PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The Philadelphia Fire Department today honored the wife of a fire lieutenant who led the pack in a competitive weight-loss program.

Leah Brown, wife of Philadelphia fire lieutenant Andrew Brown, was celebrated today at Philadelphia Fire Headquarters for her participation in last year’s police-versus-fire weight-loss competition, called “The Battle of the Badges.”

“It started in April and ended in July,” she explains.  “Basically, everyone who wants to participate signs up for Weight Watchers at a very reduced rate, and they do the Weight Watchers program for 13 weeks.  And then, whoever loses the most weight wins!”

The Philadelphia Fire Department beat the Police Department in the overall competition.

Batallion chief Leroy Ruffin (at left in photo) says Brown set the pace for all competitors in the fire department.

“Leah Brown was the top individual loser in the fire department, so we presented her with a coffee maker,” he said.

How much weight did Brown lose?

“During the contest, I lost 30 pounds in thirteen weeks,” she says.  “And as of today, I’m down 50.1 pounds.”

By Hadas Kuznits

Source; http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2015/02/04/wife-of-philadelphia-firefighter-sets-pace-in-3-month-weight-loss-competition/

Sticking with your weight-loss resolutions this New Year may be a little easier if you choose a diet that best fits your lifestyle.

U.S. News and World Report is out with its annual list of the best diet options. The magazine consulted with a panel of health experts and ranked 35 diets according to a few guidelines: the diet has to be relatively easy to follow, nutritious, safe, effective for weight loss and protective against diabetes and heart disease.

Heres U.S. News ranking of the top five diets for weight loss, when dropping pounds quickly and keeping them off are your primary goals:

1. Weight Watchers. This diet received 3.8 out of 5 stars from the panel of experts for weight loss. Weight Watchers claim is that you can drop up to two pounds a week using their PointsPlus program and group support. This isnt about counting calories; the key to losing pounds on this diet is choosing nutritionally dense foods that have a healthy ratio of fiber, fat, protein and carbohydrates. Fresh fruits and vegetables are highly encouraged and carry zero points, so people can eat their fill of these foods. Candy bars and processed foods are higher in points and allowed in smaller portions. Experts like this diets effectiveness over the long term. In an analysis of more than 600 Weight Watchers participants, researchers found that nearly 60 percent stayed within 5 pounds of their goal weight one year after completing the program, according to a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition in 2008. Another study showed that the more Weight Watchers dieters used the programs various support tools-- including meetings, a cellphone app and online tools -- the more weight they lost.

2. HMR Diet. The Health Management Resources program is more than just a diet, its a lifestyle. The theory: reducing caloric intake and increasing physical activity and personal accountability will help people lose weight and keep it off. This program is divided into two phases. Phase One, the Quick Start phase, lasts about three weeks and is intended to jump-start weight loss with meal replacements including low-calorie shakes, meals, nutrition bars and multigrain hot cereal that the program delivers right to your door. Once reaching their goal weight, dieters move on to Phase Two. This is the maintenance phase in which a person begins to incorporate other healthy food options into their HMR meal replacements. Phase Two also focuses on more lifestyle changes and includes weekly telephone coaching sessions with dietitians and exercise physiologists. The biggest plus of this diet: convenience. HMR meal replacements save a lot of time at the supermarket.

3 (tie). The Biggest Loser Diet. Based on a series of books and inspired by success stories from the popular television series, this diet introduces six weeks of healthy food and regular exercise to promote weight loss and help prevent disease. The basics: eat lots of fruits and veggies, choose lean protein sources over red meat, keep a food journal, and get some exercise. This diet doesnt ban any food groups and should be relatively easy to stick to long-term, say experts. And, unlike contestants on the TV show, you wont have to follow a grueling exercise regimen. People who choose this diet and lifestyle are encouraged to get at least two and a half hours of moderate-intensity activity a week (like walking or jogging), along with a couple of days of muscle-strengthening activities.

3 (tie). Jenny Craig Diet. Much like Weight Watchers, the Jenny Craig Diet claims devotees will drop up to two pounds each week by following a restricted calorie diet. Prepackaged meals limit calories, fat and portions and let you satisfy your sweet tooth without worrying about overindulging. This plan also includes weekly supportive counseling sessions to help members through their weight loss journeys right from the start. So, if youre a person that wants convenience and needs to be held accountable, Jenny Craig could be a good bet. One downside with prepackaged meals: dining out can be tricky. While Jenny allows for an occasional restaurant meal, dieters need to be aware of dining out tips and be able to self-regulate.

