First Reader

“Life style, hormones, and risk of breast cancer” was surprising yet it makes sense. This study found a strong link between higher energy intake and breast cancer. They concluded that an increase in physical activity and a decrease in caloric intake can reduce the risk for ovarian cancer. It makes sense yet it is surprising because cancer is thought of as this enigma of a disease that just happens. Cancer is not usually thought about in terms of prevention, and for prevention to be so simple as a healthy diet and physical activity makes cancer less terrifying. “Evolutionary foundations for cancer biology” discussed very complex and scientific processes that at times went straight over my head. I am having trouble responding to this article. I assumed cancer was extremely complex but I have never had it explained to me. One thing I found particularly alarming was that chemotherapy allows for resistant cells to become even more resistant and more prevalent. I always considered chemotherapy to be a barbaric and unsuccessful way to treat cancer because it commonly comes back. Since chemotherapy essentially helps cancer cells thrive, maybe doctors should try something else? Low-dose chemotherapy, as described in the article, seems to have better outcomes. Similarly, I felt it is interesting that size seems to affect cancer outcomes, if one is taller one is at a higher risk for cancer. The fact that evidence of cancer was found in mummies proves that cancer is not a product of recent times is contrary to the belief that cancer is something relatively new. There were many things in this article that were interesting and compelling, I learned a great deal. 

t̶h̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶e̶r̶n̶e̶t̶ society and its lies (Searcher)

It’s a strange headline but after having spent so much time playing my role as searcher for this week, I was disappointed (but not surprised) to find so few pieces of gold when compared to all the undeniable crap that we inevitably stumble across on our daily lives.

It’s truly amazing. And I feel fortunate for becoming less ignorant on the matters of healthy eating. However, the truth is that the lies are more accessible than the truths. We are bombarded with magazines and innumerable websites riddled with tips and tricks on how to get that “sexy beach bod” or “your best body in 10 days!” But in almost all circumstances that I have previously noticed or researched today, these tips are just aimed at getting you to achieve what is considered the “ideal” look, the “skinny” look.

I’ve mentioned it in a previous post, but “your best body” is not achieved through starvation.

Personally, I believe the bodies in the best conditions are treated well. This means eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly. It is not the person that sits around all day, eats terribly, doesn’t exercise, but due to genetics has been blessed with the “skinny gene.”

This week we discussed the sedentary lifestyle and I must admit that I am a sure member of that club. No doubt about it. However, after reading the article on the countless health benefits, I headed to the gym soon after. Does this motivation stick? Not really. We are always being thrown back and forth from this task to another errand and etc. that exercising just isn’t what we want. Watching TV is. And while personal hobbies are necessary for personal happiness, too much Netflix binge-watching is not the best thing in the world for you.

http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/do-you-have-sitting-disease

http://www.cicle.org/feature-articles/new-study-shows-exercise-increases-lifespan-why-arent-we-exercising

Some links with a couple pointers as to how to combat the laziness!

Searcher: The Pitfalls of Dieting

Hello everyone! I stumbled across this really awesome Ted Talk the other day and thought it fit in well with what we have been discussing this week.  Sandra Aamodt, a neuroscientist, talks about the physiological reasons why dieting doesn’t actually work.  

https://www.ted.com/talks/sandra_aamodt_why_dieting_doesn_t_usually_work#

She begins with the ever popular thermostat analogy to describe the homeostatic regulation of body weight, controlled by the hypothalamus.  For most people, normal body weight is within a 10-15 pound range.  If body weight wanders out of that range, the brain releases numerous chemicals to stimulate activities that will bring body weight back to what it deems normal.  Now, it is unlikely that anyone’s normal range is so high that they would be considered obese, but these ranges do differ from person to person.  This means that there certainly is not one “ideal” or “most healthy” weight/body type for people of the same age and height.

