August 14, 2007

Pregnancy is a wonderful thing but too many woman take advantage of this situation to excuse excessive eating. A normal pregnancy should lead to about 30 to 35 pounds of additional weight gained and subsequently lost a year or so after childbirth. The problem is many woman are already obese before becoming pregnant, as a result, that additional weight is not necessary and possibly harmful to the baby… these habits sadly persist during the breastfeeding phase as well, compounding the potential problems for both mother and child.

Study Results

The British Journal of Nutrition published on Wednesday a study involving rats with one group of test subjects was given junk food while the other healthy food. Rats that where fed a healthy diet had healthy offspring but those in the other study group gave birth to rats that overate, leading towards obesity.

Ramifications

Although this study was done on rats, which may not necessarily translate into humans, there are some things to learn here. The first is that if you are pregnant or about to become pregnant, you should have a healthy diet nailed down pat so that if you have sugar cravings, you can control them with healthy foods. Sure, homemade carrot muffins aren’t as tasty as a Oh Henry chocolate bar but it’s just as filling and will provide the necessary nutrition for your growing child. Secondly, your child should have priority over your own desires, this includes drinking no alcohol what-so-ever and of course, not smoking… your child deserves this at the very least. Thirdly, the healthy habits developed before and during pregnancy should stick with you during breastfeeding and later in life as well. If you need to, use pregnancy as an excuse to get yourself into shape, join a gym, go for long walks and tell yourself there is no going back if you lived an unhealthy life previously.

The Bottom Line

Excuses can be used in a positive way, use pregnancy as an excuse to become the person you may not have been before.

Buzzvia
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/08/14/pregnancy-junkfood.html?ref=rss

Apparently MIT Media laps are hard at work creating a robot that will help you loose pounds and presumably keep the weight from coming back.

What ever happened to common sense?

I can see this being fantastic to remind people to take their medication or to help them live a full life but do we really need to waste resources creating a robot that takes the place of common sense? If you are obese or out of shape, this is a choice more often by not, the symptom of a problem far deeper then a simple robot slapping your hand as you eat out of proportion with your goals. Let’s face it, if you are too lazy to educate YOURSELF to YOUR benefit about nutrition, spending a few thousand dollars on a robot will simply give you yet another excuse as to why you aren’t achieving your weight goals. Technology, even the one behind myfoodcount.com is there to help you, the will power to succeed must come from your end.

Real Solutions to Weight Loss

What we need to do is mandate nutritional and exercise classes in all levels of schooling, from elementary to university. I am not talking about “this class is sponsored by Post Cereals” kinda thing neither! I mean teach people what a fat is, what a carbohydrate is, what sodium does to your body, the effects of a couch potato lifestyle etc… health is a wonderful and exciting field, marketing has made it into a dull one because there is more profit in selling gadgets then education. Remember the old saying “give a man a fish, he will eat for a day, show a man how to fish and he will eat forever”? Well, this is the same approach we should integrate for nutrition.

The Bottom Line

You only have one body, one mind and one life… give them the honor they deserve!

Buzzvia
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9759643-1.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=Crave

You can watch the video of these robots in action here
http://www.media.mit.edu/?p=114

For quite some time, mothers have been told that supplements are just as good if not better then breast-milk but study upon study point out that nothing even comes close to fresh milk produced by the mother for her growing child.

Why do we breastfeed?

Whether you are an evolutionist or believer, you cannot deny that we are a mammal. One of the key tenets of being a mammal is that you actually give birth to live children who then breastfeed for an extended period of time. Unlike birds who essentially eat pre-digested food brought by both parents or reptiles that are born with all the skills needed to catch their first meals, us mammals are born completely defenseless. We generally reproduce slowly over an extended period of time, unlike insects that give birth to thousands of youngsters in one shot. This is where breastfeeding come into place. It’s very taxing on a woman to continue fetal development within the womb and the birth canal is a very narrow road indeed so to have optimal children, mammals continue the process of fetal development outside the womb. Although we aren’t as extreme as Kangaroos, we are about middle of the road compared to say a whale or elephant.

What is breast milk?

Breast milk can be thought of as the original supplement produced by nature, it has all the vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fats, proteins and even hormones that a baby needs for optimal health throughout a lifetime. There have been a number of studies published which indicate that the benefits of breast milk over formula continue to pay dividends even when the child progresses to solid food. Unlike formula, it does not rot teeth, it does not produce nauseous surprises in diapers and even helps the child fight immune system invaders when they have none developed yet!

Vital Stats

According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), out of the 74% of mothers that try breast feeding, only 30% are still doing it three months later and six months later, the number drops to 11%. This is scary to say the least, I could argue that this is one of the many risk factors leading to future health problems. The more “primitive” the society, the more they tend to breastfeed both in duration and proportion, there is also information indicating these societies have less relative health problems as well (hmmm…).

Breast Feeding Statistics

Being a man, I feel lucky I don’t have the body changes that happen with producing and feeding a child but thanks to CNN, they have given a list of top 5 problems and fixes with feeding the little critters.

Mistake #1: Solitary Confinement

Breastfeeding has become a solitary activity in our modern culture, mothers with problems are left to their own devices to figure out answers. This is ashame as most mothers, well, breastfed and haven gone through a few children, are vast untapped resources as to improving the experience and avoiding problems. Start a support group if none is around, visit the local hospital or ask your doctor if there is one around to attend.

Mistake #2: Not Learning from Success

If you have a friend or family member that recently had children, ask them to help you if with your problems. Your own mother and your extended family may also be great resources, tap them!

Mistake #3: Got MORE Milk?

Babies sometimes enjoy the process of nursing a little too much, they just won’t stop, don’t worry, when the baby is full, he or she will stop and give you a break. Don’t assume you aren’t producing enough milk, hence the reason for excessive nursing but if you have concerns, use a breast pump to measure production or see a doctor to make sure everything is alright.

Mistake #4: Breastfeeding with Strangers

Don’t worry, breasts are breasts… you had your legs open during birth in front of complete strangers so showing your breasts can’t be any worse. Your baby will thank you and there is no reason to be shy.

Mistake #5: Rivers aren’t build in a Day!

When you begin breastfeeding your child, you don’t produce copious amounts of milk equivalent to the neighborhood cow! At first, the production amount is highly concentrated and more colostrum then milk, measured in teaspoons, not the gallon. Keep at it and the river will soon build itself up as your baby develops.

The Bottom Line

Motherhood and breastfeeding should go hand in hand. It’s what is best for you, your baby and ultimately the survival of the human species. We have been breastfeeding our offspring for well over a million years, don’t be so quick to jump to formula if you experience a few issues.

Buzzvia
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/08/09/ep.breastfeeding/index.html