Health Education: weight control

Showing posts with label weight control. Show all posts

Eating to Please... the Slippery Slope

No matter where you live in the world, society has certain norms about food.  In addition, your family or church culture might have traditions or customs about food. Some things are easy.  If you are going to a function where food is to be served, whether its an official party, or just a visit to your Auntie's house where food is not to be refused! - go hungry (go to the event hungry).  In other words, don't add to the days calories, include what you eat or drink there as part of your day's total intake. But what about the social norms that you can't prepare for?  What if someone bakes a cake and brings it in to work?  Or you just drop by a friends house and he or she brings out cookies?  Is it right to eat just to please someone else?  Is it right (smart) to eat just because 'everyone else is'?   I say no.  I think we are on a slippery slope when we start eating to give other people pleasure.  Consistently eating for reasons that are far removed from the main purpose which is to fuel our bodies and brains is dangerous. To be absolutely 100% clear, food is to be enjoyed!  Tasted, savored, shared - I always enjoy eating but I do not eat to feel enjoyment.  Does that make sense? Eating to feel good is a very dangerous habit to get into and eating just because someone suggests it, or you are bored, or you want to celebrate.. when you are really not hungry.. that is risky.  It can condition the brain to use food as a crutch or as a feel good medicine.. food should not be used as a security blanket. It is okay to tell someone that you are too full to try their cake, or heck, that you have allergies, or that you are fasting for religious purposes, tell them anything you want..you do not have to eat to please someone else. But if you know a food event is coming, it makes more sense to go there hungry or to bring a low calorie item to share rather than offend your host. Please give this post some thought.  One of the reasons - and there are many - that a majority of people weigh more than is healthy for them (70% of US adults), is because they consume more calories than they need, and that is sometimes because they eat for the wrong reasons. (sometimes they eat too many calories by accident, but that is related to food labeling)

Eating to Please... the Slippery Slope

No matter where you live in the world, society has certain norms about food. In addition, your family or church culture might have traditio...

7:04 PM

Is the Food Industry Promoting Obesity?

The US population has a high rate of obesity, perhaps the highest in the world (see the WHO and CDC obesity websites for the numbers).  The simplest explanation, the one without nuance, is that people are eating more calories than they need. The nuanced explanation involves all the reasons why we are consuming too many calories.  For example, one reason is that we don't know how many calories we need.  Another is that, even those who know their caloric needs, cannot reasonably (or accurately) estimate the amount of calories in the food and beverages available to them.  Still another, the food and beverages most readily available and heavily promoted are (ridiculously) high in calories. So is the food industry a culprit? I give you three reasons why I think the answer is yes, but note, I said a culprit not the culprit.  They are: <ol><li>The french fry burger</li><li>Endless bowls of pasta</li><li>And the Bacon Pepperoni pizza burger</li></ol>  There are many factors that promote an over consumption of calories.  The cause will always involve an interaction between the person and his or her environment.  But really, does the environment have to be this over the top?  Cheap, calorically- dense, nutrient-poor food is much easier to access than it is to avoid.  That's a problem, but its one we CAN address.

Is the Food Industry Promoting Obesity?

The US population has a high rate of obesity, perhaps the highest in the world (see the WHO and CDC obesity websites for the numbers). The ...

8:13 PM

Odds and Ends

HPV and Herd Immunity  I believe I've mentioned herd immunity when discussing seasonal flu.  Basically, it means that if enough people in your group are immune to an illness, your chances of getting sick decrease even if you are not immune.  The disease gets blocked before reaching you.  I mention it today because there is a suggestion that herd immunity may working to protect some people from HPV.  Public health advocates hope that young men and women will NOT depend on herd immunity.  I am sure that Merck and GSK also hope that you don't skip the vaccines. Pretentious Grocers  I frequent stores such as Whole Foods and Earth Fare as rarely as possible as I cannot afford to shop at them. I only go if I cannot find a product somewhere else.  In the last week or so I have had to visit both stores.  As usual, the visits led me to gasp at the prices.  Prices on items that I buy at other grocers were priced, not a few cents more, but dollars more.  That is nuts.  The items come from the same place!  These stores promote themselves with offerings of all natural, organic, people and environmentally friendly products, but exclude a great number of people with their prices.  It must be noted that none of the healthy eating indexes (HEI, AHEI and the AHA version) or the DGA, explained here in the last month, mention all natural or organic items in terms of reducing the risk of overweight or disease.  This is because science has yet to make such a link. Physical Activity When I first presented my exercise tracker, I noted that I did not include general physical activity.  Instead, I focused on what would be considered exercise, by definition.  I did not include all the activity breaks that I take in a day.  Many of those are walks around the block which I have had to limit with my calf injury. So I noticed that in the last 7+ days, I've done more physical chores than usual.  I have cleaned my bathroom and kitchen, using an old fashioned sponge mop instead of my 'swifter,' and getting better results.  I went to the local coin car wash and washed my own car.  Again, it was cleaner by my own hand.  I spent extra time at the community garden, watering, harvesting and pruning.  These are activities that people do much less these days - meaning we are sedentary in general and specifically. Hyatt Menus The company press release included a statement on the increase in overweight and obese children, but the menu description does not mention any SoFAS or calorie moderation.  It does note choosing food suppliers whose agricultural practices involve sustainability which I value as an environmentally focused person.  However, the rest of the focus is on organic foods.  Intuitively, organic foods should be better for us if they contain less contaminants or additives, but there is nothing to suggest that using them leads to less calorically dense meals.  So if the hotel chain wants to address obesity they are going to have to do it by lowering calories.  If they want to cater to the deep pockets that shop at Whole Foods and Earth Fare, well, they have that covered then. Aerosol I learned today that aerosol cans are recyclable.  I thought that disposing of the 'contents under pressure' cans was problematic and checked my city's recycling website to see what I could do.  Indeed, I can recycle as long as the can is completely empty and the nozzle is removed.  Pretty cool.

