Thursday, January 9, 2014
Nestle Teams Up With Biotech Company To Research Healthy Foods - RedOrbit
January 9, 2014
Brett Smith[1] for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Nestle[2] has reached an agreement with biotechnology company Cellular Dynamics International (CDI[3] ) over the purchase of specialized stem cells[4] that the food maker is expected to use in researching the connection between diet and health.
CDI announced[5] on Wednesday that the two companies had reached an agreement. Under the agreement, brain and liver stem cells from CDI will be sent to the Nestle Institute of Health Sciences[6] for the study of how nutrients found in foods affect these human cells, according to the Wall Street Journal[7] .
Nestle is expected to use this research to develop nutritionally enhanced drinks and food products that it can market as medically beneficial. Nestle set up its Health Sciences unit in 2011 with the purpose of pursuing the growing demand for “medical foods” coming from an aging consumers.
Robert Palay, chief executive at CDI, told the Journal that “18 of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies” buy the company’s specialized cells and Nestle is the first food manufacturer to make a similar agreement. CDI generates brain, liver and other cells from mature adult stem cells.
Emmanuel Baetge, director of the Nestle Institute of Health Sciences, told the Wall Street Journal that company scientists have started studying the CDI cells to determine how fatty acids found in avocados and olive oil interact with neurons. They are also studying the cells in the context of possible applications for treating obesity, diabetes and Alzheimer’s.
In February 2013, Nestle announced it would buy Pamlab[8] , which makes specialized foods for patients with dementia, depression or a high-risk pregnancy. In 2012, the food manufacturer bought a major stake in Accera[9] , which makes a medical food for Alzheimer’s patients.
Nestle also appears to have an interest in the world of consumer electronics as the company’s Nescafe brand held its first-ever event[10] at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. The event united Nescafé with a group of tech companies hoping to do business with the food maker.
“[Technology] changes and enables consumer behavior and CES is a showcase of that,” Nescafe CMO Sean Murphy told Ad Age[11] . “Waiting until this is already in market, you’re already too late.”
Nescafe came to CES with a brief describing how the company’s coffee is sustainably grown and produced, as well as the social elements of coffee consumption. Murphy said he walked away with solid leads after meeting with startups like Blippar, Ayla Networks and Retailigence.
Ayla Networks pitched a smart coffee maker controlled from a mobile device that allows for sharing of things like brews and recipes on social media. Robert Markovich told Ad Age that his company, which constructs and maintains the back-end technology, had been receiving inquiries from device-makers in the wake of the NEST smart thermostat, which learns users’ heating preferences and adjusts to them.
“The role of the coffee machine and connectivity is a given — we just have to decide the play we want to make,” Murphy said. “Part of the game is momentum; you don’t want to spend two years getting something in-market.”
Source: Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online
References
- ^ Brett Smith (blogs.redorbit.com)
- ^ Nestle (www.redorbit.com)
- ^ CDI (www.redorbit.com)
- ^ stem cells (www.redorbit.com)
- ^ announced (investors.cellulardynamics.com)
- ^ Nestle Institute of Health Sciences (www.nestleinstitutehealthsciences.com)
- ^ Wall Street Journal (online.wsj.com)
- ^ Pamlab (www.redorbit.com)
- ^ Accera (www.redorbit.com)
- ^ first-ever event (www.redorbit.com)
- ^ Ad Age (adage.com)
- ^ Health Medical Pharma (www.redorbit.com)
- ^ Cell biology (www.redorbit.com)
- ^ biotechnology (www.redorbit.com)
- ^ Biology (www.redorbit.com)
- ^ Nestlà (www.redorbit.com)
- ^ Stem cell (www.redorbit.com)
- ^ Developmental biology (www.redorbit.com)
- ^ cloning (www.redorbit.com)
- ^ Business Finance (www.redorbit.com)
- ^ Nestle (www.redorbit.com)
- ^ Technology Internet (www.redorbit.com)
Don't sabotage your fitness ambitions - Cincinnati.com
The initial jolt of motivation that pushes us to begin a journey of fitness is exciting, positive, and uplifting. When we start, we’re feeling on top of the world, inspired, and invincible because we haven’t yet encountered obstacles, setbacks, or challenges that attempt to off-road our plans to build new habits, a new lifestyle, or a new body.
What I don’t think we always take into account when we start is how mental this journey really is – even more so than physical. Our minds will always give up before our bodies do. In order to understand this, we need to understand what’s going on in our mind and how it works.
