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Maryland Teachers Learn to Fight Stress With a Healthier Lifestyle – Voice of America
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BALTIMORE
Teaching is a stressful profession. A 2014 survey found that nearly half of U.S. teachers say they experience a lot of daily stress. That affects their health, well-being, and job satisfaction.
Jayne Donohoe is out to change that, with exercise. The physical education teacher at Gunpowder Elementary School in Baltimore, Maryland, notes that physical activity produces endorphins chemicals in the brain that act as natural painkillers and also improves the ability to sleep, which in turn reduces stress.
She organized a Teachers Fitness group at her school, which meets after the days classes and offers a variety of exercise classes.
Today were doing Bodyflow which is like a yoga-Pilates-type class. Before that we had a step aerobics class, or we had a Bootcamp, she said. We all come from a variety of shapes and sizes and fitness levels. If I can get them to show up, I can usually keep them in here. Thats probably the hardest part because they are tired. I tell them Youre tired. Once you come here and exercise, its going to give you energy. I started my workday at 7 a.m., so its a long day for me, but I know its important. So Im here.
Watch: Teaching Teachers a Healthier Lifestyle
Keep Teachers Healthy
Many workplaces in the area offer similar programs. But Jenny Ward, spokeswoman for Baltimore County Public schools Employee Wellness, says they are especially important for teachers.
They do have a very specific job during the day and theyre really tied to their classrooms with their students. They dont have as much free time or flexibility in their day, she said. So its more difficult for them to schedule physical activity in their day, which is why we offer classes after work. So, as soon as the students left, they can change to their fitness attire and go to the gym with all of their coworkers who participate.
The program is a big hit. It draws teachers from nearby schools, and theyre not all women.
We have three men teachers, Donohoe said. One was staying today, but when the class got changed to Bodyflow instead of Bootcamp, he decided to go to his gym. The two other teachers are not interested yet. But Ill get them, dont you worry!
Exercise and be happy
Gunpowder Principal Wendy Cunningham has watched attendance rise since Donohoe started the program a year and half ago.
The teachers are excited to be together, to exercise, to support one another, to be healthy and maintain healthy habits, she said. Learning about how to manage stress has been extremely important. That is helping them to be more productive, be more positive in the classroom and have a lot more patience with all students every day, Cunningham added.
Its very important for stress reduction, for just making you feel better about yourself, Donohoe said.
Participating teachers agree. Third-grade teacher Ashley Schuchardt says being part of this group makes exercising more fun.
Really, its the people, she said. They are a great support team. They really help you after a really long day. They help you keep going. Im not a person who loves exercise, but they really make it fun. So I keep coming back week after week.
Eating right
Exercise is only one component of Donohoes Wellness program. Good nutrition is another.
We have a weight loss healthy teachers program that I also organize, she said. We meet once a week. I bring in guest speakers on motivation and nutrition. Weve been doing that since last year. Weve lost over 300 pounds (136 kg), 18 of us, and you feel better and healthier, and youre drinking more water and youre eating better.
Employee Wellness spokeswoman Jenny Ward is excited about the prospects for the program.
Were happy to say we have more teachers and staff participating than we have before, she said. But its still not high enough. We still have quite a few more staff that we try to get involved in healthy eating, healthy activity, stress management, and all components of wellness.
Ward hopes to see every school offering on-site fitness classes at the end of the workday in Baltimore and beyond.
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Maryland Teachers Learn to Fight Stress With a Healthier Lifestyle - Voice of America
Green tea supplements for weight loss? Not so fast! – KOMO News
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You may have heard that green tea can be good for your heart. But dont confuse a cup of tea with green tea extract powder. Some supplements containing the ingredient are promising weight loss and a healthier metabolism but the experts at Consumer Reports have concerns, because higher concentrations of green tea extract can be really dangerous because it can potentially cause serious liver damage. Plus the herb itself has been found to alter the effectiveness of a long list of drugs including certain antidepressants and certain anti-clotting medications. It can also elevate your heart rate and blood pressure. And researchers suggest that up to 10 percent of people who suffer acute liver failure from green tea extract may die as a result.
