Share your weight away

Individuals who share a plate with a love one have a better chance of losing more weight, then people who don't. You eat less, and you still can enjoy food you love. Plus eating together will bring you closer!! #girgit

MCS Taking Nutrition to the Kids

I had the chance to read the Commercial Appeal and read the article "Steering back to good health," and was very excited to see that the younger generations will get a chance to learn more about healthy eating here in Memphis.  The Memphis City School, hired Tony Geraci, who's a national leader in nutrition. His previous post was in Baltimore, where he taught kids the importance of fresh, and nutritious food.  I think this is a great step for Memphis City Schools, to help our younger generations become more knowledgeable about eating right, before they're to old and learn bad eating habits.  The next step for Memphis City Schools, in my opinion, is to implement resistance training at least 2 days a week for 4th thru 12th grade.  Just playing dodge-ball, kickball, and/or not participating at all can't teach kids the benefit of healthy living.  Resistance training gives kids the ability to learn how to exercise properly too, and gain a healthy lifestyle.  Just like math, and reading, the earlier you learn it  the better you retain it.  The same goes for fitness, and that gives kids a better chance of not being obese, or becoming obese as an adult.  One thing I can say from this article is, Memphis isn't going to be the fattest city in the future, if we keep making steps to change our community.  Read the article & help make a change.

 

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/oct/24/editorials-steering-back-to-good-health/?partner=RSS

What's your number? Do you know your BMI?

Everyone should know his or her BMI. Why, you ask? What is BMI?  BMI is short for "Body Mass Index;"  This number will signal if you're overweight, obese or in a healthy percentage.  When you go to the doctor do you ever get your BMI from him or her?  A government panel met Monday and decided that all adult should be screened for obesity when they are doing check ups.  That mean more physicians should be calculating BMI for every adult that come in for a check-up.  In 2010 survey was done of the American   Academy  of Family Physicians that show only 40 percent of primary care doctors discuss patient's BMI.  

Yes, when doctors see that someone is in the category of obese they're not going to just suggest the patient go on a diet.  They're going to offer the patient  intensive nutrition-and-fitness help, because this is not only go to help the individual change his or her life but also help bring down the high obesity percentage.    

A normal BMI is less then 25, and obesity begins at 30.  In between these numbers you’re consider overweight.  Two thirds of American adults are overweight, and 17 percent of children and teens are overweight.    This makes children and teens more susceptible to having diabetes, heart disease and other overweight diseases before they turn 18 years old.  In the Academy of Family Physicians survey only a third of obese patients remember their doctor even talking about weight loss.  

I know people think if they offer BMI and talked about losing weight a lot of the doctors business will go away.  This is totally true, but I'm sure doctors aren't skipping this process because they want to keep patients.   My suggestion is don't rely on the doctor.  Instead ask him for your BMI when you go for your check up and make sure you know your number.  

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57460336/know-your-bmi-docs-urged-to-screen-for-obesity/

Jamie's Wednesday Spin Class

Are you filling your spare tire every weekend? Then come to JAMIE's WEDNESDAY spin class 6:15 to 7:15 & burn 500+ calories!! I'm there to GIRGIT you should too!!! Come out sweating as if you just took a swim!!

Supermarket Sweep: Does SNAP = Obesity

We've all been to the grocery store on the first of the month when people receive their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program check (SNAP check).    No, this blog isn't about having the government stop giving assistance, but it's about how individuals shop who are on government assistance.  I've gone to the grocery store multiple times during this period of people getting their SNAP check with my one hand carry basket with all my healthy items, but then I see people with two push baskets with a mountain of unhealthy food.  We've all seen the mountain baskets filled to the tip top with soda, chips, snack cakes, sugary cereals, and other bad processed foods.  The first thing that comes to my mind is,"I'm paying for them to eat bad and then I have to pay for healthcare because they have obesity-related disease from unhealthy food and sedentary living".  Smacks me twice and call me stupid.  Research has been done on this group of people and it shows that SNAP

