Diabetes and our future

Our children have a target on their back, and we put it there! In 1992, it was rare for most pediatric centers to have patients with type 2 diabetes. By 1994, type 2 diabetes accounted for up to 16% of new cases of pediatric diabetes in urban areas, and by 1999, it accounted for 8–45% of new cases depending on geographic location.

Type II diabetes used to be called “adult onset” diabetes, because children rarely got it. Because of our sedentary lifestyle and poor diet, our children are now dealing with an affliction that used to target older Americans.

Unfortunately we, as adults, have become a model for our kids. The Gallup-Healthways Well Being Index finds the reported incidence of diabetes on the rise in the United States, climbing to 11.3% of American adults -- or about 26 million Americans -- in the third quarter of 2009, up from 10.4% in the first quarter of 2008.

The US has extraordinarily high medical costs compared to the rest of the world, we spend about twice per capita that most countries in western Europe. Medical expenses for diabetics are, on average, approximately 2.3 times higher than for those people who do not have diabetes, with approximately 10% of healthcare dollars spent on the condition and its complications. If current trends continue, 15% of American adults -- or more than 37 million Americans -- will be living with diabetes by the end of 2015. The growing diabetes epidemic and the unfortunate rise in the cost of diabetes is placing an increasing burden on our healthcare funds, which is already facing the strain from costs associated with the advancing age of the baby boomer generation.

The stakes are high and getting higher. The number of people with diabetes has increased 13.5 percent since 2005. At the current rate, 1 of every 3 people born in 2000 will develop the disease, putting them at higher risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, and nerve damage, among other medical problems.

If you have diabetes, you need to do what your body is meant to do: move! You also need to take a hard look at your diet. Exercise plays a vital role in controlling your blood sugar levels. It doesn't matter how long you've been sitting there doing nothing -- it's time to get up and move!

An exercise program requires a positive state of mind, it has to and can be fun. You can't view it as something that is strenuous or tedious or being forced to do. Exercise, in its various forms, can be quite enjoyable. When you rode your bike as a kid or climbed a tree, was it tedious or torturous?

The latest findings show that exercise such as strength training has a profound impact on helping people manage their diabetes. In a recent study of Hispanic men and women, 16 weeks of strength training produced dramatic improvements in sugar control that are comparable to taking diabetes medication. Additionally, the study volunteers were stronger, gained muscle, lost body fat, had less depression, and felt much more self-confident.

Another exercise modality is aerobic exercise. Any activity that raises your heart rate and keeps it up for an extended period of time will improve your aerobic fitness. Aerobic exercise helps decrease the risk of type 2 diabetes and helps those with diabetes to better manage their blood sugar levels. Besides the health benefits, exercise is fun and boosts your mood. It's hard to feel stressed when you're walking fast on a treadmill, riding a bike or swimming laps in a pool.

Exercise helps control type 2 diabetes by:
Improving your body's use of insulin.
Burning excess body fat, helping to decrease and control weight.
Improving muscle strength.
Increasing bone density and strength.
Lowering blood pressure.
Helping to protect against heart and blood vessel disease.
Increasing energy level and enhancing work capacity.
Reducing stress, promoting relaxation, and releasing tension and anxiety.

We, as personal trainers, can give you the support and guidance that you need to start and maintain an exercise program. The key to our health is oftentimes in our own hands. We can use this key to unlock the door to a future of well being, or not. It’s up to you, for your own health as well as the health of our children.

Exercise and Breast Cancer

In the US, around 40,000 women are dying each year from breast cancer. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, exceeded only by lung cancer. The greatest risk factor for developing breast cancer is gender (female) and the second is age. Between 2000-2004, 95 percent of new cases and 97 percent of breast cancer deaths occurred in women aged 40 and older. Like most cancers, the causes are uncertain. While no one knows with any certainty how to prevent the occurnce of breast cancer, we do have control over many aspects of our lives that can protect our health and also enhance our recovery, Regardless of our genetic make-up, there are a number of things that we, as women, can do to protect ourselves. Mamograms and self-examinations are critical to our health, as well as our lifestyle choices, such as exercise and diet.

So what can we do if are diagnosed with breast cancer and undergo treatment and therapy? Fitness Together in Fort Myers has some suggestions.

A daily walk around the block, a few laps in the pool, a vigorous game of soccer: studies are now suggesting that exercise is extending the lives of women who've survived breast cancer, even as it lifts their spirits and increases their sense of well being. Being physically active boosts the odds that breast cancer patients will survive the disease, according to the first study to produce evidence that exercise improves the prospects of beating any malignancy.

The findings, from a large, well-respected study of U.S. nurses, found that breast cancer patients who walk or do other kinds of moderate exercise for three to five hours a week are about 50 percent less likely to die from the disease than sedentary women.

"Women with breast cancer have little to lose and much to gain from exercise," said Michelle D. Holmes of the Harvard Medical School in Boston, who led the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. "This is good news for women with breast cancer."

Dealing with any life threatening disease is much more than just therapies and protocols. The diagnosis and treatment for breast cancer can often leave women feeling hopeless and powerless, in addition to the fear associated with any type of cancer. Besides the obvious physical benefits coming from exercise, being active, especially with others, can ease the sense of fear and loneliness that often comes from such a diagnosis. Exercise gives us all the opportunity to view our bodies as a friend instead of a part of our lives that we must “deal” with. Exercise and activity, regardless of one’s condition, increases our general outlook and sense of well-being.

"Exercise empowers these women with a tool that's there at their disposal," said Dr. Cheryl Perkins, senior clinical advisor at the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, one of the nation's largest organizations dedicated to fighting the disease. "The benefit correlated with the amount of exercise. So, the more exercise, the better survival," Perkins said.

"One of the biological theories as to why exercise might be a good tool for reducing risk or in prevention is that it can reduce obesity, and obesity is known to increase circulating estrogen," Perkins said. High levels of circulating estrogen are thought to greatly increase a woman's risk for breast cancer and breast cancer recurrence.

Still, for most breast cancer survivors past the active-treatment stage of their care, "there's no limit as far as the capacity to do vigorous exercise," she said.
Of course, exercise can be a tonic for the mind as well as the body.
"It simply increases your sense of wellness," Perkins explained. "It helps increase your stamina in the long run. It's good on a lot of levels."

Perkins should know, since she's a long-term breast cancer survivor herself. She credits regular exercise with helping her stay fit in her fight against the disease.
We have been honored at Fitness Together to have many breast cancer survivors as clients and to be considered part of their return to a normal and healthy life. All of our programs are tailored to fit the exact needs of our clients, regardless of their condition.

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

Being Obese Can Cost a Man Eight Years

Health
By Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Managing Editor
posted: 13 July 2010 12:33 pm ET

Men who are obese at age 20 die about eight years earlier than other men, a new study in Denmark suggests.

Researchers tracked more than 5,000 men starting at the age of 20 until up to age 80. They found that at any given age, an obese man was twice as likely to die as a man who was not obese, and that obesity at age 20 appeared to be a constant factor in death rates up to 60 years later.

"As the obesity epidemic is still progressing rapidly, especially among children and adolescents, it is important to find out if obesity in early adulthood has lifelong mortality effects," said the study's leader, Esther Zimmermann, a researcher at the Institute of Preventive Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital and the Institute of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Toronto.

