7 Steps To Living Healthy In New Year

Carole Carson: The Skinny on Fitness Trends in 2011: Strategies for Tackling Obesity
What's your reason for getting fit and dropping a few pounds? Like Ashton Kutcher, are you worried about a "massive world-crushing event" where only the fittest survive? Or are your concerns more immediate, such as an oversized number on the scale and a thinning wallet? Nearly 75 percent of Americans will be overweight or obese by 2019. That's the projection of Economists in a report, "Obesity and the Economics of Prevention: Fit Not Fat," issued by the Paris-based 33-member Organisation of E...

The inheritance of obesity: Thanks, Dad
THAT a gestating mother’s environment can have a permanent effect on the physiology of her offspring is well established. The Children of Dutch women who were pregnant during the “Hunger Winter” of 1944, for example, suffer much higher rates of Obesity, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease than those born a year or two earlier. Similar observations in other famines, together with experiments on rodents, suggest this is an accidental consequence of an evolutionary adaptation to f...

Study finds what bodybuilders have known for 60 years: Protein key in dieting
How much money must be spent on these studies before researchers start talking to the bodybuilding community that has known these facts for the better part of a century now? From the AP via The Detroit News: Study: Protein key in dieting More turkey, less white bread and mashed potatoes. Just in time for holiday feasting, a large study found that diets higher in protein and lower in Carbohydrates can help overweight adults who have managed to drop some weight keep it off...

Birch bark may contain healing benefits
SHANGHAI, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- An ingredient in birch bark may have an array of metabolic benefits, researchers in Shanghai say. Researchers at Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, led by Bao-Liang Song, found the compound -- betulin -- affected sterol regulatory element-binding proteins involved in the biosynthesis of Cholesterol, Fatty Acids and triglycerides that are known as SREBPs. "Our study shows that the SREBP pathway is a good target for several metabolic diseases," Song said in a st...

59% of Kentucky Voters Support Comprehensive Statewide Smoke-Free Law
FRANKFORT, Ky., Jan. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Kentucky health advocates today released a new poll showing 59% of Kentucky voters support passing a law to make all restaurants, bars and other workplaces smoke-free.   The release is part of the launch of Smoke-Free Kentucky's campaign to ensure that all Kentuckians have the right to breathe clean, smoke-free air in public places and at work. By a 59 percent to 39 percent margin, the poll found that voters support a law in Kentucky t...

Overnight Open Thread
ONT rarely delves into the base political topics that the “lesser” contributors of the blog attempt to do during the daylight hours, but tonight we’ll bow to the circumstances and dip our balls in salute to a great stateswoman… A Farewell to Nancy: A grateful nation thanks you for your public service, Ms. Pelosi. More glowing tributes and heartwarming moments below the fold... Worst Domain Names Ever: So I was hanging out in/strapped to the bed last night watching tv when a commer...

Health Benefits of Smoking Tobacco
Thanks to Surgeon General's Warning Labels, public Smoking Bans, strict Regulation of advertising, excise taxes, and public service messages, nearly everyone in America is fully aware of the many health risks associated with Cigarette Smoking. Ongoing research has continuously proven that smoking causes lung dysfunction, Cancer, SIDS, Heart Disease, Birth Defects, preterm birth, and other serious Health Problems. Knowing this, the idea that Cigarette smoking may offer health benefits may seem ...

Added diet incentive: Years melt away with the pounds
Losing weight may be the new Fountain of Youth: It makes you look and feel younger. So say several dieters who have been featured in the USA Today Weight-Loss Challenge and Obesity experts who study Weight Loss. Tom Slater, 42, of Olmsted Falls, Ohio, who now weighs 162 pounds, down from a high of 288, says his face looked "swollen" when he was heavier, "almost like I had been stung by 1,000 bees. "When you have so much excess weight, your face shows it most," Slater says. He started to look you...

Think portion control for healthy eating in the new year
When Mae Pike moved into an older apartment, in a house built in 1910, she had a sudden revelation about one of the most widespread problems with Americans' diet in the 21st century. "I have a normal set of contemporary dinner plates," she said. "I found that those plates didn't fit into the cabinets. "I said, 'What is going on here?' I realized that the cabinets were from an era before people started using these oversized plates for their oversized meals. That was a sort of light-bulb moment." ...

EatingWell: Food Fads: What's In and What's Out In 2011
As the editorial director of EatingWell Magazine and EatingWell.com, it always amazes me to see how a trend starts in a restaurant kitchen, a nutrition journal or a TV show and wends its way out to the general public. For instance, thank Michael Pollan's diatribe against Big Corn in The Omnivore's Dilemma for the backlash against High-Fructose Corn Syrup (trending down) or Sex and the City for the elevation of the cupcake from afterschool parties to red-carpet fare over the past few years. ( W...

Spherix to Present at Two Upcoming Prominent Finance Conferences
Biotech Showcase 2011, presentation on January 11, 2011, 3:30 p.m. PST. Biotech Showcase provides private and public life science companies the opportunity to present to an audience of investors and business development executives during the course of the world's largest annual healthcare investor conference. Spherix Incorporated was launched in 1967 as a scientific research company under the name Biospherics Research.  The Company now leverages its scientific and technical expertise and ex...

CVS Caremark Study Finds Medication Adherence Leads to Lower Health Care Costs, Even After Accounting for Increased Prescription
WOONSOCKET, R.I., Jan. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A new CVS Caremark study analyzing annual pharmacy and medical costs over a three-year period for patients with one or more of four chronic diseases concludes that patients who take medications as doctors direct may save the Health Care system as much as $7,800 per patient annually.  The study findings revealed robust reductions in emergency department visits and inpatient Hospital days from medication adherence and by avoiding those costly eve...

