Walking is one of the easiest exercise routines for most people to start.

It's cheap and most people are coordinated enough to do it.

To encourage people to walk, Franklin Square Hospital Center and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Maryland Park Service will reopen the state’s first Heart Smart Trail this weekend.

The Heart Smart Trail is a one-mile walking path at Gunpowder Falls State Park.

Its reopening will take place Sunday, which is National Trails Day. The festivities, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., are open to the public and include a ribbon cutting ceremony, health awareness activities, raffles and prizes. Pets are welcome. 

 The event is at the Sweathouse Branch Area of Gunpowder Falls State Park, which is off of Belair Road and Route 1 in Kingsville.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

A low-carbohydrate diet that has some extra fat won’t harm a person’s arteries, according to new research.

The diets – known as the Atkins, South Beach and Zone diets – remain popular and researchers say some have worried the extra fat was a heart-heath issue.

“Overweight and obese people appear to really have options when choosing a weight-loss program, including a low-carb diet, and even if it means eating more fat,” said Kerry Stewart, a Johns Hopkins exercise physiologist and the studies’ lead investigator, in a statement.

Stewart, a professor of medicine and director of clinical and research exercise physiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Heart and Vascular Institute said his research looked at the low-carb, higher fat diet and the high-carb, lower fat diet. Stewart believes his team’s analysis is the first direct comparison of either kind of diets’ effects on vascular health. He studied 46 people trying to lose weight with diet and moderate exercise.

The results will be presented June 3 at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in Denver. It found a group of 23 men and women weighing an average of 218 pounds showed no change in vascular health after losing 10 pounds. They also appeared to lose weight faster than those who were on the higher-carb, lower-fat diet. 

Stewart said the study can reassure both camps that weight loss is effective and the low-carb, higher-fat diet doesn’t seem to pose heart risks, at least in the short term. He also said an over-emphasis on low-fat diets may be contributing to the obesity epidemic by encouraging over-consumption of high-carb foods that are less filling.

He also emphasized that moderating the number of calories, rather than the specific diet, and exercising was important for diet and heart health.

Getty Images photo

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

I wrote today about how Under Armour is putting a fashion spin on its sports attire.

No more plain black and white shorts and shirts for the Baltimore company. The colors are bolder and so are the styles - we're talking zebra print pants here.

The story begs the question about whether it matters what you look like when you work out.

Do cute leggings and sports bras make a woman feel more confident about her body and therefore work out harder? Do shirts that show off a man's chest make him want to pump a few more pounds? You hear of people all the time losing weight and rewarding themselves with a cute workout outfit. It's better than a reward of chocolate cake, right?

Or is it all just a marketing ploy. Plenty of athletes have a "who cares" attitude about what they wear to the gym or to go for a run. A plain T-shirt and shorts works just as well. Why waste the money to look good if you're just going to get sweaty and gross?

To be fair, Under Armour said they are still upgrading the technology and fit of their clothes even as they become more fashion forward.

What do you all think? Do you need to look cute when you workout?

Posted by Andrea Walker at 5:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Many of you probably want to eat healthier, but get confused by what exactly it is you should be eating.

Critics say the Food Pyramid doesn't help matters.

Federal health officials hope to change that when Thursday they plan to introduce what they call a simpler "icon," the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a press statement last week.

The agency didn't say what the icon would be, but several news organizations have quoted sources saying it would be a plate divided into sections.

The new eating tool was prompted by the White House Child Obesity Task Force which called for simple, actionable advice to equip consumers with information to help them make healthier food choices,” according to the USDA release.

Many health experts say that the food pyramid is too complicated.

Check back here this week to see what the USDA introduces.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

A group of health advocates from around the country have embarked on a campaign to stop Ronald McDonald from making your kids fat.

The group of 550 people have taken out full-page ads challenging McDonald's to stop marketing junk food to kids. They've also written a letter to the corporation. Check out here who signed on in Maryland.

The letter comes as First Lady Michelle Obama has made childhood obesity a major part of her mission.

Public health groups for years have criticized food companies for marketing sugary snacks and other unhealthy foods to kids using cartoon characters, free toys and other methods.

In recent months, the federal government has stepped up its efforts to address the issue. The Federal Trade Commission recently recommended new guidelines on marketing unhealthy food to kids.

McDonald's has pledged in the past to voluntarily reduce kid's exposure to commercials and other marketing techniques. They've also started offering healthy options such as milk and apples.

But some health advocates claim the number of McDonald's ads has actually increased.

McDonald's shareholders today will vote on a resolution to look at what impact the fast food chain has on people's health.

The issue brings up a debate that has become very common around the issue of obesity. Should companies be responsible for the health of children, or is it a personal responsibility? Maybe parents shouldn't take their kids to McDonald's? But then it may be hard to resist that cute little face begging for that Happy Meal. And what about poor neighborhoods where there are few other dining options?

What do you guys think?

Posted by Andrea Walker at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Think you're being healthy and saving some calories by ordering the salad or oatmeal?

Don't be so sure, says the non-profit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

The group recently tested the nutritional content of some items that fast food establishments are promoting as healthy. The group found they were far from it. Some of the items were packed with more fat, sodium, and sugar than anyone should eat in an entire day.

The group found the worst offenders were Wendy’s Baja Salad with almost twice the recommended amount of sodium for an entire day and McDonald’s Fruit & Maple Oatmeal with more calories than a hamburger and more sugar than many candy bars.

 “Your health and your waistline will thank you for saying no to these so-called healthy foods,” PCRM nutrition education director Susan Levin, M.S., R.D., said in a statement. “Fast-food chains hope to cash in on consumer ignorance with labels like “fat-free” and “low calorie.”

KFC’s grilled chicken, was also singled out. Marketed to health-conscious consumers as a “better-for-you” alternative over the chain’s high-fat fried chicken, the group said the chicken contains a carcinogen called PhIP that has been shown to increase the risk of breast cancer and other cancers.

The five worst “healthy” fast food items are:

Wendy’s Baja Salad - contains 1,990 milligrams of sodium—more than should be consumed in an entire day.

McDonald’s Fruit & Maple Oatmeal - Contains more sugar than a Snickers Bar.

Subway Fresh Fit 6” Turkey Breast Sub - With standards such as cheese and mayo, this “low-fat” sandwich jumps to 24 grams of fat. Contains processed meat, which is linked to increased cancer risk.

Sonic Strawberry Smoothie - Contains more sugar than five Twinkies.

KFC Kentucky Grilled Chicken - Contains PhIP, a chemical classified as a carcinogen by the federal government.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

What problem do women have in that bikini? Other women.

A new poll from Fitness magazine shows 80 percent of women polled during a swimsuit survey said they think other women are judging them.

About 48 percent wouldn't even get into a bikini until they'd lost 20 pounds or more. 

More than 1,000 women were polled for the June issue out May 17.  

“The survey results shed light on the complicated relationship women have with their bodies and how much time is spent worrying about what other women think,” said Betty Wong, editor-in-chief of Fitness, in a statement. “It is so important to make sure women are empowered to embrace their imperfections and celebrate their bodies-no matter what shape or size.”

Of course, all those pictures of skinny celebrities in their swimsuits doesn't help. The poll showed that women want their bodies -- 37 percent wanted Jennifer Aniston's body specifically. (Though a couple of curvier women made that list, too, including Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce.) 

See more results on the next page.

Continue reading "Women feel judged, lack confidence in a bikini" »

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

What better way to promote healthy living then with a picture of a hunky Congressman?

That is what Men's Health magazine is doing with its latest issue which features a bare-chested picture of Congressman Aaron Schock - six pack abs and all.

A member of the House of Representatives from Illinois, 29-year-old Schock is the youngest member of Congress. Definitely not the wonkish-looking types we're used to seeing.

He said he decided to do the cover to help promote healthy eating.

Some of his colleagues think it is a bit much and question whether the photo is appropriate. But Schock certainly is getting some attention.

Schock said he can be a role model for good health. "I think if you want to start talking about healthy lifestyles and staying in shape, then you yourself should do your best to try to be a role model," he said in the article.

And while he is a Republican, he is complimentary of Michelle Obama's campaign to curb childhood obesity.

Schock said he changed his lifestyle after he started to notice his body start to become a little out of shape after college.

He works out before sunrise: "It's got to happen early or it's not going to happen," he said.

 He said exercise also helps him alleviate stress.

Don't know how many people will change their lifestyle because of Schock, but I at least took a second look. I'm sure others will too.

What do others think? Will baring it all - or most of it - help promote healthy living?

Posted by Andrea Walker at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

There's tons of diets out there and it's hard for most of us to figure out which is best.

Do we take out the carbs, banish the sweets or live on a diet of distilled water flavored with cayenne pepper? It can all cause a mass of confusion more than anything else.

Well, Consumer Reports has done the work for us. They've tested out the latest diets and ranked which ones would show the best results.

The best, they say, is Jenny Craig, with an overall score of 85. The diet involves eating premade meals you buy from the company and weight loss counseling.

Slim Fast ranked second with 63 points. This diets consists of a Slim Fast shake or bar for breakfast and lunch  and a 500-calorie dinner that you make at home.

Third place was Weight Watchers with 57 points. On this diet you eat whatever you want but have to stay within a certain number of points.

Other diet rankings were:

Zone: 54 points - Consumer Reports describes this diet as one with insulin supressing anti-inflammatory meals and snacks

Ornish: 48 points - near-vegan diet with no added sugars and low-fat

Atkins: 48 points - High protein diet coupled with no-starchy carbs and vegetables

I say forget the dieting and just eat healthy and stay active.

What do others think? What diets have worked for you?

Posted by Andrea Walker at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Liposuction may have given you that flat tummy for now, but that persistent pooch may likely reappear, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Colorado found that patients who undergo liposuction often regain fat later.

The study followed premenopausal women who had underonge the cosmetic surgery. They checked their fat levels after the surgery at six weeks, six months and a year.

Fat deposits usually reappeared in the abdominal area a year after surgery. Those who had liposuction performed on the hip and thigh area showed better results, with fat reappearing at a much slower rate.

Exercise didn't do much to help. The women in the group participated in moderate activity an average of five days a week. They ate three healthy meals a day. Their body weight also didn't change much in the time period.

Liposuction can cost thousands of dollars. Seems like a lot of money for a short -term fix.

What do you guys think? Would you still consider liposuction if you know it won't last?

Posted by Andrea Walker at 4:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that suppressing a protein in the brain of rats not only reduces the animals’ calorie intake but seems to have turned the typical white fat into a brown kind that burns off more energy.

The researchers say someday maybe people could be given an injection of brown fat, usually found in babies but not adults, and that could stimulate weight loss.

“If we could get the human body to turn 'bad fat' into 'good fat' that burns calories instead of storing them, we could add a serious new tool to tackle the obesity epidemic in the United States,” said study leader Dr. Sheng Bi, in a statement.

Government data shows that two-thirds of American adults are overweight and more than a third are obese.

In the study, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, the researchers had been looking to see the effect of suppressing the appetite-stimulating neuropeptide Y (NPY) protein in the brain. It did, which wasn’t a surprise, said Bi, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

But when they went to look at the animals after the experiment, they were surprised to see more brown fat in the rats with suppressed proteins. The researchers say the brown fat may not totally disappear in adults, but may normally be inactive and stored in stem cells.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

A sprinkle of red pepper will burn more than your mouth, according to some new research. It can burn calories.

Purdue University researchers found that a half teaspoon of the spice can be a weight-loss aid, along with other dietary changes and exercise. That’s less than previous studies have shown. Though, the effects were stronger for those who don’t like to eat red pepper.

“We found that consuming red pepper can help manage appetite and burn more calories after a meal, especially for individuals who do not consume the spice regularly,” Richard Mattes, professor of foods and nutrition who collaborated with doctoral student Mary-Jon Ludy, said in a statement.

“This finding should be considered a piece of the puzzle because the idea that one small change will reverse the obesity epidemic is simply not true. However, if a number of small changes are added together, they may be meaningful in terms of weight management.”

It’s the capsaicin, which gives chili peppers their heat, that researchers say can reduce hunger and increase energy expenditure, or burning calories. Unlike past studies, the Purdue researchers found that 1 gram of ordinary dried and ground cayenne red pepper was acceptable to eaters and effective. Capsules don’t work because consumers have to taste the pepper, according to the Purdue study, published in Physiology & Behavior.

The study looked at 13 people who liked spicy food and 12 who didn’t. Those who didn’t consume pepper regularly saw the biggest impact on hunger. This suggests that the pepper losses its efficacy as it becomes familiar. Researchers said more studies will be needed to determine how to prolong effectiveness.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

As we shed the bulky sweaters and heavy coats for warmer weather, the extra pounds we put on over the winter become more noticeable.

