Tag: weight loss (Page 9 of 9)

Obese Diabetic Men May have Improved Erectile Function with Weight Loss

August 5, 2011 / Staff

The news is good for obese men with diabetes suffering from erectile disfunction.

Minimal weight loss have been shown to improve function and overall health.

At a time when oral drugs are very popular, it can now be shown that weight loss is an important non-pharmacologic therapeutic intervention in restoring erectile and urinary function and cardiovascular health.

The new study gives hope to millions.

“Everything that makes your blood vessels bad is also bad for erectile function,” says Ronald Tamler, MD, PhD, clinical director of the diabetes center at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. “The small arteries around the penis go down the drain first.”
Symptoms often include difficulty getting or keeping an erection, low libido, infertility, and problems with urination, including the need for frequent, sleep-stealing trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Nutrition, Research, Wellness

erectile disfunction male sexuality men's health obesity sexual dysfunction type 2 diabetes Viagra weight loss

Convince Your Brain to Crave What’s Good For You!

August 5, 2011 / Staff

Eating healthy food may just be a matter of convincing yourself to do so.

By surrounding yourself with healthy choices, feeding your cravings can be accomplished with fruits, veggies, whole grains and low fat dairy.

Changing your habits will change your cravings.

“For most of human history, people didn’t have enough to eat, so fat was something you really needed to seek out,” says Marcia Pelchat, a food psychologist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia.
Pelchat adds, however, that while we’re born with certain cravings, there’s also evidence we start to crave whatever we eat in large quantities. She found this when she put study subjects on a vanilla-flavored drink low in saturated fat. After consuming it every day for two weeks, about a third of the subjects reported craving the drink, even though she says, “It was chalky and not very yummy.”

Nutrition, Research, Wellness

diet food cravings food habits obesity weight loss

Walking your way to weight loss

March 23, 2011 / Staff

If you really want to lose weight and feel better, getting started should be easier than you think. Many people get intimidated by the thought of going to the gym and radically changing your diet. While those might be great ideas, they mean nothing if the notion of an intense workout and diet prevent you from doing anything at all.

Start with the basics. Get off the couch and start walking!

When it comes to weight control, almost nothing is easier and cheaper than brisk walking.
Going for a walk every day can improve mood, increase energy, lower blood pressure and protect against diabetes, osteoporosis and cancer.
But to reap these benefits, you need to get the lead out and put some spring in your step.
It’s not window shopping or taking a stroll in the park. Walk like you’re late for the bus.
You should be able to carry on a conversation, but you’ll be a little breathless when you talk, says Miriam Nelson, director of the John Hancock Research Center on Physical Activity, Nutrition and Obesity Prevention at Tufts University in Boston.

Some of you may feel that you’re so out of shape that even brisk walking makes you nervous. Well, don’t feel like you have to walk like this from the beginning. Just get out of the house and walk around the block. Then, do it again in the next day or two, but walk a little further. Just moving a little will make you feel better, and then you’ll feel more excited about walking regularly and walking more briskly.

Check out the entire article for more information on how 3 MPH is the threshold for brisk walking.

Nutrition, Research, Wellness

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Study says soda tax would reduce weight and add revenues

December 14, 2010 / Staff

Obesity is one of the biggest problems in this country, so people are searching for innovative ideas to attack the problem.

One possible approach is to tax sodas and other sugary drinks. It seems logical, but of course one has to deal with the food and beverage lobbyists. Also, some Americans hate the idea of the government dictating anything, though here it’s just a tax to cover the costs we as a society pay for these beverages.

A recent study, however, provides some ammunition for proponents of the soda tax.

Millions of people would lose about a pound or more a year if large taxes were tacked onto regular soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages such as sport drinks and fruit drinks, a new analysis shows.
A soda tax of 20% or 40% would generate about $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion in annual tax revenue. The 40% tax would cost the average household about $28 a year, the research shows.
“If the tax money was used to serve healthier foods in schools and build parks and recreation centers, it could lead to even more weight loss,” says the study’s lead researcher, Eric Finkelstein, a health economist and associate professor of health services at Duke-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School.
The idea of a substantial tax on soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages has been the subject of hot debate in recent years among national, state and local policymakers. Public health advocates have been pushing for a hefty tax as a way to reduce consumption of these products to help people lose weight and become healthier.
Currently, two-thirds of people in this country are overweight or obese, which is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and many other health problems. Obesity costs the country roughly $147 billion a year in increased medical expenses, according to another study by Finkelstein.

The soda tax seems like an obvious solution, and perhaps this study and others like it will start to tip the balance.