Posts Tagged ‘overweight’
Monday, April 20th, 2009
The main causes of obesity are eating too much and exercising too little. But a new study has found a link between child obesity and exposure to certain chemicals found in plastic. Is it possible that there is more to the obesity epidemic than we previously thought? Are there other steps parents should take to help prevent obesity in our children? How can a parent avoid the toxic chemicals in plastic when it seems that plastic is everywhere?
A long-term study of East Harlem girls performed by researchers at Mount Sinai Hospital found that exposure to certain chemicals used in plastic may be linked with childhood obesity. The specific chemicals are called phthalates, which are used to make plastics pliable and in personal care products.
Phthalates are absorbed into the body and affect the glands and hormones that regulate many bodily functions. In this sense, they are considered ‘endocrine disruptors’. Studies have long suggested that these chemicals may cause cancer but this is the first study that suggests that they may promote obesity, as well.
Animal studies also support the notion that these chemicals may cause obesity. Bisphenol A (also used in plastics)and perffluorooctanoic acid (used in non-stick surfaces) have been shown to promote obesity in mice. But this new study from Mount Sinai is the first to show a link between chemicals and obesity in humans.
In this study, researchers looked at the level of phthalates in the urine of 400 East Harlem girls, who range in age from 9 to 11. “The heaviest girls have the highest levels of phthalates metabolites in their urine,” said Dr. Philip J. Landrigan, a professor of pediatrics at Mount Sinai, one of the lead researchers on the study. “It goes up as the children get heavier, but it’s most evident in the heaviest kids.”
Not only were the phthalate levels higher in the heavier children as compared to the leaner kids, but the levels in all of the kids studied were significantly higher than the average levels measured by the CDC for kids throughout the country. This may help explain why children in this neighborhood have a higher overall obesity rate (40%) than kids in the rest of the country (33%).
This study may change how we think about obesity. Perhaps diet and exercise are not the only major players involved. Environmental exposure to toxins, such as these chemicals found in plastic, may be more important than previously recognized.
It is important to point out, however, that this study does not prove that exposure to these chemicals causes obesity. Right now, it just seems to be linked to obesity. It could simply be an accidental finding that has no causal relationship with obesity at all.
This question will be looked at further in a larger study that will monitor 100,000 children across the country.
So what can a parent do now? It is likely best to reduce exposure to pthalates as much as possible. Unfortunately, these chemicals are so widely used that it is impossible to avoid them completely. Further complicating the problem, labels usually don’t identify phthalates.
Phthalates are used in a large variety of products, from enteric coatings of pharmaceutical pills and nutritional supplements to viscosity control agents, gelling agents, lubricants, and emulsifying agents used in products such as adhesives and glues, building materials, personal care products,medical devices, detergents, packaging, childrens’ toys, modelling clay, waxes, cleaning materials, paints, printing inks and coatings, pharmaceuticals, food products and textiles. Phthalates are also frequently used in soft plastic fishing lures, nail polish, adhesives, caulk and paint pigments. Phthalates are used in a variety of household applications (shower curtains, adhesives, perfume), modern electronics and medical applications such as catheters and blood transfusion devices.
The most widely-used phthalates are the di-2-ethyl hexyl phthalate (DEHP), the diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP) and the diisononyl phthalate (DINP). DEHP is the dominant plasticizer used in PVC, due to its low cost.
As of 2004, manufacturers produced about 363 thousand metric tonnes (800 million pounds or 400,000 short tons) of phthalates each year.
The best thing a parent can do is to learn to recognize the abbreviations for the most common phthalates (mentioned above) and to opt for certain kinds of recyclable plastics over others. We also need to urge the FDA to mandate the identification and labeling of products using these chemicals so consumers can make knowledgable choices when selecting these products.
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Tags: causes of obesity, diet, environmental, fat, heavy child, heavy children, heavy kid, heavy teen, nutrition, obese child, obese children, obese kid, obese teen, obesity, obesity causes, overweight, plastic, toxins
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Friday, April 17th, 2009
The psychological effects of being an overweight child are severe. Overweight children tend to suffer from low self-esteem, depression and loneliness. These children also face discrimination beginning at a very young age and are more likely to become suicidal.
Obesity and Self-Identity/Depression
Children get a sense of their own identity by monitoring how others perceive them. A child’s self-esteem is greatly influenced by how others respond to them. Since our culture looks down on the overweight, overweight kids tend to develop a low sense of self-esteem.
Depression is also common in overweight children. These kids often feel insecure and inferior to others. While some obese kids become ‘the life of the party’ to compensate, others become reclusive. An overweight child’s social life may suffer if she is uncomfortable interacting with other kids.
