The FDA has approved a new over-the-counter weight loss drug called alli (orlistat) that is designed to absorb 25% of the fat from your meal. However, nutrition and fitness expert Dr. Len Lopez, author of "To Burn or Not to Burn, Fat is the Question" shares his reasons why the new approved weight loss drug may not be beneficial to your health.

New research is showing that medications don't make us healthier. Research is showing that losing weight with medications doesn't decrease the rate of heart attacks, strokes or diabetes. Add that to the fact that your body loses nutrients with these medications and you can easily see how these new weight loss drugs can hamper your health. Dr. Lopez discusses practical steps to losing weight which includes diet and exercise, but also covers how stress and adrenal fatigue can disrupt our hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline. These hormonal imbalances can throw off our metabolism and take us out of our fat burning mode.

Both of Dr.Lopez's books cover a good deal of information to understand how we can correct our imbalances in piecing together the weight loss puzzle. His knowledge explores the roles of insulin and cortisol in weight gain, cravings, fatigue and more. He also explains how stress can take you out of your fat burning zone and helps you regain your blood sugar balance, as well as implementing the "Five and Two" dieting plan.

Say NO to the weight loss drugs and say YES to the empowering knowledge Dr. Lopez has to share.

Tai Chi for Diabetes is easy to learn, effective and safe. It is designed to prevent and improve control of diabetes. The program will help to improve muscle strength, increase heart and lung activity, as well as improve balance and harmonize mind and body.

Gentle exercise helps people with diabetes by improving the control of blood glucose level. Tai chi is a gentle exercise with strong emphasis on mental relaxation, it is reasonable to assume tai chi can help to control diabetes by improving cellular uptake and glucose metabolism. Tai chi can also help mitigate the effects of stress, which is shown to make the control of diabetes worse. Tai chi reduces stress and improves relaxation.

The major problems of diabetes are complications such as hypertension, heart disease, visual impairment and vascular problem. Diabetes causes peripheral neuropathy, a condition that the nerves of feet are damaged thus affects balance and walking. Tai chi has been proven to be effective in improving balance and mobility.

The immense power of the mind has not been fully estimated. As one of the most effective mind-body exercise, Tai Chi teaches the student to be mindful of the intrinsic energy from which he or she can perceive greater self-control and empowerment. The mental training in Tai Chi will enhance clarity of the mind, improve relaxation and uplift mood.

The Tai Chi for Diabetes DVD costs $25. It includes 90 minutes of a general introduction of Tai Chi and diabetes, warm up and cooling down exercises, Qigong for Diabetes, 11 basic movements and 8 advanced movements. Viewers can learn different part at their own pace using the easy-to-learn and step-by-step instructions. If you prefer a less expensive option, you can order the Tai Chi for Diabetes Handbook for $10 or you can subscribe to the newsletter for free. Your budget, your decision.

Below I've included some feedback from people who have firsthand knowledge of Tai Chi for Diabetes. Here's what they have to say:

"I use your video a lot to perfect my technique, to check accuracy of movements, listen to instructions and recall various Tai Chi principles." Jana Solovka, Vic. Australia

"I have been practicing Tai Chi for over 20 years, and I have found no one that compares with Dr Lam - your presentation and expertise are what make the difference." Ted Stark, OR, USA

"The other day I was at the library and saw your video on the shelf... I was impressed with your presentation and the ease of following along. It is clearly one of the best Tai Chi instructional videos I have seen." Allan J. Glazer, DPM USA

Scientists have studied the effects of stress on glucose levels in animals and people. Diabetic mice under physical or mental stress have elevated glucose levels. And now, as if the aforementioned isn't bad enough - researchers have found that a single socially stressful situation contributes to depression in rats.

It seems this single socially stressful scenario is killing new nerve cells in the hippocampus, the area of the brain that processes learning, memory and emotion. In young rats, the stress of encountering older, aggressive rats didn't stop the creation of new brain nerve cells. It prevented the new nerve cells from surviving, which left the young rats with fewer neurons for processing feelings and emotions. Researchers anticipate that this impact on neurogenesis could be a cause of depression. The next step in this discovery is to correlate an effective plan of treatment to preserve the healthy development of nerve cells from the hippocampus.