Odds and Ends

HPV and Herd Immunity I believe I've mentioned herd immunity when discussing seasonal flu. Basically, it means that if enough people ...

7:43 PM

New Zealand Nutrition Conference

I thought if I just wrote obesity conference as the title, you might skip this read due to obesity burnout. I will keep it short for you. Tomorrow in New Zealand - Wellington to be exact, nutrition experts from across the country are meeting with tobacco control experts in an attempt to revitalize the campaign against obesity. The rates of overweight and obese are similar in New Zealand to USA and other western countries. About 33% of adults are overweight and 25% are obese. They may have more obese adults than the USA. In a press release about the up coming conference the Cancer Society Health Promotion Manager, Dr. J. Pearson shared some of her thoughts or concerns and here I will share those that resonated with me. She said that they (the country) needed to tackle this problem the way New Zealand and other countries have dealt with tobacco. Many countries have successfully reduced their national smoking rates, some, like the USA have cut them in half. You know how it was done - ongoing campaigns about the dangers, increase in cost, limited access and promotion, esp. to children, and medications or programs to assist in quitting. When Dr. Pearson mentioned the advertising of unhealthy and fast foods I had a thought. Remember when tobacco ads were more prominent? Do you ever remember seeing a person who looked sick (or dry skinned and wrinkly) smoking a cigarette? No. Do you see many obese people doing commercials for Twinkies, Fritos, sodas and McDonald's? I understand that eating is pleasureful but for some it is a pleasure substitute or a lack of understanding. Even if food makes you happy I am near certain that being overweight does not bring you contentment. When we first started to crack down on smoking people - addicts, became upset that the government was trying to control them and tell them what to do. That is mostly because the tobacco companies were minimizing the health effects and glamorizing smoking. Now that the majority of the population DOES believe that tobacco kills, having limited access to tobacco and being protected from tobacco smoke is seen as a GOOD thing. So think of a person who is hearing that obesity, even moderate overweight(ness) , can lead to heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis but seeing healthy, slim, active people eating high fat high calorie foods? Or the person wants to eat the lower calorie plant based or Mediterranean diet but cannot find those foods or afford them? As Dr. Pearson said, "It is like telling a smoker not to smoke, then putting them in a room full of smokers and handing them a cartoon of cigarettes!" On a final note, there is also concern in New Zealand that many of the schools healthy lunch programs have lost funding and that the Government seems to think that increasing physical activity is going to solve the problem. As I have learned and Dr. Pearson notes "strong international evidence" is telling us that this problem cannot be solved if people do not start eating LESS calories. Physical Activity is a must for good health and disease prevention but it is NOT a first line weight loss strategy, calorie control, is. Now stay tuned tomorrow for news on the problem of obesity in our PETS :)

New Zealand Nutrition Conference

I thought if I just wrote obesity conference as the title, you might skip this read due to obesity burnout. I will keep it short for you. T...

4:53 PM

Hold Everything..

Okay, maybe not everything, but you could hold the stuffing or at least hold your weight - steady, until the New Year. Hold the Stuffing is a contest that is played in some form or another at many businesses at this time of year. The point of the "challenge" is to support people who have made strides in obtaining a healthy weight, even if they are not at their goal weight yet. Health Promotions staff encourage people to just keep things even and enjoy the holidays. This means that the person is not to try to lose weight over the next six or seven weeks, but it ALSO means that they are not to gain any either. The threshold is 2 pounds. The "contestants" cannot go up OR down more than two pounds from their start weight. The weight needs to be taken before Thursday November 26th. You can play with teams and go by a group weight or you can do it individually. We are doing it individually at my small office and I created a tracking tool for each person to use. I will link it here and you will be able to play too if you like. Just <a href="http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AVpUruYXPyXJZGNycXRnMzRfMTIyZzhwcXRocnQ&hl=en">print the form</a>, get your weight and be mindful of your eating. That being said and Thanksgiving a mere few days away - let me share some things my sister has learned from her Weight Watchers class. (everyone knows that if they tell me something they risk seeing it in a future blog post) One thing that the program has its members do is think of all the things they would like to eat on the day and to portion them out on a paper plate. Actually take a plate and write in the things you are going to eat. Hopefully, you will make the lower calorie items take up more space than the high calorie ones. My sister shared something else which I REALLY like and that I include on the tracking sheet. That is to "control what you eat, how much you eat and when you eat." I have been doing this for years and years and I highly recommend it. Do taste lots of things on your holiday, just don't eat so much of them! Also, be careful because some items have more calories than you can possibly imagine!

Hold Everything..

Okay, maybe not everything, but you could hold the stuffing or at least hold your weight - steady, until the New Year. Hold the Stuffing i...

5:04 PM

Diet Drugs

How well do you know your blog writer? Here is a test question. Does Deirdre believe in diet drugs? Answer. NO It has been a little while since our grocery stores held prominent displays of the latest OTC weight loss drug, Alli. Long too, since Wynona Judd did her print and TV ads endorsing the product. I of course, had my say in these pages <a href="http://yourhealtheducator.blogspot.com/2009/03/wellness-weekly-with-video.html">http://yourhealtheducator.blogspot.com/2009/03/wellness-weekly-with-video.html</a> This drug was intended to enhance weight loss by blocking some fat absorption, probably because eating less fat would be too inconvenient for some people. I railed against it, I still rail against it and now the FDA has made a cautionary statement in its regard. FDA notified healthcare professionals and patients that it is reviewing new safety information regarding reports of liver-related adverse events in patients taking orlistat. Orlistat is marketed in the United States as a prescription product, Xenical, and as an over-the-counter (OTC) product, Alli. Between 1999 and October 2008, 32 reports of serious liver injury, including 6 cases of liver failure, in patients using orlistat were submitted to FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System. The most commonly reported adverse events described in the 32 reports of serious liver injury were jaundice, weakness, and abdominal pain. FDA is reviewing other data on suspected cases of liver injury submitted by the manufacturers of orlistat, analysis of these data is ongoing and no definite association between liver injury and orlistat has been established at this time. FDA is not advising healthcare professionals to change their prescribing practices with orlistat. Consumers currently taking Xenical should continue to take it as prescribed and those using over-the-counter Alli should continue to use the product as directed. Scientifically speaking the safest and most effective way to lose weight is to take in less calories that you burn.

