The Master Cleanser Detox raises my curiosity to insatiable levels. Many stars have sworn by it - from Beyonce Knowles to Robin Quivers. The misconception behind the safety of this practice for weight loss is reviewed by a registered dietician on The Diet Channel. The Master Cleanser is by no stretch of the imagination a healthy way to lose weight. In fact, the Master Cleanser, otherwise known as the Lemonade Diet, is a complete body detoxifying cleanse that has been around for over 60 years.

The Master Cleanser is a combination of simple ingredients in different combinations throughout the day: organic sea salt, water, lemons, syrup, cayenne pepper and a laxative tea. The day begins with a quart of salt water, followed by interval consumption of several cups of homemade lemonade throughout the day. The lemonade contains fresh squeezed lemons and water, cayenne pepper, and maple syrup. The lemon juice is said to dissolve built-up waste in the colon (the master cleansing agent); the cayenne pepper is for ridding the body of mucus; and the maple syrup is for energy. The end of the day includes a detoxifier herbal tea laxative. The herbal laxative is to aid the elimination process and the salt water acts as a colonic flush. The author of the original plan recommends following the diet for a minimum of 10 days, but also says that the diet can be followed for up to 20 days.

On Friday I went to Borders to get my hands on a copy of the Mater Cleanser. Big mistake after I realized it was the debut of the latest Harry Potter book. I should've called! In any event - I forfeited fighting Gryffindors and Hogwarts to find the book. I returned home to scour the internet for personal reviews of the Master Cleanser. The most important thing I discovered was that people who use the Master Cleanser to lose weight are misinformed. The Master Cleanser is intended for ultimate toxin elimination - not weight elimination. For entertaining enlightenment - I strongly suggest reading the Amazon.com customer reviews!!

When I was a kid I used to include in my prayers a calculation of how many miles I would have to walk in order to lose enough weight to take less insulin. I never voiced my Forrest Gump like journey aloud - but if I had I would've turned to The Weigh Down Workshop for the faith-based healing I wanted so badly.

Over 1 million people have used faith-based healing for weight loss and freedom from other addictions and drug-dependencies. Featured on the Tyra Banks Show, The Weigh Down Workshop is based on the principal that diets have caused or exacerbated overeating. It has given people false hopes, and then failed them - making most people feel like failures. Weigh Down teaches people to depend on their Creator for help. There truly is a mindset where people have no desire to overeat anymore.

If you believe in our Creator, and you believe that weight loss will help you remove your dependency on Big Pharma pushing drugs unto you - I would love to hear your success story. If you believe it's all a ruse -- I'd love to hear that, too. I heard a lot of Family Radio on my road trip this past week. A lot of questions linger in my head about the Old Testment and things documented in biblical history. One comes to mind with this revelation of faith-based healing -- why did Jesus fast for 40 days and 40 nights?

The US weight-loss supplement industry made $3.9 billion in sales last year. With this information The Diet Channel took a good, hard look at the safety and efficacy of diet pills, both over the counter and prescription.

Prescription weight loss pills are heavily regulated and over the counter are not. Some of the prescriptions meds reviewed include: fen-phen, Meridia, and Orlistat. Prescription meds are qualified by their ability to induce 10-20% weight loss in a year. However, both prescription and over-the-counter provisions state you must follow a healthy diet and exercise. To expect a change in your body without changing your lifestyle is nearly irrational.

Over the counter products tend to evade heavy regulation. However this lack of regulation comes at the cost of potentially harmful side effects. The article continues to mention other over the counter weight loss supplements including: green tea, caffeine, hoodia and alli. The billion dollar question is: if any of these pills truly worked, why is the obesity epidemic getting worse? Stay tuned for an upcoming article on the newest supplement alli. No, it wasn't named after me.

Looks like 'shrooms might become a swanky and healthy thing to do! The fungi is affectionately called the Maitake mushroom, and literally means "dancing mushroom. Research has found it lowers blood pressure, abdominal obesity, and lipids in the blood.

Maitake Products plans to target the maitake (grifola frondosa) mushroom to treat metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a common precondition for both coronary disease and type 2 diabetes. The condition is characterized by a group of metabolic risk factors including: abdominal obesity, atherogenic dyslipidemia, high blood pressure and insulin resistance. With the growing number of people affected by these conditions, Maitake claims there is significant market potential for its drug, SX-Fraction.

