Mend-A-Guru post with link to fan page and share to coaches page.  Thanks.

I truly appreciated your program.  I lost 40 lbs. in 3 mos.  My suggestion would be for you to caution individuals my age or near my age (I was 68 when I joined 1 1/2 yrs. ago) to either not lose so much weight or lose it very slowly.  I had barely a wrinkle when I started and now I have very noticeable wrinkles on my face.  My body looks good but I’m self conscious of my face.

Thanks.

Mend-A-Guru Response:

We are so excited to hear about your healthier body.  As far as the down-side reference, we can offer a lot of insight into that as well.  The owner of Mend-A-Body retired as an executive from the largest skin care company in the world, Mary Kay Cosmetics, where she was considered an advanced expert on this very topic.

Here are Debra Ann’s notes about this topic:

There are so many factors that contribute to our skin showing signs of aging.  Interestingly, the speed at which one loses weight is not the greatest impact.  Skin resilience is largely a determination of genetics, attention or neglect to its maintenance, age, diet and also sun exposure.  Age is definitely a factor in consideration with all the other variables.

There have been many times that I have witnessed people in their early twenties have much more damage and finer wrinkles (known as crepiness) than much older people.  There are some folks that have always been within their goal weight that have quite a bit of dimpling and cellulite appearance, others who have substantial weight to lose that have taut, youthful unmarred skin… .   I have an 82-yer old dad that passes for 20 years younger and he puts George Hamilton to shame with his obsession with tanning.  My mother who didn’t nearly match his interest in the sun passed at 70 and was commonly mistaken for his mother.  I had a 93 year old grandmother pass with barely a wrinkle.

The speed in which one loses weight is much less of an impact than one might believe.  One highly noted impact that skin and weight loss specialists use in relation to one’s post weight-loss appearance is the amount of time that the person was out of their actual ideal waistline.  Here is a frame of reference:  If you were to inflate a balloon and then release the air immediately, the environment has had little impact so far and the balloon will once again appear very similar to its original appearance.  If either the balloon were to be repeatedly inflated/deflated, this creates more trauma to the balloon altering the ability for it to retain its original look.  To see another much altered look, simply inflate a balloon and then wait several days to deflate it.  You probably have done this. The balloon will look very wrinkly in appearance because it was stretched over an extended period and exposed to environmental changes such as resistance to both external and internal pressures.  The skin of your body reacts in much the same manner!

There are a number of products on the market that can help.  You can talk with a product specialist with one of the reputable lines available for in home or in store consultations.  Visiting a dermatologist or spa for options is another consideration.  Some non-invasive treatments are becoming increasingly effective and popular.  I have had professional microdermabrasion treatments done and found them to be quite satisfying in making progress with revealing the younger skin in deeper tissues, fading age spots and creating some results in reducing wrinkles and also do also have some quality products for in between visits I use at home.

Mend-A-Body Solutions is also very excited about a new product launch coming out on May 15^th 2012 so stay tuned with our fan page for more news on that score.  You’ll be sure to be super appreciative of this new line.  It goes hand in hand with this topic.

Mend-A-Guru warnings for allergy season.  One of the uncommon yet still potential side effects of taking antihistamines is constipation.  A small population of people have been discovered to experience other symptoms as well; drier eyes which can make wearing contacts uncomfortable, drier nasal passages which can cause nose bleeds, drowsiness (for some, even if they are the non-drowsy version).  It is important for everyone to take in even more water and fiber when taking antihistamines to help counteract this problem.  WARNING:  Some folks will take ibuprofen for their stomach and/or intestinal pain resulting from this unpleasant side effect which can add to the problem of constipation.  Reference this first link for one of the most popular allergy meds on the market and the occurrence of constipation specifically.  http://www.ehealthme.com/ds/loratadine/constipation and then http://www.ehealthme.com/ds/advil/constipation for the ibuprofen study.

Q:  Dear Mend-A-Guru:

The Spam Lite has only 1 carb., 9 protein, 0 sugar, 8 grams fat for 2 oz.  Sounds like a good choice?  Want to make spam salad. What’s your thought?

