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Posted: February 14, 2012 at 10:35 pm
Article updated: 2/14/2012 5:20 AM
Jen Bucko Lamplough of Batavia demonstrates healthful cooking earlier this month at the Northern Illinois Food Bank in Geneva. Lamplough will be featured on the new Food Network show “Fat Chef” on March 1, which follows overweight chefs as they work to lose weight.
Laura Stoecker | Staff Photographer
Jen Bucko Lamplough of Batavia cooks chicken for gyros while demonstrating healthful cooking Feb. 1 at the Northern Illinois Food Bank in Geneva.
Laura Stoecker | Staff Photographer
This chocolate mousse by chef Jen Bucko Lamplough of Batavia is low in fat, sugar and calories.
Laura Stoecker | Staff Photographer
Phyllis Kmetz of Downers Grove, right, smiles as she finds out she won a cookbook by chef Jen Bucko Lamplough of Batavia during a cooking demonstration by Lamplough at the Northern Illinois Food Bank. Kmetz is a volunteer at the food bank.
Laura Stoecker | Staff Photographer
Staff member Maeven Sipes hands out samples of chicken gyros and a cucumber, tomato and feta salad while Jen Bucko Lamplough of Batavia demonstrates healthful cooking earlier this month at the Northern Illinois Food Bank in Geneva.
Laura Stoecker | Staff Photographer
Five months ago, Jen Bucko Lamplough of Batavia fit the bill for the new Food Network television show “Fat Chef.” The co-author of two cookbooks on healthful eating for diabetics wasn't practicing what the books preached.
The 37-year-old was 100 pounds overweight. And not just because of what she tasted as a chef instructor at Robert Morris University in Chicago. There were also the meals at home and the passes through fast-food drive-throughs. The pounds had piled up since her freshman year in college.
She knew that if she wanted to become pregnant, have a healthy pregnancy and be physically fit to raise children, something had to change. Now.
So when a chef friend mentioned on Facebook that the Food Network was looking for subjects for its new show, Lamplough jumped at the chance.
“I was at a point in my life where I was ready to ask for some help,” she said.
And after four months of intense exercise, meal revisions and therapy, she jokes the TV show should be called “Not-So-Fat-Chef.”
The show
The show, which premiered Jan. 26, features two chefs per episode. Lamplough's episode is scheduled to be broadcast March 1.
Filming started Oct. 6. Lamplough was assigned to health consultant Robert Brace, who evaluated her fitness and what she was eating, then designed a plan. Then, Lamplough started working out, two hours a day, six days a week. She joined River West Family Fitness Center in downtown Batavia, where owner Chris Hylton became her local personal trainer, with visits from New York-based Brace. “They had fun taking turns killing me in the gym,” Lamplough said.
Particularly rough was Hylton's daily “Boot Camp” class. “I have never been in such good shape in my life. My butt shrunk so much, so I call it booty camp,” she said.
Fitting that exercise in around her full-time job meant going to the gym at 5 a.m. before work, or sometimes working out at RMU's fitness center on her lunch hour.
What to eat
Learning what to eat wasn't an issue. “I'm actually an expert at it,” Lamplough said. Her problem was eating too much. “I just love food. I am a foodie,” she said. Her parents owned a Dairy Queen. Family gatherings involve meals. “We needed to change our ways a little bit,” she said.
“We needed to change our ways a LOT.”
During her weight-loss journey, Lamplough made recipes out of her own cookbook. And she started therapy to deal with emotional issues she believes led her to overeat, including the death of her father when she was a freshman in college.
And did it all in front of TV cameras.
“It (losing weight) is such a hard, private thing, and you are putting it out for the world,” she said.
Lamplough will be live tweeting during the broadcasts at 9 p.m. Thursdays at fitfoodiechef, and she has a Facebook page, Facebook.com@fitfoodiechef. She plans to start a website soon.
Lamplough raves about the show being a positive experience. Unlike other reality TV shows, this wasn't a contest. There was no snakiness or backstabbing. And it shows people that you can focus on weight loss and good health, even while leading your everyday life. “We weren't shipped off to a ranch somewhere,” Lamplough said.
Today
So far, Lamplough has lost 52 pounds. She shared that fact with a crowd of about 40 who attended a recent presentation she made in the demonstration kitchen at Northern Illinois Food Bank in Geneva. The food bank, which supplies food to charity pantries and other nutrition programs, wants to also educate people about good nutrition.
Lamplough's stepmother-in-law, a volunteer there, immediately thought of Lamplough.
She made a tomato-cucumber-and-feta salad, low in fat and only 75 calories per cup.
Excerpt from:
Batavia chef shares weight-loss struggle on national TV
Posted: February 14, 2012 at 10:53 am
Everwood has released a provocative new weight loss book, set to turn the health and fitness world upside-down.