participation may actually cause an increase in the likelihood of obesity for low-income women. My opinion on this statement is the likelihood that if the mothers are obese it's a good chance the family is too.  It's not guaranteed for every family....just let me say that.   I feel the government should monitor the SNAP check situation by making it a requirement that individuals buy certain food with SNAP checks. Why should I have to pay for someone to eat items that I myself  wouldn't buy or put on my kitchen table?  I feel we need to stop this obesity epidemic by controlling what individuals by with SNAP.  We may need to specify what people can & can't buy or just  monitor how much they buy of a certain item - kind of like they do with WIC - and make sure they are buying healthy food that will help the baby.  Also, we need to have more supermarkets in low-income areas.  With better markets come better & healthier food choices.  This will also help local farmers sell more of their stock of vegetables and other non-processed food, which will bring more money into cities & towns.

Fat isn't Complicated! It's an Excuse!

I read Chris Peck's article Fat Memphis –It’s Complicated, and I almost had to take a run at 12:00am from being so angry. His article is a big reason people in Memphis feel the way they do about health in Memphis. Comments like this, “Memphis doesn’t care about being the fattest city in America” made me stop reading his whole article, but it was the first sentence. As I got more into his reading I had to stop from being so angry, and he tried to end his article with some positive information, but it was really mostly excuses. He’s totally ok to have his opinion, but I think his opinion is the reason other cities are so much ahead of Memphis in everything.

“The I don’t care attitude” is how this city looks at everything from social groups, the school system, crime and everything else around this city. Chris Peck should care about the health of Memphis and everyone around Memphis should too. Yes, people can go to BBQ fest, Music Fest, and all the rest of the big foodie events we have here, but if you're going to eat make sure you get a good workout before or the next couple days after. Chris, you may feel that nobody in Memphis cares about being the fattest city, but buddy I’m somebody who cares about the health & fitness in Memphis. Like Chris said, the Greenline has come to Memphis, and more people are getting involved with health. More gyms & outside group actives are being done. Memphis base magazine’s like Fitness+Health is teaching Memphians about health. It’s not going to change over night, but one day at a time things will get better.

Read the article and tell me how you feel. Being poor isn’t a good excuse for being obese…..being uneducated is.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/may/13/inside-the-newsroom-fat-memphis-its-complicated/

The Biggest Donor: To Fat To Donate

I read this article today from Mail Online about people being too obese to donate. In the article it states that a quarter of willing Americans who would like to donate are to large to be donors.  Out of those individuals only a small amount are able to lose the weight needed to donate. This is a sad situation for anyone who's trying to save a love one’s life, and for individuals who are waiting on their lives to be saved.   Most centers exclude living donors who have a body mass index(BMI) of 35 or above, according to MedPage. This exclusion cuts out a lot of Americans from even being considered to be a donor.

Right now 92,000 people are waiting on a kidney transplant, out of that amount 7,000 die each year waiting on a donor. As you can see, people's eating habits and sedentary lifestyles are becoming an impact on our shortage of donors, along with our future medical cost increasing from this epidemic.  I know a lot of individuals who say that change is hard and everyone cannot be skinny.  It’s not about being skinny it's about being healthy, living a long life, and being there to help family and friends. Read this article and give me your thoughts.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2144015/U-S-obesity-crisis-set-cause-organ-shortage-Americans-fat-donate.html

Facts from the article:

Sachdeva and colleagues analyzed 104 potential living kidney donors seen at their institution between 2008 and 2011. Out of the 104 only 18% had a BMI within the normal range(25 or below), while most fell into the overweight-to-obese category: 37% had a BMI between 25 and 30, and 45% had BMI of 30 or above(obese).

People need to start looking at how they are living their lives, because when one of their family members or friends need an organ most of them who want to help can’t because of how they are treating their body.