The Center for Disease Control is reporting that Measles Cases are at the highest rate in over 10 years. Most of the reason for the really high rate of Measles outbreaks is because of the fear of Autism from kids getting the

More measles cases have been reported in the United States since Jan. 1, 2008 than during the same period in any year since 1996, according to a report released today in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Measles Results for 2008

Between January 1 and July 31, 2008, 131 cases were reported to CDC′s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD). At least fifteen patients, including four children younger than 15 months of age, were hospitalized. No deaths have been reported. 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: Academy of Pediatrics, Anne Schuchat, Arizona, Arkansas, Austria, Autism, Belgium, California, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, China, D.C., director, encephalitis, Europe, Georgia, Germany, hawaii, Illinois, immunization, India, Israel, Italy, Louisiana, measles, Michigan, Missouri, mmr vaccine, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Mumps, National Center for Immunization, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, New Mexico, New York, Pakistan, Pennsylvania, preventing infections, Respiratory Diseases, rubella, Russian Federation, Switzerland, the Philippines, United Kingdom, United States, vaccination, vaccination program, vaccination status, vaccines, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin

Well this, my least favorite season of the Biggest Loser is over and I just wanted to add a few comments of my own on how entertaining the last two hour episode was. First of all I am glad that I taped the show and then watched it after for a bit more clarity and less interruptions from the kids. The show was broken into three parts. First was the people not chosen and worked out at home, second were the people kicked off during the show and finally they had the final four and their weight in. Why did the people at home winner get so much less than the final winner when the percentage weight losses were the same?

First the show recognized the non-picked that had to work out at home. This at home group were the rest of the 50 that did not get picked by Kim Lyons or Bob Harper to stay at the ranch and the winner of this was Poppi from New Jersey who lost just over half of her weight. What a massive loss going from 232 pounds to 115 pounds. Poppi looked really small and in fact was fantastic looking. As usual when losing a lot of weight she was barely recognizable from her old self.

Second, the people kicked off of the show. It was very close and Jaron from Arizona narrowly lost to Brian from California. Brian lost more than half his weight as well and looked very lean. The highlight to us at home and I bet most people was how huge Marty from Missouri was. Marty lost almost all of his fat and gained a ton of muscle. We knew he had no chance to win the biggest weight loss because he was so muscular.

In the final of the finale we were surprised to see Heather from Utah was pregnant. Now if you are up for a $250,000 prize why would you go and get pregnant instead of waiting until after the show is over? The show gave Heather a new nursery which was a nice consolation prize. The other surprise was Kai from Alaska, I am not to sure what was going on but it really seemed to have taken something to increase her attitude and energy before the show taped. I sure hope for her sake that they did not have random drug testing for the Biggest Loser finale. As anyone that has read my past posts knows I did not like either of the girls that were in the final four anyway. I was not really disappointed that they did not win.

Wylie from Florida looked like he never had a chance in this competition to win the title of Biggest Loser but in the end he came in third and looked fantastic and DID lose a lot of weight, more importantly to watch though was that Wylie seemed to gain a lot of muscle over the last few weeks of his training as I guess his bodyfat level got low enough to really notice.

Erik from New York ended up as the biggest loser. He lost more than half of his weight and seemed really healthy. Some of the people on the show always looked like they have lost too much weight but I did not think that Erik looked that way. Erik was lean and muscular and seemed to have a bit of bodyfat on him but just barely. I would not be surprised if he gained 10 pounds or so but some of the people look like they would probably have to gain 20 pounds or so to look like a more normal weight.

Well there it is another season of Biggest Loser over and hopefully the producers of the show take some of my earlier suggestions to heart and make some changes to the show. I liked this season the least but it was nice to watch the finale and see all of the success stories. I am really looking forward to the next season

Tags: Alaska, Arizona, bob harper, California, energy, Florida, kim lyons, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, USD, Utah

Q: It’s already bad enough that I have to quit smoking, and now I have to fight weight gain. That’s not healthy, either. Isn’t that like giving up one bad habit for another? Is there something I can take to prevent this?

A: It is very common to gain weight after you stop using tobacco. It may help if you understand why.

First, smoking cigarettes creates an oral fixation. When you remove the cigarettes, that oral fixation remains. Tobacco also suppresses the appetite and decreases both taste and smell. When you stop using tobacco, your appetite and sense of taste and smell come back with a vengeance. The result is that food usually becomes the focus, and that increases the amount of calories you eat.

Second, your body has been accustomed to smoking a certain number of cigarettes per day. Each time you smoke a cigarette, your heart rate, blood pressure and respiration increase and the effect is almost equal to walking up one flight of stairs per cigarette. If you stop smoking cigarettes, you are no longer getting the temporary increased metabolic effect of walking up those flights of stairs. Now you are burning fewer calories on a daily basis.

These two effects mean you are increasing your calorie intake and decreasing your calorie expenditure. No wonder there is a weight gain. How do you combat this? Try some of these tips:

Exercise. People usually won’t eat during exercise and for a period shortly before and after exercising, so this distracts you from your oral fixation and also burns calories. Now is the time to run those flights of stairs for real.
Have low-calorie snack foods easily available. Pre-slice carrots, celery and bell peppers and store them in the fridge. Have fresh fruit in baskets. Try licorice, sunflower seeds, and sugarless gum or candy.
Have a plan of distraction for when the urge hits. Get a hobby if you don’t have one. For instance, when you get the urge to give in, plan on calling a friend, taking a walk, cleaning, knitting, writing a letter, washing the car or similar activities to divert your thought pattern. Usually after five minutes the urge will subside.
If you falter, don’t beat yourself up. This can cause you to cover up the bad feeling with food or rely on tobacco even more. It can end up as a vicious cycle. Forgive yourself and move on.
Remind yourself that after three days, the nicotine addiction is basically over. The urgent feeling to revert to tobacco comes from the emotional habit to use tobacco, not the chemical addiction.
As far as replacing one bad habit with another goes, being overweight is the lesser of the two evils. Far more health risks are associated with continued tobacco use. The average weight gain after quitting smoking is 10 pounds, which can be tackled later when you have “kicked the habit.”

Unfortunately, there is no pill I would advise you to take to prevent weight gain. It is just going to take willpower and persistence.

Weight gain may be tough to overcome, but when you do, it just makes success that much sweeter.

by 1st Lt. Cheryl Chmielewski, Nutrition Care Division
General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

Tags: chemical addiction, Cheryl Chmielewski, First Lieutenant, food, Leonard Wood, Missouri, Nutrition Care Division General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital