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How to Find Great Skin Care In Denver
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Elective Skin Care In Denver: Great Techniques for Denver Patients
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We are a growing nation. In fact, according to the National Institutes of Health, more than sixty percent of Americans aged twenty years and older are overweight, and one-quarter of American adults are also obese.
What does this mean for the health of our nation? Nothing good. Obesity-related diseases are “implicated” in more than a quarter million deaths every year. Below, Dr Robert Kushner, Director of the Wellness Institute at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, discusses the grave consequences of our growing sizes.
How serious is the problem of obesity?
ROBERT KUSHNER, MD: It’s the most serious problem we are facing today. Next to cigarette smoking, overweight is the second leading cause of preventable death in this country. It’s estimated that 300,000 deaths per year is attributable to our diet, physical inactivity and resulting obesity.
What are the current statistics on overweight and obesity?
One in four is obese, and about one in three is considered overweight. Combined, over 60% of adult Americans are now overweight or obese. That means that the minority of this population is able to maintain a healthy body weight.
We’re now hearing a lot about children being obese. What is the number there?
It’s about 1 in 10, or 10%. The troubling factor there is that children are following in our oversized footsteps. An overweight or obese child is more likely to be an obese adult. So we are looking at an epidemic among our children as they become adults, and are likely to be more obese than we are today.
Why has the number of heavy people increased?
That’s still debatable, and a lot of research is being done. But most of us think that it’s due to our society and culture. We really live in an obesogenic society where food is plentiful, physical inactivity is everywhere. Those two factors combined lead to gaining weight.
How is obesity defined?
We currently define obesity by using a term called the Body Mass Index (BMI) also known as the BMI. Everyone knows their cholesterol and everyone knows their blood pressure. It’s equally important that everyone knows their BMI. It’s a weight for height relationship that’s fairly easily calculated on tables. A BMI between 25 and 30 is defined as overweight. A BMI of 30 or more is obese.
Roughly speaking, about 30 or more pounds overweight already defines one as obese.
Just 30 pounds?
Just 30 pounds. It doesn’t take much to have the health complications that are associated with obesity.
Talk about those complications, the health effects of obesity.
Obesity is the major cause of type 2 diabetes in this country. Obesity is the number one reason why diabetes is increasing in this country. It is fueling that disease. In addition to diabetes, obesity is also linked to increased risk of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, gastroesophageal reflux disease, certain cancers, in addition to psychological and emotional problems, as well as quality of life changes. It eventually leads to earlier death.
What are the leading causes of obesity?
The most significant factor really is our lifestyle. That’s the only way that we can understand why the numbers of obese patients or individuals has risen so quickly. Again, that’s the food that’s everywhere and the physical inactivity.
But genetics plays a role as well. We currently think that genetics determines a vulnerability to our environment, which then brings out the obesity.
There are other causes, although less common. They include drug-induced obesity, such as people on different corticosteroids or different hormonal agents. Those medications can increase body weight, not to mention things like antidepressants and other drugs used for mental health disorders.
Rarely is an underlying medical condition a cause for obesity. That would be something like Cushing’s syndrome or different kinds of glandular problems. But they are, once again, very uncommon.
What is the first step in getting treatment for obesity? Where does a person go for help?
There are several places an individual can go for help. One is, and the first that I would recommend, is to see his or her doctor. A doctor should be an active partner to a patient who is trying to get control of body weight. The doctor can also make sure that you don’t have an underlying problem that is either being caused by obesity or causing the obesity itself. That needs to be ruled out right away.
Once you’ve done that, you can either work with your doctor or work with a registered dietitian or seek help with some of the commercial programs that are available, which can be very helpful.
Every activity you do burns calories. The more calories you burn, the faster your body uses up incoming fuel (food) intake. If your requirements exceed the calories provided by incoming fuel, the body dips into its reserves (fat) to supply the energy you need. By lowering your calorie intake and increasing your activity, you are able to lose weight. Men burn calories faster than women. Heavier people burn calories faster than thin people. Exactly how many calories are expended by any individual will vary.
