Will You Drink High Protein Coca-Cola Milk?

Coca-cola is taking a lot of heat for its arguably sexist ads showing naked women wearing nothing but milk, one of whom is weighing herself on a scale with the caption, "Drink what she's wearing."

Yet despite all the hand wringing on Twitter and HuffPo, the soft drink giant got what it paid for -- lots of free publicity for its first venture into dairy milk beverages.

Coke is partnering with a Chicago-based dairy collective called fairlife LLC to produce a premium milk that has twice the protein and half the sugar of regular milk. Oh yeah, and they're going to charge more for it.

The good news is the cows get to live in a luxury bovine hotel  "clean, comfortable surroundings with soft sand beds in freestanding protected barns," according to an article in Dairy Foods. And, unlike mailmen, they can "walk around freely while being shielded from wind, rain and snow."

fairlife 2% milk

Personally, I like the idea of a higher protein, lower sugar milk option and would be willing to pay a few more pesos for it. My usual "milk" these days is unsweetened almond milk, which contains only 1 gram of protein, 0 sugar and 30 calories per 8-oz glass. In contrast, the fairlife 2% dairy milk contains 13 grams of protein, 6 grams of sugar and 120 calories. (Unfortunately, Coke is not offering a full-fat milk option at this time, likely due to faulty data on the evils of saturated fat.)

Whatever.

So would I pay more in money, calories and sugar to drink fairlife instead of almond milk? Maybe. I can picture making a snack or meal out of a bowl of fairlife milk with nuts, seeds and berries -- or even making a smoothie with it.

But not yet. Currently, fairlife is only available in a few cities like Minneapolis, Chicago and Denver.

To be honest, though, I'm not holding my breath in anticipation. I'm more excited to try the new Silk cashew milk which is supposed to be a bit creamier than the almond milk. Unfortunately, it only available in Sacramento at Walmart; so I'll have to wait until it hits the shelf at Bel Air or Safeway.

You can purchase Medifast replacement meals directly from Medifast Centers, the Medifast website or -- for no extra cost -- through the co-branded website of a Medifast TSFL health coach. Medifast does not recommend purchasing its products from third party vendors, but if you choose to do so, you can find them on both Amazon and eBay.

Medifast Custom Order - You Choose ANY 10 Boxes


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Why Selling Girl Scout Cookies Online Is a Major Fail

I can picture telling my hypothetical grandchildren one day that when I was a little girl I actually had to walk around my neighborhood to sell Girl Scout cookies.

"You mean you had to leave your house and get all sweaty?" they'll ask incredulously, rolling on the floor and giggling hysterically at this quaint Flinstonesque practice.

In case you haven't heard, the Girl Scouts of America has finally joined the digital age and is allowing its members to set up co-branded websites to market their sugar bombs cookies.

I'm a relic, obviously, but  I never even liked the idea of parents passing around Girl Scout cookie forms at work in lieu of the girls ringing the neighbors' doorbells like little Avon ladies. At least the kids got some exercise walking from house to house.

I'm not even keen on young Girl Scouts selling cookies to begin with when the obesity rate for children has doubled in the past 30 years and junior high school students are now being diagnosed with adult onset diabetes for the first time in history. 

"Type 2 diabetes isn't just for adults anymore. The number of children and adolescents with the condition (most of whom are diagnosed in their early teens) has skyrocketed within the last 20 years, prompting the journal Diabetes Care to call it an 'emerging epidemic.' While type 1 diabetes is still more prevalent among children nationwide, experts estimate that type 2 diabetes has grown from less than 5 percent in 1994 to about 20 percent of all newly diagnosed cases of the disease among youth in more recent years." -- Chris Woolston, M.S., in HealthDay

In my ideal world, the Girl Scouts would be selling almond butter or Trader Joe's coupon books to raise money for their crafting supplies and camping trips. Which I know sounds pretty Michelle Obama-ish -- or worse, Communist -- especially since big pharma could lose all that potential market for their Metformin and Mevacor.


You can purchase Medifast replacement meals directly from Medifast Centers, the Medifast website or -- for no extra cost -- through the co-branded website of a Medifast TSFL health coach. Medifast does not recommend purchasing its products from third party vendors, but if you choose to do so, you can find them on both Amazon and eBay.

Medifast Custom Order - You Choose ANY 10 Boxes


More from Diet Skeptic:

Can You Drink Alcohol on Medifast

Medifast Centers Vs. Take Shape for Life

Planned Exceptions: What Is Your Pie Policy?

Wabi Sabi Dieting & Renee Zelwegger's New Face

Women Who Pin Too Much: Confessions of a Low Carb Recipe Collector

Follow Nancy's board Low Carb Recipes on Pinterest.

Fruck You, Fructose!

Not the best spokesmodel
for the health properties
of Coca Cola

Things most certainly do not go better with Coca Cola -- not if you want to keep your kidneys, limbs, and eyesight.

These days you don't even have to add rum to your Coke to get fatty liver disease -- the precursor to diabetes and leading cause of heart attacks, strokes, cancer and dementia.

