Caffeine Test

Obesity’s slowly sickening students

By CAROL MATROO Sunday, April 29 2012

Obesity in children is a major problem and has been increasing over the last ten years. It has reached to a point where, in some areas, one in four children is overweight or obese.

Consultant paediatrician at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope, Dr Maritza Fernandes, who is leader for Wee Fit, a team dedicated to the complications of childhood obesity, says this is a very worrying situation for the future generation.

She said a draft policy on obesity in children has shown that obesity has doubled or even tripled in children between the ages of seven and 12 in the past ten years.

Another alarming fact, she said, was that data collected from schools in the St George East area showed that one third of the children had cholesterol levels over 200. Cholesterol reading in a child should be less than 170, she noted.

“It should be150 to170 and we are getting over 200 and that is what we are seeing in adults who need medication,” Fernandes warned during an interview at a workshop held at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, recently.

“Fast food is one of the big problems because obesity follows a balance. It’s input out and how you balance it, but if you put in a lot and you put in unhealthy foods, you cannot exercise it off. You can walk around the (Queen’s Park) Savannah, you can walk off 200 or 300 calories, but you can’t undo what you’ve done. You can’t work it off.”

She said the results of body fat in St George East were startling.

“We do a body mass and body analysis and we have 50 percent body fat in a lot of these children. We can see from other signs of their development that there is a rash that they get at the back of the neck where they get a thickening in the skin, called acanthosis nigricans. They nearly all have it and that tells you they are at risk of developing diabetes,” she said.

To help combat a condition that is fast threatening to become chronic, Fernandes and a group of medical and health professionals formed the Healthy Lifestyle Clinic in January this year. The clinic currently has about 100 overweight children in its care.

Fernandes said their study of the children under their watch has shown that many of those who were overweight often skipped breakfast at home and opted to eat out.

“They have aloo pies and soft drinks and doubles and fried pies and that is what they are eating at school, so there are a lot of problems with what they are eating and what they are eating out several times a day,” she said.

“The other thing that alarms us is that even though it is more important what they are putting in than their activities — physical education (PE) — the Ministry of Education says we must focus on the PE. When we ask the children what they do for PE, it’s minimal.

“For some of them it’s a joke, they stay in their classroom and play video games for PE. When we ask what are your facilities, do you have a playground, do you have a football field, they say no.”

Fernandes warned that if they could not get the children healthy now, in ten or 20 years they were going to be taking care of a “very, very sick population”.

She added that while they were targeting the between seven-to-12 age group, they will also have to start looking at those under the age of five.

“If we don’t look at those under five, we would have lost. That is a really hard group to target, but we have to look at the critical developmental period – what they’re feeding the children, breast feeding for six months and what you do before school, because once you are overweight by five, we have already lost half the battle. Even if we go and tackle what’s in school, unless we tackle the mothers, we can’t tackle what is going on before school.”

Fernandes said because so many parents are too busy to pack lunches for their children, the School Feeding Programme will become important in ensuring children get proper nutrition, but they must also eradicate the stigma that only the poorer children get school feeding.

“I think what we should be trying to do is to try and feed everybody healthy. Somebody should be looking again at what they get, because with school feeding programmes, sometimes I get feedback that some of their meals aren’t so healthy,” she said.

“In terms of the balance of it (meal), it is not in the correct proportions of vegetables to meat sometimes. Sometimes they do say they get pies or roti and other things that we probably wouldn’t want them to get at school, so I think we should look at school nutrition again and try to make it more standard.”

Fernandes said children should also be encouraged to have fruit and vegetables for snacks during the day, and while sodas are a definite no-no, fruit drinks also should not be an option.

“Water, and we feel very strongly about that. You don’t need juice and even if you go out and get unsweetened juice it still has a lot of calories. All you need is fruit and water, you do not need juice. If you see the amount of sugar is in these drinks you would never drink it, and you would never give it to your child,” Fernandes said.

“Energy drinks are full of sugar, they are caffeinated and they can cause children to become hyperactive. That’s another problem, people feel they can give their children diet drinks. There are two things coming out of that. The artificial sweeteners are not completely tested and recommended for children, so we don’t know what will happen to your child 20 years down the line.

