Exergaming

Now here's a novel way to get the exercise in....hook an exercise bike up to your Playstation or X-box. The joystick controls are in the handlebars and the bike reacts to the game you're playing. Get the teenagers moving maybe? Or drive you mad? Check it out here at endgagdet or at NexFit.

NEAT

There is a physiological process which may help in part to explain why some people are 'naturally slim' while others who eat no more calories seem to accrue excess weight more easily. Non-exercise activity thermogenesis or NEAT for short. NEAT includes muscle tone, maintaining posture and fidgeting.


Basically, people burn 'incidental' calories through activity that doesn't count as exercise, and quite probably they are unaware of. This influences how much of excess calories taken in will be burned off or how much will be stored.

Small potatoes individually, (thermogenesis accounts for 10% of Total Energy Expenditure), but over a month, a year, a life-time, it could mean a significant accumulation of body fat; as little as 100kcal per day for a year leads to 10lb (4.5kg) weight gain.

It also explains the benefit of muscle toning exercise aside from calorie expenditure. Get into that pilates class today!

More on foetal nutrition...

We encourage women to improve their health as much as they can before becoming pregnant. A small weight reduction improves fertility and I see a lot of women who achieved a pregnancy unexpectedly having made improvements to their diet and lost some weight.

The whole arena of weight and obesity is fraught with difficulty in Women's Health. Obesity reduces fertility and then increases the risk of pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes in pregnancy. There is also an increased incidence of twin pregnancy in obese women, and a twin pregnancy is a higher risk pregnancy for both mother and babies. Overweight and obese women often have bigger babies who then have associated delivery problems such as shoulder dystocia and an increased likelihood of an instrumental delivery or cesarian section.

The maternal metabolomics of obese women appear to have even further consequences as reported at a conference on fertility in Denmark earlier in the summer. Daughters of obese mothers are more likely to have reproductive and menstrual problems as teenagers and adults.

I still belive we have to focus on prevention, and I strongly belive that the professionals working in Women's Health are in a unique position to help. Healthier mothers mean healthier babies. Positive messages at a receptive time such as pregnancy can be implemented far into the future.

But we also need to be researching and recording the implications of our interventions and sharing information as widely as possible.

Amarach

With the way things are going for the still appalling economy of Amarach, I'm thinking of trying a corrupt dictatorship approach next time.

Elly's Onion

For anyone involved in teaching drama or with an interest in the creative process, Elly McCrea's book is an excellent tool.

Mahnamahna

doo dooo do doo doo......

Man Dancing

Go Matt Harding. Love it. Posted in honour of Helen's skidance 2004.

Skiing 2006

Planning next year's ski-trip....soooo looking forward to it. Missed it this year for the first time in ages. Now that we've ruled out the U.S., the chalet v hotel, France v Austria, or back to Italy debates just add to the anticipation.
Plus some people might bring their children this year, which would be a first for all of us.

I know it's only August.....been a quiet weekend.

The Clarendon

I almost feel like not sharing this one, but there's a great little bar on the very top floor of the Clarendon (on, you guessed it, Clarendon St., off Grafton St). Lots of people will have been to the ground floor and first floor bars, but not everyone goes up the 4 more flights.

No good for the single girls (who evacuated after a respectable period of time last night) as there's no single traffic- that all happens on the ground floor and the tables outside- but very mellow, very airy and very pleasant staff.

Also, smokers have 6 flights of stairs to contend with. That'll test the lung capacity.

They do really good food at the Clarendon, but not on Fridays (dammit!).
Mao is right next door for good asian mish mash and Chatham Brasserie is near enough with designer burgers and wings, and it's fairly easy to get a table at either.
And there's always The Steps of Rome across the road for a slice of pizza.......

Exercise in Pregnancy

Looks like aerobic exercise may be beneficial during pregnancy, even for overweight previously sedenatry women.

'Mad Chow Disease' ?

If you don't already, it is worth getting the Observer on Sunday at least once a month - if only for the 'Food Monthly' magazine supplement.

This great article by Mimi Spencer had me laughing and groaning by turns.

More on supplements

The EU ban may also help to focus peoples attention on the composition of 'natural' supplements.

I think people often make the mistake of believing that because something is natural, it's safe to take at any stage of their lives in any amount. Indeed, I think most people believe that something labeled 'natural' is safer than a pharmaceutical product, which is just not true.

Now, I take issue with the pharmaceutical industry on several fronts, but the manufacturing and distribution of of their products is so regulated that the type of contamination discussed in this article is unthinkable.

EU ban on Supplements

I have to say I'm in favour of very tight legislation in the area of OTC supplements. Too much snake-oil out there.

This European-wide legislation doesn't mean that vitamin and mineral supplements will not be available, but it will help to ensure proper labeling and standards regarding composition, which can only be a good thing for the consumer.

Fetal Programming and the Metabolic Syndrome

A very technical review paper on Epigenomics from the journal Diabetes looks at how a mother's diet at certain stages of prenatal development can adversely affect gene expression, ultimately leading to the Metabolic Syndrome in her offspring.