A preliminary clinical study was conducted among 19 patients with type 2 diabetes. Patients taking 9 tablets of SX-Fraction (per day) for 2 months found that it significantly reduced fasting blood glucose, triglycerides, and body weight. The possibility of maitake mushroom as a safe, natural agent for treatment of type 2 diabetes, Syndrome X and insulin resistance has been examined for the past several years and will soon prove to be a therapeutic dancing mushroom in days to come. Yeah man.

Would you like to reduce your daily insulin requirements by a third or stop all diabetes medicines? Lofty goals, yes - but given the Eat To Live program - it's quite possible.

Regardless of my attempts to downgrade insulin dose in the last 15 years - my blood sugars would not take the hint. Had I known Dr. Fuhrman had figured this one out long ago - instead of badgering feats of diabetic noncompliance I would have picked up his book, Eat To Live. Dr. Fuhrman explains the best diet for humans to live longer in good health is also the best diet for one with diabetes. A diet comprised mostly in nature's perfect foods-green vegetables, beans, eggplant, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, raw nuts and seeds and limited fresh fruit, allows for people to eat as much as they want and still lose weight, drop their cholesterol, and their blood pressure relatively quickly.

The Eat To Live dietary style is a vegetable-based diet designed to maximize nutrient per calorie density. It is the most effective treatment for those with diabetes, more effective than drugs. For a type 2 diabetic, this approach has resulted in complete reversal of the diabetic condition in the vast majority of patients and for a type 1 diabetic it solves the problems with excessive highs and lows and prevents the typical dangerous complications that too frequently befall those with diabetes. Joel Fuhrman, M.D is a board certified family physician specializing in nutritional medicine for overweight and diabetic patents.

Knocking out the gene for a peptide associated with insulin was shown to protect mice against the harmful effects of a high-fat diet. Urocortin 3 plays a role in the increased production of insulin in response to high caloric intake in animals.

Scientists found that by removing the urocortin 3 gene from mice, they did not develop the age-related insulin resistance and high blood sugar observed in the normal control mice. The metabolisms of normal mice were compared to the metabolisms of those without the urocortin 3 gene. When placed on a high caloric diet for three months, the mice without the urocortin 3 gene packed on the same amount of weight but had lower insulin levels. But these mice also had lower blood sugar, improved glucose tolerance curves and they did not develop the fatty livers the control mice experienced.

Scientists hypothesize that by curtailing the abnormally high insulin levels, they were able to manipulate insulin sensitivity and avoid some of the untoward consequences of the high food intake and weight gain. Like many of us diabetics already know too well - while insulin is effective at lowering blood sugar it also promotes fat storage. This is a natural protective response to prepare for times when food may not be available. When insulin is produced at too high a level for too long, the body becomes insulin resistant and blood sugar and certain blood lipids gradually creep up, which can cause progressive damage to multiple organs.

Urocortin 2 and urocortin 3 are part of the system that governs the body's response to insulin. Scientists already know that mice on a high-fat diet do better if either urocortin 2 or urocortin 3 is removed. Now they want to know if the mice will respond even better if both are missing. Such results may instruct us how best to develop therapeutic means to exploit these powerful effects.

A Harvard Medical School scientist's experiments with fish discarded along the coast near Boston have led to a new class of diabetes drugs. The latest, from Novartis, may get U.S. approval this week.

In the late 1970s, Habener, a doctor specializing in diabetes care, began buying discarded fish to learn about the ways animals controlled blood sugar. By 1987 Habener discovered a protein in the pancreas of anglerfish that tells the pancreas to produce insulin. He called it glucagon-like peptide-1, or GLP-1. In 1995, researchers uncovered another use for Habener's discovery to treat diabetes. The scientists found an enzyme that digests GLP. By blocking the enzyme, they could increase the body's reserves of GLP, thereby raising insulin levels. Twenty years later, we will soon have the pleasure of meeting Novartis' concept for this chronology of discoveries in the form of liraglutide.

