Scale It Down

2004

The latest fat stats are out: "Inactive Americans are eating themselves to death at an alarming rate, their unhealthy habits fast approaching tobacco as the top underlying preventable cause of death, a government study found." This was the top lead news story in March, which further noted that, "Diet and physical inactivity accounted for 400,000 deaths in 2000, or about 16.6% of total deaths. Tobacco, with 435,000 deaths, was 18.1% of the total." Some future predictions were also made: "… by 2020, one in five health-care dollars spent on people ages 50-69 could be for medical problems related to excess weight." Source> USATODAY.com, 3/10/2004.

I don't know which is more ominous, the fact that our health is failing due to obesity, or that McDonald's is caving in to public pressure and doing away with super sized menu items. Our fatness is a direct result of the choices we make individually, how we have dealt with changing society, lifestyles, and so forth; it's not a matter of extra fries! Let's be honest, health issues alone, have yet to ignite a mass exodus toward The Kingdom of Thindom. Unfortunately, until some restitution can be made to the following question, our "epidemic" will most likely rage on: What will it really take for Americans to start trimming the fat off their bodies and minds?

Publishers are still heralding the benefits of calcium as a weight loss aid with dietary snippets such as: "Transform your calcium supplement into the cheapest, healthiest diet pill ever!" and "New research shows calcium fights fat two ways - on your hips and in your blood…calcium blocks fat storage in cells that plump out your tummy, hips and thighs…researchers, just discovered that getting at least 1,000 mg of calcium per day improves total, 'bad' LDL, and 'good' HDL cholesterol." Overall, the general consensus seems that calcium is supposedly one of the great weight reducing tools we have available to us today. Sources> Prevention Magazine, January 2004, & First Magazine, February 16, 2004.

OKAY, I'll bite - I want to know if calcium really "melts the fat away" or not. So before I ran out to buy calcium chews, I decided to call my friend, NY based Nutritionist, Joy Bauer, and ask her what the real scoop was. According to Joy, "…there are substantial studies about calcium [and] cell oxidation does help with weight loss, but the calcium choices have to be low fat or fat free. If you drink whole milk, the calorie increase will outweigh the potential benefit." 'So,' I said, 'the bottom line is that calcium intake in combination with the right diet is what works?" Joy, of course, said, "Yes." Still, I had to know more, ' And how many milligrams of calcium should you take per day?' She sighed and said, "Just make sure you get 1-2 servings of low fat or fat free calcium [rich foods] per day, plus a supplement."

2003

You may have to start watching what you eat at work in the near future because the Washington Business Group on Health, is forming The Institute on the Costs and Health Effects of Obesity, which is an employer coalition to combat the human and financial losses associated with obesity-related health conditions. Corporate notables such as the Ford Co., Morgan Stanley and PepsiCo are lending their support to the effort. The Institute aims to reduce the "devastating impact on the health of employees and, by extension, on their employers,". Source > Connect Newsletter, BenefitNews.com, June 17, 2003.

Hmmmm…there's potential there. If the coalition can do the following, count me in: stock workplace cafeterias and vending machines with a wealth of good tasting, lower calorie food choices AND show/help employees how to fit exercise into their daily schedules.

"Your body doesn't know whether you're breaking a sweat in the gym or on the playground, " says Andrea Dunn, Ph. D., a behavior science researcher at the Cooper Institute. According to a study performed at the Cooper Institute, people who took part in "lifestyle" activities, such as playing with their kids [at playgrounds], reached their fitness goals just as quickly as subjects who used a structured gym-based exercise program. And four years later, those same people actually saw better fitness results than their gym-bound counterparts. Source > "Easy as Child's Play", June 2003, Better Homes & Gardens Magazine.

Very interesting! This article examples kid activities by the correct way to do them, the number of calories burned per cumulative minutes and correlates the action to an adult exercise movement. (For example, 15 minutes on the swings, burns 50-75 calories and mimics leg extensions, leg curls, crunches and rowing.) The writer goes on to suggest by spending 2-4 minutes on 7 different playground apparatus and/or playground games, you can create a little circuit training session for yourself, burning 150 calories in 20 minutes. This is exactly what 'getting creative' about exercise is all about!

According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), the best and quickest place to start looking for answers on foods and nutrition is WebMD [www.webmd.com]. Other sources, noted for great disease info are the National Institutes of Health (the largest medical research institution) at: www.medlineplus.gov and the Federal government's help site for health info at: www.healthfinder.gov. Check out CSPI online at: www.cspinet.org, they've been in the nutrition advocacy business since 1971. Source > "Untangling the Web", May, 2003, Nutrition Action Health Letter.