The following chart gives the approximate number of calories burned per minute of a variety of activities.
For each activity, multiply your exact weight by the number in the per pound column to equal the number of calories burned per minute. Multiply this number by the number of minutes in that activity to equal total calories burned.
EXAMPLE:
Calories burned per pound per minute (badminton – .044) x (times) your exact weight (140 pounds) = (equals) total calories burned per minute (6.16 calories burned per minute) x (times) minutes of activity (30 minutes) = (equals) 184.80 total calories burned per activity
Whether it’s drunk hot or cold, did you know that tea is one of the best things you can drink?
Tea drinking has been claimed to have health benefits for centuries, but only in recent years have doctors conducted studies to see if the claims are justified.
Considering the amount of tea drunk around the world every day, the news that the drink can be good for you is welcome indeed. Recent research has indicated that drinking tea as part of a healthy diet and life style can help maintain a healthy body including a healthy heart.
The value of tea may be due, in part, to its antioxidants. Like fruit and vegetables, tea is rich in antioxidants. (In tea these are known as flavonoids). Antioxidants in the diet may help the body in its management of free radicals – highly reactive substances capable of causing damage to body cells.
If that’s not enough to convince you that tea is worth trying, take a look at some of these fast facts. Green and black teas offer the same health benefits. Many people don’t realize that black and green tea contain virtually the same amount of antioxidants. In fact, whether hot or cold, bottled or using a bag, tea is probably the healthiest drink around.
Drinking four cups of tea is rehydrating – not dehydrating as is often said – unless the amount of tea consumed at one sitting contains more than 250mg of caffeine (the equivalent of five cups of tea).
According to the Harvard Women’s Health Watch, tea provides a few tips to get the most out of tea-drinking:
Drinking a cup of tea a few times a day to absorb antioxidants and other healthful plant compounds. In green-tea drinking cultures, the usual amount is three cups per day.
Allow tea to steep for three to five minutes to bring out its catechins.
The best way to get the catechins and other flavonoids in tea is to drink it freshly brewed. Decaffeinated, bottled ready-to-drink tea preparations, and instant teas have less of these compounds.
Tea can impede the absorption of iron from fruits and vegetables. Adding lemon or milk or drinking tea between meals will counteract this problem.
Tea contains fluoride, which has a well-established link to dental health. Studies have shown that tea can provide up to 70% of the fluoride you need. It’s also thought that antioxidants in tea may help inhibit the growth of the bacteria that cause plaque.
Tea without milk and sugar has virtually no calories. And in hot weather, it seems refreshing. This may be because it can raise your body temperature and momentarily cause an increase in perspiration, which cools the skin.
Teas such as Lipton are made from tea leaves rich in natural antioxidants, plus other good stuff your body loves. As for the taste, with a range covering hot and cold teas, and green and black varieties, it boosts your taste buds, as well as your well being.
Decaffeinated tea is not caffeine free. It still contains up to .4% by dry weight caffeine content.
The longer the tea leaves have fermented, the greater their caffeine content.
The smaller the tea leaf, the stronger the extraction of caffeine.
The first and second leaves of the tea plant are believed to contain the largest amount of caffeine at 3.4 %.
*Caffeine content (Ref.: International Food Information Council, All About Tea by William H. Ukers)
Type of Tea
Milligrams of Caffeine Caffeine
Avg Per Serving Range Per Ounce*
Black tea
40 25-55 5. naturally caffeinated
Oolong tea
30 12-55 3.75 naturally caffeinated somewhat less than black tea
Green tea
20 8-30 2.5 naturally caffeinated somewhat less than oolong tea,
White tea
15 6-25 2. naturally caffeinated somewhat less than green tea
Decaffeinated tea
2 1-4 .5 Caused from removing most of the caffeine from black, oolong, green, or white tea
Herbal “tea”
0 0 0. Naturally caffeine free
Does Tea Contain More Caffeine Than Coffee?
