Are you eating the one thing that increases a woman’s risk of stroke?
A new study has found that a diet high in fat (specifically trans-fat) increases a woman’s risk of stroke. We already know that high fat diets increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers – just to name a few. But this new study looked specifically at women, and found that women who ate the most trans fat had a 30 percent greater risk for stroke.
This new research emphasizes the dangers of not just trans-fats, but the trans-fats in cookies, cakes, and pastries — Sad news for anyone (me) who may have been in San Francisco and found out how yummy a gourmet cupcake can be.
We know that the food we choose to put into our body can have a huge affect on our health and quality of life, but many of us still choose to eat unhealthy foods. Let’s face it, the unhealthy stuff tastes really good, and we don’t usually have cravings for healthy food. That’s exactly why obesity is such a large problem for both adults and children in our country…But is dieting the answer? I don’t think so. As we all know, dieting can often lead to a roller coaster of weight loss and weight gain, that leaves many weighing more in the long run.
So if dieting isn’t the answer…What is?
Well, I don’t think there is just one answer to this question. There are a million reasons why people become overweight, and once overweight, weight loss can be very difficult. That’s why focusing on a healthy eating lifestyle needs to be more important than actual dieting and weight loss.
The thing is – Your overall health is not determined simply by the numbers on a scale or where you fall on a BMI chart. It’s much more complicated than that. Obviously, these things are important guidelines, but they are certainly not the holy grail of good health.
For most of us food is more than just the nourishment needed for our survival, it’s also an emotional roller coaster (with many ups and downs). One slice of chocolate cake can take us from desire, to exhilaration, to satisfaction, and often land us right into guilt. Which is exactly why they call it a guilty pleasure. But should we really feel guilty for eating something simply for the pleasure of it? Of course not. So why do we?
I’ll be the first person to admit that sometimes it’s easy to get sucked into that (post indulging) guilt. But the truth is, the guilt can actually be the catalyst that spirals us into more emotional eating and even more guilt. The remedy is to not allow yourself to fall victim to overeating guilt from the start.
When you make a mistake, treat yourself with kindness.
As with everything in life, we need to embrace our imperfections. And regardless of how committed we are to a particular diet or healthy eating program, we always have to leave room for occasional guilty pleasures. Try to focus on the “pleasure” part a guilty pleasures. If you’re going to over indulge, at least enjoy every moment and savor every bite of your indulgence.
Here are some tips to help you avoid overeating and the guilt that often follows…
Earlier this week I was part of a conference call with Carnie Wilson, who was recently featured on the Dr. Oz Show to talk about her food and alcohol addiction.
Carnie Wilson has always struggled with her weight. She even had gastric bypass surgery in 1999. Then after going through two pregnancies, and gaining 50 pounds each time, she found herself battling the extra weight all over again.
Carnie told us that the show was “very dramatic,” and “the fact that he had labeled me morbidly obese really shocked me.” But, she also says, “Dr. Oz was one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met.” Carnie was confused when Dr. Oz told her that she was pre-diabetic – “I was actually in shock because I just had blood work done. All that blood work came back normal. To this day I am not pre-diabetic,” she said in the press call. “If he wants to call me that, it’s fine, but my glucose levels are at a normal range.”
After watching the show, I can understand how Carnie may have been shocked by some of the things Dr. Oz was saying to her. It’s funny to me how Dr. Oz seems to try so hard to make medical issues more understandable to the average person, but he didn’t clarify many of the comments he was making about Carnie. For instance, doctors refer to patients as “morbidly obese” strictly based on their weight and BMI. But clearly, although Carnie may fit the medical definition of morbidly obese, she is obviously in a much healthier place than she was in the past. And when Dr. Oz checks her glucose level, he does so by using a method diabetics use to keep track of their blood sugar throughout the day. Carnie’s doctor would be using a much more accurate method that involves fasting blood work, and that’s why she is so certain she is not pre-diabetic…she probably isn’t.
January was Thyroid Awareness Month, and since an estimated 20 million Americans have some form of thyroid disease (and up to 60% of them don’t even know it), awareness is more important than ever. Could you be one of the millions unknowingly suffering from this complicated medical condition?
Unfortunately, thyroid disease can be very hard to diagnose. Not only can blood tests be inconclusive, but the symptoms are often associated with other health problems.
