Save Your Health and Your Pocketbook

Last week I looked at the high cost of being overweight or obese.  Today I’d like to brighten the news and give you some very doable changes you can make to keep more money in your bank account.  Let’s begin with the biggest money saver – lowering blood pressure. 

In July 2009 the American Journal of Health Prevention reported that that a 400 mg. reduction in daily sodium intake could save some 1.5 million people with uncontrolled hypertension (high blood pressure) over $1500 per year.  A 400 mg decrease in sodium is a very realistic goal.  Read the labels on canned soup, teriyaki and soy sauce, pickles, and even unsuspecting foods such as cottage cheese.  Look for reduced sodium versions of all kinds of foods in your supermarket and at lowsaltfoods.com.    

If overweight or obesity is your concern, you may be pleased to know that the Journal reported that a 100 calorie reduction in food intake per day would save some 71 million people an estimated $815 a year.  Like sodium, there are many ways to accomplish a 100 calorie reduction.  Eliminating one chocolate covered Oreo gets you 115 fewer calories.  Substitute it with a regular Oreo and save half the calories.  Switch from regular beer to light beer to shave 40 calories off each serving, and eliminate one beer altogether to cut 140 calories on average.  Similarly, one glass of wine is about 120 calories and a can of soda is 150 calories.

Finally researchers looked at what lowering high cholesterol would save each of the almost 4 million people affected and found it was over $500 per year.  To accomplish these savings, this population would need to reduce their saturated fat intake 5 grams per day.  Saturated fat is found in animal products such as butter, milk, and meat.  An 8 ounce glass of whole milk has about 8 g of saturated fat, 2% has 5 g, 1% has 2 g and non-fat or skim milk has less than .5 g.  Choosing chicken (without the skin) or fish over sausage or bacon will result in similar reductions.  While 1 tablespoon of butter has 7 g of saturated fat, margarines have trans fat, another dietary hornet’s nest we won’t get into here.  Strive to cut your intake of both in half and your unhealthy fat intake will decrease accordingly.

Overweight is Expensive

We all know that illness is expensive, given doctor bills, tests, treatments, and medications.  Have you ever thought about the additional costs of time lost from work, travel to and from the doctor, and hiring someone to do what you were physically unable to, even if it’s just washing the car?  George Washington University researchers assessed all these factors and calculated something close: the cost of being overweight or obese.

Someone who is overweight has a body mass index (BMI) greater than 25 but less than 30.  For someone 5’ 5” tall, this would mean a weight between 150 and 179 pounds, regardless of gender.  An overweight man or woman 5’ 9” tall would weigh between 169 and 202.  The cost of being overweight varies between women and men: for women, it’s $524 annually while for men it’s $432. (The cost difference between women and men is due to the findings that overweight and obese women earn less than those at a healthy weight, while men are not disadvantaged this way.)

Obesity begins where overweight ends, so having a BMI over 30 makes someone obese.  The annual cost of carrying this much additional weight is alarming: $4879 for women and $2646 for men.    What’s equally concerning is that two-thirds of Americans are either overweight or obese and almost 18% of teenagers are obese.  Can you imagine what the cost of this weight will be to these teens over their lifetimes if they don’t take the weight off?

While there are so many reasons to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight besides cost, money is a big motivator for lots of us. Next week I’ll look at some ways we can actually save money by making healthy lifestyle changes.

Source: USA Today 9/22/10

Some of the Craziest Things I’ve Heard

Last week I encouraged you to hold a new thought, and I suggested several for you to consider.  Sadly, there are plenty of not-so-great approaches to wellness out there that you’ll want to avoid. For fun, I’d like to share a few of my favorites with you:

·       Ever try to seal a wound using Krazy Glue?  Well, please don’t try!  There are special skin adhesives that medical personnel may use, such as Dermabond, but Krazy Glue is not the same thing.  It can cause inflammation and infection.*

·       Have you considered delaying beginning an exercise program until you really need it to lose weight, sort of holding onto a trump card?  I had a client who tried this approach.  I don’t follow this reasoning, because everyone needs to exercise to be healthy, and even more so if they’d like to lose weight.

·       Then there was the public speaker who announced that he’d stopping exercising four years ago, just because, as if being sedentary was a personal choice he’d made, like adopting veganism.  What’s up with that?

·       I hope you haven’t purchased a whole body vibration machine to fight osteoporosis.  It’s hard to believe these are back in style, but I’ve seen them advertised around town for a while now, with the pitch that they help reduce bone loss.  (I remember as a kid watching Wilma Flintstone on one of these machines!)  Last year the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reviewed all the research on this issue and reported that there is no evidence to support these claims.*

·       Finally, I’m all for calorie-burning activities, but chewing gum is not an effective one for weight loss.  Gum chewing only burns only 11 calories per hour.  (There are 26 calories in a Hershey’s Kiss.)  However, if it keeps you away from the Hershey’s Kiss, I’m all for it.  Just make it sugarless gum.*

* Source: Berkeley Wellness Letter February 2012)

Get a New Thought

Sometimes all it takes to shift perspective and get going in the right direction is a new thought.  Just the simplest expression can make all the difference, I’ve found.  Here a few of my favorites relating to wellness.  The first three come from my experience as a Weight Watchers Leader.

