Scientists list fat top 10: Experts go outside

Why are so many people fat? In a new report, scientists have come up with some novel excuses. Among them: air conditioning, lack of sleep, fewer smokers and more sex among obese people, which, of course, can produce chubby kids.

Twinkies aren't the only things weighing America down, these researchers contend in a report published Tuesday in the International Journal of Obesity.

"I think it's very creative," said Dr. Robert Kushner, medical director of the weight management program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, who wasn't involved in the research. "We are facing an epidemic with no tipping point in the near future. At this point, there are no silly ideas."

'WE SHOULD BE OPEN-MINDED'

David Allison, a University of Alabama biostatistician, invited 19 other scientists in the United States, Canada and Italy, to work on the report. They looked at more than 100 studies on potential contributors to obesity besides diet and exercise, and concluded there was at least some support for 10:

1. Inadequate sleep. (Average sleep amounts have fallen, and many studies tie sleep deprivation to weight gain.)

2. Endocrine disruptors, which are substances in some foods that could alter fats in the body.

3. Nice temperatures. (Air conditioning and heating limit calories burned by sweating and shivering.)

4. Fewer people smoking (less appetite suppression).

5. Medicines that cause weight gain.

6. Population changes (more middle-agers and Hispanics, who have higher obesity rates).

7. Older birth moms. (That correlates with heavier children).

8. Genetic influences during pregnancy.

9. Darwinian natural selection. (Fat people outsurvive skinny ones.)

10. Assortative mating, or "like mating with 'like,' " as Allison puts it. Translation: fat people procreating with others of the same body type, gradually skewing the population toward the heavy end.

Not that people necessarily should try to alter these factors, Allison said. For example, he said, "We would never recommend that people start smoking to reduce their body weight."

Allison said no food or beverage makers funded any part of the report, though he and some collaborators consult for such companies.

The point is, there is more to obesity than diet and exercise, he said. "These are 10 reasonable hypotheses, and as scientists, we should be open-minded," Allison said.

Still, Marion Nestle, a nutrition professor at New York University, found much to criticize in the report.

"I'd put this in the category of 'calorie distracters' -- 'Let's just do anything to get people to stop worrying about having to eat less and move more,' " said Nestle, a frequent food industry critic.

Ready to lose weight in '07? 4 steps to success

Like so many people, you have made a resolution to lose weight in the new year. Now what? Are you like the reader who sent this plea? “I can’t lose weight. I just don’t know where to start.”

So much conflicting advice is out there that it is no surprise if you are confused. Here are the basic steps to get started.

Are you ready?
Long-term weight management requires new eating and activity habits. Change takes effort. Failure is demoralizing. Before you start, first ask yourself why you want to lose weight. Your reasons need to be specific, for example, to improve your health, to increase your energy level, to look better. Are your reasons important to you? Important enough to sustain you when choosing between a cheeseburger with fries and a grilled chicken sandwich with a salad? Will your resolve keep you going against the reality of your everyday life? Ask yourself:

Do you have a lot of stress in your life? If, for example, you are in the middle of a job change or a move, these may undermine your weight loss.

Do you have the time to learn new eating habits and to fit physical activity into your day?

Do you have the support of those around you?

If your motivation is high, and the support and timing are right, let’s get started. If you are not ready now, you can still strive to make some healthy changes.

What kind of loser are you?
Should you do it on your own? Many people who have successfully lost weight use books or the Internet. There are hundreds of choices, so you should be able to find advice that fits your needs.

If you don't think you can do it on your own, consider joining a commercial weight-loss program such as Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers or TOPS (Take off Pounds Sensibly). These are all balanced programs that will provide guidance and praise for your achievements.

Before you begin, talk to your doctor. This is important to ensure that you are healthy enough to change your diet and increase your activity. Most medical practices can give you advice about diet and exercise, and should be able to tell you if a book or a commercial program is sound. Keep in touch with your doctor as you lose weight. You are likely to see health improvements, and these may require changes in the medications you take for weight-related disorders such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

An excellent option is to work with a registered dietitian — nutrition experts with the letters R.D. behind their names. Registered dietitians are trained to help you make healthier choices and behavioral changes. Ask your doctor for a referral or contact the American Dietetic Association to find one in your area.

If you have weight-related health problems, check your health insurance to find out if weight-loss treatment is covered.

Setting goals
Know your weight and your body mass index (a ratio of your weight to height), and keep track by weighing yourself at least once a week. Your health professional or the book or Web site you have chosen will show you how your values compare with those for optimal health.

Your weight-loss goal should be realistic. A loss of 5 percent to 10 percent of your starting weight is known to bring health benefits and is thought by health professionals to be a realistic goal.

Aim to lose 1 to 2 pounds per week. Research shows that you are more likely to keep the weight off if you lose at a slow and steady rate than if you drop rapidly. A loss of a pound a week requires that you cut out 3,500 calories, or 500 calories a day. The only way to lose weight is to take in fewer calories than you burn. The best results come from a combination of a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity.

Eating right and moving more
If you have gone to a health professional or to a commercial weight-loss program, they will have helped you to define an eating and fitness plan that fits your needs and preferences. If have you decided to try on your own, your plan should do the following:

Stress that when you are managing calories, it is more important than ever to eat nutritious foods.

Focus on what you can eat, not on what you must give up.

Teach you to make food choices that will help control hunger.

Show how to fit your favorite foods into your diet.

Reinforce eating and activity patterns that you can sustain for a lifetime of achieving your own healthy weight.

Humiliation to Help Lose Weight

What if the overweight people in our nation were made to wear little bikinis in a hope to humiliate them into losing weight? This technique worked for Kirstie Alley when she made the promise to appear on stage of the Oprah show in a bikini. A year later when she made her next appearance she was able to proudly show off her new thinner body.

Researches have discovered that by simply making a goal and telling people helps aid in the weight loss journey. Knowing that there are other people who will be watching and holding you accountable to your goal is sometimes enough to make a person stick to a diet or exercise plan. After all there is nothing worse then being humiliated when you do not keep your goal and this extra motivation might be all it takes to finally lose the weight.

Start by making a goal date, this could be anything from 90 days to 2 years. The key is to pick a day so you have something to work to. Then you will have to pick a goal you want to accomplish. Maybe this is fit in a pair of old blue jeans or be able to wear a smaller size wedding dress. Which ever goal you choose you have to chose one that's reachable. You don't want to say ok I need to lose 100lbs by June and it's already March. This is not doable and will set you up for failure from the start. You should set goals that are healthy and able to be achieved . For example one could set a goal of losing two pounds per week. This would be a realistic goal. If you were to allow yourself a year of losing two pounds per week you could lose 104 lbs. While a year may seem like along time it really isn't. Now once you have your date picked and the goal set tell someone. The more people the better, this way you will have more people holding you accountable. You will be more likely to stick to your plan when you have people you deal with on a daily basis asking how you are doing with your weight loss. Just knowing you have to face these people might be the extra kick you need to keep you going strong with your weight loss plan.

To obtain your goal you will need to find a weight loss plan that is right for your body type . To do this you will need to meet with your doctor and discuss how much weight you are hoping to lose and how you plan on doing this. The doctor can also clear you for the exercise plan you want to use. Don't select an eating plan that you could not stick with for a long period of time. Consider a way of healthy eating that is a life change instead of a temporary one. Loosing weight and then returning to old eating habits will have you gaining back every pound and then some. Add some daily exercise to help you reach your weight loss goal. This could be as simple as walking around the neighborhood to get you started moving. There are several gyms and exercise classes available in most areas. If you are not comfortable working out in front of other people you can choose from a variety of exercise videos to be used in the home. As well as several types of exercise equipment you can use in the comforts of home.

