"New Year's Resolution: Quit Drinking Fat New York" by Danny Jensen
I've never been big on making New Year's resolutions, favoring gradual changes over the cold turkey approach, but the New York Health Department is pushing hard to encourage residents of the Big Apple to cut down on soda and other sugary beverages in 2010.
Having been unable to pass a tax on sugary drinks earlier this year, the city has decided to take a more visceral approach with their "Are You Putting On the Pounds" campaign, which includes subway posters and a video that takes soda's fat-inducing capabilities literally (watch below).
Cutting down on soda seems like a great way to combat diabetes and obesity, and while watching someone guzzle a glass of fat is a little much for me, if the image makes people think twice about grabbing a soda, I'm for it. According to Dr. Thomas Farley, New York City Health Commissioner:
Soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages are the biggest contributors to that increase, and the actual effects aren't pretty. Two thirds of adults are now overweight or obese, as are nearly 40% of public school children in New York City. The rates are still rising, and the consequences are severe. They run the gamut from arthritis to diabetes - a leading cause of blindness, amputations, kidney failure and premature death. Sugar-sweetened beverages are not the sole cause of this crisis, just one of the most egregious.
I'd say those are reasons enough to discourage soda consumption. It doesn't help that most sodas and juices now contain High Fructose Corn Syrup as a sweetener in place of sugar, which provides a large number of calories yet is devoid of nutrients, and is considered to be more readily metabolized to fat than other sweeteners.
Check out the campaign's Facebook page and watch the (not-for-the-squemish) video below:
Source: http://www.takepart.com/news/2009/12/26/new-years-resolution-quit-drinking-fat-in-new-york
Showing posts with label fat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fat. Show all posts
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
FFF Diva Article Research: Hefty and Healthy
Hefty and Healthy
Americans are heavier than they used to be and worried sick about it. In fact, people's negative perceptions about their bodies may affect their health more than their actual weight, according to an analysis in the March 2008 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Columbia University researchers who surveyed more than 170,000 people found that regardless of their size, those who were happy with their weight reported better mental and physical health.
More from Consumer Reports:
How to Make Smarter Food Choices
What’s Wrong with Plain Water?
Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on Yahoo!.
At the core of the dissatisfaction is the assumption that svelte is not only more attractive but also healthier. But whether supermodels are destined to outlive the Average Joe is a matter of debate among experts, who sometimes interpret public-health data in strikingly different ways.
Unfortunately, sensationalized coverage of those discrepancies has overshadowed many of the most relevant details-that extra pounds may be less of an issue for older people, for example, or that fitness is more important than fatness. In fact, the most common measure of excess weight—the body mass index, or BMI—is probably an inaccurate measure of overall health precisely because it doesn't reflect fitness very well.
We talked with several experts and found that while they see some different patterns in the numbers they largely agree on the core advice. And despite the hullabaloo over weight, the real emphasis should rest on healthy habits, not the bathroom scale.
Where BMI falls short Researchers have long relied on the body mass index (available to ConsumerReports.org subscribers), since it factors in not just weight but also height. But as obesity science evolves, it's becoming increasingly clear that there is simply no one-size-fits-all definition of a healthy BMI.
To begin with, age, ethnicity, and gender affect how the numbers add up. For example, a moderately high BMI appears to increase mortality risk more strongly in Asian men and women—as seen in the large Korean study—than it does in African-American women. And "BMI is not a precise health measure in older people," says Michael Leitzmann, M.D., an investigator with the National Cancer Institute. Being underweight is more likely to be a concern in that group because aging affects both appetite and the ability to absorb nutrients from food.
BMI also doesn't tell you much about fitness. Some couch potatoes have a fine BMI, while many moderately overweight people are very active.
In fact, the inadequacy of our language about weight became clear recently when researchers coined the term "normal-weight obesity" to describe supposedly healthy-weight people with a high percentage of body fat. That group is much more likely than muscular people of any weight to be at high risk for type 2 diabetes and heart disease, according to a recent Mayo Clinic study.