“The other thing is that there are actually studies that show that people who drink diet soft drinks fool their bodies into creating more sugar, so you have to put on more weight. That is not the way to go, the way to go is not to encourage anything, no drinks, just water.”

She said meals each day should consist of breakfast, lunch and dinner with two small snacks of fruit and vegetables. The most standard breakfast, she said, was oatmeal, since most box cereals contain too much sugar.

“Oatmeal and cereal that you cook for yourself with fruit is the ideal breakfast. I have oatmeal every morning and there are ways to make it different. Sometimes I boil it in apple juice, I put nuts, cinnamon, flax seeds, things that have different flavours, maybe a little yoghurt,” she said.

Fernandes admitted, however, that eating healthy could be expensive and they were trying to get together with the Food Production Ministry to encourage people to grow their own foods and introduce children to a choice of healthy foods.

“Some of the children who have joined the clinic have lost some weight, but it was not as good as I thought it would be. However, I can’t say we are losing because the whole point is not just to lose weight, the point is to eat healthy, educate and motivate parents, and I know it is something that will take time,” Fernandes said.

“It is a bit disappointing, but that is not the point of it, because if we don’t understand what is going to happen down the line, if you don’t change your whole lifestyle, it’s going to be a problem.

“And the thing about a child is that you can’t diet one child, the whole family has to adopt a healthy lifestyle. When we get in the parents to talk with them, we are directing some of this at them as well, because some parents of overweight children are overweight themselves.”

Fernandes said a sedentary lifestyle contributed to obesity in children, because no one walked any where any more, and too much time was being spent in front of the television and with ipods and iphones.

“We need to limit screen time in total so you can’t have more than two screen time hours, and I say during the week when you have school you should have none. I studied in England and one of the things in Trinidad that is appalling is that we do not have many options for outside activities,” Fernandes lamented.

“I had the option when we were in England, if it was summer I would be out in the park. I could take my children without having to take an entire entourage, I could go hiking, I could go camping. It was safe so I could choose to do a lot of outdoor things.

“Here it’s the holidays, but you can’t really do too much.You have to wait until your husband comes home or wait for other members of your family to go for a walk down Chaguaramas. We don’t have easily accessible parks that are safe, so we don’t have a lot of outdoor things to do. Community facilities are really not up to scratch.

“In fact, it does not really encourage us. I don’t let the children play in the yard unless I am sitting and watching them. As a child we would jump on our bicycles while our mother was in the kitchen and she would not bat an eye. Now, the children can’t even climb a tree in our backyard any more.”

She said it was a worrying situation because if we had a population that will be needing insulin and medication and getting cancers and diabetes in the next 15 or 20 years, then we will be seeing a sick workforce, which will impact negatively on the country’s economy.

‘It is basic economic theory that raising the price will change consumption, and we already use the taxation system in this way to influence behaviour’ said Dr Rayner.

‘We have taxes on unhealthy goods such as tobacco and alcohol. And we don’t have taxes on books as they can be seen as a public good to be encouraged.

‘There would be benefits for the healthcare system too. It would save taxpayers’ money through reduced NHS costs as well as combat diet-related disease such as obesity and heart disease.

‘It is also likely that a tax on unhealthy foods would act as an incentive to encourage manufacturers to change what goes into their products and make them healthier over time’ he added.

A tax on sugary drinks is not going to cure obesity by itself, said Dr Rayner, there needs to be a strategy to deal with the affordability, the availability and the promotion of unhealthy foods.’

VAT is already applied to some foods and drinks in this country, but it is done inconsistently – as the recent pasty tax debate revealed.

‘VAT should be totally reformed in line with health goals’’ says Dr Rayner.
Taxes can have untoward or unexpected effects, and it is possible that a tax on saturated fats, like that introduced in Denmark, could be counter-productive, suggests Dr Rayner.

In avoiding some foods high in saturated fat, people could replace them with foods high in carbohydrates – food that also tends to be high in salt. The overall effect on health might be negative.

