A True Story of Binge Eating

Jane Brody used to be a binge eater. Her binging started when she was 23 years old. She could eat 3,000 calories in one sitting and often did. She's written a helpful article in NYT about her experience.

About one in every 35 people is estimated to be a binge eater. That's almost three percent of the population. Yet unlike anorexia or bulimia, binge eating is not considered a formal diagnosis.

A Daylight Savings Time Health Boost

Daylight Savings Time normally begins the first Sunday in April but this year it will start three weeks early, on March 11th. It will also go one week further in the fall, instead of ending the last Sunday in October it will now be the first Sunday in November.

This is great news for all people who enjoy outdoor fitness activities. We can now get in an extra hour of tennis, golf, soccer or any other sport or outdoor activity we enjoy. It's also very good news for the many people who suffer from mood disorders and depression due to a deficiency of sunlight or daylight.

The main reason for the change is to reduce global warming as people will need less lighting for one hour and the change is estimated to reduce greenhouse gases by one percent.

Belly Fat Liposuctions Will Not Improve Our Health

Belly fat is the most dangerous kind of fat in terms of serious health effects. On the photo here you see what just five pounds of fat would look like on your belly. The excess fat surrounds the organs and forces them to work harder.

Dr. Gonzalez-Campoy says "It is not the fat under the skin that really matters. It is the fat inside the abdominal cavity that matters. If you put this (5 pounds of fat) inside of your abdomen around your intestines, that's the fat that we really want to get after."

He says liposuction is not the answer. Liposuction only removes the fat just under the skin. It doesn't get rid of the fat deeper inside the abdomen. And this is the fat that leads to cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

See the interesting video and interview of Dr. Gonzalez-Campoy by Angela Davis here.

A Size Twelve Hits the Catwalk

Everybody in the fashion industry is taking notice that one of the biggest department stores in London, John Lewis, has chosen a size 12 model to show off their summer swimwear collections on the catwalk.

The model is Lauren Moller. She is 5'8" and her measurements don't seem like size 12 at a 26 inch waist and 37.5 inch hips, but Lewis claims she is a size 12. She has a body mass index (BMI) of 19.8. Although they don't state her weight this BMI and height calculation would mean she weighs 130 pounds.

Apparently the typical catwalk model is 5'9" and weighs 110 pounds. That's a dangerously unhealthy BMI of 16.

This is the first time I've heard of a 130 pound 5'8" woman wearing size 12. I don't know much about British sizes but I am 5'9" (with big bones at that) and am quite sure that if I weighed 130 pounds like Lauren Moller I would be easily slinking into size 8 or lower.

Sarah Ferguson Used to Weigh 200 Pounds

Sarah Ferguson is now 47 years old. She is celebrating ten years as spokesperson for Weight Watchers. When she joined the Weight Watchers program in 1997 she was about '200 pound odd'. Weight Watchers has reportedly paid her millions of dollars per year since then. Ferguson says they saved her life. She first became fat at the age of 12 after her mother left the family.

Ferguson says that not only does she watch what she eats, she also does some exercise daily be it pilates, yoga, jogging or lifting weights.

She says "It's very, very difficult to keep focused and motivated. You have to learn to control the darkness in your mind. And you have to be honest with yourself about what your triggers [to overeat] are. Because if you don't, you'll choose food instead of anything else."

Bob Greene on How He Met Oprah

There is a good interview with Bob Greene on Bankrate. He tells the story of how he first met Oprah in 1992 when she weighed 237 pounds. At that time he didn't have a TV and he barely knew who she was. They hiked together at a spa resort that day and have been great friends ever since.

Fitness guru Bob Greene is the kind of guy who was reading nutritional magazines when he was a young kid. He remembers saying to his parents that they shouldn't be eating bacon for breakfast back when he was nine years old.

Bankrate asks him if Oprah is typical in her battle of the bulge. Greene replies;

I think she's typical of a fairly large majority of women and men whose major coping mechanism is food. When they're happy, they want to celebrate with food; when they're sad or feel a void in their life, food really fills it. They don't mistreat people. Everyone has coping mechanisms. You either mistreat people, you abuse alcohol or drugs or you overwork. We all have our thing that gets us past stressful moments, and hers is most definitely food. I think it is for a majority of people. It's the most socially acceptable.

