We all know the disadvantages of sugar and how bad it is for you but now the American Heart Association is urging consumers to seriously cut back on the amount of sugar they get from foods such as soft drinks, cookies and ice cream.  You may not think you are consuming that much sugar but you know there have been times when you have had all three of these foods in one day.

Studies show that women should limit their sugar intake to 100 calories, or about six teaspoons, a day; for men, 150 calories, or nine teaspoons.  Sound like a lot?  Just one 12-ounce can of cola has about 130 calories, or eight teaspoons of sugar.  One soda and you’ve reached or passed your daily sugar allowance. 

A national survey has shown that Americans consume on average 355 calories, or more than 22 teaspoons, of sugar a day.  That’s just crazy.  Our bodies are not meant or designed to process so much sugar.  That is why we have an obesity and diabetic epidemic.

The American Heart Association has continually warned us to watch our sugar intake but now it is suggesting specific limits.  These limits apply to what are known as added sugars - those that are added to foods during manufacturing, or by consumers.  They do not include sugar that occurs naturally in fruits, vegetables, dairy products and other foods.

I urge you to keep track of your sugar intake.  You may not realize all the sugar you are eating.  It’s mostly found in soft drinks, candy, desserts such as cakes and cookies, fruit drinks and sweetened dairy products, including ice cream and yogurt.  Don’t forget that sugar in alcoholic beverages also counts as added sugar.  All these added sugars do not give you any health benefit whatsoever.  All they do for you is add calories.

Dr. Sass
Sasson Moulavi, M.D., LMCC, ABBM
Medical Director
Smart For Life Cookie Diet
TheCookieDiet.com
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Lighten Up Your Favorite Recipes – Here Are Some Ideas                                                                

Dr. Sass
Sasson Moulavi, M.D., LMCC, ABBM
Medical Director
Smart For Life Cookie Diet
TheCookieDiet.com
under-way.com
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First Lady Michelle Obama has announced her new campaign against childhood obesity -Let’s Move!  And that’s just what she wants children to do.  And just because she knows the big man in the White House, do not expect the government to fund this initiative.

As parents, you need to take the first step in helping your child to a strong and healthy future.

Dr. Sass
Sasson Moulavi, M.D., LMCC, ABBM
Medical Director
Smart For Life Cookie Diet
TheCookieDiet.com
under-way.com
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Many times I see patients or hear of clients who tend to blame others or certain circumstances for their weight gain.  They say things such as “I was invited to a party and they had nothing healthy to eat” or “I was on vacation and I just had to eat”.  You get the idea.

Although there are definitely a group of individuals who are overweight due to no fault of their own, it is a small group usually related to metabolic issues or taking medication such as prednisone or certain antidepressant drugs.  The rest of us just eat too much and it’s our own fault.

Like Micheal Jackson says in his song “The Man in the Mirror”:  I'm starting with the man in the mirror.  I'm asking him to change his ways.  Maybe it’s time to change your ways.

Look within yourself to see if you are at fault for your weight issues.  Have you been eating too much?  Eating junk food?  Going back for seconds or thirds?  Many people start a diet and throw in the towel way too quickly.  Did you ever do that?  If you are at fault, then make a change.  It’s never too late.  It may be hard and there will be some suffering, but it’s a lot less than the suffering of being, to be blunt, “fat and sick”.  Trust me.  The suffering people go through from being overweight, both emotionally and due to medical health consequences, are much worse than resisting some tempting food.

If you can’t do it alone, seek help from your friends, your doctors or Smart for Life^® Cookie Diet.  You have to do it because the rewards are so great.

Enough already!  Get thin!

With tough love,?

Dr. Sass
Sasson Moulavi, M.D., LMCC, ABBM
Medical Director
Smart For Life Cookie Diet
TheCookieDiet.com
under-way.com
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Recently I shared with you an alert from the American Society of Bariatric Physicians regarding a counterfeit version of Alli 60 mg. capsules which contained the controlled substance sibutramine.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has now issued a warning about not using sibutramine (Meridia) in patients with a history of cardiovascular disease.

The FDA notified healthcare professionals that the review of additional data indicates an increased risk of heart attack and stroke in patients with a history of cardiovascular disease using sibutramine.  Based on the serious nature of the review findings, the FDA requested and the manufacturer agreed to add a new contraindication to the sibutramine drug label stating that sibutramine is not to be used in patients with a history of cardiovascular disease, including:

History of coronary artery disease (e.g., heart attack, angina)

History of stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA)

History of heart arrhythmias

History of congestive heart failure

History of peripheral arterial disease

Uncontrolled hypertension (e.g., > 145/90 mmHg)

Patients currently using sibutramine should talk with their healthcare professional to determine if continued use of sibutramine is appropriate and discuss any questions they may have about their treatment.

Read the complete MedWatch 2010 Safety summary, including a link to the FDA Follow-up Communication and the original MedWatch alert, at:

http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm198221.htm.

Dr. Sass
Sasson Moulavi, M.D., LMCC, ABBM
Medical Director
Smart For Life Cookie Diet
TheCookieDiet.com
under-way.com
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Congratulations!  You’ve taken a big step deciding you want to lose weight.  The next step is how you are going to do that.  You’ve looked at different diet programs and have narrowed it down.  But are you sure you know all there is to know about that diet you’re considering?  Is it the right one for YOU and your specific health needs?  If you do not know, you are not alone.

There is not enough information provided by popular diets letting consumers know what the health effects of their particular diet are.  It has become a growing public health concern.  Consumers often make decisions without answers to basic questions.  They are left without information on the benefits, health risks and effectiveness of these popular diets.

You may find information online posted by others but how much can you trust this information when it comes to your health?  You need actual established research that you can trust.

Our website (www.smartforlife.com) provides a diet comparison which provides details on the following specifics for 10 different diets:  physician supervised/available, physical exam, EKG, lab work, metabolic evaluation/treatment, weekly weigh-in, preservatives, vitamins, supplements, organic and natural ingredients and several other categories.

The Smart for Life^® Cookie Diet Medical Program is the only program where you are supervised by a physician.  This is the best way to address the health effects of any diet.  Your questions are immediately answered by a healthcare professional.  There is no guesswork or wondering involved.

It pays to do your homework and get educated about any diet program.  Now that you’ve gotten “smart”, get Smart for Life^®!

Dr. Sass
Sasson Moulavi, M.D., LMCC, ABBM
Medical Director
Smart For Life Cookie Diet
TheCookieDiet.com
under-way.com
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From 1960 to 2004, the rate of obesity in the United States has increased from 13% to 31%.  In 2004, 71% of US adults were overweight or obese!  71%!!  That’s an outrageously high number of our population.

It has been shown in trials and studies that financial incentive-based weight loss programs may work……in the beginning.

One study consisted of three groups.  One group was a “control” group, which was not offered any incentives.  The second group was a “lottery” based group in which participants played a lottery and received the earnings if they achieved or lost more than the target weight.  A “deposit contract” group had participants invest their own money, which they lost if they failed to achieve their weight loss goals. 

The use of these incentives did produce weight loss during the 16 weeks of the study however it was not fully sustained by any group.  These studies show that incentive groups do lose more weight than control groups, but only during the study period.  Once the study was completed, all three groups had gained weight. 

The idea of losing weight is great but you need to be able to maintain it and keep the weight off with a lifestyle program you can live with.

A financial incentive-based program may work for a week but to stay healthy and keep the weight off, you need to follow and maintain a program where the incentives are worth much more.  They are actually priceless!  Your waistline, your cholesterol level, your bone health, your intestinal health, your glucose level, your insulin level, your heart health, your smiling face, your good mood, your happiness…….The best incentive is you!

Dr. Sass
Sasson Moulavi, M.D., LMCC, ABBM
Medical Director
Smart For Life Cookie Diet
TheCookieDiet.com
under-way.com
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Many people, including children, do not realize much of their weight gain comes from drinking calorie-rich drinks.  For example, drinking a regular can of soda per day will add 20 pounds to your weight.  How?  The average soda has 200 calories.  That’s an additional 73,000 calories in a year!  (365 days a year X 200 calories a day)  One pound contains 3,500 calories.  That works out to 20 pounds per year!  (73,000 calories per year divided by 3, 500 calories per pound)  Wow!

Every 10 pounds adds about 2 inches to your waist line, which increases your risk by 17% for many diseases.  The average child needs to gain about 10 pounds per year, not 20 pounds.  Unfortunately many children are gaining even more than that and adding health risks and misery to their lives.

Here are several calorie ranges for popular drinks:

100% apple juice                             192 to 300 calories

100% orange juice                           168 to 280 calories

Lemonade                                         168 to 280 calories

Regular cola, ginger ale, etc.         136 to 227 calories

Sport drinks                                       99 to 165 calories

underWAY                                        20 calories

Unsweetened iced tea                    2 to 4 calories.

Diet soda                                           0 calories

Water                                                  0 calories

I would recommend that you read the labels carefully.  If it contains more than 20 calories per serving, do not buy it and do not bring it home.

Get thin!  Stay thin!

Dr. Sass
Sasson Moulavi, M.D., LMCC, ABBM
Medical Director
Smart For Life Cookie Diet
TheCookieDiet.com
under-way.com
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You know me as someone who is concerned about the health and obesity of the world, as someone who asks people to eat a cookie and lose the weight.  Now I’m asking you to skip a meal, lose the weight, save the money and send it to Haiti.

Since I started Smart for Life^® Cookie Diet - I have never asked anyone to skip a meal.  We all know we need the health and nutrition provided by food.  But today I am urging all Americans to skip one meal, lose the weight along the way and as you save the money on that meal, send it to the disadvantaged people of Haiti.

We eat too much.  They do not eat enough.  We could all afford to skip a meal we probably do not need, and the money we save can be sent to Haiti. 

 We are asking people to donate $10.00 and receive a Smart for Life^® Cookie Diet cookie.  The diet cookie will help you skip a meal without feeling hungry.  We are hoping to give away at least 10,000 Smart for Life^® diet cookies which will raise at least $100,000 for the people of Haiti.  By giving away thousands of our 105 calorie Smart for Life^® diet cookies to help people in the US skip a meal, without feeling the hunger, we can all help assist with the turmoil in Haiti. 

It is estimated that over 300,000 people die a year from obesity (center for disease control).  If you add the millions (world health organization) who die from malnutrition, that is a real disaster.  All these extra calories can be skipped by us and sent as cash to help the people in Haiti.  Think about having nothing to eat at all!

Sending a monetary donation to Haiti is better than food because it helps their local economy and provides them with the opportunity to purchase the provisions they need.  We can aid in improving the health in all areas in both nations.

It sickens me to see people lined up in mall food courts to spend money on garbage food that is going to harm them.  These same people then go home and watch malnourished people lining up in the streets for the little food they can find.  Please skip the meal and send the money you would have spent in the food court to the people of Haiti.

The Smart for Life^® diet cookies will be distributed through our centers, free of charge, one per person.  To locate a Smart for Life^® center, please visit our website at www.smartforlife.com/SFL_Locations.aspx.

Volunteers will also be distributing the Smart for Life^® diet cookies in businesses and malls next week.  To find other ways to help the people of Haiti, please visit www.smartforlife.com/haiti.

