Rapid Resting Heart Rate tied to Early Death

You might wonder why I'm writing about this, but when I write about losing weight I always write about diet and exercise. My readers always ask the same questions, "What so important about exercise, I don't have time to learn all that". 

The idea of losing weight is to reduce the work your heart has to do. And why should we do that you might ask. The idea is to make your heart last longer which will help you to live longer. The reason you want to exercise is to strengthen your heart among other things. The stronger your heart, the stronger your blood circulation  and the lower your heart BPM when your resting. 

Read this short post from HealthDay and you'll see the science behind my conclusions.

A rapid "resting" heartbeat might mean you have a higher risk of dying early, researchers suggest.

"Higher resting heart rate is an independent predictor of all-cause and cardiovascular death," said lead researcher Dr. Dongfeng Zhang, of the department of epidemiology at the Medical College of Qingdao University in Shandong, China.

Your resting heart rate, or pulse, is the number of times your heart beats a minute. When you're seated or lying down and relaxed, a normal heart rate is between 60 and 100 beats a minute, according to the American Heart Association. 

Zhang's team analyzed 46 studies involving more than 2 million patients in all. Compared to people with the lowest resting heart rate, those with a resting heart rate of more than 80 beats a minute had a 45 percent greater risk of death from any cause, while people with a resting heart rate of 60 to 80 beats a minute had a 21 percent greater risk, they found. 

However, Zhang said the absolute risk is small -- that is, the odds of any one person dying from a rapid resting heart rate are low, he said. Also, the study doesn't prove that heart rate actually caused premature deaths; it merely finds an association between the two.

"However, people should pay more attention to their resting heart rate," he said. "These results also indicate the importance of regular physical activity that could lower resting heart rate."

You can check your heart rate by putting your finger over your pulse and counting the number of beats in 60 seconds, the heart association says.

For every 10-beats-a-minute increase in resting heart rate, risk of dying from any cause rose 9 percent, and risk of dying from heart disease increased 8 percent, the researchers found. 

When resting heart rate approached 100 beats a minute -- a rapid heart rate called tachycardia -- risk of death from heart disease grew significantly. Tachycardia can be a sign of serious heart problems, Zhang said.

Dr. Gregg Fonarow, a professor of cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said, "Further studies are needed to determine whether using the resting heart rate to predict the risk of dying has meaningful impact and whether specific interventions to lower heart rate translates into improved outcomes." 

Numerous studies have shown that higher resting heart rate is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events and death in men and women, Fonarow said.

However, whether higher heart rate is a marker of poor physical fitness or heart disease isn't clear, he added. A fundamental question is whether the higher heart rate is a modifiable risk factor for premature death, he said.

A fast resting heart rate can affect the body in ways that may be bad for the heart, Fonarow said.

Resting heart rate reflects the activity of the autonomic nervous system and hormone levels as well as heart fitness, he said. Increased activity of the autonomic nervous system and higher hormone levels can contribute to the start and progression of heart disease, Fonarow said.

For The Dieters Trying To Recover

This is a rough time of the year for anyone trying to lose weight. Back in the days when I was 50 pounds heavier, I would always gain about 10 pounds around the Holidays. The big problem though was after New Years I became accustom to overeating and the rest of the winter I couldn't stop indulging in comfort food. The winter was always my favorite time of the year because I loved all the food that you only see in the cold months.

The best way that I know to recover from Thanksgiving is first take those leftovers and put them in the freezer. You don't want to look at them for at least one week. Next for three days double up on water. Just plain water, about 8- 12oz. bottles a day. I know that sounds like a lot but this is the best way to flush your system. Drink one bottle every two hours. Today especially stick to salads, no carbs and no meat. You did too much of that yesterday. Saturday and Sunday stick to veggie and some meat, but no dark turkey meat for several days. Dark meat has lots of cholesterol and you probably had enough of that on Thursday.

Next week just try and go lite on the carbs until you feel normal again. I wouldn't weigh myself until next Friday morning. If you still feel bloated you'll have to keep drinking water until that feeling goes away. Don't skip any meals, just go easy, you could even eat RAW for a few days.

