NYC's Calorie Rule

NYC has an amazing plan, in my opinion. They just set up restaurants to post the number of calories in their meals so that everyone can see what they are going to be ingesting before they ingest it. Take a look at the article from the NY Times.

If you would like to learn more about calories, take a glance at the article on KatyFitness.com

KatyFitness.com

Well I've been working on my website KatyFitness.com and it's been a challenge. I have so many things that I am working on, and writing for my blog, my website, Katy Magazine, and various other projects has been tough. I will find a balance one day though.

I am hoping to start working on a book soon. For those that know me, you know how long I have been talking about that now. It's one of those things that I know is important, but it seems like there are a lot of things that I am working on that are important. Prioritizing can be tough sometimes.

I work really well when I have requests though. If there is something you would like to see or learn more about, let me know. I'd love to see what everyone is looking for and meet that need.

This is all for now. Stay tuned and I hope to post again sooner than I have in the past.

Soft Drinks May Seriously Harm Your Health

Caution: Some soft drinks may seriously harm your health
Expert links additive to cell damage
By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Published: 27 May 2007

A new health scare erupted over soft drinks last night amid evidence they may cause serious cell damage. Research from a British university suggests a common preservative found in drinks such as Fanta and Pepsi Max has the ability to switch off vital parts of DNA.

The problem - more usually associated with ageing and alcohol abuse - can eventually lead to cirrhosis of the liver and degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's.

The findings could have serious consequences for the hundreds of millions of people worldwide who consume fizzy drinks. They will also intensify the controversy about food additives, which have been linked to hyperactivity in children.

Concerns centre on the safety of E211, known as sodium benzoate, a preservative used for decades by the £74bn global carbonated drinks industry. Sodium benzoate derives from benzoic acid. It occurs naturally in berries, but is used in large quantities to prevent mould in soft drinks such as Sprite, Oasis and Dr Pepper. It is also added to pickles and sauces.Sodium benzoate has already been the subject of concern about cancer because when mixed with the additive vitamin C in soft drinks, it causes benzene, a carcinogenic substance. A Food Standards Agency survey of benzene in drinks last year found high levels in four brands which were removed from sale.

Now, an expert in ageing at Sheffield University, who has been working on sodium benzoate since publishing a research paper in 1999, has decided to speak out about another danger. Professor Peter Piper, a professor of molecular biology and biotechnology, tested the impact of sodium benzoate on living yeast cells in his laboratory. What he found alarmed him: the benzoate was damaging an important area of DNA in the "power station" of cells known as the mitochondria.

He told The Independent on Sunday: "These chemicals have the ability to cause severe damage to DNA in the mitochondria to the point that they totally inactivate it: they knock it out altogether.

"The mitochondria consumes the oxygen to give you energy and if you damage it - as happens in a number if diseased states - then the cell starts to malfunction very seriously. And there is a whole array of diseases that are now being tied to damage to this DNA - Parkinson's and quite a lot of neuro-degenerative diseases, but above all the whole process of ageing.

"The Food Standards Agency (FSA) backs the use of sodium benzoate in the UK and it has been approved by the European Union but last night, MPs called for it to investigate urgently.

Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat chair of Parliament's all-party environment group said: "Many additives are relatively new and their long-term impact cannot be certain. This preservative clearly needs to be investigated further by the FSA."

A review of sodium benzoate by the World Health Organisation in 2000 concluded that it was safe, but it noted that the available science supporting its safety was "limited".

Professor Piper, whose work has been funded by a government research council, said tests conducted by the US Food and Drug Administration were out of date.

"The food industry will say these compounds have been tested and they are complete safe," he said. "By the criteria of modern safety testing, the safety tests were inadequate. Like all things, safety testing moves forward and you can conduct a much more rigorous safety test than you could 50 years ago."

He advised parents to think carefully about buying drinks with preservatives until the quantities in products were proved safe by new tests. "

My concern is for children who are drinking large amounts," he said.

