This news is sure to raise the ire of a few Canadian citizens. Last week, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that obese people have the right to two seats for the price of one on flights that stay within the borders of Canada.
With airlines already feeling the financial crunch from skyrocketing fuel costs, this may add to the burden.
No word on how the law will decide what constitutes obese enough to get the extra seat. The airlines appealed the measure, but the courts struck down their pleas.
Here’s what I found on the specifics to what is referred to as the One-Person-One-Fare Policy. You qualify, if you:
- are accompanied by an attendant for your personal care or safety in flight; or
- require additional seating for yourself, including those determined to be functionally disabled by obesity.
So, we ask you the reader… is this legislation a fair measure? Or are people getting undue favored treatment. We open the floor to you.
I’m always fascinated by the political debate from the Left and Right over the free market and what role, if any, the government should play in our society. In full disclosure, I am one who leans a little to the Left on most issues, including the market. I don’t think that having sensible regulations means you are inherently against capitalism and all the wonderful things that it entails.
I’ll use a sports analogy to explain my views: I love football. But what would the NFL be if there were no referees?
I totally understand it’s a tightrope, and that too much oversight can be stagnating. But we’ve seen what too little oversight can do in the financial market.
Anyway, how does all this apply to dieting, you ask? Plenty.
There’s more happening in the public health realm that raises, what I find to be, the interesting debate/dilemma of the free market society that we live in. Researchers have found that banning fast food advertising on television in the United States could reduce the number of overweight children by as much as 18 percent.
Ginkgo biloba has been touted for its cognitive boosting properties, but the purported memory aid is being doubted these days. According to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association conducted by the University of Pittsburgh, it didn’t help prevent Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia in more than 3,000 elderly study subjects. 
Ginkgo manufacturers, predictably, say this isn’t true.
“There is a significant body of scientific and clinical evidence supporting the safety and efficacy of ginkgo extract for both cognitive function and improved circulation,” says Mark Blumenthal, executive director of the American Botanical Council.
No matter who is on the right side of the argument, there is one proven way to improve your memory and overall brain function: exercise. Researchers at Duke University demonstrated that exercise can be an effective antidepressant. Exercise produces serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine, which have been associated with elevated mood.
Oprah sang during her show yesterday “There is a place for us…,” as she learned that Mauritania, a west African nation, classifies beauty as being overweight. Her Nov. 20 episode featured a look around the world at how different countries define beauty in women. In Japan it was having flawless, porcelain skin; in Iran it was having a petite nose (the nose job capital of the world); in New Zealand, the women tattoo their chins and have their lips tattooed blue.
Mauritanian men and women define beauty as being “plump,” said Houda, a native of the country. From a young age, girls are force-fed couscous and camel’s milk, which is high in fat, all in an effort to make the girls gain weight so that they can find a husband. Often times, the girls are stuffed so full that they get sick, but given little recovery time before the feeding begins again. It seems the fatter the better in this culture.
Lean Cuisine is a very popular supermarket prepackaged meal, so it’s a good idea for everyone to be aware of this: There has been a recall of 879,565 pounds of frozen Lean Cuisine chicken meals that may contain small pieces of hard plastic, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.
The following Lean Cuisine products are subject to recall:
9.5-ounce packages of “Lean Cuisine Pesto Chicken With Bow Tie Pasta.” Printed on each side of each package is a production code of “8280595912″ as well as a use-by date of “Best Before May 2010.”
10.5-ounce packages of “Lean Cuisine Chicken Mediterranean” brand frozen meals. Printed on the side of each package is a production code of “8231595912″ or “8241595912″ as well as a use-by date of “Best before SEP 2010″; a production code of “8263595912,” “8269595911,” or “8274595912,” as well as a use-by date of “Best before OCT 2010″; or a production code of “8291595912″ or “8301595912″ as well as a use-by date of “Best before NOV 2010.”
