Ever notice while reading a magazine about healthy eating and exercising that the article is often flanked by ads for sugary, junk-filled foods? This is a real problem in the UK. And I'm thinking the United States is probably no exception.

In the first-ever study of food advertisements in UK magazines, researchers found them filled with sugary, salty options -- a sure contradiction to the health messages of the articles inside. "Nearly every magazine contains advice on a healthier lifestyle, yet we found the food adverts were for products high in sugar and salt and low in fibre such as ready meals, sauces and confectionary," says study lead Dr. Jean Adams.

Here's the question this study raises: Is the bombardment of images of unhealthy food ultimately responsible for our food fumbles? We've already established that we women have a hard time saying no to our favorite foods, so this temptation definitely makes things worse. But don't we still maintain the power to pass on these diet derailers? I say, yes we do. Hope you do too.

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A while back, Martha told us about LighterLife, the extreme calorie-restriction diet that's popular in the UK. The diet is wildly popular even though some people have experienced serious health problems as a result. Now a woman has died from drinking too much water while on the LighterLife plan.

Jacqueline Henson saw immediate results after starting the LighterLife diet. One day, she drank four liters of water as instructed by the plan. However, she drank all four liters within a two-hour period. She complained to her husband that her stomach was "solid" and that she felt sick. She later collapsed and died at the hospital the next day.

Extreme diets like LighterLife are just that ... extreme. I find it frightening that people -- so desperate to shed a few pounds -- are willing to put their health at risk in the process. If you want to lose weight, stick to the old-school method -- eating healthful foods that total an appropriate amount of calories for your body type and exercise more.

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Several years ago, I felt a numbness in my arm and ended up in the emergency room. Though every test came back crystal clear, I was admitted to the cardiac unit as a precaution. The next morning, it was determined that I was in fine health and could go home. (The numbness was attributed to a pinched nerve.) Before leaving, the cardiologist spoke to me about exercising and eating right. Unfortunately, he must have weighed well over 300 pounds and was sweating profusely as his gave me his healthy lifestyle recommendations. Though I knew everything he said was spot on, I couldn't help but wonder why he didn't take his own advice.

A limited UK survey (only 61 physicians were surveyed) found that many doctors don't practice what they preach. Only 21 percent of those surveyed get at least 30 minutes of exercise five days a week. In surveys of the general population, 44 percent claim to meet the minimum activity recommendations. The doctors claimed a lack of time, motivation, and workout facilities for their lack of physical activity.

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If you live in North America, you may not have heard of Kerry Katona. In short, she's sort of the Britney Spears of Europe -- a pretty, young, troubled mother whose unfortunate choices and mental issues are plastered all over the tabloids for the public to snicker at and judge at will. Like Britney, Katona recently lost a fair amount of weight but unlike Britney (as far as we know, anyway ... ), she did it with surgery. Fair enough -- the girl has given birth to four children, so things are probably less, uh, firm than they used to be.

But recently, Katona raised some eyebrows when she was caught having junk food delivered to her house. Seriously? I don't have a problem with weight loss surgery except when it's simply a quick fix and the person has no intention of following by adopting healthy habits afterwards. Sounds like she's going to gain it back in no time -- what do you think?

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Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has been trying to make a difference in the nutritional quality of the UK's school lunches for years. Now, Oliver is focusing on another area that needs improvement -- the typical British home. He worries that the tough economic times are further degrading the quality of food served at home.

When Oliver was first zeroing in on school lunches and teaching cafeteria workers to prepare fresher, more nutritious meals, he didn't just encounter resistance from kids. In one South Yorkshire town, cameras caught parents of school children shoving burgers and fries at their kids through the school's fence. So now Oliver is working in that town and trying to teach families how to eat healthfully on a tight budget.

Oliver makes a good point: Historically, when money was tight, people had to become more resourceful -- growing their own produce, using cheaper cuts of meat, and so forth. Now, however, people have the option of buying $0.79 boxes of macaroni and cheese or value meals at fast food joints. Have you seen that recent commercial for KFC? The one that challenges people to buy the ingredients for a bucket of chicken for less than they'll sell it to you? That's just the point the Oliver is making -- when convenience and cost pair together, some people will let nutrition slide.

If you're trying to lower your grocery costs, try these tips for eating healthfully on a budget.

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The world's in the midst of an obesity crisis, and at least one celebrity chef has been doing something about it -- Jamie Oliver has been trying to get Britain to eat healthier since he launched his School Dinners program in 2005. But not much has changed since then and Oliver is so fed up and disgusted with his fellow Brits, he's threatening to quit if his home nation doesn't start eating healthier.

Says Oliver: "I should and I must and I will go in there and make a difference to these people's lives. I don't know how I am going to do it but if I don't I shall f***ing retire. Simple as that."

I hope he sticks it out -- his cause is certainly a worthy one. Let's get moving, Britain!

(via Calorie Lab)

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Over the in UK, rules were recently placed on child-targeted advertising, prohibiting them from running junk food ads during popular kids programming. But according to recent reports from the BBC, the rules are not working. The reason? They're not strict enough. In fact, it turns out that only four of the top 20 children's shows are required to adhere to these rules. So some shows, like The Simpsons, are not allowed to run junk food ads during commercial breaks, while other like Beat the Star (which attracts half a million children!) can.

However, it's still estimated that the amount of junk food ads that children see on British TV has been reduced by around 50%. It's a start, but I'm still hoping for 100%.

What do you think about kid-targeted advertising? Is it a parent's responsibility to restrict what their kids see on TV? Or should advertising companies back off and stop aiming at impressionable minds?

