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Get Healthy!

27 Results for search "Weight: Misc.".

Wellness Library Results

Putting on extra weight isn't usually a winning strategy for good health. But now that you're pregnant, you need to keep the needle on your scale moving in the right direction. No matter what type of body you have now, it needs to get bigger. How much weight should I gain? According to the March of Dimes, a woman who started pregnancy at a normal weight should expect to gain about 25 to 35 pound...

For years, exercise scientists exhorted Americans to work up a sweat. Healthy exercise, the thinking went, had to be strenuous and prolonged. Then, study by study, evidence showed that moderate exercise -- nothing harder than a brisk walk through the neighborhood every day -- delivers most of the benefits of more exercise, including lower blood pressure, reduced risk of heart disease and certain c...

It's not just a stereotype, it's a fact: Most overweight people are badly out of shape. For whatever reason, they simply don't get enough exercise. But every once in awhile, a hefty person comes along who bucks the trend. Take Steven Blair, PhD, for example. At 5 feet 4 inches tall and 180 pounds, he doesn't fit anyone's definition of svelte. But his girth is deceptive. Blair, the director of The...

Want to know your vulnerability to heart disease? Like it or not, one of the best ways to know is to get on the scale. If you're unhappy with what the scale tells you, you're not alone. Despite our national obsession with thinness, Americans are heavier and less active than ever before. Over half of us are overweight, and self-esteem isn't the only thing at stake. Even a few extra pounds can be ha...

Frustrating as it may seem, banishing extra fat isn't impossible. Study after study has shown that the clincher, after cutting back on calories, is exercise. But as you charge into the gym, don't forget to enlist one of your best fat-fighting allies: your own muscles. If you want to get into shape, aerobic workouts can't be beat for their power to tune up the heart and lungs. Aerobics will also t...

Losing weight is easy. Just ask Oprah Winfrey, or the millions of other dieters who are on a weight-loss roller coaster. They manage to lose five, 20, or 50 pounds -- only to gain it all back. Doctors call this "weight cycling," but it's better known as yo-yo dieting. Yo-yo dieting can be extremely frustrating. Studies suggest that repeated cycles of weight loss and weight gain may also be harmfu...

A few decades ago, suburbia didn't seem too far from utopia. Postwar families flocked to these new neighborhoods with their affordable houses, green lawns, and easy access to the city. There wasn't much outcry about the lack of bike lanes or walking paths or stores within walking distance. Adults could drive wherever they wanted to go. In this new way of life, cars ruled. A sprawling society The ...

Fifty-six-year-old Susan Anderson* tries to tempt her 18-year-old daughter Annie with various options for lunch. Her daughter, however, seems to be a hard sell. "I have roast beef," her mother begins. "I don't like roast beef," Annie says immediately, wrinkling up her nose. How about ground meat with some taco seasoning, Susan asks, as if she's offering a rare treat. "Nah," says the college freshm...

Is it really possible to lose weight and keep it off? Absolutely. Almost everyone who is a bit overweight can safely maintain a 10- to 20- pound weight loss, and some obese people can trim hundreds of pounds. In fact, in a recent study of successful "losers" -- people who lost an average of 66 pounds and kept the weight off for at least five years - researchers found that even people with the most...

Shirley Poor walks more than two miles on a treadmill nearly every day -- not bad for someone attached to an oxygen tank. Poor, 65, has chronic bronchitis. And emphysema. And asthma. People would understand if she decided to take it easy. But the retired kindergarten teacher from Kissimmee, Florida, plans to put many more miles on her sneakers before she's through. Simply put, walking has restore...

What's wrong with the typical American diet? This is what the experts have to say: "Too many calories," says Marion Nestle, PhD, MPH, Professor of Nutrition and Food Studies at New York University. "Too many calories," asserts Melanie Polk, registered dietitian and former director of nutrition education for the American Institute of Cancer Research. Barbara Gollman, a registered dietitian who use...

No matter what time you set on your alarm clock, you keep pounding the snooze button until 8:30 every morning. Barreling out of bed in a panic, you hit the shower, race out the door, and clock into work just 10 minutes late with a coffee and giant muffin in hand. You work through lunch while chowing down a burger and fries that you barely notice, but by 3 p.m. you're crashing, so you're off to the...

When one person puts on weight, there's often a simple explanation: Too much time in front of the computer. An unhealthy attraction to pizza. An inherited tendency to pack on pounds. But what's to blame when an entire country starts to bulge around the middle? One thing is certain: You can forget about simple answers. The word "epidemic" is often overused, but there's no better way to describe th...

