Surprising & Scary Health Findings of 2012

December 26, 2012 By 3 Comments

Mamavation 2012 Health Finds

2012 was an incredible year.

I had a baby, protested against the Strong 4 Life billboards and had them removed, fought for labeling genetically modified ingredients in California, spoke at Fitcation and BloggyCon, made some incredible new friends, and continued to changes lives everyday though Mamavation. Blessings abound. As I was looking back, I decided it would be fun and interesting to point out some of the interesting findings regarding health and nutrition this year.

1. Junk food is as addictive as heroin. A study was just released showing that over a period of five days consuming junk food, your brain becomes desensitized to the euphoria of junk food and sugar and needs more and more of it. The same pattern happens with drug use, specifically heroin. NO WONDER people have trouble losing weight. These are ALSO the same foods that have created the obesity epidemic in this country.

2. Top foods keeping your ass wide. The best friends of obesity are french fries, potato chips and soda. Most of you are rolling your eyes saying #duh, I know. But it’s now been confirmed. And I have to agree on the french fries and soda. That was my “go to” when I was a size 22. No more baby!

3. Genetically modified foods (GMOs) lead to obesity. Yup, we have fat rats. In a long-term study, rats that were feed genetically modified corn became obese compared to rats that were fed natural corn. With all this information about GMOs in our diet. I think it’s time to label them and encourage food companies to reformulate and stay away.

4. Sunscreen can actually accelerate cancer cells. Wow, this was shocking, but it’s actually not all sunscreen. It’s the ones that use Vitamin A in their ingredients, which happens to be most of them. So avoid that ingredient in your sunscreen. And also remember that the sun provides you with Vitamin D so don’t avoid it completely, just be responsible.

5. Store bought vitamins can lead to death. WHAT? I know. It seems like everyone is trying to sell supplements these days. The research found that Iron supplements were posed the greatest risk, but Calcuim supplements helped prolong life the most. Interesting. Other supplements to be wary of were multivitamins, folic acid, iron, copper, magnesium, zinc, and vitamin B6. The only supplements I take are fish oil and I give them to my kids as well. Luckily, those are safe.

6. Indoor tanning is addictive. Well from the look of some people on TV I want to say “no shit!” but this may not be obvious to some. Tanning, both indoor and outdoor is considered addictive by medical standards. What’s worse is if you become a “tanner” before age 30, you are 75% more likely to get skin cancer. Public awareness campaigns are not considered helpful in this instance. These people may need intervention because it can become that dangerous. Wow *says the porcelain queen of paleness*

7. Exercise doesn’t help you lose weight. Wow, now before you wig out, let me explain this one for you. If you put the calories back in that you expend in exercise, you won’t lose weight. In my experience about 85% of weight loss is all diet related and this study backs that claim up. So if you want to lose weight, watch what you are eating FIRST and then add exercise in. Fitness still has LOADS of health benefits so don’t give up on that.

8. SpongeBob Square Pants leads to hyperactivity. I’ve been saying this for years. In fact, it wasn’t until this year that I even let my first grader watch it. Interestingly enough, it’s not TV that rots their brain but the pace of the TV. Fast paced shows like SpongeBob causes hyperactivity and slower paced shows like Caillou do not. Sesame Street has actually picked up the pace since the 1970, so it’s better but sometimes not so much.

9. Genetically modified food leads to cancer. No shit sherlock. Keep digging watson. Make sure to see the pictures of the rat tumors. Those things are huge! They specifically tested the rats on GM corn and soy. Buy organic and GMO free.

10. Social media leads to premature death…..just kidding. I would cry if this was true.

Have a Happy 2013 everyone!

 

 

Filed Under: Featured, Leah's Posts, Longterm, Uncategorized, Wellness Tagged With: , , , ,

Who is in Control of My Body?

November 17, 2012 By 8 Comments

No, really… could someone tell me? Because I feel like I completely lost control.

This is Andrea and boy was it a rough week.

No, not a normal rough week. This past week was full of sick kids, sniffles, stress over the coming holiday and the worst that pregnancy had to throw at me.  Add in a few sleepless nights and it was a mixture for disaster.

I would love to tell you that I tried to eat well and exercised. The truth is, I could barely keep up with my sick and screaming kids, it is pouring and gloomy Oregon weather all around me, and I grabbed a few brownies and empty calorie treats in an attempt to feel better. Of course, it didn’t work. I am, in fact, left feeling guilty and ashamed of myself.

 

Yep. This week stunk.