Consumer Reports put Green Tea Extract Powder on its list of 15 supplement ingredients to avoid. The manufacturers who make these supplements are not required to prove to federal regulators that their products are effective or even safe before theyre sold, so you really dont know what youre buying.
And studies have also found that even in high doses green tea probably wont help you lose weight. Its true that green tea can raise your metabolic rate, so you burn more calories, but thats probably just due to its caffeine and catechins - the antioxidants found in green tea. Consumer Reports says most people can reap the health benefits of green tea with a couple of cups a day.
Consumer Reports has long advocated for measures that would improve supplement safety and give the FDA greater authority to remove potentially harmful dietary supplements from the marketplace. For now, check out its list of 15 supplement ingredients to avoid which includes green tea extract powder, kava, caffeine powder and red yeast rice.
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Green tea supplements for weight loss? Not so fast! - KOMO News
How to lose weight and overcome food addictions | Fox News – Fox News
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I honestly cant remember a time when I wasnt consumed by thoughts of food. My childhood memories of places and events are all linked to what was served, what I could get away with, and I struggled with my weight throughout my teenage years into early adulthood.
It wasnt until my 20s after I got sober from drug and alcohol addiction that my weight spiraled out of control and I began seriously considering making a change. I distinctly remember thinking, how is it that I can harness the resources to get my Ph.D. at one of the top brain and cognitive programs in the country, but I cant stop eating food I know is killing me?Where is the disconnect?
BEING SLIGHTLY OVERWEIGHT MAY CUT YEARS OFF YOUR LIFE
And yet, I failed again and again at every popular diet on the market until I finally understood, through my study of the brain, that the only way to bring my eating under control was to apply the exact same principles that had helped me successfully get and stay sober to my perspective on eating.
That a-ha moment led me to design Bright Lines, a plan based on four non-negotiable boundaries sugar, flour, meals and quantities that work to make eating foods that get and keep you slim automatic.
Through my research, I have found that flour and sugar rapidly re-wire the brain to make you eat more of them. They literally hijack the organ to make the body block weight loss.Without those ingredients, in the span of about six months, the brain heals from food addiction and insatiable hunger, and overpowering cravings go away.
MEET THE WOMAN WHO WHIPPED MAMA JUNE INTO SHAPE
The second two Bright Lines meals and quantities help make eating the right amount of food at the right time automatic. These tenets also help make turning down the wrong foods in between second nature, which is essential in a culture where food is present from the conference room to the cup holder in your car. Once a behavior is automatic, it requires no willpower.
For this reason, I strongly discourage people from exercising while they are losing weight. Lets put it this way: For some people, forced exercise can deplete willpower, leaving them vulnerable to making poor food choices that do more harm to the healing brain than the workout did good. Our data shows that the people who insist on exercising while doing Bright Line Eating lose weight the slowest.
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But I will caution you: This diet is not for everyone. If you are someone who was able to do Weight Watchers 10 years ago, and then lose the weight and keep it off long term, that puts you in the 1 percent of dieters, and you dont need Bright Line Eating.But for the 99 percent of people who have yo-yod for years, Bright Lines may be the solution.
For more information, visit BrightLineEating.com.
Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D. is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Rochester and an expert in the psychology of eating. She is author of the New York Times Bestselling book Bright Line Eating: The Science Of Living Happy, Thin, and Free. She is President of the Institute for Sustainable Weight Loss and CEO of Bright Line Eating Solutions.
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How to lose weight and overcome food addictions | Fox News - Fox News
Abused North carolina dog could die if he doesn’t lose weight … – News & Observer
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News & Observer | Abused North carolina dog could die if he doesn't lose weight ... News & Observer While most people think of direct physical abuse when they think of animal cruelty, the neglect of a pet's health can be just as cruel. Ray Ray, a 90-pound dog is ... |
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Abused North carolina dog could die if he doesn't lose weight ... - News & Observer
Can Carb Cycling Help You Lose Weight? – Health.com
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Youve heard plenty of mixed reviews for low-carb diets. But what about carb cycling? Thetrendpopular with body builders and some athletesis generating buzz as a weight loss method. Heres the lowdown on how carb cycling works; its potential benefits; and a simpler, less strict alternative that I recommend for many of my clients.