-D Pickett

A:  Mend-A-Guru:

In review of the product Spam Lite:

This food is NOT considered a good recommendation as a health and/or heart choice and should be seen as a very rare treat (like bacon).  The amount you referenced is 2 oz which needs to be multiplied for the meal in which it is featured.  A male would be having approximately 6 oz, females 4 oz.  This is a processed meat that provides the sodium folks should have in an entire DAY in just 6 oz.  We recommend that folks keep their sodium at about 1,500 mg a day.  This food is also high in SATURATED fats, which are the ones that promote coronary disease. Here is a link to a site that we often use in assisting to determine the safety of a food for incorporation.  We do cross examine it a number of ways but this is the start point before we go any further.  This start point says we can stop right here. http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/sausages-and-luncheon-meats/1473/2

One of the ways to steer towards better options for processed meats is to look to your deli for the American Heart Association logo which indicates it is leaner and has less nitrates/fillers.  You can then purchase a block of ham from these preferred products and cube it yourself.

Question:

I am at my goal weight and wanted to know your opinion on featuring popcorn as a nightly ritual. I’ve been doing so for weeks and haven’t gained any weight back.  Is it okay?

Answer:

Have you ever used popcorn as a snack thinking it was healthy, especially if you lightened up on the butter and salt?  Here are a few pauses for thought… Have you ever had some of those sharp popcorn shards get stuck in your gumline?  Ouch!  Imagine what happens along the twists and turns of your digestive system.  Hmmm…. Many physicians require clients to refrain from having popcorn regularly or at all because of health and/or bowel disorders that require its prohibition.  Some of the concerns can be – ulcerations in the digestive track, bowel obstructions if eaten too abundantly and also weight gain from the slower rate of food movement once additional food is consumed as a response to the bulk and blockage created from the popcorn.   There is a direct relationship to people expressing digestive discomfort and bloating after eating this popular American food.  It is recognized as an inflammatory food on programs such as Mend-A-Body Solutions.  The general safe opinion is to have it rarely as a treat – no more than once a month AND practice portion control – 3 cups or under (3 cups keeps you at about the equivalent to one slice of bread in carbs).  Air popped is best.  Use butter sprays. Avoid heavy salt which will also cause bloating.  If you just have to have “naughty” style at the movies, make sure to restrict yourself to a kids pack and then only have about half.  Shocker news – one tub is about all the calories that most people on weight loss are having in a day and the sodium and fats make it a healthy heart villain.

Q:  Why can’t my clients have melons?  They are similar to grapes in sugars.

Coach L Whittemore

A:  Mend-A-Guru:

You can explain to your client that there is so much data about each and every food that is eliminated on an anti-inflammatory program and that looking up info herself will often prove to be tricky and deceiving.  Foods that are eliminated are for one or more of these reasons:  counterproductive to weight loss, inflammatory, impacts the glycemic index, not a significant source of nutrition.  Even if she looks up a food and the reference says it is not an inflammatory there can be lots of data to contradict that as decisions about a food’s influence also include the population eating the food along with the food’s natural origin.  A lot of it has to do with the population eating the product and whether or not that food is considered “foreign” to them.  All melons are a perfect example.  Just like bananas, our civilization did not have ready access to them until transportation became sophisticated.  This means our bodies here in the USA do not know how to process them, making them inflammatory to US. Keep in mind that each population has its own benefits/challenges.  For example:  Asians can eat regular amounts of rice and not have it be inflammatory or make them gain weight, Africans can eat bananas and their body is able to metabolize them successful.  Our nation’s residents are able to digest milk successfully because it has been readily available to us for a very long time and our typical citizens immigrated from areas where milk was also available in abundance BUT over 90% of African-Americans are lactose intolerant because their origin is a dairy deprived geography and they haven’t lived here long enough for their bodies to metabolize milk successfully.  Thus is the basic concept of anti-inflammatory programs.  Each specific population is reviewed for their villain foods, etc.  As a reminder the Program Overview references that it takes over 500 GENERATIONS (even longer than years) for a body to recognize a new food.  Theoretically our bodies will process pop tarts some day! J

-Tell your clients to have these as a rare treat (once month or so) but it is not recommended as a regular incorporation to get the best results.

Q:  I had a client ask why not hummus… I have a vegetarian client who wants to be able to eat hummus and wants to know why she can’t.  It only has 2 net carbs.

