July, 2008

How often do you see or how often do you grab that salt shaker and start pouring salt all over your food as soon as the plate is set in front of you?  Sodium intake in our nation is extremely too high.  Did you know that the recommended amount of sodium intake per day is less then 2,300 milligrams, which only equals 1 teaspoon? (*Note. Daily Value used on food labels is based off 2,400 milligrams).

Sodium plays a vital role in our bodies by helping maintain acid-base balance and it is essential to nerve impulse transmission and muscle contraction.  However, too much sodium makes our bodies hold on to fluid and to pump the added fluid, the heart has to work harder which over years of doing this puts an extreme strain on our heart. Also, too much salt can worsen symptoms like swelling and shortness of breath and cause weight gain.  A diet high in salt has been linked to very serious health conditions including high blood pressure, hypertension, and heart disease.

The Today Show posted an article with the 20 Saltiest Foods in America.  They compiled a top 20 list of foods (or dishes) found in restaurants across our nation.  Their list is posted below.

20. Saltiest Side Dish
Denny’s Honey Smoked Ham, grilled slice. 1,700 mg sodium, 85 calories

19. Saltiest Dessert
Atlanta Bread Company Raspberry Scone. 1,750 mg sodium, 360 calories

18. Saltiest Soup
Baja Fresh Chicken Tortilla Soup. 2,760 mg sodium, 320 calories

There’s a slight discrepancy in estimates of how much food and beverage marketers spend targeting kids. A mere $8.4 billion.

An FTC report says food and beverage companies spent $1.6 billion marketing to children under 17 in 2006. But $10 billion is the estimate cited in a government study from the National Academies of Science Institute of Medicine.

It seems that the lower number has more validity. According to a consumer group, the higher number includes some money that was intended for marketing to parents.

“The obesity problem is a complex problem. It’s not only about advertising,” Lydia Parnes, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

True, but billions of dollars can be a pretty powerful persuader.

Most people don’t want to consider the idea of a nanny state. But one can make the argument that junk food is as dangerous as elicit drugs in the long run. And most activists don’t want to treat junk food exactly like drugs. That is, it should always be perfectly legal to eat, just that we need to understand the consequences of massive junk food marketing.

Congressmen Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) is a strong critic of junk food marketing to kids:

“Food companies are spending millions of dollars to target children so they can become lifelong consumers of their unhealthy products… While many food and beverage companies have pledged to market healthier options to kids through self-regulatory programs, I want to see real results and changes in the types of products marketed towards children. If these programs do not produce significant changes — government will have to act,” he said.

When I was growing up my mother would often say; “you are who you hangout with.” It was her way of making sure that I was surrounding myself with people who wouldn’t get me into trouble. It was sound advice that did in fact keep me out of trouble and helped me to succeed both personally and academically. Recently, I have been giving much thought to my mother’s advice and finding that it still holds true today, especially when it comes to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

While on the Biggest Loser I was paired with a complete stranger (Brittany) she ended up being an extraordinary young woman whose friendship and support enabled me to change my life. Later on the show, the initial couples were split and remaining contestants were placed into one of two teams- either the black or the blue team. I was placed on the black team led by Jillian Michaels. Although the team consisted of five other members besides myself (Kelly, Paul, Jen, Maggie, and Brittany), there were three of us that ended up being inseparable. Through much reflection I have come to realize that with out their help my weight loss journey would have been much more difficult and far less gratifying.

Together we faced many personal issues that we masked behind the pounds we carried. We also supported and motivated one another to continue on when our weight loss goals seemed out of reach.  I can’t thank Brittany and Maggie enough for their love, support, and encouragement. Knowing that my mother’s advice couldn’t be truer I am honored to be associated with such incredible and strong individuals.

As you embark on your own weight loss journey, please keep my mother’s advice in mind, “you are who you hangout with,” and be sure to surround yourself with individuals who share similar goals and ambitions. Don’t be afraid to seek out people who you can depend on for support, both in and out of the gym. With loyal companions by your side you’ll soon find that the journey you once thought unachievable is merely a shared adventure between friends!

This doesn’t seem to be a real shocking discovery, but a new study suggests that the very low rates of coronary heart disease among the Japanese may be due to their lifelong high consumption of fish. We’ve known for a while now that omega 3 fatty acids in fish have many health benefits, among them being improved cardiovascular health. This study just further cements the notion. As for me, I’ll happily eat fish - raw or cooked!

Here’s a good overview of the health benefits of omega 3 fatty acids:

Isometric training (static strength training) consist of constant muscle contraction without joint movement. This type of exercise is good for general strength training and rehabilitation. Isometric training is also an excellent way to strengthen muscles without putting too much stress on the joints. This is a another great way to incorporate different exercises into your everyday routine.

Top 5 Isometric Core Exercises

1. Elbow Plank- Hold for 30 seconds to a minute: 2 sets

2. Bent Arm Side Bridge- Hold for 30 seconds to a minute on each side: 2 sets

3. V Sit- Hold for as long as you can: 2 sets

4. Straight Arm Plank- Hold as long as you can: 2 sets

5. Straight Arm Plank On Bosu Ball- Hold as long as you can: 2 sets

See all of Matt’s Top 5 Exercises.

