Every February, the American Heart Association (AHA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other health organizations remind the public to pay more attention to the issue of heart health – and for good reason.
About 75 percent of healthcare costs in the United States come from treating chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. More than half of Americans suffer from one or more of these health problems largely caused by poor eating and lifestyle choices.
Norman Cousins had just recovered from a life-threatening illness when he wrote his famous autobiographical book, “Anatomy of an Illness – As Perceived by the Patient” (1979 W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.).
You think you do everything right. You stick to a lean diet and you go for runs and workouts in the gym. Still, the numbers on the scale won’t budge. It’s a frustrating experience many Americans go through during ‘resolution season’ when the damage from the holidays is supposed to get undone.
For the last six years, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a consumer advocacy group, has given what it calls the annual “Xtreme Eating Awards” to restaurants for serving excessively large portions and using ingredients deemed to be unhealthy.
It shouldn’t come as a big surprise. On average, Americans are in poorer health and have shorter lifespans than the citizens of other affluent countries, including most Western European nations, Australia, Canada and Japan.
Obesity may have multiple negative health effects, but higher mortality rates are not among them, according to a study that was recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
New Year’s resolutions are a popular annual tradition in spite of their notoriously high failing rates.
Much has been reported on changing food and nutrition trends in recent years and 2012 was no exception.
According to Men’s Health Magazine (www.menshealth.com), Boise, Idaho, is the new place to be for men who look for health, happiness and quality of life.
In all likelihood, many Americans will gain some weight over the holidays.
Whether you are overweight, have diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol largely depends on your personal lifestyle choices – but not exclusively, according to an annual survey on the health of Americans.
Whenever I make phone calls or send off emails to family members and friends to touch base and inquire about their well-being, the answers are almost always the same: “busy,” “crazy busy,” “insanely busy,” “busy, busy, busy.”
While most of us are out and about doing our gift shopping, attending parties, going on vacations or visiting loved ones, we are also increasingly at risk of falling prey to the countless health hazards we encounter in public places – most commonly a cold or the flu.
It’s supposed to be the “most wonderful time of the year.” But for many Americans the holiday season brings considerable stress, anxiety and even depression. What should be an opportunity to slow down, take a vacation, focus on family and friends, often turns into an annually reoccurring hassle that is more of a burden than a relief.
Whether we celebrate at home with family and friends, attend lots of parties or take a vacation to get away from it all, the holidays always tempt us to consume more food and drink than we normally would – and more than may be good for us.
Large parts of the American population are diagnosed as overfed but malnourished, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s called the obesity paradox. While we have easy access to calorie-dense, highly processed foods, a balanced, nutritious diet is much harder to come by.
For the longest time, there has been nothing but bad news coming from Greece: An economy in complete shambles, high unemployment, drastic tax hikes and cutbacks in social services, unrest in the streets, a society at the brink of collapse.
More and more companies are enrolling their workforce in health and wellness programs to cut staggering health care costs, reduce absenteeism and foster productivity as well as morale and loyalty, according to several studies on recent changes in employer-based health care policies.
Many Americans find it hard to judge whether they are successfully managing their weight or not. Despite increasing awareness of the obesity crisis in this country and throughout the world, most people don’t see themselves as being affected by weight issues.