Unfortunately, our culture still promotes this idea, causing some people to go to extreme lengths to achieve unrealistic standards.  According to Aamodt, normal weight ranges can increase if someone gains weight and keeps it on for a number of years, making it even harder for that person (if they decide to diet) to get back within their former weight range.  However, normal weight ranges never decrease.  When someone diets and loses so many pounds that their body weight is below its normal range, the brain reacts as if the body is starving.  As you could guess, this makes dieting extremely difficult for some people and makes them all the more likely to gain that weight back.

One of the most striking parts of this talk was the graph Aamodt shared from a study that looked at healthy habits and risk of death in people who were normal weight, overweight, and obese.  With zero healthy habits, the obese group had a significantly higher risk of death than people in the overweight and normal weight groups.  However, the risk of death was nearly the same in all of the groups for people who practiced all four of the healthy habits the study looked at.  

I am in no way saying that obesity is healthy (and I don’t think Aamodt was saying that either), but this study does support the idea that there is not a single healthy body type.  People of all shapes and sizes can be healthy, and hopefully popular media will catch on to that fact soon.  Many people could then avoid eating disorders and debilitating self esteem issues, something that is experienced by women and men far too often.

The Tarahumara (Searcher)

In class we talked about the assumed ancestral condition, in which we think of early humans to have engaged in hard physical labor, constant work, and neutral or negative energy balance. After looking at the Hazda hunter- gather tribe we concluded that in reality physical activity was a normal part of the ancestral condition, but extreme activity was not. Throughout the Hazda workday, they would take multiple breaks when engaging in strenuous labor, which would ease their efforts. This suggests that our early ancestors were also taking multiple breaks throughout the day, since we care comparing the Hazda to our early ancestors. Maybe the Hazda isn’t the best representation for our early ancestral condition.

Anthropologist, Christopher McDougall in his talk "Are We Born to Run?" talks about the Tarahumara tribe who are known for their ability to run long distances even at old ages, where individuals who are seventy or eighty can run about 156 miles at a time. What is really interesting is that heart disease, cholesterol, cancer, crime, warfare, violence, and clinical depression doesn’t really exist in their population.

He compares them to our early ancestors, such as Homo erectus, who were engaged in persistence hunting, where they would basically run their prey to exhaustion. Since as humans we are better at sweating than other animals, because we can simultaneously run and sweat. McDougall suggests that we have evolved in hunting packs that included women, men, young and old individuals all working together to run our prey down. 

I think it’s really interesting to look at the Tarahumara tribe because we can learn about how our bodies might have been designed to function, which can ultimately help medical science advance and answer some of the vital questions we have about health and wellness.

Standing Desks (searcher)

Our discussions this week on sedentary lifestyles reminded me of an old infographic I found on the

Developing Healthy Lifestyles in Children (Searcher)

During this week’s readings, the thing that stuck a cord with me the most is the fact that children, even children that are still young enough to be participating in both recess and gym, are not getting a healthy amount of physical activity per day. A lot of children respond to being forced to exercise with anger and many develop a dislike for exercise that stays with them later in life.

This article from The Telegraph talks about a study that showed that when children are forced to exercise in school by mandated programs, they often do less physical activity throughout the rest of the day. As we discussed in class, this is usually a more unhealthy behavior than having the children participate in light to moderate exercise throughout the day, rather than a burst of heavy activity followed by a completely sedentary day.

The article goes on to further explain that not only is forcing children to exercise a bad thing, but it isn’t even solving the problem of childhood obesity. A better approach would be to promote healthy eating in children, in hopes that the trend will continue into their later life.  In order to best accomplish this, schools should provide healthy snack alternatives during lunch, and for younger ages, during snack time. While kids enjoy milk and cookies, I’m sure if carrots and apples are promoted heavily by schools, they will enjoy them just as much.

Healthy at Every Size (searcher)

There is a growing movement called Healthy at Every Size. At its core is the idea that good health and body size do not necessarily correlate. As Lee et al. (2012) and the article on 7 Myths About Physical Activity suggest, physical fitness and activity levels are better predictors of overall health rather than the amount of fat on a person’s body. Taking this into consideration, the Healthy at Every Size Pledge encourages individuals to maintain a healthy and balanced diet, enjoy physical activities, and to embrace the “natural diversity of body sizes and shapes.”