In clinical trials, patients taking liraglutide attained normal blood sugars without the common side effect of weight gain. In fact, liraglutide was more likely to make the patients slightly leaner. Depending on dosage and length of treatment, it may help patients to lose weight. The drug does not cause a change in appetite. Furthermore, none of the liraglutide patients experienced episodes of low blood sugar levels throughout the trials.

I'm no fisherman, but if all the seagulls of Big Pharma are swarming overhead - there's bound to be a school of fish below. However, this school is quite competitive. At last count, the five largest diabetic drug makers are using Habener's findings to create new medicines.

A small molecule has been identified that controls diabetes in mice and may pave the way to the development of easier treatment for adult-onset diabetes.

This key molecule, called Boc5, can stimulate insulin function and reduce body weight by 20%. The molecule stimulates the production of the glucagon-like peptide1 (GLP1), responsible for metabolizing glucose. The study intended to discover ways to sensitize insulin by stimulating production of GLP1. Boc5 is not powerful enough to become a diabetes or weight loss drug. But researchers suggest that similar compounds could join the latest generation of diabetes drugs, called "incretin mimetics." The first FDA-approved incretin mimetic was Byetta. A second such drug, with the generic name liraglutide, is in clinical trials.

The problem with the existing FDA approved incretin mimetic treatments is that they are large molecules that must be administered through injection. Boc5 is a small fry with big potential. Being a smaller molecule gives hope for a new generation in diabetes treatment in the form of a pill many of us would be happy to swallow.

Researchers say a new method of replacing unhealthy trans fats by modifying fat in commercial products has been found to raise blood glucose and depress insulin in humans -- both common precursors to diabetes. If that wasn't bad enough -- it still adversely affects the beneficial HDL-cholesterol.

The study demonstrates the process of rearranging molecules in the fat adversely affect human metabolism of fats and glucose. The metabolism of unmodified natural saturated fat is healthier, in comparison. The trans fats are replaced with interesterified fat, which is a modified fat that includes hydrogenation followed by rearrangement of fat molecules by the process called interesterification. The rearranged fats are then enriched with saturated stearic acid. Experts on human lipid metabolism noted this study shows the specific location of individual fatty acids, particularly saturated fatty acids, seems to make a difference on fat and glucose metabolism.

New York City has already outlawed the use of trans fats in restaurants. Several U.S. cities have or are considering banning them as well. However a safe replacement for these fats has not yet been agreed upon. Looks like the Micronutrient Monitors will have to congregate at the kitchen table to chew the fat on this one a little more.

Bariatric surgery is the term for operations to help promote weight loss by making it difficult for the patient to consume a lot (or even a normal amount) of food. It offers a viable solution of mitigating type 2 diabetes, if not curing it entirely. In 2004, a major study showed that after 10 years, diabetes disappeared in 36% of patients who had the surgery, compared with 13% who did not.

Bariatric surgery is an increasingly popular option for people who can't lose enough weight by diet and exercise. The number of such surgeries has quadrupled since 2000, reaching 177,600 this year. For morbidly obese patients with type 2 diabetes, bariatric surgery results in a cure rate of 80-98%. About 90% of type 2 diabetics are overweight. In terms of just diabetes alone, the cure rate of serious illness after surgery is greater than 80%.

Bariatric surgery is nothing to take lightly. Although it is a serious procedure, it gives type 2 diabetics a token of hope they may never have to rue the day of diabetic complication like blindness, amputations, neuropathy, stroke, heart attack, and life itself. Is the risk worth the reward?

A study conduced by the Howard Hughs Medical Institute found that people with insulin resistance have higher levels of fat inside their muscle cells.

A mitochondrial impairment inside muscle cells result in a buildup of fats that can cause insulin resistance, contributing to the development of diabetes. Intramuscular fat interferes with the ability of insulin to effectively enter the cell. It was found that the rate of ATP production in the muscles of those who are insulin-resistant was decreased by 30% compared to normal subjects without signs of insulin-resistance.

A little, yellow flower has shown promise in overcoming the obstacle of insulin resistance. Studies show that berberine activates an enzyme in the muscle and liver tissues that improve insulin sensitivity.. It lowers blood sugar by inhibiting absorption of sugars from the intestine and enhancing production of insulin. If that wasn't enough - berberine has been shown to reduce body weight, too. This pretty little flower may be worth a look-see after all.

