Shigeaki Hinohara

At the age of 98, Shigeaki Hinohara is one of the world’s longest-serving physicians and educators. Hinohara’s magic touch is legendary: Since 1941 he has been healing patients at St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo and teaching at St. Luke’s College of Nursing.

After World War II, he envisioned a world-class hospital and college springing from the ruins of Tokyo; thanks to his pioneering spirit and business savvy, the doctor turned these institutions into the nation’s top medical facility and nursing school. Today he serves as chairman of the board of trustees at both organizations.

Always willing to try new things, he has published around 150 books since his 75th birthday, including oneLiving Long, Living Good that has sold more than 1.2 million copies. As the founder of the New Elderly Movement, Hinohara encourages others to live a long and happy life, a quest in which no role model is better than the doctor himself.

Here now, in his own words, is advice on this doctor of long life on how to live a long life.

Energy comes from feeling good, not from eating well or sleeping a lot. We all remember how as children, when we were having fun, we often forgot to eat or sleep. I believe that we can keep that attitude as adults, too. It’s best not to tire the body with too many rules such as lunchtime and bedtime.

All people who live long – regardless of nationality, race or gender — share one thing in common: None are overweight. For breakfast I drink coffee, a glass of milk and some orange juice with a tablespoon of olive oil in it. Olive oil is great for the arteries and keeps my skin healthy. Lunch is milk and a few cookies, or nothing when I am too busy to eat. I never get hungry because I focus on my work. Dinner is veggies, a bit of fish and rice, and, twice a week, 100 grams of lean meat.

Always plan ahead. My schedule book is already full until 2014, with lectures and my usual hospital work. In 2016 I’ll have some fun, though: I plan to attend the Tokyo Olympics!

There is no need to ever retire, but if one must, it should be a lot later than 65. The current retirement age was set at 65 half a century ago, when the average life-expectancy in Japan was 68 years and only 125 Japanese were over 100 years old. Today, Japanese women live to be around 86 and men 80, and we have 36,000 centenarians in our country. In 20 years we will have about 50,000 people over the age of 100.

Share what you know. I give 150 lectures a year, some for 100 elementary-school children, others for 4,500 business people. I usually speak for 60 to 90 minutes, standing, to stay strong.

When a doctor recommends you take a test or have some surgery, ask whether the doctor would suggest that his or her spouse or children go through such a procedure. Contrary to popular belief, doctors can’t cure everyone. So why cause unnecessary pain with surgery? I think music and animal therapy can help more than most doctors imagine.

To stay healthy, always take the stairs and carry your own stuff. I take two stairs at a time, to get my muscles moving.

My inspiration is Robert Browning’s poem “Abt Vogler.” My father used to read it to me. It encourages us to make big art, not small scribbles. It says to try to draw a circle so huge that there is no way we can finish it while we are alive. All we see is an arch; the rest is beyond our vision but it is there in the distance.

Pain is mysterious, and having fun is the best way to forget it. If a child has a toothache, and you start playing a game together, he or she immediately forgets the pain. Hospitals must cater to the basic need of patients: We all want to have fun. At St. Luke’s we have music and animal therapies, and art classes.

Don’t be crazy about amassing material things. Remember: You don’t know when your number is up, and you can’t take it with you to the next place.

Hospitals must be designed and prepared for major disasters, and they must accept every patient who appears at their doors. We designed St. Luke’s so we can operate anywhere: in the basement, in the corridors, in the chapel. Most people thought I was crazy to prepare for a catastrophe, but on March 20, 1995, I was unfortunately proven right when members of the Aum Shinrikyu religious cult launched a terrorist attack in the Tokyo subway. We accepted 740 victims and in two hours figured out that it was sarin gas that had hit them. Sadly we lost one person, but we saved 739 lives.

Science alone can’t cure or help people. Science lumps us all together, but illness is individual. Each person is unique, and diseases are connected to their hearts. To know the illness and help people, we need liberal and visual arts, not just medical ones.

Life is filled with incidents. On March 31, 1970, when I was 59 years old, I boarded the Yodogo, a flight from Tokyo to Fukuoka. It was a beautiful sunny morning, and as Mount Fuji came into sight, the plane was hijacked by the Japanese Communist League-Red Army Faction. I spent the next four days handcuffed to my seat in 40-degree heat. As a doctor, I looked at it all as an experiment and was amazed at how the body slowed down in a crisis.

Find a role model and aim to achieve even more than they could ever do. My father went to the United States in 1900 to study at Duke University in North Carolina. He was a pioneer and one of my heroes. Later I found a few more life guides, and when I am stuck, I ask myself how they would deal with the problem.

It’s wonderful to live long. Until one is 60 years old, it is easy to work for one’s family and to achieve one’s goals. But in our later years, we should strive to contribute to society. Since the age of 65, I have worked as a volunteer. I still put in 18 hours seven days a week and love every minute of it.