Other measures, such as waist circumference or the ratio of waist to hip size (available to ConsumerReportsHealth.org subscribers), may more accurately reflect body fat and health risk than weight or BMI. But none of those tools predicts longevity or quality of life as effectively as does a careful assessment of lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise habits.
Where BMI falls short Researchers have long relied on the body mass index (available to ConsumerReports.org subscribers), since it factors in not just weight but also height. But as obesity science evolves, it's becoming increasingly clear that there is simply no one-size-fits-all definition of a healthy BMI.
To begin with, age, ethnicity, and gender affect how the numbers add up. For example, a moderately high BMI appears to increase mortality risk more strongly in Asian men and women—as seen in the large Korean study—than it does in African-American women. And "BMI is not a precise health measure in older people," says Michael Leitzmann, M.D., an investigator with the National Cancer Institute. Being underweight is more likely to be a concern in that group because aging affects both appetite and the ability to absorb nutrients from food.
BMI also doesn't tell you much about fitness. Some couch potatoes have a fine BMI, while many moderately overweight people are very active.
In fact, the inadequacy of our language about weight became clear recently when researchers coined the term "normal-weight obesity" to describe supposedly healthy-weight people with a high percentage of body fat. That group is much more likely than muscular people of any weight to be at high risk for type 2 diabetes and heart disease, according to a recent Mayo Clinic study.
Other measures, such as waist circumference or the ratio of waist to hip size (available to ConsumerReportsHealth.org subscribers), may more accurately reflect body fat and health risk than weight or BMI. But none of those tools predicts longevity or quality of life as effectively as does a careful assessment of lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise habits.
Physically fit at any weight People with strong cardiovascular function, regardless of their size, are healthier and live longer than their sedentary counterparts. For example, in a study of 2,603 people age 60 and older published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association, physically fit individuals had roughly the same mortality rate whether they were underweight, normal weight, or overweight. Being fit can even trump being thin: People who were fat but fit had a survival edge over those who were skinny but inactive.
Exercise can improve health even if the scale doesn't budge. Researchers from Harvard University and Brigham and Women's Hospital tracked physical activity and cardiovascular health in more than 27,000 women ages 45 and older. After a decade, the physically active people slashed their risk of heart attack and stroke by as much as 40 percent. The researchers determined that only about 10 percent of that decline could be attributed to a reduced BMI.
The rest stemmed from improvements in markers for inflammation, blood pressure, and LDL (bad) cholesterol. "The message to people who exercise but don't lose weight is that they are still getting most of the benefit," says Samia Mora, M.D., lead author of the Harvard study.
Diet still matters The relative importance of exercise and weight, however, doesn't give you license to specialize in junk food. Study after study has found lower disease rates in people who eat healthfully, with an emphasis on a variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, and small amounts of unsaturated fat. That diet can lead to improved health even when it doesn't lead to substantial weight loss.
British researchers, for example, recently told a group of overweight women not to diet. Instead, they emphasized good eating habits, enrolled them in exercise classes, and provided social support. Though the women lost only a small amount of weight, they were significantly fitter and reported feeling less stress and better about their bodies.
"We've been shouting from the rooftops about how bad it is to be even a little overweight, but that hasn't solved the problem," says Steven N. Blair, P.E.D., professor of exercise science at the University of South Carolina. "We've become obsessed with BMI when we should be focusing on healthful behaviors."
This article first appeared in the July 2008 issue of Consumer Reports on Health.
Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on Yahoo!.
At the core of the dissatisfaction is the assumption that svelte is not only more attractive but also healthier. But whether supermodels are destined to outlive the Average Joe is a matter of debate among experts, who sometimes interpret public-health data in strikingly different ways.
Unfortunately, sensationalized coverage of those discrepancies has overshadowed many of the most relevant details-that extra pounds may be less of an issue for older people, for example, or that fitness is more important than fatness. In fact, the most common measure of excess weight—the body mass index, or BMI—is probably an inaccurate measure of overall health precisely because it doesn't reflect fitness very well.
We talked with several experts and found that while they see some different patterns in the numbers they largely agree on the core advice. And despite the hullabaloo over weight, the real emphasis should rest on healthy habits, not the bathroom scale.