A Mom Resolves to Lose 40 Pounds

Kris Robinson decided she wanted to lose weight this year. She has a history of diabetes in her family and felt it was time to begin moving her family's diet to healthier foods.

She started her diet and exercise plan on January 7th. She's lost 12 pounds already and would like to lose thirty more. She is working out on her new treadmill at home and has started to eat more legumes, nuts, brown rice and vegetables. She is trying to cut out the white flour and white sugar. Her family is eating whole wheat pasta for the first time.

In the process, she is already a size smaller and has gone out and bought a new pair of pants. This mom stopped wearing 'mom's jeans' a year ago;

I didn't know that there was a real distinction until I bought my first pair of 'sort of' low rise jeans. They weren't TOO low rise, just enough to sit below my belly button and look stylish. I have to admit, they were much more flattering than my other jeans. Then Payton (my 15 year old) said, "Cool, no more Mom jeans?"

"Huh?" I replied. What do you mean? "You know, those ones that come way up towards your chest, like Erkel? Those are Mom Jeans."

Smart ass.

Holy Crap! Had I become a Mom? Really, like an uncool Mom? Unbeknownst (?) to me, apparently, sadly, I had. I thought I was just resisting the trendiness in favor of a more classic look. How was I to know that the kids actually had something right this time with the low rise style? Like I said, they ARE more flattering. In the next several weeks I got more compliments than ever including "are you loosing weight?" Well, no, I'm just not wearing Mom Jeans anymore!

Check out her weight loss progress at her site at A Mom on a Mission.

A Treadmill for Swimmers

Here's a treadmill for swimmers. It seems like the ultimate luxury in terms of workout equipment.

It's a pool that is only 8 feet by 15 feet big. There is a current you can adjust to any speed or ability. At top speed, the equivalent swim would be a mile without turns in less than 20 minutes. It's advertised as being ideal for exercise, water aerobics or rehabilitation. The Endless Pool costs about $20,000 and another $3,500 for installation.

Beth Ostrosky Walks Her Dog to Stay Fit

Beth Ostrosky likes to walk her dog to stay in shape. She's a spokesperson for a Long Island animal shelter and they've partnered with Weight Watchers on a campaign called "Adopt a Walking Buddy".

Other than walking her dog, Beth Ostrosky probably works out on a regular basis. She looks fantastic at age 34. She's been a long term girlfriend of Howard Stern and he finally proposed to her this week. Howard Stern is quite a bit older than her, (53) but on the other hand he does make over $300 million a year. They've probably got a nice big gym with all the latest fitness equipment in their house and maybe even a personal trainer or two.

Hudson Eats Cake To Add 20 Pounds

Jennifer Hudson was asked to gain twenty pounds for her role of Effie in Dreamgirls. She said she gained the weight by "eating ookies, cakes, and pies at all hours of the night. The trouble is, we were dancing so much, it was hard to keep the weight on. I'd lose an inch, and they'd yell 'You've gotta eat more chocolate cake!'"

These iPods Were Made for Walking

It's taken me a long time to get myself an iPod. But I finally went ahead and ordered one. The price is down to $79 now and you get twice the quality as a couple of years ago. They have a special Valentine's promotion where you can get it engraved with something and gift wrapped for your sweetheart. For me, I just opted to engrave it with my phone number in case I lose it.

There are so many interesting free podcasts out there now. I think it will be fun to go for long walks and listen to some of them. I'm looking forward to trying it out. Delivery may take up to eight days since I didn't pay extra for speedy delivery.

They have some new snazzy colors to choose from now, but I opted for the standard silver. Will let you know how the walking motivation works out with the iPod soon.

The Beer Belly Guy Resolves to Lose It

The beer belly guy decided he was going to lose his beer belly. He started a blog about his progress at the beginning of this year. He's been at it for a few weeks. He is a tall guy, 6'2" and weighs 280 pounds. He wants to weigh 225 and have a toned belly to boot.

