NWA's new flight attendant dresses, designed by Richard Tyler. Photo via Washington Post.

There has been controversy over weight issues with airline passengers in recent years. But now the issues are coming from within as employees of Northwest Airlines (now owned by Delta) are getting a bit perturbed by the uniform design approved by their employers.

Delta Airlines hired fashion designer Richard Tyler to design their flight attendants’ red dress uniforms. Tyler wanted them to “look sexy.” The problem is, some workers are complaining that they are too small.

The Northwest chapter of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA has filed a grievance against Delta. They would like to see the company offer the red dress up to size 28. Currently, the uniform is only offered up to a size 18.

“I think red is an eye-popping color and it’s not subtle, and to me by not offering it in a size over 18, Delta is saying, ‘We don’t want you wearing that if you are over size 18,’” says Reller, who handles grievances for the union’s executive committee. “But the job isn’t about being sexy. It’s about safety.”

Delta spokeswoman Gina Laughlin responded:

“The majority of pre-merger Northwest flight attendants have given us very positive feedback about the Richard Tyler Collection,” she says. “The sizing of our red dress has not been an issue with Delta flight attendants since the program’s inception three years ago. This is AFA hype leading up to the election.”

When Delta announced plans for new uniforms, they said the decision would boost morale among employees and increase the airline’s bottom line.

What do you think?

(via: Yahoo)

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NWA Flight Attendants Demand Size 28 Red Dress

In a study, those subjects (older men and women) who took a vitamin K supplement for three years had lower blood levels of insulin. They also experienced an improvement with insulin resistance as compared to another group who did not take the supplement.

Here comes the catch…

It doesn’t necessarily work the same if you are overweight. So, don’t look at it as a magic bullet. Men in the study seemed to benefit more from the K supplement, presumably because more of the women were overweight. Since being overweight contributes to insulin resistance, it diminishes the benefits of vitamin K.

Why not try to get vitamin K naturally? You can do so by making your salad greens darker and avoiding the iceberg. Think green, leafy vegetables like spinach, romaine lettuce, and broccoli. Other sources packed with vitamin K include kale, swiss chard, Brussel sprouts, and collard greens.

(via: Real Age)

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Vitamin K Helps Fight Diabetes

Six Ohio troopers were removed from duty in 2003, including one who was 71 pounds overweight.

While no officers have been fired in recent years, at least 11 have received verbal or written reprimands this year for weighing too much. Reportedly, one trooper was 48 pounds over his allowable weight, while another was 40 pounds overweight. So, apparently the protest is working, or nobody wants to enforce the rules.

A national organization of law enforcement groups has recommended that agencies include incentives. Some police forces have health programs that give officers time to train and give extra pay or time off for those who lose weight.

“It’s basically being fired, with the stipulation that once you make weight, then you can come back,” Ohio State Troopers Association President Larry Phillips said of the state’s health provision. “They are just simply out the door. No health care, nothing.”

To this I say, frankly… and your point is?

Maybe I’m just in a bit of a surly mood today, but many jobs have rules and guidelines. If you don’t follow them, you can be fired. With no pay or health care.

I appreciate and admire our men and women who patrol the streets. They have one of the toughest jobs in the country. It’s also a physical job, even if they spend many hours in their car or behind a desk. To ask them to have at least a minimum level of health is perfectly reasonable.

(via: Yahoo)

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Overweight Cops May Lose Jobs

Reese Witherspoon's magazine covers via NYTimes.com.

Women are bombarded with images of unrealistic, and frankly, distorted views of beauty. The New York Times recently addressed the issue of computer-enhanced glamour covers. The article examines how stars are made to look perfect, if not mannequin-esque (see the covers side by side of Reese Witherspoon), when digital artists retouch magazine photos.

“My feeling is that for years now it has taken a much too big part in how women are being visually defined today,” says photographer Peter Lindbergh.

The consequences of our plastic culture and the pressures to achieve some sort of unachievable beauty are plainly seen in a recent survey of 1,000 adult women. The poll conducted jointly by AP and iVillage revealed that the women are less concerned about their physical health than their physical appearance.

[poll id="11"]

Take our poll, then continue reading.

About half of the women were unhappy with their weight, even though a quarter of those were at a healthy Body Mass Index (BMI). While a smaller number – about a third – were worried about their physical condition.

Dr. Molly Poag, chief of psychiatry at New York’s Lennox Hill Hospital, points to the problem that our culture worships supermodels more than female athletes.

About a quarter of the women in the survey said they would consider plastic surgery “to feel more beautiful.” The most popular choice was a tummy tuck.

The problem is our superficial perspective. We only see the outside, not what’s happening inside us.

“People can’t see the damage that’s being done inside their body,” says Dr. Nieca Goldberg, who directs the women’s heart program at the New York University Langone Medical Center. “If you increase your fitness but don’t lose as much weight, you still have a lower heart disease risk than someone who is obese and sedentary.”

(via: MSNBC)

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Poll: Women Care More About Weight Than Health

The chart plots out the relationship between the amount of time people take in the day to eat and their BMI (Body Mass Index). As can be expected, those countries that eat their food more quickly tend to be more obese. And as someone commented at psfk.com, those populations above the trend line tend to eat large land-based mammals (beef, pork, etc.) as their main protein source, and those under the trend line tend to eat mostly fish.

