Struggles Of Adolescence Can Be Particularly Painful For Children Who Also Struggle With Obesity

But apparently not enough of a struggle to get them to lose the weight.

"New research suggests that traits such as obesity during adolescence that may increase the risk of attacks from peers can result in health and psychological struggles that remain through young adulthood. The researchers say that this is one of the first studies to explore a possible link between victimization and weight changes for obese adolescents."

Kids get fat, just like pets do.

They are overfed by those responsible for their care.

If parents wanted to stop the nutritional child abuse they heap on their kids, they could.

And in an instant.

Stop the child abusing parents.

Healthy Barbacues (sic) Are Better For You

But not for your spelling (note "barbacue").

"Now that the summer holidays are here and the nights are long, there's never been a better excuse to have a barbecue- and it doesn't have to be the traditional glut of cremated or undercooked meat that's often high in calories and fat. It's easy to give your barbecue a healthy twist and turn it into a gourmet three-course feast for all your family and friends to enjoy."

An interesting "tradition."

Guess doing the BBQ thing in the UK is nightmarish.

Olympic Gold Medalist Focuses on Raising Awareness of ADHD

Is this really a good thing?

"Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, who won 8 gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, is focusing on raising awareness of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and reassuring kids with the condition that they can succeed.

A 14-time Olympic gold medalist, Phelps, who currently holds 7 world swimming records, also has ADHD. Diagnosed at age 9 years, as a child he displayed the typical inattentive, disruptive behaviors characteristic of the disorder."

If one has an "Attention Deficit Disorder" what's with the "Focuses On" part?

Sounds like a problem.

Just kidding.

Now hear this: Leave your earwax alone

This is certainly the best fitness article written in a long time.

It covers diet and physical fitness advice.

"The gooey, golden stuff that builds up inside your ears should stay there, according to national guidelines on earwax removal released today...

Roland chaired a panel of doctors in charge of the new guidelines for earwax removal issued by the American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF)...

For the everyday individual, the new guidelines suggest you leave your ears alone unless you experience symptoms that you think are associated with too much earwax."

How does this relate to fitness?

If they have not gotten ear wax right after all these years, until allegedly now, you can bet that they have not gotten the more complex stuff, e.g., nutritional and physical fitness right, either.

Remember, the same people who are offering advice, drugs and surgeries related to nutritional fitness are the same ones who cannot cure toenail fungus.

(Ditto for physical fitness.)

When it comes to overweight/obesity, anything you hear beyond Calories In, Calories Out is mere speculation and probably wrong.

That is if you can hear with all that ear wax.

More Americans Seek Medical Care and Most Walk Away with a Prescription

Actually, most waddle away with a prescription.

"On average, each American seeks medical care at a doctor's office, a clinic, or a hospital emergency department about four times a year, according to data released by the CDC."

Don't forget to change the batteries in your smoke detector when you seek medical care.

"And that number is an increase of 26% over the decade from 1996 to 2006, the latest CDC/National Center for Health Statistics National Health Care Survey showed.

The increase outpaced the growth in population, which rose by 11% during the same decade, wrote Susan M. Schappert, M.A., of the National Center for Health Statistics, and colleagues...

Regardless of setting -- physician office, outpatient clinic, or emergency department -- seven out of 10 patients left the medical visit with at least one prescription and analgesics were the most common drug prescribed."

Analgesics.

Life hurts, eh?

Guess all that fat fat people have is not cushioning them well enough.

While we are rebuilding our cities to accommodate fat people, let's include nice, soft, cushy Nerf sidewalks.

Young People Who Sleep Less Have More Risk Of Being Overweight

More crap.

"Young people who sleep less may be more likely to be overweight, especially if they spend less time in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, according to a report released on August 4, 2008 in Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals...

The researchers found that 14.6% of participants (49 youths) were at risk for becoming overweight, while 13.4% (45 youths) were already overweight. Comparing these children with those who had normal weights, the higher weight children slept approximately 22 fewer minutes per night. Additionally, their sleep efficiency, defined as the percentage of time that the subject remained asleep, was lower, their REM sleep time was shorter, they had less REM activity even in REM sleep, and took longer to reach their first REM sleep periods.

In all, one hour less of total sleep was associated with twice the risk of being overweight. Having one hour less of REM sleep was associated with three times the risk."

22 minutes? One hour?

Clearly this is the reason that:

"...the obesity rate in children between 6 and 11 years old has more than tripled in the last 30 years, and about 17% of the adolescents in the population are classified as obese or overweight presently."

So, forget the Calories.

"Obesity is generally caused by an uneven caloric intake and energy use balance, but there are many factors that could potentially affect obesity that are not well understood."

"Generally caused by an uneven caloric intake and energy use balance..."?

That imbalance is the only cause.

How stupid are these people?

Dead to the world asleep stupid.

So you do not raise fat kids, increase the inactivity of your children by having them spend more time in bed.

Not.

Morons.

Exercise Pill Is No Replacement For Exercise

Say it ain't so.

"Recently, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, a research organization focused on biology and its relation to health, published a study in the journal Cell on the results of a substance that increased exercise endurance without daily exertion when tested in mice. Media reports have described this substance as an "exercise pill," potentially eliminating the need for exercise. Frank Booth, a University of Missouri expert on the science of inactivity, says the "exercise pill" study did not test all of the commonly known benefits of exercise and taking the pill cannot be considered a replacement for exercise."

Boo-hoo. So sad for the hopeful mice.

"In the Cell paper "Exercise Mimetics" the researchers demonstrated that AMPK-PPARδ pathways, which is a cellular messenger system, can be targeted by orally active drugs to enhance training adaptation or even to increase endurance without exercise. However, Booth cautions that some of the commonly known benefits of exercise were not tested in the Cell paper including:

- Decreased resting and submaximal exercise heart rate
- Increased heart stroke volume at all exercise work loads
- Increased maximal exercise cardiac output
- Lower blood pressure and arterial stiffness
- Increased aerobic capacity...

The prevention of the increased risk of chronic disease produced by lifelong physical inactivity also was not tested in the Cell paper. According to Katzmarzyk & Janssen (Can J Appl Physiol 29:90, 2004), human physical activity decreases the risk of:

- Coronary artery disease (decreases risk by 45 percent)
- Stroke (decreases risk by 60 percent)
- Hypertension (decreases risk by 30 percent)
- Colon cancer (decreases risk by 41 percent)
- Breast cancer (decreases risk by 30 percent)
- Type 2 diabetes (decreases risk by 50 percent)
- Osteoporosis (decreases risk by 59 percent)"

Here is the complete list of the aforementioned 26 benefits that were untested:

"Commonly known benefits of exercise not tested in the Cell paper were:

- Decreased resting and submaximal exercise heart rate
- Increased heart stroke volume at all exercise work loads
- Increased maximal exercise cardiac output
- Lower blood pressure and arterial stiffness
- Increased aerobic capacity
- Increased strength and cross-sectional area of skeletal muscle
- Delayed loss of muscle mass and strength with aging and physical frailty
- Improved balance and coordination
- Improved flexibility
- Reduced osteoporosis
- Reduced joint stress and back pain
- Decreased gallstone disease
- Improved endothelial function
- Decreased incidence of myocardial ischemia
- Less myocardial damage from ischemia
- Decreased oxidative stress
- Decreased inflammation
- Improved immune function
- Decreased liver steatosis and fatty liver disease
- Improved insulin sensitivity and reduced risk of type 2 diabetes
- Less likelihood of depression, anxiety, stress and poor psychological well-being
- Ameliorating hyperlipidemia: lower total cholesterol, higher HDL, and decreased blood triglycerides
- Improved cognitive function in the elderly
- Increased blood flow and neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus of the hypothalamus
- Prevention of the loss of brain volume in the elderly
- Delay in decline of physiological reserve in organ systems with aging"

Bummer.

People Who Are Obese May Carry Asthma Trait

Clearly.

"A new study suggests that people who are obese with asthma may carry a specific trait or phenotype that causes them to have poorer asthma control than people who are not obese with asthma."

That trait is known as "too damned fat."

"Researchers from Quebec, Canada compared pulmonary function changes, methacholine challenge scores, sputum induction cell counts, symptom perceptions, BMI/waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio of 44 obese subjects with asthma with 44 nonobese subjects with asthma.

Compared with those who were not obese, those who were obese had poorer asthma control, as well as lower total lung capacity, expiratory reserve volume, functional residual capacity, and residual volume."

Brilliant research.

Not.

Eating Eggs Boosts A Healthy Weight Loss Plan

They must be yolking.