There are two minds within us: The conscious mind and the subconscious mind. The conscious mind is fully developed around puberty and is active when you are active. It’s the one we’re using immediately upon opening our eyes in the morning. It’s the one taking over to solve problems, decide what we’re wearing every day, help make our breakfast in the morning, and obsess over all the stuff we have to get done daily.
The subconscious mind, however, is fully functional from the moment we’re born and never sleeps. It doesn’t filter information, it just absorbs it. It is responsible for emotions, our instincts, and non-analytical reactions to things. It gathers all information it is fed from the moment we’re an infant, and it doesn’t care whether it’s true or not or whether it’s what we personally believe or not.
This fed information often becomes our beliefs. A lot of information we’ve gathered as children is fed to us before our conscious mind has had a fair opportunity to play. Because of this, our conscious mind sometimes has a really hard time breaking the barriers of our subconscious mind’s long-held information.
So how does this relate to a journey in fitness? If you’re struggling to develop a lifestyle in fitness because you end up quitting upon the first sign of discomfort related to exercise, food, criticism from others, self-doubt, or other fears seeping in, then it’s time to take a look at what could be going on in your subconscious mind and what’s buried in there.
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Possible scenarios:
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3. Write down the truth. Determine your true beliefs and affirmations – the ones you want to replace the fearful or negative ones with.
4. Brainstorm all the possible circumstances or scenarios you might encounter that may trigger these negative thoughts and fears.
5. Create a positive plan of action for when these circumstances present themselves, so you’ve got a solid set-in-stone plan for moving in the direction of your goals. This will help you physically learn to break through those negative fears and beliefs through action.
Repeat these steps as often as you need to and review them on a weekly basis. I even suggest taking it a step further by getting yourself a journal and daily writing out your top 10 goals for the week followed by your top 10 affirmations every morning. This will boost your ability to replace your self-limiting beliefs and start your day out on a positive note leading to healthier choices throughout the day – and ultimately, to the achievement of your goals and a continuously healthy lifestyle.
Tanya Thurnau’s website is The Sneaker Junkie, www.thesneakerjunkie.com[1]
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| Maybe you were overweight as a child and were made fun of by your peers for it. | Maybe you had an abusive parent and that impacted the way you feel about your body. | Maybe you were really tall and athletic and were made fun of for that body type because it made you different, so now striving to be athletic feels uncomfortable. | Maybe you grew up in a home where fit and healthy wasn’t taught and wasn’t a priority. | Maybe you associate weight loss with pain and discomfort. | Maybe you struggled with an eating disorder growing up or closely know someone who has. | Maybe you’ve simply witnessed a friend or family member go on diet after diet after diet. | Maybe you associate fitness strictly with losing weight – not longevity, energy or quality of life, because somewhere along the way that’s what you learned. As soon as we encounter an obstacle that triggers an emotional response or belief in our subconscious, that part of our mind – although it’s not consciously in control – will do whatever it can to stop you from moving beyond your comfort zone. Then our conscious mind, to protect itself from discomfort or pain, will rationalize and create excuses that relate directly to what’s going on in our subconscious mind. A lot of times, when we’re not aware of or prepared for this, our subconscious wins. Boo, right?! Who really wants the bad guy to win?! The good news is you can turn your “bad guy” subconscious into a “good guy” subconscious through training and awareness. Just follow these 5 steps: 1. Write down all the negative and fearful thoughts and beliefs that begin to crowd your head when you begin thinking about your goals for health and fitness. 2. Determine their true worth. Do they really have any power or carry any weight? Be as objective as you can. If you need to, ask a close friend or family member to help you think through it. |
|---|
References
- ^ www.thesneakerjunkie.com (www.thesneakerjunkie.com)
- ^ Send us your feedback. (news.cincinnati.com)
- ^ GET DEALS NOW (circularcentral.shoplocal.com)
- ^ Learn more about Login with Facebook (news.cincinnati.com)
- ^ Learn more about Login with Facebook (news.cincinnati.com)
- ^ View subscription options (news.cincinnati.com)
- ^ log in (news.cincinnati.com)
- ^ Learn more about Login with Facebook (news.cincinnati.com)
- ^ Download Adobe Flash Player (get.adobe.com)
Reset Your Fitness with Rihanna and Halle Berry's Body Guru - EBONY.com
![[GET LIFE]<br /> Reset Your Fitness with Rihanna and Halle Berry�s Body Guru](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uJqdPyZOqwRbSHcAKaH8yriqORIfEpI0fjUGeibFPBR9aus02_fvnIhvfHrY69QTtD_ms87iWug8JOnHLmP3VKQpdmN8Kf9lJ6qLbEdDr8SBDYq4Gogvky_1CQDpE=s0-d)
Recently, I had the distinct honor of sitting down with the mean behind the famous bodies of everyone from Rihanna to Halle to Kanye and beyond, well-known celebrity trainer and author Harley Pasternak to discuss his latest book in stores now, The Body Reset Diet [1] , and the tips and techniques he uses to help his clients.