He says he's developed the beer belly over the last five years by sitting too long in front of the computer, drinking too many beers and eating fatty foods. He used to be in uber shape before that. But he's got a very successful internet business now, he works from home, sets his own hours and has developed a lifestyle which encourages beer drinking.

He typically wakes up at 10:00am and by the time he's had his coffee and cigs, it is past 11:00am. Then he sits down to work at his computer until about 3:00pm. After that it's the bustle of two little kids and dinner to make. Then he gets back on the computer in the evening, with his favorite beer in hand and works on the computer till almost 2:00am.

Initially he vowed to give up beer for a full month. But now his goal is to maintain some regular beer drinking but still lose the belly. He's got less of a challenge in this regard then some people who've let their beer bellies get quite a bit further out of control. Hop on over to his beer belly blog and give him some encouragement.

Less Chocolates for Valentine's Day

Less chocolates and more flowers would be the Valentine's Day wish for many women. Here's an upscale (and very expensive) floral arrangement via Los Angleles Florists. It's a tiny box of chocolates surrounded by a big box of roses.

Here via Anne Collins is the calorie count in popular chocolate treats:

Chocolate Calories
Milk chocolate, 1.5oz bar 220
Milk chocolate, 2oz bar 290
Cooking chocolate, 1oz 150
Chocolate Sprinkles (1 tbsp) 50
Carob bar or Carob chips, 1oz 140
Chocolate topping (2 tbsp) 90

How to Burn Calories and Make Money

How can you burn calories and make money at the same time? There's probably countless ways but here's one idea that will also help slow global warming to boot.

How long would it take to replace all the light bulbs in your home? And how many calories would you burn if it took you two hours? We're talking about a potential piddly 300 to 500 calories depending on your weight and how much you'd have to exert yourself.

But the savings to your budget would be much more impressive. If you replaced all your regular bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs you would save 50 cents to 75 cents per month per bulb. That adds up to more than a few dollars over the year.

More importantly we would make a significant contribution to slow global warming. These bulbs use only about one third of the electricity as the regular bulbs in our homes.

It's been estimated that if each home replaced only one bulb, it would be the equivalent of taking a million cars off the road in terms of global warming impact.

See more about compact fluorescent lightbulbs here.

Mushrooms have Amazing Healing Benefits

Mushrooms are often overlooked in today's daily diet but they are loaded with nutrition and amazing health benefits.

One of the most nutritious mushrooms is the shiitake. (They are on the top left in the photo above). These mushrooms make great meat substitutes. You can eat them on their own sauteed with butter and garlic as a side dish or put them in stir fries and soups.

Shiitake mushrooms have been used medicinally by the Chinese for over 6,000 years. An eight ounce serving (at only 87 calories) will provide you with twenty percent of your daily recommended iron intake, and about ten percent each of Vitamin C, protein and fiber.

Shiitake mushrooms contain lentinan. Lentinan has amazing healing benefits. It boosts the immune system to fight infection or disease. It has been shown to be more effective than prescription drugs in fighting influenza and other viruses. It's also been shown to be effective at destroying cancer cells. And it lowers cholesterol levels in lab animals no matter what kinds of fats they are fed.

Nutrition is still a very young science and it was only just over a year ago that L-ergothioneine, an extremely powerful antioxidant, was discovered in mushrooms:

In research presented at the 2005 American Chemical Society meeting in Washington, D.C., an American research team revealed that mushrooms contain higher concentrations L-ergothioneine than either of the two dietary sources previously believed to contain the most: chicken liver and wheat germ.

Testing mushrooms consumed in the U.S., the team found that shiitake, oyster, king oyster and maitake mushrooms contain the highest amounts of ergothioneine, with up to 13 mg in a 3-ounce serving. This equals forty times as much as is found in wheat germ.

Of the most commonly consumed mushrooms, portabellas and criminis have the most L-ergothioneine, followed by white buttons. White buttons, the most popular of all mushrooms consumed in the U.S., contain up to 5 mg per three ounce serving-12 times as much as wheat germ and 4 times more than chicken liver. And more good news, L-ergothioneine is not destroyed when mushrooms are cooked.