The effect is passed on through future generations, indicating that a grandmother's nutritional status, in particular periconceptually and throughout pregnancy and lactation, can have a lasting effect on future granchildren's health.

Good maternal nutrition increasingly looks like having significant and ever more far-reaching effects.

Health at Every Size

Now this is interesting.

I have long felt that improved nutritional balance and more activity is just as valid as weight loss for most people. As little as 5-10% reductions are of proven medical benefit for diabetes and heart disease.

I also firmly believe that helping people move away from yo-yo dieting would be a huge benefit to both mental and physical health. A stable BMI that's higher than average is far preferable to one that drops and rises haphazardly.

The Health at Every Size (HAES) approach holds that weight loss is often actually a destructive aim which promotes dieting behaviour, body image problems and frank eating disorders.

A cursory look through any women's magazine or a google search with 'diet' or 'weight' anywhere in it lends credence to this. The fact that dieting doesn't work is the backbone of the diet industry. How many people attending WeightWatchers or Unislim are back for the second third or fourth time? How many people 'doing' Atkins or South Beach have tried countless other plans or programmes only to regain the pounds within a year? And the guilt......how productive is that?

Let's stop the madness, people!
Food is food;
dieting is trouble for your body and your mind....
but eating well is good for your soul- whatever size you are.

All better!

Fixed it!
Phew...got to keep up the standards for my reader (all one - count 'em - one of them).

You can check out her super honest blog on her Supersize Day by following this link......and thanks for my first ever, ever comment Nytro.

Pear-shaped

Some of my links have gone pear-shaped! It appears to be only for the last 2 posts....this learning curve is getting steeper and steeper.

So much to learn!

Oh my goodness, I am such a blog-novice!

I've been gradually trying to expand my knowledge over the past months....
While these tips for better blogging and links at Simon World are fantastic, a tiny bit of me feels overwhelmed.

Of course, this is all exacerbated by the fact that I got my first ever comment. I feel there should be an award- like the 1000th customer gets all their stuff for free or something.

After I got over the excitement, it suddenly frightened the life out of me. It's really ridiculous, but it seemed fine when I was rambling away in oblivion. Now I have to shape up and know about all the technical stuff. For my reader! Ooooh, the responsibility.......how sad is that?

Fast Food Nation

Just in case there's anyone who hasn't read Eric Schlosser's 2001 book, it's been through reprints and a new cover and is still widely available, including a version for children.

It's not the whole story, but it did seem to herald the start of an increased public awareness that all was not necessarily well with processed food provision- particularly with the ubiquitous fast-food chains.

Then there was Moragn Spurlock's surprise hit film in 2004, Supersize Me.

Does anyone really still think that a completely processed fast-food diet is ok?

Childhood Obesity

The U.S. Paediatric Academic Societies 2005 Annual Meeting recently addressed the issue of childhood obesity in America.

The statistics are frightening:
-The prevalence of obesity has doubled since the 1970's for children aged 2-5yrs and aged 12-19
- It has trippled in the same time for children aged 6- 11

The consequences of this are, amoung other things, an increased rate of Type 2 Diabetes in children and an emerging increase in the
Metabolic Syndrome (also known as Syndrome X).

While contributiong factors have been identified, a definitive list of risk factors for childhood obesity is still elusive and more well conducted research in the area is much needed.

The integrated approaches suggested for tackling the issue are interesting, as no-one - whether govenment policy maker, food producer, marketeer, school, parent, or healthcare provider is exempt from responsibility.

One suggestion is that health carers (doctors, nurses, dietitians etc) really must lead more by example. Physician heal thyself or practice what you preach? How refreshing would that be?

Upgrading

I've been looking at a number of other blogs and it's really interesting to see the diversity, creativity and intelligence represented by the medium.

I thought that not being a techie and being relativly new to the blogosphere gave me immunity from dressing up my blog- but it really doesn't. Lots of people make their blogs look interesting and easier to read without much technical know-how. Or are they all closet web-designers?

Nation States

My ego and idealism have managed to run my nation's economy into the ground. (Amarach is a Socialist Democracy in the region of Europa, if you're interested).

What's that you say? Grey areas? Unforseen consequences of broad policy decisions? Surely not in real life.......

What if......

I really feel passionately that having an interest in food- where it comes from, cooking, tasting, sharing, enjoying- without obsessing and restricting - adds immeasurably to health, pleasure and quality of life.

I feel in my gut that the problems of disordered eating and extreme obesity are exacerbated in societies (like Ireland, England, USA) that are increasingly disconnected from the whole cycle of earth to table.....children who don't know that milk comes from cows or that vegetables grow in the ground.....adults who have never ever cooked something and who rely on packets and take-aways.....no shared family meals....no time or priority given to mealtimes in a pressured work environment....the disappearance of local grocers, butchers and bakers.

It is also one of my fundamental objections to the 'health food' quinoa freaks. Where's the pleasure? Why does it need to be difficult and extreme?

What a relief it would be if the paradigm shift was made away from noshing and dieting and towards nourishment and taste and pleasure.