Tea has only 1/2 to 1/3 as much caffeine as coffee when you compare them cup for cup. In dry form, coffee actually has less then tea in dry form. Next time you brew that pot of coffee, consider how much less your brewed cup of tea will have. Unless of course you consume your tea dry. (Ref.: Caffeine by The Institute of Food Technologists’ Expert Panel on Food Safety & Nutrition.)
What Determines Caffeine Levels?
The amount of caffeine in tea depends on a number of things, the variety of tea leaf, where it is grown, size and cut of the tea leaf, and how you brew or steep as well as how long. Studies from the Caffeine Institute also show that caffeine levels can vary depending on the location of the tea leaf on the plant. (Ref.: Caffeine by The Institute of Food Technologists’ Expert Panel on Food Safety & Nutrition, All About Tea by William H. Ukers)
Americans are getting fatter and fatter every year. It is estimated that as many as one in five Americans is obese, a condition defined as being more than 30 percent above the ideal weight based on height. Even more alarming is that fact that obesity rates for children have doubled over the past 20 years, and overweight children are being diagnosed with obesity-related illnesses such as diabetes, sleep apnea and respiratory illnesses that in the past have only afflicted adults.
As the health care costs of treating obesity-related illnesses mount, some are looking to place the blame for increasing obesity rates on the purveyors of fast food. Facing fierce competition for customer loyalty, fast food chains such as McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy’s have promoted their over-sized burgers, extra-large servings for fries, and buckets of soda, all at low prices. Busy and cash-strapped families increasingly rely on take-out food for family dinners, and regular consumption of over-sized portions of fatty foods can leads to widespread obesity.
Some trial lawyers, fresh from a $90 million (and growing) windfall from the tobacco lawsuits, have set their sites on fast food companies. Following the tobacco lawsuit model, some argue that these companies should be held liable for the health care costs of treating illnesses associated with obesity, since they peddle dangerously unhealthy foods to unwitting consumers. The combination of the staggering number of obese Americans and the fat wallets of the fast food companies makes such lawsuits a tantalizing prospect for many trial lawyers and their potential clients.
On One Hand
The portions served by fast food chains and other restaurants are far larger than the recommended portion size for most foods. Food costs for restaurants are relatively low, compared to the costs of rent and labor, so it makes sense for them to offer larger portions that make their customers feel like they are getting a bang for the buck.
As American eat out more and more frequently, they become accustomed to those oversized portion, and think that such portions are normal. The high caloric content of these large servings leads to weight gain for regular fast food customers, and obesity can lead to many dangerous health problems.
Fast food chains do not alert their customers to the hazardously high calorie and fat content of the food they offer. They deserve some of the blame for the epidemic of obesity, and lawsuits brought by victims of their toxic food would force these companies to take some responsibility for their dangerous products.
On the Other Hand
Cigarettes contain substances that are addictive to smokers, and tobacco companies have been made to pay the price for selling a product that is dangerous to the health of their customers. But no one can claim that a Big Mac or a Whopper is addictive. They may be tasty, and people may eat too many of them, but McDonalds and Burger King are not responsible for their customers’ lack of self-control.
Lawsuits against fast food companies on behalf of obese “victims” would say more about the greed of trial lawyers than about any real danger posed by fast food. Most people choose to eat fast food even though they know it’s bad for them. Individuals have to take responsibility for that choice, not the company that provides the food.
The US. Department of Agriculture estimates the cost at more than $ 71 billion a year in added health-care and related expenses.
In 1991, one in eight Americans were obese. In 1999, the number had increased to one in five.
A study by Policy Analysis Inc. concluded that overweight people cost their employers $12.7 billion in sick time and insurance coverage in 1994 alone.
It is estimated that kids get up to 40 percent of their meals from fast-food chains, convenience stores and restaurants.
There are fast-food franchise outlets in 13 percent of the nation’s schools.
One American Medical Association study estimates that 300,000 Americans die each year from obesity-related causes such as heart disease, diabetes and stroke.
