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MSNBC is reporting a study today done by Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research that seems to show that bar patrons drink more beer and drink faster when there is loud music. I hate to say it but I love to see these kinds of stories as they tell us a bit more about the human phyche as we get to think more about how people react to different situations.

Well that and maybe because I am drinking a Corona as I read the latest health news on the internet.

So what does the study really tell us? Well I believe that if we are to think about what people are doing in a bar, and I have been there in the past, they are talking, chacking out what is happening and fidgeting. When you are fidgeting a bit you are more apt to drink or eat whatever is in front of you.

So learn from the studies that you see, in this case I think that you are going to notice in yourself that if you are distracted and people put food in front of you then you will eat it…and lots of it.

weight loss study

A new diet study conducted by the New England Journal of Medicine has had some interesting results. I am always a little shocked by the poor results of these studies but lets dig into it.

The study was done in Israel with a group of 332 moderately obese people, that is people that knew that they had to lose some weight. The group dieted for two years and most of them, 84% were still on the diet at the end.

There were three diets, a low fat diet, (standard diet) a Mediterranean Diet (like the book), and a low carb diet (Atkins). The people stayed on the diet that was chosen for them for the entire two years.

The shocking part? That the did not lose very much weight at all over the two years. Read the rest of this entry »

I just found a study that seems to show that when compared in rats, I know I am not a rat either, There is a significant difference in lifespan between eating less on a calorie reduced diet and losing belly fat by simply having it removed.

As compared to the first group, the calorically restricted rats lived 40 percent longer, and the rats that had some of their abdominal fat removed lived 20 percent longer.

“So this suggests that the fat tissue itself is an important component of what happens in caloric restriction,” says Barzilai. Additionally, the rats whose abdominal fat was removed experienced a significant reduction in the occurrence of severe renal disease.

Barzilai’s previous studies in rats showed that surgical removal of abdominal fat improved their health, but removing the fat under their skin by liposuction did not.

Read the rest of this entry »

I can eat a couple of hot dogs. Sure some people like them but not as much as Joey Chesnut how set a record today by eating more hot dogs in 10 minutes than I thought was humanly possible.

July 4th is apparently a great day to eat hot dogs and hamburgers and Joey ate 69 and then 5 more to win an eat off to stay world champion. Read the rest of this entry »

I know most people outside of Canada will not really care about how fat or not different areas of Canada are but there is a new overweightness article that I found on MSN. In the morning I boot up the laptop and sign into MSN Messenger and it pops up a little box with some news stories. One of the stories today was about what area and cities of Canada have the most overweight and obese people. Here is a quote:

Ten years ago, smoking was the national epidemic that had the country talking. Across Canada, anti-smoking campaigns were being implemented. The bar and restaurant industry began to prohibit smoking indoors, and cigarette companies were dropped from sporting events as lead sponsors.

Fast forward to 2008, there is a new national concern, - a more silent, yet equally as deadly epidemic - obesity. Although smoking remains the number one preventable cause of death among Canadians, obesity is a close second. By now, the majority of us are aware of the hazards which extra fat can cause, so why are more than half of Canadians either overweight or obese? According to Statistics Canada, a shocking 59 per cent of Canadians are currently overweight or obese - that’s almost 6 in 10 adults who carry around extra weight every day.

Although the number of Canucks who are overweight or obese is high, some communities are on the right path to a healthier lifestyle - and smaller pant size. We’ve got the lowdown on Canada’s fittest and fattest cities - how do you measure up?

The article is interesting although it does not list my chosen home of Calgary. There is also the BMI info that we are so use to seeing in one of these articles. Have I mentioned enough times how much I hate the inaccuracy of BMI calculations?

There is probably the same kind of info for US cities but I have not seen it myself. The shocking thing about this article is that the number of people in Canada looks to be well over 60% of the entire population.