Overweight during Pregnacy- Risk to child

It appears there may be a link between obese mothers and asthma in children. It would explain why the incidence of childhood asthma is increasing. The risk seems to be as high as 65% increased risk. Researchers have not been able to isolate the answer but obesity encourages inflammation and inflammation is part of asthma. Recommendations for weight gain for obese mothers to be has been reduced to 11-20lbs. Remember that can include a women who is 5'6' and 165 lbs.

Couch to 5K- Do you think you can Run?

If you had asked me a year ago - Can you imagine running 5k. I would have said it is never going to happen. Even once I had lost a significant amount of weight and I was fit, I always made excuses- running is too hard on your joints, I have bad knees.
The reality is running is great exercise and it can be done anywhere and if you slowly work up to it, your joints will be fine. My husband is and on again mostly off again fitness participant. He says he wants to run, but the problem is he thinks he can walk out the door and start running. Maybe he could, but he shouldn't. I really believe you should start out slow, let your body and joints get used to the hard surfaces you are running on. Try and run just on trails if you can. Walk for 5 min, Jog for 1 min and gradually increase the amount of time you jog and decrease the amount of time you walk. But work into it so you want to jog. If you walk out the door for the first time and try running are you going to have a good experience? Are you going to feel good the next day? Probably not. Will you look forward to your next run or will you find an excuse not to do it? Likely you will find excuses. Alot of running is mental fortitude, so work your way into it and you will find you will love it!!!
I also find from a weightloss and maintenance perspective nothing bumps up my metabolism more than running. I know walking does it for some people but I think my metabolism is so messed up from years of dieting on and off that walking just doesn't cut it. From a toning perspective there is nothing better, legs, abs, butt, chest, arms. One key thing to remember is to walk for a bit after the run. Do some knee raises, lunges-get your full range of motion back. Stretch!! hip flexors, calves, hamstrings, quads, IT band. If I do a short walk and stretches after my run I don't feel stiff at all the rest of the day or the next day.

The Banana Diet- Are you kidding me?

Honestly how many more single foods are going to become our diet savior. It is not hte grapefruit diet or the pineapple diet. The newest craze is Japan's Banana diet. Now lets remember the Japanese have a fairly healthy diet to begin with and a much lower rate of obesity. Here are the rules: you eat a banana or two for breakfast and then eat your regular lunch and dinner and you will lose weight. No exercise required. Sounds too good to be true? First of all it is meant for people with only a moderate amount of weight to lose- 10-35 lbs.
Here are the rules:
1. Eat 1-2 raw bananas for breakfast. (approx 216 cal)
2. Eat anything you want for lunch and dinner- (remember Japanese diets are relatively healthy and many dieters report cutting back on rice and fried food)
3. No desserts
4. Eat only until satisfied not full.
5. Drink water
6. No exercise required, but allowed
7. Journal your food intake
8. Go to bed early
9. You can have an afternoon snack.
I think you could lose weight doing this diet, it seems like a common sense approach, although it is not specifically telling you to cut back on food intake it should naturally happen if you follow the rules of food journaling and eat until satisfied. No magic in this diet. I would also suggest you would do better if you added protein in with the banana at breakfast, you will be less likely to feel hungry. I think I like the prinicples behind the old Okinawa diet better.

Scandinavian Bran Crispbread

I love this hard bread. It is 100% bran in a crisp cracker format. I like it with light laughing cow cheese spread on it. This adds a little moisture because the bran crispbread is quite dry. It has a nice flavor, it has a crunch and the calories are low -12 calories/crispbread. Great fiber content and very filling. The only problem is buying them. Some health food stores sell them but I find it easier getting them online by the case. These crispbread helped me through the majority of my weightloss, with appetite control and keeping calories down.

Humiliation even in Death

This story hit the news last week in the US. The story goes:
A 750-pound woman who died in her bed was covered with a carpet and pulled out of her apartment on the mattress in view of neighbors, then hoisted onto a flatbed wrecker to be taken to the county morgue. Marion County Coroner Frank Lloyd Jr. says he's investigating why a contractor with equipment capable of handling obese corpses was not used, and he has apologized to the family. Nice.....

I am so-o-o tired

Have you ever had one of those weeks where the weightloss seems to be sucking the life out of you. I would exercise, go to work, make dinner, and crash on the couch and fall asleep. I had no energy to do anything else. Is it the flu? Am I eating properly? Maybe I am low on iron or B12? The reality is that my body was exhausted from having to work so hard at weightloss and it just needed a week of decompensation. It is really important to listen to your body, and recognize what it needs. Rule out whether there is an underlying issue that needs to be treated. Pay particular attention to your electrolyte balance- if your sodium and potassium are too low this can cause fatigue. Take some supplements or increase the sodium and potassium in your diet. Bananas are a great source of potassium. Dehydration is another cause to rule out. Too few calories etc. If none of these are an issue, give your body the rest it needs and your energy will bounce back the next week!!

Have you seen her face????

Today I am greeted with "Have you seen her? Have you seen her face?" The young women with anorexia was hospitalized and her face is swollen up like a balloon. Other parts of her body have significant edema. Not a good sign. Word on the street has it that the docs told her her body is falling apart. I believe the damage is at a cellular level so she is retaining fluid everywhere. I am worried I think she has just given up and decided to let the disease win.....

Break the habit -Lose Weight

Do you watch TV at night and automatically want a bowl of chips (or worse in my case a bag!) or a bowl of ice cream. Maybe it is snacking while making dinner. Another habit I loved was sitting down with a good book and eating doritos. So much of what interferes with our weightloss is based on habit vs need. The problem is how do we break these habits? Change it up. Make a rule- only eat in the kitchen or on the patio. If you want a snack at night, sit down and eat it in the kitchen. If you really love eating and watching TV and don't want to give it up then make a rule it can only be certain things ie fiber 1 cereal, sugar free jello, carrot sticks, apple. Make that your habit. My grandfather used to have the habit of eating and apple and cereal every night watching TV. He was skinny. GOOD LUCK!

Travelling and Maintaining Weight loss

I travel for work. That can mean alot of eating out at restaurants and that can cause havoc with my weight. So now I pack a cooler and take it with me. Yogurt, low fat pudding for snacks, sugar free jellow, hard boiled eggs, raisins, granola bars etc. I always ask the hotel for a fridge in the room. If I have to I say it is for medication. It works. Now I get up in the morning and workout. It saves me time because I eat breakfast in my room. protein shake, yogurt, bran crispbread.
I have snacks at night. I am keeping my routine very similar to my routine at home. As far as restaurants go I check the nutritional information online and chose my meal in advance. If I can't do that I chose grilled meat (chicken, fish, beef)-hold the sauce, salad-dressing on the side, soup-no cream based. So far so good!!!!