Please………       Skip a meal.  Lose the weight.  Save the money.  Send it to Haiti!

I received the following alert from the American Society of Bariatric Physicians and would like to share it with you.

Alli 60 mg capsules (120 count refill kit): Counterfeit Product

FDA notified consumers and healthcare professionals about a counterfeit and potentially harmful version of Alli 60 mg capsules (120 count refill kit).  The counterfeit version contained the controlled substance sibutramine and did not contain orlistat, the active ingredient.  Sibutramine is a drug that should not be used in certain patient populations or without physician oversight.  Sibutramine can also interact in a harmful way with other medications the consumer may be taking.  GSK has determined that the counterfeit product has been sold over the internet.  However, there is no evidence at this time that the counterfeit Alli product has been sold through other channels, such as retail stores. The differences between the counterfeit and authentic products are described in both text and photos in the FDA news release.

Consumers who believe they have received counterfeit Alli are asked to contact the FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI) by calling 800-551-3989 or by visiting the OCI Web site (http://www.fda.gov/OCI).

Any adverse events that may be related to use should be reported to the FDA's MedWatch Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program online [at www.fda.gov/MedWatch/report.htm], by phone 1-800-332-1088, or by returning the postage-paid FDA form 3500 [which may be downloaded from the MedWatch "Download Forms" page] by mail [to address on the pre-addressed form] or fax [1-800-FDA-0178].

Read the complete MedWatch 2010 Safety summary, including a link to the FDA news release with photographs and description of differences between the authentic and counterfeit product, at: http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm197862.htm

Thank you, once again, to the American Society of Bariatric Physicians (link) for keeping us informed.

Best regards,

Parents had better get a back bone if they want healthy kids!

Parents have become wimps ruled by their kids when it comes to food choices.  Recently in my office, I saw an overweight 12-year-old girl whose concerned parents brought her in because she was 30 pounds overweight and complaining of fatigue. What amazed me most was that during the educational process, this child turned to her parents and basically told them that she will decide what to eat and what to buy, and they can’t do anything about it.  Then she left the center and her parents could not get her back in.

Of course, this is an extreme example, but I have seen it too many times.  Parents come in with good intentions and their kids overpowering them with aggressive, degrading speech.  More often than not, the parents just sit there without any significant or meaningful response. I also see it in the shopping carts of parents when buying high fat, high sugar foods to please their kids.  They are simply unable to say ‘No’ to their kids when it comes to these poor choices.

It seems as if everyone is working against the parents: The huge food companies are brainwashing them and their children.  Parents are afraid of controlling their children because they do not want to be called an ‘abuser’.  This fear has been perpetuated by the media who focus on those rare cases where good parents are accused by a state agency.

Parents must get over this and learn to say ‘No’ to poor quality food.  If you have to put it back on the shelf or leave it at the checkout counter, be strong, don’t bring it home.  Remember, if it gets into your home, it will get into your kids.

Another observation, I have watched parents at popular coffee shops be manipulated by 9-year-old children who insist on having a 1000 calorie drink, full of fat and empty calories, and double the price of healthy alternatives.

Enough already!  Just say ‘No’ – the sooner you start the better.  Yes, there will be a tough week or two but stick to your guns and remain firm.  Your kids will thank you when they are older.  I have seen too many overweight, depressed teenagers.  Trust me, the pain from being overweight and depressed at 17 is much greater than not having a sugary drink for a week at the age of 9.

Here are some games/quizzes to share with your kids to start the conversation and introduce new “rules” to the family.   Of course, on-going parenting will continually be necessary from teaching kids about good nutrition and choices to be made.

• Explain the food groups for adequate growth and ask where their favorite foods fall.
• Show the kids the nutrition panels of foods to compare calories, fat, sugars, sodium – that alone may prompt them to make a healthier choice.  Arm them with the information and then they will be able to be in control.  Rarely will a kid seriously choose something unhealthy when given the information.  If they do…put your foot down and tell them that you will not allow it.
• Allow occasional splurges but let the kids earn them and have them keep track of how many per day.  Just cutting back on 1-2 per day will be a start in the right direction.
• For smaller children, be the family’s “Healthy Hero” and challenge them to pick nutritious choices in a fun, light manner.

Keep an eye out for a FREE educational video I am creating especially for parents that will be on youtube.com.  I think it will help some parents improve their parenting skills and stand up to their kids.

Be strong, it’s good to say ‘No’ to your kids when they make poor choices.

Happy New Year!

Dr. Sass
Sasson Moulavi, M.D., LMCC, ABBM
Medical Director
Smart For Life Cookie Diet
TheCookieDiet.com
under-way.com
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Many people do not realize the dangers of shelf stable foods.  A shelf stable food is one normally stored in the refrigerator which has been altered so that it can be stored at room temperature for a long shelf life.

Shelf stable food contains bacteria which do not eat the food.  If bacteria is not eating it, why are you?  Many weight loss companies use shelf stable food as part of their program.  It is easily shipped unrefrigerated, reduces costs and increases profits.  The consumers get all the risks and very few benefits.

The risks arise from the various food preservation techniques used to extend a food’s shelf  life.  Decreasing the amount of water, increasing its acidity, or irradiating/sterilizing the food and then sealing in an air-tight container, can all extend a food’s shelf life.  Additives such as sodium phosphate are used to make food last a very long time unrefrigerated.  Many countries have banned some of the preservatives to produce shelf stable foods that are still allowed in the United States.

Another reason to increase shelf life revolves around common oils and fats that would become rancid quickly if not refrigerated.  Food manufacturers replaced these oils and fats with trans fats in order to delay the onset of rancidity thus increasing shelf life.  Would you eat an unrefrigerated chicken and pasta dish that is over a year old? Yet many weight loss companies want customers to do just that.

Consumers should avoid shelf stable food altogether.  If you think it should be refrigerated or frozen, you are probably right.  Instead use as much fresh, and preferably organic based foods.  Frozen entrees are usually not a problem but the label should be checked to be sure.  I recommend fresh chicken, fish and seafood and frozen is good as well, especially if it is organic.

It pays to be educated about the food you eat and your eating lifestyle.  Once you know what goes into the foods you eat, you can better build your body to be as healthy as possible.

Dr. Sass
Sasson Moulavi, M.D., LMCC, ABBM
Medical Director
Smart For Life Cookie Diet
TheCookieDiet.com
under-way.com
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As a member of the American Society of  Bariatric Physicians , I get these alerts from time to time.

This next alert is one I should share with you.

I would like to thank the ASBP for doing a great job.

Dear ASBP Member,

We would like to bring your attention to a potentially deceptive product called Fastin that many of your patients may be attracted to.

In the past, there was a prescription medication version of phentermine called "Fastin." This brand name drug was manufactured by King Pharmaceuticals. That specific prescription medicine was removed from the market by King in 1998 and is no longer available in the US.

An over-the-counter supplement maker (Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals) has acquired the rights to the name only and is marketing its own version of Fastin in ways similar enough to confuse patients. It is important to know that this is not the same medication! For more information on the ingredients in this new supplement, please visit the website www.fastin.org. 

For more information go to www.asbp.org or the www.fda.gov web site.

Best regards

Dr. Sass
Sasson Moulavi, M.D., LMCC, ABBM
Medical Director
Smart For Life Cookie Diet
TheCookieDiet.com
under-way.com
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Recently I blogged that food advertising is such a science that the average customer has no chance of being able to stop eating high sugar, high fat foods.

Whether you are watching television or walking in a mall, companies are able to get you to salivate for their food.  They persuade you to spend good money on food you do not really need.  If it ends up making you sick, it will cost you more in healthcare dollars.

It amazes me when I see overweight adults and children waiting in line to give their money and health away for a bag of fried, high fat, low nutrient, poor quality food.  Most people in our society are in a trance brought on by millions of television commercials and other forms of advertising where we can’t say “no”.  What chance does a mother have to say no to that burger and fries when her kids have seen a scientifically put- together commercial to get them to purchase this food?

There is no easy solution except other companies need to come up with healthy foods and advertise just as much and educate the public.  Over time, if enough companies began to produce food that is made with good fats, low sugar, more fiber and more nutrients, maybe the public will shift their focus and start waking up from this nightmare that overweight and obesity has unleashed on us and our children.

Ultimately the change will have to come from the public; they have to decide if they want to be a healthy weight or a sick weight.  If they keep spending their hard earned money on poor quality food, these companies will keep making them.  If the public begins to be more demanding and buy less food, these companies will not have so much money to advertise.  They are using our own money to sell us unhealthy food.  We are paying for our own demise.

Dr. Sass
Sasson Moulavi, M.D., LMCC, ABBM
Medical Director
Smart For Life Cookie Diet
TheCookieDiet.com
under-way.com
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In a previous blog I explained many of the benefits Smart for Life^® Cookie Diet provides that other diets do not.  One of those benefits is that we use triple filtered water because most municipal water systems have contaminates in them and sometimes more.

It seems water contamination is in the news every day.  A recent research study shows that an estimated one in 10 Americans have been exposed to drinking water that contains dangerous chemicals.

Because most water pollutants have no scent or taste, many people do not realize they are consuming these chemicals, even after they become sick.

This is why we only use triple filtered water.  We continue to emphasize that the Smart for Life^® Cookie Diet Program is based on sound scientific facts and water contamination is one area that has been studied consistently.

The research study also reported that “because it is difficult to determine what causes diseases like cancer, it is impossible to know how many illnesses are the result of water pollution, or contaminants’ role in the health problems of specific individuals”.

That is why Smart for Life^® Cookie Diet provides clients with support and expert guidance because we know that working together with a doctor will help you achieve weight loss results faster and with more success.  If you have any health conditions or medications that require close attention, our Smart for Life staff and Medical Director (Dr. Sass) are available to you.

You can also check your home’s water as well.  To start, check your water utility’s “Consumer Confidence Report,” which it must mail to you each year before July 1 by law.  The report details where your drinking water comes from, what contaminants have been found in it and how contaminant levels compare to national standards.  You can also call your utility and ask for a copy, or visit http://www.epa.gov/safewater to see if it’s online

The Smart for Life^® Cookie Diet team will continue to go above and beyond the usual requirements to provide a safe and effective program that ensures your short and long term success.  Triple filtered water is just one more beneficial step we add to your weight loss journey.

Dr. Sass
Sasson Moulavi, M.D., LMCC, ABBM
Medical Director
Smart For Life Cookie Diet
TheCookieDiet.com
under-way.com
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We assume our drinking water is safe but little do we know what lurks in our glasses.

I previously blogged about the Smart for Life Cookie Diet's triple filtered water program and talk about it under our Product Philosophy but I wanted to pass along additional information and steps that you can use to protect your own water supply.

·         Ask your public water system for copies of any public notices they have issued regarding violations over the past few years.

·         Ask your public water system for copies of the monitoring results for both regulated and unregulated contaminants in the water.

·         Call your state drinking water program to verify the accuracy of the information your water system provides you and to find information your water supplier will not provide.  Beware, however, for some states downplay problems of local water systems.

·         If your water is contaminated, ask your water utility, state regulators, the EPA and elected representative to clean it up.

