Exercising while at work is important in fight against obesity

In today's busy world it's important to allot time for exercise.  Read this article from Michael Morton about fighting obesity through exercise at work:

While the number of joggers and walkers in the Framingham Technology Park seems to vary with the weather and the prospect of bathing suit season, Bill Donovan consistently gets out three to four times a week for sanity's sake.
"It forces me to push away from the desk," the Bose worker said after slowing during a recent lunchtime run near his New York Avenue office. "You get too caught up in the stress of the day."
If new research holds up, then other workers would be wise to join him, if not for their mental states then for their physical health. And it wouldn't be a bad idea for companies to start helping them, too.
A study published in the journal PloS One attributes some of the rise in American obesity to the decline in the number of jobs requiring at least moderate physical activity. In the 1960s, roughly half of the jobs made people move, compared to less than 20 percent now.
In MetroWest, 53 percent of adults were classified as overweight in 2009 and 17 percent as obese. Those conditions can bring on health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol, heart disease and other burdens.
"Given that it is unlikely that there will be a return to occupations that demand moderate levels of physical activity, our findings provide further strong evidence of the public health importance of promoting physically active lifestyles outside of the work day," the authors wrote.
But, while exercise after work is definitely helpful, separate findings from the Mayo Clinic, the American Cancer Society and others also show that post-work exercise alone is not enough to counter muscles left inactive while sitting at office desks for long stretches.
Making small changes such as using stairs, getting up and talking with colleagues, and taking regular breaks can help combat weight gain, the researchers say.
On New York Avenue, however, even the regular lunchtime crowd reported it was easy to get wrapped up in work.
It's also unclear to what degree employers are trying to break up sedentary stretches. Some companies offer wellness programs and hold a vested interest in keeping employees healthy and insurance costs down, but they still want work to get done.
"You have to balance all that with productivity," Mark Abate of Strategic Benefit Advisors in Southborough said. "Companies hire employees to do a revenue-generating activity."
At electronic vision developer Cognex in Natick, engineers play Frisbee at lunch. Elsewhere in town, software firm MathWorks subsidizes membership in its onsite, staffed gym, and employees are encouraged to visit colleagues on other floors and in other buildings on the company campus.
Middlesex Savings Bank has joined the state Public Health Department's Worksite Wellness program. And EMC, the computer storage company with satellite offices in Westborough, Milford and Franklin, offers gyms at most of its locations and an Olympic-size swimming pool at its Hopkinton headquarters.
The company also has introduced a pilot program where employees are equipped with an accelerometer to measure steps and receive coaching.
"We're very conscientious about getting our employees in motion," said Delia Vetter, senior director of benefits and programs. "It's not the type of environment where we say you can't get up until it's break time."
Researchers write about redesigning offices to encourage walks. But in determining how to promote fitness, Abate said, firms must figure out whether to spend money retrofitting offices or installing new equipment. They also have to find out whether such new initiatives are even effective, with many of the companies having to rely on employees giving feedback on their own.
Already, local firms are making changes to their vending machine and cafeteria offerings, dangling cash or prizes for employees completing risk surveys and joining wellness programs, and providing a range of incentives to sign up for mainstream dieting regimens.
But Abate said a few of his corporate clients have also asked about using body mass index - a score based on weight and height - to set insurance premiums, much like surcharges for smokers who aren't trying to quit.
"It's very premature and tentative," he said, and no more steps have been taken so far.
The premise is that employees sticking with their target or making progress would not get penalized, but Abate said questions remain about how targets would be set, measured and monitored, and how workers would react. It's also unclear whether such a move would fly with state insurance regulators.
Asked about the body mass index rumblings, Vetter said EMC doesn't even apply a smoking surcharge. She cited morale.
"We're focused on helping employees live a healthy lifestyle in general," she said. "We're not punitive for a particular habit or activity."
With its programs, EMC has saved more than $200,000 in health care costs, Vetter said.
One potential solution to office inertia is a work station equipped with a treadmill, although its local popularity could not be determined. Many of the desks at MathWorks, however, feature a lever so that employees can raise them and work at their desks while standing.
At his Southborough law practice, 40-year-old Daniel Kriegsman exercises after work every day, but he still spends long hours drafting and reviewing documents.
Saddled with knee and lower back pain, he said he has thought about a stand-up desk - some of his wife's colleagues at Monster.com in Maynard have them - but wonders whether he'll have to cram in more equipment.
"I always thought if you had a desk job, you'd feel great," he said, having worked at restaurants and landscaping jobs earlier in life.
Given the unemployment rate, he feels guilty about his worries, but he is also thinking ahead to the next several decades of practicing law.
"I wonder how my body's going to be able to handle it," he said.

