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Category: Heart Health

CHILDREN WITH HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE HAVE 4X GREATER RISK

Children with hypertension (elevated blood pressure) are much more likely to have problems with learning and behavior than children with normal blood pressure, says a new study from University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) published in the journal Pediatrics.

When variables such as socio-economic levels are evened out, the study says, children with hypertension were four times more likely to have cognitive problems. In other words, it’s harder for them to remember, learn, and think.

The study also found that children with high blood pressure are more likely to have the symptoms commonly labelled as “attention deficit hyperactivity disorder” (ADHD). In other words, they have trouble paying attention, performing and completing tasks, and tend to be ‘hyperactive’, and impulsive.

“Although retrospective, this work adds to the growing evidence of an association between hypertension and cognitive function. With 4 percent of children now estimated to have hypertension, the need to understand this potential connection is incredibly important,” said Heather R. Adams, Ph.D., an assistant professor of Neurology and Pediatrics at URMC, and an author of the study.

The 201 children in the study were between 10 and 18-years-old, and their parents reported their diagnosis and symptoms. Fully half of the patients, 101, actually had hypertension (sustained high blood pressure) as determined by medical monitoring.

Overall, 18 percent of the children had “learning disabilities”, well above the general population’s rate of 5 percent. However, the percentage of children with normal blood pressure who had learning and behavioral problems was closer to 9 percent, and in those with hypertension the rate jumped to 28 percent.

Twenty percent of the children with hypertension had “ADHD” symptoms — trouble paying attention, performing and completing tasks, hyperactivity and impulsivity — whereas only 7 percent of those without hypertension had those problems.

The usual treatment for hypertension is dietary changes and various types of medications. Drugs can have unwanted side effects, but fortunately other treatment options exist which are safe and effective.

For example, according to the World Health Organization, controlled clinical trials have proven that Acupuncture is an effective treatment for essential hypertension. Acupuncture opens up specific channels that the body uses to flow energy, and can quickly relieve hypertension and normalize blood pressure.

The chronic stress of physical abnormalities of the musculoskeletal and nervous systems can also create blood pressure problems — problems that Chiropractic care handles very effectively. By realigning and reestablishing correct nerve function, Chiropractic care helps relieve underlying causes of hypertension.

No Comments by Laurie Puckett on July 18, 2011
filed in Articles, Children, Heart Health

CONDITIONS THAT MAY BE TREATABLE BY ACUPUNCTURE ACCORDING TO W.H.O.

The World Health Organization (WHO) published an official report on four categories of symptoms, conditions and diseases that have been shown to benefit from Acupuncture. In a recent Health Report, we presented WHO’s Category #1 list – diseases, symptoms or conditions for which Acupuncture has been shown, through controlled trials, to be effective – as a guide for patients seeking treatment, and to help patients and healthcare providers seek insurance coverage by showing WHO’s official recognition of Acupuncture benefits.

The WHO report also contained three additional categories of conditions for which recognized controlled trials had not been done, but for which Acupuncture nevertheless has been shown to be helpful.

The Category #2 list includes diseases, symptoms or conditions for which the therapeutic effect of Acupuncture has been demonstrated but for which further proof is needed.

Here is the list:

Abdominal pain Acne vulgaris Alcohol dependence
Bell’s palsy Bronchial asthma Cancer pain
Cardiac neurosis Chronic cholecystitis Cholelithiasis
Competition stress syndrome Craniocerebral injury, closed Diabetes mellitus (non-insulin)
Earache Epidemic haemorrhagic fever Epistaxis, simple
Eye pain due to injection Female infertility Facial spasm
Female urethral syndrome Fibromyalgia and fasciitis Gastrokinetic disturbance
Gouty arthritis Hepatitis B virus carrier status Herpes zoster (human)
Hyperlipaemia Hypo-ovarianism Insomnia
Labor pain Lactation, deficiency Male sexual dysfunction
Ménière disease Neuralgia, post-herpetic Neurodermatitis
Obesity Opiate/opioid dependence Osteoarthritis
Endoscopic exam pain Thromboangiitis pain Polycystic ovary syndrome
Postextubation in children Postoperative convalescence Premenstrual syndrome
Prostatitis, chronic Pruritus Radicular/pseudorad pain
Raynaud syndrome, primary Recurrent urinary infection Reflex sympathetic dystrophy
Retention of urine, traumatic Schizophrenia Sialism, drug-induced
Sjögren syndrome Sore throat (and tonsillitis) Acute spine pain
Stiff neck Temporomandibular pain Tietze syndrome
Tobacco dependence Tourette syndrome Ulcerative colitis, chronic
Urolithiasis Vascular dementia Whooping cough (pertussis)

If you or someone you know is having trouble with any of the above conditions, check with your acupuncturist to see if they can help.