Knowing the symptoms and risk factors for thyroid disease is the best place to start.
Evaluating Your Success, Not Your Failure – Cross-posted at BlogHer.com
If you made a New Year’s resolution, you’ve now had a couple of weeks to work on it. How are you making out? Would you say you’ve been successful, or that you’ve already failed? Don’t answer yet.
My New Year’s resolution included eating healthy, but today my daughter made chocolate chip cookies and I had several of them (they were super yummy too). Some might say that by eating those cookies, I’ve failed at my resolution. Have I? What really matters though, is how I perceive it. If I perceive eating cookies as a failure, then it was. However, I choose to not see it as a failure. I’ve learned from years of dieting that I am less likely to be successful if I’m too strict with myself. So instead, I remind myself of all the days that I did make healthy food choices, and that I can still continue to make healthy food choices tomorrow.
We’ve all heard that most people will fail at their New Year’s resolution. In fact, many people will use this knowledge to justify not making a resolution at all. But should we really avoid resolutions because of a our fears of failure? Of course not.
Most successful people will tell you that failure is success, as long as you learn from it. You may have even heard this famous quote from Thomas Edison:
I have not failed, not once. I’ve discovered ten thousand ways that don’t work.
This is the way I see it – If you’ve made a resolution that is really in your best interest to keep, then don’t throw it out the window just because a few weeks into it you are not exactly where you hoped you would be. It’s the intention that matters most. If your intention was good, then now is as good a time as any to tweak your resolution a bit, and make it more realistic for yourself. Remind yourself that you can choose to see your glass as half empty or half full. Perception is the only thing standing between you and success.
So now, how would you answer the question I asked at the beginning of this post…
Would you say you’ve been successful, or that you’ve already failed?
If it helps, take some time to re-evaluate your resolution, and set more realistic goals yourself. And remember, it’s much better for you to focus on the ways you’ve been successful, rather than on the ways you believe you may be failing.
I came across a pretty disturbing article today…It suggests that doctors are bias against overweight women, to the extent of jeopardizing their health and well-being. It’s no secret that overweight people are discriminated against in many ways. But recent studies have found that overweight women are actually being discriminated by their own doctors and health care professionals. With two out of every three Americans considered to be overweight or obese, this bias could be putting many people at risk. Could you be one of them?
What is your eating style? Do you follow one of the popular diet plans?
If you’re looking to eat healthy or lose weight in the new year, there are a lot of diet plans out there to choose from. But how do you know which plan is best for you? I’m not a fan of fad diets – Even when they work, they are often an unhealthy choice and any weight lost is usually quickly gained back. But there are diet plans geared towards healthy eating and healthy weight loss. Maybe you’re already following one.
In this post I thought we could take a look at some of the diet plans that also focus on healthy eating. Because, in the long run, changing unhealthy eating habits to healthy ones is the only way to lose weight and keep it off.
I’ve written several posts on the problems of childhood obesity. Not only are the number of overweight children on the rise, but even more troubling, is the increase of adult diseases these children are developing. Obese children are developing life threatening conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure at an alarming rate. What kind of life expectancy are these kids going to have? In my own experience, I never had high blood pressure until my thirties, but in less than ten years, my high blood pressure has damaged three of the valves in my heart. If this could happen to me in such a short period of time; I can’t even imagine what the long-term effects of high blood pressure will be on obese children. And I don’t think we can afford to wait to find out.
But what can we do?
In the long run, I think it’s going to take both individual changes as well as policy changes to make a real difference in childhood obesity. And I think banning trans fats in prepared foods is a good place to start. But until then – Parents need to know what foods are highest in trans-fat and then avoid them as much as possible.
In a nutshell, trans fat is an issue because it is associated with all kinds of health problems. Trans fat can wreak havoc on your cholesterol levels – increasing your LDL (the “bad” cholesterol) and decreasing your HDL (the “good” cholesterol). A high LDL is a major risk factor for heart disease. HDL picks up excess cholesterol and takes it back to the liver, so higher HDL is a good thing.
Trans fat also increases triglycerides and causes more inflammation. Triglycerides are another kind of fat that may contribute to hardening or thickening of artery walls. Trans fat consumption is associated with an increased risk of stroke and type-2 diabetes.
