Welcome to “FitnessMantra Weekend”, your once-a-week health news update. As always you can also stay updated with the latest in fitness news by subscribing separately to the Fitness Mantra del.icio.us feed.

In the highly-encouraging-news-item-of-the-week category, chalk down this little gem: doctors could soon write out prescriptions to patients that read like their gym class schedules.

In Rx: Get Active, one of my favorite columnists, Sally Squires of the Washington Post writes that doctors from two large and influential medical groups: The American College of Sports Medicine and The American Medical Association are trying to encourage doctors to literally “prescribe fitness” by encouraging their patients to exercise regularly.

More than half of Americans fail to get the 30 minutes of physical activity recommended daily to provide health benefits, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cars, elevators, remote controls and other modern devices all help to engineer physical activity out of daily life. Extended work days and long commutes add to the problem.

Sedentary Death Syndrome? Well that’s a new term doctors have come up with to describe the life-threatening effect of leading highly inactive lives. Did you also know that by some estimates close to 250000 lives are annually affected by this problem? Or that, on average, a sedentary person spends $1500 more than his active counterpart?

It’s absolutely no wonder, then, that Dr. Robert Sallis, a California physician who recently became president of the American College of Sports Medicine, says:

“Exercise is medicine. We know that it works very well. We just don’t have the proper way to administer it.”

While you get a refill on your prescription to get active today, read some of the week’s top health and fitness stories:

1. Way to Shrink, Grow Fat Is Found: Scientists reported yesterday that they have uncovered a biological switch by which stress can promote obesity
2. Exercise Stimulates The Formation Of New Brain Cells: Experiment studies show both exercise and antidepressants increase the formation of new cells in an area of the brain that is important to memory and learning.
3. Late starters can live longer if they get moving: Even in middle age, adopting a healthy lifestyle can lower the risk for heart disease and premature death within years of changing habits, researchers reported on Thursday.
4. Pill to make dieters ‘feel full’: Italian scientists have developed a pill that expands in the stomach to make dieters feel full. They liken the effect to eating a bowl of spaghetti and say the pill can stop hunger for a few hours.
5. Superfood ‘ban’ comes into effect: Products claiming to be superfoods will be banned under new EU rules coming into effect on Sunday - unless the claim can be proved.
6. Dietary calcium protects bones better: Which source is better: calcium-rich foods or supplements? A preliminary study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine suggests dietary calcium may be better at protecting bone health.
7. Vitamin C ‘benefits diabetics’: Vitamin C could help reduce some of the complications associated with diabetes, research suggests.
8. Obesity to fuel Alzheimer’s rise: Rising rates of obesity will lead to dramatic increases in the number of people with Alzheimer’s disease, experts have predicted.
9. The myth of the weekend warrior: The new findings may just be one more sign that we really are a nation of slugs.
10. No trans fats? No problem for NYC: Across the city, most fast food chains say they’ve already made the switch days before the July 1 deadline, which is Sunday.
11. Spike in kids’ health issues foretells problems: More time in front of the television and use of other electronic media, decreased physical activity, increased time spent indoors, increased consumption of fast foods and sugar-sweetened beverages, and changes in parenting are all likely to blame
12. U.S. Diabetes Rate Soars: The U.S. diabetes epidemic is picking up speed like a “runaway train,” the CDC says
13. Sugary Drinks Fattening Up Preschoolers: Canadian researchers found that 2- to 4-year-olds who regularly drank sugar-sweetened beverages such as soft drinks and fruit drinks between meals were more than twice as likely to be overweight at age 4 1/2, compared to kids who didn’t drink these bevera
14. Americans doing better managing diabetes: Americans appear to be doing a better job of managing diabetes, with more than half of diabetics reaching recommended targets for controlling blood sugar last year
15. Whole grains may help heart: Eating plenty of whole grains can help keep your arteries healthy, potentially warding off heart disease and stroke, a new study shows.
16. Soy to boost bone density?: Italian researchers found that a combination of genistein, calcium and vitamin D helped protect postmenopausal women’s bone density better than calcium and vitamin D alone.
17. FDA urged to review sweetener’s safety: Italian researchers published a new study last week that showed aspartame, widely used in soft drinks, might cause leukemia, lymphoma and breast cancer in rats.
18. Rx: Get Active: “We’re trying to get every physician to prescribe exercise at every visit.”
19. Plate aids diabetes weight loss: Using a simple portion control dinner plate can help people with type 2 diabetes lose weight and decrease reliance on medication, research shows.
20. American Kids Shaping Up With Trainers: With many high school students not getting exercise at school unless they play a sport, more parents are turning to trainers to help their children stay fit
21. Can Shots Safely ‘Melt Away Fat’?: A growing number of doctors, nurses and even spa personnel are offering the procedure known in medical circles as injection lipolysis — and more colloquially as the “flab jab.”