Diet Drugs

How well do you know your blog writer? Here is a test question. Does Deirdre believe in diet drugs? Answer. NO It has been a little while si...

5:42 PM

Odds and Ends

Ah, another week has passed and a few items should be noted, saving the best for last, let me begin: Compressed Morbidity: I thought of this again this week, having first heard the term at the Cooper Institute in May. The idea is to compress disease into the last years of a long life instead of spreading it out over many years. In other words, as Dr. Cooper had said, right now we are dying longer not living longer and that needs to change. I think of this with lifestyle related illnesses.. illnesses associated with obesity and tobacco. Yes, for many illnesses there are medications, but rarely a cure and some illnesses will significantly impair the quality of life a person experiences. It is time to leave disease for old age. Weighing: This past week someone asked how often I weighed myself, following that question with another before I could answer, "Every day?" In fact, I do not weigh everyday and told my new friend that I tend to weigh two or three times a YEAR. I thought afterwords that the reason I have no need to weigh more than that is because I am consistent. I eat and exercise according to recommendations, well, okay, I do perhaps exercise more and eat a little less, but I have been this same weight plus or minus two or four pounds for almost nine years. I am NOT on a diet. Heart Rates and Cool Downs: I was pleasantly surprised when the instructor of a spin class reminded everyone to slow down and not stop right away as the heart would be better conditioned if one eased off the intensity. I have always hypothesized that the reason for heart attacks at racing finish lines could be strongly associated with someone going full throttle and then coming to a complete stop. Many times I see runners bend over or sit down. I think that is crazy! I imagine blood backing up into the heart.. no medical training tells me that is so, but just think, PUMP PUMP PUMP run run run.. okay screeching halt.......STOP.. scary to me. Calorie Awareness: I thought this would be a good thing to share with you. I have in my head a baseline calorie amount that I like to stay around and plan around. If I do no exercise that is what I eat, if I do moderate exercise I add a little more, if I am running my very long runs I add even more. So the message to myself is I eat LESS when I do not exercise. This is an exercise motivator. I do not eat EXTRA when I exercise.. that can be a fools game.. I eat LESS when I do not and I do not want to eat less, so I exercise! KUDOS KUDOS KUDOS: This week I happened to stumble upon two incredibly inspiring people. Both are women and both were once obese and unhappy. I am inspired by them and I want YOU to be inspired by them because they lost their weight and have maintained their new weights with lifestyle change concentrating on energy in and energy out. They have both cut their calories and increased their exercise. I cannot do their stories the justice they deserve but you can read them on line. I will post links for you to find them. I read about Miss Rosie Coates in Runner's World and her story had me saying YES YES YES a few times. And Miss Raquel Barragan who goes by Rocky, is a partner in the cooking video world and has also lost a significant amount of weight and has done so with the new Weight Watchers program (not diet, program). Both ladies have my utmost respect and admiration. Rosie's story: <a href="http://sportydiva.com/">http://sportydiva.com/</a> Rocky's YouTube Channel: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/rockybarragan">http://www.youtube.com/user/rockybarragan</a> Oh, yes, I think it was Rosie who said this.. but you know how I say eat less move more.. she said eat less, sweat more :)

Odds and Ends

Ah, another week has passed and a few items should be noted, saving the best for last, let me begin: Compressed Morbidity : I thought of thi...

4:45 PM

Label Tricks

<div>I become increasingly frustrated with producers of supplements and meal replacements as well as producers or manufacturers in general as they tout their wares as health promoting and essential when they can be anything but… There are dozens of reasons why vitamins and minerals added to products, liquid or otherwise, can be a waste of money. Here are a few: 1) Research often doesn’t support the health claim in THAT form 2) Products don’t have enough of the said ingredient to make a difference 3) The product may have fillers that counteract the positive health effect 4) The label is misleading 5) The product is contaminated or has unclaimed ingredients that cause harm In many ways, all we get for our dollar is expensive pee. More so, I want to educate consumers. Labels on our foods can be misleading. Recently I discussed why buying foods with omega three fatty acids was misguided, but many other health claims or label facts can trip you up as well. Fat free, trans fat free, sugar free, calorie free – most of the time means that there is a trace amount of the item per serving size.. depending on how the nutrient is measured it could be .49 grams of 4 calories. Serving size is another issue. Recall my ice cream dessert video on you tube… ½ c is the serving size on the box and not only do most of us have a cup.. the weights are different on almost every box.. it is calorie per gram that the consumer would be best to consider. Recently I wrote that the FDA/USDA did not define the term “natural” and I was mistaken. They do, only in the sense of a policy, not a regulation. Both FDA regulated products and USDA regulated meats and poultry labled "natural" are encouraged to be minimally processed and not contain artificial flavorings, colorings or preservatives. Many times a product will claim itself to be hormone free when the law prohibits hormones in the first place, i.e. poultry and hog products. My favorite was when all sorts of things that never ever had carbs began to have labels claiming they were carbohydrate free… like WATER. Added fiber? Try getting it the old fashioned way.. the way research says is helpful.. in a food that contains it from the beginning. It will nearly always behoove the consumer to read the ingredient list of baked goods, like bread, to be sure, no matter what the label implies, or screams at you, “multi grain”… that the word before the grain is WHOLE. Did you know that there was something called the Whole Grain Council and that they have a label for whole grain products.. indeed… if the package has their black and yellow stamp you CAN be assured that the serving size has at least 8 grams of whole grains. Another label to be trusted is the USDAs certified organic. Unfortunately, a recent research study found no health benefit to eating organic foods. I myself do not eat them. BTW, the organic label does NOT apply to any USA raised or caught seafood and according to an article in Runner’s World this month, that label on food sold here would be from another country and may lack any clear and consistent definition or practice. In fact, one would be better off eating wild Alaskan salmon which is apparently regulated here and farmed arctic char which is also supposed to be healthy and safe. Another trick noted from the same Runner’s World article was putting 100% juice on a label under the drinks name, like pomegranate, but only 20% of the juice is of that type. Anyways, fruit juice is not the best beverage to spend your money on whether it is 100% or not. Lastly I want to say that you do not have to shop at Whole Foods to eat whole foods and eating whole foods; fruit, vegetables and grains is health promoting. </div>

