Dieters in Weight Watchers study drop up to 15 pounds in a year

(Health.com) -- Overweight and obese adults who followed the Weight Watchers program lost more than twice as much weight as those who received weight-loss advice from a doctor or nurse, according to a new yearlong study funded by the company.
The study, which was published Wednesday in the Lancet, included 772 men and women in Australia, Germany, and the United Kingdom who were recruited during ordinary doctor's appointments. The researchers randomly selected about half of the participants to receive a free 12-month Weight Watchers membership (including access to weekly meetings), and encouraged the other half to attend monthly one-on-one weight-management sessions at their doctor's office.
The 61% of Weight Watchers users who stuck with the program for a full year lost 15 pounds, on average, compared with 7 pounds among the 54% of people in the other group who continued to visit their doctors each month. When the researchers included the people who dropped out of either program before the year was up, the average weight loss was lower but followed the same pattern: 11 pounds in the Weight Watchers group and 5 pounds in the other group.  More.....CNN HEALTH

5 Major Health Threats That Your Dentist Can Predict

When you look in your mouth you may see teeth that need whitening, but a dentist may see signs of heart disease. A study published in the Journal of Dental Research found that many dental problems can be signs of serious health complications. University of Washington School of Dentistry professor Philippe P. Hujoel, DDS, PhD, says the sugar and carbohydrates in food, known as "fermentable carbohydrates," are to blame. Found in sugary drinks, snack foods like potato chips, and simple grains like white bread and corn, these carbs are fermented by bacteria in your mouth, which produces the acids that cause tooth decay. "Those dental diseases are a marker for an unhealthy diet, and an unhealthy diet may predict future health complications," Dr. Hujoel notes.

6 Shortcuts to Speed Your Fat Burn

Most things worth achieving—getting a college degree, finding your perfect mate, building a career, raising a family—take time and effort. But that doesn’t mean we don’t want to take a few shortcuts when it comes to achieving the body of our dreams. Fortunately, you can hit fast-forward on your better-body goals with these simple, science-backed tricks for speeding your fat burn. No, you won’t transform overnight, but you could start to see results within a week, and even the world’s biggest brainiac can’t earn a bachelor’s degree that fast!  More....Yahoo health

5 Surprising Ways to Prevent Wrinkles

Genes influence how fast your skin will age, but unhealthy habits accelerate the damage. The term “smoker’s face” has long been used to describe the telltale pattern of deep lines and creases that form around the mouth and eyes of tobacco users, from constant squinting sparked by smoke irritation and lip puckering while inhaling. Some studies show that smoking cuts production of elastin and collagen by up to 40 percent, leading to premature fine lines that may start to appear as early as age 20, offering yet another reason to snuff out the habit if you smoke.
What else can you do to fight skin creases? Here’s a look at science-based strategies that help keep your skin looking young and healthy.  More.....Yahoo Health

Testing loophole may leave door open for doping

So now we stand around and wait for a horde of attorneys/chemists/public relations types to tell us about our reigning National League MVP, how he managed to tumble into a vat of synthetic testosterone or not, and why we should believe his refutations … or not.
We wait on the technicality that makes this all “B.S.” (Ryan Braun’s public description), whether that be chain of custody, supplement impurities, or dumb luck – that is, some very competent and reputable doctor (or trainer) put something in or on Braun’s body that makes the doctor look like a fool but also clears Braun of negligence. More...at Yahoo Sports

FDA Targets Homeopathic Weight Loss Products

TUESDAY, Dec. 6 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. officials on Tuesday said that they are taking action to remove controversial, unapproved and illegally labeled HCG weight loss products from the market.

HCG stands for human chorionic gonadotropin, a hormone made by the human placenta and found in the urine of pregnant women. The products are typically given in conjunction with an extremely low-calorie diet -- as low as 500 calories per day -- which has some experts worried about possible health effects.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, companies marketing over-the-counter HCG weight loss products labeled as "homeopathic" were sent warning letters on Tuesday by the FDA and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The letters cautioned that the companies are violating federal law by selling the unapproved drugs, and by making unsupported claims for their products.