"A study published online in the International Journal of Obesity shows that eating two eggs for breakfast, as part of a reduced-calorie diet, helps overweight adults lose more weight and feel more energetic than those who eat a bagel breakfast of equal calories. This study supports previous research, published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, which showed that people who ate eggs for breakfast felt more satisfied and ate fewer calories at the following meal."

Whoa.

What was that?

"...part of a reduced-calorie (sic) diet?"

So what came first, the reduced Calorie diet or the egg?

For sure, if you want to know, don't ask these folks who wrote this piece:

"Egg Nutrition News Bureau"

They might, just might, be biased.

Study points to brain chemical involved in obesity

Ah, yes, the old "brain chemical" culprit.

"Researchers studying people with a rare genetic disorder have identified a brain chemical that may play a role in appetite and obesity, a finding they say could lead to new drugs to help some obese people.

Previous animal studies had pointed to this chemical, known as BDNF, as helping to regulate appetite and weight, but the new study published on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine is the first to show such a role in people.

'The importance of the finding is that it opens up another avenue for us to develop treatments that might help folks with obesity,' said Dr. Jack Yanovski of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health."

(NIH are those child abusers from DC.)

It took longer for it to show in people since fatsos brains are so much smaller than those of lab animals.

Some of the brain chemical precursors, LacF-SelfControlin, NoSelfaSteem, Bigmoron and LayZFatPigin, have been previously identified.

Good news, though.

The new treatments, called StopEatin, NoSwallowin and FewerCalzInThanOut are available today!

And they work 100% of the time!

Many Hispanic Immigrants Adopt Unhealthy Lifestyles Upon Arrival To U.S.

Or is it the exposure to bacteria? Viruses? Or is it genetics? Hormones?

"The Washington Post on Tuesday examined how "emigrating from poor rural life in Central America to poor urban and suburban life" in the U.S. can cause immigrants to adopt new unhealthy eating habits that can lead to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other ailments. Nationwide, obesity and diabetes rates among Hispanics are reaching record levels, according to CDC and other organizations. Hispanics also are nearly twice as likely to die from diabetes and have much higher rates of high blood pressure.

Lifestyle changes largely contribute to immigrants' increased health risks."

Maybe not. Maybe no change at all. Maybe it is an excuse.

"In addition, culture and misinformation from their native countries prevent Hispanics from following healthy lifestyles. For example, in Central America and Mexico it is believed that a healthy child should be "chubby," and a thin child is sick, according to the Post."

Maybe, like all too fat people, these folks eat too damned many Calories.

You really want to solve a problem?

First, identify it for what it is.

Radical, eh?

Broccoli may undo diabetes damage

Isn't it better not to get diabetes in the first place?

"Eating broccoli could reverse the damage caused by diabetes to heart blood vessels, research suggests.

A University of Warwick team believe the key is a compound found in the vegetable, called sulforaphane...

Dr Iain Frame, director of research at the charity Diabetes UK, stressed that research carried out on cells in the lab was a long way from the real life situation."

Wanna bet that real life will have a way of changing the conclusion?

Me?

I vote for not getting fat person diabetes and then praying for a rescue.

Why losing weight is so hard and gaining weight is so easy

Now a(nother) reason to sue, or at least report to the FTC, ATT-SBC-Yahoo! (Maybe you already have one.)

Why? They are distributing bad health care advice.

While you are at it, tell the FTC about Oprah and her IMHO nutritional homicide maniacs, too.

First, a story.

I almost never comment about other people's blogs because I perceive them to be less damaging than the MSM articles and press releases that are the fodder of MSM articles.

I use ATT-SBC-Yahoo! as my ISP. The home page has an area that contains today's NEWS. You know, stuff like politics, wars, fires, murders and American Idol (Idle) stories.

Today, the one linked to this entry was part of the NEWS.

Thought I would check it out since now, it is likely to be seen by many people.

The link to the story took me to a blog.

So, some comments since the info is so crappy and widely distributed courtesy of ATT-SBC-Yahoo!

Here is what this low-functioning moron is spouting:

"FACT 1 - It is Simple Math: To maintain your ideal weight, you need to eat as many calories as you burn in one day."

Fact - Wrong. First there is no such thing as an "ideal weight."

Second, eating as many Calories as you burn maintains any weight you are at, too much or too little.

"FACT 2 - A Pound is a Pound is a Pound: One pound of body mass represents 3,500 calories. Regardless, if you are trying to lose a pound or gain a pound, the pound will always represent 3,500 calories. So, if you eat 3,500 calories more than your body requires, you will gain 1 pound. Similarly, if you eat 3,500 calories less than your body requires, you will lose 1 pound."

Fact - All of the above is wrong. Too much time is needed to deal with all parts. Sorry.

A pound of muscle has far fewer Calories than a pound of fat.

One pound of body FAT, not body mass, represents 3,500 calories.

The weight gain and weight loss info is wrong, too. See here and here.

"FACT 3 - Exercise is Weight Discriminating: Whether you are 120 pounds or 175 pounds, you will gain one pound from eating 3,500 calories more than you need."

Fact - Wrong. If you add 3500 Calories to your body you can gain anywhere between 1 and 6 pounds, depending on whether you add those Calories as fat or muscle or a combination of the two.

So who is this idiot and ATT-SBC-Yahoo! touted expert?

Brett Blumenthal.

This is how she describes herself.

"Brett's passion for health and wellness began as a freshman in college, where she quickly realized that exercise and good nutrition were vital to releasing stress and maintaining balance. She became an AFAA (Aerobics and Fitness Association of America) certified group fitness instructor and has taught for Gold’s Gym and Bally’s Total Fitness in New York. She taught all types of fitness classes, but especially enjoyed helping students understand fundamentals of nutrition, fitness and overall wellness. She founded Sheer Balance, a company dedicated to health and wellness, when she realized that many of her friends and colleagues constantly struggled with finding balance in their every day hectic lives. Further, she realized that many of these women were frustrated by the overwhelming amount of information that was contradicting, unclear and misleading when it came to healthy living. As a result, she saw a need to provide women with the right tools and information to make living healthy, easy and fun."

Too bad her "passion" is devoid of smarts.

Her bio also serves to display the kind of talent Gold's and Bally's hires to teach and how lousy an AFAA certification must be.

In any event, I assume she means well, but is just another idiot, incapable of critical thought, who bought into the main stream approach and saw a way to make a buck parroting it back to an unsuspecting public.

It's unfortunate that "She taught all types of fitness classes, but especially enjoyed helping students understand fundamentals of nutrition, fitness and overall wellness."

With an understanding like Brett's, pray that those she helped survive.

And if Brett really wants women to be provided with "the right tools and information to make living healthy, easy and fun," she should shut her piehole and find employment in another area.

All U.S. adults could be overweight in 40 years

Finally, anorexia and bulimia are cured.

"If the trends of the past three decades continue, it's possible that every American adult could be overweight 40 years from now, a government-funded study projects."

And not a moment too soon.

Children's Vascular Health Activity Book

Simply stupid.

"This vascular health activity book for children ages 5 through 12 teaches children about how our vascular system works and is available free of charge...

Vascular surgeons want to help teachers and parents to inform youngsters about the health risks of obesity and smoking. If children understand how their bodies work, they may be more likely to take care of their vascular health as adults.

Adult vascular health complications include blocked carotid arteries that can cause paralyzing strokes. More than 15,000 people die annually from ruptured aortic aneurysms and one in every 20 Americans over the age of 50 has peripheral arterial disease. High cholesterol levels, smoking and lack of exercise are key factors in a person's likelihood of developing these diseases."

Take a look at the book and then show it to a 5 year old.

Good luck.

Professional Athletes And Celebreties (sic) Asked To Reject Offers To Promote Processed Junk Food

First, learn how to spell. It is "celebrities."

Now...

Don't do it.

"As the saturation of Americans who are overweight is projected to reach nearly 100 percent by 2040, and with 30 to 40 percent of today's children projected to develop diet-related diabetes in their lifetimes, leading child obesity advocates denounce Michael Phelps' endorsement of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes Cereal, which was quickly followed by his acceptance as being named a McDonald's Ambassador. They implore the Olympic gold medalist and swimming phenom to reject offers to promote junk food. As a role model and Olympic hero to America's children, Michael Phelps--and all athletes and celebrities--are asked to reconsider any connection to substances suspected as agents of obesity including sugary cereals, soft drinks, and other foods with refined carbohydrates, saturated fats, transfats, and high fructose corn syrup."

