Hot MedFax

I remember hearing that you have to walk a football field to burn off one M&M. (Not true.) But not too far from it. Adolescents who saw printed signs explaining the number of miles they would need to walk to burn off the calories in a sugary drink were more likely to leave the store with a lower calorie beverage, a healthier beverage or a smaller size beverage, according to new Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health research. The study says this adds to the growing evidence suggesting that simply showing calorie counts on products and menus isn’t enough to break Americans from their bad eating habits. With calorie counts expected on menus in chain restaurants with more than 20 outlets by early next year the Affordable Care Act, the researchers say policymakers may need to rethink how that information is communicated.  “People don’t really understand what it means to say a typical soda has 250 calories,” says study leader Sara N. Bleich, Ph...

Not in my town, where endless redistricting has kids shipped up from downtown to the northernmost reaches of the city, and kids bused right by one middle school to go to another five miles away.  Yes, it's still happening in many cities. Guest columnist Risa-Lavizzo-Mourey laments this at the New Jersey Star-Ledger.  "It’s back-to-school time, and for most of us that inspires images of children with brightly colored backpacks making their return to the classroom on sidewalks and crosswalks across America. But how many kids actually walk or bike to school these days? Far fewer than you think." She reports that in 1969, nearly 50 percent of children 5 to 14 walked or biked to school. "And if they lived within a mile of the schoolhouse, 89 percent used their legs to get to class." But today, only 13 percent of students walk or bike to school, regardless of how nearby they live. "It isn’t unusual to see children climb into a car every morning to be ferried...

It's true for me.  Wearing a pedometer (in my case, ActiveLink from WeightWatchers) can make you move more.  I just love seeing that little graph on my computer racing through the calories I've burned off running or walking or swimming, and it makes me want to do more. My highest count so far was 450 calories burned during one exercise marathon.  But I haven't yet worn it at Zumba, where I suspect it will go even higher. The bottom line is that all these new electronic gadgets tend to make you want to exercise more and if you're a Type A like me, you just want it to go up and up and up. They've been around for a while but it took some shoves to get me going.  I run two to four miles every day (annoyingly, they clock your activity for one week, then describe you -- and I came out as an "occasional athlete"), but it spurs you on, at least me on, to want to do better and better, even break your record from the day before. (My sister-in-law, who's...

Now   they tell me.  After running four miles and swimming 32 laps (half a mile) in a day, then taking up zumba, too, all to get the "burn," they're saying a walk is just as good.  Dr. Oz, that is.  He claims walking burns more calories when you eat, can prevent diabetes, even help you live longer.  And here's the clincher: most people burn out before they get the burn and walking is something you can do every day.   http://www.realage.com/walking/walking-benefits