My mother actually gave me her copy of this organization's newsletter. I found it to be an easy and informative read. I'm ordering their restaurant "slide guide", which will hopefully provide me with a neat little menu cheat sheet for calories, fat and sodium content when I'm out. I'll let you all know if it's worth the $5 bucks or not!

If you're not tired and dripping with sweat by the end of your workout, you haven't pushed yourself hard enough. True or False? Certified trainer, Paul Robbins says the answer to this question is, "…false. A good cardio workout should leave you feeling energized, not lethargic…the amount of sweat a person produces often has more to do with core body temperature, air temperature and genetics than level of exertion." Source> Quiz: Do you have a (cardio) clue? February, Shape Mag.

'Energized', was definitely not how I felt after aerobics classes - but because I was ringing wet, I took it to mean I had 'pushed' myself. I suppose Robbins' answer also explains why there always seemed to be a group of girls who looked as good (and dry) after the class as they did beforehand.

Dr. David Katz, associate clinical professor of public health and medicine at Yale and author of The Way to Eat, says "…the regulation of weight involves the complicated interaction of many hormones and chemicals. It also rests on a simple truth: You gain weight when you take in more calories than you use up. If a fad diet works, it's because the dieter lowered caloric intake." Source> How to Spot a Diet Scam from a Mile Away: January, O Mag.

Exactly Dr. K.! People get so entangled in carbs, proteins, and fats. How can anyone be aware of all these things and still enjoy food? Become calorie cognizant and try make at least some of those calories come from healthy sources - it's as simple as that.

According to a study from the University of Toronto: "As soon as you put a prohibition on something, you leave yourself vulnerable to temptation. …the mere thought of a future diet can trigger overeating." Source: December issue of Health Magazine

When I heard about this study, I said to myself, 'Exactly! That's exactly what the Denial Files are all about!' Telling yourself you can't have something to eat because you're, "dieting", definitely does more harm to good weight loss intentions than a dish of ice cream ever could. File this one under: Been there, done that - for the last time.

2002

Writer John Casey poses this question: "If the leader of the free world can be very fit [at the age of 55, his body fat is only 14%] and stay very fit through what is undoubtedly one of our country's toughest years in a long time, what's wrong with the rest of us?" According to Casey's article, the number one reason given for not exercising regularly is "time". And according to one health professional, the President "…is walking the walk when it comes to time management - it's not a matter of managing time, but of priorities." George W.'s Weekly Workouts: Elliptical machine & weight lifting two days a week, running 4 miles four times a week and doing lots of stretching. Source: President Bush is President "Buff" - WebMD Feature, November 11, 2002

Are you feeling a bit inadequate about now? Obviously, we're not going to all run out and buy Elliptical machines or start running marathons. (In my mind, 4 miles, is a marathon!) Remarkably, the Pres has found what works for him, amidst an amazing lifestyle, and manages to stick with it. It comes down to: choice, planning and dedication. Once you find a tolerable exercise format that fits well within your own lifestyle, the probability of sticking with it will be more likely to occur. Experiment with different exercise forms until you find your workout niche, and get creative when it comes to scheduling exercise into your daily/weekly activities. You don't have to become a fitness fanatic, just cognizant and accepting that exercise must become a habitual part of your life.

In a recent study put out by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention), 1/3 of American adults are now obese and 1/3 are overweight. The costs of treating obesity totaled 117 billion dollars in 2000 and according to the U.S. Surgeon General, the disease is reaching epidemic proportions. Obesity is now listed as the second-leading preventable cause of death, cutting short the lives of 300,000 Americans annually. Tobacco is still the number one killer accounting for 400,000 U.S. deaths each year. By all accounts, obesity may soon close in on smoking. Source: Employee Benefit Newsletter, October 10, 2002.

What are the causes behind these stats? Don't blame fast food chains, sedentary lifestyles or your mothers, because the cause comes from within. It comes down to how we go about our daily living. Somewhere along the line, the quick fix mentality became a remedy for everything from food to time deficiency in lieu of using our noodles to resolve things instead. Over the long haul, resolution is what pays dividends in the end. Take a deep breath, sit down with a pad of paper and start thinking about how you could do things differently to help yourself. Do you want to lose weight, gain it back, lose it again and gain back more for the rest of your life, OR do you want to find and develop better ways to start controlling your weight?