Some of us will be looking at ways to slim down so we can wear sundresses and sleeveless shirts.

One group is warning against using the over-the-counter drug Alli to aid in our weight loss efforts.

Public Citizen wrote a petition to the Food and Drug Administration earlier this month saying Alli, and its prescription form Xenical, should be removed from shelves because it can damage the liver, cause kidney stones and result in acute pancreatitis.

The group said the risks of the drugs outweigh the benefits. They also note that the benefits are questionable because the weight loss isn't much more than if people would just diet or exercise.

“These drugs have the potential to cause significant damage to multiple critical organs, yet they provide meager benefits in reducing weight loss in obese and overweight patients," said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group.

Any of you have experiences with the drugs? Were you able to lose weight?

Posted by Andrea Walker at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

One of the ways Baltimore City is aiming to tackle the obesity problem among students is by engaging students in forming the message about healthy eating.

The effort is part of the city’s Get Fresh Baltimore campaign, which works to increase access to healthy affordable food and develop good eating habits. And school kids will be asked to develop advertising to raise awareness among their peers -- and themselves.

Public school kids will develop ads touting fruits and vegetables that will be displayed in city buses. Other ads – 2,000 in total – will run in other places visible to the kids.

In Baltimore City, one in three kids is overweight. Among high school students, 37 percent are overweight, compared with 29 percent of high school students around the state. These kids are at higher risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma and sleep apnea.

Kick off of the ad campaign will be today at Moravia Park Elementary School.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

There's a new diet rage that has cropped up just in time for us to slim down in preparation for bathing suit season.

The 17-Day Diet is the idea of Michael Moreno, a hunky family medicine doctor in California.

It's gotten the attention of Dr. Phil and the talk show The Doctors, which have featured segments about the diet on its shows.

The diet seems very similar to the South Beach diet, which restricts carbs and then reintroduces good carbs into the diet.

Moreno's diet has three cycles that last 17 days. The cycles, he says, prevent boredom and triggers calorie confusion which helps burn calories and fat faster.

Cycle 1 is the most restrictive, allowing for 1,200 calories a day and eliminating bad carbs.

Cycle 2 allows for 200 more calories and adds two-servings of healthy carbs

Cycle 3 once again allows for more calories including small snacks and 1 serving of alcohol

Cycle 4 is when you hit your goal weight and are working to maintain it. It allows for some splurging on weekends.

The diet also calls for exercise - 17 minutes a day in cycle 1, ramping up with each cycle.

Here is a more detailed description and review of the diet on WEBMD.

What do you readers think? It seems less restrictive then most diets once you get past cycle 1. And it encourages healthy eating. But would you try it?

What other diets have you found worked for you?

Tell us your thoughts. 

Posted by Andrea Walker at 5:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Exercise may be good for the body, but too much of it may be bad for the bones.

Teenage girls who participate in high-impact physical activity - such as basketball, running, gymnastics and cheerleading - have a higher risk of developing stress fractures, according to a report in the online edition of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Young girls with family histories of osteoperosis have an even greater risk, according to the study.

“Weight-bearing activity stimulates bone remodeling and thus increases bone mass density, but very high levels of activity may be detrimental to bone health and increase the risk of stress fractures,” the authors of the study wrote.

Stress fractures are still pretty uncommon, affecting about 20 percent of young girls.

The study looked at 6,831 girls between the ages of nine and 15 over an eight-year period beginning in 1996. During that time 267 girls, or 3.9 percent developed a stress fracture.

Girls reporting a family history of osteoporosis or low bone mass density were almost twice as likely to develop a stress fracture. Girls who participated in eight or more hours of physical activity a week were also twice as likely to develop a stress fracture as those who engaged in less than four hours of activity per week.

Specifically participating in basketball, running, and gymnastics/cheerleading led to the fractures.

The older a girl was when she started her menstrual period also resulted in an increased risk of developing a stress fracture.

The study concluded that parents should continue to encourage young girls to participate in sports, but to make sure they are not training excessively.

The study was conducted by Alison E. Field, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, along with her colleagues.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration wants consumers to think about how many calories they're about to eat when they order at a restaurant.

The federal agency is proposing that restaurants be required to put calorie counts on their menus. The rule would apply to restaurants with more than 20 locations and also include other retail food places such as bakeries, coffee shops and some convenience stores.

A seperate proposal by the agency would require calorie counts on vending machines.

"The proposals will ensure that consumers have more information when they make their own food choices," Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement. "Giving consumers clear nutritional information makes it easier for them to choose healthier options that can help fight obesity and make us all healthier."

Health care reform requires the disclosure of calorie information. Many restaurants already provide calorie counts, but usually in a brochure or on an Internet site that isn't easily accessible.

Under the FDA proposal, restaurants would also tell people it is recommended they eat a diet that consists of 2,000 calories a day.

You can give your input on the proposal here.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 4:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

African American typically have lower potassium levels, and that may explain why they are twice as likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes as whites, Johns Hopkins researcher say.

Their findings, if confirmed, could lead to an easy diabetes prevention method -- taking potassium supplements.

“This research doesn’t mean people should run out and start taking potassium supplements,” says Hsin-Chieh “Jessica” Yeh, an assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and an author of the study, which appears in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

She said low potassium is a risk factor for diabetes, but it’s not clear if adding it through diet or supplement would help prevent the most common form of diabetes.

The researcher looked at data from more than 12,000 people, including 2,000 African Americans, collected from 1987 to 1996.

More than 8 percent of Americans, or 23.6 million people, have type 2 diabetes, with higher rates in black people. There are other common risk factors for African Americans, such as socioeconomic status, diet, obesity and genetics, but they don’t account for the entire disparity. 

Potassium is found in bananas, melons, lentils and yogurt, among other food sources, and the government recommends people consume 4,700 milligrams a day. Yeh would like to see a clinical trial to test whether increasing potassium amounts in African Americans would reduce diabetes risk.

AFP/Getty photo

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 4:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Vegetables are important for a good diet – they can reduce risk of stroke, heart disease and some cancers and can contribute to healthy weight.

The people at TOPS (Take Pounds Off Sensibly), a nonprofit weight-loss support group, came up with a Top 10 list of ways to get more veggies in your diet. Some you may already do and some may be new ideas:

1. Make a “pasta” dish with spaghetti squash instead of noodles.

2. Puree cooked vegetables and add them to stews, gravies, and soups.

3. Add raw spinach leaves and an extra-ripe banana to a fruit smoothie. It may sound strange, but the sweetness of the banana masks the taste of the spinach.

4. Baking? Add shredded carrots to muffins or bread.

5. Instead of cheese and meat, pile your morning omelet with onions, mushrooms, and red and green peppers. Chop vegetables the night before to save time in the morning.

6. Add chopped spinach to meat when preparing meatballs or hamburgers.

7. Try mashed cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes. Experiment with different flavorings such as garlic, a dab of butter, and Parmesan cheese.

8. Add salsa to a breakfast burrito, pile it on a veggie burger, or use it in place of high-fat, creamy vegetable dips.

9. Puree pasta sauce with vegetables such as winter squash or chopped broccoli.

10. Add chopped carrots to casseroles or meat loaf.

Anything seem appealing?

Baltimore Sun file photo/Chiaki Kawajiri

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 2:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

I can't seem to escape the HCG diet today. "Good Morning America" did a segment on it this morning, and I stumbled upon The New York Times article on its resurgent popularity.

For those who don't know, the HCG diet involves injections of a pregnancy hormone and limiting yourself to 500 calories a day. The hormone supposedly helps metabolize stored fat. However, both stories note the FDA warnings that it doesn't cause weight loss, and the diet has many other skeptics. Harvard medical professor Pieter Cohen told The Times that the plan was “manipulating people to give them the sense that they’re receiving something that’s powerful and potent and effective, and in fact they’re receiving something that’s nothing better than a placebo.”

So are there any readers who are believers or skeptics? Talk about it in the comments.

Posted by Kim Walker at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Looking for a healthy breakfast on the go? Health magazine has sized up the options at fast food joints and come up with a Top 10 list (They considered calories, fat and sodium, as well as portion sizes and the amount of fresh and unprocessed ingredients like fruits and veggies.)

They also made some picks for eating at home, and noted a couple of things to avoid at the drive-through.

1 .Spinach Florentine Breakfast Wrap from Così: Calories 334; Fat 21g (sat 8g); Protein 24g; Carbohydrate 21g; Fiber 11g; Sodium 516mg

2. Protein Artisan Snack Plate from Starbucks: Calories 370; Fat 19g (sat 6g); Protein 13g; Carbohydrate 36g; Fiber 4g; Sodium 470mg

3. Berry Topper Ideal Meal from Jamba Juice: Calories 300; Fat 4.5g (sat 0.5g); Protein 9g; Carbohydrate 59g; Fiber 7g; Sodium 85mg (for 12 ounces)

4. Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal from Au Bon Pain: Calories 280; Fat 4g (sat 1g); Protein 8g; Carbohydrate 56g; Fiber 7g; Sodium 10mg

5. Scrambled Egg Whites, Chicken Sausage and Fruit from Denny’s: Calories 230; Fat 9g (sat 0g); Protein 19g; Carbohydrate 19g; Fiber 3g; Sodium 447mg

Continue reading "Health magazine looks at good fast-food breakfasts" »

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Consumer health, Diet and exercise
        

Eating a diet rich in fiber has long been known to help keep your digestive tract working properly. It's also thought to lower the risk of heart disease, some cancers and diabetes. Now, a new study suggests it could reduce the risk of death from cardiovascular, infectious and respiratory diseases.

People who ate a high-fiber diet decreased their risk of dying over a nine year period compared to those who ate less fiber, according to a new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The findings are based on a diet study from the National Institutes of Health and AARP, which included 219,123 men and 168,999 women ages 50 to 71 when the study began. Researchers from the National Cancer Institute examined food surveys completed by the participants in 1995 or 1996. After nine years about 11,000 people died and researchers used national records to determine the cause.

People who ate at least 26 grams per day were 22 percent less likely to die than those who consumed the least amount of fiber -- about 13 grams per day or less. Men and women who consumed diets higher in fiber also had a reduced risk of cardiovascular, infectious and respiratory diseases, the study found. Getting fiber from grains seemed to have the biggest impact, the authors write.

The study has some limitations -- mainly, people who ate high-fiber diets might also have been more likely to eat healthier diets overall, attributing to their longevity. Still, the study offers more evidence that fiber is certainly good for you.

Federal dietary guidelines recommend people consume at least 14 grams of fiber per 1,000 calories, so about 28 grams for an average 2,000 calorie-per-day diet. But many experts say Americans don't get enough.

So where can you find fiber? Food such as raspberries, lentils, peas and barley and oat bran are packed with fiber. Here are some good resources for including fiber in your diet.

AP photo

Continue reading "High-fiber diet could help you live longer" »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

My story today on new federal dietary guidelines urging Americans to lay off processed foods loaded with salt, touched on how difficult it can be to find healthy food options.

How exactly are you supposed to avoid all the fat, sugar and calories if your neighborhood has no full-scale grocery? The Baltimore health department is trying to offer healthier options through its Virtual Supermarket Project, which allows residents to order groceries online from Santoni's Super Market in Highlandtown and pick them up from their local library branch the next day.

Launched last year in two neighborhoods, the program is expanding into two more locations in Cherry Hill and Washington Village, health officials announced yesterday.

If you live in a neighborhood with no full-scale grocery store, you know your only options are corner stores, carryouts and fast food joints.

More than 23 million people in the U.S. live in a neighborhood so devoid of fresh food it's known as a "food desert," according to the USDA.

Last year, First Lady Michelle Obama pledged to combat the problem in her Let's Move campaign, and the USDA studied the issue and created an online tool to help find ways to irrigate these food deserts, if you will. The map-based Food Atlas allows you to search your local community for accessibility to grocery stores, levels of physical activity and overall health.

But many advocates say more innovative programs are needed to stamp out food deserts and bring fresh food to neighborhoods that so desperately need it. Do you have any ideas? 

Continue reading "An answer to "food deserts"" »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

The food industry wants to make it easier for consumers to see the calorie and fat content of the foods they buy.

New food labels that will be easier for consumers to spot were announced today by the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Food Marketing Institute.

The labels, called Nutrition Keys, will be placed on the front of food packages. The information will be simple and easy-to-read and tell consumers how key nutrients fit into a healthy diet. Some labels will also include information on "nutrients to encourage," or those that are underconsumed by the public. They include: potassium, fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, calcium, iron, protein.