Ah, the Holidays, I love Thanksgiving

It's a great time to get friends and family together, share a holiday meal and give thanks for all we have. It's also hard for those trying to lose weight. 

What I've always done and it works for me. I fill my plate at dinner, not over full but some of everything just so everyone knows I tried all that was on the table. Then after dinner If I can't brush my teeth I always have some strong mint gum with me and I chew gum long enough to change the taste in my mouth. I found that after dinner I don't really like the taste of food in my mouth and I'll go back and pick on sweets or something else just to change that taste in my mouth. 

The gum does that for me and I don't have to pick after dinner. I know I'm not hungry so why did I feel that urge to eat? And finally after years of overeating I figured it out. I was trying to get the taste out of my mouth. I read something about chewing a strong mint gum after dinner and it really works. 

When I try and think back to my younger days, I remember my parents and grandparents would always drink either strong black tea or coffee after dinner. It does the same thing, it removes the taste of food from your mouth, but I prefer the mint gum.

For those Starbucks people I know strong coffee will do the same thing. The whole idea is that you try everything at dinner without gorging yourself and then you stop eating and the gum helps me do that. When the others are having dessert you can try something but watch those calories and remember you don't have to finish your plate.

Why Can't I Lose Weight?

A post I found on WebMD.com that will answer a commonly asked question 

You try hard, but that scale won't budge. It's only human nature to wonder if those pounds will ever come off. But don't raise the white flag and chuck your diet just yet. See if one of these sneaky things is secretly messing with your weight loss hopes.

Is it because I skip breakfast?

It could be. When you take a pass on that first meal of the day, it can work against you. You're likely to get hungrier later, so you may overdo it at lunch. Try to eat within an hour of waking up. A high-fiber, protein-packed breakfast can help you feel full, longer. Try cottage cheese with fruit, eggs with whole-wheat toast, or Greek yogurt with a banana.

Do I eat too close to bedtime?

A late-night meal can spell trouble for your weight loss plan. It may raise your body temperature, blood sugar, and insulin, which makes it harder for you to burn fat. Try to eat dinner at least 3 hours before you go to sleep. Be careful about snacking after supper. You take in more calories than you realize when you nibble while you watch TV or use the computer. You may also be tempted to eat unhealthy foods like ice cream or potato chips.

Is it because of my gender?

It could make a difference in how you lose weight. A recent study suggests it's easier for men to drop pounds quickly. But women tend to have more success with long-term efforts. Where you lose weight can also differ. Guys lose belly fat first, but that area can be tougher for the ladies.

Do I burn calories more slowly than other people?

Possibly. How fast you burn them is based on your metabolism -- chemical reactions that maintain your body. If you have a slow metabolism, your genes may be to blame. Or you may not have enough lean muscle mass. People with lean, muscular bodies burn more calories than people with a higher percentage of body fat.

Do I burn calories more slowly than other people? continued...

Other things that can affect how you burn calories:

Getting older. Your metabolism slows down about 2%-8% every decade. That may be from decreased muscle mass.
Eating too little. It sounds strange, but the truth is, if you skip meals or follow a very low-calorie diet, it can backfire by making you burn calories more slowly. Want to ratchet up your metabolism? Lift weights to boost your lean muscle mass. And avoid diets that have extremely low-calorie counts.

Am I getting enough sleep?

When you don't get your ZZZs, it can make it harder to lose weight. Your metabolism may slow and you won't burn calories as fast as you'd like. You may also have less energy when you don't get enough sleep. That makes it harder to exercise. When you're tired, you're more likely to make poor diet choices, like choosing sweets over fruit. In a recent study, people who didn't get enough sleep ate about 300 more calories per day than those who got more rest.

Is it my genes?

Maybe. Some bodies are simply better at burning fat than others. It's something you inherit from your parents or grandparents.

Is it due to a problem with my overall health?

