Healthy Living Newsletter
Game...On!
The most common New Year’s Resolutions: Lose Weight
& Exercise More! Let Mercy help you stay in the game.
At the start of each new year hundreds of area residents
vow to lose weight and exercise more, and for good reason.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 61 percent
of Michigan adults are overweight or obese.
In St. Clair County alone, 36 percent of adults are overweight,
23 percent are termed obese and 3 percent are extremely
obese.
“Only 36 percent of St. Clair County adults are of
healthy weight,” comments Sue Colarossi, Registered
Dietitian and Manager of Mercy’s Nutrition and Food
Services. “We’ve got an unhealthy population
not just locally, but across the nation.”
Mercy is vowing to do something about it by helping local
residents create a healthful lifestyle. “Weight management
is not a stop gap issue,” explains Colarossi. “People
need to redefine the way they look at food, exercise and
make healthy lifestyle choices.”
To help area residents develop healthful lifestyles, Mercy
Hospital is offering educational programs aimed at developing
life-long weight management skills. All programs will be
lead by nutrition, diabetes and health experts.
The programs will be held in the Mercy Hospital Auditorium.
Times will vary. The cost for each session is $10.
“Nutrition and exercise have been found to be the
two key wellness issues in the prevention of chronic, life-threatening
disease,” continues Colarossi. “They are also
two issues that individuals can take personal responsibility
for and have control over. That’s why education is
so important. People already know they need to get healthy,
they just don’t know the steps to take in order to
achieve that goal. We’re here to help.
“It’s also important for people facing weight
loss issues to understand that a healthful lifestyle doesn’t
just include diet and exercise,” concludes Colarossi,
“but the entire body, mind and spirit. Our educators
will address these issues in a very positive way.”
No-Fad Diet: A Smart Approach
If you’re interested in a “no-fad diet,”
just go online and type in your search terms. You’ll
find any number of miracle formulas — all 100 percent
natural, 100 percent safe and guaranteed to melt body fat
and trim inches — even while you sleep! And all claiming
to be “no-fad diets”.
“Another option is to speak with an expert on nutrition
and health and you’ll find a professional who will
tell you that permanent, gradual weight loss through a healthy
diet and lifestyle is what your body craves,” explains
Megan Dziedzic, a Mercy Hospital Registered Dietitian.
“Unfortunately, that runs counter to the numerous
weight loss gimmicks now on the market.”
You have to be savvy about the language used when researching
diet options. Dziedzic suggests that you’ll know a
fad diet if it recommends:
- A magic formula or miracle foods that burn fat or “boost
your metabolism”. There are, unfortunately, no such
miracle foods or formulas. Weight gain occurs when you
take in more calories than you use. Losing weight simply
means reversing that process.
- Huge quantities of only one food or one type of food.
Diets recommending large quantities of cabbage soup or
grapefruit juice simply don’t do the trick. A balanced
diet is based on a variety of foods eaten in moderation.
- Rigid menus and rules about certain foods that must
be eaten at certain times of the day and in certain combinations.
There is no scientific evidence that these formulas work.
- Rapid weight loss. For most individuals, weight loss
of more than two pounds a week is unrealistic and unhealthy.
- No increased physical activity. While it sounds tempting
to lose weight while you’re sleeping or lounging
on your sofa, it just doesn’t work that way.
- No warning for individuals with chronic disease. Some
extreme diet measures may actually be dangerous for individuals
with diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney or liver disease.
“Fad diets that are promoted so heavily on television
and in book stores are bound to gain converts quickly
because they offer rapid results with minimal effort,”
concludes Dziedzic. “Gimmicks and get-thin-quick
schemes simply don’t work. That’s why, over
the long haul, fad diets are not the answer.”
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