(PRWEB) February 14, 2012
Everwood Presents: - America remains heralded as one of the most overweight countries in the world and despite a growing awareness, it seems losing weight remains for many people as confusing and as elusive as ever. Society is bombarded constantly by a marketing onslaught of diets, fads, exercise machines, home delivered meals, supplements, pills and other weight loss schemes and services. Unfortunately, the industry is infamous for its often suspicious and questionable methods, all promising quick and easy solutions to an already despairing population. To add to the confusion, the modern era is one where information surrounding nutrition and exercise is exhaustive and often at times contradictory, so it’s no wonder that people looking to lose weight can often feel skeptical, overwhelmed and discouraged.
While health and fitness professionals will generally agree that losing weight is best achieved through dieting and exercise, an innovative new method from Australia is well on its way to revolutionize this perception. According to weight loss specialist Azrael, mainstream advice surrounding weight loss is frequently impractical, incorrect or short-sighted. “While I believe the majority of health and fitness professionals across the world do have the best of intentions, many are unfortunately providing the public and their governments with misleading or wrong information.” Azrael continues by stating that popular industry maxims such as "weight loss is all about calories in versus calories out," "dieting and exercise," "write a weight loss goal," "eat a balanced diet," and "breakfast is the most important meal of the day," are all examples of what he calls junk information.
Azrael has personally battled against obesity twice in his life. “When I first lost weight, I succeeded by following the advice of experts at the time. I was eating a very low-fat diet in combination with plenty of exercise. But years later, my priorities in life changed and before I knew it, I was more overweight than ever.” Realizing that the initial advice he had followed was ultimately unhealthy and unrealistic for the long term, Azrael lost trust with the experts and was in turn inspired to find his own solution. Azrael succeeded and developed a weight loss method without dieting or exercise, without using willpower or supplements and without undergoing hypnotherapy or surgery and has effortlessly kept the weight off now for many years. He clearly articulates that there are no secrets to losing weight and that essentially, permanent weight loss is based on common sense and living a healthy lifestyle. The difficulty he claims is that common sense and healthy lifestyle are not terms agreed to universally. “Leading a healthy lifestyle is not a new idea, however people may be surprised and shocked to learn of what actually constitutes a healthy lifestyle. Eating five to eight small meals a day for example, is not healthy living in my opinion, yet this directly opposes mainstream health and fitness advice. The public needs to remember that ‘what works’ and ‘what is healthy’ are not always one and the same.”
After first helping friends and family to lose weight, Azrael has gone on to assist countless others with his new book: Odysi Zero | Lose Weight: Say No to Dieting and Exercise. He actively warns that some people make take offence from the book’s content, yet he expresses his opinions without apology. Azrael and his supporters remain steadfast and resolute in spreading his message. “I strongly feel some things must be said and so I have said them.”
Odysi Zero | Lose Weight: Say No to Dieting and Exercise is available for $25.00 in most bookstores or online at http://www.OdysiZero.com.
Original Edition. ISBN: 9780646546872 (pbk), 100 pages, 6 x 8, eBook also available.
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Neofitos Pertsinidis
Everwood Pty Ltd
0466 806 539 +61
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New Book Reveals How to Lose Weight by Saying No to Dieting and Exercise.
Posted: February 14, 2012 at 10:53 am
Are you being served?
Weight Watchers overhauled its weight-loss plan just over a year ago and is getting mixed reviews. For a story, we'd like to talk with members about their experience, and what they think about the changes. Have they helped you lose weight? Or have you struggled under the new system?
Please email correspondent Joe Miller at joe@getgoingnc .com about your experience, and include your name and daytime phone number.
Lessons from Lolita
Reporter Rebecca Putterman of our Clayton News-Star writes: I've always been amazed that my 94-year-old Great-Aunt Lolita can walk the 10-plus blocks from her apartment on Park Avenue in New York City to MoMa, browse a couple of floors, and walk home after a light lunch without breaking out in more than a light summer glisten. This, she manages to do, mind you, after 20 minutes of yoga in her pajamas first thing in the morning. Her head curves and stretches forward to touch her knees.
I grew up hearing her operatic, German/Spanish/French/Queens/Upper East Side-accented voice trilling, "everything in moderation!," as the motto of her long, healthy (and happy) life. It drives my cousins who live near her relatively crazy, but to me, it's just a simple, easily remembered tip from a woman whose advice I can try my best not to take for granted.
Last November when she visited Raleigh, I was two months into my first job out of college. When she asked me if I was doing any yoga, I admitted I hadn't really developed a regular exercising habit since I started working, even though I had a membership to a gym.
As expected, Aunt Lolita scolded me. I smiled and nodded. I took it.
When I would visit her during summer breaks in high school, I took careful note of what she fed me. A normal dinner at her home is often pan-seared, fresh-caught Atlantic salmon alongside steamed vegetables drizzled with the slightest bit of balsamic vinaigrette - her dressing always made from fresh olive oil and a separate bottle of balsamic vinegar, with a pinch of salt and pepper.
But that would be boring to have every night. That's why the last time I saw Aunt Lolita, we dined out. While I salivated over all the cheesy dishes, settling on mushroom sauce gnocchi, she ordered a steak. With frites.
But she didn't eat all of it. She even asked that the bits of cheese described in the menu as delectably melted upon the salty, perfectly fried potatoes be left off. It wasn't necessary, she said. And portions today, she emphasizes every time we go out to eat, are too big. And she's right.
