Hugging and Chalking

High intensity exercise more beneficial?

2009-05-13T16:16:00.000-04:00

That’s what this article in Prevention says. The calories are the same--the results are different.

"Researchers from the University of Virginia found that women who did three shorter, fast-paced walks a week (plus two longer, moderate-paced ones) lost 5 times more belly fat than those who simply strolled at a moderate speed 5 days a week, even though both groups burned exactly the same number of calories (400) per workout. Those speed walking also dropped more than 2 inches from their waistlines, pared about 3 times more fat from their thighs, shed 4 times more total body fat, and lost almost 8 pounds over 16 weeks--all without dieting!

The improvements didn't stop there. The high-intensity exercisers lost about 3 times more visceral fat--the dangerous belly fat that wraps around organs such as the liver and kidneys and has been linked to diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. "Vigorous exercise raises levels of fat-burning hormones," says lead researcher Arthur Weltman, PhD, director of the exercise physiology laboratory at the university. It also increases afterburn (the number of calories your body uses postexercise as it recovers) by about 47% compared with lower-intensity workouts."

Women in the Middle East

2009-03-21T08:49:00.002-04:00

We've just returned from a Holy Land Cruise. When you visit Europe or the Middle East you do realize that Americans are much heavier, but they are just 20 or so years behind. It's like the economy. It's going around.

Fittest and fattest cities

2009-01-16T18:57:00.003-05:00

Miami is the fattest and Salt Lake City is the fittest. Does government interference or regulation or nanny coddling have anything to do with either one?

It isn't even the weather, which I suspect is nicer in Florida. Not access to the beach--or fast foods--or sidewalks.

No one in the USAToday where these stats appear wants to notice that Salt Lake City is loaded with Mormans who advocate a particular life style.

Another media myth

2009-01-05T17:41:00.001-05:00

It's expensive to lose weight.

And usually, if you read the entire article, someone explains that it is processed food that is expensive, not fresh or frozen.

It's January so newspapers are promoting their diet plans which probably have tie-ins with processed food companies, TV reality shows, and pharmaceuticals. News articles will also encourage coupon use, because they print them (they are ads that exercise your scissor muscles). Coupons cover up price increases and introduce the 15th type of Ritz cracker.

It's not expensive to eat fresh food, or even food labeled "organic," although that probably doesn't make a lot of difference, except to increase the cost slightly. The advantage to your health of not buying food fertilized or contaminated by sewage is probably huge, but by the time you get down to the minuscule, unmeasurable amounts of herbicide and pesticides on commercially grown food, which is where we are today with our health gate keepers who want to return American women to long food queues like Europe, the cost and health benefit is pretty small. You have a much better chance of getting Grandma's genetic links to cancer and heart disease than developing problems from eating too much fish or chicken on hormones. News flash. If you live long enough, everyone gets cancer or their heart gives out.

Anyway, today for lunch I took out about 5 spears of tender, fresh asparagus, rinsed them, and arranged a few "baby" (peeled) carrots from a bag, (always, always rinse) on a glass plate and zapped in the microwave uncovered for 1 minute. Add a dollop of low fat sour cream, a little salt and pepper, and enjoy. Then I had my sliced apple and 1/2 cup of walnuts, because I missed breakfast due to exercise class. The entire lunch/breakfast probably didn't top $2. You couldn't make and eat a bagel sandwich with potato chips for less than $4.

One thing mentioned in the USAToday article on dieting that I agree with is that half of all food dollars are spent eating out or take out. Combined with my morning coffee and our Friday date night, that's certainly true for us. However, I count about half of that as "leisure and entertainment."

Cross posted at Collecting my thoughts

Wasn't this settled?

2008-09-21T16:04:00.000-04:00

Eat less, move more, don't smoke. "Combined impact of lifestyle factors on mortality: prospective cohort study in US women," Rob M van Dam, BMJ 2008;337:a1440 Here.

I guess it needed more study. Alcohol consumption was also part of the study, but there are trade offs, depending on the amount. The danger is always that "light" will move on to "excessive," thus eliminating the health benefits.

