Over the last few days, I’ve been noticing a lot more public service announcements about the dangers of smoking (some of them are so graphic I could barely watch). I’m not a smoker, but I can’t imagine a smoker not being scared to death after seeing some of these. And today, the Food and Drug Administration announced that new (larger and more graphic) warning labels will be mandatory on all cigarette packaging. If you haven’t seen them yet, this Associated Press news video shows them…
I actually think this is something that really could work. I think these images have a lot of potential to increase the number of people who want to quit smoking, and I also think they will serve as a strong deterrent to anyone who might be considering starting.
Did you know that more women die from heart disease than men in our country? It’s true. But when it comes to researching treatments for heart disease, women are being left behind. So I wasn’t surprised when I read a recent article that highlighted the continued disparities of heart disease treatment between men and women.
Cardiovascular device development remains skewed against women, with too few trials adequately addressing gender despite long-standing requirements by the FDA, researchers found.
I contacted Carolyn Thomas of Heart Sisters to ask her if I could get her thoughts on this latest report for BlogHer, and she was kind enough to agree. Carolyn writes about women and heart disease from a very unique perspective — She is a Mayo Clinic-trained heart attack survivor. What she has to say about women and heart disease, we ALL need to hear.
Understanding The Latest Research About Hormone Replacement Therapy
For years there have been suspicions and studies linking Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) to breast cancer, but new research is now definitively linking HRT to an increase in breast cancer death rates.
This is my personal story of how I lost those last 10 pounds. It started over two years ago when I lost 30 of the 40 pounds I had gained. Those first 30 came off just by making healthier food choices, but the last 10 were proving to be much more difficult. But I did it, and so can you.
Many of you who read my BlogHer posts are familiar with the struggles I’ve had with weight loss over the years. For the most part I’ve been successful, although it took almost two years to finally get rid of those last ten pesky pounds. But before I tell you my “how I did it” story, I want to share with you my “how I got there in the first place” story. I think it’s just as important to recognize how and why we gained the weight, as it is to actually lose the weight. Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with all the details, but in a nutshell two things had the greatest contribution to my (rather rapid) weight gain of about 40 pounds…
A few weeks ago my daughter and I were at the mall doing some back-to-school shopping and walked by a kiosk selling what looked like cigarettes. We both thought it was odd, but we assumed it must be some type of “quit smoking” devise. But, on the way out we actually saw a man demonstrating this product which looked exactly like a cigarette (including the smoke). I have to admit, it was very strange seeing someone smoke in a mall, you just don’t see that anymore (except for right outside the mall). As we walked by I noticed a sign that claimed it was a “clean” way to smoke. At the time we just rolled our eyes at the ridiculousness of it all, and wondered why anyone would want to pay money for something that looked like a cigarette but wasn’t?
Fast forward to a few days ago when I was asked to write a post about the controversy surrounding the e-cigarette. I hadn’t heard of an e-cigarette, but after researching it, I realized it was the same thing we saw being sold at the mall.
After reading more about e-cigarettes, I have mixed feelings about their benefits. On one hand, the manufacturers of the e-cigarettes are claiming they only want to give smokers an easier way to quit smoking. But on the other hand, they are marketing the product by glamorizing a new “cleaner” way to smoke. So what is it? It’s clear the real motivation (as always) is in making money, not so much the health or best interest of the consumer. And that’s why I’m happy to hear that the FDA is cracking down on these “questionable” products.
It’s no secret that I’m not fond of diet pills, and I’ve written quite a bit about my disdain for “Alli: The Diarrhea Diet” over the last few years. And it is now being reported that the prescription diet pill “Meridia” increases a person’s risk of heart attack and stroke. Didn’t we learn anything from the whole “Fen-Phen” debacle?
When it comes to taking any medication, the first thing you have to do is determine if the benefits outweigh the risks of taking it. So let’s take a look at the benefits. It seems that Meridia offers less than a nine pound reduction in weight. But is this really a benefit? This is a drug that is prescribed by physicians to “obese” patients (people that need to lose a lot of weight before they will see any health benefits), so a nine pound reduction in weight hardly seems to be worth the risk.
What are you doing right now? Aside from reading this post, you are most likely sitting somewhere. On your couch? At your desk? In a chair? Wherever you find yourself sitting, I’m sure that it won’t come as a surprise to you, that sitting isn’t good for your health. But did you know that it is so bad for your health that it could be taking years off of your life?
It’s true.
Unfortunately, I can’t even say that I’m setting a good example for any of you by doing something other than sitting on the couch with my laptop myself. However, this new study did get me thinking about ways I might be able to do less sitting, and I think I am going to give a few of them a try (tomorrow).