While there isnt one standard protocol, carb cycling typically involves alternating lower-carb days with higher-carb days. Typically fat intake increases on lower-crab days, and decreases on higher-carb days; while protein intake remains consistent.
Many advocates recommend this regimen: On days when you do strength training, consume a higher amount of carbs (say 200 grams), a low amount of fat, and a moderate amount of protein. On days when you do a cardio workout, eat a moderate amount of carbs (about 100 grams), protein, and fat. And on rest days, eat fewer carbs (30 grams), a high amount of fat, and a moderate amount of protein.
Another approach involves keeping both protein intake and fat intake fairly consistent, and modifying only your carbohydrates. With this method, lower-carb days are also lower-calorie days.
Proponents of carb cycling claim that the eating pattern helps increase muscle mass, decrease body fat, and improve fitness performance. But research on thediet is limited.
One 2013 study, published in the British Journal of Nutrition, looked at the effects of intermittent carb and calorie restriction in 115 overweight women aged 20 to 69, all of whom had a family history of breast cancer. The women were randomly assigned to one of three groups for three months. The first group consumed a calorie-restricted, low-carb diet two days per week. The women in the second group followed the same diet, but were allowed to eat unlimited amounts of protein and healthy fats (such as lean meat, olives, and nuts) on the low-carb days. The third group followed a standard, calorie-restricted Mediterranean diet seven days a week.
Researchers found that the women in both low-carb groups had better results: They lost roughly9 pounds on average, compared to about 5 pounds in the Mediterranean group. Insulin resistance also decreased by 22% percent among the standard low-carb dieters; and 14% percent among those allowed extra protein and fat on low-carb dayscompared to just 4% among the Mediterranean dieters. (The results were particularly significant for the study participants, as losing weight and lowering insulin resistance may help prevent breast cancer.)
While this study didn't involve the same carb cycling approach used by body builders and athletes, it does offer some insight into the potential benefits of limiting carbs part-time. But is doing so practical? Slashing carbs, even a few days a week, needs to be sustainable in order to generate lasting results.
The authors of that 2013 study also found that a higher percentage of women on the low-carb diets experienced constipation, headaches, bad breath, light-headedness, and food fixation. These unpleasant side effects parallel what I've seen with my clients who severely restrict their carb intake. In my experience, the side effectsalso the reason many low carb-dieters either give up, or wind up binging on forbidden foods.
RELATED: How to Keep the Carbs and Still Lose Weight
One of the main philosophies behind carb cycling is limiting carbs when the body doesn't need them as much. In a nutshell, carbs serve as fuel (like gasoline in your car) to help cells perform their jobs. Eating a large amount of carbs on days when youre not very active doesnt make much sense, because your body requires less fuel (much like how your car needs less gas for a ride across town compared to a road trip). Carbs that arent burned for fuel create a surpluswhich can prevent weight loss, or lead to weight gain.
On the flip side, a carb limit of 30 grams is very low, even on less active days. Thats the amount of carbs in one cup of broccoli, one whole apple, and five baby carrots. For a better balance, I advise my clients to practice what I call carb matching"or aligning your carb intake with your energy needs, which may vary from day to day, or morning to afternoon.
This approach essentially involves eating larger portions of clean, whole food carbs to support more active hours; and curbing carbs when you expect you'll be less active. For example, if you're planning to do a morning workout, have oatmeal topped with a sliced banana for breakfast beforehand. But if you're headed to the office to sit at a desk for several hours, a veggie and avocado omelet with a side of berries would be a more appropriate a.m. meal.
