Synsepalum dulcificum is the Latin name for Miracle Fruit. The fruit was given its common name because of its effect on the taste buds. It makes everything sweet.

Producers turn it into a powder that you swirl in your mouth before eating other things. When you’ve had it there for a minute or so, the powder on your tongue makes your taste buds ultra sensitive to sugar.

So if, for example, you then ate a grapefruit, it would taste very sweet.

It only works when cool though, so doesn’t make a lot of difference to coffee or other hot drinks or foods.

When it comes to diet plans, you've probably already heard of these:

• The South Beach Diet


• The Zone Diet


• The Mediterranean Diet


• The Atkins Diet


• Mayo Clinic Diet


• The Cabbage Soup Diet


• The Grapefruit Diet

But I bet you haven't heard of most of these...

You've heard of "destination weddings"... now there's "destination dieting".

While I may not be the one who originally coined the phrase "destination dieting" (or "destination diets"), I do know that this is the very first article on the Internet to discuss destination dieting, as a popular form of weight loss.

At press time, there is nothing else about "destination diets" or "destination dieting" on the World Wide Web. (So I guess I may be helping to coin the term "destination dieting".)

Here's everything you want to know about destination dieting...

Around the holidays, we all tend to eat too much, and then suffer the consequences. Either our waistline grows a few inches and we strive to get it back in shape, or we continue to beat ourselves up for putting on a few pounds and sink into a mild depression over it.

Well, here is some advice from someone who's been there, done that.

The good news: Maybe you don't need to restrict yourself from the foods you love most after all...

As I've mentioned before, we're doing the whole "low-carb thing" again.

Also, as I've mentioned before, we don't do it "by the book". (Far from it.)

We are entering what I call the "comfortable phase" of the Low-Carb Diet Plan, and I'm here to tell you, you can eat low-carb for 3 weeks and counting and STILL...

...want to stay on the plan

...fit into your clothes better (even enjoy the "baggy factor" again!)

...not feel deprived

...feel GREAT about being having more energy ALL throughout the day

Whenever I'm on the road, or when I want to slip out of the office during lunchtime for something other than the cheese and hotdogs that I normally take for lunch (while I'm on this Low-Carb "diet")... I like to know my options going in.

Do you know what the Low-Carb choices are at fast-food restaurants these days?

Here's what I found...

Yeah, we're at it again... though I'm not sure we have near enough willpower to stick with it this time.

For the record, here's how we did last time.

Jim travels A LOT, and neither of us takes the time to cook these days. So sticking to a 100% Atkins-friendly diet is going to be quite difficult this go-around.

Nevertheless, we're bound & determined to give it a go & see what happens.

To help us enjoy the ride this time... we've found 10 snacks & desserts that make the "dieting" process a little bit easier and a whole lot more FUN!

All I've gotta say is... Wow, fast-food drive-thru's are FAST these days!

I don't go to the drive-thru much. Fast grease food restaurants just aren't really my thing anymore.

Kinda reminds me of a sign I saw when driving past a Hooter's in Florida.

It read: "Fresh Grease Thursday!"

...Also reminds me of a Bud Light Real Men of Genius ad -- because I can never decide on what to order at a fast-food restaurant. It's all pretty much the same to me.

Listen to Bud Light's Real Men of Genius "Mr. Really Indecisive Food Orderer Guy": [Thanks, Don B.!]

However, Jim was out of town this past week, and I found myself craving the convenience of fast-food restaurants for a change.

...not according to Paul Harvey

Listen to Friday's Paul Harvey show in which he discussed city water vs bottled water. (A not-so-subtle reminder from Paul Harvey at the end of the audio: "Evian" spelled backwards is "Naive".)

But wait, it gets better!

Can you lose weight just by being religious?

Well I don't know.

But Gwen Shamblin, founder of the Remnant Fellowship Church has some ideas about this...

Tricia Cunningham was recently in the news for following something she calls the "Backwards Diet".

Supposedly, she started "eating backwards" 5 years ago and dropped from just under 300 lbs to just over 100 lbs -- and has kept it off, by continuing to eat this way.

Simply put, she reverses the order of what she eats: a heavy dinner for breakfast, regular meal for lunch, then a light breakfast for dinner. Make sense?

Following is a growing list of research regarding Low-Carb vs Low-Fat dieting.

In addition to links to the actual results of various studies, you'll also find a brief summary of each -- to save you time when searching for topics most important to you.

Use this information to help you determine whether a Low-Fat or Low-Carb diet plan is best for you.

Here are 16 ways to drink more water each day!

Well, with Thanksgiving now under our belt (literally), and at the risk of sounding hypocritical, I thought I'd share with what we're doing in terms of weight-watching these days...

As many of you know, we have followed the Atkins Low-Carb plan for the past 5 weeks. (Our results are discussed at the end of this article.) As of yesterday, we're trying something new called the "Roller Coaster Diet".