Obesity levels are sky-rocketing despite the fact that $33 billion a year is spent on weight-loss aids.
We have become so used to being fat, that we may have accepted it as our new national identity. A women’s size 14 in the 1940s is a size 10 today. The average airline passenger now weighs almost 21 pounds more than in 1995… and the extra-wide coffin business is taking off.
Americans love to eat. We may not appreciate the taste or beauty of food, but we like to pack in the calories. Six out of every 10 Americans are overweight; nearly one in three is obese. Since 1991, U.S. obesity rates in adults have risen 60 percent.
This growth involves both genders, all age groups, all classes, and all income and education levels. In the last decade, the percentage of obese children has doubled to almost 27 percent–and overweight teenagers have an 80 percent chance of becoming overweight adults. The food industry now spends $15 billion a year to form brand loyalty in children. If childhood obesity continues to rise, research suggests that this school-age generation may be the first in U.S. history with a shorter life expectancy than its parents.
Even our pets are getting fatter, according to University of Minnesota veterinarian Julie Churchill. “By the time dogs and cats reach middle age now, nearly 50 percent are overweight or obese,” she says.
But our eating habits tend to make us miserable, as relentless advertising drives us to both eat our fill and be thin. Most Americans consume far more food than our bodies need; then we turn around and feed a ravenous diet industry to the tune of $39 billion a year. (Meanwhile, anorexia nervosa–self-starvation–continues to rise among women ages 18-24.) We rarely sit down together at mealtime anymore, 40 percent of us never get any exercise, and we hardly think twice about ordering a large cafe mocha with whipped cream, not as a special treat, but as a daily beverage. Collectively, we’re out of control.
The question is, how did we end up in what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers a full-blown epidemic, with illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, and certain weight-related cancers on the rise and no end in sight? And how do we, as a nation, find our way back to health?
How we got so fat
No one factor seems to be to blame for the fattening up of America. The culprit is a potent mix of less exercise, changes in our work life, more meals eaten outside the home, bigger portions, more fats and sugars in prepared foods, an abundance of cheap corn syrup, and the tendency to consider moderation downright unAmerican.
The stage was set for the rise in obesity with a major shift in the typical American lifestyle. In 1960, 18.6 percent of women with children under six years old were working outside the home; by 1993, the percentage had risen to 59.6. More women entered the workforce partly because of a personal desire to work and have a career, but also to pay for things that middle-class people were finding increasingly hard to afford–like a mortgage and higher education for their children–according to University assistant history professor Tracey Deutsch.
“More women working outside the home doesn’t cause obesity, but it exacerbates the problem,” says Deutsch. “They have less time to cook and plan meals, but they still need to feed their families. Processed and fast food is often the easiest and most affordable option.” And because of the consolidation of grocery stores, in many poor neighborhoods it’s easier to buy fast food than to get fresh food, Deutsch adds.
“Another reason we’re seeing this rise in obesity,” says Deutsch, “is that this is the first generation of adults that has had access to processed food since childhood. The tastes they developed as children continue to inform their eating choices.”
Today, nearly half of all meals are eaten outside the home, most at fast-food restaurants. Not only is fast food loaded with more fats and sugar than a decade ago, the portions have grown considerably. When companies discovered that it costs little more to produce a large versus a medium serving, “supersizing” took off as a lucrative practice.
Although French fries are still wildly popular–the average American eats thirty pounds a year–research shows a trend away from the fat-laden staple. Individual portions, however, continue to get bigger. The original regular serving of McDonald’s French fries is now a small serving. And the popular practice of supersizing that small portion, which contains 210 calories and 10 grams of fat, nearly triples its calorie count to 610 calories and its fat content to 29 grams.
According to a study by Lisa Young and Marion Nestle of New York University, the trend toward larger portion sizes began in the 1970s, increased sharply in the 1980s, and continues to rise. Muffins these days are typically 333 percent larger than the USDA recommends; a normal serving of pasta is 480 percent bigger. Young and Nestle also discovered that new editions of classic cookbooks specify fewer servings for the same amounts of ingredients, meaning portions are expected to be larger.
