This week TLC premieres a new program with a big promise:
"I Can Make You Thin," starring British hypnotherapist Paul McKenna.
TLC hasn't spent a lot of time promoting the five-part series (which starts this Sunday, March 16 at 9 p.m.) But McKenna's shtick is that he can change your life by reprogramming your brain.
Since we began the Cheesefry Nation blog I've gotten more e-mails about drinks - water, soda, diet soda, juice -- than anything else.
Water's clearly the best choice -- but sometimes it's not a lot of fun for your taste buds. Amanda and I have found a few diet sodas we like -- but not many. And while they're certainly the lesser of two evils, many doctors and nutritionists will tell you diet sodas aren't that much better for you and have even been linked to weight gain and chronic disease.
But here's the thing: water, soda and diet soda aren't your only choices.
Try some Green Tea -- which I've been drinking the last few days in the form of this fine product from the Arizona tea company:
Arizona Diet Green Tea with Ginseng. First ingredient: Premium Brewed Green Tea using filtered water. That, some natural flavors, Vitamin C, citric acid and honey, Splenda (which I much prefer to aspartame) and Ginseng extract. No calories, no carbs, one gram of sugar and 10 grams of sodium per serving.
All of which would mean nothing if it didn't taste good. And it does. It's not water, but it's a step above diet sodas.
Here's what Dr. Mehmet Oz (author of the excellent You: The Owner's Manual) has to say on the subject:
"It may have only one-third the caffeine of coffee, but because it has extra natural chemicals in it, it gives you the same punch. Green tea is unfermented tea that hasn't been oxidized yet, so whatever biologically active, natural goodness was in the plant is still in there."
I'm going to begin making the tea at home (to further avoid any of the extra stuff) and see how it goes.
I also have to recommend the Arizona Diet Peach Tea, sweetened with real fruit juice with no preservatives, artificial colors or flavors. Good stuff.
What are you guys drinking?