Where BMI falls short Researchers have long relied on the body mass index (available to ConsumerReports.org subscribers), since it factors in not just weight but also height. But as obesity science evolves, it's becoming increasingly clear that there is simply no one-size-fits-all definition of a healthy BMI.
To begin with, age, ethnicity, and gender affect how the numbers add up. For example, a moderately high BMI appears to increase mortality risk more strongly in Asian men and women—as seen in the large Korean study—than it does in African-American women. And "BMI is not a precise health measure in older people," says Michael Leitzmann, M.D., an investigator with the National Cancer Institute. Being underweight is more likely to be a concern in that group because aging affects both appetite and the ability to absorb nutrients from food.
BMI also doesn't tell you much about fitness. Some couch potatoes have a fine BMI, while many moderately overweight people are very active.
In fact, the inadequacy of our language about weight became clear recently when researchers coined the term "normal-weight obesity" to describe supposedly healthy-weight people with a high percentage of body fat. That group is much more likely than muscular people of any weight to be at high risk for type 2 diabetes and heart disease, according to a recent Mayo Clinic study.
Other measures, such as waist circumference or the ratio of waist to hip size (available to ConsumerReportsHealth.org subscribers), may more accurately reflect body fat and health risk than weight or BMI. But none of those tools predicts longevity or quality of life as effectively as does a careful assessment of lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise habits.
Where BMI falls short Researchers have long relied on the body mass index (available to ConsumerReports.org subscribers), since it factors in not just weight but also height. But as obesity science evolves, it's becoming increasingly clear that there is simply no one-size-fits-all definition of a healthy BMI.
To begin with, age, ethnicity, and gender affect how the numbers add up. For example, a moderately high BMI appears to increase mortality risk more strongly in Asian men and women—as seen in the large Korean study—than it does in African-American women. And "BMI is not a precise health measure in older people," says Michael Leitzmann, M.D., an investigator with the National Cancer Institute. Being underweight is more likely to be a concern in that group because aging affects both appetite and the ability to absorb nutrients from food.
BMI also doesn't tell you much about fitness. Some couch potatoes have a fine BMI, while many moderately overweight people are very active.
In fact, the inadequacy of our language about weight became clear recently when researchers coined the term "normal-weight obesity" to describe supposedly healthy-weight people with a high percentage of body fat. That group is much more likely than muscular people of any weight to be at high risk for type 2 diabetes and heart disease, according to a recent Mayo Clinic study.
Other measures, such as waist circumference or the ratio of waist to hip size (available to ConsumerReportsHealth.org subscribers), may more accurately reflect body fat and health risk than weight or BMI. But none of those tools predicts longevity or quality of life as effectively as does a careful assessment of lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise habits.
Physically fit at any weight People with strong cardiovascular function, regardless of their size, are healthier and live longer than their sedentary counterparts. For example, in a study of 2,603 people age 60 and older published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association, physically fit individuals had roughly the same mortality rate whether they were underweight, normal weight, or overweight. Being fit can even trump being thin: People who were fat but fit had a survival edge over those who were skinny but inactive.
Exercise can improve health even if the scale doesn't budge. Researchers from Harvard University and Brigham and Women's Hospital tracked physical activity and cardiovascular health in more than 27,000 women ages 45 and older. After a decade, the physically active people slashed their risk of heart attack and stroke by as much as 40 percent. The researchers determined that only about 10 percent of that decline could be attributed to a reduced BMI.
The rest stemmed from improvements in markers for inflammation, blood pressure, and LDL (bad) cholesterol. "The message to people who exercise but don't lose weight is that they are still getting most of the benefit," says Samia Mora, M.D., lead author of the Harvard study.
Diet still matters The relative importance of exercise and weight, however, doesn't give you license to specialize in junk food. Study after study has found lower disease rates in people who eat healthfully, with an emphasis on a variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, and small amounts of unsaturated fat. That diet can lead to improved health even when it doesn't lead to substantial weight loss.
British researchers, for example, recently told a group of overweight women not to diet. Instead, they emphasized good eating habits, enrolled them in exercise classes, and provided social support. Though the women lost only a small amount of weight, they were significantly fitter and reported feeling less stress and better about their bodies.
