Are You Talking Yourself Into Lifelong Obesity?

An alarming trend is on the rise in the form of “fat acceptance” movements. This isn’t about being healthy, no matter what your current weight. There is, in all seriousness, a concentrated effort to normalize — and even advocate — for a life of obesity.

There are many reasons why people may feel this is a sensible alternative to diet and weight loss. Unfortunately and perhaps obviously, there are reasons why this trend is doing more harm than good.

A Lack Of Motivation To Be Healthy

The first consequence of fat acceptance, in all sincerity, is a healthy diet. It is certainly possible to eat well and take care of yourself at a higher weight level. Many people even mistakenly assume that someone who is obese cannot be eating healthy foods or watching their calorie intake. This isn’t true at all; what is true is when one makes the conscious effort to ignore nutrition, weight gain is the likely result.

In addition, some assume because they accept themselves as they are, they shouldn’t worry about fitness or regular exercise. Fitness is something people of every weight should take seriously. You can be thin and out of shape, so don’t assume a healthy weight equals a healthy lifestyle.

We are all charged with taking care of the body we have in whatever way we can. You can love yourself as you are and still do what you can to eat better quality foods and be sure to get in weekly exercise routines.

Failure to Address Self-Esteem Issues

It’s like trying to convince everyone that a red 2002 Mustang is really an old yellow Volkswagen. You can’t do it, and people will look at you strangely if you try.

The way society is set up, looks matter. The farther you are from what’s socially acceptable regarding image, the more hurtful others’ reactions can be. Nevertheless, you are more complex and beautiful than what is on a scale. And if you are true to yourself — and love of all of yourself, not just your weight — then it shouldn’t matter what other people think.

Yes, Obesity Is Bad. No Movement Will Change That

One of the reasons people are talking themselves into accepting their obesity is because of the misguided attempt to label the word “obese” as public prejudice and to completely side-step the very real health issues associated with being morbidly overweight. The movement to accept being obese may feel good until you realize that instead of accepting your weight, you may be accepting a lower quality of life attributed to complications caused by being overweight. And that’s not something that anyone should have to accept.

As a result, carefully consider the positive effects of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Regular exercise and a nutritious diet will have you looking — and feeling — better.
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Eat All That Chocolate

Are you craving chocolate yet?  What if I told you not to eat it and that it would make you fat?  Now how do you feel about eating it?  Are you mad-jonesing for it?

That’s what a recent study found.  A joint research team of the University of Western Australia and the University of Strathclyde in Scotland found that when a group of 80 women were presented with videos or images warning that chocolate could lead to obesity that they were more likely to crave it.  When shown images of thin models, their desire to eat chocolate increased while their food consumption desire decreased.

The study that appears in the journal Appetite, while interesting, highlights a problem we are probably all aware of but do little to acknowledge.  We want to do the things people don’t want us to.  There is a part of human nature that enjoys rebelling against a system of order.  And when people are dieting, the life of their eating habits is a system of order.

It is actually the lack of discipline relating to rebellion that is the reason why many diets fail.  Because diets, and worse yet fad diets, are short term solutions that are often not adopted as permanent lifestyle changes.  Any short term benefits of dieting are often lost very quickly when the diet ends and a person reverts back to their normal eating habits.

It’s the big changes to our habits that we have the biggest problem dealing with.  There is often a short-term immediate acceptance but in the long run we’ll naturally want to go back to an old way of doing things.

Instead of trying to make sudden sweeping changes to your habits consider small changes.  Nutritionists have seen better long-term results when people adopt smaller changes to their eating habits.

When you start small think of how many calories you take in each day.  Are you drinking three cans of soda a day?  Could you live with two?  Are you getting the fast food combo with large fries and a drink?  Maybe go medium instead, that is if you absolutely need to have that fast food meal.

Do you find yourself constantly snacking in front of your television or your computer?  What is it that you’re snacking on?  Is it cookies or chips?  When you sit down to browse your queued instant videos or check your email, consider putting a bowl of baby carrots in front of you.  Health experts have found that people have a tendency to reach for and snack on whatever is close at hand.  If what’s close at hand just happens to be a healthy fruit or vegetable snack it could be much better for your belly than a box of doughnuts.