More from here: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/lifestyle/health/x704496837/Exercising-while-at-work-is-important-in-fight-against-obesity

Eat to heal

This is a great article written by Ms. Cory Quirino.  Lots of tips to live a healthy lifestyle.  Read on:

THE HUMAN body has the power to generate energy, and by so doing, to heal itself. But in order to keep the generator within in good running condition, here are a few reminders.

Body talk
•Frequency and moderation—It doesn’t really matter how many times you eat; just make sure they are moderate portions. How small? Let’s say, half a dinner plate will do. Too small? By talking smaller meals, the incidence of diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol can be avoided.

•Choose healthy— The challenge now is what to put in your mouth. If you simply go by the decision of your taste buds, you will stuff yourself with anything and everything yummy, like pizza, steak, lechon, potato chips, ice cream, and forget all the nutritious things like fresh green salad, fruits in season, steamed fish, bean stew.
How about a compromise if you have not mastered the art of balance? Let’s meet halfway. Begin with the raw food first, fresh greens and fruits. Wait 15 minutes, then take a small portion of your favorite food, even if it is crispy pata. By small, I mean not more than one cup. At least try.
Then, even if you’re a carnivorous person, you can alternate the days with fish. This way, you are living the science of going light. By thinking green and fresh before every meal, you are giving your digestive system a healthy break.

•Keep it occupied—Do not go for long periods without food in your stomach; you will run out of steam fast. Blood sugar and the symptoms are common: weakness, cold sweats, fainting spells, palpitations. All these happen because your body has no food to digest, which it needs to convert into energy.
So, keep your stomach occupied with something to digest. But by choosing low-calorie food, you increase your life expectancy. Studies have shown that people on low-calorie diets tend to live longer and healthier.

•Abstain—Abstinence from alcohol, sugar and fatty foods immediately lowers your risks for heart attack, cancer and stroke. New reports have come in suggesting that low-calorie regimens increase the melatonin levels found within the gastrointestinal tract, thereby enhancing the immune system.

Special foods have healing benefits. Some of these:
Grapes—Resveratrol-rich, it works against cancer and cardiovascular disease.
Grapefruit—Its limonoids and naringin fight breast cancer.
Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries—The allergic acid is considered an anti-cancer, anti-aging ingredient.
Orange/red colored vegetables (like squash)—High in beta-carotene, they work against cancer, heart disease and stroke.
Cherries—This delicious fruit contains perillyl alcohol, which fights cancer of the breast, lungs, stomach, liver and skin.
Cruciferous vegetables—Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage (the ones with the curls) have indoles, cell-protectors, and sulforaphane and isothiocyanates, all cancer-fighters.
Garlic, onions, leeks, chives, scallions—All contain allicin, a known substance that slows down the growth of cancer cells.
Soy—A high-protein food that contains genestein and insoflavones which suppress new blood formation in cancerous growths.
Tomatoes—This red fruit/ vegetable has lycopene, which is best as a cancer fighter, particularly prostate colon, bladder and pancreas.
Eggs—The egg yolk (which most people avoid due to a cholesterol scare that is largely exaggerated) has choline, which actually dissolves fat and keeps cholesterol moving in the bloodstream. Eggs are high in sulphur and essential amino acids, all powerful antioxidants.

Heart and mind matters
Unburden your heart, unload your minds. Many of us go about our daily lives carrying excess baggage. Why is that so important? Maybe you are simply unaware of it. Subconsciously, you have stored the energy of negative experiences and memories.

In time, these will fester inside you. That’s why it’s good to unload now.
Cleansing tea—Take three stalks of lemongrass, pour boiling water, and drink.
Affirm today: “I claim God’s best in my life!”
Love and light!



More from here: http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/2295/eat-to-heal

World Bank urges laws vs bad fats, transfats

This is an interesting article on how World Bank promotes healthier lifestyle.  Read on:

The World Bank is urging third-world countries to enact laws to encourage good food processing practices and control transfat content in food in the global fight against rising non-communicable diseases (NCD) like high blood pressure.
“These efforts, such as more effective legislation on the use of trans-fats and tobacco as well as public education to reduce salt intake would help delay the onset of these diseases,” the bank said in Sri Lanka.
The report differentiated between unhealthy transfats and good fats. Other data culled from the report:
All fats, saturated or unsaturated (further classified as monounsaturated and polyunsaturated), and man-made unhealthy transfats are all carbon chains linked with hydrogen atoms on either side of carbon atom. These individual chains are called “fatty acid” chains.
Meat (beef, lamb, pork ham and bacon), lard, dripping fast foods, meat pies, sausages, dairy products (butter), whole milk, cream and cheese contain fatty acids having saturated fats. These fats are converted to triglycerides, the fat that accumulates in the body responsible for obesity. They are stable at room temperature and do not become rancid.
In addition, triglycerides and cholesterol are biosynthesized in the liver from saturated fats. They cannot be converted to transfat as there are no vacant carbon atoms in the chain. Coconut oil, also a saturated oil, contains medium chain fatty acids (about 12 carbon atoms in one carbon fatty acid chain), and is metabolized in the liver without synthesizing cholesterol and triglycerides.
Fats in coconut oil, mainly in the form of monoglycerides, are considered harmless and not converted to triglycerides in the body.

