About the protein in your diet

Hi!! long time no posting!!! Here's a litle piece form an article that explains why I keep telling you the importance about the protien in your diet. For the full article I'm including the reference at the end. Enjoy!

Although any

dietary or lifestyle change must be personalized, controlled energy

intake in association with a moderately elevated protein intake may

represent an effective and practical weight-loss strategy. Potential

beneficial outcomes associated with protein ingestion include the

following:

to a greater extent than carbohydrate or fat andmayfacilitate a reduction

in energy consumption under ad libitum dietary conditions;

thermogenesis—higher-protein diets are associated with increased

thermogenesis, which also influences satiety and augments energy expenditure

(in the longer term, increased thermogenesis contributes to the

relatively low-energy efficiency of protein); and

accretion of fat-free mass—in some individuals, a moderately higher

protein diet may provide a stimulatory effect on muscle protein anabolism,

favoring the retention of lean muscle mass while improving

metabolic profile. Nevertheless, any potential benefits associated with a

moderately elevated protein intake must be evaluated in the light of

customary dietary practices and individual variability.

Nutr

1) increased satiety—protein generally increases satiety2) increased3) maintenance orAm J Clin2008;87(suppl):1558S–61S.Dr. P

Apps you can use

In the era of the App University, there's some you can actually use to improve your eating behavior... if you use them. So if you have a smart phone and are used to play with these little sources of info, here's a coupple of them one of you showed me, that I think can really make a difference in how you choose what you eat. Many of you are most of the time out there trying to eat decently but find yourself navigating a fast food menu... difficult task if there's one. And then, the ultimate challenge, pick what you will eat in the 10 secs the drive through allows you for this task. So here it is, just know what you will get before you get there, how? use one of these apps. You will be more likely to choose something you can eat out there:)
Some of them are:
Fast Food Calories
Jacques Pepin's Fast Food My Way
Fast Food Restaurant Nutrition Quick Reference
Calorie Calc-Fast & Simple Calorie Counter
Why you are fat
Amazing Pizza Calc 
etc
One more thing, there's also some good apps for self reporting (keep track of what you eat) and count calories. Try My net diary.
Let me know what you think
Dr. P

Bad news.....

This a and extract from the Downy Obesity Report. As I probably mentioned in one of our recent office visits, the FDA had recently given a positive vote to one of the latest drugs in the pipeline for Obesity, Contrave.Well, the FDA decided not to approve it. Frustrating....
Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. indicated today that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has, in effect, decided not to approve the company’s obesity drug, Contrave ® in spite of a federal advisory panel vote of 13-7 in favor of approval in December of 2010. The FDA is requiring the company to complete a lengthy and expensive pre-approval of cardiovascular risks. Previously, the FDA had rejected two other new compounds: one developed by Vivus Inc. (Qnexa®) and the other, lorcaserin, by Arena Pharmaceutical Inc. (Lorquess ®) The FDA also pressured Abbott Laboratories to take orlistat (Meridia®) off the market.
According to Morgan Downey, editor and publisher of the Downey Obesity Report, “The FDA has decided that the most significant threat to public health will not be treated by any drug. In the current environment, tap water could not be approved. This is the first time in the FDA’s history that it has decided to abandon a major public health challenge. No doubt the FDA will continue to regularly approve drugs which cause weight gain and to half-heartedly police dangerous and unproven dietary supplements claiming to achieve weight loss. These actions have driven both large pharmaceutical companies and small biotech companies out of obesity research and development. At this time, only Vivus Inc.’s Qnexa has a hope of meeting FDA’s approval.” The FDA has asked Vivus Inc. to explore databases to rule out birth malformations due to one of its elements.
Any thoughts???..

Happy New Year!!!!

Happy New Year to all! Hope this 2011 brings you closer to your personal goals or be the year is which you finally achieve them. Hope I can help you get there.
Health, Peace and Prosperity are our most sincere wishes,
see you soon,
Dr. P and Vanessa.

It's a start!

Hi everybody! This IS really just a start. I wanted to let you know that the blog is still under construction. It does not look completely  like I want it to look, but at least I can send the invitations out so you can start participating. There's a lot of new information that I would like to share. Finally the FDA is showing some positive signs towards the overweight and obesity community....
As you WILL notice, I am very much experimenting with this blog and I'm hoping it will get better as I find out exactly how it works, so wish me luck.
I would like you to start participating by sharing your experience and we'll take it from there. Remember no need for names or personal info.
Thanks!!!!!
Dr. P