You may also want to have your own water tested.  You can locate a certified laboratory in your state by contacting the EPA Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791. 

Many people who have water problems have switched to bottled water.  Unfortunately, bottled water is regulated no more strictly than tap water.  Enforcement is minimal so there is no assurance that bottled water is safer to drink than tap water.  To learn more visit the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website at http://www.fda.gov.

Regulations have been changed and improvements are being made but we still have a way to go before our nation’s water supply is pure and essentially free of toxins.

Dr. Sass
Sasson Moulavi, M.D., LMCC, ABBM
Medical Director
Smart For Life Cookie Diet
TheCookieDiet.com
under-way.com
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This week I was asked by an overweight patient if she could stop her Smart for Life^® Cookie Diet over the holidays.  I explained that many people do not realize that being overweight or obese is a serious medical issue with serious consequences.

If you are overweight, you are at risk of spending your holidays in the emergency room.

Many people who overindulge during the holidays get the following symptoms:

Chest pain:  You will never know if it is a heart attack until you go to the ER for an EKG and blood work.  But you will spend at least 12 hours at the ER worrying about whether you are dying or not.  And don’t forget, the family at home who will stop celebrating and start worrying.

Abdominal pain:  It could be gallstones--another common reason for ER visits.  You will spend 4 to 6 hours waiting for blood work and an ultrasound.  If you do have gallstones, you will be enjoying a side of surgery with your Thanksgiving turkey.

Gout:  Also known as a dreaded, painful disease.  If you are lucky, you will spend just 2 to 3 hours getting a prescription for medication. The pain will surely ruin your appetite for any desserts for at least a day or two.

When I worked at the ER, the holidays always brought these kinds of cases in.  I remember one case where a 40-year old, overweight man came in with his wife because he was suffering from chest pain.  It ended up just being gas, but it surely destroyed their holiday.  The amazing part was that his older brother was having the dessert in the waiting room!  The brother also developed chest pain and ended up having a real heart attack.  Thankfully it was mild and he survived.  Are these the memories you want to remember for your family holidays?

Keep in mind that a big meal requires a lot of blood to be diverted to your intestinal system for digestion.  This puts stress on your heart, which substantially increases the risk of a heart attack.

Take home message - if you do not want a side of ER with your holiday dinner, follow these simple guidelines:

1)    Eat a small amount of food; stop when you are no longer hungry.

2)    Teach yourself self-discipline and do not overeat the one food you really enjoy.

3)    Do not drink more than 2 alcoholic drinks.

4)    Eat slowly over time and drink lots of water.

5)    If you are overweight, you are at risk.  Be extra careful.

6)    Learn to say “NO, THANK YOU.”

7)    Instead of lounging on the couch, get the family active with a walk around the block, a game of catch or even charades to keep the body moving.

 Have a great holiday, enjoy your families and make memories you want to have for years to come.

A lot of people are not aware of the facts, but many overweight people who look well-feed are actually in nutritional starvation.

Research has shown that a lot of these people, who may be getting an abundance of calories a day, are getting them without the full complement of nutrients needed.  They are eating foods that do not provide any nutritional benefit whatsoever – empty calories!

The body is a very complex system and although it has the ability to build a lot of the substrates necessary to function, there are many that it cannot make.  These building blocks must be ingested from the foods we eat. We all know about the essential Amino Acids that the body cannot make, but there are essential fats and other nutrients as well.

Generally, these essential nutrients help support the cell membrane (the covering or skin of each cell that acts to protect and control what goes in and out). When these nutrients are lacking, the cell membrane leaks or becomes dysfunctional, allowing the wrong (poisoning) molecules in, and over time, not letting the cell release what it needs to release.

When your cell membranes are sick, you are sick – it is that connected. If your cell membranes are lacking essential fats, the cell will not function effectively. That is why many seemingly well fed people are tired, have poor skin, suffer from headaches, abdominal pain and many more issues.

A person whose diet consists of French fries, hamburgers, fried chicken, and is low in fresh vegetables, whole grains and healthy, preferably organic fruits, is surely malnourished and has starving cells.

To correct this, eat your 5 servings of vegetables and eat 2-3 servings of fruit (unless you are on the Smart for Life program where you will get your fruit nutrients in the cookies until you lose the weight).  Eat fish, drink plenty of water, take a multivitamin, and never eat anything fried.  If you want to go a step farther, eat foods that are high in antioxidants in order to possibly help repair some of the damage you have caused yourself over time.

Eat well, eat less and be healthy.

Dr. Sass
Sasson Moulavi, M.D., LMCC, ABBM
Medical Director
Smart For Life Cookie Diet
TheCookieDiet.com
under-way.com
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I have been working on an appetite suppressing drink for over 3 years.  I am happy to announce that we finally launched this innovative product and it is delicious and it works.  Whether you use it to stop midday or night time snacking, or post-exercise hunger, there are other benefits to drinking underWAY^TM.  Packed with critically important vitamins, this drink also contains HeroFiber^TM.

Here is a list of the vitamins and their benefits:

Benefits of Riboflavin (Vitamin B-2)

ü  Riboflavin acts primarily in the breakdown of carbohydrates and fats to make energy.

ü  It is involved in regenerating glutathione an important component in the body’s antioxidant system.

ü  It is vital in the normal reproduction and repair of body’s tissues including skin, eyes, immune and nervous system.

ü  It is also involved in production of hormones essential for health and well being.

ü  Because our body does not store Riboflavin in great amounts, it is important to get some in our diet regularly.

ü  Common sources of Riboflavin rich food are milk, cheese, eggs, leafy vegetables, organ meats, whole grain and peas, not to mention that a 16 oz. bottle of underWAY^TM has 30% of your daily requirement.

Benefits of Niacin (Vitamin B-3)

ü  Niacin acts to breakdown all major foods to provide energy.

ü  Niacin is needed in the formation of blood cells and some hormones. It also is used in the breakdown drugs and toxicants.

ü  Niacin supports normal brain, skin and digestive track function.

ü  It helps stimulate circulation, blood pressure and triglyceride levels.

ü  It is very effective in lowering LDL (bad cholesterol) and raising HDL (good cholesterol).

ü  Niacin has been shown to improve cognition, dementia, and in high doses, improve mood and psychological function.

ü  Rich sources of Niacin include meat, poultry fish, liver, nuts, peanut butter, brewer’s yeast and wheat germ. A bottle of underWAY^TM provides 30% of your daily requirement.

Benefits of Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine)

ü  Vitamin B6 helps convert protein to energy.

ü  It is also critical for good brain function.

ü  B6 works with folic acid and B12 to reduce Homocysteine levels in blood which reduces an individual’s risk for heart disease.

ü  Sources of Vitamin B6 include, poultry, pork, fish, eggs, soybeans, oats, whole grains, bananas, nuts and seeds. A bottle of underWAY^TM has 30% of most people’s requirement of Vitamin B6.

Benefits of Vitamin B12

ü  Vital in maintaining healthy brain function.

ü  Vital in maintaining normal DNA.

ü  Maintaining and increasing energy levels.

ü  Improving red cell function.

ü  B12 has been shown to decrease Homocysteine levels which improve risk of heart disease.

ü  Vitamin B12 is naturally found in meat (especially liver and shellfish), milk and eggs. A bottle of underWAY^TM contains 30% of your daily requirement of B12.

To learn more, visit our informative website:  under-WAY.com.

Dr. Sass
Sasson Moulavi, M.D., LMCC, ABBM
Medical Director
Smart For Life Cookie Diet
TheCookieDiet.com
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Smart For Life is more than just a weight loss company.

A lot of you are familiar with the Smart for Life Cookie Diet, but there is a lot more to Smart For Life than just losing weight.

Smart For Life was founded by Dr. Sass, a medical doctor that realized first-hand how food affects our health.

“The concept was developed while I worked as an emergency room doctor and saw the rise in heart attacks in 30 and 40 year old patients.  With this experience, I knew what had to be done,” explains Dr. Sass.  “Many other doctors and food scientist have helped to shape what Smart for Life has become. I believe we have created a revolutionary way for people to eat.”

Smart For Life believes that food should be free of harmful chemicals such as pesticides and preservatives.  That’s why it produces its food with triple-filtered water and pesticide-free Organic ingredients.  Even the equipment is cleaned with eco-friendly products.

Smart For Life also believes that we must protect our precious and damaged earth from any more damage. To that end, the company uses boxes made from sustainable forests for packaging and minimal plastic inside to minimize landfill waste.  In addition, suppliers are often chosen based on their location in order to decrease fossil fuel waste.

Smart for Life believes that in order to truly compete with the wide variety of unhealthy fast food and quick preparation meals available to the public, our food must be tastier, healthier and just as easy to make while keeping the cost the same. Smart For Life is able to achieve this by instructing clients to eat their 60% organic Smart Food 7 times a day on the program at an affordable cost of under $10 a day.

Smart For Life believes that food is medicine; that’s why many of its products include natural ingredients that have proven health benefits including reducing cholesterol, increase bone health, improving intestinal health and maintaining good sugar and insulin levels in normal individuals.  While you’re losing weight eating our Smart Foods, you’ll also be gaining health along the way.

Smart For Life is run by a very innovative team of Doctors, Bakers and Food Scientists as well as welcoming valuable input from its clients.  Our entrepreneurial spirit pushes us to think outside the box to create delicious, health-filled foods people can eat on the revolutionary Smart For Life program.

So the next time you purchase a Smart For Life product, not only will you be helping yourself but may actually be helping this company to help our world.

Dr. Sass
Sasson Moulavi, M.D., LMCC, ABBM
Medical Director
Smart For Life Cookie Diet
TheCookieDiet.com
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The clear answer is ‘Yes’.

Many people don’t know the following medical fact:  If you eat less, you live longer.

This has been proven in animal studies where simple and more complex life forms were fed up to 50% less calories than they normally consumed.  Life span increased in some cases by up to 60%.

It was more recently proven in a major study by Doctors Bradley and Craig Willcox and Makoto Suzuki.  The doctors shared important research about these unique and amazingly healthy people from their landmark twenty-five-year plus Okinawa Centenarian Study (For more information:  http://www.okinawaprogram.com).  They proved that people can easily live to over 100 by eating less and being active.

There have been many theories to explain this.  Here are a few:

Each person is born with the ability to absorb or digest a certain amount of calories of food.  If you eat it sooner, you die sooner.

If you eat too much, fat stores and sugar cause damage to your vital organs which fail sooner and you die sooner.

Eating more exposes you to more toxins, again poisoning vital organs over time.  The organs fail as the toxins reach a critical threshold sooner.

The recommendations that we can make from these studies are the following:

Eat less, probably keeping your BMI around 20 or 21.

Eat organic, toxic-free food, that has a low calorie density. (For example, celery has less calories per gram than bread).

Dr. Sass
Sasson Moulavi, M.D., LMCC, ABBM
Medical Director
Smart For Life Cookie Diet
TheCookieDiet.com
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In recent years, the media has been talking a lot about “cookie diets”.  Many of these reports have been critical of certain “cookie diets”, but please note that Smart for Life^TM was not one of them.  A recent example is:  http://abcnews.go.com/GMA:  The real deal on the cookie diet.