Back to school isn’t too far away.

Stepping into our Food Fight ring this week are two rich, fudgy and decadent contenders- No Pudge Original Fat Free Fudge Brownie and Betty Crocker Low-Fat Fudge Brownie. Are brownies a health food? No! Do you need to indulge occasionally? Yes! And when you do, shouldn’t you do it responsibly? Yes!

Fighter Notes
Betty Crocker is of course the beloved baked-goods-at-home-made-easy brand. It was the only brand at the grocery store that offered a low-fat variety, making it my only choice for competition against No Pudge. They do not mention this product on their Web site.

No Pudge has been taking the fat out of this dreamy dessert since the 90s.

With childhood obesity out of control, there comes some nasty baggage. Adult health problems such as Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol are all now on the rise with kids. So, now children are taking obesity-related drugs to combat these problems. Indications are that hundreds of thousands of children are on drugs to control blood pressure and sugar levels.

This opens the debate on whether kids should be on these drugs in the first place. Obviously it needs to be looked at on a per-patient basis, but the conspiracy theorist in me thinks that this can be seen as an opportunity for drug companies to up their bottom line.

Here comes the “back in my day” speech… It’s time to get kids to play outside more instead of web surfing. And while I’m certainly not an old fuddy-duddy about video games, it might be nice to see kids play more honest-to-goodness mud-slinging football than by joystick on the couch.

Are they still called joysticks?

Maybe I am an old fuddy-duddy.

See this related story: Kids and Cholesterol: New Recommendations Call for Statins

A new study insinuates that a high BMI (body mass index) is linked to a higher mortality rate for women who suffer from breast cancer. This article at Yahoo.com on the study is a little confusing because after making the aforementioned link, it quotes Dr. Barnett of Addenbrooke’s Hospital, in Cambridge, UK regarding a link to pregnancy:

“We have found strong evidence that high BMI and a recent pregnancy are associated with a poorer prognosis after a diagnosis of breast cancer,” say Dr. Barnett.

Slight confusion aside, this was my take:

- A high BMI makes breast cancer riskier.

- A high BMI and a recent pregnancy is possibly a bad omen.

And then you have this out-of-the-blue twist: moderate drinking may improve survival chances by 22 percent.

The New York Times published this week a new study examining how the sugars glucose and fructose metabolize differently in the body, with fructose quickly converting to fat.

This study, with a very small sample size, consisted of only six healthy, normal weight individuals, showed that the body quickly converts fructose to body fat.  In this study, the researchers gave the participants a morning feeding of one of three different drinks.  Both the researchers and the participants were unaware of which drink they were given.  One group received a breakfast drink consisting of 100% glucose, another group received half glucose and half fructose drink; and the third group consumed a 25% glucose and 75% fructose drink.  Four hours later, the participants consumed a regular lunch.

The results showed that lipogenesis was significantly increased in those participants that consumed the drinks with fructose (lipogenesis is the process by which sugars are converted into fat).  The researchers found that the groups that were given fructose at breakfast were more likely to store fats eaten at lunch. The researchers did note that this study may underestimate the fat-contributing effect of fructose on these participants because they were all healthy, lean, normal weight individuals; noting that this effect may be intensified in overweight individuals.

The researcher’s bottom line of this study was that fructose very quickly gets made into fat in the body.  However, the main researcher, Dr. Elizabeth Parks associate professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, wanted to make a point of saying that people should not limit the amount of fruit they eat.  Although fruit does contain fructose, it also contains essential vitamins, minerals, and fiber, which are vital to our diet and health.

In this article, Dr. Parks made a great point by saying that “There are lots of people out there who want to demonize fructose as the cause of the obesity epidemic.  I think it may be a contributor, but it’s not the only problem. Americans are eating too many calories for their activity level. We’re overeating fat, we’re overeating protein and we’re overeating all sugars.”  This is so true… too often we get distracted and try to find one thing to blame for making us overweight or obese, but often it is multiple factors.  Excessive amount of calories and fat consumed mixed with a sedentary lifestyle is the perfect formula for disease and obesity.

Fructose, which is the sweetest of all sugars, occurs naturally in fruits and honey; other sources include products as soft drinks, ready-to-eat cereals, and desserts that have been sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).  Now you may be asking yourself, how do I limit or avoid eating these HFCS filled foods?  A big thing that will help is reading the food label to see if HFCS is listed as an ingredient (you’ll be amazed to the amount of foods that contain HFCS).  Also, I may sound like a broken record here, but you need to avoid or limit the amount of processed foods you consume of a daily basis, consume no or less soda, choose fresh fruit rather than fruit juices, buy 100% fruit juice instead of fruit-flavored drinks, and if you purchase canned fruit pick the ones canned in its own juices rather than the fruits canned in thick, heavy syrups.