But the problem is not just about calories and fat. John Kennedy urged us to get out of our “soft chairs” and get moving when he founded the President’s Council on Youth and Physical Fitness in the 1960s. Unfortunately, exercise levels have dropped off dramatically since then, and school physical education programs are being cut. We walk less and sit more–in front of computers, TV screens, and in cars.
We have become so used to being fat, that we may have accepted it as our new national identity. A women’s size 14 in the 1940s is a size 10 today. The average airline passenger now weighs almost 21 pounds more than in 1995, and airlines have been told to increase their weight allowances. And the extra-wide coffin business is taking off.
Fighting back
In Italy, where obesity is rapidly increasing, Minister of Health Girolamo Sirchia announced that he would attempt to reinstate Friday as a day of fasting and reduce serving sizes in school, work, and hospital canteens. In America, we’re battling this epidemic –that’s costing us $100 billion a year in health care–through efforts as broad as a nationwide physical education program and as individual as one person turning down a second helping.
Research at the University of Minnesota and around the country is looking into things like how the price of food affects consumer choice, the proliferation of trans fats, the treatment of overweight children, and the marketing of foods. In a recent study to see if price was an issue, University epidemiologist Simone French reduced the cost of fresh fruit and baby carrots by 50 percent in two secondary school cafeterias. The result was a fourfold increase in fresh fruit sales and a twofold increase in carrot sales. Recently, Henry Blackburn, a retired University of Minnesota epidemiologist, joined other notable colleagues in convincing the FDA to require listing trans fats–which double the damage of saturated fats–on food labels.
Primary and secondary schools, beset by budget problems, are hesitant to change their lunch menus or get rid of soda machines that often fund sports and other activities. But some schools, like the Valley Middle School in Apple Valley, Minnesota, are making socially and financially bold moves to replace their sugary and fatty a la carte cafeteria offerings with granola bars, yogurt, or fruit juice and to limit soda sales to after school.
Schools are also revisiting the role of physical education. On average, children now sit for four hours a day in front of the TV or computer, while fewer than one in four children engages in vigorous daily physical activity. The National Association for Sport and Physical Education recommends that elementary-age children spend at least 60 minutes every day in a variety of moderate to vigorous physical activities. The renewed federal Physical Education for Progress Act (PEP) makes grants to schools to provide physical education courses, purchase physical education equipment, and train and educate physical education teachers.
More and more workplaces are noticing that their employees are sorely out of shape and that being overweight or obese can translate into productivity loss and higher medical costs. A healthy adult, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, should engage in moderate to intense physical activity for at least 30 minutes on five or more days a week. Americans don’t like to exercise, but there are incentives. Often we begin if we have a health scare or finally get sick of carrying around extra pounds. Minnesota’s Hennepin County, although budget-strapped, designed a new employee fitness program complete with a full-time fitness expert and cash reimbursements for certain exercise equipment. The University’s new wellness initiative will promote health through diet and exercise.
Companies like Kraft have pledged to decrease the size of their individual portions and cut fat content, partly in an effort to avoid lawsuits from people claiming to have grown obese from eating their products. Whether that will make a difference in our waistlines remains to be seen. “Eating is a complicated issue,” says University sociology professor Joel Nelson. “Manufacturers and retailers are at the forefront [of the obesity problem], and they’re going to have to play their part. But other things have to happen too, like education and exercise, to support real change in eating habits.”
Health journalist Kelly James-Enger says the thousands of words she’s reported on weight loss really come down to only four–”eat less, exercise more.” And the solution to the obesity epidemic really should be that simple. But human beings are wonderfully complex, with myriad motivations and reasons for what we will or won’t do. The coming years will be critical if America doesn’t want to become a thoroughly fat nation from sea to shining sea.
