Mothers Play A Powerful Role In Determining Strength Of Daughters’ Bones Families Who Reinforce Lifelong Milk-Drinking Habits at Lower Risk of Fractures

Of all the gifts that moms pass on to their families, one of the most important is health knowledge, especially information about bone health and osteoporosis, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation. A Gift from Mothers to Daughters is the theme of this year’s Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention Month, which is attempting to break the cycle of generations of women suffering from this debilitating bone disease that affects 1 in 2 women over age 50.

• Often considered a condition of aging, osteoporosis is actually a pediatric disease with geriatric consequences. The habits of early childhood and adolescence can significantly impact the likelihood of developing osteoporosis, which is a public health threat for 44 million Americans. Experts stress that prevention of osteoporosis needs to begin during the peak bone building years of childhood and adolescence.
• “Bone health is a family issue, particularly as genetics and heredity are among the key factors that influence a person’s risk of developing osteoporosis,” said Robert Recker, MD, president of the National Osteoporosis Foundation. “However, there are many lifestyle choices that families can make to help build strong bones and prevent osteoporosis later in life.”
• A Gift from Mothers to Daughters Decades of research encourage her to drink lowfat milk instead of sugary sodas and fruit drinks, which often take the place of milk. Currently, nine out of 10 teenage girls fail to get enough of the calcium they need. Milk and milk products are the major source of calcium in the diet and provide other important bone-building nutrients including vitamin D, protein, potassium and phosphorus. Many studies have examined milk’s effect on bone health in children and adolescents.
• Regularly drinking milk during the growing years is associated with greater height, bone size and bone mineralization, while research has linked skipping milk to reduced height and increased fracture rates. Forearm fracture rates of children and adolescents have increased sharply in the United States in recent years, and many researchers are worried that falling milk consumption and displacement of milk by carbonated drinks may be a factor.
• Children (ages 3-13) who avoided milk were found to suffer from fractures more frequently than their milk-drinking peers. The majority of the milk avoiders had family members who did not drink milk.
• In a two-year study of young children with a history of prolonged milk avoidance, the milk avoiders were more likely to suffer from osteopenia (low bone mass), were shorter, and had higher body mass indices (an indicator of body weight) compared to children who regularly drank milk.
• Regular calcium intake, especially calcium from milk, had a favorable effect on girls’ bone mass and attainment of peak bone density, which are critical factors in determining risk of osteoporosis later in life.
• Moms who drink milk are likely to have daughters who drink milk, and the availability of milk at meals and snacks was associated with meeting calcium recommendations and bone mineral status. The researchers suggest that early beverage choices, including choosing milk, learned well before rapid growth could have significant impact on bone health during adolescence.

“Drinking milk should be a family affair,” said registered dietitian Carolyn O’Neil, MS, RD, an award-winning food and health journalist and mother. “Studies show that daughters whose moms drink milk regularly consume more of it themselves – and drink less soda. So it’s not just what we say but what we do, that really matters. And as moms, we need the nine essential nutrients in milk, too.”
For more bone health tips and tools, visit http://whymilk.com/strong_bones.php. About the National Milk Mustache “got milk?®” Campaign The Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP), Washington, D.C., is funded by the nation’s milk processors, who are committed to increasing fluid milk consumption. The MilkPEP Board runs the National Milk Mustache “got milk?” Campaign, a multi-faceted campaign designed to educate consumers about the health benefits of milk. Lowe New York is the creative agency for the National Milk Mustache “got milk?” Campaign. For more information, go to Visit whymilk.com. About the National Osteoporosis Foundation Established in 1984, NOF is the nation’s leading voluntary health organization solely dedicated to osteoporosis and bone health. Its mission is to prevent osteoporosis and related fractures, to promote lifelong bone health, to help improve the lives of those affected by osteoporosis, and to find a cure through programs of awareness, advocacy, public and health professional education and research. For more information on osteoporosis and bone health, contact NOF online at www.nof.org or by telephone (800) 231-4222.