“The Body Reset Diet focuses on a 15-day complete reset of your body, your appetite, your palette, your digestion, and it’s really easy,” says Pasternak. “It breaks it down to 60-second meal preparations, gives you really easy exercises that you don’t need to go to the gym for, and it’s really what I do to prepare someone for a movie role or a music video.”
Pasternak is a believer in circuit training – short, intense bursts of activity that builds muscle and help to tone bodies – combined with simply being more active throughout the day.
“What’s really exciting, is the new survey that Vitamin Water did, looking at boredom in their workouts. For a lot of my clients, I’ve got to keep them interested in their workouts and excited about them.
“The survey found that over 50% of people surveyed are bored with their workouts. Most of those people get bored at the 30 minute mark during their workout, and even more people found the treadmill is the most boring part of the workout. So, when I’m working with my celebrity clients, they don’t have a lot of time to work out. They usually have less than 30 minutes so getting people to workout intensely and intelligently for shorter periods of time is more effective.”
What other fitness tip does he give his clients? Fitness tracking tools!
“Trying to be active throughout the day so that, when they get to the gym, they really don’t need to spend time doing cardio. They can just focus on resistance training..” When it comes to a fitness-tracking tool, Pasternak sets the goal moderately high. “I tell them, ‘Try and take 10,000 steps every day.’”
When it comes to building a training circuit, Pasternak likes to focus on groups of body parts at a time, and he keeps the workout as fast-paced as possible. “We keep them moving so that we don’t waste any time.”
Pasternak graciously let EBONY.com inside of the training routine he uses for his clients to tone and tighten the booty area:
“This week we’re focusing on the muscles of the back of the body, so we do an exercise called the 'Superman[2] ,' to pull back the mid-section of the body. We do an exercise called the 'pike plank[3] ,' which is great for the front of the abs. We’ll do a 'skater lunge[4] ,' for the thighs and the butt, and we’ll do a back row[5] , to pull the posture and the back of the upper body.”
As nutrition is a huge part of Reset, he makes it very plain. “People will learn to love their blender!” To help the people who make meal skipping a habit, he encourages smoothies, soups and dips that are easy to make with little mess to make people get back in the habit of eating not only regularly, but healthily, too. “People will have no excuse for skipping breakfast in the morning, or unhealthy meal or snack when, within 60 seconds, they can have a really simple, easy, quick smoothie, soup or dip made in a blender.”
All in all, Pasternak aims to keep his advice simple. “I just really want to drive home the message of getting people moving more throughout the day, and making exercise and fitness a little more interesting and fun.”
I don’t think anyone will object to that!
Erika Nicole Kendall is the writer behind the award-winning blog, A Black Girl’s Guide to Weight Loss , where she chronicles her journey of going from 330lb couch potato to certified personal trainer, nutritionist, and all-around fitness dynamo. Ask her your health and fitness-related questions on twitter at @bgg2wl.[6]
References
- ^ The Body Reset Diet (www.amazon.com)
- ^ Superman (www.youtube.com)
- ^ pike plank (www.youtube.com)
- ^ skater lunge (www.youtube.com)
- ^ back row (www.youtube.com)
- ^ A Black Girl’s Guide to Weight Loss (blackgirlsguidetoweightloss.com)
Synergy in Avon starts new 'Yoga for Healing' classes - Vail Daily News
If you go ...
What: Yoga For Healing, a new yoga program for healing the body and the mind.
Where: Synergy Center for Wellness in Avon.
Date: Begins Jan. 20. Takes place Mondays at 4 p.m., Tuesdays at 9 a.m., Wednesdays at 4 p.m., Thursdays at noon and Friday at 9 a.m.
Cost: $15 to drop in, discounted punch cards and membership available. Free community class on Fridays.