If you bite it, write it. Corny, I know, but it really helps clients realize that every little crumb, taste or morsel has calories and makes a difference!  Often, just writing down everything you eat in a day raises your awareness and enables you to figure out a better approach.

Feedback, not failure.  Rather than beating yourself up for a choice you made, see it as feedback - “Guess that didn’t work very well!”  Then ask yourself what you could do differently next time to have a better result.  Promise to take that action and move on.

Nothing tastes as good as thin feels. This is my all-time favorite WW expression because I love food.  But, I remember how good it felt to reach my goal weight and go shopping for clothes at my new size.  It was definitely more fun than any piece of cheesecake or pizza I’ve ever had.

Practice makes progress.  Michelle Duggar uses this encouragement with her 19 children.  Whether it’s establishing an exercise habit, learning to say “no” or creating a new eating routine, you don’t have to be perfect to be successful.  Staying with it and practicing will bring progress, which creates momentum and motivation.

More Ways to Avoid Overeating

According to feedingamerica.org, “in 2010, 48.8 million Americans lived in food insecure households.”  Given that statistic, it’s hard to believe that overeating is a major problem in our society - but it is.  It’s a common issue with eating that many of my clients face.  Here are a few more ways to help you stay in control and avoid eating too much:

·       Be aware of when you’re feeling stress, because it’s true that food alleviates anxiety.  Thankfully, so do many stress relievers that are calorie-free.  Visit Kebba Buckley Button’s website to learn more about ways to reduce your stress without eating more.

·       Engage in aerobic exercise to increase the volume of your brain’s cortex, enabling you to more effectively rein in the impulse to overeat.  Exercise can also reduce your stress level, and it doesn’t need to take more exertion than brisk walking.

·       Eat off of smaller dishes and avoid eating directly out of a large box or bag.  Studies show that when people are offered equal amounts of food, they consume more of it when it’s served on a larger dish.  Help yourself by placing a serving onto the smallest dish possible. 

·       Distract yourself with something pleasurable when a food craving hits.  While it’s true that our bodies may crave a needed nutrient, most of the time a craving is emotionally- or habit-based.  Break the automatic response with music, reading, an activity, or a talk with a friend.

If you still find yourself overeating, keep a food journal. For many, the simple act of writing down what they eat motivates them to eat less.  If not, the record will help you identify the patterns so you can look at ways to avoid the situations altogether.

Source: Nutrition Action, Center for Science in the Public Interest, May 2012

Don’t Eat “The Whole Thing”

Are you old enough to remember the AlkaSeltzer ad where a man moaned, “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing”?  I am, and although that was long time ago, overeating is still a problem for many people.  Researchers have done numerous studies on what makes people eat, and they give the following advice to refrain from eating too much:

·       Stay aware while you’re eating.  If you begin with an appropriate portion on your plate to start with, you’ll avoid getting so engaged in the conversation that you continue eating past the point of satiation.  Mindless eating is the primary problem with eating in front of the television or computer.

·       Recognize the cues that are present that trigger eating.  Waitstaff bring the tray of desserts to your table and movie theaters pump the aroma of popcorn into the air to tempt you into buying - and eating.

·       Identify and change the habits you have that prompt you eat or overeat automatically, regardless of hunger. If eating at a certain restaurant means always ordering a decadent dessert, eat somewhere else.  If you can’t have a carton of ice cream in the freezer without eating the whole thing, buy individual serving sizes one at a time or don’t have it in the house at all.

·       Avoid getting overly hungry because it prompts overeating.  Carry snacks with you and don’t skip meals.  Your metabolism will work to your advantage if you keep it fueled regularly, not in fits and starts.

Didn’t find your issue addressed? Join me next week for more ideas.  Until then, pay attention to what makes it past your lips.

Source: Nutrition Action, Center for Science in the Public Interest, May 2012

Organic Foods Quiz

Organic foods continue to draw great interest, but how much do you really know about them? Take this true/false quiz and find out.

1. The organic seal means “pesticide free.”

2. Organic products are more nutritious than non-organic foods.

3. Organic foods are less likely than conventional foods to have bacteria that can cause illness.

4. Organic snacks have fewer calories and are more nutritious than their conventional counterparts.

5. The production of organic meat and poultry is more humane than the non-organic variety.

I hope you answered “false” to every statement, because none of them are accurate.  Organic farming involves botanical pesticides, and synthetic pesticide residue from nearby farms has been known to drift over and contaminate organic crops.  The nutrient level of produce, meat and dairy products is dependent on many factors including plant variety, soil, climate, and processing and storage methods.  The data do not support a higher level of nutrition in organic foods.  Organic foods can harbor harmful bacteria, just as conventional foods can, due to growing, handling, and processing methods.  Organic snacks and sweets unfortunately are not lower in calories than non-organic products, and they may have an equal amount of sugar, salt, and saturated fat, although they do not contain trans fats - a definite plus. 

The statement closest to being true is the last one.  There are standards for the grazing of organic dairy and beef animals that require at least four months of pasture grazing and year-round access to a pasture.  While this gives the animals freedom from cages, length of time outdoors and the quality of outdoor space are not specified.  There is no regulation that organic animals be slaughtered more humanely either.

Source: UC Berkeley Wellness Letter March 2012