Good fats
Unsaturated fats are classified into two major classes – monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Some carbon atoms are without hydrogen atom links in both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. When a pair of hydrogen atoms is missing in the carbon fatty acid chain, such carbon chains are called monounsaturated fatty acids. When more than one pair of hydrogen atoms is missing, they are called polyunsaturated fatty acids. Examples of mono-unsaturated oils are olive, avocado and peanut.
Polyunsaturated fats are further classified as Omega-6 type and Omega-3 type. These are essential fatty acids (EFA). The body cannot produce EFAs so they need to be derived from food.
The main fatty acid in Omega-6 is is found in sunflower, cotton seed, corn, sesame, soybean, evening primrose oil, vegetable seed oil and grape seed oil.
Vegetable seed oil and corn seed oil are used to make transfat through a process of adding hydrogen vapor under pressure. This is referred to as hydrogenation. “Transfats are ‘man-made fats.’”
Omega-3 fatty acids rich sources are mustard seed oil, canola oil, wheat-germ oil, soybeans, baked beans, red kidney beans, mushrooms, green beans, spinach, leeks, lettuce, seaweed, mustard, nuts and legumes, seafood and fish. They are important to prevent and treat heart disease, reduce inflammation and prevent cancer.  These oils lower the bad LDL cholesterol and elevate the good HDL cholesterol as well as help brain growth and development
Good sources of Omega-3 oils from fish are sardines, herrings, mackerel, bluefish, tuna, salmon, pilchard, butterfish and pompano. Organ meats such as brain and bone marrow, lean meat and eggs are other sources. Foods fortified with Omega 3 such as eggs, milk, yoghurt and bread, as well as fish-oil supplements, are other sources.

Bad fats, transfats
The body cannot differentiate between foods with transfats and normal saturated fats. Our cells become saturated with this artificial fat when consumed excessively and replaces saturated fat. This interferes with the normal metabolic activities of the cells, and toxic material may accumulate within cells. These fats also harm the immune system and may lead to cancer, heart disease and other chronic diseases.
Margarine is a transfat made from polyunsaturated vegetable oils such as sunflower, safflower, soybean and corn. Polyunsaturated fats become rancid at room temperature within days, due to its unstable quality. They have to be hydrogenated to be preserved to increase shelf life. This process of hydrogenation preserves and solidifies the oils.
Hydrogenation ruins the nutritional value of vegetable oils, but it is done to solidify oil, so that it can be made to resemble real foods such as butter. This process improves the spread-ability, texture, “mouth feel” and makes margarine convenient to use immediately after being taken out from the refrigerator.

Fast food
Today people are eating more food made with hydrogenated oils and less fresh vegetables, fruits and other whole foods, and this unhealthy eating is causing many health problems.
Most of the transfats in the diet come from commercially prepared baked goods, margarine, snack foods and processed foods, along with french fries, and other fried foods prepared in restaurants and fast-food outlets.
Transfats are worse for cholesterol levels than saturated fats because they raise bad LDH and lower good HDL They also cause inflammation and an overactive immune system that has been implicated in heart disease, stroke, diabetes and other chronic conditions.
Even small amounts of trans-fat in the diet can have harmful effects. An extra 2 percent of calories from transfats daily – about the amount in a medium order of french fries – increases the risk of coronary heart disease by 23 percent.


More from here: http://business.inquirer.net/3232/world-bank-urges-laws-vs-bad-fats-transfats

Fight cancer with your fork

Take a look at this article which promotes eating fiber-rich food.  Read on:

According to a new study, one of the deadliest types of cancer is also one of the most preventable. The World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research found that eating too much meat raises the risk of colorectal cancer and that eating fiber-rich vegetarian foods reduces the risk. What's more, nearly half (45 percent) of colorectal cancer cases "could be prevented if we all ate more fiber-rich plant foods and less meat."

This serves as yet another reminder that one of the best weapons in the war on cancer is a fork.

Scientists at Imperial College London conducted the new analysis as part of the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research's groundbreaking Continuous Update Project (CUP). They found that a person who eats just 3.5 ounces of pork, beef or lamb every day has a 17 percent higher risk of developing colorectal cancer than does someone who eats no meat.

Three ounces of meat is approximately the size of a deck of cards. That's just one serving size as determined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, yet it's far less than most Americans ingest in one sitting, let alone in one day.

