About a month ago I took a trip into New York to watch the Yankees, and have a good time with some friends. Usually good times at baseball games involve hot dogs, french fries, peanuts, and beer. This nights trip to the game still involved a couple of those items, but not without quite a bit of guilt to go with it. Having spent the last 5 years in California I was unaware of the law that New York had put into place requiring restaurants and food vendors to list the calories on their menu. My first thought was that I really didn’t want to see this information at a baseball game where the whole point was to eat and drink too much while watching the Yankees win. I must admit though that waiting in line and letting the thought sink in of eating over 1500 calories of food in one sitting seriously affected my choice. This my sound humorous, but instead of chicken fingers, fries, and a beer I limited myself to just the chicken and beer. While that was still pretty close to half of my daily calories I did manage to avoid another 800-1000 in just the fries alone.
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*Obesity and Economics:
A study done by the University of Washington discusses the economic impact on obesity in the Seattle area. The article mentions the impact of “food deserts” on a populations ability to buy healthy food. It would seem that not having an abundance of options around where you live limits your options and increases the prices…go figure. The most alarming part of the study was the mention that the obesity rate of Whole Foods shoppers studied was only 4% while those shopping at regular grocery stores was 25% in the county studied.
*Parents, Kids, Activity Levels, and Television:
It seems that the activity levels of parents doesn’t have as much of an impact on the activity levels of their children. A University of Bristol Study concluded that while active parents don’t necessarily lead to active kids there is a bad ratio to how much television they watch in relation to their parents.
“For girls, the relative risk of watching more than four hours of TV per day was 3.67 times higher if the girl’s parent watched two-four hours of TV per day, when compared to girls who watched less than two hours of TV per day.
For boys, the relative risk of watching more than four hours of TV per day was 10.47 times higher if the boy’s parent watched more than four hours of TV per day when compared to boys who watched less than two hours of TV per day.”
Tagged as:
Obesity,
Studies
A new study in the American Chemical Society’s semi-monthly journal Environmental Science & Technology has shown that just 5 minutes of exercise outside in a green area can lead to a boost in mood and self esteem. Green physical activity was described in the study as “in the presence of nature” such as hiking in the woods, frisbee at the park, or working in the garden.
The study noted:
Every green environment improved both self-esteem and mood; the presence of water generated greater effects. Both men and women had similar improvements in self-esteem after green exercise, though men showed a difference for mood.
Source: APA: American Chemical Society (2010, May 1). In the green of health: Just 5 minutes of ‘green exercise’ optimal for good mental health. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 5, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2010/05/100502080414.htm
Tagged as:
Well Being