Of course life goes on. I don’t want to repeat my mistakes of the past, so while shopping I only loaded up on a big tub of mixed greens, grape tomatoes, chicken and other veggies. Today I plan to make up a big batch of chicken salad (light version, loaded with extras!) to eat over my greens. I am not looking forward to Sunday’s weigh-in for Leah… last week I actually lost a little weight as I felt more energetic. Here was that scale pic:

Starting Weight: 208.6 lbs.
Difference from Last Week: -2.8 lbs.
Total Weight Lost: 9.6 lbs.
Percentage of Body Weight Lost to Date: 4.6% (I am counting lost, not added ;))

I talked with my doctor about my fatigue. Luckily, I should only have a few more weeks left of feeling like this. My fingers are crossed and because I have been working (modified) on the Billy Blanks DVDs, they should get easier to do.

Being a Mamavation Mom the first time around was nothing like navigating this now, pregnant. It is kicking my butt. I haven’t given up and just keep thinking of the story of the tortoise and the hare. I can definitely relate to the slow, clumsy, inflexible tortoise. If I had a shell, I would pull in and nap.

Okay, so who is with me for this week being better?

_____________________________________

Angela here. This week was much better for me. While I’m not losing large amounts of weight, I’m at least making some forward progress. I’ve been concentrating on being active with the kids, and just trying not to stress too much – which can easily trigger my emotional eating. I’ve rid my house of almost all of the Halloween candy, mostly by sending it to work with my husband and occasionally letting the kids have one piece as a special treat, since they’re the ones who went around the neighborhood to get it. After this week it should be all gone and we’ll be replacing those treats with fruit and other healthy things.

I’m still working on my portion control, though. I know how to do it, but like I’ve said before I’m dealing with some strong hormones. My game plan for Thanksgiving is to drink two glasses of water before I even start putting food on my plate. Then I’ll fill my plate half way with veggies and the rest of the dishes will have to share the other half of it. And no seconds!

Starting Weight: 212.4
Difference from Last Week: -1.4
Total Weight Lost: 1.6
Percentage of Body Weight Lost to Date: 1%

_____________________________________

Thank you to the sponsors for making this all possible! Big thank you to New Balance, Billy Blanks,  Omron Fitness and Inspired RD for support and equipment to help us achieve our fitness goals. Also a thank you to the whole Mamavation community and our fellow graduates.

Filed Under: Featured, healthy living, Longterm, Mamavation Moms, Uncategorized, Wellness Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

FDA Wants To Regulate All Health Apps. What Does This Mean?

June 12, 2012 By 2 Comments


Is an app that provides you with a daily reminder to take a pill the same as an app that a doctor uses to calculate the correct dosage for a prescription? Obviously not, but the FDA thinks they should be regulated the same way.

Just looking at the list of Health and Fitness Apps in the iTunes store, you can see how the market for these products has exploded over the last couple of years. Many of these would be subject to FDA evaluation.

According to the Health IT Now organization, regulatory structures governing mobile apps overlap among agencies and impose a confusing array of requirements. Take for example:

  • On average medical devices that require FDA evaluation are available to patients in the U.S. a full two years after they were available to patients in Europe.
  • Bringing a product to market through FDA requires an additional 72 months and $75 million
  • FDA requirements account for 77 percent of the cost of bringing a medical device to market.

 

Health IT Now also believes that the FDA is seeking to perform oversight responsibilities more appropriately undertaken by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Federal Communications Commission. They also state that the agency is “ill equipped to perform evaluation of software products used in information storage, capture, and sharing.”

Of course there should be regulations on an app that tells you how much insulin you need, in order to ensure it is safe and accurate. While the process is lengthy, it is costly to develop, and those costs are passed down to consumers, a truly medical app should be covered by most insurances. But that free app that records your daily calorie intake would also be subject to similar regulation, and all of the sudden it wouldn’t be so free anymore. Doesn’t really make a lot of sense, does it?

This isn’t necessarily an attack on the movement, but an opportunity to share some suggestions for revision. In a letter addressed to a Deputy Director of Policy for the FDA, there were recommendations for a resolution.

“While we applaud the FDA’s efforts to develop a regulatory framework for mobile health technologies, the concerns expressed by the various stakeholders highlights the need for additional clarity and depth of detail in the Agency’s approach. We urge FDA to exercise caution to ensure that its regulatory structure does not inhibit the development and use of mobile medical apps. We believe the Agency can balance the need for patient safety and the desire to promote innovation by modifying its guidance document such that it provides a clear, predictable, and appropriately tailored regulatory framework. We request the FDA move quickly to make the modifications necessary to achieve these goals, taking into consideration comments from all stakeholders.”

For more information, you can check out the press release from the FDA detailing what they are targeting, and don’t be afraid to leave your own comments on the matter.

The Health IT Now Coalition promotes the rapid deployment of heath information technology. Health IT will benefit patients and health care consumers while supporting health practitioners to make smart decisions about patient care while promoting efficiency. For more information, visit www.healthitnow.org

Filed Under: Featured, healthy living, Longterm, Uncategorized, Wellness Tagged With: , , , ,