weight loss

Leave a comment Posted on July 15, 2015July 15, 2015 Weight Loss

What do you think about the idea of a fat tax? Take our poll

On Monday of this week the British Medical Association announced that it was lobbying the UK’s

Do you support a fat tax?

government to try to ensure a 20% tax on sugary drinks to help find the obesity epidemic by promoting weight loss.

Indeed if Prof Sheila Hollins is to be believed then it will take 180,000 folk out of the obesity zone. Thus lowering the number of people who develop conditions such as T2 diabetes, for example!

So what is your view? Should we be increasing taxes on things which are fattening?

We have created a poll below to allow you to share your opinion.

It would be great if you would use the comments section below to add anything else you think would be of interest to our readers.

Thanks very much in advance!

Leave a comment Posted on March 22, 2015 Diet

World Water Day 2015 – What are the benefits of hydration.

The benefits of drinking water

March 22nd sees the marking of World Water Day.

We thought that this is a great opportunity to remind our readers of the benefits of hydration and the dangers of dehydration.

So why drink plenty of water? Three liters of water has been recommended:-

a) Keeps your skin looking great!
b) Prevents muscle fatigue thus giving you more get up and go! Useful if you have a medical condition like fibromyalgia or multiple sclerosis where fatigue is an issue.
c) Can help with weight loss.
d) Great to assist with bowel and kidney functioning. Which means that is helps getting rid on unwanted body waste.
e) And finally it is a great way to overcome the effects of a night out.

Leave a comment Posted on December 15, 2014December 15, 2014 Patient Talk

What are your New Year’s Resolution for 2015?

New Year’s Resolutions

Yes it is THAT time again.

Half way through the eating and drinking too much time of the year our thoughts should (and sometimes even mine do) turn to getting more healthy in the New Year.

There is plenty of useful advice out there like this interview we conducted with Pete Cohen looking at weight loss, sensible drinking and getting fitter with better exercise.

But I was wondering what New year’s resolutions have you made for 2015? It would be great if you could share yours in the comments section below. This will, hopefully, give inspiration for other people reading the post.

So I thought I would share by kicking off with a few of my own.

a) Lose weight, 20lb in my case over the year. Here are a few tips that may help.

b) Cycle 180 miles coast to coast across the Pennines. You can check the route here

c) Have a dry January. Sounds boring but it works really well for me.

d) Be able to run 5K without a break by the end of the summer.

e) Eat at least one portion of leafy green vegetables each day!

That’s my list. So what’s yours? Please share below.

Thanks and good luck.

1 Comment Posted on September 29, 2014 Cardiovascular disease, Patient Talk, Research

10 Tips for a Healthy Heart. Check them out and you can help prevent coronary heart disease (CHD) this World Heart Day.

Tips for reducing the risk of heart disease!

As I sat down to work today I had a look over the BBC’s health news to see what the issues of teh day might be. The main headline was “Heart disease warnings ‘missed‘” . I’d also forgotten that today is World Heart Day.

Delving further into the article I discovered that the British Heart Foundation had recently organised some survey research and they discovered, to their horror, that 90% of people think that there must be symptoms associated with that “silent killer” high blood pressure.

So I thought it would be a good opportunity to share with you British Heart Foundation’s tips for a healthy heart and to prevent coronary heart disease.

a) Give up smoking. You can find some ideas to help you pack in smoking here.
b) Get your general health road tested by your doctor.
c) Maintain a healthy weight. Read our weight loss tips and blog posts here.
d) Keep active. Pretty hard for many of us but much more for people with chronic pain. You might find this guide to exercise for people with pain useful.
e) Lower your salt consumption. Both in and out of the home.
f) Eat your 5-a-day. Do you?
g) Cut the saturated fat. Find out more about diet and health here.
h) Always read the food labels. You would be amazed at the salt and sugar in processed foods.
i) Cut down on the amount of alcohol you drink. How much do you drink?
j) Watch your portion sizes. Make sure you eat less.

Do you have any tips for our readers? If you do please do feel free to share below in the comments boxes.

Thanks in advance.

Leave a comment Posted on September 3, 2014 Patient Talk

What diets have you used in the past to lose weight and how successful have they been? Take our poll!

Diets for weight loss

Casting my eyes over the BBC’s web site this morning I was struck by one of the item’s entitled “All diets ‘have similar results'”.

Which as you can imagine rather surprised me. But James Gallagher argues “The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, analysed data from 48 separate trials.

The Canadian team concluded that sticking to a diet was more important than the diet itself.

Obesity experts said all diets cut calories to a similar level, which may explain the results.

Diets go in and out of fashion on a regular basis, with a current debate around the relative benefits of low carb and low fat diets.”

Now my question to my readers is which diets have you used and how successful were they?

Firstly it would be great if you could take part in the poll below.

Secondly it would be great if you could use the comments box to share you story of the success (or otherwise) of the diet.

Thanks very much in advance!