EverymanTri.com

Americans just keep getting fatter and fatter

A new comprehensive report on the nation's weight crisis offers a stunning conclusion: Americans just keep getting fatter and fatter, and with the added weight gain comes an increase in both Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.

While many amateur endurance athletes know that weight is the enemy of performance, many Americans seem to just keep piling on the pounds.

According to the recent report (by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Trust for America's Health) titled "F as in Fat," 16 states are experiencing steep increases in adult obesity.

When you look at it year by year, the changes are incremental," said Jeffrey Levi, executive director of the Trust for America's Health. But if you back up a generation and look at the slow but steady climb of Americans weight, he added, "you see how we got into this problem."

U.S. High School students turning into soda-swilling exercises slackers new reports find

OK, so the new studies did not exactly conclude that High School students are turning into soda-swilling exercises slackers, but if you read between the lines...you could certainly make the case that this is true.

In the latest health and fitness news, two new reports (the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report analyzed data from the 2010 National Youth Physical Activity and Nutrition Study) provide a dramatic snapshot of U.S. High School students.

The first report concludes that only 12 percent of high school students get enough daily exercise. And of course for endurance athletes that tiny percentage may come as a surprise.

New study finds tart cherry paste decreases muscle tenderness and pain

WINONA, Minn. – A scientific study conducted at Winona State University has found that tart cherry paste significantly decreased muscle tenderness and pain following strenuous exercise, and generally lowered blood pressure compared to a group ingesting a placebo. The research findings were released by the university’s Department of Health, Exercise and Rehabilitative Sciences.

The purpose of the 2010 cross-over double blind study was to examine the effects of cherry supplementation on exercise-induced inflammation, muscle soreness and blood pressure.

And the Top 50 healthiest & fittest metropolitan areas in the United States are....

What are the nation's healthiest, fittest metropolitan areas and why?

Every year since 2007 the American College of Sports Medicine has produced the American Fitness Index, an evidence and science based measurement of the state of health and fitness at the community level throughout the US.

This year’s winner is Minneapolis-St Paul which edged out last year’s winner Washington DC thanks to the Twin Cities reduction in smokers and improvements in healthy behavior measures.   

Cities ranked near the top are considered to have strong community fitness (which corresponds to individuals being fit) and many factors which support this lifestyle whilst having few that hinder.

New study finds exercise significantly slows prostate cancer

A new study conducted at the University of California found that at least 3 hours of vigorous physical activity per week slowed the progression of prostate cancer by 57 percent in men diagnosed with the illness.

According to Stanford Medicine's Scope:

"The researchers, led by UC-San Francisco's Erin Richman, Sc.D., followed men for at least 15 months after a prostate cancer diagnosis, tracking each man's exercise habits and monitoring whether their cancer worsened. The men who engaged in at least 3 hours of vigorous physical activity per week had a 57 percent slower rate of cancer progression to more worrying states than those who exercised less."

Researchers at the University of California and at the Harvard School of Public Health followed a total of 1,455 men who had been diagnosed with early-stage prostate and closely monitored the amount of exercise that each man did everyday.

8 ways to use coconut oil in your diet for a leaner race day body

Coconut oil is made up of lauric acid, a medium-chain fatty acid found in mother's milk that supports healthy metabolism as well as offering anti-fungal, anti-viral, and anti-bacterial properties. The medium chain fatty acids get used as energy rather then being stored as fat in the body.
 
For centuries, communities around the globe consumed the coconut for its high nutritional value.  Unfortunately, coconut oil started to get a bad reputation when studies came out claiming how unhealthy the saturated fat was.  What the studies failed to mention, was the fact that the oil being studied was hydrogenated (which is the real problem).  It turns out, that unrefined coconut oil has a long list of health benefits.

Exercise, coffee, nose blowing, sex and being startled can cause stroke in some

A new and recent study has concluded that vigorous exercise, coffee, nose blowing, sex, drinking cola, anger, going to the bathroom, and being startled can cause a stroke in some people?

All of these activities have one thing in common.

Insert your own punch line here please.

But seriously...a new study found that all these activities raise blood pressure which in about 2 percent of individuals, who are believed to have an aneurysm, can potentially cause a stroke.

And the American cities with the most air pollution are located in the state of...

Here's a not so funny fact. The American cities with the most air pollution are located in California.