Much of these criticisms do not apply to Smart for Life and maybe that is why we did not get criticized.

The Smart for Life^TM team goes above and beyond the usual requirements to provide a safe and effective program that ensures your short and long term success. Many diets are fads and not based on sound scientific facts.  Here is a list of some of the benefits that Smart for Life^TM provides while most other fad diets do not:

·         We use mostly organic ingredients.

·         We do not use preservatives.

·         We include many ingredients with FDA approved health and function claims.

·         We provide the correct serving of vegetables based on the USDA Pyramid Guidelines.

·         We provide a well-balanced food product with the correct amount of protein and carbohydrates.

·         No protein deficiency on our program.

·         We use triple filtered water because most municipal water system have trace contaminates in them and sometimes more.

·         Our Medical Director and Program Creator is board certified in bariatric medicine (none of the other “cookie diets” have a board certified medical director as of this writing). 

·         We follow American Board of Bariatric Medicine guidelines:  Visit www.asbp.org for more information.

·         We have a much wider variety of products including Muffins, Crunch, Noodle Soups and much more.

By the way, I also think that our cookies taste much better. 

Dr. Sass
Sasson Moulavi, M.D., LMCC, ABBM
Medical Director
Smart For Life Cookie Diet
TheCookieDiet.com
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A study begun in 1976 finally published results that are shocking – but useful and worth sharing. This study, done in the US, followed 17,000 female nurses. These nurses were monitored for health and weight every two years.

Researchers found that for every point increase in BMI, these woman had a 12% decrease chance in reaching the age of 70 in good health.  (Calculate your own BMI).

A healthy BMI is between 19-25; overweight is above 25; and medically obese is above 30.  For every 2.2 pounds gained over the age of 18, each woman’s chances of surviving over the age of 70 dropped by 5%. This study was through the U.S. National Institute of Health (www.nih.gov).

Here’s the “take home” message:  If you are in your 20s, 30s or 40s, don’t gain weight.  If your BMI is above 25 get it down. Multiple studies have shown that those with high BMI die up to 10 years earlier than normal BMI individuals.

Similar studies have shown the same trend for men, so we are all in the same boat.Will keep you posted on further developments…until then, get the weight off and add the years on!

Dr.Sass
Medical Director SmartFor Life Cookie Diet
TheCookieDiet.com
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For years I have been telling my patients not to start an exercise program when they begin the Smart For Life Cookie Diet.  If they already have been exercising, I tell them to keep it steady – not to increase or decrease the amount.  I knew from experience and from a few studies I read, but finally the mainstream media has picked it up. It will surely make my life easier with my patients.

In the August 17, 2009 issue of Time Magazine (www.time.com), a very well-researched and written article makes the following points:

·         Exercise does not help you lose weight; in fact, post-exercise hunger may make you eat more calories than you burned exercising and ultimately make you gain weight.  For the last decade, we joined more gyms and last year, we spent $19 billion in gym memberships, yet we are getting fatter.

·         Post-Exercise Hunger:  Many people reward themselves with calorie-rich food post-exercise which outweighs the benefits of the exercise they just completed.  For example, while exercising on a treadmill, you may burn 250 calories over 30 minutes, but the latte you consumed to reward yourself in 8 minutes gave you 450 calories – a net gain of 200 calories.

·         This also applies to kids:  They too get hungry after exercise and then eat more. Fast food restaurants know this – Why do you think they have the play areas in these fast food restaurants?  They could have placed video games for less space and money.  The restaurants are counting on these hungry kids asking for a second serving of fries or a refreshing milk shake.

·         So should you stop exercising? The answer is complicated but here is my view based on my experiences and hundreds of articles and research read: 

If you are overweight and do not exercise, do not start exercising…yet. First lose the weight by cutting calories and dieting (I hate that word too, but it works). Once you lose the weight, use exercise to maintain it and keep your heart and body healthy.

If you are at your goal weight, you should exercise regularly to keep your heart and body healthy all the while maintaining your weight.

Remember a good exercise program should always involve cardiovascular and weight training.  Be sure to do both.

And remember, no after-exercise treat/reward, unless it is a Smart For Life diet cookie.

I always find eating half or a whole Smart For Life diet cookie cuts my post-exercise hunger and keeps me in line.

Dr. Sass

Sasson Moulavi, M.D.

Medical Director

Smart For Life Cookie Diet

Childhood Obesity Doubles Childhood Hospitalization Rate

A study published online in Health Affairs finds that the number of hospitalizations among children ages 2 to 19 with a primary or secondary diagnosis of obesity nearly doubled from 21,743 in 1999 to 42,429 in 2005. For the analysis, researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine examined data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, finding that obesity-related hospitalizations rose by 8.8 percent annually among ages 2 to 5, by 10.4 percent annually among ages 6 to 11, and by 11.4 percent annually among ages 12 to 19. The data showed a statistically significant increase in the number of obesity-related hospitalizations for several conditions, including asthma, diabetes, pneumonia, appendicitis, and skin and subcutaneous tissue infections. Examining the economic consequence of childhood obesity, the researchers found that costs for children with obesity-related hospitalizations rose to $237.6 million in 2005, an increase from $125.9 million in 2001, measured in 2005 dollars.

These hospitalizations are very traumatic for children.  Just imagine over 42,000 families having to see their kids getting blood tests, biopsies, and other painful procedures.  (If you ever saw an 8-year-old get an intravenous line inserted, it is very traumatic.)  The amazing thing is that a lot of these hospitalizations are preventable by simply losing weight.

Parents and children who have weight issues should review the great benefits of weight loss and get started on the path to health together. They should immediately start at least with the following steps:

·         Drastically cut back or eliminate fast food

·         Begin an exercise program and stick to it

·         Consult a physician to assess health status

·         Understand the latest expert recommendations (visit www.usda.gov)

·         Educate themselves about lifelong weight loss with attention to the following points:

o   Weight management is a lifelong battle

o   Food purchasing habits

o   Portion control and frequency of eating habits

o   Reading and understanding labels

Feel free to come to one of our centers or call us for more help and information.  Let’s do all we can now to prevent these numbers from increasing.

Dr. Sasson Moulavi, M.D.  (Dr. Sass)
Medical Director
Smart For Life Cookie Diet
Thecookiediet.com

When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the original Child Nutrition Act on October 11, 1966, he did not have a vision of children in long lines to eat hot dogs, French fries and fried chicken nuggets, while drinking juices and sodas filled with high fructose corn syrup. Yet this is where we are and it is only getting worse.  Statistics from 2007-2008 show that childhood obesity has not improved despite the alarms that started ringing in 2002.  Nothing has changed.

Over 40 years later, I have tried to get my kids’ school to make some changes, although they do offer salad and fresh fruit on a regular basis. I was told, “We will look into it.”  Well, 3 years later and nothing has improved.

We as parents (I have two; 11 and 13 year olds) must take action. Start by buying healthy food and avoid the junk food bought to satisfy cravings.  Learn to snack on vegetables, healthy dips, and replace sweets with calorie-free gelatin.  Set a good example.  Our chocolate cupcakes and cookies are a great choice to satisfy these urges and keep the hunger suppressed.

Learn to buy fresh fruit and vegetables every week.  Buy a variety by rotating the choices so your kids do not get bored.  Learn to grill and cook vegetables to make them tasty and crunchy.  Cut them into interesting pieces.  Educate your kids as you are preparing them and even learn where they are grown and the health benefits of each.

Start with small changes because I promise they will add up to big improvements.

Dr. Sass

Medical Director 
THINADVENTURETM
Sasson Moulavi, M.D., LMCC, ABBM

As a weight loss physician, many people ask me about Leptin and its affect on being overweight.  We knew very little about Leptin a few years ago and unfortunately, we still know very little.  What we do know is that Leptin, a hormone that has a central role in fat metabolism, is definitely involved in regulating body weight.

Fat cells synthesize and release Leptin into the body.  Some people believe it acts as a signal to the brain informing how many fat cells there are.  In other words, how fat a person is.  It is a mechanism primarily used for starvation by realizing that if Leptin levels fall, the body knows to start eating because its fat stores are low.

A very interesting fact surrounding umbilical cord blood is that Leptin levels are directly related to birth weight. This fact is a clear indication that Leptin has a controlling affect on weight at a very young age. Women have higher Leptin levels than men which may account for why women lose weight slower than men.

The fact is that the latest statistics from 2008-2009 show that we are getting even fatter. The epidemic is getting worse with no end in sight. Leptin research is still in its infancy without any real viable treatment available using Leptin.

Portion control, regular exercise and small multiple meals throughout the day are still the best way to go for weight loss success.

Get thin!

Dr. Sass

Sasson Moulavi, M.D.

Medical Director

Smart for Life Cookie Diet^TM

Thecookiediet.com

Eat Cookies.  Lose Weight.  It’s that Simple.^TM

“Lose 30 pounds in 30 days!”

“Lose weight while you sleep!”

“Creams that melt the pounds away.”

“Eat as much as you want and lose weight.”

All the above statements are actual statements made by weight loss companies all screaming at you to be heard.  Unfortunately none are true and are designed to take your money, your time and sometimes your health away and leave you overweight and discouraged.

No other industry is so full of false claims, false promises and scammers who have very good selling skills, but no substance to their products.

Most humans can’t lose more then 3 to 4 pounds a week maximum after the first week of dieting.  So if companies make claims of over 18 pounds a month, be very, very suspicious.  I would avoid them entirely.

You may melt fat with a cream -- when one is invented I’ll let you know.  I do keep an eye on multiple drugs and products in the research pipeline, and there are not any real products in development – so forget that one.  None of the creams I have seen have ever worked at all.

Basically, you can’t eat more calories than you burn and still lose weight.  Just can’t be done.  There are very strong laws of nature, like the law of thermodynamics, that would not allow this in nature at this time, so forget those.

You know what does work:  Eating less more often, eating healthy and exercising.  Do what works and you will succeed.  That I know!

And losing weight while you sleep, I’ll believe it when I see it.

Get thin and healthy.

Sasson Moulavi, M.D.
Medical Director
Smart for Life Cookie Diet
Thecookiediet.com

Childhood  Eating Habits and Heart Disease.

Until fairly recently it was believed by most doctors that Heart disease begins in the late teens.

This information came in the mid 1950^th after doctors studied the bodies of young soldiers coming back from the Korean War.

The Bogalusa Heart study was done from 1972 to 2005. It tracked 16000 young adults and children some from birth. Critical details were collected height, weight, blood pressure, cholesterol and much more. Grossly visible fatty streaks were seen in the aortas of some of these children after the age of three and  coronary artery lesions were found in kids after the age 10.

This is the longest and most detailed study ever done. It clearly showed a strong link between consumption of high fat, high sodium, low fiber diet. This diet unfortunately is actually getting worse and more common since 1972.

The conclusion of the study done by Dr. Berenson, clearly showed that if we are going to prevent death and disability from heart disease later in life we have to start in the first year of life.

It is critical that we start thinking of high fat, high salt and in my opinion high suger low fiber food as candy and toxic to our kids and limit intake as we limit candy to a baby.