 

No Comments by Laurie Puckett on July 14, 2011
filed in Alternative Medicine, Articles, Chiropractic, Chronic Pain, Diabetes, Fibromyalgia, Heart Health, Uncategorized, Weight Loss, Wellness

WALNUTS AND FLAX SEED OIL HELP LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE AND BOOST ARTERIAL HEALTH

Feeling stressed? Blood pressure going up? Don’t run to the doctor for drugs. Just toss a few walnuts down the hatch and watch that blood pressure come right back down!

According to a team of Penn State researchers, the latest solution to stress might be as simple as a diet rich in walnuts and walnut oil.

Walnuts contain polyunsaturated fats, which influence blood pressure at rest and under stress by helping the body deal with the physical effects of stress. The addition of a little flax seed oil to the diet helps further by assisting blood vessels to dilate when needed.

So, you might ask, what are the effects of stress on our cardiovascular system that walnuts and flax seeds are so helpful with?

The usual first response to stress is a rise in our blood pressure. The next important sign of trouble is the presence of inflammation — the body’s emergency rescue operation in our vascular system that tries to reduce the effects of harmful stimuli and start the healing process. Without inflammation, nothing would ever heal. Inflammation is supposed to be good and useful.

But when we are chronically stressed out, living in a toxic environment, eating high-fat junk food, smoking and carousing and having a generally bad attitude, we chronically shoot our blood pressure into the sky, causing chronic inflammation in our arteries. Now nasty things can happen. Our inflamed arteries, including those in our heart, start to line themselves with deposits of “bad” cholesterol and other stuff called plaque. Our arteries are plugging up, and then start to suffer from “atherosclerosis” — stiffened walls which won’t dilate to carry more blood when needed. Then heart disease comes along, blocked and stiffened heart arteries, and we are diagnosed with “cardiovascular disease”. We are staring at a shortened life span, and it all started with chronic stress and a chronic rise in blood pressure.

The researchers wanted to find out if omega 3-fatty acids from plant sources would “blunt cardiovascular responses to stress.” Omega-3 fatty acids, like alpha linolenic acid found in walnuts and flax seeds, are known to reduce low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) — the “bad” cholesterol. Foods rich in omega 3-fatty acids are also thought to reduce inflammation.

The study involved 22 adults with elevated LDL cholesterol who were otherwise healthy. Meals and snacks were provided during three diet periods of six weeks each. Walnuts and walnut oil in the diet lowered both resting blood pressure and blood pressure responses to stress in the laboratory.

“This is the first study to show that walnuts and walnut oil reduce blood pressure during stress,” said Sheila G. West, associate professor of biobehavioral health. “This is important because we can’t avoid all of the stressors in our daily lives. This study shows that a dietary change could help our bodies better respond to stress.”

Walnuts are a rich source of fiber, antioxidants, and unsaturated fatty acids, particularly alpha linolenic acid (an omega-3 fatty acid), and these compounds could be responsible for the beneficial effects on blood pressure.

Flax oil is a more concentrated source of omega-3 fatty acids than walnut oil, but this study did not test whether flax oil alone could blunt cardiovascular responses to stress. The research learned that adding flax seed oil to the walnut diet did not lower blood pressure any further than walnuts alone. However, a subset of the participants underwent a vascular ultrasound in order to measure artery dilation, and adding flax oil to the walnut diet significantly improved this test. Flax oil plus walnuts also lowered c-reactive protein, indicating an anti-inflammatory effect, which is crucial in reducing risk of cardiovascular disease.

Adding walnuts, walnut oil and flax seed oil to your diet could add years to your life!

 

No Comments by Laurie Puckett on June 22, 2011
filed in Alternative Medicine, Articles, Heart Health, Wellness

Watermelon may reduce the risk of Cardiovascular Disease

Seedless watermelon Purchased Feb. 2005 in Atl...

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Volume 14 Issue 120

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the U.S. If you or someone you know has CVD, or has high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, or any of the other factors that could lead to CVD, you have probably been told to exercise, reduce stress levels and avoid certain foods like sugar, white flours and junk food. Or you may have been prescribed drugs like statins. However, there are certain foods — known as ‘functional foods’ — that, in addition to the nutrients they supply, also specifically promote health or prevent disease in a certain part of the body. In the case of CVD, you still want to exercise and eat well, but there are also functional foods that may help prevent it, and may even help you avoid drugs.

Let’s just take one of the CVD risk factors: hypertension, high blood pressure.