Which brings us to the present moment. At 5 feet 5 inches, I'm trying to maintain 130 pounds amid discovering craft brews on my 21st birthday, a year and a half ago, and my current love affair with Chenin Blancs, Malbecs and brie cheeses encrusted in ... hush, Putterman. I started college at about 115 pounds, and went up to 139 when I was eating badly, drinking a wee bit too much, and not exercising. Don't judge; it's called senior year of college.
Anyway, my partner, who discovered beer one year earlier than I and, well, gained a few pounds, is looking to go from 205 pounds to 185 pounds. The plan is to work together to lose weight and stay healthy, but also to enjoy life. So far, so good. He's at around 200 and I'm hovering at 130.
Neither of us is willing to give up craft brews and Southern cuisine to lose weight. We're both working on being Flexitarians - eating less meat than self-described carnivores, more poultry than red meat, and more locally raised, organically raised meat than otherwise.
We're also looking to exercise in ways we actually enjoy, and to find incentives to want to grab an orange or a handful of spinach in season rather than melt some four-cheese Mexican blend on a flour tortilla and sit back down in front of the computer.
All in all, we've chosen a diet plan - or should I say lifestyle - that I like to attribute to that of my Aunt Lolita: "Everything in moderation!"
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Tell us about Weight Watchers
Posted: February 14, 2012 at 10:53 am
Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the study is the first to report long-term results from a weight management program designed specifically for teenage girls. Most other programs have included younger children and interventions focused on the entire family. This program included separate meetings for parents with the rationale that teens are motivated more by peer acceptance than parental influence. Unlike previous programs, this one was conducted in a primary-care setting, rather than an academic or specialty-care environment.
"Nearly one-third of teenage girls are overweight or obese, and many of them are likely to become obese adults," said Lynn DeBar, PhD, MPH, lead author and senior investigator with the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research. "Our study shows that intervention programs can help these girls achieve long-term success managing their weight and also learning new habits that will hopefully carry over into their adult life."
"Many teenage girls are still growing taller, so for them, maintaining weight or slowing weight gain is an acceptable goal," said Phil Wu, MD, a pediatrician who leads Kaiser Permanente's effort to prevent and treat childhood obesity and is also a co-author of the study. "Girls in the program gained less weight than those who weren't in the program, and they reduced their overall body mass index, improved their self-image and developed healthy lifestyle habits, so all of these are successes."
The study included 208 girls, ages 12-17, in Oregon and Washington during 2005-2009. All of the girls were classified as overweight or obese, according to standards set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention standards. Half of the girls were assigned to the intervention group and half to usual care.
Girls in the intervention group met weekly with their peers and a behavioral counselor during the first three months, and then every other week during months four and six. The girls were weighed and asked to keep a food and activity diary, which they discussed during each meeting. The program focused on decreasing portion size, limiting consumption of energy-rich foods, establishing regular meal patterns, substituting water for sugar-sweetened beverages, reducing fast food, increasing fruit and vegetable consumption, and having more family meals.
The girls were encouraged to exercise at least 5 days a week for 30-60 minutes, and to limit screen time to 2 hours a day. They also received yoga instruction, and a physical-activity video game to use at home. Discussion topics included ways to avoid disordered eating, coping with family and peer teasing and developing strategies to combat negative self-talk.
Parents attended separate weekly meetings to learn how to support their daughters. The girls' health care providers received summaries of the girls' current health habits, including meal and physical activity patterns. After receiving training in motivational techniques, the providers met with the girls at the beginning of the study to help them choose one or two behaviors to work on. The providers had a second visit with the girls at the end of the six-month intervention to check their progress.
Girls assigned to the usual-care group received a packet of materials that included a list of online reading about lifestyle changes. They also met with their primary care provider at the beginning of the study, but the providers were not given health habit summaries for these girls.
Both groups had health assessments and lab tests at the beginning of the study, at six months, and then again at 12 months. The girls started out with an average weight in the 190 lb. range, and an average body mass index in the 97th percentile, which by CDC standards is considered to be obese. At the end of the study, girls who participated in the program were in the 95th percentile, while girls in the usual-care group were in the 96th percentile.
Authors say the weight changes were statistically significant but modest compared to some other weight loss interventions. They point out that the girls were severely obese to begin with and possibly treatment-resistant due to previous involvement in other weight loss programs. The program purposely de-emphasized calorie counting, focusing instead on lifestyle changes, and the authors acknowledge that this approach may have produced more modest weight changes than they had expected.
This study is part of ongoing Kaiser Permanente research into weight loss. Previous studies include:
-- A Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research study published in the International Journal of Obesity last year found that people trying to lose at least 10 pounds were more likely to reach that goal if they had lower stress levels and slept more than six hours, but not more than eight hours, a night.
-- Another Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research study published in 2010 found that the more people logged on to an interactive weight management website, the more weight they kept off.
-- Researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research also reported in a 2008 study that keeping a food diary can double a person's weight loss and that both personal contact and Web-based support can help with long-term weight management.