Zimmermann told LiveScience she isn't sure whether the results would hold for Americans, but that a recent study in Sweden echoed her study results. The study will be presented Tuesday at the International Congress on Obesity in Stockholm.

BMI and death risk:

Zimmermann and her colleagues compared mortality among military draftees, including 1,930 obese men and a random sample of 3,601 non-obese men. (Zimmermann said she wasn't sure which men actually were accepted into the military.) They looked at participants' body mass index, or BMI, at the average ages of 20, 35 and 46 and then matched the results with death rates in the next follow-up period.

BMI is an indicator of body fat calculated from height and weight. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, a BMI below 18.5 means the person is underweight; between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered normal; 25 to 29, overweight; and anything higher, obese.

The results were adjusted to eliminate any influence on the findings from year of birth, education and smoking.

A total of 1,191 men died during the follow-up period of up to 60 years. Of the survivors at age 70, about 70 percent had not been obese at age 20. Though the other 70-year-old survivors had been obese, just as many obese men had died by then.
Results showed men with a BMI of 25 at age 20 had the lowest death risk. Underweight men had a slightly elevated risk, and the risk of early death crept up steadily by 10 percent for each BMI unit above 25.

Obesity is persistent:

Zimmermann said it is unclear whether the higher death risk was a result of being obese at age 20 or of remaining obese for many years afterward.

"More than 70 percent of the obese young men were still obese at the follow-up examinations, whereas only 4 percent of the men in comparison group developed obesity during follow-up," Zimmermann said. "Obesity seems to be a persistent condition, and it appears that if it has not occurred in men by the age of 20, the chance[s] of it developing later are quite low."

Zimmermann said her group planned to study what diseases might be responsible for the early deaths in the obese group. She suspects the known obesity-linked diseases played a role, including cardiovascular diseases, endocrine disorders and some cancers. In addition, looking at these diseases over time could shed some light on the mechanisms through which obesity works at different ages.

Her study was funded by grants from the Cluster for Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Copenhagen.

Did You Forget to exercise?

We’ve all read about the effect that our mind has on our health as well as our outlook on life. And what’s good for your body apparently is also good for your mind. Regular exercise is one of the best things we can do to improve overall health and well-being. Successful aging studies are consistently showing that higher levels of physical activity are correlated with better brain aging. And exercise has also emerged as a factor that may prevent (or at least delay) the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

“We know that exercise is the one intervention that has the most powerful and consistent effect on the prevention of dementia and Alzheimer’s,” says William J. Evans, director of the Nutrition, Metabolism and Exercise Laboratory with the Institute for Aging at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

We Baby Boomers can improve our memory ability and decrease memory loss, not through a pill, but by simple exercise. This is the result an 18-month study, conducted by the University of Western Australia, of 170 men and women over age 50 who reported experiencing memory problems but did not meet the criteria for dementia.

The volunteers were divided into two groups. One group continued with usual activities while the other group participated in a 24-week home-based physical activity program that encouraged participants to walk for 50 minutes, three times a week.

At the end of the six-month trial, participants in the exercise group scored better on cognitive and memory tests. Those results held steady when participants were retested six months later, and again after 12 months. The study was published Sept. 3in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

It’s been determined that consistent exercise increases levels of brain chemicals that encourage the growth of nerve cells. This may explain why aerobic activity enhances memory skills, and why moderately strenuous physical activity is strongly associated with successful brain aging.

Recent neuroscience reports have shed new light on the basic question of how exercise affects the brain. "It's sort of surprising to think about," says Carl W. Cotman, PhD, neurobiologist at University of California-Irvine and a Dana Alliance member. "You're literally building the structure of the brain, just by moving your feet."

Brain imaging studies show that highly-fit older adults have faster reaction times—an indication of better concentration—than their less-fit counterparts. They also are better able to focus on relevant information and ignore irrelevant cues, indicating better attention.

Also fit people show less of a decrease in gray matter in the cortex than is normally seen with aging, which may suggest a protective effect of exercise against nerve cell death. This effect is most pronounced in areas of the brain involved in executive cognition that typically decline most with aging. Laboratory animals that are allowed to voluntarily run on an exercise wheel show increases in the generation and survival of new neurons (brain cells) in the hippocampus (the area of the brain involved in short term memory). This increased neurogenesis is associated with improved learning.

Exercise induces changes in the expression patterns of a wide array of genes, with some becoming more active and some showing less activity. Many of the genes that become more active are known to play roles in the structure and adaptability of synapses, suggesting a direct role for exercise in synapse density.

A growth factor called BDNF (for brain-derived neurotrophic factor) increases significantly in the brains of animals that run voluntarily. And of great importance to those of us who aren’t animals, separate studies show that when people with depression exercise in addition to taking antidepressants, their BDNF levels go up and their depression symptoms decrease.

Obviously exercise is a pill we all should be taking, but like taking medications, we need to do it correctly and do it effectively without getting injured. Personal training is a great way to assess your present situation and to effectively design and implement an exercise program that works for you and gives you attainable goals. Life is best enjoyed with a healthy body and a healthy mind, the path to this is not that difficult. So put your mind to it!

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

Migrant Children and Obesity

Obesity is and issue that affects more than just the individual. A high rate of obesity adds significant cost of our national health care bill, a cost that we all share whether we like it or not.

Apparently because of a combination of poverty, culture and lack of educational opportunities, migrant children are at an increased risk of obesity. A new study is showing that a program teaching multiple lifestyle changes to predominantly migrant preschoolers and their parents helps the children reduce body fat and improve fitness. In the United States, about 14 percent of children ages 2 to 5 years are obese, this rate only increases as children age.

The study's lead author Jardena Puder, MD is a senior resident at the University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland. The public health program in this study attempted to reduce the risk of obesity among preschool children from areas of Switzerland with high migrant populations. Specifically, it encouraged the children to increase their physical activity, improve nutrition, get more sleep and reduce audiovisual media use, especially TV watching. Excessive media use can contribute to lack of physical activity, and insufficient sleep in early life may play a role in childhood obesity, according to the authors.

The program included information materials for teachers and parents as well as two informational and discussion evenings for parents. Children received structured lessons from the regular teachers about physical activity, nutrition, media use and sleep.
In addition, the school environment was adapted, such as by adding a climbing wall. "This gave unstructured movement an automatic place within school," Puder said.

Before and after completion of the program, the researchers evaluated numerous measures, including overall fitness on an obstacle course and aerobic fitness. Compared with the control group, the group of children who participated in the program had significantly improved overall and aerobic fitness, according to the abstract. Additionally, the intervention group had greater reductions in total and percent of body fat, waist size and media use. They also improved more than controls in "some aspects of nutritional behavior," Puder said.

For many of us, this is not news, but it does underscore our present situation and hopefully sharing studies like this will show such groups as parents, school administrators and public health officials the value of proactive steps to improve our children’s health. Besides the suffering and decreased enjoyment of life, fellow members of our society who are unfit and unhealthy affect our national economy and the health of our national healthcare system.

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

Aging Gracefully

It usually starts in the mirror either some morning or a time of day when we see ourselves in unflattering light. What happened to our hair? My clothes don’t fit. Why does my skin look like crinkled aluminum foil? What happened to the young body that looks like the way I feel?