You go, Michael. You've earned it.

There are no "unhealthy foods." There is, however, eating healthily.

And anyone can do it eating fast foods, gradual foods, organic foods, any foods.

What you need is some guidance and self-control.

And an understanding that diet experts are killing you and their approaches are impossible.

To wit, go here, and see what some IMHO nutritional homicide maniacs are advocating.

To be sure, there are things food vendors at all levels of the Calorie supply chain can do to help.

Suggesting that athletes shun the opportunities they've earned to make gazillions because some POS impotent advocacy group says so, is ridiculous.

Especially since the real child abusers are parents, doctors, nurses, teachers, etc.

IMHO, a better idea is for these athletes to get involved in teaching people how to eat these foods, the ones the public appears to enjoy, responsibly.

This can easily be done with fast and processed foods.

In fact, it can be done more easily, accurately and consistently with fast and processed foods than with gradual or "unprocessed" foods.

But the bottom line is that it is not Michael Phelps's job to "protect" people from themselves.

Though it might be the job of these advocacy groups to understand why their advice is wrong, harmful and deadly.

And it should not be the job of the rest of us to pay for fat people's diseases of choice.

Cut the fat from their entitlements and Michael Phelps's endorsements will have far less sway.

Obesity: An increasing problem for orthopedists

Kudos, fatsos.

"Data indicate that the prevalence of obesity in the United States is increasing in adults and children. According to the most recent data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 66.5% of men and women 20 years and older in the United States are overweight and almost 32% are obese. Being overweight or obese has been reported to increase the risk of orthopedic complaints such as osteoarthritis, tendinosis, bursitis, overuse syndromes and surgical complications.

During the gait cycle, obese individuals have been noted to take shorter steps, walk slower, have increased step width, increased Q angles, increased hip abduction angles, more abducted foot angles, and increased out-toeing. Some of these differences, such as the increased step width, slower stride and a more abducted foot position may be simply an effort to increase stability. Many of the gait changes such as an increased Q angle and increased step width may also be attributed to thick thighs."

Read it all to get a sense of the effects of weight on matters orthopedic.

Parents Will Be Told If Their Children Are Overweight

Shouldn't they know this already?

" From September this year, parents of children who have been weighed and measured at school could automatically receive their child's results in a bid to get parents to be more aware about healthy lifestyles, and help their children achieve a healthy weight, Health Minister Ivan Lewis announced recently...

'Research shows that most parents of overweight or obese children think that their child is a healthy weight. This important move isn't about pointing the finger and telling parents that their children are overweight, instead it's about equipping parents with the information they need to help their children live healthier lives.'"

Which is why this info is useless.

It is not actionable since parents will not be held accountable.

Cowards.

Eating Fish May Prevent Memory Loss And Stroke In Old Age

Or it may not.

"Eating tuna and other types of fish may help lower the risk of cognitive decline and stroke in healthy older adults, according to a study published in the August 5, 2008, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

For the study, 3,660 people age 65 and older underwent brain scans to detect silent brain infarcts, or small lesions in the brain that can cause loss of thinking skills, stroke or dementia. Scans were performed again five years later on 2,313 of the participants. The people involved in the study were also given questionnaires about fish in their diets."

Perhaps they should have been given a questionnaire about candy bars in their diets. Or Brussels sprouts.

You only find what you look for.

"The study found that people who ate broiled or baked tuna and other fish high in omega-3 fatty acids (called DHA and EPA) three times or more per week had a nearly 26 percent lower risk of having the silent brain lesions that can cause dementia and stroke compared to people who did not eat fish regularly. Eating just one serving of this type of fish per week led to a 13 percent lower risk. The study also found people who regularly ate these types of fish had fewer changes in the white matter in their brains."

Maybe it is the mercury "protecting" them.

Kids: Eat Smart To Be Smart

Clearly, nutritionists did not eat smart as kids as they are not smart as adults.

"She also notes that sweetened beverages are full of empty calories and don't provide any nutritional value."

There are no such things as "empty calories (sic)."

All Calories are equal and all contain 4185.5 joules.

All foods provide "nutritional value."

"So keep healthy food in the house at all times to ensure that they will always have healthy snack options."

There are no "healthy foods," there is only eating healthily.

Be smarter than the dietitians.

It is not hard to do.

No matter what you eat.

Canadian Study Of Colds And Kids: Positive Safety Results For Ginseng Extract

Anything missing from this hype piece?

"Positive findings of a safety study involving children and a highly touted botanical extract (COLD-fX) show promise for its future development for kids as a Canadian cold and flu remedy. The results appear in the August, 2008 issue of Pediatrics - the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled Canadian trial which was conducted in collaboration with the University of Alberta in Canada was designed to measure the safety and tolerability of COLD-fX for treatment of cold and flu in children. Acute three-day doses of COLD-fX were well tolerated with no serious adverse events, or differences in adverse events versus the placebo group. The research was also successful in determining effect size, which enables appropriate statistical planning of a potential efficacy study."

Oh yeah.

That the stuff actually works.

This piece of crap was written by the company that sells the "highly touted botanical extract (COLD-fX)" and likely POS.

Caveat emptor.

The scum remain on the offensive.

Research Suggests That Childhood Obesity Begins In Infancy

Kudos, fatsos.

"Over the last decade, childhood obesity has grown into an epidemic, reflected in soaring rates of type 2 diabetes and recommendations that pediatricians check toddlers for elevated cholesterol.

What hasn't been as clear is how early to intervene.

A study presented at a pediatric research program on Friday suggested obesity prevention efforts should begin as early as age two, when children reach a 'tipping point' in a progression that leads to obesity later in life."

Type 2 diabetes is fat person diabetes.

More child abuse.

Stop them.

Study: Restaurant kids' meals loaded with calories

Well, at least they got the title right - it is all about Calories. (Though they misspelled it. In this context, the "C" in Calorie(s) should be upper case.)

"Parents looking for healthy meal choices for their children are likely to find slim pickings on the menus of the nation's top restaurant chains, according to a report released Monday by a nonprofit public health group.

Nearly every possible combination of the children's meals at Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, Sonic, Jack in the Box, and Chick-fil-A are too high in calories, the report by the Center for Science in the Public Interest said.

The report looked into the nutritional quality of kids' meals at 13 major restaurant chains. The center found 93 percent of 1,474 possible choices at the 13 chains exceed 430 calories — an amount that is one-third of what the National Institute of Medicine recommends that children ages 4 through 8 should consume in a day."

And here is something else that is mostly right (the physical activity part is the weakest except to promote a culture of physical activity):

"But the group stressed that 'exercising parental responsibility is key to childhood nutrition.' The report, it said, 'fails to acknowledge the essential role of nutrition education, physical activity and parental responsibility in childhood nutrition — good eating habits and healthy living must be established in the home.'"

The thing to do is hold parents accountable for the child abuse they cause.

Breakfast benefits may differ for boys, girls

Or, there may be no benefits.

"A new study suggests adolescents and young adults may be less attentive in school when they skip breakfast. Moreover, the effect of missing this meal is different in boys and girls, the researchers found...

While parents and teachers often argue that eating breakfast is essential for school success, one review of more than 50 years of research on the topic found that 'evidence in support of breakfast is equivocal,' Widenhorn-Mueller and her team note."

Then there is this.

"There are several ways that eating breakfast might be helpful, the researchers note; it could give people the energy and nutrients they need to produce brain signaling chemicals known as neurotransmitters, while the protein, carbohydrate and fat composition of the meal might also effect mood."

That should be "affect mood," not "effect mood."

Is the mistake because of or despite breakfast?

Health reports to drop term 'obese'

But when describing politicians and parents, the term "stupid" should still be used.

"Ministers want to refrain from using the word 'obese' when telling parents their child is overweight, under recently announced plans.

The Department of Health is urging all primary care trusts (PCTs) to automatically tell parents their child's height and weight as part of a national measuring programme.

But ministers do not want the word 'obese' to be used in the letters home after research showed it "shuts people down". Instead, the heaviest children should be referred to as being 'very overweight', they said."

Too bad it does not "shut people's mouths" so they cannot swallow.

They should also not drop the term "very stupid."

Brain Regulates Free Radicals, Plays Key Role In Appetite

You decide.

"Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have found the brain's appetite center uses fat for fuel by involving oxygen free radicals - molecules associated with aging and neurodegeneration. The findings, reported in the journal Nature, suggest that antioxidants could play a role in weight control."

Head over to your nearest "health" food store, where the likelihood of finding antioxidant-popping people is heightened.