Little changes to your fitness can be adopted as well.  It can be as simple as just parking your car a little further away from the entrance to the shopping mall.  If you’re walking up a few floors in a building take the stairs instead.  If you are going up thirty floors though it is probably just fine to take the elevator so you don’t show up at your business meeting sweating and huffing and puffing.  If you do have the gusto to climb thirty flights of stairs then go for it!

When you step into 2013 for the first time and think about that most common of mantras people like to attempt every time a New Year starts, think about taking small steps.  When somebody tells you not to eat chocolate because it will make you fat don’t just eat that chocolate out of spite.  Take small steps and pay attention to your habits when it comes to eating and you may find that positive change may be coming your way.

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Fitness Tip Video: Beginner Yoga Modifications

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www.fitwoman.com Our all-women’s healthy weight loss spa program would not be complete without a yoga and meditative practice component. At Green Mountain at Fox Run, we work hard to develop a yoga program that can be achieved by every body, regardless of age, shape, size, or flexibility. Yoga is just one element of our integrated mindfulness approach to healthy weight loss through intuitive eating, exercise and behavior modification for women with obesity.

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FAT GIRL FITNESS TIPS

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Tired of the same old you? Fancy getting fit? Follow this video and you’ll be in shape in no time! twitter.com Music used with permission from DFTBA records Driftless Pony Club – Legends of Archery visit dftba.com where you can buy the album!

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Unhealthy relationship with food: Well I say ‘Hell to the No’

Tell me I should eat my wheaties, (you know what)
Hell to the no (Hell to the no)
Tell me I’ll come down with diabetes
Hell to the no (Hell to the no)

Back in the ’90s I loved Baywatch. The scene that stayed with me through the years doesn’t involve running through the beach in a skimpy red swimsuit. Instead, it was Stephanie Holden’s rant about about baby oil not providing protection from the sun which may lead to cancer which I haven’t forgotten. Ever since I tried to be more diligent about sunscreen and at least tried to avoid the sun from 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. It wasn’t until Stephanie was killed off the show because of skin cancer that I started embracing my fair skin.

An interesting post by Sharon Tanenbaum reminded me of this scene and the effect it had in my life. She lists some of television’s accurate portrayal of certain illnesses, such as autism or diabetes, and how it raises awareness without being preachy. But even these celebrated shows drop the ball. Above you’ll find a part of the lyrics to “Hell to the No” which Mercedes Jones wrote as part of the ‘Original Song’ episode which aired this season. This is a picture of Mercedes:

(source: Wikipedia)

Sorry to break it to you, but Mercedes, you are most definitely likely to get diabetes because of your weight.

Obesity is currently the single most talked about issue regarding children and teenagers. Campaigns, such as the government sponsored Let’s Move and Georgia’s Obesity Ads, have tried to raise awareness regarding the state of our kids’ waistlines. Lawmakers are also helping the cause by creating restrictions and guidelines for meals targeted for children, e.g. ‘Happy Meal Ordinances.’ One in three children is considered overweight or obese and don’t even get me started on the 136 pound Chinese toddler. Many people are calling for the prohibitions of sweet and fatty foods targeted for children.

On the other hand, Adam Roberts is arguing that allowing special treats for children will prevent binging>. He talks about children who are teased constantly because of their special eating habits and how it may lead to a very unhealthy adulthood. I consider imposing restrictive diets in children may end up hurting their health in the long run because their relationship with food hasn’t changed.

This is my example:

Britain’s Malissa Jones is currently an anorexic. At 17, Jones became the youngest person in the world to get a gastric bypass operation after her doctors warned her that her 473 pounds would end her life. Today she is a mere 112 pounds with a BMI of 17 which classifies her as underweight. She claims it isn’t possible for her to eat because she fears she might gain all the weight back.

Click here for Malissa Jones’ shocking before and after pictures.