The labels will be phased in by the end of the year. Food products will continue to have the nutritional labels currently on food products as well.

The new labels were created in response to a request by First Lady Michelle Obama last year. Obama has made child nutrition a key part of her platform.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Walmart, the world's largest retailer, unveiled a plan today to offer its shoppers healthier food options.

Michelle Obama, who has a campaign to battle childhood obesity, was on hand for the announcement.

Check out more details at the Consuming Interest blog and tell us what you think about the plan.

(Photo courtesy of Associated Press)

Posted by Andrea Walker at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

School lunches may soon contain more fruits and vegetables and fewer french fries and cardboard pizza.

The Agricultural Department has proposed what would be the first nutritional overhaul of school lunches in 15 years, the Associated Press reported. The guidelines, which would apply to lunches subsidized by the federal government, calls for schools to cut sodium in lunches by half, serve low fat milk and use more whole grains. It would also establish calorie limits for school lunches.

The new guidelines are based on recommendations by the Institute of Medicine, a division of the National Academy of Sciences.

The proposal comes as more emphasis has been placed on the country's childhood obesity problem. Michelle Obama has made it her platform as First Lady and President Obama recently signed a child nutrition bill into law.

Sarah Paliln also recently entered the debate saying at a Pennsylvania school that parents should decide what their kids eat, not the federal government. The Pennsylvania School System was considering whether to ban sweets from school.

What do you readers out there think? Should the federal government require healthier school lunches?

Posted by Andrea Walker at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

The Washington nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is suing the USDA and HHS saying the agencies ignored the organization's proposal of a food guide that it maintains is healthier than the standard food pyramid.

PCRM, which champions animal rights and promotes vegetarianism, filed a lawsuit this morning in U.S. District Court in Washington saying the USDA and HHS violated federal law by not considering the group's alternative to the food pyramid.

The Feds revised the old school carb-heavy food pyramid in 2005 to emphasize whole grains, veggies and physical activity (there’s a reason that stick figure guy is climbing that pyramid). That didn’t stopped some critics who asserted the recommendations are beholden to agribusiness.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine endorses something called Power Plate, a plate divided into four food groups -- vegetables, fruits, legumes and grains -- and urges people to eat a variety of all four each day.  Meat and dairy don’t belong in daily recommendations, the group says.

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Wrong. We all know Americans are a chubby lot. But we'd prefer to convince ourselves otherwise.

Nine out of ten Americans call their diet healthy, according to a new Consumer Reports poll. But how folks define healthy is far from nutritious, the survey found.

Few of us limit sweets or fats and only about a third of us eat five or more servings of fruits and veggies, according to the survey of about 1,234 adults interviewed last fall.  Veggies are hard to store, or they go bad too fast, said 29 percent of respondents. Fourteen percent said they're too pricey. And another 13 percent said they just don't like 'em.

Worse still, folks don't seem to know how much they actually weigh. How's this for denial: One in three said they had a healthy weight, but actually had body mass indexes indicating they're overweight or obese. Even those on the slender side didn't have a good handle on their weight. Eight percent said they thought they were overweight when they weren't.

Baltimore Sun photo

Continue reading "Americans are healthy... right? " »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 9:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

In a split with Alaska governor-turned-Tea-Partier Sarah Palin, some conservatives including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee have recently come out in support of First Lady Michelle Obama's efforts to curb childhood obesity, according to this Washington Post story. 

Obama has been launched a campaign called Let's Move. It encourages kids to excerize and eat right. She and a host of health officials and agencies including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have sounded alarms about the rising obesity rate among children, who are now starting to develop diseases once limited mainly to adults, such as diabetes and heart disease.

As part of the effort, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are working with food makers to produce consumer-friendly labels and pediatritians are being encouraged to keep an eye on body fat. Schools are getting money to serve healtheir food.

But Sarah Palin, who has a well-known fitness background, says this is making the country a "Nanny State," where the government tells people what to eat. Palin has specifically said that Obama is telling people not to have dessert instead of leaving it to individuals to decide what they can consume. A bunch of talk radio hosts and other conservatives agree.

So, do we heed the call of Obama and tell our kids to exercise and eat right, or listen to Palin and decide for ourselves if we should tell our kids to exercise and eat right?

Associated Press photos

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

This is the time of year when I get pitches for new fitness books. This one seems, um, criminal to ignore:

"CONVICT CONDITIONING: USING THE LOST SECRETS OF SUPREME SURVIVAL STRENGTH"

The book, published by Dragon Door Publications, is by Paul "Coach" Wade, who is billed as a "23-Year Veteran of U.S. Maximum Security."

It's 304 pages and is available for $39.95.

The pitch doesn't talk about Wade's crimes -- and after reading a few reviews, it doesn't sound like the book goes into it.

The pitch does say Wade "has put together one of the most compelling books ever written about how top convicts train on the inside ...from a true insider. No weights. No gym membership. No machines. No easy solutions.

"Most physical training systems are designed for the 'domesticated' human animal. That is to say, us humans live lives of such relative security that we cultivate our strength and power more out of pride, and for a sense of accomplishment, than out of an absolute need to survive in the wild. There remains one environment where exuding the necessary degree of authoritative strength and power can mean the difference between life or death: the Maximum Security Prison."

The book promises readers can learn "The Big Six Power Moves," how to do a one-armed push-up
and one-armed hand stand, among other moves. 

Wade apparantly learned these things while trying to survive in San Quentin, Angola and Marion.

Wonder what Suzanne Somers, 70s TV babe and author of "Sexy Forever: How to Fight Fat After 40," did for her research.

Photo courtesy of Dragon Door

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Here is another lesson in why you can't believe everything food labels tell you.

The Dannon Company was ordered by the federal government to pay a $21 million fine and stop making exaggerated health claims for two very popular Dannon products under an agreement with the federal government and attorneys general from 39 states, according to an article in USA Today.

Many of you have probably seen the commercials - using high profiles figures like Jamie Lee Curtis - where Dannon claims a serving of its Activia yogurt will make people regular and help with digestive problems.

It also said the DanActive drinks fended off colds and flu.

The Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday Dannon must stop making the claims.

My colleague Liz Kay also wrote about the issue.

"These types of misleading claims are enough to give consumers indigestion," said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. "Companies like Dannon shouldn't exaggerate the strength of scientific support for their products."

The FTC charged that Dannon's ads were deceptive because it did not have substantiation for its claims, according to the USA Today article. The commission also charged that Dannon's claims that Activia and DanActive were clinically proven were false.

So what do you think? Was Dannon wrong for making such claims? Any of you rush out to buy the products hoping it would help you with bathroom issues? And what about the fine? Is it enough or just a typical slap on the wrist? 

(Associated Press photo)

Posted by Andrea Walker at 6:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

No time to get to hot yoga class? Well, an industrious manufacturer says he has you covered. SolarSpa LLC is selling a heated yoga mat.

The idea behind hot yoga is warm muscles are more limber and stretchy -- during class at a studio, the air temperature is turned way up while you do your poses.

The company says its SolarFlex mat uses far infrared heat to do the job in your house. It can be set to 68 to 140 degrees. The technology is used in a lot of therapy products, and some others also are pitching the idea of a heated mat for exercise.

This mat weights five pounds and costs $249.95 plus shipping – I figure that’s about 16 or 17 hot yoga classes at $15 a class, without the shipping and the $20 regular yoga mat.

The company suggests you plug it in, lie down and then when you feel good and warm and relaxed, then you can start exercising.

I ran the mat past Kim Manfredi, owner and instructor at Charm City Yoga, which offers hot yoga, and she said she had not heard of it but was intrigued. Though, she wasn't clear exactly how it would work.

As for taking up your hot yoga practice outside of the studio, she said there is no reason not to. 

"I used to put a space heater in our tiny bathroom before there was any Hot Yoga in Baltimore," she said. "Of course you always want to be careful about contraindications to the practice, illness or special needs, and when you get good and sweaty you also want to be careful not to slip on the floor."

Think this can replace hot yoga class. Would it make you practice more, or put you right to sleep on your floor?

Photo courtesy of SolarFlex

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 5:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

The makers of a band that is placed around a person's stomach to aid in weight loss is asking the federal government to expand use of the device.

Drug company Allergan has applied for approval with the Food Drug and Administration to allow people who are less obese to have "Lap-Band" surgery.

The procedure has been used since receiving FDA approval in 2001, but only for severely obese patients. Patients must have a Body Mass Index of at least 40, or 35 with severe health problems. A normal BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9.

Allergan wants the FDA to approve the surgery for people with a BMI of at least 35, or 30 if there are other severe health issues, such as diabetes or high blood pressure.

About 15 million people are eligible for Lap-Band under the current criteria, according to Allergen. Nearly 27 million could get the surgery under the broader definition.

Lap-Band is placed around the upper part of the stomach, reducing the amount of food that can enter. Allergan also makes wrinkle reducer Botox and Lattise, a drug that helps eyelashes grow.

(photo courtesy of reuters)

Posted by Andrea Walker at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

School vending machines may be teaching your kids bad eating habits, according to recent research.

Researchers with the National Institutes of Health found that the types of food in vending machines affect the overall dietary intake and health of what kids are eating. Most school vending machines sell foods with little nutritional value.

Researchers looked at the foods sold in vending machines at 152 schools and the dietary behaviors of 5,930 students. In elementary schools where vending machines sold fruits and vegetables kids consumed more of these foods. The same relationship was true in schools where the vending machines sold less healthy options.

About 83 percent of the schools sold mostly junk food like sodas, sweets and chips. The study was published online in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

"We are supposed to be teaching proper nutrition in the schools and having a vending machine in the school doesn't make sense," Joel Fuhrman, told Health Behavior News Service in commenting about the study.  

Sarah Palin recently entered the debate over schools' role in teaching our kids good eating habits. She said that it is parent's job. Tell us what you think.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

A diet of Twinkies and other snack foods helped a college professor lose so much weight over a couple of months that he went from being overweight to being normal.

Many media outlets have reported about this. Here's CNN's take.

But nutritionists say while he lost weight by lowering his caloric intake, they say there are tradeoffs. Nutritionists have long said that the amount of calories matters more than the kind of diet. 

While the professor lost weight, and even improved other numbers such as cholesterol -- atttributed to the weight loss and not the diet -- he may have put his health at risk for other problems such as cancer and other problems. No one was recommending the diet.

But could this really be a strong message that there is no one diet right for everyone. The right one is the one that helps you cut calories. What works for you?  

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Sarah Palin shook things up this week during a speech to Pennyslvania students as she entered the debate about how involved schools should be in kids food choices.

The former Alaska governor thinks not at all. And she brought cookies to prove her point.

The Pennsylvania school system is looking at whether to ban sweets in public schools in an effort to help kids eat better and fight the problem of childhood obesity. Palin denounced the idea during her speech describing it as unwarranted government intervention.

She brought the students she was speaking to cookies and said she wanted to "shake things up," according to a CNN story.

"I wanted these kids to bring home the idea to their parents for discussion," she said. "Who should be deciding what I eat? Should it be government or should it be parents? It should be the parents." 

She also took the issue up on Twitter.  Before meeting with the students, Palin tweeted, "2 PA school speech; I'll intro kids 2 beauty of laissez-faire via serving them cookies amidst school cookie ban debate;Nanny state run amok!"

So is Palin right? Does the job of deciding kids' food choices fall in the hands of parents? Or should schools play a part as well. Take our poll and tell us what you think.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Sometimes we appreciate things we work harder for. And a Johns Hopkins researcher believes that this may also true when it comes to food.

The researcher, Alexander Johnson, wasn’t exactly sure why but when he tested the theory on some mice, he found that the theory held. And he believes that conditioning could someday help those trying to help those needing to lose weight – and perhaps, other disadvantageous behavior.
The findings are being published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

“Basically, what we have shown is that if you have to expend more effort to get a certain food, not only will you value that food more, but it might even taste better to you,” said Johnson, an associate research scientist in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins. “At present, we don't know why effort seems to boost the taste of food, but we know that it does, and this effect lasts for at least 24 hours after the act of working hard to get the food.”

Johnson did two experiments with another researcher, Michela Gallagher, the Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Neuroscience and vice provost for academic affairs at Johns Hopkins.

In the first, mice had two leavers, one that instantly gave them a sugary treat and one that had to be pushed 15 times for a similar snack. Later, given access to either option, the mice preferred the food they worked for. Later they used low-calorie food with easy and high-effort levers, and those who had to work ate more and seemed to enjoy it more.

