Weight Loss & Weight Issues

Blindness, Amputation of Limbs, or dialysis for the rest of their lives; these are the consequences of diabetes. Almost everyone with diabetes could anticipate that one of these catastrophic disabilities would happen to them. However, the Centers for Disease Control report that today, the complications are decreasing, even though the rates of diabetes are increasing. For the first time, heart decrease has decreased by almost 16%. This decrease is a result of new knowledge within the past decade that controlling blood pressure, managing cholesterol levels, and maintaining healthy blood sugar levels staves off the eventual outcome of diabetes.

Today’s Health Craze is good. Hopefully, it is a fad that turns into a lifestyle for most of us. But along with our new found interest in diet and exercise, we have renewed interest in what supplements can we take to make us even healthier. Therefore, one should have knowledge about their use and safety prior to purchase.

The need for dietary supplements

Because many products are marketed as dietary supplements, it is important to remember that supplements include vitamins and minerals, as well as herbs, botanicals and other substances.

Deprivation feeds desire and leads to over-indulgence in the future. This should be a ‘motto’ (or an epitaph) on everyone’s refrigerator. It is a fact. Years of research have born out that a main reason for diets not working is the deprivation one feels during this ‘restricted semi-fast’. So, if you have always loved potato chips; you occasionally should have a small amount of chips.

Physicians, Scientists and Other Health Care Professionals charged into the emotional fires which were initiated when the prestigious Centers for Disease Control stated being overweight was good for your health. Americans have been bombarded with fears that the increasing rates of obesity or overweight raised the risk of many diseases and health conditions, including the following:

• Hypertension

With all the Holidays right around the corner, it is time to watch your sugar intake. If you don’t, you will regret it Mid-January.
Sugar not only increases ones weight exponentially, it also takes its toll on almost every body system. Cavities, high cholesterol, obesity (with all the diseases associated with being fat), bone loss and fractures are all areas adversely impacted by one’s excessive intake of sugar. .

It’s difficult to worry too much about food at Thanksgiving; as this traditionally has been a day of food excess (when else would you have more than one vegetable dish at a setting?). Most people gain 1-2 pounds over Thanksgiving, and most of it caused by an increase in fat intake. All those delicious veggie dishes come laden with fattening sauces, coatings, and added ingredients. Turkey, like any fowl, has all the fat directly under the skin. Mashed potatoes, even sweet potatoes are made with heavy creams and other goodies made especially for our grand feast. Last, but not least, are the delicious, but fattening, desserts. The smells alone on Thanksgiving are enough to put a few pounds on all of us. What is a person to do? Is there any hope? Or should we just give in to the inevitable, and maybe exercise more than we usually do?

Are you discouraged with dieting? Yes, you lose pounds rapidly, but at what cost? You deprive and sacrifice to reach your magic goal; but then put it all back on again (way too easily). Part of the problem is your style of dieting. Scientists now say that you can easily lose weight, and not gain it back, by simply following a few steps. The goal is to lose one pound per week (maybe two at the most, but not more). By slowly losing weight, you will adapt a new and healthier lifestyle that will be easy to maintain, once your goals have been achieved. True, it won’t happen over night: but then, you didn’t gain it over night. So let your loss of weight be like the turtle and not like the hare. Speed is not of the essence, or even desirable, when it comes to losing weight. Some experts in the field state that yo-yo dieting is actually unhealthy in the long run, as you lose muscles in the process, but regain fat.

What’s a parent to do when their kids absolutely refuse to eat all their ‘veggies’, or even worse, eat none of their ‘veggies’. One approach that never works is to firmly re-state your position, that all vegetables must be eaten. Or, an approach which may develop into power and control (or eating disorders) later in life is to have the child finish all their food before they are allowed to leave the table. A boring lecture on all the antioxidants and the new pyramid food guide, probably won’t get very far with the recalcitrant child either. So, what to do, what to do!

Obese children have become a national epidemic. “Recent national data indicate that the incidence of overweight is 13% for preschool-aged children, 18.8% for school-aged children, and 17.4% for adolescents. These numbers increase to 26.2%, 37.2%, and 34.3% respectively when both overweight and at-risk of overweight categories are combined. Most overweight children are school-age, African-American (particularly girls), or Mexican-American (particularly boys). States with the highest rates of child overweight are Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and West Virginia.” (Harbaugh, 2007). Almost every body system in kids is impacted when they are over-weight.

Parents have a critical role as teachers for their children learning healthy habits. This particular extends to nutrition. What foods are good? What snacks are healthy? What are Oral Hygiene skills and how to brush their teeth? Not only do parents teach their children through instruction, but even more importantly, as role models. An old adage wrongfully advices to "Do As I Say; Not As I Do". This has never worked well in the past, and still doesn't today.