Posts Tagged ‘weight loss’
Thursday, May 7th, 2009
A new study suggests that there may be a link between child obesity and allergies. The findings, published in the May issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, indicate that controlling your child’s weight may prevent her risk of developing allergies.
The researchers analyzed data on 4,000 children and young adults ages 2 to19 from a new national dataset designed to obtain information about allergies and asthma. Obese children and teens in the study were significantly more likely to have an allergy to something, especially a food allergy. Obese children were 26 percent more likely to have allergies than normal-weight children. The increased risk of food allergies was even higher. The rate of food allergies was 59 percent higher in obese children.
While the study found a link between obesity and allergies, it did not necessary prove that obesity CAUSES allergies. More research is needed to make that determination.
“Given that the prevalence of both obesity and allergic disease has increased among children over the last several decades, it is important to understand and, if possible, prevent these epidemics,” said Cynthia M. Visness, Ph.D., lead author on the paper and a scientist at Rho Federal Systems Division, Inc. in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Hopefully this new study will give parents of obese children an additional reason to start their kids on a weight loss program.
 Share on Facebook
Tags: allergies, child, children, diet, nutrition, obesity, overweight, parenting, parents, weight loss, wellness
Posted in Weight Loss Study | 9 Comments »
Friday, May 1st, 2009
In the quest for an ‘ideal body’, mothers are putting their daughters’ self-images at risk. Dieting in normal-weight women is rampant in our culture. It seems that everybody wants to be supermodel thin. But at what cost? Women need to understand that in their own pursuit of perfection, they are teaching their daughters that ‘good’ is not ‘good enough’.
I have yet to meet a woman who is completely happy with her body. My friends are beautiful, intelligent, successful women who spend a large amount of time talking about dieting and complaining about their bodies. What messages are their daughters picking up?
It is one thing for an overweight mother to go on a diet to prevent future health risks. It is another thing for a size eight mom to diet down to a size four. Body size has a strong genetic component. It is very likely that a size eight mom will have a size eight daughter. And don’t we want our daughters to feel great about themselves? If they see us dissatisfied with our bodies, they will be dissatisfied with their own bodies. All this diet talk from normal-weight women is not healthy.
When a normal-weight woman tries to diet down to an unrealistic size, she normally winds up gaining weight. Weight regain rates in adults are extremely high, often approaching 80%. Maybe not immediately, but within a year or so, the weight usually returns. Weight regain is even more likely when the dieter starts out within the normal weight range. Not all bodies are meant to have such low levels of body fat. We can’t fight our own body physiology. It is a losing battle. Yet thin women continue to engage in it day after day.
I was at an eight year old’s birthday party recently with a group of beautiful, thin (but not super-skinny) mothers. I listened to them talk about dieting, unaware that their children were in earshot. One little girl asked her mom (a size six at most) why she didn’t eat any birthday cake. The mom nonchalantly replied, “Ugh. I am trying to resist it because I have to lose some weight.” I am sure that little girl looked at her slim mother and then down at herself and thought, “Do I need to lose weight?” And if she didn’t think it now, she will surely think it before long.
Women have to give up this futile fight for their daughters’ sakes. Dieting in normal-weight women will not result in long-lasting weight loss and is extremely detrimental to their daughters. Moms need to think about how their negative body talk and constant conversations about dieting sound to their little girls. We need to do all we can to support positive self images in our daughters. Berating our own normal bodies is not helpful. Instead, we should focus on teaching our children to make healthy food choices from an early age. We should model healthy exercise behaviors from the beginning. And we should keep the focus on heart health, not the size of our thighs. We need to celebrate all the different shapes that women come in. The best way to teach your daughter to love her body is by showing her that you appreciate your own.
Share on Facebook
Tags: body image, child, daughters, diet, dieting, health, mother, nutrition, parenting, self-esteem, weight loss
Posted in Parent | 2 Comments »
Monday, April 27th, 2009
What is the best way to ensure that your child sticks with an exercise regimen? Make it fun! It is best to disguise exercise in the form of playing. And there is a calorie-burning superstar just sitting in your garage, waiting to be used! You probably bought it for about $4.95- much less than any other type of exercise equipment. It is time to look at the jump rope in a whole new light.
