Don't Blame Ads on Obesity

An Australian newspaper claim that ads and obesity aren't related. My opinion is that the company is just trying to make some money and that they shouldn't get slammed about the ads because it's the person's motivation and habit that causes how they look.

ACMA doubts ads and obesity link
August 27, 2008 - 8:16PM

The communications watchdog says it has found little evidence of an association between the advertising of junk food on television and obesity levels in children.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) said it would not be recommending any general restrictions be imposed on food and beverage advertising targeting children. More...

Food Shortages

Warning to everyone: there is food shortage in Zimbabwe. This is the first of a very vicious hunger epidemic that may happen. Now is the time to donate some food the Red Cross if you can and it is even more essential to save food.

Food shortage hits Zimbabweans
28 August 2008, 08:57

The Red Cross federation has made an urgent appeal for $26,8-million (about R202-million) in emergency food aid for about 260 000 people in Zimbabwe, in a statement released late on Wednesday.

According to the United Nations, up to 5,1-million people, almost half of Zimbabwe's population, may be without access to food by the end of 2008, said the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies statement. More...

MSG Connected to Obesity

Beware of the MSG. MSG hasn't always really been in the spotlight and is not as important to people as calories. Now, here's a more reason to look on the menu to see if there's MSG so that you can cut down and not gain lots of weight.

Nutrition: MSG Use Is Linked to Obesity
By Nicholas Bakalar August 25, 2008

Consumption of monosodium glutamate, or MSG, the widely used food additive, may increase the likelihood of being overweight, a new study says.

Researchers studied 752 men and women in three villages in northern and southern China where most people use little commercially processed food, but where about 80 percent of people add MSG in cooking. More...

Little Actions, BIG Changes

Colleges around the United States want to make a big difference in saving the earth during hard times. Learn about how little things like getting rid of trays can go a long was from saving plastic to money. By this article, maybe you can think of ways to make big changes in the environment. Read the following article provided by Telegraph to learn how much people saved.

Cafeteria trays disappear in US bid to tackle obesity
By Tom Leonard in New York 26 Aug 2008

Trays are disappearing from college restaurants across America in a bid to tackle obesity, cut food waste and make campuses more environmentally sustainable.

Working on the principle that students tend to fill up a tray until there is no space left only to throw much of it away, a growing number of institutions are forcing diners to be more selective about what – and how much – they eat.

As well as helping to tackle obesity and soaring food prices, the measure also cuts down on washing up.

Trayless campuses have reported drastic savings. Georgia Tech estimates that it has saved 3,000 gallons of water a day by giving them up. More...

Rises at the Gas Pump, Supermarket, and Cafeteria?

When you think times couldn't get any harder, they have. Not in the workplace, or car, but at school. Cafeteria prices have risen due to lower education budgets in each state and the rising cost of food. Let your kids know that food prices are rising and to not waste food so that their meal is truly worth the higher price.

As Food Costs Rise, So Do School Lunch Prices
By Winnie Hu August 24, 2008

Gas pumps, grocery stores, and now school cafeterias.

Prices on some school lunch lines are going up this fall as school officials, like many others, struggle to pay higher prices and delivery fees for staples like bread, milk, fresh fruit and vegetables. The price increases, generally about 25 cents a meal, come as school districts in New York and across the country try to eke more out of already tight budgets, with some switching to four-day schedules to reduce utility and busing costs, and others asking more of their students to walk to school or limiting out-of-town games for athletic teams.

But for many parents, nothing hits the pockets quite like lunch prices. More...

This is an article written by a teenager for the magazine, Teen Ink to help raise awareness about starvation and obesity. This is a great article for kids to read with tons of facts and simpler language so that it doesn't seem like they're reading out of an encyclopedia. After reading this article, kids can be inspired and want to want to help raise awareness too!

Ending Starvation
By Colleen B., Hull, MA

Starvation can be found everywhere and is a seemingly never-ending battle that could be solved with help from our country. Americans, for the most part, are able to get what we want when we want it, whether it is spending ridiculous amounts of money on clothing or buying candy bars we really don’t need. We are the kings of waste. If we took a look at any third-world country, we would realize how little effort it would take for us to save lives.

Although it exists all over the world, starvation is more prevalent in areas like Africa where 30 million people are at risk of starvation or death from malnutrition. This is one of the facts of which World Message Day (worldmessageday.com) is trying to remind everyone. They are also making people aware of the astonishing rate at which people die from starvation: every 3.6 seconds someone will die, a quarter of whom are children under the age of five. This could change if Americans gave up a fraction of what we take for granted. Coincidentally, two of the items Americans abuse most - cigarettes and food - are the leading causes of preventable death in our society. The money we spend slowly killing ourselves with these things could be used to save lives. More...