Conclusions
Avoiding cigarette smoking is of pivotal importance for the prevention of premature death. In our study of middle aged women, adherence to lifestyle guidelines involving a healthy diet, regular physical activity, and weight management was also associated with markedly lower mortality. Of note, our results indicate that a healthy diet and regular physical activity have important health benefits independent of reducing adiposity. These findings underscore the importance of intensifying both efforts to eradicate cigarette smoking and those aimed at improving diet and physical activity.

It was like brain surgery

2008-07-21T06:15:00.003-04:00

Ellen lost 300 lbs after gastric by-pass and people started treating her like she had a brain.

Story here from Quick and Simple.

There is no crisis

2008-07-20T06:09:00.002-04:00

says Junk Food Science, who has carefully analyzed the recent report in JAMA on moderate to vigorous activity in children.

This week’s study found no correlation between changing activity levels and BMIs. Nor did it find that young people are less active today than they’ve ever been. Nor did it find poorer kids were more sedentary than richer kids. Nor did it even look at if activity levels during adolescence were related to adult levels or had any relationship to future health problems. Sandy finds and reports some connections between the authors and various causes, but I would suggest that reporting we are healthier than ever just wouldn't make a good story for the nightly news, nor would it be a good reason for the government agencies and think tanks to promote one more regulation or law to intervene in our personal lives.

Exercise the natural way

2008-07-20T05:53:00.002-04:00

Although I see some vigorous joggers and walkers, most of us here at Lakeside, Ohio, for vacation or the summer just get more exercise than usual because we don't use our cars. I might walk 10-12 blocks a day or ride my bike several miles and not even think about it. I'll ride my bike to a friend's house, rather than call on the cell phone. I think this is why our parents and grandparents didn't carry as much weight. During the day I might walk 3 blocks and back to the little grocery store, or 2-3 blocks to the little business district, or stroll a mile along the lakefront and not even notice it. It's a wonderful way to get around--when the weather's good.

But even exercise won't help poor eating. Yesterday I noticed an overweight mommy buying tickets for her three overweight children to a "craft" event that included building your own sundae!

Walking at sunrise along Lake Erie

Low-carb wins in 3-way battle

2008-07-17T06:24:00.000-04:00

The full story is at the New England Journal of Medicine.

Here's the AP account, a bit easier to read, but it means that low carb works better than low fat, and Mediterranean, and this study was much better controlled and over a 2 year period, so it included initial and maintenance. Women and diabetics did better with the Mediterranean diet.

Abdominal obesity--16 years of follow up

2008-06-03T20:01:00.002-04:00

"Five investigators at the NIH studied the risk of one form of obesity, that of the abdomen, in more than 44,000 women in the Nurses Health Study, for all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality. Reported in the journal Circulation in 2008, their study spanned 16 years of follow-up with 3500 deaths. After adjusting for body mass index and potential confounders, they found a significant increase in relative risk for increased waist circumference rising at the fifth quintile to 79% for all-cause, 63% for cancer, and 99% for cardiovascular mortality. Even normal-weight women with elevated waist circumference experienced a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular death." [Medscape.com]
Circulation. 117(13):1624-1626, April 1, 2008.

Sugar substitutes and weight gain

2008-05-26T19:28:00.003-04:00

The May 14, 2008 issue of JAMA has a news and perspectives article on the possibility that low-calorie sweetners might be causing weight gain. The first article cited is a review of the literature in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2007;61[6]:;691-700. The findings were mixed and there is currently no official recommendation on using subsitutes for weight control.

There's some support for the theory that artificial sweeteners blunt the body's energy expenditure mechanisms and activate taste pathways differently than sucrose. Something's not working right--we're a much heavier nation now than when sugar-free sweeteners first became popular and common in the 1980s.

Another recent study in Neuroimage (2008;39[4]:1559-1569) reveals that sugar is more potent than low-calorie sweeteners in stimulating brain areas related to expectation and satisfaction, thereby turning off the desire for more sweetness.

I'm sure that's what happened when I ate that piece of real carrot cake on Saturday. There's no way I could have had a second piece. It activated my tongue receptors which notified my brain--"No More!"

Eat real food--but just eat less of it; you'll be better off than eating low sugar or low fat, which isn't as satisfying or tasty, in my opinion.