That is why Dr Rayner believes a tax on sugary soft drinks is the best option. Even if people moved to diet drinks instead, it would still be beneficial for health.

‘A tax on sugary drinks is one measure that is a sure, safe bet that would change how many calories people consume across the nation and have a significant effect on obesity levels,’ says Dr Rayner.

Research published in the British Journal of Nutrition last year said a 10 per cent ‘fat tax’ would drive down sales of sugary drinks and encourage consumers to swap to healthier alternatives.

A similar rise in the price of full-fat milk would lead to people drinking reduced fat milks instead.

Consumers are a sucker for food and drinks that sate a sweet tooth, but don’t deliver on the calories. Promoted as, and accepted as a healthy lifestyle choice, we keep billion dollar food industries buoyant by selecting products touted as zero, diet, low sugar, light and sugar free over the high sugar alternatives.

Discovered serendipitously in 1965, by a German chemist developing an anti-ulcer drug for the company Searle aspartame was a chemical that caused much excitement as a potential saleable product. The resulting company brands of Nutrasweet and Equal quickly found eager buyers, and both companies have been sold on a number of times since.

Here we had essentially a protein that was 200 times sweeter than sugar, delivered negligible calories, didn’t cause tooth decay and was relatively cheap to produce. What’s not to like?

It took 16 years for the the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve the product as a tabletop sweetener, the UK following a year later. 15 years passed before it was allowed to be used carte blanche in all industry food and drinks.

Now we find aspartame in every diet product imaginable, as well as in places you might not expect to: all diet drinks, weight loss meals and products, effervescent vitamins, cold and flu treatments, hot chocolate, chewing gum, toothpaste, orange squash, lite yoghurts and some flavours of crisps.

So – with this heaven-sent chemical we can stuff our faces, happy in the knowledge that we will not gain weight and are making informed, healthy choices, right? Well

Despite an industry selling the slim dream to us, and consumer trolleys packed with diet products, the developed world is fatter and unhealthier than ever before. Something has gone awry, or we are being given a bum steer.

Realistically, the companies selling you the diet products have no interest in your weight loss success. They would go out of business quite quickly if nobody needed to lose weight. In fact, data from a recent study has demonstrated that diet soft drink consumption is associated with increased waist circumference in humans. Dr H J Roberts – a US director of medical research and knighted the Order of St George for his professional and humanitarian efforts – has written many articles and books about this “ignored epidemic”.

Dr Roberts has stated in his lectures that once free of aspartame diet products, and with no significant increase in exercise, his patients lost an average of 19 pounds over a trial period.

In truth, the diet drinks that we opt for as a healthy and slim-line alternative actually increase our cravings for carbohydrate. The aspartame in diet drinks – often consumed by diabetics – may affect with blood sugar levels, with insulin being released and no sugar to process.

Other studies have shown that those using aspartame as a sweetener tend to gain weight through an increase in appetite (J E Blundell amp; A J Hill, The Lancet).

The reason the FDA took 16 years to approve the chemical was because of doubts over safety. There have been accusations that the laboratory data flawed and manipulated (tumours were reputedly cut out of mice in the study and not recorded, malignant tumours allegedly recorded as benign). In fact the data had been so distorted that it has since resulted in a criminal prosecution.

Should we be reassured by the industry telling us that aspartame is safe because it is the most studied food additive we have ever encountered? Dr Ralph Walton, a professor of psychiatry, carefully analysed each and peer reviewed the studies on aspartame. The outcome was this:

• 74 industry funded studies 100% found zero incidence of side effects
• 90 independent studies – 90% found side effects and complications

The breakdown products of aspartame have been called neurological toxins by some. It is composed of formaldehyde, methanol (wood alcohol) and a dipeptide. The latter does occur naturally in our bodies. However, it doesn’t occur naturally in large amounts floating in the system. There is some evidence to suggest that the breakdown products of aspartame affect the neurotransmitters in the brain.

Formaldehyde converts to formic acid, which in turn causes metabolic acidosis. The methanol toxicity has been said to mimic, among other conditions, multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus.

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence to be found on the web of MS sufferers and children with ADHD who have had a complete recovery when aspartame drinks were removed from their diet.