Still Rocking Away at 92

Jerry Thill, who at the time was 91 years old and rocking away. I thought I would reprise it and add some more info about Jerry, since the article I wrote was short on background information about her. 

Jerry is truly a longevity role model.

Jerry Thill

Jerry Thill, now 92, lives in L.A. and has been in the music scene since her teens. Over the last 60 years she has been leading all-female bands, from big-band and swing bands to jazz ensembles. She’s been on the Tonight show and on TV shows such as The Golden Girls andMarried With Children.

But it was the above video, Hey Jerry, shot and produced by her musician/filmmaker friend Allee Willis last year, that gave Jerry Thill massive exposure. After all, how many nonagenarians are out doing drumming gigs on a regular basis, as Jerry still does?

Jerry currently gigs in Hollywood, CA at the El Cid restaurant. See the video below of her performing the song“Oh Yeah” at the El Cid in 2008. The song begins at the 1 minute mark of the video.

A publicity photo from 1988, when Jerry was a mere pup, at age 71. She's the one on the right.

Since the Hey Jerry video first appeared on YouTube, Jerry has appeared on the cover ofModern Drummer magazine, and has been featured in other articles. Along with that she has received thousands of letters and emails, with people telling Jerry what an inspiration and role model she is.

Jerry says that, “I’ve gotten a lot of emails from people who say, ‘I’m 45, and I’m at a point in my life where I don’t know what to do, and your video inspired me, and I’m going to get off my ass and do something.’ ”

The oxygen tank Jerry has with her (you see it in the above video) is something only recent, in the last year. I assume the oxygen tank is from the occupational hazard of years of gigging in clubs and all the cigarettes that people used to smoke while listening to the music.

Jerry Thill is still going strong at 92 and is a remarkable model of longevity. We should all be rocking away when we hit her age.

Here’s Jerry’s website: http://jerriethill.com/

And don’t forget, next time you’re in Hollywood stop by the El Cid to see her.

Below is the video of her performing in 2008 at the El Cid. The music starts at the 1 minute mark of the video.

What’s Making Our Children Obese?

Back in 1977, average daily consumption of fructose was about 37 grams per person per day.

Recent surveys show that it’s up to 54.7 grams, or about 10 percent of total caloric intake. And for teenagers – who consume a ton of sodas – fructose intake averages a whopping 72.8 grams, the equivalent of 18 spoonfuls of the stuff every single day.

Why should we care? It’s deadly. Fructose is one of the worst sweeteners you can possibly consume and it’s making our children obese.

Table sugar (sucrose) is made up of fructose and glucose. Studies that compare the effect of these two simple sugars (glucose and fructose) consistently show that it is the fructose part of table sugar that does the most damage, raising triglycerides and creating insulin resistance.

Yet, high-fructose corn syrup is only marginally worse than sugar (high fructose corn syrup is about 55% fructose and 45% glucose while table sugar contains equal amounts of both).

And there are a few food categories that are packed with these deadly sweeteners and heavily marketed to children.

If you recall the article I wrote about Kellogg’s promoting their obscenely sweetened with sugar and high fructose corn syrup breakfast cereal, Cocoa Krispies, as a healthful food, you can see how difficult it is for most people to realize the dangers of sugar when they’re up against a marketing behemoth that will stop at nothing to lure you into the unhealthy lifestyle that living a High Density Lifestyle is.

Besides the breakfast cereals, another food category that is playing a major role in the obesity epidemic are high-calorie soft drinks and fruit-flavored drinks.

“Roughly 15 or 20 years ago, we had an explosion in the availability of these beverages,” says Dr. Robert Keith, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System nutritionist. “Sure, they were around two decades ago, but certainly not to the degree they are today.”

“They’re everywhere, and they come in these attractive packages that are highly marketable,” he says. “And because you don’t have to refrigerate them, they can be stuck in a backpack and consumed anytime during the day.”

Few would deny the convenience associated with these products. But with this convenience comes a highly “concentrated source of calories,” Keith says. And when consumed in large amounts day in and day out, the end result is often obesity.

“Children up to age 11 need between 1,200 and 1,500 calories a day,” Keith says. “Only four of these beverages typically add up to between 400 and 600 calories, so many children are deriving up to a third or even half of their daily caloric intake from these products.”

Studies have confirmed a high correlation between heavy consumption of these drinks and obesity. Indeed, children who consume large amounts of these beverages tend to have higher body weights and higher levels of body fat.

Equally bad, the crowding out of other foods associated with over-consumption of these products is also depriving children of other vital nutrients.

“By consuming a third or even a half of their calories from these drinks, kids are causing the hunger mechanism in their brains to become partly quenched,” Keith says. “The result is that they’re less hungry, and with less hunger, they’re apt to eat fewer fruits, vegetables and other nutritious foods.”

