Monday, January 30, 2012

Obese Doctors Less Likely To Help You Lose Weight

If you need help losing weight, you may want to see a skinny doctor.

An overweight or obese doctor is a lot less likely to discuss weight loss with patients (only 18% do, compared to 30% of docs who are of a normal weight), according to this TIME Healthland story that cited a new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Now, I understand the thought behind this, but I really just can't see doctors avoiding the subject just because they themselves need to work on something. That is kind of like saying that a dentist wouldn't suggest teeth whitening because they don't have perfect teeth. Right?



















This does remind me of something that I always thought about as a kid. I had a nurse at my primary care doctor who was fairly overweight, and used to go on smoke breaks every five minutes in front of the building. Even as a young kid, I knew that she was unhealthy. The sad thing is, the fact that she smoked made it a little more enticing for me - like, if the nurse smokes who always makes me feel better, maybe it isn't that bad. Luckilly, I never got into smoking. I like being able to take deep breaths :).


Do you think that weight REALLY has anything to do with how much a doctor will help you?

Have you ever had an overweight primary care physician? Do you know any medical professionals who smoke?

And a fun story out today: A fake, talking vending machine was put in an elementary school in Utah to teach kids about making healthy choices. “I’m a vending machine and can’t move without someone’s help,” a cartoon-like voice says when a student chooses a Lava Cake. “Keep buying food like this and we’ll have that in common.” ... from the Salt Lake Tribune article.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Overeating on the Weekend: What it Means For Our Health

I want to talk about something today that I seriously struggle with: Eating too much on the weekend.

From Friday night to Sunday night, even when I am on a diet, I have a really hard time controlling what I eat and drink. My problem is that because I work all day during the week, I normally have my meals planned, and they are normally fairly healthy. On the weekend, I eat anything set in front of me, and normally do more social activities (which normally involve food/drinks). It is likely that I will have two-three beers or glasses of wine at night instead of my usual zero-one. And it is likely that I will wake up and make a huge breakfast, and then continue to snack until I have pushed off my lunch to much later.

I’m sure that other people struggle with this too, and so I wanted to see if there were any studies I could find on how much this was really affecting my weight and my health.
2011-05-07 Bachelorette Party (3)
Recent temptations at a Bachelorette Party for one of my friends.
That cheese was so good! Oh, and the wine...
According to study results released last year, we gain about .26 of a pound on the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) and we lose about .22 of a pound during the week (Monday through Friday) over time. The results are due to lifestyle changes during the weekend, and explain in part why people have trouble losing weight or maintaining weight loss, according to the study, which was conducted by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine.

Other study results that are a bit older, from 2003, show that we consume about 115 more calories per day on the weekend (Friday through Sunday). At that rate, in one year, if we didn’t lose or gain any weight on week days, we would eat 17,940 extra calories – the equivalent of 5 pounds. And the majority of those calories come from fat and alcohol. Yumm….

So, as we approach Superbowl Sunday, I am offering this link to a story from a nutrition blogger who recently nagged at his readers for making unhealthy decisions on the weekend. I’m not going to nag at you because I’m one of you, so I will let him tell us all how it is.

Do you normally eat and drink more on the weekends? Do you work out more or less?
Any tips for how I can avoid shoving my face once Friday rolls around?

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Weekend Word ... Colored Labels for Better Health, Stress Triggers, Emotional Eating, Workouts for Overweight Teens and More...

Study: Colored Labels Help Cafeteria-Goers Eat Healthier
In Montgomery County MD where I live, restaurants are required to put calorie info up front and it has helped me make better choices. I feel as if this may help too.

What's Your Mind Got To Do With Eating?
How to tell if you are really hungry, or if you just want to do some emotional eating. Ask yourself: Did the hunger come on quickly? Do you crave something specific? Do you feel guilty about it? If yes to any of these, it is probably your emotions speaking, not your appetite.

A No-Gym Class Workout
I think this hits the point of what is lacking for healthy living in our educational system today.

For constant updates when a new interesting study comes out, subscribe to my blog (RSS here: http://thewellwire.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default) by email with the form on the right.

Thinking Positively About Happy Things Will Help You Stay Active

So, it's cold out. It's dreary. How in the world am I going to convince myself to go out of the house and workout?

I guess I will try to think positively, as a news study says that it will help me get motivated to be physically active. The study was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine and I read about it here on Medical News Today.

Just by reading "a script" that told them to think of something that made themselves feel good or a big event they have enjoyed in the past, study subjects worked out more overall. The positive affect group walked an average of 3.4 miles a week more than the control group, according to the article.

