So, my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week is about zombies. More specifically, how a healthy diet and regular exercise can improve your chances of escaping a zombie invasion. Which is something that some people worry about.
If you aren’t worried about a zombie apocalypse you might be after seeing the movie World War Z, which opens this week.
Oddly, this isn’t the first time that I have managed to link nutrition and fitness with zombies.
Posted in Health & Fitness
Tagged aiken standard, diet, exercise, fitness, fitness column, health, nutrition, physical activity, World War Z, zombie apocalypse, zombies
It’s Friday afternoon. Between your time spent at home and at work, you have probably been sitting for much of the week. It’s time to get up out of your chair right now!
Sitting Is Killing You | Medical Billing & Coding [via Lifehacker]
Since it is Friday afternoon, why not head down to your local pedal-powered pub for happy hour!
Posted in Infographics!, Just for fun
Tagged exercise, happy hour, physical activity, sitting, sitting disease
My Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week is about my friend Shannon and her remodeling project. I have been writing about Shannon on this blog for some time, but I thought her story was worth sharing elsewhere.
Shannon has been trying to do what I call remodeling–losing a little weight and adding some muscle. To do this she started an exercise program and is now exercising nearly every day. She has also changed her diet, focusing mostly on eating out less, reducing portion sizes, and eating more fruits and vegetables.
It has been working!
What is interesting about Shannon is that the specifics of her diet and exercise program aren’t the reason for her success. Yes, that is how she lost fat and added muscle, but she could have done that following almost any diet and exercise program.
What helped Shannon the most is that she changed her habits. For years she didn’t exercise much and ate a diet that consisted largely of unhealthy foods. This was mostly due to convenience–it was easier to eat out and not exercise.
Changing these behaviors was the real challenge. Shannon’s lifestyle and interactions with others supported her former habits. And changing these habits isn’t easy. It means saying “no, thank you” a lot and making difficult choices about what to eat and when to exercise.
But she has done it and learned along the way that she really can make those tough decisions. And so can everyone else. The key is to focus on WHY we eat what we eat and WHY we don’t exercise rather than obsess about exactly WHAT to eat and WHAT to do for exercise.
Posted in Health & Fitness
Tagged aiken standard, diet, exercise, food, nutrition, obesity, physical activity, starting an exercise program, weight loss
I’m a big fan of finding ways to turn sedentary time into opportunities to be active. At home, this includes spending less time sitting watching television and more time up and moving. Even getting off the couch during commercials can make a difference. At work, using a standing desk, holding walking meetings, and taking frequent activity breaks are good ways to limit sitting time.
But what about when you meet your friends at the bar for a drink. Even though alcohol consumption (in moderation, of course) can have health benefits, the fact that you are sitting doesn’t do you any favors.
Problem solved! I was in Indianapolis last week for the American College of Sports Medicine annual meeting when I happened to see this:
It’s called the HandleBar Pedal Pub and it is a mobile bar. Like most bars, there is a bartender who serves drinks. But unlike most bars, the patrons pedal while they drink. There is also a driver, presumably a designated driver, who makes sure they don’t hit anything. You can learn more at http://www.handlebarindy.com/
Now you can combine happy hour with exercise time!
Last week I presented a study at the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting in Indianapolis showing that weight loss can improve physical function and reduce physical limitations. This study was also the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.
In this study 48 subjects followed a low-calorie diet (~1200 calories/day) and participated in daily exercise (progressing to 60 minutes per day of walking). The diet and exercise programs resulted in significant weight loss, about 13 pounds on average, or over 1.5 pounds per week.
We assessed physical function using a simple physical test called the timed get-up and go test (TGUG), in which the time required to rise from a chair, walk 10 feet, and return to the chair was measured. The subjects also completed the physical functioning domain of the Short-Form 36 Health Status Survey (SF-36), a subjective reporting of health-related quality of life.
Following weight loss the TGUG time was lower, meaning the subjects were able to complete the test more quickly. The SF-36 Physical Function score was higher. Together, these tests indicate that the subjects were experiencing improved physical function and fewer limitations to normal activities
This is important because physical limitations can have a big impact of quality of life. Being overweight makes simple physical tasks, such as bending over and tying your shoes, challenging. Losing weight can make these things easier, improving quality of life.
This is consistent with what many people who have lost weight report: “I feel so much better now than I did when I was heavy,” or “I didn’t realize how difficult things were for me.”
Sometimes, it’s the little things that count the most!
Posted in Health & Fitness
Tagged ACSM annual meeting, diet, exercise, health, obesity, physical activity, physical function, quality of life, weight loss
What caused the current obesity epidemic? Is it that we are eating more now? Or are we less active than we were? Most likely, it is a combination of both. And although the typical American diet is given plenty of blame for causing people to gain weight, a low level of physical activity deserves attention, too.
One way to answer this question is to look back at what life was like about 100 years ago, when obesity was uncommon. Unfortunately, no one thought to make accurate measures of daily activity back then. But there is a way to go back in time and assess the diet and physical activity that was common 100 years ago.
In my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week I wrote about an interesting study that essentially took researchers back in time to measure physical activity. The results show that we are much less active today, which certainly plays a big role in the obesity epidemic.
You can learn more about the study I mentioned here.