Medical conditions make it tougher to slim down. Some things that could be causing your weight problems are:

• Eating disorders like bulimia
• Heart disease
• Hormonal disorders
• Sleep disorders like sleep apnea

Some medicines can also deal a blow to your efforts to drop some pounds. For instance, you might have trouble losing weight if you take drugs for:

• Allergies
• Birth control
• Depression
• Diabetes
• Epilepsy
• High blood pressure
• Bipolar disorder
• Schizophrenia

If you have one of these conditions and weight is a problem for you, talk to your doctor. He may be able to change your medications.

WebMD Medical Reference

Turn Your Body into a Fat Burning Machine

I once had a client who asked, "When I eat too many calories, how do they know to go straight to my thighs? Do they have some kind of homing device or what?" I suppose that's one way to look at it since our genes usually determine where we store excess fat and how and where we burn fat. A more important point is that, if we didn't eat too many calories, we wouldn't have any extra calories to store. I don't believe "obesity" is genetic. We all have fat cells but they're not full of fat but when your body stores fat it will go to those areas that your genes send it.

 If you are storing fat because of what you eat, then those places where the fat goes is genetic. You will store fat in the same parts of your body that your mother and father did. So if fat legs runs in your family when you add fat to your body the fat will probably go to your legs first. But if your dad for example always had a big waist then you might have a big waist too. You need to remember that you got your genes back in the days when your parents were young and healthy. If they gained weight as they grew older that doesn't mean you will. Your build and your weight depend and your diet and exercise.

We have no problem gaining fat but trying to burn fat is another problem.

We all have areas where fat cells seem to congregate and, sadly, thrive. The real challenge is how to burn that fat off. We hear a lot about fat burning, from working out in the 'fat burning zone' and spot reduction to eating foods or taking supplements that supposedly burn more fat.

But, gimmicks aside, what we all want to know is: What's the best way to burn fat? Knowing a little more about how your body works can help you become a better fat burning machine.

The Basics of Burning Fat

If you're trying to lose weight, knowing how your body uses calories for fuel can make a difference in how you approach your weight loss program. We get our energy from fat, carbs and protein. Which one our bodies draw from, however, depends on the kind of activity we're doing. Most people want to use fat for energy, which makes sense. We figure, the more fat we can use as fuel, the less fat we'll have in our bodies. But, using more fat doesn't automatically lead to losing more fat.

Understanding the best way to burn fat starts with some basic facts about how your body gets its energy:

• The body primarily uses fat and carbs for fuel. A small amount of protein is used during exercise, but it's mainly used to repair the muscles after exercise.
• The ratio of these fuels will shift depending on the activity you're doing.
• For higher intensity exercise, such as fast-paced running, the body will rely more on carbs for fuel than fat. That's because the metabolic pathways available to break down carbs for energy are more efficient than the pathways available for fat breakdown.

• For long, slower exercise, fat is used more for energy than carbs.
• When it comes to weight loss, it doesn't matter what type of fuel you use. What matters is how many calories you burn as opposed to how many calories you take in.

This is a very simplified look at energy with a solid take-home message. When it comes to weight loss, what matters is burning more calories, not necessarily using more fat for energy. And, the harder you work, the more calories you'll burn overall. Think about it this way: When you sit or sleep, you're in your prime fat-burning mode. But, you've probably never contemplated the idea of sleeping more to lose weight, as lovely as that thought is.

The bottom line? Just because you're using more fat as energy doesn't mean you're burning more calories.

The Myth of the Fat Burning Zone

One thing we know is that exercising at lower intensities will use more fat for energy. This basic premise is what started the theory of the 'fat burning zone,' or the idea that working in a certain heart rate zone (around 55 to 65 percent of your maximum heart rate) will allow your body to burn more fat.

Over the years, this theory has become so ingrained in our exercise experience that we see it touted in books, charts, websites, magazines and even on cardio machines at the gym. The trouble is that it's misleading. Working at lower intensities isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it won't burn more fat off your body unless you're burning more calories than you're eating. One way to increase your calorie burn is to exercise at higher intensities.