Coca-Cola and Britvic's Pepsi Max and Diet Pepsi all contain sodium benzoate. Their makers and the British Soft Drinks Association said they entrusted the safety of additives to the Government.

The Facts About Weight Loss Products and Programs

I've recently started a mission. I want to find the best way to lose weight and keep it off. Now I know the basics, "Those who eat healthier and incorporate strength training and cardiovascular exercise into their normal routine, have the best long term results." I know this, and you may know this, but there's something missing. I can't completely put my finger on it, but I know there is more to it. I know there is a psychological/behavioral aspect as well. I am determined to find what it's going to take to really help people lose weight. I mean serious, long lasting weight loss that really affects other people's lives. So if you read this, give me feedback. What is it that makes the big difference? Where's the lightbulb? I'm ready to see some lives changed. I'm tired of some people being successful, and others not. I want a 90% or higher success rate in people achieving their goals and their lives.

I want to attach a very good article from the FDA about weight loss products and programs, and the warning signs to look for. I never knew the FDA evaluated this. Take a look. It's a great read!

Excellence

I received a fascinating e-mail the other day, and I can't get it out of my head. This isn't my typical post, so I apologize for those who are reading it and expecting some amazing fitness/diet information. I have a really good story I want to share with you about that, but not tonight. This is more of a post for other personal trainers who happen to run across my blog.

There are a lot of personal trainers that struggle to have clients to personal train. It's just like any other business out there. Trainers have bills to pay and so they are always in search of someone they can personal train. Trainers should be about more than just making money, and that's kind of the topic of this e-mail I received. Here's the quoted e-mail:

________________________________________

Typically, I spend most of my time talking to you about marketing, sales or systems - all those things that most fitness pros associate with growing their business and making more money. But I was listening to Dax Moy's Magic Hundred Audios the other day (for about the 100th time :)) and came across the section where he discussed people feeling that they deseved more. Yet, the word 'deserve' is derived from the from Latin d-serv-re - to serve zealously.
And only when Dax really embraced serving others at an even higher level than he ever had before, did his business really start to thrive.
What Dax was saying really struck a cord with me. We talk about serving our clients and getting them results - and often we do a very good job.
But we could do even better.
If you are truly extraordinary at what you do - the need to market decreases. People will seek you out.
See any ads for Rolls Royces lately?
Does this mean that you shouldn't market?
Of course not. You should market. You need to market.
But more importantly - you need to deliver EXTRAORDINARY service.
In our business that means alot of things, but it starts with being a great trainer. It starts with designing programs that always deliver on the promises that you make in your marketing. It starts with delivering results to your clients.
It's simple really: If you feel that you deserve more - deliver more service.
Help others get what they want. In turn, you'll get what you want.

________________________________________

I found that really fascinating. I truly try my best everyday to serve not just the people, like he mentioned in his article, but also to serve God in what I do. If you are in the personal training business just to make money, I will gladly suggest another field out there where you can make much more money without as much work. I don't want anyone to personal train someone who is truly struggling with something that is so personal and emotional as weight loss. If you can't care about the person in front of you, please go find another profession. It's only fair to the client and to you. Personal trainers, while not as critical to people as surgeons or doctors, can change someone's life in a positive or negative way. If you do the right thing, that person could have years added to their life and affect others along the way too, but when you treat a client the wrong way, it could be very detrimental. So if you got in this profession because you care about people, but suddenly became stressed about paying the bills, that's ok. It happens to everyone. But get back to serving the people like they deserve to be treated, and you will be able to pay your bills again.

For more information on personal training in the Katy, TX area, visit us at Medical Fitness Pros.

Workouts Delivered to Your E-mail Address

There are a lot of people around Katy that have great ambitions and strive to workout to get results, but all too often I watch people workout using incorrect form. I've been thinking a lot about the project I'm working on to help people get in better shape and how I can help do my part. I thought I would start by creating workouts that I could send to people that have safe, effective exercises that could easily be done at home. I don't have a real easy way of doing it, but I will put together pictures, descriptions, and videos that you can view anywhere you have internet access.
View an Example.
I'll e-mail new workouts to you monthly, and provide some fitness tips to you, as well as alert you about health and wellness events going on around Katy that particular month. If there is anything else I can provide to you, let me know and I'll do my best to include it.