More information: This is a yoga class for everyone, including those with physical limitations. Visit www.synergyvail.com.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Teacher John Cisna Says McDonald's Diet Helped Him Lose Weight -- But Is It ... - Huffington Post
The award-winning documentary "Super Size Me[1] ," about a man who ate only McDonald's meals for 30 days, shook up the fast food industry when it came out in 2004. The film chronicled activist and filmmaker Morgan Spurlock's alarming physical and emotional deterioration after averaging about 5,000 calories of McDonald's food a day.
After 30 days, he gained 24.5 pounds, while his cholesterol level shot up 65 points[2] . Shortly after the film debuted, McDonald's discontinued its "Super Size" portions (part of Spurlock's experiment included super-sizing his meal whenever offered by an employee) and began putting more fruits and vegetables on the menu, although reps denied that the changes had anything to do with the "Super Size Me" film.
Now, almost 10 years later, a high school biology teacher in Iowa named John Cisna is making the news with his own story about how eating McDonald's every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner helped him lose weight. The twist? Instead of simply trying every single meal on the McDonald's menu at least once like Spurlock did, Cisna relied on three students to carefully plan a menu of McDonald's food that added up to only 2,000 calories a day and adhered to 15 nutritional guidelines as recommended by the Food and Drug Administration. For exercise, Cisna walked briskly for 45 minutes, four to five times a week.
Cisna's students used the McDonald's meal planner feature[3] to map out three meals a day, while local franchise owners covered the cost of the food. Here's one sample menu:
Breakfast
Minute Maid OJ
Sausage Burrito
Fruit and Maple Oatmeal
Lunch
Fruit and Yogurt Parfait
Premium Southwest Salad
Apple Slices
Dinner
Large Diet Coke
Premium Grilled Chicken Classic Sandwich
Hot Fudge Sundae
Small Fries
Toward the end of the 90-day experiment, Cisna threw his students a curve ball: They had to start letting him eat the restaurant chain's more high-fat, high-sodium options, such as Big Macs, Quarter-Pounders and Double Cheeseburgers.
"I didn't want people saying I lived off fruit parfaits and Egg White Delights," explained Cisna in a phone interview with HuffPost. Plus, he said, he wanted to add an extra challenge to the project. His students quickly found that they couldn't keep him at 2,000 calories while still fulfilling the 15 nutritional guidelines, and chose to sacrifice his calories instead of his daily recommended nutrients. On days he indulged in a Big Mac or similar sandwich, his daily caloric intake dipped to 1,700 - 1,800 calories.
By the end of the 90-day project, Cisna lost 37 pounds from his 280-pound frame, and his cholesterol came down 79 points. But beyond the weight loss, he's thrilled that the experiment seems to have changed the consciousness of students at Colo-NESCO High School, where he teaches.
"What is cool is when you see one kid say, 'It's not McDonald's that makes you fat. It's your choices that make you fat,'" Cisna said. "That right there is when we knew that the kids understood."
Before and after photos of John Cisna.
But just because Cisna lost weight eating only McDonald's, does that mean nutritionists will be recommending his McDiet any time soon? Not so fast, said NYU professor and nutritionist Lisa Young, Ph.D., R.D., C.D.N., who is also the author of the book "The Portion Teller Plan[4] ." Young, who actually appeared in the "Super Size Me" film[5] to explain the evolution of fast food restaurant meal sizes over the years, says it's not surprising that Cisna was able to lose weight.
"You could lose weight any way you want as long as you eat less and you're conscious," said Young. "I think in this case what was happening is he was aware of the total amount that he was allowed, and I think that is what helped him lose weight." In other words, Cisna was simply using portion control to lose weight.
It's also no shock to find that there are many not-as-bad-for-you items on the menu at McDonald's, she added. The problem, said Young, is that most people who walk into a McDonald's restaurant don't have the discipline (nor the figurative weight of students counting on them for a school project) to resist ordering high-calorie foods.
"Sure, you could get a healthy thing," Young said, "but when you go to a place where the temptation of fries and soda and cheeseburgers are all over the place, it may not be so easy." Also, unlike Cisna, whose meals were subsidized by franchise owners, McDieters could be stymied by the expense of constantly eating out.
In addition, McDonald's newer, "healthier" choices leave a lot to be desired, and can sometimes even be worse for you than their traditional offerings. According to Mcdonald's nutrition information[6] , the Bacon Ranch Salad with crispy chicken and ranch dressing, for instance, is 570 calories and contains 1,400 milligrams of sodium and 36 grams of fat -- 58 percent and 56 percent of one's recommended daily allowance, respectively. A Big Mac, on the other hand, is 550 calories and contains 29 grams of fat and 970 milligrams of sodium.