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Primary care program helps obese teen girls manage weight, improve body image and behavior
Posted: February 14, 2012 at 4:38 am
Healthhound.org has a new page dedicated to diets for quick weight loss. The news of the new page has been welcomed by commentators on related sites.
Houston, TX (PRWEB) February 13, 2012
Healthhound.org has just set up a new page on their site that will be dedicated to diets for quick weight loss. The new page will contain all the diets that the team at health hound consider to be good for quick weight loss.
Sandra Valintine, one of the Managers on the health hound team said that “one of the most common questions that we get on the site is about quick weight loss and many people are looking for diets for quick weight loss in our comments section on the site. We decided to look through all the diets that we have reviewed in the last year and look for the ones that offered rapid weight loss for people. So far we have gathered together about 10 or so, but we will continue to expand the page as we look for other diets for quick weight loss. We believe that this new page is going to be one of the most popular on our site when it is completed."
There are a number of sites online that specialize in diets for quick weight loss, and many of these sites have picked up on what the team at health hound have done with this new page. Many of the commentators on these sites are posting comments about how pleased they are that someone has finally put together a page like this.
As well as coming up with a new page dedicated to diets for quick weight loss the team on the site have also come up with a free report this week on safe and effective ways to lose weight.
The report is available to download right now at http://www.healthhound.org/3227/diets-for-quick-weight-loss/.
The team at health hound hope that the report will further help people with their weight loss efforts.
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Jose C. Boyd
healthhound.org
978-874-6879
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Healthhound.org Has a New Page Dedicated to Diets for Quick Weight Loss
Posted: February 14, 2012 at 4:38 am
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Direct from Great Britain, the people of the United States have a new ally in the battle of the bulge that promises weight control success forever. Slimming World USA Online is inviting all Americans to “Log On and Love It” while they reach their health and fitness goals?Slimming World has officially chosen Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2012 to launch the breakthrough online program in the USA. Texas was chosen as the location by Slimming World to announce the online program due to the latest study by Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), where 2011 statistics reveal that the adult obesity rate in the state is 30.1 percent, an all-time high.
Spanning more than 40 years, UK-based Slimming World is the renowned phenomenon that has proven to be a successful lifestyle plan for weight control. With six million success stories under its belt, the new http://www.slimmingworldusa.com program is now available to overweight Americans who would love to drop pounds and maintain a healthy lifestyle through eating delicious, nourishing foods, without feeling hungry, calorie-counting or weighing or measuring portions.
“Slimming World members or, as we call them back home in Britain, ‘slimmers’, learn about our Food Optimising eating plan that encourages them to eat foods like fruit and vegetables, lean meat, poultry, fish, pasta, potatoes and fat free yogurt that are low in calories or energy density, and satisfy the appetite,” said Caryl Richards, Chief Executive Officer of Slimming World. “Just as importantly, we have a deep understanding of the emotional and psychological factors affecting people who are overweight and we treat our members with compassion and empathy, guiding them to reach their personal weight loss goals. Now we have designed a new, easy-to-follow and motivational online program to help millions of Americans succeed. Once a member logs on at slimmingworldusa.com help is just a click away.”
Slimming World new members reach success by filling up on Free Foods without any weighing, counting or measuring and without ordering pre-packaged foods. As well as filling up on unlimited Free Foods, slimmers enjoy measured amounts of Healthy Extras like whole-wheat cereals and bread and dairy products like milk and cheese. So that they never feel deprived, they also enjoy limited amounts of foods like alcohol, chocolate and potato chips. It’s the most flexible weight loss plan on the planet. No food is banned at Slimming World setting Food Optimising apart from any other weight loss program. Whole, fresh and natural foods prepared at home make mealtime family-friendly so everyone can participate. Individuals, couples, parents and their kids can enjoy great food together and lose weight safely and naturally, whether eating at home or even dining out.
Logging on in the comfort of their own home, the new slimmingworldusa.com website provides guidance, inspiration and individual support based on personal progress with easy-to-prepare recipes, so members lose weight week by week without giving up foods they love. Emotional support and compassionate encouragement is an important component of Slimming World’s service, and the company truly sets its program apart from the competition with an understanding and caring attitude toward all members.
“The Slimming World program makes weight loss both simple and satisfying where members achieve healthy goals at their own pace in total privacy. There’s no need to buy faddy ingredients or packaged foods. Food Optimising is based on normal everyday food that’s available at your neighborhood grocery store,” said Business Development Manager Yvonne Sanders.
The proven program reaches the whole family and the new slimmingworldusa.com launch makes it accessible to anyone in an instant. Interactive tools, hundreds of inspirational features and hundreds of delicious recipes which are constantly updated make the program appealing and easy to follow at home via computer or smart phone.
Considered to be more user-friendly and effective than Weight Watchers, Britain’s beloved Slimming World program has already been adopted throughout the DFW Metroplex, mainly in corporate environments, including Medical Center of Lewisville, the City of Lewisville, Mary Kay, Inc. and Heritage Auctions. These leading businesses encourage employees to take up Slimming World membership to help manage their weight and improve their health since desk jobs can be one of the greatest obstacles to weight loss, as sedentary lifestyles make it harder to drop unwanted pounds.