The timing of this Washing Post article and the topic of Lissa Coffey's latest Coffeytalk newsletter seemed to harmonize splendidly. Lissa is a lifestyle expert who offers interpersonal advice based on ancient wisdom eloquently packaged in modern style. Her latest piece of advice went out to a friend of hers that was feeling social friction from the other people at work. Her friend loved the job but wanted to feel more connected with the rest of her coworkers. Lissa advised her friend: be the dog. She continues..."go in and be the dog. Open that door with a big smile on your face, tail wagging, full of enthusiasm! Look at how dogs win people over just by being themselves, by being happy and comfortable right where they are. Be the dog." Great advice, Lissa!! I'd also like to thank Bean Bag for taking a moment out of her busy watchdog schedule to smile for the camera.

I love the Geico commercial with the Caveman-- the one where he's in the therapist's office and his phone rings . He says, "My mother's calling. I'll put it on speaker." According to a recent study published in the medical journal Diabetes Care, researchers have found that family communication and problem-solving skills are important for helping young people with type 1 diabetes to manage the condition. Specially tailored family therapy can help teens with type 1 diabetes keep their blood sugar levels under control.

A family-based behavioral therapy program was specifically tailored to address diabetes-related family issues. The program consisted of 12 sessions offered over six months, and included training in "behavioral contracting" techniques for family members and a 1-week parental simulation of living with type 1 diabetes. For their study, the researchers randomly assigned 104 families of teens with poorly controlled type 1 diabetes to the behavioral family therapy program, standard care, or a multifamily support group that included educational elements. While levels of A1C, a measurement of long-term blood glucose control, fell in all three groups over the first six months, A1C levels climbed again in the standard-care and support-group kids, but remained low for the behavioral family therapy group up to 18 months after the program began.

Researchers concluded that the efficacy of a family-based behavioral therapy approach is more effective in improving diabetes control. There is power in numbers especially when it comes to any family affair. See mom and dad - told you so!

Damage to the retina that sometimes comes with diabetes is associated with an increased risk of having a stroke.

A study involving 1,617 middle-aged people with diabetes led researchers to this conclusion, linking retinopathy and stroke risk. At the start of the study, 197 participants had moderate retinopathy and 44 had severe retinopathy. During an average follow-up of almost 8 years, 75 strokes occurred in the group as a whole. Considering all exacerbating factors -- such as blood pressure, insulin treatment and cholesterol levels -- having diabetic retinopathy more than doubled the likelihood of having a stroke.

Dr. Tien Y. Wong advised Reuters Health, "Diabetes can exert its effects on multiple organs in the body, and damage in the blood vessels seen in the eye -- retinopathy -- is a marker of probably unseen damage occurring elsewhere." Detecting blood vessel damage in the eye is linked to blood vessel damage in the brain, which could result in a stroke. He advises all eye care professionals to perform a more comprehensive assessment of stroke risk if they detect retinopathy in a patient.

The results of this study do not surprise me at all. Researchers have found that psychosocial factors like cynical distrust, chronic stress and depression, may be associated with higher levels of inflammatory markers. These inflammatory markers are related to an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of premature death among people with diabetes.

The study included 6,814 men and women between the ages of 45 to 84. Participants were assessed for their levels of depression, chronic stress and cynical distrust. Blood samples obtained at the start of the study were analyzed for markers for inflammation. The researchers found associations between all three psychosocial factors and inflammatory markers.

A high stress lifestyle may increase the chance that an individual engages in social behaviors that increase inflammatory markers. The same high stress lifestyle may contribute to obesity and related metabolic problems. Furthermore, socioeconomic position is likely to be a precursor to psychosocial characteristics. True. But let's not wager our lives on a dollar-denominated scale. Consider the Chinese proverb, those who know when they have enough are rich. Now ask yourself where you stand in the socioeconomic parade. If you put it that way - I'm on easy street! Too bad it's in the wrong neighborhood.

Just another reason to be nice...a study reveals that people with high stress and high hostility levels have an increased risk of developing insulin resistance. This means that the body's response to insulin begins to slow down and blood sugars rise. This increases the likelihood of developing diabetes.

Previous research has shown that insulin resistance is associated with stress and certain personality factors, including hostility. Researchers hypothesized that hostility may interact with stress to affect insulin resistance. The study measured levels of norepinephrine in the urine. Norepinephrine is an indicator of stress. The Cook-Medley Hostility scale was used to measure hostility. (What kind of world do we live in that actually warrants a scientific scale to measure hostility!?!?) Insulin resistance was measured by the homeostatic model assessment index, 2-hour post-challenge glucose, and insulin levels after factoring in the influence of nine other risk factors. The study found that there is a statistical interaction between hostility and stress level in gauging insulin resistance. People with higher levels of hostility don't always have worse insulin resistance, but they do when they are under stress, especially high levels of chronic stress.

