University Study Finds Isagenix Superior to Leading “Heart Healthy” Diet

September 20, 2012 IsagenixHealth.net

Dr. Krista Varaday
University of Illinois
Chicago College of Applied Sciences

Dr. Krista Varady discusses clinical research on Isagenix products.

The highly anticipated results are in—Isagenix products are superior to a leading “heart healthy” dietary plan for weight loss and visceral fat loss. The manuscript has been submitted to two peer-reviewed journals and is still under review; however, you can read more details about the study on our clinical research summary and marketing flyer.

Krista Varady, Ph.D., the lead investigator of the study, is a prolific researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Applied Sciences with more than 30 peer-reviewed research publications. She has a Ph.D. in nutrition from McGill University—one of the top universities in Canada. Dr. Varady has devoted much of her time to investigating the ability of weight-management strategies to decrease cardiovascular disease risk and is one of the pioneers in research on alternate-day and intermittent fasting.

Dr. Varady’s research was presented in August at the 10th annual Isagenix Celebration in Phoenix. Eager to share the exciting results, Dr. Varady answered questions from Isagenix Chief Science Officer Suk Cho, Ph.D.:

Q: What did you think when you tried Isagenix?

A: I always try things before I make my subjects do it. I used Isagenix for three weeks in January before we began the study. I didn’t want to lose a ton of weight, but I did want to see if I could lose a few pounds with it. The easy of use was great—no dishes at breakfast or lunch; you didn’t even need to have milk at home. I went out and bought a few shake products to compare it to and I’m not sure what you guys do, but the consistency is like a smoothie. The other shakes were clumpy and it made them less appealing.

Q: What else impressed you about Isagenix products?

A: I was impressed by the Cleanse Day and the high-protein IsaLean® Shake. All the ingredients actually seemed wholesome. I had thought the shake would be a high-sugar beverage, but I found it to be really nutritionally complete.

Q: What attracted you to collaborate with Isagenix on research using their products?

A:  The main thing was that Isagenix incorporates fasting while on Cleanse Days. I find that really novel. If you look at other meal-replacement diets, they never really incorporate fasting or cleansing. Usually it is a shake for breakfast and a shake for lunch, but they don’t use all the other products Isagenix uses. I like that it is a multifaceted approach. You are also using supplements that may provide metabolic benefit and protect against free radicals—I thought that was really neat too, but the main thing was that there was a Cleanse Day every week because I am really interested in fasting research.

Q: What can you tell us about the study’s results?

A: Our main finding was that weight loss was actually greater in the Isagenix group. On average they lost 3.9 kg, so that works out to be around 9 pounds or so. Obviously, some lost more and some less, but the Isagenix group lost 3 pounds more on average than the other diet. We also saw those changes with fat mass. With Isagenix, we saw slightly greater reductions (although not significant) in fat mass. Neither group lost a significant amount of lean mass, which is great because you want to maintain your muscle mass to keep your metabolic rate higher and that allows you to burn more calories per hour.

Q: What are the results for visceral fat (fat that surrounds the organs)?

A: Even though it wasn’t statistically significant between groups, we found that there was a much greater reduction in visceral fat in the Isagenix group—about twice as much. They lost 0.7 kg, about 2 pounds. I find that amazing—they lost 2 pounds around their organs—that’s a lot!

Q: What other part of this study’s results do you find most exciting or intriguing?

A: What I found most intriguing at first was the adherence of the Isagenix group; they seemed to adhere better because of the convenience factor of the Isagenix system. Also, the Isagenix group lost more weight and more fat (especially visceral fat); and the blood chemistry looked wonderful.

Q: What other personal observations have you made about the Isagenix products and how they affect subjects?