Overweight children and teens who are depressed tend to remain depressed throughout adulthood. Being overweight affects every aspect of one’s life. Overweight adults tend to have fewer years of advanced education, lower family income, higher poverty rates and lower marriage rates compared to non-obese adults.
Obesity and Discrimination
Children understand that being overweight is socially undesirable from a very young age. In studies, young children shown pictures of overweight kids describe the children in the pictures as ‘lazy’ and state that they would not want to be friends with them. These children would rather be friends with somebody with a visible handicap (i.e. missing an extremity) than with somebody who is overweight. Interestingly, even overweight children show the same bias in these studies! They themselves state that they do not want to be friends with the kids in the overweight pictures.
The situation only gets worse as the child grows up. Overweight teens are often teased, ridiculed and shunned, leading to social isolation and depression. In addition, chronic obesity often leads to an increase in high-risk behaviors and oppositional-defiant disorders, since the overweight youngster must work harder than others to fit in with the social crowd.
Even teachers tend to discriminate against overweight children. These kids are more likely to be labeled as ‘immature’ or ‘disruptive’ when they are behaving normally for their age because they often look older and are therefore held to the standards set for older children.
The obese individual encounters discrimination all over. It is not uncommon for an obese person to get disapproving stares from others. Discrimination against the obese is so rampant that normal-weight individuals will often let an obese person know that he or she is taking up more space than he or she should. In most cases, the effects of these incidents make an obese person feel more self-conscious and depressed than ever.
Studies show that overweight individuals are less likely to be hired for a job than normal-weight individuals. Wages of the overweight, particularly overweight women, are much lower than wages of normal-weight workers. Some overweight individuals are even denied health insurance due to their weight!
It is not just a child’s medical health that suffers from obesity. The psychological effects of being overweight are just as devastating. For all of these reasons, it is crucial to address a child’s weight issue as soon as possible!
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Tags: child diet, Child Obesity, child weight loss, discrimination, obese, obese child, obese children, obese kids, obese teen, obesity, overweight, overweight child, overweight children, overweight kids, overweight teen, psychological effects, teen diet, weight gain
Posted in Adult Weight Loss, Child Obesity, weight loss | 10 Comments »
Thursday, April 16th, 2009
It seems that everybody enjoyed my top ten food myths so I decided to add to the list.
Pick up any magazine and you will read about the latest diet fad or the next wonder food. These tips often sound too good to be true because they are not! Read on to learn the truth about some more food myths. You will be surprised at what you learn!
11. Fruit juice is healthy
Fruit juice is a source of empty calories. Eating a piece of fruit provides vitamins, fiber and tends to reduce intake of other food. But most fruit juices are just sugary beverages, providing extra calories — all from refined carbohydrates — without sating appetite. And this goes for all juices, from apple and grape juice to acai berry or pomegranate juice.
12. Antioxidant water prevents disease.
Antioxidant water is a marketer’s dream come true because it really sounds like it should be healthy and naturally-occurring antioxidants in other foods have been shown to prevent illness. However, none of the antioxidant waters have shown any health benefits. Antioxidant water is just overpriced water with added sweeteners, flavoring, and supplements. Studies of antioxidant supplements have shown no benefits and their is no reason to believe that the antioxidant supplements in these waters will be any different.
13. Frozen vegetables are less nutritious than fresh ones.
The best time to eat a vegetable is right after it is picked. However, for those of us who do not live on a farm, this is not quite feasible. Nutrient levels drop during shipping and storage. They drop further as the veggies sit in your refrigerator. By the time you eat that fresh vegetable, is has far fewer nutrients and is not quite as fresh. Frozen veggies, on the other hand, are flash-frozen immediately after they are picked so they retain most of their nutrients.
14. Pork is fattening.
It’s true that sausage and ribs are loaded with calories, but three ounces of cooked pork tenderloin has only 140 calories ‑- exactly what you’d find in three ounces of skinless chicken breast. That’s why they call pork “the other white meat”!
15. You should drink eight glasses of water a day.
Studies show that people often mistakenly believe they are hungry when they are simply thirsty. They then eat unneeded calories instead of just drinking a glass of water. A good diet strategy is to make sure you are fully hydrated at all times. However, you do not need to drink eight glasses of water a day to stay fully hydrated. Four glasses of water a day should be sufficient.