“They are getting the calories but very little nutritional value.”

What can be done to reverse this dangerous trend?

“You really can’t make kids eat nutritious foods without limiting the intake of these beverages, because this will only contribute to obesity,” Keith says.

Instead, he says parents first should limit their children’s intake of high-calorie drinks to only one or two a day and replace additional consumption with milk, water or pure fruit juice.

Pure fruit juice, however, should be somewhat restricted in cases where the children already are obese.

It’s the Food, Not Lack of Exercise

Many say that another big cause of obesity in younger folks is their lack of exercise.

Most American teenagers are not as active as they should be, but a lack of exercise does not seem to be to blame for the rising rates of teen obesity, according to a U.S. study.

According to a recent study published in the journal Obesity Reviews, researcher Youfa Wang of John Hopkins University said that a lack of exercise was not to blame for the rise in U.S. children and teens.

Wang and his research team, using government survey data from 1991 and 2007 that tracked the health and lifestyle of U.S. high school students, found the amount of physical activity among U.S. teens has not in fact changed significantly over the past two decades while the population, including children, has gotten heavier.

“Although only one third of U.S. adolescents met the recommended levels of physical activity, there is no clear evidence they had become less active over the past decade while the prevalence of obesity continued to rise,” said Wang.

He said there was no evidence that teens’ exercise levels had changed appreciably at any time during the study period — even though those years saw an increase in teen obesity.

Overall they found only 35 percent of teenagers surveyed in 2007 met the current recommendations for physical activity — performing activities that gets the heart rate up at least one hour per day, five or more days out of the week.

But there was no evidence that teenagers’ exercise habits shifted significantly during the study period.

Some kids love yoga

In 1993, for example, 66 percent of teens got enough short bursts of vigorous exercise — 20 minutes of running, biking or other heart-pumping activity at least three days per week. That figure was 64 percent in 2005.

When it came to moderate exercise which should, according to guidelines, be performed at least 30 minutes per day, on five or more days per week, only 27 percent met that goal in 1999.

That figure was unchanged in 2005.

The researchers also found a decline in teenagers’ TV time, which is interesting, because it has been widely believed that an increase in TV time is one of the causes of obesity.

In 1999, 43 percent of students spent three or more hours watching TV on school days but this figure dipped to 35 percent in 2007. Wang said these findings suggest that waning exercise levels are “not likely the major explanation of the recent increase in obesity among U.S. adolescents.”

He said other factors, like unhealthy diets, may be the driving force.

And that is the truth. It’s the high consumption of junk food – sugar/high fructose corn syrup and fatty foods – that are the culprit.

Sadly, the desire for the junk foods is pretty much an addiction. Studies of the brain function of people with substance addictions has found that junk food triggers the same activity and response in the brain.

And a new study by researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida found similar reactions in rats. Pleasure centers in the brains of rats fed high-fat, high-calorie food became less responsive over time – a signal that the rats were becoming addicted. The rats started to eat more and more. They even went for the junk food when they had to endure an electric shock to get it.

“Your brain reacts almost identically to that of a cocaine addict looking at cocaine,” said Dr. Louis J. Aronne, a clinical professor at Weill Cornell Medical School and former president of The Obesity Society. “And the interesting thing is that someone who is obese has even more similarity to the cocaine addict. In many ways, they can be addicted to junk food.”

And even more sadly, food companies know this and create their food products with this in mind – they want people to be addicted to their products, because then they have a customer for life, regardless of the consequences.

Stress is a major cause of living a High Density Lifestyle

Another cause of obesity, and a major cause at that, is stress.

Stress is a major cause of living a High Density Lifestyle, and a major cause of obesity.

What is it about stress that leads to obesity?

There’s two main reasons: behavioral and physiological.

Behaviorally, stressed-out people will often eat even when they’re not hungry – this is known as stress eating or emotional eating, and the food choices made are usually not the wisest.

Physiologically, there’s a few factors that lead to obesity. One factor is cortisol and cortisol-induced insulin.

When faced with a stressful situation, the body triggers the stress response, the fight-or-flight response. This leads to the secretion of cortisol, adrenaline and other stress hormones along with an increase of blood pressure, breathing and heart rate.

The natural stress response is usually short-term and self-regulating. When the threat is gone, the body returns to normal. As cortisol and adrenaline levels drop, heart rate, respiratory rate and blood pressure, as well as energy levels return to their baseline levels. Other systems inhibited by the stress response return to their regular activities.

The natural stress response goes awry when stress is constant and excessive. In today’s society, most people are inundated with overwhelming stress. For those constantly dealing with excessive and chronic stress, the body’s fight-or-flight response is constantly on. In turn, the resulting stress hormones released are chronically high.

Chronically high levels of cortisol plays a big role in the development of obesity.

