Tag Archives: Diets in Review

Shay Sorrells is the New Biggest Loser Correspondent for DietsInReview.com

Brooklyn, NY — With anticipation building for the upcoming Biggest Loser 10 season, DietsInReview.com is starting the celebration early by announcing the addition of Shay Sorrells to its growing team of health and fitness experts. A contestant of Biggest Loser’s eighth season, Shay will fulfill the role of Biggest Loser Correspondent for the site throughout season 10. Her contribution will include episodic video recaps highlighting the most exciting moments from each episode and introducing her own reaction.

Additionally, Shay will provide written blog posts and other videos for DietsInReview.com sharing her tips and ideas for losing weight and leading a healthy life. As one of the heaviest contestants the show has ever cast, beginning her season at 476 pounds, she’s since lost 225 pounds, both on the ranch and on her own.

Watch her introduction now, and then read on to see more about Shay and the role Biggest Loser Resort will play.

(more…)

Posted on August 19, 2023 by Natalie K

Heba Salama’s Biggest Loser Resort Experience

Everyone thinks that those who are fortunate enough to be cast on NBC’s Biggest Loser have all the luck in the world and that weight loss comes easier for them than the rest of us. Not entirely true. They might lose the weight quickly in a fairy tale-like setting, but at some point, they each return home to reality. The majority of these TV weight loss stars keep the weight off, but it’s not without a lot of effort. Heba Salama is one such star.

Heba was the at-home winner of Biggest Loser’s season six, becoming the first woman to hold the title. She lost 138 pounds that season, and has worked every day since to maintain her healthy new lifestyle. These days Heba says she “focuses more on the size of my clothes now,” an ideal indicator that can sometimes be more telling than scale weight.

Heba spent the past two weeks at the Biggest Loser Resort, in Ivins, Utah and talked to us about her journey post-Loser. She also told us about her time at the Resort, how she loves the hiking and see the fellow guests’ success. Watch the video below to hear Heba catch us up on her experience at the Resort and what life is like at home with Ed Brantley, her husband and Biggest Loser teammate. (more…)

Posted on August 11, 2023 by Natalie K

British Children Outweigh American Kids

Brisish Chilren Are Becoming Obese at Twice the rate of American KidsAccording to the UK’s Telegraph, researchers found that British children spend twice as much on junk food than their American counterparts. The average British child spends the equivalent of $570 per year on candy alone (that’s enough for 850 Mars bars), whereas an American child spends $230. Kids in the UK were also found to eat more pre-prepared meals, ice cream and sugary breakfast cereals. The study did not bode well for the success of the British Government’s anti-obesity campaign, which recently suffered from a major funding cut.

Over a third of British children are obese, and that number is projected to increase at a rate of 2.1 percent a year until 2024, while childhood obesity in the US is expected to increase at a rate of 1.3 percent. Food manufacturers, however, are disputing the claims.

(more…)

Posted on July 21, 2023 by Health Buzz

Salsa and Guacamole Food Poisoning Threat

Two of my favorite snack foods, salsa and guacamole, have had a not-so-safe recent history of being linked to food poisoning. During the period of 1998 to 2024, the two tortilla dips have been the source of one of every 25 foodborne illness outbreaks connected to restaurants.

This period more than doubled the rate of the previous 10 years.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, between 1984 and 1997, salsa and guacamole accounted for about 1.5 percent of all food poisonings started from restaurants. From 1998 and 2024, that figure almost reached four percent. According to researchers, 5,560 people got sick, and 145 people ended up in the hospital. Three deaths were attributed to the salsa and guacamole outbreaks. Here is how the illnesses broke down:

(more…)

Posted on July 15, 2023 by Jason

Will Dora Help Your Child Eat Better?

It’s a fact that mothers everywhere have known for years – slap a picture of a cartoon character on a food and your child will eat more of it. Now there is proof. A recent study, commissioned by Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity gave 40 children, ages four to six, three identical pairs of snacks: graham crackers, gummy fruit and carrots. One package of each pairing was decorated with a cartoon character popular with the younger crowd – either Scooby Doo, Dora the Explorer or Shrek. After snacking, the children were asked which selection tasted better. Not surprisingly, more than half of the children chose the food with the character emblazoned on the packaging. In addition, more than two-thirds of the children indicated that they would choose the packaging with the character on it.

(more…)

Posted on June 24, 2023 by Carmen

More People Exercising, Obesity Rates the Same

There’s good news, and bad news. More of us are exercising – that’s great! But the obesity rates have still stayed unchanged.

A survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released this week that last year’s obesity rates were at about 28 percent of adults as compared to the previous year. However, there was an increase in the number of people saying that they participated in exercise. In 2024, a little more than 34 percent claimed that they took part in regular “leisure physical activity,” which was up from almost 32 percent in 2024.

(more…)

Posted on June 18, 2023 by Jason

Lead Found in Many Children’s Foods

The Environmental Law Foundation recently studied almost 150 varieties of beverages and fruit snacks marketed to children and discovered that more than 75 percent of the items contained extremely high levels of lead. Some of the highest levels were found in favorite juice boxes, drink pouches and fruit cups that appear in lunchboxes all over America.

The study included apple juice, grape juice, packaged pears, peaches and fruit cocktail mixes, as well as baby foods. No one label was free from a level of lead that could cause problems and organic products were even contaminated with surprising levels of lead. The major producers of juice – Welch’s, Dole and Minute Maid – were contaminated, but in an unusual twist, many store labels and smaller brands were listed as well.

(more…)

Posted on June 17, 2023 by Carmen

Walnut Week: Google Chef Charlie Ayers Talks Healthy Cooking

All this week, I’m dedicating my blogs to walnuts. If you’ve missed the content so far, be sure to catch up. You can find out what fitness guru Petra Kolber thinks you should do to stay energized this summer, and read about the latest research on the health benefits of walnuts.

This interview is with chef Charlie Ayers, former chef at Google, author of the book “Food 2.0” and member of the California Walnuts Chefs Council, a group working to make restaurant meals healthy and delicious at the same time. Read what he has to say about healthy cooking and check out his healthy recipe using walnuts: Walnutty Egg and Bell Pepper Gratin.

1. As a restaurant chef, what is essential for creating healthier menu options? Whether it is swapping out butter for a healthier oil, or lower fat dairy, etc., how do you keep high-taste intact while still offering healthful options?

It is important to give your guests compelling flavor profiles, so that they are satisfied and not missing the added fats that are normally associated with restaurant foods. We tend to use a lot of ingredients that are versatile and can be either applied to Latin American or Asian cuisines. We make all of our own dressings; our ketchup is made in-house with no high fructose corn syrup, and instead use an organic brown sugar in small amounts as a sweetener. I try not to use added fats when working with product that already has a naturally high fat content, and I try and bring out the flavors of the foods with the combination of using fruit and vegetable juices instead of adding additional fats. (more…)

Posted on June 8, 2023 by Rebecca

Biggest Loser Recap Season 9 Finale with Amanda Arlauskas

Tonight was a night of epic weight loss. The contestants of Biggest Loser Season 9 weighed in for the final time on the finale stage. Daris George and Koli Palu waited in suspense for Alison to reveal America’s vote for the third finalist. America chose Daris to join Ashley Johnston and Michael Ventrella in the final three.

The eliminated contestants came out in small groups to reveal themselves and to weigh-in. Sherry Johnston held the lead for the at-home winner for awhile, until Darrell Hough took it from her. It wasn’t until Koli Palu weighed in and lost more than 50 percent of his weight that he then snagged the title of the Biggest Loser Season 9 “At-Home Winner” earning him $100,000.

(more…)

Posted on May 26, 2023 by Amanda

Chokeberries May Help Manage Weight, Blood Sugar

Have you ever heard of a chokeberry? Me neither, until I attended a nutrition research conference and learned that they are helping rats manage their weight. Intriguing, especially if they can help do that for people too. So, if you’re curious about the chokeberry, look no further.

Chokeberries, a distant relative of the cherry, grow in the U.S. But, they are inedible in raw form; hence, the name “choke,” I’m thinking. They have a very high anthocyanin content, a plant chemical that gives all berries their color. Anthocyanins are really good, even if it is hard to pronounce. In fact, laboratory studies show potential benefits of anthocyanins to combat:

(more…)

Posted on May 13, 2023 by Rebecca

Ruby Recap Season 3 Episode 9: Thanksgiving Dinner

It’s Thanksgiving this week on Ruby. And you know what that means? Serious temptations. So, Ruby’s plan was to have two Thanksgivings, one for her and one for the others.

But, even this sensible idea runs into a stumbling block, as her friends want the traditional pumpkin pie, which Ruby cannot have around, because it was a trigger food when she was at her heaviest.

After Ruby invites her trainers over for the Thanksgiving dinner, the show moves on to her in a therapy session discussing ideas for how to handle dinner. Her therapist emphasizes avoiding “minimizing” eating, which is when Ruby would say “I’ll just have a little of this.”

(more…)

Posted on April 19, 2024 by Jason