Fattest Man To Sue NHS For Weight Gain

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...

Britains Fattest Man Blames Government-Run Health Care System For His Weight, Files Lawsuit
The former postal worker told the Sun that when he went to the NHS for help with his eating as early as 1996, he was told to “ride your bike more.” Years later, after tipping the scales at 900 pounds — while scarfing down 20,000 Calories a day — he was sent to a dietitian before finally getting life-saving gastric surgery. News of the Lawsuit came shortly after the debut of his television show, “Britain’s Fattest Man,”which chronicled his journey toward ...

Newer Antipsychotic Drugs Are Overused
Many people taking powerful psychiatric medications that increase their risk of Weight Gain and Diabetes are prescribed those drugs when there's little evidence that they will get any benefit from them, a new study shows. What's more, experts say that even when these drugs, which are known as atypical antipsychotics, are prescribed as recommended, they may not be safer or more effective than the less expensive, older medications that they've apparently replaced. "Atypical agents were once tho...

Tamara McClintock Greenberg: Worried About Your Weight? How Much Can You Control?
How do we know what is really in our control? Many of us do a number of things to prevent illness; we exercise, eat fruits and vegetables, don't smoke, try not to drink too much, etc. But the reality is, some people do everything right and still get sick. It may also be that some people who engage in the right behaviors to manage their weight are still heavier than they want to be. A new study, reported by Stephanie Pappas, suggests that Obesity is increasing in animals, though it is unclear ...

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 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...

7 Steps To Living Healthy In New Year
Is exercise more one of your resolutions? (Credit: BERTRAND LANGLOIS/AFP/Getty Images) NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Americans are only one week into the new year, and it’s not too late to get started on New Year’s Resolutions. Furthermore, why not make the New Year’s Resolutions permanent resolutions? No matter what day it is, it’s never too late to start a healthy routine. The American Heart Association (AHA) has seven easy steps everyone can do to live a long, producti...

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...

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." ...

With sentencing, judge has final say in Smith case
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge who once warned that if he disagreed with jury verdicts in the Anna Nicole Smith prescription drug case he might make changes in those decisions now has the chance to do just that Thursday at sentencing for a Psychiatrist and Smith’s lawyer boyfriend. Attorneys for Dr. Khristine Eroshevich and Howard K. Stern are asking that their felony convictions be reduced to Misdemeanors, or dismissed. As an alternative they are asking for a new trial. In a surprising ...

Klum to star in new Lifetime series
PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 8 (UPI) -- The U.S. Cable Network Lifetime has announced plans to air a new unscripted series called "Seriously Funny Kids," with Supermodel Heidi Klum serving as host. The half-hour show is to premiere in February. It follows Klum as she "interacts with Children and brings out the hilarious and often insightful things they say," the network said in a news release Friday. Klum is married to the recording artist Seal. They are the parents of four children. RALEIGH, N.C., Ja...

Marc Van Ameringen: With a Little Innovation -- Bread Is (a Better) Life
The sight of stacks of baladi bread piled high in market places is a common one in Egypt. This mainstay of Egyptian diets, while tasty, cheap and filling, provides Calories but not necessary micronutrients. Millions of Egyptians suffer the effects of poor nutrition, including preventable miscarriages, Birth Defects and delayed physical and cognitive development. Iron and folic acid deficiencies lead to many Health Problems, most significantly Anemia and neural tube defects in Children which ca...

Nine Ways The New Health Law May Affect You in 2011
Kaiser Health News By KHN Staff Jan 03, 2011 Opponents of the new Health Care overhaul law are threatening to Repeal, defund and kill it in court, but that isn't stopping Washington from implementing a number of important provisions in 2011. While many people will welcome the new benefits, some will face higher costs as a result of the law. Seniors are affected by several of the provisions. They will get big discounts on Prescription Drugs and free preventive care, but some in Medicare Advanta...

Christopher G. Stoneman
Christopher Greek Stoneman of New London, N.H., an Indian Army Veteran, lawyer and teacher, died Monday at New London Hospital. He was 83. Born in Plymouth, England, Mr. Stoneman moved with his family to London and attended Dulwich College. In 1949, he graduated with a law degree from Sidney Sussex College at Cambridge University. In 1951 he emigrated to America, where he graduated from the University of Virginia Law School in 1957. He later received a master’s degree in English and Frenc...

Teeth spots prompt look at U.S. fluoride levels
A boy drinks from a fountain at Lone Mountain Park. Federal health officials said Friday that many Americans are getting too much Fluoride. The government plans to lower the recommended limit for the mineral in water supplies. Fluoride has been added to local Drinking Water since 2000. » Buy this photo Lake Mead user fees rising Jan. 15 Atlanta -- Fluoride in Drinking Water -- credited with dramatically cutting cavities and tooth decay -- might be too much of a good thing. Getting too much ...