 Jones is an extreme case which illustrates my point: restrictive diets will lead to weight loss but it won’t guarantee health. I don’t mean that your child will be an anorexic because you refuse to let him have soda but maybe a treat once in a while could prevent unhealthy eating habits regardless of what other kids may. Television said it best once again: In Aaron Sorkin’s ‘The West Wing’, President Jed Bartlett says, “If fidelity to freedom of democracy is the code of our civic religion then surely the code of our humanity is faithful service to that unwritten commandment that says we shall give our children better than we ourselves received.”

Do you think that treats promote unhealthy eating habits? How do you promote a good relationship with food in your household?

About The Author

Dial Doctors likes to write about health care and can be seen at the following sites: www.dialdoctors.com and blog.dialdoctors.com/

Connect with Dial Doctors on twitter @dialdoctors and on facebook Dial Doctors

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Top Health Tips for Women [FOXNews: 5-09-2011]

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Subscribe for more news. Like/Dislike, Comment, or Favorite this video. —————– en.wikipedia.org ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language. ^ c. Whether the United States or the People’s Republic of China is larger is disputed. The figure given is from the US Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook. Other sources give smaller figures. All authoritative calculations of the country’s size include only the 50 states and the District of Columbia, not the territories. The United States of America (also referred to as the United States, the US , the USA, or America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, DC , the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Caribbean and Pacific. At 3. 79 million square miles (9. 83 million km2) and with over 308 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third …

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Pregnancy and Diabetes (Pregnancy Health Guru Tip)

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Five percent of pregnant women have gestational diabetes. Learn more in this video, or GO TO: www.pregnancyhealthguru.com

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Beach surfside sexy chest and abs morning exercise with fitness trainer

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Get the top personal trainer in Texas help you get a sexy beach body fast. See this sexy girl doing pushups in the sand…On the beach, in the sun, listening to the waves and watching the surf is the best way to make a workout fun. This workout tightens abs and keeps the butt tight and the chest perky. CitiFlex.com Elite Personal Trainer Melissa of Texas helps her Houston and Austin Texas clients have a tight butt, tight abs and a lean fit look. Google her on “tight butt workout” for more exercise tips. Check out CitiFlex.com Testimonial page as well. She has certified personal trainers in Houston and Austin and The Woodlands Texas, Los Gatos and San Jose California, Buena Vista and Denver Colorado and has experts to help with running coaching, weight loss, sports specific training and more. Consistent workouts will give tight abs, toned thighs, a perky bubble butt and lean arms!.

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Health tips for Normal delivery

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About HH Sant Shri Asaram ji Bapu: Param Pujya Sant Shri Asaramji, endearingly called ‘Bapu’, is a self realized saint from India and have been known as ‘saint of common people’. Asaram ji Bapu is the most famous saint in India having more than 20 million followers. There are more than…

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Best Aerobic Exercise?

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Which is the best aerobic exercise and which aren’t that good. BodyPerformanceTV.com

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Workplace stress linked to obesity

The typical American employee is overstressed, sedentary and overweight. This is according to a study by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center. And even a healthy diet of fruit and vegetables cannot undo the damaged.

The researchers looked at 2,782 employees of a large manufacturing company in upstate New York, whose working conditions are supposedly representative of any job situation where lay offs are of major concern. The employees were typically middle-aged, white, married, highly educated (college degree or more), relatively well-paid (earning more than $60,000 a year), with an average of almost 22 years at the company.

The study results indicate the following:

• Most of the employees are chronically stressed.
• 72 to 75% of the employees were overweight or obese. The body mass index (BMI) of the employees surveyed was similar to that observed in the general American population, i.e. obesity rates of 32% in men and 35% in women.
• Workers seldom take time to take a proper lunch or go for a walk for fear of their jobs.
• When pink slips are circulating, fat- and calorie-rich snacks from the vending machines become very popular.
• At the end of a working day, employees would eventually “vege out” in front of the TV. 55% of employees watched at least 2 hours of TV each day.
• Employees engaged in jobs of high stress levels have higher BMs compared to those engaged in low-stress, more passive jobs.