12.5-ounce packages of “Lean Cuisine Chicken Tuscan” brand frozen meals. Printed on the side of each package is a production code of “8234595911″ and a use-by date of “Best before SEP 2009″; a production code of “8253595911″ or “8269595912″ as well as a use-by date of “Best before OCT 2009″; or a production code of “8292595911″ or “8296595911″ as well as a use-by date of “Best before NOV 2009.”
Each package also bears the USDA mark of inspection as well as the establishment number “EST P-9018.” The frozen chicken meals were produced on Aug. 18, Aug. 21, Aug. 28, Sept. 9, Sept. 19, Sept. 25, Sept. 30, Oct. 6, Oct. 17-18, Oct. 22, and Oct. 27, 2008, and were distributed to retail establishments nationwide.
The country is getting fatter, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is naming names. Well, not individual names, but towns. Burlington, Vermont was named the healthiest city in the U.S. The unhealthiest was Huntington, West Virginia.
There are a few similarities between the two. They’re both college towns of about 50,000 people; the populations are mostly white and of English, Irish and German decent; the names sound slightly alike… but that’s where the similarities end.
In fact, the differences may be a microcosm of what the demographics look like when comparing obese and fit groups.
In the U.S., we grow and produce millions of fruits and vegetables every year, but there are a few crops that we must travel beyond our borders to acquire. One of them is the nutrient powerhouse, the acai berry - a dark purple berry that grows in the Brazilian jungles. The acai berry is being praised by health experts all over the world for the comprehensive nutrient profile that it sports in such a tiny package.
A small California company called Sambazon, started by a few environmentally-friendly surfers, began selling acai products here in the States back in 1999, before the acai boom hit. But out of concern that Amazonian farmers were not getting a fair trade price for their acai crop, they worked out a plan with these farmers that would bring them more financial stability and would protect the biodiversity of the rain forest.
Obesity rates for children are out of control. About a third of American children are overweight and one-fifth are obese.
I think most people are aware of this news, since it’s been reported for quite some time. But if you need even more convincing of the gravity of the situation, check this out: doctors are finding that obese children (as young as 10) have the arteries of 45-year-olds! There have also been other heart abnormalities found that greatly raise their risk of heart disease.
Dr. Geetha Raghuveer, of Children’s Hospital in Kansas City, and her colleagues used painless ultrasound tests to measure the thickness of the wall of a major neck artery in 70 children, ages 10 to 16. Almost all had abnormal cholesterol and many were obese.
The kids’ “vascular age” was about 30 years older than their actual age, Raghuveer said.
So, next time you see a young kid who is “chubby,” don’t just think it’s baby fat. Some will turn out OK (actor Jerry O’Connell, above, is one famous example), but as this study shows, they could be compromising their future health.
Fashion genius and yoga devotee, Donna Karan, has just donated $850,000 to Beth Israel Medical Center in New York to test how yoga can help individuals undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
In 2001, Karan lost her own husband and business partner to lung cancer. From his death, she created the Urban Zen Foundation, a patient-advocacy organization that inspires change and raises awareness of integrative healing.
Yoga has long been close to Karan’s heart, even as she clocked 100-hour work-weeks creating her own signature DKNY line of clothing. She has been a dedicated practitioner of Ashtanga yoga for many years. As she sat bedside next to her ailing husband, she noticed as comprehensive as his care was, he was not treated or looked at holistically. Instead, he became an amalgam of laboratory tests, medications and advanced equipment. Not to say his care was anything less than excellent, but this absence of treating the whole person, stayed with her and prompted the seeds for this very generous gift to one of New York’s premiere hospitals.
There’s a new possibility for suppressing appetite, and hopefully dropping weight. An antibody has been discovered that breaks down and suppresses an appetite stimulant produced by the human body.
Scientists with The Scripps Research Institute say the antibody catalyst, GHR-11E11, increases the metabolic rate in fasting mice and curbed their eating even after the rodents went 24 hours without food.
I’m not sure if this is known to translate in human subjects, but since recent reports from the World Health Organization say about 1 billion people worldwide are overweight or obese, anything is worth a shot.
It’s not being touted as a be-all, end-all cure for obesity. It will still take the usual combination of things to lose weight: optimum nutrition, exercise, and psychological components.
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