Remember every person is different and what works for one might not work for another. Follow the main keys and you will be on your way to a successful weight loss journey.

Key 1, Choose a goal date
Key 2, Choose a goal to work for
Key 3, Choose a weight loss plan
Key 4, Choose an exercise program
Key 5, Tell people about your goal

While the fear of humiliation will not work for all ,it can be a tool in keeping a person motivated and on track with their weight loss program. Sometimes just being held accountable is a great help when a person wishes to lose weight.

Calcium not a major factor in kids' fat mass gain

The amount of fatty tissue that young children gain as they grow has little to do with their calcium intake, a new study shows.

There is some evidence linking adequate calcium consumption to lower body fat percentage. But based on her study, Dr. Bonny L. Specker of South Dakota State University in Brookings, said, rather than giving kids calcium supplements, "you're going to want to get them out playing and running around to prevent obesity."

To investigate whether calcium intake might affect body fat in children, Specker and colleagues analyzed results from a one-year trial of calcium supplementation in 178 children aged 3 to 5 years.

There was no relationship between calcium intake and fat mass gain, except among the children who were consuming the lowest levels of calcium. For these children, there was a weak relationship, with children receiving calcium supplements gaining 0.3 kilograms in fat mass compared to 0.8 for those who weren't taking the supplements.

Among children with very low calcium intake, Specker noted, issues of bone health are more of a concern than body fat levels.

In general, she added, children in this age group get plenty of calcium. For children aged 1 to 3 years, she said, 500 milligrams of the mineral are recommended daily, while the requirement rises to 800 milligrams a day for kids 4 to 8 years old. In the current study, daily calcium intake averaged 900 mg.

She and her colleagues say their study "suggests that if calcium intake is important, it is a weak relation that exists only among children with low dietary intakes. If children consume the recommended dietary intakes of calcium to optimize bone health, additional calcium is not likely to prevent fat mass accumulation."

SOURCE: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, November 2006.

Make sure gym works out for you before signing up

If you resolve to exercise, lose weight, eat healthier or all of the above in the new year, you're not alone. Health clubs, yoga studios and other fitness facilities can offer extra motivation, such as the support of fellow exercisers.

Lisa Oliver attends boot camp classes at a gym in Atlanta, Ga., where she has worked out with a trainer and roughly the same group of people since 2004. "I guess misery loves company, so to speak," she says, laughing. "We're all there, and we try to get there for each other because we know we don't want to be there by ourselves. It's the camaraderie."

Michelle Martin agrees. "It's very much of an incentive walking between the rows of machines in between sets," she says of her membership at a health club. "I would miss it if I didn't go on a regular basis."

Ginny Vose is more than halfway to her goal of losing 60 pounds at Curves. She first chose the gym because she wanted to feel comfortable while working out. "That made it much less scary," she says of the women-only atmosphere. She liked the support the staff gave her, too, and now she works as a coach there.

A club often costs more than exercising at home -- hundreds of dollars more, in some cases. And getting there takes more time out of your busy day. But if you like having access to many pieces of equipment and prefer working out with others, a gym or health club might be right for you.

Here are some things to consider when making your choice.

Determine your fitness goal

You might hear that you should figure out what your fitness goal is -- what you want from your workout. If you're so new to exercise that you really don't know what you like, a facility with a variety of classes, equipment and features can introduce you to different activities. That way, if you find one exercise boring, you can move on to something else. The staff can help, too.

"We sit down with (clients) and find out why they're here, what their past (workout) history was, and we design a program for them," says Mike Mills, membership director of the Midtown Athletic Club at Windy Hill in Marietta, Ga. They follow up with clients later to make sure their needs are being met.

Working with pros

There's no official school to be a personal trainer. But numerous organizations certify trainers, and each has its own set of criteria and qualifications.

"Finding a personal trainer is almost harder than finding a therapist," says Debbie MacLean, a certified athletic trainer and a manager of operations and health management at Coca-Cola's downtown Atlanta fitness facility. "With a personal trainer, you're going to be doing things that you may not want to do. You need to click with them."

Ask trainers what certifications they have or are pursuing. If you have health conditions such as diabetes or heart disease, your trainer should have knowledge and experience working with similar patients.

"I would ask them, 'Have you ever worked with a diabetic before? Are you aware of signs and symptoms if I were to have a problem?' " MacLean says, adding that a trainer should be asking questions about your condition as well.

Before you sign up

When you visit a fitness facility, have a list of questions ready, including:

What are the annual and monthly fees? Are there additional fees for towels or mats? And does your membership cover guest passes at clubs in other cities?

If you have a specific health problem, can the staff address it with the appropriate exercises? Do they have a first-aid plan for emergencies?

How old is the equipment?

At what times are classes and pieces of equipment most crowded?

And ask yourself:

Does the club reflect my interests? Is there enough variety to keep me motivated? On the other hand, am I sure I won't be paying for programs and services I'll never use?

Is the club and its equipment clean and in working order? This includes locker rooms and other areas not devoted to fitness.

Are the staff members and trainers friendly and helpful? Do the fitness pros have appropriate credentials?

Do I understand the membership and cancellation policies?

Finding a club

The International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association offers tips to help find the facility that's best for you:

Ask friends, family members and co-workers where they work out and why. Word of mouth can make or break a fitness facility.

When you shop for a health club, look for one that has programs and services that appeal to you.

Look for one that's convenient -- close to your job or home, so you don't have to make a special trip to work out. And it should be open at the time you're most likely to exercise.

Consider clubs that have services that would make it easier for you to work out -- such as baby-sitting or women-only fitness areas.

Sign up for trial memberships or use a temporary pass to find out how crowded the facility is and what the atmosphere is like at the time you plan to exercise.

12 ideas to keep off holiday pounds

The Twelve Days of Christmas bring holiday foods meant to be enjoyed, but no one wants a weight problem when they end Jan. 5, the day Catholics mark the Epiphany, when the three kings were to have brought gifts for the baby Jesus.

Food psychologist Brian Wansink has had an epiphany of his own about how such problems happen. His new book, "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think," explores the unconscious cues that make us feast as we do, and how we can keep them from manipulating us.

Nearly all of his suggestions are based on published results of scientific studies he has conducted as director of Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab.

Here are 12 of his tips, one for each day of the season:

• Put high-calorie foods on plates in the kitchen and leave leftovers there. You'll eat 15 percent to 20 percent less. Do not serve "fat-family" style (from a big platter or bowl that is passed) unless it's veggies or salad.

• See it before you eat it. Dishing out Chex Mix led one group to consume 134 fewer calories than others who ate straight from the bag.

• Keep the evidence on the table ┬Ч turkey bones, muffin papers, candy wrappers. Diners in one study ate 30 percent more chicken wings when the bones were periodically cleared away than others whose bones stayed in front of them.

• Bank calories. Skip the appetizers if you know you want dessert. You also will be more accurate at estimating how many calories you consume.

• Sit next to the slowest eater at the table and use that person to pace yourself. Always be the last one to start eating, and set your fork down after every bite.

• Embrace comfort food. Don't avoid the food you really want, but have it in a smaller portion.

• Avoid having too many foods on the table. The more variety, the more people will eat. People ate 85 percent more M&Ms when they were offered in nine colors rather than seven.

• Keep your distance. To reduce the mindless snatch and grab, move more than arms length away from the buffet tables and snack bowls.

• For foods that are not good for you, think "back." Put them in the back of the cupboard, the back of the refrigerator, the back of the freezer. Keep them wrapped in aluminum foil. Office workers ate 23 percent less candy when it was in a white, covered candy dish than in a see-through one.

