You Got To Move It, Move It

You Got to Move It, Move IT

In Episode 208 we visited with Personal Trainers, Pamela Randoplh and Steven Sanchez and we discussed the national problem of obesity and excercise (actually, the lack thereof.) For more information you can contact them directly at:

Pamela Randolph : hoolalahoops@hotmail.com.

Steven Sanchez: ssanchez798@yahoo.com

Let's Look At The Data, People:

According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control) 2/3 of American adults are overweight. (62% of female Americans and 67% of male Americans.)

Obesity is the 2nd leading cause of preventable death in U.S. (after smoking). Approximately 127 million adults in the U.S. are overweight. 60 million are obese. 9 million are extremely or morbidly obese (that means they are at risks of dying from complications of the disease, the preventable disease.)

The Cost of Obesity

Obesity and overweight conditions contribute as much as 93 billion to the nation's yearly medical bill. Obesity is associated with 39 million lost work days, 239 million restricted activity days, 90 million bed days and 63 million physician visits. The total cost of obesity to U.S. companies is estimated at $13 billion per year.

In addition, the use of bariatric surgery (a group of medical procedures used to treat obesity) has grown sharply from 16,000 procedures in 1992 to an estimated 145,000 in 2004 (at an average cost of $25,000 per procedure).

And I can tell you from personal, clinical experience that these are far from a risk free procedures. I recently had a patient whose gastric bipass surgery went terribly wrong. The area that was resected perforated and spilled stomach acid into his body. The heart happens to be in rather close proximity to the stomach and his was, in essence, cooked by his stomach acid. A vivid reminder that we can't just cut and sew our way to good health.

Obesity Is No Joke

Obesity is a greater trigger for health problems and increased health spending than smoking or drinking. Individuals who are obese have a 30% - 50% more chronic medical problems than those who smoke or drink heavily.

For example, overweight and obese individuals are at increased risk for; type 2 diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, gallbladder disease, respiratory problems, stroke, endometrial, breast, prostate and colon cancers, poor female reproductive health and depression.

In addition, For every 2 pound increase in weight, the risk of developing arthritis increased by 9-13%.

Lack of Excercise Is A Huge Factor In Obesity

- 400,000 deaths per year are attributed to poor diet and low physical activity. A 33% jump over 1990.

- At least 60% of American adults do not exercise at the federally recommended daily amount of 30 minutes.

-More than 25% are not active at all in their leisure time.

Its Not About Eating Less Fat, Its About Moving More

Two-thirds of all Americans are either trying to lose weight or maintain their weight, but few are following national health recommendations by eating a reduced-calorie diet and exercising at least 150 minutes a week, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).



Leading experts now recommend that people who want to lose weight start increasing their physical activity. Just being more active in general (such as climbing the stairs instead of taking the elevator, moving around instead of sitting still, sitting up instead of lying down as well as showing some excitement and enthusiasm instead of boredom), are things that more effectively burns calories and reduces body fat. Everyone seems to have lost sight of the value of being active. Consider this, a half-hour aerobic workout accounts for far less energy expenditure than our minute-to-minute movement in the office or at home.

What Can You Do?

As you know, people, we are solution oriented. We need to move more and this is exactly what our show was about. I invited Pamela Randolph and Steven Sanchez and they put together a simple, inexpensive exercise routine that you can do at home. Watch the program and you will learn this simple routine so that you can keep the pounds off or lose them or both. The key? Regular exercise.

There is no way around it.

Don't go under the knife, get inside the hula hoop! (Watch the show if you want to understand what I mean.)

Your Intrepid Host With The Whole Wheat Toast,

Marc