Loosing weight is quite a difficult task for some people. It requires a lot of determination and a proper approach. No matter, how challenging the process is; people suffering from excessive body weight needs to get rid of it, because it shortens a life span and invites a lot of other life-threatening diseases. For obese people, a proper help is the only solution which can be provided by a weight management clinic. There are trained professionals to help obese to reach their weight loss goal quickly and safely.   They provide right education on the food that should be taken, help with the exercises, and a proper medical assessment to make sure that efforts are not going into waste. They customize a weight loss program according to the needs of a patient's body. So, how do we decide on a weight management clinic? Well, if you are confused about how to choose a weight management clinic, we have got a solution to your problem. Here are some points that you can consider while selecting a weight management clinic for yourself:  

• Conduct a proper research-  It is better to do your home work properly. Make a list of the clinics that are there in your mind and visit all of their websites, one by one. Read all the information available; go through the programs they've involved, their approach, team of doctors and dietitians available, and of course do not forget to read the experience of their past clients. All these things will help you to decide better on your weight management clinic. 

• Track record of its patients-  It is very necessary to know about the achievements of the clinic and its patients in the past. As mentioned earlier, go through the testimonials to witness the track record of its patients. If necessary, pay a visit to the clinic, and ask them personally about their programs and achievements. You can even inquire from the patients there, if you come across them.

We are creatures of habit. When we repeat mistakes, they get reinforced, becoming bad habits. Breaking bad eating habits isn't easy. By observing your eating habits and establishing reasonable goals, you can turn your unhealthy diet around. Remember that change doesn't happen overnight.

Here are 11 tips to help you break bad eating habits.

1) Be consistent.

To build healthy eating habits, avoid roller coaster-type dieting. Don't starve yourself during the week and then indulge on the weekends. In 700 BC the Greek poet Hesiod wrote, "Observe due measure; moderation is best in all things."

2) Drink a glass of water before your meal.

Your stomach is a muscle that can stretch. If you eat a hearty meal followed by a glass of water, your stomach will expand, causing you to eat more at the next meal in order to feel satiated. So drink a large glass of water at the beginning of the meal. This will cause you to feel full sooner, before you pack in more calories.

3) Focus on health/nutrition.

Studies have shown that people who diet to improve their health are more successful at keeping the weight off. Examine your motivation. Are you dieting to be improve your health, or to look good, or (worse) in response to peer pressure? Proper diet is part of a healthy lifestyle.

4) Avoid late-night meals/snacks.

Late-night snacks are the bane of dieters. At night your metabolism is slow. Going to bed on a full stomach is comforting, but will eventually lead to overweight and obesity. After dinner, brush your teeth and remind yourself that "the kitchen is closed." If you must snack, make sure it's healthy food: carrot and celery sticks, a piece of fruit or other low-calorie item.

5) Avoid fast food/junk food.

High-calorie fast foods and sugary sodas are leading causes of obesity. Do you have trouble avoiding the fast-food drive-through on your way to/from work? Prepare healthy snacks to carry with you. Occasional meals out are okay but home-prepared foods are better and healthier.

6) Don't skip breakfast.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It gives you energy to meet the day. Skipping breakfast will lead to an energy crash before noon. And you'll be thinking about food all morning. So don't skimp on a healthy breakfast.

7) Get enough sleep.

New studies show that lack of sleep is associated with weight gain. The reasons are not yet clear, but we believe that lack of sleep causes fatigue, which causes you to compensate by eating high-energy, high calorie foods in order to maintain your metabolic equilibrium.

8) Stalk your bad eating habits.

We are creatures of habit. Bad habits, such as the choices you make at the grocery store, are reinforced through repetition. So stalk your bad eating habits like a hunter stalks his prey. When do you typically overeat? What are your triggers? Identifying your bad eating habits and your motivations (both physical and psychological) are the first steps to improving your diet and your health.

9) Serve healthy meals to your family.