So where to get them and how to cook them? You can find dried shiitake in most supermarkets these days. Before cooking, soak them for about half an hour. Then chop them and discard the stem as well as the tough middle part above the stem. I like to sautee them in butter and garlic and then add them to a steamed vegetable such as kale or swiss chard. They are also really good in miso soup.

Check out the just hungry blog for more info about dried mushrooms. The above photo is by Chika.

Extreme Girdles: The Brazilian Waist Cinchers

While we're on the subject of girdles and shapewear, let's talk extreme girdles for a minute. These are the 'Brazilian waist cinchers'. They are girdles made out of actual rubber; the natural latex from the rubber trees of the Amazon. Contrary to the claims of the company who manufactures them - 'Squeem' - I can't believe they could actually be comfortable. But these Brazilian waist cinchers are selling well.

They are still much less popular than the big leaders in shapewear however. Spanx is still making the most popular shapewear today and another company whose products are called 'Lipo in a Box' is also showing surging popularity on Amazons sales rankings.

Even Katie Holmes Wears Spanx

It looks like Katie Holmes wears a girdle. For special outings anyway. She's lost all her weight since giving birth to her first child, but maybe she is conscious of her stomach not being as flat as a board as it was pre-pregnancy. These photos are via the Superficial. They say you can tell these are not nylons if you look how they cut into her thighs and because her feet look bare.

Here's a comment from one of their readers;

Yeah, the Spanx. Not glamorous, for sure. Definitely less sexy than the old-fashioned Scarlett O'Hara-type corset.

But even movie stars have stuff that jiggles around and needs to be contained. Underneath those designer gowns that adorn celebrities at various awards shows is an amazing array of cantilevered underwear to keep each breast and butt cheek from moving independently. And the ubiquitous duct tape, of course.

Too bad Katie's Spanx made it into the photo. How embarrassing. She looks really gorgeous. I wonder if her hairstylist managed to find a way to camouflage that Scientology plug-in on the back of her neck?

Spanx (brilliant marketing name, not spelled as Spandx for Spandex) are the modern version of yesterday's girdles. They are one of several companies vying for our attention in the growing body shapewear market.

Huckabee Loses 110 Pounds and Runs for President

Mike Huckabee lost 110 pounds in one year. He is now 51 years old and decided to change his lifestyle a couple of years ago when his doctor told him that his Type II diabetes would cause his entire body to deteriorate.

He turned around a lifetime of eating fried and sugary foods and began abstaining from these. He started an exercise routine by getting on a stationary bike each morning. He had been reading his newspaper each morning anyway, now he read it while riding his bicycle. He then started jogging short distances and has since completed four marathons. (His wife walked the complete marathon route of 26 miles on two of these). He was able to reverse his Type II diabetes diagnosis without the use of any drugs even though his parents and grandparents had also suffered from it.

He has become an advocate of the "culture of health" and is heavily involved with the Healthy America initiative.

We'll be hearing a lot more about Huckabee soon. He just announced he is running for President of the United States. He has been the Governor of Arkansas since 1996 and happened to grow up in the same tiny town as Bill Clinton.

A Sexy Plus Size Valentines Day

Valentine's Day is in two weeks. For many people this conjures up a vision of roses, chocolates and red lacy lingerie. I've never gotten into this habit myself (and it's too late to start now) but for those who are into it, there are so many vendors offering plus size lingerie online these days. Here's a couple of samples.

The first pic is the Stretch Cargo Net Set for $29.99. The sellers say it's a very comfortable cargo net set (larger holes than fishnet) with great stretch to it. Even the hems stretch to fit. It comes with a G-string and fits 1X and 2X.

The second pic is a stretch lace dress for $52.00. The sellers say it is one of their best fitting dress styles and has a sheer stretch mess full skirt with flirtatious rhinestone heart gathering at the decollete. It's available in red or black, has adjustable shoulder straps and comes with a matching G-string. It's available in sizes up to 3X.

For those who who can't see themselves wearing lingerie, but still want something showing skin and cleavage, this sexy top costs only seven dollars, though you need to buy a package of six to get this price. It comes in sizes up to 3X and is made of 90% polyester and 10% spandex.