Normal blood pressure is considered 120/80 or below. High blood pressure starts at 140/90. Between those you have a rating called prehypertension, which basically means that if you don’t do something to lower your blood pressure you could end up with full-blown hypertension — something you really want to avoid.

The risk level is much higher with hypertension than prehypertension, so getting your blood pressure under control now is a smart health move.

What functional foods help prehypertension? According to a recent study conducted at Florida State University, watermelon might be just what you need.

The study, though small, is very promising and is the first on human subjects. While the participants didn’t actually eat watermelon, they were given six grams daily of the amino acid L-citrulline/L-arginine from watermelon extract for six weeks. There were four men and five women, ages 51 to 57, and each were prehypertensive. All participants had positive results: improved arterial function and lowered blood pressure.

The real ‘active” ingredient, the one that’s making the difference, is the amino acid L-arginine. However, L-arginine taken on its own can be hard on the gastrointestinal system. The better option is another amino acid, L-citrulline, which converts to L-arginine once in the body.

Watermelon is loaded with L-citrulline, is well tolerated, has no side effects, and provides the added benefits of Vitamins A, B6 and C along with fiber, potassium and lycopene, a powerful antioxidant.

If you’re looking for natural solutions to protect your heart, give watermelon extract a try. It is available at local health food stores and online!

No Comments by Laurie Puckett on February 10, 2011
filed in Heart Health
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Would you like pills with your burger?

LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 24: A signs for Jack I...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Drugs, drugs, drugs … if some people have their way, you will be getting prescription drugs along with your fast food.  Is anybody else outraged by this idea?  I’m not kidding ~ there really are doctors that are proposing putting statin drugs in little packets, kind of like catsup packages, at fast food restaurants.

(NaturalNews) What do you get when you combine fast food with Big Pharma? Pharmaburger! That’s the name of episode one of the new “Food Investigations” mini-documentary series created by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, editor of NaturalNews.com.

Food Investigations (www.FoodInvestigations.com) features short documentary videos (under 10 minutes each) exposing little-known facts about fast food and processed food products. The videos are free to watch at the website, and they’re also available at www.NaturalNews.TV where thousands of other holistic health videos can be viewed for free every day.

The Pharmaburger mini-documentary takes issue with the doctor from Imperial College London whose study, published in the American Journal of Cardiology, led him to recommend that statin drugs be handed out like ketchup packets at fast food restaurants. This, he claims, would “counteract” the heart risk dangers of fast foods.

Just pop a pill every time you chow down a junk food cheeseburger, in other words, and the health risks will be cancelled out. It’s a juvenile, short-sighted point of view about health and nutrition, of course, but the idea has a surprisingly large number of followers among practitioners of mainstream medicine (many of which are arguably illiterate when it comes to nutrition in the first place).

Ultimately, the idea seeks to turn fast food restaurants into pharmacies, lining up gullible customers to be dosed with powerful prescription pharmaceuticals based on no diagnosis, no doctor visits, and absolutely no consideration of their current health condition or possible drug interactions. To call it “medicine” is an insult to the very definition of the word.

The sad truth of the matter is that some members of the medication profession want to intoxicate everyone with dangerous chemical medications, and they are hoping to use fast food restaurants to achieve that goal. This Pharmaburger mini-documentary tells the rest of this story which will surprise most viewers.

At the end of the day, individuals need to start taking responsibility for themselves and their health.  Popping a pill isn’t going to fix things.  When you are ready to take responsibility, call Remmel Wellness Center to schedule an appointment and help yourself get healthy. 

Posted by Laurie Puckett at Remmel Wellness Center, a full service wellness and chiropractic center located in beautiful St. Petersburg, Florida.

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No Comments by Laurie Puckett on September 29, 2010
filed in Heart Health, Weight Loss, Wellness

Rising Obesity and Rising Costs

Silhouettes and waist circumferences represent...
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Do you want to hear something really scary?  In 10 years, a full 75 percent of Americans will be overweight, making it the fattest country in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. 

Citizens of the world’s richest countries are getting fatter and fatter and the United States is leading the charge, an organization of leading economies said Thursday in its first ever obesity forecast.

“Food is much cheaper than in the past, in particular food that is not particularly healthy, and people are changing their lifestyles, they have less time to prepare meals and are eating out more in restaurants,” said Sassi, a former London School of Economics lecturer who worked on the report for three years.

That plus the fact that people are much less physically active than in the past means that the ranks of the overweight  have swelled to 67 percent in the U.S. this year from well under 50 percent in 1980, according to the OECD.