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A Wake-up Call for a Healthier Lifestyle: Diabetes and the Role of Proper Nutrition

“I will start eating healthy,” is probably the most overused New Year’s resolution – ever. But for over 2 million Americans diagnosed with diabetes, ‘eating healthy’ is not an option – it’s a commitment.
If you’ve recently been diagnosed or have a genetic predisposition to it (i.e. family has diabetes history), take heart. Science now knows how to control, head off, and even – some believe – reverse diabetes. We have modern medication aimed at improving insulin sensitivity, you can do beneficial exercises, and of course, the primary weapon of every diabetic: proper diet and nutrition.
The first – and best thing you can do is to visit a dietitian with experience advising diabetics and map out a nutrition plan. You can’t just stop eating certain foods or eliminating all sugars from your life. You should actually broaden your gastronomic horizon (in a safe and moderated way). Your new diet should take into account your lifestyle, medication, weight, age, and other medical conditions you may have. Going on a diabetic-friendly diet doesn’t mean depriving yourself, it simply means eating well in a way that will prevent the complications of diabetes and improve your overall health while allowing you the pleasure of good healthy food.
Diabetics should change their diet to achieve specific goals – maintaining a healthy weight, controlling blood glucose levels, and getting proper overall nutrition.
One way to do this is to follow the ADA’s Diabetes Food Pyramid guide. This guide can be found online and has an extensive list of examples. The ADA guide groups foods according to their carbohydrate and protein content, often guiding you regarding what you can eat, when to eat it, and serving size. The ADA’s guide contains and extensive list of grains and starches, vegetables, fruit, milk, meat and meat substitutes.
Another diet option is the Glycemic Index Diet, which ranks foods according to the rate at which they break down in the body to form glucose. High GI foods break down rapidly, while low GI foods break down more slowly. The Glycemic Index diet focuses on low GI foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, lean meats, and low-fat dairy products.
Another option is a low-fat vegan diet. Switching to a vegan diet seems like an abrupt change to some, however a study by Dr. Neal Barnard and chronicled in his book Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes: The Scientifically Proven System for Reversing Diabetes Without Drugsclaims a low-fat vegan diet and foods with low glycemic index can help reduce or do away with medication, and even reverse the diabetes’ progression.
Following a diabetic-friendly diet can be both fulfilling and nutritious, as long as you are willing to change your lifestyle. Before settling on a diet, remember to consult your doctor and dietician and stick with it. If you’re a diabetic, now is the time to forget eating without abandon, it’s probably what got you here in the first place. Remember, the keys to a great life despite diabetes are proper medication, exercise, and a good nutritious diet.
Resources of interest:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/diabeticdiet.html

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/diabetes-diet/DA00027

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Battling Diabetes – Go Out and Exercise!

Getting diagnosed with diabetes today is not as devastating as it once was. The sky won’t fall down and the world will not end. Now more than ever, science has advanced enough that you can be in control and not the other way around.

• Controlling diabetes can be done many ways; through diet and nutrition, such as changing to a low fat vegan diet, eating foods with low glycemic index, and following the ADA approved diet.
• There’s better medication aimed at improving insulin sensitivity and improve glycemic control.  Aside from medication and going on a vegan diet, one other proven, powerful way of controlling diabetes is exercise.

• Exercise helps control weight, lower blood sugar levels and cholesterol levels, which then lowers your risk of heart disease. Exercise also helps control blood glucose and lowers blood pressure. Plus it releases endorphins that help you feel better about yourself – lending credence to the saying ‘a healthy person is a happy person.’

But before you go running out you should know not all exercises are good for diabetics.

• Experts agree that moderate-intensity exercise for 30 minutes, five days a week, is best for diabetes sufferers. Examples include brisk walking, dancing, swimming, or cycling. Physically demanding sports such as basketball, football, etc. are allowed but check with your doctor first.