Of course when you think about California you tend to think about healthy people living a healthy lifestyle in the great outdoors.

But if you happen to swim, bike or run in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside; Bakersfield-Delano; Visalia-Porterville; Fresno-Madera; Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Yuba City ; Hanford-Corcoran; San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos; and Merced you are doing so in some of the U.S. cities with the most year round air pollution.

Clever website helps fitness minded travelers find airport gyms on the fly

Have you ever gotten stuck traveling and been itching to run off that long flight?

Or...how great would it be if you could go to the gym in between long flights?

This may not be such a pipe-dream because now you can located the nearest gym in or near an airport online.

Want to get fit? Forget the coach and buy a dog

A new study that appears in the March issue of the Journal of Physical Activity & Health found that dog owners not only get more exercise, but that they tend to also be more active simply because they walk their dogs.

The paper exameined how much dog woners walk their pooches and found according to the LA Times that, "of the 41 percent who were dog owners, 61 percent of respondents said they walked their dogs at least 10 minutes at a time and 27 percent said they walked their dogs at least 150 minutes a week."

Of course that's the good news when it comes to dog ownership.

Too much exercise can lead to heart damage a new study concludes

Is there such a thing as to much exercise?

A new study conducted in Britian concludes that too much endurance exercise can be bad for your heart.

The research, published online a few weeks ago in The Journal of Applied Physiology suggest that excessive and ultra running can lead to fibrosis, or scarring, within the heart muscle.

According to the New York Times the study included only men who had been on the British national or Olympic teams and runners who had completed at least 100 marathons in their lives:

Exercise can slow and even prevent aging a new study confirms

So there is yet  another great reason after all for all of the swimming, cycling and running endurance athletes do every week...besides just training for the next race and of course staying fit and healthy.

A new study published in the Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences journal found that regular exercise can slow and even prevent aging.

According to thirdage.com:

"Researchers at McMaster University of Ontario took a group of mice who were genetically programmed to age faster. The researchers split the mice into two groups, one group was inactive and the other group ran on a wheel for 45 minutes, three times a week.

New report finds that Southerns are the least likely to exercise in the U.S.

Here's an interesting question.

In what states in America do you suppose people are the least likely to exercise?

if you guessed Colorado or California, you'd be wrong.

The correct answer, according to THIS new report  by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report is: Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

People in these Southern States are least likely to exercise in their leisure time. The report goes on to say, "CDC previously released maps with estimated levels of diabetes and obesity for all U.S. counties. Combining all three factors produces a map that shows the highest levels of diagnosed diabetes, leisure-time physical inactivity and obesity in the South and parts of Appalachia. The regions with the lowest levels of all three are the West and Northeast."

 

New study: 68 percent of Americans are now overweight or obese

A new study by the the medical journal The Lancet, has come to a startling conclusion: nearly 7 out of 10 Americans are either overweight of obese.

Furthermore the study also found that obesity worldwide almost doubled between 1980 and 2008. For the purpose of this study, "BMI in excess of 25 leads to being labeled as overweight while BMI of above 30 is considered to be indicative of obesity," according to the International Busines Times.

The Times goes on to report that, "One of the most conspicuous conclusions from the study was that obesity is no longer an affliction in the richer, developed nations only, but was fast spreading to low and middle-income nations too. Globally, the Pacific Island nations were found to have the highest BMI average.

The more you swim, bike or run the more you remember: Aerobic exercise boosts memory new study finds

A new study recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences confirms what some have suggested: that people who exercise on a regular basic boost their memory. The study found that as people age their hippocampus shrinks, unless they exercise on a regular basis, in which case the study reports that the hippocampus actually increased in size.

The hippocampus is the memory center of the brain.

According to U.S. News and World Report:

"In the study, 60 adults aged 55 to 80 scaled up gradually until they walked for 40 minutes three times a week, enough to get their heart rates up. Sixty other participants did toning workouts that included weight training, yoga sessions and stretching for the same amount of time.

Healthy fit recipe of the day: spicy sweet potato coconut soup

Our friend Liz says....

Serve this warming soup to your sweetie for Valentine's Day..

Ingredients:
3 sweet potatoes
1 cup chopped leeks
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1 tbsp red curry paste
3 cups vegetable broth
13 oz coconut milk
2 tbsp coconut oil
Salt to taste