• Use small bowls. A study found that people serving themselves from smaller bowls ate 59 percent less.

• Use tall, narrow glasses for drinks. Even experienced bartenders poured more into short, squat glasses than into skinny ones.

• Don't multitask. People tend to unconsciously consume more when distracted by conversation or a game on TV. Setting your fork down and giving the conversation your full attention will prevent overeating.

"We don't know exactly how many calories, but chances are you'll enjoy it more," Wansink said. "And people will enjoy you more."

The Drive to be Thin

For those of us who celebrated Thanksgiving with a family feast or have begun this season of overindulgence, dieting has been thrown to the winds for what remains of this year.

We've resigned ourselves to the fact that our diet will resume in January 2007. As we consider our own challenges with weight loss, it's hard to imagine people who are so fearful of gaining weight that they can no longer eat enough to survive.

While many Americans are obsessed with diet and the need to be thin, some in our society take this to the extreme. You probably read or heard earlier this month about a young Brazilian model, Ana Carolina Reston, who died from complications of anorexia nervosa at the age of 21.

This was a tragic situation that could have been prevented with intense therapy. When she died, Reston weighed only 88 pounds and had a body mass index (BMI) of 13.5 compared to the 18.5 BMI that is considered underweight.

According to the National Eating Disorders Association, approximately 1 percent of American women suffer from this potentially life-threatening condition at some time in their lives.

The pursuit for thinness is all-consuming. Treatment of anorexia is most effective when the problem is identified early. If you think that someone you know or love may be suffering from this disorder, take a few minutes to visit the Web site of the National Eating Disorders Association. It will help you to understand more about the problem and where to seek help.

When the Label Says 'Low Fat,' Calories Can Pile Up

People - especially overweight people -- consume up to 50 percent more calories when they eat low-fat versions of snack foods than when they eat the regular versions, according to a new Cornell study. Further, a companion study finds, when food labels show serving sizes on such packaged low-fat snacks as granola or chocolates, normal-weight people tend not to overeat them while overweight people do.

"This is a world of fat-free, carb-free and sugar-free products," said Brian Wansink, the John S. Dyson Professor of Marketing and of Applied Economics at Cornell. In fact, many low-fat-labeled foods have only about 30 percent fewer calories than their regular counterparts. "Often, the fat-free version is not much lower calorie than the regular version," Wansink said. "Low-fat labels trick people into eating more than regular labels. But the cruel twist is that these labels have an even more dramatic impact on those who are overweight. They are at danger for really overindulging when they see something with a low-fat label. If we are looking for an excuse to eat, low-fat labels give it to us."

He recommends that low-fat-labeled foods post larger, more realistic serving sizes, which might deter people from eating too much by giving them a more accurate calorie count.

The study, conducted with Pierre Chandon, a marketing professor at INSEAD, an international business school in France, is published in the November issue of the Journal of Marketing Research and reported in Wansink's book, "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think."

Exercises to Help Gain Weight

We discussed earlier the importance of eating right if you want to gain weight. Unless you are eating right, exercising alone will not be able to get you to your optimum fitness and weight. To gain weight, you will need lots of protein in your daily diet. As such, it is a waste of time to exercise a lot in hopes of trying to gain weight if you don't have your nutrition squared away. So the first step is to read the first part of this weight gain guide and start applying it.

In this part we will look at the best exercises to help you gain more weight quickly and efficiently. Exercise is a crucial part of making use of the nutrition you're giving your body. Think of your body like a machine. It needs fuel, and good fuel will help it run better, while bad fuel might make it run, but in the long run will clog is up, and take it away from its optimum best. At the same time, if the machine is never used, it will rust away and not be worth much even if there is any furl in it. That's the exact principle applied here.

You need fuel in form of good nutrition to help you gain weight and get you going at your best, but at the same time, you need to exercise to make sure that the body doesn't rust and again falter from it's best. So what kind of exercises will help you gain the most weight? Here are the best weight gain exercises:

Concept - What you're trying to do is target as many muscle groups as possible. The weight that you gain is directly related to the amount of muscle you build, which is related to amount of testosterone your body produces during the workout. So your aim is to produce higher amount of testosterone during your work out if you want to gain more muscle. This is achieved through stimulation of more than one muscle group during the work out. So all you have to is focus on the compound muscle group exercises and if your nutrition is doing well, you'll be able to gain weight in no time. So what are the best compound muscle exercises?

Bench Press - Bench press targets your chest (inner and outer), your shoulders, your triceps and your forearms to a lesser extent. As such, this is one of the best exercises and should be the staple of your workout. Your chest itself is a combination of many muscle groups, which contains one of the largest ones in the body. This is one of the best exercises to go with if you want to gain weight. For even better results in your endaevors to gain weight, perform some modifications of bench press, such as the incline bench press and you'll not be worried about how to gain weight for long. One of the best things to do to really boost your eforts and quickly gain weight is to go to fatigue each time in every set. Don't settle for a random number.

Squats - Targeting your calves, quadriceps, and parts of the back, this is another great exercise. The muscles in the legs are some of the largest muscles, so even though the total number of muscles in the legs in not as high as some other zones, the gains that you will see in your weight will easily rival any other exercise. If you're really serious about wanting to gain weight, this will quickly become one of your favorite exercises.

Deadlifts - Deadlifts require a good understanding of the proper form and you might need someone to help you with the posture in the beginning, but once you have it down, your weight gain results will start shooting up in a hurry. Deadlifts involve lifting heavy weights using primarily your back, arms and a bit of leg strength. The form of deadlifts is hard to maintain - you are to move slowly and avoid all locking positions, so your posterior sticks out a bit when you are doing deadlifts. If not done properly, deadlifts can lead to back pains, so don't do it unless you're sure of yourself, and always use light weights till you understand how to do them completely. This is another gret way to gain weight quickly.

What Are Some Common Myths and Facts Associated with Obesity?

Myth #1: People only become obese and overweight because they do not engage in weight loss efforts including physical activity and have unhealthy eating habits.

Fact: It is important to remember that obesity is not always a behavioral issue. Although physical activity and eating habits are major contributors to obesity, there are other elements to consider in evaluating causes of obesity. In many instances, weight loss and management efforts require a balanced combination of behavioral change, medical/scientific evaluation and intervention. In addition, hormone disorders (metabolic syndrome, hypothyroidism, thyroid disease) – such as those related to the thyroid, adrenal glands, ovaries and pituitary – can contribute to obesity.

Myth #2: Obesity is only prevalent in developed countries that foster indulgent lifestyles, with poor diets and lack of exercise, like the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

Fact: In economically advanced regions of developing countries, prevalence rates of obesity may be as high as rates in industrialized countries. Contrary to popular opinion, in developing countries, where malnutrition levels are high, there are also reported cases of obesity. While the exact cause of obesity is still under investigation, researchers hypothesize that rising obesity rates in developing countries may be due to societal changes such as greater food consumption and genetic adaptations that impact metabolism. In addition, a recent study by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization suggests that reducing malnutrition in pregnant women could prevent childhood (pediatric) obesity. The theory is that under-nutrition in the womb may adversely affect a fetus’ metabolism – essentially training the child’s metabolism to conserve, rather than use, calories predisposing the childhood (pediatric) or adult obesity.

Myth #3: Once committed to a weight-loss regimen, obese individuals should attempt to lose a large amount of weight as quickly as possible.

Fact: Actually, weight loss – especially fast weight loss (more than three pounds per week) or loss of a large amount of weight – can increase the risk of developing gallstones. Maintaining a steady regimen of about one to two pounds a week over time is more sustainable and less likely to cause gallstones.

Myth #4: Weight gain in women over time is healthy and part of a natural aging process.

