wellness weekly

Bottomless Xpress: In an example of how food companies and restaurants do contribute to our current weight crisis, Chili’s offers a lunch that is bottomless. Just for the record, eating the bottomless lunch will lead to you having more not less bottom.

Heparin Follow Up: It is an ingredient in the Baxter product that was manufactured in a Chinese plant not the entire drug. For that matter, makers of this type of blood thinner all use factories in China for this particular part of the drug which just happens to be pig parts. Intestines I believe. It is still odd that our drug companies can cut costs by using a foreign factory but we pay higher costs for drugs as we are not allowed to get them from international pharmacies.

Low Cal Snacks: Oh gosh, the food companies I just admonished in the first item are also catering to the calorie conscious among us is what is said to be a 200 million dollar industry. Wow. It’s the rise of the 100 calorie snack packs except now its 90, 80, and less. I know they grab my attention. However, the reason it is a multimillion dollar business is the ridiculous high price of these items. I imagine that packaging may be a part of it as is the fact that we will shell out the money if it makes us FEEL smaller. You can make your own less than 100 calorie snacks you know. Read the labels of products and then make your baggies according to how many calories you want them to be. Here is an awesome snack: Use, little “Toastie” crackers that the sell in the deli, mini toasts, they look like tiny sandwich slices. Ten of these have 80 calories, spread a tablespoon of hummus on them and you have well, 105 cals. This snack is very healthy and that is worth noting. Much of the problem with the 100 calorie snack pack industry is that it offers us low calorie, but low calorie junk. Excluding maybe the puddings, yogurts and cheeses.

Cancer Deaths: I have read about this report more than once this week and still have difficulty understanding what the researchers are trying to say. It sounds like there are less overall deaths from cancer, but that the rate of decline, expected because of medical advances, has slowed. When reviewing the statistics, scientists take into account that there are more people alive than there used to be and come up with a rate per 100,000. It make also be meant that less people die of cancer but people are still getting cancer. One explanation for a decrease in overall number is that less people smoke now and more people get prevention screening like mammograms. I think that initially we saw the effect from those things and recently it has stalled. Now we are seeing more cancers related to other factors, such as obesity and inactivity. Other stories this week discussed cancer and diet. Another study supports the Mediterranean diet as health promoting and a high processed, simple carb diet as cancer causing.

Health Care: While listening to a stump speech by Barak Obama I very much appreciated his plan to make sure that our country would focus on caring for health, for prevention of disease as opposed to what he termed “disease care.” I agree that prevention of disease is not only cost effective but humane. Meaning, just because we can treat heart disease, diabetes and cancer doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to prevent it from occuring.

Starting to Exercise: When do you need a doctor’s approval to begin an exercise program? It is not always necessary to see your doctor and even less necessary to have a stress test according to the director of the American Heart Association. People without obvious risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes and family history of heart disease can usually begin walking on their own. What is not recommended is going form coach potato to jogger or tennis player. Work up to vigorous exercise. Stress tests can identify blocked arteries but not plaques. Be mindful of your health and certainly let your doctor know what you are up to.