(via Calorie Lab)

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Ricky Gervais, the comedic mastermind behind shows like The Office, has recently made an interesting plea: He wants fat people to be stigmatized and forced into healthy habits. Says Gervais: "I don't think there's enough stigma. With all the political correctness now, and the fact that food is so refined, there's no stigma any more."

That's not all -- in this article from the Telegraph, he adds, "In supermarkets, the really fattening stuff should be behind a really thin door. Shops should be full of salads but if you want to get to the pies and cakes, you've got to crawl through a little tube."

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Years ago, I worked at a publishing company. The average age in my department was around 24; we worked hard, but we also had a lot of fun. One day, a co-worker called in and left a voice mail saying that he wasn't going to be in the office that day. He didn't say he was sick, he didn't cite some personal emergency... he said "I just can't do the day."

Haven't we all felt like that from time to time? Most work environments wouldn't take so kindly to an employee just taking an unscheduled slacker day, however.

Now there's a website that sells fake doctor's notes. The site states that the notes -- printed with the illness of your choice -- are for novelty purposes only, but they also offer a money-back guarantee if the notes don't get you a free pass from work or school.

Are you making plans for your next escape already? Too bad... the notes are printed on the UK's National Health Service (NHS) paper. Plus, according to the NHS, it's legal in the UK to print and sell the notes but it is illegal to receive payment (e.g. sick pay from work) after using such a note.

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With his final days ticking away, UK journalist Adrian Sudbury has decided to use the rest of his life to make a difference for others. Sudbury was diagnosed with leukemia. He underwent a bone marrow transplant which, at first, seemed to be successful. Unfortunately, his cancer has returned and he has opted not to undergo any more intensive treatment. After two rounds of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, Sudbury knew he had had enough treatment, but when the doctors gave him a 20% chance of survival with treatment it only served to solidify his decision.

Instead, Sudbury has chosen to advocate and bring awareness to treatment options in an effort to help others who are living with cancer. Though his cancer ultimately returned, Sudbury is a strong advocate for bone marrow transpants. On his blog, he states "I have one last little mission before I die. I'm determined to try and educate more people about it is like to a bone marrow donor. There are still 7,000 people -- children and adults in the UK alone -- who are waiting to find a match. Without your help they have no hope. At least I was given a chance."

There are two methods of bone marrow donation: bone marrow harvest, and the newer, less invasive method called peripheral blood stem cell donation. You learn about becoming a donor at the National Marrow Donor Program.

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Many competitive athletes have to undergo drug tests. Is drug testing for scholars in our future, too? According to the UK's Academy of Medical Sciences, certain drugs have been used by healthy people to boost alertness and mental awareness.

Aricept (an Alzheimer's treatment), Ritalin (for ADHD), and modafinil (for day-time sleepiness) have been used by some people to get an edge up on tests and exams. Like steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs used by some athletes, this gives the student an unfair advantage. Also like steroids, using drugs in ways other than they are prescribed for can be seriously detrimental to health.

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Did you ever see the movie Lorenzo's Oil? If you haven't, I highly recommend it. In short, it's about a young boy diagnosed with a rare disease. Ultimately, it's found that a special diet with certain fats helped him. I just stumbled across a news story that reminds me so much of that movie.

Ella, a six-year-old girl from the UK, was recently part of a clinical trial to test the effects of a ketogenic diet on epilepsy. Ella was healthy until her first birthday when she contracted pneumococcal meningitis. The severe infection left her with both hearing and learning difficulties. Later, after experiencing seizures, she was also diagnosed with epilepsy.

There was a brief, few months after her fourth birthday when Ella was free of seizures. The reprieve didn't last long, but it gave Ella's parents a chance to glimpse their daughter free of the debilitating seizures. That was the impetus for signing her up for the clinical trial.

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Most of us go to the gym to work up a sweat, but when ironically named Andy Heatman visited his regular UK gym, he got banned for sweating too much.

Chesire Lines Health Club staff claim that 15 people complained about Heatman's personal hygiene, leading them to ban Heatman from the gym on his next visit. So he took his business down the street to Total Fitness, where he was assured sweating was encouraged.

Heatman works out for two hours at a time, four days a week, so of course he's going to sweat (he also claims he showers regularly, uses deodorant, etc.). I understand it's not always pleasant to see someone sweating profusely, but come on ... isn't that what gyms are for?

What do you think -- was Heatman treated fairly or should he have been left alone to work out in peace?

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A British friend of mine is always quick to point at America as being the nation spearheading the recent obesity crisis -- to him, most Americans live on little more than junk food. But if he wants to see an example of a gluttonous, junk-food-obsessed country, he needn't look further than his own home, according to this article from The Daily Mail.

According to research, 45% of Britons are addicted to junk food, compared with 44% of Americans and 35% of those from the United Arab Emirates (Emiritians?) The healthiest eaters? The French, not surprisingly.

Perhaps it's time we all picked up a copy of Why French Women Don't Get Fat?

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Heather Mills is known for many things--and few of them are positive. From her bitter divorce from Paul McCartney to her ranting and ravings on nation television, her image could use a bit of a boost. Will founding a chain of vegan restaurants help? Perhaps, if she can get the idea off the ground first.

Mills, an outspoken vegan who has lectured countless times on the subject, wants to found a chain of Vegan restaurants in the UK. But with most of her funds tied up in her divorce, Mills needs some financial support to make her restaurant dreams a reality.

Personally, I think a vegan restaurant chain is a great idea. Many people are hesitant to go meatless, and who knows? Perhaps having a big name behind vegan eateries will help encourage them.

What do you think?

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