The transcript of a radio interview with neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock makes for interesting reading:

Interviewer: Dr Blaylock, we touched lightly on ADD and ADHD. What are learning disorders that aspartame can aggravate or even cause?

Dr Blaylock: Well, this is something that’s of a lot of concern to people that particularly work with ADD children and ADHD which is the hyperactive form of Attention Deficit Disorder. One of the persons involved is Dr. Keith Connors who has written the book called Feeding the Brain: How Foods Affects Children. In this book he talks about a four year old child who was drinking some aspartame sweetened rootbeer and just became berzerk. The child was hyperactive, violent, complaining of headaches and the doctor suggested to stop the NutraSweet sweetened rootbeer. The mother took it away, the child just returned to normal, pleasant, normal mentation, no headaches and she was kind of skeptical so she decided just to let this child start drinking it again. She did and the same thing happened. He gives case after case like this which if you examine what we’re talking about is actually doing double blind studies in single individual cases which demonstrate quite clearly that the only variable is the NutraSweet. So this is producing some ADHD type problems that are very clear.

Another study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that aspartame is a powerful neurotoxin: The aim of this study was to discuss the direct and indirect cellular effects of aspartame on the brain, and we propose that excessive aspartame ingestion might be involved in the pathogenesis of certain mental disorders (DSM-IV-TR 2000) and also in compromised learning and emotional functioning.

It is thought that the toxins affect protein synthesis, neurotransmitters and cellular DNA – the genetic information within every single cell – and ultimately affect the way our brain uses amino acids. The symptoms associated with aspartame toxicity are varied and widespread, with many having a neurological connection. They can include: headaches, foggy thinking, poor short-term memory, nausea, vertigo, tinnitus, epilepsy, migraines, blurred vision, slurred speech, mood changes, eye problems, numbness and depression.

Depression is often treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) drugs, which optimise the use of available serotonin but aspartame is known to have the exactly opposite effect on serotonin. It could well have an adverse affect on mood.

The troops in the Gulf War were supplied with copious amounts of diet fizzy drinks, and drank huge volumes of the stuff. However, the drinks were stored on pallets in the searing heat. The unstable aspartame would have broken down (at 29.5C) into the neurotoxic substances mentioned. Gulf War Syndrome - a previously unrecognized but comprehensive list of unexplained symptoms – suffered by many of those who served their time in the Gulf, bears some resemblance to the list above.

According to the Aspartame Consumer Safety Network,the US Air Force has formally warned all pilots to refrain from consuming aspartame-sweetened diet drinks, as they found them linked to grand mal seizures, vertigo, heart disease, and suicidal depressions.

Aspartame has been linked with lymphoma, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, fibromyalgia, premature birth and chronic fatigue, among other things.

It can be difficult to separate the wood from the trees with regard to genuine peer-reviewed scientific studies and conspiracy theories.

There are certainly many studies that refute the toxic effect on humans, and there may some overkill on claimed disease associations, but there is enough medical and scientific evidence to raise a large question mark over the toxicity of the substance.

Craig Petray, the CEO of Nutrasweet, is adamant that his product is safe. When invited to comment on the outcome of the peer reviewed studies mentioned in this article, he was keen to cite the company’s medical affiliations: ”Aspartame is safe. It has been tested for more than three decades, in more than 200 studies, with the same result: Aspartame is safe for use. Aspartame has been reviewed and determined to be safe by the FDA, Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) of the Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization, EFSA and the regulatory bodies of over 100 countries.

In addition, The American Medical Association’s Council on Scientific Affairs, the American Diabetes Association, and the American Dietetic Association have reviewed research on aspartame and found it to be safe. Links to numerous other health organizations, which have confirmed the safety of aspartame, can be found at www.aspartame.org.

Some scientists and medics agree, others disagree on the validity of some studies, and there is certainly a suggestion from anti-aspartame groups that there is collusion between some aspartame manufacturers and areas of the medical establishment.