Pass the message, start early and its never to late to start.

Dr. Sass Moulavi

Medical director Smart For Life Weight management Centers

Thecookiediet.com

Smart For Life Cookie diet

For more info go to http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/kids-pyramid.html

In the war against OBESITY, this program is one SMART cookie

Smart for Life features a medically supervised program with physician supervision out of centers, as well as a nutritional program that can be followed at home or in the Smart For Life Centers. Here, Dr. Sass discusses his groundbreaking approach to eating, and why Smart for Life is more than a diet – it’s a lifestyle.

What is the Smart for Life approach?

SFL retrains your eating habits to small multiple meals throughout the day that are healthy and without preservatives or toxins.  Our foods contain all the nutrients and food groups that you would normally eat in a healthy meal.  Together they work to keep metabolism and sugar levels steady in order to suppress hunger and lose weight.

When and how did you come up with the concept? 

I realized while working as an emergency doctor and family practitioner, the effects of being overweight impacted people’s health in a variety of ways.  I was treating 30- and 40-year olds with diseases like diabetes, heart disease and more that all stemmed from the same source.

Also, since having children of my own, and wanting them to grow up healthy, I became very aware of the foods they snacked on that were filled with chemicals, preservatives and pesticides.  With the rise of ADD and Autism, I can’t help but wonder about the connection.

With years of experience, I challenged myself to develop tools and programs for a healthy lifestyle.

Many other doctors and food scientist have helped me to shape what Smart for Life has become. I believe we have created a revolutionary approach to a healthy lifestyle.

Describe Smart for Life’s two programs.

We have a medically-supervised rapid weight loss program monitored by our Smart Doctors in our centers and a do-it-yourself program people can do online or at the center without a physician.  Both bring about terrific results!

What types of ingredients do you use?

We use triple-filtered water since most water is contaminated and most products contain all natural and 60% organic ingredients.

What makes these foods appetite suppressants?

The unique amino acid chains and our low glycemic index suppress the appetite. Also, our unique fiber blend lowers cholesterol and stabilizes sugar levels thus helping increase satiety.

How do the foods taste? Is there a particularly popular item or items?

Really good – they’re not too sweet and have an organic, natural taste.  We take pride in our chocolate chip cookies, our best seller with oatmeal-raisin a close second.  Also, we are constantly creating new foods to add to the variety customers enjoy.

What makes this approach different from other diets?

Because our digestive system was designed for small, multiple meals throughout the day rather than 3 large meals, our approach is a change from the standard way most of us eat.  Early man ate when hungry.  He would look for food, eat a handful of berries and then 2 hours later, find some roots and eat those.  By eating this way, it allows our bodies to slowly digest foods, without large sugar and insulin peaks like when we eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Smart For Life clients are not hungry and therefore lose weight. 

How much responsibility does the client have to take when using the Smart for Life Approach? What does one need to do, in addition to using the products?

The program is easy to follow with very little preparation.  The cookies and other Smart Foods are convenient and ready to eat, especially for a hectic lifestyle. The client must be honest, dedicated and motivated to stick to the program which in our experience they do way more than on any other program because it’s simple and results come quickly.

How much weight can someone lose while on Smart for Life?

The average weight loss is 10 to 15 pounds a month.  It may decrease as you get to your goal.  Our record is 48 pounds in the first 4 weeks!

Is the program difficult to follow?

We hear over and over again:  “This is the easiest program I have ever done!”  It’s easy to follow, healthy and very affordable – actually less expensive than your own food.

Does your organization offer additional supports to clients, such as counseling, nutritional guidance, weigh-ins, etc.?

We offer a full range of services from center-based support, education and motivation to biweekly telephone conference calls and customer service Monday through Friday.

Dr. Sass, what made you choose this weight management genre of medicine? What do you find rewarding about it? 

I find most diseases are related to overweight and obesity. By focusing on the root of many diseases, I feel that I can prevent them and make people happy and healthier.  I love a client’s smile when they lose weight fast. I also believe there is a serious issue in our food supply as it is full of toxins, pesticides, preservatives, and high fructose corn syrup. I am committed to making our products with healthy ingredients and get a great taste even if the shelf-life is shorter.

Do people need to join the program to get the products, or can they purchase the products independently? If so, where?

Smart For Life foods are available in our centers, on our website and even at costco.com.

Do people have to visit a physical location to use the program, or can they join via Web site??

They can do both however, I always encourage clients to come to a center, if possible, for motivation, support and accountability – plus, they’ll get the most variety of products.

Anything new in the works?

Our newest creation is a bagel chip with much less calories than regular bagels, suppresses hunger and controls cholesterol, sugar and insulin.

Weight Loss Lies and False Advertising

I am sick and tired of watching all of these weight loss ads on television, the web and in print for useless and often times dangerous supplements that so many charlatans and snake oil salespeople are peddling out there.

The bottom line is that there really isn’t such a thing as a fat burner.  Period.  Only eating less and exercising more can help you reduce your weight.

There are a few FDA approved appetite suppressants that work well. They are only available by prescription from a qualified physician and they do work.  Do not get these from the internet without seeing your doctor first – you may be taking a big risk with your health.

By now, you are surely aware of the FDA action regarding Hydroxycut from all of the media announcements.  For more information go to http://www.hydroxycutinformation.com/. This is a perfect illustration of my point:  People who were desperate to lose weight ended up with liver damage and who knows what else.  Now they have 2 issues to deal with – their health and their weight problem.  Not a good situation for these people who blindly trusted these companies. It’s too bad we can’t trust companies in these times to produce products within guidelines – that would be so much better.

For the most part, I think the FDA does a good job with the large number of issues it addresses, but it too can be wrong.  For more information on the updates and progress they make in their investigations, go to http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2009/NEW02006.html.

Become informed, be careful, and don’t always believe what you see and hear in ads.  Believe me, you don’t have 20 pounds of stools stuck in your colon!  In most cases, cleansing is a waste of time and money.

I hope this information helped some people, please tell everyone.

Dr. Sass

Sasson Moulavi, MD

Medical Director

Smart for Life^TM Weight Management Centers

www.SmartforLife.com

www.thecookiediet.com

Swine Flu, weight and Health.

As you are all aware we may be heading into a pandemic of Swine flu. See http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu

  For more info.

These diseases typically kill the very young, the very old and people who are at risk because of a compromised immune system. Well being overweight may put you at risk of a compromised immune system also poor nutrition eating nutrient poor food may lead to this.

A weak body defense may make one vulnerable to the Swine flu so when it attacks it will cause much more damage and even death, while a healthy well nourished body will defend itself better reducing this risk.

Eating right keeping a healthy weight, exercising and keeping a healthy mind will help as well.

Some herbs may also help in building a healthy immune system such as garlic. Many pesticides and herbicides are known to decrease immune function so avoid this type of food. Stick to naturally grown fruits organic foods and vegetables.

If the Swine flu really becomes a pandemic we may have to take some extreme measures. I will keep you posted. If you have extra money you may want to get a prescription of Tamiflu from your doctor and keep it at home as there may be a run on this medication. For more info go to http://www.tamiflu.com/sideeffects.aspx

Eat well, save your immune system, it may save your life.

Dr. Sass

Sasson Moulavi MD.

Medical director Smart For Life eat cookies lose weight it that simple.

Thecookiediet.com

Heart disease has been proven to be largely a disease of a poor lifestyle. It used to be largely a disease of man. Today however more woman die of cardiovascular disease than man. The current research points to a change in lifestyle in woman of today as compared to the 1960s. The increased involvement in professional jobs outside the home, woman now spend  less time at home preparing home cooked healthy meals. Instead “fast food” has become the standard.   This is not their fault but due to circumstances that these poor mothers can’t control. I am often amazed at the working woman around me, how they manage to juggle their job and kids. Unfortunately  some food companies have taken advantage of the situation and developed cheap good tasting food, that’s killing us.

These changes and an increase in sedentary lifestyle have led to an alarming rise in childhood obesity. When I walk in malls I am alarmed and amazed at the huge number of obese kids I see. The tragic outcome of this trend is an increase in Diabetes, Stroke and Heart attacks not to mention the psychological issues. The rise in cardiovascular disease in adult hood is really due to childhood obesity.

The point I am trying to make is: all these above issues are really a preventable lifestyle disease, easily treated with weight loss, proper nutrition and exercise.

If we all just got off our behinds this worsening trend wouldn’t even occur. We need to make everyone aware or we will never solve this deadly crisis. I already see significant changes more people are buying healthy Organic foods, health food stores are getting busier. But it’s not enough.

Scientific research clearly shows that a diet rich in saturated fats and Trans fats leads to cardiovascular disease. A diet poor in antioxidants is also unhealthy. Studies have shown that Antioxidants and exercise increase nitrous oxide which also helps prevent heart disease.

It is your responsibility to make these changes. No one else can make them for you. There is a famous saying in the Talmud “If I am not for myself, who is for me”. This applies here; no one has your good health and the good health of your loved one more on their mind than you.

Get healthy, get thin

Dr. Sass

Sasson Moulavi MD

Medical director

Smart For Life cookie diet.

Thecookiediet.com

Say you have just found out you lost your job. You dive right into the chocolate, pretzels and gain 10 pounds. We all have had stress and most of us tend to eat more when we are stressed out.  Well there is a very good explanation to this and one you should be very well aware of if you want to lose weight and keep it off.

Our bodies are designed for survival; any stress is interpreted by the body as a  threat. The cave man in olden days was programmed to eat more when stressed to built up fat stores incase food will not be available or more energy (to run away or fight) will be needed. The problem we have that the cave man didn’t is we got supermarkets, fridges and pantries all loaded with high calorie food just ready to be eaten. We don’t have to walk for miles to pick berries or spend a day trying to hunt down something to eat. We get fat, the cave man got fit and survived.

Our hormone system has not changes in all those years. The stress hormone cortisol   that protected primitive man now makes us fat. Don’t be fooled I don’t know of any effective method to block cortisol, (  I have treated thousands of patients with high cortisol at Smart for Life ), So don’t waste your money on so called cortisol blocking weight loss products.

The only thing that works is keeping your vigilance up and your pantry bare.

Here are some simple rules:

Recognize stress induced eating. (You know it when you do it, you choose to ignore it)

Learn to live with some level of stress, it is normal.

Use exercise, comedy, and other methods to deal with stress.

If you must eat to relax, eat celery, no calorie jello, or no calorie beverages.

Don’t keep too much food in the house and don’t buy stress food “chocolate, pretzels, peanut butter etc”

If your stress situation becomes chronic, seek medical attention.

Get on the scale and see where you are, remember cortisol drives Fat right to your abdomen.

Get thin , stay thin.

Dr Sass

Medical director Smart For Life weight Management Centers

Thecookiediet.com

Smart For life Cookie Diet

As more and more people learn how to lose weight, fuel their bodies, and live Smart for Life, I am always humbled by their words as they share their stories.  Here’s one from a radio listener who was inspired by the local on-air personality who lost weight and is living Smart.