The online program provides time-saving, super-convenient participation for anyone on the go, with more than 600 recipes, motivational ideas for getting more active and positive support to help stick with the program through a nominal registration fee and monthly dues.
To coincide with the launch across North America, Slimming World has a special introductory offer for a limited time throughout February featuring a 12-week Gold Membership at only $30.00, a discount of 75 percent. With slimmingworldusa.com membership just a click away, Americans will fall in love with the UK’s top weight-loss program: an easy-to-use healthy lifestyle plan that promises results to last forever.
About Slimming World
Slimming World is Britain’s largest and most advanced slimming organization. It was founded in 1969 to offer people a very different approach to weight loss: a hunger-busting healthy eating plan based on satiety and energy density, an activity program to suit individual needs, and group support that offers compassion and understanding. Slimming World has a deep understanding of the emotional, physical and psychological challenges faced by overweight people, and this understanding underscores the company's philosophy and methods. In more than four decades, Slimming World has helped millions of people to lose weight and live healthier, happier lives.
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Posted: February 14, 2012 at 4:38 am
SALISBURY -- Obesity, also referred to as excess weight, has taken control of many Lower Shore residents.
Known to contribute to many well-known chronic health issues, such as heart attack, stroke, some cancers, orthopedic deterioration, failing energy levels and diabetes -- with many health professionals describing the rise in diabetes as an "epidemic" -- Dr. Gail Anderson has opened a medical practice focusing solely on medical weight loss.
Obesity assistance programs are "critically needed for our area," Anderson said. Her practice offers a comprehensive program to achieve successful weight loss: diet and nutrition, exercise and behavior modification.
Anderson opened a practice on the Lower Shore in 1993 as a radiation oncologist at Peninsula Regional Medical Center. But when she noticed many of her cancer patients, who had sent the disease into remission, falling to diseases brought on by obesity, she wondered how could she help curb an epidemic increasing in the area. She left the cancer practice in 2009 with a mission to focus on chronic diseases.
Anderson took two years to learn the science of medical weight loss. She joined The Obesity Society and The American Society of Bariatric Physicians to further educate herself. She also toured the country to engage in conferences and symposiums from Harvard to the Cleveland Clinic and took extensive obesity courses during a six-month period. To benefit her patients and help change their eating habits, Anderson took courses in cognitive therapy.
"It is the most helpful form of therapy," she said. "Before people have an action, they have a thought, and if their thoughts can be changed, then their feelings will change, which will change their actions."
In the tri-county area, the latest available data from the Wicomico County Health Department -- from 2009 -- indicated 70.7 percent of the population was considered to have an "unhealthy weight," 69.2 percent were considered "overweight" and 31.3 percent were categorized as obese.
Diabetes was affecting 14.3 percent of the Lower Shore population, and high blood pressure was affecting 36.36 percent, with the percentage of patients taking medication for high blood pressure at 87.1 percent. However, 47.2 percent of the population engaged in regular physical activity.
As reported by the Health Department, community members who are overweight or obese are more likely to report a number of adverse health conditions, including hypertension, high cholesterol, kidney disease, diabetes and "fair" or "poor" physical health.
Mike Hall, an instructor at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, said "the real factor to being healthy is losing body fat, not just weight."
"Many people who are overweight do have diabetes, but because they are overweight does not mean they will have diabetes; it is an increase in insulin resistant," said Malinda Cecil, a registered nutritionist at UMES.
As a result, Anderson's new medical practice focuses solely on medical weight loss by using dieting, education, counseling and intensive support.
She said there are three key advantages to her practice.
Medical supervision is offered on conventional low-calorie diets and special diets. As a specialist, Anderson monitors medications to identify those causing weight gain and examines weight in the context of any other medical issues so it can be done as safely as possible. She provides personalized diets -- all diets are evidence-based and shown through research to work -- and Anderson customizes each for the patient's circumstances. Her office also offers a comprehensive program for education, individual counseling and staff support.
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Doctor focuses on weight loss
Posted: February 14, 2012 at 4:37 am
Vijay Murali speaking today at IRWD 2012 in Orlando.
A big challenge for Nutrisystem Inc., a provider of weight-loss programs and nutritional foods, is getting prospective customers to go through the several steps required to calculate their Body Mass Index—a crucial first step in planning a diet program with a customized meal menu, vice president of e-commerce technology Vijay Murali said today at the Internet Retailer Web Design & Usability Conference in Orlando.
With a little creative use of mobile commerce technology, Nutrisystem has designed a BMI entry form designed to make the process quick and painless enough—even fun, in a responsible sort of way—to result in a noticeable increase in the number of consumers who complete the index form and, as a result, become more qualified prospects for Nutrisystem’s programs, Murali said.
Instead of asking consumers to enter their current weight into a blank window on a data-entry form, for example, the “Body Assessment Form” on a tablet computer lets consumers enter their weight by swiping the form to move a wheel that looks like a needle on a weight scale. “Our BMI completion rate is up,” he said, because Nutrisystem made the BMI form something people “want to use.”