While Cisna's McDiet might seem to be working for now, the sustainability of his approach is unproven, concluded Young. And when it comes to weight loss, a sustainable diet is key to making the changes (and the weight loss) last for a lifetime. Indeed, Cisna has lost significant amounts of weight with Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig in the past, but was never able to maintain the loss.
Bottom line? "I wouldn't go out and advocate the McDonald's diet just yet," said Young.
Cisna, on the other hand, is excited about the McDonald's diet and thinks that the experiment has taught him lifelong, healthy portion control habits -- despite the fact that his students planned all his menus and a restaurant cooked the meals for free. He also thinks that because of their global reach, McDonald's has a lot of potential to solve the health care crisis related to overweight and obesity.
McDonald's corporate headquarters weren't aware of Cisna's experiment and didn't know franchise owners were furnishing food for free, said a rep to HuffPost. They sent along a prepared statement congratulating Cisna for his weight loss, written by Dr. Cindy Goody, R.D., Senior Director of Nutrition at McDonald’s USA:
We congratulate John Cisna on his weight loss and improved overall health, and we are pleased he was able to accomplish his goals by making balanced choices, which included many of his favorite McDonald’s menu items. Like Mr. Cisna, many of our customers are looking for ways to find balance in their diets and make informed choices. As a registered dietitian nutritionist, I believe a variety of food and beverage choices can be a part of an active and balanced lifestyle. That’s why, we remain committed to providing our customers with more wholesome choices and increasing access to nutrition information.
As for Cisna, he's continuing the McDiet for another 90 days, while adding weight-lifting, jogging and basketball games to his brisk walking routine. While he's never been tempted to cheat on the menu (he had a Filet-O-Fish meal for Thanksgiving last year), he did admit he was looking forward to the day he would eat a non-McDonald's meal.
"Other foods are starting to look pretty nice right now," admitted Cisna.
Also on HuffPost:
References
- ^ Super Size Me (www.imdb.com)
- ^ cholesterol level shot up 65 points (www.cbsnews.com)
- ^ McDonald's meal planner feature (www.mcdonalds.com)
- ^ The Portion Teller Plan (www.amazon.com)
- ^ appeared in the "Super Size Me" film (portionteller.com)
- ^ Mcdonald's nutrition information (www.mcdonalds.com)
- ^ Send us a tip (www.huffingtonpost.com)
- ^ Send us a photo or video (www.huffingtonpost.com)
- ^ Suggest a correction (www.huffingtonpost.com)
New rec facility offers a glimpse of the future of fitness - UC Berkeley
Football’s not the only way to work up a sweat at California Memorial Stadium any longer. A new workout facility at the stadium has been designed to accommodate anyone who wants to get fit.
Located on the west side of the stadium, near Gate 2, the Stadium Fitness Center takes up 5,000 square feet of space rented from Cal Athletics by Cal Recreational Sports. It features state-of-the-art cardio machines, strength-building machines and free weights and is open to all Rec Sports members. (Anyone can buy a membership, with prices starting at $10 a semester for students.)
Director of Fitness and Wellness Operations Devin Wicks says the Stadium Fitness Center’s cutting-edge equipment represents a new approach to healthy lifestyles. (Steve Hockensmith photo)
Rec Sports runs a number of recreational centers and athletic facilities on or near campus, including the 100,000-square-foot Recreational Sports Facility on Bancroft Avenue. According to Devin Wicks, director of fitness and wellness operations for UC Berkeley, between 4,000 and 5,000 members use those facilities each day. Yet up until now, Rec Sports didn’t have a major presence on the east side of campus.
“This gave us a really good opportunity to reach a big population and make getting active and living a healthier lifestyle a little easier,” Wicks says. “If you want people to participate you have to remove as many barriers as possible, and how far you have to walk is a major barrier.”
According to Wicks, planning for the Stadium Fitness Center focused on three priorities: inclusivity, innovative technology and “functional training” (that is, exercise that prepares people for the physical challenges of everyday life). The inclusivity is reflected in a number of the center’s features, such as bathrooms and locker rooms that aren’t reserved for a specific gender only and workout equipment that can be adjusted to accommodate people in wheelchairs.