The script tells people to think about small things that make them feel good when they wake up in the morning (like babies in carriages). It says to notice those things throughout your day. Also, when you are faced with a tough challenge (like getting out in the dark/cold winter to work out), think of proud moments in your life, (like getting a promotion).

I hope this works, as I need all sorts of different motivations lately to keep me going. I don't know about you but I am so tired all the time in the winter!


You know you like my cold running gear.














How do you get yourself out of the house to run or workout when it is cold out?

Friday, January 27, 2012

The Bones in Our Feet Make Us Fast or Slow

Do you have longer bones in your forefeet and smaller leverage in your Achilles tendon? If so, you are probably a really quick sprinter, according to a new study mentioned in this Medical News Today story that was conducted by Penn State researchers.

This explains a lot, because there are some people who are just SO quick. For example, my boyfriend. He can beat me easy in any kind of a sprint, even if I get a huge head start. I am always amazed at how quickly his speed picks up, leaving me in the dust. And no matter how out of shape he is and no matter how many running drills I do, too!

Usain-Bolt-Gold-Medals-And-Sprint-Training
Usain Bolt, One of my favorite sprinters













Oh, and, off topic … check out this strange story about a 17-year-old girl who almost died this week because she ate pretty much only chicken nuggets her whole life.

Question: Are you a sprinter? Are you about speed or distance?

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Today’s Talkers... What is brown fat? Working out makes your boss nicer, and more ...

USDA Set's Guidelines For Healthier School Meals
Double the veggies, keep the french fries? I don't know how that is going to work.

Brown Fat – Keeps You Warm And Slim
What the? What is brown fat?! Well, it is good fat. It keeps you warm by burning calories. (Compared to white fat, which is a storage area for extra calories.) But scientists don't yet know how to get more brown and less white.

Kids’ Health Predicts Parents' Future Heart Disease
If your kid has high blood pressure or high cholesterol, you are more likely to eventually have heart disease or diabetes at some point.

Overworking Tied To A 2-Fold Increase In The Likelihood of Depression
If you work 11 hours or so a day instead of 8, you are twice as likely to be depressed.

Obesity and Pain Linked, Study of 1 mil + Shows
Everyday pain is the highest in the heaviest individuals.


More...
Nurturing Mothers Rear Physically Healthier Adults

Moderate Exercise Minimizes Supervisors' Abusive Behaviors Towards Their Subordinates  

Swimming Lowered Blood Pressure In Sedentary Over 50s

Over 55s More Active Than Younger People

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Black Tea for Blood Pressure, Frying with Olive Oil and more on Today's Talkers

Black Tea Cuts Blood Pressure
Ooohh and it is so good in the winter, too!

Frying with Olive Oil and Sunflower Oil is OK for Heart
Good news, because I ate french fries tonight! Oh, wait, they probably weren't cooked in olive oil ... 

Immune System Ramps Up When You're Stressed
This is one more reason to surround yourself with positive people who will bring you less stress and more joy.

Stay Positive and You'll See Health Benefits

One of my favorite quotes of all time is "Be relentlessly positive," by Sally Meyerhoff, a fellow runner (although she was much better than I'll ever be) who I met just a few times, but who has now made a lasting impact on my life and beliefs.

Read Sally's story here. A rising marathoner from AZ, Sally died about a year ago when she was hit by a truck on her road bike.

A new study shows that Sally was right - just by staying positive, we can dramatically improve our lives (through improving our health). The study says that there are benefits of positive reinforcement and positive thinking, although the benefits are only around for so long as the encouragement and reinforcement is around. When it goes away, our health fades.

While some may think that this shows that positive psychology does not work in the long run, I beg to differ. I think that by thinking positive EVERY day, and staying that way, we can live healthier, fitter and better lives.

One more big thank you to Sally ...

Monday, January 23, 2012

Today's Talkers: Why the last bite tastes the best, Parents' influence on kids health and more

Parents May Hold Key to Treating Kids' Obesity

Child Obesity Linked To Chemical Phthalates

Study finds that, psychologically, last bite is best

Lower Quality Of Life In Young Women With Breast Cancer

Injury Prevention Measures Needed When Considering Increased Physical Activity For Kids

 

Women With Diseases Feel More Pain Then Men

It’s now proven that women with common diseases feel more pain than men with the same disease. A study by Stanford University School of Medicine investigators looked at how hospital patients with diseases reported their pain on a scale of one to ten, before being treated.

