Friday, June 7, 2013

Tongue Patch Surgery and a New "Miracle" Weightloss Drug?

Hi all,

I am excited about this weekend for many reasons. Saturday is the big 2-6 birthday and I can't wait to be able to cook some yummy things for my friends and have everyone over. We decided last minute to have a cookout with some friends and it looks like we might have a nice, small group coming to our house which always makes me ridiculously happy. I love spending time with my friends and family in our home. There is always someone else that gets REALLY excited when people come over to visit - can you guess who?

This little guy!
Hero started training classes again last night at Petsmart for agility which are the classes where the dogs will jump over poles, walk up ramps, etc. He will be in his prime in this class and the good thing for us is that he will be so tired afterwards!

I will make sure to take and post about the party and all the friends and food!

I stumbled upon some great articles this week regarding interesting and a little scary updates on pretty extreme ways that are becoming new trends to lose weight. I think out of the two articles I am going to share, the first is the one that is the scariest extreme.

A new fad that is hitting Beverly Hills is something called "Tongue Patch Surgery" which is basically having a plastic mesh patch surgically sewn onto your tongue. The patch makes it so painful to eat that all you can do is live off of a liquid diet. The patch is removed before it can adhere to your skin and become permanent.

First of all, who thinks of this crap? Second, who is their right mind would do it?
http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/dangerous-weight-loss-tongue-patch-surery-arrives-in-us---192804298.html

The 2nd crazy article that I read in the past week was one describing the launch of the new FDA approved weight loss drug, Belviq. Belviq is the 2nd weightloss drug to come out in the last year. The drug has been proven to help a person lose 3%-5% of their body fat on average in a year. The side effects of this drug can include memory lapse, depression, migraines, hallucinations and most drugs liek this are not covered by most insurances according to the article. Now, let's look at the effects vs the outcome. If a person is 350 pounds and they lose 5% of their body weight (the maximum) in a year that is equal to 350 X .05 = 17.5 pounds. Somehow, that loss isn't enough for me to want to deal with possible depression or other side effects.

I am not saying that this drug might not help someone with serious help issues, I am just saying when are we going to try and focus on the cause and not the result? When are we, as a collective group  of people living together, going to focus on making a health a priority instead of waiting for the next wonder drug of tummy tuck procedure?
http://news.yahoo.com/weight-loss-drug-belviq-gets-overdue-us-launch-143620271.html

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Color My Run 5k Recap and We Have an Officiant!

Hi all,

A sunday post today is a perfect time killer while my mango white cake is cooking in the oven. Yes, that's right folks - mango white cake. My fiancĂ© and I started a lovely tradition with our best friends in Charlotte to have a Sunday dinner together followed by watching our favorite Sunday night tv shows - either Walking Dead or Madmen depending on what season it is.  Tonight is Madmen! What will happen!!?
We always make something healthy together and tonight we are making pasta with olive oil and vegetables. MMM..



I was in charge of the dessert so I looked at what we had in our refrigerator that we needed to use. The answer - mangos. So I am excited to say I am currently cooking a homemade white cake with a mango glaze for on top!

Here is the recipe:
1 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup Butter
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup almond milk


and the glaze is brown sugar, butter and vanilla in a pan on a low simmer with a whole chopped mango.

This will be a lovely way to end the weekend after our first 5k in the Charlotte heat! Dwayne and I ran the "Color Your Run 5k" with our friend Kat on Saturday. Kat is in our wedding party if the name sounds familiar. For those of you who don't know - this race was for Levine's Children's Hospital in Charlotte. Everyone wears a white tshirts and gets colored powder to throw at each other. It was so much fun!

Here are some before shots. Notice Dwayne just hitting me with the yellow powder as the bottom shot was taken!

My lovely fiancé pre-run



Our bridesmaid Kat Lim!
 
 
We looked like a beautiful rainbow of color after the Run! With a final time of 25:50!
 




As far as wedding announcements go - we have a big one! Dwayne and I had said from the beginning that we would feel so much better having someone we know be our officiant. There is just something more personal about something who has seen your relationship grow, knows at least one of us very personally and honestly supports our marriage because they believe in it and not because we are paying them to be there. Luckily, our friend Dan Ross has agreed to become ordained and marry us. He went to high school with Dwayne and they have been great friends for a very, very long time. We could not be more excited that he is willing to do this! We know that he will do an amazingly heartfelt job with our ceremony and give it the personal touch we were looking for!
 
This wedding is really coming together and I feel excited to know that a lot of our major decisions are out of the way and also, are going to be exactly what we wanted for our special day.