That's Fit

Those who are watching what they eat -- whether it's calories, carbs, fat or fiber -- know that fast food can be enemy number one. But should it be a concern for everyone's diet? Maybe. To take the guesswork out of ordering, we at AOL Health have combed through the nutrition information of some of your favorite restaurants, and we found a shocking number of orders that go overboard on acceptable daily allowances of calories (2,000), fat (65 g) and sodium (2,400 mg). One innocent-looking offender? The veggie burger from Ruby Tuesday's. The (small) patty packs more than 1,000 calories and a staggering 53 fat grams. What a disgrace to normally lean meat-free patties! Learn more about this and 38 other fast-food diet offenders.

What's the worst fast food you've ever had? And when was the last time you had any -- have you removed it completely from your diet?

Consistent with earlier findings that have shown BMI to be inexact, authors from a recent study in the British Medical Journal of Nutrition found "that the number used to indicate weight category does not reflect the same amount of body fat for some races compared to others."

If not BMI, what should you use?

Researchers compared the effectiveness of BMI to dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) determination of percentage body fat. Their findings?

"Right now non-Hispanic white women are not considered obese until they have a BMI of 30 or above. Based on our data for Hispanic women the number would be around 28," study co-author Molly Bray, associate professor of Pediatrics - Nutrition at the USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center, said in a press release. "For African American women the number to cross is around 32." The results for men were similar.

Overfeeding your child is fairly serious -- some even feel it's a form of abuse. Now animal rights groups are saying the same thing ... about your pets. And the government in the UK agrees -- according to the Daily Mail, new controversial rule under the animal welfare act could have serious consequences for pet owners who don't put their fat animals on a diet.

Overfeeding pets is a 'serious welfare concern' and can lead to suffering, according to the new law. Therefore, people who allow their pets to become dangerously obese can face fines of around $30,000 or even up to a full year in jail. There's no word on whether similar laws could be adopted here in North America, but maybe they should be. After all, if you can't give your pet the necessary amount of exercise, maybe you shouldn't have one.

Too harsh? What do you think?

Obesity is a risk factor for so many conditions. Subsequently, fat has become almost synonymous with unhealthy. In addition, we live in a society that trains us to believe that thin not only equals healthy, it also equals attractive. Daily Mail has an interesting article where two men -- one who is overweight and one who is thin -- are thoroughly checked out by a doctor to see who is actually healthier.

Surprisingly, the overweight man is healthier on almost every count. His blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, lung function and liver function all fall within healthy ranges. The thin man, however, didn't fare so well. While his lung function is good, both his cholesterol and blood pressure are high. In addition, his liver function and blood sugar are approaching unhealthy ranges.

Weight is not the only difference between these two men -- they lead different lifestyles and those lifestyles have an effect on their health. The overweight man exercises regularly, eats healthfully and doesn't drink. The thinner man doesn't exercise, pays little attention to what he eats, smokes and drinks quite a bit.

Weight is an important measure of health and we should all strive to achieve or maintain a healthy weight. But, while this article is far from a scientific study, it does show that a healthy lifestyle -- including good nutrition and lots of exercise -- has a bigger impact on our health than anything else.

BMI classifications are accepted universally: 18 to 24 is considered normal, 25 to 29 overweight and 30+ obese. Correction -- BMI classifications were universal but now, one country is changing the standard.

India is re-defining what it means to be overweight or obese. Whereas the old standard classified people with a BMI of 24 as normal, anyone who ranks over 23 will be considered overweight. And those who have a BMI of 25 or over will be considered obese.

This means, of course, that hundreds of thousands of people who thought they were healthy will have to think again under the new guidelines. Kind of seems unfair, huh? The government doesn't think so. "This revision has been long overdue," said Anoop Misra of Fortis Hospital, New Delhi. "The new values will have tremendous public health implications."

What do you think? Is setting a new standard a good idea? Should the rest of us follow suit?

(via Calorie Lab)

How would you like to get rid of your fat cells in a matter of a few hours? Sounds perfect, right? Well, you can. It's called liposuction, but it comes with painful side effects and risks of complications. But if lipo sounds like your kind of miracle cure, there's another procedure in the works that could potentially be even more successful at helping you lose the fat.

This procedure, developed by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard, is called cryolipolysis, and it works by freezing fat cells and in turn breaking them down without damaging other tissue like skin. It's currently undergoing clinical trials, but results are promising.

Still, it's not without its critics. As one leading expert warns: "These kinds of treatments are never going to be an excuse for not getting round to dieting. Nor is it going to be a treatment for obesity."

Remember a while back when I asked you if a implementing a 'Tubby Tax' was appropriate to compensate for the amount of extra cost it takes to transport obese travellers? Sixty-six percent of you were against the idea, and it looks like the Supreme Court of Canada agrees with you -- and has gone a step further. In a recent ruling, officials declared that people 'functionally disabled by obesity' have the right to be given two seats on an airplane for the price of one. Pretty significant, huh?

What do you think of this decision? Is this fair? On one hand, it seems unfair to make people pay double for a flight just because they weigh more. On the other, it's unfair to other passengers to give two seats for the price of one to people who can't control their eating. Does it depend on the situation?