Fact: Although metabolism may change over time, weight gain of more than 20 pounds is not a normal part of the maturation process and may actually increase a woman’s risk of obesity-related disease. According to a recent report on overweight and obesity published by the office of the U.S. Surgeon General, women gaining more than 20 pounds between age 18 and midlife double their risk of postmenopausal breast cancer, compared with women whose weight remains stable.

Myth #5: Osteoarthritis only develops when an individual gains a large amount of weight over a short time period.

Fact: Timing is not a major factor in the development of osteoarthritis. For every two-pound increase in weight, the risk of developing arthritis is increased by nine to 13 percent.

Overweight? Blame bacteria in your gut

The size of your gut may be partly shaped by which microbes call it home, according to new research linking obesity to types of digestive bacteria.

Both obese mice — and people — had more of one type of bacteria and less of another kind, according to two studies published Thursday in the journal Nature.

A “microbial component” appears to contribute to obesity, said study lead author Jeffrey Gordon, director of Washington University’s Center for Genome Sciences.

Obese humans and mice had a lower percentage of a family of bacteria called Bacteroidetes and more of a type of bacteria called Firmicutes, Gordon and his colleagues found.

The researchers aren’t sure if more Firmicutes makes you fat or if people who are obese grow more of that type of bacteria.

But growing evidence of this link gives scientists a potentially new and still distant way of fighting obesity: Change the bacteria in the intestines and stomach. It also may lead to a way of fighting malnutrition in the developing world.

Nikhil Dhurandhar, a professor of infection and obesity at Louisiana State University’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center, wasn’t part of the research, but said it may change the way obesity is treated eventually.

“We are getting more and more evidence to show that obesity isn’t what we thought it used to be,” Dhurandhar said. “It isn’t just (that) you’re eating too much and you’re lazy.”

He said the field of “infectobesity” looks at obesity with multiple causes, including viruses and microbes. In another decade or so, the different causes of obesity could have different treatments. The current regimen of diet and exercise “is like treating all fevers with one aspirin,” Dhurandhar said.

In one study, Gordon and colleagues looked at what happened in mice with changes in bacteria level. When lean mice with no germs in their guts had larger ratios of Firmicutes transplanted, they got “twice as fat” and took in more calories from the same amount of food than mice with the more normal bacteria ratio, said Washington University microbiology instructor Ruth Ley, a study co-author.

It was as if one group got far more calories from the same bowl of Cheerios than the other, Gordon said.

In a study of dozen dieting people, the results also were dramatic.

Before dieting, about 3 percent of the gut bacteria in the obese participants was Bacteroidetes. But after dieting, the now normal-sized people had much higher levels of Bacteroidetes — close to 15 percent, Gordon said.

“I think that gut bacteria affects body weight,” said Virginia Commonwealth University pathology professor Richard Atkinson, who wasn’t part of the research team and is president of Obetech Obesity Research Center in Richmond. “I don’t think there’s any doubt about that and they showed that.”

Most microbes beneficial
The growing field of research puts more importance in the trillions of microbes that live in our guts and elsewhere, crediting it with everything from generations of people getting taller to increases in diabetes and asthma.

People are born germ-free, but within days they have a gut blooming with microbes. The microbes come from first foods — either breast milk or formula — the exterior environment, and the way the babies are born, said Stanford University medicine and microbiology professor David Relman, who was not part of the study.

For decades, doctors have treated bacteria in a “warlike” manner, yet recent research shows that “most encounters we have with microbes are very beneficial,” Gordon said.

“Much of who we are and what we can do and can’t do as human beings is directly related to microbial inhabitants,” Relman said.

The Fight Against Fat: a Personal or Public Preference?

New York City staged the first drama when it outlawed trans-fat from all its restaurant's kitchens. My own city is currently attempting the same via County Health Board legislation directed by a local physician. This, of course, has home players in a snit because 'whatwe choose to eat is our choice not government's!' I applaud this say-so.

Trans-fats are a big business initiative created (for profit) by pumping hydrogen into vegetable oil to make it solid at room temperature (think Crisco). Present in foods since 1911, they became so "routine" that it was tricky to find a cookie or chip that didn't pack at least a little trans-fat-punch. The curtain slowly began to fall when health care professionals became convinced that trans-fat (a) raised bad cholesterol, (b) lowered good cholesterol and (c) was increasing the risk for heart disease in folks who ate a lot of it. Their dialogue prompted lay-person education which scripted the "eater" more choice.

Saturated fats have been eaten by humans for thousands of years; butter is the most common. These fats also go solid at room temperature and can raise total cholesterol. Made from animal fats, they had limited shelf life and pricey tag. Shoppers began an obvious guard against fat grams about forty years ago in joint venture with exercise and wellness.

Trans-fats are man-made from plants. At first it was reported that they were "better than" saturated fat because of their plant-base origin. No one informed the consumer that they provided companies cheaper product base with Nirvana shelf-life! It was just few years ago that science and reality shared the same page with us: that trans-fats can be as bad for the body as saturated fats.

Today most physicians appear so alarmed about trans-fatitis that they support removal of it from the food supply. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends to the public eating "as little of it as possible" and earlier this year the Food and Drug Administration required food manufacturers to "tell" in writing on each package the amount of trans-fat contained. Food purchased at Wendy's and KFC is (as I write this!) trans-fat-free but other restaurants are taking legal issue with New York City's ban.

Me? I still love sugar cookie dough made from real Crisco so I tend to walk around those cans that banner "fat free" on a grocer's shelf. I like my Crisco as is, thank you, and think it unthinkable that any professional or government body would use their time to scrutinize the class of oil my fries are seared in. And what about the hottest designer fat?

Unsaturated fats (monosaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat) come from plants, too. They are liquid in use and at room temperature, monosaturated fat the preferred because data to date suggests this lowers the bad cholesterol while maintaining the good. Polyunsaturated fat owns the lower-your-bad-cholesterol gene although too much can also lower one's good cholesterol.

One local business owner (a 34-year, family owned donut business) stated it would financially dump him to switch to trans-fat free oil for donut frying.

"Our fryers use 1,200 pounds of grease and we go through 1,000 pounds a week" he reasoned. Citing approximately a $1,000 increase in weekly output should the ban go through, he said to "raise our prices would risk pricing ourselves out of business". Other locals can choose different route, especially if not use-challenged. Some diners have already done the trans-fat deed.

"For health's sake" said one owner; the owner, however, happens to be a gym/health rat like me who educates herself in these formats and made this choice on a personal level before implementing it in her business.

"Next they'll be saying when we can wipe our butts" said the frustrated/frightened business owner whose entire income seems in jeopardy.

"Nuh-uh" volley physicians who liken their lobby to other health/government innovation such as removing lead from paint.

And while I see both sides of the issue, my deal will ever be "freedom of choice". That's what needs to be remembered when chewing a rancid bite of history tagged 'prohibition'.

Stop the Obesity Epidemic -Feed Your Child Healthy Food!

According to the American Obesity Association 30.3% of children ages six to eleven are overweight, and 15.3% are obese. These are some pretty disturbing numbers, as the American Obesity Association also claims that "excess weight in childhood has been found to predict overweight in adults." So I'm wondering why we still continue to set ourselves up the battle with obesity by feeding our babies and children mountains of junk food. Did you know that potato chips and french fries are the most common vegetables that a toddler eats? Or that Gerber makes Macaroni-And-Cheese baby food as well as baby food desserts packed with sugar? Or that on any given day 30% of the children in America will eat fast food (www.drgreene.com) So I ask you, Is this really what you want your child to be eating?

