Tag Archives: health

Understanding Obesity Related Diseases: Type 2 Diabetes

As more of our population become obese and overweight, obesity diseases become much more prevalent. Diabetes is one such disease, and here I explain what it is, why it affects the overweight, symptoms and prevention.

What is it?
Obesity can lead to diabetes, specifically type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes, once called adult-onset and non-insulin dependent diabetes, is a chronic condition affecting the way your body metabolizes glucose/sugar. With type 2 diabetes, your body still produces insulin (a hormone that regulates the absorption of sugar into your cells), but your body has either become resistant to its effects or you can not produce enough insulin to maintain a normal glucose level. Left uncontrolled, the consequences of type 2 diabetes can be life threatening.

Why is it affected by obesity/overweight?
Obesity is a culprit to type 2 diabetes. With obesity, you are consuming calories beyond your caloric needs, therefore having more glucose in your body that your insulin is incapable of moving it into your cells. There is plenty of evidence showing that excessive abdominal fat and physical inactivity (both seen in obesity) is a major precursor to type 2 diabetes. (more…)

Posted on April 18, 2026 by Kinsey

Understanding Body Mass Index

There has been a lot of confusion about BMI over the years. BMI stands for Body Mass Index and is a statistical measure of the weight of a person scaled according to their height. Body Mass Index is calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms by the square of your height in meters.

Example for a 132 pound, 5’4″ female:
59.87 kg / 2.640625 m = BMI 22.7

According to the BMI chart, 18.5 or less is considered underweight, 18.5 to 24.9 is normal weight, 25.0 to 29.9 is overweight, and 30.0 and greater is considered obese. (more…)

Posted on April 17, 2026 by Matt

Feel Alive and Gorgeous with You: Being Beautiful

First there was You: On a Diet and now there is You: Being Beautiful by the super-famous doctor team of Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. Michael Roizen. The book is an owner’s manual to looking, feeling and being beautiful inside and out.

If you have never seen Dr. Oz in action, you must catch an episode of Oprah, where his charming demeanor, frank candor and encyclopedic medical brain tackles the common and not-so common health issues.

This latest book takes a tough look at what we believe beauty to be. It debunks some popular myths about beauty and calls into question many of the supposed beautifying lotions and potions that we have eaten up, slathered on our bodies or shelled over some serious cash for and instead points out why these products actually do more harm to our health than good. (more…)

Posted on March 31, 2026 by heather

Reduce Stress to Recover Clear Thoughts

As I ventured out on my long run today, I tuned my iPod to the world music genre with the intention of finding the next song I would choreograph for my dance classes. Although I was not very inspired by the task at hand, I did seem to be solving other problems without conscious attention to them.

This weekend, I was helping a friend brainstorm a new business venture, including concept details, logistics, name, and branding. Although we tossed around a lot of ideas and developed a pretty solid plan of what he wants to achieve, we were never quite satisfied with the naming/branding aspect. When I got back from my run, I was able to email him three new name ideas and a picture on which he could base a logo. He may reject them entirely, but I think it is a great illustration of how our brains work. (more…)

Posted on March 28, 2026 by Brooke Randolph

High Triglyceride Levels Just as Dangerous as Cholesterol

Do you know what triglycerides are? While cholesterol gets all the attention, this fatty substance in the blood can be just as dangerous. If you don’t know what triglycerides, you may want to learn a little about them since a third of us may have high levels of the potentially dangerous substance.

A man has a check-up with his doctor. (via CNN.com)

According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report published in Archives of Internal Medicine, one-third of Americans have borderline or high triglyceride levels.

“I see it as a major problem that we’ve completely ignored this problem so far,” said Dr. Børge Nordestgaard of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. (more…)

Posted on March 27, 2026 by Jason

Too Much Red Meat Boosts Risk of Death

Red meat has been a much maligned protein choice over the years. But there’s been some relaxing of the dietary diatribe in the health community, allowing for lean red meats as an occasional staple to your meals.

Then you see a study like this:

Red meat and processed meat may boost your risk of early death. That recent news may be more sensational than substance; or at least much adieu about nothing for most of the population. But, when you see a heading that reads: Study Shows Red Meat Consumption Linked to Higher Risk of Dying From Cancer, Heart Disease, it’s hard not to be alarmed. (more…)

Posted on March 26, 2026 by Jason

Staying Fit with Multiple Sclerosis

March is Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month In the United States. (Canada will celebrate in May.) Although Multiple Sclerosis (MS) can be understood as a neurodegenerative disorder, it is defined as an autoimmune disorder because the immune systems of sufferers attack their own central nervous systems, damaging the myelin sheath of neurons. This damage causes miscommunication and missed messages between the brain and the nerves. MS can be a very emotionally heavy diagnosis because it is chronic, there is no known cure, and it a very unpredictable disorder. MS can effect any function controlled by the central nervous system.

Symptoms tend to come episodically without any warning. One day a person with MS may be functioning just fine and the next muscle weakness may inhibit walking. These symptoms can also terminate without any warning. The unpredictable nature can be very stressful, the lack of a cure can be disheartening, and the often degenerative nature of the disorder can be depressing. (more…)

Posted on March 9, 2026 by Brooke Randolph

Kiwi: A Hidden Nutritional Gem of a Fruit

Healthy fruits and vegetables don’t have to be restricted to the standard fare we’re all used to. Take kiwi for example. When was last time you had this exotic little fruit? Never, you say?

The green fruit with a fuzzy exterior packs a powerful nutritional punch. In fact, Rutgers University conducted a study of the 27 most popular fruits (can you name 27?), and they named kiwi the “most nutritionally dense” among them.

Here are some of the many benefits of kiwi: (more…)

Posted on March 2, 2026 by Jason

When You Have No Sick Days

It’s a safe bet that several of you have been feeling under the weather recently. Although we are more susceptible to germs and illness when worn down physically, mentally, or emotionally; sometimes illness just seems to attack (and often at the most inopportune times). Unfortunately, as adults we can’t depend on our moms to make us chicken noodle soup and we have responsibilities that do not allow for sick days. Keeping yourself in healthy mental, emotional, and physical states is a major responsibility. It’s something that we have to work at every day and something we have to work harder at when one of those areas is suffering. (more…)

Posted on March 1, 2026 by Brooke Randolph

Best Heart Healthy Foods

The true secret to heart health is eating a variety of nutrient dense foods. Fresh produce should lay the foundation for this heart healthy diet, due to their protective benefit of seeking out and neutralizing free radicals that are detrimental to your health and to your heart. Whole grains, beans and legumes, nuts, fatty fish, and teas are just as important, offering all sorts of complex heart-protective phytonutrients.

Our society is obsessed with finding the one magic food to cure all, when the truth is you need to eat a variety of foods and look for multiple ways to get all the different nutrients you need, plus exercise! Here are the best heart healthy foods to add to your diet: (more…)

Posted on February 18, 2026 by Kinsey

How to Lose Weight at 20

During your 20s, you want to establish positive habits that can carry you through a long, healthy life. Stay active, eat right and follow these 10 tips to ensure you’re doing all you can to maintain a healthy weight, or lose a few extra college pounds.

1. Focus on cardio: Hit the cardio for at least 45 minutes to an hour. I recommend the treadmill, elliptical, or bike.

2. Weight training: Try using circuit training or super-setting styles to increase your heart rate and endurance.

3. Diet: Find a diet that you can stick to that is low in fat, sugar, sodium, carbohydrates, but high in fiber, protein, and other needed nutrients. MyPyramid is a good resource. (more…)

Posted on February 17, 2026 by Matt

Tag Archives: health

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