Here are two links that can help you avoid trans-fats…
Be Careful of Diet Resolutions – Cross Posted at BlogHer Health & Wellness
Welcome to the dawn of a new decade. I would be lying if I said I was sad to see the last one go.
It’s a new year, and once again we will all spend time analyzing our lives. We will wonder if there is something we can change that could make our lives better in the coming year.
Is it possible to eat cookies and lose weight? Well, Dr. Sanford Siegal would certainly like you to think so. After all, at $56 for a week’s supply, Dr. Siegal is going to make an estimated $18 million this year selling his weight-loss cookies. It’s called The Cookie Diet, and if you like cookies it may sound like a great way to lose weight. But is it?
Usually, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true. And apparently the first deception about this diet is calling it a cookie. The word “cookie” implies that it’s a yummy treat, but it seems everyone agrees they don’t taste very good. Also, the meal-plan for the cookie diet restricts the dieter to only one meal a day, and less than 1000 calories. Anytime you restrict calories that low, weight-loss is inevitable (with or without the cookie).
Did you ever want to give yoga a try, but it seemed like too much of a commitment? Well if you’re like me, and you’re a bit of an emotional eater, learning a couple of yoga poses may be just what you need. Yoga can help you focus on what your body needs, reduce stress, and curb your emotional eating.
Here is a pose you can do in less than two minutes, it’s called Downward Facing Dog. Give it a try for a couple of days and see if you notice a difference.
I have been successfully off of sugar since my post Conquering Sugar Addiction: The First Step Towards A Healthy Diet (and the toughest), but I know I am always just one bite of a brownie away from falling off the wagon. And now there is another huge temptation – Halloween. It seems like everywhere I go I am faced with those giant bags of Halloween candy. The next few weeks are going to be a real test of my new-found willpower.
It’s nice to know I’m not the only one struggling with Halloween candy temptations.
Do you want to lose weight, feel healthier, or just start eating better? Jumping off the junk food band-wagon isn’t easy. Making the decision to give it a try is a great first step. But quitting cold-turkey is generally a bad idea. Sometimes making small changes, and working up to more, is a better way to do it.
Make one change in your diet today, and keep it up for a week. Then in a week, make another change. Keep adding to your healthy eating changes week after week, until eating healthy is just what you do.
Here are a few places you can start.
1. Eliminate or limit your intake of refined sugars, (ie: cookies, cakes, candy, soda, etc.), nature sugar from fruits are o.k.
Here are three easy tips that can help anyone become a healthier version of themselves.
1.You are what you eat, and it is never too late to start eating healthy. Every day, try your very best to put healthy foods and plenty of water into your body. When you have a choice between something healthy and something not healthy, go with the healthy choice. But, don’t be too hard on yourself on the days you fall back into old habits. There is no rule that says, to be healthy you have to be perfect. Even if you are eating healthy 50% of the time, that is still better than none of the time.
If you are one to never go for the healthy choice, then start today with a commitment to eat one thing that is good for you (just one thing that you would normally not eat), and do that for a week. After a week, start eating two things that are good for you, and so on, and so on. Before you know it, you’ll be eating healthy half the time…And that’s a great start.
You can start today, loving yourself and your family enough to stop poisoning your body with unhealthy foods. Heart disease is the number one killer in our country. And 80% of heart disease is due to eating an unhealthy diet that leads to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. Start today, and take a bite in the right direction…Your heart will thank you.
Conquering Sugar Addiction: The First Step Towards A Healthy Diet (and the toughest).
Okay, here’s the thing…I have seriously fallen off the healthy eating wagon this summer. Of course this isn’t entirely my fault. And if we’re going to place blame, some of that should go to my son. Because for some reason, he was compelled to make homemade brownies once or twice a week throughout the entire summer…And I was (obviously) compelled to eat them.
Even though I see my son as part of the problem, he would probably say (and has said), that it is my sheer lack of will power and self control that is the real problem (such wisdom he has).
But regardless of who is to blame (meBriansomeone other than methe economymy mothermy daughterme), now that he’s off at college, I can’t really use him as an excuse for my bad behavior.
One of the best things about being a contributing editor for BlogHer, is being able to showcase other women bloggers. So today, I thought we could take a look at some blogs about nutrition, weight loss, and fitness.
