Weight loss and Weight Chat Blog

New research has found that gardening is an effective way to exercise. Researchers at Kansas State University determined that gardening is a form of “moderate intensity” exercise that can easily contribute to the exercise recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which advises at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most days of the week in order to maintain and improve optimal health. This recommendation is especially important for older Americans, who can be less likely to fulfill this requirement, yet are more at risk for chronic diseases associated with aging. Moderate intensity exercise is physical activity that causes an increase in breathing or heart rate and is typified by such things as walking, cycling, swimming or even dancing.
It is well-known that older adults often tend toward a sedentary lifestyle, and that this is one of the factors leading to a decline in […]

Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com

On New Year’s Eve many people party like there’s no tomorrow, and when New Year’s Day rolls in they often wish it hadn’t. Head pounding, cotton-mouthed, nauseated, sensitive to light and sound, they are suffering from the classic, but poorly understood, syndrome called hangover. Neither the cause nor the treatment of hangover is fully known. Some people suffer the ill effects of alcohol after only one or two drinks while others can drink like a fish without incident. And so-called hangover cures abound. Just ask anyone you know, everyone’s got their favorite (that they no doubt heard from someone else like in a game of telephone where the original message gets distorted the more times it’s repeated - but in this case even the initial recommendation is something someone made up in the distant past). Truth be told, no hangover treatment has ever been […]

Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com

It’s been a wild and wooly holiday season in the greater Seattle area this year with temperatures below freezing and lots of snow on the ground - both distinctly unusual phenomena in this neck of the woods. The roads have often been impassable and there’ve been widespread power outages, which have caused us to spend a lot of time at home, hunkered down by the fire and the Christmas tree. This in turn led me to recall a piece I wrote a year ago about Christmas trees and allergies, which I thought I’d reprise for today, December 25.
Both real and artificial Christmas trees can cause problems for some people with allergies. It’s not known how many people suffer from Christmas tree-related allergies. But if you find yourself with a runny nose, itchy eyes or maybe even increased asthma symptoms around the holidays, it may be due to allergies […]

Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com

Are the following claims true or false?

Excess sugar causes hyperactive children
Poinsettias are poisonous
Suicides increase over the holidays
Eating at night makes you fat
Going hatless causes excess heat loss

According to Drs. Rachel Vreeman and Aaron Carroll, both of the Indiana University School of Medicine, none of these commonly held beliefs has any scientific basis and must therefore be considered false. Writing in the British Medical Journal, http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/337/dec17_2/a2769 the two pediatricians searched both the published medical literature and the internet for support of the claims but found hard evidence lacking.
Since everyone knows that sugar gives us energy, it seems logical to think that excess sugar would result in excess energy. Not true according to the researchers. “At least 12 double blind randomised controlled trials have examined how children react to diets containing different levels of sugar. None of these studies, not even studies looking specifically at children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, […]

Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com

Tis the season to be jolly, but not everyone feels that way. For some, the onset of winter, with its short days, brings on symptoms of depression. In fact, however, by the time winter officially begins on December 21 the days have already been getting progressively shorter and shorter for months culminating in the solstice, the shortest day of the year. So although it’s often referred to as winter blues, seasonal depression actually has a fall onset that coincides with the beginning of the inexorable loss of daylight that occurs in northern latitudes between November and February.
For some people, symptoms of depression predictably recur every year when the days grow short in fall and winter and the definition of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is just that; namely, recurring depression with a seasonal onset and remission. While it has this unique pattern of occurrence, SAD is […]

Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com

I’ve been so busy getting ready for the holidays that I missed National Hand Washing Awareness Week, which was December 7-13. No matter. Hand washing, as we say here in the Pacific Northwest, is an evergreen topic that doesn’t go out of season. And with cold and flu season hard upon us, reminders, and even extra reminders, on hand washing are especially appropriate. Hand washing is simple to do and is the best way to prevent infection and its spread because your hands are constantly coming into contact with germ-laden surfaces and transferring those germs to your eyes, nose and mouth. According to the Centers for Disease Control, here’s when to wash your hands:

Before preparing or eating food
After going to the bathroom
After changing diapers or cleaning up a child who has gone to the bathroom
Before and after tending to someone who is sick
After blowing your […]

Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com

It’s the time of year when annual “top” lists begin appearing everywhere like so many ornaments on the tree. So here’s Dr. Z’s roundup of the top five health scams of 2008:

Kinoki Detox Foot Pads

Kinoki and all other so-called detox foot pads top the list because of the sheer audacity involved in their shameless marketing and the utter lack of either a scientific basis through which they might work or any medical studies proving that they do. Yet we’ve received over 400 comments on my blog about them, attesting to the surprising interest people have in these worthless products. Despite their having been debunked on National Public Radio and the ABC news program “20/20″ inquiring minds still want to know, likely due to relentless marketing and widespread distribution. Users of these pads seem quite impressed that they turn brown or black after being worn overnight […]

Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com

Homeopathy is a form of alternative medicine that was made up 200 years ago by a German physician named Samuel Hahnemann who was trying to improve on the then current medical practice of blood letting. But while homeopathy is usually less dangerous than blood letting, which was fatal to many of its patients, including most likely, George Washington, it is equally as effective. By which I mean to say categorically that it’s equally ineffective, which is why it might be dangerous - if truly effective medication is either not sought or refused. Homeopathy is based on the notion that “like cures like” - that a little of something causing illness would somehow cure it (and we’ll talk later about what is meant in homeopathy by the word “little,” which is more like non-existent). Bear in mind, however, that 200 years ago they had no idea what caused […]

Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com

Not long ago, I recommended you avoid CT angiography as a screening test for heart disease unless you were absolutely convinced that it was necessary and not just being ordered either because it’s a new, extremely cool, technology, or because your doctor has an equity position in the machine (meaning he or she or the practice profits every time the test is run because they own or lease the equipment). I noted that as a screening test for people without symptoms of heart disease, CT angiography has yet to be proven effective. Moreover, even though the test is quite short, there is significant radiation exposure from the X-rays used to obtain the high-tech images (orders of magnitude greater than that used in a simple chest X-ray).But let’s say that you actually have symptoms of coronary artery disease. Is CT angiography an appropriate diagnostic test for you? […]

Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com

Many of our readers either already have or will in the future encounter the possibility of being treated with a biologic medication. This is because biologics have revolutionized the treatment of such chronic illnesses as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, Crohn’s disease, and multiple sclerosis, and are widely used in treating a variety of cancers. To name just a few, these products include Enbrel, Humira, Remicade (infliximab), Avonex (inteferon beta-1a), Betaseron (interferon beta-1b), Tysabri, Cimzia (certolizumab pegol), Herceptin (trastuzumab), Rituxan (rituximab), Neupogen (filgrastim), Neulasta (pegfilgrastim) and Leukine (sargramostim). So just what are biologics, how do they differ from more traditional drugs, and why are they so expensive?Although some biologics have been around for a long time, I’m not talking about these first-generation products, which include things like vaccines, blood and blood components. Instead, I’m focusing on the newer, second-generation biologics that have come to market only […]

Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com