Does this mean that, if you want to burn more fat, you should avoid low intensity exercise? Not necessarily. There are some specific things you can do to burn more fat and it all starts with how much you exercise.

This post first appeared on Healthnet.com and I added to it, and were I do agree with the theory I believe in low-intensity exercise to burn excess body fat, but I believe you have to be on a low-fat diet to make it work. If your eating animal fat at all your meals your body won't be able to burn all the animal fat your consuming every day. So you might be burning fat but at the same time you might be storing more fat at the same time.

Thirty percent of all the calories your body burns in a day are calories from fat and it doesn't care where it gets the fat. If you didn't eat enough the body will go into stored fat and get some of that fat. That's why your body stores fat to begin with. It has to burn fat every day. But we eat so much fat in our diets that we are constantly adding fat everyday.

If you want to burn stored fat you have to cut back on the fats you consume. That's the simple answer and exercise will help speed up the fat burning process.

How much should I walk to lose weight?

Start With an Easy Pace to Warm-Up

First, you want to wake up your muscles and let them know you plan to be active for awhile. Walking at an easy warm-up pace for five to 10 minutes tells your muscles they can't just sit back and burn up the available sugars, they need to call on the fat reserves.

This is why you should not start off at a high speed. When you do that, your cells don't get the signal that this is a long-term activity.

So instead of pulling fat out of storage to burn as energy, they burn up sugars only.

Speed Up to a Determined Pace to Burn Fat

The speed to walk for optimal fat-burning is a "determined" pace, or a "brisk walking pace."

• At this rate, you should be breathing noticeably but able to carry on a conversation in full sentences.
  
• Heart rate target should be 60-70% of your maximum heart rate. Target Heart Rate Calculators will tell you that a person in good health can calculate their Target Heart Rate by subtracting your age from 220. So if your 40 years old subtracted from 220, your target heart rate would be 180 BPM. If you hold the target heart rate for more then 30 minutes your body will be burning fat to supply you with energy. 

• How should it feel? It should feel as intense as when you are walking fast because you are 10 minutes late for an important appointment. That is how Marilyn L. Bach describes it in her book ""Shapewalking."
•  
• Walk at this speed for 30 minutes at a time after your warm up to ensure you are dipping into your stored fat.
   
• If you aren't already able to walk for 45 minutes at a time, use the Beginners Walking Plan to build up to that duration. Walk at a slow pace for as long as you can and then rest few minutes until you regain some energy and then walk a little more. Your goal in time would be to walk normally for one hour. After that you can decide how much faster you can walk. Eventually you can be a regular Mall Walker.
   
• Raising your Metabolism

Good work, you've tricked your body into dipping into your fat stores for energy.

You are also building muscle and raising your basal metabolic rate so you are burning more calories all day long.

But What If I Can't Walk That Much?

Start with the Beginners Walking Plan, it will get you started the right way to build up to being able to walk for 30 minutes at the fat-burning pace. It also tells when to seek medical advice and how to avoid injury. You can search on the web "Beginner's Walking Plan" for good information.

Any amount of activity over your present level will help you achieve your weight loss goals, so go slow if that is what is comfortable.

But What If I Don't Have the Time to Walk for That Long?

If you just don't have enough free time in the day to spend 45 continuous minutes walking, then make the most of the time you have. Find the time to get in two to four 15 minute walks at a brisk pace every day. You will be burning calories and building your walking speed and ability and at least achieving the minimum recommended physical activity level for health.

Walking Faster and Faster

If you are already walking 20 miles total per week and want to get more results purely from walking, then you need to build speed as well as duration. You can use good arm motion and stride to speed up or learn the race walking technique used by athletes.

Can You Think Your Way Thin?

It’s obviously not that simple, but there are little mind tricks you can use to bolster your efforts to lose weight. Try these smart ways to put your brain to work for you:

1. Imagine Yourself Fitter. You’ve undoubtedly heard about the power of visualization. And when it comes to exercise, an important part of any weight loss program, your imagination can be an effective motivational tool. One small study published in the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology in 2010 found that adults who imagined their future selves -- either as slimmer and fitter or out-of-shape and inactive – were more apt to stick with their exercise routine. So whether it’s hope or fear, choose whichever motivates you to keep moving. 