Read a few magazines or watch TV for a while and it’s apparent that we are a society that values youth and also seeks happiness. Young is good, old is bad. Being young and having things make us happy, being old and having less makes us sad. Part of the reason that midlife can be so difficult is that it brings up our fears about aging. We fear that life is almost over and we still have not yet attained our long held goals. It would seem inevitable that as our muscles weaken, our hearing and vision fade, and as our skin gets wrinkled things would really get depressing. Bring on the anti-depressants and the meds!

Yes, it does seem dark and dismal, but a recent Gallup poll has found that by almost all measures people get happier as they get older. How can this be? And it doesn’t always look so good for those young folks. Another study found that enjoyment and happiness decrease once we pass our “invincible years” gradually until we hit 50, rise steadily for the next 25 years, and then decline very slightly at the end. The decline can usually be associated with health issues, death of loved ones, and the typical problems of being a senior citizen.

Researchers have also found that with age, many of us learn to live more comfortably with ourselves, and accept our human imperfections and frailties. We stop comparing ourselves to others, and begin to appreciate what we have.

So since we can’t avoid aging except by dying and since it appears that aging is not something to be feared, shouldn’t we be focusing on how to age “gracefully”?

What is aging gracefully? Is it being a silver haired person, impeccably dressed, and driving down the highway in their convertible? Wouldn’t it be better to be someone who feels good in their skin, is able to be active and do the activities they love without pain, and can live thinking that their body is not their enemy but rather a part of their life that they listen to and understand? As we can see from these recent studies,

As personal trainers, we work with our clients to guide them on a path to meet their goals. A client’s typical goal is to bring their physical health to a condition where their body can function at a level that can keep pace with their thinking. Sophia Loren said, "There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age."

Often times our minds go where our bodies are unable to follow. Physical conditioning and strength is not about youth and beauty, it is about having your body being the friend and vehicle it was meant to be.

A commitment to your body through exercise and diet is as essential as financial planning. While good fortune and genetics can play a big part in anyone’s physical condition, more often our health is a result of the hard work we commit to ourselves so that we may be there with those we love and do the things that we love. Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art."

Get out and get moving!

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

Mothers and obesity

Americans have grown fatter over the last generation, resulting in more heart disease, diabetes and premature deaths. All that extra weight has complicated what happens in the maternity ward to mothers and their new babies.
About one in five women are obese when they become pregnant, meaning they have a body mass index of at least 3o, as would a 5-foot-5 woman weighing 180 pounds, according to researchers with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Medical evidence also suggests that obesity might be contributing to record-high rates of Caesarean sections and leading to more birth defects and deaths for mothers and babies.
Hospitals, especially in poor neighborhoods, have been forced to adjust to a changing reality. They are buying longer surgical instruments, more sophisticated fetal testing machines and bigger beds. They are holding sensitivity training for staff members and counseling women about losing weight, or even having bariatric surgery, before they become pregnant.
Studies have shown that babies born to obese women are nearly three times as likely to die within the first month of birth than women of normal weight, and that obese women are almost twice as likely to have a stillbirth. About two out of three maternal deaths in New York State from 2003 to 2005 were associated with maternal obesity, according to the state-sponsored Safe Motherhood Initiative, which is analyzing more recent data. Obese women are also more likely to have high blood pressure diabetes, anesthesia complications, hemorrhage, blood clots and strokes during pregnancy and childbirth, data shows.
Our medical and healthcare systems are trying to adjust to this situation, at great expense to the providers as well as great expense to those suffering with obesity. Obviously, the short term answer is to provide the best care possible to those mothers and babies who are dealing with obesity. But wouldn’t the best health care strategy be to educate our friends and relatives about the true cost of neglecting our bodies by unhealthy eating habits as well as the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle? It’s hard to say no, but I don’t see much being done. If we are truly concerned about healthcare, we should have a “Marshall Plan” centered on our national wellness situation.

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

A Bad Week for Chemicals

It hasn’t been a good week for those hard to pronounce chemistry class sounding “things” that we find in our food, things that are deliberately added into our food through processing or through the growing process. Of course, I’m talking about things like pesticides and chemical preservatives.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there’s been an estimated 4.5 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 that have been diagnosed with ADHD, a number that’s risen about 3% a year between 1997 and 2006. A new study in the journal “Pediatrics” is connecting exposure to pesticides, found in our foods, to cases of ADHD. The study also found that these chemical influences may combine with such things as video games, DVD’s, and “hyperkinetically” edited TV shows to further increase the risk of ADHD.

As a parent, this all makes too much sense. We’ve been reading for decades about the dangers of pesticides in our food and don’t we all know that too much time in front of the tube can’t be all that good for you?

Another study by the Harvard School of Public Health, whose study is in the journal “Circulation”, is finding that meat alone does not necessarily increase our risk of heart disease and diabetes, it’s the chemical preservatives that increases the risk. It doesn’t mean that steaks and burgers are all of a sudden “risk free”, but it seems to indict the preservatives found in things like bacon, salami, hot dogs, etc. Of course, the American Meat Institute (is this a school?) isn’t too happy about the report and has little good to say about it. Their disapproval may be grounds for trust in the report!

The bottom line is that reports of this type only add substance to what most of us have always suspected about the food we eat. Once again, we need to encourage each other to use our common sense about what we eat and what we feed our families. Sure, the kids in the Oscar Mayer ads were cute, but let’s get real about what’s inside that tube steak! If you can’t read it, you shouldn’t eat it!


LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

Try this sandwich!

Sometimes I can’t resist a recipe, especially when it seems to be simple, healthy and delicious at all the same time. Martha Rose Shulman offered this recipe is a recent edition of the NY Times. The roasted red peppers are great, you can also buy them canned. Fresh market has them freshly roasted. Enjoy!

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 small garlic clove, finely chopped or pureed
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard, plus extra for the bread
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 cups (about 2 ounces) baby spinach, washed and dried
2 roasted red piquillo peppers, or 1 small red bell pepper, roasted, seeded and cut in wide strips
1 ounce soft goat cheese
1 whole wheat or whole wheat sesame hamburger bun
1. Whisk together the lemon juice, salt, pepper, mustard and olive oil.
2. Place the spinach in a bowl, and toss with the dressing to coat thoroughly.
3. Spread a little mustard over the bottom half of the hamburger bun. Spread half the goat cheese over the bottom bun and the other half over the top bun. Make a layer of half the spinach salad on the bottom bun. Press down, and layer the roasted pepper over the spinach. Layer the remaining spinach salad over the peppers, and top with the other half of the hamburger bun. Press down and wrap tightly in plastic. Allow to sit for 10 to 15 minutes, or for several hours in the refrigerator, before eating.

Let me know how you like it!

