Put down that PB&J on white bread and listen to this: In a just-released landmark study, researchers at Tel Aviv University’s Sackler School of Medicine and the Heart Institute of Sheba Medical Center found that high carbohydrate foods can be extremely dangerous to the health of your heart. Implicated foods include the “bad” carbs like white bread, sugary cereals, cookies and cakes.
While this isn’t exactly new news, this important study provides a direct reason why these high glycemic foods wreak havoc on the heart and increase risk of heart disease. The researchers showed that after you eat a carb-laden food like a bowl of corn flakes or a Twinkie, your brachial arteries become distended, or swollen, for several hours. While it’s important for the arteries to have a certain amount of elasticity in them, over time, a sudden expansion of the arteries, which follows after noshing on a carb-filled snack, can cause a number of negative health effects, including reduced elasticity, which can cause heart disease or sudden death.
Once in a while there emerges health news that makes everyone scratch their heads. Here comes one of those moments…
If you are overweight - but only a little bit - congratulations, you are probably going to live the longest of any of us. That’s right, according to a new study people who were overweight, but not obese, were in prime position to outlive everyone else.
In the study, published in the journal Obesity, experts followed people 25 and older for 12 years. What they found was that people in the body mass index range of 25-29.9 were 17 percent less likely to die than those who were normal weight (a BMI of 18.5-24.9). Those who were underweight, a BMI less than 18.5, were 73 percent more likely to die than those who were normal weight.
Clearly no one signs up for an eating contest of any kind with the goal of minding their portion sizes. For participants in the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, an annual 4th of July event, the more you eat the better. Each year two men continually beat the rest of the contestants and battle it out for the infamous hot dog title.
We all know that whatever is in a hot dog is questionable, but do you think Joey Chestnut, of the U.S., and Takeu Kobayashi, of Japan, have ever stopped to read the food label on their pile of hot dogs? We think not. The folks at CalorieLab did the math and calculated exactly what the nutritional aftermath looks like when you eat 66 hot dogs on 66 buns (the total consumed by Chestnut in the 2007 event).
One of the sassiest hits of the summer television season has finally hit the airwaves. Dance Your Ass Off premiered Monday night on the Oxygen network and was met with instant fan attraction.
The premise is simple - take one part Dancing With the Stars, one part Biggest Loser, add a Tony-award winning host, and just a dash of a $100,000 prize and you’ve got the recipe for a hit weight loss reality show. Twelve contestants were selected to do what many have done on DWTS, dance the weight off. They’ll also pair their training with fitness and nutrition guidance from the likes of Biggest Loser’s Dr. Huizenga.
Host Marissa Jaret Winokur, from “Hairspray,” said “you don’t have to starve yourself and be miserable to lose weight.” This is a principle that has made Biggest Loser’s weight loss program so approachable to millions. If you make healthy changes while doing what you love, then you’ll no doubt see your goals met.
Check out these premiere recap, then read below to learn more about Dance Your Ass Off.
Last year, Ruby Gettinger won our hearts on the Style Network as the star of “Ruby,” an honest and real look into this woman’s journey to lose weight, and a lot of it. Once topping the scales at 500 pounds, Ruby made millions of us laugh, cry and motivated as she began a near unfathomable hurtle of losing some of the 500 pounds she carried. As she began to lose weight, she started to work with Dr. Paul Bradley, a primary care physician and obesity specialist residing in Savannah, Georgia. He taught Ruby the three main components of successful and long-term weight loss: Diet, education and exercise.
We’re all aware of the massive problem of childhood obesity. However, kids aren’t quite aware of its magnitude, or at least how much they actually weigh.
In a study of mostly African American adolescents, nearly 40 percent were overweight or obese, and 27 percent of them underestimated their weight.
Of the 448 5th to 8th graders, more than 62 percent of the overweight boys and about 31 percent of the overweight girls listed their weight as normal or even underweight, reports Dr. Youfa Wang and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. That’s an interesting comparison. Since women are generally more conscious of their weight, it goes to show that girls aren’t as misguided about the number on the scale as their male counterparts.
When I first started to lose weight, my number one goal was a smaller number on the scale. That was my sole focus. (Well, that and I REALLY wanted to wear a smaller pants size, if I’m being totally honest.) I never wanted to lift weights, never wanted to grow any muscle - I just wanted to avoid embarrassment if the tag on my shirt was sticking out.
Once I had been successful with the weight loss, though, I was still unhappy with the look of my body. Reading online one day, I was struck by the idea of lifting weights, but I didn’t want to bulk up. I gave it a try, though, and now I’m addicted. Lifting weights is terrific for women and the benefits are endless. Here are my top five.
She’s back! And smaller than ever. Last season Ruby Gettinger stormed onto the Style Network reality stage and stole the hearts of America. Ruby began last season weighing nearly 500 pounds, and chronicled her more than 100-pound weight loss in a candid weekly reality program. July 5, Ruby returns for her second season weighing less than 350 pounds, the smallest she’s ever been as an adult.
The first season introduced us to this darling Savannah, Geogia resident whose weight had gotten so out of control she was told she’d die if she didn’t make some dramatic changes. The docu-series follows Ruby’s daily life, introduces us to family and friends, and shows how Ruby is slowly but surely making those important life-saving changes. Not only does Ruby works with a crack team of doctors, nutritionists, and trainers to help her better understand how to manage a healthy lifestyle, but she also works with a therapist to confront the deep issues that have prevented Ruby from making these changes.
I love fruit. Love everything about fruit - the taste, the sweetness, the nutrition. The only thing I don’t love about fruit is the mess. Sometimes, I pack a fruit choice and by lunch time, it’s smooshed into an unrecognizable blob. I was delighted to receive four fruit choices from the new line of Today’s Farm dried fruit. I was sent pineapple, strawberry, apple cinnamon and peach. I can honestly say I’m now an addict. Two empty bags in one sitting is my proof. With the tag line, “Freeze dried crunchy fruit - Nothing like it,” this snack certainly made an impression on me.
Continue reading Carmen’s review and get the details on a Today’s Fruit giveaway and discount!