I’m writing to you to thank you for giving me the hope that I could lose the weight.  Eight years ago I had a major lifestyle change (I stopped partying).  As a result, my weight went from an unhealthy, skinny 160 lbs. to 203 pounds.  I have since shed close to 35 pounds and am the happiest I’ve been for a long time. 

My wedding and the birth of my daughter were the happiest moments of my life but I was always unhappy with the way I looked and felt.  Now with a second child due in March, I feel like all the dots are connected and my life is where I’ve always wanted it to be.

When I started Smart for Life, everyone around me laughed and joked.  Most people said they’d wait and see if it worked for me before trying it.  Now 4 new people that I know have embarked on the Smart for Life journey thanks to my example, and every day for the past 2 weeks people have been asking me about it.  One thing I didn’t count on was how much my co-workers would notice my weight change.  I feel like a million bucks!

Now the trick is to continue the habits of eating several times a day and eat normal human portions (as opposed to eating like a pig) to keep me looking and feeling this way.

Every morning my wife and I listen to you, and I was always telling myself:  “This guy is the real deal, if it worked for him, it can work for me.”  I met you a few years ago when I had my head shaved and when I see your picture today on billboards, your weight loss makes a huge noticeable difference.  Thanks again for setting the example and being such a good advocate for Smart for Life.

So all it takes is a little inspiration, a lot of determination and the right tools to get the job done.  Get going and get Smart for Life!

Dr. Sass

Medical Director Smart for life Cookie diet

thecookiediet.com

Foods containing a widely used additive may increase the growth of lung cancer or cause new tumors to develop, new research published in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine suggests.

Tumors were more plentiful in mice with lung cancer fed a diet containing 0.5 to 1 percent inorganic phosphates (equivalent to the 40 mg. that humans on average consume daily) for a month according to this study. The tumors' mass increased by 14 percent in the mice fed the most phosphates.

Inorganic phosphates are chemicals added to a variety of processed foods including cheese, meat, beverages and bakery products to increase water retention and improve texture. “The additives may disrupt the regulation of cell growth in the lungs, causing tumors to develop,” says Myung-Haing Cho, a veterinarian at Seoul National University, who co-authored the study (High Dietary Inorganic Phosphate Increases Lung Tumorigenesis and Alters Akt Signaling Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 179: 59-68. First published online as doi:10.1164/rccm.200802-306OC).
As a Weight Loss Physician and nutrition expert, I can’t forward this information without making some recommendations:

• Eat less processed food. The more Organic, the better. Eat more vegetables and fruit as well as whole grain.
• The Smart For Life diet cookie is, of course, 60% organic and made without these food additives that our company is so much against. It’s not only important to lose weight, but lose weight while eating healthy food. Many weight loss companies use shelf-stable food that last years without refrigeration (Would you eat chicken that was not refrigerated for 2 years). Never eat shelf-stable food.
• Don’t forget these food additives are also in many foods that claim to be healthy. They may not even be shown on the label. Do your research and find out, eat foods from companies you respect and trust.
• Another great source of contamination of food is water. Most companies use municipal water added to their products. This water is often contaminated with many poisons including mercury and cadmium. It is critical that all food producers follow the Smart for Life lead and use triple filtered water only. Municipal water is for taking a shower not for consumption in my opinion (Some municipalities do a great job of filtering their water, but it’s always better to filter again).

Have a Healthy New Year!

Dr. Sass

Medical Director Smart For Life Weight Management Centers

Did you know that if you rate your health as "Fair to "Poor" as compared to most other people, your likelihood of an early death is a lot higher than if you rate it as "Good" or "Excellent".  In fact, in the book Staying Young by Dr. Roizen and Dr. Oz, they claim that if you think your state of health is "Fair" or "Poor" then your chance of dying within the next 2 years is 30 times higher than if you think it is "Good" or "Better".

That statement should really make us stop and think about our state of health. We are the only ones who truly know how healthy we are - or aren't! You are an active participant or spectator to all the good and bad you place in your body every day.

What this shows is that we know ourseleves better than we think.  People who think their health is poor probably do so because deep in the back of their minds they have a health compass that keeps track of their health behaviors.  It tallies good intake versus bad.

Imagin that just by eating healthier and exercising a little you can reduce your chance of dying by 30 times.  And then every little improvement you make imporves your overall health.  For example, when I was overweight working in a busy emergency room, I saw 36-year-old patients comming in with heart attacks.  I could see myself in that situation; I knew it could happen.  I decided to do something about it and Smart for Life was born: A way to eat healthy and fast without preservatives.  I would have rated my health then as "Poor"; I would rate it now as "Good".

So how do you rate your health? Come on deep inside, ya know?

If you rate it "Fair" or "Poor", fix it.  Get Smart, eat better, lose weight, exercise, de-stress your life and get regular check-ups.

Peace, Love, Cookies,

Dr. Sass

Medical Director Smart For Life Cookie Diet

Humanity has seen many revolutions like the industrial and the computer revolutions.  But what I truly feel we need is a revolution with our food and eating habits that actually has already begun.  I see it all around me.  Instead of eating breakfast, lunch or snacks, people are pulling out Smart Cookies for meals and eating them.  I predict that a large number of people will be eating like this in the future.  Sounds crazy doesn’t it?  Well, the way we were trained to eat (i.e. 3 bid meals a day) is actually crazier and not very good for our bodies.  Here’s why:

Our stomachs and intestines were designed to hold small amounts of food.  This is because primitive man used to go out, collect some berries and, when he had a handful, and shove it into his mouth.  This handful of food would travel to the stomach, and while it was digested, primitive man would continue to look for more food.  When he had another handful, the process would repeat itself.  This is why primitive man never experienced today’s common digestive and dietary problems like heartburn, diabetes or obesity.  His digestive system never needed to overproduce acid; acid that is caused by large quantities of food going into his stomach, stretching it, and resulting in overproduction of acid and acid reflux. Nor was primitive man’s sugar and insulin unstable, unlike today when man experiences huge spikes in these levels when consuming a large meal.  For example, a handful of berries has about 80 to 100 calories versus a fast food meal can have up to 1200 calories alone! (A Smart For Life Cookie has 80 to 100 calories.) Imagine a sugar and/or insulin spike after a 1200 calorie meal versus 100 calories.  It is much healthier to eat 6 meals with 100 calories each over 5 hours than to eat 600 calories all at once every 5 hours.  Think of your body digesting these small meals more efficiently than working “overtime” to digest 3 large meals.  Eventually the body is going to give out and malfunction!

So now you have a glimpse as to why biologically it’s better to eat these small Smart For Life diet cookies than larger meals.  (The Smart for Life program recommends a dinner meal because of social issues, but biologically it’s always better to eat fewer calories over time.) Plus, there are more benefits when you think of the time, gas, energy and stress you spend going out to lunch; it’s usually an hour-long ordeal.  Wouldn’t it be so much better if you could pull out your favorite cookie and drink, go to a park or a nice quiet corner, eat your meal and have time left over to read, relax or go for a walk?  Best of all, you will not have that “I shouldn’t have eaten that” guilty feeling after lunch or the “food coma” that comes after eating a high calorie meal. You’ll save your health and a dollar or two per day. Not to mention that these Smart Cookies are 60% organic and contain no preservatives.

This is why the Smart for Life Cookie Meal lifestyle is starting a food revolution.  You may think its crazy now, but you’ll be following it eventually.  There are just too many benefits not to do it.

Be Smart, Join the Revolution!

Best regards

Dr. Sass

WHEN YOU TRY AND TRY AND YOU CAN’T SEEM TO SHED A POUND

About 25% of women and a smaller percentage of men have a slow metabolism and will lose weight very slowly or not at all when they cut calories. The kind of story I hear is “Doctor, I tried Weight Watcher and gained weight!” Listed below are a handful of issues that can cause this:

A)     Not really following the program also known as “cheating”.

To solve this go back to basics. 1) Review the program again and refresh your memory.

2) Keep a diet journal. 3) Get someone to monitor you regularly.

B)      Thyroid-based metabolic problem.

To solve this you should see a doctor. The tests I order for my patients include:

1)      TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone)

2)      Free T3 (very important and often not ordered)

3)      Free T4

4)      Thyroid antibodies (only in specific cases)

Many people do not convert their thyroid hormone from none-active to active even if they are taking a thyroid supplement. In these cases, I use natural supplements that have a pre-converted thyroid in them.

C)      Insulin resistance.

This is a condition in which your body is not metabolizing sugar correctly. There are some specific tests your doctor may run, but if your BMI is above 30 you are probably insulin resistant. I treat my patients with a combination of a prescription-only medication know as Metformin, a greater caloric restriction and mild exercise.

D)     Stress and Cortisol.

 Some people who suffer from high stress and/or sleep deprivation may have an increase in cortisol levels making weight loss very difficult. There is no medication to treat this, so DO NOT spend your hard-earned money on the gimmicks that claim to block cortisol. It is a bold-face lie designed to tell you something you want to hear in order to sell you a useless product. The only solutions here are to get your life in order, learn to relax, and learn better habits so that you may sleep better.

 In rare cases, some people have had a combination of all the problems listed above. If this is not the case for you and  you’re sticking to this program’s guidelines to the letter and still not losing, go see your Smart For Life Doctor or your family Doctor.  You may share with them this information and seek further advisement.

Have a healthy day!

Dr. Sass 

Medical Director Smart For Life cookie diet

Calorie Overload Can Affect your Immune System

In a recent study in The Journal, cell researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have discovered a pathway which may explain why overeating increases the risk of many diseases.

People who overeat have long been known to have an increase in chronic inflammation which leads to increase in early death and many diseases.

What they found is a compound called IKKbeta/NK-kappab that is used by immune cells, and found in a part of the brain called the hypothalamus that controls metabolism.  Rats with certain lesions in the hypothalamus can become extremely obese.  This compound was usually inactive in the hypothalamus but when the mice where overfed, this compound increased in activity.  It caused the rat to ignore signals from Leptin and Insulin that tell the brain when it is eating too much.

The fact that this compound is also used by the immune system gives us a link as to how overeating affects the immune system.  This brain pathway causes immune cells to attack invaders that are not really there, thus causing chronic inflammation.

I am really impressed by this research because it finally gives us a very strong clue to something weight loss doctors see every day, and now researchers in this field will have a clear direction to go in.

I will keep writing regarding this development as it progresses.

In the meantime, eat less, live more, have less inflammation, and save money.

Best regards,

Dr. Sass

Medical Director Smart for Life Cookie Diet

Many of our clients/patients tell me the same story:

“Dr. Sass, I really don’t eat anything all day.  I have coffee for breakfast, then I go to work.  Maybe I have a snack, then I get home at about 6 p.m. and by then I am starving and have one meal.  I eat a lot less then my friends, yet they are skinny and I am overweight.”

Does this sound like you?  If it does, there is a reason:  Your body is an amazing machine that can down-regulate your metabolism very quickly.  Our bodies are designed to protect us from starvation —not from getting fat.  The body has multiple mechanisms to keep you from losing weight but very few mechanism (some researchers say none) from keeping you from gaining weight.