The fact is that weight loss alone will not automatically produce good health, and healthy body size can differ vastly from person to person. Unfortunately, we are bombarded everyday with ads telling us QUICK WAYS TO LOSE 10 POUNDS and how to get rid of that stubborn belly fat. Unfortunately, the underlying messages of these commercials are not about health but how to attain a specific beauty standard that is too often equated with being healthy.

NationalEatingDisorders.org has embraced the Healthy at Every Size movement. There have been some critiques suggesting that adhering to this philosophy may encourage some individuals to step away from managing their obesity (as obesity—not simply being “overweight”—does constitute a major health risk). However, because Healthy at Every Size seeks to dispel the myth that there is a single healthy (and beautiful) body type to strive for, its benefits likely far outweigh any negative consequences, especially for the segment of the population vulnerable to or struggling with an eating disorder.

Ultimately, body acceptance may prove to be the most influential outcome of the movement, not only among people struggling with body image but among medical professionals and researchers as well. One size does not fit all when it comes to health. The sooner we put this into practice, the healthier and happier we’ll all be.

Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty

Diabesity, Fitness, and Life Expectancy

The most common theme I noticed throughout the reading was that of a worldwide push for promoting human health through diet and exercise.  I appreciated the articles we read this week because they focused on the health benefits of physical activity and nutrition throughout life (especially Lee at al 2012) and for mothers, instead of the body image benefits that can often mask such health aspects.  From the book readings, I found it quite interesting when Lieberman discussed judging portion sizes one cannot see (i.e. eating a happy meal from a box in your car) versus plating food yourself and sitting down to eat (and not in front of the TV).  I found it sad to hear that “…34% of Americans indicated that they preferred to “dine out” or have a meal catered in their home even for holiday meals at Thanksgiving or Christmas” (Evolutionary Medicine and Health pg. 92).  I wonder, have the dietary benefits of cooking as a family been studied? I have always heard that involving the whole family, especially younger children in the preparation of a meal can positively influence the eating habits of all those involved.  The studies examined by Baker, Hurtado, Pearson and Jones stressed the importance of having full-weight babies, as the brain optimization rule has not been proven true. 

I believe that more people are becoming aware of our bodies’ responses to living healthy lifestyles, but I also think that some people are approaching their health in the wrong way.  For example, people are becoming familiar with the statistics mentioned in the Lee et al article concerning body weight, obesity, and various cancers and chronic illnesses; however, they are taking that information as a reason to use some of the ineffective diet methods discussed in the text, such as exceeding their baseline weight after an unsuccessful diet attempt, or implementing extreme restriction methods. 

Regardless, it is clear that many people are taking excellent moves towards general public health.  In Mira Flores, a district within Lima, Peru, every Sunday is a health-focused day.  Zumba and yoga classes can be held in the streets, spinning classes in the park, and bicycles and roller skates can be rented around the town.  This community fitness program supported many of the topics in the “7 Myths About Physical Activity” as well.  In Mira Flores, many older people were participating in the classes and activities, and we did not need a gym to fit in our workouts! In this way, not only were the inhabitants of Mira Flores able to spend time with friends and family while laughing and not stressing over work or studies, they were also able to get a workout in, boost their energy, and ultimately live a longer life.   

Reader

This week’s readings have been very intriguing, start off with the “7 Myths about Physical Activity”. All of the myths that were discussed in this article I have heard over and over again from numerous of people, who tend to believe in it. The last myth was the most relatable, which was “If I can’t meet the physical activity guidelines then there is no sense of exercising at all”. I have personally used this as an excuse to not exercise, and to be honest it was all out of laziness. The myth I was surprised about the most was myth 6 which said “The benefits of physical activity are only seen after weeks of regular exercise”. This myth shapes my whole workout process, and that is why I barely workout, because I feel like since it is going to take so long for people to actually see that I have been working out then what’s the point. But this article actually informs us that the benefits of a single workout are seen hours after the workout, which I and probably a lot of people are not aware off. If a lot of people were informed about this then maybe they will not be discouraged to workout. After reading these articles, I will be working out more often now.