Label Tricks

I become increasingly frustrated with producers of supplements and meal replacements as well as producers or manufacturers in general as the...

5:04 PM

the Perils of Fructose

My goal today is to list some of the main points from two lectures I attended today. The speaker was an MD researcher who has linked, through his research, fructose with cardiovascular disease in that he believes it causes metabolic syndrome which is a precursor for heart disease and diabetes. I want to share any points that might be relevant in our real lives, so here they are: Fructose itself appears to increase uric acid and uric acid increase can lead to a nitric oxide decrease. Fructose also seems to effect the hormone leptin which is supposed to suppress appetite when we have had enough to eat. Scientifically over my head, but I believe these are the actions that lead to a syndrome which has the following adverse health components: Hypertension Increased weight, abdominal fat Insulin resistance High levels of triglycerides Inflammation Oxidative stress Endothelial dysfunction Limiting fructose is advised. Table sugar is a molecule of fructose bound to a molecule of glucose. High Fructose Corn Syrup contains the same two molecules in an unbound or free form. Both fructose sources cause the increase in uric acid, but the free form is more potent. Fructose is also found in fruits, however, there is some neutralizing of the effects because of the fiber, antioxidants and polyphenols found in many fruits. Watch out though, not all fruit has the protective chemicals. For instance and sadly, watermelon is one of the most high fructose fruits with little antioxidant balancing. Also watch dried fruit because of the high sugar and calorie content involved. People eat it too freely. Dr. Johnson advises that we eat 2-3 fruits a day, because there is 4-8 g of fructose in each. He strongly encourages limited fruit juices and avoiding soft drinks. I learned some odds and ends as well. In white persons under 40 who have high blood pressure, salt restriction doesn’t seem to help. Olive oil is best purchased in the can, to preserve its health promoting properties. Heart disease or vascular disease has two distinct pathways. I understood Dr. Johnson to differentiate between atherosclerosis and arteriosclerosis. Whether I have the terms right or not, he was explaining that one type of artery disease was related more to saturated fats and cholesterol while the other was more likely due to the inflammation and cell damage from the hypertension related to fructose consumption. He was responding to my question regarding whether or not he was trying to minimize the effects of a high fat diet on heart disease and he said NO , not at all.. but that the high fat diet caused one type of problem and the high fructose diet caused another. He estimates that we consume upwards of 50gs of fructose a day and would be better off at 25gs a day. a little more tomorrow in regards to a fructose index, fructose sources, and a soda tax...

the Perils of Fructose

My goal today is to list some of the main points from two lectures I attended today. The speaker was an MD researcher who has linked, thro...

4:58 PM

Let the Comparison Begin

I am actually torn about tonight's post. Yesterday I received an article in the mail from a dear friend in Maine. I did not read it closely until just now. Last night the first news stories were published about the cost of treating obesity (147 billion a year) and out of curiosity I looked up the cost per year that Tobacco Free Kids estimates is spent on tobacco related illnesses (96 billion a year). Obesity has indeed passed tobacco, I expected it would. And this morning, I read an article about reducing hospital re admissions and got rather frustrated at a lack of personal responsibility in the patients. So all that is on my mind! The article, ironically, compares Big Tobacco with Big Food and was written by Ellen Goodman. She notes a new film and a new book regarding the food industry's tactics to get us to eat more cheap, fast and harmful food and wonders if the mood of America isn't about to change and say, "Enough." She does note a concern that always frustrates me and that is the controversy over accepting ones weight or size and rallying against obesity. Well, the fact that it is considered a controversy is the problem. I actually had the thought today that maybe our Armageddon is going to be related to our total lack of responsibility in taking care of the body that the creator(s) gave us. Many times it seems a total disregard for health and wellness. An abuse of our very essence... we wouldn't treat our cars or motorcycles this way and expect them to keep running, would we? I am not without empathy and I do feel that addictions exist and are not something that can be willed away.. however, one has the personal responsibility to adopt a treatment or follow a plan to change what is wrong. In the article I read this morning, a woman with chronic heart failure was dismissed from the hospital after an exacerbation of her illness. She was advised not to eat hot dogs, as the July 4th Holiday was approaching. The patient is quoted as saying that she went to the picnic and said, I am not supposed to have a hot dog, but give me one anyway. She further commented that if she was dead in the morning she would never know. Well, ha ha, isn't that funny. Instead, she was back in the ER and admitted to the hospital because she did NOT do what the doctor's said. Perhaps people need to understand that not taking care of themselves has a ripple effect. Her family would have been worried and strained by this readmission, doctors and nurses would have to care for her and somebody did not get a bed at that hospital because she was in it. Oh, and she is a Medicare patient so premiums for everyone can be effected. I suppose everyone has a right to go to hell in a hand basket at their whim.. as my friend Tom Brown used to say.. but only if they can do so without wasting the rest of our valuable resources to get there. So yes, I feel incensed by some of the recent news...