 This means that disease rates and health care spending will balloon, unless governments, individuals and industry cooperate on a comprehensive strategy to combat the epidemic. 

So, what are the costs associated with obesity?  Higher medical bills are the most obvious cost, but that’s only a portion of the real-life costs.

George Washington University researchers added in things like employee sick days, lost productivity, even the need for extra gasoline, and found the annual cost of being obese is $4,879 for a woman and $2,646 for a man.

That’s far more than the cost of being merely overweight, $524 for women and $432 for men, concluded the report being released Tuesday, which analyzed previously published studies to come up with a total.

Why the difference between the sexes? Studies suggest larger women earn less than skinnier women, while wages don’t differ when men pack on the pounds. That was a big surprise, said study co-author and health policy professor Christine Ferguson.

Researchers had expected everybody’s wages to suffer with obesity, but “this indicates you’re not that disadvantaged as a guy, from a wage perspective,” said Ferguson, who plans to study why.

Then consider that obesity is linked to earlier death. While that’s not something people usually consider a pocketbook issue, the report did average in the economic value of lost life. That brought women’s annual obesity costs up to $8,365, and men’s to $6,518.

A major study published last year found medical spending averages $1,400 more a year for the obese than normal-weight people. Tuesday’s report added mostly work-related costs, things like sick days and disability claims, related to those health problems.

It also included an unusual finding, a study that calculated nearly 1 billion additional gallons of gasoline are used every year because of increases in car passengers’ weight since 1960.

And the thing is, nobody is doing anything to stop this trend.  Americans have a lazy, herd of sheep mentality and will continue to eat unhealthily, will continue to sit in front of the television or computer or video game rather than exercise, and will continue to think it is acceptable to take pill to counteract their poor choices.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again …  we don’t have a healthcare crisis in America, we have a culture crisis. It is time to change the way we think, act and behave. Taking a pill isn’t going to make everything all better. There are ways to get healthy and lose weight, and we can help, but you have to make a decision… and the decision that needs to be made is to be an active participant in your health.  When you have made that decision, call us at Remmel Wellness Center and find out just how healthy you can be when you take responsibility for your health.

Posted by Laurie Puckett at Remmel Wellness Center, a full service wellness and chiropractic center located in beautiful St. Petersburg, Florida.

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No Comments by Laurie Puckett on September 27, 2010
filed in Heart Health, Weight Loss, Wellness
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Misleading Claims that Food Manufacturers Make

Example of an American grocery store aisle.
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In my crusade to educate and inform Americans on the foods they are eating so that we can all make educated and informed choices when we shop, I came across a great article in Scientific American that really blasts the claims that food manufactures make on their labels.  These claims are misleading marketing ploys to sell more product by convincing the purchaser that the food is “good for them.”  The reality is that the claims have very little to no proof to back them up, and a consumer who is relying on these claims to improve their health may be doing more harm to themselves than good.

Read this article that was printed in the September 20, 2010 issue of Scientific American:

From cereals that boost immunity to yogurts that regulate digestion and juices that keep heart disease at bay, grocery stores in the U.S. are brimming with packaged foods and beverages that claim to improve health. Such declarations are good for business: sales of “functional foods”—those that manufacturers have modified to provide supposed health benefits—generated $31 billion in the U.S. in 2008, a 14 percent increase over 2006, according to Rockville, Md.–based market research firm Packaged Facts. But consumers are getting a rotten deal. Although health claims for foods may appear to be authoritative, in many cases science does not support them and the government does not endorse them. Not only do these products, many of which are nutritionally bereft, fail to deliver on their promises, but they may also give consumers a false sense of security that discourages them from taking more effective measures to attain wellness, such as exercise or medication.

In March the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued warning letters to 17 food and beverage manufacturers concerning false or misleading health and nutrition claims on their products. It was an unusually expansive crackdown for the agency, whose regulatory power over food companies has declined over the past decades, thanks to Congress and the courts, which have tended to come down on the side of the food companies. The FDA’s move, accompanied by an open letter from Commissioner Margaret Hamburg about the importance of accurate nutrition labeling, was a significant step toward halting the exploitation of science by food marketers, but it does not go far enough in protecting consumers from deceptive marketing.

The FDA currently issues guide­lines for what claims companies can make about their foods. It allows statements about how products affect the normal structure and function of the body but prohibits unauthorized claims about disease. The agency, though, does not review compliance before food is packaged and shipped. Food products arrive at the stores emblazoned with questionable claims. Cheerios can lower cholesterol 4 percent in six weeks, asserted the box label, until the FDA sent General Mills a cease-and-desist letter in May 2009. Redco Foods’s Salada Naturally Decaffeinated Green Tea promised to tackle Alzheimer’s, rheumatism and cancer, until the March crackdown. The agency is then forced to play catch-up. Meanwhile the snake oil sits on supermarket shelves.