In my experience with clients, carb matching helps with weight loss and improves fitness performance, while supporting all-day energy, and supplying a wide range of nutrients. It also makes sense. My pro athlete clients, who train or perform several hours a day, require more carbs than my CEO clients, who may fit in a morning workout, then sit in meetings the remainder of the day.
Carb matching also involves aligning your carb needs with your age, height, ideal weight, sex, and occupation. After all, a young, tall man with an active job and an ideal weight of 185 pounds is going to have a higher carb requirement than an older, petite woman with a sedentary job and an ideal weight of 135 pounds.
While carb cycling involves drastic shifts, carb matching is all about creating balance, and what I call the Goldilocks effectnot too little, and not too much. If youve tried carb cycling, and it either hasnt worked for you, or doesnt seem like a strategy you can stick with, try moderating your carb intake based on your activity level instead. And regardless of which approach you try, stick with these two important rules of thumb:
1) Always make quality a priority by choosing fresh, whole foods. (And remember not all carbs are created equal.)
2) Listen to your body! Its cues are pretty good at guiding you toward a "just right" balance.
Cynthia Sass is Healths contributing nutrition editor, a New York Times best-selling author, and consultant for the New York Yankees. See her full bio here.
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Can Carb Cycling Help You Lose Weight? - Health.com
VIDEO: 4 ways to lose weight with minimal effort – Atlanta Journal Constitution
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Atlanta Journal Constitution | VIDEO: 4 ways to lose weight with minimal effort Atlanta Journal Constitution It's no secret that losing weight is a challenge. From calorie counting to cardio training, getting fit and trim takes a lot of work. But what if there was a way to drop the pounds without all of the effort? RELATED: 12 weight-loss secrets from ... |
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VIDEO: 4 ways to lose weight with minimal effort - Atlanta Journal Constitution
Don’t Worry, A Rom-Com Leading Lady’s Diet Will Tell You Everything You Need To Know About Her – Decider
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Decider | Don't Worry, A Rom-Com Leading Lady's Diet Will Tell You Everything You Need To Know About Her Decider So busy she could never sneak a snack when she's working. She enjoys her meals, but the bottom line is that they are purely utilitarian to her. Please, do not get me started on the only eating brown M&Ms garbage theory this film put out into the world ... |
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Don't Worry, A Rom-Com Leading Lady's Diet Will Tell You Everything You Need To Know About Her - Decider
Athletes chase competitive advantage by cutting weight – Newsworks.org
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In certain sports, rapid weight loss is extremely common and extremely dangerous.
Boxers, wrestlers, muay thai and mixed martial arts fighters do it, and so do weightlifters. They lose as much weight as they can and then quickly gain it all back at the last minute, supposedly to get a competitive advantage.
At El Nio Training Center in San Francisco, Josh Berkovic loses about 25 pounds before a mixed martial arts fight. He usually gets about seven weeks notice, he and says the first six weeks are easy. He trims back the carbs in his diet, exercises a lotbasic fat-burning stuff.
"You're losing about a pound and a half to two pounds a week, so that should get you in range then for the final week to be 13 to 15 pounds over," Berkovic says.
That last week is when the serious "cut" begins.
"You don't want to lose muscle mass," Berkovic says. "You don't want to lose strength, especially for an athletic performance, so the idea is, how can I become as lean as possible going into the week of the fight?"
After that, it's all about cutting water weight. More than 50 percent of our body weight is water, and athletes try to shed some of it by sweating. Former muay thai fighter Albert Salopek did a large weight cut once and says he never wants to do it again.
"We put this rubber sweat suit on, pants and top.You cover your skin with what's called Albolene, which is a makeup remover, and it opens your pores. Got on the treadmill and ran like three or four miles, and with your pores open, your sweat just comes off like a river," Salopek says.
"Probably lost four or five pounds from that, and had to go sit in a hot sauna with the sweat suit on for probably another 30, 40 minutes, " he says.
Sweating out the water is often the first step. Then there's the flush. Daniel Kim, who also does muay thai, starts the flush phase by drinking as much water as possible in the first few days of his "cutting weight" week.