Look around and see if the shoppers are the lean consumers that antioxidants should make them according to this research.

Keep me apprised.

Some University Students Should Watch Their Weight Rather Than Watch TV

Or maybe they should just not be stupid.

"Television commercials are a common method for advertising food products. According to a team of University of Alberta researchers, these food advertisements have a powerful influence on its viewers, especially university students."

If they are that dumb, they probably do not belong in a university.

Influence by commercials could become an entrance exam criterion for university used to weed out the undeserving.

Cancer chemicals to be reduced in chips, fries

Industry proof that the only things that taste good are cholesterol, carcinogens and mutagens.

"Snack lovers, rejoice: Munching on potato chips just got a little healthier...

The companies avoided trial by agreeing to pay a combined $3 million in fines and reduce the levels of acrylamide in their products over three years, officials said."

Don't rejoice, yet, if you eat these things for the flavor.

"'Everybody's trying to figure out how to lower levels (of acrylamide) without significantly, adversely affecting taste,' said Michele Corish, an attorney for Lance, which produces Cape Cod chips."

Oh, well.

Alabama workers to pay for extra pounds

Too little, too late, yet, a start.

"Alabama, pushed to second in national obesity rankings by deep-fried Southern favorites, is cracking down on state workers who are too fat.

The state has given its 37,527 employees a year to start getting fit — or they’ll pay $25 a month for insurance that otherwise is free.

Alabama will be the first state to charge overweight state workers who don’t work on slimming down, while a handful of other states reward employees who adopt healthy behaviors.

Alabama already charges workers who smoke — and has seen some success in getting them to quit — but now has turned its attention to a problem that plagues many in the Deep South: obesity.

The State Employees’ Insurance Board this week approved a plan to charge state workers starting in January 2010 if they don’t have free health screenings."

Apparently, Alabama forgets that there is no time like the present.

Still, it is understandable (though not necessarily preferable) that they would wait to give fatsos yet another chance to shape up.

"If the screenings turn up serious problems with blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose or obesity, employees will have a year to see a doctor at no cost, enroll in a wellness program, or take steps on their own to improve their health. If they show progress in a follow-up screening, they won’t be charged. But if they don’t, they must pay starting in January 2011."

Unfortunately, the "cures," e.g., "enroll[ing] in a wellness program," will never, ever work to resolve the fatso problem since these "solutions" are based on the same flawed policies of the past that have failed for years and years.

"'It’s terrible,' said health department employee Chequla Motley. 'Some people come into this world big.'"

No Chequla.

If anything, some people come into this world too stupid to know that being too big is their own doing and, by the way, are likely too stupid to be state employees.

Idiot.

"Computer technician Tim Colley already pays $24 a month for being a smoker and doesn’t like the idea of another charge.

'It’s too Big Brotherish,' he said."

No, Tim.

You are too big, brother.

Don't like to spend the extra money to pay for your own increased risks?

Lose the weight, smoking fatso.

"The board will apply the obesity charge to anyone with a body mass index of 35 or higher who is not making progress."

It is also unfortunate that only the really, really obese are subject to this policy.

Obesity begins with a BMI of 30.

There are whole lot of fatsos, too many fatsos, who are exempt from this policy.

We can only hope that this will change.

Partial congrats to Alabama where apparently something worth doing is worth doing mediocre-ly.

At least it is a start.

Rising Tide of Obesity in America Continues Unabated

Another take on the obvious result of stupidity.

"Despite efforts to stem the surge of obesity in America, the problem worsened in much of the country last year.

So found the Trust for America's Health, which reported that adult obesity rates increased in 37 states and no single state managed to slim down its total percentage of overweight people.

Nine more states joined the ranks of those with 25% of its citizens classified as obese, bringing the total to 28, reported Jeffrey Levi, Ph.D., and colleagues."
There are no "efforts to stem the surge of obesity in America."

There is merely the appearance of effort.

Big Government, Big Sick Care, Big Pharma, Big AdipOprah, Big Media, diet gurus (e.g., here, here, here, here, here, here and here) are all in cahoots conning us into believing that they are working to solve the problem.

The only problems they are confronting are "How do I save my own (frequently) fat ass?" and "How do I steal money from the public for useless and deadly weight loss advice?"

Believe their crap, or resist it and make them pay.

These are your only real choices.

The Myth of Moderate Exercise

Mostly right title, completely wrong conclusion.

The article starts off on the right track pointing out how terribly inefficient "exercise" is for weight loss:

"Obesity experts agree that daily exercise is essential for good health, but whether it can successfully lead to long-term weight loss is a question of much debate. What has become increasingly clear, however, is that the conventionally accepted advice - 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity most days of the week - is probably insufficient to spur any real change in a person's body weight. A study published July 28 in the Archives of Internal Medicine adds to the burgeoning scientific consensus: when it comes to exercise for weight loss, more is better. It suggests that obese people would have to exercise at least an hour at a time to see any significant difference in their weight."

Then explains how very starved these fat people were by the cruel researchers, aka experts:

"The study, led by John Jakicic at the Physical Activity and Weight Management Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh, followed nearly 200 overweight or obese women ages 21 to 45 through a two-year weight-loss program. The women were given free treadmills to use at home, regular group meetings and telephone pep talks to help keep them on track. Participants were also asked to restrict their food intake to between 1,200 and 1,500 calories per day, and were randomized to one of four physical activity intervention groups based on energy expenditure (either 1,000 calories or 2,000 calories burned per week) and exercise intensity (high vs. moderate). By the end of the 24-month intervention, the women who managed to lose at least 10% of their starting body weight (which was, on average, about 193 lbs.) - and keep it off - were exercising twice as long as health authorities typically recommend and expending more than twice as many calories through exercise as women who had no change in body weight. The biggest weight losers were active a full 68 minutes a day, five days a week (about 55 minutes a day more than they had been before the trial began), burning an extra 1,848 calories a week."

These numbers work out to between 914.29 and 1357.14 Calories per day.

These intakes are between fewer Calories than people in Dachau were fed and the intake of sedentary persons in Western Netherlands when the Nazis were interested in causing real pain - and, in fact, did, with much illness to boot.

These are also the numbers of the IMHO nutritionally homicidal sick care, diet, Big Pharma, etc., industries and their poster children.

Then the article goes way nutty, which is conventional and usual, demonstrating total ignorance on the part of the writer, editor, magazine and researcher without question:

"Still, the underlying question remains: are diet and exercise a reliable cure for obesity? Modern-day obesity researchers are skeptical - achieving thinness, they say, is not simply a matter of willpower. Research suggests that weight may largely be regulated by biology, which helps determine the body's "set point," a weight range of about 10 lbs. to 20 lbs. that the body tries hard to defend...

Jakicic, in fact, seems heartened by his findings. "I think the beauty of this study is that we now have a target" - a better idea of how much exercise is needed for weight maintenance. There is, of course, some variation in how people respond. Some of the study participants fared well with less exercise than the additional 275 minutes per week (about 55 minutes per day, five days a week) that the study's author now recommends for weight maintenance. Others needed more. But the keys to success, according to Jakicic, were embracing the weight-loss program fully, and finding a way around the daily obstacles to exercising - that's something he says many of his participants were able to achieve, regardless of their socioeconomic group. So, if you're aiming to lose weight and keep it off, his message is clear: don't slack off."

There is no "target."

There is only going farther along the path of wrong.

Exercise is and always will be a terribly inefficient way to lose weight.

New Report: Adult Obesity Rates Rise In 37 States, Obesity Rates Now Exceed 25 Percent In More Than Half Of States

When IMHO nutritional homicide maniacs rule, what do you expect?

Really.

"Adult obesity rates increased in 37 states in the past year, according to the fifth annual F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America, 2008 report from the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). Rates rose for a second consecutive year in 24 states and for a third consecutive year in 19 states. No state saw a decrease."

These clear IMHO killers have no concept of what works, yet claim:

"Though many promising policies have emerged to promote physical activity and good nutrition in communities, the report concludes that they are not being adopted or implemented at levels needed to turn around this health crisis."

How would they know what a "promising" policy is let alone what "many promising policies" are, since nothing has worked?

They would not.

They do know what a promising lie is, however.

If you want to lose weight, you must eschew the continuing to fail policies of the IMHO nutritional homicide advocates.

You must understand what is irrational about their approaches.

You must realize that the overweight/obesity crisis is not a "health" issue and medicalizing it will prevent any resolution.

You must protect yourself and your children from their deadly advice.

You must advocate for their elimination.