Yes, think positive and always imagine you as a fit, healthy person who jogs or bikes with friends and having fun. This is the best way to keep motivated.

2. Tweak Your Attitude

You may occasionally catch yourself thinking things like, “There must be an easier way,” or “I wish I could have potato chips instead of carrot sticks.” When this happens, cognitive behavioral therapy expert Judith Beck, PhD, author of The Beck Diet Solution, suggests countering those thoughts with an “oh, well” attitude. In other words, say to yourself, “I may not like this, but I’ll accept it, do what I have to do and move on.” A shorter version? “I want the potato chips but I’m going to skip them. I know better now".

3. Focus on the Habit, Not the Calories

You’re really not hungry, but that 100-calorie snack is only … 100 calories. Will it bust your calorie count for the day? Not likely. But here’s the problem: When you cave to that urge to nosh, it doesn’t matter if it has 20 calories or 200. Eating when you’re not hungry reinforces the habit of giving in to temptations, according to Beck. Instead of focusing on calorie count, stop and think about why you’re reaching for food. Are you bored or upset? Is it time for your favorite show and you always eat in front of tube? Whatever the trigger, go for a walk, work on a hobby or call a friend --anything that distracts you from feeding a bad food habit.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.
gettingtoahealthyweight.wordpress.com
idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com

blogonweight.blogspot.com

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

Obesity Rates in Adults Continue to Rise

Great post, read it closely, you don't want this in your future. This blog post was first on WebMD.com. Because Obesity is the source of most of our health problems, this is a most read.

Although obesity rates continued to climb among U.S. adults over the past decade, they stabilized for children and teens, federal health officials reported Thursday.

More than 36 percent of adults and 17 percent of America's kids were obese between 2011 and 2014, said researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These are the latest years for which national statistics are available.

Analyzing weight trends since 1999, researchers found the ranks of obese adults have swelled significantly in the last 10 years.

Adult obesity rates climbed from slightly over 32 percent in 2003-04 to almost 38 percent by 2013-14, said lead researcher Cynthia Ogden, an epidemiologist in the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

Among youths aged 2 to 19, she said, 17.2 percent of children were obese in 2014, compared with 17.1 percent in 2003. "There is basically no difference [in the obesity rate in this group]," she said.

Obesity is a major cause of chronic disease, including heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, dementia and arthritis, said Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center, in New Haven, Conn.

"Where there is a high prevalence of obesity, there are high rates of preventable chronic disease," Katz said.

Widespread efforts to encourage people to eat healthy and exercise may be having a positive effect, Katz said.

"But we will not really know if these are working until obesity rates and the rates of related diseases dip decisively," he said. "While there is some encouragement in these new data, clearly, we are not there yet."

• More women (about 38 percent) were obese than men (about 34 percent). No gender difference was observed among children and teens.
• Obesity was higher among middle-aged (about 40 percent) and older (37 percent) adults than younger adults (about 32 percent).
• More whites, blacks and Hispanics were obese than Asians.
• Nearly 9 percent of preschoolers were obese, versus more than 17 percent of kids aged 6 to 11. 
• Among teens, more than 20 percent were obese.Adult obesity was defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more. BMI is a calculation of body fat based on height and weight. For example, someone 5 feet 9 inches who weighs 203 pounds or more has a BMI of 30. Among youth, a BMI in the 95th percentile or higher for their age and sex was deemed obese, the CDC said.Katz, who is also president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, wasn't overwhelmed youth obesity statistics. "Stable obesity rates over much of the past decade is the proverbial glass half-full or half-empty, depending on one's perspective," he said.The glass is half-full because stabilization is an improvement over obesity increases seen for decades, he said. "The glass is half-empty, because stable rates are not falling rates, and obesity prevalence remains alarmingly high," Katz said.What's unclear, Katz added, is whether stable rates mean the obesity epidemic is being treated effectively or that everyone who is vulnerable to obesity is already obese. "I suspect a bit of both [is true]," he said.
• WebMD News from HealthDay
  
  

  If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.
  gettingtoahealthyweight.blog
  idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
  howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com

  blogonweight.blogspot.com

  
  

  E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.
  My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the Smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.
  