About one third of all Americans have fatty livers, which makes it one of the most common diseases in the country. Yet hardly anyone even talks about it. More likely you will hear the less graphic term metabolic syndrome, which sounds less disgusting than having a fatty liver.

The killer ingredient in Coca Cola, of course, is high fructose corn syrup, a cheap, highly processed sweetener that could be destroying more American lives than cars, guns and cigarettes combined.

While saturated fat and cholesterol have been getting all the headlines, HCFS has been hiding in plain sight.

Since this unnatural sweetener infiltrated our nation's food supply in 1975, Americans have gotten significantly fatter and sicker. What's especially shocking is that non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases was virtually unknown in the United Stated before 1980, according to the Harvard Health Letter.

Coincidence? I think not.

The good news is that high fructose corn syrup has gotten enough bad press in the 21st Century that companies are starting to prominently feature the phrase "No high fructose corn syrup" on their labels.

But we have a long way to go. For every processed food that does not contain this poison, many more still do. And here's why that's so troubling:

As bad as sugar is -- and on a scale of 1-10, sugar is at least an 8 -- high fructose corn syrup is far worse.

The chemical processing of this sweetener creates unbound fructose that can only be metabolized in one part of the body.

Yep, you guessed it.

The liver.

And when only the liver can metabolize a substance, it is -- by definition -- a poison.

When the liver gets more fructose than it needs for energy, it turns it into a fat factory. The process of converting glucose to liver fat is called lipogenesis and it makes your liver look like this:

Fatty liver

Though it won't win any beauty contests, here's what your liver is supposed to look like:

Healthy liver

Make a life-changing investment in yourself by spending 90 minutes of your life watching this video from UCSF pediatric endocrinologist Robert Lustig to learn the fascinating history and biochemistry behind this epidemic.

Though I have yet to hear someone go on a diet because their liver is too fat, I can think of no better motivation after seeing these photos and watching Dr. Lustig's video.

So before you ply your family with fruit juice or soda -- or many commercial brands of spaghetti sauce, salad dressing, granola bars, yogurt, bread or breakfast cereal -- check the label. And if high fructose corn syrup is on there, make like the Gingerbread Man and run, run as fast as you can.


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Five Reasons You Should Start Your Diet During the Holidays

A friend at work, who has been threatening to go on a weight loss diet all year, threw up her hands in defeat yesterday. "Guess I'll have to wait until after the holidays now," she said, as if the logic of her statement would be obvious to even an amoeba.

With all the feasts, parties and fattening foods about to invade our work, home and social environments starting this Thursday, it may seem futile to start a weight loss diet now.

But as with most counter-intuitive concepts, the opposite is true.

In fact, the best time to start a diet could be the day after Thanksgiving when we've eaten so much food the idea of gluttonous consumption is at its least compelling.

Here are five good reasons to start your diet during the holidays:

Motivation is highest at the beginning of a diet. Speaking from personal experience, I am most excited about any new diet program in the very beginning when it still feels like an adventure. As the novelty factor wears off, I am more likely to succumb to edible temptations.

You get to have your "last supper." Most dieters are familiar with that last wonderful meal we eat before embarking on a weight loss diet. What better last meal could there be than Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings?

You won't gain extra holiday weight. Though studies show the average American gains only one pound during the holidays, some people gain more -- which could make going on a diet seem even more daunting if you start in January.

You'll look better by Christmas. If you start a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet like Medifast now, you could be ten pounds lighter a month from now. Your relatives will likely notice and comment on the positive change in your appearance, which will motivate you to keep going after the holidays are over.

You'll be creating new healthy habits. The biggest rap against diets is that once you lose your weight you'll gain it right back -- and then some. But if you start your diet during the most challenging time of year, you'll have a chance to cement new habits that will help you maintain your new shape after you reach your ideal weight. Eating before a party, making small planned exceptions and always carrying around substitute snacks are just three new habits of health that will help you keep those pounds off forever.

You can purchase Medifast replacement meals directly from Medifast Centers, the Medifast website or -- for no extra cost -- through the co-branded website of a Medifast TSFL health coach. Medifast does not recommend purchasing its products from third party vendors, but if you choose to do so, you can find them on both Amazon and eBay.

Medifast Custom Order - You Choose ANY 10 Boxes


More from Diet Skeptic:

Can You Drink Alcohol on Medifast

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Planned Exceptions: What Is Your Pie Policy?

Wabi Sabi Dieting & Renee Zelwegger's New Face

Women Who Pin Too Much: Confessions of a Low Carb Recipe Collector

Follow Nancy's board Low Carb Recipes on Pinterest.

Why We Should Stop Talking to Ourselves in the First Person

There's a truism in the self-help community that people speak more kindly to others than they do to themselves. For instance, if I were to spill red wine on my blouse I'd berate myself for always being so clumsy. But if someone else were to spill wine on my blouse, I'd say, "It's no big deal. I've had this blouse forever." Or, "I've never liked this blouse anyway."