The researchers said they didn’t study manipulating mice, or people, into wanting low-calorie food more, but said the implications are there. So, you like things you work harder for? You think people who work for low-cal food would come to prefer it?

Baltimore Sun file photo

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Most offices will have bowls of leftover Halloween candy lingering around today.

We're all trying to get the temptation out of our houses, only to have it thrown in our faces at work.

A dietician from Loyola University Health System has some tips on how to fight the urge. Dietician Brooke Schantz said that eating all that candy can lead to fatigue after the initial sugar rush wears off.

Here are her tips:

1. This probably won't happen, but make pacts with your co-workers to leave the candy at home.

2. Eat breakfast so you don't come to work hungry

3. Bring in healthy snacks - low-fat cheese, carrot sticks, cucumber slices

4. Can't resist? Limit yourself to a small, bite-sized piece.

5. Put candy out of site so you're not tempted by it all day. The more visible it is, the more you'll eat.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Sports apparel company Under Armour said today that it has extended its sponsorship of the Baltimore Running Festival and Baltimore Marathon through 2012.

The company has been the title sponsor of the event since 2003, providing the free shirts runners get for participating.

The running festival, to be held Oct. 16, celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. It includes a marathon, half-marathon, 5k, team relay and a Kids' Fun Run. About 22,000 runners will participate this year.

The races have generated more than $135 million in revenue for the city and more than $5 million for local charities since its inception in 2001.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Coppin State University has joined the call to promote better health and fight childhood obesity.

The university has opened its new Health and Human Performance Wellness Center. The 246,000-square-foot center has an aquatic and recreational club sports component. It will offer classes in aerobics, cycling, nutrition, raquetball, strength training, swimming and yoga.

In conjunction with the opening of the wellness center, Coppin has also partnered with Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital to create The Healthy Living Academy. Clinicians and staff from the university and pediataric hospital will develop a curriculum on topics such as nutrition, exercise and making healthy lifestyle choices.

Beginning in 2011, the curriculum will be used to in an after-school program for students at Coppin Academy High School, St. Frances Academy High School and Rosemont Elementary and Middle Schools.

The goal is to teach students healthy habits and help curb childhood obesity in the city. The acadmey is being funded by a grant from the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

The Corn Refiners Association thinks high fructose corn syrup has gotten a bad reputation so they are petitioning the federal government to change its name.

The trade group has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to allow manufacturers the option of using the name "corn sugar" instead.

High fructose corn syrup has been widely criticized by nutritionists and health experts as contributing to the country's obesity problem. It is found in just about all the food that is consumed - from soda to cereal to ketchup and bread.

The corn refiners group argues that it is no worse than sugar. Both are half glucose and half sugar and metabolized by the body in the same way, the group argues.

The group thinks "corn sugar" more accurately describes the make up of high fructose corn syrup - a natural ingredient that comes from corn. They say all sugars should be eaten in moderation to avoid weight gain.

"The last thing we want is for Americans to think that avoiding high fructose corn syrup is the answer,"dietician Carolyn O'Neil said in a release put out by the group. "All added sugars should be."

What do you guys think? Has high fructose corn syrup gotten a bad rep? Or is it something we all truly need to avoid?

(Associated Press photo of a corn maze.)

Posted by Andrea Walker at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Those who are basically in shape but just can’t seem to lose that love handle or saddle bag may be interested in a new treatment recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

It’s called CoolSculpting by its maker Zeltiq, a medical device company, and it doesn’t require the needles, anesthesia or downtime that liposuction may necessitate. Other countries in Europe and Canada have already approved the procedure.

The company says it can eliminate an average of 20 percent of the fat in a treated area. The technology was developed at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Craig A. Vander Kolk, a cosmetic surgeon at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, has seen a demonstration and believes it will be a good tool for doctors and their patients. He consults for Faces Med Spa in Timonium, which will offer the procedure, and he may buy an $80,000 machine to use at Mercy, too.

He said that it works by painlessly cooling underlying fat over an hour-long session in a process called Cryolipolysis. The process does not harm skin tissue because the fat cells are more sensitive to the cold.  Several sessions may be necessary for the desired effects.

The cooled fat cells begin to die several weeks after a treatment. They shrink and disappear.
Vander Kolk says it’s not for everyone, especially obese people.

“The key with all of this body shaping, contouring and fat treatments is getting the right patient with the right procedure done by the right person,” he said. “You’ll get the best result.”

He said a person who can pinch an inch and a half of fat could see a quarter of it melted away over the sessions – enough to drop a pant size, but not a large amount. Liposuction, by comparison, can take off three quarters of the fat in one sitting.

The four to six treatments are likely to cost $500-$700 for an area. Liposuction is more like $1,000-$1,500.

Whatever the treatment, he said, "the goal is a happy patient."

Photo courtesy of Zeltiq 

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

This weekend Baltimore's St. Agnes Hospital is celebrating the launch of its smarthealth program. The program offers a medically-supervised and personalized approach to diet, exercise, lifestyle and mindset in one place. It includes a full biometric screenings, classes and an interactive website.

On Saturday, "Biggest Loser" Season 7 winner Helen Phillips will help kick off the program, developed by Saint Agnes' bariatric expert Dr. Kuldeep Singh and local wellness company WellAdvantage. (The event is not open to the public, however.)

For more info about smarthealth, email smarthealth@stagnes.org.

Posted by Kim Walker at 6:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

We’ve all heard that blueberries are good for our brains, but scientists now say they do it in a previously unrecognized way.

The scientists presented the findings at the 240th national meeting of the American Cancer Society. The berries, and maybe even walnuts, activate a mechanism in the brain that cleans up and recycles toxic proteins linked to memory loss and mental decline as people age.

It’s been known that natural compounds called polyphenolics from fruit, vegetables and nuts have
antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that protect against mental declines, as well as disorders such as cancer and heart disease, said Shibu Poulose, from the U. S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging.

This new research shows a link to the brain’s “house-cleaning” process. He said cells called microglia are the housekeepers. The process is called autophagy, and in it, cells remove and recycle biochemical debris that normally would hamper brain function.
 
 “But in aging, microglia fail to do their work, and debris builds up,” Poulose said in a statement. “In addition, the microglia become over-activated and actually begin to damage healthy cells in the brain. Our research suggests that the polyphenolics in berries have a rescuing effect. They seem to restore the normal housekeeping function.”

Continue reading "Blueberries, walnuts, black rice are good for the brain" »

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

If it seems like kids are getting rounder in the middle -- and some are rounder than others -- it’s because they are.

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the National Institute on Aging looked at 10 years of data on children and adolescents across socio-demographic groups. They found increases in the measure for body mass index, waist circumference and triceps skinfold thickness.

Some groups had more pronounced increases, including black girls. And some groups gained more abdominal fat, a potentially more dangerous form of fat than overall BMI increases. 

The results were published in the August issue of the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity. The data analyzed came from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

They examined the changes in boys and girls ages 2 to 19, as well as by ethnic groups.

“Our research suggests that U.S. young people may be at greater obesity-related risks than what was revealed by increases in BMI, as waist circumference is a better predictor of future health risks, such as for type 2 diabetes and heart disease in adults,” said May A. Beydoun, a staff scientist at the National Institute on Aging and a former postdoctoral fellow in the Bloomberg School's Department of International Health.

“More vigorous efforts should be made to understand the underlying causes,” she said in a statement. “Moving forward, this could help guide future population-based interventions including those focusing on the total population and those targeting vulnerable or genetically susceptible groups.”

So, think weight loss methods needs to be targeted to specific groups?

Photo of kids at fat camp on the ABC show Huge/Courtesy of ABC via McClatchy-Tribune

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Should you push away the bread basket at restaurants and banish the crackers to lose weight on a low-carb diet?

Or is cutting down on your fat intake the better option?

It's a debate researchers have looked at for years. The latest study by Temple University's Center for Obesity Research and Education found that you can lose just as much weight on both diets.

But a low-carb diet will raise your HDL or good cholesterol levels, showing there could be a little more of a benefit.

 The two-year study followed the weight loss of more than 300 people - half on low-carb diets and the rest on a low-fat, low-calorie diet. At the end of the study the groups had almost identical weight loss.

The researchers said that focusing on long-term behavioral changes was more important than which diet you choose to lose weight.

What diets have worked better for others of you?

Posted by Andrea Walker at 2:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

On the heels of a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that almost 30 percent of Americans are obese, some child advocates think they know where bad habits are starting: Fast food chains are using toys to lure in kids.

So, they are trying to get the practice stopped. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood launched a letter-writing campaign this week demanding that McDonald's stop using Marvel comic book heroes to market its Happy Meal.

In June, the Center for Science in the Public Interest said it would sue McDonald’s if the chain kept using toys to sell Happy Meals.

“McDonald’s is the stranger in the playground handing out candy to children,” Stephen Gardner, the group’s litigation director, said in a statement. “McDonald’s use of toys undercuts parental authority and exploits young children’s developmental immaturity—all this to induce children to prefer foods that may harm their health. It’s a creepy and predatory practice that warrants an injunction.”

Toys related to Dreamworks’ Shrek movie appears on packaging for low-fat milk and Apple Dippers, but the group contends that when families order Happy Meals they end up with French fries 93 percent of the time. The group notes the chain pledged not to advertise kids’ meals with more than 600 calories. The milk, apple and chicken nugget meal is around 430 calories, but the meal the often end up with – cheeseburger, French fries and Sprite has 640 calories as well as a lot of fat and sugar, the group says.

This kind of eating will put the kids at risk for obesity, diabetes and other maladies down the road, the group says.

Officials there acknowledge that parents need to take some responsibility, but they argue that the toys make their job “nearly impossible.”
 
What do you think? Are the cards stacked against the parents or is it not that hard to say no? Should McDonald’s be able to sell what people are willing to buy?

Photo courtesy of the Center for Science in the Public Interest/Jeff Cronin

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

More than 72 million Americans are now obese, according to new government data that shows a significant and potentially deadly health problem that has continued to worsen in the recent years in every state including Maryland.

Just over 26 percent of Marylanders were obese in 2009. The percentage was less than 25 percent in 2005 and less than 20 percent in 2000, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC said the national average was almost 27 percent, up just over 1 percent in two years, or 2.4 million people, according to the latest data, which is self reported and likely to be a underestimate. More startling, the CDC officials said, was that the number of states with an obesity prevalence of 30 percent of more tripled in two years to nine states. No state had such a high number of obese residents in 2000.

Further, no state met a nation’s goal to reduce the number of obese to 15 percent.

Medical costs associated with obesity also have grown to an estimated $147 billion. That’s an average cost for obese people that $1,429 higher than those of normal weight.

“Obesity continues to be a major public health problem,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, CDC director. “We need intensive, comprehensive and ongoing efforts to address obesity. If we don't more people will get sick and die from obesity-related conditions such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer, some of the leading causes of death.”

Continue reading "CDC: More than a quarter of Americans are obese" »

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

This seems to be the week for health-themed giveaways from the Baltimore Sun.

If you need a lunchtime workout today, head over to Brick Bodies Fitness Services' downtown location, where Baltimore Sun community coordinator Nancy Knight will be tweeting for BaltSunHealth. Followers of The Baltimore Sun and Brick Bodies Fitness Services on Twitter and Facebook can work out for free and receive other swag from noon-3 p.m. today (Aug. 3).

Baltimore Sun file photo

Posted by Kim Walker at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Beware all you skinny teenagers getting ready to start college.

The Freshman 15 beckons.

It's a weight gain that has creeped up on generations of first-year college students.

There's so many reasons why it happens. You're on your own and able to eat all the junk you want. Late night study sessions over pizza. You're not participating in as much team sports.

No matter the reason, it's a problem at college campuses all across the country.

But you can fight those extra pounds and leave your first year as slim as you started it.

Here are some tips from Ryerson University:

1. Don't let a heavy load of classes and studying prevent you from eating regular meals. Pack healthy options, such as tuna or dried fruit, so you're not turning to fast food.

2. Don't skip breakfast. Eat something that is high fiber and also has protein.

3. Try choosing the lower-calorie, lower-fat option when eating - a wrap instead of a burger, a salad instead of fries.

4. Don't eat out the bag of chips or box of crackers. You'll consume too much. Instead, measure out a portion. 

5. Drink water instead of soda, beer or juices filled with sugar.

6. Keep healthy snacks in the room for when you get the munchies -- nuts, yogurt, carrots, pretzels.

7. Try not to eat late at night as hard as it is when you're stressed and studying for an exam. If you do eat, choose healthy snacks such as fruit.