Holding health claims for food to the same scientific standards as those for drugs—and requiring manufacturers to convince the FDA of alleged benefits before releasing products for sale—would result in far fewer health claims on packaged foods, if recent developments in Europe are any indication. In 2006 Europe began holding food makers to rigorous scientific standards. Since then, the European Food Safety Authority has rejected, on the basis of insufficient evidence, a whopping 80 percent of the more than 900 claims they have assessed thus far. Among the rejects were claims about probiotic ingredients, which are commonly found in yogurt products and often touted for their alleged digestive benefits, and omega-3 fatty acids, which are frequently added to products ranging from orange juice to baby food and are often said to promote brain development. The simple act of asking for evidence is sometimes enough to reveal the shoddiness of a claim—some European firms drew supporting materials from Wikipedia, the American Heritage dictionary and the Bible.

Differences between the lenient U.S. system and the more restrictive European system are easily apparent. For instance, visitors to the Web site for Activia (www.activia.com)—a yogurt product from Dannon—will have a very different experience depending on which country they indicate they are from. The U.S. version prominently displays the product’s putative health benefits, asserting that it can “help regulate your digestive system by helping reduce long intestinal transit time.” (It does not say explicitly that the yogurt helps to alleviate constipation, which would be a clear violation of the FDA prohibition of unauthorized claims about specific medical conditions.) The U.K. version, on the other hand, says only that the yogurt contains an exclusive bacterial culture and, like other yogurts, is a source of calcium and vitamin B12.

Industry representatives complain that having to prove claims about the health benefits of food would cost too much and take too long. It’s a lame argument. The nation is currently engaged in a struggle against skyrocketing rates of obesity and other diet-related diseases that are among the leading causes of death in the U.S. In this context, unsubstantiated health claims on processed foods are a harmful abuse of science that we should not tolerate.

****

If you are unsure about some of the claims being made, or are overwhelmed by the choices presented to you when you walk into your supermarket, search out a nutritionist or other professional who does grocery store tours.  These tours help you shop smarter and healthier.  Remmel Wellness Center is part of the Holistic Health Network, which is organizing grocery store tours in Pinellas County.  You can contact us for dates and locations of these tours.

Posted by Laurie Puckett at Remmel Wellness Center, a full service wellness and chiropractic facility located in beautiful St. Petersburg, Florida.

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No Comments by Laurie Puckett on September 22, 2010
filed in Heart Health, Weight Loss, Wellness
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Danger Lurks: Promoting Bulimia Online

Bathroom: After
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As I mentioned countless times, obesity is an epidemic in America, and it is slowly but surely killing us while putting an enormous burden on our health care system.  But there are other eating issues besides gluttony that are dangerous, and yes, deadly.  Yesterday’s post discussed anorexia and how there are over 10,000,000 websites that encourage and promote anorexia.  Today we are talking about bulimia.

Remember the stats I mentioned yesterday?  Unbelievably, there are over 10,000,000 websites that are promoting anorexia; giving tips and online support to help people become thinner through anorexia.  There are more than 2,000,000 other pro bulimia websites offering encouragement, tips and advice on purging.  I’ll say it again … that these sites exist is to me, morally reprehensible.

What is Bulimia?

Bulimia, also called bulimia nervosa, is a psychological eating disorder. Bulimia is characterized by episodes of binge-eating followed by inappropriate methods of weight control (purging). Inappropriate methods of weight control include vomiting, fasting, enemas, excessive use of laxatives and diuretics, or compulsive exercising. Excessive shape and weight concerns are also characteristics of bulimia. A binge is an episode where an individual eats a much larger amount of food than most people would in a similar situation. Binge eating is not a response to intense hunger. It is usually a response to depression, stress, or self esteem issues. During the binge episode, the individual experiences a loss of control. However, the sense of a loss of control is also followed by a short-lived calmness. The calmness is often followed by self-loathing. The cycle of overeating and purging usually becomes an obsession and is repeated often.

Bulimia was only diagnosed as its own eating disorder in the 1980s.

People with bulimia can look perfectly normal.  Here is the tricky part in identifying someone who is bulimic:  Most of them are of normal weight, and some may be overweight. Women with bulimia tend to be high achievers.

What makes it even harder to determine whether a person is suffering from bulimia, is the fact that bingeing and purging is often done in secret. Also, individuals suffering from bulimia often deny their condition.