The Pink Patch

2008-04-14T20:08:00.002-04:00

If someone you know is using the pink patch to lose weight, you might want to look at The Blog that Ate Manhattan (medical blog)for a list of the ingredients and possible side effects. Because it is an herbal product, it hasn't been tested by FDA for safety or efficacy. The advertisers are directing the patch at teens.

A word from Whole Foods

2008-04-13T11:44:00.002-04:00

Janeen alerted me to this--Whole Foods website has pod cast/ MP3 audio on a healthy body for you. The February, part 1, was on the role of inflammation, antioxidants, free radicals, etc., "Straight to your Heart."

Take-aways:

One of these days I'll have to start podding. But it's OK to listen at the computer.

Cross posted at Collecting my Thoughts

The New American Plate

2008-04-08T19:00:00.003-04:00

I saw this at Medscape.com. Wouldn't it be better to not take as much rather than "leave it behind?" That seems awfully wasteful.

Feeding the obesity epidemic

2008-03-25T19:28:00.003-04:00

David Zinczenko thinks we need more information about the calories in restaurant meals. USAToday Opinion, Mar 25, 2008 Sorry. I don't believe it. I don't know anyone who doesn't know there are more calories in Aussie cheese fries with ranch dressing (2900 cal, Outback) than in a baked potato with sour cream (150 cal), or that there aren't more calories in a Starbucks Venti strawberries and creme Frappucino (about 750 cal) than in a coffee with cream (about 35 cal). There are a lot of reasons people over eat, but lack of information is probably at the bottom of the list.

Russia in transition

2008-03-17T14:33:00.002-04:00

Obesity is on the increase as Russia transitions to more freedom, a market economy, and choices. The calories seem to remain the same, but are coming from less healthy sources--alcohol, sweets, etc. The authors are from Iowa State University and University of Dublin, and guessing from their names, I'm guessing they are former citizens of the USSR.

Huffman, Sonya Kostova and Rizov, Marian, "The Rise of Obesity in Transition Economies: Theory and Evidence from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey" . Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1106102

Charting obesity

2008-03-14T10:10:00.002-04:00

The Bureau of Labor chart showing restaurant growth with the advent of women working outside the home shown in the March 14 WSJ (p. B2) seems to parallel the rise in obesity.

The article also reports that with a recent flattening of growth in restaurant sales by women with families, restaurants are adding features to attract women with children--books, etch-a-sketch and video games.

Surgery problems in obese children

2008-02-22T08:44:00.003-05:00

A study on surgery problems in obese children noted airway obstruction and other breathing-related functions during surgery. It included some statistics about children and obesity.

An estimated 15 to 17 percent of children and adolescents in the United States are considered obese.

Major airway obstructions occurred in 19 percent of obese children, compared with 11 percent of normal-weight children.

Nearly 9 percent of obese children experienced difficult mask ventilation, compared with 2 percent of normal-weight children.

17 percent of obese children in the study experienced major oxygen desaturation (decreased oxygen in the blood), compared with 9 percent of normal-weight children.

28 percent of obese children had asthma, compared with 16 percent of normal-weight children.

It should be noted however, that despite the increased risk of adverse events among children who are obese, none resulted in significant illness.

Reference: Anesthesiology, March 2008, Vol. 108, Issue 3.

Physician, heal thyself

2008-02-12T19:31:00.000-05:00

A front page medical article in the Columbus Dispatch yesterday. Photo of a doctor, a medical student, and a patient conferring--all were obese.

Nutritionism

2008-01-25T12:25:00.000-05:00

Why are we eating "healthy" and just getting fatter? There's an interesting article in the NYT Magazine called "Unhappy meals" about how we eat, focusing on nutrients instead of real food.

Nutritionism may be the culprit, says the author. There are more government regulations, more nutritional studies, more diets (low fat, low carb, etc.), and there's a huge industry of journalists and authors (including the one who wrote the above article) who do nothing but write articles or publish books about what to eat and how to eat it. One nutrition/exercise/health web site I read recently said we are spending more on obesity per day than on the war in Iraq. I haven't crunched the numbers, but that's scary! Read the article (recommended by Janeen who combats food allergies daily in her family) and see what you think.