A: Isagenix people just seemed happier. Also, the satiety (or fullness) aspect; people didn’t feel motivated to binge after a shake or cheat on the diet because they really did find those shakes quite filling, so I was pretty impressed with that. That is the main reason that I am even testing out these diets—to find diets that people will actually do and adhere to over the long term. They liked the taste of the shake and just in terms of the easiness too, they said small things like “there were less dishes to wash” and “for breakfast all you really have to do is keep the blender clean, there’s not that much prep involved and it is a portable system.” But those are actually really important things—if a diet is hard to do, people aren’t going to do it for very long. So making it easy, making it easy to clean up after—all those things add up for long term weight loss.

Q: You had some products left over after the study and people asked you for them, right?

A: Yeah, I had 3 boxes left of the shakes and I have never seen women diving in there, fighting with each other. They were all over each other. Those were gone pretty quickly after we opened them up!

How to Make Turducken!! (Recipe)

What is a turducken? A turducken is a turkey, stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken. Turducken is a dish popular in Louisiana. After reading this article you will be able to (and should) make a turducken. You will not be told, however, how to eat it, or how to make gravy. Read this thoroughly, as if you were instructing someone, before attempting the recipe. It's a long process that requires a lot of work!

Ingredients

17 lb. turkey
7 lb. duck
3 lb. chicken
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. salt
2 gallons water
3 carrots
3 celery ribs
   dash sage
¼ tsp rosemary
2 bay leaves
4 peppercorns
4 garlic cloves
1 onion, halved
15 oz. seasoned dried bread cubes
8 oz. butter
2 c. turducken stock
   Vegetable Oil

Steps

1.  Rinse the birds.

2.  Bone the birds.  Place the bird breast side down on cutting board.
                *  Make an incision to the bone on the right or left side of the spine.
                * Following the rib cage, cut down along the length of the bird until you reach the level                      of the wing and leg joints.
                * Pop the wing and leg out of their sockets and separate from bird. Do not cut the skin.
                * Continue following the rib cage with your boning knife until you meet the keel bone.
                * Follow the keel bone down to the skin of the breast.
                * Repeat on other side.
                * Separate the skin from the keel, keeping the skin intact.
                * For all birds, except the turkey, do the following on both sides of the bird:

                                - Cut along the leg bone with the boning knife.
                                - Using the boning knife, peel the meat from the bones and remove the bones.
                                - Cut along the wing bone with the boning knife.
                                - Using the boning knife, peel the meat from the bones and remove the  bones.
                * Set aside the carcasses.

3.    Brine the birds. Combine the sugar, salt and water in a large 2.5 gallon sealable container. Mix until completely dissolved. Place the meat from the turkey, duck and chicken into the brine and refrigerate overnight.

4.   Make the stock. Put the carcasses, carrots, celery ribs, sage, rosemary, bay leaves, peppercorns, garlic cloves, halved onion and two gallons of water into the stockpot. Place the collapsible steamer basket upside down on top of the contents of the stockpot. Weigh down if necessary. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and simmer up to 6 hours (until bones are easily broken), stirring occasionally. Pour pot contents through sieve into large resealable container. Refrigerate stock overnight and in the morning, remove the solid fat layer.

5.   Remove the meat from the refrigerator and bring to room temperature.

6.   Make stuffing. Heat the butter and 2 cups of turducken stock in saucepan until almost boiling. Thoroughly mix with bread cubes in mixing bowl. Allow to cool until it can be handled.

7.   Assemble the turducken.
                * Lay the semi-boneless turkey on a cutting board, skin side down.
                * Dust with pepper and garlic powder.
                * Coat with a ¼ to ½ inch thick layer of stuffing.
                * Lay the boneless duck on the stuffing layer, skin side down.
                * Dust with pepper and garlic powder.
                * Coat with a ¼ to ½ inch thick layer of stuffing.
                * Lay the boneless chicken on the stuffing layer, skin side down.
                * Dust with pepper and garlic powder.
                * Coat with a ¼ to ½ inch thick layer of stuffing.
                * Fold the chicken, fold the duck, then fold the turkey so that the skin of the back comes
                        together

