Nutrition experts encourage us to eat more fish and we know fish is low in fat, a great source of protein along with many heart healthy benefits. The next time we go to the fish market to purchase a heart healthy meal take a moment to consider how the fish industry is depleting our waters of whole populations of fish.

If you want to do your part to protect our water and seafood supply seek out fish that are sustainable, which means stocks are in supply and are not at risk of depletion. Here are the best choices according to the Monterey Bay Aquariums Seafood Guide.

• Artic char
• Barramunda
• Clams
• Cod
• Crab
• Halibut
• Lobster
• Mussels
• Oysters
• Pollack – wild
• Salmon – wild
• Scallops
• Striped bass
• Trout
• Tuna
• Catfish

Fish that lack sustainability and should be avoided are Chilean sea bass, swordfish, Atlantic cod, king crab, flounder, grouper, monkfish, shark, and red snapper.

For more information contact the Blue Ocean Institute at www.blueocean.org

Hours of exercising need not be spent to reap the benefits of exercise. Spending as little of 3 hours a week may keep your brain healthy according to a small study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill recruited 12 healthy adults aged 60- 76. Half the subjects had exercised aerobically for 3 or more hours /week the other half was inactive. Each participant received a MRI and MR angiography to examine brain function. The older adults who exercised 3 hours or more a week had a greater blood flow and greater number of smaller vessels compared to their inactive counter parts.

According to lead researcher J Keith Smith, MD, improvement in blood flow in older adult exercisers may prevent cognitive decline. For more information go to www.rsna.org

Take home message- This study enforces the importance of a regular exercise for older adults not only to achieve physical benifits but also to prevent cognitive decline so that a high quality of life can be enjoyed for many years!

When it comes to improving their health Americans are moving in the wrong direction. Far fewer Americans are engaging in healthy life style behaviors than two decades ago. A recent online report in the American Journal of Medicine stated only 8% of today’s Americans engage in all five healthy lifestyle behaviors- maintaining a healthy weight, eating fruits and vegetables, moderating alcohol consumption, exercising and not smoking. These finding should provide motivation and increase commitment to promoting healthy lifestyles for the public good stated researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina.

The results of the study stated-

Adults aged 40 -70 with BMI grater than 30 increased from 28% to 36%.

People who participate in a fitness program decreased from 53% to 43%

Consumption of five fruits and vegetables decreased from 42% to 26%

Alcohol consumption increased from 40%- 51%

Overall adherence to all five healthy behaviors fell from 15% to 8%

Race and ethnicity were analyzed, non- Hispanic whites showed the greatest decline in overall healthy lifestyle behaviors. Those with hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease were no more motivated to engage in healthy lifestyle behaviors. Why, poor attitudes toward health maintenance, lack of willingness to change, a large reliance on cars instead of walking or biking.

What does it take for the public to place a value on health in order to live a full life?

What could be more important?

Busy moms not only pack lunches, they also pack on pounds. Mothers today have more responsibility than ever and are constantly juggling family, work, and maintaining a household. When every thing is said and done there is not much time left for health and fitness.

Recently published in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved (2009; 20{1}, 122-33), Fragile Families and wellbeing study focused on connections between obesity and household instability and poverty and their kids. Researchers discovered that mothers with the highest level of instability had the highest level of obesity. Lead author Earle Chambers, PhD, believes that busy moms tend to prioritize their own needs well below everyone else’s.

Tips for making yourself priority #1

• My favorite- Get out of bed early and carve some health and fitness time out of your day before the rest of the family gets up.
• Be realistic- Know how much time you have and create a workout that is time efficient and balanced.
• Look at your schedule for the week and make an exercise appointment with yourself.
• Keep it simple- 20-30 minutes of cardiovascular work at a high enough intensity to be comfortably uncomfortable. 20- 30 minutes of weight training. Stretch and your on your way!
• Most important watch what you put in your mouth. It doesn’t take much time to create a healthy meal. Making a healthy meal can take less time than the drive in at McDonald’s.

Take home message- Giving yourself a little TLC is a smart decision, because you feel renewed you now have the energy to meet everyone else’s needs (happily). Your whole family will be thanking you even the dog!

	Johns Hopkins Health Alert Coffee – Not Green Tea – Protects Against Colon Cancer
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Green tea has gotten a lot of press for its healthy properties. But it turns out that coffee may be better for your colon, according to research reported in the International Journal of Cancer.

Studies show that certain behaviors are associated with colorectal cancer. For example, the risk of developing colon cancer increases if you are physically inactive, obese, drink excessive amounts of alcohol, or eat a diet high in meat, refined grains, and fats, especially those from animal sources. In addition, smokers are 30-40% more likely to die of colorectal cancer than nonsmokers.

Now researchers believe that coffee – not green tea – reduces the risk of colon cancer. When researchers reviewed data on the beverage-drinking habits of more than 96,000 Japanese men and women over a 10-year period, they found that coffee significantly lowered the risk of colon cancer in females.

Women who regularly drank three or more cups of coffee a day had a 32% lower risk of colon cancer than those who almost never consumed coffee — even after taking into account factors that could have affected risk. Colon cancer risk was not reduced for men, and neither women nor men had a reduced risk of rectal cancer.

Researchers are not sure why coffee appears protective, since caffeine is in green tea as well. The beneficial effect, they say, may have come from another substance in coffee.

The investigators caution that their results need to be confirmed by other researchers, but these findings do provide some degree of reassurance for women who savor a morning brew and have been concerned about possible adverse effects on the colon.

Data reported in the International Journal of Cancer (Volume 121, page 1312).