Cortisol helps the body handle stress, so when stress goes up, cortisol also goes up. Cortisol stimulates fat and carbohydrate metabolism during stressful situations. This leads to increased blood sugar levels required for fast energy. In turn, this stimulates insulin release which can lead to an increase in appetite.

When the immediate stress is over, cortisol lingers to help bring the body back into balance after stress. One of the ways it gets things back to balance is by increasing appetite to replace the carbohydrate and fat used for the flight or fight response.

The problem is that in today’s society, stress-causing situations — such as traffic jams or computer malfunctions — don’t require the body to use up a lot of energy. So, cortisol ends up causing the body to refuel after stress even when it doesn’t really need to refuel. This excess fuel or glucose is converted into fat, resulting in increased storage of fat.

What makes matters worse is that cortisol-induced high levels of insulin also leads to increased production and storage of fat. This means that exposure to chronically high levels of cortisol and cortisol-induced insulin are major main reasons why stress can lead to increase in body fat and obesity.

Another physiological reason that was found recently for why stress leads to obesity is a molecule that the body releases when stressed called NPY (neuropeptide Y). NPY appears to unlock certain receptors in fat cells, causing them to grow in both size and number.

NPY was discovered by researchers during an experiment in which stressed and unstressed mice were fed either a standard diet or a high-fat, high-sugar, “comfort food” diet.

As expected, the mice on the high-fat, high-sugar diet gained fat while those on the standard diet did not. But researchers found the stressed mice on the high-fat, high-sugar diet developed more body fat than the unstressed mice fed the same diet.

The good news of all this is that stress-induced obesity can be overturned by the learning of simple stress management techniques.

And for that matter, diet-induced obesity can be overturned by the learning of better food habits.

So there is hope!

Fad diets leave obese women

Many women are left emotional wrecks after failing on a diet and blame themselves rather than the unrealistic programme they were following, according to a study.

The study carried out by Natural Ketosis Company involved 501 women aged between 35 and 55 who were three stones or more overweight.

Ninety per cent blamed themselves for their weight.

Of the 334 women on a diet in the past three months, 62 per cent had regained the weight lost. A total of 39 per cent felt that "diet companies actively make them feel like it's their fault when they fail to lose weight".

"Dieters should blame the diet not themselves. Long-term help is essential to change how you eat for life," the Daily Express quoted Hannah Sutter, of the Natural Ketosis Company as saying.

Clinical psychologist Alison Harper said diet failures led to huge cyclical problems, with patients more negative about themselves and less able to overcome problems. (ANI)

Kids as young as 5 suffering heart damage caused by obesity

Obesity is putting more and more of our children at risk of high blood pressure and cholesterol, which can damage their hearts, according to a study.

The study found that blood pressure of obese kids is 40 per cent higher than that of healthy youngsters and they have up to nine times more cholesterol in their blood, the Daily Mail reported.

Oxford academics warned that even in children as young as five, their arteries have become lined with fatty deposits so their hearts have to work harder to pump blood.

The study that involved nearly 50,000 five to 15-year-olds found the hearts of obese children were enlarged compared with those of youngsters who were a healthy weight.

And the blood pressure and cholesterol of some was already so high that unless they change their lifestyles, they could be 40 per cent more likely to die from a heart attack or stroke in adulthood.

"It's almost like a ticking time bomb of damage going on in their hearts and blood vessels," the paper quoted Dr Matthew Thompson, one of the study's authors, as saying.

Although researchers have long known that obese children tend to have slightly higher blood pressure and cholesterol levels, they were shocked at the differences compared with those of normal weight -particularly in obese girls, who had far higher blood pressure than healthy youngsters.

The researchers also found cholesterol levels, measuring fatty deposits in the arteries, were between 7.5 and nine times higher than normal.

"The relationship between obesity in children and cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure was much greater than we anticipated," said Researcher Dr Carl Heneghan, reader in evidence-based medicine at the University of Oxford.

"The magnitude of the effect of obesity upon increasing cardiovascular risk in children is deeply worrying in terms of their future risks of heart disease," he noted.

The researchers believe obese children's hearts gradually become enlarged due to the strain of having to pump blood through the partly blocked blood vessels.

Although they are unlikely to suffer a heart attack or stroke soon, they will be at far higher risk by the time they reach adulthood.

The finding was published in the British Medical Journal. (ANI)

Anti-Obesity Day

Anti-Obesity Day is observed all over India on November 26^th, 2009. The initiative seeks to spread the word about the dangers of obesity and the steps to take to cut the flab and stay fit. 
This day assumes importance in the wake of the obesity statistics which shows 17 % of the young in the age group of 14-18 in India are overweight or obese. They add to the burden of overall obesity figures in India standing at a mammoth 70 million. What makes it worse is that South Asians are genetically more prone to heart disease and diabetes due obesity. Further, Indians are genetically prone to accumulation of weight around the waist, a sure health risk. 