Sufferers consume huge quantities of food. Sometimes up to 20,000 calories at a time. The foods on which they binge tend to be foods labeled as “comfort foods” — sweet foods, high in calories, or smooth, soft foods like ice cream, cake, and pastry. An individual may binge anywhere from twice a day to several times daily.

What Causes Bulimia?

There is currently no definite known cause of bulimia. Researchers believe it begins with dissatisfaction of the person’s body and extreme concern with body size and shape. Usually individuals suffering from bulimia have low self-esteem, feelings of helplessness and a fear of becoming fat

Medical complications from bulimia

Some of the most common complications of bulimia are:

•Erosion of tooth enamel because of repeated exposure to acidic gastric contents.
•Dental cavities, sensitivity to hot or cold food.
•Swelling and soreness in the salivary glands (from repeated vomiting).
•Stomach Ulcers.
•Ruptures of the stomach and esophagus.
•Abnormal buildup of fluid in the intestines.
•Disruption in the normal bowel release function.
•Electrolyte imbalance.
•Dehydration
•Irregular heartbeat and in severe cases heart attack
•A greater risk for suicidal behavior
•Decrease in libido
Symptoms of Bulimia

Some of the most common symptoms of bulimia are:

•Eating uncontrollably
•Purging
•Strict dieting
•Fasting
•Vigorous exercise
•Vomiting or abusing laxatives or diuretics in an attempt to lose weight.
•Vomiting blood
•Using the bathroom frequently after meals.
•Preoccupation with body weight
•Depression or mood swings. Feeling out of control.
•Swollen glands in neck and face
•Heartburn,
•Bloating,
•Indigestion,
•Constipation
•Irregular periods
•Dental problems
•sore throat
•Weakness
•Exhaustion
•Bloodshot eyes

Risk Factors of Bulimia

There are certain professions and activities/hobbies where thinness is emphasized, making eating disorders more prevalent.  Not surprisingly, modeling, dancing, gymnastics, wrestling, and long-distance running all foster body image issues that can lead to bulima.

Bulimia Statistics

•Bulimia affects about 10% of college age women in the United States.
•About 10% of individuals diagnosed with bulimia are men.
•10% of individuals suffering from bulimia will die from either starvation, cardiac arrest, other medical complications, or suicide.

Bulimia is insidious in that it is really hard to identify an individual who suffers from the illness.  The health problems associated with bulimia are extensive, but the individual doesn’t look ill on the outside and often isn’t thin to the point of alarming friends and family.  Again, open communication between the individual and family/friends is the key to preventing eating disorders or getting help for the one suffering from the illness.

Posted by Laurie Puckett at Remmel Wellness Center, a full service wellness and chiropractic facility located in beautiful St. Petersburg, Florida.

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No Comments by Laurie Puckett on September 1, 2010
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Did They REALLY Serve That?

As if the food they serve up at the State Fair isn’t bad enough, at least it is only available for a very short period of time.  However, the restaurant industry has decided to enter into an unholy competition to see who can come up with the most disgusting, artery-clogging, calorie-busting fiasco ever to grace a plate. 

If you’ve never picked up a copy of “Eat This, Not That” you really should browse through the lastest edition.  Honestly, it will help you make better choices when dining out.  Some foods are actually totally unhealthy, but disguised as “good for you” and those you need to watch out for.  But here, for your reading enjoyment, are the top 5 scariest restaurant foods:

See, even the most well-established restaurant chains can’t rest on their laurels, serving the same old standbys that we’ve loved since we were kids. They have to keep us interested and attracted with shiny new bells and whistles. And since no one has invented, say, a new kind of vegetable, they’ve got to go with the next best thing: gimmicky entrees with terrifyingly obsene nutritional content and rapidly expanding serving sizes. It wasn’t enough that pizza makers started putting cheese inside the crust! Kentucky Fried Chicken saw that and ramped up its own destructive powers, by making a sandwich in which the bread is replaced by slabs of fried chicken.  Seriously … do people really that this is is a GOOD idea?  Then a few major league ballparks started serving their burgers on doughnuts instead of buns.  I’m afraid to find out what will come next.

Scary Meal #5
Denny’s Fried Cheese Melt with wavy fries and marinara
1,260 calories
63 g fat (21 g saturated, 1 g trans)
3,010 mg sodium

CALORIE EQUIVALENT: 18 T.G.I. Friday’s Frozen Cheddar & Bacon Potato Skins

Apparently, Denny’s deemed the classic grilled cheese too boring for our novelty seeking taste buds, so they fixed it by driving four deep-fried cheese sticks into the core of the sandwich. So what you end up with are cheese sticks with extra cheese between slabs of buttered bread and a pile of fried potatoes on the side. If Denny’s was serious about improving the grilled cheese, they would have skipped the novelty and brought in big-flavor ingredients like sautéedmushrooms or sliced figs. But, of course, if they did that, they might not be able to sell this entire meal for $4. Here’s to cheap food and expensive health care!

