Obesity: Still on the Rise

Obesity numbers have been increasing at an alarming rate.

According to economist Roland Sturm of the Rand Corporation, "The proportion of people at the high end of the weight scale continues to increase at a brisk rate despite public attention to the risks of obesity and the increased use of drastic weight loss strategies such as bariatric surgery".

How do we decrease this obesity trend?

The solution is to educate your children when they are young.

It has to start with the kids.

If you are an adult, start now versus later.

Begin by decreasing all boxed and canned foods.

It is easy to get help these days versus 10 years ago.

Many diet plans are on-line and are easy to access and do not cost very much.

Just start!

Breakfast is Still the Most Important Meal of the Day

According to Dr. Al Sears, author of "The Doctor's Heart Cure" not eating breakfast increases your risk of becoming obese by a stunning 450 percent.

That's huge!

The problem most of my wellness coaching clients and patients have not eating breakfast is the time crunch in the morning.

Worse yet, the sometimes stop by a fast-food restaurant or drive-thru and choose a food-like item from the menu.

My opinion is you are almost better off skipping breakfast if you are going to put high cholesterol and fat laden foods into your system.

Solution...

Get up earlier and cook some eggs, turkey bacon or make some oatmeal or cream of wheat.

If time is a factor prepare yourself a sandwich the night before of turkey or chicken. The real stuff not lunch meat.

For those who are vegetarians one can consider grains, juicing and fruits.

Make a protein drink the night before and store the drink in a shaker. You now have a high protein breakfast on the go. If you can add some fruit.

Other easy breakfast meals are hard-boiled eggs or natural peanut butter on grain toast.

If there's a will, there's a way!

Remember, eat breakfast every morning.

Stay well!

Excellence is a Habit

It's simple how we create bad habits.

We continue to repeat the same negative action over and over again.

Aristotle is quoted as saying, we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit".

The act of breaking a habit such as spending too much or eating to much is to interrupt the habit in small settings.

A great way of changing your diet or nutrition lifestyle is to eat the same foods you are eating but eat less of the food.

If you are a spender set a limit such as $50. Then do not make any purchase over $50 until you have at least waited 48 hours. This is known as delayed gratification. Do not get lulled into sales or close-outs.

Remember, excellence is not an act, but a habit.

I wish everyone a great weekend.

And to all those moms out there, I wish you a very Happy Mother's Day!

Exercise for Your Family

I am often asked why I exercise everyday. Is it because I want to stay trim? Am I trying to lose weight, decrease my blood pressure, avoid muscle injury and skeletal pain or I am exercising so I can look good?

I exercise for all those reasons but the main reason I exercise is for my family. I am hedging my bet. You see I figure if I can watch what I eat and exercise I am going to be able to live a longer and healthier life so I can be there for my family.

What I am getting at is if you don’t want to exercise for yourself then you should exercise and stay fit for your family.

You don’t have to start running marathons or quit eating; you just have to start changing your lifestyle little by little.

All you have to begin with is exercising only 20 minutes a day.

Just start!

Meet Kim Jamieson

I had the opportunity to meet a "mover and a shaker" in the area of women's health issues.

I would like to intorodue her to you. Her name is Kimberly Jamieson.

Check out her site at www.healthypainfreeliving.com

This is not another "lose weight fast" diatribe and website.

Kim provides real-life scenarios to help you acheive your lifestyle and nutrition goals. She knows what it's like to be where you are today.

Sometime ago Kim was runned down and out of shape but today she has turned her world around and has a ton of energy.

If you are a woman you need to check out her site.

Here's what Kim has to say...

Empowering women to take control of their health, be happy, stay healthy, come to peace and learn to love themselves again is something that is fiercely overlooked in the American society today. It is vital to live healthy, prolong your life, and it is so important to make your dreams come true. Women tend to be martyrs (taking care of everyone else first) and never seem to have time to take care of themselves. Women need to remember to live!

Let's all have a great day.

To Your Health, Happiness & Wealth

Losing Weight vs. Wellness

Springtime is among us and magazine covers will feature young and fit males and females. There will be 6-pack abs, long and tan sinewy arms and legs and of course the latest exercise tips to firm your buttocks.

So what's the problem you might ask?

I'll tell you. Many of my patients complain they need to lose weight. Our younger patients want to look like the female models and movie stars.

Let's face reality.

You might ask how can they do it and you can't.

It's simple. They are getting paid to do it. They are getting paid to look good (and don't forget the genetic factor as well).

If I was paying you a large sum of money to exercise and eat right while somebody prepares your food for you, picks up your dry-cleaning, cleans your house, pick up the kids, pay your bills and do everything that you normally would do in your day then you could devote your whole time to "looking good and exercising", you can also look great.

Time for a reality check. It's not going to happen.

So you should begin to think about wellness versus aesthetics. Start to change your nutrition lifestyle now. It's only week one of April. Just think if you lose only 1 pound a week for the next three months you will be 12 pounds lighter by the beginning of July.

The idea is to start now versus later.

Week one should be the elimination of bread products and begin a walking program.

Just start.

Look for the next blog and I 'll share the changes to a life of wellness for week two of April.