Elaborating on the enormity of the problem Pav Kalsi, care adviser at Diabetes-UK said, “We know that T-2 diabetes, which is linked to being overweight, is up to six times more common in South Asian people than the white population.”

Growing Menace

A person is medically termed obese when the body weight is 20% more than the normal weight.  Body Mass Index, the measure of obesity, is calculated using the ratio of weight and height. 

Standards used worldwide to measure obesity are based on data from Whites. According to this standard, a BMI of 25 or more is considered overweight and a BMI of 30 or more is considered obese. Though the World Health Organization (WHO) still retains these cut off points for overweight and obese standards, it recognizes the need to develop different cut off points for different ethnic groups throughout the world. 

Recently, the BMI limits have been lowered in India for better accuracy and also to avert health risks of obesity by getting more people into the fold– now, a BMI of 23 denotes overweight and a BMI of 25 and above denotes obesity. 

Health Risks of Obesity 

Obesity has been linked to at least 53 diseases. Not surprising, as overweight and obesity are known to impact blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides and insulin resistance of the body, negatively. The health risks of obesity can cost life and hence tackling obesity needs serious attention. 

An abnormally high BMI increases the risk of breast cancer, cancer of the colon, prostrate, kidney and gall bladder. Thus, obesity is the leading cause of premature death due to its association with chronic diseases like cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and Type 2 Diabetes.   

• Type 2 diabetes and obesity are liked directly. Studies have shown close to 85% of people with Type 2 diabetes are overweight. 
• Obesity significantly elevates the risk of heart disease and heart attack if one is 20% overweight. . 
• Obese women aged 50 and above carry an elevated risk of hypothyroidism, a disorder of the endocrine system which can trigger further weight gain and a host of other problems. 
• Gallstones are another major problem for the obese and for obese women the risk is more pronounced. 

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has outlined some of the health risks of obesity. They are: 

• High blood cholesterol, dyslipidemia
• Insulin resistance, glucose intolerance
• Congestive heart failure
• Cholescystitis and cholelithiasis
• Gout
• Osteoarthritis
• Some types of cancer (such as endometrial, breast, prostate, and colon)
• Complications of pregnancy
• Poor female reproductive health (such as menstrual irregularities, infertility, irregular ovulation)
• Bladder control problems (such as stress incontinence)
• Psychological disorders (such as depression, eating disorders, distorted body image, and low self- esteem)

Bell the Fat

A multi-pronged strategy for effective weight management and prevention of chronic diseases is crucial for those groups at risk. A healthy lifestyle with a proper diet and exercise is the only secret to maintaining optimum weight. 

The prevention strategies will include a weight loss programme followed by a weight maintenance programme. The weight loss programme will combine the benefits of rigorous physical activity and a healthy diet regimen designed to knock off the additional weight in a stipulated timeframe. 

Obesity which opens the Pandora’s box of chronic diseases can be prevented with just a few healthy steps: 

1. Eat a balanced diet rich in proteins, vegetables and fruits. Including more fiber and less fat will do the trick, experts say. Cut down on snacks, bakery products and fast foods laden with trans fat.   

2. Stay active. Engage in a 30 minute physical activity with a good pace of exercise preferably 4-5 times a week.   

3. Monitor weight regularly. 

Notwithstanding personal efforts, it is also imperative that the policymakers in India chip in to regulate the entry of harmful foods. Increasing the taxes of foods saturated with sugar and trans fats while reducing the cost of vegetables and fruits may be the way to go for a leaner, fitter and healthier India. 

FOR WEIGHT LOSS PRODUCTS PLEASE CONTACT US ON +91-9502945769 OR  EMAIL US healthandwealth360@gmail.com or healthyindia360@gmail.com

Obesity Low Density Lifestyle

When you live a Low Density Lifestyle, one of the beneficial side effects is better health and wellness. And when you live a High Density Lifestyle, one of the detrimental side effects is poor health – and one manifestation of poor health is often times obesity.

Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems.

Body mass index (BMI), a measurement which compares weight and height, defines a person as overweight (pre-obese) when their BMI is between 25 kg/m2 and 30 kg/m2, and obese when it is greater than 30 kg/m2.

Obesity increases the likelihood of various diseases, particularly heart disease, type 2 diabetes, breathing difficulties during sleep, certain types of cancer, gynecological issues, pain, and osteoarthritis. Obesity will also shorten life span.

Before the 20th century, obesity was rare; in 1997 the World Health Organization (WHO) formally recognized obesity as a global epidemic. As of 2005 the WHO estimates that at least 400 million adults are obese, with higher rates among women than men.

The rate of obesity also increases with age at least up to 50 or 60 years old and severe obesity in the United States, the British Isles, Australia, and Canada is increasing faster than the overall rate of obesity. The U.S., by the way, has the highest percentage of obese people in the world.

