Here’s a cool idea that I am fully supporting; senior citizens now have a program in certain areas that helps them to learn about nutrition, proper diet habits, the importance of exercise, and how to lower certain risk factors to diseases and conditions.

In addition to being an educational program, it’s also very functional as it routinely checks each persons vital signs, from blood pressure, to body weight, to body mass index, to their cardiovascular condition, to insure that each person is progressing at a good rate.

Anyhow, I just thought I’d share this cool idea; the more we educate people in this country to obesity, and how to avoid it, the better off we’ll be. Senior citizens are a large percent of our population and we need to stop the slide into obesity.

Lets face facts here, heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women. Not good. Does that mean it has to be your cause of death? No. Does that mean you can just sit around and hope it isn’t? No. So, instead of that, lets follow this simple little 5 Point Plan you can adopt right now, to try to wipe heart disease out as a risk factor for you, or your loved ones.

Here, as always, are the abbreviated ways of doing so…as per usual, hit the full article for a more in-depth explanation behind on each:

• Don’t Smoke Or Use Any Tobacco Products
• Exercise! Exercise! Exercise!
• Eat A Heart Healthy Diet, Everyday
• Maintain a Healthy Body Weight
• Get Regular Health Screenings

There you are! 5 easy little ways that you can really help yourself out over the years. For your “Exercise! Exercise! Exercise! I am going to have to recommend Fit Express. With 30 minutes of hydraulic resistance circuit training, your body will get in amazing shape, strength AND cardiovascular wise. Can’t lose folks, Can Not Lose.

Something extremely current, and extremely interesting to finish off our 3 Round Obesity Awareness Day. This one just started popping up in the news today, and it’s fascinating. The jist is, could obesity really be “contagious”??

Right now, tests are being run on animals, as a link between and adenovirus normally found in humans, is actually causing the animals, in this case chickens, to become obese by their fat cells actually are getting fatter. Now, researchers are developing methods to see if other adenoviruses could possibly be causing some people to be lean, and some people to be obese…well at least be more predisposed to it.

They do not think it will explain the exact reason why some are obese and others not, but they believe that lean people might have more anti-bodies to the adenoviruses, so their fat cells don’t respond as much to the food that they eat. Needless to say, this is an intriguing thing, and I am excited to see the results as they come. Rest assured, as they come, you’ll know about it!

Round Two in our obesity awareness trek today…This one isn’t surprising at all, but it’s still something that should be brought to your attention. I’ve learned over the years, that sometimes health concerns don’t scare people half as much as financial ones; as such, here is a financial reason why you should avoid obesity.

According to reports, obesity weighs just as heavy on your pocket book, as it does on your health risks. Each year, BILLIONS of dollars are spent solely on obesity related problems. In the article I just read, in North Carolina alone last year, $83.1 million dollars in medical premiums were spent directly on obesity; this, is just for people using Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Moral time: If you don’t want to spend all your hard earned money on doctors visits, medications, hospital visits, and whatever else, then you need to avoid the obesity trap. 30 minutes of exercise a day, and eating a healthy diet will help this. Come to Fit Express and your 30 minutes will be something you look forward to every single day.

Let’s call today Obesity Awareness Day on the Fit Express Blog…because all three posts today are going to be aiming directly at obesity, and obesity related issues.

First and foremost, an article I just read that explains that obesity has become such a rampant problem in our country, that the U.S. Health & Human Services had to officially declare it a disease. According to the article I read, it was decided to be a disease because, “Obesity poses a major health risk because it greatly increases the risk of comorbidities such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, arthritis, and cancer.”

Not surprising. Obesity, as a disease, is spreading fast, way too fast, and is not only targeting adults. Our children in this nation are also in its cross hairs, and now, more often than not, the kids are getting caught. Folks, this is a problem, and something needs to be done. Don’t stop exercising, and do start monitoring your diets. Please.

If you asked me the best way to get the most out of being physically active and fit, you know what I’d probably say? I’d tell you to make it a part of your life, make it a way of life, a habit you can’t, and don’t want to break. By doing so, it becomes something that your body naturally wants, and looks forward to each day.

The problem with a lot of people, however, is that they just can’t GET to that point. They can’t get to the habitual stage of exercising, so they give up for awhile, and start again later. To counter that, and help you get there, the American Heart Association has a neat little article that will do its best to encourage you to get to the “way of life” stage.

The article covers everything from “How do I start?” to “How do I Keep Going?” to “What else should I know?” That way you’re covering all the bases, and making positive strides towards making working out a way of your life. You’ve already taken the first step by coming here, so keep going, and don’t look back. Try Fit Express, for the most fun, friendly exercise you can ever have; oh yeah, you’ll get in the best shape of your life too!

We’ve officially become an example in the world of exactly what to avoid. Yikes. Apparently, Prince Charles has warned all British people that if they don’t exercise enough, and start better controlling their diets, they will end up just as large as us, as they are, “not very far behind our American cousins in the ‘super-sizing epidemic’.”

This announcement comes very soon after reports surfaced that showed that British children accounted for one third of all obese children in all of Europe. The Prince is addressing the fact that obesity rates this young in life are boosting those same children’s disease risk a great deal.

So, I guess this article is good and bad; good that Prince Charles is doing something about his nation’s obesity epidemic, and bad that we’ve become the official spokespeople of what NOT to be like. Folks we have some work to do, so lets start now.

Well ladies, one of your scapegoat’s for weight gain has officially left the building. I’m sorry, actually, not really sorry, but I’m here to tell you that medical studies have officially broken the “mythical” link between birth control pills and weight gain.

Women for years have believed that being on the Pill leads to significant weight gain, and that it was just a side-effect of the medication; doctors now say that is not so. While they admit that there’s a small chance that appetite might increase slightly when first starting the Pill but it is only the appetite that increases, not the waistline.

Bottom line, it doesn’t cause weight gain, so it can no longer be used for an excuse. The appetite increasing is completely controllable, so the only person responsible for the weight gain, is you. Keep exercising, eat healthy, eat less, and you’ll keep the weight off.

A quick and easy way to further cut your stroke risk: eat more than the recommended daily requirement of fruits and vegetables. Easy wasn’t it?

For the first time, quantitative studies have shown the direct link between eating more fruits and vegetables, and the actual reduction in stroke risk. Stroke continues to be an extremely widespread method of disability and death, so if you can get the upper hand, I highly suggest you take it.

So, if you want to reduce your stroke risk by about 30%, eat more than the daily recommended amount of fruits and vegetables. Easy, I know. Don’t forget to keep exercising, it boosts that 30% even higher. Try Fit Express for your hydraulic circuit training needs.

Don’t you remember when we used to look onto the French with jealousy because for some strange reason they just didn’t gain weight the same way we did? Remember when we heard it was because they ate smaller portions, or because tobacco use caused their appetites to be smaller? Well, those days are over. According to new studies, the French have almost completely caught up with the U.S. as far as obesity rates go, and it’s growing fast…6% a year fast.

Currently 51% of their adult population is obese, and folks, that’s a lot. So in case you’re wondering, the reason why I’m bringing up France is because when obesity starts becoming a problem with nations that were usually impervious, or at least extremely resistant to it, it is startling proof just how big of a deal it really is.

France, U.S. we all need to do something about it, that’s not a new song I’m singing. We need to make changes to our diets, and to our exercise routines to ensure that this problem is at least slowed to a manageable number.