A report by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of 4,356 participants has determined that 34.4% of U.S. adults aged 20 and over are obese; slightly fewer (32.7) are overweight. In a 2005-2006 study 5.9% of the population is considered “extremely obese”. Obesity has more than doubled since 1980, but overweight has remained the same.

April 2009 IDEA fitness Journal

	Johns Hopkins Health Alert

Everyone knows that it’s unhealthy to be very overweight. But what if you are obese but still relatively physically fit? Does being fit cancel out the health risks of being obese, or at least some of them? In other words, is it possible that being obese isn’t the real problem, but rather being unfit?

Although some obese people, as well as some researchers, make this claim, there are no easy answers to these questions. First, it’s hard to define the terms. Overweight and obesity are usually defined in terms of body mass index (BMI), which is an imperfect gauge of body fat. Physical fitness varies from person to person and by age. Fitness means different things to a dancer, lumberjack, mailman, or weight lifter. But for researchers, fitness is generally defined as cardiovascular (aerobic) fitness — the ability to carry on a vigorous activity such as running or brisk walking for an extended period.

Obese people face many increased risks — for diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, all of which boost the risk for cardiovascular disease. Obese people also face an elevated risk for many types of cancer and several other diseases. Thus, obese people, almost across the board, have significantly lower life expectancy than leaner people.

However, there is some evidence that for obese people who are fit, the risks are less dramatic. For instance, in a study looking at more than 5,000 men and women (age 30 to 75), researchers at the University of North Carolina reported that being obese and being unfit both increase the risk for premature death, while fitness reverses some, but not all, of the increased risk associated with excess body fat.

Some of the best-known research on this subject comes from the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas. Its studies have reported that obese men who become fit lower their risks. Men who are obese and fit actually face lower risks than those who are lean but unfit. Therefore, when it comes to cardiovascular mortality, fitness may be more important than weight, at least for men.

Being sedentary and unfit are major contributors to being overweight and obese. And when overweight people start to exercise more, they usually lose weight (especially if they control their calorie intake) and lower their blood pressure and cholesterol levels. That’s why, in these studies, relatively few obese people are very fit. Most obese people don’t (or can’t) exercise much, and those who truly become fit tend to lose weight. Just because there are some fit, healthy obese people, you shouldn’t conclude that it’s healthy for most people to stay obese.

As a fitness instructor I am thrilled when I come across a piece of literature or a scientific study that can be applied by those who are motivated to make improvements in ones health.

Recently published in MSNBC.com a new study found that the average walker should aim for 100 steps /minute at the minimum to get a moderate intensity workout. Many people who walk for fitness use a pedometer to keep track of how many steps are taken during a workout; however a pedometer does not measure intensity as a heart rate monitor would. Researchers of this study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine recommend adults get 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise five times a week. During a thirty minute workout using a pedometer and wrist watch 3,000 steps should be accumulated in order to reach an intensity to achieve health benefits.

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29737029/

Intensity is hot now in the fitness industry, the harder you work the more calories you burn at the end of an exercise session. With this you reap many health benefits. I often preach to my clients there is a work out and then there is a “WORK OUT”, so let’s keep it honest. Now there is the science to back me up, thank you!

A study published in the online journal BMC Endocrine Disorders (2009; 9 {3} provides promising evidence that extremely short duration, high intensity interval training as a method pf improving insulin action. The study included 25 young, healthy sedentary men or recreational active men. The participants were placed in a HIT training program or in a separate experiment to determine a individual response to a oral glucose test and did not perform HIT. The HIT group performed four to six 30 second sprints at a maximum effort with a 4-minute rest in between exercise bouts. Total time commitment was 17-26 minutes and a total of 2-3 minutes of sprinting. By the end of this short study the HIT group had improved their insulin sensitivity by 23%.

Take home message- Time efficient HIT training can be used as a strategy to reduce metabolic risk factors in young and middle aged sedentary populations in short periods of time providing INTENSITY is present.

The benefits of pre-exercise stretching have been questioned in recent years. The controversy stems from findings that static stretching temporarily impairs a muscles capacity to produce force rapidly. Although this might not be problematic for low intensity exercise, individuals participating in vigorous athletics may experience an increased risk of injury following a static stretching warm-up.

Golf is not often perceived as a vigorous sport. However, the golf swing is considered one of the most vigorous movements performed in all athletics, generating extraordinarily high amounts of force. Because the golf swing requires an optimal range of motion through the shoulders, hips, and spine many golfers have taken to stretching before competition to “loosen-up.” Unfortunately, this may be placing them at high risk of injury, and now researchers suggest it might impair performance as well.

Researchers at Austin State University compared the effects of static and dynamic warm-up on a variety of golf measures: club-head speed, drive distance, drive accuracy, and consistency of ball contact. Fifteen young male golfers with a handicap of 5 or lower performed a dynamic warm-up, and static stretching followed by a dynamic warm-up. The dynamic warm-up consisted of 10 swings with a Momentus training club, followed by 15 full-swings with a golf club progressing from lighter to heavier clubs. The static stretching protocol included 20-minutes of golf-specific stretches held for 10 seconds each, repeated 3 times bilaterally.

Following the warm-ups participants hit 10 balls with a driver at a driving range, with 1 minute recoveries between shots. Following the static stretching protocol, participants had reduced club-head speed and consequently hit for shorter distances. In addition, accuracy was reduced by >30%, and ball contact consistency was down >15%.

This study supports the progressive philosophy of a dynamic warm-up protocol. However, the researcher suggests that static stretching may remain useful away from the range or golf course to improve golf-specific flexibility.

Gergley, Jeffrey C. (2009) Acute Effects of Passive Stretching During Warm-up on Driver Clubhead Speed, Distance, Accuracy, and Consistent Ball Contact in Young Male Competitive Golfers. JSCR. 23(3): 863-867.