FitnessMantra Weekend: Fat Is Becoming Normal
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.
One way of looking at height and weight ratios across the country would make two-thirds of us overweight and if that is truly the case then the question is not far away, are the ranges for so-called “normal weight” also shifting? If a study in the Economic Inquiry is any indicator, then as the average weight of a population increases, so does acceptance of a person’s weight that is closer to that average. This in turn leads to more people increasing in weight because of the lax standards for acceptable weight. Can you say “vicious circle”?
In a study published in Obesity Research, for example, many overweight and obese people considered their body shape “acceptable”, although not necessarily “desirable”.
Acknowledging that you’re overweight is the first step in recognizing the health risks associated with obesity. A 2002 study, also published in Obesity Research, found that self perceptions of what is overweight were influenced by sex, race and socioeconomic status.[MSNBC]
Here are the rest of the week’s top health and fitness stories:
- As Nation Packs On Pounds, Obesity No Laughing Matter: Talk to pediatricians, nutritionists and surgeons on the front lines of obesity’s culture wars, and you hear fear, anger and exasperation in their voices.
- Obesity Leads To More Hospital Admissions Obesity Cause and Help: Obese adults are admitted to the hospital more frequently and for more days than adults who are normal weight.
- Is fat the new normal?: With roughly two-thirds of the American population overweight or obese, have our cultural ideals of what we consider ‘normal weight’Â changed?
- Decoding nutrition labels: Quick: How often do you look at the nutrition facts on the products you buy?
- Slimming Down by Taxing Soda: The mayor is proposing that grocery chains pay a fee if they sell sodas such as Coca-Cola or any other drinks that are sweetened with high fructose corn syrup.
- Study Shows Marathons Aren’t Likely to Kill You: Worried about dropping dead if you run a marathon? The risk of dying on a marathon course is twice as high if you drive it than if you run it.
- Wii players need to exercise too: Playing “active” computer games on consoles such as the Nintendo Wii is no substitute for playing real sports, warn UK experts.
- Walking May Lower Dementia Risk: For people in their 60s, regular walking appears to lower the risk of dementia.
- Very obese less likely to get kidney transplant: Very obese people who need a kidney transplant are far less likely to get one than normal weight people, and when they do, their wait is an average of a year to 18 months longer, a new study found.
- Let Those Visions of Sugarplums Dance in Your Head, Not Your Stomach: Worried about overindulging this holiday season? Give yourself a special gift: sleep.
- Metabolic Syndrome: How Much Exercise?: You don’t have to run a marathon to curb the symptoms of metabolic syndrome (a condition which makes diabetes and heart disease more likely). Moderate exercise will do.
- Slim or die man loses 39-stones: A 55-stone man who was given six months to live unless he slimmed down has lost over half his body weight and says he is finally enjoying life.
- Way cells store fat is uncovered: US scientists have discovered how fat is stored in the body’s cells - promising new treatments for obesity.
- Don’t overlook effect of liquid calories: Not only soda, but fruit drinks, alcohol and other high-calorie beverages are adding too many calories to Americans’ diets, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found.
- The top 16 super foods for women: A few foods are truly super, packing in more than their share of nutrients and phytochemicals that lower women’s risk for diseases such as breast cancer and heart disease, helping prolong lives, keep minds sharp, and at the same time - tasting divine.
- Holiday tips to avoid the dreaded jelly belly: Tis the season of indulgence, a time when many of us get little more exercise than lifting a glass of eggnog.
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Have a great weekend!
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- Fitness Is More Important Than Fatness
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