Those are all just statistics, and you may believe that most Americans have jumped on the healthy eating bandwagon, but I beg to differ. Two of my closest friends routinely feed their children aged sixteen months and 3 years old fast food. One of them started giving her son Kentucky Fried Chicken at seven months! I asked her why she would want to feed her child something as unhealthy as fried chicken and she responded "It's easy, and he likes it." While it's true that feeding your child fast food is easy, you can get healthy foods just as easily. If you are short on time all you have to do is go to the grocery store and you can find many items like fresh fruit and vegetables already washed, chopped, and ready to eat. You can also find whole chicken breasts, grilled fish, and lean meat already cooked at many grocery stores. As for the excuse of "he likes it"- your child can only like if you give it to them! Babies and children don't have a subconscious craving for fried chicken, McDonald's hamburgers, or cupcakes before they've even tried it- they only like it because you've given it to them! The easy way to stop this is to simply, not give your child those foods. My daughter is ten months old, and she won't be getting any of those things (or any other fast food or product with refined sugar) until she is at least two years old. Even after her second birthday she will not be given fast food or sweets except on special occasions, that way she can cherish those times when she is allowed to have them.

You may be thinking that it sounds difficult to withhold something like that from your child- and you may be right. That all depends on if you started feeding your child healthy food at a young age or not. Babies don't need Macaroni-And-Cheese baby food, Sugary Desserts, or any junk food for that matter. You can find baby food without added sugar or other nasty ingredients by simply looking at the labels. If your child is already in love with junk food, simply stop offering it like one of my friends did. Sure, she had some battles with her son. In fact, he refused to eat anything but apples and wheat bread for a day, but eventually he came around and started eating what she provided for him. It may be a battle for a week or two- but the battle against obesity is definitely one worth fighting.

You may also be wondering why it matters what your child eats now, when she can choose her own foods later on in life. This is a valid, but flawed, argument. The foods you feed your child now will shape her tastes for the rest of her life. Not only that, but as parents it is our job to make sure our children are provided for in the best way possible. Basically, feeding our children healthy food is part of our jobs as parents! Fast food is not healthy in any way, shape, or form. The best thing you can get from any fast food restaurant is a salad- which is usually loaded with fatty dressings, croutons, and cheese. Most of the food in the freezer section of your grocer isn't very healthy either. While grilled chicken strips are an excellent source of protein; the fried variety has added fats that just aren't necessary. While steamed vegetables provide many vitamins and minerals; when they are smothered in cheese sauce they are dripping with nothing but extra calories. If you take the fatty sauces, batters, and spreads away from your child- will she still eat her favorite foods? Of course she will, you'll just have to find new ways to cook that add flavor. There is a whole magazine that is devoted to slimming down favorite recipes, Cooking Light, and it's a great resource to check out when making the change to healthy cooking and eating.

We all know what problems stem from obesity including, but not limited to : heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and high blood pressure. If the parents of America don't turn things around soon, the obesity percentage will just keep climbing. So I'm begging you, parents of America, to feed your children healthy food.

Firm designs nasal spray to fight obesity

Dieters may find some welcome assistance
from a new nasal spray that could help resist the appetizing
aromas of cinnamon bun stands, pizza parlors or tempting
bakeries.

Compellis Pharmaceuticals of Cambridge, Massachusetts said
it will begin human trials next year of a nasal spray designed
to fight obesity by blocking the senses of smell and taste. It
won a patent for the product this month.

"The pleasurable effect of eating is all stimulated by
smell and taste," Christopher Adams, the company’s founder and
chief executive, told Reuters on Tuesday.

"The premise is that olfactory activity that controls both
smell and taste is a trigger and a feedback mechanism to eat.
If you have some kind of reduced sense of smell or taste, you
tend to eat less," he said.

The product, known as CP404, is among the latest devices
and treatments under development in the multibillion-dollar
fight against obesity.

An estimated 65 percent of adult Americans are overweight
or obese, putting them at higher risk of heart disease,
diabetes and other conditions that account for more than $100
billion of the country’s $1.9 trillion annual healthcare bill.

French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis began marketing its
obesity pill Acomplia in Britain in June and expects to receive
U.S. government approval by April to sell the drug in the
United States. The pill switches off the same brain circuits
that make people hungry when they smoke cannabis.

Medtronic Inc., the world’s biggest maker of medical
devices, is developing a battery-powered gastric pacemaker that
causes the stomach to contract, sending signals of satiety to
the appetite center in the brain.

Enteromedics Inc. of Minneapolis is working with the Mayo
Clinic on a device known as "Maestro" that uses electricity to
paralyze the stomach, reducing or stopping contractions that
churn food as part of the digestion process.

Those last two devices, like CP404, are still years away
from reaching consumers.

TO SEEK FDA APPROVAL

Adams said he would seek Food and Drug Administration
approval in about three years after human trials begin in 2007.
He also expects to tap the stock market to raise $25 million to
$50 million in an initial public offering if human trials are
successful, with the spray expected to hit the market in 2010.

The nasal spray treatment would retail at $500 to $1,000 a
year.

The Obesity Action Coalition, a Tampa, Florida-based
nonprofit organization, cautioned that any such spray should be
accompanied by other treatments and a change in lifestyle to be
effective.

"There are a lot of reasons why obesity exists, and it’s
not always a case of food addiction," said James Zervios, a
spokesman for the coalition.

"People still need to eat. Every time they get hungry I
don’t think they could just use the spray," he said. "People
need to be taught what are the better foods to eat -- what’s
high on protein, what’s low on fat."

Bariatric surgery, including gastric bands like the
Lapband, is the only effective permanent solution, doctors say.
Gastric bypass surgery makes the stomach smaller so patients
can eat less and cuts out a long stretch of small intestine so
fewer nutrients are absorbed.

But the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a unit
of the federal government’s Public Health Service, has warned
that four of every 10 patients who undergo weight-loss surgery
develop complications within six months.

Top 7 Books to Help Overweight Kids

Obesity is a growing epidemic among our children. These books are for parents to help their overweight kids learn about healthy nutrition and exercise and reach a more healthy weight.

1) Trim Kids(TM): The Proven 12-Week Plan That Has Helped Thousands of Children Achieve a Healthier Weight using a combination of nutrition, exercise and behavior modification techniques.

2) Underage and Overweight: America's Childhood Obesity Epidemic: What Every Family Needs to Know with a 7-step diet and exercise plan that focuses on getting your kids to adopt a healthy lifestyle with regular physical activity and a healthy diet.

3) Fit Kids!: The Complete Shape-Up Program from Birth Through High School that includes strategies for 'Turning a Child On' or motivating them to exercise and eat healthy.

4) Slim & Fit Kids - Raising Healthy Children in a Fast-Food World, pediatric nutrition and how to develop a daily plan to help your kids reach or stay at a healthy weight.

5) Helping Your Child Lose Weight The Healthy Way: A Family Approach to Weight Control that concentrates not only on helping your child lose weight, but also maintain their self-esteem.

6) 365 Activities for Fitness, Food, and Fun for the Whole Family
One of the hardest parts of getting kids to be more active and to eat healthier is actually motivating them to do it. This books offers lots of tips that make exercising and eating well fun.

7) American Academy of Pediatrics Guide to Your Child's Nutrition: Making Peace at the Table and Building Healthy Eating Habits for Life
Learn from the experts at the American Academy of Pediatrics about 'Making Peace at the Table and Building Healthy Eating Habits for Life'. With information about why kids become overweight and how to help your overweight child.

Chinese grapple with obesity, herbs not a solution

Unhappy with her weight, Charmaine Tong decided two years ago to try a slimming tea, which supposedly contained only traditional Chinese herbs.

She was overjoyed when she lost her appetite and the bathroom scales began dipping, but her happiness vanished when she began suffering a racing heart beat a month later.