  

The Raw Food Diet

The Promise

Your oven gets a rest on this diet. You'll mostly be eating raw fruits, vegetables, and grains.

There's been lots of talk lately about eating raw foods. I understand and that's why most recipes don't boil foods any more. They claim all the nutrition ends up in the water you throw out. 

The idea is that heating food destroys its nutrients and natural enzymes, which is bad because enzymes boost digestion and fight chronic disease. In short: When you cook it, you kill it.

Some fans of raw food diets believe cooking makes food toxic. They claim that a raw food diet can clear up headaches and allergies, boost immunity and memory, and improve arthritis and diabetes. To take this one step further, Some believe that modern pots and pans cause a lot of our health problems. Example, cooking in Aluminum cook ware and cookware that has a coating inside.

What You Can Eat and What You Can't

Think uncooked, unprocessed, mostly organic foods. Your staples: raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouted grains. Some eat unpasteurized dairy foods, raw eggs, meat, and fish. I will eat Sushi but I don't  know about raw meat. Meat contains chemicals like growth hormones that are feed to cattle. Your food can be cold or even a little bit warm, as long as it doesn’t go above 118 degrees.You can use blenders, food processors, and dehydrators to prepare foods.

Level of Effort: High

You may need to ramp up your kitchen skills. Eating out can be tricky, and if you go organic, you may need to go to specialty stores for a wider selection than your usual grocery store.

Cooking and shopping: Prep work can be extensive. Many raw food fans become experts at blending and dehydrating foods. Some germinate nuts and sprout seeds. I'm not that into it, but I do believe you can buy all you need in specialty stores. A raw food diet will give you a lot of fiber so You won't eat as much as you think. You want to buy foods in small amounts and shop more often. People on this diet will usually take supplements usually protein power along with others. This is for the organic crowd so you'll be drinking mostly water and maybe wine on occasion. 

Because some uncooked and unpasteurized foods are linked to food-borne illness, you’ll need to wash your food thoroughly and be extra careful with risky foods like sprouts, raspberries, unpasteurized juices, green onions, and lettuce.
This can be a very healthy way of eating, all natural a lot like farmers eat. But if your not growing your own food and raising your own chickens and catching your own fish you want to read up on this type of diet before you jump right in.

Due to the risk of food poisoning, a raw foods diet isn't recommended for pregnant women, young children, seniors, people with weak immune systems, and those with chronic medical conditions like kidney disease.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.

gettingtoahealthyweight.blog

idropped40pounds.wordpress.com

howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com

blogonweight.blogspot.com

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of websites looking for the material you want.

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the Smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

Getting Weight Loss Advice From TV

This post was on the AboutHealth website and where I think the shows have some good information, I also realize that it's a TV show that's trying to be informative but also entertaining. You can't bore people to death with all the science involved in medicine, they'd turn the channel, but you are trying to be informative and so you try and create a message that will hold the attention of the viewer. 

How many times have you saw a movie and said to yourself, "That wasn't like the book." And that happens. The story becomes condensed and changed a little to fit into the allotted time. That means things get left out, things that sometimes change the message. The doctors doing the show don't write the lines or decide on what is said. They have to follow the script.

If you are a fan of The Dr. Oz Show or The Doctors you don’t necessarily have to stop watching the shows if you are looking for weight loss advice.

