Abdominal obesity

One of my interests in this topic is my sister who died in 1996. She was an "apple" and I am a "pear." She had both breast cancer and diabetes. Note this conclusion of an article in The British Journal of Diabetes and Vascular Disease, vol. 6, no. 2, 2006 (Available on line through Medscape.com, but may require registration)

"Abdominal obesity, particularly that due to an excess of visceral fat, is associated with an increased risk of developing insulin resistance and concomitant cardiovascular risk factors such as type 2 diabetes, dyslipidaemia, inflammation a pro-coagulant state and thrombosis. Waist circumference is a useful measure of abdominal obesity and may be used, along with BMI, to identify patients most at risk of CVD. 'At risk' patients can be managed with lifestyle modifications and, if necessary, pharmacotherapy. The CB1 blocker, rimonabant, has produced clinically significant weight loss and improved some cardiometabolic parameters in clinical trials. It has been suggested that this new class of drug specifically targets intra-abdominal adiposity and may therefore offer 'added-value' in the treatment of obesity and associated cardiometabolic risk."

Overweight parents

Caption: Children who grow up in households with overweight parents are more likely to become overweight adults themselves. The factors are a mix of genetics and environment. Parents' knowledge of nutrition; their influence over food selection, meal structure, and home eating patterns; their modeling of healthful eating practices; their levels of physical activity; and their modeling of sedentary habits including television viewing are all influential in their children's development of lifelong habits that contribute to normal weight or to overweight and obesity. Preventing and controlling childhood obesity will require programs and policies that are multifaceted and community-wide, but that emphasize the central role parents must play in these wider efforts. Photo by Joan Liftin in "The Future of Children: Childhood Obesity" Brookings Institution

Panera's isn't fast food

Some people want to blame the fast food business for America's obesity, but what I saw in Panera's yesterday wasn't the problem.

An extremely overweight young woman came in with two normal weight children--I assume she was their mother. The little boy was maybe 7 and the little girl about 3. She bought breakfast, I think, because it was 8 a.m. She gave the little girl a very large chocolate brownie with chocolate icing. She and the little boy were sharing an iced muffin and a spinach egg souffle. She had a large coffee, but the children had nothing to drink, not milk, not juice. In actual calories, the muffin and souffle may have more than the brownie, but still, I would think by 10 a.m. you'd be scraping that little one off the ceiling just from a sugar high. And what a pattern to set.

On second thought, let's hope she was the babysitter; moms should know better.

Obesity

Words Americans can't resist

These words in a book title or a store ad will almost guarantee success.

Gift
Free
Myth
Secret
Steps
Coupon
Sale
Save
New
Discount
Only
Shop

and

Diet

Eat, limp, take pills, have surgery

A reader of USAToday says that when she complained of knee pain to her doctor, he said, "If you take the Cadillac body off of the Volkswagen frame, your knee won't hurt." Yikes. In this victim-knows-best world, that could get you sued. But instead, Ivory Dorsey of Georgia lost 30 pounds. She says losing weight is inconvenient and intentional. Gaining it is convenient and unintentional. Wellness, she says, is a conscious choice. She knew her choices. Eat, limp, take pills, then have surgery, or lose the weight.

I promised myself 30 minutes a day of exercise exactly 3 weeks ago, and most days I've exceeded that. I didn't adjust my promise (I never set goals) because exceeding is better than not meeting. I'm not the least bit puzzled about why I've put on 15 pounds the last two years, even though I retired six years ago. It's 1) broadband connection keeps me sitting longer than when I worked, 2) lack of regular exercise, and 3) eating more of just about everything, even healthy stuff.

And surprise, surprise. Not a single pound has come off even with walking 2 miles a day. It certainly comes easier than it goes, doesn't it?

I'm walking with a group of ladies who blog--from around the country and Europe. It's nice to have company. However, when they are other bloggers, no one needs to rearrange a schedule, or find a special location that easy for all. I've also loaded my tape player/radio and my cd player with new batteries. Today I'm starting the book about planets, by Dava Sobel who also wrote Galileo's Daughter.

weight loss
exercise
walking