If you're thinking about losing a few l.b.'s before the holiday food-fest is upon us, I would highly recommend jumping on the low-carb bandwagon with us... at least for a couple of weeks.

Listen to Bud Light's Real Men of Genius "Mr. Over The Top Carb Counter":

The best thing about following the Atkins Nutritional Approach is that immediately - from Day One - your body switches from primarily burning carbohydrates to primarily burning fat as its main energy source. So you know that you're making a difference in your weight-loss from the start!

Lose Weight & Feel Great On Atkins

Truth be told, you've probably tried Atkins before... but quickly became dismayed with the whole process of having to count carbs and limit yourself from ingesting certain foods. But, I'd highly recommend giving it a go one more time.

With the boom of the low-carb phase in society in recent months, it's not only "trendy" to go low-carb, but it's easy too!

• Restaurants have created no-hassle low-carb menus (and we're talkin' all the hip & cool places you like to eat).

Check out this health report on the worst low-carb restaurant entrees.

• Grocery stores are stocking low-carb food products (including pasta noodles, breads, and baking mixes).
• Not to mention all the tasty sweet treats available due to the recent invention of sugar alcohols, which have received a favorable nod from the FDA!

With all of these options in support of the low-carb dieter, it's no longer hard to stick to the Atkins plan. Plus, most food labels have taken the guesswork of out it for you too... clearly indicating the number of "net carbs" in their products.

If you're up for it, there's no time like the present to jump on board!

Now, onto all the juicy details including "legal" snacks and desserts to die for, recommendations for what to order at restaurants, how to spice up your low-carb menus at home, and where to find grocery stores selling Atkins-friendly food items in your area...

We are 3-1/2 weeks into it now, and yes, we're STILL following the Atkins 4-phase nutritional approach!

We've even chosen to follow the Induction Phase guidelines a bit longer than most people would.

So, How's It Going?
It's WAY easier than we remembered it being the last time we were on Atkins (about 2 years ago)!

It is recommended that you remain in the Induction Phase (20 grams of carbs per day) for at least 2 weeks, after which time you can start to slowly increase the number of carbs in your daily diet (from 20 to 25, then 35, then 40 -- until the point where you STOP losing any weight). Everyone's plateau is different, so this approach helps you find YOUR optimal carb intake.

For me, since limiting my diet to 20 grams of carbs a day hasn't been that difficult to follow, I'm content to keep "doin' what I'm doin'" until it becomes more of a chore than a reward. Plus, this way, I don't fret on the days that I go over 20 grams, cuz I know that I'm "allowed" to have somewhere around 25 or 30 at this point.

How Are We Sticking To It?
I helps to have only "legal" foods stocked on your shelves and in your refrigerator, but we're finding that it's tons of fun to experiment with different combinations of stuff.

Sticking to the Atkins weight loss plan has been a breeze for both Jim and I, but we still have a need for something sweet on occasion.

We recently tried a Low-Carb Smoothie from our all-time favorite: Smoothie King.

In fact, it was part of the motivation for going on Atkins in the first place... that we would still be able to satisfy our craving for a Smoothie by ordering their "low carb" version, instead of the megga-carbed and megga-tasty "regular" Angel Food smoothie.

One word...

Here we are, with 5 days of Atkins under our (much looser fitting) belt now. And, all is well.

In fact, all is GREAT!

We are both feeling much better... already. Our clothes fit better. We have more energy at the end of the day. And it's fun eating new stuff and trying out new recipes!

...Wish us luck through a few more weeks (at least).

As I sit here (munching on a cracker), I recall some scenes from last night's first episode of "The Biggest Loser" on NBC, and I contemplate the likelihood that I will be able to see yet another diet phase of my life through to completion...

Jim and I have talked about wanting to "get back on Atkins" for weeks now. But neither of us has had the motivation to actually do it.

When it comes to food and diets, we're just plain lazy -- always seeking the "quick & easy" solution (like driving to the Mexican restaurant down the street where they treat us like royalty, fixing a frozen pizza, or warming up some other highly processed concoction recently purchased from Sam's Club) rather than the "healthy" solution at mealtimes.

But, we've reached a new low (or would that be "high"?... don't know HOW high cuz we don't own a scale!), and we're ready to go carb-free once again.

Perhaps our biggest motivating factor of late has been looking through all the photographs of ourselves as we post them on this web site -- noticing a drastic difference between "then" and "now".

Trying The Atkins Diet Again...
Anyway... we're hanging tough, and sticking together, and we've vowed to be best buds with Mr. Atkins once again. (At least for a week!)

So, if anyone's up for a little "friendly competition" in this mission, come on!... We invite anyone who's wanting to lose a few LB's to chug through this process with us, with the end result (hopefully) to be much more comfortable in our clothes this Holiday season.

Now, I'm off to enjoy my LAST high-carb lunch: angel-hair pasta with tomato sauce!
(...we start tomorrow.)