Otherwise, there is no chance for success.

Obesity Predisposition Traced To The Brain's Reward System

They did not trace far enough.

"The tendency toward obesity is directly related to the brain system that is involved in food reward and addictive behaviors, according to a new study. Researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM) and colleagues have demonstrated a link between a predisposition to obesity and defective dopamine signaling in the mesolimbic system in rats. Their report appears in the August 2008 issue of The FASEB Journal. "

They neglected to join the line with the sick care, governmental and business systems that reward overfatness at the expense of the fit.

The system involved is not the mesolimbic.

It is the me-so-fatic-now-do-something-for-me system.

Heart Research UK Says 'Obesity Gene' Is An Excuse For Piling On The Pounds

They're almost right.

"National charity, Heart Research UK, has commented that the recent headline claiming an 'obesity gene' causes people to put on weight by keeping them hungry, is only a small factor into why people are overweight and shouldn't be used as an excuse for them to accept their size."

They would be completely right if they said, it "is no factor."

Overweight Women Need More Exercise To Maintain Weight Loss

Insane. Moron alert!

"A study published in the July 28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine finds that overweight and obese women need to do more than just limit calories in order to sustain a 10 percent weight loss over two years: they also need to exercise 55 minutes per day, five days per week."

One only needs to "exercise" to maintain weight loss if one overconsumes Calories and then needs to burn them off.

There is and there cannot be and there never will be any other reason.

"The study, conducted by John M. Jakicic, Ph.D. (University of Pittsburgh) and colleagues, calculated the amount of exercise needed by studying 201 overweight and obese women who enrolled in a weight loss intervention between 1999 and 2003. After all women were instructed to eat 1,200 to 1,500 calories per day, the researchers divided them into one of four physical activity groups: one group burned 1,000 calories per week, one burned 2,000 calories per week, one experienced moderate intensity, and the last experiences vigorous intensity. The women also attended group meetings that discussed strategies for changing eating and exercise habits and received telephone calls with the intervention team over the two-years of the study."

And herein lies part of the problem - starvation dieting. (see here, here, here and here)

Compounding the starvation diet, is the burning of the extra Calories making the effective net caloric intake even lower.

"Results at the end of six months showed an average weight loss of 8 to 10% of initial body weight for women in all four groups. Maintenance of this weight loss, however, proved more difficult. At the end of two years, the average women's weight was about 5% lower than initial body weight, and there was no significant difference among the four groups."

Of course "maintenance proved more difficult" since these women only learned how to starve, not control their weight.

"Of all the women, 24.6% managed to sustain a weight loss of at least 10% o percent of initial body weight over two years. These women were more physically active than those who lost less weight, burning an average of 1,835 calories per week or having exercised 275 minutes per week more than baseline activity levels. In addition, this group of maintainers completed more telephone calls with the intervention team, practiced healthier eating behaviors designed for weight control, and ingested a smaller amount of dietary fat.

'This clarifies the amount of physical activity that should be targeted for achieving and sustaining this magnitude of weight loss, but also demonstrates the difficulty of sustaining this level of physical activity,' conclude the authors. 'Research is needed to improve long-term compliance with this targeted level of physical activity. Moreover, continued contact with the intervention staff and the ability to sustain recommended eating behaviors also may be important contributing factors to maintaining a significant weight loss that exceeds 10 percent of initial body weight, which suggests that physical activity does not function independently of these other behaviors.'"

All this "clarifies," is how foolish this research conclusion is and how little the experts know about proper weight loss.

To understand what you should do to succeed, go here, here, here and here.

Diabetes triples women's risk for birth defects

Kudos, fatsos.

Type 2 diabetes is fat person diabetes.

"Women who have diabetes before becoming pregnant are about three times as likely as other women to have a baby with at least one birth defect, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

A variety of different birth defects are associated with mothers who have type 1 diabetes, also called juvenile diabetes, or type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease that is linked to obesity, the researchers said...

But Correa said some cases diagnosed as gestational diabetes may actually be type 2 diabetes that simply had gone unrecognized until the pregnancy."

More early child abuse.

Stop these people.

Eating CLA-Enriched Cookies Increases Levels Of Beneficial Fatty Acids In Breast Milk

Your breast milk is not good enough.

"Have a cookie before breast-feeding, mom? Eating special cookies enriched with conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) can increase the level of these potentially healthful fatty acids in breast milk, reports a recent study in the journal Nutrition Research."

Better to enhance it with a product.

Do it for yourself.

Do it for your kids.

Do it for the sick care industry's bottom line.

RCN Supports Call For National Campaign To Tackle Obesity, UK

Sick care right on the ball and ahead of the curve again.

"The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) welcomed the Government's calls for all health charities, retailers, the health profession and community action groups to join in a national campaign to tackle obesity in the United Kingdom.

Dr Peter Carter, Chief Executive & General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said:

'Obesity is this country's single biggest health issue and is threatening the health and wellbeing of the (sic) two thirds of adults, and a third of children, who are overweight or obese...'"

Those sick care professionals are good, damn good.

Just as good as they are in the USA.

Negative Effects On Bones After Weight Loss Persist Through Weight Maintenance

Really?

"When a person is losing a significant amount of weight, they expect to notice changes in their body. However, they may overlook changes happening in their bones. During weight loss through calorie-restricted diets, bones are being remodeled - breaking down old bone and forming new bone - at an accelerated rate. At the same time, bone density is decreasing, causing increased fragility. In a new study, a University of Missouri researcher and collaborators at the University of Kansas found that the potentially harmful effects of weight loss on bone persist during weight maintenance following moderate weight loss."

Then there is this:

"'From this study alone, it is impossible to determine the consequences of accelerated bone remodeling during weight maintenance,' Hinton said. 'Because bone strength adapts to match skeletal load, body weight is one of the strongest predictors of bone mass. People planning on losing a significant amount of weight should consider incorporating high-impact weight-bearing physical activity into their exercise routine and consuming adequate calcium to improve bone health.'"

So where are the "negative effects"? (except maybe from the "high-impact" activity)

Right or wrong, either way, train to improve your muscles, bones and more.

Soft Drinks And Fruit Drinks And Risk For Diabetes In African-American Women Linked By Study

Get them out of the study and break the link.

"Researchers from Boston University's Slone Epidemiology Center have found that regular consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks and fruit drinks is associated with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes in African-American women. These findings appear in the July 28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine."

Type 2 diabetes is fat person diabetes.

"The researchers note that while there has been increasing public awareness of the adverse health effects of soft drinks, little attention has been given to fruit drinks, which often are marketed as a healthier alternative to soft drinks.

'Fruit drinks were consumed more frequently than soft drinks in our study, and the proportion of total energy intake from fruit drinks in the U.S. population doubled from 1977 to 2001,' said lead author Julie Palmer, ScD, a professor of epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health. 'The public should be made aware that these drinks are not a healthy alternative to soft drinks with regard to risk of type 2 diabetes,' she added."

You do not get fat from fruit drinks, soft drinks, etc.

You get fat from more Calories in than out.

Population-Based Prevention of Obesity

Almost one month ago, in the July 22 issue of Circulation, the magazine of the American Heart Association, sick care, at least this segment of it, surrendered to the overweight/obesity epidemic and raised the white flag.

Though it did not have the courage to say so publicly, the AHA Scientific Statement included the following. They are but a sampling of the admissions contained in the article. I added the emphasis and some comments after each quote. The comments are in italics.

You decide if these are the words of people who either know what they are doing or those whom you want to have as your leaders. If you think that I went cherry-picking, follow the link in the title and check it out for yourself.

The proportion of adults and children who are obese has reached epidemic proportions, moving steadily away from the Healthy People 2010 goals of 15% prevalence of obesity in adults and 5% prevalence in children. These goals may be beyond our reach for several decades to come.

A clear admission of failure and the protracted nature of the overweight/obesity problem, despite years of sick care involvement.

However, even those overweight people who are able to lose weight are often unable to maintain their weight at that level, and no clear guidance currently exists on definitive strategies to achieve long-term weight loss in the population at large.

There is no maintenance strategy, so even if some people lose weight, the sick care establishment has no plan on how people can keep it off.

Besides the limited long-term success of most obesity treatments, another factor is the limited ability to deliver enough treatment to enough people. We are already unable to deliver obesity treatment services to those who need such services, while the numbers needing treatment are rising.

Success of so-called treatments is limited, i.e., not very good, and these bad treatments cannot, thankfully IMHO, be directly inflicted on more people.

