Weight loss chocolate Lola was unveiled at a European chocolate show (wish I'd had an invite to that).

The makers Cocoa Bio claim the consumer will "immediately feel a sensation of pleasure and will detect that we have eaten an appetite satisfying food thus reducing the feeling of hunger and making us feel better" (note this is an English translation).

Personally I think it's the slime green color. One look at what you're eating and you're sure to put the chocolate box down.

The secret is in the cholecystokinin - a peptide hormone secreted by the brain to suppress hunger. The chocolate apparently stimulates that generation of the hormone by having extract of jojoba seed

The green color? It comes from the presence of the algae Spirulina.

Only available in Spain so don't get too excited.

Looking for a new diet? Diet season is almost upon us, and as silly as it seems, January is the month where people go and buy diet books. Publishers know this and hold back releases until January.

The 5 Factor World Diet is on its way. It follows on from 5 Factor Fitness and the 5 Factor Diet (I guess it follows that you keep writing sequels every few years to hit all the repeat dieters).

The 5 Factor series is about breaking things into fives (5 meals a day, 5 minute routines, 5 ingredient meals -- you get the picture). Author and trainer Harvey Pasternak appears to be a Hollywood insider and has no shortage of celebrity endorsements (Hilary Duff, Jeff Goldblum, Jessica Simpson, et al).

It's worth noting that these endorsements are generally for Harvey as a personal trainer and advisor - a far cry from reading a book and trying to do-it-yourself.

5 Factor World Diet takes the same principles but with a global spin. Why do the Japanese Okinawans live so long? Why does Singapore have such a low obesity rate? Great questions but it's naive to think we can break the answers down into 3-point formulas and then apply to our fast-food sedentary consumer cultures.

Look for the diet to be one of January's big sellers.

By J.Foster

Reprinted by permission from Dietblog

A draft report from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition suggests that the UK's recommended daily calorie intakes (currently 2,000 for women and 2,500 for men) might need to be revised. The good news? They're thinking of putting the figures up, perhaps by as much as 16% - around 400 calories for men.

And the bad news..?

This doesn't mean we should all go out and scoffing an extra donut every day. The BBC News reports inRethink for calorie eating levels:

[T]he panel stresses that people should only eat more if they exercise more, given rising levels of obesity.

The reason for the proposed increase is because the researchers believe they have presented a more accurate estimate of how calories are burnt off during exercise.

Are the Recommendations Helpful?

As a five foot two woman with a small frame, I've been aware for years that the recommended maintenance calories for women (2000/day) would lead to me putting on weight. Few of us are "average" -- we might be short or tall, or exercise regularly.

Although recommendations may provide a good rule of thumb, if you're trying to lose weight or maintain your weight loss, you need to take in the number of calories that's right for you. You can use Diet Blog's Daily Calorie Calculator to figure this out.

Do you find that your daily dieting or maintenance calories need to be significantly higher or lower than "official" recommendations?

By Ali Hale

Repinted by permission from Dietblog

Selling cheeseburgers for $1 sounds like a good idea, especially for the consumer! After all, maintaining giant thunder-thighs isn't cheap.

So no doubt, in the eyes of the customer, cheaper is better. But Burger King's $1 double cheeseburger is no good for Burger King franchises.

That's why the franchises are now suing their corporate overlord, claiming the $1 special is forcing them to sell cheeseburgers at a loss.

One franchisee said double cheeseburgers usually cost $1.10. The meat, cheese, bun, and condiments costs $0.55, and the other $0.55 covers rent, royalties, and paying employees, so losing that $0.10 mucks up the system.

The corporation pushed the discount cheeseburger, which went on sale last month, after being rejected by franchise owners twice, to help boost sales and increase restaurant visits. The bigwigs expect a 20% jump in patronage.

Burger King has 12,000 locations worldwide and 90% are owned by franchisees, so you'd think the business gurus would have been more sensitive before dumping this marketing strategy, err, expense onto them.

I guess the thinking is cheaper food will mean more customers buying more food, but how long will that work? You can only eat some much in one day! It's not like a "can-can" sale. Fast food burgers don't last forever, or do they?

Via the Associated Press.

By Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese 

Reprinted by permission from Dietblogs

Vicki Larrieux, a 22-year-old student, claims she is unable to keep to a healthy diet because she is frightened of vegetables. Now I know what you're thinking "Isn't that most of the Western world?" Incredibly enough, Larrieux suffers from a "legitimate" condition called lachanophobia - a fear of vegetables.

The mere sight of lettuce or peas leaves Larrieux sweating and panic-stricken. As a result, she lives on a diet of meat, potatoes, cereals and the occasional apple - but will go into revolt if there a single carrot on her plate.

"Every time I would see vegetables not just on my plate, but anywhere I would get feelings of panic, start sweating and my heart rate would shoot up. People might think it is a bit of a laughable affliction but I have a genuine fear of greens it's not just that I dislike the taste of sprouts or broccoli, but the actual sight of them fills me with dread and I could never touch them."