Oprah visits Haiti

A child undergoing treatment for cholera is pictured at a cholera treatment centre run by Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince November 27, 2011. Cholera has sickened more than 450,000 people in the nation of 10 million, or nearly 5 percent of the population, and killed more than 6,000 people. More people died of cholera last year in Haiti than in any other part of the world, and the disease is likely to become the leading killer of children under five in Haiti, estimates NGO Partners in Health. REUTERS/Swoan Parker (HAITI - Tags: DISASTER HEALTH SOCIETY)  More...Yahoo News

Florida county will throw parents of truant kids in jail

Lenora Hummel was fined thousands of dollars for her daughter's truancy (AP)

A new truancy court in Palm Beach, Florida aims to cut down on the state's absentee rate for young children by punishing parents who don't take their kids to school.
Florida law says parents of children under 16 who let their kids miss 15 days of school within three months can be sent to jail for up to two months as punishment. The Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that Palm Beach prosecutors say the two-month jail sentence will be a last resort, after government and nonprofit workers try to fix whatever problem is keeping parents from getting their kids to school.
About a dozen Baltimore parents were sent to prison for their kids' truancy in 2011, the Baltimore Sun reported in April. (In 2010, no Baltimore parents were jailed.) After California adopted a strict anti-truancy bill earlier this year, at least five parents in Orange County were sent to jail for the crime, according to the local CBS affiliate. Judges in Alabama, Texas, and North Carolina and other states have also used truancy laws to send offending parents to jail.  More....Yahoo News

........Don’t Lose Your Phone — and Your Identity

Here’s a sure-fire way to compromise your identity and risk important personal data this holiday season: Lose your cell phone when you’re shopping.

Credant Technologies, which bills itself as an expert in data protection, found in a recent survey that more than 2,200 cell phones were brought to the lost-and-found departments in 15 of the nation’s busiest shopping malls this year. Some 90% of those were smartphones.

And get this: A whopping 50% of them were never claimed. What’s more, many of them were unsecured.

“No matter where we look we find that unprotected devices are being left behind,” said Sean Glynn, vice president of marketing at Credant, which tracks lost phones from a number of venues.

“People store large amounts of private data, whether personal or corporate on all of the devices they have,” he said. “You really should be sensitive about protecting that data.”

That information is a gold mine for thieves and the bounty is growing with each smartphone purchase. Already, more than a third of the 234 million Americans who own mobile devices have smartphones, according to comScore’s most recent data.

Given all the functions and the hundreds of applications available to use, the smartphone is not just a talking and texting device but a workhorse. More....Yahoo Finance

How can I exercise safely in winter when I have a cold?

Asked by KM, Grandview, Washington

Like everyone else, I am intent on losing weight in the new year. I am in my mid-20s, very overweight, and trying to change back to the healthy lifestyle I used to have. My specific concern is about walking in the cold, with a cold.
I really love walking, so I'm making it a major component of my workout plan (along with weight lifting, and healthier eating), but I am on the tail end of a cold right now, and when I come inside from a walk, my cough is much worse and sometimes my ears hurt. I love walking in the cold (the weather is in the teens and 20s) and don't want to give it up, but I also don't want to make myself sicker.
I know I could use a treadmill, but the truth is that I hate them and I get bored no matter what I do. I'll almost certainly get another cold this season, so what do I need to do to keep myself healthy outside in the winter?  More....Cnn Health

On Comet, on Cupid, on Donner and... Wheezy?

Jack Frost isn't the only thing nipping at your nose this holiday season.

Although the allergy season has its peaks in spring and fall, the sights and smells of the holiday season can also be one big allergy Grinch. From Christmas trees to chestnuts, and all the dusty decorations that were kept in storage the other 11 months of the year, Yuletide cheer can leave many allergy-sensitive people looking like Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.
One such sufferer, Jessica Aguiar, says she's been allergic to pine trees since she was a child, so she's unable to purchase a "real" tree to display her holiday cheer.
Her symptoms include watery eyes, sneezing and - if she actually touches a tree - a skin rash. "Not the Christmas decorations I'd like to wear," she jokes.

Another, Orlando resident Kimberly Burton, is extremely sensitive to artificial-fragrances like those found in potpourri. Burton admits her shopping habits completely change from the time that mall holiday decorations go out in September until the stores are completely aired out in February.  More....Cnn News

Protect yourself against health insurance reversal

In 2008, Joan Gagliardi was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease that caused scarring on internal organs, including her windpipe. It began to choke off her ability to breathe, but doctors at the University of Miami Hospital kept the damage in check with a treatment known as IVIG: Infusions of immunoglobulin.