It’s certainly an area worthy of a bit of research given you are likely ingesting the chemical unknowingly in many foods. If you take the time to read around the subject, you might well decide to make some changes. I for one will eschew diet food and drinks, and stick the finger to the big companies that seem to be happily profiting from making us fat and sick.

If this article has peaked your interest, Dr Blaylock and Dr H J?Roberts, have written books on Aspartame Poisoning.? Dr Blaylock’s book is entitled Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills’. Dr. H J Roberts, a diabetes specialist, ?has written a book entitled Defense Against Alzheimer’s Disease.

Finals and papers are due for students in the next week or two, but have you ever considered giving yourself a fitness review, a kind of report card?

A report card is an excellent way to measure and record academic achievements, and can be used for each of us on our own healthy living path.

I think averaging your exercise with your eating habits and sleep patterns can give you a good measurement of how well you are doing. Start by asking yourself how much you exercise each week.

If you’ve answered more than five times a week for at least 30 minutes a time, you’ve got an “A” for effort. Pat yourself on the back, and get yourself a smelly sticker or a new set of markers. You’re doing great!

If you answered three to five times a week, a “B” is your exercise grade. You may want to think about upping your workouts per week if you are stalling out on your weight-loss efforts. If you’re just there to maintain your health, not for weight loss, it’s OK to stay where you are.

If you answered three times a week, give yourself a “C” because you’re doing the bare minimum amount of work.

You’re passing, but you may want to consider committing some more time each week to walking, biking or swimming.

You get bonus points for weight training or yoga time, so be sure to include that in your average.

Eating habits are a little less cut and dry, and can vary widely based on how much activity you do. But for our metaphor today, I’d say there’s a few key measurements on your food intake you should try to watch out for.

First, how many times a week do you eat fast food. If you answered more than five times a week, give yourself a “C” and start thinking of ways you can prepare a few of those meals at home instead of leaving your health to the Hamburgler.

Next, ask yourself if you tend to snack throughout the day, or eat one big meal. If you eat three small meals and a few snacks, you’re probably better able to manage your hunger than if you eat one or two meals a day, and you get an “A”.

Now of course, if your lifestyle is such that snacking is out of the question, that’s OK. Just be sure your three squares include healthy whole grains, lean proteins like chicken, fish or turkey, and healthy fats such as those derived from plant sources, like olive oil or avocados.

If you include many of those items in each of your meals, also give yourself an “A.”

Take points away from your diet score if you drink more than two 12-ounce soft drinks a day. Carbonated beverages, even the diet drinks, can increase your stomach’s capacity and also provide no nutritional value. Many are sugar- and sodium-laden and should be limited.

Sleep is the last key item on your fitness report card. If you average seven-eight hours per night, give yourself an “A.” If you get six-seven hours, you get a “B” and if you get any less than six hours a night, give yourself a “C.” As we age, our need for sleep decreases, but you still should try to aim for eight hours a night, especially if you are trying to exercise and limit your caloric intake.

Those activities are hard on our bodies and sleep gives us the opportunity to heal.

Being well-rested also allows you to exercise to your greatest potential and studies have shown it may even have an effect on your ability to fight hunger.

Taking these variables together should give you an accurate depiction of your health and fitness goals.

And like any report card, if improvement is needed, you are at least aware and can make changes to your habits to get a better fitness “grade.”

© 2012 Times Record News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Last night some television announcer said average womens weight has gone from 140 pounds in 1980 to 160 pounds in 2012. Ill take either weight gratefully. And if anyone wants to know, I have enrolled in a pay-now program using powerful machinery to whip me into shape one way or another. Then my age and back enjoined in marriage, causing my back to hurt whenever it chooses, probably because of friends Mr. Arthur and his horribly cruel friend Mrs. Osto. This occurred during my initial week of exercise possibly because I left the walking machines and decided to work on one to eliminate one of my stomachs. Big mistake.

In 1991, I paid my dues with back surgery for a three-type rupture on the bottom of my spine. I thought I had given enough at the Office of the Bones. Then in 2011-2012, the old ladys back finds me with vengeance on the mind and this is one ailment people doubt the most of anyone having, unless structure of the body almost meets the ground or magnetic items stick to the back of ones garment because the spine has a metal pipe in it to let the back sufferer stand.