Let the Comparison Begin

I am actually torn about tonight's post. Yesterday I received an article in the mail from a dear friend in Maine. I did not read it cl...

5:00 PM

Quitting Smoking and Weight Gain

Today's post isn't only about quitting smoking and weight gain, but also about how people (and doctors are people too) think to manage weight gain. The post is inspired by a statement made in one of my quit smoking classes. Many people are concerned that when they quit smoking they will gain weight and for both medical and aesthetic reasons, that is often a deal breaker. Unfortunately, literature does support that people who quit smoking will gain ten or so pounds, some will gain much more and some will not gain at all. What the literature doesn't get into, is WHY the person gains weight.. I mean the REAL why. My "student" is very motivated to quit and has the support of her primary care physician. In fact, he told her that if she gained weight to come back to him and he would assist her. She joked and asked if he was going to send her to a psychiatrist.. I offered my guess, a nutritionist? thinking this doctor was really on top of his ballgame when the "student" said, "No, he said he'd give me something for it." Ah... a pill. I told her not to worry because my health education would cover the weight gain issue and hence, this blog post was born. [All readers know that I consider medication to be a last resort treatment or certainly a second or third approach , but never a first response to a non emergent situation.] With regard to tobacco... Some will say that nicotine effects metabolism.. well, it may, but not by much. Seriously, if it increased metabolism enough to affect weight we would bottle it up and use it to treat obesity. More say that nicotine is an appetite suppressant. I agree, it is similar to coffee in that regard. A person who quits tobacco has to get reacquainted with their appetite. There is also the psychological piece of being bored and eating when one would have smoked, being nervous and eating, being angry and eating.. etc. the classic emotional eating pattern that people who have disordered eating experience everyday. I smoked myself for about 17 years and through it all I have pictures of life events. Sometimes I am thin and sometimes I am quite overweight (ranging 100 to 149 lbs). Many times, I have a cigarette in my hand or a pack of Winstons on the table near to me. I am fat or thin NOT because of cigarettes but because of FOOD. If you eat too much you will gain weight.. it is energy in and energy out, truly that simple for 95% of the population. So a former smoker or an emotional eater has to learn two or three things. First, when am I hungry and when am I emotional.. Two, how to cope with emotions in health promoting ways.. journaling, exercising, talking, music, aromatherapy, massage, eating nutritious food! and Third, how does weight control work i.e, what food is healthy, how many calories do I need , how many am I currently eating, how do I keep a healthy low calorie food healthy and low calorie when I prepare it and so on. When I work with people I encourage the Volumetrics concept. It is important because it is NOT a diet, it is NOT temporary and it IS safe, effective and health promoting. I really frown on my quitters getting all those toxins out of their system just to put more chemicals in. Lifestyle change first and risky drug therapy and surgery as last resorts.. got that?

Quitting Smoking and Weight Gain

Today's post isn't only about quitting smoking and weight gain, but also about how people (and doctors are people too) think to mana...

4:48 PM

Do You Have Cankles?

Well, I cannot believe that I am doing this post, but alas I am. Cankles are ankles that lack definition. They are firstly caused by obesity, but other causes can include a genetic inclination to store fat in the lower leg, chronic achilles tendinitis and other less common situations. According to an article I read in the WSJ, the average circumference of an ankle is 11 inches. Women have become increasingly concerned about the look of their legs as clothing styles can accent the calf and ankle. (you can Google the word in case you don't know the look) In fact, there are exercise programs designed to target that area so that the ankles can be slimmed. And you know, I am not sure that I have mentioned this in the last year or two, but you cannot control where exactly you will gain or lose your weight. It just doesn't work that way. I would suggest that one way, perhaps the best way, to prevent fat ankles is to not be fat. Albeit, there are exceptions as there always are...sometimes things just happen. Funny thing, I HAVE tendinitis right now. When the doctor was looking at my achilles and ankle area yesterday and recommending ultrasound for healing, he actually said that he thought the treatment would work well as I did not have much adipose tissue there. I measured just now, having read the article, and my ankle is 8 inches around. I also read in the same article, by Amy Chozick , that some counselors were worried that focusing on "cankles" would lead more girls to develop eating disorders. Really.. are you kidding me? Here is an issue to worry about... childhood obesity Indeed, I saw a boy at the Farmer's Market today with his Mum... he was very overweight, drinking a soda. Sweating in the sun. He was swollen everywhere, no doubt his ankles too but I didn't look.. instead I was looking at this 8 to 10 year old boy with BOOBS and thinking that really ought to count as child neglect.

Do You Have Cankles?

Well, I cannot believe that I am doing this post, but alas I am. Cankles are ankles that lack definition. They are firstly caused by obesity...