The bad news came in 2010, when Gagliardi learned that her insurance company, Highmark Blue Shield of Pennsylvania, which had previously approved the expensive treatments, had reversed itself. The denial was retroactive, leaving Gagliardi liable for $1.2 million or approximately $50,000 for each infusion.
Fortunately for Gagliardi, the hospital didn’t press its claim, choosing instead to negotiate with Highmark. This year they settled up, with Highmark agreeing to pay $382,229. Gagliardi was off the hook. More...Cnn News

Police try to uncover what led to Virginia Tech shooting

Blacksburg, Virginia (CNN) -- The person suspecting of shooting and killing a police officer at Virginia Tech had no known contact with the officer before the shooting, authorities said Friday.
Investigators continue to follow leads as they investigate the death of Virginia Tech Police Officer Deriek Crouse, said Corinne Geller, a spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police.
A second person believed to be the shooter was found dead not far from where Crouse was shot.
Ballistics evidence shows that Crouse and the other man who was found dead were shot with the same gun, state police said Friday.
Investigators are confident that they have identified the suspect in Crouse's death, authorities said. They plan to reveal the alleged shooter's identity after an official determination is made and the shooter's family is notified, Geller said. Police have said they believe the other man matches the description of the gunman who shot the officer.  More....CNN NEWS

Study: Bone drug boosts breast cancer survival

Doctors were mostly hoping to prevent complications and relapses when they gave young women a medicine to keep their bones strong during breast cancer treatment. Seven years later, they found it did more than that: The bone drug improved survival, as much as many chemotherapies do. More »Study: Bone drug boosts breast cancer survival

Paralyzed Woman Makes Miraculous Recovery After Freak Accident

Monique van der Vorst was paralyzed from the hip down at 13 when she suffered nerve damage during a routine ankle operation. Years later, she went on to win a silver medal for handcycling in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. However, that same year she was hit by a car while training in her wheelchair and endured a spinal cord injury. Last summer, as she trained for the London 2012 Paralympics in her wheelchair something happened that changed her life: She collided with a sprint cyclist. When she was recovering in the hospital, van der Vorst discovered that she could move her feet. Something had occurred during the accident that reversed her paralysis. Van der Vorst told Reuters that when she took her first steps she felt like a child learning to walk again. Doctors are still stumped by her astonishing recovery. Some theorize that the trauma of her last accident might have jolted her body back into activity. Van der Vorst, now 27, went through an intense rehabilitation and eventually began training on a racing bicycle. Because she is no longer disabled, she is ineligible to compete in the Paralympics. Instead, van der Vorst is now in training to compete in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. People on Twitter are astounded by her story. One person said, "Wow this story is incredible," and another person called it "amazing." Given that van der Vorst has already won two Paralympics silver medals and the 2009 Iron Man in Hawaii, I think we might be seeing her in Rio in 2016.  More....Yahoo News

The Women's Dark Pajamas I designed on CafePress.com

The Women's Dark Pajamas I designed on CafePress.com

LOST IN LOVE

"CHECK THIS OUT"
     So I have a person that I know,that say she is in love with this guy, and they are  moving in together in another city.  They don't make enough money to keep up with the bills.  So how do you compromise and let youself get in that situation?
     So we are all human and can get lost in love. Make sure that the love we fall in will keep up together, and not wedge us apart, money is important, and we all need it.  It cut down a lot of fights in relationships.

BIG DADDY  

10 Cold and Flu Remedies that Really Work

There may not be a cure for a cold or flu, but there is relief.

Aches. Sniffles. Fever. Yep, cold and flu season is in full swing. When you're sick, you just want to feel better, fast. There's no cure for a cold or flu, but we've got 10 home remedies that help ease your symptoms.

Not sure if you have a cold or the flu? Take this quiz.

Hot Tea with Honey

Drink plenty of liquids to stay hydrated, and make sure they're hot. Black tea helps soothe a sore throat and chase away the chills with a good dose of virus-fighting interferon. Add a dollop of antioxidant-rich honey and a squeeze of lemon for vitamin C.

Orange Juice

Crave OJ when you're sick? It's full of vitamin C, which may shorten a cold's duration of and work as a natural decongestant. Aim for 500 mg of vitamin C four times a day. A cup of orange juice has 124 mg. Other good sources: strawberries, tomatoes, and broccoli.  More...Shine from Yahoo

Dr. Oz's Holiday Stress Management Checklist

Eliminating stress doesn't necessarily mean pouring a nice hot bubble bath. Try these holiday stress-busting strategies to avoid letting your worries rule your mind-and your life. From YOU Stress Less: The Owner's Manual for Regaining Balance in Your Life by Dr. Michael F. Roizen, MD, and Mehmet C. Oz, MD.