"You drink all that water all through the day and that gets you to start peeing a lot," Kim says. "And then 24 hours away from the weigh-in, then you stop drinking water. And then you're still peeing. And then you don't get to drink more water, but your body is so used to peeing at these hours, it pees out all this water and then you start getting lighter and lighter and lighter. That's your body getting dehydrated. And then your urine gets yellower and darker."
Dark, yellow urine is not good. People also experience muscle cramps, irregular heartbeats, and even paranoia, according to Krista-Scott Dixon, a nutrition coach at Precision Nutrition.
After athletes stop flooding their body with water, Dixon says the kidneys continue to work overtime to get it out.
"We tell the kidneys flush, flush, flush, and so they get going on that, and then we don't replace the water, so the kidneys keep flushing, and eventually there's no more water coming in, so we run a water deficit," Dixon says.
Dixon used to cut weight herself. She competed in hand-to-hand combat competitions called grappling. She'd regularly shed 20 to 30 pounds before her matches.
"There's an increased risk of brain trauma from weight cutting, and in a sport where you get hit in the head, that's a really big problem," Dixon says. "There's fluid around your brain and it has a job to do, so when we deplete that, that's gonna be an issue, too."
About 10 years ago, in her early thirties, Dixon went too far with her weight cuts and put herself into early menopause. Estrogen is stored in fat tissue, and Dixon had so little fat on her body, she stopped producing that key hormone.
Rapid weight fluctuation can also put stress on the heart, and over time the habit can lead to an eating disorder.
Pressure to perform
Cutting weight is especially dangerous for adolescents, whose bodies need fuel not only to survive, but also to grow. Greco Roman wrestler Donte Burney, who started cutting weight when he was 13, says he's cut as much as 20 pounds in three days.
As a high school wrestler in Indiana, Burney weighed about 150 pounds. He says a coach asked him to cut 25 pounds to fight a 125-pound opponent. He slimmed down, but then the goalpost moved. His opponent had dropped down to the 119-pound weight class--so Burney had to make that cut too.
"Talking to my coach, and I was like 'Man, I don't know if I can do it.' And he said, 'Maybe you're scared?' That kind of lit some fire under me, and all night long I was running until I made the 119 weight class," Burney says.
At the start of the match the next day, Burney was winning.
"And then second period began. [My opponent] blasted me with a double leg, and after that I remember just being in a hospital," he says.
Burney blacked out. His kidneys nearly failed, and he could have died.
Doctors barred him from fighting under 140 pounds for the rest of the year, but Burney wasn't scared away. As an adult he took ephedrine, a fat-burning stimulant, to lose weight for another match. He landed in the hospital again, this time with a dangerous heart condition. It was only then that he started to realize what he could do to his body.
Among professionals, the pressure to is financial: for professional boxers there's big money at stake if they show up for a fight 1 or 2 pounds heavier than their contract requires. In high school and college, it's about scholarships, pride, and accolades.
Lose to win
But, at any level, the point of cutting weight is to gain a competitive advantage.
Former North American Boxing Organization junior welterweight champion Karim "Hard Hitta" Mayfield cuts about 20 pounds off his "walking around weight" so he can box in a lower weight class.But then after qualifying at the weigh-in, Mayfield spends the next 24 hours trying to gain all of that weight back, by eating and drinking as much as he can. When he steps in the ring, he actually wants to be 20 pounds heavier than his opponent.
"You may watch a fight and think, wait a minute, it said he was 150 yesterday at the weigh-ins, and now he's 165--like how?" Mayfield says.
This is totally legal, in most cases. But the premise is faulty since usually, both fighters are cutting weight and then gaining it back before the fight. No one really gets an advantage, and everybody knows it. Still, they do it anyway.
In the past few years, at least three MMA fighters have died during weight cuts. In one case, the fighter was taking a diuretic, a medicine that makes the body expel water and salt though frequent urination. Other fighters take laxatives, hoping to lose a few pounds of poop before they step on the scales.