A Natural Way to Burn Calories

Did you know about brown protein cells that can burn calories and body fat? It's true and it's almost too much of a good thing. Scientists are going to start a different type of obesity treatment involving many brown protein cells so that fat can burn. But meanwhile, eat some protein so that you'll gain more brown protein cells.

Obesity: Scientists identify a protein that promotes the burning of body fat
Alok Jha Thursday August 21 2008 11:40 BST

When given to mice the protein increases the production of brown fat cells – which burn calories. The discovery could lead to the development of new therapies for tackling obesity

Scientists have found a protein that can promote the burning of body fat – a discovery that could lead to new ways to tackle obesity.

Mice injected with a protein called BMP7 increased their production of "good" brown fat cells, while keeping their levels of the normal white fat cells constant.

Fat is a crucial part of the body's regulation of metabolism and body temperature. There are two types of fat cell with different functions: the well-known white fat cells, which store energy and contribute to obesity, and lesser-known brown fat cells that burn calories to generate body heat. More...

Help Fight Hunger!

Help fight hunger and you might ask how to do it but all it comes to is creativity! Some musicians in Oakland, CA came up with an idea to have concerts to raise money and they are doing successfully and are glad for any sort of contribution. You can help fight hunger by receiving donations whether it's running a bake sale, asking your friends, or even opening up a Guitar Hero party with a suggested donation amount. Start raising money to help fight hunger now with a pinch of creativity and fun.

Musiq 4 Hunger Tour fighting hunger one concert at a time
By Angela Woodall 08/22/2008

The sounds coming from the downtown Oakland recording studio Thursday night were music to the ears of Victoria Popejoy, whose Hayward charity Hope for the Heart was recently devastated by a three-alarm fire.

Behind the double doors of the Smash Hitz Studio, a group of Bay Area music and recording insiders helped raise $500 toward rebuilding the food bank's warehouse, destroyed July 31. The depot is the distribution center and hub for more than 40 organizations that work with the Cherryland District nonprofit.

The Thursday event was just one stop along the "Musiq 4 Hunger Tour," a coalition of music and recording industry individuals who banded together to fight hunger one concert at a time. More...

Kill Two Birds with One Stone

We've all heard of the proverb kill two birds with one stone. If you live in Alabama, there is an opportunity for you to do just that. This article provided by the International Herald Tribune states that people will need to pay extra money for insurance if they are overweight or obese. To those who'd like to avoid this, think shed pounds, save money.

Extra pounds may mean higher insurance costs
The Associated Press August 22, 2008

MONTGOMERY, Alabama: Alabama, pushed to third in U.S. obesity rankings by high-fat, high-carbohydrate foods, is cracking down on state workers who are overweight.

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 U.S. state to impose a surcharge on overweight state workers who do not work on slimming down. 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 U.S. South: obesity. More...

Don't Be Afraid of Fitness

This little kid here may be young and a master of Dance Dance Revolution but he is getting his fitness in! Don't forget fitness can be anything from dancing to walking a mile to doing 10 star jumps. Get a kick-start today and get out there and just move your body!

Watch the Video!

An Opposite Effect

This is NOT the direction that our country wants to go. According to the RobertWood Johnson obesity survey, this our country is becoming fatter and fatter. People yearn to become slim and working hard but despite ambitions, people give up and this leads to more of an epidemic. Read this article provided by Fox News

Report: Americans Fatter in 37 States
Wednesday, August 20, 2008

The waistlines of Americans continued to expand in 37 states over the past year, with no state seeing a decrease in obesity rates, according to a report released Tuesday.

More than 25 percent of adults are obese in 28 states, an increase from 19 states last year, Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation reported in their fifth annual obesity survey. More than 20 percent of adults are obese — 30 pounds or more overweight — in every state except Colorado.

Nine of the Top 10 fattest states are in the south. Mississippi leads the pack with an adult obesity rate of 31.7 percent, according to the report, which is a follow-up analysis of the annual Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More...

Is Being Skinny Always the Best Thing?

People still judge books by their covers and they never think about what's on the inside. It seems to stretch people's minds to think that maybe a large looking stomach may be okay and better than a thin stomach. In this article from the New York Times, it seems that the tables are turned. It's not the outward appearance but their fitness level. This article can inspire to keep people exercising. To those who might think they're overweight, remember that muscle weighs more than fat. :)

Better to Be Fat and Fit Than Skinny and Unfit
By Tara Parker-Pope August 18, 2008

Often, a visit to the doctor’s office starts with a weigh-in. But is a person’s weight really a reliable indicator of overall health?