Murali added that effective mobile design also requires retailers to sometimes break the rules of traditional design. While a data-entry form on a web site would try to get as much information as possible on a single page, a consumer on a mobile phone might find it easier to enter the data on a few pages instead of just one. At the same time, however, he noted that designers should still try to limit the number of data-entry forms on a mobile device and ensure that pages load quickly.
Murali addressed how to transfer the user experience from a traditional web site to a mobile device in a session titled “Site design for the new reality: PCs, phone, tablets.”
His co-presenter, Betsy Emery, CEO and founder of web design consultants Tellus Web, of which Nutrisystem is a client, also referred to leading designs at other online retailers, including Walgreens, Zappos, Sears and health-and-wellness products retailer Gaiam. In each case, she said, these retailers understand their customers and design mobile sites that suit how they like to shop. Walgreens and Zappos, for example, have streamlined navigation so shoppers can quickly find products; at Sears, effective mobile features include the ability to choose “As Seen on TV” products for the consumer looking for something she just saw advertised on a television commercial. And at Gaiam, mobile shoppers can click a relaxation audio file that complements their interests in health and wellness products.
Retailers, she said, need to “look at mobile first” because it’s becoming a primary shopping experience for consumers.
Nutrisystem is No. 63 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide; Sears is No. 7, Walgreens, No. 73, and Gaiam, No. 285. Zappos is unit of Amazon.com Inc., No. 1.
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IRWD2012: Nutrisystem gets its mobile channel in shape
Posted: February 14, 2012 at 4:37 am
Eastern North Carolina boasts a rich culture, with its fascinating history, friendly people and its tasty, but unhealthy, food.
A steady diet of fried foods, fatty meats, salty side dishes and sugary sweets along with a sedentary lifestyle combine to make a deadly combination.
“In this area, we do have high rates of obesity and (being) overweight, and one of the biggest problems that we see is diabetes,” said Angie Doncaster, dietitian for Lenoir Memorial Hospital. “Type 2 diabetes can be directly related to carrying extra weight, especially around the abdomen area. The biggest (problems are) diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and risk of heart attack.”
At the same time, Americans are inundated everyday with advertisements for quick fixes, weight loss surgeries and magic pills that promise fast results.
But hundreds of people in Lenoir County are sticking to their plan of losing weight the old-fashioned way — diet and exercise — as part of Lighten Up Lenoir, a free community weight loss challenge hosted by Lenoir Memorial Hospital.
“It comes down to calories in and calories out,” Doncaster said. “If you take in more calories than you burn, you gain weight. If you take in less calories, you’ll lose weight.”
The program is facilitated entirely on its website, lightenuplenoir.org, with the current session running from June 23 to May 11. It tracks people’s weight loss, and sometimes gains and provides important tools for becoming healthier, such as exercise videos and healthy recipes.
Let’s meet some of the people who are taking part in the 16-week challenge
The Martins
Trey Martin stands 6-foot-3-inches, every bit as tall as his father, a former basketball standout at Grainger High School. Martin was also athletic, taking after his father and playing basketball while attending Barton College in the late 1980s and early 90s. Martin had no idea that one morning his life would come to a screeching halt.
He woke up one day and noticed something was wrong — very wrong. He had no feeling in his right hand, and the numbness rapidly spread to his other hand and legs.
He was diagnosed with polyneuropathy, a neurological disorder that affects the nervous system, damaging his balance and mobility.
“I haven’t felt my feet in four years,” Martin said. “(Polyneuropathy) causes numbness, instability with balance and things like that. I’m limited in the things that I can do.”
On top of that, Martin also temporarily took steroids to treat his condition, which wrought havoc on his body. The treatment, along with an unhealthy diet of burgers and pizza, caused him to pack on about 80 pounds.
Martin decided last summer he would start doing what he could to lose weight. With a healthier diet and a steady workout regimen, he has lost 70 pounds so far, 10 pounds of which came off since the start of Lighten Up Lenoir almost three weeks ago.
Though he still must walk with a cane to keep his balance, he has regained feeling in his hands and some in his legs, something his mother, Phyllis, attributes to his healthier lifestyle.
“He’s come a long way since he was taken sick, because he had no feeling anywhere, his legs, arms or feet,” she said. “I attribute it all to the exercise and the diet because … he could hardly get out of the chair because he was so big and he had put on so much weight. Now he’s within 11 pounds of his original weight by dieting, eating right and exercising.”
Trey Martin is his mother’s inspiration for joining Lighten Up Lenoir, something she wanted to do to fight off health problems of her own, including having had five heart attacks and two bypass surgeries.
“I’ve been in cardiac rehab for 14 years,” Phyllis Martin said. “Every time you have a heart attack, you have to start the program all over … Had it not been for that, I probably would have not been here.”
Phyllis, 65, believes her heart problems are partially genetic — her father died at age 42 of a heart attack and three of her brothers had heart attacks — but she also admitted a diet rich in red meat and fried foods also played a role. But with Lighten Up Lenoir, and motivation from her son, she’s hoping to reverse it.
