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

Tonight I finally saw last nights episode of the Biggest Loser and I must say it was great. One of the teams (Bob Harper’s team) did not have Bob to train them for three days and in the end all of them put up big numbers and won easily. The red team of Kim Lyons lost again this week so they ended up kicking out the biggest hair in the history of Reality TV and that was Ken from Washington. Again some of the players on the red team think this is survivor and seem to be playing the game more than anything already.

There were a couple of real highlights of this weeks show and one of them was the doctor that is monitoring all of the players coming in and talking about where they were health wise. It seems that all of those obesity related problems like high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes that these people all had are gone now, and after only 6 weeks. That is amazing!

The other great news this week is that two of the people that have been working out from home are going to be going on the show next week as they kick out two more people, and apparently the new people have lost more weight than the people on the ranch.

I am looking forward to next week more than I have any week of this show for the last few weeks. If looks like the show has really gotten it together now.

Tags: bob harper, diabetes, high blood pressure, kim lyons, obesity, Washington

There is a very well distributed story today about how being a vegetarian will help you lose weight. I have heard this before but I am not sure how really true it is. Sometimes there is bits of truth in a story that is not entirely true. I know that a few years ago my wife decided to try dropping meat out of her diet to lose weight and instead over a year she ended up gaining some weight, why was this? The fat intake and carb intake was too high still even though the animal fats were out of the diet. Another problem with veggie diets is that often people are not careful with balancing amino acids in the protein that they do take in and this can stop you from recovering well from exercise. Need another reason not to be vegetarian? How about all of the anemic looking vegetarians out there, I am only a bit vane but I would be nervous about looking that pale. Anyway here is the article making it’s rounds lately:

WASHINGTON–A scientific review in April’s Nutrition Reviews shows that a vegetarian diet is highly effective for weight loss. Vegetarian populations tend to be slimmer than meat-eaters, and they experience lower rates of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and other life-threatening conditions linked to overweight and obesity. The new review, compiling data from 87 previous studies, shows the weight-loss effect does not depend on exercise or calorie-counting, and it occurs at a rate of approximately 1 pound per week.
Rates of obesity in the general population are skyrocketing, while in vegetarians, obesity prevalence ranges from 0 percent to 6 percent, note study authors Susan E. Berkow, Ph.D., C.N.S., and Neal D. Barnard, M.D., of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM).

The authors found that the body weight of both male and female vegetarians is, on average, 3 percent to 20 percent lower than that of meat-eaters. Vegetarian and vegan diets have also been put to the test in clinical studies, as the review notes. The best of these clinical studies isolated the effects of diet by keeping exercise constant. The researchers found that a low-fat vegan diet leads to weight loss of about 1 pound per week, even without additional exercise or limits on portion sizes, calories, or carbohydrates.

“Our research reveals that people can enjoy unlimited portions of high-fiber foods such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains to achieve or maintain a healthy body weight without feeling hungry,” says Dr. Berkow, the lead author.

“There is evidence that a vegan diet causes an increased calorie burn after meals, meaning plant-based foods are being used more efficiently as fuel for the body, as opposed to being stored as fat,” says Dr. Barnard. Insulin sensitivity is increased by a vegan diet, allowing nutrients to more rapidly enter the cells of the body to be converted to heat rather than to fat.

Earlier this month, a team of researchers led by Tim Key of Oxford University found that meat-eaters who switched to a plant-based diet gained less weight over a period of five years. Papers reviewed by Drs. Berkow and Barnard include several published by Dr. Key and his colleagues, as well as a recent study of more than 55,000 Swedish women showing that meat-eaters are more likely to be overweight than vegetarians and vegans.

Tags: diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, lead author, Neal D. Barnard, Nova Scotia, obesity, Oxford University, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Susan E. Berkow, Tim Key, vegan diet, vegan diets, vegetarian diet, vegetarianism, Washington