In no particular order, here are eighteen health and fitness blogs that I think you might like. I hope you enjoy checking them out as much as I did.
Move over Swine Flu…There’s a new health scare in town. Did you know you could be in danger of death from heart disease if your thighs are too thin?
It’s true. Or at least new research says it’s true. And we all know new research is never wrong (except in the case of newer new research).
Seriously. I’m so worried about it, that I’m in my car right now on my way to get myself the sinful Angry Whopper to prevent my thighs from becoming too lean. Well, not really. I’ve finally rid myself of that grease filled spicy delight, and I don’t dare risk getting hooked on it again. But there’s always fries, ice-cream, fettuccine alfredo, or my world famous triple chocolate brownie cake (just to name a few).
Frankly, it’s been a pretty long time since I’ve been in danger of the ill effects of thin thighs (the 80’s). But that being said, we should probably address this breaking health story with the seriousness it deserves. Because if you’re one of those ‘thin thigh’ girls, you’re gonna want to figure out how to fatten those babies up before it’s too late. Or maybe not.
Lets take a look at what other women are saying about this latest research.
As a BlogHer contributing editor, part of my job is to link to other women bloggers. So when I decide to write about a particular topic, I spend a great deal of time searching for other women who have also blogged about that topic. And that can be very time consuming.
Since beginning to blog in 2007, I have been told that using RSS feed readers is very helpful. But it mostly seemed overwhelming to me. How could I possibly keep up with all of the posts on the reader? But then a few weeks ago, another contributing editor mentioned that I could use the Google Reader to search topics (making it easier for me to find links for my posts). In other words, if I loaded up my Google Reader with Health & Wellness blogs by women, I could then search those blogs for topics as I need them for my posts.
To be honest…It really seemed too good to be true. But to my surprise and delight it was very true. And I started almost immediately to compile health & wellness blogs from the BlogHer Health & Wellness blogrolls. And so far I have about thirty-five Health & Wellness blogs written by women. And that’s where YOU come in.
Are you a health & wellness blogger? Are you a mommy blogger who also writes about health & wellness issues? Do you write about your personal experiences with chronic health problems? Dieting? Fitness? Nutrition? Women’s Health? Health News?
If so…I want to add YOU to my Google Reader, so I can link to your blog in future posts for BlogHer. Whether you’ve just started writing your blog last month or last year, I want to add you to my reader. Just check the list below, and if your blog isn’t already on that list – leave me your link in comments.
Is it possible to be a part time vegetarian? As someone who is always trying to eat healthier, this sounds like it could be an interesting idea. Personally, I could never be the person who cuts meat out of her life altogether, but limiting my meat intake and eating more vegetables is very doable.
In addition to this being a more healthy way of eating, there are also economic implications. It’s just getting more and more expensive to buy meat these days. In fact, due to the economy I think I’ve actually become an accidental part-time vegetarian.
Regardless of why you may want to become a part-time vegetarian, it does seem to be a healthier and more economic alternative to the conventional American diet. Would you be willing to give it a try?
Did you know that one in every three adults has high blood pressure? Are you one of them?
I had some good news the other day. It seems that all of my hard work trying to eat healthy and lose weight is finally paying off. For the first time in years my blood pressure is actually normal. Yaaay! This is just the kind of validation I was looking for when I began my journey of weight loss and healthy living.
If you have high blood pressure or know someone who does, here are some tips that can help lower blood pressure naturally.
Tip #1 – Lose 10 Pounds
Did you know that most Americans are overweight (66% are overweight or obese)? It’s true. It’s also true that losing as little as ten pounds can help reduce high blood pressure.
How are you feeling about getting into your bathing suit this summer? Personally, I was hoping to be in a little better shape by now. Even though I’ve been successful at getting closer to my ideal weight, I’ve been playing one step forward and two steps back for the last several weeks.
Since I know I’m not the only mom out there struggling to eat healthy and lose weight, I’m not going to give up. I’m determined to have my Valerie Bertinelli moment, and it would be great if I could get to it sometime this summer. And yes, I do have a plan. It involves a few of the things that have already worked for me, and a couple of new (somewhat unconventional) ideas too.