When you sleep, your blood sugar begins to drop slowly even though  you spend energy sleeping (heart beating, breathing, involuntary movements, dreaming).  Just before you wake up, your blood sugar is at its lowest.  When you wake up, your body expects you to eat (that’s why it’s so important to eat that first diet cookie from Smart For Life Cookie Diet within an hour of waking up).  If you don’t eat, your blood sugar will begin to drop more. Your body will then be forced to use up fat to convert to sugar to keep your blood sugar high enough so you don’t faint, and it will also begin to shut off your metabolism.

Your body goes through this process daily.  You don’t feel too bad because your body is compensating by decreasing your metabolic rate. You may feel a little tired, headachy but you take a pain killer and move on. Over a few months, your metabolic rate can be reduced significantly.  When you have that big dinner, your body, with its low metabolic rate, begins to store all these extra calories as fat.  The price you pay is high for this behavior because not only do you gain weight, but you actually eat less food.

That’s why it’s so important to eat your Smart for Life diet cookies throughout the day like small multiple meals (think of each diet cookie as a meal).  These meals give you enough protein, fat and sugar to keep your metabolism going while you’re still losing weight.  This is why the Smart for Life cookie diet program works so well.  Many of my clients/patients tell me that by eating the Smart Diet Cookies, they become re-trained to get away from their mammoth one-big-meal-a-day plan.

Enough said!  Stop behaving badly , get healthy and eat your Smart Cookies – that’s 6-7 meals a day!

The American public is waking up to a harsh reality. Our brains, wallets, natural resources and spirits are all overextended. We are overweight and overwhelmed. This may sound bad at first glance but in reality it may be a good thing.

We are finally seeing a pull back from the previous craziness and overconsumption. We are driving less and I hope we will soon be eating less.

Less is very much more when it comes to food. You benefit by being slimmer, healthier, and live longer and in most cases happier.  I challenge you all to start living with less. Start by putting less on your plate. At work don’t go out and eat, instead have a Smart for Life™ diet Cookie as your meal and go for a walk. You’ll save time because the Smart for Life™ Cookie is the fastest healthiest meal you can have. No going anywhere, no waiting in line and you’ll save money. All of a sudden you will have an extra 20 minutes to go for that walk, read a book and extra cash in your pocket.

You’ll also feel better. I use to get this horrible fatigue after lunch. At about 2 pm I would want to take a nap. Since I started eating Smart for Life™ Cookies at lunch this has stopped happening. I have more energy and I am more productive.

I challenge you to do this for a week, not only is this a great technique for weight maintenance but it’s very healthy.  Start on Monday and stick to it for a whole week, you’ll notice the difference immediately.

The good that will come up is that the world will move a little slower for you.  Your health will improve; your wallets will have a few more dollars in it. The earth will thank you and your body will thank you. You’ll be putting fewer pesticides and more organic and healthy nutrients in your body. Maybe you’ll finally work less and go on vacation more.

Get healthy, be happy and eat a Smart for Life™ diet Cookie for lunch!

Just a little cream in your coffee every day and you could weigh 300 pounds!

A lot of people don’t know this but some of our eating and drinking habits that we may think are trivial really pack on the pounds. 

If you put cream in your coffee and have just 2 cups of coffee a day, you will gain 8.3 pounds per year. Here is the proof (it requires a little bit of math):

The average person puts about 40 calories of cream in their coffee x 2 cups of coffee a day (assuming he/she used no sugar) = 80 calories a day.  In a year that’s 365 days x 80 calories a day = a total of 29,200 calories.

So you have received 29,200 “extra” calories just from a little bit of cream in your coffee. That’s equal to about 50 hamburgers with all the extras. Now how much is that in human fat, or put another way, how many pounds of fat does 29,200 calories convert to in your body?

Humans make a pound of fat from every 3500 calories, and if you try to lose weight you will need to burn 3500 calories to get rid of that pound of fat.

So the math is easy; 29,200 calories divided by 3500 calories gives you a whopping 8.3 pounds of weight gain in one year just from a little creamer. That’s 83 pounds in 10 years and 166 pounds in 20 years. So you see how easy it is to reach 300 pounds. If you use sugar, double it, that’s 16 pounds a year or 160 pounds in 10 years. Milk, no sugar, it's 4 pounds per year or 40 pounds in 10 years. If you use skim milk it's,  2 pounds per year or 20 pounds in 10 years.

There are products out there that are fat-free but not calorie-free. Don’t be fooled by the label “fat-free”, continue reading the label. The only true fat, sugar and calorie-free product I know and use is Zilch™ (available at Smart For Life™ centers (home of our famous diet cookie) or at SmartforLife.com. (I am the Medical Director for this company). I tried finding another brand but could not find one, so I invented one. You can also learn to drink your coffee black. All this also applies to tea or other drinks where cream is used.

I do not have to tell you the health benefits of not gaining 8 pounds a year. By the way, it would take about 60 hours at your gym to burn just those 8 pounds from a little creamer you really have to like cream to be willing to do that.

Take home message:  Stop using cream and switch to 2% or skim milk or drink your coffee black. You can also try Zilch™ available at any Smart For Life™ Center.

Make every day a healthy day!

Dr. Sass

Dr. Sass (Sasson Moulavi, MD) is the Medical Director of Smart For Life™ Weight Management Centers home of the diet cookie.

I often hear from other doctors that my overweight patients are just lazy and have low will power and it’s their fault if they are fat. I disagree. I believe a significant number of my patients are addicted to food just like a drug addict, smoker and/or an alcoholic.

For a lot of you who have been touched by addiction (I believe I am a food addict, the Smart For Life diet cookie helps me control my addiction),  you know the famous saying “You didn’t cause it, you can’t control it, and you can’t cure it”. Well I have treated thousands of overweight patients with our Smart For Life diet cookie over the years, and I never met one patient who wanted to be fat. All the overweight patients I treated wanted to lose weight and did not choose to be fat. I can only think of one group of women who wanted to stay fat to protect themself from being raped in an inner city study in Detroit. So we agree that these overweight people do not want to be fat.

So why are some getting fat? Well, just like some people can take drugs once and never use again, others trigger genes that wake up and get them to use again and again. The same compulsion to use cocaine even when people know it destroys their health, family, income and mind, exist's with food. How else can you explain people with diabetes having slices of chocolate cake sneaked into their hospital room when they just got admitted for Diabetic complications.

We know for a fact that overweight people have changes in their bodies regarding insulin, sugar and the different hormones that tell you when you are full. Some of these food addicts are always hungry, they are never full.

As the Medical Director at Smart For Life Weight Management Centers™, the first thing I teach doctors in training  is that you can only control weight, you can’t cure it. Our clients are trained to think of their weight issue as a chronic problem that needs to be watched. We have a great success rate in getting people to lose 20 to 100 pounds, but what we really succeeded in doing is teaching our clients to lose that 8 pounds that crept up the year after they lost their weight. Our clients return to our centers yearly or order our products and knock that weight off.

If you are overweight, try to think of yourself as an addict. It will help you gain better control. Don’t tell yourself “I just like good food” tell yourself“ I am addicted to food and I need help to control my addiction”. Go out and seek help from your doctor to manage your addiction. Remember, relapse is part of the therapy process.

Free on the phone group meeting (who can afford to drive these days) open to all are available twice a week. 

http://www.smartforlife.com

Have a Healthy Day!

Dr. Sass

We Americans eat an average of one million animals an hour, that’s 24 million animals a day.

Now, I am not a vegetarian, but I do believe that we are abusing our food chain position of power over many creatures.  Do we really need to have that shrimp cocktail appetizer or boil that 3 lbs. lobster when we are already overweight?  It’s a lose/lose proposition when we eat calories we can’t really afford to eat.

Take the simple shrimp cocktail, one of my favorite dishes when I was overweight. I had to have it before my juicy, medium steak.  That was 4 Jumbo Shrimp who where happily swimming in the ocean and are now dead.  They will not nourish me, but just add to the fat stores in my body and around my heart. Eventually they will be part of the massive amount of arterial plaque and cholesterol goo that will lead to a heart attack, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, and also make me look fat – in many cases that’s the scariest of all!  Now that I have become Smart For Life, I either have a small steak or a shrimp cocktail – not both.

That’s just the beginning:  Think about the fossil fuel used to catch, ship, pack, and cook these little creatures. Then the waste and pollution used to clean up the waste produced by my unnecessary feast: garbage bags, truck oil, more fossil fuel – it really is amazing.

Did you know that it takes nearly 40 gallons of fossil fuel to grow, ship and feed the corn that the cattle eat that produce 1200 pounds of beef (only one steer)?  Also, how we raise cattle these days allows the cattle waste, in its high concentration, to become toxic to the soil requiring further cleansing.  Then the transportation of the cattle to slaughter, then to your local supermarket or steak house, and so on…It really is a lose/lose proposition.

Now I know what you’re thinking:  But what about the jobs all this creates?  Well, if we didn’t eat the shrimp cocktail, maybe we wouldn’t have to work so hard to pay for it.  We’d spend less money and enjoy more time on the beach with our families and friends checking out the shrimp in their natural environment.

Believe me, it’s not easy.  I am guilty of this behavior when I order too much food or buy too much at the grocery.

We all need to become more aware of this tremendous, destructive cycle of power we have with our enormous environment.  Today, the price of oil is through the roof, the rainforest is disappearing, fish populations are vanishing, bees are down by 50%.  It really is a lose/lose proposition.

I think we have a right to eat some of these wonderful and tasty animals, but do we need to eat them all today?  Let’s be Smart and save some for tomorrow.

Eat less, leave a bigger tip, and maybe we can get it down to 12 million animals a day.

Get Cookie Thin!

Dr. Sass

Sometimes our patients say it better than we do; this is an e-mail I recently received from one of our clients. It shows how, even when you lose hope completely, you can succeed.

Here it is in his words:

Pre- “1 grade through 7 grade severely picked on… every day I would get picked on; everyday people would make me cry because I was so overweight. In 7 grade played guitar very well, fingers got too fat, so I couldn’t play anymore. Everything that was good in my life went bad… fast.…and then I developed severe depression! Hospitalized. Been on meds ever since I was 7 years old… some of my meds are weight gainers and made me even bigger.

High School…. 350 lbs at 6’0”. “ I was a ghost, no one talked to me, they put me in a special education program… met some friends there. Got a girlfriend… 10 years…Broke up with her because I was getting even more obese… I was morbid. Being morbidly obese affected every aspect of my life… I was constantly losing friends, and losing my favorite hobbies.

After High School: “Started taking boxing at 350 lbs, stuck with boxing for 5 years… all self-defense. My trainer showed me how to use my strength and defend myself… I wanted to create a scary image so no one would mess with me anymore.

Smart for Life Program:  29 years old…. Walked into Center on January 16, 2008 with mom … “I was very testy, nervous, embarrassed to be here… I had c-cup breasts and a belly….I wore a size 52 jeans and a 5 XL shirt. I wanted to do the program because my mother pushed me, everyday she was pushing me to go out and get outside, I didn’t want to leave my room because I was so depressed…I had an enclosed life, I was getting fat, I was drinking a 12 pack of soda a day, pizza and a half, 2 subs for dinner… I didn’t want to diet because I thought there was no hope for me, I thought I would be living in my basement for the rest of my life… if I was to stay in the mode I was in I would have probably died.”