3 (tie). The Raw Food Diet. This trendy diet attracts people who are looking to shed some pounds, improve their health and support the environment. This program relies heavily on fruits and veggies and completely eliminates any food that has been cooked, processed, microwaved, irradiated, genetically engineered or exposed to pesticides or herbicides. Experts say this plan nearly guarantees weight loss because most who follow it consume only half the calories they would eat on a diet that included cooked and processed foods. Downsides of this plan: it can be expensive, time consuming and limiting. To make a variety of raw food recipes, dieters are encouraged to purchases a juicer, dehydrator and a blender. Purchasing and preparing raw foods can take a lot of time and most restaurants dont offer many options for raw foodists.

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/top-5-diets-for-weight-loss/

Fat acceptance is the idea that an overweight individual has every right to be happy and content with respect to their sense of self as well as their own body. It is a beautiful expression of the power that comes from accepting who you are, and loving yourself as you deserve to be loved. It stands in clear contrast to the emphasis that most of todays society places on uniformity and conformity in relation to body image. In doing so, it allows people who have never been able to lose weight in the past to achieve powerful breakthroughs and to reach their goals.

The contrasting idea of fat acceptance is shame. Fat shaming is the product of the sometimes quiet, and sometimes thunderous, wave of messages from society that state very clearly that being overweight is not okay. It poses the following question, which has shaped how millions of people have come to think about themselves: How can a man or a woman be accepting of their body when it falls so far outside of societys vision of the ideal form?

The answer to this question lies within the possibility that exists in the realm of acceptance. Acceptance, not rejection, is they key that unlocks the possibility of making the changes necessary to address our nations obesity epidemic. In my experience, it is those who accept their weight and deal with it powerfully who achieve the most profound and lasting weight loss results.

How We Relate to Ourselves Matters

Language is both how we communicate with the world around us, as well as the way that we communicate with ourselves. In this way, the language that we use to describe ourselves becomes who we actually are. The combination of the words fat and acceptance literally come to mean the action of understanding ones current weight to be adequate or suitable. But fat acceptance needs to be more than accepting an unhealthy standard of living, of which I do not support, and instead a vehicle for change.

When patients come to my practice for help losing weight, I have found that many begin their road to wellness by recounting to me how terrible and awful they feel that they have allowed their weight to get so out of hand. They have not accepted their bodies as a physical manifestation of the metabolic issues present combined with the choices that they make, but rather, they reject the image that stares back at them in the mirror. It is an image of shame, instead of an image of power.

The first step in helping my patients is to provide access the possibility of accepting their bodies as they are. When I share that my first request of them is to open their mind to the possibility of accepting their current weight as a temporary condition that can be changed, some shrug this request off as an impossible task. They visibly show that they have no faith left in themselves, and that they truly believe that they cannot change. Others even attest that they will gladly eat cardboard and chew nails in order to lose their excess weight. Others vow to starve themselves if that is what I ask of them. When I hear these comments, I cannot help but think that there is something very wrong with the way in which society places labels on overweight individuals. Our collective conversation is such that my patients relate to their body and weight not from an empowering context, but one of self-punishment and shame. They feel as though they have done something wrong, and that their punishment should be every bit as awful as their perceived crime.

Fat acceptance holds such promise for my patients, just as it does for anyone struggling to lose weight, because it allows them to rethink the very core of who they are. Must they remain the societal pariahs who are undeserving of a decent life that they envision themselves to be? Or is there a reality in which they can deal with their dysfunctional metabolism from a position of power? Those patients who cease to view themselves through a lens clouded by feelings about their weight are able to view the world from an entirely new and exciting perspective. They become more than just their weight, and are able to face their weight loss challenge from a place of power and confidence.

How to Change Your Conversation

Begin with the belief that you are far more as an individual than just your weight.

Beginning to shift your internal conversation from one of shame and self-loathing to one of power and possibility begins with the belief that you are far more than just your weight. People tend to identify most with the qualities that they believe stand out the most. This step requires that you begin to identify yourself based on the qualities that make you a person deserving of your own self-respect.

Answer the following questions: Who you are presently? Who you will become when you have powerfully dealt with your weight?

Think of more than just weight loss, but of how you live your life. Maybe today you are "limited by your mobility" but are creating a future of "activity and mobility." With this example, what does it look like when you are able to do the things that your lack of mobility has prevented? What new possibilities exist for you, and how is your experience of life different?

I have found that this is truly where my patients come alive. Unburdened by their past feelings of self and self-worth, they share with me a sense of freedom that they havent felt since long before they gained their weight. It is readily visible that these once resigned individuals are present to the possibility that they can take control of their weight loss, and regain their health and wellness.

Think of the action steps you will take to make the future you have envisioned for yourself a reality.