First Reader

What is the world coming to? Almost one third of our population is projected to be overweight by next year? That is a lot of people at risk for poor health conditions. Coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and breast and colon cancers were talked about in the Lee article. We are getting lazy. The International Journal of Obesity did a study that found being active could reduce the risk of death by 25 to almost 40 percent. Not only does exercise keep our bodies healthy, it keeps our brains healthy as well. One of the 7 myths talks about how people believe that time spent exercising could be better spent academically. There have been many studies done to show that even small amounts of exercise can improve academic performance. I used to be one to disregard all of this. I was in sports all through high school but when I got to college I didn’t continue any form of exercise. It started getting very difficult to wake up in the mornings and I was tired throughout the day. I have started eating healthier and working out more. As a result, I find it easier to wake up and stay awake throughout the day. This definitely helps when trying to pay attention in class, and recall that information later. This topic is something that I do not see being resolved in the near future. Unfortunately, people continue to live unhealthy lives even when they know the risks.

"7 myths about phyical activiy"

                The reading that I found the most interesting this week was the “7 Myths About Physical Activity”. Everyone always is coming up with new theories of ways to workout. I always hear people saying that they read or heard that a certain thing to do is better than the other, but it is usually wrong or right to a certain extent. Myth 3 and 4 were the two myths that stuck out to me the most out of the 7. Myth 3 is the myth that because someone is overweight they are unhealthy and if someone is slim they are healthy. This stood out to me because my boyfriend is technically “overweight” for his height and age, but it is because he is muscular. His muscle mass is on the bigger size, which is why he is considered overweight, but he is one of the healthiest people I know. On the other hand, my sister is the skinniest person I know, but she is very unhealthy. She eats very fatty foods and she does not work out, she just must have an amazing metabolism. Just because my sister is slim does not make her healthy. Myth 4 stood out to me too because a lot of parents assume that their kids are getting enough exercise from their P.E. classes. I took a kinesiology class last semester and we learned that schools provide less than the recommended activity time than they should. Because of this, kids are supposed to receive exercise out of school to make sure they are staying healthy. I thought that reading all of these myths were interesting and I could relate to a lot of them.

Reader

After doing the readings for this week I was intrigued by some of the results from the studies and myths that were explained in better detail. When reading the Hunter-Gatherer Energetics and Human Obesity, I was surprised at what the results showed. I was first disappointed at the fact that by 2015 almost ⅓ people worldwide will be overweight. This is pretty disturbing to consider because that is just an overall disappointment in how the people of this world are not taking good care of themselves and are leading this population into a obese world where no one could potentially be healthy. When reading what was involved with the Hadza hunter-gatherers study I was in favor of the hypothesis that hunter-gatherers would expend more energy a day than market and farming economies of Westerners. You would typically think that the more you have to work in order to eat and feed your families with minimal tools, that you would just expend more calories a day and need more to burn than the average westerner. The results were relatively surprising, that the Hadza hunter-gatherers expended nearly the same daily calories as the average westerner. Haza men were active and lean with lower body fat percentages, but the problem was their diet. Although the hunter-gatherers were working harder, the food they consumed in order to have energy was unhealthy for them compared to westerners.

One of the myths that was surprising to me was about one day of physical activity can improve your health. I always personally thought that it would take at least a week to notice dramatic differences in individuals beginning to work out to notice something. However, the article stated that just one single session can last up to 3 days and would decrease important risk factors for diabetes and heart disease, while also increasing HDL cholesterol. I also noticed how in the article of the effects of physical inactivity demonstrated that physical inactivity causes 6-10% of the major non-communicable diseases of coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and breast & colon cancer.

Overall, I am just disappointed in how our human race is turning out. There are countless studies done to prove how simple aerobic daily exercises can save your life and keep you healthy, yet it is extremely hard for individuals to put forth the effort to do something about these frightening statistics. I am not saying everyone needs to be perfect, because no one can ever be perfect, but we can always strive to be healthy individuals by just eating right and exercising regularly.