It seems women should have a waist circumference no greater than 35 inches, otherwise they are at a greater risk for heart disease, asthma, breast cancer as well as dementia.
“Even if you haven’t had a noticeable weight gain, if you notice your waist size increasing that’s an important sign,” said lead author Eric Jacobs of the American Cancer Society, which funded the study. “It’s time to eat better and start exercising more.”
Bulging bellies are a problem for most Americans older than 50. It’s estimated that more than half of older men and more than 70 percent of older women have bigger waistlines than recommended. And it’s a growing problem: Average waistlines have expanded by about an inch per decade since the 1960s.
Although I’m not past the recommended girth, I have noticed an evolution of how my body is distributing its weight. I wrote about how I’ve noticed that I’ve been carrying my weight differently since I hit 40 (with much of it in my belly), and the difficult time I’ve been having trying to lose the last 10 pounds.
I can’t help but think that my age has something to do with my inability to get rid of those last ten pounds. At 42, I’ve been observing some strange happenings to my body. Oddly, my weight has stayed relatively the same, but how the weight is distributed on my body has been changing dramatically (I seem to be plumping up around my waist and belly, while at the same time shrinking in areas I would prefer to keep).
In this video Dr. Oz talks about how a high belly fat measurement can take up to 15 years off your life, and shows you how to measure it for yourself…
Are you concerned about the added risks to your health from carrying extra weight in you belly?
Are you honest about your weight? Although I would prefer not to be asked, when I am asked, it never occurs to me to lie about it.
It used to be that women were thought to always lie about their age and weight, but a new CDC study finds that Americans are becoming more honest (at least about) their weight. To be honest, I didn’t even know that there were studies measuring the number of people who lie about their weight. It seems a little odd, but who am I to judge?
The new report also found that in nine states at least 30 percent of the adults were obese in 2009. The states were Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Mississippi, the highest at 34 percent. In 2007, only Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee topped 30 percent.
No states met a national goal for 2010 of limiting obesity to 15 percent. Only Colorado and the District of Columbia were lower than 20 percent, and just barely.
It did get me thinking a bit about why? Why are Americans becoming more honest about their weight, especially considering that obesity is on the rise?
Could it be that we are finally getting to the point of loving and accepting ourselves, even with our perceived imperfections? That wouldn’t be so bad, maybe those Dove ads (you know, the ones using average and plus size models) are having an impact on how we see ourselves. What ever the reason, if women are feeling better about themselves, I think that’s wonderful. Anyway, that’s my idealistic way of looking at this story, and I think it could be true.
However, it seems the researchers have their own opinion (go figure), and it does make sense. They believe that because of all the press coverage over the ever growing obesity epidemic (and the health problems associated with it), that Americans are becoming more aware of their weight and therefore more honest. The benefit to this observation would be that Americans are becoming concerned about the health risks of being overweight (rather than the stigma), and are keeping a closer eye on it. In the long run (idealistically), this change in behavior may actually prove to be the catalyst to American’s changing their eating habits from unhealthy to healthy, and that would be a good thing. Wouldn’t it be great to go from a society facing an obesity epidemic, to a society facing a healthy living epidemic?
Are you an emotional eater? If it’s any consolation, you’re not alone. I have to confess…I am an emotional eater. When I’m upset I eat. When I’m stressed I eat. When I’m worried I eat. And let’s be clear, these are the times I have uncontrollable urges to eat junk (candy, cookies, ice cream), all the stuff I know is bad for me. I could be eating healthy for months, then something upsets me, and it’s all over.
The crazy thing about being an emotional eater is that you know that eating isn’t going to make what you’re upset about any better, but you do it anyway. In fact, you know that eating the junk that you’re craving is actually going to contribute to making you feel worse, but you do it anyway. You even know that once you start it’s going to become a vicious cycle of craving, eating, and then feeling guilty about it. Even so, you still do it. Isn’t the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result? Maybe so, but I still try not to be too hard on myself when this happens to me. I sometimes think it’s worse when I try to fight the urge to eat through my emotions, it just seems to make my cravings even stronger.
Emotional eating is something we do in an attempt to suppress negative feelings in our life. There are many triggers that accompany emotional eating, here are a few…
Relationship or marital problems.
Financial worries
Unemployment
Health problems of your own or family member.
Stress at work.
Bad weather
Fatigue or lack of sleep.
So what’s an emotional eater to do? This is what I try to do…
My name is Catherine Morgan...I'm a writer, nurse, and mother. I'm also a contributing editor for BlogHer Health & Wellness.
Welcome to my blog...I write a little bit of everything with an emphasis on healthy living, inspiration, nutrition, and health news. I hope you'll find topics that interest you here, and I would love to know what you think in comments. Thanks for stopping by.