The team also found that not all components of hostility are related to insulin resistance. For instance, cynicism is a personality trait that is strongly related to insulin resistance. I'm telling you, the more I read into this study, the more I realize I need an attitude adjustment. And it continues.... because people with high hostility (especially high cynicism) tend to have worse insulin resistance under stress, it is important to target this population for preventive interventions. Anytime the severity of a situation rises to "intervention" status -- it takes on a whole new meaning. This begs the question -- who wants to brave an intervention for a hostile and stressed looming diabetic? Not it!

Remember that Saturday Night Live skit Coffee Talk? Well, I happen to frequent a site with the same name and I thought it was a worthwhile share for the public service of stress management. CoffeyTalk offers inspirational wisdom and affirmations to help keep the overwhelming stresses of life in check, and every diabetic knows the importance of managing stress. This site is courtesy of Lissa Coffey, a best-selling author and a Ph.D. who shares ancient wisdom in her refreshing style.

An interesting fact about the way we treat each other and how it affects our stress levels compelled me to share this site. I felt it apropos to share with the diabetic crowd because anything that is scientifically proven to make our world less stressful is an emotional jackpot in my book.

Lissa shares a study from the University of Virginia that has determined scientifically the human touch helps the body respond to stress. And when it is the touch of someone we love, the affect is even more profound. When our partner holds our hand, the effect is that he or she is actually reaching a part of our brain that activates the immune system! Love helps us to live longer, healthier lives. Regular human contact with a loving partner can be like medicine for us.

How about that! Love, something each and every one of us has the ability to manufacture and dispense can affect us like a drug. Mental note: find myself a twitterpated turtledove so I might live to see 100. Thanks for the info, Lissa!

I'm a sucker for told you so scientific studies so I had to share this one.

A study published online by the British Medical Journal says researchers examined the association between work stress and the metabolic syndrome (a cluster of factors that increases the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes) in 10,308 British civil servants aged between 35 and 55, over a 14 year period.

A dose-response relation was found between exposure to job stress and the metabolic syndrome, even after adjusting for other risk factors. For example, men with chronic work stress were nearly twice as likely to develop the syndrome as those with no exposure to work stress. Women with chronic work stress were also more likely to have the syndrome, but they formed a small group. See? Men call it rumor mills -- women call it therapy!

So in closing, the next time you sit at work thinking to yourself, "this job is killing me" - you might be right!

You're probably aware by now that many customer service calls for American companies are being handled by employees in other countries, particularly India. Not surprisingly, a study conducted by the Delhi Research Diabetic Center has found that Indian employees of such call centers are suffering from increasingly poor health. Even at relatively young ages, they are becoming especially prone to diabetes and illness associated with high blood pressure.

The reason? They are adopting the lifestyle habits of their American counterparts: drinking soda, eating a lot of processed foods, and their lifestyles are highly sedentary in nature. Of course, all that time spent at a desk taking phone calls is not exactly a recipe for a fit and healthy body. It's also a pretty stressful job environment, working at a call center, and researchers have pointed to job stress as a contributing factor to be taken into account. People in India are becoming increasingly worried about the country's spiraling diabetes problem: unfortunately, the case of the call center workers is just the tip of the iceberg.

Freelance writer Janice Lynch Schuster has written a really good column that's been published in the Annapolis, MD, Capital. It's a worthy read, being all about how diabetes is something that needs to be tackled as a family. Schuster describes her and husband Erik's journey over the last few months since he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. In the beginning, she says, she did not fuss over Erik. She left it up to him to follow the advice his doctor had given him because she didn't want to bug him. She now says, however, that the "hands-off approach" doesn't work. On the other hand, she admits it's hard for spouses to walk the line between being actively supportive and being a "nag." "I do not want to be the diabetes police for him," she writes, "I am sure he can play that part on his own. But silencing it in myself is hard."

Schuster also quotes Dr. Lawrence Fisher, a clinical psychologist who focuses on diabetes and who advocates a family-centered approach to diabetes treatment. Says Fisher, partners need to "make the shift from being a supporter to being an active participant" because although only one family member may be afflicted with diabetes, the whole family is affected. His advice? Change the whole family's diet and lifestyle, not just that of the diabetic. Also, talk about it the disease and how it's affecting everyone. Good communication reduces stress and reduces the risk of depression.