As we grow older, many of us find it harder to avoid or undo unwanted weight gain. This is such a widespread phenomenon, it is almost taken for granted that aging and weight problems go hand in hand. However, while there are objective reasons for such a connection, they are by no means the whole story.
It’s resolution season again, that time-honored exercise of self-restraint when people try to negate the fallout from holiday celebrations and other indulgences.
It is well known that when immigrants come to the United States and other parts of the Western hemisphere, they quickly adapt their eating styles to ours – especially the young.
It’s supposed to be to most wonderful time of the year. But for many people the holiday season is anything but joyous.
The holiday season is a notorious time for unwanted weight gain. Office parties, family gatherings, and a thousand temptations wherever you turn can quickly lead to extra pounds that are hard to get rid of in the aftermath.
It is well known that when immigrants come to the United States and other parts of the Western hemisphere, they quickly adapt their eating styles to ours – especially the young.
Satisfaction with one’s physical appearance is at an all-time low among today’s adolescents, and eating disorders are on the rise at an ever-younger age, according to reports by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Much of the blame goes to the media and fashion industry and their standards of beauty and fitness that are nearly impossible to reach for normal mortals.
Much has been written in recent years about the blessings of life after work and parenting. Aging baby boomers were told that the best was still to come if they only kept dreaming big. What was traditionally considered a time of well-deserved rest and leisure now became “the power years,” where people could finally realize their true potential.
Only about 10 percent of people who are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes know about their condition, which makes it hard to take proactive measures while there is still time to prevent the full-blown disease, according to a new study.
As more and more members of the Baby Boomer generation – those born between 1946 and 1964, about 75 million in all – enter retirement age and move from commercial healthcare plans to Medicare, the national insurance program for Americans over the age of 65, the question becomes more urgent how the ever-rising medical costs will be absorbed by society.
You may get a headache, be unable to concentrate, become annoyed over seemingly simple things. Your heart races, you break a sweat, feel anxious and unsettled for no particular reason. And then you realize that it’s just awfully loud where you are. It’s called noise pollution, and it can do serious damage to both your physical and mental well-being.
As childhood obesity rates continue to rise worldwide, we are now approaching the level of a major public health crisis. While that is common knowledge among experts, the alarming news doesn’t seem to reach millions upon millions of parents who keep overfeeding their offspring with unhealthy meals and fattening treats. In fact, many of those whose children have been diagnosed as overweight or obese insist that there is nothing wrong with a little chubbiness at a young age.
For most of my career as a dietitian and health counselor I have paid much attention to the deficiencies in my clients’ diet and lifestyle choices and how these could be changed for the better. Over the years, however, I began focusing more on what went right in their lives and how their strengths could be utilized in order to overcome their weaknesses. You may say I applied (unknowingly) what is now known as “positive psychology.”
You have guests over for dinner. You are confident about your cooking (or caterer) but less sure about what drinks to serve. Or, you are at a business lunch or company retreat and want to make a good impression. Or, how about going out to a fine restaurant on a first date? Wine is usually the obvious choice, but how do you know what to select, especially if there are several meal courses involved?
When it comes to treating weight problems, even experts believe that similar methods can be applied almost universally: Put your patients on a diet, have them engage in regular exercise, and, if all else fails, recommend some surgical procedure. What gets rarely looked at are the differences between overweight individuals that may have led to their unhealthy weight gain in the first place. Only one such study has recently been published, and the results are eye-opening.
Lack of social connections can be as harmful to people’s well-being as suffering from diseases, stress, or poverty, and can even reduce life expectancy.
It’s almost a foregone conclusion. Travel – for business or pleasure – likely results in unwanted weight gain, and not much can be done to avoid it.
By the end of this decade, diseases stemming from poor diet and unhealthy lifestyle choices will top all other causes of death worldwide. At the same time, there are no effective policies in place to tackle the most pressing problems such as the obesity epidemic and other so-called non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that are now affecting billions of people around the globe. Even in developed countries, these challenges are not yet fully understood and are not met with the necessary countermeasures to prevent further deterioration, experts say.
People who meditate regularly over long periods of time in their lives suffer smaller age-related decreases in brain volume than those who don’t, according to a new study on the long-term effects of practices like transcendental meditation, yoga, tai chi, and other relaxation techniques.
Protein has been getting a lot of attention lately. In fact, nothing short of a “high-protein craze” is taking place according to press reports, and food manufacturers of breakfast cereals to ice cream are cashing in on sudden concerns about protein deficiencies in people’s diets. The truth is that the so-called “Western Diet” provides enough protein, and more likely too much.
If asked why they eat, most people would respond because they are hungry. But that seemingly obvious reason is the exception rather than the rule, according to a recent study on the psychology of food intake and portion control. The fact is that our eating decisions are motivated by numerous factors, and only a small fraction of those is based on actual hunger.
Too dark, too rainy, too cold – there are countless obstacles to outdoor exercising in the winter months. It’s also a time for easy excuses. But what a shame to see that hard work you’ve put in all year go to waste because it’s less pleasant outside. It shouldn’t be this way, it doesn’t have to.
More people than ever live past 100 years of age. So-called “supercentenarians,” those who reach 110 and beyond, are rising in numbers all over the world, 75 individuals to date and counting.