For treatment of obesity, a large reduction in caloric intake of about 500 to 1000 kcal per day, along with increased physical activity, can produce a loss of approximately 8% to 10% of body weight over the relatively short period of about 6 months.

Read here, here, here and here on how this is the IMHO path to nutritional homicide.

The analogy is used to make the point that the clinical approaches in which we are so well trained and perhaps confident can never be sufficient to solve widespread population health problems unless broad-based population strategies are also applied.

Clearly "clinical approaches," i.e., sick care, "can never be sufficient to solve widespread population health problems." If overweight/obesity were truly sick care problems, then the tools of sick care would be sufficient. Think about certain illnesses, i.e., real medical problems. We do not hear of a need to apply a broad-based population strategy for strep throat. Or gallstones. We do not hear of a a broad-based population strategy needed to prevent or treat them.

In contrast to the extensive database available on obesity treatment, research to identify specific interventions to prevent obesity is still at a relatively early stage.

Despite all the decades of talk about diet and exercise, they claim the truth is "research to identify specific interventions to prevent obesity is still at a relatively early stage," i.e., they do not know what to do or what works. Nor will they ever so long as they ignore the controlling fact that overweight/obesity is not a medical problem and is not amenable to the tools of medicine.

Given that the ultimate determinants of obesity are individual eating and physical activity behaviors, the perception that one can solve the problem by refining the ability to help individuals to change their behaviors will persist.

This is a certain admission that no matter what is done in the name of genetic "cure," infectious "cure," hormonal "cure" or any other "cure," none of it matters. Only more Calories in than out does. So why is a single stinking penny being spent on these other non-causes and why isn't the AHA calling for a moratorium on that garbage? If any of these other "interventions" made a difference, "individual eating and physical activity" would not be the "ultimate determinants" of overweight/obesity. Further you cannot overcome any "ultimate determinants" by any other means except changing those behaviors. Period. End.

Although the picture of how to intervene is far from complete, guidance and research recommendations developed by various expert panels, working groups, and systematic reviews have led to an increase in obesity prevention research.

Despite the incompleteness of the picture, the AHA claims there are experts, groups and reviews that have done no better than to increase "research" not solutions. How would they know that they are experts? Maybe what it incomplete in their picture makes them nothing more than idiots on a Quixotic quest. It is not a maybe. And they want to be compensated handsomely for their misguided efforts based on their incomplete "picture of how to intervene."

But what is arguably most damning of all, if you read the article, is the complete abdication of any responsibility to act according to the law and save the children.

These IMHO lawbreakers, cite illness after illness and social/emotional problem after social/emotional problem kids develop from the nutritional child abuse they see and don't once step up to their responsibilities under CAPTA or call for responsible behavior from their colleagues under CAPTA.

They do however, offer ways for them to still profit from the problem they cannot and will never be able to solve.

Call for an end to the duplicity and lawless behavior of the sick care establishment.

Analysis Suggests Menu Labeling Could Help Average California Adult Avoid Over 2 Pounds Of Weight Gain A Year

A Pyrrhic victory.

"The analysis combines findings from two key sources to understand how calories posted on fast-food menu boards could shape the health of California. A 2008 New York City study found that patrons of fast-food restaurants where calorie counts were shown consumed 52 fewer calories per visit. And a 2007 consumer survey shows that California adults who eat at fast-food chains do so an average of 3.4 times per week. Based on conservative math, the UC Berkeley Center for Weight and Health calculates that menu labeling of calories in California could reduce caloric intake by over 9,000 calories per person annually."

Assuming, of course, that the Calories are not "compensated for" elsewhere.

This is clearly true - that "nutrition professionals" are wrong:

"In just two decades, Americans have fallen in love with eating out, consuming nearly half their calories away from home. Fast-food outlets, according to the analysis, are the largest single source of those meals. Unfortunately, knowledge of the nutrition content of fast food is hard to come by. 'Even nutrition professionals underestimate the calories contained in meals typically available at fast-food restaurants by 200 to 600 calories,' the analysis states."

And this is also true, as Fitness Watch readers have known for years:

"'Weight gain is a simple mathematical formula,' insists Dr. Harold Goldstein of the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, a cooperator on the report. 'If you can skim 50 calories off your diet each time you eat out, you are going to reduce your weight gain and might even lose weight...'"

And weight loss is a simple mathematical formula.

It will always be about Calories in vs. Calories out.

However, I contend there is a better, more accurate way for people to lose the weight by employing the remarkable consistency of a fast food establishment's quality control.

Either way, nothing will ever trump Calories in, Calories out.

In Supreme Court Brief, Journal Editors Fault FDA Safety Record

A bit more about the pot calling the kettle black.

Read this short article if you want to experience more thrilling Big Sick Care on Big Sick Care violence.

(The titles to all Fitness Watch blog entries are links to the original articles.)

Then read this to see just how disingenuous the New England Journal of Medicine is IMHO.

Lawsuits help guarantee drug safety, doctors say

Well, the pot is calling the kettle black. Remember that it is the "influential medical journals" that IMHO support executioner medicine. Here is one example.

"Top doctors at the helm of one of the nation's most influential medical journals are giving the Supreme Court some unsolicited legal advice about a major case.

The Food and Drug Administration 'is in no position' to guarantee drug safety, the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine said in a friend-of-the-court brief. Lawsuits can serve as 'a vital deterrent' and protect consumers if drug companies don't disclose risks...

Although the FDA is often called 'the gold standard' in drug evaluation, the journal editors urged the justices to be skeptical."

BTW, still think there is a safe drug or surgery for your overweight/obesity? There isn't. They are neither safe, nor indicated. Sue the docs just as they are requesting you to in this move before the Supreme Court.

An important aspect of this action by Big Sick Care is the clear admission that the drugs they push are really uncertain quantities.

They simply do not know what the effects will be (to wit, drug recalls and labeling changes) or whether the testing of the drugs was properly conducted and truthfully disclosed.

There is a stark reality here.

When it comes to sick care, it is impossible to know certain things and at some very real level you have to submit to faith, despite the fact that these disingenuous docs are attempting to shift blame:

"'The (court) system represents one of the key defense mechanisms that individuals have if a manufacturer has not made the risks of a product clear to the public.'"

(Isn't it your doctor who should make "the risks of a product clear to" you, the patient?)

This will never be eradicated from the system of Big Sick Care. (Neither will the finger-pointing, such as this case demonstrates.)

Nor will it be eradicated from the clearly faith-based complementary/alternative care system.

And it is absolute s**t to think that "lawsuits will guarantee drug safety."

The best for which one can hope is that lawsuits will lessen the likelihood of some foreseeable untoward consequences of drugs released into the stream of commerce from occurring.

Nothing will ever "guarantee drug safety."

Nothing.

It should be obvious that the best approach is to minimize your likelihood of entering the sick care system.

The only tool available to you that gives you the odds up on Big Sick Care is fitness.

When you are ready to take control, go here.

And when you are ready to sue them, just as they are requesting, for the malpractices known as bariatric surgery and diet pills, go here.

NIH Creates Global Health Program to Fight Chronic Diseases

Finally, a blessing beyond all.

"The Fogarty International Center, the global arm of the National Institutes of Health, today launched a $1.5 million-a-year grant program to fund domestic and overseas training of researchers to fight chronic diseases in developing nations.

The program is intended to build research capacity in cancer, stroke, lung disease, environmental factors, obesity, lifestyle and the relationship of all these conditions to the genetics of chronic diseases in countries often thought of only in terms of infectious diseases."

The NIH, the USA in general, other arms of the government and the USA sick care industry have done such a bang-up job already here, in the homeland, with obesity in particular, that it is about time they took their show on the road.

Only it is not a dog and pony - it is a pig and elephant show.

If I were the rest of the world, I would thank my lucky stars that I lived to see this glorious day.

Not.

Obesity Gene Affects Appetite, Children's Study Shows

Had the study been done by adults who know something (rare to find), instead of children, the conclusion would have been different.

"Variants of the FTO gene have been linked to obesity before, and in Caucasian populations it is the most commonly studied obesity gene, where findings have estimated that on average, adults with two copies of the variant are 3 kg (6.6 lbs) heavier, and adults with a single copy are 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs) heavier."

Ooh, a whole between 3.3 and 6.6 pounds!

Clearly the cause of the overweight/obesity epidemic, if true.

"Experts have welcomed the study, but the reaction is cautious, because the genetics of obesity is very complex. As the clinical director of the UK's National Obesity Forum, Dr David Haslam, put it in a comment to the BBC:

'We are looking at a thousand-piece jigsaw and we have shown how the first two pieces fit together.'"