16. Trans fat-free foods don’t contain any trans fats
There is a loophole in the FDA’s trans fat labeling law. Any food with less than 1/2 gram of trans fat per serving can be called “trans-fat free.” Manufacturers get to choose what a serving size is, and it rarely matches up with what you want a serving size to be. A cracker company can decide that one small cracker is a serving but if you eat 12 “trans fat-free” crackers, you could have eaten up to 6 grams of trans fat. The key is to look at the ingredient list. If the product contains hydrogenated or partially-hydrogenated oils, it contains trans fats. Since trans fats are so unhealthy, these products should be avoided.
17. Sugar causes behavior problems in kids.
A 1995 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that “sugar does not affect the behavior or cognitive performance of children,” yet the American Academy of Pediatrics reports that 93 percent of parents ask about avoiding sugar when their children are diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. There is no evidence that sugar increases hyperactive behavior in children.
18. Wraps are a healthy lunch choice.
Whoever ran the marketing campaign for the wrap is a genius. How did this incredibly unhealthy and fattening product get the reputation of being a health food? A wrap (without anything in it) can have more than 300 calories. Wraps are never a healthy choice.
19. Exercise makes you hungry.
I have heard dieters say that they don’t exercise because it makes them hungry. The truth is, exercise does not significantly increase hunger. However, many people feel that they “deserve” to eat more calories because they exercised and so they allow themselves to indulge.
20. Skipping meals will help you lose weight.
Skipping meals is one of the worst things you can do when dieting. Yes, you save calories at that meal but studies show that you more than make up for those calories during the rest of the day. Also, you put your body into “starvation mode” so your metabolic rate lowers and your body tries to do whatever it can to hold onto calories. You are much better off eating small mini-meals every three or four hours.
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Tags: diet, diet myths, food myths, nutrition myths, obesity, overweight, parenting, weight gain, weight loss
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Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
Sometimes it seems that there is more nutrition misinformation floating around than actual truth. It is hard to distinguish between what is fact- and what is mere fantasy. Read on for the debunking of some of the more common food myths.
1. You will gain weight if you eat after 8 pm.
The bottom line for weight loss: calories in must be less than calories out. It doesn’t matter when you eat the calories. The problem with late night eating is that most people eat the appropriate number of calories during the day and then go overboard at night, especially when eating in front of the television. So feel free to eat at night- just keep your total number of calories in check.
2. Fat-free foods are healthy.
Not all fat-free foods are healthy. In fact, sugar is the quintessential fat-free food and nobody would dare say that sugar is healthy. Many fat-free products actually contain more calories than the original. To maintain flavor, anufacturers have to add something back when they take out the fat, and that something is usually sugar. Be wary of fat-free snacks and always look at nutrition labels.
3. You should not eat carbohydrates if you want to lose weight.
Carbohydrates are a part of a healthy diet! However, some carbohydrates are healthier than others. Whole grains, like brown rice, whole wheat pasta, and whole wheat bread, can help facilitate weight loss by keeping you full. Diets that don’t include any carbohydrates often fail because dieters get too hungry and feel deprived, increasing the likelihood of a binge!
4. Some foods have ‘negative calories’.
It is a commonly-held belief that chewing and digesting certain foods burns more calories than the foods actually contain. It is said that you can lose weight by eating these foods. These purported miracle foods include cucumbers, celery and grapefruit. Unfortunately, this is not true. No food truly has ‘negative calories’.
5. Decaf coffee has no caffeine.
Decaffeinated coffee contains caffeine; it just contains less caffeine than regular coffee. A cup of regular coffee has 100-150 mg of caffeine while a cup of decaf has 8-32 mg of caffeine. You are better off drinking herbal tea with is truly caffeine-free.
6. Margarine is healthier than butter.
Neither margarine nor butter is healthy. Butter has saturated fat that can increase LDL (bad cholesterol) levels, increasing the risk of heart disease. Margarine, however, often contains trans fats which not only increase LDL but also lower HDL (good cholesterol) and can increase the risk of heart disease even more! I recommend using a little bit of heart-healthy olive oil instead. Olive oil contains monounsaturated fats which are proven to decrease the risk of heart disease.
7. Bananas are fattening.
One medium banana has only 105 calories and is full of fiber, magnesium and potassium which can help manage blood pressure. Bananas also contain vitamin B6 which helps with immune function. It is true that, per serving, bananas may have slightly more sugar, carbohydrates and calories than some other fruits. But they are still a very healthy part of a balanced diet.