There are good ideas and points in this article--many we've heard before, but cherry pick. We are bombarded by anti-western this and that, and eco-friendly tidbits by the same journalists who wrote us into obesity! You need to be selective. In the 1970s women were literally pushed out of the home and kitchen; we've been getting fatter since. Now we're being reeled back. Barefoot and pregnant probably won't fly these days. But do try to eat real food.

If you can find it.

From a longer post at Collecting My Thoughts.

The No-Brainer Life Extension Plan

2008-01-09T09:49:00.000-05:00

That's not the official name, of course. But when I read the summary, I thought, "Well, that's a no-brainer." If you don't smoke, eat lots of fruits and vegetables,, exercise regularly, and drink alcohol only in moderation, you might live 14 years longer than a control group who are careless with their health behaviors.

We examined the prospective relationship between lifestyle and mortality in a prospective population study of 20,244 men and women aged 45–79 y with no known cardiovascular disease or cancer at baseline survey in 1993–1997, living in the general community in the United Kingdom, and followed up to 2006. . . Four health behaviours combined predict a 4-fold difference in total mortality in men and women, with an estimated impact equivalent to 14 y in chronological age."Combined Impact of Health Behaviours and Mortality in Men and Women: The EPIC-Norfolk Prospective Population Study," Kay-Tee Khaw1*, Nicholas Wareham2, Sheila Bingham3, Ailsa Welch1, Robert Luben1, Nicholas Day1, Public Library of Science Medicine, published Jan. 8, 2008. Or download pdf.

Noted along the way in 2007

2008-01-01T15:58:00.000-05:00

1) The hallmarks of successful weight loss maintenance include a low-calorie diet and high energy expenditures--1300-1800 calories a day consumed, and 2600 calories spent a week in physical activity. Medications for weight loss haven't worked well compared to lifestyle changes. In fact, Robert Lustig, MD, says their effect is "underwhelming."

2) Based on my observation of who uses them, I'd say that diet drinks and special diet foods help make people fat. These foods, in my opinion, don't taste right and create a craving for more. Want low fat? Add some water or milk. The label says that's the first ingredient. Or use less of the real thing.

3) According to the EPA, removing 100 lbs. of "stuff" from the trunk or back seat of your car will improve your fuel efficiency by 2%. Removing 10% of your body weight from your "trunk" or "back seat" will improve your own energy efficiency too.

4) Losing the sloppy jeans and t-shirt look, a close shave, and a good haircut can probably make a man look 10 lbs. thinner. Math clue: baggy sweat pants and shirt add, they don't subtract.

5) The ordinary person without type II diabetes has average health care costs of $2848 a year, including $541 out of pocket costs; the person with type II diabetes has annual health care cost of $9,797, with oop of $1566. In 2006, the nation spent an estimated $22.9 billion on direct medical costs related to diabetes complications (www.aace.com).

6) Research shows that kids will eat more of anything after watching food ads, so the advertising doesn't necessarily build brand loyalty, but does increase weight. Turn off the TV or computer and send them outside to play.

7) A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine (2007;167:766-773) found a clear relationship between being overweight and filing Workers' Comp claims. Employees with a BMI 40 or over had 11.65 claims per 100 FTE, where recommended weight employees had 5.80. So on a job interview, does the HR person see you and your skills or $51,091 vs. $7,503 per 100 FTEs and more lost work days? Think about it. Is that really discrimination or watching the bottom line (no pun intended)?

8) Children with sleep disorders are often hyperactive, have attention deficit, and more absenteeism from school, according to a study in JAMA, June 27. Obesity, adnoids, tonsils, facial abnormalities, colds and allergies are contributing factors.

9) Obese people tend to sit for 150 more minutes a day than their lean counterparts.

10) Healthy eating doesn't fix everything. JAMA reported in the July 18 issue that women breast cancer survivors did no better on special low fat, high fruit/vegetable diets than the control group who ate the recommended 5 servings a day. The researchers were surprised and disappointed.

11) Out of the frying pan into the fire: according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences some powerful drugs used for treating mental illnesses cause patients to gain so much weight that they often develop life-threatening complications such as diabetes and heart disease.