Martha Rose Shulman can be reached at martha-rose-shulman.com

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

The Cost of our Food

I recently read a letter to the News-Press complaining about the high cost of food. I can’t argue that food and other basic commodities have constantly risen over the years while most of us are dealing with tighter household budgets and trying to stretch our food dollars.
A sort trip through any supermarket and looking at what shoppers are buying often makes me wonder “what do most of us consider to be food?”
I usually make a trip to the Lee County Alliance for the Arts Green Market on Saturdays. When I returned home yesterday and looked at what I had bought for under $12.00, I couldn’t help but do a little comparison. Thus the two pictures.
The first picture shows my vegetable purchases at the Alliance for the Arts Green Market, for a total of just under $12.00, as well as other items which I purchased at Publix, such as the bottled water ($4.00) and two boxes of pasta ($2.78). I’m also including a two pound block of Cabot cheddar cheese which I bought at Cosco for about $5.00.The total cost for these items is approximately $24.00.
The second picture is a grouping of some things I had at home, such as the Pepsi, and the other items which I purchased at Publix, such as the chips, frozen pizza, and the potato skins. These were all items that I saw other shoppers purchase while I was at Publix. The cost of these items is approximately $21.00.
Is this a scientific study? Absolutely not, but I believe that it makes a point. I recently purchased ten pounds of organic carrots for just over $5.00 ($.50/lb). The potato chips in the picture cost just about $3.00, so ten pounds of potato chips would cost just over $43.00. I'm sure there's some logic here, I'll let you know when I find it.
So much of what we are blessed with in this country is very reasonable as well as plentiful. So much of the food that we consume and carries a high price tag at the same time is seriously undermining our health. This is certainly a case of adding insult to injury! Do your own test and let me know.

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

Success Stories - Fitness Together - Fort Myers

Success Stories - Fitness Together - Fort Myers

Too Fat To Fight?

Our country’s eating habits and subsequent world leading obesity rate plays a very serious part in our health care dilemma. Apparently this situation is affecting our country’s military defense capabilities.

An organization of dozens of retired Generals, Admirals and other senior military leaders recently released a report to the Department of Defense indicating that 75% of American women and men, aged 17 to 24 years of age, are unable to join the military because they failed to graduate from high school, have criminal records, or are physically unfit.

Unfortunately, the biggest reason for being unqualified for the military is being overweight or obese. The report “Too Fat To Fight” states that “Once again, America’s retired military leaders are alerting Congress to a threat to national security. The basic fact is that too many young American men and women are too fat to fight.”

The report states that 27% of Americans in this age group are too heavy to meet military requirements. Even worse, the Center for Disease Control has reported that 42 % of young adults in the 18 to 24 age group are either overweight or obese.

The target of this effort is getting our national government to focus more attention on what our schools provide as far as food and exercise programs. They are specifically asking Congress to give the Secretary of Agriculture the authority to require our schools to adopt the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) and guidelines for what foods should be sold and served in our schools.

This is a serious example of how our personal health problems in this country affect so much more than just ourselves. Our neglect of our own health can affect our friends and family and now apparently has an impact on our national defense capabilities as well.

We all wish that our governments could wave a magic wand and legislate changes across the country, but isn’t the responsibility with us? Don’t we have to be a role model for our family, our friends, ourselves? Isn’t it better that we “be” what is best for our families, our friends, and our country? And it’s not the end result that we need to model for others, it’s the effort and commitment to ourselves and others that shows up the most.

Be a patriot and be the best that you can be!

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

Haitian Health

The country of Haiti, statistically, ranks near the bottom as far as health. Unfortunately, this is caused primarily by a dreadful lack of sanitary conditions, an absence of an effective healthcare system, a high rate of infectious diseases, a country which is an environmental disaster, a broken down food supply chain, etc. Well, the list goes on. While one can’t ignore these facts, it is odd to observe that, despite the facts, most people look healthy.

Few people are over weight. We saw very few smokers. A high proportion of people have beautiful teeth. Despite the unbelievable misery and widespread deprivation, the people of Haiti are a beautiful people! While driving on most city streets is like an urban version of “road warrior” and the street life seems like an "end of the world" movie set, there is a very open caring and affection for others. Haitians have a smile that seems to come from the bottom of their hearts.

Does the lack of the many things we take for granted, such as ready access to and availability of food, drinks, sweets, etc. add to one’s general health? Haitians typically rely on a diet of locally grown foods, rice, beans, and very limited meat protein. There are no fast food joints, no Starbucks (bummer), no donuts. Ice cream only seems to show up in pictures. Junk food is very expensive. People are forced to walk.

How many of the health problems in our country are caused by having “too much”? Does it take lack and hard times to make us re-evaluate what is best for us and our families? Does it take witnessing the suffering of others to make us truly appreciate the bounty of what we have here in our community?

Maybe, you need to be the judge.

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

Just the flax!

Flax Seeds

The ancient flax seed, with its high content of alpha linolenic acids, become our modern miracle food. Alpha linolenic acid (ALA) is a type of plant-derived omega 3 fatty acid, similar to those found in fish such as salmon. Benefits of flax seed as shown in many studies include lowering total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (the Bad cholesterol) levels. Other benefits show that flax seed may also help lower blood triglyceride and blood pressure. It may also keep platelets from becoming sticky therefore reducing the risk of a heart attack.

Aside from alpha linolenic acid, flax seed is rich in lignan. Lignan is a type phytoestrogen (antioxidant) and also provides fiber. Researches reveal that lignan in flax seed shows a lot of promise in fighting disease -- including a possible role in cancer prevention especially breast cancer. It is thought that lignan metabolites can bind to estrogen receptors, hence inhibiting the onset of estrogen-stimulated breast cancer.
Recent studies also showed positive benefits of flax seed oil in IBD (Crohn's Disease and Colitis). Flax seed oil seems to be able to heal the inner lining of the inflamed intestines.

Moderately include flax seed in your diet. Indeed, a lot of food products contain flax seed such as bread, cereal and bakery goods. Bakers may use flax seed flour or include flax seed in baking.

For example, flax and bran seed muffins:

1-1/2 cups unbleached white flour
¾ cups flaxseed meal
¾ cup oat bran
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1-1/2 cups carrots, shredded
2 apples peeled and shredded
½ cups raisins
1 cup nuts, chopped
¾ cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla

Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in carrots, apples, raisins(if desired) and nuts.
Combine milk, beaten eggs and vanilla.
Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients.
Stir until ingredients are moistened, do not mix.
Fill muffin cups and bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 min.

Enjoy and think of this as better medicine!

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

Ronald McDonald to Retire?

Is it time for Ronald to get on the bus?

Is Ronald McDonald to burgers and fries what Joe the Camel was to cigarettes? Given everything that McDonalds does for charities, such as the Ronald McDonald houses around the country, it would perhaps be unfair to draw the same comparison. While we certainly wouldn’t want our kids coming home from school with a new pack of camels, do we want them being fed a Happy Meal, or the equivalent, every day at school?
A coalition of health professionals, parents and corporate accountability advocates is calling for Ronald McDonald to retire as a spokesman for the nation's largest restaurant chain, saying he has too much influence on kids.

While I love the costume, maybe this is Ronald’s time to retire to Florida. I’d certainly like to see our kids school lunches cleaned up. If this is what it takes, pack your bags Ronald and get on the bus!

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

A Choice regarding Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is a dark cloud for all women. Are there things that we can do rather than just hope we don’t become a victim? Are we locked into a fate because of our genetic make-up?

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. In Europe, there were about 421,000new cases and nearly 90,000 deaths in 2008, the latest available figures. The United States last year saw more than 190,000 new cases and 40,000 deaths.

Carlo La Vecchia, head of epidemiology at the University of Milan and who recently spoke on the influence of lifestyle factors at a European breast cancer conference in Barcelona, told the Associated Press, "What can be achieved with screening has been achieved. We can't do much more. It's time to move onto other things."