Coach L Whittemore

A:  Mend-A-Guru:

Hummus is a taboo food during weight loss for a variety of reason:  high in carbs, calorie dense, made with chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) which are an inflammatory – all beans are – think of what beans are known to do to us when eaten!

Q:

I think the appetite suppressant pill is kicking up my anxiety. I have been feeling more anxious and I’m wondering if I can stop taking it. Which one is it?

-J

A: Hello J!

Let’s take a few moments to offer additional insight about your concerns related to increased anxiety as a potential bi-product of our supplement line.

There is no “appetite suppressant” pill in our supplement trio.  There are no caffeine or stimulants of any kind either.  The Omega 3 acts naturally as an appetite suppressant in the way that  ALL fats of any kind will whether from good healthy sources like in the supplement case OR even a fatty cheeseburger.  The reference to appetite suppressing is mentioned in that context during our presentations (Our trio acts as a natural appetite suppressant is the actual reference).  Our Omegas are highly purified to bring this about much more effectively and with healthy support.  If you had a piece of Salmon for lunch you would be tapping in to one of Mother Nature’s appetite suppressants, likewise with the vegetables marked for that reference in our Food Choice Book.  Our supplements fall into the same category.  Therefore my recommendation is to seek the advice of your physician and/or pharmacist for other sources of this feeling of increased anxiety.  Are you certain it’s not new energy coming about as a result of your new lifestyle OR maybe you are taking anti-anxiety medications which could require adjustments as your body becomes healthier (this is quite common)?

Q:

At the conference i know or thought i wrote down why caffeine is not recommended but i can’t find my notes, can you tell me again what the reason for no caffeine would be vs decaf coffee?

thank you
–
Wende Whitten

A:

Caffeine taken in large amounts can act as a diuretic making it more difficult for people to stay hydrated and get the benefits of expanding fiber cells for metabolism and weight loss advantages.  Typically the recommendation would be for a person to add one equal serving of water in addition for every caffeine intake.  That can be quite a challenge if people drink several cups a day.  That would be in addition to the recommended 64-128 oz of water it takes to make things happen already.

Other concerns: caffeine can cause jitteriness, anxiety and elevate blood pressure and heart rate, cause sleep disorders, headaches, impact blood sugar levels, cause cravings AND is definitely linked to dependency issues.  That being said, there is no apparent evidence that 1 or 2 cups daily causes any of these problems to occur.  We take the standpoint of avoiding it during detox week if possible or at least go to ½ the typical amount.  Our goal is to bring it back in moderation or not at all.

Q:

Dear Mend a Guru,

I am a practicing Catholic and with the Lenten season beginning tomorrow we are not allowed meat on Ash Wednesday or any Friday during Lent until Easter.
I am not a fan of seafood but will tolerate canned tuna and haddock but I can’t eat fish for 3 meals as my protein each Friday. Do you have any suggestions on other protein I can have besides eggs as I really don’t want to eat eggs as my only source on Friday’s.
Prior to MAB the foods I would eat instead of meat would be cereals and pasta.
I’m on Boost and trying to limit my carbs to as few as possible.

Thanks
Shelley

A:

Hello there!  Your best bet for substitutions would be the items referenced in your Food Choice Book under “alternatives” on p. 21.  One of the easiest ones would be some of the veggie patties.  Some are quite good.  You could make stir fries with tofu, beef not, something like that.  A fun idea we used to employ growing up was an “upside down” day where we had breakfast (sometimes wore our pajamas!) for dinner.  You could do an egg bake casserole with lots of fun veggies in it, quiche OR we often had crepes (use WF syrups for fun!).

The Catholic doctrine does permit using products that are animal derivatives. Reference below:

Abstinence The law of abstinence requires a Catholic 14 years of age until death to abstain from eating meat on Fridays in honor of the Passion of Jesus on Good Friday. Meat is considered to be the flesh and organs of mammals and fowl. Also forbidden are soups or gravies made from them. Salt and freshwater species of fish, amphibians, reptiles and shellfish are permitted, as are animal derived products such as margarine and gelatin which do not have any meat taste.

This was taken from http://www.catholic.org/clife/lent/abfast.php