While "evil intent" may be over the top as a description of what's happening with adulteration of medicines manufactured in China, neither is it plausible that this is happening merely by accident or neglect. Time and again, it's been shown that prescription drugs not revealed on the label have been added to China-made supplements/herbal products, and the clear intent is to make them more effective while luring customers with a supposedly "natural" product. Check out the list of drugs found in Chinese supplements as indicated in this report. "...case reports showed that two or more adulterants were present in 14 of 15 Chinese herbal medicines. There was one death reported in these reports, and at least six potentially life threatening events. Suspicion of adulteration was based not only on adverse effects, but suspiciously good efficacy. Chinese herbal medicines may work because of the adulterants. Most people consider alternative therapies to be safe, and often do not mention that they are using them. Given that multiple adulteration of Chinese herbal medicines seems to be common, there is potential for problems, especially when other treatments are being prescribed. Imagine an older patient on NSAID and aspirin additionally taking a Chinese medicine containing indomethacin or phenylbutazone! We simply do not know what the rate of adulteration is. One UK study of 11 herbal creams showed that eight contained dexamethasone at concentrations up to 1.5 mg/gram of cream. In the absence of better information, we should assume that Chinese medicines are adulterated."

I'm new to this forum and just now starting to seriously think about losing from 230lbs to 175lbs. I know diabetics eat smaller meals four times a day with a snack in-between each meal. This keeps their metabolism working at top speed and evenly paced throughout the day, but it's too hard for me to do. Also the more water you drink the more smoothly your metabolism works. I lost 47lbs 4 years ago and kept it off for a year. Then life broadsided me. now I'm right back where I started. The water before each meal is a tried-and-true technique to increase any efforts made by a dieter, so I'll definitely do that. I had a Gastroenterologest, stomach specialist, tell me that any thing i ate one hour or more after sunset turned increasingly faster to fat and that the digestive track doesn't start normal function again until an hour before sunrise. So when I was dieting before I quit eating sunset to sunrise. And walking is my favorite exercise. It's a 3 mile walk to go around the block I live on, so that is where I start. The water, eating hours, and walking worked for me before, so I guess they are what I'll try again. Good luck and let someone know what you decide to do, it helps somehow to tell. l.marie

ANY time you switch a dog's diet, you MUST do it gradually. go back to square one...select a new food and begin with a tiny amount mixed in with her old food. the switch should take up to a week or so until she is eating only the new food. for the time being, if she still has runny stools, feed her nothing but boiled chicken or boiled ground beef mixed with rice. NO DOG FOOD. do this for 2 or 3 days until her stools are firm and then start the switch to the new food. as as been suggested, a grain-free kibble would be best. there are all kinds of them out there. natural balance is my choice and my dogs do great on it.

I didn't play basketball yesterday as there were too many people in my driveway already playing and I was afraid of falling....they were big people, too! Plus, the neighbors dog kept coming over and bringing her nasty ball and dropping it for the kids to throw. But, we took the little kids (4 and 6 yo) to the beach, so we walked in the sand and then walked out on the pier and took the long way back....I think that will count for my walk. They waded in the water saying it wasn't all the cold....I told them their feet were just numb and they couldn't feel anything! I need to go back on Phase 1 for a few days after what I've been eating. I should have left the 'cake' out of my strawberry shortcake and, how can you have chili without cornbread?! SharonG/FL