Category: Resources (Page 8 of 32)

Fitness In 20 Minutes

May 9, 2012 / Staff

Fitness writer, Gretchen Reynolds’ latest book, “The First 20 Minutes: Surprising Science Reveals How We Can: Exercise Better, Train Smarter, Live Longer”, Hudson Street Press, offers insight into the science of fitness.

Reynolds explains that for those who are primarily sedentary, the first 20 minutes of moving offers the greatest benefit to health.

“Humans are born to stroll”, she writes.

The message is that moving is better than not moving.

While the subtitle alone makes bold promises about the potential of exercise to protect the human body, the most surprising message from Ms. Reynolds is not that we all need to exercise more — or at least not the way exercise is typically defined by the American public. Ms. Reynolds makes a clear distinction between the amount of exercise we do to improve sports performance and the amount of exercise that leads to better health. To achieve the latter, she explains, we don’t need to run marathons, sweat it out on exercise bikes or measure our peak oxygen uptake. We just need to do something.

This is a great book for the immoveable masses who feel that only a gym membership or daily marathons can get them into shape.

Knowing that simply moving for a relatively short period of time, a highly achievable goal, can put them on the road to health and longevity.

Research, Resources

authors Books fitness books fitness writer Gretchen Reynolds The First 20 Minutes

Over 40 Percent Of Americans Predicted To Be Over Weight By 2030

May 9, 2012 / Staff

It is estimated in a recent study that 42 percent of Americans are predicted to over weight or obese by 2030.

The CDC’s Weight of the Nation conference released it’s findings and will be highlighted in a four-part HBO documentary airing next week.

Cheap and easily available calorie dense food and sedentary lifestyles are largely to blame.

The stress on the health care system could be 550 billion dollars in additional medical expenditures.

Finkelstein and co-authors estimate that 11% of the population will be severely obese by 2030. Severe obesity is defined as a body mass index over 40 or being roughly 100 pounds overweight. Obese people have shorter life expectancies and greater lifetime medical costs, “suggesting that future healthcare costs may continue to increase even if obesity prevalence levels off,” wrote the authors.
“Those individuals have much greater risk of early mortality, diabetes, heart disease,” said Finkelstein. “They’re much, much more expensive and they’re on the rise, partly because 50 years ago, it was really, really hard to weigh that much. You’d have to eat all the time.”

Nutrition, Quality Control, Research, Resources, Wellness

diabetes medical expenses obesity obesity epidemic

Canned Or Fresh, Which Is Best?

April 23, 2012 / Staff

Can you get healthy food from a can?

When you calculate cost, waste, availability and nutrition there is a scale on which to measure the value of canned versus fresh foods.

The conclusion: when price, waste and preparation time were factored in, canned foods won out as the most convenient and affordable source of nutrients. For instance, canned pinto beans cost $1 less per serving as a source of protein and fiber than dried beans. That’s because it takes about six minutes to prepare a can of pinto beans, compared to 2½ hours for dried beans, after soaking and cooking. (The researchers calculated meal prep and cooking time at $7.25 an hour, the minimum wage in New Jersey where the research was conducted.)
“While all forms of the foods — canned, frozen, fresh and dried — were nutritious, when you added the cost of the inedible portions and the cost of the time to prepare to the price, in most cases the canned versions delivered nutrients at a lower total cost.”

Nutrition, Quality Control, Resources, Wellness

canned food convenient food diet fresh food Healthy food nutrition in food

Exhaustive Medical Screening Yields Comparatively Few Benefits

April 18, 2012 / Staff

The idea that getting a battery of medical tests to rule out all types of cancer is not only ineffective but can cause harm.

Certainly, the rationale behind screening seems obvious. The earlier cancers are diagnosed, the more often lives will be saved, right? With enough screening, we might even stop cancer.
If only. Finding cancer early isn’t enough. To reduce cancer deaths, treatment must work, yet it doesn’t always. Second, it must work better when started earlier. But for some cancers, later treatment works as well. (That’s why there is no big push for testicular cancer screening — it is usually curable at any stage.)
And some of the worst cancers aren’t detected by screening. They appear suddenly, between regular screenings, and are difficult to treat because they are so aggressive.

Biopsy, exploratory surgery , radiation and chemotherapy as the result of positive or abnormal results from screening, pose dangers and have side affects of their own to be seriously considered.

Doctors, Health Care Policy, Hospitals, Quality Control, Research, Resources, Wellness

cancer cancer screening medical screening medical tests

Demystifying Food Labels

April 15, 2012 / Staff

The information is so important when making nutrition decisions, yet nutrition fact labels can be difficult to decipher.

First, knowing the serving size is key.

It is easy to assume that a package is one serving, however, often there are 3 or more servings per package in foods like chips, cookies and beverages.

At first glance what looks like 150 calories can easily became 3 times as much.

Read the following guide for an explanation of nutrition fact terms and what they mean and how you can make wise food decisions.