Obesity EpidemicWritten by Boyd Martin
Remember New York teenagers, Ashley Pelman and Jazlyn Bradley, who sued McDonald's for making them obese? One of plaintiffs included a 15-year-old Bronx boy who says he's been eating McDonald's food since age of six. Gregory Rhymes--at 5 feet, 6 inches tall--says he now weighs 400 pounds and has been diagnosed with diabetes. Newsday reported that children's parents say they never saw posters in McDonald's restaurants that explain nutritional content of food. William Sears, author of several books on children and nutrition, commented on this story saying, "The bottom line for food industry is money. What motivates food industry and health-minded mothers is worlds apart." I say, What's wrong with this picture? What's wrong is value of self-determinism that was obviously ignored or disagreed with by these teenagers' parents. Victimism may be core issue surrounding obesity outside of a glandular birth defect. Wouldn't American Founding Fathers be cringing in embarrassment to find citizens so radically oriented away from principles of free choice and democratic self-restraint? Of course, children follow examples of their parents, and eating habits along with moral values begin in home. That being said, once a heart-and-soul decision has been made to reverse obesity (now defined as overweight by 30 percent of ideal body weight), as free-choosing citizens here is a list of proven protocols to help start out on that road to recovery and wellness. Behaviors Currently Dr. Phil seems to be champion of weight-control movement, and his approach is behavioral. One main point that hit home to me was that of support of household. If those you are living with have a refrigerator full of sweet, high-calorie snack foods, and are indulging in them constantly, it makes job of sticking to a regimen that much more difficult. On one show, Dr. Phil went so far as to say we should cut-off any relationships in our lives that oppose our weight loss intention. Ultimately, this would mean entire family would have to be involved in your weight loss program, and respect it because it is your heart's desire. Exercise Taking in fewer calories than you burn is cornerstone of any weight loss strategy. On average, for every 3,500 calories that we eat over what we need to maintain our weight (regardless of how many days it takes us to do it), we gain a pound. So if your maintenance level is 2,400 calories daily, and you are consuming 2,650 calories daily, you can expect to gain about a half pound or so per week (250 calories/day x 7 days/week divided by 3,500 calories/pound = 0.50 pounds/week). It also works in reverse; for every 3,500 calories under our maintenance requirement that we don't eat, we lose a pound.
| | YOGA AND ARTHRITIS: A REVIEWWritten by Dr. Manoj Dash, BHMS, DYT,Ph.D.
Yoga is an ancient Indian science and way of life, which influences functioning of brain and rest of body. Several studies have shown that practice of yoga has a definite role in promotion of positive health, including mental health, characterized by improved cardio-respiratory efficiency, autonomic responses to stressors, sleep, muscular endurance, and `higher’ brain functions. With an increase in incidence of stress-related ailments, related to rapid pace of life today, yoga has been evaluated as a treatment for such disorders in several controlled trials. The disorders, which were most likely to respond to yoga, with reduced symptoms and need for medication, were bronchial asthma, non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, anxiety neurosis, and rheumatoid arthritis. THE CONCEPT OF HEALTH According to World Health Organization (WHO) state of health is defined as a state of complete physical, mental, social and spiritual well being and not merely an absence of disease or infirmity. It is clear from this definition that health and ill-health are not two discrete entities as commonly understood but health should be conceived as a continuous function indicating state of well being. The ancient Indian science, Yoga, has its origin in Sankhya philosophy of Indian culture, which is about 8000 years old (Nagarathna, 2001). Yoga includes a wide range of techniques (e.g., physical postures, regulated breathing, cleansing techniques, meditation, philosophical principles, and devotional sessions, surrendering to Supreme). These techniques bring about a calm and balanced state of mind, and are expected to help spiritual evolution of individual. However, yoga has more pragmatic applications in medicine. In order to understand these, it is important to know concepts of ‘health’ and ‘disease’ in Yoga texts. According to yoga, man is in perfect health and homeostasis at his subtle levels of existence. All diseases are classified as (i) stress-related (adhija) and (ii) not stress related, e.g., injuries (anadhija) (Vasudeva, 1937). Yoga has been considered especially useful in management of stress related disorders by getting mastery over excessive speed of mind. The technique to reducing rate of flow of thoughts with deep internal awareness is yoga. This review will describe therapeutic applications of yoga in management of arthritis. Physical activity is an essential part of effective treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to treatment guidelines published by American College of Rheumatology (Hochberg, 1995; Newsome, 2002). In persons with arthritis, exercise is safe and does not exacerbate pain or worsen disease (Ettinger,1997; Minor,1999; O'Grady,2000;Bearne,2002). In fact, exercise may play a key role in promoting joint health (Forrest,1994) , since those who do not exercise often suffer more joint discomfort than those who do (Nordemar,1981). However, regular physical activity is especially important for people with arthritis, who often have decreased muscle strength, physical energy, and endurance (Lyngberg,1988). The psychological benefits of exercise such as stress reduction, fewer depressive symptoms, improved coping and well-being and enhanced immune functioning (Taylor,1985;Scully,1998;Fox,1999 Paluska,2000) also contribute to greater overall health. Scientific studies on yoga Yoga has been used in management of a wide range of diverse ailments. While there is a great deal of anecdotal evidence of benefits of yoga, to date only a handful of scientific studies have been conducted on persons with OA and RA (though several more are currently underway). The study conducted in England demonstrated that hand grip strength significantly improved following yoga in rheumatoid arthritis patients (Haslock,1994). It was subsequently proven that yoga resulted in similar benefits in rheumatoid arthritis patients in an Indian population (Dash, 2001). Studies in osteoarthritis of hands and carpal tunnel syndrome show greater improvement in pain during activity, tenderness and finger range of motion (Garfinkel, 1994). These above studies have shown promising results with some improvement in joint health, physical functioning, and mental/emotional well-being. Perhaps most importantly, yoga has an important positive effect on quality of life. People with arthritis may also enjoy yoga more than traditional forms of exercise, and exercise enjoyment is an important predictor of adherence(Ryan,1997;Trost,2003).This is particularly important considering that, on average, 50% of sedentary individuals will drop out of exercise within 6 months (Dishman,1990). In summary, yoga can be a meaningful and enjoyable alternative to traditional forms of exercise such as aerobics or aquatic exercise with important health benefits. Yoga can play an important role in reducing stress and frustration that results from pain and disability, and increasing positive feelings and wellbeing. Drug treatments for OA and RA have improved markedly in last few years. Despite this, arthritis cannot be cured, and even best medications and medical care can only help a little. There is a great need for additional activities patients can do to reduce pain, disability, and take control of overall impact arthritis may have on their lives. Thus, evidence suggests that, when combined with a program of good medical care, yoga may provide important additional physical and psychological health benefits for arthritis patients.
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