Posted in Health & Fitness
Tagged aiken standard, amish, diet, exercise, gaining weight, nutrition, obesity, physical activity
The childhood obesity epidemic is usually blamed, in part, on the fact that most kids aren’t active enough at home and at school. Opportunities for activity in school are less common now because programs like physical education and recess are being cut in an effort to save money or to dedicate time for test preparation. This has an effect not only on health but on academic performance, since regular activity improves attention, memory, and learning (in addition to the health benefits).
Parents are partly to blame, too. There are plenty of missed opportunities for physical activity outside of school. Since most adults don’t get enough activity, it is no surprise that they aren’t encouraging their kids to be active.
Adults get the same benefits from regular physical activity as children do. Just as kids who are active during the day perform better at school, adults who are active at work are more productive. But most people spend much of their work day sitting with little to no activity. This is bad for health and for job performance.
So why don’t adults get recess, too? They should!
This is the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week. It is also the mission behind an initiative called Instant Recess, which provides tools to help people include short activity breaks into their day. Far from being a burden or a waste of time, these short bouts of activity improve health, mental wellbeing, and productivity.
Posted in Health & Fitness
Tagged children, exercise, fitness column, health, healthy-living, instant recess, obesity, physical activity, productivity, recess
Most kids don’t get enough physical activity. No surprise that inactivity is associated with health conditions like obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes. But a lack of activity in children can lead to poor academic performance, too.
But we are missing good opportunities to provide kids with chances to be physically active at home and in school. This is the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard today.
Schools are a perfect place to include opportunities to be active. Unfortunately, opportunities for activity, from PE to recess, are among the first cuts to be made when budgets are tight. Why isn’t promoting an active, healthy lifestyle just as important as promoting math or reading or science?
A common argument is that parents should teach their children about a healthy lifestyle, not schools. I disagree. At some point, we (society) decided that parents shouldn’t have to teach their kids math or reading or science. I don’t know the exact rationale, but it likely had something to do with the fact that most parents don’t have the knowledge or skills to teach these essential subjects. Why should activity and, while we are at it, nutrition, be any different?
In fact, we have been experimenting with removing physical activity and nutrition education from schools and leaving it to parents for some time now. Given the childhood (and adult) obesity epidemic, it hasn’t gone well. Maybe it is time to revisit providing quality health, activity, and nutrition education in schools.
If you want to learn more about benefits of and ways to promote physical activity for kids the Physical Guidelines for Americans is a good place to start. In particular, the Midcourse Report offers recommendations and solutions regarding physical activity in children.
Posted in Health & Fitness
Tagged aiken standard, children, education, exercise, health, obesity, physical activity, Physical activity guidelines, schools
I read this interesting article in USA Today about a family who is working together to lose weight by eating healthy and exercising more. The family is participating the USA Today’s Family Fitness Challenge, which provides them with expert advice.
Predictably, their fitness is improving and they are losing weight (over 100 pounds total so far). One family member even quit smoking!
What may be surprising is that they are saving money following their new healthier diet. By preparing most meals at home they are saving about $300 per week on food!
Another happy consequence is that they are spending more time together as a family by eating meals and exercising together. No doubt this is good support for them as they try to improve their health.
They are doing this as part of a TV show (The Doctors) and they have an exercise physiologist and a nutritionist working with them, so it would be easy to think that a typical family without this support wouldn’t be successful. I disagree.
I think that if most families started preparing dinners at home, eating as a family, and going for a walk (or doing some other activity) together after dinner they would get in better shape, lose weight, and benefit from more time together.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged diet, exercise, family, fitness, nutrition, obesity, physical activity, USA Today, weight loss
Diets don’t work!
Exercise will make you gain weight!
This supplement will melt fat away while you sleep!
Unfortunately, claims like these are not an April Fools joke. They are repeated so frequently that diets and exercise are avoided by many in favor of supplements to promote weight loss. Also unfortunately, they aren’t true. My Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week busts these common weight loss myths. Here is a bit more about each.
1. Diets don’t work! This is a common claim, usually to explain why most people who lose weight end up gaining it back. But diets do work. Almost every diet leads to weight loss in the short-term and some lead to long-term weight loss. I have written about selecting the “best” diet and why the diet you pick isn’t the most important predictor of weight loss previously. And it is possible to lose weight and keep it off. But it is difficult, as this article explains so elegantly. Difficult, not impossible.
2. Exercise will make you gain weight! This is another popular myth about weight loss. The good news is that exercise does work to promote weight loss. In fact, weight loss by exercise alone results in greater fat loss and preserves muscle compared to weight loss by diet. It’s true. But you probably shouldn’t try to lose weight by exercise alone. The best results will come from combining diet and exercise.
3. Melt fat away while you sleep by taking supplement X! This sounds great, which explains why Americans spend billions of dollars on dietary supplements each year. Unfortunately, most of these supplements have not been researched either adequately or at all to determine their effectiveness or safety, or they have been shown to be ineffective, as shown here. A conservative conclusion is that there are no supplements that have been shown to safely promote long-term weight loss.
Posted in Health & Fitness
Tagged aiken standard, april fools joke, diet, exercise, fitness column, health, supplements, weight loss
Dr Parr Says... 