Talk to a doctor, caregiver, and fitness expert and work out an exercise plan specifically for your conditioning, age, and fitness level. Most importantly, do exercises or sports that you really like.
Beware though, exercise can lower blood glucose too much causing hypoglycemia characterized by shaking, confusion, anxiety, headaches and may render you unconscious. To prevent this, check your blood glucose with medical grade test strips before and after exercising. Ask your doctor what your blood sugar levels should be before and after.  If your blood glucose drops, stop – eat a snack to get it back up.
Important Tips

• Always warm up before you start and cool down after. Go slowly at the beginning gradually increasing the exercise intensity, as you get fit.
• Wear correct fitting socks and shoes and check for sores, blister or cuts after exercising. Drink plenty of fluids to avoid dehydration.
• If you’re on medication, ask your doctor if adjustments are needed. Wear a medical tag that states you have diabetes, your doctor’s name and number, and emergency contacts.

Most importantly, exercise with someone who knows your condition and knows what to do. Plus it’s always more fun exercising with someone you know.
Finally, make exercise or sports a permanent part of your life. Diabetes won’t just quit and go away, so you shouldn’t quit doing anything that will help you either.

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Review: Dr. Shapiro’s Picture Perfect Weight Loss and Picture Perfect Weight Loss 30 Day Plan

Dr. Howard M. Shapiro is the founder and director of Howard M. Shapiro Medical Associates. It is a private multidisciplinary medical office in New York City, which specializes in nutrition counseling, weight control, and life management. His pioneering work in bariatric medicine gained him international recognition in 1981. He was able to establish a comprehensive weight control method which expanded to include psychological services.  Dr. Shapiro has authored Dr. Shapiro’s Picture Perfect Weight Loss: The Visual Program for Permanent Weight Loss and Dr. Shapiro’s Picture Perfect Weight Loss 30 Day Plan (Amazon affiliate link) among others. These books have made a great impact on many people.

Dr. Shapiro’s Picture Perfect Weight Loss: The Visual Program for Permanent Weight Loss (Amazon affiliate link)
Comparisons in pictures give clear illustrations that, while an individual can make a choice of eating food with low calories, he/she can still have a large portion that is enjoyable to one’s palate.  The pictures get readers to think about their food choices. This book is a visual aid to some people who prefer large portions but still want to lose weight. Most people need to ‘see’ and not just ‘hear’ or ‘read about’ it.

This book is straightforward and easy to read. For many readers, this is not a “diet” book.

• It illustrates that losing weight can be easy. It teaches how to satisfy one’s hunger by actually eating more, provided you eat the right foods.
• It allows you free choice, you can control what you eat but you will not feel deprived. It is a realistic system.  This is a better alternative to low-carb diets which are harder to maintain and puts one’s heart at risk.

Another plus is the discussion on emotional eating where examples are cited on how “real people” can modify their eating selections.
While the book may be the best diet plan to many of Dr. Shapiro’s readers, there are some flaws in this book:

• Dr. Shapiro discourages milk and instead encourages an increase in intake of fortified soy products.
• This book leans toward vegetarianism but many people still prefer to have some meat in their diets as their protein source. Some people can only eat so much tofu. Soy products are also quite expensive and not available in some places.

There is no mention of alternatives to seafood in this book. This is a problem to people who are allergic to seafood. The discussion on exercise, as part of a balanced health regimen, lacked depth.
Dr. Shapiro’s Picture Perfect Weight Loss: The Visual Program for Permanent Weight Loss (Amazon affiliate link)
is one of the best approaches to weight control. It is simple and easy to understand. It helps many people to lose weight in a doable, enjoyable way. In the end of it all, it is one’s choice whether he will make use of this book to improve his life.

Dr. Shapiro’s Picture Perfect Weight Loss 30 Day Plan (Amazon affiliate link)

Just like its predecessor, Dr. Shapiro’s Picture Perfect Weight Loss 30 Day Plan (Amazon affiliate link) is a simple and easy book to follow. It has new food comparisons which are as colorful as the ones in the first book. There are real life stories of New York Fire and Police Department personnel, the Chicago 7 on Good Morning America, etc. In this book, there is nutritional information targeted at specific age groups (e.g. kids, teens and seniors).

There is a section addressing eating disorders like bulimia which is affects many young people. Unlike the first book, the 30 day plan book is more specific. As the title suggests, it’s a 30-day eating plan. For many people who are too busy to figure out the portions that they should eat, this book is a big help. However, like the first book, this is also a diet-focused book. Losing weight should also involve exercise.