8. Find out if your campus dining halls offer vegetarian options.

9. Keep a food journal and routinely weigh yourself.

10. Walk instead of driving or taking the campus shuttle.

11. Inrease your fiber intake.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Can we trick our minds into thinking we’re not hungry?

After a set of experiments, a British researcher has concluded that portion control is a matter of perception. If we believe a meal will be filling or remember it was the last time, it will be – and that belief might inform those who label food.

“Light” and “diet” foods could be relabeled as “satisfying” or “hunger relieving,” said Dr. Jeff Brunstrom, a University of Bristol researcher, who presented his findings at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior.

He showed some study participants the ingedients of a fruit smoothie. Those who were shown a larger portion of fruit reported significantly greater fullness, even though they ate the same amount as the other participants.

In another experiment, researchers increased and decreased the amount of soup in participants bowls as they ate. Three hours later, participants “remembered” the amount of soup in the bowl and not how much they actually ate when they rated their fullness.

Think these experiments would work on you? Would a different label?

Associated Press photo

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Military drills and crack of dawn runs haven't been enough to keep our men and women in the armed forces fit and trim. 

The country's obesity problem is just as rampant in the military as it is the general population. The Department of Defense spends $1 billion a year on weight-related healthcare. About 27 percent of today's youth are too fat to serve in the military.

The Naval Academy, aware of the problem, is about to have healthy vending machines installed at its campus as one way to tackle the fat problem.

It has contracted with Vend Natural, a company with dual headquarters in Annapolis and Venutura, Cal., that specializes in vending machines with healthy snacks. The machines will offer packaged fruits and vegetables, juices and organic and all-natural foods.

"We want our students to have the healthiest choices available to them in their on-campus environment," Linda Rodrock, of the Naval Academy's Business Services division, said in a statement. "Our midshipmen have physically and academically demanding schedules and healthy eating is important to them."

Vend Natural also said that its vending machines are energy efficient. The company specializes in providing machines to schools and hospitals and has 400 machines installed in 25 states.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

If you can resist ordering the salsa and guacamole at your favorite restaurant, here's a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that may get your attention.

Nearly 1 out of every 25 restaurant-associated foodborne outbreaks with identified food sources between 1998 and 2008 is traced back to these contaminated foods.

That's more than double the rate during the previous decade, according to the CDC, which presented the finding at the 2010 conference of the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases.

"Fresh salsa and guacamole, especially those served in retail food establishments, may be important vehicles of foodborne infection," Magdalena Kendall, an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education researcher who collaborated on the CDC study, said in a statement.

"Salsa and guacamole often contain diced raw produce including hot peppers, tomatoes and cilantro, each of which has been implicated in past outbreaks."

The CDC has been collecting foodborne disease outbreaks information since 1973. Salsa and guacamole didn't register as a problem until 1984.

The outbreaks accounted for 1.5 percent of all food establishment outbreaks from 1984 to 1997. The number more than doubled to 3.9 percent from 1998 to 2008.

To blame may be inappropriate storage times or temperatures. They were reported in 30 percent of the cases. For another 20 percent, food workers were the source of contamination.

Kendall said anyone preparing these items, at a restauarant or at home, needs to be make sure the raw ingredients are fresh, clean and refrigerated.

Baltimore Sun file photo/Algerina Perna

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Wearing sunblock and drinking plenty of fluids are well known defenses against the harmful effects of the sun.

But Rebecca Myrowitz, a nutritionist, in the Greater Baltimore Medical Center's Comprehensive Obesity Management Program, says food is important too.

"It's getting nicer outside, and people are enjoying the weather," she said. "It's important to wear sunblock and drink fluids, but don't forget about food."

Fruits and vegetables have protective qualities for skin, as well as hair and nails, because they contain vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants, she said.

But there are others high in biotin, omega 3s, manganese, copper, vitamin E, and protein.

Here are her five picks to mix things up:

+Sunflower seeds: They are an excellent source of vitamin E. which is an antioxidant that provides protecton from damage caused in cells by free radicals. UV radiation from the sun causes free radicals in the body that can mutate DNA and lead signs of aging and cancer.

+Almonds and Greek yogurt: They both have biotin, a B vitamin that is a natural skin protectant. Greek yogurt is higher in protein than regular yogurt, 18 grams of protein vs. 6 grams. Protein supports skin, hair and nails, which are most susceptible to damage when exposed to sunlight.

+Salmon: It's an excellent source of anti-inflammatory omega-3s. Low-grade inflammation increases a person's risk for cancer. It also helps lower cholesterol.

+Quinoa: This looks like a grain but is the seed of a plant, that is becoming more common in stores. It contains magnesium and copper, which make an enzyme that protects the skin from free radicals.

So if you are wondering about good-for-you-foods for summertime, Myrowitz hopes you think of these.

"Sunblock for the outside, these foods for the inside," she said.

Associated Press photo of almond-incrusted salmon

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Cancer, Diet and exercise
        

No one ever called Smith Island Cake a health food. But now Health magazine is giving the official state dessert a negative dietary superlative that may be outsized even for this multi-layer chocolate creation.

Health says the cake is Maryland’s contribution to the Nation’s 50 Fattiest Foods.

Its 26 grams of fat make it worse than bacon wrapped meatloaf in Alabama (17 grams of fat) but not as bad as Eskimo Ice Cream made from frozen animal fat in Alaska (91 grams of fat).

The cake is named for the only inhabited island in the Chesapeake Bay and, as the magazine notes, “became so popular the governor signed the cake into law.” That was in 2008.

And indeed it is popular, says Kristen Smith, manager and a baker at Smith Island Baking Co., which in its first year of business shipped 3,000 cakes – to all 50 states.

Smith said she recent got married and served the cake at the wedding to friend and family, and there wasn’t much left over, she said.

“We never said it was a low-fat dessert,” she said. “It’s not only made with a lot love, but a lot of butter.”

Since the baking company’s version is homemade, she couldn’t give an exact calorie or fat count.
Health didn’t say where it got its sample, but the article points out that the cake, made of nine or 10 layers of yellow cake slathered in chocolate icing, has enough fat per serving for an entire day.
But no one said you have to eat cheese or cake every day, not even the governor.

“I suppose one of the perks to being governor is the ability to eat the state food and call it official business,” said Shaun Adamec, a spokesman. “Governor O'Malley does enjoy some occasional Smith Island Cake - everything in moderation."

Continue reading "Smith Island Cake counted among 50 fattiest foods" »

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 5:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Need a good stretch?

Charm City Yoga and the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore are offering free Seva Yoga classes at West Shore Park (between the Visitor's Center and the Maryland Science Center) on the Inner Harbor Promenade several times this summer. 

The first class has passed, but there was others July 10, 17 and 24 from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., weather permitting.

The classes will be led by Charm City Yoga’s Sarah Cook.
 
The studio describes Seva Yoga as a donation-based yoga class where people can participate for free but are encouraged to make a donation of either time or money to the cause or charity of their choice.

The classes are suitable for all levels. For more information, call 410-528-1523.

AFP/Getty photo of yoga in Central Park, New York

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

At the same time Baltimore City Council was voting down the controversial bottle tax , out comes a study that confirms sales would drop -- but it also says making sugary sodas a little more expensive could mean a dip in the nation's alarmingly high obesity rate.

According to a study in the June 17 American Journal of Public Health, soft drinks are the nation's biggest contributor to caloric intake, accounting for 7 percent of all calories consumed each day from 1999 to 2001. That's up from 2.8 percent from 1977 throught 1978.

The study set out to see just how much consumption would go down as the price went up. Researchers from Harvard set up shop in hospital cafeterias in Boston. They increased the price by 35 percent on regular soft drinks. Sales dropped by 26 percent. They dropped another 18 percent during a time when researchers initiated an effort to educate consumers about the ill effects of the drinks. 

They found education had no independent effect on sales. It was all price.

The researchers concluded that price increases may be an effective means to cut consumption of  potentially harmful beverages.  

Public health officials have believed this for a while, and have called for higher taxes on sodas. There have even been other studies that have had similar results -- on snake foods and on cigarettes.

And there have also been studies on the effects of sugary soda on health. This study cited, for example, a Nurses’ Health Study on women who increased the number of soft drinks they consumed from one or fewer a week to one or more a day. The women gained a mean of 10 pounds over 4 years and increased their risk of developing diabetes by 83 percent.

City Council members still could change their votes on the bottle tax. Should they? Should government seek to influence public health through taxation? 

Associated Press photo

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Attention coffee lovers! That habit may not be so bad.

Drinking coffee, a lots of it, may help prevent type 2 diabetes, a disease affecting millions and on the rise across the globe, according to a new study published in the American Chemical Society's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

It's the caffine, say scientists from Nagoya University in Japan.

The scientists fed either water or coffee to a group of lab mice, a common stand-in for people in such studies. The coffee consumption prevented development of high-blood sugar and improved insulin sensitivity in the mice. That mean lower risk of diabetes.

There were also other benefits from drinking coffee, including improvements in fatty liver, which is a disorder where fat builds up in liver cells, primarily in obese people. That further reduces the risk of diabetes, the scientists said. 

Other studies in the lab showed that caffeine may be “one of the most effective anti-diabetic compounds in coffee,” according to the scientists.

Keep sipping, there's more study to come.

Photo courtesy of the American Chemical Soceity

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

As if people who ride their bikes to work through downtown Baltimore, or downtown anywhere, don't have enough to worry about:

A report in the U.K. Times says that bikers in urban areas inhale tens of millions of toxic nanoparticles every time they take a breath. That's five times more than drivers or walkers.

We read about this on the website Grist and had to take a look. The research was done by outfitting the bikers with masks that measured pollution going in. The researchers at Belgium's Hassalt University say it's a first-of-its-kind study, which was just published in Atmospheric Environment.

Not surprisingly, bikers breath more deeply so they take in a lot more pollution. Bearthing such nanoparticles, mainly containing car exhaust, can cause heart disease and respiratory problems.

The researchers compared the findings from bikers in Brussels and a small town called Mol and found the city cyclers inhaled about five times the pollution. They also compared the pollution inhaled by car drivers on the same route and found that the bikers inhaled four to five times more particles. They expected the results would be similar in any big city.

The researchers said it was hard to directly link the pollution to health problems because of the lag time in developing illnesses. They noted it took decades to link smoking with cancer.

Still, they said a recent study in London was expected to show high levels of nanoparticles can be linked to a higher risk of heart disease. The particles are so small that they can penetrate the lungs and get into the blood stream and gather in organs, according to the story. Other studies have shown that particulate pollution can cause asthma attacks and other more immediate problems.

Masks won't stop the small particles.

The researchers say biking groups are not too happy about the results, but they point out that there are many health benefits to biking. (The lead researcher said he was a biker, but also a scientist.)

So, the researchers didn't say it was less healthy to ride a bike than drive to work -- maybe because they don't know. Would this stop you?

Baltimore Sun file photo of Bike to Work Day in Baltimore/Lloyd Fox

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin came to Baltimore Wednesday to throw her support behind an new exercise initiative called Exercise is Medcine.

The public should begin to hear more about the program, sponsored by the American College of Sports Medicine. It aims to get all health care providers on board with assessing patients' level of exercise and making recommendations.

The idea -- proven in study after study -- is that exercise is good preventative medicine. And with level of heart disease and diabetes rising in adults and, alarmingly, in children, something needs to be done on the front end, Benjamin told a meeting of sport medicine professionals.

Since 1980, the number of obese adults has doubled and the number of obese children has tripled, she said. The numbers are worse among some groups, such as African Americans.

She said families, communities and professionals have to find ways to make exercise fun again, rather than work. There needs to be a commitment for more parks, trails, pools and other places around the country (a tall order considering Baltimore's, and the nation's, financial crisis.)

"Kids used to play outside because it was fun," she said. "We used to the disco because dancing was fun. Not because someone said we needed 30 minutes of exercise a day."

Benjamin, who was joined by John Colmers, secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, then took a stroll through the Inner Harbor to illustrate how easy exercise can be. It was a Code Orange, or highly unhealthy air day, but still.

So, do you get 30 minutes a day, five days a week? Ideas on making it fun?

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Today is the second annual National Running Day, sponsored by some of the nation's largest running groups.

There are several local events on the books -- in Timonium, Clarksville, Annapolis and Bel Air -- and they are all scheduled for after work. But you don't have to participate in an official event. You can get out there on your own.

If you're just starting out, the organization has some tips: It's okay to walk, first of all. Other tips include starting slow and following a plan. And buy quality gear.

The idea is that running is healthy, accessible and easy.

More than 39.5 million people around the country have run at least once, according to the American Sports Data 2007 Superstudy of Sports Participation. Some 11.7 million run more than 100 days/year.