Problem Forgetting May Be a Natural Mechanism Gone Awry
Problem Forgetting May Be A Natural Mechanism Gone Awry
It may turn out the reason some people grow increasingly forgetful as they age is less about how old they are and more about subtle changes in the way the brain files memories and makes room for new ones – differences perhaps better blamed on patterns of cell-to-cell communication than the number of birthday candles decorating the cake.
A researcher with the McKnight Brain Institute of the University of Florida has found that rats become forgetful because a routine part of the memory process falls out of kilter, no matter their ages.
This change seems to be related to the chemicals necessary for brain cells to communicate with each other. The findings, published this month in the online edition of Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, expand the possibility that drugs or therapies could be developed to tune up the brain’s memory mechanisms.
“Aging is associated with an increased rate of forgetting,” said Thomas Foster, Ph.D., the Evelyn F. McKnight chair for brain research in memory loss at the College of Medicine. “My work indicates that the problem may be a slight shift in a normal forgetting mechanism.”
Scientists believe a memory forms when communication increases between brain cells called neurons. During memory formation, signals jump across narrow gaps between cells called synapses, and this output becomes increasingly larger.
But for this activity to efficiently create a memory, it helps if signaling decreases among less-involved neurons. It’s like quieting other people in the room so you can have a phone conversation. Scientists call the process of decreasing the signal at less-involved synapses “long-term depression,” or LTD.
“This is a normal process that helps with the sculpting of memory,” Foster said. “After all, we do not remember everything in perfect detail and we would not want to. This same mechanism probably is used to clear the brain circuits and make them ready to be used the next day. However, this mechanism in excess may lead to rapid forgetting as seen during brain aging.”
Foster’s lab group used aged and young rats to examine the relationships between LTD, aging and memory. The animals were trained to find a hidden platform to climb out of a pool of water – something they learned quickly with repetition.
When the researchers examined the animals’ neurons and used a slow, weak electrical signal to make the synapses less sensitive – an effort to squelch or depress the cellular communication – he found that the samples from younger animals and older animals that had the highest memory scores throughout their lives were more resistant to the interference. However, aged animals with impaired memories displayed what was termed as “robust long-term depression.”
Going back to the phone call example, not only did the rest of the room get quieter, the callers did, too. The assumption is if a memory is encoded by making synapses stronger, then memory can be disrupted by something that weakens those connections.
“When we see someone we know or perhaps even ourselves becoming more forgetful, we now know that this is not an inevitable process,” Foster said. “Further, as we begin to understand the mechanisms of memory, it becomes possible to predict promising targets for therapeutic strategies aimed at postponing or alleviating age-related memory impairment.”
Foster said it will be important to understand whether a change in cellular signaling is necessary to enable new memories to be formed by discarding old ones.
“The basic gist is that information storage requires a balance between mechanisms that make synapses stronger and weaker,” said Mark F. Bear, Ph.D., director of the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was not involved with the research. “In aging and disease, if that balance is disrupted to favor LTD, the unchecked synaptic weakening leads to memory loss. The good news is we are developing a good understanding of these mechanisms, and that will help us find ways to protect memory.”
Foster’s work was supported by the National Institutes of Health and an Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Research grant.
Menopause and Weight Gain
Is it inevitable or can it be prevented?
Stop the Middle Age Spread!
Menopause occurs when a woman stops ovulating and her monthly period (menstruation) ceases. Menopause actually means the last menstrual period. The average age of the natural menopause is 51 years, but can occur much earlier or later. Menopause that occurs before the age of 45 is called early menopause and before the age of 40 is premature menopause.
After menopause and over a span of years (usually 10 or more), you may also see changes in your skin, such as increased dryness and wrinkling, and a change in hair texture. The vagina’s lining may become thinner, less pliable and drier. Your breasts lose some of their fullness, and your nipples become less pronounced. Bone loss also rapidly speeds up in women at menopause (even though bone loss is a natural part of aging). At this stage, women may become more susceptible to osteoporosis.
Remember, menopause is a highly individual experience; therefore, every women must approach it differently. You may recognize many of the changes described when menopause takes hold, or you may not experience any at all. It’s always a good idea, when experiencing these symptoms, to consult your health care provider.