4:55 PM

Teaching Moments

We have a new employee where I work and she is only now getting to know me. I say this because what she said was so funny being said to ME. Her story was priceless and a wonderful teaching moment, then and now. And do let me say.. I am NOT making fun of my coworker, nor judging her nor overtly trying to change her. I am subtle but open while at work. I eat the way I eat and when people ask me about my food or lifestyle I share information, ideas, recipes, and products. I LOVE doing that. I recall saying this before but it is worth repeating. People won't eat junk food if it isn't around, and people WILL eat good food if it is. So not really knowing me that well, Sally (not her real name :)) began her story this way, "This morning when I stopped at McDonald's..." Before she could finish her sentence, I said, "McDonald's???!!" and she continued, "Yeah, I always get a steak bagel (500+ cals)." To which I think I said, "Oh my." I believed she acquiesced that it wasn't so healthy and then added, "But today I decided to get the combo (with hash browns and coffee) because it is cheaper." I was very animated and dramatic while she talked, telling her she was killing me.. that my arteries were clogging as she spoke.... I was joking and educating at the same time. She did ask me when I last went to McDonald's and it was in the early 2000s when they released the Go Active meal with the water and pedometer. Anyway, the point Sally was trying to make, though I hardly let her finish, was that the coffee spilt in the bag and when she got out of the car the bag broke and her food fell on the ground... see, she was not meant to eat all that fat! Seriously though, we have real life example of two things I have said recently. One is that it is significantly easier and cheaper to eat too much than to eat the right amount. And the other, an example of someone who doesn't know which foods are health promoting and which are not. She often brings a microwave meal for lunch and eats all of what is meant to be three servings, but she may not even know that. I believe that her eating and her health will improve because her coworkers are great role models.... I being just one.

Teaching Moments

We have a new employee where I work and she is only now getting to know me. I say this because what she said was so funny being said to ME....

5:02 PM

the high cost of eating well

Every blog post does not have to be a research paper and so tonight I will just express opinion and grave concern about the state of disease prevention. Health care reform is happening and within the congressional debates and presidential meetings are many nods to the importantance of prevention. Specifically, prevention of disease can be tied to three things of which we have control, and a fourth of which we don't, genetics. We do have control over our weight for the most part, for what we eat, again for the most part and for the amount of exercise we do. With regard to what we eat, when legislating change, I implore the powers that be to confront the issue of how our food has changed and how readily available and cheap the worst types of food have become. I say this as in the last day or two I have seen the 1 dollar double cheeseburger promotion, the 25 cent hot dog and the 1.50 dollar discrepency between a snack that is full of sugar and one that is sugar free. What IS THAT>?! We have a crisis and it is because people cannot afford to eat nutritious low calorie food. Furthermore, they don't know exactly which food is healthy and low calorie nor how to prepare that food so it remains so. I feel frustrated because I could absolutely educate society with a public health grant.. I could take the information that I have on my blog and You Tube to people who do not access the web. I cannot however, change the price of food. Even today at the beach, I saw a family where the mother and perhaps her sister were substantially overweight.. they came from the snack bar with french fries, which they shared with the children who were not YET overweight. Was there another option at the snack bar? I do not know. Was it as cheap as the french fries? Likely not. It is so hard for me to know the right thing and witness the wrong thing. Many people, regardless of circumstance, are naive when it comes to how food and exercise affect their health but pointing it out individually is not the right technique. It will backfire. Community education and policy change is less threatening and more cost effective and physically effective than pointing out individual misgivings and mistakes. There are people who are in my inner circle who do not do the right things even though they are pretty well informed. I get that. I DO get that. It is like smoking. Smokers know that it is killing them, but not smoking is a completely different lifestyle for them. Same with ME and running. Running all the time is not the best thing to do, I often have over use injury, I KNOW that but I love running. So my job, my quest.. it is two fold. Food has to be affordable and people have to know how to prepare it and eat it. We joke about backing away from the table, but seriously, we HAVE to back away from the table. An example, I found these awesome 100 calorie snacks today... on my Mom's counter!! They are Newton's Fruit Crisps, pretty expensive so I probably won't buy them.. but there are two "crisps" in the package and the package has 100 calories. When I tried them it was like I finally found my low calorie Pop Tart.... very very yummy. I ate a pack today and thought, I can see that people would eat several packs at once, exactly how NOT to moderate calories. If people would retrain themselves to eat every few hours and to have a general idea of what those foods are going to be, they will STOP eating (when the meal is over) as they remind themselves that they will eat again very soon. So today I just wanted to express my frustration I suppose. I am frustrated that healthy food is not affordable. I am frustrated that many people do not know which foods are healthy and how to keep them that way when preparing them. And I am frustrated that people do not do what works even when they know what it is. Many of these things are not the fault of the individual, except in the end, you decide whether or not you will do the "treatment".

the high cost of eating well

Every blog post does not have to be a research paper and so tonight I will just express opinion and grave concern about the state of disease...