In all cases, women reported their pain to be higher.
“It's still not clear if women actually feel more pain than men do,” said Butte, one of the study authors. "But they're certainly reporting more pain than men do. We don't know why. But it's not just a few diseases here and there, it's a bunch of them -- in fact, it may well turn out to be all of them. No matter what the disease, women appear to report more-intense levels of pain than men do."
Although this is unrelated, it made me wonder if the same applies to working out. Can men endure higher level of pain during workouts? I can’t seem to find anything on this on the internet. But I know from working out with one of my guy friends the other day that his tolerance to the squats and jumps was just about the same as mine. :)

What do you think causes women to have more pain? Do you think that it means we are wimpier, as the study author is kind of implying above?

Today's Talkers

Pomegranate Seed Oil Doesn't Cool Hot Flashes

Study: Helmets for Young Kids Don't Work for Winter Sports

Study Describes Simple, Inexpensive Program That Improves Healthy Choices In Hospital Cafeteria

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Yum … Looking at Pictures of Good Food Really Does Make You Hungry

That cheeseburger on the TV screen really makes you feel hungry, doesn’t it? Well yes, a new study shows that it does.

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry found that when men looked at images of appetizing food, a hormone in their blood that plays a role in food consumption increased.

It proves something that we have known all along, and makes me feel a bit less crazy for always feeling hungry when I see pizza restaurant commercials. Seriously, I saw a Dominos commercial this weekend for their new cheesy bread … with cheese stuffing

cheese
… and I was practically drooling. I had just eaten and was really full, but still I feel like I could’ve demolished an entire box.

This also goes to show why I gained ten pounds when I worked at Sauce, other than my complete lack of self control.

Weekend Word ... Office Health, Wine, Headphones and More

Red Wine Versus White Wine - Comparison Of Effects On Hormones Related To Breast Cancer Risk

Is Your Office Making You Sick

Natural Trans Fat Less Unhealthy Than Manmade

The Hazards of Using Headphones When you Walk

Sex Safe for Most Heart Patients

Do Grapes or Alcohol Make Wine Good For The Heart?

New URL, So People Can Follow Me Now ...

So, if anyone out there was following my blog, I think they have to "refollow" now, or maybe not. I don't know how all this works.

Well, today is a big day as I am officially done messing around with my blog. With the changes this weekend, though, I have a new URL. It turns out that when you buy your own URL (like I did - www.thewellwire.com) and try to use it through a blogger site, it doesn't allow people to get posts that they subscribe to and doesn't allow you to have "friends" that can see your stuff. Who knew. So I got rid of the URL and I am back to using thewellwire.blogspot.com. That is fine with me!

Anyway, if you like reading my stuff you should follow my blog now that I have it all set up!

Friday, January 20, 2012

Better Sleep Equals Less Appetite

If you want to control your appetite, you have got to get to bed on time, according to this new study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.



The study shows that the part of the brain that controls the appetite is very affected by how much snoozin' we do.
"After a night of total sleep loss, these males showed a high level of activation in an area of the brain that is involved in a desire to eat. Bearing in mind that insufficient sleep is a growing problem in modern society, our results may explain why poor sleep habits can affect people's risk to gain weight in the long run. It may therefore be important to sleep about eight hours every night to maintain a stable and healthy body weight," Christian Benedict of Uppsala University, one of the authors, wrote.

It's a big coincidence that this study came out this week. I have been having a really really hard time getting to sleep this week, and I have found myself snacking all day long. There is a lot going on in the newsroom that makes it hard to clear my head. I have been going to sleep anytime between 11:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m., and then struggling to wake up at my normal 6 or 6:30. For example, I still haven't made it to work today and it is past 9, and I didn't even work out this morning. And more often than usual, I find myself thinking about how hungry I am, or snacking on something that I normally wouldn't. Maybe this weekend I will try to hit the hay a bit earlier.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Binge Drink Coffee to Prevent Diabetes

If you notice more people running around, all hyped up on caffeine at work tomorrow, you know why.

An article posted on Yahoo! News today wrote that by drinking four or more cups of coffee each day, you lower your risk of diabetes by 50 percent. The article sites a new study published in the Journal of Food and Agricultural Chemistry. Also, with each cup you drink after that, your risk lowers 7 more percent.

(BTW, have you seen this new caffeine inhaler? Crazy.)

Considering I had the equivalent about two cups in my mug this morning, I guess I have a few more to go before midnight! Speaking of my mug, have you seen these no spill mugs?














My boyfriend bought me this basic one, and I have to say, being able to throw my coffee in my purse in the morning is really nifty!