I should not tell this secret of the hefty and harmless, but Im talking and cant shut up. Most of us at the head of the scale class are professional rationalizers, able to lie (no tall tale) to ourselves about how we can rest on the couch with a sack full of pretzels beside us or two over-sized peanut brittle patties which run a close, close second to pralines and actually convince ourselves we do no harm unless a normal person happens to see or catch us in our pigging out.

Then the shame and guilt are overwhelming. I usually drink a gallon of water afterward somehow to appease my nutrition madness. Once I ate an entire frozen Mrs. Fields Pecan pie. I halved it, not placing the entire concoction in front of me at one time. I made the walk to the kitchen to get the second half. In my bloated reasoning, perhaps I thought the little trip to the room of goodies and surprises might help. No, I did not get ill and probably enjoyed the evening meal. Help. Age and internal wearing to digestive power have slowed me. Thankfully.

But as I was putting on pounds, so was my spouse. Both skinnie Minnie and Moe in our twenties, we had found stress, fast-food places, owned a microwave, about the healthiest food item going down us was milk. My two sons could chug a lug to quench thirst. Everyone in the family liked milk which came only in full percent then (that I knew about). And these children around our table were skinny. Therefore, mashed potatoes with butter sat on the table once a day along with a variety of others things to make healthy(?) kids. Why Dad and I could wipe away our excess at any time. Everybody knows a man looks better with weight anyway.

My husbands mother enjoyed making preserves and jellies in the summer. There was a favorite, her peach preserves.

My husband would say, Please dont give us this jar. Your daughter-in-law will have the entire jar secretly eaten by the time we get home. The loving woman would give us two jars.

Secretly, so far back in my mind, I remembered a few aunts who lost poundage as they aged. Maybe if I were lucky, this could happen to me. My parents were always the right weight, but Dad still weighed less as he approached his 70th birthday. One day my middle daughter brought up this weight-loss factor to me, her mother. How would I know why it was not happening to me? Possible answers: I never really grew up. Some who do lose older dont want to. Some are passed up and get bigger. Sickness can take it right off. Did my daughter wish that on me?

Im not saying it aloud, but I think our three natural borns are going to take after me and have to fight the weight problem. One already leaves no doubt.

In closing (hoping this fits) I read that diet drinks had something in them dangerous to our internal organs.
I called a friend to whine. Ive been on diet-drinks for more years than I can count, I said, one a day, and they are said to be dangerous for us.

Friend, my advisor said, You are well into that geezer grouping. Youve been drinking these colas since you turned against the taste of another one. Shut up already. (Ive heard its ridiculous when adults try to use slang; is it our fault its out of date when we finally realize what it means and how to use it?

If you see me walking by the side of a road with my dog club, please dont tempt me by asking if I need a lift. Besides, the lifts I need have to be done in a medical environment.

As our (awesome) regular readers likely know, one of us, ahem, recently had a mega Diet Coke habit. Two six-packs a day was nothing. The other one (with his wife, Lisa) finally braved an intervention and got Dr. Mike down to a can a day. Last September, he went to zilch. And lived! Now all he misses is the extra strength-training from shifting 20-pound cases of cola.

We mention this because chugging soft drinks already looked bad when Dr. Mike laid off. Both regular and diet drinks had been tied to obesity and high blood pressure — colas to bone loss and full-sugar sodas to type 2 diabetes, lousy teeth and more.

Now it turns out there’s something in regular soda that’s particularly bad for women.

If you’re a female, just two cans a day makes you more likely to add inches to your waist, get into blood sugar trouble, have soaring triglycerides and develop heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes — even if you don’t gain a pound. Throw in kidney damage, too.

This isn’t the first evidence of these links, but it’s the first to spot how vulnerable women are. Why? That’s as clear as muddy waters. Maybe because you burn fewer calories than guys. Or replace more healthy foods with useless fizzy stuff. Or always eat sweets with soda. Or something no one’s figured out yet.

Our New Year’s wish? Pull a Dr. Mike: Switch to water (or caffeinated water), seltzer with fruit, hot/iced tea or (his fave) coffee. It’s giving tea real competition as the world’s No. 1 health drink.