A woman's lifetime chance of getting breast cancer is about one in eight. Obese women are up to 60% more likely to develop any cancer than normal-weight women, according to a 2006 study by British researchers.

Many breast cancers are fueled by estrogen, a hormone produced in fat tissue. So experts suspect that the fatter a woman is, the more estrogen she's likely to produce, which could in turn spark breast cancer. Even in slim women, exercise can help reduce the cancer risk by converting more of the body's fat into muscle.

La Vecchia cited figures from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which estimated that 25 to 30% of breast cancer cases could be avoided if women were thinner and exercised more.

While better treatments, early diagnosis and mammogram screenings have dramatically slowed the disease, experts said the focus should now shift to changing behaviors like diet and physical activity.

La Vecchia said countries like Italy and France — where obesity rates have been stable for the past two decades — show that weight can be controlled at a population level.
"It's hard to lose weight, but it's not impossible," he said. "The potential benefit of preventing cancer is worth it."

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

Baby Fat?

The Beautiful Baby
Do you remember the “Gerber baby”? The cute plump cherub looking baby on the baby food jars? It’s beginning to look like the baby fat was coming from more than baby food. It appears that as children and teenagers have been getting fatter, our babies and toddlers are also dealing with the same issues. While 1 in 10 children, according to a recent article in the NY Times, under age 2 are overweight and the percentage of children ages 2 to 5 who are obese increased to 12.4 percent in 2006 from 5 percent in 1980, there’s a concern that “baby fat” may be just that (not in a good way). More and more evidence points to pivotal events very early in life — during the toddler years, infancy and even before birth, in the womb — that can set young children on an obesity trajectory that is hard to alter by the time they’re in kindergarten. Also new research suggests that interventions aimed at school-aged children may be, if not too little, too late.
So what’s going on? It used to be considered rude to label a child under 5 as overweight or obese, even if the child apparently was, because it might stigmatize the poor kid. The Times reported that “More and more evidence points to pivotal events very early in life — during the toddler years, infancy and even before birth, in the womb — that can set young children on an obesity trajectory that is hard to alter by the time they’re in kindergarten. The evidence is not ironclad, but it suggests that prevention efforts should start very early.”
While it’s easy to point fingers at the obvious things like not smoking (especially during pregnancy), not letting your baby be baby sat by the TV, and not letting your baby’s diet revolve around formula and processed foods, the issue really comes down to us, doesn’t it? Don’t we have to do the best for ourselves so we can model what is best for our children? Let’s educate ourselves so we know what is best for our families and then have the courage to take a stand for our kids.

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

High Anxiety?

These are times of high anxiety! We all know what anxiety is, we all have experienced it, we deal with it as best we can but for many of us it can be a debilitating condition. Anxiety is essentially a negative and weakening reaction to life situations typified by worry, self-doubt, and apprehension that often affects our health, such as panic attacks. It is estimated that in the United States approximately 7.3% of the adult population has an anxiety disorder that would normally require some form of treatment. And don’t forget about depression. Anxiety, as we know, is often associated with depression. Depression and anxiety are costly to our health care system in that our neighbors and friends who suffer with these issues annually spend 1.5 times more on health care than nondepressed individuals, and those being treated with antidepressants spend three times more on outpatient pharmacy costs than those not on drug therapy. Depression and anxiety are often considered to be in epidemic proportions in the US.

Got pills? Looking for an alternative? Your body could be okay but your emotional health not so much because stress-related emotions, such as anxiety, can be common among relatively healthy individuals. The current interest in prevention has heightened interest in exercise as an alternative or adjunct to traditional interventions such as psychotherapy or drug therapies.

Maybe the stodgy old Surgeon General of the US might have an idea? The US Surgeon General said that, “physical activity appears to relieve symptoms of depression and anxiety and improve mood” and that “regular physical activity may reduce the risk of developing depression…”

Do you think exercise is only good for developing a lean body, strong muscles and a strong heart? Physical activity has been shown to help with being emotionally and mentally fit also. While the majority of fitness research efforts focus on the physical and health benefits of exercise, there is a growing body of work demonstrating that exercise promotes wellness and mental health. Researchers at Duke University studied people suffering from depression for 4 months and found that 60% of the participants who exercised for 30 minutes three times a week overcame their depression without using antidepressant medication. This is the same percentage rate as for those who only used medication in their treatment for depression. Another study found that short workouts of 8 minutes in length could help lower sadness, tension and anger along with improving resistance to disease in healthy people. Many people exercise to boost confidence along with reducing anxiety and stress, all of which contribute to psychological health and well being. So, exercise can be viewed as a preventative or wellness activity that may actually help prevent physical and emotional conditions.

Clinical psychologist, Eliezer Margoles, PhD., claimed that feeling joyful and the pleasure of being in one's body is very beneficial. , He urged people to "take time out, and instead of saying no to exercise say no to something else." He also cautioned against a "punitive mindset" in which some people engage during exercise, viewing it as a task or punishment instead of a pleasure. Instead, he recommends that you view movement as an affirmation of living and a function to maintain wellness.

An affirmation of living! Anyone who remembers their childhood knows why exercise is a key to treating anxiety and depression. Do you remember being a kid? Do you remember being outside and running, playing, and moving around in the sunshine, the rain, and the “in between days”? It’s the movement, the activity, and the joy in being in our bodies that make those days of being alive so special. Don’t be one of those people who have come to believe that that those days of movement and exercise are an illusion and the days of “taking it easy” and modern pharmaceuticals is the new way. It’s not true! Reclaim your life!

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

Weight Loss and Health

We all want to be at a comfortable weight for the sake of our health and our appearance. But isn’t our health really the most important aspect of our weight? Weight loss alone does not necessarily mean that our health improves according to a study in the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine.

Enette Larson-Meyer, Ph.D., R.D., FACSM, directed 36 overweight (not obese) adults to participate in one of three programs during a six-month intervention: diet alone, diet plus exercise, or a weight-maintenance program (control group). The diet-only and weight maintenance groups were instructed not to change their physical activity regimens during the six-month period.

Although both the diet and diet-plus-exercise groups lost weight during the course of the study – around 10 percent of total body weight – only the exercising individuals improved their internal fitness in addition to their waistlines.
“We saw marked improvements in cardiovascular fitness, blood pressure, insulin sensitivity and cholesterol levels in the individuals who regularly exercised,” Larson-Meyer said.

“Weight loss was a nice ‘side effect’ for these patients – but it’s the internal health improvements that will be most important to exercisers in the long run.”
Participants in the exercise group performed structured aerobic exercise – such as walking, running or stationary cycling – five days per week for around 50 minutes each session. These exercise prescriptions match ACSM’s recommendation for at least 250 minutes per week of physical activity for weight loss.

Men in the study burned around 500 calories each exercise session and women burned around 400 – approximately 12.5 percent of their daily caloric needs. Participants were allowed to choose their own exercise type and intensity according to what activities they enjoyed, as long as the intensity level fell between 65 and 90 percent of their maximal heart rate.