Read on for a great jump rope exercise routine for your child.
 _
How many calories will we burn?
Jumping rope is one of the best forms of cardiovascular exercise around. Jumping rope burns about 10 calories per minute- that’s 300 calories in a half hour and 450 calories in a 45 minute sweat session. Few exercises allow children to burn quite so many calories.
But jumping rope doesn’t only burn calories; it is also an effective way to burn fat, increase stamina, improve coordination and firm muscles.
Where can we jump rope?
Jump ropes are both affordable and transportable. Prices range from $5 to $25. And since jump ropes easily fit in your child’s backpack, exercise can happen at any time, on the spur of the moment. Kids can jump rope outdoors or inside. All you need is a high enough ceiling and enough space to turn the rope without knocking anything over.
What type of rope should I buy?
There are a few different types of jump ropes. Your best bet is a rope made of plastic. Cloth ropes are pretty flimsy and leather ropes take a long time to break in. Try to find a rope with soft foam handles and a swivel-like turning action for best comfort. Adolescents can try a weighted rope once they have mastered the regular jump rope.
Jump ropes are not one-size-fits-all. When picking a rope, lie the rope along the ground. Have your child put one foot on the center of the rope and pull the rope straight up along the side of the body. Ideally, the handles should reach up to your child’s armpit.
What moves do we need to know?
The routine will incorporate a few different moves.
Forward Hop-Overs: Place the rope on the ground in a straight line. Have your child face the rope and jump back and forth over the rope.
Side Hop-Overs: Place the rope on the ground in a straight line. Have your child stand with the rope to his/her right side. Your child should jump side-to-side over the rope.
The Workout
Each step should be done for two minutes. The length of the routine depends on how long you want to exercise. The ideal length of the workout is between 30 and 45 minutes.
Warm Up:
March in place for 2 minutes and then jog in place for two minutes.
1. Jumping Jacks
2. Jump Rope
3. Forward Hopovers
4. Jump Rope
5. Side Hopovers
6. Jump Rope
Repeat steps 1-6 as desired.
Cool down:
Cool down by jogging in place for 2 minutes and then marching in place for 2 minutes.
Tips to increase the “fun” in the workout:
1. Make it into a “Simon Says” game.
2. Invite friends to join.
3. Exercise with your child.
4. Let your child pick which move comes next.
5. Make up your own moves!
Remember: Exercise is fun!
Make sure your child drinks plenty of water before, during and after the workout. And always consult a doctor before starting your child on an exercise regimen.
Share on Facebook
Tags: activity, child, children, exercise, family, fitness, obese, overweight, parenting, weight loss
Posted in weight loss | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
We are hard-wired to eat high-fat, high-sugar foods. Studies show that these unhealthy treats activate our brains’ pleasure zones, prompting us to continue to seek them out. Could fatty, sugary foods be as addictive as drugs and alcohol?
Brain studies prove that it is harder for some people to resist these unhealthy treats. Dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain associated with pleasure and reward, seems to be the main culprit. If the brain dopamine system is not functioning properly, people could be more at risk for overeating. Subtle variations in the function of these paths may explain why some people are better able to resist unhealthy food.
How could dopamine cause food addiction? When you eat a food that contains fat and sugar, your brain’s dopamine path is activated, causing you to feel pleasure. You begin to associate these foods with pleasure, prompting you to crave them, whether consciously or subconsciously. You may not even realize that is why you are grabbing a certain snack!
This explains why we automatically reach for ‘comfort food’ when we are upset. Our bodies innately know that it will make us feel better. Break up with your boyfriend? Eat a doughnut. Lose your job? Go for a hot fudge sundae. Science can now explain why we tend to use food as an emotional crutch.
Some compulsive eaters experience such a strong urge to eat that it begins to overshadow their desire to do anything else; it simply gets harder and harder to stay in control. In many senses, this is what drug and alcohol addicts experience. They know that they should stop but are unable to. And like a drug or alcohol addict, a compulsive eater puts his life at risk!