8.   Close the turducken.
                * Insert a skewer along the back of the skin to keep it together.
                * Insert a skewer along the rear end of the turkey, closing the end.
                * Insert a skewer from the right breast side to the top skewer.
                * Insert a skewer from the left breast side to the top skewer.
                * Tie string to top center skewer, run it along the skewer to the left side of the end, then wrap string around the right side of the rear skewer, then wrap string around the left side of the rear skewer, then wrap string around right side of rear middle skewer. Follow right side of center skewer to end, hook around the skewer and wrap around the end of the left breast side skewer. Then bring across to the right breast side skewer, then follow right breast side skewer to left side of center skewer, then follow to end of center skewer where you will tie the string to the skewer.
                * Make sure the string is tight around the skewers.

9.   Roast the turducken. Coat the rack in the roasting pan with canola oil (to prevent sticking). Flip the turducken over as you place it on top of the rack in the roasting pan. Rub bird with canola oil. Insert thermometer into the chicken area of the turducken. Place in 500 degree oven and roast for 20 minutes. Drop the temperature to 225 degrees and roast until the thermometer reads 160 degrees (the residual heat of the turducken will carry over the 5 degrees to the FDA recommended 165 degrees for poultry). Let the turducken rest for 20 minutes.

10.     Serve the turkducken. Cut off the legs and wings and place them on the platter. Cut across breast with electric knife, creating slices with all three meats and move to plate or platter with the pancake turner.

Dr. John Gray's Bounce, Shake & Flex Technique

Excerpt from:  The Mars and Venus Diet and Exercise Solution, pg. 195-200, St. Martin’s Press, 2003

The Method:

1. Stand with your knees slightly bent, feet comfortably apart, bounce up and down easily without lifting your feels off the ground.

2.  As you bounce, let your arms hang in a relaxed and floppy manner by your side.  Shake your hands by your side as you bounce.

3.  While you gently bounce and shake, slowly nod your head up and down in a comfortable range of no more than two to four inches.

4.  As you nod back and look up, breath in through your nose to the count of five seconds, and then exhale to the count of five seconds as you lower your head.

5.  During the first minute, breathe in and out through your nose.  During the next minute, breathe in and out though your nose while making a noise originating at the base of your throat.  This sound comes from the air flowing through your throat and not your vocal cords.  You will sound like you are quietly snoring.  During the remaining one to three minutes, breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.  When you exhale through your mouth, pucker your lips and blow out as if you were trying to put out a candle two feet in from of you.

6.  Stop bouncing and shaking.  While standing in a relaxed position, take a quiet minute simply to feel the tingling in your body.  This is best felt while standing straight with arms relaxed by your side and knees slightly bent.  Besides the important aspect of activating your lymphatic system, this vibration is the activation of billions of cells to make you healthy.

Tips from Dr. Gray:

·         Do this technique before and after doing a light to moderate exercise program.

·         Start your exercise session with John Gray’s energized water – One ounce of cold process, undiluted, pure, whole leaf Aloe Vera.

·         Don’t over exercise because it interferes with the brains ability to create balanced brain chemistry.

·         If you are overweight, avoid intense exercise until you are closer to your goal weight.

·         After doing the Bounce and Shake routine, do about 20 minutes of low-intensity exercise with stretching and flexing your body and spine.

Benefits of the Bounce, Shake and Flex Routine:

·         Burns fat, tones muscles, increases lean body mass due to increased cellular vibrations.

·         The rhythmic flexing of the spine increases vitality and stimulates healthy production of brain chemistry.

·         Increased oxygen to your body and stimulates metabolism to burn more fat throughout the day.

·         The gentle whole body movement stimulates the lymphatic system to purify and cleanse the body.

Read more about this great technique and Dr. Gray’s other important solutions for diet and exercise whether you are from Venus or from Mars in his book, “The Mars & Venus Diet & Exercise Solution.”