us, as counter-intuitive as that may be. It starts with the images in their commercials where the foods are glistening with each slice of tomato, lettuce, and grilled chicken breast or burger nicely stacked on top of each other.
Then you have some of the buzzwords that they use. This part really gets under my skin because it’s such a brazen way of being deceptive – walking that tight rope of legality, while using words that imply the other words that they can’t actually use!
So, when a fast food commercial wants to tell you that their foods are healthy, but obviously can’t, they go for the next best thing: words like wholesome, fresh, all-natural, premium, or 100 percent whatever.
Read Full Post >
Human chorionic gonadotrophin is a hormone that’s naturally present in the body during pregnancy. Advocates of the hCG diet claim that daily administration of hCG is a safe way to suppress hunger and, thus, lose weight. According to Dr. Oz, “after 50 years of research, there is still no proven medical reason why hCG will keep you from getting hungry.” That’s right, after 50 years, it’s not yet been proven to work and yet thousands of people claim to see dramatic results from it- as much as one to two pounds of weight loss per day! On the flip side, skeptics of the diet warn of serious side effects. Is hCG a weight loss miracle, or is it just too dangerous to try? Dr. Oz digs deep to find the truth.
To begin, Dr. Oz spoke with a practitioner, Dr. Sheri Emma, who offers a six week hCG diet program to her patients. It costs approximately $800 and consists of daily hCG injections and a strict 500 calorie diet. Dr. Emma tried to explain that the hCG diet’s 500 calorie limits are not dangerous because the dieter receives any extra energy from stored body fat. At which point, Dr. Oz admitted that most of us do have “tens of thousands of calories just on hips alone” However, registered dietitian Keri Gans argued that stored fat does not contain the proper amount of vitamins and minerals that the body needs each day. Way to go Keri- I think that’s a very valid point and Dr. Oz seemed to think so, too!
Read Full Post >
UPDATE: This episode will air again on August 23, 2011.
Tune in this Tuesday, February 22, to learn the truth about the hCG diet on Dr. Oz. This weight loss procedure promises to help you lose as much as a pound per day or even more, but this “weight loss miracle” may be too good to be true.
Dr. Oz hosts guests from both sides of the argument: those who say it worked for them and people who experienced serious side effects.
HGC is a pregnancy hormone that’s FDA-approved as part of fertility treatments. To follow the hCG “cure,” dieters must eat only 500 calories per day, a restriction severe enough to cause major weight loss and side effects itself.
Read Full Post >
