Archive for October, 2009

Obesity’s role in premature aging; accelerates fat-storage, cellulite, chronic health problems, and premature mortality. Expanding waist lines are the number one health problem in America. With this comes metabolic syndrome and a host of debilitating conditions. Besides the obvious outward signs of aging, there is a loss of youthful vitality. Vanity aside the real problem are the numerous visits to healthcare providers, and the fistful of pharmaceuticals.

Obesity rates have climbed to an all time high. This information comes from self-reported telephone interviews conducted in 2006 by the CDC. They also noticed that people tend to say they weight less than they actually do. I wondered what the cost of this comprehensive study was, what person is going to tell you how many cookies they ate while answering the survey, much less their actual weight.

The statement that James S. Marks, MD, MPH reported giving is along the lines that “it required a lot of changes to our society to allow people to get this fat so easily.” The answer to that is it requires massive changes in the way we manufacture, produce, and grow our food. If you want a comprehensive national strategy for weight loss, you have to stop producing poor nutritional quality food.

Jeff Levi, PHD, is the executive director of the Trust for America’s Health, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. The statement from Levi is “The nation still lacks a comprehensive, effective strategy to combat obesity.” Then he went on to say “The country needs to develop a plan to combat obesity in proportion to the enormous scale and depth of the problem.”

Toping this off are the complications from obesity. It bring a host of debilitating conditions that cause premature aging, such as diabetes. This condition alone is  associated with  a destructive process, causing multiple complication, ranging from neuropathy, retinopathy, kidney failure, and slow wound healing.  High blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels, joint problems, and lost of vigor are just some of the other costs of obesity.

When we start is to acknowledge that obesity, and the ensuing expanding waist lines are not age related, we will be able to address this problem.  Anti-obesity programs have to start at the top of the food chain, which is the end user.  The American public can choose healthier foods and become more physically active, instead of relying on pharmaceuticals, surgical interventions, and our health care system.

There are not many healthy foods available, thanks to our way of raising animals, and our new way of raising and storing crops. That is not even counting the fillers and by products that enter our food supply via manufacturing. Does changing the diet mean consuming zero calorie drinks?   Certainly, this is what characterizes many peoples idea of how to loss weight, but just one diet soda can kill brain neurons within hours, and regular use can cause many problems. These diet drinks are thought to cause weight gain.

Improving health and weight management is the key to anti-aging, which is the foundation of longevity.  Of course it was easy to get fat, and it is only going to get easier. The food supply is set up to cause hunger. The amount of sugar and non-nutrient sweeteners cause enormous cravings. Most of the flavorings of processed food tinkers with the appetite. These processed foods are the barrier to remaining healthy. To be well enough to wake up each day with enough energy, for a happy and productive life you need nutrition.

There are easy to follow steps to having a healthy body all the way through life, but it is required that to get the results you must be motivated. Healthy people are usually the ones who take responsibility, and follow a diet high in nutrients, activity, stress management, and wind up looking younger than many of their contemporaries. Obesity’s role in premature aging, and declining health, are enough reasons to confront this issue. Offering the tools for optimal health are only good if they are used by the public. Obesity’s role in premature aging has been proven, and now its time to take action.

GET UP

Get up, because sitting down shuts off the circulation of a fat-absorbing enzyme called lipase. This is not a surprise just looking around you can see what couch potatoes look like. Standing up engages muscles and distributes lipase, which helps to process fat and cholesterol. On top of that they also found standing uses glucose, and this may ward off diabetes.

STANDING

Standing also means that you will more likely be moving around. That equals some calorie burning. Stand Up for health may be the best way to ensure it. Without knowing any of these facts, we know it is a liability to not to move around. We are a moving machine, with all kind of parts for this purpose. Stagnation is what causes many of the health problems. The lymph system has to be working well, to be well.

MOVE AROUND

The practical advice is always to take a break and move around. It is known that it is not good to sit all day be it on a plane, couch, work station, or in front of a computer. Lipase is an enzyme that moves fat into muscles so it gets burned for energy. You do not want it stored in tissue, then it becomes body fat. All it takes is standing up, and once you do that you will be using muscles, calories, and promoting better circulation. It is a fact that couch potatoes are usually heavier, and less healthy than there active counterparts.

ACTIVITY

There are studies that show that activity cuts your risk of most health conditions. These include heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. Stand Up for health and burn calories, lower your risk of all these chronic conditions. Instead of just daydreaming about spending your day at the gym, all it takes is getting up to look out the window, get your mail or even your neighbors, chase the mailman with your dog, and do whatever it takes to get up and moving.

MUSCLES

We must get up out of the sitting position. We are nation of sitters be it watching or reading the news, either on the computer or in front of the television. This has us making the news, as we add to the soaring number of people causing the health care crisis of this nation. Engage your muscles, and spent some time being active. Stand Up for health means to take personal responsibly. What people would rather do is sign a petition that calls for the nation to stand up for health. Unless you are going door to door with it, it will not be that meaningful for you or the nation.

Sugar free and fat free are buzz words for weight conscious eating. Call them what you want, but what they happen to be are artificial substances made for human consumption. They are said to be save for human use by the FDA and the food manufacturers.

Many of these are touted as good for you because they cut either fat or sugar. To the consumer that equals fewer calories, which is not necessarily true. Sugar provides bulk to a product and the substitutes for the bulk are ether more flour or other grains. This puts calories right back in.

Almost every major food company knows that low sugar and low fat conjures images of healthier food with fewer calories. According to a survey done by the Grocery Manufacturers Association, about 50 percent of all shoppers wanted to purchase products with reduced sugar. The popularity of the sugar substitute products among weight loss crowd is propelling sales of these sugar-free foods to new heights. The billion plus dollar industry is working on better ways to replicate the taste of sugar.

The confusion is that sugar-free foods sell and are used as part of weight loss strategies, while being the culprits behind producing more overweight Americans. To support this people like Dr. Katz, a nutrition specialist and professor of public health at the Yale University School of Medicine, said the he has observed that people who consume a lot of artificially sweetened foods end up eating an excess of foods with regular sugar. The reason is the “food” with artificial sweeteners set you up to crave more sweet food.

The real problem is that the public considers diet sodas and other processed food as part of a healthy diet. They are chemical concoction that has prompted safety concerns.  Dr Susan Schiffman, a sweetener specialist and professor of medical psychology at Duke University Medical Center has safety concerns about sucralose. “This is a product that has been reported by the Food and Drug Administration to be a weak mutagenic in humans.”

Saccharin and aspartame have also prompted concerns from many health professionals. There is a lot of concern about putting these type substances in a growing list of products. Besides the usual diet sodas and sugarless gum, low sugar and artificial sweeteners are turning up in fruit juices, cookies, bread, ice cream, flavored milk, and maple syrup. Many times processed sweeteners gets into peoples food, because they are following either a low fat or low carbohydrate diet.

By avoiding fat you also avoid foods that may be needed for good health. The right fats come in a whole food form. Processed low-fat products are not natural and many times have more sugar and chemicals added for taste. We are a nation with a growing obesity problem while being obsessed with shopping for low carbohydrate and low fat “food.” Sugar free and fat free are two buzz words without any meaning behind them