In a joint statement, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and American Heart Association (AHA) agree that lifestyle and medical interventions can help to prevent the development of heart disease in people with diabetes.

The clinical research journal Diabetes Care, outlines joint guidelines that encourage more aggressive prevention and treatment of the risk factors leading to heart disease, the number one killer of people with diabetes. Basic lifestyle changes include weight loss, CVD risk factors, increased physical activity, nutrition therapy, and weight control. In addition, the statement calls for increased medical interventions, such as the use of statins, ACE inhibitors, and other drugs to manage lipids, blood pressure, and blood glucose levels in people with diabetes. The recommendations apply equally to people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

These joint guidelines are part of a collaborative ongoing effort to strengthen efforts in the fight against cardiovascular disease, which affects two out of three people with diabetes. Once a person with diabetes has a heart attack or stroke, they do much worse than people without diabetes. Increase your chances of preventing an irreconcilable cardiovascular event. Good news for diabetics when it comes to diabetes and heart disease - at least one of them is preventable.

In the $20 billion diabetes market, when drugs make their way onto the scene, it's a head-turning event. So far, one drug is gaining ground and two of them are raising interest.

Januvia, manufactured by Merck, was recently approved for the treatment of diabetes. Januvia is used with diet and exercise to lower blood sugar in patients with type 2 diabetes. Januvia lowers blood sugar when blood sugar is high, especially after a meal. It also lowers blood sugar between meals and helps to improve the levels of insulin produced by your own body after a meal. The drug is unlikely to cause your blood sugar to be lowered to a dangerous level because it does not work when your blood sugar is low. Januvia faces potential competition from an experimental drug, Galvus. The drugs are similar in many respects, including their status as once-a-day pills, and their ability to lower blood-sugar levels in diabetics while helping them to lose weight, or at least to avoid gaining it. The FDA delayed its decision on Galvus, so we may be waiting till the first half of 2007 to see it in action.

Acomplia, manufactured by Sanofi-Aventis, is in hot pursuit of FDA approval. Acomplia is primarily a treatment for diabetics, but the drug is unusually multi-faceted. It was created to help people quit smoking and lose fat by blocking circuitry in the brain that gives the body cravings. The drug works by blocking the same circuitry in the brain that gives pot-smokers the munchies. The drug is expected to receive FDA approval in the first half of 2007.

Does this sound familiar? Weight Gain? Memory Lapses? Mood Swings? Fatigue? The Sugar Solution is an easy-to-follow, drug-free program that can bring blood sugar into balance in just one month. Weight gain, fatigue, depression, and poor concentration are symptoms that could potentially lead to diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

The book points out that high blood sugar and depression often go hand in hand. In fact, depression may lead to increased sugar consumption and ultimately depression. The Sugar Solution helps readers determine whether they're at risk for blood sugar problems and shows them how to keep their blood sugar levels in range without drugs or injections. The exclusive 30-day lifestyle makeover guides them every step of the way, with complete daily menus, exercise strategies, and stress-reduction techniques. Pounds will melt away, energy will soar, and mental sharpness will return as blood sugar stabilizes.

The book will be helpful for people looking for an exercise and eating plan to help stabilize blood sugar levels and lose weight. Kick-off the New Year with a new approach to a better lifestyle!

According to a new study published in the New England Journalism of Medicine, the diabetes drug Actos may help prevent serious complications from nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. The disorder is primarily caused by being overweight. Insulin resistance, diabetes and high levels of cholesterol all contribute to the development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and its complications.

The study included candidates with either insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes. About half of the group took 45 milligrams of pioglitazone (brand name Actos, manufactured by Takeda Pharmaceuticals) daily for six months, while the other half took a placebo. Both groups were asked to maintain a lower calorie diet. The group taking pioglitazone saw a decrease in their levels of abnormal liver enzymes and a 54 percent reduction in liver fat, compared to the placebo group. Insulin sensitivity in the liver improved by 48 percent in the pioglitazone group, as compared to only 14 percent in the placebo group.

Current treatment for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is aimed at lifestyle changes, such as losing weight and exercising regularly. Pioglitazone offers a resolution to improve the metabolism of blood glucose, and decreases cholesterol. Researchers were especially excited by the findings of this study because there is now a pharmacological option that might help prevent end-stage liver disease.