#scaredskinny

[lyfesmuse-blog]

Losing weight could be as simple as taking a dump...

If you  haven’t heard about the new trend in dieting, its about time you did.  You may be exercising and cutting calories for nothing!  It turns out that all your hard work has nothing to do with how your body processes or consumes calories.  It all comes down to bacteria. Along the same lines as my post the other day about good bacteria v. bad bacteria, (see DE Diet), this post is all about how your body takes what it gets and uses it. We are the host of billions of microorganisms who all thrive on us.  What we call “good bacteria” thrive when we do and what we can “bad bacteria” thrive when we don’t.  That means everything we do should be in an effort to support the good guests living with us and to deter the bad ones from staying.  For most of us it means the difference between a bit of tummy bulge or bad allergies, but for some people it could mean the difference between hundreds of pounds.  According The New York Times, many people receiving gastric bypass surgery, could have skipped the procedure all together.  A simple “fecal transplant” is all you may need to , receive good bacteria from someone with a healthy, highly developed metabolism.  When the scales have been tipped in the favor of good bacteria, the body begins to fight the bad bacteria and win helping a person process more of the food we eat for waste and store less of it. And just like that! weight loss begins. So if you’ve wanted to lose weight for a long time, but were afraid of, didn’t qualify for surgery, find a skinny friend who always seems to be stuffing her face and head to the hospital with a sample of her fecal matter and you too could be on your way to stuffing your face without consequence!

[lyfesmuse-blog]

It’s official… Water will kill you!

This just in.  Too much water is a bad thing.  How did that old phrase go? No such thing as too much water. Well that’s wrong.  If you’ve been feeling like there is no such thing as an easy diet, you are right.  All those articles about drinking water before you eat and drinking water to feel full have been officially disproved.  Drinking excessive amounts of water will not help you lose weight.  Going to the gym might, if you actually burn some calories but chugging water like you get paid for it will not.  If fact, it might even kill you.  According to Dr McCartney, drinking too much water removes valuable salt from your body and can cause brain swelling, which leads to death.  I know I led with the scary info, but there are many other negative and much more common side effects.  She “also points out that research shows drinking when not thirsty can impair concentration, rather than boost it, and separate evidence suggests that chemicals used for disinfection found in bottled water could be bad for your health.”  You can read more from that article at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2014112/Drinking-water-bad-health-Benefits-myth.html.  

 In addition to worrying about water intoxication, there are other risks.  Your heart and kidneys are actually at risk when you drink too much water on a daily basis.  According to Dr. Ben Kim (drbenkim.com) regularly drinking too much water creates subtle health issues that most people are not even aware of.  

He states: [ You actually put unnecessary strain on your body in two major ways:

Ingesting     more water than you need can increase your total blood volume. And since     your blood volume exists within a closed system (your circulatory system),     needlessly increasing your blood volume on a regular basis puts     unnecessary burden on your heart and blood vessels.

Your     kidneys must work overtime to filter excess water out of your circulatory     system. Your kidneys are not the equivalent of a pair of     plumbing pipes whereby the more water you flush through your kidneys, the     cleaner they become; rather, the filtration system that exists in your     kidneys is composed in part by a series of specialized capillary beds called     glomeruli. Your glomeruli can get damaged by unnecessary     wear and tear over time, and drowning your system with large amounts of     water is one of many potential causes of said damage.]

He goes on to tell us that these effects can take years to develop into serious enough side effects that can be noticed by you and your doctor.  For that reason, he cautions never to drink when you are not feeling thirsty.  Also, the classic pee test is not effective because of all the food additives that we ingest daily.  Bottom line. If you are thirsty, grab a glass of water.  If you’re not, maybe you should chew some gum…

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[lyfesmuse-blog]

You might as well eat burgers...

You may not have known this, but eating salad doesn’t necessarily mean you’re not going to get fat.  All those times you’ve dutifully ordered your salad at lunch while everyone else at the table got a burger with fries, you may have consuming more calories than they did!  According to fatsecret.com, one large hamburger has 426 calories.   Here’s the breakdown:  Nutrition summary:Calories426 Fat22.92g Carbs31.73g Protein22.62g There are 426 calories in 1 Large Hamburger. Calorie breakdown: 48% fat, 29% carbs, 23% protein.  While the fat content may be higher in most cases, and certainly something to consider, lets look at the breakdown for the some of the salads you may regularly enjoy (provided byhttp://www.americanhealthandbeauty.com/articles/3525/7-high-calorie-salads-that-are-diet-disasters)  :

Applebee's Grilled Shrimp and Spinach Salad - 1050 calories, 11g saturated fat.Instead, order off of their Under 550 calorie menu, or even have the Sizzling Asian Shrimp which measures in with 710 calories and 3 grams of saturated fat, including sides.

 California Pizza Kitchen's Field Greens Salad with Gorgonzola Cheese - 1,098 calories, 18g saturated fat. Rather than load up on calories with this salad, you could eat an entire Kid's Pepperoni Pizza for 478 calories and 10g sat. fat.

Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad - 1,310 calories, 15 g fat. Yes, a full half of the salads on Applebee's menu pack over 1000 calories, so stick to the under 550 calorie menu, or if you really want a salad, they offer a Weight Watchers Paradise Chicken Salad with 340 calories and 1 gram of saturated fat.

T.G.I.Friday's Pecan-Crusted Chicken Salad - 1,360 calories What is perhaps most bothersome about this is the company's website doesn't have a nutrition information chart to guide patrons to a good choice - at least not one located where we can find it. They do have a Right Portion, Right Price section of their menu, but there are only three items and the only info online is that they are either low carb or low fat.

Chevy's Fresh Mex Tostada Salad with Chicken - 1,547 calories, 94 g fat (37 g saturated) Instead of this salad served in a fried tortilla bowl, you can eat 2 Grilled Chicken Tacos for 590 calories and 6 grams of saturated fat. 

T.G.I.Friday's Santa Fe Chopped Salad - 1,800 calories Fried tortilla strips, both mixed in the salad and on top, as well as a chipotle ranch dressing make this salad the number 1 worst on our list. You could have nearly 3 Whoppers for the amount of calories in this one salad.

These salads may not be on your list, but believe me when I tell you that there are plenty more I could have added to the list.  So the next time you’re out to lunch and drooling over your co-worker’s juicy steak, ask for a bite.  It will probably be the better option.