Category Archives: Health

Soda pop

I enjoyed this post from Trailnet’s blog about taxing soda.  Except where I come from, we call it pop.  I particularly liked this bit:

“So in essence, the government is paying to make soda cheap and then taxing soda to raise money to solve the problems that soda contributes to, such as rampant obesity and type II diabetes. There’s a lesson in unintended consequences somewhere in there…”

Maybe we can settle this thing once and for all by calling these beverages what they are: corn syrup laden obesity delivery drinks.

Active living

I stumbled across this article in Time magazine last week about exercise and weight. Quick synopsis: Some research studies have shown that people who exercise to lose weight do not succeed in weight loss because 1) they reward themselves for exercising with food that has equal or more calories than they just burned and/or 2) they are less likely to be active in their daily lives (e.g., taking the stairs, doing work around the house or yard) after exercising.

What the article hints at, but does not emphasize enough, is the role that active living can and should play in weight control and overall preventive health. Instead of a set time for “exercise,” that people build into their schedules and check off like one more thing on the to-do list, active living makes routine physical activity a normal part of the day, not something that we reward with a trip to the bakery or make up for by spending hours on the couch later.

Suggestions for active living:

  • Walk or bike to replace car trips as much as possible. Start with short trips and errands and build up to longer distances.
  • Take the stairs instead of the elevator. In some buildings, you may have to do a little work to find the stairs. Just look for the red, lighted “Exit” signs, a staircase is usually nearby.
  • Conduct a “walking meeting” at work.
  • Use a rake instead of a leaf blower.
  • If you have a multi-story house, or even a single story house with a basement, take advantage of opportunities to use the stairs.

If you engage in a variety of activities at different intensity levels, your daily life can provide a pretty good “workout.” Even if you are not trying to lose weight, physical activity can help lower your risk for a variety of chronic diseases, including high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancer.

If you do enjoy a regular exercise program, great! Keep it up! Just make sure you are not falling into the trap of rewarding yourself with food or sitting in front of the TV.

No biking for you

Yesterday I biked to work as normal in the morning, fully intending to bike home in the afternoon, despite the little detail that I was donating blood.  No big deal, I’ve given blood plenty of times before and always bounced right back.  The warning, “Do not do strenuous exercise or lift heavy objects for at least 12 hours [after donating],” was written for other people, not for me, right?

For better or worse, I never got to test whether or not their warning applied to me, because I got sidelined much earlier in the process.  I was reclining on the cot, donation almost complete, when my vision started to blur and my head got fuzzy.  I could hear them saying my name repeatedly, but it took me awhile to realize that I was supposed to respond.  The staff quickly lowered my head, raised my feet, and placed cold packs on my neck and forehead.  And I was back.  And feeling ridiculous for almost passing out.

Fortunately, I completed my donation.  (They took the “lightweight” amount of blood.)  However, after spending 40 minutes on the cot recovering (including one relapse), walking back to work with my teeth chattering (when it was not cold), and feeling really drained the rest of the day, I was perfectly happy to take public transit home.

*Note: I’m not sure what made this one time different than the 20+ other times I have donated blood, and I will certainly not let this one time deter me from donating in the future.  However, in the future I will NOT assume that I will be able to complete a 6-mile, moderately strenuous bike ride just six hours after donating.

Preach it!

Michael Pollen, Big Food vs. Big Insurance, in the NYTimes:

To put it more bluntly, the government is putting itself in the uncomfortable position of subsidizing both the costs of treating Type 2 diabetes and the consumption of high-fructose corn syrup.

There’s lots of money to be made selling fast food and then treating the diseases that fast food causes. One of the leading products of the American food industry has become patients for the American health care industry.

As things stand, the health care industry finds it more profitable to treat chronic diseases than to prevent them. There’s more money in amputating the limbs of diabetics than in counseling them on diet and exercise.

Yes, yes, and yes.

The third snippet is a bit of a sore point for me right now.  I have been looking for a job as a health educator for two-and-a-half years.  Apparently I should have stuck with the medical school plan and gone into amputation surgery (is that actually a surgical specialty, or did I just make it up?).

I’ve always had mixed feelings about John Mayer’s song, “Waiting on the World to Change.”  I like the melody, but the lyrics raise some questions:  Why are you waiting?  What are you waiting for?  Why don’t you go out and change it now?

I know what I want to do, but the jobs just are not out there, in part due to the reasons Michael Pollen mentions.  Our health care system does not fund prevention.  So maybe I am waiting on the world to change.