Eat This Instead!
Denny’s BLT with Hash Browns
730 calories
47 g fat (10.5 g saturated)
1,270 mg sodium

Scary Meal #4
IHOP New York Cheesecake Pancakes
1,270 calories

CALORIE EQUIVALENT: 28 McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets

Further blurring the line between dessert and breakfast, IHOP has infused their fluffy flapjacks with gooey hunks of cheesecake. Next thing you know they’ll be serving breakfast with big scoops of ice cream and chocolate syrup. The best breakfast is one with protein and fresh fruit, but if you’re going to go for the carb-heavy indulgence, there’s a better way to do it. Don’t make it a habit, but IHOP’s Chocolate Chip Pancakes will save you 660 calories.  And it sounds better to me, anyway.  But then, I think most of you already know how I feel about chocolate!!

Eat This Instead!
Chocolate Chip Pancakes
610 calories

Scary Meal #3
Friendly’s Grilled Cheese BurgerMelt
1,500 calories
97 g fat (38 g saturated)
2,090 mg sodium

CALORIE EQUIVALENT: 15 Snickers Kudos Granola Bars

Is this a joke? Because it should be. Where a normal hamburger has buns, this one has grilled cheese sandwiches. Yes, that’s two grilled-cheese sandwiches with one hunk of ground beef wedged between them. Other iterations of this sandwich have been dubbed “fatty melts”—for obvious reasons. They have twice as much cheese and bread as a regular cheeseburger.  This is just plain GROSS.

Eat This Instead!
Grilled Cheese
790 calories
37 g fat (12 g saturated
1,280 mg sodium

Scary Meal #2
Uno Chicago Grill Lobster BLT Thin Crust Pizza
1,530 calories
87 g fat (30 g saturated)
3,480 mg sodium

CALORIE EQUIVALENT: 51 Nabisco Ginger Snap Cookies

On its own, lobster is sweet, healthy, and loaded with lean protein. Yet, for some reason, restaurants never seem to know what to do with it. Case in point: Lobster BLT Pizza, an amalgam of foods that don’t quite fit together: One is seafood, one is diner grub, and one is an Italian-American hybrid. We’re all for trying new things, but not when the toll is 75 percent of your day’s calories and 1½ day’s worth of sodium and saturated fat.

Eat This Instead!
Lobster Wrap with side of roasted vegetables  (YUMMY!!!!)
570 calories
30.5 g fat (4 g saturated)
1,660 mg sodium

DRUM ROLL PLEASE ………………………

Scary Meal #1
Applebee’s Provolone-Stuffed Meatballs with Fettuccine
1,550 calories
97 g fat (46 g saturated)
3,910 mg sodium

CALORIE EQUIVALENT: 148 Whoppers Malted Milk Balls

Yes, America has a cheese fetish, but this is just excessive. Cheese-filled meatballs? It’s like a beef-based Gusher, a sort of meaty water balloon of fat. Especially problematic is the fact that said meatballs are served on a bed of fettuccine Alfredo, which is basically flat noodles basting in oil, butter, and—yes—cheese. Cut more than a thousand calories by switching dishes. A smart swap like this one (and the hundreds of others in Eat This, Not That!)  a couple times a week and you can lose 2½ pounds a month without ever dieting! 

Eat This Instead!
Spicy Shrimp Diavolo
500 calories
10 g fat (3.5 g saturated)
1,910 mg sodium

Lucky for me, nothing in the top 5 even remotely sounded tasty to me … but several of the “Eat This Instead!” options did sound good and were reasonable in the total calories, fat and sodium.  This is just the tip of the dining out iceberg, and there are so many more items and options in the book.  From time to time I will share more in my blogs and on our website to help you become smarter, savvier and slimmer diners!  It will be an uphill battle, but if people don’t order this crap, restaurants won’t serve it!  It’s almost like eating your last meal, because any one of these could just place another nail in your coffin.  Sorry to be such a downer, but I’m not the one cooking this stuff, I’m not the selling it, and I’m not the one eating it … Just sayin’….

Posted by Laurie Puckett at Remmel Wellness Center, a full service wellness and chiropractic center located in beautiful St. Petersburg, Florida. 