Gunman fires on police during Colo. standoff
A gunman fired on police as he holed up in a Lakewood home with a woman and three young Children for more than five hours before being arrested Saturday, authorities said. The suspect was the only person injured during the standoff that began about 10 p.m. Friday as police responded to a domestic disturbance report, the Lakewood police dispatch office said. Police said the suspect opened fire shortly after officers arrived and then remained inside the home near West 13th Place and Kline Street w...

Princess Mary is in labour
Princess Mary is understood to be in the early stages of labour with twins after entering a Copenhagen Hospital on Saturday morning local time. The Tasmanian-born member of the Danish royal family was joined by her husband, Crown Prince Frederik, at Rigshospitalet, Amalienborg Palace spokeswoman Lene Balleby said. "She is in hospital," said Ms Balleby. It is a case of third time lucky for the media following two false alarms this week that Princess Mary was about to give birth. She is not due fo...

Oklahoma boy, family deals with rare disease
**ADVANCED FOR USE SUNDAY, JAN. 9 AND THEREAFTER** Eric Littleton, left, holds son Solomon, 7, as Solomon's twin brother Isaac jumps on a trampoline at their home in Edmond, Okla., Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010. Solomon Littleton has Landau-Kleffner Syndrome, a neurological disorder that gives him symptoms similar to Autism and Alzheimer's Disease. Patches of Solomon Littleton's thick golden brown hair were shaved off and white gauze adorned his head. Beneath the gauze, hundreds of wires stuck out. S...

Report: Denmark's princess gives birth to twins
Danish media say Denmark's Crown Princess Mary has given birth to twins. National news agency Ritzau says the 38-year-old princess, who was admitted to the Rigshospitalet Hospital in Copenhagen early Saturday, has given birth to a boy and a girl. Tasmanian-born Mary married Crown Prince Frederik in 2004. The couple already have two Children, 5-year-old Christian and 3-year-old Isabella. There was no immediate confirmation from the royal palace. Is there Corruption in the Obama Administration? (B...

Strike vote over pupil violence
Staff at a West Midlands school for Children with behavioural issues have voted to strike over the "escalating level of violence" from pupils. The GMB union said staff at Lanchester School in Castle Bromwich had been kicked, punched and threatened. Since September, there have been 62 restraints as a result of actual or threatened risk of injury to a pupil or staff, the spokesman added. Solihull Council said it was disappointed at the strike. The GMB said one member of staff was due to ...

Princess Mary Gives Birth To Twins In Copenhagen
Denmark has a new prince and princess, born to Princess Mary in Copenhagen. The boy weighs about 5.9 pounds and is about 18.5 inches long. The princess weighs 5.5 pounds and is about 18 inches long. "'The names we are still talking about, and I've just been told that he was born on Elvis's birthday - then one of them we'll call Elvis so far,' Crown Prince Frederik said [HuffPost ed: joked?] outside Copenhagen's Rigshopitalet Hospital", The Sydney Morning Herald reports. It's reported that t...

Lost generation
In the dim late afternoon light, seeping through an upstairs window, the scars of ant bites are clearly visible on the back of a small baby boy. Jean was found covered in ants in a cardboard box half-filled with rain water near a busy Port-au-Prince market. "He was half-dead," says Nicole Dieudonne, director of an Orphanage on the outskirts of the capital. "If it wasn't for a hole in the box he would have drowned." Jean, who is wheezing terribly, is one of many Children...

Greg Archer: 'Stop Dieting and Start Loving Yourself!'
Shut up, and eat something. No, really. Do it. I swear, it's good for you. Blasphemy? After all, we've barely emerged from the dawn of 2011 and shouldn't we all be going on a diet? Shouldn't we all be restricting our food so we can be, look and feel "skinny." Yawn. Have a cupcake on Sunday and get back to me. I assure I'm telling you this for a very good reason. Part of it is because I need to remind myself the very same thing, which is: most diets don't work. This is one of the themes address...

Anorexia, Bulimia Strike the Observant
According to numerous studies, Eating Disorders are an increasing problem among Orthodox Jewish Women. The main problem seems to be that discussing them is Taboo. However—believe it or not—religious days of fasting actually aren’t helping matters, either. Perhaps most of all, slim brides are highly prized, while at the same time the suggestion of an eating disorder connotes Mental Illness, which in turn is strongly stigmatized. Even the laws of kashrut are said to play a role: ...

My $0.02: the Mona Lisa and War on Poverty edition
Another piece of historical trivia for January 8th… In 1964, LBJ declared a “War on Poverty” in the US. (Link takes you to an essay hosted on blackpast.org.) Who has taken up the call to fight the war on poverty today? Hillary spoke of and to “invisible” Americans when she ran in 2008, but the powers-that-be railroaded her and kept her powerful voice off the domestic stage. John Edwards tainted his “Two Americas” Rhetoric on poverty with his “narci...