Larson-Meyer says this self-selection was important, as “some (study participants) preferred a higher heart rate and enjoyed shorter exercise sessions, while others liked a more leisurely pace – even knowing they would have to exercise longer.”
The American College of Sports Medicine is the largest sports medicine and exercise science organization in the world. More than 35,000 international, national, and regional members and certified professionals are dedicated to advancing and integrating scientific research to provide educational and practical applications of exercise science and sports medicine.

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

Menopause, a hot topic!

Menopause

It’s just starting to get more peaceful around the house. The kids are on their way to their own lives and it’s getting quieter at home. You seem to have a little more time and maybe this “empty nest” thing isn’t so bad! But wait, there’s more that comes with this age, and it’s not always so good. What’s with these hot flashes, sleep disruptions, weight gain, and the sometimes loss of libido? Menopause.Who invented this? And those are only some of the symptoms!
All women experience menopause and it’s different for all women. Some have gentler symptoms which seem to get over quickly; others can experience difficulties which can last for years. It’s part of the aging process as our bodies change and our hormone levels shift. The only way to not experience menopause is to die early. I’ll take menopause, thank you!
While the symptoms bring on many unwelcome changes to our lives, we do not have feel enslaved by these changes. Recent research has shown some very encouraging relationships between physical exercise and the reduction of typical menopausal symptoms. The most interesting news is that the positive changes don’t seem to come from a correction of hormone levels through exercise but rather through the acute effects of exercise and the long term effects of maintaining a good exercise program. The positive effects of regular exercise could include better cardiovascular fitness, decreased anxiety and depression, and an enhanced feeling of well-being. There are also potential improvements with sleep and bone density as well as decreased feelings of fatigue and chronic muscle pain.
It’s important to remember that the goal of an exercise program is to help “manage” the symptoms. As with any exercise program, it’s important to find a program or activity that you enjoy. The support of friends or a professional can be very helpful when starting an exercise program. It’s never easy, but doing so when we are experiencing a variety of physical and psychological changes that can come with menopause can make this especially challenging. It’s key to remember that the goal is to enhance our health and sense of wellbeing as well as minimize our menopausal symptoms.
Consistent cardiovascular activity as well as strength training is always the core of a good program. It’s interesting that it’s recommended that special consideration be given to those experiencing “hot flashes”. Research is showing that those with “hot flashes” do best when their typical exercise program is integrated with a relaxation based program, like yoga, with paced respiration. Evidently, this can significantly reduce the occurrence of “hot flashes”.
As always, it’s best to regularly consult with your physician before the onset of menopausal symptoms and take their advice on what type of program will be the most beneficial for number One!

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

Exercise and colds

It’s that time of year? You know, the cold/flu season. All our friends, kids, significant others and strangers are really in the sharing mood. You can’t seem to wash your hands enough. Plenty of sleep, eating right, and keeping up our vitamin levels will help with our immune system.

There was an interesting article in the American Journal of Medicine in November of 2006 entitled “Moderate-intensity exercise reduces the incidence of colds among postmenopausal women.” The study was done at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, WA.

They studied a total of 115 overweight and obese, sedentary, postmenopausal women in the Seattle area to assess the effect of a moderate-intensity, year-long exercise program on the risk of colds and other upper respiratory tract infections in postmenopausal women.

The program of the moderate-intensity exercise group consisted of 45 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise 5 days per week for 12 months. Control participants attended once-weekly, 45-minute stretching sessions. Over 12 months, they found that the risk of colds decreased in the “exercisers” relative to the “stretchers”. In the final 3 months of the study, the risk of colds in stretchers was more than threefold that of exercisers.

So the conclusion was that one year of moderate exercise can be a powerful tool to protect ourselves and boost our immune systems. Don’t let the season get you on your back, get up and fight!

louAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

Dan Buettner's Blue Zone

The Blue Zone

What is the Blue Zone? There recently was an article in the Fort Myers News-Press about the work that Dan Buettner has provided to the world. He has spent years researching the healthiest “groups” of people on the planet. Let’s get clear that by “healthy” we aren’t talking about being “ripped” or “hot” or whatever, but rather a state of being in good health, having vitality and strangely enough, being happy.
Rather than finding one “secret”, there was a common sense denominator. Was it a fad diet, crazy workout or some syrupy self help cliché? The world's longevity all-stars practice simple, common-sense habits as a natural part of their daily routine. The common denominator seems to be that all the groups he discovered having the qualities of good health, vitality and happiness had customs or practices that were moderate, natural and “made sense”, at least from my point of view.

Mr. Buettner provides us with nine behaviors of those who live the longest:

1) Move naturally -- be active without thinking about it. Identify activities you enjoy and make them a part of your day.
* Inconvenience yourself: ditch the remote, the garage door opener, the leaf-blower; buy a bike, broom, rake, and snow shovel.
* Have fun, be active. Ride a bike instead of driving, for example.
* Walk! Nearly all the centenarians we've talked to take a walk every day.

2) Cut calories by 20 percent. Practice "Hara hachi bi," the Okinawan reminder to stop eating once their stomachs are 80 percent full.
* Serve yourself, put the food away, then eat.
* Use smaller plates, plates, bowls, and glasses.
* Sit and eat.

3) Plant-based diet. No, you don't need to become a vegetarian, but do bump up your intake of fruits and veggies.
* Use beans, rice or tofu as the anchor to your meals.
* Eat nuts! Have a 2-ounce handful of nuts daily (it'll stop you from digging in the chip bag).

4) Drink red wine (my favorite) (in moderation)
* Keep a bottle of red wine near your dinner table.
* Keep the daily intake to two servings or less.

5) Plan de Vida: determine your life purpose. Why do you get up in the morning?
* Write your own personal mission statement.
* Take up a new challenge�learn a language or an instrument.

6) Down shift -- take time to relieve stress. You may have to literally schedule it into your day, but relaxation is key.
* Don't rush - plan on being 15 minutes early.
* Cut out the noise - limit time spent with the television, computer, or radio on.

7) Belong / participate in a spiritual community.
* Deepen your existing spiritual commitment.
* Seek out a new spiritual or religious tradition.

8) Put loved ones first / make family a priority.
* Establish family rituals (game night, family walks, Sunday dinners).
* Show it off: create a place for family pictures and souvenirs that shows how you're all connected.
* Get closer: consider downsizing to a smaller home to promote togetherness.

9) Pick the right tribe -- the people surrounding you influence your health more than almost any other factor. Be surrounded by those who share Blue Zone values
* Identify your inner circle. Reconsider ties to people who bring you down.
* Be likable!


Um, not too complicated! Almost sounds too simple. Have we come to believe that in order for something good to work in our lives it has to be either expensive or difficult? Most importantly here, we get to take a look at “what makes us happy?” And isn’t happiness what we all want out of our lives? Have we come to accept someone else’s definition of happiness?

Mr. Buettner wrote: “ For the first time in living history, life expectancy of our children is projected to drop, as a nation we're getting fatter every year. Diabetes is on the rise. Is this because Americans are less disciplined? Have we undergone a moral degeneration or are we somehow inferior to previous generations? I don't think so. We are products of our environment. Every day, hundreds of marketing messages rinse over our psyches--many of them encouraging us to eat things that aren't good for us. Machines have engineered physical activity out of lives and networked electronics are replacing face-to-face human contact. We live in environments of sickness.”

So check it out, you can read about Mr. Buettner’s work at: www.bluezones.com. Get up and get happy, it’s all up to you!


LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

Our Surgeon General

February 8, 2010

Everett Koop, US Surgeon General under President Ronald Reagan shocked the country by stating that tobacco was bad for us. The most shocking aspect of this was the fact that the US Surgeon General actually said something!
Since then, our country has actually had Surgeon Generals who have been engaged with health realities in our country. Now we have the present Surgeon General, Dr. Regina Benjamin, her own shocking statements. What are these shocking statements?
“Today’s epidemic of overweight and obesity threatens the historic progress we have made in increasing American’s quality and years of healthy life. The hard facts:
• Two-thirds of adults and nearly one in three children are overweight or obese.
• 70% of American Indian/Alaskan Native adults are overweight or obese.
• The prevalence of obesity in the U.S. more than doubled (from 15% to 34%) among adults and more than tripled (from 5% to 17%) among children and adolescents from 1980 to 2008.
• An obese teenager has over a 70% greater risk of becoming an obese adult.
• Obesity is more common among non-Hispanic black teenagers (29%) than Hispanic teenagers (17.5%) or non-Hispanic white teenagers (14.5%).
To stop the obesity epidemic in this country, we must remember that Americans will be more likely to change their behavior if they have a meaningful reward- something more than just reaching a certain weight or dress size. The real reward has to be something that people can feel and enjoy and celebrate. That reward is invigorating, energizing, joyous health. It is a level of health that allows people to embrace each day and live their lives to the fullest – without disease, disability, or lost productivity. To be a nation that is Healthy and Fit.”
Dr. Benjamin’s words are much more than a political statement. She has spoken of an aspect of our culture that being our corporate and political structures, have long ignored or buried, depending on your view. This is the role that our lifestyle habits have now become national political and economic issues.
Go Regina!

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

What's a Slim Fast?

Slim Fast's Disappearing Act

I’ve seen the ads too, a healthy shake for breakfast and lunch and a sensible meal for dinner at night. A healthy shake?

The 4 main ingredients are skim milk, sugar, fructose, and cocoa. In other words, milk, sugar, and sugar. Other ingredients include various vegetable oils, emulsifiers, and a dubious vitamin blend. A 375ml (1.5 cups) shake contains 12 grams of protein -- slightly less than what you'd obtain drinking the same amount of 1% low-fat milk.

This same shake contains 38 grams of carbohydrates -- 20 grams more than if you drank the equivalent amount of 1% low-fat milk (with those additional carbs coming from the added sugar). Considering that milk contains significant amounts of vitamins A and D, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B12, Calcium, Phosphorous, Magnesium and Zinc, I'd suggest that you chuck the Slim Fast shakes (vitamin blend and all), and simply drink milk instead.

In fact, get yourself a good blender (Vita-Mix is the ultimate), throw in some low-fat milk or soy milk, add a banana or some other fruit, add an organic carrot if you want some veggies, even add some wheat germ or flax seed, blend and drink down with a good multiple vitamin. Difficult, I think not! It’ll taste better and you’ll know what you’re drinking!

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

It's good for everyone!

If you’re trying to motivate yourself to get moving in the new year, here’s some added inspiration: research shows that exercise isn’t just good for the body, it’s also good for the brain — and not just the brains of older folks. So if you’re a younger person, listen up, if you’re an older folk, listen up as best you can.
Much of the research on the effects of exercise on the mind has focused on easing dementia in older folks, but recent studies show that kids and young to middle-aged adults get huge benefits as well.
One new study, for instance, found that teenage males in the best cardiovascular shape performed better on various cognitive tests at age 18 than their less fit counterparts. Those who improved their fitness levels between the ages of 15 and 18 achieved higher test scores than those who decreased their fitness during that time.
What’s more, the fittest 18-year-olds were more likely to achieve both higher educational and socioeconomic status later in life, according to results published in December in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Bill Gates being the big exception.
“We cannot determine from this study alone that physical fitness causes better cognitive functioning,” says study author Georg Kuhn, a professor at the Center for Brain Repair and Rehabilitation at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. “But taken together with other studies, we can assume that better cardiovascular fitness may optimize cognitive performance and academic achievements.”
Kuhn and colleagues based their conclusions on a study that followed more than 1.2 million Swedish men who were born between 1950 and 1976 and enlisted for mandatory military service at age 18. The group had more than 260,000 sibling pairs, including more than 3,000 twins, almost half of whom were identical twin pairs.
The identical twin data are particularly telling, allowing the researchers to more clearly show the effects of environmental influences such as exercise over genetic factors. “On an average, the fitter twin was also the twin that scored higher in the IQ tests,” Kuhn says.
So kick your kids off the couch! Tell them to put on their running shoes and do something that gets their blood moving!

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

Have Fun!

"Inside of me, there is a skinny woman screaming to get out. But I can usually shut the b*tch up with chocolate."

Too many of us associate fitness and exercise with "having to do something that is good for us". When you were a kid, was it painful to run and play? Was climbing trees, playing hide and go seek, or playing games and sports painful? Most likely, it is these types of activities that makes us feel youthful and remind us of the times when we were young.
It is our state of mind that has us convinced that physical activity is a secondary priority in our lives and keep in mind that we often allow our culture to set impossibly high standards for what we should look. No wonder it's easy to be discouraged when you look at those women on the covers of the magazines at the Publix check out counter. Do you know anybody who looks like that? And if you're one of the few who do, are they happy?
Have fun, move, be happy and sweat! If you need some chocolate, give me a call!

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

The Fix

The American Heart Association quite clearly states that “the risk of heart disease can be reduced through lifestyle changes -- a healthy diet, physical activity and elimination of tobacco use”. According to the heart association, 59 percent of adults who responded to a 2008 national survey described themselves as physically inactive. "We can't expect significant change until it becomes a cultural mandate," said Dr. Leslie Cho, director of the Cleveland Clinic's Women's Cardiovascular Center. "When society as a whole makes conscious decisions to eat better and as a default plan be more active, then we're going to do better."

We do have a choice. We can decide not to smoke, what to eat and what we do. The AHS recommends that for health benefits to the heart, lungs and circulation, we need to perform moderate-to-vigorous-intensity aerobic activity for at least 30 minutes on most days of the week at 50–85 percent of your maximum heart rate. Regardless of what we do, the key is to include physical activity as part of our regular routine. In short, the key is to make a positive lifestyle change.

So it seems that most of us have a choice, either be a victim of our own poor choices or make some changes in our lives that will make life better for ourselves, our friends and families and our country. It is never too late to change your life or a loved one’s life, so take that first step today!

The Cost

Naturally heart disease, any long term chronic condition, can cause ourselves, our friends, and family members a great deal of pain and stress. CVD accounts for more than one-third (35.3%) of all U.S. deaths. More than 151,000 Americans who died of cardiovascular diseases in 2005 were younger than age 65. Heart disease and stroke are also among the leading causes of disability in the U.S. workforce, with nearly 1 million people being disabled from strokes alone.

As our country struggles with the issue of health care and controlling health care costs, have we become our own worst enemy? The cost of heart disease and stroke in the United States, including health care expenditures and lost productivity from deaths and disability, is projected to be more than $475 billion in 2009. It is projected that cardiovascular disease and stroke will cost the United States an estimated $503.2 billion in 2010, an increase of nearly 6 percent. As the U.S. population ages, the economic impact of cardiovascular diseases on our nation’s health care system will become even greater.