 

A healthy diet doesn’t seem to help much. The lack of physical exercise at the workplace as well as at home seems to be highly responsible for the weigh problems.

This is not the first study to link stress at the workplace to weight problems and the links can be direct as well as indirect.

Directly: stress can affect the neuroendocrine system, resulting in abdominal fat, for example, or it may cause a decrease in sex hormones, which often leads to weight gain.

Indirectly: stress is linked to the consumptions of too many fatty or sugary foods and inactivity.

The study results emphasize the importance of improving corporate polices to protect the health of employees.

According to lead researcher Dr. Diana Fernandez:

“In a poor economy, companies should take care of the people who survive layoffs and end up staying in stressful jobs. It is important to focus on strengthening wellness programs to provide good nutrition, ways to deal with job demands, and more opportunities for physical activity that are built into the regular workday without penalty.”

Aside from weight gain, pressure and stress in the workplace has been linked to cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, depression, exhaustion, anxiety and weight gain.

Declaring war against sweets and fats

We have won the war against smoking. Anti-smoking bans, advertising regulations, and increased taxes are paying off.

Now it’s the war against sugary beverages and junk food. In the US, there is increasing demand from health advocates and consumers on increasing taxes on unhealthy food. This was brought about by the alarmingly high incidence of obesity, diabetes mellitus and heart disease among Americans. However, this problem is not only unique to the US. Many parts of the developed world are facing the same problems and have also joined the war against junk food. Legislations in terms of product labeling, marketing, and advertising are already in place in many countries. However, many experts believe that increasing levies on fattening foods is the next big step.

Proponents of increased taxes on junk food in the US put forward the following arguments:

• The taxes will raise money for health care reform.
• Increased taxes will lead to soaring prices of the affected products, thus discouraging their consumption. It is estimated that a 10% in soda prices could cut consumption by 8 to 10%.

However, there are also those who are against this so-called “sin tax” or “obesity tax” based on the following grounds:

• It would turn the US into “a nanny state, hurt business, threaten an already weak economy and place an unfair burden on low-income shoppers.”
• It gives cash hungry states and local governments a reason to boost taxes under the guise of promoting good health.
• “Taxes never made anyone healthy. Education, exercise and balanced diets do that.”, according to one ad.

The group Americans Against Food Taxes is especially vocal against the taxation and supposedly has big backers in the food industry that have the most to lose including Pepsi Co, McDonalds, American Beverage Association and Burger King.

Will the taxation strategy work?

Experts believe that what happened to the tobacco industry is the best proof that levies do work. According to Mary Story, a dietitian and public health professor at the University of Minnesota:

“The research around tobacco has shown that large increases on taxes on cigarettes has been the single most effective policy to reduce tobacco use.”

Other ways of discouraging junk food consumption are already going on.

New York City has been one of the most active in the war against junk food. It has forced restaurants to eliminate the use of trans fats. The NYC health department is launching an anti-sugary beverage ad campaign that says

“Are you pouring on the pounds? Don’t drink yourself fat!”

The battle is far from over. The fight will be bitter. But in the end, we hope that consumers’ health will win.

Obesity leads to brain tissue loss

More bad news on the obesity problem. It is not only your heart that suffers from the extra pounds, it’s your brain as well. American researchers who initially looked at the cardiovascular effects of excess weight in the Cardiovascular Health Cognition study also took brain images of some patients. The researchers looked at 94 seniors in their 70s who did not exhibit any cognitive impairment. They were followed up five years after the brain scans were taken and checked for general, including body mass index (BMI). The participants were then classified as

• Normal weight = BMI of 18.5 to 25
• Overweight = BMI of 25 to 30
• Obese = BMI of above 30

The study results showed that the excess weight can lead to loss in tissue in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, areas of the brain critical for planning and memory. Specifically

• Overweight individuals had 4% less brain tissue compared to those with normal weight.
• Obese individuals had 8% less brain tissue.

