Should the government help you lose weight July 12, 2012
Posted by viper42 in health.Tags: bloomberg, diet, exercise, fat, government, health, mayor bloomberg, new york, new york city, obesity, poliitics, soda, sugar, weight loss
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So a few weeks ago, Mayor Bloomberg of NYC proposed a ban of large sugary drinks greater than 16oz in size. This is his attempt at a response to the plague of obesity occurring right now. For those of you not familiar with what is happening in New York City….and I preface CITY here, the 5 boroughs currently outpace the rest of the state and even the national average in obesity rates and diabetes. The absolute worst is my home borough, the Bronx. The health statistics for these areas are very poor.
So based on this knowledge the Mayor is trying to make an impact on personal health by restricting the sale of large sugary drinks. It was recently discovered that drinking just one soda a day can increase your chances of being diabetic by a whopping 10%. Thats 1 can a day. If you have at least once parent with diabetes already, your chances are already high. Both parents….you have to be real careful. Soda would probably be off the list or recommended items for you.
So the question is this: does government, or should government be getting involved to this level to actually restrict you from buying something that in the long and even short term can hurt you and cost the system money?
My take: YES. Why? Simple…Society as a whole is becoming more lax in terms of health. As a result, it is driving medical costs through the roof. In case you have been living in a bubble, I am sure you have taken notice that health care and the cost of it is, well…MAJOR! Without stemming these costs and getting people to stay healthy we will collapse eventually. The system nor government can sustain such poor health. In other words…we cant keep paying for your poor lifestyle. Yes there are many other things you can argue to ban…but they probably wont rival the massive personal and financial toll it takes when you have to deal with diabetes and the countless issues related to obesity.
I applaud Mayor Bloomberg for at least trying to help the situation. Its not easy to take an unpopular stance. It will take more than this to make a difference that is meaningful. It will require more education, more access to quality food and better overall support to get this problem in check.
SO…what do you think?
Great Success Story February 21, 2012
Posted by viper42 in health.Tags: calories, diet, exercise, inspiration, long island, meal planning, meals, motivation, nutrition, weight loss
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So I came across a great success story reading the paper while waiting for my car to get serviced this morning. It came from a Long Island newspaper. A young lady experienced a real rough patch in life losing her father to colon cancer, then was diagnosed with narcolepsy, and to top it off was raped thereafter. Not a motivating series of events.
As she put it, “there wasn’t a food I did not like to eat.” She ate everything around and hit a staggering 226 pounds on 5 foot 3 frame. YIKES!!! Well, it took a friend at work to help her see the light and she started her change with and action plan. How is this for a REAL simple start to her weight loss: all she did to get herself going was walk at lunchtime at work…and listen to success stories at a local weight watchers meeting.
That simple start led to her starting to eating more vegetables, fish, and brown rice. She starts every morning with a yogurt and now runs, does Bikram Yoga and Boxes…WOW!! To honor her transformation, she tattooed a great saying from Ghandi on her: “Be The Change you wish to see in the world.” That led to her great result…147 pounds! 79 POUNDS Lost. Amazing.
Its great to hear about simple things making such a huge difference even in the midst of severe personal trials. All it took to start…a good friend with good advice and surrounding herself with positive energy and people. I think for many things in life, that combination will work for just about anything.
Is there a One size Fits All with Diet? February 18, 2012
Posted by viper42 in health.Tags: calories, diet, food, health, meals, medicine, nutrition, protein, weight loss
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Right now the Unites States is seeing unprecedented challenges with not only the health care system but its health overall. Obesity is way too high and just about everybody has some desire to be healthier. So many decide that they are going to do something about it…but dont (a separate issue for another time) or they dont know what “diet” to choose. So with so many choices to choose from, is there just one right answer?
My answer (opinion), NO. For me, I opted to utilize a meal replacement system to offset caloric intake while trying to work out more. Some people opt for Weight Watchers or Nutrisystem….Others decide going totally organic…food only no supplements (Hard Core) is for them. I think ultimately, however you choose to go, so long as the plan is not detrimental to your person, can still give you what you need and has some credibility behind it…I say go for it.
There will always be nay sayers about a particular method….but then again…there is no one size fits all when it comes to your health and diet. But is an absolute need is a greater attention and understanding of what our bodies need and what we need to do to get it. We will destroy our own health care system if more and more of us continue this poor approach to health
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