The pain and suffering that we endure with diseases such as cardiovascular disease only add insult to injury by contributing to the bankruptcy of our health care system. The greatest tragedy of this situation is that heart disease is, as the AHA says “eminently preventable”.

First the News

The News

First the good news: it appears that the obesity rate in the US has stalled. Now, of course, the bad news: the latest numbers still show that more than two-thirds of adults and almost a third of kids are overweight, with no sign of improvement. Not only are the vast majority of adults overweight, 34 percent are obese; and 17 percent of children are obese. Even the youngest Americans are affected — 10 percent of babies and toddlers are precariously heavy.
According to the American Heart Association, obesity is now recognized as a major risk factor for coronary heart disease, a disease which is “eminently preventable”. Even when people have no genetic or environmental known risk factors, obesity by itself increases the risk of heart disease.
The heart association says obesity and other risk factors, like too little exercise and poor diet, are fueling the expected increase in health care costs associated with heart disease and stroke. "Current statistical data show Americans to be on average overweight, physically inactive and eating a diet that is too high in calories, sodium, fat and sugar," said Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones, head of the American Heart Association Statistics Committee.

According to the World Health Organization, heart disease is the No. 1 killer of men and women in the United States and in most industrialized countries. So what are going to do about this and will our "war" on this problem look like?

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

Traditional Diets?

It’s difficult to think of my childhood diet some fifty years ago as “traditional”. But when I see many of the strange foods available in my local supermarket, I come to understand why they say to stay healthy we should shop only at the perimeter of the supermarket and stay out of the isles.
It’s interesting that throughout history many civilizations have developed strikingly different “traditional” diets but diets that nevertheless seem to keep them healthy. Eskimos ate a diet centered on fat and seafood, central Americans ate diets centered on corn and other grains, relatives from northern Maine ate potatoes three times a day, and Masai tribesmen ate more animal milk and blood than I care to think about. These different diets all seem to be centered on local unprocessed foods and generally kept the local population healthy. Western civilization seems to be the exception in that we have created a food delivery system and marketplace that appears to make us sicker than we need to be.
We can blame it on advertising or evil “agri-business”, but aren’t we, as consumers, the ones who make the decisions? Maybe we can blame our marketplace for not providing us with accurate information or intentionally misleading us. The scientific community also can’t seem to make up their minds about what is the best for us.
I believe that most of us know intuitively what is best for us and our families, it doesn’t have to be that complicated. Just as we have been lulled into a lifestyle that reduces our chances for a long and healthy life, we can also make the decision to take the first step to improving our health, our family’s health, and the health of our communities. Research has shown that changing our diets from a typical “western diet” of meat, fats, refined carbohydrates and sugar to a more rational diet based on reduced fats, centered around vegetables, complex carbohydrates and fruits, where meat is used more as a flavoring or a meal enhancement, can rapidly improve our chances of avoiding such diseases as coronary disease, type 2 diabetes, and colon cancer. Think about it, what is your intuition telling you?
LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

Food Rules

Michael Pollan, who has challenged our relationship with food here in the US, has recently come out with a new book. His previous books, “In Defense of Food” and the “Omnivore’s Dilemma” for example, take a good look at our food culture, supply and delivery systems. His latest book, “Food Rules” is a brief (I like brief!) guidebook on what to eat and what not to eat. There’s no heavy food label analysis, no calorie counting, and no complicated or “miraculous” diets.

This is a short (did I mention I like “brief”) and sweet guidebook on how and what to eat. There are sixty four rules broken down into three Parts. The “Parts” pretty much sum up the wisdom contained in this wonderful little book: Part One “What should I eat” (Eat food); Part Two: “What kind of food should I eat?” (Mostly Plants); and Part Three: “How Should I Eat (Not too much).

Put this book on your “short list”, no pun intended, of books to keep around if you’re concerned about your and your family’s health.

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

Get Back on Track!

It’s that wonderful time of year when we all have eaten more and exercised less. Unless you count walking twelve miles across a parking lot and through a crowded shopping mall as exercise.

Parties and too many reasons to wander off the reservation and break our routines! And did I mention the parties? Is this a problem? No! Just a minor setback, one which should be cherished. Enjoy yourself, but remember that normal life will return (unfortunately sooner than we would like).

All of our habits, good and bad, take time to become established. Some people say it takes 28 days, 40 days, whatever. If you’ve incorporated healthy habits into your life, you know that good habits are easier to maintain once it’s part of your daily or weekly routine. You also know time is your friend when it comes to firmly making those good habits close to permanent.

So enjoy the holidays and celebrate! But don’t listen to that little lazy butt voice in your head that would rather chill out and vegetate long after the holidays and is maybe trying to tell you that you can put off your routine just a few more weeks because you’ve been so busy and you need a break!

See you at the gym!

Procrastination!

How hard is it to get off the couch? Is it human nature? Is it inertia? Is it the devil? Why is it that “bad” habits seem to develop sooo easily and for the “good” habits we often times have to muster up all the determination we have?
One life habit that is often neglected and difficult to start is the habit of daily exercise and training. There are several reasons for this: too hard, too painful or the ever popular, “I'll do it later, when I have time”. Of course if we have a health crisis or look at ourselves in the mirror and suddenly realize that we have 50 extra pounds and the “meal replacement shake diet” ain’t working, the habit of taking care of ourselves may be easier to start. We would probably all advise our friends and family to develop good health habits before the situation becomes critical. The trick is to apply this wisdom to ourselves.
In order for an activity to develop into a habit, such as exercise, it has to be repeated a large number of times. Research claims that any activity repeated for 21 days slowly becomes a habit. I'm not sure of this 21-day deadline, but habits do develop in a month or two if the activity is repeatedly performed. It's not that habits need a large amount of effort and hard work to be formed, there just needs to be the repetition. Habits take time to develop because the "activity" has to be repeated over and over again for it to be stored in our subconscious mind and hence become a habit. The most important reason for the repetition is to give yourself the opportunity to experience the “benefit”. It’s the “benefit” of exercise, which is simply feeling better, that establishes the habit. It’s the “benefit” (or lack of it) that keeps us coming back.
So start a new habit today! Whether it’s an exercise habit, a dietary habit, or an educational habit, establish a goal that you can visualize for yourself and do it!

A New Decade for Health?

The last decade saw improvements in many health areas of the US. Vaccination rates improved, most workplace injuries are down, and death rates from stroke, hearth disease and cancer are dropping primarily from better technology. Despite these gains, we are generally less healthy. Our health care system is focused on taking better care of a population that is increasing less healthy. This is reflected in the problems we are facing with a health care system that is close to bankruptcy.
Despite setting goals ten years ago to lessen the rates of such things as obesity, high blood pressure, cesarean births, and untreated childhood tooth decay, these rates have unfortunately all gone up. Approximately 29% of the population has high blood pressure, 20% of children have untreated tooth decay, cesarean births have increased and a whopping, no pun intended, 34% of Americans are considered obese.
Progress? I think not. How can we, as a nation, control our health care costs and have a manageable health care delivery system when we obviously can’t, as a nation, take care of ourselves? The creation of a healthier decade for our country starts with the person in the mirror.

LouAnn Good