Their diet tips can be fun and are often helpful. But if you use their recommendations to slim down, there are three critical tips you should keep in mind to make sure your weight loss program is successful. TV diet tips may be unbalanced:  The British Medical Journal research points out that the medical and diet advice provided on these popular shows is often presented without the balance needed to help viewers make fully informed decisions. The researchers also point out that conflicts of interests are often ignored. What the medical journal means by balance is that your only hearing one side of the story, which often happens on TV shows because they don’t have the time to do the pros and cons on everything. As a viewer, that means that you need to take weight loss tips with a grain of salt.  Understand that you may not be getting all the facts about an exciting new treatment, diet pill or weight loss supplement and that a featured expert who is recommending the pill may also benefit financially from selling it. If you are interested in a particular weight loss product mentioned on the show, discuss it with your own doctor or registered dietitian to get a more balanced perspective. TV weight loss advice is not personalized. Many of the diet tips or lifestyle recommendations provided by Dr. Oz and The Doctors may work for some television viewers, but may not be the healthiest suggestion for you.  Remember that every dieter’s health history, goals and lifestyle is different.  A great diet tip for your friend might be the worst diet tip for you. And if your under a Doctor’s care, consult the Doctor before you eat or drink anything. Even certain kinds of food can react with your medication. If the weight loss advice you see on television contradicts the personalized advice you’ve received from your own health care team – and especially if your weight loss program is already working – be very cautious before you change your program based on the TV show advice.  The BMJ researchers suggest that you get detailed information from your personal physician about the specific benefit, potential harms and real cost or inconvenience of any treatment before you incorporate it into your program. Medical shows provide entertainment.  Ultimately, daytime television shows provide entertainment to their viewing audience.  Diet tips are presented in a way that makes the viewing experience fun and interesting.  Unfortunately that may lead to confusion or misinterpretation. For example, on a recent episode of his show, Dr Oz recommended eating pine nuts before bed at night to curb nighttime snacking.  He said that dieters should eat two tablespoons of the fatty nut to help manage cravings. But as Dr. Oz explained his diet tip, he stood in front of a large bowl of pine nuts.  It would have been reasonable for a viewer who was not paying close attention to believe that eating a larger portion of pine nuts could help them lose weight.  But since pine nuts are high in fat, eating too many of them could cause that viewer to gain weight instead.

Diet tips from Dr Oz may help you slim down, but any weight loss advice whether it comes from television, magazines or online should be evaluated with a critical eye.  If it seems too easy or too good to be true, it probably is.  Use Dr Oz’s diet tips to get ideas, then discuss the specifics with your own health care provider or registered dietitian in order to stay safe and reach your goals. Everyone will not lose weight the same way. We can take suggestions or advice from others who have been successful, but that doesn't mean you can lose weight the same way. If your under a doctors care and taking medication always see you doctor before to discuss any new weight loss plan you want to try. 

If your someone with a serious amount of fat and are not use to working out see a doctor before you start any diet or exercise program. Exercise can put strain on your heart.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

The reason your fat may not be sodas and junk food

When it comes to healthy eating, there is no silver bullet.

Soda, candy and fast food are often blamed for the rising rates of obesity in America and, while eating any one high-calorie or high-sugar food to excess is obviously unhealthy and will not help you lose weight, a major new study found that consumption of these foods is not related to body mass index in 95 percent of the population. The report was published by the Food & Brand Lab at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. “While a diet of chocolate bars and cheeseburgers washed down with a Coke is inadvisable from a nutritional standpoint, these foods are not likely to be a leading cause of obesity,” the study said.

Underweight Americans actually consumed more soda and sweet snacks than average-weight individuals, while overweight, obese, severely obese and morbidly obese individuals consumed less soda, sweet snacks and salty snacks than average-weight individuals. Morbidly obese people (with a BMI of 44.9 or more) ate fewer sweet snacks and salty snacks. Oddly, they did eat 50 percent more French fries than average-weight individuals. The researchers say people shouldn’t deprive themselves of their favorite food because that sacrifice is unlikely to be related to their weight — unless, that is, their favorite food is French fries.

So what’s the culprit? Calories in, calories out. The amount you eat versus the amount of exercise you get. Americans are eating over 500 calories more every day than they did four decades ago: 2,544 calories per day in 2010 versus 2,039 in 1970. And there are some other culprits — aside from French fries — but they exist across a range of meals. The number of calories consumed every day spiked for grains such as white bread (409 calories in 1970 versus 582 calories in 2010), added oil and dairy fats (346 versus 589 calories) and added sugars (333 versus 367 calories).