Not only would I minimize the incident to spare their feelings, I'd likely make them feel like they did me a favor. (Just to be clear, this generosity of spirit does not extend to strangers who cut me off in traffic.)

The point is, if we were to cut ourselves as much slack as we do our friends and family members, we might be a little lot happier and more successful.

In the context of weight loss, the negative messages we send ourselves in the first person would sound absurd, if not downright cruel, if we said them to someone else.

"You're so fat

"Why did you eat that whole can of Pringles?"

"You're never going to lose weight."

The obvious solution, then, is to talk to ourselves in the second person as a caring friend instead of a harsh critic.

Turns out some recent scientific research backs this up. Psychologist Ethan Koss from the University of Michigan told two groups of people to prepare for a five-minute speech. Half the people spoke to themselves in the first person; the other half could use either the second or third person.

"People who used 'I' had a mental monologue that sounded something like, 'Oh, my god, how am I going do this? I can't prepare a speech in five minutes without notes. It takes days for me to prepare a speech!'" Koss told NPR.

"People who used their own names, on the other hand, were more likely to give themselves support and advice, saying things like, 'Ethan, you can do this. You've given a ton of speeches before.' These people sounded more rational, and less emotional — perhaps because they were able to get some distance from themselves."

So whether it's the emotional distance we get from speaking to ourselves in the second or third person -- or just the fact that no one would ever be friends with us if we were as mean to them as we are to ourselves -- try talking to yourself as if you were someone else.

I can't believe I just wrote that drivel. Great idea, Nancy!

You can purchase Medifast replacement meals directly from Medifast Centers, the Medifast website or -- for no extra cost -- through the co-branded website of a Medifast TSFL health coach. Medifast does not recommend purchasing its products from third party vendors, but if you choose to do so, you can find them on both Amazon and eBay.

Medifast Custom Order - You Choose ANY 10 Boxes


More from Diet Skeptic:

Can You Drink Alcohol on Medifast

Medifast Centers Vs. Take Shape for Life

Planned Exceptions: What Is Your Pie Policy?

Wabi Sabi Dieting & Renee Zelwegger's New Face

Women Who Pin Too Much: Confessions of a Low Carb Recipe Collector

Follow Nancy's board Low Carb Recipes on Pinterest.

Medifast Diet Dilemma: How to Be a Polite Dinner Guest

My late ex-mother-in-law once fumed to me about a disastrous meal she fixed for another couple. She spent several days hunting down recipes and ended up cooking a delectable shrimp dish, which the husband refused to eat it because shrimp is high in cholesterol and he had a heart condition.

"He should have eaten it any way," she told me, as if her hurt feelings trumped his weak heart. (Ironically, avoiding high cholesterol foods, such as shrimp and eggs, is now a controversial recommendation for heart patients since our bodies produce cholesterol on their own when we don't consume enough in our diets.)

I was secretly amused that her definition of etiquette was catering to your host's feelings at the risk of your health. What if she had served peanut butter cookies to a kid with peanut allergies? Don't captive house guests have a right to choose what they put in their mouth?

It's a little different when you're on a diet since the connection between what you eat and your health seems less direct. A dinner roll or strawberry shortcake won't put you into cardiac arrest or anaphylactic shock. At least not immediately.

But over time, continually eating certain foods can result in diabetes and other chronic health conditions. And if you're on a ketogenic diet, eating too many carbs in one day can kick you out of ketosis.

The beauty of Medifast is that you can turn almost any meal into a Lean & Green facsimile if you're discreet. Just load up on the vegetables and about six ounces of protein. If there's sauce or breading on either, you can flick it off with your fork. You may not end up perfectly On Plan, but you'll be close enough not to get your panties in a bunch.

If you are the only guests invited to dinner, good hosts will inquire about your dietary preferences. If they then choose to ignore them, you have no obligation to spare their feelings since they obviously did not care about yours.

If you're going to a larger dinner party, offer to bring a dish in case everything served is off plan. A huge salad with grilled chicken would be perfect since you could pretty much subsist on that while everyone else is feasting on fettuccine Alfredo.

The point is, good manners is a two-way street. Any host who is offended that you  do not eat everything on your plate should look in the mirror when she points her finger in accusation.

If you handle your finicky foodiness discreetly, everyone can feast on the good conversation and no one's feelings should be hurt.

You can purchase Medifast replacement meals directly from Medifast Centers, the Medifast website or -- for soon to be lower cost -- through the co-branded website of a Medifast TSFL health coach. Medifast does not recommend purchasing its products from third party vendors, but if you choose to do so, you can find them on both Amazon and eBay.

Medifast Custom Order - You Choose ANY 10 Boxes



More from Diet Skeptic:

Fruck You! Fructose

Can You Drink Alcohol on Medifast

Medifast Centers Vs. Take Shape for Life

Planned Exceptions: What Is Your Pie Policy?

Wabi Sabi Dieting & Renee Zelwegger's New Face
Follow Nancy's board Low Carb Recipes on Pinterest.