(Chart via Economix blog at the New York Times.)

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Time Spent Eating Helps Determine Weight

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.

It is important to know and understand your BMI because if it is too high, you may have increased risk of certain diseases such as diabetes, stroke, heart, high blood pressure or cholesterol. Proper nutrition and exercise will help with further weight gain or weight reduction. Since the BMI chart is a little bias (does not take into account muscle mass or fat mass, just total weight), I recommend checking your percent body fat rather than calculating your BMI. By doing so, you can track your progress a little better. If you have any questions, please let me know!

For a free BMI calculator and weight loss tracker, sign-up for MyDIR.

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Understanding Body Mass Index

In a recent health article by Karly Randolph Pitman, she elucidated five tips for finding your healthy weight. The five tips are:

1) Recognize Your Own Body and its Own History. Self magazine features a healthy weight calculator that takes into account your age, height, children and activity level. As a caveat, I took this health assessment and if I weighed what the Self Happy Weight calculator suggested I could weigh, I would not be very happy. While Pitman’s other tips for finding your ideal weight are pretty spot-on, this Self Happy Weight Calculator could use some fine-tuning.

2) Aim for a healthy body-fat percentage. Measuring your body-fat percentage takes into account your height, weight, circumference of your waist, neck and hips, as well as your activity level. Since the measurement requires precise direction in taking the measurements, here is an instructional body-fat calculator to guide you along.

3) Use a critical eye when looking at female celebrities. The pressure to be thin in Hollywood is probably a burden that most of us can’t comprehend, nor would we like to. The key to determining your ideal weight is to refrain from comparing yourself to a super-thin Hollywood actress or singer. It may be easier said than done, but the more you practice it, the easier it will become and the more accepting of your own body you will be.

4) Be patient in your weight loss goals: Even though many diet pills and quack diets promise to help you lose 10 pounds in 4 days, these drastic weight loss plans are not only impractical, but they can also be unsafe. It took you some time to get to the weight you are today, and it will consequently take you some time to lose it.

5) Practice Non-Attachment: It’s a Buddhist concept to be able to celebrate something or someone, but also be fully aware that its existence is not permanent. Remember this as you step on the scale, think back to what your weight was in high school or remember how tough it was to lose those post-baby pounds.

These sage words of advice are as easy to apply as stepping on the scale a few times throughout the day. Your weight fluctuates not just from meal-to-meal, but from year-to-year. By surrendering to the current of change that underscores our entire lives, you will be more able to accept where you are. Now.

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Find Your Happy Weight

The inches around your waist should be no more than half your total height.

Men and women battle different fat demons. Men usually have it accumulate around the waist, while women have problems in the thighs and rear end.

One thing I get a little jealous about is when guys are just naturally thin in the waist. But even the best of them lose that advantage with age. I’ve always been pretty naturally thin, but when I let myself go even a little, the only thing that is natural is the mid-section bulge that comes with slacking on my nutrition and exercise.

It doesn’t take a ton of weight gain around the waist to start inching toward serious health risks. So what’s the best way to tell? A great way is to check your waist size.

Most men start to develop risk factors for heart disease and other diseases with a waist size above 40 inches. Other health problems that can develop include:

- Stroke
- Some types of cancer
- Type 2 diabetes
- Insulin resistance
- High triglycerides
- Low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or “good,” cholesterol
- Metabolic syndrome
- Sleep apnea

Time is not your friend. As you age, you have to work even harder to keep the weight off. And while there may be some minor help in form of supplementation, there’s no escaping the simplicity of what needs to be done to achieve a healthy waistline: reduce calories and increase your physical activity level.

Michael Jensen, M.D., an endocrinology specialist, gives some more detail over at the Mayo Clinic’s website, answering questions and giving some common sense advice centering around the battle of the mid-section bulge.

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Men: Your Waist Size is a Big Indicator of Health

Alyssa Caplan of AC360 wrote the longest winded blog post imaginable on a subject that is easily summed up in one word: bogus.

Jessica’s sister, Ashlee, came to her defense:

“I am completely disgusted by the headlines concerning my sister’s weight,” Ashlee wrote on her website. “A week after the inauguration and with such a feeling of hope in the air for our country, I find it completely embarrassing and belittling to all women to read about a woman’s weight or figure as a headline on Fox News.”

Do we just tear down our perfect idols to make our imperfect selves feel better?

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Jessica Simpson Gains Weight, World Ends

I’ve discussed actors and their obsessive dedication to gaining or losing weight for roles before. But a cursory look at her future roles doesn’t seem to call for an emaciated look.

If she is battling anorexia, it initially took me by surprise, because I thought that it usually afflicts people at a much younger age, even if it is an ongoing battle through a person’s life. It is most common in young women, health experts say, but it’s not impossible that it can happen with older people as well. Jennifer Connelly just turned 38 this month.

I’m obviously not making a diagnosis, but she certainly doesn’t look healthy.

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Does Jennifer Connelly Have an Eating Disorder?