Random Blog Name Generator by Jennette Fulda

Jennette, formerly known as the Pasta Queen, has a new blog. In real life she's a computer geek, and her old blog for her weight loss (and the basis for her book, Half-Assed) had cool graphics on it. On this new blog I see she added a random weight loss blog name generator.

Here are a few I was given:

Empress LaPotato Chip

Diva of the Muffin Top

Quest of a Roly Poly Princess

Lardy O'Cracker Jeans

Okay, I liked that last one, but for now I'll stick to Suzy's Search for Sanity.

Got Fat Feet?

Then you'll love these 2 videos by Kim Brittingham, author of Read My Hips: How I Learned to Love My Body, Ditch Dieting, and Live Large. You need to watch both videos to get all the info this Jersey Girl has to offer.

and

Turning Back the Clock for Sanity's Sake

I quit!

No more diets. No more daily weigh-ins. No more agonizing over eating one cookie or a slice of pizza.

I'm going to follow Margaret Cho's philosophy and just say Fuck it!

I may not lose any weight, will probably regain some that I already lost - multiple times - but I'll regain some sanity in my life.

And that's what this blog is about - my Search for Sanity - right?

Take THAT, Dr. W (my cardiologist)!!!

Measures of clinical adiposity and cardiovascular risk

5 May, 11 | by Alistair Lindsay

The importance of clinical measures of adiposity (such as body-mass index [BMI], waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio) in calculating cardiovascular risk remains controversial.  For example, both the World Health Organisation and the United States National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute recommend assessment of BMI, however several common cardiovascular disease risk scores (e.g. PROCAM) omit adiposity measures.  In this analysis, the Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration analysed records from 58 prospective studies to determine the separate and combined associations of BMI, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio with the risk of first-onset cardiovascular disease.

Individual records were analysed from 221,934 people in 17 countries; serial adiposity measurements were made in 63,821 people.  Hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated per 1 standard deviation (SD) higher baseline values for three clinical adiposity measurements: BMI (1 SD = 4.56kg/m2), waist circumference (1 SD=12.6cm), and waist-to-hip ratio (1 SD=0.083).  Hazard ratios for cardiovascular disease were 1.23 for BMI, 1.27 for waist circumference, and 1.25 for waist-to-hip ratio.  Of note, adding information on BMI, waist circumferece, or waist-to-hip ratio to a cardiovascular disease risk prediction model using conventional risk factors did not significantly improve risk prediction, even when the three measures were considered in combination.

Conclusions:

In this analysis of 58 prospective studies, clinical measures of adiposity, such as BMI, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio, did not improve cardiovascular disease risk prediction over the use of conventional risk factors such as blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol.

• The Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration.  Separate and combined associations of body-mass index and abdominal adiposity with cardiovascular disease: collaborative analysis of 58 prospective studies.  Lancet 2011; 377:1085-1095.

International No Diet Day

Today is the day we fat people are supposed to proclaim in one loud voice that we will no longer be pushed around by society, that we love our bodies as they are, that we realize the futility of starving ourselves in the name of weight loss and will not do it any more!

So why am I more obsessed than ever today with the scale and my food plan?

Why did I weigh myself as soon as I got out of the bathroom and do a silent cheer when the number was a pound lower than yesterday, which unfortunately was a pound higher than the day before and 12 pounds higher than January 1st?

Why did I then drag open my food journal and menus to see how I can tweak things today to make sure I lose another pound instead of regaining that same one back? In fact, since February I’ve been bouncing up and down the same 5 pound range, whether I follow the food plan strictly and drown myself in water or eat pizza and bakery Texas-sized muffins, sometimes losing on pizza days and gaining on green/yellow veg only days.

Why did I forgo the very low impact workout I had planned because my sciatica has made all movement this week painful, thanks to 11 hours of standing in a hospital ER Sunday with the elderly relative, for a faster, high impact one that’s supposed to burn off more calories? And why did I already choose which strength training video to do tomorrow so I could add a fourth toning day, because as we all know, the more muscle the more calorie burning?

Why do I even want to lose weight now? Studies done show that it’s really not healthy for women over age 50 to lose substantial amounts of weight.

The data show that for these adults there is little relation between weight and mortality, except for those with a very low weight (BMI of 20 or below), who have higher death rates. A low BMI was associated with mortality even after control for a wide variety of measures, including short-term unintended weight loss. A high BMI showed no association with mortality, and the variables considered had little effect except that long-term weight loss had a profound effect on results. People who lost 10 percent of their body weight after age 50 had a relatively high death rate.

So why bother? Even my primary care physician hasn’t mentioned my weight the past 3 visits, after almost 30 years of harping on me about it. My cholesterol and glucose levels are the envy of his practice, even though I have a BMI in the 40’s. I follow a healthy, low-fat starch-based (veg) food plan 95% of the time and get in at least a half hour of exercise daily. The only times I go off the plan are when I get frustrated at the lack of weight loss, then pay the price with achy joints and swollen sinuses. This is better than most Americans of any size do.

So why do I care what the numbers on a piece of machinery say?

Today, I’m going to enjoy my food. I just got 2 new books in the mail – Happy Herbivore    and Unprocessed    – both full of recipes geared towards the McDougall food plan. I already found loads of new things I want to try from both books, although I found Unprocessed to have a large amount of raw recipes and way too many sweets and nuts than any sane McDougaller should even consider eating. Still, now and then as a treat they should be fine, if I can convince my husband to have some with me so I don’t eat too many and work my way into hypoglycemia again.

And I’m going to try get rid of the scale again. I can’t get rid of it completely, as my son and husband do climb on it occasionally, but I want it in a place that’s hard for me to get to so I’m not jumping on it every morning. This way I can concentrate on being a health fatty instead of trying to make this already healthy body thinner.

Vegan Diner Testing

Vegan Diner Testing, a group on Flickr.

Julie Hasson (Everyday Dish TV) has a new book out called Vegan Diner. Here are a few photos of her creations from the testers.

McDougall Medical Message: A Pill For Every Problem

Looks like Dr. McDougall has a new YouTube page. So far there are 38 videos, including the Star McDougaller ones from his web site. Most are like this one, 4 minutes and under and filmed in front of a bare wall, but some are clips from speeches and presentations by him and others.