"I chose Chinese medicine as I thought it wouldn't have chemicals and would have fewer side effects, but my heart went out of control," said Tong, a marketing executive in Hong Kong.

She stopped drinking the tea at once, and has since regained the seven pounds she lost, and more.

Pills and teas purporting to "melt away body fat" and help shed unwanted pounds are sold widely across Hong Kong.

Growing affluence, a penchant for eating and a sedentary lifestyle have swollen the ranks of people who are overweight or obese in Hong Kong and China, doctors say.

Thirty percent of Hong Kong's nearly 7 million people are overweight, double the figure 10 years ago, local doctors say.

In China, nearly one in every five Chinese are overweight and there are now at least 60 million Chinese who are obese, according to the British Medical Journal.

It also found that 10 million children from the ages of 7 to 18 were overweight in 2000 in China, 28 times more than in 1985. A further four million were obese.

Obesity and overweight are major risk factors for serious chronic diseases -- such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, and certain forms of cancer -- which caused 60 percent of all deaths worldwide in 2005.

"What we are seeing in our part of the world are people coming in with heart attacks at 40, strokes at 40-ish, kidney problems at 40-ish. Many of these are young mothers still looking after kids and many are breadwinners for the family," Juliana Chan, a professor of medicine and therapeutics at the Chinese University in Hong Kong, told Reuters.

"We are going to see a lot of early deaths, disabilities and there will be an enormous burden on the health care system, which can't cope. Lots of young people will come in requiring bypass operations, dialysis, rehabilitation for strokes and our productivity will reduce."

OBESITY: A GLOBAL EPIDEMIC

A billion people are overweight in the world and of these, 300 million are obese, according to the World Health Organization. Cardiovascular disease killed 17.5 million people worldwide in 2005, and 11 million of those were in Asia.

Apart from eating too much, doing too little and smoking, experts say Asia's weight problem is more pronounced than in the West because of a genetic predisposition to obesity.

"For the same body weight, Asians have more body fat than Caucasians, particularly in the viscera (organs in the abdominal cavity)," said Chan.

"Because of the climate, we are not built to store so much fat, so it spills into the liver, muscles and pancreas, which is why you hear so much about fatty liver."

The smaller Asian build gives rise to abdominal, or central obesity, or a concentration of fat in and around vital organs.

"Asians have problems with central obesity. Excess fat goes into the stomach, it surrounds the guts, gets into the liver. If you don't use it, it gets deposited under the skin, around the heart and muscles," Chan said.

"If the heart muscles are stuffed with fat, it can't store glucose, which then stays in the bloodstream, causing diabetes."

But is traditional Chinese medicine a solution?

"There is no magic bullet no matter what people may claim," said Richard Eu, group chief executive officer of Eu Yan Sang, a leading traditional Chinese medicine retailer in Asia.

"It's a lifestyle modification. We have clinics that help in weight management. It's a combination of acupuncture, herbs and modifying your lifestyle. I don't think it's an easy solution."

10 Tips for Weight Control for Office Workers

It's neither a surprise or a secret that office jobs in which you spend most of the day sitting can lead to weight gain. There are simple and easy ways to get any office worker started on their way to weight control. Once you understand the basic office temptations that stand in your way of weight control, you will stop gaining weight and even start to lose some of that weight.

1. Eat Breakfast

Eating breakfast at home is the best weight control for an office worker. Your body needs food to start the day, and without breakfast your metabolism will be off all day. Eating breakfast before work does not mean ordering two donuts at the local coffee shop drive-thru. It could mean rising earlier to prepare a healthy breakfast. If you skip breakfast, you will be more likely to indulge in the closest food available.

2. Ban the Candy Dishes

Some companies have warped sensibilities when it comes to an office workers' health. They will spend thousands of dollars a year per employee on health insurance, and then actually sanction the presence of candy dishes in the office. One company even went as far as to include candy dishes as one of the acceptable foods that were allowed at each employee's desk.

Take control of your weight and take the initiative and ban the candy dish from your desk. Encourage co-workers to do the same.

3. Take a Walk

Using your coffee breaks to take walks outside of the office instead of drinking coffee will be beneficial to your mental state and to your health. Even if your break is only ten minutes long, or fifteen minutes long, use at least one each day, or both to walk. Bring a co-worker along with you, and you can both begin to enjoy weight control.

If you walk for 15 minutes twice a day, you have already reached the minimum amount of time you should be exercising each day. Even when that half hour is broken down into two fifteen minute sessions, your body will still benefit.

4. Bring Lunch

Weight control for the office worker is very tied into social lunches. It is incredibly tempting to join the crowd and eat out, or order in on pay day. If there is an established day that co-workers tend to eat out or order in, be sure to bring your lunch, and a favorite food. Bringing lunch every day will also keep you from eating out too often, which will only add the calories, and the weight.

5. Limit the Birthday Celebrations

When office work is dismal and tedious (always?) the only way for employees to break free of a humdrum afternoon is to have a celebratory cake. Birthday cakes, retirement cakes, "Oh, lucky you, you're leaving" cakes, baby cakes, etc.....If you are in charge of these sugar and calorie-filled gatherings, limit them.

To maintain healthy weight control, either attend the birthday celebration and forgo the cake, or if it is too tempting, limit the number of office celebrations you attend.

6. Store Healthy Snacks

Finding a way to maintain weight control does not mean no snacking, it just means healthier snacking. The best way to fight off temptation is to keep healthy snacks in your desk drawer or in the office refrigerator. Keep nuts, dry cereal, granola bars, a jar of peanut butter, pretzels, yogurt or fresh fruit at your office.

7. Bring Water

If your office supplies drinking water or the tap water is drinkable, keep a covered sports bottle or other bottle that you can use to fill up. Using one with a cover will keep the computer department off your back. Or, bring your own water. Drinking eight 8 ounce glasses of water while you are at your desk is an essential way for an office worker to gain weight control.

8. Ban the Vendors

Ask your employer to remove the vending machines from your office break room. Or, be sure not to bring small bills or coins to work. It is easier to maintain weight control when you are less tempted by sweets and salty snacks.

9. Keep Gum and Sugar-Free Mints Handy

If you need to do something with your mouth, keep an ample supply of different flavors of sugar-free gum and or mints at your desk.

10. Brush Your Teeth

This one sounds odd, especially for an office worker, but it definitely helps you from indulging in many post-lunch afternoon office temptations. Keep a toothbrush, toothpaste, floss and mouthwash in your desk. Brush after lunch. A fresh-feeling mouth will keep you from snacking on sweets, helping with weight control.

By implementing one or all of these suggestions, you can help diminish the amount of weight you will gain sitting at your desk, and you may even begin to shed a few extra pounds.

Obesity Could Bankrupt the Health System, Warn Doctors

If nothing is done, the rising prevalence of obesity could bankrupt the health system, warn doctors in this week’s BMJ. In the United Kingdom, well over half the population is overweight and more than one in five adults is obese, write Naveed Sattar and colleagues. Obese people are at high risk of multiple health problems, while the cost of obesity to a country's health service is currently estimated at up to 9%, and the overall social cost of the condition is seen as a major hindrance to economic development.

So, can we reverse the rising trend in the prevalence of obesity, and if so, when?

People clearly have some responsibility for their health, but society and government also have a responsibility to make the preferred, easy choices healthier ones. It is increasingly apparent that most individuals are unable to make enough “proactive” changes to prevent excess weight gain but are simply “reactive” to their environment, say the authors.

What is provided is what is eaten so what is provided has to change, they add. Thus education alone will fail to halt this obesity epidemic, and environmental changes (physical, food, and fiscal policy) are urgently needed.