"We've been shouting from the rooftops about how bad it is to be even a little overweight, but that hasn't solved the problem," says Steven N. Blair, P.E.D., professor of exercise science at the University of South Carolina. "We've become obsessed with BMI when we should be focusing on healthful behaviors."
This article first appeared in the July 2008 issue of Consumer Reports on Health.
Monday, August 10, 2009
A Fierce Fat Filipina Diva Review: Drop Dead Diva
Pilot (Episode 1) | myLifetime.com
Shared via AddThis
Episode 1: Summary
Season 1: Episode 1. Airs: 07/12/09. Watch the premiere episode of "Drop Dead Diva." When beautiful-but-vapid model wannabe Deb has a fatal car accident, she suddenly finds herself in front of Heaven's gatekeeper, Fred, who declares her a self-centered "zero." Outraged, she attempts to persuade Fred to return her to her shallow existence but is accidentally relegated to the body of the recently deceased Jane Bingum. A brilliant, thoughtful and plus-size attorney with a loyal assistant, Teri, Jane has always lived in the shadow of her more comely colleagues whereas Deb has always relied on her external beauty. Now, by a twist of fate and a bolt of divine intervention, Deb must come to terms with inhabiting Jane's plus-size frame in the ultimate showdown between brains and beauty.
A Fierce Fat Filipina Diva's Review: I love it. Not just because Margaret Cho plays the executive assistant of the main character Jane (well partially). All my life growing up I turned to television to help me feel happy, test my emotions, fill my head with knowledge, but deep down inside selfishly I was analyzing television to see if they would reflect something that represented me.
First case in point: Margaret Cho's early 1990's first all Asian-American television show called "All American Girl." It was the first show of it's kind to showcase the humor, frustration, & pain at times that Asian-Americans go through, however American television audiences were not ready for something like that. Therefore, it lasted only 1 season on ABC, but is now available on DVD!
Second case in point: MTV's (excuse me, RANDY JACKSON's) "America's Next Best Dance Crew." It was the first show to really highlight a known stereotypical fact: FILIPINOS can dance. There were several regions represented on that show from all over the nation and YET they managed to find dance crews even in the MIDWEST that had at least one Filipino. Hate to say it, but it help but Filipino-Americans on the map as natual born dancers...however don't let me forget Charice Pampengko...she reminded the WORLD that Filipinos can SING. However, that is another blog, another story.
So what about Lifetime's "Drop Dead Diva"? How do I relate to it? Well, because I am fat, young, a professional, & want something more out of life. This show relates to me on many personal levels, mainly because I too shop at Lane Bryant, want to fight for injustice in the world, & love good lawyerly talk (hell I was a Political Science major). But most of all this show from it's storylines, actors/actresses, jokes, cases, etc. really let's audience members help feel at least for a second what it is like to be different (not just fat or be a woman in a man's world, etc.) in a world that tells you you need to be a certain way to be noticed and appreciated in this society. This show highlights that negativity in society, but also reminds us in the best way possible the importance of loving yourself for who you are (50lbs more or not).
So what now? Yes, I know I am on a health kick. I know I participate in a 6am cardio boot camp Monday-Friday. I know I am training for a 1/2 marathon, which is on OCTOBER 4th (8 weeks left). I know for my height of 5'2'' I am suggested to be 125lbs-140lbs, but in reality I am closer to 270lbs currently. I exercise everyday not because someone tells me I am fat or ugly (although I do get many comments from different strangers & relatives who are think they are helping, but are not), but because I used to weigh 320lbs & was a size 28. I used to have Sleep Apnea that required me to use a machine to breathe at night while I slept, because I was too fat and prevented me from breathing. This past November 2008 I weighed 224lbs. Today I am closer to 270lbs. What happened? Life happened. However, I am NOT going to let lame excuses prevent me from my goal weight.
I might be fat, but I am mighty. I might be fat, but I am proud. I might be fat, but I am confident I will succeed. I might be fat, but this is the first time in a year that I am sincerely and genuinely happy with who I am & what I look like. I am FIERCE. Exercise and a healthy lifestyle change will help me look like the "after" I have been chasing for not the "before" but it will be on my terms and on my realistic and healthy timeline. The best part of it all...I am not doing stupid liposuction or lap band surgery. I am doing it with healthy eating & exercise.