“The question we kept asking ourselves was, ‘How do we make all this accessible to everyone?’” Wicks says, adding that planners wanted to avoid pushing users with disabilities into a special section of the facility. ” We wanted everyone to be included in the overall space.”
The fitness center’s Kinesis Wall (which allows people to work out via a system of pulleys and handgrips) and Synrgy360 (a work-out station Wicks likens to “an adult jungle gym”) are not only easily modifiable for exercisers in wheelchairs, but also focus on the functional training Rec Sports wanted to emphasize.
“It’s all about functional fitness, not training your biceps because you want them to get big,” Wicks says. “It’s training your body for life.”
Of course, it’s not just people who have to be ready for everyday wear and tear. Workout equipment gets plenty, too – especially Rec Sports equipment.
“A lot of the manufacturers come to us and say, ‘Oh, our stuff is the toughest and strongest,’” Wicks says. “And I say, ‘Give it to us for two years. We’ll see how tough it is.’ We really put equipment through its paces.”
That’s sure to be true for the equipment in the Stadium Fitness Center, but now there’s a difference. The cardio equipment in the new fitness center is networked, giving staff access to real-time diagnostics and flagging potential problems.
“I can go on my computer and see how each piece is doing, and if something looks troubling I can send someone up to repair it before it breaks down,” Wicks says. “With as many members as we see, having one piece of equipment down is really tough. It impacts everybody. So being able to avoid that is great.”
Soon screens like these will feature streaming movies and TV in addition to personalized workout stats.
And the networking hasn’t just made Wicks’s job easier. It’s made tracking personalized workout stats a breeze, as well. Members are able to log onto cardio machines that remember their past workouts, apply their preferences, count the number of calories they’ve burned and even – in a change coming Jan. 17 – allow them to watch streaming movies and TV shows.
According to Wicks, innovations like that are sure to make the already-popular new fitness center even more of a hit. In the evenings, he says, the Stadium Fitness Center was close to hitting its maximum capacity – 60 members at a time – consistently throughout finals, when Rec Sports numbers usually drop off. By March, he estimates, there will be lines to get in during peak hours.
Mike Weinberger, director of Rec Sports, has taken note of the new fitness center’s fast start and says its innovations will eventually spread across campus.
“This is the approach we’d like to take with all of our facilities, and any new facilities that we build in the future,” he says.
“My sense is that this is a lab for us as we start looking ahead,” Wicks adds. “We can test things out here and then say, ‘O.K., this is working. Let’s take it down to the Rec Sports Facility.’ So this is kind of the future. It’s what Rec Sports hopefully will be.”
Most young teens don't meet US fitness recommendations - Los Angeles Daily News
Young teens aren’t exactly embracing the government’s Let’s Move mantra, the latest fitness data suggest.
Only 1 in 4 U.S. kids aged 12 to 15 meet the recommendations — an hour or more of moderate to vigorous activity every day.
The results are based on about 800 kids who self-reported their activity levels and had physical exams as part of the 2012 National Youth Fitness Survey.
Government researchers won’t call the results disappointing, but lead author Tala Fakhouri of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, “There’s always room for improvement.”
The CDC released partial results Wednesday from the fitness survey, which involved kids aged 3 to 15. Other results from the same survey are pending and include fitness data based on more objective measures including treadmill tests.
Fakhouri said the nationally representative results provide useful information for initiatives that aim to increase kids’ fitness, including the Let’s Move anti-obesity campaign launched by first lady Michelle Obama in 2010.
Kids in the survey reported on which physical activities they did most frequently outside of school gym class — basketball for boys and running for girls.
While few met guidelines established in 2008 for activity that raises the heart rate and makes you breathe harder, most said they did at least an hour of exercise at that level during the previous week. Overall, about 25 percent said they got an hour of that kind of exercise every day
Obese kids were less active than normal-weight girls and boys. Overweight girls were slightly less active than normal-weight girls, but levels were similar among overweight and normal-weight boys.
“It’s definitely very concerning to see that our kids are engaging in such a limited amount of physical activity each day when we are still battling” an obesity epidemic, said Dr. Stephen Pont, an Austin, Texas, pediatrician and chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ section on obesity.
Data suggest obesity may have decreased slightly among some kids but the overall rate for children aged 2 to 19 is 17 percent, or about 12.5 million obese kids.
Recent national data on kids’ fitness levels is limited. A 2009-10 CDC survey involving kids ages 6 to 11 found about 70 percent met the physical activity guidelines, although levels dropped off among older kids in that age group. The results came from parents, who may be inclined to over-report how active their kids are because of “social desirability,” the researchers said.