Women who are overweight face many health risks, such as heart disease and type II diabetes. And Martha recently told us how overweight women tend to be more impulsive. But overweight women face some risks you might not expect:

• Being fired. Could it be because people who are overweight have a higher rate of absenteeism? Or is it because of a prejudice? It's hard to pinpoint the reasons why, but medical research shows that overweight women run a higher risk of losing their jobs.
• Being the victim of a crime. Overweight women run a greater risk of being victims of crimes. They're also more likely to become criminals.
• Financial woes. Overweight women are more likely to find themselves broke.

It's a chicken and the egg situation, really. Is a woman's weight causing these negative life events or are the negative events causing stress that leads to overeating and obesity?

Last week, the Houston Wellness Association is holding their 2008 Wellness Symposium at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas. This two-day health care event was designed to bring together wellness experts from across the country, to talk about how to tackle healthcare and the problem of obesity in American children. At the event, William J. Clish M.D., a professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine, said, "Of all the mothers I see, the majority argue with me about their kids' right to be obese ... to be 'what they are.' I argue they have the right to be their very best."

Well put.

His presentation included several tips on how to help keep your kids in shape:

If you're a woman, your weight may indicate how successful you are at controlling your impulses. Specifically, obese women are more impulsive than normal weight women. They're also less likely to settle for time delays in gratification.

The study reporting this finding also looked at men, but men don't show the same level of impulsiveness, regardless of the numbers on the scale.

In the case of women, researchers say weight isn't the effect but rather the cause. It makes sense -- impulsive women are quicker to gain weight because they have more difficulty ignoring their impulses, also known as their cravings. Unfortunately, being impulsive is not something I think you can easily change. What do you think?

(via Calorie Lab)

Is your weight determined by which team you bat for? I'm not talking baseball here -- I'm talking your sexual orientation and its connection to the numbers on your scale. Sounds like a pretty ridiculous notion, right? I mean, we know that some races, nationalities and genders are predisposed to certain body issues due to genetics, but sexual orientation is believed to have little -- if nothing -- to do with your genetics and body, so how could it affect your weight?

Still, that didn't stop a team of researchers from looking into it. What they found is this: "Body mass index was not significantly associated with sexual orientation, age at first intercourse, frequency of heterosexual intercourse, and the number of lifetime or current male partners. Overweight women and obese women were more likely to report ever having male sexual intercourse."

So, not surprisingly, whether you're gay or straight doesn't have a significant impact on your weight -- that is, unless you're a straight woman. Then you're more likely to be overweight or obese. Lucky us, huh? Your thoughts?

(via Crabby McSlacker)

In Mexico, a country-wide initiative called Oportunidades encourages healthy habits in citizens and has been heralded as a model for the rest of the world. Under it, impoverished families were given cash rewards for attending medical check-ups and nutritional counseling -- the aim being, of course, to help the country slim down and get healthy. But recent reports are showing that this is not happening. In fact, it's quite the opposite -- residents are gaining weight.

What gives? It's not clear, but one hypothesis is that the cash rewards given to citizens weren't used to buy fresh fruits and veggies like they were intended. If that's the case, what's the solution? Providing vouchers that are only good for healthy fare? Would the promise of free fruits and veg be enough to entice low-income families to visit health professionals? What do you think?

On average, kids are bigger these days than they were 10, 20, 30 years ago, so it doesn't make much sense that school kids today are using the same school equipment as the kids from decades ago.

Sure, there are budgets to keep in mind, but over in the UK, recent studies are showing that kids are just too big for their school desks and chairs. Kids are taller, yes, but they're also wider -- and heavier. And not only is this a safety hazard, it's a health hazard -- kids are suffering back pains and other problems because of their too-small chairs, according to the Daily Mail.

So if it's time for new desks, wouldn't it be great if these desks could be worked into the budget?

Childhood obesity is becoming a big problem in the United States as well as many other countries. There are many factors that contribute to the problem, including poor nutrition at home, lack of nutrition education, unhealthy school lunches, and marketing/advertising of unhealthy foods to kids. But as the attention on childhood obesity increases, are we going too far and generating a fear of fat in kids?

A recent survey of 150,000 kids found that 1/4 of 10-year-old boys and 1/3 of girls that age are worried about their body image and shape. I found those numbers disconcerting. Yes, children should be at a healthy weight. Being overweight can have long-term effects on a child's health and self-esteem. But, in trying to help kids achieve/maintain a healthy weight, we shouldn't sacrifice a positive body image and shouldn't damage a healthy relationship with food.

Instead of forcing young kids to think about calorie intake and burning calories, we should just model and support healthy eating habits and make physical activity and play a part of every day. If your child is overweight, try these nine positive ways to help them get healthy.

Skyrocketing childhood obesity rates have an unwanted side effect -- more kids are being put on prescription medications to combat related chronic diseases.

A recent study revealed there have been surges in prescriptions for children with diabetes and asthma as well as smaller increases in high blood pressure and high cholesterol medications. To varying degrees, obesity can play a role in all of those conditions. While some of the medication increase can be attributed to modified guidelines, the rise is concerning.

If your child is overweight, there are many positive, supportive ways you can help. AOL Health has other suggestions for battling childhood obesity.