Disease Proof : Disease Proof : Health & Nutrition News & Commentary : Dr. Joel Fuhrman

Robert Preidt of HealthDay News takes a look at mixing exercise with childcare. Here’s an excerpt:

"Childhood obesity is an epidemic that threatens the future health of our nation. We know that about 57 percent of all 3- to 5-year-olds in the United States attend child-care centers, so it's important to understand what factors will encourage them to be more active, and, hopefully, less likely to become obese," study co-author Dianne Ward said in a statement. Ward is director of the intervention and policy division in the nutrition department at University of North Caroline at Chapel Hill School of Public Health.


In their study, Ward's team evaluated the physical activity levels of children at 20 child-care centers in North Carolina.

They found that children did more moderate and vigorous physical activity if the child-care center: had more portable play equipment, such as balls, jump ropes, hula hoops and riding toys; offered more opportunities for indoor and outdoor active play; and provided physical activity training and education for staff and students.

Clearly, the TV is not a good babysitter.

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Do you count calories? I hope not. I don’t. Big waste of time if you ask me, but, I’m just a dopey blogger, what do I know? Here Dr. Fuhrman talks about calorie-counting:

With calorie-counting and point-counting and having to weigh, measure, and calculate amounts eaten, you are following a diet. Who wants to diet and measure portions forever? I enjoy eating. I eat the way I advise all my patients to do, yet I am not overweight. Why? I enjoy eating lots of great tasting stuff and not having to worry about my weight or my health. Intellectually, I know that I am doing the right thing to prevent heart disease and other medical problems from developing in my future. Dieting and measuring out thimble-sized portions of food for the rest of one's life is not something that fits in naturally and permanently into anyone's lifestyle.

And it seems those calorie-counting meters on gym equipment are no better. In fact, many experts think they’re pretty inaccurate. Gina Kolata of The New York Times reports:

You can use your heart rate to gauge your effort, and from that you can plan routines that are as challenging as you want. But, researchers say, heart rate does not translate easily into calories. And you may be in for a rude surprise if you try to count the calories you think you used during exercise and then reward yourself with extra food.


One reason for the calorie-count skepticism is that two individuals of the same age, gender, height, weight and even the same level of fitness can burn a different amount of calories at the same level of exertion.

Claude Bouchard, an obesity and exercise researcher who directs the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., found that if, for example, the average number of calories burned with an exercise is 100, individuals will burn anywhere from 70 to 130 calories.

Part of that is genetic and part is familiarity with the exercise. The more familiar you are with an exercise, the fewer calories you use at the same level of effort, he found in a research study. Subjects rode stationary bicycles six days a week for 12 weeks. They ended up burning 10 percent fewer calories at a given level of effort after their training. The reason, he said, is that people perform an exercise more efficiently as they become more accustomed to it.

There also is a seldom mentioned complication in calculating calories burned during exercise: you should subtract off the number of calories you would be using if you did nothing. Almost no one does that, Dr. Bouchard said. But for moderate exercise, the type most people do, subtracting the resting metabolic rate can eliminate as much as 30 percent of the calories you think you used, he added.

Resting metabolic rates, though, differ from individual to individual and also differ depending on age, gender, body mass, body composition and level of fitness, so guessing at your resting rate also is fraught with error.

Personally, I could care less what those meters read. I go for duration and intensity. Whatever the calories will be, will be—how about you?

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According to new research it’s good to be fit even if you’re overweight. Will Dunham of Reuters reports:

Men and women who were fit, as judged by a treadmill test, but were overweight or obese had a lower mortality risk than those of normal weight but low fitness levels, the study in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed.


Exercise expert Steven Blair of the University of South Carolina and colleagues tracked about 2,600 people age 60 and up, examining how physical fitness and body fat affected their death rates over 12 years.

Those in the lowest fifth in terms of fitness had a death rate four times higher than participants ranked in the top fifth for fitness.

Here’s some pictures form the slideshow that accompanied the report—should be no surprise why I picked them—take a look:


Let me know what exercise activities you’re into and I’ll keep an eye out for related news!

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According to a new study, Americans want fit finances before a fit body. Reuters is on it:

After a year of record mortgage foreclosures and slumping home prices, Americans are more determined to shape up their flabby finances in 2008 than their bodies, according to a study released by Countrywide Bank on Tuesday.


Some 67 percent of the 1,002 adults surveyed nationwide said that becoming financially fit is a top New Year's resolution, while 57 percent are committed to becoming physically fit in 2008.

