Debunking The Notion That Diets Don't Work

It is extremely important to dispell the notions that diets don't work. Sure, if you only use one approach to dieting your odds of failure are high. Just like if you try to build a house with only a hammer- the house is not going to get built.

It is important to view dieting as a progression and process that leads to results over time. If you approach dieting from this perspective you cannot fail. You begin with the "end in mind" with a solid long term goal, and you just keep taking steps towards that goal.

It is sort of like building muscle- you want to work the muscles from as many angles as you can. Maybe you are 100 pounds overweight, you have a strong sense of personal failure, and you are getting more and more discouraged.

The first thing to do is simply stop whatever you are doing. You need to try different things. Think differently. Maybe you need as much hand holding as you can. Maybe NutriSystem will work for you to help you get started on the weight loss process. They will help you get your portion sizes under control and they have new options that help to improve the flexibility of their program as well as improve the taste and the choices you get.

The next step thing you need to do is understand that in order to diet successfully you don't just need to eat less. You need to eat differently. There are foods that you can eat that will help you feel full, and help the weight come off with very little effort.

Get in the habit of eating of eating avocado whenever you can. Don't worry too much about the calories in avocado. There are a whole host of important nutrients that will feed your body and start to fight panic hunger.

Find a flavor of hummus that you like. There are all sorts of things they mix with hummus and there are a manageable amount of calories in hummus. It is one of those foods that just help you feel full.

Working Out At Home

One thing we have noticed is that many people do not like going to the gym for a variety of reasons. Having equipment at home, preferably in the bedroom boosts the odds of working out. More specifically having equipment that you can put under your bed is ideal. Check out this Total Gym review for some ideas on specific products both men and women can use to workout.

One of the models, the Total Gym XLS also includes a pilates kit, which is great because men often like to do strength exercises, while women often prefer toning exercises. Including a set of dumbells and a jump rope, you will have a pretty nice setup.

Staying motivated is the next step and this article on eHow has some practical tips on staying motivated. You also need to know what your goals are. Total Gym is great for strength training, but something like Bowflex is better for people who want to build muscle. You might want to read a Bowflex review to learn more about their well known product line.

When It Comes To Weight Loss, Are Men Different?

I was reading an article criticizing how men are marketed to by the diet industry. My first though upon reading that was "I disagree." Men respond to different things than women, that is just reality. I was watching an ad the other day for NutriSystem For Men, and they were saying on the plan men could eat "Man Food."

That makes sense! Men don't want to eat tofu. And fewer still want to sit in a meeting each week with a bunch of overweight women. Weight Watchers has ads featuring men barbequing. Is that objectionable. Or do men tend to bbq. Might it make sense to develop a diet that catered to that?

The Trend Of Medical Tourism

This is a fascinating article on the rise of medical tourism. Basically the large insurers and employers in the US have decided that having expensive procedures done overseas can be an extremely cost saving measure. This is a complex and controversial subject, but it does create a global marketplace for medical services. Specialists in the US might feel threatened, and care might be compromised. But the reality is that outcome rates in the US are so low anyway, that argument often rings hollow. Competition is always a good thing in the long run. It can be a messy process but in the end customers are better served. Prices go down and quality goes up.

The Changing Diet Landscape

In the last post we introduced the idea of Weight Watchers as a health care company. The introduction of their new Momentum Program brings with it a focus on both fiber and water content of food. Which means more plants in the diet.

This particular focus of increasing higher levels of plant based foods in the diet has been at the core of the work that people like T. Colin Campbell and Joel Fuhrman have been doing for years. In fact, there is a lot more these guys are saying about both animal protein and dairy that is still out of the mainstream and roundly attacked.

But the landscape appears to be changing, and now you have Weight Watchers moving towards the recommendations put forth by Campbell and Fuhrman. What is interesting about their work is that they assert that high levels of animal protein are highly correlated with all sorts of disease, not just weight loss.

Their basic thesis is that when you increase plants in the diets, you decrease your health risk. The fact that Weight Watchers is embracing elements of this thesis bolsters my assertion that they are now a health care company.

Is Weight Watchers A Health Care Company?

In this blog we view things from a health care standpoint, and an interesting issue has come up. Is Weight Watchers now a health care company? They seem to have changed their point system, refocused on healthier foods. The health implications of successful long term weight loss are wide ranging. It will be interesting to follow how people do on the new version of the plan. People for years have said that WW was the only thing that worked for them, and any increase in their overall success rate could have an impact on the overall health profile of the US. Especially with their new focus on plant based foods.

How Long Does It Take To Lose Weight- Is this the right question to be asking?

Many of us want to know how long it takes to lose weight. But is this the right question to be asking?

Differential Diagnosis- Powered By A Network Effect Of Doctors

Differential Diagnosis has become popular as a term and methodology in recent years. It simply refers to systematic method of medical diagnosis, often aided by specially organized medical information. It is very important however, because the rates of misdiagnosis or over-diagnosis run are very high- roughly 25% according to several estimates. The correct diagnosis is the absolute essential first step to get successfully healed, treated or cured. The best doctors or medical processes simply get things right out of the gate.

Given the importance of diagnosis, it is so important to get this step right. The question is, how do you best to this? Some doctors use tools to aid them, and many work alone. One would think that the best approaches would be a team approach, consisting of the best doctors or specialists in a particular area. This is exactly how Flagship Global Health works. They provide guidance, routing and access to the world's leading specialists. But that is the second step of their process. The first step is when you call with a serious medical situation- they begin the process that leads to 99% patient satisfaction. They assess your situation, and consult internally on each case. After internal consultation, they then begin reaching out to their specialist network. A team of doctors work together on your case and figure out what direction to point you in. In most cases they get it right, in a medical system that often gets it wrong. It is a highly effective method of differential diagnosis, and is really the ideal model for medical care.

The end result of Flagship's process is that the patient gets a very high probability of correct diagnosis. Instead of 25% chance of error, there is a 99% success rate. The patient also gets access to the best medical care, which also comes with high rates of success. The net result is a highly effective health care system and product.

Priority Access To Leading Doctors

If you know much about the current state of medical care in the US, you know you can get better care here than anywhere else in the world. You just need to know how to find it. Avoiding bad doctors or the wrong doctors is critical. You also need to be able to find the very best doctors you can, especially when it is crunch time. Hospitals and health insurance companies market to you every day in the hopes of convincing you that a particular institution is going to be the answer to your particular problem. That may be the case, but the reality is that an individual doctor is going to be the person who can make or break your case.

Finding the best doctors and getting access to them becomes critical. The problem is that the best doctors have the most demand for their services. Makes sense right? Additionally, the best doctors and leading specialists often make (much) more money than other doctors. So they don't need to be in health insurance networks. In fact, if you are a leading doctor in a well populated area, it would be illogical to be part of a health insurance network. You be paid much less.