Month: November 2011

Diet

Do Overweight People Eat LESS Often?

Posted on
Share

Apparently yes according to a new study.

Overweight adults eat less often than people in the normal body weight range, but still take in more calories and are less active over the course of the day, according to a U.S. study. 

By contrast, normal weight adults, including those who had lost a lot of weight and kept it off, ate more often, according to findings published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

“Most of the research has shown that people who eat more frequently have a lower weight. But no one knows why,” said lead researcher Jessica Bachman, an assistant professor in the department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

More than 60 percent of U.S. residents are obese or overweight, but the relationship between the number of meals people eat each day and the ability to maintain weight loss has remained unclear, she said.

I do know that when I weighed over 300 pounds I did not eat breakfast but would binge eat one or two times during the day. Whereas, today, when I weigh about 240 and want to lose an additional 50 pounds, I eat more often and measure the calories carefully.

The level of satiation is no different, although I do know now when I need some protein.

On average, the normal weight subjects ate three meals and a little over two snacks each day, whereas the overweight group averaged three meals and just over one snack a day.

Generally, though, weight loss “maintainers” consumed the fewest calories, at about 1,800 a day, compared with the normal weight and overweight subjects, who took in 1,900 and more than 2,000 calories a day, respectively.

Bachman said that snacking might help prevent weight gain by staving off intense hunger.

 

Share
Diet

America the Beautiful 2: The Thin Commandments

Posted on
Share
A new documentary by Darryl Roberts that explores why we have an unhealthy obsession with dieting in America and who benefits from selling us the thin is healthy ideal.

What Darryl Roberts is saying is that rather than focusing on weight, Americans should be focusing on their health. Read this interesting interview by CNN.

First off, because [if] you are defining [obesity] by BMI, then it’s erroneous. So what we may have as a problem in this country is a health problem. That I agree with. We show it in the film. We have a health problem. And what we also show in the film is that health problems come to people with or without weight. So the film is making the point that we should be focusing on the health of people and not their weight.

Where we have problems is lifestyle choices. We have too many people eating fast food. We have too many people not exercising. We have too many people not engaging in healthy lifestyle behaviors. My point is if we have more people engaging in healthy lifestyle behaviors, we will become a healthier nation, whether we lose weight or not. If you think about it — it makes sense, right?

A very interesting perspective.

I have just returned from my annual physical examination and report while I have lost weight and am still considered obese, I am in excellent health.

But, do I wish to lose additional weight?

You bet, so that I can run farther and faster.

Share
Cancer

Poll Watch: Smoking Rates Range From a High of 29% in Kentucky to Low of 11% in Utah

Posted on
Share


According to the latest Gallup Poll

Nationwide, smoking rates range from a high of 29% in Kentucky to a low of 11% in Utah, according to Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index data collected in the first half of 2011.

Each day, Gallup and Healthways ask 1,000 Americans, “Do you smoke?” The January-June 2011 results are based on 177,600 interviews conducted as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. These results provide a preliminary picture of 2011 state smoking rates, ahead of the final full-year data, which will be available in early 2012.

As the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout Thursday urges smokers to attempt to quit their habit, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index finds an average of 21% of all Americans saying they smoke in the first half of this year. This has gone unchanged since Gallup and Healthways started tracking Americans’ smoking habits in 2008.

So far this year, there are 18 states with smoking rates lower than 20%, compared with 8 states in 2010, 11 in 2009, and 10 in 2008. There are 11 states with rates of 25% or higher, fairly similar to recent years.

Here is the chart:

Gallup has found that the American national smoking rate is stuck at around 21%. This is historically lower than from the mid-1940s to the mid-1970s where the rate was close to 40%.

Let’s see if with better education we can lower that rate.

Today is the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout – please if you don’t smoke, don’t start. If you do smoke, then please quit.
Share
Health

U.K Doctors Call for Car Smoking Ban

Posted on
Share

A confined area and exposure to toxic posions, what could possibly go wrong? Plenty…..

The British Medical Association is calling on the government to ban smoking at all times in cars, a step that would go beyond regulations elsewhere.

In research released on Wednesday, the group that represents U.K. doctors said the confined environment in cars exposes drivers and passengers to 23 times more toxins than a smoky bar. Children are particularly vulnerable to second-hand smoke since they absorb more pollutants. Smoke can linger in cars long after cigarettes have been smoked.

In countries including Australia, Canada, and parts of the U.S., smoking in cars is banned when children are present. In the U.K., smoking in public vehicles like buses and trains is banned but there is no law against smoking in private cars.

The problem with such bans, as with the cell phone ban is enforcement. What cop has the time to stop everyone with smoke coming out of their window.

But, education as to how smoking in cars is so bad for your health is a good thing.

Share
Social Media

Why Do Two-Thirds of Online U.S. Adults Use Social Media?

Posted on
Share

It is all about the friends – current and those back in the day.

The most common reason U.S. adults use social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn is to stay in touch with friends and family members, a new study reveals. A Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project study released Tuesday examines why 66% of online U.S. adults use social media.

“Some social networkers view these sites as venues for making new friends and connections,” says the study‘s lead researcher, Aaron Smith. “But for the majority, social networking sites are most important as a way to share and communicate with friends and family who are already key social ties. Activities such as meeting potential dating partners or interacting with public figures are much less relevant than deepening bonds with those who are already important.”

Of those surveyed, 67% say connecting with friends was a “major reason” they use social media; 64% say connecting with family was also a “major reason.” Half of the social media users say connecting with people they’ve lost touch with is a “major reason” for their use.

Older users (ages 50 to 64) are more likely than younger users (ages 18 to 29) to use social media to find others with similar interests or hobbies. Eighteen percent of the older group, compared to 10% of the younger group, use social for that reason.

I would say Facebook is REALLY about friends and family, whereas Twitter is for more business and political interaction. LinkedIn is the grown up social media site and it is all about business networking.

There is a little something for everyone.

Google Plus – well add another in the mix. Stay tuned for how that matures….

Share