Exercise Equipment to Fit Your Fitness Needs
Focused on the concept of controlling the body through its core, Pilates increases strength and improves cardiovascular health. It can be as simple as rolling like a ball or as intense as a workout...
Monthly Archive: February 2011
Killing two (or more) birds with one stone – improving co-morbidities
Weight loss positively impacts type 2 diabetes. The strong correlation between diabetes and obesity has given researchers hope that addressing one disease could positively impact the second. Past evidence has shown that increased glucose...
Diabesity: Reaching the Crossroads
There is a strong correlation between obesity and diabetes. There are approximately 19 million type 2 diabetics in the US, of which 80% are obese. These 15 million obese type 2 diabetics represent roughly...
Superfoods help to boost your brain power
Ever stop in the middle of a room and can’t remember why you’re there. Don’t stress that you’re having a senior moment! Instead, stock your fridge with these healthy brain-boosting foods. Some are also...
Weight-Loss Surgery
Sleeve gastrectomy Sleeve gastrectomy procedure (mostly performed laparoscopically) removes approximately 70% – 80% of the stomach, leaving a sleeve in place. The big benefit of this approach is that even though the volume is...
Bariatric Surgery: Without Some Pain, Weight Gain
Weight-loss surgery has to historically maintained a negative stigma due to the complications and deaths reported in the small number of cases being performed. Healthcare providers have been frustrated by the non-compliant nature of...
Bariatric Treatment: A Buffet of Options in Development
Individuals who approach and exceed 40% over their ideal weight seem to no longer have the physiological feedback of satiety. This makes it nearly impossible to stay on a diet because their lifestyle revolves...
Anti-Obesity Drugs
Everyone is searching for the magic pill that still lets them eat excessively and lead sedentary lives. In the past decade, there have been a number of drug products on the market that either...
Current Non-Surgical Treatment Options for Obesity
Obesity is the second-most preventable death group with 400,000 preventable deaths annually, behind only tobacco-related deaths. But does the fact that it is preventable make it avoidable? Less than 5% of the morbidly obese...
Facts you must know to minimize your heart attack risks?
Heart disease is the nation’s number-one killer and will claim the lives of more than 230,000 women this year, nearly six times the death toll of breast cancer. Yet doctors still underestimate women’s heart...
Quantifying the prevalence and risk of obesity co-morbidities
Figure below shows the prevalence of co-morbidities in men and women of varying BMI ranges. Notice that for men with a BMI from 30-34.9, the prevalence of heart disease is 16.1%. This is nearly...
Genetically Modified Organisms
GMOs – you’ve probably heard of them. But what you may not have heard is that according to industry estimates, GMOs are in 80 percent of the food products sold in conventional supermarkets. GMOs...
Cancer: excess weight leads to increased risk
Perhaps even more disturbing is the current trends linking obesity to 20 different types of cancer. Leading experts in public heath are even predicting that obesity will soon replace smoking as the primary cause...
Cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome
The hypertrophy (increase in size) of the adipocytes (fat cells) and the addition of visceral fat can be a dreaded combination that accelerates metabolic and immune responses, which promote type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and...
Dark Chocolates
Chocolate Musings Chocolate on Valentine’ Day doesn’t have to be a trite ritual. Invigorate a classic pairing with these luscious finds: Nicobella: Nichole Dandrea, nutritionist, registered dietician, and yoga instructor, always envisioned dark chocolate...
Psychological disorders: an emotional link to food
The extreme size of the obese carries a devastating social stigma. Often individuals are ostracized and self-esteem suffers as a result. Long-term depression is a common byproduct of obesity and can worsen the eating...
Foot Yoga
Exercise is essential for maintaining the mobility and flexibility of your feet. Foot exercises may also relieve soreness. Naturally, see a podiatrist where warranted. Here are a few exercises that can be done anytime:...
Conscious Care for Your Feet
Our feet keep us grounded to the earth’s energies while also taking us where we want to go. Ah, what faithful servants our feet are! It’s only fitting that we treat them with the...
Clinical Complications: How FAT Destroys The Body From the Inside Out
There is little mystery as to how a person accumulates excessive amounts of fat, and in many cases, it is controllable and preventable. Weight gain is a simple imbalance of caloric intake being higher...
Nature is a factor: Obesity includes a genetic element
There is an increasing amount of evidence supporting the genetic predisposition for weight gain. Twin and adoption studies have demonstrated that genetic factors do play a role in determining which individuals are more susceptible...
The GI Tract: Understanding The Basic Plumbing
The gastrointestinal tract (GI) is responsible for processing food for absorption and expelling excess waste. Digestion first starts in the mouth where food is mechanically broken down and mixed with saliva, which begins the...
Fat Facts: How Excess Fat Storage Can Grow A Deadly Organ
Adipose tissue, or body fat, can be stored either subcutaneously (under the skin) or viscerally (surrounding the internal organs). The location on the body where fat is stored varies depending on gender, race, and...
February is All About Your Heart Health
It can flutter with love, race in anxiety, or pound with excitement. Whatever it’s doing, your beating heart’s health must be protected so that you can keep living the crazy adventure that is your...
The Large Intestine (aka the Colon)
The large intestine is the last organ through which food passes, and its job is to absorb water and nutrients that were not absorbed in the small intestine and to form feces from the...
Why is the Gut so Important?
The gastrointestinal tract is technically outside the body. Similar to the way the skin protects the body from the external environment, so too does the lining of the intestinal tract, providing a barrier to...
CHRONIC HEALTH CONDITIONS Leaky Gut
Leaky gut is the root cause of many chronic health conditions—including food allergies and autoimmune disease—as it allows unwanted organisms and larger antigenic moieties into the bloodstream. This causes the immune system to “react”...
Obesity: An Expanding Clinical Crisis
400 million obese people worldwide and growing. In recent decades, the consequences of obesity have drastically shifted from a social and cosmetic issue to a serious epidemiological and clinical concern. The World Health Organization...
Chew Your Food
The purpose of chewing is to masticate (liquefy) food, the first step in breaking foodstuffs down to the molecular level. Most people put food in their mouths, chew a few times and swallow. But...