New Yoga Studio Focuses on Alignment, Instructor Attention and Small Classes - eCoronado.com (blog)
Coronado, CA, January 8, 2014 -- Not all yoga studios are overcrowded and intimidating. Bungalow Yoga, which opens January 13th at 1107 8th, offers a small, cozy atmosphere for yoga students to focus on pose alignment and a safe practice.
"I've been practicing yoga since 2003,” says Andrea Kane, Navy veteran and owner of Bungalow Yoga, “and a consistent complaint is not knowing whether poses are being done correctly.”
After being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 2010, Kane began attending private and semi-private sessions and discovered the many benefits of a personalized group practice.
“It was just amazing to be able to get those necessary adjustments and modifications; it changed my whole outlook,” Kane said.
Bungalow Yoga is housed in a historic bungalow off Orange Avenue and shares a wall with Kane's massage and skincare practice. The space was previously used to offer massage, but when her massage contractor decided to move to Hawaii last fall, Kane saw it as an opportunity to bring a niche service to Coronado. With three to five classes a day, four instructors and a variety of styles, including Power Yoga, Flow, Prenatal and Restorative, the slightly heated studio limits each class to just five students, giving more personal attention to students without the normal price tag associated with semi-private classes.
Due to the small class size, each student much pre-register and pre-pay online to ensure their spot. Water, towels, props and a mat are included, although students with a regular practice are encouraged to have their own mat.
“It's a neighborhood studio,” says Kane. “I've been getting calls from people who have wanted to try yoga but say they're slightly intimated by the large size of most classes, are injured, have chronic neck and back pain or just feel inflexible. These are the type of students who will benefit from this unique setup and I'm looking forward to seeing their progress.”
Bungalow Yoga offers daily classes and the schedule can be found online at http://BungalowYogaCoronado.com[1] . The first class is free and for the month of January, military, fire/police and teachers receive a 14% discount by using the code BYD at checkout. For more information, call 619.522.0026.
Campbell-based business delivers 'healthy' lunches - San Jose Mercury News
Two Stanford students are combining a fresh business model with a focus on healthy eating in order to deliver nutritious food options to the masses.
Mark Wittman and Marc Manara launched their business, Kincao, on July 31. The food startup delivers healthy lunches to residents and businesses in Campbell and Los Gatos from a commercial kitchen located in Campbell five days a week.
Since its launch, the business has grown steadily and now delivers about 400 lunches per week. The pair is planning to expand their business to San Jose and possibly north of the city in 2014.
Wittman, of Lexington, Ky., and Manara of Voorhees, N.J., a suburb of Philadelphia, met at Stanford while earning dual master's degrees in business administration and science in environment and resources. Wittman graduated in December while Manara will graduate in March.
"We bonded over a shared love of cooking, food and sustainable business models," Wittman said.
They also shared a mutual frustration with the food options around them. Diseases such as obesity and diabetes are becoming increasingly prevalent in the United States, and in many cases, diet is to blame, Manara said.
"There aren't many options for those who want to consume vegetarian or unprocessed foods," he said.
The pair decided to create a delivery-only service because, Manara said, there is a lot of startup cost in creating a traditional restaurant with a storefront, and the success of restaurants is often driven by location.
"Our central kitchen isn't on an exact corner on an exact block where there's a lot of foot traffic, and we can still have a successful business," he said.
The pair weren't sure the business would pan out when they launched the startup last summer.
"Some advice we got is that people say they want healthy food, but when it comes time to buy food, they choose things that aren't healthy," Manara said.
However, Manara says the demand for the meals has been high.
"We've largely proven that that's not been a problem," he said.
Wittman said he doesn't know of any other companies like Kincao in the Campbell area.
"There are a few services like this that are popping up in San Francisco, but they do dinners," Wittman said. "It's a pretty new concept."
There are other startups in the Bay Area that have a direct delivery model, such as Spoon Rocket in Berkeley. However, that startup isn't necessarily focused on healthy foods, Manara said.
"We're much more unique on the healthy food side," he added.
Customers can choose from two options each week: a bento box or a second option that rotates on a weekly basis. Both options include veggies, whole grain and lean protein. The meals have no added sugars, gluten or dairy. The vast majority of ingredients come from organic farms, Wittman said.