8:55 PM

wellness weekly

Okay back to the regular news and a video meal: The News: Prescription Drugs: I believe that anyone who has read at least three of my blog entrees, even ones from the early 00s, knows that I have a very strong inclination against prescription drugs. It is also true that when a disease can be controlled or cured and quality life years added, I support pharmacotherapy. That is my little disclaimer I guess. I don’t want people to think that I never advocate for meds. I am not doing so today however. This past week has been a disturbing one in several ways. One big pharma is reported to have paid less taxes than one would expect due to a certain way that they closed a deal, and another kept worrisome clinical trial results hidden from people taking a certain antipsychotic drug. By the way, this is NOT the first case like that. Another company is in trouble for over charging Medicaid. All are being investigated. I also spoke to a man this week who listed six or seven prescription meds he has to take, though he couldn’t name any chronic disease that he had. Another woman told me that the doctor keeps putting her adult daughter on more and more meds and is stymied because she isn’t losing weight. The mother said to me, “He doesn’t understand. She eats like a pig.” Another woman told me how when she was first diagnosed with emphysema, she continued to smoke and could not make her inhaler last for the whole month. On a positive note, she told me that she has quit smoking and hardly needs to use the inhaler. That is EXACTLY why it is never too late to quit smoking. If you have a disease and are in treatment for it, that treatment will be more effective if you stop the activity that is causing the disease. I know, I am so smart. Back to the drug companies, one of them markets an inhaler for COPD in TV commercials and actually says during the commercial that the medicine can be used by current smokers. WHAT?!?!?! Too many meds, too many side effects, and too little personal responsibility. Remember, at least four of the ten leading causes of death and disability CAN and should be prevented. Omega 3s: I want to say more about this today. First I advise that you read a little more from a trusted source, i.e, a non profit volunteer agency that does not also sell supplements! The American Heart Association. Here is a direct link: <a href="http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4632">Fish and Omega-3 Fatty Acids</a>. I want to revisit this for two reasons. First, last week I reported that Dr. K Cooper said in his lecture that everyone needs to take Omega 3s in supplement form and that the dose is 1g per day. I know he said 1 gram and that it should be 60% DHA/EPA, both of those statements are supported in other literature but the AHA has different dosage recommendations based on an individuals health. According to the AHA for example, I do not need to take the supplement but someone wanting to reduce their LDL or with existing heart disease should. Also they recommend even higher doses for some people, with physician supervision. You must make your own educated decisions. But here is the second thing I want to emphasize. The amount and type of Omega 3 that these companies are adding to your bread, eggs, milk and whatnot, are both WRONG. I checked out a milk carton today that very boastfully claimed 36 mg of Omega 3, well, great, where are you going to get the other 964 mg you need to get 1 GRAM. One place is in salmon, but oh my gosh, there is another awesome link on the AHA, it lists mercury content in one column and omega 3 in the other (by gram). This is wonderful and the kind of info I need to bring out to the community. <a href="http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3013797">Fish, Levels of Mercury and Omega-3 Fatty Acids</a> Device Recall Hits ‘em Where it Hurts: Drugs and devices, both types of companies can get seedy with their direct to consumer advertising and their doctor pandering. More reason to eat your fish and not your chips! We have had recalls of pacemaker batteries, wires that misfire, defibrillators, stents that reclog and more, but this time Medtronic got in trouble with a bone graft device that doctors recommended and used for off label conditions. They can do that, but the concern is that they may have been paid consulting or speaking fees and indirectly marketed the device for a treatment for which it was not FDA approved. Things have gotten bad because a lot of adverse health outcomes were reported for the off label use. Seriously, the FDA didn’t seem that keen on the device for the regular use either. This off label stuff is serious business, I myself had to sign a disclaimer before talking to docs about tobacco addiction treatment. Anyway, according to the WSJ this week, there has been a near 70% profit drop for Medtronic and jobs are being cut. Fitness: Just a short bit to remind you that physical fitness is measured by muscle strength and endurance as well as flexibility and cardiovascular conditioning. It is important and imperative to good health to exercise your heart. Cardiovascular activity, what we often think of as aerobic, includes activities that get your heart rate up. A weight bearing exercise is not necessarily cardio and cardio is not necessarily weight bearing. What does weight bearing have to do with it? Weigh bearing exercises help men and women prevent bone loss. So running is an example of both cardio and weight bearing while swimming and cycling are just cardio. Of course walking can really get your heart rate up and you can cycle without increasing your heart rate much. Effort counts! Weight training for fitness is not the same as weight training for a competition. Ladies, relax, really, you won’t bulk up unless you spend hours and hours and hours in the gym weekly. Flexibility can be gained through simple stretches, yoga, pilates, etc. Whatever You are willing to do. You can work your core also without doing crunches, by doing the plank for example. Okay then what are you doing? Don’t just sit there you have diseases to prevent… Live Well Deirdre the following video is a dinner I put together after work one day. enjoy <iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" class="b-hbp-video b-uploaded" frameborder="0" height="266" id="BLOGGER-video-2f62666056e4e4e5-19917" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dws7K9nhVNynm7znhlCzFpEV7AxC4SM4pPEegGRBcwHAFcfuOp-WZx4fbIjwlCDMUWs1WgmjSZoHRuP2R-xjoDBUbPULwY3iz6flXLunfCw1Pq8t7DTfe86yTfvS0YHsWOTN29Z&origin=pre-life-crisis.blogspot.com" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe>

wellness weekly

Okay back to the regular news and a video meal: The News: Prescription Drugs : I believe that anyone who has read at least three of my blog ...