Some 9.2 million people finished road races in 2008, according to Running USA, up 4 percent from 2007.

Of course, it's really hot out this week, so you may want to wait to start up a program if you haven't already.

If you do run, try and go early, before the extreme heat of the day. Stay hydrated -- the day before, during and after. Make that cool water that absorbs better. Dump some over your head to cool off.

Also, wear light clothing made of synthetics, such as Under Armour, not cotton. And slow it down and take walk breaks. Stop if you're dizzy or your skin feels cool. Perhaps  take a friend with you so you can keep an eye on each other.

There are local runinng/training groups that will help you get ready for races or just get in shape. They range from local running clubs, such as the Annapolis Striders  to store-based running groups with coaches, such as those organized by Charm City Run and Falls Road Running Store. Here's a big list of running clubs in the state.

Baltimore Sun file photo of Baltimore Marathon/Kenneth K. Lam

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

And it's not pretty. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has come out with its "Xtreme Eating Awards" essentially calling out popular chain restaurants for their fatty, calorie-loaded meals. Brace yourselves.

Top on the list is Five Guys, the popular burger chain that got it's start here in the Mid-Atlantic and confession: my truly favorite of favorite comfort foods. Yes, this health writer indulges every once in a while. I'm human after all. Still, it hurts me to write this: A bacon cheeseburger and large fries tallies up to a whopping 2,380 calories.

But wait, doesn't it help that I don't put bacon on my burger and I always share the fries -- a small order at that?! No matter. A plain hamburger is 700 calories without any toppings -- way more than the 410-calorie Quarter Pounder at McDonalds. Why am I surprised?

Others on the list -- (you can take a look at all the offenders here): 

Tostada Pizza at California Pizza Kitchen: It sounds healthy enough with black beans, cheddar cheese, lettuce, salsa and -- uh oh -- ranch dressing. You're looking at 1,440 calories and more than a day’s saturated fat (27 grams) and sodium (2,630 mg). The crust alone supplies some 400 calories’ worth of flour, CSPI explains.

Bob Evans’ Cinnamon Cream Stacked & Stuffed Hotcakes: This one is just too much. Two pancakes stuffed with fruit or cinnamon chips with a layer of vanilla cream cheese topped with whipped topping will cost you 1,380 calories, 27 grams of saturated fat plus 7 grams of trans fat, and 27 teaspoons of sugar. Calorie wise alone, you're looking at the equivalent to two breakfast orders of country-fried steaks and eggs. 

Are any of us surprised by this? Of course not. Still, with calorie counts soon to be required on chain restaurant meals, it's about time we get used to seeing these numbers, CSPI urges. 

Continue reading "Do you really want to know how many calories are in that meal? "Xtreme Eating Awards" breaks it down" »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 7:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Our live chat with Dr. Lawrence Cheskin, director of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center, kicks off in a couple hours, but you can ask questions now via the comments or the widget below. Cheskin will be live on the blog at noon with answers to weight-loss, diet and nutrition questions, and he'll address other concerns you may have.

Posted by Carla Correa at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

We're less than 24 hours away from our live chat with Dr. Lawrence Cheskin, director of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center.

Dr. Cheskin will take all your weight loss questions. Need advice about diets? Have a nutrition question? Considering bariatric surgery? Feel free to start asking your questions now in the comments section below and we'll see you here at noon tomorrow with answers. 

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

The use of weight-loss surgery has surged in recent years. But it's not just adults who are getting it. Increasingly, adolescents are receiving invasive surgery to treat obesity and it's been a heated topic of debate among experts.

Two recent studies express caution about recommending the procedure in children.

In a survey of pediatricians and family practitioners, half said they would not recommend the surgery to people under 18.  The findings, published last week in the journal Obesity Surgery, stressed that the surgery is still new and no one knows the long-term effects on children.

Meanwhile, a review article in The Lancet takes a tougher stance. It urges against weight loss surgery for teens, saying it should be used only as a last resort after diet, exercise and lifestyle changes have been exhausted. The authors write:

But then there's this research from just a couple months ago, indicating a type of bariatric surgery called gastric banding showed promise in teens.

The NYT took a fascinating look at the question recently. Those who endorse the procedure say simply that it works and children shed weight dramatically in the first year. More hospitals are offering obesity surgery for teens and specialized centers which once served only adults have expanded to adolescents.

After all, the health risks for obese teens are great. Nationwide, more than 17.4 percent, or more than 5 million adolescents were obese in 2004, a jump from 14.8 percent in 2000. Obesity leaves teens at risk for type 2 diabetes and health problems once thought strictly the domain of adults: sleep apnea, hypertension and pyschosocial problems, studies have found.

But many experts caution that the surgery could cause adverse affects on a child's growth and development. Consider that children are coming to the operating table both emotionally and physically immature, the NYT article points out.

Continue reading "Should kids get weight loss surgery?" »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Trying to lose weight for the summer? Struggling to shed a few pounds and adopt a healthy lifestyle? Well, who isn't?

We've got advice coming your way at noon Tuesday when we'll host a live chat with weight loss expert Dr. Lawrence Cheskin, director of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center. Dr. Cheskin founded the center in 1990 and is a noted researcher on such topics as obesity, weight loss and overall health and nutrition.

You can start asking questions now by emailing me at kelly.brewington@baltsun.com, or leave them in the comments section below. See you there!

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Research has found that dark chocolate -- in small does -- can actually be good for you. In fact, just a few weeks ago, we reported on a study that found the sweet stuff can lower blood pressure.

Now, of course, a different study hints at a downside.

People with depression appear to consume more chocolate than people who don't, according to new research appearing in the Archives of Internal Medicine. 

The study, by University of California Davis researchers, probed the link between chocolate and mood. Researchers asked 913 men and women, who were not taking antidepressants, how much chocolate they ate.

People who screened positive for depression consumed an average of 8.4 servings of chocolate per month, while those who weren't depressed had 5.4 servings per month. People with higher scores on the screening tests -- which indicate major depression -- ate even more chocolate, 11.8 servings per month. Results were similar for men and women alike.

So what does it all mean? Is eating chocolate related to depression?

The study can't say for certain. It doesn't reflect causality, the researchers are quick to note. But the findings could underscore what many of us already believe -- when we have the blues we reach for the sweets. Chocolate is comfort food to so many people, the connection is practically cliche.

Continue reading "Say it ain't so: Study links chocolate to depression" »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Diet and exercise, Mental health
        

From local health departments to big-city governments, everyone's talking about reducing Americans' love affair with salt. Today, the influential Institute of Medicine says too much salt consumption is a threat to public health and suggests in a new report that the Food and Drug Administration regulate the mineral.

The FDA told The Washington Post it plans to do just that with a campaign to reduce the amount of salt in processed foods. 

But the FDA backed off the claims in The Post, which quotes anonymous sources. In a statement issued this afternoon, the FDA says it doesn't have plans to do so at the moment. Instead, the agency says it plans to review the IOM report, which recommends that the FDA set new standards for how much salt restaurants, food manufacturers and food service companies can add to food.

Either way, the IOM report is clear about what the FDA should do. Recommended daily sodium intake is 2,300 milligrams -- or about a teaspoon. But Americans consume about a teaspoon and a half, or 3,400 milligrams, according to the report written by a panel of health experts. They suggest that intake be ratcheted down to 1,500 milligrams. People over 50 need even less, they said.

The goal isn't to ban salt, the panel says. Rather, the idea is to limit the harmful effects of consuming too much. Excessive salt intake increases the risks of hypertension, heart disease and stroke. 

Continue reading "Should the FDA crack down on salt?" »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 2:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Cardiovascular Health, Diet and exercise
        

Rates of illness from E.coli decreased in 2009 to the lowest level in five years, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The agency credits better safety measures for the decrease. It's important because a particular strain of E.coli, known as E.coli 0157, causes diarrhea, cramps and fever, is responsible for 5 to 10 percent of the infection causes of kidney disease and can cause severe illness in children and the elderly.

But the CDC had less success fighting other foodborne illnesses. The agency's Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, which tracks nine illnesses in 10 states, found Salmonella infections were down only slightly, while the rates of two other illnesses rose -- Vibrio, which is rare and related to shellfish, and Listeria, which is associated with deli meats and unpasteurized food.

Getting a handle on Salmonella infections is a priority for the agency, which said its furthest from its goal in controlling such infections.

So, what can you do to prevent getting sick? Here are some tips from the CDC (plus, more info here on overall food safety):

    * CLEAN: Wash hands and surfaces often
    * SEPARATE: Don't cross-contaminate!
    * COOK: Cook to proper temperature
    * CHILL: Refrigerate promptly

CDC photo of E.coli.

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

McCormick seasoning says adding spices to your food isn't just tasty, it has proven health benefits, notes this story in The Sun's business section by our colleague Andrea Walker.

Through its Science Institute, started in 2007, the company promotes and studies how spices can affect health.  

Of course, the company's motives aren't purely scientific. McCormick hopes to profit from the claims. And it's not the only company to do so, the story explains. 

Not everyone thinks that's a good idea. 

The Center for Science in the Public Interest thinks consumers should be cautious about health claims made by food companies that pay for research. Better to trust the National Institutes of Health instead, it says.

Continue reading "McCormick seasoning makes health claims " »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Starting today, Johns Hopkins Hospital's Wellness Corner in its main cafeteria will go meatless on Mondays, encouraging, staff, patients and visitors to load up on healthy fruits, grains and veggies.

Only vegetarian meals will be served in the hospital's Cobblestone Cafe in observance of the national campaign launched in 2003 by Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. The goal: to reduce meat consumption by 15% to encourage better health for people and the planet.

The program caused quite the stir when it was embraced by Baltimore schools last year. But nationwide, efforts to go meat-free are catching on. Leaders in San Francisco -- shocking, I know -- passed a resolution just last week encouraging residents to eat their veggies on Mondays. But even in a city where hippies wear their eco-consciousness on their sleeves, residents don't seem to be rallying behind the movement just yet.

What's your take on the campaign? Any Meatless Mondays observers here? 

Continue reading "Meatless Mondays comes to Hopkins' cafeteria" »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

The Food and Drug Administration is warning the public of the hazards of drinking raw milk after at least 12 people in the Midwest have gotten sick from an outbreak of campylobacteriosis.

The infection, which can cause symptoms such as diarrhea, abdominal pain and fever, appears to be linked to raw milk from a dairy in Indiana, the FDA said in a statement.

Raw, or unpasteurized, milk carries risks of a wide variety of nasty bacteria, including E.coli, listeria and salmonella and about half of all states ban the sale of raw milk. (Maryland's among them. Although here, it's legal to drink it if you own the cow).

While most healthy people can recover quickly from the illnesses these bacteria can cause, pregnant women, the elderly, infants and people with weakened immune systems are at higher risk for complications, the FDA warns.

And yet, raw milk has faithful devotees.

Meredith Cohn wrote about the debate over raw milk in this story last year, which highlighted how those who prefer raw milk insist it's more nutritious and how a movement to make it more accessible triggered proposed legislation from Maryland lawmakers.

Elsewhere, others who object to statewide bans on raw milk sales insist that not only is it safe to drink, it might just have healing properties. Public health officials who maintain its unsafe continue to clash with advocates. The debate is heating up in statehouses and grocery stores alike. Whole Foods is pulling raw milk from its shelves in certain states, according to this WSJ piece.

Any raw milk drinkers here? Those on the other side? What do you think?

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

A new study in rats concludes what we've all suspected: binging on fatty foods can be addicting.

The study, appearing in the latest edition of the journal Nature Neuroscience, finds that overeating can trigger the same response in the brain that fuels drug addiction. Researchers from the National Institute on Drug Abuse discuss how obesity and drug addiction are linked to the same dysfunction in a reward system in the brain.

Eating too much or getting a fix can trigger an increase in this reward threshold, making you eat more or do more drugs to satisfy the craving. (Makes sense to anyone who has devoured an entire box of chocolates. Please tell me I'm not alone in this.)

Researchers studied rats for 40 days, giving three groups of them unlimited access to food. In addition, two groups had access to high-fat food for either an hour or 18-23 hours. After the 40 day period, the rats were cut off from their fatty food binge. Researchers found the brain receptors that play a role in addiction also played a role in the rats that became obese.

The authors think the study can help techniques to treat obesity, perhaps even using the same drugs used to treat addiction.

Baltimore Sun photo

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

There's no doubt high-fructose corn syrup is everywhere -- added to processed foods, sodas and fruity drinks. It's even an ingredient in foods you wouldn't expect like a loaf of bread.