Just about any meat is loaded with the saturated fat that the American Cancer Society believes is linked to cancer of the colon and rectum, but processed meats such as ham, bacon, hot dogs and deli slices carry an even greater risk. According to the CUP report, if a person eats 3.5 ounces of processed meat every day, his or her risk for colorectal cancer increases by 36 percent. The more meat you eat, the higher your risk will be.

Almost as bad as what's in meat is what's not in it: fiber. Meat and dairy products have absolutely no fiber at all, while fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains are loaded with it. Fiber helps speed the passage of food through the colon. Meat, on the other hand, tends to hang around and, well, rot.

In my work with PETA, I've been researching and writing about vegetarian issues for more than 15 years. And the conclusion of each new nutritional study is nearly always the same. There is overwhelming evidence linking meat to some of our society's most severe health problems. Conversely, eating vegetarian foods can greatly reduce your risk of developing many of these same diseases - and in some cases, actually reverse them.

For example, according to the American Dietetic Association, vegetarians have "lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease, lower blood cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer" than meat-eaters do. The American Cancer Society recommends "choosing most of your foods from plant sources and limiting your intake of high-fat foods such as those from animal sources."

If we take away anything from such nutritional research, it should be that the best prescription for good health is always prevention. And if making the sensible switch to a vegan diet can so greatly benefit our health - not to mention save animals' lives - why not at least try it? With summer fast approaching, and with it a wealth of locally grown fruits and vegetables available in farmers' markets and at produce stands, now is a great time to start eating for life.



More from here: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/06/06/3679963/fight-cancer-with-your-fork.html

Scientists Discover 'Superbad' Cholesterol

An interesting discovery on a new type of cholesterol.  Read on:

NEW YORK (CAP) - Researchers at NYU Medical Center have discovered a new, stickier and more deadly form of bad cholesterol they're calling "superbad" cholesterol, according to findings acquired by CAP News.

The study found that unlike normal bad cholesterol, known as LDL, which gradually attaches itself to arterial walls and clogs the arteries, superbad cholesterol immediately fills up entire arteries "like you stuck a caulking gun down there," wrote the study's coordinator, Dr. Bentley Worthington, in a preface to the findings.

According to the report, America's changing dietary habits likely led to the development of this ultra-bad cholesterol.

"Much like stronger bacteria have formed in response to anti-bacterial sprays and lotions, cholesterol too has adapted as we consume more and more saturated and trans fats," wrote Worthington. "You can only eat so many KFC Double Down sandwiches before your body finds a way to fight back.

"And I'm not just talking about all the pooping," he added, in what was apparently a rough draft of the study.

The study was leaked to CAP News by a researcher who asked not to be identified, claiming that the findings were being suppressed by "powerful forces" determined not to see them come to light before the Memorial Day weekend.

"They had a lot of hamburgers and hot dogs they needed to push, and were afraid these findings would stymie sales," claimed the researcher, who quoted a Kraft company executive as telling the hospital's board, "It's all psychological. You yell cardiomyopathy, everybody says, 'Huh? What?' You yell superbad cholesterol, we've got a panic on our hands on Memorial Day weekend!"

Kraft spokesman Michael Hirschberg denies the allegations, saying that Kraft always has the good health of its customers in mind. He pointed to the company's new "Eat Sensibly" advertisements, featuring their spokesman, competitive hot dog eater Joey Chestnut.

A study of the findings reveals why they might raise concern among some food manufacturers. In addition to clogging the arteries at an alarming rate - "one Cinnabon can be enough to do it," it found - pieces of the superbad cholesterol can flake off the artery wall and travel directly to the heart, where they cause the aorta to expand and eventually explode in a tremendous chest-extruding fireball.

The study mentions one test case, Karl Stubens of Estill Springs, Tenn., a regular subject of Lucas Earls, the prominent obesity videographer. Stubens, who weighed more than 350 pounds and admitted to eating at Arby's more than four times a week, told researchers his high cholesterol could be blamed on "family history." Then his chest blew up.

"It was like that scene in Alien, except instead of a little creature popping out, it was an Angus Three Cheese & Bacon hoagie," the study read.

The study also blamed superbad cholesterol for the sudden upswing in mortality rates among suburban mothers who had been mainlining Girl Scout cookies. "Well, the cholesterol, and Oprah going off the air," the study read.

Meanwhile, the creators of the 2007 film Superbad have filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against NYU Medical Center, suggesting the researchers go with a different name for their killer cholesterol, such as "wicked bad cholesterol" or "cholesterol that sucks."

"When I wrote Superbad, I had no intention of it becoming the name for a type of cholesterol," said the movie's screenwriter, Seth Rogen. Then his chest blew up.

More from here: http://www.crystalair.com/story.php?id=201105014