Stress Strategies
Identify the source of your stress. Though some sources are easy to identify, it may be difficult to really determine what's bothering you. Lashing out at your kids may be a reaction not to what your kids did but to an extra assignment piled on at work. The first step to managing your stress is pinpointing the culprit.

Focus on the moment. Though it can be hard, you'll have better stress management by being "mindful"-that is, really paying attention to the present and trying to get out of the gears of the past and the future (both of which are major sources of stress). That means especially noticing the things that you ignore, like your breath, body sensations, and emotions. One way to practice living in the moment: the body scan. More...Shine from Yahoo

7 Bad Habits that Steal Your Sleep

Working on your laptop in bed is a recipe for a bad night's sleep.

One bad night's sleep is nothing to worry about -- half of all adults suffer occasional bouts of sleeplessness. But chronic insomnia can do more than more than just make you tired during the day. Several recent studies have linked poor slumber with weight gain, high blood pressure, and a higher risk of a heart attack.


Stress, illness, menopause, and even some medications can trigger insomnia. These 7 everyday habits can steal your slumber, too. The good news: A small change in routine may be all you need to sleep better.
Take this test to find out what's getting in the way of your sleep.


You have caffeine after lunch. Caffeine lingers in your system for up to 12 hours, so that after-lunch coffee can leave you wide-eyed at bedtime. More....Shine from Yahoo

CrossFit 101: Get Started, Get Strong

crossfit: good form, good strength

Don't look for luxury. This is not your typical gym with ellipticals, TV screens and lots of fluffy towels. The ethos of CrossFit gyms (or boxes, as they're called for extra badass mojo) is simplicity. The standard equipment includes gymnastics rings, plyometrics boxes, a medicine ball, dumbbells, kettlebells, climbing ropes, elastic bands and a rowing machine (the "ERG"). That's about it. And yes, you will be lifting large barbells over your head, just like Rocky. More.....Shine from Yahoo

New Report Slams Kids’ Cereals

Is your kid eating dessert for breakfast? According to a new report on sugar in children's cereals published by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), more than half of the 84 brands tested contained at least 12 grams of sugar, or the equivalent of three teaspoons, per serving. That's more sugar than three Chips Ahoy! cookies. Moreover, only one out of four cereals tested met the federal government's proposed guidelines for food nutritious enough to be marketed to children. These guidelines were established to combat the childhood obesity epidemic.


Related link: The White House and the Winter Garden: Eating Local All Year Long. More....Shine from Yahoo

15 Ways to Find 15 Minutes for Exercise--Every Day

Is there time in your daily schedule to workout?

The secret to finding time for a workout is really about one simple strategy: ditching the stuff that's wasting your valuable time. Here are 15 easy ways to shave 15 extra minutes out of your day--and put them toward your fitness goals.

1. LOG OFF FACEBOOK People average seven hours a month on the social site. Do the math and it works out to 105 minutes each week, or 15 minutes every single day. You don't have to banish FB, but limit it to two short sessions a day.

2. SAY NO! When someone (not your boss) asks you to do something you don't have time for, say, "I'm sorry, I can't"--and feel the freedom wash over you.

3. PLAN YOUR DAY Schedule your biggest task of the day for when you're most focused and productive. You'll get it done more quickly than if you try to tackle it during a natural low point. More...Shine from Yahoo

‘GMA’ Diet Behavior Lab: Is Plate Color Key to Weight Loss?

If you’re looking to shed some weight, forget fad diets. The solution may be as simple as changing what plates you’re using.

New research, published in the Journal of Consumer Research this week, suggested that the color of your plate matters when it comes to how much you eat at a meal. Studies found that it’s the contrast between the colors of foods to the plate that really makes a difference.

We wanted to put this theory to test so “ Good Morning America” and ABC News’ Chief Health and Medical Editor Dr. Richard Besser went to the Italian restaurant Maruzzella in New York City and set up our own little experiment.

Ten unsuspecting diners were invited in for a free lunch of pasta with marinara sauce.  Half were given white plates and half red plates to see if people put more pasta with red sauce on the red plates or more on the white plates.  More....abc news