And Scotland actually is the second most obese country in the world, which is why People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) put up an outrageous billboard not too long ago in Scotland.

Once considered a problem only of high-income countries, obesity rates are rising worldwide and affecting both the developed and developing world. These increases have been felt most dramatically in urban settings. The only remaining region of the world where obesity is not common is sub-Saharan Africa.

Obesity is a public health and policy problem because of its prevalence, costs, and health effects.

The main cause of obesity is the modern diet, and as such, it is an easily preventable situation.

From 1971 to 2000, obesity rates in the United States increased from 14.5% to 30.9%. In that same amount of time, calorie consumption has grown tremendously, and most of the extra calories came from an increase in carbohydrate consumption rather than fat consumption.

The primary source of these extra carbohydrates are sweetened beverages, which now account for almost 25 percent of daily calories in young adults in America. Consumption of sweetened drinks, and sweets in general, is believed to be one of the main contributors to the rising rates of obesity.

A few months ago I wrote an article about sugar and high fructose corn syrup, and in the article I said that these were the main culprits in the obesity epidemic. Both of them are hard for the body to process, and use over time can cause tissue damage in various regions of the body.

It may be a lesser of two evils approach to say which of these two are worse, but the evidence points to high fructose corn syrup as being even more of a detriment to the body than sugar. But that doesn’t let sugar off, as sugar is a close second in its effects on the body and how it contributes to obesity.

Another big contributor is the increasing reliance on big-portion, fast-food meals, and the association between fast-food consumption and obesity is well-known. In the United States consumption of fast-food meals tripled and calorie intake from these meals quadrupled between 1977 and 1995.

Interestingly, the country of Iceland has been in such dire straits financially that McDonald’s recently announced that they are closing their stores in that country, making it one of the few countries in the world that they won’t be in. It will be interesting to see if health statistics and obesity rates will lower because of this.

One thing about Iceland is known: they are a resilient and happy people, even with their financial problems, so without a McDonald’s in the land, they may now have cause to be even happier and truly rejoice.

And it may help their financial situation, because it will lower their health care costs.

What causes obesity and overweight?

The fundamental cause of obesity and overweight is an energy imbalance between calories consumed and calories expended. Globally, there has been:

• an increased intake of energy-dense foods that are high in fat, salt and sugars but low in vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients; and
• a decrease in physical activity due to the increasingly sedentary nature of many forms of work, changing modes of transportation, and increasing urbanization.

Changes in dietary and physical activity patterns are often the result of environmental and societal changes associated with development and lack of supportive policies in sectors such as health, agriculture, transport, urban planning, environment, food processing, distribution, marketing and education.

What are common health consequences of overweight and obesity?

Raised BMI is a major risk factor for noncommunicable diseases such as:

• cardiovascular diseases (mainly heart disease and stroke), which were the leading cause of death in 2008;
• diabetes;
• musculoskeletal disorders (especially osteoarthritis - a highly disabling degenerative disease of the joints);
• some cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon).

The risk for these noncommunicable diseases increases, with the increase in BMI.

Childhood obesity is associated with a higher chance of obesity, premature death and disability in adulthood. But in addition to increased future risks, obese children experience breathing difficulties, increased risk of fractures, hypertension, early markers of cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance and psychological effects

Is Your Child Overweight?

The percentage of overweight children in the United States is growing at an alarming rate, with 1 out of 3 kids now considered overweight or obese.

Many kids are spending less time exercising and more time in front of the TV, computer, or video-game console. And today's busy families have fewer free moments to prepare nutritious, home-cooked meals. From fast food to electronics, quick and easy is the reality for many people.

Preventing kids from becoming overweight means adapting the way your family eats and exercises, and how you spend time together. Helping kids lead healthy lifestyles begins with parents who lead by example.

Body mass index (BMI) uses height and weight measurements to estimate a person's body fat. But calculating BMI on your own can be complicated. An easier way is to use a BMI calculator.

Once your child's BMI is known, it can be plotted on a standard BMI chart. Kids ages 2 to 19 fall into one of four categories:

1. underweight: BMI below the 5th percentile
2. normal weight: BMI at the 5th and less than the 85th percentile
3. overweight: BMI at the 85th and below 95th percentiles
4. obese: BMI at or above 95th percentile

BMI calculations aren't used to estimate body fat in babies and young toddlers. For kids younger than 2, doctors use weight-for-length charts to determine how a baby’s weight compares with his or her length. Any child who falls at or above the 85th percentile may be considered overweight.

BMI is not a perfect measure of body fat and can be misleading in some situations. For example, a muscular person may have a high BMI without being overweight (extra muscle adds to body weight — but not fatness). Also, BMI might be difficult to interpret during puberty when kids are experiencing periods of rapid growth. It's important to remember that BMI is usually a good indicator — but is not a direct measurement — of body fat.