8. Cooking veggies destroys their vitamin content.
Cooking vegetables actually increases your body’s ability to absorb the nutrients in certain vegetables. Tomatoes are a great example of this. Lycopene, a phytonutrient that helps prevent cancer, is much stronger in cooked forms of tomatoes than in raw tomatoes. It is true, however, that overcooking some vegetables in large amounts of water can decrease their vitamin levels by allowing the nutrients to slip out of the vegetables into the water. To prevent this, do not overboil veggies. Try to steam, roast, or microwave vegetables with as little water as possible and keep cooking time to a minimum.
9. High-fructose corn syrup is more fattening than regular sugar
High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and table sugar (sucrose) contain similar amounts of fructose. The two most commonly used types of HFCS are HFCS-42 and HFCS-55, which are 42 and 55 percent fructose, respectively. Sucrose is almost chemically identical, containing 50 percent fructose. The bottom line: there is no evidence to show any differences between these two types of sugar. Both will cause weight gain when eaten in excess.
10. Salt causes high blood pressure and should be avoided
The truth is that restricting salt in people with high blood pressure can help lower blood pressure. But that doesn’t mean that salt causes high blood pressure in normal individuals. There is no reason for people with normal blood pressure to restrict their sodium intake.
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Tags: Child Obesity, diet, diet myths, food myths, health, nutrition, nutrition myths, obesity, overweight, parenting, weight gain, weight loss
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Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
I have turned my kids into exercise aficionados. I didn’t realize I was doing it at first. But suddenly, my kids wanted to join me in my activities. You too can introduce your children to the love of movement. Here’s how…
Step One: Let your children see you enjoying exercise.
Friday nights are my husband’s and my active date night. We either take a long bike ride or go for a hike in one of the nature preserves in our area. After we work up a sweat, we stop for a quick dinner. It is some of our favorite time of the week and are kids know how much we look forward to it!
When I first had children, I worried that my fitness was selfish. Shouldn’t I be home, playing with my kids? I felt like I was stealing every minute of my exercise time. It wasn’t until my children were a little older that I got to see the benefits of these weekend rituals.
Step Two: When your child is old enough (around age 3), allow them to participate in very small amounts. You don’t want to overwhelm them.
A few summers ago, I came back from a particularly spectacular run to find my 3 year old son sitting on the front steps, waiting for me, sneakers tied. “Mommy,” he said. “I was waiting for you to come back because I wanted to go for a run too!” I suppressed my giggle at the thought of my little peanut “going for a run” and said, “Well, let’s go right now!” We slowly jogged once around the block. “Wow! That was great!” I told him. The huge smile on his face told me that he agreed. He wanted to do a little more but I wouldn’t allow it. I really wanted his first experience with exercise to be positive.
The next time he wanted to go running, I made it into a game. We went on a slightly longer (but still short) route. “Let’s run to the lamp.” “Now let’s walk to the bench.” “Race you to the stop sign.” Instead of focusing on getting all the way around the loop, I broke it up into smaller goals. Each time he got to the appropriate landmark, he felt proud of himself. Running is great exercise for kids. Not only does it burn lots of calories but it builds muscle and strengthens the entire cardiovascular system.
STEP THREE: Don’t say no!
A few months later, Zachary wanted to ride his bike. I was exhausted and it was chilly outside. My first instinct was to say no. But then I thought about how I really did want to cultivate his love of exercise and saying no really wouldn’t further that goal. “Okay,” I said. “Let’s go.” And we went and had a blast.
STEP FOUR: Step it up!
Now that your child enjoys physical activity, it is time to take it up a notch. As I have said many times before, it isn’t exercise unless your heart is pounding, you are dripping with sweat, and unable to speak in full sentences.
To get Zachary to that level, the next year, I played into his competitive nature. “I bet I can beat you in a race,” I taunted. “You ride your bike and I will run.” He smiled and started sprinting ahead. Around the track we went until, quite frankly, I couldn’t take it anymore. A runner really doesn’t stand a chance against a bicycle- even if it is a four year old on the bicycle. He wins every time. And he loves that he wins every time. It is super for his self-confidence. But I do give him some competition. He has to really pump his legs to get going. It’s been two years since we started these races and he still loves them.
And now my 3 year old daughter is getting in on it too! Last week, we all went to the botanical gardens to get some fresh air. Zachary brought his bicycle and Danielle brought her tricycle. While she wasn’t quite ready for a race, she was thrilled that she could “bike like a big girl”. We went along a 3 mile loop. Every time we tried to get her to take a break, she refused! She wanted to keep up with her brother!
STEP FIVE: Keep it up!