Studded tires may boost heart disease
LINKOPING, Sweden, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Studded tires, used to improve traction on icy roads, may boost the Heart Attack rate for motorists or those living near highways, Swedish researchers say. Anders Ljungman of Linkoping University in Sweden and colleagues say the small metal protrusions in the tires grind away at the road surface, generating dust believed to increase heart and respiratory disease. In previous research, Ljungman and colleagues found road dust from studded tires caused biological...

Don't worry, we'll die early
Don't Worry, We'll Die Early by digby For those who continue to believe that people are unexpectedly liking longer than the creators of Social Security ever imagined or that there will never be enough workers to support all those hundred and twenty year old Retirees this article explains why raising the Retirement Age is an important benefit cut for working people. But this is something I hadn't considered. In the next 25 years, the number of Americans living with Diabetes will nearly double...

Delivery vs. DIY: A simple take on cashew chicken
This Dec. 12, 2010 photo shows homemade cashew chicken in Concord, N.H. This is an easy dish that dirties just one pan and one bowl and comes together in just about 20 minutes. For homemade to best takeout, it needs to be not just better, but also just as fast and create little mess. So that was our goal when we set out to create a version of the classic American-Chinese dish — cashew chicken. The result is an easy meal that dirties just one pan and one bowl and comes together in about 20...

For nights when a slow simmer needs to speed up
This Nov. 28, 2010 photo shows black bean and spicy sausage stew over brown rice in Concord, N.H. A simmering pot of stew is just right for a cold winter night and this recipe will heat you up without taking too much time in the kitchen. A nice pot of chili or stew, slowly simmering on the stove is a heartwarming thought. But it's a dinner that requires forethought. What about the wintery day you walk in late from work but still want a meal that will take the chill off? We've got you covered wi...

Esperion Therapeutics Initiates Phase 2 Clinical Study for ETC-1002
PLYMOUTH, Mich., Jan. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Esperion Therapeutics, a privately held biotechnology company working to discover, develop and commercialize treatments for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, today announced that it has initiated a Phase 2 clinical study for ETC-1002, the company's lead product Candidate. ETC-1002 is a novel small molecule compound that has demonstrated preclinical and clinical activity as a metabolic regulator of imbalances in lipid and Carbohydrate metabolism....

New rules may increase patients on home dialysis
Rodney Sokoloski used to get up before dawn three times a week and drive two hours from his high desert home to the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance to get hooked up to a Dialysis machine. The blood-cleansing treatment was time-consuming and often left him feeling drained even before his workday began. Not anymore. After four months of shuttling back-and-forth, the 61-year-old last year switched to doing Dialysis at home every night while he sleeps. He starts it after dinner, wheeling the dialysis...

New rules may increase patients on home dialysis
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Rodney Sokoloski used to get up before dawn three times a week and drive two hours from his high desert home to the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance to get hooked up to a Dialysis machine. The blood-cleansing treatment was time-consuming and often left him feeling drained even before his workday began. Not anymore. After four months of shuttling back-and-forth, the 61-year-old last year switched to doing Dialysis at home every night while he sleeps. He starts it after dinner, ...

'There Is No Definition of a Mental Disorder'
Gary Greenberg's recent Wired article about the anxiously anticipated and repeatedly delayed fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DMS-5) begins with a revealing admission. "There is no definition of a mental disorder," Allen Frances tells him. "It's bullshit. I mean, you just can't define it....These concepts are virtually impossible to define precisely with bright lines at the boundaries." Frances should know. As the lea...

Digital tools can help put fitness goals on track
Websites, health-related applications for Web-enabled cellphones and gadgets such as heart rate monitors may help some people toward goals to improve their health. Of course, technology won't change your habits for you. Mike Krauklis, 29, of Penfield said phone apps to track Workouts and what he ate were helpful when he was doing well, but he skipped them when he didn't see significant Weight Loss. Dr. Betty Rabinowitz, medical director of the 22 Primary Care practices affiliated with University...

The Amazing RBC New Years Diet!
The Amazing RBC®©™ New Year’s Diet! Losing weight is one of the top New Year’s resolutions - justifiably so. 60% of Australians plan to lose weight (and that was before their cricket team was crushed by England in the Ashes series, gloat gloat). Eating less and exercising more is slow and boring: hence the appetite (sic) for miracle diets. Let me add one. It’s expensive, inconvenient, and I have no evidence for it: in this market, these are features not b...

Fattest Man To Sue NHS For Weight Gain
From the UK Tabloid, The Sun: Fattest Man Is Suing The NHS For ‘Letting Me Grow’ By EMMA MORTON Health and Science Editor January 7, 2010 MAN mountain Paul Mason plans to SUE the NHS - claiming they ignored his plight as he rocketed towards 70 stone [980 pounds]. Paul - once the world’s fattest man - vowed to use any compo [compensation] to help other patients who need weight-loss ops. The 50-year-old, of Ipswich, said he begged his local NHS trust for...

Taking Your Medicine Pays Off
When people remember to take their medicine, are they healthier because of the drugs they take or because they also go to the doctor on a regular basis and even try to exercise from time to time? A new study, to be published in Thursday’s Health Affairs, concludes that taking your medicine really can result in shorter stays in the Hospital — and lower medical bills. By statistically adjusting for other possible factors, the study attempted to focus on the impact of taking one’s medicine f

We're out of control . . .
Wonder why you have already broken all your New Year's resolutions? Do not blame yourself -- heaven forbid. Enlist modern sophistication, and blame your brain's frontal cortex, affluence, the Internet (the ``collapse of delay between impulse and action'') and ``the democratization of temptation.'' Those phrases are from Daniel Akst, a novelist and essayist whose book We Have Met the Enemy: Self-Control in an Age of Excess notes that the problems of freedom and affluence -- of ``managing desire ...