So how fast should you walk when you are getting exercise? A new study from San Diego State University seems to answer that question.

People who walk for exercise should aim for a pace of 100 steps per minute to ensure their workout is intense enough, according to researchers.

Many people who want to keep fit use a pedometer to keep track of how many steps they take. However, the device gives no information on how intensely they’re exercising — that is, whether their heart rate is being raised enough to improve physical fitness. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

Tags: average walker, lead researcher, San Diego State University, Simon J. Marshall, the American Journal

Being more physically fit appears to slow down damage to the brain’s memory centers in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Kansas Medical Center and presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease in Chicago.

“This is the first study to get an inside look into specifically where these changes occur in the brain,” lead researcher Robyn Honea said. “We’re able to locate the changes associated with fitness to the actual memory region, the hippocampus, which is a key area for Alzheimer’s-related atrophy.”

Researchers conducted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans on 60 adults over the age of 60 who were in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, along with 56 who did not have any form of dementia. All participants also took part in tests of oxygen consumption during a treadmill exercise, as a measure of overall cardiovascular fitness. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alzheimer's, Alzheimer's Association, Alzheimer's disease, Association's Medical and Scientific Advisory Council, Chairman, Chicago, dementia, lead researcher, magnetic resonance imaging, MRI, Robyn Honea, Sam Gandy, University of Kansas Medical Center, www.reuters.com

This info kind of goes without saying but it is important to keep the kids active, even if they love video games. We have run into this very issue at home where my daughter does not care much about video games and TV but my son certainly does and we always go out and exercise as a family to make up for it.

Children who regularly exercise and limit their time in front of the TV and computer are much less likely to be overweight than their peers, a new study suggests.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children devote no more than two hours per day to watching TV and playing video games.

Experts also encourage children to exercise regularly; some groups, including the AAP, recommend that boys move enough to take 13,000 steps each day, while girls should strive for 11,000. Another common recommendation is for children and teenagers to get at least one hour of moderate exercise on most, if not all, days of the week. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: AAP, American Academy of Pediatrics, Ames, Illinois State University, Iowa State University, Kelly R. Laurson, lead researcher

As a parent of two small children I always try to make sure that the kids get a lot of exercise to stay healthy but it is my wife that makes sure that they eat well as well. A new report from the British Medical Journal tells us that diet is very important too. Another thing of note is watching how much the kids exercise, it seems many are more inactive than we would think.

Physically active preschoolers are on to a good thing, but exercise alone won’t keep obesity at bay as they get older, British researchers report. Instead, a combination of exercise and other lifestyle changes — especially improved diets — may be the only solution to the childhood obesity epidemic, experts say.

“Promotion of physically active play per se may not be sufficient to have an impact on the weight status of young children,” said lead researcher Dr. John J. Reilly, a professor of pediatric energy metabolism at the University of Glasgow, Scotland.

His team published its finding in the Oct. 5 online issue of the British Medical Journal.

The researchers had already shown in earlier work that Scottish preschoolers have surprisingly inactive lifestyles. They typically get less than 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day, in contrast to the recommended 60 minutes a day. In their study, Reilly’s team looked at whether exercise could reduce the weight of 545 preschool children. Some of the children took part in an active play program, which consisted of three 30 minute sessions each week. In addition, parents received guidance on how to increase physical play at home.

The researchers measured the children’s weight at six months and then again at one year. They also assessed the youngsters’ movement skills, and tracked whether or not the increase in activity reduced sedentary behaviors.

They found that exercise had some health benefits, but weight loss was not among them.

Exercise had little effect on weight, or on the activity behaviors of the children, compared with the children who did not take part in the program. However, for children in the program, additional exercise did help improve their motor and movement skills.
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Tags: Britain, David L. Katz, director, food, John J. Reilly, junk food, lead researcher, obesity, pediatric energy metabolism, Prevention Research Center, Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine, professor of pediatric energy metabolism, Scotland, the British Medical Journal, United States, University of Glasgow, Yale University School of Medicine

A study by Johns Hopkins University has shown that a regular high-carb diet that is changed to include a little more protein or healthy oils can further curb heart disease risks, say researchers who had volunteers try three variations of the same diet.

This is a validation to many athletes diets that are slightly lower in carbs and slightly higher in protein but not as extreme as either end of the scale as a vegitarian diet or an Atkins style diet.

The Testing
But the study involving 159 adults with borderline or mild high blood pressure found the best results with diets that replaced some carbohydrates with protein like nuts and dairy, or with healthy fats, like olive oil.

The findings don’t mean you should gorge on meat, or that carbs should be shunned. But the study involving 159 adults with borderline or mild high blood pressure found the best results with diets that replaced some carbohydrates with protein like nuts and dairy, or with healthy fats, like olive oil.

All three diets were low in saturated fats and required plenty of fruits and vegetables, and all improved blood pressure and cholesterol readings.
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Tags: heart disease, high blood pressure, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Lawrence Appel, lead researcher, olive oil

A couple years ago my wife was considering weight loss surgery as her years off dieting and exercise and the yoyo weight loss/gain nightmare had mad her tired of the whole weight loss industry. Using Weight Watchers and getting the exercise to a more moderate lvel have helped Michelle lose three pounds or so per week and she is quickly dropping the weight that was so stubborn just a couple of years back. Yesterday Michelle got a call for the gastric bypass surgery consultation which here in Alberta Canada takes 19 months, I am happy to say that she turned it down because a healthy lifestyle has maed the difference for her. As you probably know there are a lot of instances where this surgery is really helpful for people but only in cases where there is a risk of imminent death by now doing something as drastic as this surgery is.

I have found an article from Bloomberg that I think really shows the importance of this surgery and the possible implications. Below are some exerpts from that article.
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Tags: American Medical Association, arthritis, associate professor, back surgery, bariatric surgeries, bariatric surgery, Bloomberg, Bruce M. Wolfe, California, David R. Flum, David S. Zingmond, diabetes, food, Gastric bypass, gastric bypass surgery, GBP, health care services, heart surgery, high blood pressure, hip replacement, insurance, John M. Morton, Journal of the American Medical Association, knee surgery, lead researcher, Los Angeles, Medicare, Michelle Fay Cortez, Minneapolis, obesity, obesity surgery, Oregon Health Science University in Portland, plastic surgery, Portland, professor of medicine, professor of surgery, reporter, Seattle, Stanford University in California, surgeries, surgery, UCLA's School of Medicine, United States, University of California at Los Angeles, University of Washington in Seattle, weight loss surgery