12) Arthur C. Brooks observed in the WSJ (2-17-07) that a BMI of below 25 can't be "normal" if so few people are there. Overweight men give more money to poverty relief and also are more generous with their time in volunteering than thin men. Brooks suggests that denying one's self may translate into denying others.

13) Of all the "foodie" books I noticed in 2007, this one, "What to eat: an aisle by aisle guide" by Marion Nestle (2006) looked really good. I haven't read it yet, but she has my philosophy, "eat less, move more," and eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Arranged like a tour of your supermarket, the book is, according to a CDC review, "a revealing look at the standard practices of government agencies, retailers, and food manufacturers that the complex world of food sales comprises." I have certain aisles at Meijer's that I won't walk through.

14) About a year ago, JAMA reported that in a study of the four major diet plans, the only successful people were the publisher and the author/researchers who got the grant. None of the diets worked well, or consistently, and none of the groups (ladies) were really following them.

15) It's not rocket science. Reading and following even well-intentioned, healthy recipes can add pounds. A roasted pear, walnut and feta cheese salad has 400 calories. A side dish of fresh, tender crisp asparagus has 88. And if you're like me, the cheese will make you hungry.

For the most part, this is cross posted at my regular blog, Collecting My Thoughts.

How others do it

2007-12-19T08:44:00.001-05:00

I was reading through the comments at a blog the other day. Both the blog writer and reader were commenting on their own obesity. The reader said she had successfully lost 60 pounds, kept it off for six years, been a counselor in a commercial weight loss program, and then gradually all the weight returned as she realized that without spending all her day thinking about what she would eat, there was no way she could maintain her weight.

And the thought occurred to me that most people of "normal" weight probably do just that--think about what to eat, when to eat, and how much to eat, and how the calories will be expended if overeating does occur. I do. So do others who are not overweight. In fact, my husband is the only person I know who seems to have built in signals that keep him from over eating, but if he does decide he's "packed on" 5 lbs., he stops eating crackers and peanut butter in the evening, and in a few weeks, he's back to normal (ca. 155 lbs.)

We went out to eat Friday night with friends we've known (but not well) for about 30 years. She's been about the same weight the whole time I've known her--extremely thin. She's probably in her early 70s, but has looked this way to me since her 40s. For dinner she ordered a turkey wrap and a salad. She took half the wrap order home. The next day she was going to be biking 20 miles to have breakfast with friends. The temperatures here were about 30 degrees, and it was windy. We then went to their home where she served a wonderful pumpkin tort made with Splenda topped with sugar-free Cool-Whip. You don't think she thinks, computes and calculates everything that goes in her mouth and how many calories are burned in biking and swimming?

Eating behavior will be discussed

2007-11-30T12:56:00.000-05:00

Ohio State Marion invites the public to attend the second monthly installment of Science Café, a free community dialogue on science, at 7 p.m. Tuesday (12/4) at the Rise & Dine Restaurant, Legacy Crossing, 142 McMahon Boulevard, Marion. Tracy Tylka, professor of psychology at Ohio State Marion, will discuss “Eating Behavior in the U.S.” Tylka will share her views and research on the attitudes and practices of parents and caregivers and how attitudes help shape children's future eating behavior.

From her web page:

Eating in the dark

2007-11-29T14:47:00.000-05:00

On my way to the coffee shop (6:15 a.m.) I waited at a long light change and glanced in the rear view mirror at the driver waiting behind me. It was a 5-way intersection and we were the only people there. I couldn't see her body, but I could see she was carefully removing wrapped food from a fast bag, probably White Castle, which is the only thing around here open that early. She seemed to be laying them out on the passenger seat. I saw 4 items by the time the light changed. I went straight and she went left, but we both entered the same parking lot from opposite ends. I thought she was going to eat there before heading for work. When I left the coffee shop her car was still there, so she was apparently employed in one of the other stores and perhaps opened. Which ever, she ate breakfast alone in her car in the dark. Not a healthy choice.

American obesity has leveled off, according to the news--33% of men and 35% of women are obese. How you eat is very important according to Brian Wansink, the new Executive Director of the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. If you are serious about eating a healthier diet, stopping at a drive through and eating out of a bag in the dark in an almost empty parking lot is probably not a good start to your day or the rest of your life.