Just add your e-mail address to the Katy Fitness Newsletter box, and I'll send you an at-home workout that you can do in your own living room.

How Serious is CVD?

I just finished watching the movie Amazing Grace and was blown away with the severity of the slave trade. I always knew it was a horrible time in the world, but I never understood how bad it was. The bad thing is that I know it is just a glimpse of the big picture of it all. I was amazed that more slaves died during the slave trade than actually made it to their destination. In fact it is estimated that during the peak of the slave trade (the 18th century) the death toll was probably around 8.1 million people. That's 80,000 per year, or 219 humans per day that died, needlessly. I started thinking about this and ran home to look up all of these statisticis. I love numbers, but the numbers I am sharing with you are just scary. I am so wrapped up in Cardiovascular Disease prevention at this time in my life, that I couldn't help but compare the severity of the slave trade to CVD. The slave trade was a horrible time in mankind, that forever leaves a stain, but what is today like for us? In recent years, approximately 105,560 African Americans will die from Cardiovascular Disease each year. That's 289 African Americans per day that died, needlessly. Most of the deaths of Cardiovascular Disease are preventable. PREVENTABLE! An average of 70 more African Americans die here in the United States each day from CVD, than from the disgusting slave trade that was rampant all over the world years ago. Does that make you think about it at all?

For me, all of this started with this post. More people are overweight in this world than starving. How is that possible? I sat down and and wrote a mission statement for myself and my surroundings. I couldn't let that continue to happen around me. Shortly thereafter I ended up being connected to Lois Grant from the Texas Dept. of Health who explained to me about various programs the department has. I decided I wanted to fight cardiovascualr disease in Katy. If you don't know much about Cardiovascular Disease, take a look at this video on PBS.org entitled Take One Step. It's such an important thing to focus on, and it is something that is so often overlooked. So my goal is to gather up various health and medical professionals and do something about it. I can't sit around and let people die when we know how to save their lives. Join me in this fight. Changing the world would be great, but let's start with our neighbors and loved ones. Let's make Katy a healthier place.

Katy Health and Wellness Meeting

I had a great time meeting everyone who was able to attend the meeting. Thank you again so much for coming. It was truly an honor to meet each of you.

If someone passed this along to you, please let me know if you have any questions. I hope to meet more of you at the next meeting on Thursday, April 5th at 7:00 PM in the Education Center.

Restaurants Promote Extreme Eating

Most of us would agree that restaurants serve huge portions to us. I think we accept it as the American way. But I really don't think we understand how bad it is in some situations. I'm guilty of that too. Not following me, are you? Ok, take a look at this. Here is the Chipotle Calculator. I like Chipotle. And it seems pretty healthy. Why don't you see how many calories your order usually is. I ended up with 1,260 calories on my usual order. I haven't been back since I found this little tool. It kind of ruined it for me. There was an article I just read that talks about some items on menus that people are upset about. There's some restaurants that have menu items that are over 2,000 calories by themselves. That's a whole day's worth of caloric intake for a lot of people. Here in Houston, there's a dessert at the Cheesecake Factory that has 1,380 calories. And I thought my burrito was bad.

In related news, the restaurant that created the 15 pound burger a while back, recently created a 123 pound burger for sale at their restaurant. They are hoping to break the world record to 2 other restaurants that have 105 pound burgers. Read more about it. Is anyone else disgusted, or is it just me?

"Leigey said he didn't know how many calories were stuffed into his latest gigantic entree.
"If you were worried about calories you would be at home eating Kellogg's," he said."