Outline each step that you will take in becoming a lighter, healthier you. An action step is not, a statement such as "lose weight." An action step is a specific action that you will take in order to reach your desired outcome. Examples of actions steps are things such as, "research a nearby gym," or "buy cute yoga crops." While these steps may seem small, they are manageable, something that your former commitment to, "lose 50 pounds ASAP," was not.

In my day to day work, I have found that fat acceptance is a crucial component to providing overweight individuals with the access, and even permission, to feel good about who they are. The journey to overcoming weight problems is one that requires travel down sometimes rocky roads, and fat shaming is counterproductive to the process. It is difficult enough to lose weight, and to make the lasting changes that allow weight loss to occur. A real possibility for change exists in the exercise of learning to accept yourself as a good and decent person who deserves the right to feel great about who you are. From this powerful context, I have found that my patients have been able to achieve phenomenal weight loss results. I can only hope that in sharing my thoughts on this matter that others will become present to the possibility that exists for themselves, as well, and make powerful declarations of who they are and who they will become.

Follow Caroline J. Cederquist, M.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/drcederquist

Everyone is looking for the secret to weight loss, without falling victim to the latest gimmicks. With so many different opinions about how to lose weight, it can be difficult to tell what will really work.

Fortunately there is a technique for weight loss that has been tested for centuries:  acupuncture.

This technique is safe, sound and reliable. And, even more exciting, using acupuncture for weight loss helps you lose weight in several different ways.

Yes. In one study by Professor Sabina Lim, at the East-West Medical Research Institute at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, South Korea, researchers found that auricular acupuncture (acupuncture which uses the ear points) resulted in about a 6% reduction in body mass index (BMI) over 8 weeks. This is especially interesting because they found this same result with two different protocols, one with four needles and one with only one needle. Both techniques resulted in lower BMI.

Researchers continue to study the effectiveness of acupuncture for weight loss, but the results look promising.

There are three primary ways that acupuncture can help with weight loss.

First of all, acupuncture helps balance hormones. Acupuncture can increase endorphins, which reduce cravings and generally make you feel more positive. This can help reduce binge eating.

It also decreases the hormones that contribute to weight gain. Dr. Burak Bahar and his team at the Ankara Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Training and Research Hospital in Ankara, Turkey found that both leptin and insulin levels dropped with acupuncture. Leptin regulates fat storage and metabolism and stimulates the feeling of being full.  Insulin regulates carbohydrate and fat metabolism and the absorption of glucose from the blood. This finding suggests that acupuncture may actually reduce the hormones that lead to overeating.

But if leptin stimulates the feeling of being full, why is it good to have reduced levels? Like insulin-resistance, cells can become immune to the effects of leptin when the levels are too high. Many obese people have excessively high levels of leptin. When your leptin level is high, you can no longer tell when to stop eating. Restoring balance to leptin levels may help to reduce leptin-resistance, making it easier to stop eating before you overeat.

The third way that acupuncture helps with weight loss is by reducing stress. Cortisol, the stress hormone, can affect weight in several ways. It disrupts digestion, contributes to depression and escalates your “fight or flight” response. If you feel overwhelmed, you are more likely to binge for emotional reasons and to assume you have no time to prepare healthy meals.

And finally, acupuncture can aid digestion. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the spleen is responsible for digestion. Disharmony and imbalance in the spleen can lead to fatigue, slow metabolism, water retention, loose stools, and a feeling of heaviness. The liver is responsible for the flow of Qi, blood and emotions. Disharmony in your liver can lead to cravings and compulsive eating.

By balancing your organ system, you support weight loss both physically and psychologically.

Of course, good metabolism relies on all the things you know are good for you—exercise, good nutrition, sleep and reduced stress. But there is one easy thing you can do using TCM principles to regulate your metabolism: ear massage.

There are several acupuncture points on your ears that help reduce cravings. To stimulate these points, massage your ear several times a day. Start by rubbing your upper ear. Grab your ear with your thumb on the upper, inner ear and your index finger behind your ear. Rub in circular motions for 15 seconds. Next, use your index finger to rub the inner crevices of your upper ear. Rub the front of your ear where it attaches to your head. And finally, massage your ear lobes by gently pulling on them and rubbing them in circles for 15 seconds.

If you like the idea of do-it-yourself acupressure, make an appointment with me to have your pulses taken. Once I know the specifics of your constitution and how it affects your weight loss, I can give you additional points to control your hunger, cravings and metabolism.

Source: http://www.wellspringsacupuncture.com/can-you-use-acupuncture-for-weight-loss/

Try other sauces from the Sharwoods Stir Fry range - such as Yellow Bean or Hoi Sin with Spring Onion - for a tasty alternative.

Reduce the preparation time by buying ready-prepared vegetables.