Dave Zirin, host of the podcast "The Edge of Sports," says the media spotlight has begun to rein in the dangers of win-at-all-costs machismo sports culture.
"It takes tragedy to provoke consciousness, unfortunately," Zirin says.
He says that's what happened to get more people to pay attention to head injuries in football.
"It will take high profile incidents, almost certainly of death, to be able to raise the awareness to a point where it's regulated in a way to the benefit of young athletes," Zirin says.
Sports organizations are slowly reining in the tradition of cutting weight. The NCAA, the governing body for college sports, has instituted rules to discourage rapid weight loss and gain in the days before a match.
The UFC, the largest Mixed Martial Arts promoter in the world, recently created a rule that fighters must be within 8 percent of their target weight four days before the fight.
And some athletes are policing themselves in the interest of their own health.
Strength coach Tom Campitelli, who runs small power-lifting competitions out of a gym in Oakland, recently started experimenting with something called a "weigh-out." Lifters step on the scale immediately after competing. Then their performance is match with athletes who weighed in within the same range.
"I think it makes for a better competition in a lot of ways," Campitelli says. "It ensures that people actually compete in a more level playing field of sorts."
The "weigh-out" could help address the problem in sports like weightlifting, where your results can be compared to others competitors' after the fact. But it likely wouldn't help much in one-on-one sports such as boxing, where you can't switch your opponent after you've already finished fighting.
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Athletes chase competitive advantage by cutting weight - Newsworks.org
The best types of cardio workouts for weight loss – Men’s Fitness
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The best types of cardio workouts for weight loss Men's Fitness Because the impact is quite low, the calorie-burning effect isn't as great as other cardio machines, like treadmills and stairmasters, explains Roger Adams, Ph.D., an expert in nutrition and weight loss. However, the elliptical machine can be an ... |
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The best types of cardio workouts for weight loss - Men's Fitness
Mama June Shannon’s Post-Surgery Diet: Protein Packs, Little Debbie Pies and Mexican Food – PEOPLE.com
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Mama June Shannon may have dropped a shocking 300 lbs., but the reality star who famously chowed down on sketti (a.k.a. noodles slathered in butter and ketchup) still hasnt completely overhauled her diet.
Nobody taught me how to cook, so its a learning experience all the time as we look up new recipes, Shannon saysin the latest issue of PEOPLE. The Mama June: From Not to Hot star underwent an extensive series of surgeries that include the insertion of a gastric sleeve, breast augmentation and skin removal on her turkey neck, bat wings, and stomach an area where doctors removed 9 lbs. of loose skin.
Since then, Shannon has switched to a low-carb, low-sugar diet, though she still indulges in her favorite cheat meal items: Mexican, barbecue and Little Debbie jelly-filled pies, she reveals. They are heaven in a box.
One lesson Shannon learned the hard way? Eating way too much in one sitting.
I have thrown up, because you cant over eat with the gastric sleeve, she says. When you do it that one time, you dont do it again.
For the most part Shannon tries to stick to a simple diet.
Breakfast I dont kind of eat breakfast. If Im lucky enough, I get my ass up before 12, 1 oclock most days, so breakfast is nonexistent.
Lunch I usually have a protein pack with slices of meat, cheese and almonds.
Snack Grapes and cheese are my go-to, says Shannon. I walk by the refrigerator, get three or four grapes and then walk away.
Dinner We eat chicken and beans plus whatever sides the girls want, says Shannon, who keeps portions small.
FROM COINAGE:Try This Healthy, Cheap Late-Night Snack
While shes still figuring out her diet, Shannon says her self-confidence is through the roof.I thought of myself as being sexy before, she declares. Now, Im the s.
The finale of Mama June: From Not to Hot airs Friday at 9 p.m. ET on WE tv.
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Mama June Shannon's Post-Surgery Diet: Protein Packs, Little Debbie Pies and Mexican Food - PEOPLE.com