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Saturday, 14 January 2012 20:00 |
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Recent research conducted in American high schools shows that kids who are overweight are aware of the problem and roughly 75 percent of them want to do something to lose the extra weight. The researchers found that the teens they interviewed had the drive to lose weight but they didn’t seem to have the information they needed to lose weight effectively. Many teens in the studies avoided exercise altogether. If they did exercise, they didn’t change their diets, so with sugary snacks and soda they undid many of the benefits of the exercise.
Researchers also found that overweight teenagers tend to participate in more damaging behavior than normal-weight kids. The overweight teens use tobacco, alcohol and drugs far more than their peers who don’t have weight trouble. Part of the reason for the increased substance abuse could tie into the fact that these kids want to lose weight but don’t really understand how to do it in a way that works.
Video Games Keeping Kids on the Couch
Overweight boys who mentioned they would like to lose weight failed to connect between the idea of physical activity and how it impacts weight gain. Most of the boys in a recent study said they played video games at least three hours every day and did very little physical exercise. The link between watching television and obesity has long been understood by doctors, and the same link could translate to video game use. These boys could have seen positive weight loss if they had simply put down the controllers and exercised for half hour every day. The trouble was that they didn’t seem to realize their gaming was adding to their frustration with their weight.
Physical Activity Canceled Out by Drinking Soda
Many of the girls who answered questionnaires said they did exercise at least half an hour every day. The problem was that these same girls said they drank at least one 12-ounce soda every day as well. The girls didn’t seem to have a strong understanding of the relationship between soda and their waistlines. If they knew that drinking one can of soda gave them back more calories than they used up on a half-hour walk, they might have chosen their beverages more carefully.
Taking Diets to Extremes
Some teens approach dieting in a way that may harm more than it helps. In general, a healthy teenager’s metabolism is designed to burn off the calories taken in through a healthy diet. Teens who really want to lose weight can achieve their goals by exercising a little more and changing the kinds of foods they eat. Unfortunately, most teens are looking for a silver bullet that will help them lose weight fast. Fad diets and diet pills are far more attractive than exercising and watching their diets.
Teens who become obsessed with weight loss can also harm themselves by exercising too much or cutting too many calories out of their diets. The human body needs a certain mix of vitamins and nutrients in order to function properly, especially when it is still growing. If teenagers decide to lose weight by eating only a specific kind of food or going on a liquid diet without a doctor’s supervision, they can make themselves sick and still fail at losing weight. Fad diets might work in the first week or two, but their long lasting effects tend to cause more problems than the extra weight will cause.
Tobacco Use Higher Among Obese Teens
Researchers also found a disheartening link between obese teenagers and cigarette or chewing tobacco use. The percentage of smoking teens that are overweight is substantially higher than the percentage of normal-weight teens who smoke. Researchers speculate that the increased number of overweight smokers may have something to do with teenagers’ self-esteem when they think they are fat or undesirable. Smoking can become an addictive coping mechanism.
Drinking and Drug Use More Common
Although overweight teenagers were not as likely to have had illicit sex, they were far more likely to have engaged in sex after consuming alcohol or other drugs. Again, self-esteem may play a role in this self-destructive behavior. Overweight teens who were sexually active were twice as likely to have had sex after they were drinking or using drugs as their normal-weight peers. Drinking and drug use can shut out the warning signals and leave overweight teens open to negative consequences.
Sources
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111101095310.htm
http://healthland.time.com/2011/04/25/obese-teens-are-more-likely-to-smoke-have-riskier-sex/
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2011/04/25/peds.2010-2742.abstract
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Read more... [What Dieting Teens Are Doing Wrong]
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Saturday, 14 January 2012 06:07 |
The Answer to Serial Free PourersAbout.com Rating 3 Star Rating By Fiona Haynes, About.com Guide |
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Thursday, 12 January 2012 11:03 |
Cutting fat doesn't automatically mean better nutrition or significant calorie savings unless you also make other healthy choices, such as limiting refined sugars, choosing whole grains and fresh produce, watching sodium, and limiting portions. Plus, it's worth stating that you do need some fat in your diet, so a very low-fat to no-fat diet is not a good idea, unless specifically prescribed to help with a medical condition. Whatever your reason for eating lower fat, whether it's for medical reasons or to lead a healthier lifestyle, here are some quick and easy ways to do so.