When you're dieting, don't go it alone. It is very difficult and discouraging to try to maintain a diet separate from your family. You stare at your salad while everyone else eats fatty comfort food. It's a "recipe for disaster!" So incorporate your family in your healthy eating plan. Start slowly and find healthy, low-calorie foods that everyone in the family will enjoy.

10) Establish realistic goals.

Don't set yourself up for failure. It's better to lose a couple of pounds a month, than to lose a lot of weight quickly and then put it all back on. In order to create the healthy lifestyle you need, start slowly by building a routine you can stick to. It's okay to fall off the wagon occasionally, like family holiday get-togethers. Once you see that bad habits can be overcome, even on a small scale, you will increase your motivation. Positive reinforcement also helps. Reward yourself (with non-food items) for even small successes.

11) Don't give up!

Dieting is not a zero sum game like football, where one team wins and the other loses. The only way you can lose the diet game is by giving up and going back to your old indulgences. Everyone experiences setbacks when striving toward a goal. Stick with the plan, forgive yourself, and get back on the wagon. If your goals are realistic, it is easier to get back on track after a slip. Avoid discouragement.

To learn more about California Medical Weight Management's doctor-supervised weight loss program, visit us on the Web at www.calmwm.com. www.calmwm.com.

By Dr. Farooq Achmad

It is known since long that there are two types of fat found in humans; white and brown. White (or yellow) is the form of fat that everybody knows. Brown is the one less people know about. An infant has predominantly brown fat in his body. However, as he grows up, the brown fat gradually changes into white.

The striking difference between the two is not in their colors but in their impact on body weight; while the excess white fat causes obesity, the brown does just the opposite: it burn calories and hence contributes to reduce obesity! Although the primary function of brown fat in infants and rodent seems to be generation of heat, it indirectly helps reduce obesity by way of burning body’s energy fuel.

Until recently, adults were believed not having brown fat in their bodies. New findings, with hi-tech PET-CT Scan however suggest the presence of brown fat in adult as well. PET-CT Scan, which is best at pin-pointing any biochemical activity going on anywhere in the body, has helped researchers discover the minimal hidden depots of brown fat in adult.

Not only brown fat has been shown to be present in adults, but studies also point out that when it is cold, it sucks white fat out of its depots and burn it out as fuel.

The best evidence for the effects of brown fat is from earlier studies in mice, says Leslie P. Kozak, a professor of molecular genetics at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center of Louisiana State University.

In a recently study, Dr. Kozak put mice predisposed to obesity in a cold room, 41 degrees, for a week. The animals activated their brown fat. As a result, they lost 14 percent of their weight, which constituted 47 percent of their body fat, while eating a high-fat diet with two and a half times more calories than they had consumed at room temperature.

"That’s just by going out in the cold, without any drug treatment," Dr. Kozak said. But, he cautioned, mice, small animals with a comparatively huge surface area, are easily chilled. "Put the mouse in the cold," he added, "and it becomes a heat producing machine."

Another study by Dr. André Carpenters, an endocrinologist and his co-researchers at the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec, reports that brown fat can burn ordinary fat and that glucose is not a major source of fuel for these cells.

“We have proof that this tissue burns calories — yes, indeed it does," Dr. Carpentier said. “But what happens over the long term is unknown.

"The thing about brown fat is that it takes a very small amount to burn a lot of energy," says another researcher, Dr. C. Ronald Kahn, head of the section on obesity and hormone action at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.

Exposure to severe cold can likely have harmful effects. Researchers are striving to find out some safe way to stimulate the dormant brown fat: "If a drug that stimulates brown fat could be developed, said Dr. Claude Bouchard of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, it would be the first obesity drug to affect energy expenditure rather than appetite."

Readers please be informed that although these initial findings about the positive role of brown fat as well as the discovery that cold environment can stimulate brown fat are very encouraging, researchers think much more research needs to be done before they can reach at a definite conclusion.

Hence our advice: DON’T START TRYING IT RIGHT AWAY!