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Healthy And Fitness News From Around The Internet

Healthy Habits — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 19:01:57 +0000

How much water does your body actually need each day? This article gives you the information. Important to know when dealing with the heat we’re having in Memphis.

Before you spend the money for “toning shoes” take a look at the latest research on their effectiveness.

Want to add more veggies to your diet? Here’s a cooking guide for 20 different vegetables.

Interesting article – new report states that inactivity is not a contributing factor in childhood obesity. What do you think of this information? Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment and let us know.

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Health and Fitness Links

Healthy Habits — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:35:07 +0000

Here are more links to articles we think are interesting. Do you agree? Leave a comment and let us know what you like…

If we are what we eat, what are we if our produce has less nutrients than in years past? Take a look at this article and see what you think -

Are you putting on sunscreen each time you go out this summer? If so, are you doing it correctly? Take a look at this article for what you should be doing and how often -

Take advantage of all the fresh fruit available this time of year – here’s a list of 100 Calorie fruit desserts – if you try one, give us a review!

New study shows that childhood obesity leads to a lack of exercise, not the other way around. What do you think of that?

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Is Obesity A Disease?

Healthy Habits — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 18:45:27 +0000

As we all know, there are a lot of obese Americans – 33% of adults and 16% of kids. Another 33% of adults are overweight, at least some of whom could be considered pre-obese. Memphians are all too aware of this, since we are considered one of the most obese cities in the country.

The World Health Organization and both the US Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health all consider obesity to be a disease. The arguments for this are that obesity impairs body function, decreases life expectancy, and can be inherited. If you compare obesity to hypertension, their causes and effects are very similar. But hypertension is internal to the body and unseen from the outside, while obesity is very apparent to the eye, and we as a society are prejudiced against obesity and obese people.

The flip side is that the most common causes of obesity are matters of personal choice and that many obese people do not have the impairments or conditions that obesity can cause. Obesity triggers other diseases but is not a disease in and of itself. This side of the argument states that we can control the causes of obesity.

What do I think? Well I’m just a personal trainer and this is a complicated issue. I agree with both sides. There are some people who have the knowledge and ability to maintain a healthy weight, but don’t. There are others who are economically and/or educationally disadvantaged and don’t know how – but could if they did. Some people have psychological or emotional conditions that interfere with weight control. Some inherit the genes that make weight control difficult.

It is interesting to me that both sides of the argument say that we as a society have to do a much better job of incenting the production and consumption of healthy foods in healthy amounts instead of unhealthy ones in huge amounts. And we have to value using our bodies for movement instead of sedentariness. Both sides advocate healthy eating and exercise for all people – obese, overweight, normal weight or underweight. So I make out either way!

What do you think?