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Wednesday, 11 January 2012 06:08 |
Answer: Peanut butter is a staple in many households, but at 16 grams of fat and around 200 calories per two-tablespoon serving, peanut butter is obviously not a low-fat, low-calorie food. But before we cross peanut butter off our list, there are some pluses that mean we can spread some on our toast or sliced apples from time to time. Apart from being a good source of vitamin E, folic acid, niacin, and phosphorous, most (but not all) of the fat in peanut butter is the heart-healthy monounsaturated kind; plus, it contains no cholesterol.
There are reduced-fat peanut butters on the market, but some of these are higher in sugar, which hardly make these peanut butters much healthier. Instead of opting for those, its better to have the real thing but simply use less than the stated serving size. One tablespoon of peanut butter is usually all you need, especially if you add jam or some sliced banana to your peanut butter sandwich.
One caveat, however. Most regular peanut butters have a small amount of partially hydrogenated oil to prevent separation, although the nutrition facts label will claim 0 grams of trans fats. In reality, this means there is less than 0.5 grams of trans fats per serving. Thats not much, you might say, but if you exceed the serving size, or choose to eat peanut butter sandwiches every day, those fractions of a gram add up.
To avoid partially hydrogenated oils altogether, I recommend using natural peanut butter, which should simply contain peanuts and perhaps salt. But some "natural" peanut butters contain palm oil as a stabilizer in place of hydrogenated oils. Palm oil (not to be confused with palm kernel oil) is a plant-based fat thats a little over 50 percent saturated. Some research suggests that since plant-based saturated fats are metabolized differently than animal fats, theyre less harmful and perhaps even healthful. If you can, stick with the natural variety that doesnt contain additional oil as stabilizers. And make peanut butter an occasional treat rather than an everyday one. |
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Tuesday, 03 January 2012 13:49 |
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Nutrition experts have always argued about the health risks of red meat. Red meat such as beef, pork, and lamb has been associated with heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and cancer. Most nutritionists agree that these meats should be avoided or eaten sparingly with a higher focus on chicken, fish, and vegetarian protein sources. Recently, however, a study by the journal of the American Heart Association, Circulation shows that the relationship between red meat and health risks is not as simple as it appears.
The Study
Researchers compiled data from 20 studies, comprising 1.2 million participants tracked over the course of four to 18 years. Participants took daily food questionnaires reporting on their eating habits and were subject to telephone interviews as well. The results from the study were then compared based on the type and amount of protein consumed by the individuals.
The results were surprising to researchers. Individuals who ate red meat once a day had exactly the same risk of heart disease and diabetes as those who ate it less than once a week. Individuals who ate processed meat, however, such as hot dogs or bacon, on a daily basis had a whopping 42 percent higher risk of heart disease and 19 percent increased risk of diabetes.
What exactly is processed meat, and how is it different from other types of red meat?
Processed meats include hot dogs, sausage, bacon, salami, and other cured meats. Regular red meat consists of steak, brisket, pork loin, lamb shank or other whole cuts of meat. Generally, whole meats are leaner than their processed counterparts.
At one time, the motive for creating sausage and other types of processed meat was as a method of use or disposal for the less-savory parts of an animal. Thus, sausages like summer sausage and salami have a higher saturated fat content than lean meat.
Additionally, cured meats have a high sodium content. Bacon is made by smoking and curing a fatty cut of pork. The high salt content helps to preserve the meat, but also increases its sodium content astronomically.
Because both saturated fat and sodium are risk factors for diabetes and heart disease, it makes sense that processed meats would be less healthy than whole cuts of red meat. Lean red meat is not much different from poultry so far as nutritional content is concerned.
Another important thing to note: The serving size for processed meat is actually half of the serving size for regular red meat. This means that while you may be able to eat up to 100g of red meat a day, a serving for processed meat is just 50g. Considering how many more people eat hot dogs, sausage, and bacon in a given day than steak, the results are unnerving at best.
So Is Red Meat Healthy to Eat?
The study did show that any serving of meat a day has an increased risk of heart disease, but these results were strongly skewed by just two of the studies examined. Aside from those two results, all other studies showed that the risk of heart disease in diets including red meat is tiny compared to diets with only poultry or fish. Diets including red meat, however, still have a 12 percent higher incidence of diabetes.
Ultimately, the healthiest diet is one that focuses primarily on fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains; meat and dairy products should play a secondary role. That said, red meat is not as dangerous as previous studies have claimed. Consumers are much better off eating a steak or roast than they are consuming processed meats. By reducing processed food consumption and focusing on whole foods, you can improve your vitality and enjoy a healthier lifestyle.
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Read more... [Red Meat is okay- Except When it’s Processed!]
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