The "experts" are full of it.

There is no gene in the universe that can result in overweight/obesity in the absence of more Calories in than out.

How much one eats is irrelevant.

The total number of Calories one eats is relative to what he or she burns is all that matters.

University opening new integrative medicine center

If you are a New Mexican, the enlightened Age of Aquarius is NOW! Congrats.

"Many academic health centers offer programs that include traditional Chinese treatments or Ayurvedic medicine from India. The University of New Mexico goes beyond that, says management of its new Center for Life."

Ayurveda is an Indian form of health care. How good is it?

"OVER THE last fifty years, there has been a notable reduction in old-age mortality. Longevity of humans has risen substantially all over the world. The situation in India is striking; the average lifespan of an Indian has risen from less than 50 years to over 62 years within the last three generations. Factors such as increased immunity to pathogens, better nutrition, better public health and sanitation, and the discovery and use of effective drugs and vaccines are responsible for this increase in lifespan. The situation in Western Europe, US and Japan is even more striking, where people live up to their seventies, and are touching the 80-year mark."

Good enough for you to die earlier than you normally might.

And traditional Chinese medicine?

"The oldest and biggest Chinese medicine store in Beijing is stocked with traditional ingredients like deer's penis, dried seahorses, fungi, and ginseng."

Fortunately, the selection of penises to eat is not limited to the deer's dear penis:

"There is also a nice selection of penis cuisine as well, seal penis, ox penis, sheep penis, deer penis,lobster with donkey penis, horse penis and testicles with chili dip." (and here)

At least there is a therapeutic protocol for administering these medications:

"They are usually prepared in a hot pot or stir-fried, and one penis, according to traditional Chinese medicine, should be shared by three people."

Group therapy, apparently.

Why take Viagra/Levitra/Cialis in the privacy of your own home when you can chow down on a dead (I hope) deer's dear dick with some new flaccid pals?

Hey, add an Ayurvedic chaser for even better health:

"HINDU nationalists in India have launched a marketing exercise to promote cow's urine as a health cure for ailments ranging from liver disease to obesity and even cancer.

The urine, which is being sold under the label "Gift of the Cow", is being enthusiastically promoted by the government of Gujarat, one of three states in India dominated by Hindu nationalists...

The healing properties of cow dung and cow's urine are also mentioned in ancient Hindu texts. The research conducted by doctors at the cow-protection commission indicates that the urine can cure anything from skin diseases, kidney and liver ailments to obesity and heart ailments."

And it's been tested! It can cure anything! (You simply must try the cow dung when you visit New Mexico. I hear it is to die for. Plus you will get the full benefit of the treatment. What a deal.)

And don't forget about those horse testicles (see above). Drop the dip.

Instead, have the NEW "BEER" NUTS!

Give 'em a twist in the cow's urine. (Lemon is so passe. Besides you can get sick from lemon twists in your beverage. This stuff cures what ails you.)

Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!

Now it is possible that not all of these treatments will find their ways into the mouths of New Mexicans or others who travel great distances to this "medical center."

It is probable that some of them are going into the other end of NM's taxpayers' digestive tracts, ,i.e., poop chute, whether they like it or not.

What else would you expect from the state that has Bill Richardson, the man with "interesting" notions about sick care, as its governor?

Hey, wait a minute.

Dear Richard(son), isn't that another name for Dear Dick?

There must be some sort of holistic/complementary/alternative Jupiter Effect at work here.

Can't wait to see what Medicare/Medicaid/insurance reimbursement is on this stuff.

Great way to make a buck. Or is that bake a buck (to cook it's penis)?

And "The University of New Mexico goes beyond" Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine!

Cancer, beware. Your days are numbered.

FTC: Kids target of $1.6 billion in food ads

BFD.

"Children are confronted with such a barrage of advertising for food and drink — much of it unhealthy — that the entertainment industry should take steps to tie popular TV and movie characters to more nutritional products, the Federal Trade Commission says.

The recommendation was part of a report showing that the nation's largest food and beverage companies spent about $1.6 billion in 2006 marketing their products — especially carbonated drinks — to children and adolescents."

So what?

Don't let them buy the stuff - enact Gram Shop Acts.

Or don't buy it for them since the discretionary income of children should be near zero.

It is not the money spent on advertising.

It is the parenting habits of child-abusing adults and the complicity of sick care workers and school employees.

"The report, to be released Tuesday, stems from lawmakers' concern about growing obesity rates in children. It gives researchers new insight into how much companies are spending to attract youth to their products, and what venues the companies are using for their marketing. To come up with its estimate, the FTC used confidential financial data that it required the companies to turn over."

Lawmakers do not have real concerns.

Real concerns result in action.

Lawmakers' concerns result in inaction.

To wit, results to date.

If FTC wanted to do something meaningful, it would take down AdipOprah and her self-appointed army of IMHO nutritional homicide maniacs.

This is part of their mandate.

Instead, FTC has chosen to F**K The Children.

You can do something about it.

Los Angeles wants to take bite out of fast food

La-la land's solution.

"In the impoverished neighborhood of South Los Angeles, fast food is the easiest cuisine to find — and that's a problem for elected officials who see it as an unhealthy source of calories and cholesterol.

The City Council was poised to vote Tuesday on a moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in a swath of the city where a proliferation of such eateries goes hand-in-hand with obesity."

Bull.

There is no cause and effect relationship. There is an association.

And rich people get fat, too.

The problem is not fast-food. The problem is not gradual-food. The problem is not poverty. The problem is not wealth.

The problem is more Calories in than out, no matter the source or income bracket.

"'Our communities have an extreme shortage of quality foods,' City Councilman Bernard Parks said."

The problem is also moron politicians who do not recognize the real problem.

"The aim of the yearlong moratorium, which was approved last week in committee, is to give the city time to try to attract restaurants that serve healthier food."

There are no "healthy" foods, only healthy eating.

But there are idiots in charge.

Secondhand smoke raises spouse's stroke risk: study

Just like secondhand fat.

"Nonsmokers married to smokers have a greatly increased chance of having strokes, according to a U.S. study published on Tuesday showing yet another hazard from secondhand smoke."

We are adversely affected by the overweight/obese in many bad ways.

For example, the rest of us end up paying for it.

Secondhand fat.

See?

Overweight/obesity - are malignant.

And they metastasize from one person to another.

AMA Recommends 4-Stage Approach to Treatment of Childhood Obesity

Advice from IMHO child abusers.

"A 4-stage approach to treatment of childhood obesity is recommended by the American Medical Association (AMA), according to a review for primary care clinicians in the July 1 issue of the American Family Physician. The study authors note that many of these recommendations for treatment and prevention can be carried out by family clinicians."

You can bet that each stage includes a transfer of money to the doc.

Don't fall for it.

"'Childhood obesity has become so severe that diseases that once affected only adults are now appearing in children,' writes Goutham Rao, MD, from Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 'The long-term implications of this epidemic are extremely serious. Obese children are much more likely than children of healthy weight to become obese adults.'

The statistics are alarming, with 'overweight' youth (those with age-adjusted and sex-adjusted body mass index [BMI] above the 95th percentile, which is equivalent to the 'obese' classification for adults) consisting of 13.9% of children 2 to 5 years old, 18.8% of children 6 to 11 years old, and 17.4% of adolescents and teenagers 12 to 19 years old.

Although type 2 diabetes in children was rare 2 decades ago, it now accounts for nearly one half of all new cases of diabetes among children in some settings. In adults, correlates of obesity include not only type 2 diabetes but also hypertension, osteoarthritis, gout, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, and biliary tract disease as well as cancers of the colon, breast (in postmenopausal women), endometrium, and esophagus.

Recognizing the scarcity of practical strategies available to primary care clinicians to combat the problem of childhood obesity, the AMA recently convened an expert panel to review evidence about how best to manage and prevent obesity and to write a series of reports."

And where have these experts and geniuses been all along that they are now "recognizing the scarcity of practical strategies"?

BTW, their new 4-stage strategy is not so practical and I predict will not work.

It is the stuff of moronity.

Older Treatment May Be More Effective in Preserving Sight for Some Patients with Diabetes

Are you waiting for the next great treatment for your overfatness?

Look at what happened here.

"A promising new drug therapy used to treat abnormal swelling in the eye — a condition called diabetic macular edema — proved less effective than traditional laser treatments in a study funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The study, published online in July in the journal Ophthalmology, demonstrates that laser therapy is not only more effective than corticosteroids in the long term treatment of diabetic macular edema, but also has far fewer side effects."

