Friday, October 24, 2008

Health Assessment: Get Healthy for LIFE!!


Section 1 - Medical and Family History

My Physical Parameters-

  • Height: 68 inches

  • Weight: 177 pounds

  • Body Mass Index (BMI) - My BMI: 26.9


The BMI has become the standard in medicine for determining whether or not you have a weight problem. This has now replaced the traditional height/weight charts. The following is a breakdown of the various ranges of BMI: (This is the same for both men and women)

  • Less than 18.9 -Underweight

  • 19 to 24.9 - Normal Ranges

  • 25 to 29.9 - Overweight (Pre-Obese)

  • 30 to 34.9 - Obesity Class I (Obese)

  • 35 to 39.9 - Obesity Class II (Moderately Obese)

  • Over 40 - Obesity Class III (Severely Obese)
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Another Standard of Measurement has become the waist circumference....which best determines what is now referred to as abdominal fat (Central Fat).

My waist measurement is given as: "Females: greater than 34 inches" - I have a 34'' waist measurement.

Fat that collects in the abdomen is more metabolically active and has serious health consequences. This is why the mainstream media and the health care community are now referring to this central fat as “killer fat”. You can easily determine the amount of abdominal fat by simply measuring your waist (approximately one inch below your umbilicus—belly button).

When this waist measurement gets over 28 inches for women and over 34 inches for men, there is concern that you have already “tipped over” into this abnormal metabolic state known as insulin resistance. When this becomes greater than 34.5 inches in females or greater than 40 inches in males, you most likely have already developed the full-blown Metabolic Syndrome due to insulin resistance.

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Many programs strongly recommend that you do not weigh yourself. When the scale becomes a motivator, it will soon become the reason you quit most programs....

For me, I've had to start thinking differently about my Health and Wellness...not as a "DIET" or a weight loss program but instead - the development of healthy lifestyles - it is simply developing healthy lifestyles that have a side effect of permanent weight loss. It is so much better to simply enjoy your clothes becoming looser or your waist measurement decreasing.
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Section 2 - Lifestyle HistoryStress is a great enemy to your overall health and desire to achieve your ideal body weight. Your body can handle a mild to moderate amount of stress without any major health consequences; however, a high amount or prolonged amount of stress is dangerous to your health. It stimulates the release of an excessive amount of stress hormones that not only increase your appetite but also increase the amount of free radical production and inflammation in your body.


Over time this can lead to a depleted immune system, antioxidant system, and eventually to a serious chronic degenerative disease. Developing healthy lifestyles can significantly decrease the amount of stress your body must endure while at the same time protecting against the damaging effects of stress.


The only thing that the body cannot handle is inactivity.


Along with our poor eating habits, lack of exercise is one of the main reasons we are facing the obesity and diabetes epidemic today. When the body is not physically active, we become much less sensitive to our insulin. However, different medical research studies have shown that simply walking briskly or the equivalent physical activity for 30 minutes five times a week will significantly increase the sensitivity to our insulin. This is why exercise is such a critical aspect of developing a healthy life! It doesn’t matter whether you are involved in hiking, swimming, racquetball, tennis, basketball, or biking - what matters is the fact that you are involved in a consistent, modest exercise program that gets the body moving.


Now working out one or two days a week is really not an exercise program. Ideally you want to be involved in an aerobic activity 4 to 5 times per week for around 30 minutes. Having a weight resistance program along with your aerobic activity is even better.


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Less than 10% of the adult population gets the recommended 8 to 12 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. This is one of the most important recommendations when it comes to your health. Fruits and vegetables contain the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that our bodies so desperately need. This is the reason that individuals who eat 8 to 12 servings of fruits and vegetables each day decrease their risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s dementia by 2 to 3 fold. This is why if you are a WLS (weight-loss surgery) patient it is imperative that you maintain your nutritional supplements, not to mention that you are taking a nutritional supplement that you can trust.


White bread, wheat flour bread, white flour, rice, pasta, cereals, and potatoes spike your blood sugar faster than if you were slapping table sugar onto your tongue. The health consequences of consuming these foods are not only just as bad as sugar—they can be much, much worse. They lead to what is called glycemic stress, carbohydrate addiction, and can eventually lead to diabetes and heart disease.