Stalker Diet Detective Ambushes Overweight Women For Reality TV Show
Yes, you heard right. There is a new show on We-TV that has many women (including myself) up in arms – It’s called I Want To Save Your Life. But what could be so bad about a show that wants to save lives? Well, it gives the impression it is a kind of “intervention” type show…but it’s really an attack on women who are overweight.
This show is wrong on so many levels that I barely know where to start. Below is a promo clip of this pathetic excuse for reality tv.
I did happen to see this show last week, and it was quite shocking. I think the worst part about it is how family members (in the case I saw it was the husband), basically “rat out” the women and allow this guy to stalk them and then confront them about their weight and diet on reality tv. I don’t know who is worse, the stalker nutritionist or the husband who rats out his wife?
This show would be a lot less revolting to me if the women were writing in asking for help on their own. But instead, they are being betrayed by the people that are suppose to love and support them unconditionally. It’s really very sad, not to mention HUMILIATING.
And to call it I Want To Save Your Life, really adds insult to injury. A better title might have been…
Honey, I think you’re FAT…So I’m going to humiliate you into going on a diet.
In the episode I saw, the (so called) lifesaving nutritionist/diet detective made the overweight woman go to the bakery and purchase a slice of her favorite chocolate cake. Then he made her hold it in a box while walking for over two hours in the hot sun. Is he freekin kidding? Not only did she have to walk off the calories in the cake, but she wasn’t even allowed to eat it (before or after the walk). It was more than a little cruel, not to mention totally unnecessary and degrading.
Kirstie Alley on Oprah Talking About Her Weight Gain
Did you see Kirstie Alley on Oprah? She was on to talk about her weight gain, and her desire to develop her own weight loss program. The interview wasn’t at all what I expected. She talked to Oprah about spending this past year researching weight loss (for her soon to be announced weight loss program), while gaining even more weight than she had lost on Jenny Craig. It was a bit odd.
One of the biggest questions I got from my post on Valerie Bertinelli’s recent weight loss, was about whether or not she will be able to keep it off once she stops the Jenny Craig diet. It seems that if Kirstie Alley is any example, the answer might be no.
Understanding why we overeat is an important step on the road to making healthy food choices. And for many of us, our unhealthy emotions are contributing to our unhealthy eating.
It’s called being an emotional eater. Are you one of them? I can admit…I am. I think if we are being honest with ourselves, we all do this to some degree. And in small doses, emotional eating isn’t so bad. But many of us have gone way beyond minor emotional eating. Many of us are using food to avoid dealing with our true feelings…and not only doesn’t it work, but it also compounds are troubles with feelings of guilt and anger toward ourselves.
Last week I watched Valerie Bertinelli and Marie Osmond on the Oprah Winfrey Show talking about their personal weight loss success stories, and I found both stories to be very inspirational. As most of you already know, I’ve been struggling with my weight for several years now. And for that reason, I find myself easily able to relate to these two women. After watching that show I felt more motivated then ever to continue eating healthy and losing weight. I don’t think I was alone, but as always, there was also a backlash.
When you hear the word “yoga” what do you think of? You may think you know all there is to know about yoga, but there is a good chance that you don’t. Let’s take a look at some of what women are blogging on the topic of yoga.
Would you like to live to 100 years and beyond? Dr. Oz and other medical experts believe that a calorie restriction diet can help people to live longer with a higher quality of life. The calorie restriction diet also focuses on consuming calories that provide a high nutritional value, not just low calorie.
Who is to blame for childhood obesity? There certainly seems to be a lot of blame to go around. What do you think? Are the parents to blame? Take this poll and let me know…
My name is Catherine Morgan, and I'm a writer, nurse, and mother. Above are links to my blogs, that also list many of the posts and articles that I've written for them.
I'm also at BlogHer Health & Wellness.
Are you eating the one thing that increases a woman’s risk of stroke?
We know that the food we choose to put into our body can have a huge affect on our health and quality of life, but many of us still choose to eat unhealthy foods. Let’s face it, the unhealthy stuff tastes really good, and we don’t usually have cravings for healthy food. That’s exactly why obesity is such a large problem for both adults and children in our country…But is dieting the answer? I don’t think so. As we all know, dieting can often lead to a roller coaster of weight loss and weight gain, that leaves many weighing more in the long run.