Suddenly, fitness has become something our family can do together. Instead of having to take time away from the kids to work out, exercise has become our favorite time to spend with them! And they feel so grown up now that they can join in what used to be just a ‘mommy and daddy’ activity. The key is to constantly be looking for ways to fit the exercise in. I went to a birthday party this weekend where there was a mini-trampoline and my kids loved it. Great idea! I immediately ordered one from Amazon.com. It cost $100 but is a great way for the kids to move around on a rainy day.
Love of exercise needs to be instilled from the beginning. If you resent exercise or avoid it altogether, your child will do the same. However, if you follow these simple tips, your child will learn a love of exercise that will last a lifetime.
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Tags: activity, child, children, exercise, family, fitness, obese, overweight, parenting, weight loss
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Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Okay- so I am just like all of you. I have my good days and my bad. I was so on track with the gym until I had to go to DC for a conference last week. Work was so crazy that I skipped the gym three days in a row. And then I got laryngitis. I couldn’t speak at all; my husband was thrilled!  I don’t believe in working out while sick so I gave my body the rest it needed to heal. And now I am healed. Time to get back to the gym…
I think I snoozed 14 times this morning. I really didn’t want to get up. It is amazing how easily you can get out of your usual routine. When I am on a working out regimen, I love it. I actually look forward to sweating all my stress out. But take a few days off and, poof, the desire to exercise evaporates.
That’s what happened this morning. I lay in bed thinking of every possible excuse not to work out. I had work to do. I needed to write another blog post. I needed to return phone calls. I had to run those errands I never have time for. And on and on it went. Until I dragged myself out of bed and into my exercise clothes.
Usually, in this situation, once I get to the gym, I am fine. Not today. Every second of my favorite class was torture. I don’t think my eyes strayed from the clock on the wall. Twice I thought about walking out.
But I didn’t. I stuck it out. And when class was (finally) over, something miraculous happened. I felt great! My endorphins were flowing and my heart was pumping. I was so glad that I had worked out. Even better, I started to look forward to tomorrow’s workout. I don’t see patients on Wednesdays so I have a little extra time for the gym. I am going to take a spin class and then a yoga class. I can’t wait.
Not only that, my desire to eat healthy returned. Yesterday, I couldn’t force myself to eat my usual healthy lunch. I was craving carbs. Today, I grabbed a california roll made with brown rice and some seaweed salad. There was no way I was going to blow my workout by stuffing my body with garbage.
The bottom line: push yourself to get to the gym. I promise that after a workout or two, you will start to look forward to it. Your body will even start to crave the exercise. Give it a chance… you won’t regret it.
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Tags: exercise, fat, heavy, nutrition, overweight, weight loss, willpower, working out
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Thursday, March 26th, 2009
www.DrWeigh.com
Scientists are now talking about a new class of people at risk for heart disease; they are called the ‘skinny obese’. Perhaps you know somebody in that category? The skinny obese eat whatever they want without gaining weight. The skinny obese stay skinny without working out. (I usually call them something else but I can’t mention that here.) But while many consider these people ‘lucky’, Mayo clinic researchers consider them ‘at risk’.
Scientists at the Mayo Clinic have discovered that too much body fat is associated with early signs of heart disease, regardless of whether a person is considered overweight. Sometimes, the scale lies! Mayo Clinic cardiologist Franciso Lopez-Jiminez, M.D. calls this syndrome ‘normal-weight obesity’. Skinny people should not assume they are healthy just because they fit nicely into their jeans!
There are many people with normal BMIs who have too much body fat. A study at the NIH looked at data from over 2,000 normal-weight adults and found that almost half had too much body fat! And those normal-weight adults with too much body fat were much more likely to have diabetes, heart disease and other weight-related abnormalities than normal-weight adults with normal body fat levels.
It seems that the internal fat that sits around the vital organs (and which can’t be seen from the outside) is even more dangerous than the external fat that sits under the skin (and is more obvious). So you really can’t judge a book by its cover!
A study from the Imperial College in London found that people who maintain their weight through diet had more dangerous, internal fat than those who maintained their weight with exercise.
The most dangerous part of all of this? Skinny obese people mistakenly think they are healthy and aren’t as careful as they need to be. Thin people can get heart attacks and diabetes!
All of these studies confirm what many have know for a while; fat but active people may be healthier than skinny obese people! “Normal-weight persons who are sedentary and unfit are at much higher risk for mortality than obese persons who are active and fit,” said Dr. Steven Blair, an obesity expert at the University of South Carolina.
Remember, the goal is to be healthy, not just thin. And studies are showing if you want to be healthy, you absolutely must exercise!
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Tags: body fat, Child Obesity, obese, obesity, overweight, skinny, weight loss
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