Increasingly, medical research is showing that it isn’t. Despite concerns about an obesity epidemic, there is growing evidence that our obsession about weight as a primary measure of health may be misguided. More...

Another Reason to Eat Vegetables

We can admit it. Not all of us like vegetables but we know that deep inside our hearts, we should eat them because they provide nutrients that our bodies need. Now there's another reason; mushrooms and help prevent obesity. Check out this article by Thaindian News.

Mushrooms may help prevent obesity (re-issue)
August 17th, 2008 - 5:53 pm ICT by ANI

Washington, Aug 17 (ANI): Eating mushrooms in large quantities can help prevent or treat obesity, says a new study.

According to the study, which was led by Dr. Cheskin, suggests that increasing intake of low-energy density foods, specifically mushrooms, in place of high-energy-density foods, like lean ground beef, is a strategy for preventing or treating obesity.

To reach the conclusions, study participants were randomly chosen to receive either beef or mushroom lunch entrees over four days lasagna, napoleon, sloppy Joe and chili. More...

Relating Ears to your Waistline

You might wonder how your ear might change your waistline. From this articles from the UK's Telegraph, it does prove that it can happen. There's a more reason to protect your ears so that you don't get an infection. When there's an infection, your taste buds aren't as sensitive so therefore people want sweeter foods and you can imagine that cycle. Protect your ears!

Ear infections increase obesity risk by damaging taste buds
By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor 1:14PM BST 14 Aug 2008

Children who suffer chronic ear infections are more likely to become obese because the infections damage their taste buds and change their food preferences, new research suggests.

Scientists found a history of ear infections in childhood can alter the sense of taste, leading to a preference for fatty foods which increases the risk of becoming overweight and obese later in life.

The findings come from a review of a series of studies presented at the American Psychological Association's 116th Annual Convention in Boston.

One study carried out on 6,584 people aged between 16 and 92 found that people with a moderate to severe history of ear infections were 62 per cent more likely to be obese. More...

A Way to Help

As this blog has veered toward the direction of obesity, we can't forget about those in starvation and hunger. There is a way to help those and without spending any money plus you can get a tad smarter by going to FreeRice.com

FreeRice.com is a website where you can donate rice to those who are hungry by simply answering vocabulary questions. The vocabulary contains SAT level words so it is a great study tool for those who are studying or just want to have a wider range of words. Every word you answer correctly, you donate 20 grains of rice. The rice is paid for by companies that put advertisements onto FreeRice.com.

So go to that website right now and start donating!
www.FreeRice.com

Is it Always 2,000 Calories?

Michael Phelps has been on a roll in the Beijing Olympics 2008 winning five out of eight gold medals so far. He has an intense 30 hour training schedule including cardio and weight lifting. But what does he eat? He eats a whoppin' 12,000 calories a day! He burns it all off with his training. Bottom line: It doesn't matter how much you eat as long as you can remain healthy, fit, and burn it off. Check out this article provided by Yahoo news.

Michael Phelps eats 12,000 calories per day
By Chris Chase Wednesday, Aug 13, 2008 9:15 pm EDT

After he retires from swimming, Michael Phelps might want to try his hand at competitive eating. The Olympic star recently said he consumes 12,000 calories per day, or 9,500 more than the FDA recommends for an active, young male.

Phelps has to keep his intake up in order to compensate for all the calories he burns during the 30-hours per week he spends in training. He told NBC that an average day might have the following menu: More...

Can You Have a Large Waistline and Still be Healthy?

The Answer is yes! NBC has an article that it's possible. Just because you may look a little overweight doesn't mean you can't be healthy. After all, having a healthy inside, a beating heart, and the fact that you're alive is better than asking how much you weigh. Take a look at this article.

Fit and fat: Study shows it's possible
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 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.

And being lean does not necessarily protect people, either. Close to a quarter of normal-weight U.S. adults in one study had risk factors for heart disease or diabetes.

"We really don't know as much about obesity as we think we do," Judith Wylie-Rosett of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, who oversaw the study, said in a telephone interview.

"A considerable proportion of overweight and obese U.S. adults are metabolically healthy, whereas a considerable proportion of normal-weight adults express a clustering of cardiometabolic abnormalities," Wylie-Rosett and Rachel Wildman and colleagues wrote in their report, published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine. More...