9:29 AM

Wellness Weekly with video recipe

Most of the articles that caught my eye this week, or my ire, as it were, appeared in the Wall St Journal or on My Yahoo homepage. Interestingly, I emailed the reporter for one of the stories so I could have more information for my readers. I will hit a few highlights, but I also want to provide a little history about this blog site and newsletter. I began writing a weekly email newsletter in 2000 and it was first for the Social Work / Case Management Dept at WFUBMC. I was the department’s appointed wellness ambassador for our Action Health (employee wellness) program. Things rather cascaded from there. I received some fitness and nutrition certifications (nothing gold standard) and the newsletter went out to a lot more people and was also at one time posted at two Fitness Centers, in NC. Originally it ended with a recipe. I put many recipes together into a small cook book as well. At the time I was a social worker doing some personal training and catering on the side. In 2004 I went back to college, to grad school and received the Public Health master’s and the credential of Certified Health Education Specialist. This blog came about because many people wanted to keep getting their “News” even as I moved to FL and my web page attempt was tedious.. My goal has been the same for four or five years now, and is the premise of the blog. I want only to prevent disease or progression of disease in myself and the people I know and the people with whom I share this world. My next goal is to have this influence as an “expert” but for now, I do it as I can and as a layperson. Many times I share my ideas about food with my friends, coworkers and family. I have a gift.. I am sure that I do. I can revise any recipe and make it healthier. I have learned tricks on the preparation and the selection of foods. I believe 100% in the Volumetrics concept of Dr. B. Rolls and not at all in any dieting. My cooking tricks, techniques and ideas are hard to put in writing and for some time I have considered video taping my cooking. If you checked in lately, you can see that I have taken a stab or two at doing just that. As I work to make this better I do have to wonder about the balance between the news and the cooking.. or I might find a way to compartmentalize. Bear with me as once again the Weekly News, now nine years old, gets a makeover. Today’s column will end with my most famous and historic recipe, Cereal Bars, with a demo video. The News: Treating Stroke: Tom Burton of the Wall St Journal described an interesting debate regarding what is the best treatment for preventing a stroke. This is timely as we hear talk about effective treatment and comparative research. Tom noted a study that compared surgery to stenting but which does not answer the question about drug therapy as the third option. In the article, Tom explains the stenting. This is to insert a small metal tube in the neck to open the blocked artery. We have spoken of stents a lot so you know the risks with them. This is also known as something that is noninvasive, but to me, a tube in my arteries IS invasive. The surgery has been around a long time and is considered effective for clearing clogged arteries. [just writing this scares hell out of me and is exactly why I eat the way I do] The surgery is referred to as a carotid endarterectomy and Tom says that this cutting open the artery and then cutting away the fatty plaque is “pretty routine”. A third option is the use of medication. There is some evidence that drugs like statins can keep the plaque from building up more and in some cases may even reduce it. The next step would be in evaluating if the drugs, the endarterectomy or the stents prevent the most strokes and of course, which have the highest adverse outcomes. Now if this doesn’t make you want to avoid high fat foods I don’t know what will. And that would be the fourth option, preventing plaque buildup in the first place. Knees and Knee Parts: I am sure that there are people who receive knee replacements and have an improved quality of life, I haven’t met them. Research comparing physical therapy to arthroscopic knee surgery, for instance, did not show a better outcome for surgery. I have said this before but here again… some people choose surgery over physical therapy HOWEVER<> <div>Speak Up: This week also brought an article that encourages the recipients of health care, you and me, to speak up about the quality even to a white coat. Yes, it is okay to say, gee Doc could you wash your hands please? In reading this article I recalled one time that I did not speak up and wished I had and others where I do speak up but have a hard time being heard. The first was ten or more years ago when my Dad was in the hospital and had to have his blood taken. The phlebotomist (I think that is the term) did not wear gloves. I remember thinking that he must think my dad is a safe stick, because he is 70ish etc, but that doesn’t mean the person drawing the blood was “safe”. More personally, because I am a health educator and study this stuff, I know that to get a good blood pressure read, the patient should be seated for several minutes and their arm should be at a 90 degree angle. How many times do you walk in and right away the cuff is placed for the BP? </div> <div>Colds: I like oh so much to be right, so let me share some info from Melinda Beck’s Health Journal from Tuesday. Basically, it is ok, even beneficial, to work out when you have a cold, she said swim or run. It is not helpful to take those supplements and herbals that claim to protect you from getting colds or shorten their duration. Research supports that getting plenty of exercise, sleep and vitamin D (some from sunlight for sure) is protective for preventing colds or minimizing symptoms and duration. To ease symptoms these three things were suggested, decongestant sprays, hot beverages and acetaminophen. The researcher stated that there was no evidence to support use of antihistamines or cough medicines. True that. </div> <div>Ok that is enough news.</div> <div>Here is the recipe. These cereal bars are, in my opinion, wonder bars. They keep you feeling full, they level your blood sugar, they assist in the removal of LDL cholesterol and they keep you regular, which would intuitively also protect against colon cancer and a cranky mood. [omg, I crack myself up]. Let me add a disclosure, what I mean to say is that the ingredients in these bars will do the above, the bars themselves have not been used in a research study… yet. </div> <div>Cereal Bars </div> <div>1 ¾ c Kashi Good Friends Cereal (in red box) or Kashi Go Lean</div><div>3 c All Bran original</div><div>½ c loose oat bran (buy at a whole foods store) </div><div>1/4 c skim milk plus 1+ cup water</div><div>¼ c Waldon Farms sugar and calorie free syrup </div><div>1/4 c apple sauce(no sugar added) </div><div>1 tsp cinnamon </div><div>1/8 c egg substitute </div> <div>mix all together in a bowl and pour into 8 ½ by 11 inch pan that has been thoroughly sprayed with butter flavored non-fat cooking spray. Bake at 375 about 40 / 45 min, if spring to touch they are done. When completely cooled, place on cutting board, cut in half and then each half into 12 bars, will have Approx. 40 calories each and about 4 g of fiber. (I use a brown glass dish and I cool over night in the fridge for easier cutting. These are small, cut into twelve pieces for 80 cals each). </div> <div>Very important note, before you add the milk/water mixture (last) have the oven heated and the pan sprayed so that as soon as you stir it you fold it into the pan and place in oven, otherwise, the water is quickly absorbed by the cereals and it’ll dry out. The mixture should be wet, but not too loose. It’ll be trial and error. I use almost 2 cups of milk/water mix. </div> <div></div><div> <iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" class="b-hbp-video b-uploaded" frameborder="0" height="266" id="BLOGGER-video-d751050ac3fcf2d4-4955" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzhDk13cGzVnQJEt0F1i3K2RJr9GQFrA4OBQTOWMKCj7IaH3F41iu9KAEiDLt2Bb4dlu15RFOc5rDJogIGbM6ZjAgDdgzXdzxrs3c_2UankvEotcs72LzfZSiCKlaVYhdE5SHE&origin=pre-life-crisis.blogspot.com" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe></div>

Wellness Weekly with video recipe

Most of the articles that caught my eye this week, or my ire, as it were, appeared in the Wall St Journal or on My Yahoo homepage. Interesti...

3:28 PM

Health Education

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Odds and Ends

New Zealand Nutrition Conference

Hold Everything..

Diet Drugs

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Label Tricks

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Let the Comparison Begin

Quitting Smoking and Weight Gain

Do You Have Cankles?

Teaching Moments

the high cost of eating well

wellness weekly

Wellness Weekly with video recipe

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