If you're worried that your child or teen may be overweight, make an appointment with your doctor, who can assess eating and activity habits and make suggestions on how to make positive changes. The doctor also may decide to screen for some of the medical conditions that can be associated with obesity.

Depending on your child's BMI (or weight-for-length measurement), age, and health, the doctor may refer you to a registered dietitian for additional advice and, possibly, might recommend a comprehensive weight management program.

Obesity

Obesity and overweight have in the last decade become a global problem - according to the World Health Organization (WHO) back in 2005 approximately 1.6 billion adults over the of age 15+ were overweight, at least 400 million adults were obese and at least 20 million children under the age of 5 years were overweight.

Experts believe if the current trends continue by 2015 approximately 2.3 billion adults will be overweight and more than 700 million will be obese. The scale of the obesity problem has a number of serious consequences for individuals and government health systems.

Consequences and Health Risks
Obesity is a concern because of its implications for the health of an individual as it increases the risk of many diseases and health conditions including: -

Coronary heart disease
Type 2 diabetes
Cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon)
Hypertension (high blood pressure)
Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides)
Stroke
Liver and Gallbladder disease
Sleep apnoea and respiratory problems
Osteoarthritis (a degeneration of cartilage and its underlying bone within a joint)
and Gynaecological problems (abnormal menses, infertility).
These conditions can cause or contribute to premature death and substantial disability.

Cardiovascular disease - mainly heart disease and stroke - is already the world's number one cause of death, killing 17 million people each year and diabetes has rapidly become a global epidemic - according to WHO projections diabetes deaths will increase by more than 50% worldwide in the next 10 years.

Less common health conditions associated with increased weight include asthma, hepatic steatosis and sleep apnoea.

Economic Consequences
Overweight and obesity and their associated health problems have a significant economic impact on health systems and the medical costs associated with overweight and obesity have both direct and indirect costs - direct medical costs may include preventive, diagnostic, and treatment services related to obesity, while indirect costs relate to loss of income from decreased productivity, restricted activity, absenteeism, and bed days and the income lost by premature death.

Defining Obesity
Overweight and obesity are defined by the WHO as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to an individuals health.

Overweight and obesity are major risk factors for a number of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer and while it was once an issue only in high income countries, overweight and obesity has now dramatically risen in low- and middle-income countries.Such countries are now facing a "double burden" of disease, for while they continue to deal with the problems of infectious disease and under-nutrition, they are also experiencing a rapid upsurge in chronic disease risk factors such as obesity and overweight, particularly in urban settings.

Under-nutrition and obesity often exist side-by-side within the same country, the same community and even within the same household and this double burden is caused by inadequate pre-natal, infant and young child nutrition followed by exposure to high-fat, energy-dense, micronutrient-poor foods and lack of physical activity.

Measuring Obesity
A crude population measure of obesity is the body mass index (BMI) which is a simple index of weight-for-height that is commonly used in classifying overweight and obesity in adult populations and individuals - a person's weight in kilograms is divided by the square of the height in meters (kg/m2). BMI provides the most useful population-level measure of overweight and obesity as it is the same for both sexes and for all ages of adults but it is merely a rough guide because it may not correspond to the same degree of fatness in different individuals.



The WHO defines an adult who has a BMI between 25 and 29.9 as overweight - an adult who has a BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese - a BMI below 18.5 is considered underweight, and between 18.5 to 24.9 a healthy weight .

BMI provides a benchmark for individual assessment, but experts suspect that the risk of chronic disease in populations increases progressively from a BMI of 21 upwards.

Measuring overweight and obesity in children aged 5 to 14 years is challenging - the WHO Child Growth Standards includes BMI charts for infants and young children up to age 5 - childhood obesity is associated with a higher chance of premature death and disability in adulthood.

BMI ranges for children and teens are defined so that they take into account normal differences in body fat between boys and girls and differences in body fat at various ages. However although BMI correlates with the amount of body fat, BMI does not directly measure body fat and some people, such as athletes, may have a BMI that identifies them as overweight even though they do not have excess body fat.

Other methods of estimating body fat and body fat distribution include measurements of skinfold thickness and waist circumference, calculation of waist-to-hip circumference ratios, and techniques such as ultrasound, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Lose your Weight Naturally.

While there are plenty of fad diets that may help you lose weight, they also leave you feeling hungry and food-deprived. For all those who don't have the time or inclination to undertake a crash diet or even hit the gym, we've got some great news. If you want to slim down the healthy and painless way, try the following strategies. After all, it's not what you eat but how you eat.

CHEW MORE, EAT LESS Studies show that the longer time you spend chewing, the lesser calories you consume. Chewing for longer prevents over-eating, by giving the brain more time to receive signals from the stomach that it is full. It is not only great for digesting, but it also helps in limiting your portion size. Try chewing your food 35 to 50 times per mouthful.