Common painkillers raise heart risk

A recent Reuters story announces that Common Painkillers Raise Heart Risk. It appears that the painkillers aspirin, ibuprofen, and acetaminophen when taken by men most days of the week, were about 1/3 more likely to have high blood pressure than those who did not. Please take the time to read the entire article before you stop taking these medications. If you are suppose to take them, keep taking them. But maybe try to find a way to get to the point where you don't need them all of the time. The moral of this is, the less medicine you have to take, the better off you will be. But again, if you have to take it, don't stop just because of this.

Take One Step

PBS recently launched a website based off a recent documentary entitled, Take One Step. It talks exclusively about Cardiovascular Disease (CVD), the history, the causes, the warning signs, and how to prevent it. More of us will diet from CVD this year than from anything else. This isn't just men either. Did you realize that more women die from CVD than from 10 types of cancers combined. You are a lot less likely to die from Breast Cancer than you are from CVD. What baffles me is that CVD is preventable. Let me say that again, CVD is PREVENTABLE. Watch your cholesterol, don't smoke, keep your blood pressure low, eat healthy fruits and vegetables, and be active.

We, as Americans, have gotten lazy about so many things. We expect everything to be delivered to us on a platter. I'm just as guilty about this at times. We don't want to take the time to eat right, or exercise, or mow our own yard, or even read our own Bible. We truly are a spoon fed society. If it doesn't involve someone else doing it for us, we often don't do it. I don't know why we've become this, but it has to change. Go visit this website and watch the videos of the show (you don't even have to read it if you don't want to). Take measures to protect your and your family's health. Life is short. You don't have to make it shorter because of a few foolish decisions. Take care of yourself....you'll be glad you did.

New AHA Guidelines

In case you missed this in the news, the American Heart Association recently announced some new important guidelines. Here is a highlight of some of the recent changes:

- Recommended lifestyle changes to help manage blood pressure include weight control, increased physical activity, alcohol moderation, sodium restriction, and an emphasis on eating fresh fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products.
- Besides advising women to quit smoking, the 2007 guidelines recommend counseling, nicotine replacement or other forms of smoking cessation therapy.
- Physical activity recommendations for women who need to lose weight or sustain weight loss have been added – minimum of 60–-90 minutes of moderate-intensity activity (e.g., brisk walking) on most, and preferably all, days of the week.
- The guidelines now encourage all women to reduce saturated fats intake to less than 7 percent of calories if possible.
- Specific guidance on omega-3 fatty acid intake and supplementation recommends eating oily fish at least twice a week, and consider taking a capsule supplement of 850–1000 mg of EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) in women with heart disease, two to four grams for women with high triglycerides.
- Hormone replacement therapy and selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) are not recommended to prevent heart disease in women.
- Antioxidant supplements (such as vitamin E, C and beta-carotene) should not be used for primary or secondary prevention of CVD.
- Folic acid should not be used to prevent CVD – a change from the 2004 guidelines that did recommend it be considered for use in certain high-risk women.
- Routine low dose aspirin therapy may be considered in women age 65 or older regardless of CVD risk status, if benefits are likely to outweigh other risks. (Previous guidelines did not recommend aspirin in lower risk or healthy women.)
- The upper dosage of aspirin for high-risk women increases to 325 mg per day rather than 162 mg. This brings the women’s guidelines up to date with other recently published guidelines.

You can read more of this report at the AHA's website.

No Need to Diet and Exercise to Lose Weight

"No need to diet and exercise to lose weight" SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS!!!

What an amazing headline I ran across! Well if you don't have to diet and exercise to lose weight, please tell me how I can do it too! This is revolutionary!

Well, fittingly enough, this story was published in the Oddly Enough section of Reuters. If you have never read the Oddly Enough section of Reuters, you should. There are some pretty crazy stories in there.

Anyway, back to the story....the story simple mentions that there was a controlled study done where one group was on a diet and another group was on a slightly higher calorie diet and exercised too. It turns out both groups lost the same weight. Which means calories in and calories out still rings true. They just found a better way of getting your attention because of the headline.