Not all carbohydrates are bad. Only these highly processed carbohydrates and potatoes. Eating whole grain breads, cereals, and certain rice and potatoes is critical in protecting your health.
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If you truly start thinking differently about Health and Wellness- living a healthy lifestyle & not as a "DIET" or a weight loss program but instead - you will begin to develop a healthy lifestyles pattern. After reading Dr Ray D. Strand's "Healthy for Life" website...and he states, "[Healthy for Life] is a 15 month program. I have learned over the past 10 years of helping my patients with this program that it takes this long for these new, healthier lifestyles to simply become a way of life." I can attest to this...I'm now 16 months post op...and now after these many months...I see that I've been learning to look at things differently...and am beginning new healthy lifestyle changes.
I've found that a great jump start to getting back on track and helping my body off of a weight-loss stall is thru ISAGENIX....

http://deborahcoates.isagenix.com
- See more at: http://deborahcoates.isagenix.com/us/en/home.dhtml#sthash.zqNMTuIP.dpuf





Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Miss PIGGY -- no More....

Looking thru my photos I found this picture of me this summer.... and it hit me -- I had my photo taken with a "PIG" mural...
HUH?? REALLY??

There was a time this would NOT have escaped me.
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Thursday, August 07, 2008

"IT'S ALL IN THE WAY THAT YOU LOOK...at yourself"


Growing up....



  • - "little piggie"...


  • - "sneaky eater"...


  • - "could be so pretty if... I lost some weight"...


  • - 11/13 sizes bigger than my size "0" best friend...


  • - someone whose mother had to keep snack foods from her.

Many of these words sent me into a lot of spiral of negative thoughts about my body...which in turn further perpetuated my eating disorder. I was what some would call a stereotypical eating disorder sufferer (an adolescent, white female who comes from a middle- to upper-class family.)

The truth is....eating disorders know no gender, ethnic, age or class lines, but there is some truth to the stereotype:

When I saw this mural on a little side street while walking in Brooklyn...I slung my camera at my Mom, and ran across the street yelling back, asking her to snap my picture. The moment I saw this -- I loved it!
It spoke to me....I loved it's artistic nuances....but also loved it for what it meant to me in this new place of my journey.

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Sunday, November 11, 2007

JOURNAL: Put Away Childish Things



"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." ~1 Corinthians 13: 11

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WHAT exactly does this mean.... ??

WHAT was Paul talking about.... ??

He couldn't be talking about toys, dolls, games - I'm sure he's talking about anger...cruelty...judgement...jealousy...spite - all the childish emotions that we lose ourselves to...that we REACT to - those emotions that hurt ourselves and hurt others. All of which gains nothing - and loses a lot.

But it seems many 'People of Today' like the drama...thrive off of it...they thrive off of being rude....'shooting from the hip' w/o thinking of others feelings. Maybe it's those sad country songs...all the 'reality TV....fighting and bity-ness....and even just the plain ol' 5 o'clock news! Do we turn away from it all - give it up - shrug it off ??

According to Dr. Christine Northrup (author of: The Wisdom of Menopause)
Three things that make you feel better than drugs or alcohol or sugar:
  • exercise
  • meditation
  • sex

But suppose one really likes those sad country songs, or enjoys rooting against a disliked football team, watches a negative TV show, and so on? Must we give it up? To my mind, to judge these things and so attempt to purge them from our interests is to miss the point entirely. Judging ourselves or others for something we now call childish, is simply substituting one childish emotion for another. In addition, these interests of ours are a big part of what we are, and that is not something we are trying to avoid; in fact, it is just the kind of thing we are trying to see, to penetrate.
Much better to begin to apply our understanding of system ideas to our life, our interests. The point is, there are reasons for putting away childish things, and when we understand these reasons, both theoretically and personally, practically nothing will be able to stop us from putting away those things that are delaying our evolution, interfering with our deepest intents.
Only apparent change comes from without—whether that "without" is society, or our false personality. Real change comes from within.


"Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men." ~1 Corinthians 14: 20