Weight Gain:
At this time, most women (around 2/3 of women) experience weight gain or difficulty maintaining their usual weight. Most women will gain about 10 to 15 pounds during their menopausal years. You also discover that the weight gain tends to accumulate around the abdomen, rather than the hips and thighs as before menopause. People commonly refer to this as an “apple” shape, because the stomach area becomes rounder. An extra pound before menopause will settle evenly over hips, bottom, thighs, and arms. After menopause, it all goes round the middle! Most of this weight will come on gradually – generally about a pound a year.
As you enter the early stages of menopause, maintaining weight becomes more and more difficult, and losing weight becomes almost impossible. This is because of the fluctuation in your hormones. Your body’s hormones have a direct impact on your appetite, metabolism, and fat storage. At this stage, women develop “insulin resistance” making their bodies store fat, rather than burn calories. This “insulin resistance” changes how our bodies handle the foods we eat. For example, if you ate 1,000 calories before menopause, you would burn 700 of them and store around 300. After menopause, your body will store 700 and burn only 300! This is a big difference, and the result is weight gain! Even a modest weight gain can result in a change of dress size.
Excessive weight gain could also be a sign that something is wrong with your hormone levels, blood sugars, or eating habits. Visit your doctor if your weight gain is out of control. Excessive fat stored around the abdomen can lead to an increased risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, breast cancer, and high cholesterol.
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The daily changes you make now can yield important benefits for decades to come.
Here are a few tips to help you:
Reduce calories. Menopausal women need fewer calories to maintain former body weight. It may be necessary to cut calorie intake by 10 to 15 percent while at the same time increasing level of activity or exercise. If women don’t reduce their calorie intake, they are over eating. Calories needs are the highest during the mid-20s. The daily calorie needs, as women age, then reduce at about 2% to 4% for every 10 years added.
Eat a balanced diet. Avoid refined sugars and indulge in fruits and vegetables. Choose foods low in fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol. Fat intake should be less than 30 percent of daily calorie intake. Women of all ages should consume 20 to 30 grams of fiber daily. Check out my Food Nutritional Value Chart and Diet Recipe Index.
Portion Control. Eat slowly and practice portion control – this does not mean you have to eliminate your favorite foods. Just eat smaller quantities. Check out Making Sense of Portion Sizes – Portion Control Secrets.
Avoid crash or fad diets. Starvation will only cause your metabolism to slow down, causing you to gain more weight later on. Fad diets simply don’t work — over 95% of dieters gain back the weight they lose and more.
Maintain adequate intake of water: So many of the bodily functions rely on the body being adequately hydrated. Drinking 8 to 10 glasses daily is ideal. New studies say that you can drink tea and coffee as part of your daily water requirements. A couple of cups a day are fine as part of your water intake. We are talking about black coffee, not coffee house drinks. Learn about Coffee Drink Calories.
Don’t lose large amounts of weight. There is a balance between being too thin and just right. Being very thin can lead to an increased chance of developing osteoporosis. Determine Your Body Mass Index (BMI).
Increase your physical activity. Exercise becomes particularly important as a woman ages. Regular exercise benefits the heart and bones, helps regulate weight, and can be a mood enhancer, creating a better sense of well-being. Women who are physically inactive are more likely to suffer from coronary heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, and osteoporosis.
Weight loss still requires that you burn more calories each day than you take in. Do aerobics to increase your metabolism and burn fat. Do weight bearing activities such as walking and cycling to increase muscle mass and ward off osteoporosis. When women diet to lose weight after menopause, they will not be able to continue to lose weight unless exercise is added to the daily routine. Exercise prevents the decrease in metabolism that occurs when women diet without exercising. But, you must exercise consistently, preferably daily. Start with 5 minutes of walking each day and work to gradually increase the duration of whatever exercise you are doing. Work to increase your exercise time to 30 minutes daily.
