They may be called Happy Meals, but many parents aren’t very happy with how they have to battle their children when they see their favorite cartoon character happens to be a toy in the popular fast food kids lunches.
Maybe they are at their wits end, but some parents have decided to take legal action. With childhood obesity rates going through the roof, some parents think that desperate measures need to be taken. Which may explain why last month, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) served McDonald’s with a notice of intent to sue if the fast food restaurant continues to promote Happy Meals with toys.
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Lady Gaga has shed some light on her diet practices in an interview with the Daily Telegraph. None of it has to do with her alleged involvement with the Baby Food Diet:
“I’m on a very strict healthy pop star diet. I don’t eat bread, just vegetables and salad and fish. Eating like that is much better for me anyway, but on Sundays I sometimes eat pasta,” the singer revealed.
So, even someone known for her excesses (at least in the wardrobe department) can even exercise a little moderation.
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A new study has found that heart attacks have dropped by a dramatic 24 percent in a large group of people studied in Northern California. Even more dramatically, there was a 62 percent drop in the most severe type of heart attack, known as an ST-segment elevation heart attack. A coronary artery is fully blocked.
The study’s authors don’t think it’s happened by accident.
“We believe improvements in targeting risk factors are in part responsible,” says the study’s senior author, Dr. Alan Go, M.D., the assistant director for clinical research at Kaiser Permanente, in Oakland, California. “We’ve observed in our population that fewer people are smoking, and there’s better control of blood pressure and cholesterol.”
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In some ways, John Goodman is a medical miracle. Making his mark as the portly leading man in the ’90s hit sitcom Roseanne, he has steadily gained weight over the years.
For those of us who have been fans of John Goodman, including his underrated work in film, it’s a wonder that he hasn’t fallen in the footsteps of other overweight entertainers to an early grave.
Now he is 57 years old, and losing weight. Better late than never.
Goodman has finally made a move to get his weight down.He was recently spotted on the red carpet for a Los Angeles awards ceremony honoring director Mike Nichols, he surprised the public with a much thinner frame.
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By jason | April 17, 2009
Just when you thought you’ve heard everything there is to know about fat, there comes what’s referred to as brown fat. But, scientists have known about brown fat for decades, and may actually help you lose weight.
Brown fat helps keep newborns warm, and while it was known to exist in adults, it’s more prevalent in adults than previously thought. The importance to this finding is that brown fat burns calories faster than regular fat.
Researchers reported in three studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine that they found brown fat in most adults. They found that they can detect it by exposing people to cold. In some cases, adults who had more active areas of brown fat were thinner.
“Fifty grams of maximally activated brown fat accounts for 20 percent of your resting energy expenditure,” say lead researcher Dr. Aaron Cypress of the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. “If you add that up, that’s 400 or 500 calories per day.”
In a separate but supportive study in the Netherlands, a team at Maastricht University Medical Center found that obese men have less brown fat that lean men.
Now the tough part: scientists have to find a way to activate the brown fat. There are other uncertainties as well, including whether that would even do the job. But at least there’s hope for positive findings in the future.
“Using brown fat to treat obesity has been talked about for 30 or 40 years,” he said. “But people essentially gave up on it. Many said it didn’t exist in adult human beings and many said it didn’t have any connection to obesity and weight at all. What these studies show is that virtually every adult human being has functional brown fat in them.
(via: Yahoo)
By jason | March 20, 2009
Diabetes is one of the biggest health risks our growing population is facing. According to the American Diabetes Association, there are 23.6 million people in the United States who have diabetes. Besides your diet, you have to exercise to ensure healthy blood sugar levels. That doesn’t mean you have to be a crazy gym rat, spending all your spare time sweating.
Recent research supports the positive effects of short workouts. Real Age spotlights a new study that not only supports this, but how it can help you metabolize sugar properly.
Skiers can cut risks by wearing helmets, experts say
Well then, it’s good to know we have experts looking out for us, isn’t it? Obviously, most skiers don’t use helmets, so it’s good as a suggestion. But we don’t need to know why, do we?
By jason | February 26, 2009
A shocking headline from AFP:
Just Being Overweight Can Shorten Lifespan: Study
(To see what this award is all about, and the other stories that made the grade, click here.)
By jason | February 20, 2009
While trans fats have been widely publicized, and most of us know they are bad for us, that doesn’t mean we know where they come from.
By jason | February 13, 2009
I’m always one to ask “where did the idea of such and such start?”. The Diet Blog has an interesting little piece exploring the history of the gym. It starts with nude Olympians in ancient Greece and ends with the mirrored narcissistic gathering places we know today.
