Will Kirstie Alley develop a weight loss program?
Wow. Kirstie Alley and Jenny Craig have parted ways, and now Kirstie may develop her own weight loss program.
Um, ok Kirstie, but didn’t you lose 75 lbs on Jenny Craig? So, why should anyone pay you for an unproven weight loss program? Or, will it be so similar to Jenny Craig that price wars break out?
Hmmmm…..
Can’t believe Jenny Craig didn’t have some kind of non-compete clause in that contract…
Tags: jenny craig, kirstie alley, programsFive Bite Diet
Came across this one this evening: Taking several bites out of eating
The crux is, skip breakfast, have five bites of something with protein at lunch, five bites at dinner. Pretty simple. But it sure does risk missing a whole bunch of nutrients.
I don’t think it’s for me.
Update:
Wow, seeing a teenager commenting that she’s going to try it really shook me up. I posted this because I don’t think it’s a good idea. I don’t often recommend against a specific idea (I think Kimkins was the only thing so far), and usually take the passive-aggressive approach like I did above by saying it isn’t for me.
So, let me be clear - it isn’t for YOU, either!
Think about it this way: How many calories can you get into one bite of something moderately healthy - a piece of chicken, maybe? 100, tops? So, 500+500=1000.
That isn’t enough, and isn’t safe for very long! Growing bodies need PROTEIN and VITAMINS and even some CARBS and FAT. Balance it, keep it in moderation, but don’t try this STARVATION diet.
Tags: diet, programsExercise and Kids: Preparing the brain to learn
This one hit my mailbox this morning: Exercise Seen as Priming Pump for Students’ Academic Strides
Seven or eight years ago, studies offered mixed results on the question of whether exercise can boost brain function in children and adolescents. Experts are beginning to contend, however, that the case is getting stronger.
“There’s sort of no question about it now,” said Dr. John J. Ratey, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “The exercise itself doesn’t make you smarter, but it puts the brain of the learners in the optimal position for them to learn.”…
I see this in myself. When I’m exercising, I find I focus better. I haven’t studied it, but I probably ought to - I have a hobby that requires intense concentration and decision-making, and I saw immediate improvements in the past two weeks. Thinking back two years to when I was exercising every day, I was participating in this hobby successfully with some of the best participants in the world.
A couple of you know my hobby. I prefer not to get into THAT over here - this is my diet and exercise blog.
Reading on:
With his university colleague Darla M. Castelli, Mr. Hillman assessed the physical-fitness levels of 239 3rd and 5th graders from four Illinois elementary schools. Their findings, published last year in the Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, show that children who got good marks on two measures of physical fitness—those that gauge aerobic fitness and body-mass index—tended also to have higher scores on state exams in reading and mathematics. That relationship also held true regardless of children’s gender or socieconomic differences….
…Another study published last year, involving 163 overweight children in Augusta, Ga., found, in addition, that the cognitive and academic benefits of exercise seemed to increase with the size of the dose.
For that study, a cross-disciplinary research team randomly assigned children to one of three groups. One group received 20 minutes of physical activity every day after school. Another group got a 40-minute daily workout, and the third group got no special exercise sessions.
After 14 weeks, the children who made the greatest improvement, as measured by both a standardized academic test and a test that measured their level of executive function—thinking processes, in other words, that involve planning, organizing, abstract thought, or self-control—were those who spent 40 minutes a day playing tag and taking part in other active games designed by the researchers. The cognitive and academic gains for the 20-minutes-a-day group were half as large.
“I was frankly bowled over by the results,” said Catherine L. Davis, the lead author of the study, a preliminary version of which was published in December in Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. “It’s like a staircase, which is considered strong evidence for causation,” added Ms. Davis, who is an associate professor of pediatrics at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta.
So, they’re saying that exercise gets the brain ready to learn. What they didn’t say was that exercise made you smarter. Just like buying a pair of dumbbells doesn’t give you big biceps. It just enables those muscles to becoming stronger through consistent work. Sounds like the same is true for the brain - exercise prepares the brain to process information better.
I’m no scientist, but I think they’re on the right track.
Tags: brain, children, diet, exercise, fitness, kids, learningJunk food in schools
eDiets published an article about Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs, who has been successful in eliminating junk food from schools in Texas. Despite opposition from lawmakers, administrators, and even parents, she has eliminated the sale of junk food from vending machines and the cafeteria, and put restrictions on bake sales at schools.
As much as I hate the “nanny-state”, and as much as this is one of the finest examples of the “nanny-state”, I have to say that I like it. My kids’ eating habits are bad enough, but with the way the schools administer lunches allows my kids way too much choice in their food. We have to deposit money into an account, and the kids are charged for what they take with no limitations placed by the school. Last week, we discovered the youngest had plowed through her account about twice as fast as the older one thanks to desserts.
She’s supposed to bringing lunch now.
But, I just don’t see the point of giving kids sugary, fatty foods at lunch. We know how bad it is for their health and we know how bad it is for their behavior. Maybe it would be harder and more expensive to prepare healthier meals (is it, really?), but isn’t it worth it?
Tags: diet, junk food, kidsDo dieting couples lose more weight?
WFTV in Orlando recently did a story about this. The premise is that couples provide support and accountability to each other. In the case of my wife and I, when we diet together we usually just cheat together, a sort of co-dependent thing. Doesn’t work for us. But, they provide some tips for dieting couples:
- Grocery shop together
- Re-think old recipes
- Don’t be afraid to eat other
- Don’t compete
- Make exercise fun
What is your experience? Except for Ellen, of course, with her beanpole husband… 