DON'T SKIP BREAKFAST No matter how late you are running to work, avoid missing breakfast. There is a reason why it is called the most important meal of the day. Your body (rather your brain) expects to be refueled a few times each day, so when you skip breakfast, you feel so hungry that when lunch time comes, you overeat or maybe choose foods items that are not the healthiest choices. Missing breakfast slows down your metabolism. More importantly, always eat your breakfast, within an hour of waking up, as your body has gone without food the entire night.

HERBALIFE
HEALTHY BREAKFAST

CONCENTRATE ON YOUR FOOD How many times has your mother reprimanded you to not talk, read or watch TV while eating food? Not without a reason. When you are multitasking during meal times, your brain isn't focussing on the amount of food that you are consuming and you are more prone to piling on pounds. This doesn't mean that you cannot enjoy a meal with your friends. You can do so, but just pay attention to what you are putting in your mouth!

DON'T OVERCOOK YOUR MEALS Overcooking food kills or reduces the number of nutrients your meal contains, and when you don't get enough nutrients, you don't feel satisfied and soon start to get junk food cravings. To combat this, try eating more raw foods like sushi and salads. Steam, bake, blanch or grill vegetables and grill or bake meat and fish. Avoid microwaving.

FRUITS BEFORE MEALS It is advisable to eat fruits at least 30 minutes before any heavy meal. This way, the fruits will digest quickly. Eating fruits on an empty stomach detoxifies your system and supplies you with a great deal of energy for losing weight.

HAVE SMALLER MEALS, MORE OFTEN Ideally, you should eat five to six times per day, with a two to three hour break between each meal or snack. Eating more frequently gets your metabolism going and keeps it working at an elevated level continuously throughout the day. But don't use this rule as an excuse to overeat.

AVOID EATING AFTER 8 PM It's good to eat your last meal before eight in the evening. This way you don't land up binging on a snack before dinner time. If you find it hard to resist, have some herbal tea or brush your teeth after dinner immediately to switch your mind off from the idea of eating.

Obesity Silent Killer in India

A new study released by the Registrar General of India indicates that obesity-related diseases have joined malnutrition as leading causes of death. 

As India's economy grows, so does the temptation for many people to eat more and do less. Tired and home late? Fatty food is just a phone call away.










Overweight, but eager to get married? Now there's overweightshadi.com, an Indian dating site exclusively for obese people.

In a country where the Global Hunger Index shows that nearly half of all children are malnourished, many of India's well-off citizens are now seeking treatment for obesity.

New Delhi-based business professional Aradhna Tripathi admits she loves to eat. "Eating is the most important thing in any Indian household and how you show your love and gratitude for a person is through the kind of food you serve him," she said. "Indian people are used to eating the kinds of foods cooked at home that are filled with masala and oil. With the kind of sedentary lifestyle we lead, these are the reasons we have obesity increasing. "

India's current National Family Health Survey indicates that more than 20 percent of urban Indians are overweight or obese. And in the northwestern state of Punjab, nearly 40 percent of all women are overweight or obese. 

Tripathi says she was inspired to lose weight after contracting gestational diabetes during her recent pregnancy.  Her mother and grandmother are both diabetic.

More and more Indians are signing up for weight loss programs out of fear of disease, says Vandana Luthra, managing director of VLCC, a global slimming agency based in India.  "Earlier it was more of a luxury going to a spa or wellness center, but today it has become a necessity," she said.

New data released by the International Diabetes Federation shows every sixth diabetic in the world is an Indian - earning India the title "the world's diabetes capital." Research over the past decade shows that genetically, Indians store more body fat per kilogram than Europeans. Leading health professionals agree, obesity puts Indians at an even greater risk of getting diabetes. 

This risk is now crossing socioeconomic lines, says Dr. Anoop Misra director of diabetes and metabolic disease at New Delhi's Fortis Hospital.  

He says five years ago obesity and diabetes were limited to India's most affluent. But, now poor Indians also are getting fatter. "We thought we'd find all malnutrition, but what we found was the paradox. Many people were thin and undernourished. The other side was many were fat and some of these belonged to the poorest section of this slum. This was a clear contrast, a paradox occurring in the same community. Half people over nourished, half undernourished," he said. He blames the rise in obesity on inexpensive and oily snacks popular in Indian slums, and a lack of preventative education.  

China is not too far behind India. The World Health Organization says China's obesity rates hover at 5 percent, and almost 20 percent in select cities.  But Dr. Misra says China is better equipped to contain the epidemic because it can employ uniform prevention efforts in schools. India has a more heterogeneous mix of government and private schools.  

Despite that, Dr. Misra says he is optimistic that India's obesity epidemic can be curbed. "It is the schools that we have to concentrate upon, it is the children that we have to concentrate upon. And if it a uniform physical activity and discipline dietary instructions are given right to the children I'm sure that it can be curbed," he stated.