Refuse To Regain

Fecal Transplants and Worms: We Are What We Harbor

by Barbara Berkeley, MD In these pages I frequently lament the fact that we keep exploring the same old solutions for obesity despite the fact that eating less and exercising more have performed pitifully when it comes to shrinking the American waistline. Recently, however, a number of researchers have begun to think out of the box...big time. Taking a cue from research on C. difficile infection and with an eye on the gut microbiome, researchers have begun to explore fecal... Read more →

This is completely unrelated to weight loss, but I just had to share this--published in a research review from the Cleveland Clinic. It sounds too bizarre and unbelievable to be true, but you never know! I might try taking a Tylenol the next time I am wondering about the meaning of life.... Small Study: Acetaminophen May Ease Feelings Of Existential Dread. The New York Daily News (4/18, Miller) reports that according to a study published April 11 in the journal... Read more →

This Pill Guarantees Weight Loss

by Barbara Berkeley, MD It's unfair. I got your attention with the title of this post, and now I must deliver the blow. There is no such pill. But I was driven to write this post after following a link for yet another one of those clever pop-ups that promise "the hormonal secret to weight loss". This particular one...you may have seen it....claims to be posted by a physician. He even touts his impressive credentials. He tells you that he... Read more →

Real Bodies: Dealing With the Changes of Aging and Weight Loss

by Barbara Berkeley, MD Weight maintainers and the over 50 crowd (not mutually exclusive!) have something in common: a body that is not what it once was. One of the earliest posts to this blog described the "Green House" philosophy, a term coined by Lynn Haraldson to describe her relationship with a body that had suffered battle scars in the war of weight. Like the quirky house she lived in, Lynn's body had flaws. Despite efforts to change both, the... Read more →

Study Points to New Culprit in Heart Disease - NYTimes.com

Research showed that the association between red meat and heart disease risk might be related not just to fat but to bacteria that thrive on a component of red meat. For the sake of science, these six men and women ate every last juicy bite of the 8-ounce steaks. Then they waited to have their blood drawn. Dr. Stanley Hazen of the Cleveland Clinic, who led the study, and his colleagues had accumulated evidence for a surprising new explanation of... Read more →