The conditions is said to be quite rare and treatment consists of psychological "re-programming" to control the anxious response to seeing vegetables.

"I am learning to control my fear but it isn't easy it is a hard thing to have to bring up when I meet new people and I'm sure some people must think I'm taking the mickey.

Larrieux's phobia makes it difficult for her to go near grocery stores or restaurants but her boyfriend Joseph (run, Joseph - run far away) is understanding. Seriously though, I'm trying to picture Joseph asking Vicki out on a first date.

Joseph: So, um, Vicki... do you fancy dinner on Saturday?
Vicki: Ooohh, um... sounds great Joseph, except I'm, um.. afraid of veg.
Joseph: You mean, you... don't like vegetables?
Vicki: No, I'm actually deathly afraid of them - I break out in a sweat and start twitching uncontrollably followed by yelling like a lunatic if I see even one crown of broccoli.
Joseph: Oh, Jolly good then... movie it is!

A spokesman for phobia charity Anxiety UK said: "Around 13 per cent of Brits suffer a phobia of some form."

Surprisingly, the lachanophobia society has not returned my email queries.

Just for fun, here are 5 more unusual phobias you may or may not be aware of:

1. Pentheraphobia - Fear of mother-in-law
2. Consecotaleophobia - Fear of chopsticks
3. Paraskavedekatriaphobia - Fear of Friday the 13th
4. Arachibutyrophobia- Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth
5. Peladophobia- Fear of bald people

By Mike Howard

Reprinted by permission from Dietblog

Researchers believe that being obese at age 18 may be linked with developing multiple sclerosis (MS) as an adult.

The BBC news website summarised the research findings from the Harvard School of Public Health:

A 40-year study of 238,000 women found those who were obese at 18 had twice the risk of developing MS compared to women who were slimmer at that age.

There was also a small increase in risk for those who were overweight (BMI between 25 and 30) as teens. The researchers adjusted for factors like smoking and exercise levels.

Being overweight as a child or adult appeared not to have any effect on whether or not a person developed multiple sclerosis. The researchers believe that this could be due to important physical changes during adolescence, and explained:

There's a lot of research supporting the idea that adolescence may be an important time for development of disease, so what we have found is consistent with that.

However, multiple sclerosis charities are less certain, and the MS Society's Susan Kohlhaas said that further research was needed.

Whether or not the findings of this study are confirmed, it's another reminder that obesity early in life can cause problems later on. If you're obese, you might be in good health right now, but you're putting yourself at greater risk of developing diseases (such as type II diabetes) during the rest of your life.

By Ali Hale

Contributed by Dietblog

The idea that French woman could live in the land of wine, cheese, and those mouth-watering pastries without gaining so much as an inch was such a phenomenon that it even spawned a best-selling book, French Women Don't Get Fat. And, yes, it may have created a little envy, too.

But as it turns out, French women do get fat, as do French men. According to Reuters,their obesity rates are very similar to those in the United States ... forty years ago.

The survey, which was sponsored by Swiss pharmaceuticals company Roche, found that 15.1 percent of women in France are obese, and over one in four are overweight. Nearly 14 percent of French men are obese, and 38.5 percent are overweight.

Blame city life, said one researcher involved with the study. "Obesity rates have really risen sharply in urban areas where there's a concentration of sedentary jobs, public transport, less need to walk and a much greater availability of food," Dr. Marie-Aline Charles told Reuters.

In this case, being decades behind the U.S. is a good thing. But the French should look to America as a cautionary tale, because clearly they're headed in the wrong direction.

The whole premise of French Women Don't Get Fat was the idea that women could eat whatever they wanted, as long as they balanced those high fat/calorie foods with low-calorie dishes and extra activity. Apparently in French cities, that balance is being lost.

I wonder how much of it has to do with the shift away from foods made with fresh, whole ingredients to processed junk. There's a big difference between mindfully sitting down to enjoy a deliciously sinful freshly made pastry -- knowing you'll balance it with a light lunch and a walk after dinner -- and carelessly shoving Twinkies in your mouth.

What do you think?

By Bethany Sanders

Contributed by Dietblog

Photobucket: Minda33

"Five...five dollar foot longs." You've probably had Subway's catchy little ditty stuck in your head--ALL DAY--at least once by now.

Granted, it's not as nagging as Chili's "I want my baby back, baby back, back," but its pretty hard to shake, which might be a good thing.

Turns out, $5 is the latest win-win in fast food gimmicks. Subway raked in $3.8 billion with it, and now other restaurants are giving it a try too.

It started off humbly. Stuart Frankel, a New York native who owns two Subways in Miami, needed to kick start his sluggish weekend sales. So on Saturday and Sunday, he cut the price of footlong sub sandwiches by 1 buck.