The YOU Docs, Mehmet Oz, host of The Dr. Oz Show and Mike Roizen of Cleveland Clinic, are authors of YOU: Losing Weight. For more information go to www.RealAge.com.

(c) 2011 Michael Roizen, MD and Mehmet Oz, MD

Here we are 2012 — welcome to another year of your life.

I love the buzz and newfound energy that comes as January begins. It makes me happy to see people excited about making changes for the year ahead. As you think about the new commitments you want to make for yourself, be cautious not to overcommit.

Everyone wants to dive full force into his or her new commitments. You need to make sure the things you dive into dont cause you to drown in a few weeks.

One of the most common resolutions people make is to begin a new workout routine. Lets say you made the commitment to be at the gym every day at 5:30 am This is a great goal, but guess what? You might not be a morning person. You started off with a bang on Jan. 2. The alarm went off, you jumped out of bed, put on your shoes, and you were off. You had a great workout, and this morning you did it again. This routine goes well for a few weeks, but then you start getting tired. Youre getting up early but you havent adjusted your bedtime to go with your new morning routine. It becomes harder and harder to stop pressing the snooze button. And then one day, the alarm goes off and you say to yourself, Forget it, Im just too tired. This happens a few mornings in a row, and pretty soon you find yourself out of the routine and back to where you started.

Now dont get me wrong, early morning workouts are absolutely perfect for many and might be an excellent commitment for you to make. However, if you know mornings arent really your thing and youre just going to end up feeling burned out and exhausted, choose a different time to go to the gym. This will save you from defeat.

Another common commitment is to give up soft drinks. It sounds easy enough — just dont drink them, right? I know individuals who broke the habit for good without any trouble. But if you think it will be a struggle for you or youve tried it in the past unsuccessfully, I recommend trying this process.

Even though I dont recommend diet drinks as a new addiction for giving up regular soda, I do think they can be helpful when trying to break the habit. I also dont recommend switching from soft drinks to juice or sweet tea. Start with a switch to diet drinks for a while, and then wean yourself to caffeine-free diet drinks. Then after a few weeks, see if you can make the switch to water. When the urge starts to build for a sugary liquid treat, make sure you have a backup plan.

So, take a good look at the goals you have set for yourself and make sure they are realistic for you. If you want to make a permanent change, it must be something you can do permanently.

And always remember, if you fall off the wagon, tomorrow is a new day for you to get right back on.

Jones switched to diet soda after drinking coke for concern about his weight. But is the diet alternative really better for you? A study lead by Qing Yang from the University of Yale reveals that diet drinks increase your desire to eat more. Dr Vicci Owen Smith said Diet coke has artificial sweetener and contains caffeine. Too much of either can cause harm.

Weather you have your caffeine cold or hot, how much is too much…….. And when do you know if youre addicted? According the The National coffee Association 68% of all Americans are addicted to coffee. If you buy one $4 latte a day your coffee addiction will cost you over $1500 a year.

But the cost of caffeine does not appear to deter consumers, as energy based drinks such as red bull and monster are expected to rise in sales by 60% this year. New energy drink controversially named cocaine boosts 280 milligrams of caffeine which is 350% stronger then a red bull beverage.

But the benefits of caffeine consumption, is that it can boost your memory and improve concentration. But too much can cause high bloody pressure, increased blood sugar and decreased bone density.

Kathy Clarke said it’s possible for a person to live a healthy life with diabetes, but it requires taking control of your health with proper eating choices.

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Clarke, a diabetes educator at Heritage Valley Sewickley Hospital, said she knew of a family who ate breakfast, lunch and dinner in the fast food drive-through.

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“We do a lot of fast food,” Clarke said.  ”No matter how healthy you eat, if you do that, it’s not healthy.”

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Clarke gave a presentation on diabetes Saturday to about a dozen women at St. Matthews AME. Zion Church as part of the church’s health ministries. The event was open to the public.

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All those in attendance were touched by diabetes in some way, either being personally diagnosed or knowing a relative or friend with the disease. The group took turns answering myth and fact questions related to diabetes. 