The cheap sweetener has gotten a lot of blame of late for the nation's obesity epidemic. But does it really make us fat? Is it worse than sugar?

A new study from Princeton researchers suggests yes on both accounts. The paper in the latest issue of the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior found that male rats who consumed high fructose corn syrup were more likely to gain weight than those who ate sugar -- even when the calories were the same.

The study explains while the compounds of HFCS and sugar are similar, they are not the same and the body metabolizes them differently. It's a subject of intense debate.

A 2004 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition speculated that HFCS is worse than sugar, but even the researchers behind it now say the sweetener and sugar are equally bad, according to this piece by The Sun's Laura Vozzella.

The new research has received some praise, but plenty of criticism from skeptics, who say the study demonizes the corn-based sweetener and the study is flawed. For instance, the study compares its findings to previous research in female rats that showed no increased weight gain when they were given the sweetener vs. sugar.

It's a debate likely to rage on. Again, check out Vozzella's story on the issue, in which HFCS haters called the substance "the devil" and defenders insist the sweetener is just like sugar. It's a great piece that lays out the history of how the corn-based sweetener got big with corn subsidies and how the backlash against it has evolved.

Baltimore Sun graphic

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Along with individual mandates and health insurance exchanges, health reform includes a provision to get chain restaurants to list their calorie counts by next year.

Tucked within the sweeping legislation to overhaul the nation's health care system, labeling calorie information will become a requirement of chain restaurants and vending machines with more than 20 locations.

New York City already has such a provision and states such as California and Oregon have measures set to take effect next year. Some studies show labeling leads to people to pick healthier options, while others have found that alone, they do little to curb people's eating habits, the WSJ reports.

Folks at Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity called the provision "an historic development" according to the NY Times, noting that too often people chow down on fast food without realizing how unhealthy it is for them.

Other supporters say such information can be empowering and help all of us make better eating choices. I'll be honest: it's not that I don't realize that Big Macs contain mega calories. It's just, well, perhaps I don't want to know exactly how much. 

How about you?

AP photo

Continue reading "More health reform: calorie counts coming to a McDonald's near you" »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Diet and exercise, Health care reform
        

Three quarters of the 128 companies get a failing grade for their policies on marketing food to kids, according to a new report card from the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Those companies had weak policies or no policies, the nonprofit group said.

The highest grade -- a B+ -- went to Mars Inc., but the group was sure the highlight that it was not for the food the company sells, such as candy. It was because the company policy says there is no marketing to kids under 12. 

Procter & Gamble, maker of Pringles, got a B. Six others got a B-, 17 got a C, 7 a D.  Ninety-five companies got an F.

“Despite the industry’s self-regulatory system, the vast majority of food and entertainment companies have no protections in place for children,” said CSPI nutrition policy director Margo G. Wootan, in a statement.  “If companies were marketing bananas and broccoli, we wouldn’t be concerned.  But instead, most of the marketing is for sugary cereals, fast food, snack foods, and candy.  And this junk food marketing is a major contributor to childhood obesity.”

Companies spend about $2 billion a year marketing to kids. And the group points to an Institute of Medicine study that showed TV commercials affect children’s food choices, food purchase requests, diets and health. 

Some of the worst in the CSPI study were Denny’s; Lucasfilms, which partners with McDonald's;  Topps, which markets a miniature candy baby bottle, eaten by dipping a candy nipple in a sugary powder and licking it off.

A self-regulatory program by the Council of Better Business Bureaus, called the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, was introduced in 2006. It got 16 food and restaurant companies that represent about 80 percent of television food advertising expenditures to commit to no marketing to children under 12 if the companies' individual nutritional standards weren't met, but the standards are carefully tailored, the group said, and allow junk-food advertising to kdis.

The group found 80 percent of food ads on the kids channel Nickelodeon were for junk food.

The Federal Trade Commission plans in the next few weeks to propose nutrition criteria and other standards for foods aimed at kids. They would be voluntary.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Diet and exercise, News roundup
        

With cities such as New York and Philadelphia considering taxing sugary sodas to fill budget gaps, new research makes the case that the idea could actually improve health.

As the cost of soda and pizza increases, adults eat less of the bad stuff, bringing down their weight, according to the study appearing in the latest Archives of Internal Medicine. 

It's not the first medical study to conclude a soda tax could cut obesity. This one studied the eating habits of some 5,115 adults over more than 20 years to find out the impact of increasing prices of junk food on their health.

The conclusions: an 18 percent tax on pizza and soda could result in a decrease of nearly 56 calories per person per day. That could mean the loss of 5 lbs per person per year and a reduction of obesity-related diseases, the authors write. 

It's a persuasive argument, especially considering that the price of soda has decreased over two decades while the price of milk has increased, the authors note. Meanwhile, the obesity epidemic has soared.

An accompanying editorial draws parallels with the tobacco industry, suggesting that the money gained from taxing soda and junk food could help fund healthy eating campaigns and even promote the benefits of regular ol (not to mention, free) tap water.

Still, the study has some limitations and there are many foes of taxing sodas and junk food. 

Continue reading "Study: Junk food tax could make us healthier" »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Dreyers Grand Ice Cream Inc., Gorton's Inc., POM Wonderful and Beechnut were some of the companies that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says use misleading labels.

The government's main food cop has sent letters to 17 companies telling them to correct the label violations on 22 products.

The companies have run afoul of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act with claims like the products prevent disease or are healthy when they don't meet the official definition or contain no trans fats when they are high in saturated fats.

In October 2009 the FDA encouraged the companies to review their labels to make sure they were truthful and not misleading. A letter that went to the companies yesterday basically said the FDA means it this time.

"Today, ready access to reliable information about the calorie and nutrient content of food is even more important, given the prevalence of obesity and diet-related diseases in the United States,"  Commissioner of Food and Drugs Margaret Hamburg said in the letter.

The companies have 15 business days to tell the FDA how they will correct their labels.

The FDA also plans to propose new rules about calorie and nutrient labeling on the front of food packages to make it easier for consumer to know which items are healthy. 

On the deceptive labels, the Center for Science in the Public Interest called the FDA's move the "largest crackdown on deceptive labeling in over a decade." But the group called for binding regulation for all companies. It released a report recently that found other misleading labels that so far have not been addressed.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Diet and exercise, News roundup
        

It's been so snowy in the past few weeks that many people probably decided to give up on their diet and exercise plans in favor of sitting in front of the fire and snacking. 

Shoveling probably provided a little bit of heart-pounding movement, and maybe walking to work did too? But did anyone get to the gym? Did anyone get in extra running or yoga or aerobics?

If you want to talk about your extra efforts or your lack of all motivation, we're working on a story so please contact us. Email Jill Rosen at jill.rosen@baltsun.com.

Baltimore Sun file photo of the Baltimore marathon

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

I'm getting a kick out of this blog, in which a teacher sounds the alarm on less-than-nutritious school lunches by deciding to eat them every day through 2010 and write about the experience. (Photos included!)

We confess, we don't know much about this effort. The teacher is remaining anonymous and she quiet on the details of her school. But the little blog is already getting some notice out on the internets.  

With everyone from Michelle Obama to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force sounding the alarm on childhood obesity, I'm intrigued if this blog will gain any traction. The first lady's campaign aims to improve school lunches by cutting out the fat and the sugar. And the Institute of Medicine called for the same last year.

Any parents out there monitor their kids school lunches? What's on the lunch trays in your child's school?

Baltimore Sun photo

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Thanks to our colleague Liz Kay who trudged through the snow to find us this:

Some runners don't give up even when the U.S Postal Service cries uncle. But even some of Baltimore's most diehard runners thought it was best to wait until the flakes stopped falling before lacing up their shoes for a run.

"You get to a certain point where you simply can’t perform the mechanics of running,” said Bart Rein, a board member of the Baltimore Road Runners Club.

“If it’s like mid-calf, you can still get out there and do it,” he said.

But given the accumulations that had arrived by Wednesday afternoon, even devoted joggers shouldn’t venture out, he said. Most members of the running groups he monitors via Facebook and other sites were canceling their runs.

“You kind of get used to running in just about anything,” Rein said, including rain and snow. However, runners would be putting themselves at risk of getting hit by vehicles that lose control, he said.

“When you have 4- and 5-foot mounds of snow on a corner, it becomes a blind corner. Trying to use the same space a car is trying to use ... it’s just ridiculous,” he said.

Instead, Rein will maintain his training schedule — he’s aiming for a 50-kilometer race in March — by picking up miles on his treadmill.

Once the snow stops falling, Rein and running coach Jeff Gaudette had some tips for those who can’t wait to lace up their shoes.

Gaudette, who has been running for nearly 15 years and coaching for seven, said he ran outside every day since Friday — but wasn’t sure he would go out yesterday. The Maine native attended school in Providence and ran professionally in Michigan, so he’s experienced plenty of winter weather. But this has been a challenge, even for him.

“I hate the treadmill, I’m not going to lie,” Gaudette said. “For me, I would rather be outside and enjoying it, even when it’s crazy like this.”

Continue reading "Workout in the snow? Um, no thanks." »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

A new study by Consumer Reports finds traces of bacteria in bagged salad -- even those labeled "pre-washed."

The lab tests of 208 containers of 16 brands of greens found several types of bacteria, including coliforms and Enterococcus, a type of organism found in the human digestive tract and the environment, which could be a signal of inadequate sanitation, the report states. 

These bacteria don't generally make healthy people sick (nor did the tests find E. coli or salmonella, pathogens that can be deadly). Still, the report calls them "indicator" bacteria, a sign that "not enough is being done to assure the safety or cleanliness of leafy greens," said Michael Hansen, a senior scientists at Consumer Union, the non profit that publishes Consumer Reports, in a statement.

Consumer Union also issued a report urging the FDA to set safety standards for greens.  

We've talked before about how veggies pose some of the biggest food poisoning risks. Your best bet to avoid any problems, rinse those greens, even the ones whose packages claim they have already been washed.

Baltimore Sun photo

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

And you thought barefoot running was just some wacky new fitness craze. Well, new research from Harvard scientists suggests that the bare human foot is better able to withstand the impact of running than fancy cushioned sneakers can.

The study, appearing in the new issue of the journal Nature, describes the mechanics of running barefoot, or with minimal footwear, and how it can actually help prevent injury.

Sounds nutty, right? Not to mention painful. But researchers found that in shoes, runners strike the ground heel-first, generating a far more powerful -- and potentially painful -- blow than do barefoot runners, who hit the ground toward the middle or front of the foot. Simply put, running barefoot allows the foot to strike in a way that triggers less of an impact, researchers said.

After all, for millions of years humans have been running barefoot or with no-frills footwear like sandals or moccasins, the study explains. Running shoes weren't invented until the 1970s. Somehow, humankind managed quite well all that time without them. 

Not everyone is convinced that running sans shoes translates into fewer injuries.

"I think the contentious part will be whether wearing shoes and changing the pattern of running...actually has an impact on foot injury," Brian Richmond, an anthropologist at George Washington University told the Boston Globe. "It's an idea worth examining, because basically what they found is how people would run in a more natural setting."

Harvard scientists have been studying the differences for years and you can find some of their extensive findings at the team's barefoot running site. They even offer tips on how to run properly without shoes. Tip: start working on those calluses now.

Continue reading "Who needs shoes? Barefoot running is good for you" »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

First it was trans fats, then carbs and calories. Now, salt has become the latest dietary no-no from New York to Baltimore.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants manufacturers and restaurants to curb the amount of salt they use --  not only in the city, but nationwide. We're talking everything from potato chips and soups to pies and that famous New Yawk pizza. The goal: reduce the amount of salt in restaurants and packaged foods by 25 percent by 2014.

The CDC said in a report last year that Americans consume double the recommended amount of sodium. Too much salt can lead to high blood pressure and place you on the nasty road toward stroke and heart disease.

Our colleague Meredith Cohn wrote about salt as the new health boogeyman earlier this year. And the Baltimore health department launched a campaign against the mineral a year earlier. 

The Baltimore Salt Reduction Task Force stopped short of forcing restaurants and manufacturers to limit their salt, but came out with a seven recommendations to get the public to decrease its salt intake. They include: education campaigns, an award to city restaurants who disclose the nutritional information of their food and a pledge to work with agencies outside of the city on reducing sodium.

In Baltimore, 2,000 people die each year from cardiovascular disease. It's the city's and the nation's No. 1 killer. When it comes to the haves and the have nots, the impact of heart disease is alarming, according to the task force report last September. It's a key reason for the 20-year range in life expectancy between Baltimore's wealthiest and poorest neighborhoods, the report found. Yikes.

So, will a war on salt make us healthier?

