Posts filed under 'Body Image - Self Talk'
Reuters Health reported a couple days ago that doctors in London find obese women can get healthier through Healthy Lifestyle habits even if they don’t lose significant weight. “Healthy Lifestyle’ means the usual things–better eating habits and exercising more, but it doesn’t necessarily mean cutting calories to the point that a lot of weight comes off.
Reuters quotes Dr. Erika Borkoles of Leeds saying that “Psychological and physical health improved independent of substantial weight loss.” The women in the study only lost a couple kilograms in a year, but showed improvements in self-image, stress and fitness levels.
December 7th, 2006
Research by Dr. Tracy Tylka indicates that women with a positive body image are more likely to eat “intuitively” meaning that they will respond appropriately to body cues of hunger or satiation. This argues against the idea that women do or should diet when they are dissatisfied with their bodies. See the extended summary in Reuters Health online.
August 31st, 2006
A new study by Dr. Peter Muennig and others of Columbia University finds that women suffer more loss of quality of life due to being overweight than men do. See the summary by Reuters Health.
This unusual study compared the number of perfectly healthy years a person of ideal weight would have to the number an overweight person would have. This makes intuitive sense when you think that being overweight is associated with so many acute and chronic diseases.
Why do women lose more quality of life? No one knows for sure, but the researchers speculate that women experience more stress from their weight because they are confronted with much more social stigma than men. Living a Healthy Lifestyle might mean you need to deal with social perceptions and how they affect your feelings.
July 28th, 2006
One of our favorite newsletters is beginning a feature called Foundations of Wellness. We have been referring to the Hilton Head Health Institute’s Healthy Lifestyle program as the “foundation of health“. We like the idea of “wellness”, too. Check it out.
July 27th, 2006
HealthDay News carries an interesting - and important - article on dieting: Don’t do it. The article cites Julie Miller Jones, professor of nutrition at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, MN, as saying that people need to get away from the word “diet” and substitute the words “eating plan”. And then stick with it, always. (Click here for the article.)
There is evidence that dieting increases the chances of long-term weight gain - not long term weight loss (large scale Scandinavian studies support this idea). There is also evidence that many women who are very overweight began dieting in their teens. This “yo-yo dieting” pattern may be harmful in itself, and it certainly doesn’t get the weight off.
In words that could have been written by the Hilton Head Health Institute staff regarding weight loss, Miller Jones recommends a healthy lifestyle approach with good nutrition and exercise, modest goals every month, and persistence. ‘Diet’ is a four-letter word.
July 17th, 2006
From little Peel, Ontario is a local program based on the notion that parents’ healthy lifestyles teach their kids to be the same way. The “3 pillars” of health will be familiar to you: healthly eating, physically active lifestyle and positive self esteem. They present some research (click here) that children of active parents are much more likely to be active themselves.
May 31st, 2006
Next Posts
Previous Posts