THE GOOD STUFF: “Every since I started the “Smart For Life” diet I have been happier, selfassertive, motivated, I went back to college studying for a degree in psychology, picked up my guitar for the first time in 9 years, the body of the guitar fits but because I was on so many prescription drugs I forgot how to play, now the music is starting to come back to me…. My love and joy for music has grown again, being there and seeing the girls in the center always with big smiles on thier faces was the most helpful thing in the world for me… it literally helped me come back every week, you guys were so kind and very compassionate about my weight… I wouldn’t take off my shirt because I was embarrassed; they never made me…

Now… I walk in every Tuesday, I look forward to getting up… my hobbies now, go to the gym, and my friend just opened up a landscaping company so I’m helping him set it up in my spare time.

From January 08’ to 6/3/08 I’ve lost a total of 118.5 lbs! I’ve followed to the T…. I made sure I followed the diet exactly how I was told.  I didn’t cheat; I didn’t want to cheat… the weight loss made me keep going. 

My new clothes sizes: I wear an XL shirt…I’ve dropped 5 shirt sizes, my new pants are a 40… I have dropped 11 pants sizes… I still have beautiful muscle form in my body because I work out…. I’ve not lost any muscle mass, it's all fat that I’ve lost.  And that was the most important thing to me.

Smart for Life totally changed my life, I will always be grateful to the company the girls, and the doctor… especially the doctor… I’ve developed a friendship with all of them, I brought them key chains and necklaces from my trip to Las Vegas.

I feel like a completely different person, I’m not depressed anymore… I wish the kids in 7th grade could see me now.”

Meds

Seroquel for sleep was on 900mgs down to 200mgs.

I don’t snore anymore

Off blood pressure meds completely; was using 2 times a day.

Doctor was worried about getting diabetes; I’m no longer at risk for diabetes.

Trazadone 500mg –stopped taking

Zyprexa- Stopped taking

For those of you who are in this situation get up, join a weight loss program that’s right for you, preferable with a doctor and never ever give up.

Dr. Sass

One of our staff created a My Space account, here it is for you viewing pleasure

http://www.myspace.com/smart_for_life

http://www.myspace.com/smart_for_life

  My family was invited to attend the Indy 500 this past weekend, as Smart For Life was the sponsor Indy Health and Fitness.

I was proud to be part of such a major race that went green; all the racing teams were using renewable ethanol to power their engines.

The amount of food was crazy. My wife Renata was on the Smart For Life program at the time trying to lose 5 pounds. (My wife does the program about twice a year to keep her weight in check).  I was very proud of her with all the hot dogs, hot pretzels, turkey legs and alcohol all around us. She did not stray once, she stuck to her cookies and water. I have a picture of her eating cookies with people all around her with hot dogs and hamburgers.  Now, my wife is Polish, believe me she grew up on meat and potatoes not to mention alcohol so it’s not easy for her. But she did it.

My daughter decided to become a vegetarian this weekend as well, so far its lasting 4 days. I completely supported her and we went to Whole Foods to get Boca burgers. She will eat fish and chicken salad though (who Am I to argue). Both my kids eat the Smart For Life cookies regularly, my son even takes them to school sometimes because his friends ask him for them.

My son and I are the only red meat eaters in the family (my wife will have red meat occasionally when she is not dieting). But we promised no more than twice a week and it’s usually Organic.

So you can see, even a weight loss doctor and his family are not perfect but we try hard.

Anyways getting back to the Indy 500.  The amount of food that people consumed all around us was astonishing. I really think we all need to wake up or we are going to kill ourselves. A 10-year-old kid should not be eating a 2 pound turkey leg for a snack, have a burger and fries as well as 2 soft drinks in a 3 hour race.  He was sitting 2 rows below me and was at least 30 pounds overweight already. I almost went up to his dad and told him “You must take control or you will ruin your child’s life”. This is serious stuff. We all know the social and medical issues that arise with being overweight.

So the next time you go to a major event or a fair, look around and see how food crazy we have become.

Stop yourself and don’t partake in this social food obsession we are all guilty of. Bring some healthy snacks with you. If you are responsible for these events, get some healthy snacks to sell. Remember that being Smart for Life involves easting preferably organic foods, no preservatives or pesticide residue and filtered water (that’s at least how our famous cookies are made).

Get Healthy, Get Thin.

About 50-80 percent of the human body is composed of water. The exact amount of bodily water varies according to age and the proportion of muscle-to-fat (muscle contains more water than fat.) Although does not water contains  calories and may not have nutrients, it is essential for life. We can survive for weeks without food, but only a matter of days without water. Unlike food which we store in the form of fat, we do not store excess water; we must ensure that our daily diet contains a sufficient supply to maintain adequate health. It's extremely difficult to take in too much water. If we drink too much, our body simply adjusts by increasing the amount of liquid we urinate. However, if our water level inside our body falls too low, we experience several symptoms that warn us we may be dehydrating. The principal symptom is thirst.

How much water should you drink each day? Studies have produced varying recommendations over the years, but in truth, your water needs depend on many factors, including your health, how active you are and where you live.   

Drinking the right amount of water will help you achieve your weight loss goals, live longer and have less illness. I had a patient a few years ago who use to drink coffee in the morning and a cup of water with dinner, that’s all. She looked 20 years older than her stated age and was never able to lose weight, she claims that she read somewhere that if you eat enough fruit and vegetables you don’t need to drink any water. Needless to say I showed her Smart For Life water intake recommendations and did not allow her to go to sleep without at least 8 glasses of water. Although I could not bring back all the damage she did by being chronically dehydrated; She started losing weight, her dry skin improved, and she told me she was less fatigued and less depressed.

Water is your body's principal chemical component, water flushes toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to your cells and provides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat tissues.

Every day you lose water through your breath, perspiration, urine and bowel movements. For your body to function properly, you must replenish its water supply by consuming beverages and foods that contain water.

Several approaches attempt to approximate water needs for the average, healthy adult living in a temperate climate.

§  Replacement approach. You need to replace what you urinate and sweat, good luck measuring that.

§  Eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. Another approach to water intake is the "8 x 8 rule" — drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day (about 1.9 liters). The rule could also be stated, "Drink eight 8-ounce glasses of fluid a day," as all fluids count toward the daily total.

§  Dietary recommendations. The Institute of Medicine advises that men consume roughly 3 liters (about 13 cups) of total beverages a day and women consume 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) of total beverages a day.

Drink your water, get thin!

Dr. Sass

Ask Dr. Sass

Dr. Sass will answer you questions regarding weight loss.

Please write to:

Ask Dr. Sass

3350 Boca Raton Suite B38

Boca Raton , Florida 33432

Or by E mail to DrSass@smartforlife.com

A 14-year study of canine diet and health has found that dogs fed a calorie-restricted diet live a median 1.8 years longer than dogs allowed to eat more, and are slower to develop chronic diseases such as osteoarthritis.

The findings add to the growing body of evidence that caloric restriction in a wide range of species significantly boosts longevity. Dogs are the only large mammals -- and the closest human relatives -- for which a diet-restriction study has been completed.

If  these studies are right, we may add 10 years by eating less. The studies also showed that the calorie reduced group had less disease and inflammation.

"This study should reinforce for dog owners the importance of keeping their dogs lean, with palpable ribs and an obvious waistline," Smith said. "Avoid giving dogs too many high-calorie treats and consider a brand of balanced dog food formulated to be low in caloric content while providing a sense of satiety."

We know of many cultures that live longer because they eat less. Many theories have been postulated; Some say it less exposure to toxins (pesticides etc.), others believe that we all have a certain capacity to eat a set number of calories and if we eat them quicker, we die quicker. We know that being overweight changes the Telomeres which we believe is the part of the DNA that controls the extra lifespan of the cell.

Dietary restriction has been shown to have a positive effect on the life span of rodents and invertebrates. Research spanning decades has found that dietary restriction is the only nutritional change that consistently extends the life span of animals.

Ok, so we are going to call it the ANTI-Aging cookie diet or should we stay the Smart For Life cookie Diet. Let me know.

Eat less, live longer.

Get cookie thin!

I start many of my lectures by telling people not to start exercising for weight loss. This isn’t just my view but the view of many who are deeply involved with serious weight loss. You must exercise to keep your weight stable and for physical and mental well-being.  The key is that IF you are not exercising regularly, it’s better for you to lose the weight first without exercise and then when you reach a reasonable weight, start a lifelong exercise program.

I can go ahead and quote multiple studies that drove this point, but I’d rather tell you from my own experience of personally treating thousands of patients. The bottom line is when people try to diet whether they do our 800 calorie medically supervised program (Smart for Life Cookie Diet) or our 1200 calorie At Home Program, the following happens: 

They exercise for 200 calories and get hungry and end up eating 600 calories, therefore having a net gain of 400 calories.

They get hungry and tired and stop both the program and the exercise.

They injure themselves and stop both.

The rate of weight loss slows down on Smart for Life Cookie Diet you are expected to lose 10 to 15 pounds a month.

They feel overwhelmed or they have to commit to the program and also to exercise; it’s too much for some people and they stop both.

Finally at Smart For Life we create a net caloric deficiency in your body of about 1200 to 1700 calories a day (a pound of fat has 3500 calories, so almost ½ a pound), you would need to exercise for 3 to 4 hours a day to get that amount of fat loss.

So if you are not exercising, get on the programs first lose the fat, and then we will put you on a program that will fit your life style.

If you are exercising great, keep going. We will tailor the program to your routine or change your routine somewhat.

Get Thin.

Dr. Sass

Medical Director

Smart For Life cookie diet (but we are much more than just a "cookie diet")

Find out why we are better diets, weight loss programs, and cookie diets.

We all get to that age when we realize that Mom was right.  A few things we can finally make good on from Mom’s nagging, are eating right, not skipping meals and losing weight once and for all. 

The Smart for Life program uses all of Mom’s ‘suggestions’ to help people across the country lose weight and gain better health.  Let’s reflect on those tidbits of wisdom one-by-one – whether it’s from Mom or actually now from you to your children and grandchildren.

Don’t skip meals!   Very true -- Especially when you are working on losing weight.  Smart for Life re-trains people to eat smaller meals throughout the day.  Grab a Smart Cookie with your coffee and begin your day with energy and gusto.  You’ll notice your metabolism and sugar levels stay constant and do not spike.

Eat right.   Smart for Life products are ideal for fulfilling on this promise to Mom.  Each cookie, pudding or muffin includes many of the nutrients that our bodies require.  The Smart Cookies and Muffins use specific ingredients featuring cholesterol-lowering effects of a specially formulated flax meal/fish oil blend to provide a full compliment of Omega-3 fatty acids. 

The puddings contain 2 cutting-edge functional ingredients:  Plant Sterols to reduce LDL cholesterol and Enriched Chicory Inulin, an all-natural, prebiotic fiber that stimulates the beneficial bacteria in your colon, enhances calcium absorption which in turn improves bone health, and also helps regulate your digestive system.

Besides the added health benefits, the taste is incredible!  And all Smart for Life baked goods are made without trans-fats, no genetically modified organisms and triple filtered water.