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As many as one in three adults in the United States could have diabetes by 2050, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. African-Americans in particular are disproportionately affected compared to the general population.

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To top it off, Clarke told the group that one out of every three children born in the United States after the year 2000 will develop Type 2 diabetes, which makes up about 95 percent of all diagnoses.

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“The tide has changed,” said Clarke, referring to the growing percentage of young children now affected by Type 2 as opposed to Type I diabetes, formerly known as juvenile onset diabetes.

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As she is not a dietician, Clarke encouraged those interested to meet with a specialist for a personalized meal plan. Heritage Valley Sewickley offers classes on healthy living with diabetes. But in general, she discussed healthy foods, empty calories, exercise and other ways to stay healthy as an at-risk diabetic or an individual living with diabetes.

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For instance, Clarke said carbohydrates in moderation are fine as long as they come from healthy fruits and vegetables, rather than high fructose corn syrup. Consuming too much sugar can affect a person’s insulin and sodas and juices are the main culprits.  Clarke classified carbs as any starch, fruit or grain, as well as drinks such as fruit juice, milk, soda and other non-diet drinks. Protein is also good in moderation, she said, with one serving equaling the size of a deck of cards.

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Clarke also encouraged eating smaller portions more often and warned against skipping meals. She suggested keeping a diet diary to track food intake.

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“Writing it down on any diet, keeping a journal to realize what you eat…it really makes you think,” she said.

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And she warned against beating yourself up if you fall off the wagon.

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“If food is your comfort and it happens, get back on track,” she said.

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Constance Pickett of Sewickley said her brother-in-law has diabetes and she wished her sister could have heard the presentation. She said it was extremely informative and “opened a lot of people’s eyes.”

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“I thought it was wonderful,” Pickett said.

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“She’s so informative. When I listen to her, I learn so much,” agreed Ada Milliner, chairwoman of St. Matthews Sacred Health Ministry.

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Milliner organized the diabetes presentation in conjuction with Sisters With A Purpose, or SWAP and said the event was just one of many activities from the health ministry. A week before Christmas, Milliner said participants completed a “Walk to Bethlehem” an exercise challenge that started in early October. Walkers charted more than 6,000 miles, shattering the designated goal by 300 miles.

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Saturdays diabetes event was to include diabetes testing, but that portion was cancelled.

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Are you a man on a diet?

Sorry, my bad. I should ask that question with a deep bass voice while hot rod engines rev and a heavy metal guitar shatters your ear drums. Maybe throw in some fireworks. Apparently, if you want to sell men on losing weight, you have to gussy up the idea to make it look like something only the toughest tough guys do.

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Are we really this insecure?

Theres some grinding guitar accompanying former NBA player Charles Barkley in his new ads for Weight Watchers, which began airing on Christmas Day. Dressed all in black and standing against a black backdrop (colours are for women!), Barkley boasts that hes lost 23 lbs so far with Weight Watchers and then tells viewers the companys new tagline, Lose like a man.

Its a step in a much more macho direction than Jason Alexanders pitchman work for Jenny Craig.

Marketers have seemed to learn that if you want to sell weight loss to men, you cant make it schlubby and self-deprecating. You need to make it hardcore! and manly! and drop and give me 20!

Just look at Dr. Pepper Ten, a soft drink that came out last fall with an advertising campaign trumpeting the tagline, Its not for women. Yeah! Lets chug some low calorie soda and ride dirt bikes, fellas! Climb up in to the clubhouse and put the sign on the door. No girls allowed!

The can is painted gun metal grey (obviously) and all its packaging studiously avoids the term diet.

The commercial for the drink is ironic, of course, but its also depressingly patronizing.

Sadly, the company that makes Dr. Pepper reportedly created the new drink after research found men avoid diet drinks that, as USA Today put it, arent perceived as lsquo;manly enough.

Are men really so juvenile that we can be sold on a non-diet diet soda because were told its not for women?

Its something to think about while we chug beer cans and them crush them over our heads and chop down trees with our bare hands, because of course thats how we spend our time while drinking full calorie pop.