“(Trey) has been my inspiration, because I figured with his disability, if he can lose that much weight and have the disability that he has, anybody can do it,” she said. “I’ve been carrying around 50-60 pounds extra since he was born, and that was 42 years ago. I decided it was time for me to get some weight off. I just wished I had started when he started.”
Phyllis Martin now uses healthy cooking tips and recipes from the program’s website, exercises five days a week and uses the Weight Watchers point system to keep track of what she eats.
Phyllis Martin said she has lost about 10 pounds and giving up soft drinks has been one reason.
“I never drank water before,” she said. “I just hardly didn’t ever drink any, so now I’m drinking it all the time.”
Phyllis Martin’s husband, Titus, said he has seen his wife gain and lose a total of about 500 pounds since they got married 45 years ago.
“I’ve seen times in her life when she was too thin, believe it or not,” he said. “I know it’s tough, living in Eastern North Carolina and eating the way we do. … Growing up with us, we were always meat and potato people.”
Family man
Keith Hayes, a 37-year-old producer for Jake A. Parrott Insurance, was flipping through an edition of The Free Press a few weeks ago when he stumbled on an article about Lighten Up Lenoir. Though he had tried fad diets and working out before, he knew he was finally ready for something that would not only help him drop pounds, but keep them off.
“I was planning on starting a diet the same day Lighten Up Lenoir happened to start,” he said. “My mother in law called and I was at the house, and my wife talked to her. She said, ‘Do you want to do this?’ ”
Hayes’ answer was yes, but for him it was more than about just losing some excess weight. The self-described “Mountain Dew-aholic” was driven also because of his family’s history of heart disease. Hayes’ father had a history of heart attacks and passed away when Keith was only 17 years old. He wanted to avoid a similar fate, and wants to stick around for his 6-year-old twins.
Hayes has lost a staggering 22 pounds since starting Lighten Up Lenoir began three weeks ago, thanks to a strict diet and moderate exercise.
He started the Dukan Diet, which he said is designed to keep pounds off by heavy dieting at first and then incorporating lifestyle changes.
Along with dieting, Hayes found a workout that suited him.
“I’ll take 20-30 minutes out of my day and go walk at the track every day at the hospital,” Hayes said. “Unusually within that 30 minute time frame, I can fit in 2 miles. … It was probably two to three years ago, I’d go work out, kill myself for an hour or hour and a half and be zapped for the rest of the day. I’d do it again the next day, and eventually it just got to the point where I didn’t want to do it anymore.”’
Although he’s already lost a significant amount of weight, Hayes said he hopes to drop another 50 pounds and to stay on track.
“Playing with your kids, jogging … when you get overweight, it just becomes more difficult,” he said. “I’m looking forward to dropping it back off again and see if I can get back to my early 20s weight.”
Busy woman
As a branch manager for ResCare of Kinston, Veronica Lee is always on the go. Her exercise regimen used to be close to nothing, and she often ate fast food and processed snacks when out and about.
“Traveling from place to place, you find yourself doing a lot of fast food or snacking,” Lee said. “That was my biggest problem — I’m a snacker.”
Because her company promotes healthy living, and with encouragement from her doctor, she joined Lighten Up Lenoir to make her physical health a priority.
“I do have some medical conditions, hypertension and things of that nature,” she said. “I expressed to (my doctor) I have really got to do something … and he encouraged it.”
Lee, 41, said ResCare has three teams of four. Though there is a little bit of friendly competition, the most important thing for everyone involved is to keep each other on track.
“With the teams, we’re contributing funds and buying healthy snacks so we have nothing in the office to tempt us to do wrong,” Lee said. “We motivate and encourage one another. … We like to do things together as a team, because it kind of promotes morality in the organization.”
Lee said for some of the participants, staying on track may be a matter of life and death.
“We had one individual who, before the holidays, had a heart attack,” she said. “It so happened that the doctor had asked her to develop some of the things that we’re already doing (with Lighten Up Lenoir). She has done that, and she has done extremely well. She is back at work.”
Outside of the office, she now works out regularly and even has a new-found love of yoga.
She exercises at the Minges Wellness Center and finds inspiration in senior citizens who are still active.
“You see a lot of elderly people there,” she said. “People with physical disabilities, you see them making that effort to do it and that really is what motivates me. I’m thinking, ‘Yeah, I can do this.’ ”
Lee has lost 9 pounds so far, and she is also noticing she is livelier.
“I have more energy, and that’s my ultimate goal, as well as losing weight,” she said. “I don’t want to lose too much too fast, but I just want to keep it ongoing and just develop that as a continuous life style.”
Lee said she has cut fast food out of her life and now eats balanced meals consisting of fresh produce, fish and poultry.
“I’ve acquired the taste (for healthier food), and I’m okay with it, because there are so many different types of things you can use for seasoning that are healthy,” she said. “Where we are, (fattening food) is what most of us are accustomed to, but I’m leaving that lifestyle and developing better habits.”
Follow the leader
Marieta Miller, a case manager at ResCare, participates on the same Lighten Up Lenoir team as Lee.
Though she doubted that Lee would pull through, Miller was pleasantly surprised when she was proven wrong.