According to Dr. Paul Thompson, senior author and a UCLA professor of neurology

“That’s a big loss of tissue and it depletes your cognitive reserves, putting you at much greater risk of Alzheimer’s and other diseases that attack the brain.”

Brain degeneration was evident in other areas of the brain of overweight and obese participants as well, namely:

• anterior cingulate gyrus, the area for attention and executive functions
• hippocampus, the area of long-term memory
• basal ganglia, the area regulating movement
• corona radiata, the white matter comprised of axons
• parietal or sensory lobe

Thompson describes:

“The brains of obese people looked 16 years older than the brains of those who were lean, and in overweight people looked eight years older.”

Current estimates from the World Health Organization put the number of obese people worldwide at more than 300 million. Those who are overweight number about 2 billion.

Obesity has been linked to increased risk for chronic disorders such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The current study is one of the very first to show that obesity also damages the brain. However, there is an upside to the findings. The areas of the brain loss affected by obesity are also areas that are targeted by neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. This could suggest that excess weight is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s, a risk factor that can be altered by changes in lifestyle, changes for the better. This means that being active, eating healthy and keeping weight under control can reduce the risk for Alzheimer’s. By keeping fit, we are protection our heart as well as our brain.

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Obesity and surgery

Obese patients and their doctors may face special challenges when undergoing and performing surgery. Health experts warn that health care provider should not underestimate the risks but on the other hand, should not dismiss obese patients as hopeless cases. The American Heart Association recently released a new Science Advisory on performing surgery on obese patients Let us look at  some of the issues surrounding obesity and surgery.

Proper evaluation is difficult in obese patients.

Performing an evaluation in highly obese patients can be difficult because of many co-existing conditions. Heart problems in particular are easily underestimated during a physical examination. According to lead author Dr. Paul Poirier,

“A severely obese patient can be technically difficult to evaluate prior to surgery. For example, severely obese people might feel chest tightness that could be a symptom of their obesity or of an underlying cardiac problem. Doctors need to carefully evaluate severely obese patients before they have surgery.”

Surgery can be difficult in obese patients.

Surgeons report that surgery can be challenging in severely obese patients. There was a big scandal in the UK a few years ago when some health care providers refused to perform surgery on obese patients

Obese patients are prone to complications.

Obese patients are more likely to suffer complications after surgery such as infections, and pulmonary embolism, and are more likely to stay on a ventilator and have a prolonged hospital stay.

Obese patients are not at higher risk for death.

Despite of these, the mortality rates during surgery do not depend on body mass index (BMI). According to Dr. Poirier

“Some surgeons are under the impression that severely obese patients are more likely to die in surgery than people who are not obese, and won’t operate on them as a result. This is not true. Severely obese patients are at increased risk for pulmonary embolism, wound infection and other conditions. But they are not more likely than their lower-weight counterparts to die as a result of surgery.”

The AHA advisory recommends the following:

• The recommendations are meant for all health care providers, from cardiologists, to surgeons, to anesthesiologists, providing pre-operative evaluation recommendations, as well as recommendations on management and care for obese patients during and after any type surgery, be it a knee replacement or a heart operation.
• The health care provider should especially pay attention to obesity-related conditions such as:
  • Heart failure
  • Atherosclerosis (thickened or narrowed arteries)
  • High blood pressure
  • Heart rhythm disorders
  • History of blood clots (especially pulmonary embolism)
  • Poor exercise capacity
  • Pulmonary hypertension related to sleep apnea
• The health providers should take into consideration age, gender, as well as the abovementioned conditions as independent factors for mortality or complication from surgery.
• Health care providers should advise patients to be as healthy as possible before surgery. This may include losing weight, keeping blood pressure under control (for those with hypertensiotn, or keeping blood sugar level under control (for those with diabetes).
• Extra, non-invasive tests may be performed if it aid in pre-surgery evaluation, such as ECG or chest X-ray.
• Surgeons should discuss with patients the risks associated with a particular surgery for a patient their size.

In providing this advisory, the AHA aims to give obese patients the best possible care they deserve.

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