"The results of the survey are an indicator that people are finally putting financial health on par with physical health," said clinical psychologist Dr. Melody Alderman in a statement from Countrywide.

This is certainly a tough call. I mean if you’re broke, that would seem to take priority. What do you think?

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So what will be the most popular fitness crazes for the new year? Jack Kelly of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette breaks them down. Take a look:

The most important fitness trend for 2008 will be the availability of "educated and experienced fitness professionals" to run health clubs, conduct exercise classes, and serve as personal trainers, said the American College of Sports Medicine, an organization that certifies fitness professionals.


Increasing the number of fitness professionals nudged out programs to fight childhood obesity and personal training for the top spot in the ACSM's second annual survey of what its more than 20,000 members worldwide think will be the top fitness trends for the new year. Programs to fight child obesity topped the list in last year's inaugural survey.

Personal training jumped from seventh in last year's survey to third.

Yoga clocked in as number ten—yippee!

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Diet Blog’s come up with some interesting holiday gifts for the health conscious member of your family. Here’re a couple neat ones:

A Heavy bag combo set:
Everlast's 40-Lb Martial Arts Fitness set features a heavy bag, hand wraps, bag gloves, and a jump rope. A 70 pound kit is also available (if you think you can handle it). Rocky Soundtrack sold separately.


Adjustable Dumbbells:
Or not – you could also get sets of weights according to your needs and space constraints. The adjustable kinds where you don’t have to unscrew anything are easy to use and take up little space. They do push past the $100 mark once you get higher than 25lbs though.

I have both of these. I used them a lot when I was teenager. I really recommend the adjustable dumbbells. Makes life A LOT easier! Oh! And be sure to read Diet Blog’s disclaimer—priceless!

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“Exercise is important for healthy psychological function,” claims Dr. Fuhrman. Well, is he right? I venture to say yes, but see for yourself. According to new research exercise may boost the brain's natural antidepressants. Reuters reports:

The findings, published in the journal Nature Medicine, point to potential new ways to treat depression in people.


Studies have found that exercise can help ease depression symptoms, but the reasons for the benefit have not been clear. For the new study, scientists used a tool called a microarray to examine how exercise changed gene activity in the brains of mice.

They focused on a brain region known as the hippocampus, which has been implicated in mood regulation and in the brain's response to antidepressant medication.

The researchers found that mice that had a week's worth of workouts on a running wheel showed altered activity in a total of 33 genes, the majority of which had never been identified before.

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New research has determined that fitness gives a better indication of lifespan than bodyweight. The AFP reports:

People over 60 who exercise and are fit live longer than their sedentary peers, regardless of weight and body mass, researchers said in a study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).


Earlier research showed that obesity and sedentary habits increased the risk of death in middle-aged adults. The study carried out by University of South Carolina researchers tested the premise for the first time among older adults.

"We observed that fit individuals who were obese ... had a lower risk of all-cause mortality than did unfit, normal-weight, or lean individuals," said the study's lead author Dr Xuemei Sui.

Not that surprising. Exercise is important, regardless. Check out this brief quote from Dr. Fuhrman’s book Eat to Live:

Despite the well-known benefits of exercise, only about 15 percent of Americans engage in regular physical activity. In people of all body weights, poor aerobic fitness is an independent risk factor for all-cause mortality.1

To me, I see this as a reason to get slim AND get fit—don’t you think?
Continue Reading...

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“No rules only for children,” Dr. Fuhrman points out in Disease-Proof Your Child, “If the parents are not willing to follow the rules set for the house, they should not be imposed on the children.” This not only applies to diet, That’s Fit shows it applies to exercise too. Take a look:

Too lazy to roll up that purple yoga mat, my kids were greeted with a bright, squishy rectangle this morning. They also spotted the battered yoga tape lying next to the TV. The clutter elicited a positive response -- my three-year-old daughter put in the tape and immediately began gentle spinal twists, sun salutations and a Namaste gesture. She used to be my yoga buddy. She'd missed it, too.


I saw the proof this morning. Modeling fitness to your kids is a promotional strategy. So leave the 3 pound barbells and yoga mat lying around. Invite your kids to occasionally workout with you. Until puberty, they pretty much want to be with you most of the time.

Kudos to That’s Fit, but who would have thought…kids imitate their parents? No! You don’t say. Now, obviously I’m geeked about Yoga mention and I’m doubly-geeked about this link. Check out ABC-of-Yoga for animated step-by-step Yoga instruction. It’s really cool. Look:


Yoga rules! As you’ll soon see—hint-hint, wink-wink—Yoga really helped me…to be continued.

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