Want to age gracefully? Keep moving. Regular exercise can reduce the risk of chronic disease — such as heart trouble, diabetes, even cancer – and keep you feeling and looking younger as you age.
While the message is clear, it’s not getting through to the majority of older Americans. Only 11% of people aged 65 or older responding to a government survey earlier this year said they engaged in strength training two or more days each week, the recommended level to improve overall health and fitness.
And only about 6% of the respondents met the national objectives for engaging in both physical activity and strength training, according to the survey, published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But minimal efforts at getting more physical activity offer big payoffs, experts say. “Many of the chronic health conditions we experience as we age come from disuse rather than aging, and exercise can retard the onset of many of those conditions,” says Colin Milner, head of the International Council on Active Aging, a trade association of more than 3,500 organizations that specializes in senior fitness.
Need proof? Consider this: Starting at age 50, people begin to lose 12% of their muscle strength and 6% of their muscle mass every decade. But weight training can reverse these effects in a big way. Two to three months of weight training three times a week can increase muscle strength and mass by one-third, making up for three decades of loss of muscle strength and muscle mass, said University of Maryland kinesiologist Ben Hurley.
And it’s never too late to start, said Julie McNeney, vice president of education for the International Council on Active Aging.
“You can be as fit as you want to be,” McNeney said. Of course, she added, “you can’t regain the strength you had when you were 18 or 19.”
Still, she said, seniors “can run in marathons, they can participate in the senior Olympic games.”
Or they can just get off the couch and engage in less strenuous pursuits such as gardening and walking, and reap benefits.
McNeney urges older adults to first think about what their goals are, and what being fit means to them.
“It could be as simple as being able to dress themselves, or being able to stay in their home and be independent,” she said. They might just want to be fit enough to pick up and carry their young grandchildren or play with them, she added.
Whether your goal as an older adult is to run a marathon or lift groceries without straining, some of McNeney’s advice is the same: Set realistic goals.
Dr. Jack Higgins is vice president for health promotion for Fifty-Plus Lifelong Fitness, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based organization devoted to the promotion of physical activity for adults at midlife and beyond.
“Start slowly,” he tells older adults who have been sedentary. “Don’t overdo. If you get hurt, it stops you in your tracks.”
The myth that fitness is for the young is gradually fading, Higgins said. “I think people are starting to understand you don’t stop moving when you hit 40 or 50.”
Quite the opposite, Higgins said. People who become sedentary and put on weight as they age aren’t only “cosmetically not wonderful,” he pointed out. They are also begging for problems with their joints, and for developing diabetes and heart problems.
“Much of what happens with aging, what goes wrong with the body, is due to under use rather than wear and tear,” he said.
Anyone resuming or starting an exercise program should first get a doctor’s OK, agreed Higgins and McNeney. Beyond that, they offer a host of other tips and guidance to get and stay motivated.
The goal is to work up to a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise at least five days a week.
If you’re unsure of how much stamina you have, start out with walking as your primary exercise.
Later on, you can add strength training, such as doing weight machines or free weights. Get advice from a professional.
And don’t neglect two other aspects of fitness — flexibility, gained by stretching before and after exercise, and balance, crucial to prevent falling, especially as you get older.
With age, poor balance can make falls more likely, and falls can result in painful and sometimes life-threatening hip fractures, Higgins said. So doing a few balancing exercises daily can help. They can be as simple as holding onto a chair or a wall for stability, then raising one leg off the ground, then the other.
Exercising in groups is especially motivating for seniors, Higgins said. That applies double to those who are social but reluctant to exercise, he added.
If the prospect of joining a gym is intimidating, consider doing other, less-structured activities, such as mowing the grass or doing housework.
Finally, be sure to fit in activity throughout the day to get the recommended 30 minutes of activity, McNeney said. “If you watch two hours of TV a day, instead of sitting watching the commercials or channel surfing, get up and walk around the house, up the stairs, or march in place,” she said. “If you would do that with a two-hour [TV] session, you would accumulate the [recommended] 30 minutes.”
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