And boom! Stuart's sales took off like a shot. He thinks customers like the nice round number. It looks like they do, because "$5 Footlongs" alone generated $3.8 billion in sales nationwide for Subway.

Subway has topped Wendy's and Burger King in market share, and could surpass McDonald's in total locations worldwide early next year.

So now its fast food monkey see, fast food monkey do. Boston Market has offered meals for $5 each, KFC is trying $5 combo meals, and Dominos and T.G.I. Friday's have started selling sandwiches for $4.99.

Judy Cantrell, Boston Market's chief brand officer, calls $5, "A price point that consumers respond to." Makes sense to me, its only one step up from $1, so it sounds cheap.

So what's next? The return of "Momma mia, that's a spicy meatball!"

Via BusinessWeek.

By Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese 

Contributed by Dietblog

The women of Lifetime's DietTribe Season Twocontinue to loseweight with each passing week but not without recognizing just how far their weight struggles can reach.

The women, who are all also mothers except for LaNessa, are concerned that they will inevitably pass their unhealthy eating habits down to their kids. During episode four, chef Cat Cora stopped by to show the women how to cook for themselves and their families in a healthy way in order to prevent their eating patterns from being passed down to another generation.

With love as one of the strongest motivators, the ladies gathered around the kitchen with Cat who helped them prepare healthy, kid-friendly snacks and meals that will keep their children lean, strong and fit. In addition, Cat's creations will show the kids just how delicious whole foods can be. One of the recipes that she concocted was a low-fat batch of chicken fingers using cornflakes as a crunchy coating rather than heavy batter and baking them rather than frying them in order to trim calories and fat grams.

After their cooking lesson, the DietTribe members had their scheduled weighed in.

Here are the results following the half-way point of their 120-day weight loss journey:

Tiffany: Starting weight: 221 pounds. Current weight: 196 pounds. Total weight loss: 25 pounds

LaNessa: Starting weight: 335 pounds. Current weight: 303 pounds. Total weightloss: 32 pounds

Rita: Starting weight:177 pounds. Current weight: 163 pounds. Total weight loss: 14 pounds

Mary: Starting weight: 210 pounds. Current weight: 183 pounds. Total weight loss: 27 pounds

Stephanie: Starting weight: 244 pounds. Current weight: 215 pounds. Total weight loss: 29 pounds

Keep tuning in to DietsInReview.com for continued updates on the progress of ladies of DietTribe Season Two.

Reprinted by permission from Dietsinreview

Big, new, exciting things on this episode of Biggest Loser. With two people going home, the addition of a red line, and some extreme overreacting, how could anyone pay close attention? Well, if you missed some things this week, I have a recap for you.

As I said before, this week is a double elimination week for the contestants. This put all of the contestants on edge and really brought out the best competitive nature in all of the them. We finally saw some game play by the two groups of alliances (young vs. old), and tensions really started to heat up. In the pop challenge, the human tank, Allen, won a one-pound advantage at the weigh-in. That reward is extremely important at this stage in the game. So many contestants have gone home on just one pound, it's ridiculous.

This week's challenge was circus inspired as the contestants had to jump through hoops to eliminate their competitors. I know I ask for a lot of stuff from you all in this blog, but this one is kinda cool. 1. Does anyone work for the circus. 2. Can I come and play with the elephants, or jugglers or something fun? Thanks.

Back to the challenge. Shay seemed to think that Rudy made an extreme alliance with her and proceeded to act like a crazy person. There was some ground for the claim, but, seriously, Shay would have lost anyway and in the end it's a game. Start playing chess, not checkers.

The contestants had some very intense workouts, and again, Danny was out back with the giant tire and sledgehammer (I'm still waiting for that gift by the way; I understand it could get lost in the mail, but it's been a while). He wins intense workout of the week, and it showed on the scale.

(Another perfect transition to the weigh-in. Man, I'm getting decent at this blogging thing.)

The contestants dropped absolute bombs! The numbers for week nine were huge. Shay lost 17 pounds, losing 100 pounds faster than any woman in Biggest Loser history. Danny dropped a bomb, Liz had her highestweight loss total, and Rebecca lost a monster 10. Daniel was the unfortunate victim of the red line, losing 199 pounds in his stay on Biggest Loser. He did an amazing job and is doing great at home.

The people below the yellow line this week were Shay and Amanda. The house voted out Shay, most likely for game play reasons. I would have voted off Amanda, because she is the bigger threat. Sure, Shay has a lot of weight to lose, but does not have enough time to lose enough weight to have an amazing percentage. Amanda on the other hand is just like the winners from seasons past, being a smaller woman. She even has the right color to win (pink). But, again, I'm not there.

Next week is supposed to be an amazing week people so let's get excited. Until next time BLnation.

By Mike Morelli

Reprinted by permission from Dietsinreview