Be sure to listen to my weekly radio show beginning Monday, September 10th at 2:00 pm Eastern Time at www.LifeImprovementRadio.com for more health and wellness information and to chat with me on the topics I cover.

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1 Comment by Laurie Puckett on August 30, 2010
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What Does Your Waist Say About Your Health?

The Battle of the Bulge wasn’t just fought in Europe during WWII, is is being fought every day in America!  But this modern day battle isn’t being fought on the ground – this fight is taking place at our midsection … our bellies, and losing this battle can be deadly.  Read more in this story that came off the AP News Wire:

If your pants are feeling a bit tight around the waistline, take note: Belly bulge can be deadly for older adults, even those who aren’t overweight or obese by other measures.

One of the largest studies to examine the dangers of abdominal fat suggests men and women with the biggest waistlines have twice the risk of dying over a decade compared to those with the smallest tummies.

Surprisingly, bigger waists carry a greater risk of death even for people whose weight is “normal” by the body mass index, or BMI, a standard measure based on weight and height.

“Even if you haven’t had a noticeable weight gain, if you notice your waist size increasing that’s an important sign,” said lead author Eric Jacobs of the American Cancer Society, which funded the study. “It’s time to eat better and start exercising more.”

Other research has linked waist size to dementia, heart disease, asthma and breast cancer.

Bulging bellies are a problem for most Americans older than 50. It’s estimated that more than half of older men and more than 70 percent of older women have bigger waistlines than recommended. And it’s a growing problem: Average waistlines have expanded by about an inch per decade since the 1960s.

To check your girth, wrap a tape measure around your waist at the navel. No fair sucking in your bulge. Men should have a waist circumference no larger than 40 inches. For women, the limit is 35 inches.

The new study, appearing in Monday’s Archives of Internal Medicine, is the first to analyze waist size and deaths for people in three BMI categories: normal, overweight and obese. In all three groups, waist size was linked to higher risk.

About 2 percent of people in the study had normal BMI numbers but larger than recommended waists. Jacobs said the risk increased progressively with increasing waist size, even at waist sizes well below what might be considered too large.

The study used data from more than 100,000 people who were followed from 1997 to 2006. Nearly 15,000 people died during that time.

The researchers crunched numbers on waist circumference, height and weight to draw conclusions about who was more likely to die. Study participants measured their own waists, so some honest mistakes and wishful fudging could have been included, the authors acknowledged.

Four extra inches around the waist increased the risk of dying from between 15 percent to 25 percent. Oddly, the strongest link – 25 percent - was in women with normal BMI.

People with bigger waists had a higher risk of death from causes including respiratory illnesses, heart disease and cancer.

The study was observational, a less rigorous approach that means the deaths could have been caused by factors other than waist size. But the researchers did take into account other risk factors for poor health, such as smoking and alcohol use.

Some older adults gain belly fat while they lose muscle mass, Jacobs said, so while they may not be getting heavier, they’re changing shape - and that’s taking a toll.

A tape measure, or a belt that doesn’t buckle the way it used to, “may tell you things your scale doesn’t,” Jacobs said.

Fat stored behind the abdominal wall may be more harmful than fat stored on the hips and thighs. Some scientists believe belly fat secretes proteins and hormones that contribute to inflammation, interfere with how the body processes insulin and raise cholesterol levels.

But Dr. Samuel Klein, an obesity expert at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, is skeptical about that theory. Removing belly fat surgically doesn’t lead to health improvements. That may mean it’s simply a stand-in for some other culprit that is causing both belly fat and poor health. Klein wasn’t involved in the new research.

Klein said the new study, while showing a link between waist size and mortality, doesn’t pinpoint exactly how much belly fat is dangerous for normal, overweight and obese people. The 40-inch for men and 35-inch for women cutoff points are irrelevant for many people, he said.

What can be done to fight belly fat? It’s the same advice as for losing weight. Eat fewer calories and burn more through walking, bicycling and other aerobic exercise. “Sit-ups are useless,” Klein said.

****

Ok, I will have to take issue with what Dr. Klein says about sit-ups.  I agree that you have to eat fewer calories and burn more through aerobic exercise, but sit-ups build muscle tissue, and increased muscle increases your metabolism.  Doing both aerobic exercise and sit-ups (and other strength training) is a win-win combination.  If you are looking for help in reducing your caloric in-take, call 727-525-1141 to schedule a consultation with one of our weight loss coaches at Remmel Wellness Center to develop a program that will work for you.

Posted by Laurie Puckett at Remmel Wellness Center, a full service wellness and chiropractic facility located in beautiful St. Petersburg, Florida.

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No Comments by Laurie Puckett on August 21, 2010
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