“This means that diets and health campaigns aimed at reducing and preventing obesity may be off track if they hinge on demonizing specific foods,” says David Just, professor and director of graduate studies in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University, and co-author of the study. “If we want real change, we need to look at the overall diet, and physical activity. Narrowly targeting junk foods is not just ineffective, it may be self-defeating as it distracts from the real underlying causes of obesity.” Overall diet obviously plays a role and, according to a recent study, residents in some US states are more obese than others.

The latest Cornell University study, which was published in the October edition of the journal Obesity Science & Practice, analyzed the consumption of these foods by nearly 6,000 people from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “National Household and Nutrition Examination Survey,” and cross-referenced this data to their body mass index, used as a measure of obesity. Adults with a body mass index (which calculates weight in relation to height and gender) of 25 to 29.9 are considered overweight, while individuals with a BMI of 30 or more are considered obese.

Portion control is critical, says Julie Barnes, a New York-based clinical psychologist. And dining out (unless they are taking a doggy bag home) is one way Americans give up control over their portions. On days when people eat out, they consume an average of 200 calories more than when they eat at home, according to a study in the journal Public Health Nutrition. And butter sales in the US were up 14 percent in 2014 from a year earlier, according to a new report — “Fat: The New Health Paradigm” — by the Credit Suisse Research Institute in Switzerland.

It's a good article but I don't agree with all of it. First of all, Obese people have so much extra fat there metabolism is working very slow. They burn the very minimal amount of calories because their body is spending most of their energy trying to keep all the extra fat alive and Obese people are normally less active then other people. Also their diet consists mostly of store bought food or restaurant food which are both loaded with bad fats. It's only very recently that Trans Fats were outlawed but that doesn't mean that all restaurant can't use Trans Fats. So I believe  the only way you'll get obese people to lose weight is to get them to eat healthy.

This article originally appeared on Marketwatch.

How to Eat 5 Small Meals a Day and Why

I understand the concept: Five small meals a day takes the edge off your appetite, evens out blood sugar levels, and keeps your energy steady. But I confess: I don’t always eat this way.

Although my fitness trainer encourages me to eat healthy food every few hours, my meals usually look like this: coffee, a bit more coffee, lunch at 3 p.m., dinner at 9 p.m. I start over again the next morning.

When I decided to change this habit, I found that doing these five things helped:

1. Plan ahead. Five meals a day equals breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two snacks. To do this right, you need to plan what you’ll eat every day for each “meal.” And you need to schedule eating every 2 to 3 hours.
2. Stock up. Face it: You’re going to grab whatever food is closest. So stock up on veggies, fruit, healthy carbs, lean proteins, and low-fat dairy products such as milk, yogurt, and cottage cheese.
3. Go for taste. Choose snack foods that will sustain you and taste good. Remember, healthy food can be satisfying.
4. Whip up a smoothie. Blend fruit, milk, yogurt, and a little honey for a sweet, filling snack packed with vitamins, fiber, protein, and calcium.
5. Combine carbs and protein to stay full longer. Try whole wheat toast with peanut butter or a hard-boiled egg; whole-grain pasta with olive oil and cheese; or oatmeal with fruit, milk, and honey. Or make yourself a big pot of soup (like my Tuscan chicken soup) to heat up for lunches or snacks.

By Domenica Catelli

WebMD Magazine - Feature

Reviewed by Melinda Ratini, DO, MS

This is a great article and I copied it so you can see that I'm not the

only one that promotes the 'several small meals" concept. I prefer to 

even out the meals and avoid snacks. Actually I think that 6 small 

meals a day works best. And I try to keep each meal the same

amount of calories (300 to 400). Bigger people, say 200 pounds or 

more, will have to stay closer to 400 each meal, at the beginning 

and then over time your appetite will diminish and you'll be 

happy with 300 calories. That's 1800 a day, the proper amount of 

daily calories to lose weight. 

You can find menu ideas on the internet by searching "300 calorie 

meals".