For me personally, I would rather keep exercising my body and my heart and have a diet that is not torture. Regardless, nutrition is 70-80% of your results no matter what you do. So if you pick anything to change to improve your health, start with your diet.

Go Red For Women

This month is Go Red For Women month. Did you know that heart disease is the number one killer for women? What are your risk factors for developing heart disease?

Experts Devise New Women's Heart Risk Predictor
Improved Cardiovascular Risk Predictor Developed for Women
Prediction of Heart Disease Risk Improved

I have tried to get pins for everyone to wear and I was giving them away at my gym, but we keep running out. I want Katy, TX to be more and more aware of this as time goes on, and hopefully prevent some unnecessary deaths over the coming years.

Artificial Disks

I've known about artificial disks for about 2 or 3 years now. I had a situation where an anaesthesiologist wanted me to help out a guy after he had an artificial disk put into his spine. It appears there are still trials underway for the artificial disks. I was excited at the time to be considered in helping with the recovery after he had the artificial disk implanted, but I never had the chance to help him. It appears that after the surgery, he had no problems, and he actually started playing golf again after the surgery. It was quite a shock to hear that everything turned out great and he was able to go on with a normal life. I don't want to go into a whole lot of specifics on how this procedure is done, but it may very well be the future for those with degenerative disks.

This is just a post to share some stories happening around the U.S.

Innovative Collaboration to Help Curb West Virginia Obesity
I think it's great that West Virginia is taking important steps like this. I look forward to the day they do a story on Katy, TX!

Gaining Weight is Bad for Your Earning Power
While I hate bias among the world based on physical appearance, it's also good to know that people to work hard to get in better shape end up with a reward after all of the hard work. I truly believe anyone can make it if they make it a priority in their life.

Lap Band Surgery for Obese Youngsters
This really saddens me. Can't we all agree there's a better way?

The Crash Diet that Doctors Do
I just found this to be an interesting read. It's interesting how even the doctors have different opinions on what they should do to lose weight.

Obesity Ads Aim to Jolt Parents
Hmmm, no opinion on this one for now. Quite an interesting idea they are going with here.

Baby Steps

How many of us started a New Year's resolution this year? What was your New Year's Resolution again? If you have fallen off already, let's try it again but take a slightly different approach. Instead of having some huge goal, why not take small steps instead. You have to have little encouragements along the way. Jessica Sinn, at Texas State University - San Marcos, recently published an excellent article on taking Baby Steps to get to your goals. It's a great article on how to accomplish your New Year's Resolutions this year. Tips she mentioned include:

- Give yourself small rewards
- Find a friend to workout with or hire a personal trainer
- Schedule time in your schedule to workout

Weight Loss Drugs.....For Your Canine?

Everyone wants a magic pill to lose weight, well now there's one for your pet dog. It turns out that it's not just the owners of the pets that are overweight, but that habit has now been passed on to the pets, and now 40% of pets are overweight. The pills cost $1-2 a day but they also suggests that you exercise the pets and also alter their diet. It's amazing how we are now turning to quick fixes for even our pets now. If we would just alter our pets food and exercise habits, they would be in better shape and so would we. Maybe if we took our pets for walks we could get in better shape ourselves. It's amazing how our society has changed so much over the years. Read More

What will happen next? stay tuned.....

Healthier Doughnuts?

AOL recently printed a story that I see as a little bit misleading if you just glance over it, "Doughnut Makers Seek Healthier Recipes". It talks about steps that are being taken to make doughnuts healthier by eliminating trans fat. The problem is that eliminating trans fat, while is important, does not make a doughnut healthier. Expect to see the makers of trans fat free food to make a big push to be viewed as "healthy". Expect to see a lot more stories about trans fat in the near future.

Another Trans Fat Story: Women's Fertility

They are saying that trans fat also affects fertility in women. A UK story talks about how trans fat can affect fertility by as much as 70% or more. The story suggests that people who eat a lot of fast food may consume as much as 10 grams of trans fat a day. Take a look at the story and read more.