Get the best health and fitness stories of the week in your RSS inbox.

Have a great weekend!

Technorati Tags: health, fitness, health news, fitness news, health links, fitness links, del.icio.us

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While, being the “bread-winner” is synonymous with being a wage-earner for the family, how much thought do we give into exactly what type of bread we are winning? If I just had to give you a quick tip about grains, it would be “Switch To Brown“,a post that talks about whole-grains in general. But in this post I want to highlight an article I read recently that specifically caters to choosing wholesome yet tasty bread for your whole family and especially for kids who need a good amount of vitamins and minerals in their diet during their growing years.

The KeepKidsHealthy website has an article titled “White vs. Wheat Bread” that can be deemed a quick primer for helping you choose good quality bread from the myriad varieties at the supermarket. Kids can be especially difficult to deal with when it comes to eating, but did you know that from ages 2-6, they should eat 6 servings from the grain food group, while older children should eat 6-11 servings each day? Of course bread is not the only source of whole grains for them, but it’s an important source, since it is part of a wide variety of snacks, sandwiches and meals.

Most breads, whether whole-wheat or white, are usually comparable as far as total calories, fat and iron go. Most white breads these days are also well-fortified with the required daily values of vitamins and minerals. As the article goes on to describe, the biggest difference shows up in the amount of fiber in each type of bread.

In general, 100% whole wheat/whole grain breads have more fiber than white bread or other breads made with wheat flour, although some white breads, such as Iron Kids and Iron Kids crust-less bread, have almost as much fiber as many kinds of wheat bread.

For kids, fiber is a vital component of any meal because it not helps you feel full but also helps in passage of foods through the digestive system. For kids with constipation, whole-wheat breads can be extremely helpful.

Another important mineral for kids is calcium - vital for bone growth and strength. Milk-based white breads might sometime have more of this, but fortified whole wheat breads nowadays have an equal quantity as well. If milk or dairy products are not a big hit with your kids, bread can be that extra source of calcium.

So what should you look for next time you are in the bread-aisle? Here are a couple of pointers:

1. Protein: 2-3 g per serving (sometimes a serving might be just one slice - given the bigger size of bread these days)
2. Calcium: About 10-15% of Recommended Daily Allowance
3. Fiber: About 2-3 g per serving (this might just be the pivotal decision-maker when you are comparing different types or brands of bread).

As always remember to not only look for 100% Whole Wheat on the label . but also check the ingredients for terms like “100% Whole Wheat” or “100% Stoneground Whole Wheat”. If you see terms like “enriched wheat flour”, you might want to skip that brand if you are truly looking for the whole wheat variety.

Personally, I used to be a big fan of Arnold Double Fiber Bread but like I mentioned later in the comments I have now switched to the Ultimate-Grains Hearty Nutri-Bran bread from HS Bakery (unfortunately, their website is hopeless as far getting any useful information about its products goes). One slice has 100 calories, 2g of fat and best of all 5g of fiber and 5g of protein. The primary ingredients are water and coarse whole wheat flour and it is mildly sweetened (4g of sugar) with sugar and raisin paste (no artificial flavors or corn syrup).

If the kids in your home like whole-wheat bread, then there really should be no looking back at white. I have also heard of parents who use a neat trick to convince their kids that whole-wheat bread is better for them. At the supermarket they show their kids both packets and ask them to lift them. Typically the white bread loaf will be much lighter for the same volume and they can tell the kids “See? White bread is just filled with air! A big kid like you needs something more solid - like this wonderful brown color bread!”.

What bread will you choose for your family?

Technorati Tags: health, nutrition, whole grains, whole wheat bread

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