Fellow Fierce Fat Filipina Diva,
Mo : )
Shared via AddThis
Episode 1: Summary
Season 1: Episode 1. Airs: 07/12/09. Watch the premiere episode of "Drop Dead Diva." When beautiful-but-vapid model wannabe Deb has a fatal car accident, she suddenly finds herself in front of Heaven's gatekeeper, Fred, who declares her a self-centered "zero." Outraged, she attempts to persuade Fred to return her to her shallow existence but is accidentally relegated to the body of the recently deceased Jane Bingum. A brilliant, thoughtful and plus-size attorney with a loyal assistant, Teri, Jane has always lived in the shadow of her more comely colleagues whereas Deb has always relied on her external beauty. Now, by a twist of fate and a bolt of divine intervention, Deb must come to terms with inhabiting Jane's plus-size frame in the ultimate showdown between brains and beauty.
A Fierce Fat Filipina Diva's Review: I love it. Not just because Margaret Cho plays the executive assistant of the main character Jane (well partially). All my life growing up I turned to television to help me feel happy, test my emotions, fill my head with knowledge, but deep down inside selfishly I was analyzing television to see if they would reflect something that represented me.
First case in point: Margaret Cho's early 1990's first all Asian-American television show called "All American Girl." It was the first show of it's kind to showcase the humor, frustration, & pain at times that Asian-Americans go through, however American television audiences were not ready for something like that. Therefore, it lasted only 1 season on ABC, but is now available on DVD!
Second case in point: MTV's (excuse me, RANDY JACKSON's) "America's Next Best Dance Crew." It was the first show to really highlight a known stereotypical fact: FILIPINOS can dance. There were several regions represented on that show from all over the nation and YET they managed to find dance crews even in the MIDWEST that had at least one Filipino. Hate to say it, but it help but Filipino-Americans on the map as natual born dancers...however don't let me forget Charice Pampengko...she reminded the WORLD that Filipinos can SING. However, that is another blog, another story.
So what about Lifetime's "Drop Dead Diva"? How do I relate to it? Well, because I am fat, young, a professional, & want something more out of life. This show relates to me on many personal levels, mainly because I too shop at Lane Bryant, want to fight for injustice in the world, & love good lawyerly talk (hell I was a Political Science major). But most of all this show from it's storylines, actors/actresses, jokes, cases, etc. really let's audience members help feel at least for a second what it is like to be different (not just fat or be a woman in a man's world, etc.) in a world that tells you you need to be a certain way to be noticed and appreciated in this society. This show highlights that negativity in society, but also reminds us in the best way possible the importance of loving yourself for who you are (50lbs more or not).
So what now? Yes, I know I am on a health kick. I know I participate in a 6am cardio boot camp Monday-Friday. I know I am training for a 1/2 marathon, which is on OCTOBER 4th (8 weeks left). I know for my height of 5'2'' I am suggested to be 125lbs-140lbs, but in reality I am closer to 270lbs currently. I exercise everyday not because someone tells me I am fat or ugly (although I do get many comments from different strangers & relatives who are think they are helping, but are not), but because I used to weigh 320lbs & was a size 28. I used to have Sleep Apnea that required me to use a machine to breathe at night while I slept, because I was too fat and prevented me from breathing. This past November 2008 I weighed 224lbs. Today I am closer to 270lbs. What happened? Life happened. However, I am NOT going to let lame excuses prevent me from my goal weight.
I might be fat, but I am mighty. I might be fat, but I am proud. I might be fat, but I am confident I will succeed. I might be fat, but this is the first time in a year that I am sincerely and genuinely happy with who I am & what I look like. I am FIERCE. Exercise and a healthy lifestyle change will help me look like the "after" I have been chasing for not the "before" but it will be on my terms and on my realistic and healthy timeline. The best part of it all...I am not doing stupid liposuction or lap band surgery. I am doing it with healthy eating & exercise.
Fellow Fierce Fat Filipina Diva,
Mo : )
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