Continue reading "Anti-salt campaigns coming to a town near you" »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 7:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Remember our post on an article in the British Medical Journal that called Santa a bad public health role model?

Well, the jolly old elf might not be a sterling example of healthy living. But Nathan Grills, the author of that article, tells us -- and has told other reporters already -- that the piece was really nothing more than a spoof with no science behind it at all.

A reader of our original post alerted us to this blog post, which examines how Grills got the reputation of being a Santa-trasher.

Here's what Grills wrote to me yesterday afternoon:

Continue reading "Santa 'study' was a spoof, author says" »

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 1:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Tis the season of temptation -- food temptation, that is. If your office is anything like ours, you've been inundated with sweets galore. At our holiday potluck breakfast, my dear coworkers actually had the nerve to bring super-rich brownies, sugary danishes and the most decadent chocolate cake I've ever tasted. Sigh.

Well, you don't have to succumb to the pressure. There are ways to eat healthy around the holidays. My inbox is flooded with tips from health gurus. Here's a sample of the best ones:

From the University of Maryland Medical Center:  

 Enjoy treats, but be choosy. For each meal, pick a few favorite items and stick to them rather than trying everything.

 Eat regularly during the holidays – don’t starve yourself. When you save all those calories for that big party you're more likely to overeat.

 Choose nutrient-rich rather than high-calorie foods. The more colorful the vegetable, the more heart-protective antioxidants it contains.

 Battle the bulge. Beverages or foods that contain alcohol, chocolate, caffeine, peppermint, spearmint, coffee, carbonation, and acidic fruits and vegetables can trigger heartburn or acid reflux.

Continue reading "How not to overdo it during the holidays" »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

After heaping plates of turkey and trimmings the last thing you may be in the mood for is a greasy burger at the airport fast food joint. But often, when traveling, the pickings are slim.

This just in for the Thanksgiving travel holiday: airport food can rank seriously low on the health scale, according to a new survey.

Our very own BWI Thurgood Marshall ranked near the bottom of the list of the nation's 17 busiest airports for healthy food. Our colleagues at B'more Green give us the full scoop on the findings, complete with a full list of the rankings.  

Apparently diners can find more healthy foods loaded with veggies in Detroit, which got a perfect score from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, than they can in Baltimore. Who knew?

Baltimore Sun photo

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 7:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

You heard that right. Your faithful Picture of Health bloggers will be running the 5K in tomorrow's Baltimore Running Festival.

Now, to all you seasoned runners, this may sound like a piece of cake, but for Stephanie and me, this is a true challenge.

We both started running -- well, slow jogging -- earlier this year. Stephanie described on the blog earlier how she got the running bug with the help of a cool fitness DVD.

I took a less structured approach by throwing on some sneakers, plugging in my iPod and just going for it. I tried to following a modified Couch to 5K plan, allowing my iPod to dictate my speed. At first, I'd run one song, walk the next song, eventually running more than I was walking. Then, about a few weeks ago, I realized I could run 2 miles without stopping. Who knew?

All summer, some of our colleagues at The Sun have been nagging us to run the 5K with them. Naturally, we were were terrified. But after months of hemming and hawing, we finally caved. 

And here we are, the day before race day, freaking out! 

Important note: neither Stephanie nor I have ever run an entire 3.1 miles in one shot. Clearly, we have no idea what we are doing. But we're hoping for a fun day out with friends and that the adrenaline of our first race will get us through. We'll update you on Monday about the experience. Until then, pray for us.

Anyone else running this weekend? See you there! 

Baltimore Sun photo

Continue reading "We're running a 5K!" »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

My barefoot running story and blog entry garnered lots of attention yesterday. You guys had lots to say about this fledgling movement of runners who are out there jogging on the streets, sidewalks and grass without their Nikes. Many told tales of being inspired to try it after reading the best-selling book, "Born to Run." A well-thumbed chapter in there suggests that maybe all of those nagging running injuries could be caused by our fancy, well-cushioned shoes.

"I've been running barefoot regularly for three years and I feel great from head to toe," commented someone calling himself Happier Feet. "I couldn't say that when I ran in shoes - it was always one thing or another, from blisters to shin pains to aching arches."

Wrote someone named Peter: "It's a very free practice, mind-opening, mentally challenging more than physically, the calluses needed and generated are really minimal in my experience and I'm barefoot outdoors every day of the year, even in the snow (central Ohio)."

Picture of Health readers aren't the only ones who noticed. A producer for MSNBC's "Dr. Nancy" show read the story and contacted Dr. A. Ben Pearl, the Arlington podiatrist quoted in my story. Unless big news intercedes, he is scheduled to talk about barefoot running on the show today. Look for him between 12:30 p.m. and 1 p.m.
 

Photo courtesy KRT

Posted by Stephanie Desmon at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

The shorthand these days for categorizing your healthy weight is BMI, or body mass index. This inexpensive and relatively simple calculation, which uses height and weight, hands everyone a number and puts us into broad categories of underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese.

But the numbers don't mean a lot to most people, says a University of Nevada, Reno professor, who has developed his own shorthand for calculating a healthy weight. His doesn't involve online calculators or charts. And it doesn't use weight ranges, which he thinks confuse more than help people.

Dr. George Fernandez, who teaches applied statistics, has devised the maximum weight limit, "one number that we know we can't go over, just like a speed limit," according to a press release from the University of Nevada, Reno. It's just a simpler way of knowing if we are in a danger zone, he said.

Continue reading "Re-thinking BMI" »

Posted by Stephanie Desmon at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

So, if you've ever been interested in barefoot running, then let me know because I'm looking to start a barefoot running club. I know it sounds crazy at first, but if you haven't tried it, then I suggest you liberate your feet and give it a chance.

I'm the only one who answered Engwall's ad. But I didn't want to run with him (my tootsies are too delicate for that). I wanted to hear about how he got into barefoot running.

It's building up something of a cult following in some circles. Barefoot runners swear that it's their fancy running shoes, with their arch support and thick cushioning and more, that are the root of jogging injuries. And a movement has sprung up in recent years of people who hit the asphalt, the sidewalk, the grass for long runs -- and leave their high-tech Nikes at home. Some use minimalist footwear. But others just go in the buff (their feet, that is).

Continue reading "Barefoot running: "Liberate your feet"" »

Posted by Stephanie Desmon at 7:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Apparently, Americans are in denial.

So suggets a new survey from the market research firm Mintel which finds that we think we're a whole lot healthier than we actually are. In our heads, we're a nation of skinny people who eat proper quantities of healthy food. In reality, we're a bunch of overweight folks who eat whatever we want and lots of it.

In the survey, 25 percent of respondents told Mintel they were obese or overweight. According to  the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 67 percent of Americans fall into one of these categories.

"Right now we say one thing, but then our actions contradict those perceptions and best intentions," senior analyst Krista Faron said in the press release.

Continue reading "Americans in denial about their health" »

Posted by Stephanie Desmon at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

And we wonder why two-thirds of Americans are overweight.

Add this one to the horrifying, artery-clogging trend of deep frying everything -- and clearly we mean everything: Deep-fried butter (you read that correctly). It is among the new offerings that will be available at the Texas State Fair this year, where fried food is as outsized as everything there.

Your cardiologist is cringing right now.

I don't think I need to tell you that a stick of butter is 810 calories and that is before anyone coats it and tosses it into the deep fryer.

Contributor Laura T. Coffey tells us how it's done on the website for NBC's Today Show.

“I mean, butter by itself does not taste good,” the dish's creator, 39-year-old Dallas resident Abel Gonzales Jr., told her. “Nobody just grabs a stick of butter and eats it. That would be gross.”

Yes, it would.

Continue reading "Deep fried butter: A new low?" »

Posted by Stephanie Desmon at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

Here's a new piece of research that we here at the Picture of Health share with you cautiously: The more alcohol people drink, the more likely they are to exercise. And the more heavily people drink, the study says, the harder they exercise -- though not, we're pretty sure, at the same time.

These tidbits come via the Sepetember/October issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion. The authors of the study, led by a health economist at the University of Miami, say their findings don't suggest that drinking actually causes people to work out more. It's just that when they analyzed data from an annual telephone survey of 230,000 Americans, they found the two were linked.

Continue reading "Heavy drinkers exercise more? A study says yes" »

Posted by Stephanie Desmon at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

This is how most of my conversations about exercise used to go. Someone would ask if I ran. I would reply, laughing at my own stupid joke, "only when chased."

When I was in high school, they made us jog around Delaware Park in Buffalo -- a 2 mile loop -- to get in shape for lacrosse season. I couldn't do it. After a week, I quit and joined the softball team. No running there.

I'm thin, have always been thin, but was feeling awfully tired last October when my doctor told me I had to exercise. I told her I couldn't, no time -- full-time job, two kids, blah blah blah. She told me which DVD to borrow from the library. Anything by best-selling fitness guru Leslie Sansone, she said.

Six months later I was running 2 miles around my neighborhood. Now, I do it as often as five days a week (am I sounding like a cheesy infomercial?).

But Sansone doesn't sell running. She has made her fortune advocating walking. The first time I watched one of her 130 (!) DVDs, my editor at the time, a marathoner, couldn't hide her disdain. "You walk in front of the television?" she asked. "This is exercise?"

But it is exercise and I hear Sansone's voice in my head urging me on when I take to the outdoors. "From this tree to that tree, I'm gonna jog," she says, explaining how to build endurance if jogging is your goal. Yesterday, I got to hear Sansone's voice for real, on the telephone, pitching a new program and telling me about her latest video, "Walk Your Belly Flat."

Continue reading "How I learned to walk -- and run" »

Posted by Stephanie Desmon at 7:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

With summer football practice in full-swing, we thought we'd get on the bandwagon and bring a little sports to our health blog.

Maryland Terrapins football coach Ralph Friedgen -- a bear of a prescence on the sidelines -- is missing something as he heads into the season. It may not look like much from these photos, but Friedgen this week is 105 pounds lighter than he was in October, when he weighed 401 pounds (see photo, far left). Of course, the question always is, how did he do it?

The 62-year-old Friedgen decided against weight-loss surgery. He lost it the old-fashioned way, by eating less. But after years of losing and then gaining back weight, he had to find something he could stick to.

Continue reading "Terps coach Ralph Friedgen down 105 pounds and counting" »

Posted by Stephanie Desmon at 7:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

What brings us to this post is not some strained back or neck or leg that we treated with a sports cream that didn't work. No, we are here today, discussing the effectiveness of those remedies -- you know, the smelly stuff that warms or cools some ache or pain when rubbed on -- because of the quote in the press release.

Andrew Moore, a biochemist at the University of Oxford who led a systematic review of studies about whether these so-called salicylate creams work, was asked if he would recommend using them.

Calling them an unproven waste of money, Moore said: "You might as well rub your skin with a bit of spit."

Now that we've gotten that highlight out of the way, just a bit about the study, which was done by the Cochrane Collaboration, a highly regarded international organization that evaluates research. The review found that these popular over-the-counter creams, heat gels and other remedies for sports injuries and arthritis aches don't work, despite the many millions of dollars spent on them each year.

Familiar brands containing salicylate creams include Ben Gay, Icy Hot and Aspercreme balms. They are thought to work by distracting users from the pain with their warmth and redness. While some older smaller studies showed a measure of improvement after using the treatments, the newer, large, more rigorous trials showed no effect, Moore said.

Continue reading "Do muscle pain remedies work?" »

Posted by Stephanie Desmon at 6:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

We've heard it all before: the keys to staying healthy are a good diet and plenty of exercise. But just when are we supposed to make time for  physical fitness in our busy lives?

Walk to work. Or bike. People who ride a bike or walk to work are more fit, less fat and have healthier triglyceride levels, blood pressure and insulin levels, according to a new study in this week's issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studied about 2,300 men and women between 2005 and 2006 and recorded the length of their commute, how they got there and assessed their fitness levels with a treadmill test. 

Both men and women who biked or walked performed better on fitness tests but men tended to have even healthier body mass index numbers, and better blood pressure and insulin levels. Researchers weren't sure why women didn't reap all the same benefits as men, but said perhaps women did not exercise as intensely or commuted shorter distances.

Even people with the most hectic of schedules can benefit from just 60 minutes of brisk walking a day, researchers concluded.

Still, for all its supposed benefits, few Americans bother to bike or walk to work -- just 17 percent, the study found. With many cities lacking proper bike lanes and so many people living in far flung suburbs, it's no wonder. The researchers hope the study leads to policies that make neighborhoods safer for biking.

Continue reading "Biking, walking to work may keep you healthy" »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)
Categories: Diet and exercise