Each menu option can be made vegan, where the meat is replaced with a vegan protein. Another option is to make the meals so that they're in line with the new Paleolithic diet, commonly known as the caveman diet, where people consume foods that would be available to those living during the Paleolithic period. In order to make a meal "Paleo style," grains are removed and replaced with more vegetables.
"Meals from us are unquestionably healthy and good for you and also really delicious," Wittman said.
"We try to basically make it so tasty that you don't feel like you're giving anything up to eat a healthy meal," Manara said.
Wittman and Manara have expanded their team to include a chef who attended the Culinary Institute of America in New York, someone to help with food preparation and dish washing and another person to help with delivery.
To place an order, visit kincao.com[1] , put in a food request before 10:30 a.m. and pick a delivery window for when they want the food to arrive. There is no delivery fee.
Fitness in Teen Years May Guard Against Heart Trouble Later - Philly.com
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 8, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- People who are aerobically fit as teenagers are less likely to have a heart attack in middle age, a study of nearly 750,000 Swedish men suggests.
Every 15 percent increase in aerobic fitness in your teen years is associated with an 18 percent reduced risk of heart attack three decades later, researchers report in the Jan. 8 online edition of the European Heart Journal.
The results also suggest that teens and young adults who undergo regular cardiovascular training have a 35 percent reduced risk of heart attack later in life.
Aerobic fitness as a teen even appears to help people who become obese later in life, said research leader Peter Nordstrom, of Umea University in Sweden.
"It should be noted that aerobic fitness decreased the risk of heart attack significantly within also overweight and obese men," Nordstrom said. Obese men who had the highest aerobic fitness as teens enjoyed a 60 percent lower risk of heart attack compared with obese men who had the least fitness.
However, obese men with high aerobic fitness did have a higher risk of heart attack than lean men with little aerobic fitness. While the study found an association between aerobic fitness and chances of heart trouble, it did not establish a cause-and-effect relationship.
The findings emphasize the need for improved physical fitness among young people, said Dr. Stephen Daniels, chairman of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and a spokesman for the American Heart Association.
"Even though the diseases we see are diseases of older adults, it's increasingly clear that where people are in childhood and adolescence is critically important," Daniels said. "We probably aren't doing enough to help our young population become fit and avoid obesity."
For the study, the researchers analyzed medical data from 743,498 men drafted into the Swedish army at age 18 between 1969 and 1984.
As a part of induction, all of the draftees took part in a physical examination that included a test of their aerobic fitness. They all had to ride on an exercise bicycle until they were too exhausted to continue.
National health registers provided information on heart attacks the men suffered later in life. Doctors used this medical data to track men for an average 34 years following their military physical exam.
The researchers found that men with the lowest aerobic fitness had a more than twofold increased risk of later heart attack compared with men who were most fit.
The study authors also looked into the joint effect of obesity and fitness, and found that across all weight groups the risk of a later heart attack increased significantly when comparing the least fit with the most fit.
However, the fittest obese men ran a 71 percent increased risk of heart attack when compared to men who were unfit but lean. They also had more than four times the heart attack risk faced by the fittest lean men.
"This study helps to address the 'fitness versus fatness' question by indicating that both are important, but they are independently important," Daniels said. "Good fitness can't completely counterbalance the health effects of excess weight. Obviously, the best is to be normal weight and fit, which is what we should be aiming at for the majority of our population."
Muscle strength, which also was tested during induction, did not appear to provide the same heart health benefits as aerobic fitness.
Genetics likely plays a large part in the aerobic fitness of teens and, by extension, their protection against heart attack, Nordstrom said. Another study that focused on twins within this same set of patients found that 78 percent of the variation in their aerobic fitness could be chalked up to genetics.
But it could also be that men who are in good shape in their teens have adopted the sort of lifestyle that will keep them healthy later in life, said Dr. Mark Urman, a member of the American College of Cardiology's Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease Committee.
"If you're fit as a teenager, you're going to be more likely to stay in shape over the course of your life," Urman said. "The better shape you're in, the less apt you are to have cardiovascular problems."
More information
For more information on children and physical fitness, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention[1] .
SOURCES: Peter Nordstrom, Umea University, Umea, Sweden; Stephen Daniels, M.D., chairman, pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, and spokesman, American Heart Association; Mark Urman, M.D., member, American College of Cardiology's Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease Committee; Jan. 8, 2014, European Heart Journal, online
Copyright © 2014 HealthDay[2] . All rights reserved.
References
- ^ U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov)
- ^ HealthDay (www.healthday.com)