Category: Wellness (Page 25 of 116)

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

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The 5 Gym Mistakes We All Make

May 6, 2012 / Staff

Getting the most out of your gym workout may take a bit more effort than you would think.

Over doing cardio is the number one mistake most people make.

If you’re staying on cardio machines for too long, that may mean you’re not working hard enough. “Decreasing time and increasing resistance can shave off half of your cardio routine,” says Sara Haley, a Global Reebok master trainer and independent fitness consultant.
Also, try mixing up your routine. If you’re a die-hard treadmill jogger, Haley recommends adding high-intensity machines like the rower or the Jacob’s Ladder to your routine; these machines make cardio more efficient by working more muscle groups and burning more calories.
“Employing different planes of motion with lateral trainers like the Ultraslide and the Helix also prevent people from working the same muscles over and over,” says Haley. Diversifying your workout will ensure you give all your muscles some love.

Making sure with your physician that you are fit for exercise insures that your efforts won’t cause injury.

Quality Control, Wellness

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Coffee Stains Teeth Even More Than Tobacco

May 6, 2012 / Staff

Coffee has been found to be more pervasive in discoloring teeth than even tobacco.

Teeth which were bleached to remove coffee stains are also more susceptible to being re-stained.

Tobacco doesn’t seem to be quite as insidious and those types of stains are more easily removed.

The best way to avoid stains is to stop using whatever agent is causing the discoloration.

Quality Control, Research, Wellness

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USDA Makes Effort To Prevent Food-Borne Illness

May 5, 2012 / Staff

With summertime quickly approaching, picnics and barbecue’s offer prime opportunities for food-borne illnesses to surface.

Preventing outbreaks will be a huge shift from past strategies which offer response tactics.

Consumers can choose meats last and keep the packages away from other foods.

Avoid putting your hands in your mouth or rubbing your eyes before thoroughly washing your hands.

It is also recommended to carrying an alcohol-based gel or wipes containing a small amount of bleach to clean yourself up after handling a package.

The new direction, which focuses on prevention and faster response times, is a huge improvement over past USDA practices, says Philip M. Tierno Jr., PhD, director of clinical microbiology at NYU Langone Medical Center and clinical professor at the NYU School of Medicine.
“We will likely see a reduction in unnecessary illnesses and possibly the prevention of a [death] or two,” says Tierno, author of The Secret Life of Germs.
Washington, D.C.-based consumer advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest also supports the USDA’s shift in priorities.

Quality Control, Wellness

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Uk Doctor’s Survey Suggests A Change Of Thought

May 5, 2012 / Staff

The profession which claims, “first do no harm”, has weighed in on controversial issues surrounding health care.

A survey of British physicians has revealed a paradigm shift in how medicine views patient responsibility.

“Lifestyle rationing” has become a way of qualifying patient care.

Health care budgets hit by rising costs and a huge increase in preventable chronic illness is reaching it’s limit.

The survey by doctors.net.uk, which claims nearly 192,000 members, found that 593, or 54 percent, of the 1,096 doctors who participated answered yes to this question: “Should the NHS be allowed to refuse non-emergency treatments to patients unless they lose weight or stop smoking?”
Doctors who approved gave a few examples, The Observer said:
Denying in-vitro fertilization to childless women who smoke was justified because the procedure was only half as successful for them as for non-smokers.
Obese or alcoholic patients should be expected to change their behaviors before undergoing liver transplant surgery.

Doctors, Health Care Policy, Health Insurance, Quality Control, Research, Wellness

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