While it is unlikely that differing dopamine sensitivity is the entire cause of the obesity epidemic, it does give us all something to think about. Are we eating because we are hungry or because it makes us feel good? If we are eating because it makes us feel good, perhaps we can turn to other activities that also make us feel good, like exercise or playing with our children. Simply identifying the reasons we eat certain foods can help us to make smarter choices. In a sense, we need to retrain our brains; we need to disrupt the connection between eating fatty, sugary foods and pleasure and reestablish the connection between healthier activities and pleasure. So go for a bicycle ride- it will make you feel better!
Share on Facebook
Tags: child diet, Child Obesity, child weight loss, diet, discrimination, dopamine, food addict, food addiction, 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, weight loss
Posted in weight loss | 5 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.
Share on Facebook
Tags: diet, diet myths, food myths, nutrition myths, obesity, overweight, parenting, weight gain, weight loss
Posted in weight loss | 1 Comment »
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.
Share on Facebook
Tags: Child Obesity, diet, diet myths, food myths, health, nutrition, nutrition myths, obesity, overweight, parenting, weight gain, weight loss
Posted in Adult Weight Loss, weight loss | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
An overweight woman is putting her child’s health at risk! This simple fact should help motivate women to lose weight.
Women in America are more overweight than ever. But even more disturbing, their children are too. In fact, according to the CDC, this generation of children will be the first to die younger than its parents. It is not just mom’s health at risk. Women are usually shocked to learn that a child with two normal-weight parents has a 7% risk of being overweight. If one parent is overweight, the risk jumps to 40%. And a child with two overweight parents has an 80% risk of being overweight.
Moms can significantly lower their children’s risks of obesity by losing weight themselves! Children model their parent’s behaviors. Every mother knows that nothing is more attractive to a child than what is on mom’s plate! A child who sees that mom doesn’t value eating a healthy diet will learn to eat junk. On the other hand, when a child sees mom enjoying healthy foods, like fruits and vegetables, he will want to eat those foods too.
My own children taught me this lesson last summer! I was sitting in my kitchen with a mango. But not just any mango- a perfectly ripe, juicy mango. “What a treat,” I exclaimed as the juice ran down my face. “This is really the best.” The next thing I know, my kids had jumped onto my lap, begging to try it. Truthfully, I didn’t want to share- it was that good! But I gave them some and thus began my kids’ love affair with mango. It all has to do with how you react to the food yourself! Now, when I sit down with a new healthy food, I make sure to let my children watch me enjoy it. More often than not, it prompts them to want to try it too.
The same goes for exercise. Children of mothers who exercise are significantly more likely to enjoy exercise themselves. If moms don’t exercise or exercise begrudgingly, kids learn that exercise is a chore. But if kids see their mothers looking forward to working out, they want to join in too. My kids are thrilled when I let them join me on a morning run or an afternoon bike ride!
Mothers always want what is best for their children. We need to remember that our weight directly influences our children’s weights. It is not selfish for a mother to take an hour a day to exercise. In fact, in a sense it is selfish not to! Reminding mothers that they must lose weight to help their children is often all the incentive they need to begin, and continue, their weight loss journeys.
Share on Facebook
Tags: child diet, Child Obesity, child weight gain, diet, exercise, mothers, obese baby, obese child, obese toddler, obesity, overweight child, overweight mother, overweight parent, overweight toddler, overweight woman, parenting, weight gain, weight loss
Posted in Parent, weight loss | 3 Comments »
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.
Share on Facebook
Tags: activity, child, children, exercise, family, fitness, obese, overweight, parenting, weight loss
Posted in Uncategorized | 13 Comments »
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.
Share on Facebook
Tags: exercise, fat, heavy, nutrition, overweight, weight loss, willpower, working out
Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »
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!
Share on Facebook
Tags: body fat, Child Obesity, obese, obesity, overweight, skinny, weight loss
Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
|
|