While this is a one of the best weight control programs written, an exercise regimen would also greatly benefit the readers.

As with all other diet plans, there is one basic thing to remember. If you do not stick to this plan, you will easily regain all the weight that you lost. While this program was designed to be simple and easy to follow and understand, it still takes commitment on one’s part to do this regimen diligently to stay healthy.

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Eating Habits: The GOOD, The BAD And The HEALTHY

Most of us have been accustomed to low-fiber, high-sugar, and high-salt diets. It may be because of the hectic lifestyle that most of us are leading these days. No time to cook, so we end up buying just about anything at the nearest fast-food restaurant. Maybe, we spend too much time in front of the computer or the TV, so, we eat while we are doing something else. Maybe, it’s because our moms just loved to cook those delicious, fatty foods when we were kids. So now, it’s just hard for us to switch to healthier options. Whatever the reason, obesity in USA alone, affects about 60 million people, mostly women.
Having bad eating habits has contributed greatly to obesity. Following are just some of the most common bad eating habits:

1. SKIPPING BREAKFAST
“Blood sugar usually drops overnight, so your brain is running on empty until you eat in the morning,” says Ellie Krieger R.D.
Studies show that those who skip breakfast tend to eat more calories during the day compared to people who don’t skip. You should eat something that will satisfy you enough to get you through the next few hours, like a bowl of bran cereal with low-fat milk.

2. STARVING YOURSELF
If you skip breakfast, your body would have been starved for 12 to 18 hours.
“Not consuming enough calories during the day could lead to increased craving for high-fat or high-sugar foods,” says Suzanne Farrell, MS RD, spokesperson for the AMERICAN DIETETIC ASSOCIATION.

3. BINGING
If you are used to a diet that is low in fiber and high in salt or sugar and partially hydrogenated Trans fats, you will tend to over-eat. This is probably the most common cause of obesity in America.
Instead of eating two or three large meals per day, it is better to eat five or six small meals of high-fibered fruits, vegetables, etc. during the day.

4. EATING ON THE RUN
Leslie Bonci, R.D. calls this, “grab, gulp, and go mentality”. Bonci states that this eating habit can leave you dissatisfied and unsure of what you ate and sometimes give you an upset stomach.
Just like meetings, conferences, etc., include meal times on your schedule. There should always be time for good nutrition. If, however, there is just too much going on in our life, be prepared. Always stock up on healthy options like low-fat granola bars, nuts and dried fruits or single-serving packages of crackers.

5. DRINK ENOUGH WATER
How many times have we been told that drinking 8 glasses of water daily should be a part of our health regimen?
Water is crucial for all organs of to work properly. Drinking a minimum of 8 glasses of pure water a day will help your body to burn fat.
While most people have developed bad eating habits through the years, here are some good eating habits that can make a lot of difference in our lives.

1. EAT REGULAR MEALS
When you skip meals your body feels deprived. It can lead to out-of-control hunger which results to overeating. So, no matter how busy you are, eat meals regularly.

2. EAT MODERATE PORTIONS
It will be easier for you to eat the foods you want and stay healthy by keeping portion sizes reasonable. You don’t have to let your body feel deprived.

3. KNOW YOUR DIET PITFALLS
Before improving your eating habits, you have to identify what’s wrong with your present habits. Write down what you eat for two to three days. If you see an unhealthy diet pattern (i.e. lack of fruits and vegetables or having too much creams or sauces) try to correct it.

4. BALANCE YOUR FOOD CHOICES OVER TIME
If you’ve been used to a diet high in fat, sugar or salt, choose other foods that are low in these ingredients. If after following a regular health regimen, you fall off the wagon, get back up and try to make up for it the next day. Nobody is “perfect” even when it comes to making the right choices on healthy eating.

5. MAKE CHANGES GRADUALLY
Nobody can change overnight. Start with modest changes, and build it up to positive lifelong eating habits. Good nutrition should be a way of life not a life sentence.

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