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Strollerderby
'Merica: we're fat.
America is a country full of fat people. From sea to shining sea, we dine on fast food, pre-prepared foods from the grocery store and processed foods. We love sweet things, rich things, salty things, creamy things. (Or, preferably one giant obesity cake that includes all of those flavors, thank you very much.) But in what areas do the fattest people in our country live?
According to Prevention magazine, “These urban centers have the highest rates of heart disease and obesity in the country, perhaps because they seem to promote sedentary lifestyles and diets heavy on fast food but light on fresh produce.” Is your city on the list? You might be pleasantly (or unpleasantly) surprised … Continue reading »
Every Halloween, my mom would round up all the black licorice to keep for her own. None of the rest of us liked it, so we didn’t mind. Looks like I’ll have to warn mom, though, to watch out for the black licorice this year.
The FDA now warns that if you’re 40 or older, eating 2 ounces of black licorice a day for at least two weeks could land you in the hospital with an irregular heart rhythm or arrhythmia. The stuff that makes licorice sweet, called glycyrrhizin, can make the heart beat dangerously fast. In fact, they say anyone who has an irregular heart rhythm or muscle weakness who has been eating a lot of black licorice should stop eating it immediately and call the doctor.
Who else should avoid black licorice?
Michelle Obama promotes Let's Move program to combat obesity.
Obesity hurts young girls more than it hurts boys, say researchers at the University of California.
Obese teen girls have a higher risk of high blood pressure than boys, which can lead later in life to heart disease and stroke. In fact, obese teen girls’ risk of hypertension is 9 times higher than that of girls who have a healthy weight, while for obese boys it was 3.5 times higher than boys within the normal weight range. Preventing a lifetime of serious health risk is yet another reason to help our children get to and maintain a healthy weight.
Medical News Today reports that the difference between obese boys and girls high blood pressure risk may be due to their levels of activity: “Obese girls are 50% to 60% less physically active than obese boys.”
Now I know why the American Cancer Society stopped using birthday cakes in their "Happy Birthday" ads.
Robert Lustig is a specialist on pediatric hormone disorders and the leading expert in childhood obesity at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine. According to the enormous feature in The New York Times Magazine about his theories, UCSF has one of the best medical schools in the country. Lustig published his first paper on childhood obesity over a decade ago, and he believes the leading cause of the epidemic is something we all consume every day: sugar.
But not only does Lustig believe that sugar causes obesity and diabetes in children and adults, he goes so far as to describe sugar and high fructose corn syrup as toxic, poisonous and downright evil. Times scribe Gary Taubes is upfront about the fact that after 10 years of research, he’s in complete agreement with Lustig. Early in the lengthy piece, Taubes writes, “when you bake your children a birthday cake or give them lemonade on a hot summer day, you may be doing them more harm than good, despite all the love that goes with it.” Lustig, Taubes and others believe that sugar can even cause cancer. Continue reading »
Today's a particularly good day to dress your daughters in red and talk to them about the importance of keeping their hearts healthy
Wearing red in February isn’t just reserved for Valentine’s Day anymore.
The next time you help your daughter pick out her clothes, be sure to pull something red out of her closet. Today is National Wear Red Day, which is intended to raise awareness of heart disease and women, and it’s never too soon to teach your little ones about the importance of being heart healthy.
Heart disease is the number one killer of women, although heart attacks are generally thought to be a “man thing.” One in four women will die of heart disease, compared to one in 30 who will die from breast cancer. In fact, more women die of heart disease than from all types of cancer combined.
CPR Saves Lives
Today the American Heart Association issued new guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
Instead of remembering A-B-C –A for airways, B for breathing and C for compressions. It’s now C-A-B. In other words, you start with compressions, then check the airways, then administer mouth-to-mouth breathing. Continue reading »
From the time I was in kindergarten until my older brother got his driver’s license, I walked to and from school. My school was a good ten blocks from my house, but it was residential all the way with wide sidewalks and friendly neighbors looking out for me. But this was the 1970′s and I had lots of company on my journey as every other kid in the neighborhood was also walking to and from school.
These days, it’s rare to see a kid walking to school. My own child rides the bus because her school is about three miles away and the majority of the route involves busy roads with no sidewalks. But if she could safely walk to school, experts say she might actually reduce her risk of heart disease later in life.
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