Keep waiting and waiting and waiting.

Or act.

Your choice.

Rapid rise seen in fatal medication errors at home

Chow down on those fat person diet pills, diabetes pills, high blood pressure pills, cardiac pills, pain pills, etc. pills and see where they get you.

"Deaths from medication mistakes at home, like actor Heath Ledger's accidental overdose, rose dramatically during the past two decades, an analysis of U.S. death certificates finds."

Oops.

"'The amount of medical supervision is going down and the amount of responsibility put on the patient's shoulders is going up,' said lead author David P. Phillips of the University of California, San Diego."

Poor babies have to be responsible for taking their meds properly themselves.

What an unreasonable burden that is.

"'We're sort of drug happy,' said boomer Dr. J. Lyle Bootman, the University of Arizona's pharmacy dean, who was not involved in the research. 'We have this general attitude that drugs can fix everything.'"

Really?

Study: 'Pre-dementia' is rising, especially in men

How cute. Pre-dementia is rising and penises aren't.

"A milder type of mental decline that often precedes Alzheimer's disease is alarmingly more common than has been believed, and in men more than women, doctors reported Monday.

Nearly a million older Americans slide from normal memory into mild impairment each year, researchers estimate, based on a Mayo Clinic study of Minnesota residents.

That's on top of the half million Americans who develop full-blown Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia — a problem sure to grow as baby boomers age. The oldest boomers turn 62 this year."

Well at least something remains capable of being fully blown.

Besides the national budget on stupid sick care interventions and meaningless research into overweight/obesity.

BTW, erectile dysfunction is related to overweight/obesity.

Fat friends 'can boost your size'

OMG. Not again.

"People are subconsciously influenced by the weight of those around them - so fat friends can cause someone to put on weight too, researchers suggest.

An international team, including University of Warwick experts, dubbed it 'imitative obesity' - or 'keeping up with the Joneses' on calories."

Fat friends don't "make you fat."

More Calories in than out does.

Nothing else.

"But one expert said the causes for the rise in obesity were much more complex."

Wrong - the usual position of an expert.

It is no more complex than a simple math issue of the calorically irresponsible.

"But Dr David Haslam, clinical director of the National Obesity Forum, said: 'It's a bit cheeky to pin it on sociological influences - there's more to it than that.

'If you are surrounded by people, whether that's friends or within the family home, who are overweight, you are sharing the same environment where there is likely to be an abundance of the wrong kind of foods.'"

And to support their wrongness, they need to invoke the bogeyperson of "wrong kind of food," which does not exist.

Eating more Calories than you burn of the "right kind of foods" will get you fat just as easily as the alleged "wrong kind of foods."

There is a way to eat healthily and it is not the way of the experts.

More bulls**t from the experts.

Surgical errors cost $1.5 billion a year: report

Hey, fatsos, time for your fat person surgery and bonus complications!

"Preventable medical errors during or after surgery cause 10 percent of surgery-related deaths and may cost employers nearly $1.5 billion a year, according to a U.S. government report released on Monday."

Eat hearty.

Or keep your fat pieholes shut and shed a few pounds, maybe saving your life in the process.

Sweet fruit drinks found to lead to diabetes

Still think they know what a "healthy" food is?

"Sweetened fruit drinks are often marketed as a healthier alternative to non-diet soft drinks but are just as likely to cause weight gain and increase the risk of diabetes, researchers said on Monday.

'The public should be made aware that these drinks are not a healthy alternative to soft drinks with regard to risk of type 2 diabetes,' Julie Palmer and colleagues at Boston University wrote in their report, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease, is closely linked to obesity and has become more common worldwide."

It's all about the Calories, morons.

More exercise helps heavy women keep weight off

You ought to be asking yourself, "If exercise is so damned good, why are they still heavy?"

"Results of a study show that overweight women who want to lose weight and keep it off should try to get at least 275 minutes of exercise a week, or about 55 minutes a day for 5 days a week, in addition to limiting calories."

This is insane.

You must be a complete idiot to fall for this crap from these totally stupid researchers.

If you limit Calories, you do not have to burn even more of them to maintain weight loss or lose weight.

If you need to keep burning more and more, it is because you are not limiting Calories.

Before your brain gets so polluted with this s**t, go here and read some sense instead of this nonsense.

This quality of research is a national embarrassment.

Fit and fat: Study shows it's possible

But not this study.

"It may be possible to be both fat and healthy, researchers reported on Monday, for at least half of overweight adults, and close to a third of obese men and women, have normal blood pressure, cholesterol and other measures of heart health...

They found just over 51 percent of those who were overweight, and 31.7 percent of those who were obese, had healthy levels of cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure and other measures linked to heart disease.

These measures have been shown in many other studies to predict heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and other heart disease, although this particular study did not look at whether people suffered any of these problems."

Oops.

Seems as if you would want to know if the fat people developed "these problems" before suggesting they are "healthy" or "fit."

(BTW, fitness is different from health. Equating the two is an error.)

And, in fact, according to the study:

"In all weight categories, risk factors for heart problems were generally more common in older people, smokers and inactive people. Among obese people who were 50 to 64, just 20 percent were considered healthy compared with half of younger obese people."

So, with the passage of time, these "risk factors," which were claimed "normal" at a younger age in fat people, became "abnormal" and even more prevalent.

This still puts fat people at a higher risk.

Nor did this study look at other illnesses more highly associated with fat people, e.g., cancer, sleep apnea, etc.

Or the effects on their children, e.g., nutritional child abuse, birth complications, etc.

The research is unfit.

And so are fat people.

Florida Medicaid Healthy Behaviors Incentive Program Has Low Participation, Many Unaware of Program, Study Finds

Tax dollars being wasted.

"Many Florida Medicaid beneficiaries who are eligible for a pilot program that rewards them for healthy behaviors are not participating, according to a study released on Thursday by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, the Florida Times-Union reports. Under the Enhanced Benefits Account Program, Medicaid beneficiaries in several Florida counties -- Baker, Broward, Clay, Duval and Nassau -- are eligible to receive up to $125 in credits per year for having healthy behaviors. Credits range from $7.50 for following a medication regimen to $25 for a pap test or a child physician's office visit for preventive care. According to the study, beneficiaries have claimed just 10% of the $12.5 million in credits they have earned in the program. Researchers also found that 75% of physicians were unaware of the program."

How insane is that?

Paying people to do what they should be doing to take care of themselves anyway.

Where is my reward? Or yours if you care for yourself and your children? How come social responsibility is not rewarded or, in effect, punished?

You have to be a friggin' idiot to conceive of a program like this, let alone implement it.

"Georgetown University Health Policy Institute researcher Joan Alker said, "I think the program has a laudable goal, but that's a really tough outcome to achieve. There's a question whether this approach will actually work to change people's behavior" (Turner, Florida Times-Union, 7/25)."

Then again, it is the government.

Duh.

Bullies face even more health risks than victims

Well, this will stop them.

"Both bullies and their victims are at risk for problems that threaten their health, safety and education -- but the bullies themselves may be more affected, a new study suggests."

If true, the exception is in weight loss.

In that domain, the bullies, i.e., the experts, make all the victims sicker than they make themselves.

They also make the victims poorer as they enrich themselves.

Dems agree on a health care guarantee for all

Prepare to get really screwed. Place cushions on all the places you sit.

I try to avoid most political commentary except as it pertains to fitness and this post should not be interpreted as an endorsement or criticism of one party over another.

Even though fitness and health are two different things, a certain consequence of nutritional unfitness, i.e., overweight/obesity, is the development of chronic medical problems.

These are the ones that are killing the sick care system, totally within the control of each of us (at least from the managing weight side) and not "curable" by sick care anyway (at statistical best, they may be controllable).

So-called "health care reform" is a boondoggle that will exacerbate the matter.

Since most of our chronic illnesses are not the result of medically amenable known causes, more money and more empty promises will not lead to a solution.

They will only follow the road of continuing failure.

Here is one approach, of which we will hear more, that will persist in draining resources without any benefit:

"Advisers to Obama and Clinton both told the party's platform meeting they were happy with the compromise, adopted without opposition or without explanation as to how health care would be guaranteed...

The party now declares itself 'united behind a commitment that every American man, woman and child be guaranteed to have affordable, comprehensive health care.'"

Of course there is no "explanation as to how health care would be guaranteed."

Because it won't.

The best you can hope for from this "initiative" is government subsidized anesthetic cream/ointment for your butthole.