They believe that prevention is the only economic long term solution to the problem and recommend that:
The food industry needs to take more responsibility for preventing obesity. And governments, as custodians of public health, should create the conditions for this to happen
The advertising of energy dense foods needs to be substantially curtailed
The basic principles of energy balance should be taught in primary schools, and education should be provided at all levels to change attitudes and behaviour towards diet and physical activity
Obesity should be made a core part of all medical training
Public health consequences should be considered for all decisions made in public life

Medical practice must adapt to the current epidemic of obesity and nutrition related diseases, while society must also accept that many people now need drugs (and in some cases, surgery) to cut risks of and disability from obesity, and to limit its progression, they write.

As the prevalence and costs of obesity escalate, the economic argument for giving high priority to obesity and weight management through a dedicated coordinating agency will ultimately become overwhelming. The only question is, will action be taken before it’s too late?

Source: British Medical Journal

Health minister faces two Indias, obese and hungry

India plans to introduce yoga in
schools to fight rising obesity among middle-class youngsters,
even as the country continues to battle widespread malnutrition
and "shameful" infant and maternal mortality.

Health minister Anbumani Ramadoss said the country faced a
"galloping" rise in heart disease, diabetes and cancer as
India’s 300-million-strong and increasingly wealthy middle
class ate more junk food and lived more sedentary lives.

At the other end of the spectrum, the country had some of
the worst infant and maternal mortality rates in the world, he
told medical experts at a workshop.

"We have one India which is galloping on the economic front
... while in the other India, human development indices say we
are 126th in the world," Ramadoss said.

"We have on one side undernutrition and on the other side
overnutrition," he said.

Ramadoss said health and lifestyle classes would be
introduced in schools along with yoga to teach everything from
nutrition to AIDS awareness.

"Yoga can go along way in reducing such diseases as
hypertension, diabetes," he added. "This should be made
mandatory in all schools."

Health officials will meet education bureaucrats in coming
weeks to outline a plan to introduce health as a subject in
schools "as soon as possible."

India is the diabetes capital of the world with 37 million
diabetics, many of them obese children, official statistics
show. Unless action is taken, 80 million could be diabetic by
2030.

A private hospital in New Delhi recently conducted a study
of 7-to-14-year-olds and found 23 percent were obese and 17
percent were hypertensive, and blamed junk food and lack of
exercise.

"This is alarming, especially for their future health,"
said Dr. Anupam Sibal, group medical director of the Apollo
hospital chain, which carried out the study. "Teaching them
about good nutrition and exercise will be very welcome."

On the other side of the coin, India still experiences an
under-one infant mortality rate of 56 per 1,000 live births,
and an under-five mortality rate of 74, barely below Eritrea’s
78 and more than double Indonesia’s, U.N. figures show.

"I am ashamed," the health minister said. "We have the IT
revolution ... but then we have this pitiful infant mortality."

Health officials say 70 percent of Indian women are anemic
and 20 percent of adults are undernourished or suffer "from
chronic energy deficiency."

"India is on its way on becoming a superpower, but
unfortunately, 50-60 percent of children under three years are
undernourished," Ramadoss said, adding the government aimed to
better coordinate rural health programs.

Best Diet Plan for You - Counting Calories

While I have only been doing this for excatly one week, It has topped all other diets I have tried in the past. I am currently way over weight. I am hoping to lose 55 pounds, and then maybe more. I will see how I feel once I get them 55 pounds off. Counting calories has to be the easiest diet I have ever tried. So far in one week I have lost 5 pounds.

Losing weight by counting calories is about knowing how many calories you eat on a normal day and trying to burn up as many or at least close to it. Counting calories is pretty flexible and easy to do. You can still eat the foods you love, just in moderation. I found this to be so much better then other diets where certain foods are not allowed. It seems like when you tell me I cant have something, That's the thing I want most. With counting calories, there is nothing I cant have. There might be a day where I go out with friends and eat more then I should have, well I just come home and work off them extra calories.

To first start this diet you will need to weigh your self, and figure out your goal weight. Then you will need to count your normal calories that you eat everyday. During this first day you should eat like any other day. You must know how many calories you eat so this way you will know how many to cut out. I have a few web sites that I use to help me keep track of everything I do. This makes the counting super easy.

Set up a free online journal at fitday. This journal will help you keep track of the foods your eating. It will track your foods, exercises, Weight and your goals. You can View your calories, Nutrition, Weight loss and much more. They have Detailed nutrition for thousands of foods. There is a place where you may add your own food also. Also another category that's available for free is an exercises spot. This way you can keep track of all your daily activities.

The key to losing weight is by cutting as many calories as you can. I was eating and drinking almost 4 thousand calories. I cut it to 2 thousand calories. Yes that still seems like its a lot of calories but its half of what I was eating. I also added some light activities and that's all i needed to do.

There are numerous weight calculators available on the web, I would suggest looking at a few. These are a great help. When shopping in the stores you will want to buy snacks that are low in calories. There are many out there. I currently have a stock of junk food that is in 100 calorie packs. This way I can grab one of them instead of a whole bag of chips. I know I can eat the whole bag and its only 100 calories. This is great for people on the go.

Saturated Fats vs. Unsaturated Fats

While it is necessary and healthy to have some fat in the diet, too much dietary fat can lead to obesity and other conditions like heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

Saturated fats contribute to higher levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol, says the U.S. National Library of Medicine, and should be avoided in large amounts. Foods that are typically high in saturated fat include animal products like butter, cheese, whole milk, ice cream, and fat-laden meats. Some vegetable oils -- such as those from coconut, palm, and palm kernel -- are also high in saturated fats.

Unsaturated fats can actually lower levels of LDL cholesterol, so they are a good alternative to saturated fats. But even unsaturated fats are still high in calories, so excessive amounts in the diet should be avoided. Foods that are a good source of unsaturated fats include olives and olive oil, peanuts, and avocados.

Let's NOT Stuff Ourselves at Christmas Dinner

Christmas dinners and holiday parties are here, and I repeat - to truly indulge in holiday cheer, not stuffing is key!

Let me be clear, because I clearly hit a nerve in my last post. I never said anything about dieting. In fact I suggested that you try everything – and exercise. I said go ahead and fill your plate – and have dessert too – and later take a lovely walk.

Does that sound like dieting to anyone? Don’t answer that – based on some of your comments – I already know that it does!

It’s so funny – no, it’s sad - how many people equate NOT overeating (a positive thing) with dieting or starving (deprivation). Maybe we have inadvertently stumbled upon the answer to the great big American obesity problem - people think overeating is a good thing. Yikes!!

Everyone knows that overeating is unhealthy, unwise, self-defeating, and almost always followed by regret. That’s why we avoid it – admit it – you usually try to not overeat, and when you, do you swear you’ll never do it again. So why now are you defending your right, no, excited about the fact that you plan to overeat at holiday meals?

It’s a set-up. We are feeding the diet-go-round mentality. And as I said, I don’t want you dieting, I want you living a full and free life, not on and off the diet-go-round, on a path of responsible eating and exercise – and all it takes is a little forethought, and conscious consideration. If you think that this is deprivation – I wonder why?

I am suggesting a greater awareness of your eating and exercise behavior, and a little modification. Of course we all overeat now and again - I, as much as the next person - but not because we want to.

I suggest that this year instead of pretending that it is a good thing to overeat at holiday meals, let’s enjoy our meals – eat everything but in moderation. A little forethought has a great impact on leaving regret and physical discomfort behind for good.

Eat – Drink – and be Merry - Yes.
Overeat, No!