Children and teens in America are three times more likely to be overweight than they were 30 years ago. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, about one out of four U.S. children is now overweight or obese. While there are a few mysteries and unanswered questions behind this epidemic, some of the causes are painfully clear. Young people in the country may be the least active gener...

Have you bought popcorn at a movie theater lately? It comes in a variety of sizes: Small (which means large), medium (super humongous), and large (bathtub). If all that butter and salt makes you thirsty, you can order a 64-ounce soda -- that's nearly a six-pack of soft drinks in one convenient container. Enjoy! (And try to get an aisle seat.) These days, you don't have to go to the theater to sam...

Soda addiction has long been a problem in our nation's schools. Every day for years, many kids have lined up at vending machines to buy their 20-ounce bottles of sugar and carbonated water before they go off to study important subjects like history, math, and, yes, nutrition. Kids love soda, but they aren't the only ones who are hooked. With few exceptions, it's the schools that haven't been able ...

In real life, salvation doesn't usually debut as tidily as it does in the movies. You know, when the heroine peeks in the rearview mirror or glances up at a billboard, and there it is in fiery script: the magic combination that will make her life work. But that's how it seemed when Sally Shreve's phone rang one morning last winter. Shreve's friend, Sue Ann DeBower, was on the line, exclaiming ove...

Most of the time Rosalia Scalia is a happy vegan. She turned her back on meat, fish, eggs, and dairy products and embraces grains, beans, and greens instead. She devours volumes on nutrition and health, and enjoys whipping up exotic dishes from vegetable-based cuisine. After six years of dining low on the food chain, she's never felt healthier. There's just one problem: She can't get enough of the...

In the Roaring '20s and beyond, smoking was promoted to women as a diet aid. "Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet," one ad for Lucky Strike cigarettes proclaimed. Another Lucky ad, which appeared in 1934, shows a svelte woman on a diving board shadowed by an obese one. "Is this you five years from now?" the ad copy warned. Somehow, smoking, it was implied, would ward off the lovely woman's fat al...

Few of us need to be given more reasons to drop those extra pounds. We could do it for our hearts or our chins, for lower medical bills or freer spirits. But did you know you should also do it for your joints? The fact is, being overweight increases your risk of degenerative arthritis in the weight-bearing joints, especially the knees. According to the U.S. Surgeon General's Office, your odds of...

How do I know if my child has a weight problem? There's no simple answer, since children grow in spurts. Boys especially tend to put on weight and look plump for a period and then suddenly shoot upward and slim down. If you're worried, talk to your child's doctor, who can measure your child's weight and height to determine if he falls within the range that's considered normal. Your pediatrician c...

Should I be worried if my child is skinny? As long as she's a healthy eater, there shouldn't be any cause for concern. A lot of children are naturally thin. Chances are, your child will fill out as she gets older. Most kids follow a fairly steady growth curve that's dictated, in part, by genetics; if you were a beanpole in your youth, it's more than likely that your child will be, too. You shou...

Ding Dongs and Doritos have never solved anyone's problems, but that doesn't keep us from seeking solace in food. When work gets hectic, when plans fall apart, when relationships founder, we often try to calm our minds by filling our stomachs. "Everybody has their own comfort food," says Marci Gluck, PhD, a research clinical psychologist with the National Institutes of Health. A bag of chips, a b...

What is ovarian cancer? It's a cancer that strikes a woman's ovaries, the small almond-shaped organs that produce and release eggs. Unfortunately, the disease is characterized by symptoms so subtle that they often go unnoticed until the cancer has spread elsewhere. Most women who develop it, in fact, get a diagnosis only when the disease is far advanced. About 15 to 20 percent of ovarian cancer pa...

What is body image? It's your own subjective idea of how you look, summed up in your reaction to what you see in the mirror. If you're among the millions of Americans who say "Ugh," you have problems with body image. Because such problems are surprisingly potent -- especially in a culture like ours, which places so much emphasis on being thin, young, and beautiful -- negative body image can and ...

The next time you buy a large popcorn at the movies, consider saving the tub. After you wipe it clean, the neighborhood kids can use it as a fort. From family restaurants to theaters to the frozen food aisle, portion sizes are expanding at an alarming rate. Not coincidentally, so is the typical American waistline. For all of the current talk about fats and carbohydrates, portion sizes may be the ...

Can dietary supplements help me lose weight? "Eat! Eat! Eat! And Always Stay Thin! No Diet, No Exercise!" Sounds great, doesn't it? Unfortunately, you'll have a hard time responding to this particular ad. For one thing, it dates to the early 1900's. And, to make matters worse, pharmacies no longer sell the miracle product: sanitized tape worms. Weight loss products have changed in the last centur...