Fitness Mantra : A Health and Fitness Blog

29

December

fitnessmantra03:25 pm Add comment

Fitness Mantra del.icio.us page Welcome to del.icio.us Friday. You can stay updated with this news as it happens by subscribing separately to the Fitness Mantra del.icio.us feed.

I felt this week’s top story was that effective advertising for health and fitness indeed has a positive impact on teenagers who view them. Ad Campaigns Help Get Kids Active is an article that is based on the evaluation of the impact of the first two years of the CDC’s national youth media campaign VERB: It’s what you do, designed to persuade children ages 9 to 13 to get more exercise.

“The bottom line is, children who saw the VERB campaign were more physically active than those who didn’t see it. We were ’selling’ physical activity as a product and lots of kids ‘bought’ (it),” study co-author Marian Huhman said in a prepared statement.

Now, onto the top fitness news this week:

Ad Campaigns Help Get Kids Active: Advertising can help kids get off the couch and be more physically active, say researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Timing of weight gain affects breast cancer risk: New mothers now have even more incentive to shed pounds gained during pregnancy, other than wanting to fit into those pre-pregnancy jeans. A new study indicates an association between gaining weight in adulthood and an increased risk of breast cancer afte
Got Kids? Check Your Fat Intake: Adults with children 17 and under living at home eat more fat than adults in childless households, according to a new study. Their daily fat intake is about 5 grams higher.
Nitrates in Vegetables Lower Blood Pressure: Nitrates, a chemical found in vegetables like spinach and lettuce, may be responsible for keeping blood vessels healthy, says a new study.
Housework cuts breast cancer risk: Women who exercise by doing the housework can reduce their risk of breast cancer, a study suggests.
Low-Income Preschoolers Prone to Obesity: A review of nearly 2,000 3-year-old, low-income children and their mothers found that one-third of white and black children were overweight or obese, while a stunning 44 percent of Latino children fell into those categories.
It really is possible to exercise too much: Overzealous exercisers can run their way to stress fractures, spin their way to insomnia or even overdo it to the point their immune systems are compromised.
Universal Studios Parks Ban Trans Fats, Offer Healthier Menus: The early reviews are mostly positive at the Universal Studios theme park in Hollywood where the menu changed on Christmas Eve to cut unhealthy trans fats from many junk food favorites.
Big bellies tied to greater heart disease risk: The more your belly sticks out, the greater your risk of developing heart disease, a new study shows. “The message is really obesity in the abdomen matters even more than obesity overall.”
Energy Bars: Health Food or Candy?: With claims such as “tastes like a candy bar,” “helps build muscle” and “boosts your energy levels,” who wouldn’t choose these quick-to-eat bars? But are they really a smart choice?
Diabetics Confront a Tangle of Workplace Laws: The number of diabetics in America swelled by 80 percent in the past decade. Experts say the disease is on its way to becoming a conspicuous fact of life in the nation’s labor force, raising all sorts of issues for workers and managers.
Pill that tricks you into losing weight: The drug fools the body’s metabolism into staying active, cutting weight by 12 per cent in under a year.
Olive oil may hinder cancer process: People who use plenty of olive oil in their diets may be helping to prevent damage to body cells that can eventually lead to cancer, new research suggests.
Weight Loss Cuts Prostate Cancer Risk: Men who lose weight may be less likely to get aggressive prostate cancer, while obesity may increase a man’s risk.

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Have a Very Happy and Fit New Year 2007!

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del.icio.us Friday

15

December

fitnessmantra07:40 am Add comment

Fitness Mantra del.icio.us page Welcome to del.icio.us Friday, your weekly health news update. You can stay updated with this news as it happens by subscribing separately to the Fitness Mantra del.icio.us feed.

This week I am featuring a story about something I have been hoping would happen sooner and in more companies: a trend toward healthier workplaces. Back in June I wrote how strongly I felt that wellness should determine health benefits and my fears were not baseless - next year we have to make do with reduced health benefits and higher out-of-pocket payments, a common trend across the industry.

At retailer Replacements Ltd., 250 employees take part in a walking program organized by the company nurse. T-shirt manufacturer American Apparel has 80 loaner bikes, locks and helmets for employees and hosted an employee screening of “Fast Food Nation,” a film where the villain is the meat industry.

-Via Healthy habits move to the top of workplace agendas

We should all hope that more companies follow suit and not only incorporate a mandatory, regulated exercise and fitness regimen company-wide but also reward those who achieve their fitness goals. We all stand to gain from a healthier workplace.

Health and fitness stories for this week:

Brainy Kids May Become Vegetarians: Ten-year-olds with higher IQ scores may be more likely to be vegetarians at age 30.
Healthy habits move to the top of workplace agendas: Many companies are starting to sound like moms: They’re pushing employees to eat their vegetables and go outside and play.
Exercising May Reduce Lung Cancer Risk: In a study of older women, researchers found that a physically active smoker had a 35 percent lower risk of lung cancer than a sedentary smoker.
New York Gets Ready to Count Calories: Health officials hope that once someone sees that a Starbucks mocha made with whole milk and whipped cream has 420 calories, the 160-calorie latte made with skim milk will seem the wiser choice.
Stomach surgery and drugs for children to tackle obesity epidemic: Children as young as 12 could be given anti-obesity drugs and stomach-stapling surgery as part of a package to tackle the obesity epidemic.
Testosterone problem in obese girls, men: Obese men often suffer a sharp decline in testosterone levels while obese girls have more than they should, according to new US research.
Eat-smart strategies for party season: The conventional wisdom about the holidays is that weight gain is unavoidable. But don’t let it scare you away from enjoying your favorite foods at this time of year.
Moderate Drinking May Lengthen Life: Moderate drinking may lengthen life, but heavy drinking raises the risk of death, Italian researchers say.
Low-fat Labels Can Lead to Weight Gain: Cornell University researchers found that people consume more calories when they eat low-fat snacks than when they eat the regular versions — especially if these people are already overweight.
An hour a day of exercise cuts colon cancer risk: One hour a day of vigorous physical activity or two hours of moderate activity reduces the risk of colon cancer, European researchers say.
Weight Loss Can Mean Bone Loss: Overweight dieters who cut calories but don’t exercise lose more than weight — they lose bone mass.
Exercise Lowers Breast Cancer Risk, Helps Bones, Studies Say: Exercise may lower the risk of developing breast cancer after menopause, while also helping maintain bone density, according to two separate studies published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
I Heard It Through the Diet Grapevine: While popular diets and fasts come and go, “master cleanse” remains a perennial favorite, a kind of folk regimen that owes its popularity to word of mouth and the Internet.
Obesity Boosts Kidney Risk in Type 1 Diabetes: For people with type 1 diabetes, obesity is also associated with an increased risk of kidney disease, a U.S. study finds.
‘Fat scan’ shows up health risk: A scan can spot which people harbour dangerous levels of fat around their vital internal organs, scientists say.
Children walk less due to a fear of strangers: Children are walking less because of their parents’ fears about the threat of “stranger- danger”. Experts also believe that the lack of green spaces is a major deterrent preventing children becoming more active.
A nation’s eating habits: For Americans, rushing to get dinner on the table between work, soccer, ballet class and bedtime, time is often the missing ingredient, and it leads many people to rely on take-out, fast food and easy-to-fix convenience foods, diet experts say.