So, the questions become:

Can you find enjoyment in food, friends, and family rather than the idea of overindulgence? Do you want to temper this holiday’s consumption and not have to start over in January? Would you consider the possibility that you can avoid overeating and still feel satisfied?
 
I hope the answer to all of that is yes. And if it is – read the suggestions that follow.

If you answer NO to the above, stop reading now, or you’ll just get upset, and I really do want you all to have the happiest of holidays in whatever way you choose to do it.


1. Drink more water throughout the holiday season. There are many reasons why water will help you feel better.

• It’s cold and dry outside – drink more water for better hydration – inside (digestion, elimination) and out (skin and hair). You’ll notice a big difference.
• You are probably eating more than usual – even though you are not stuffing, chances are you are still eating more than usual - probably quite a bit more sugar and salt, too. Drinking lots of fresh spring water will help flush your system’s impurities.
• When drinking alcohol, drink water, too. It’s a good mix, especially at those never-ending office parties when you really DO NOT want to drink too much.

2. Take more walks at holiday time. You’ll have the time – offices are closed – chauffeuring the kids to and from school and activities is curtailed, and even with the kids home there are people around to help keep an eye on them while you walk. So, walk off holiday anxiety – including financial stress, family tension, and excess calories.

3. Think ahead, and think it over. I’m not asking you to deprive yourself of food or fun or eliminate anything, but listen, if you have two or three holiday events in one day – you’re going to have to think about pacing yourself with the food and alcohol.

This is not deprivation – it’s good planning! If you know that the last party has the best food – maybe that’s where to eat dinner, and though you may decide to taste some goodies at the other two parties – think about the fact that dinner is yet to come (stay present and conscious), and don’t just eat your way through every event. You will enjoy the food that you have chosen as your meal and won’t arrive already full, only to eat more and leave totally stuffed.

4. Match every party/dinner with a corresponding walk or other workout. That’s right – one dinner, one workout. A dinner and a party – two workouts. Make it fun. Take a yoga class during the day before your party, and take a walk after your holiday dinner – two eating/drinking events matched by two workouts.

5. Plan to walk with someone else. Make yourself accountable to someone else. Set a meeting time and place - knowing that someone is counting on you to show up - you’ll be much more likely to do so.

6. Exercise could be your key to this year’s fully expressed holiday enjoyment. Take time this season of joy to hike, try different classes, and enjoy long walks with friends – you’ll see, you’ll have more holiday cheer to give than ever before.

Happy, Merry and Healthy Holidays to you all,
Debbie Rocker

Planning Obesity Surgery?

Obesity surgery helps severely obese people lose weight by reducing the size of the stomach, by bypassing a portion of the body’s digestive system, or a combination of these procedures.

But the American Obesity Association warns that the surgery does have potential risks. Here are some factors to consider on the association’s list of possible complications:

• Nausea, vomiting or abdominal pain from overeating.
• Gastrointestinal fluids leaking into the abdominal area.
• Restrictive bands slipping out of place or eroding.
• Restrictive staples detaching or eroding.

Sanofi sees FDA response on Acomplia by April 26

Sanofi-Aventis expects to get a decision
from U.S. regulators by April 26 on whether it may sell
anti-obesity pill and potential blockbuster Acomplia in the
world’s largest drug market, following a six-month review.

Sanofi, which has forecast $3 billion in annual sales for
Acomplia, or rimonabant, declined to comment on Friday on when
it expected to launch the drug in the United States if it wins
the marketing go-ahead roughly a year later than it had
initially hoped for.

"We do not want to speculate on the launch date," a
spokeswoman said.

The Food and Drug Administration had asked Sanofi to give
it extra information on rimonabant, forcing the company to move
its initial second-quarter 2006 launch target period to the
second half, and in the end it left open a launch target.

Sanofi has remained tight-lipped on the information the FDA
requested and which it resubmitted on October 26, but analysts
have been speculating about concerns of possible side-effects
of the treatment, including depression.

Most analysts had bet on a six-month review, but Sanofi
shares still lost as much as 1.7 percent in morning trade. They
were down 1.24 percent to 67.55 euros by 1023 GMT,
underperforming a 0.2 percent drop in the DJ health index.

"If the outcome is positive and if the FDA grants a label
similar to the European one, they would launch pretty quickly
afterwards, by mid-year I’d assume," WestLB analyst Oliver
Kaemmerer said. "It’s about ready to go. The sales force, about
1,800, is more or less in place."

European Union health authorities have cleared the drug, a
once-daily 20 mg pill, for use along with diet and exercise in
obese or overweight patients with associated health risks such
as type 2 diabetes or abnormally high levels of fat in the
blood.

In Mexico it may also be prescribed as a complement to
other anti-diabetics to improve blood sugar control.

Acomplia is a key product for Sanofi, the world’s
third-largest drugmaker which is fighting off government
healthcare cuts and increasing rivalry from cheaper generics.

Data published earlier this week from Sanofi’s first
non-obesity trial of the drug, assessing its use in patients
with type 2 diabetes, showed the treatment could significantly
improve their blood sugar levels and reduce weight.

But some analysts were concerned about the drug’s safety
profile. UBS in a research note deemed it unlikely that the
data "increased the likelihood of approval should the FDA be
worried about the CNS (central nervous system) side effect
profile."

The rate of patients leaving the trial before it had
finished due to adverse effects -- including dizziness, nausea,
anxiety, depressed mood and headache -- was 9.4 percent for
those on Acomplia and 2.1 percent for those on placebo.

The FDA could still ask an independent panel of health
experts to assess Acomplia, Bear Stearns analyst Alexandra
Hauber said in a note, rating the stock "underperform." "We
remain concerned about Acomplia’s psychiatric profile,
specifically regarding depression and anxiety."

Sanofi aims to position Acomplia, which switches off the
same brain circuits that make people hungry when they smoke
cannabis, to help treat obesity-related ailments such as heart
conditions linked to blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Solvay, Bristol obesity drug advances in trials

A new anti-obesity drug that works in
the same way as Sanofi-Aventis’s Acomplia has advanced in
clinical trials, triggering a $25 million payment to Belgian
drugs, chemicals and plastics maker Solvay.

Solvay said on Friday it had started further Phase II
clinical tests of its SLV319 drug following encouraging early
results, prompting the payment from its partner Bristol-Myers
Squibb Co.

"Clinical and preclinical studies involving this class of
drug have shown that blocking the cannabinoid type 1 (CB1)
receptor results in reduced food intake," Solvay said in a
statement.

The $25 million will be booked into the fourth quarter 2006
figures but Solvay Pharmaceuticals is increasing its R&D and
marketing spending by a similar amount.

"Consequently, the guidance given to the markets on October
27, 2006 concerning Solvay Pharmaceuticals’ full year expected
results and margins remains basically unchanged," Solvay said.

Drugs like SLV319 and Acomplia work by switching off the
same brain circuits that make people hungry when they smoke
cannabis.

Sanofi’s Acomplia, which is viewed by analysts as a
potential multibillion-dollar-a-year seller, is already on sale
in Europe but is still awaiting approval in the United States.
The French group said earlier on Friday it expected to hear
back from U.S. regulators by April 26.

KBC Securities said in a research note that it had already
increased its launch probability for SLV319 to 40 percent from
20 percent in early October after Solvay’s investor day.

"Note that we have assumed launch of SLV319 in 2010 with
peak sales of 400 million euros," KBC said.

It added it would slightly adjust its earnings model for
the fourth quarter of 2006 to take into account the milestone
payment, but would keep its "Buy" rating and 130 euro price
target.

Solvay’s shares were off 0.4 percent at 112.40 euros at
0900 GMT, while the Dow Jones European chemicals index was off
0.2 percent and the health index off 0.7 percent