“(Lee used to be) the type of individual, she doesn’t believe in exercise and she would never go on a diet,” Miller said. “The only thing she wanted to do was eat and sleep. But she got motivated. … I was expecting it to last maybe two to three days, and I noticed she kept going. She really inspired me.”
Miller, 49, started making healthier changes two weeks before Lighten Up Lenoir started to get adjusted to the new lifestyle, and it has paid off as she’s lost 7 pounds so far.
Instead of being tempted by fried food, she eats baked chicken, whole grains, eggs and healthier alternatives.
Miller also goes to the gym three to four times a week, walks at home and looks forward to doing Zumba and other dance workouts with her coworkers.
Miller said she has also enjoyed the extra boost her healthier diet and exercise have given her.
“I have more energy,” Miller said. “I’m not as sleepy as I used to be because I used to sit down in my chair (and get drowsy) and when I get home, I would just fall out. But I’m finding that I’m not doing that any more.”
Miller said she is taking small steps and hopes to lose 15-20 pounds a month.
Miller said she doesn’t dread weighing herself, because the only thing that will show is the discipline and hard work she is continuing.
“I enjoy that weigh-in every Monday, because it’s exciting,” she said. “It’s kind of tempting during the week to go get on the scale, but I’ve got to wait till Monday. … I intend to keep Lenoir County light.”
Jane Moon can be reached at 252-559-1082 or jmoon@freedomenc.com.
Breakout 1: The Challengers
Keith Hayes
Age: 37
Height: 6-foot
Goal weight: 207 pounds
Weight lost since Jan. 23: 22 pounds
Reason for joining Lighten Up Lenoir: “I wanted to lose weight to be healthier, and my father had a heart problem history.”
Veronica Lee
Age: 41
Height: 5-foot, 3-inches
Goal weight: 160 pounds
Weight lost since Jan. 23: 9 pounds
Reason for joining Lighten Up Lenoir: “I do have some medical conditions, hypertension, things of that nature. I had joined the (Minges) wellness center, so I had heard more about it, which motivated me even more.”
Phyllis Martin
Age: 65
Height: 5-foot, 6-inches
Goal weight: 150 pounds
Weight lost since Jan. 23: 10 pounds
Reason for joining Lighten Up Lenoir: “(My son Trey) has been my inspiration, because I figured with his disability, if he can lose that much weight and have the disability that he has, anybody can do it.”
Trey Martin
Age: 42
Height: 6-foot, 3 inches
Goal weight: 210 pounds
Weight lost since Jan. 23: 10 pounds
Reason for joining Lighten Up Lenoir: “I was worried about me. With putting on so much weight, I knew it was a strain on my heart.”
Marieta Miller
Age: 49
Height: 5-foot, 3-inches
Goal weight: 185 pounds
Weight lost since Jan. 23: 7 pounds
Reason for joining Lighten Up Lenoir: “It is fun, because I have a group of people to do it with. … I have competition because everybody is racing to lose pounds, so it’s exciting.”
Breakout 2:
Top three tips for losing weight
Eat breakfast. When we’re trying to lose weight, eating breakfast is so important because it kick-starts your metabolism. If you skip breakfast, it keeps your metabolism lower, and your body is not functioning at its best Eat more fruits and vegetables. They are naturally low in fat and high in fiber. For example, a cup of carrots is 50-60 calories, the same as about seven potato chips Don’t try to change things too drastically. Look at making small changes you can sustain for the rest of your life
Source: Lenoir Memorial Hospital Dietitian Angie Doncaster
See the article here:
Kinston residents share stories of weight loss with Lighten Up Lenoir
Posted: February 14, 2012 at 4:37 am
Healthhound.org has just released an easy weight loss guide for their readers. The guide is now freely available on the site.
Houston, TX (PRWEB) February 12, 2012
Healthhound.org has just released an easy weight loss guide for their readers. The guide is now freely available on the site.
Joan Richards, one of the Directors on the site said that “this guide contains everything that we have learned about easy ways to lose weight in the last few years. We have come across many different weight loss methods over the years but we are aware that many of them are very hard to maintain with it comes down to it. We know that our readers are always looking for easy ways to lose weight from the comments that we get on the site so we decided to go on a mission to look for the easiest weight loss methods that we could find. We have put all the research findings that we have come across in this new easy weight loss guide. We hope that our readers will get great results from it”.
According to the management team at Healthhound.org, the page that the new easy weight loss guide is on has been receiving a ton of traffic recently that has come from a variety of sites online that are linked into the health hound news feed. Many of these sites are also attracting very positive comments about the new guide with many commentators praising the efforts that the health hound team have made.
The team at health hound have been busy this week as in addition to the new easy weight loss guide, they have also come up with a new report on fast and effective ways to lose weight.
This report is said to be a perfect compliment to the easy weight loss guide by the management team on the site and the team at health hound hope that this new report will really skyrocket the results that their readers get.
The new report can be downloaded right now at http://www.healthhound.org/3217/easy-weight-loss/.
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Jose C. Boyd
healthhound.org
978-874-6879
Email Information
See the original post:
Healthhound.org Releases an Easy Weight Loss Guide
