The paleo diet isn'€™t necessarily ideal, an evolutionary biologist says

Have you heard of the Paleo Diet? Maybe you’ve even tried it. The idea is to eat what the cavemen ate - meat, fruits, and vegetables - because our bodies haven’t evolved to eat the food that exists today. I don’t think we would have evolved to invent frozen yogurt if it wasn’t good for us, but see what you think. Read the article from the Washington Post and then check out Dr. Cordain’s site about the diet to see if it’s something that may be right for you! 

Countries with the Best and Worst Life Expectancy: U.S. Comes in at 51st

The next time someone tells you how “evil” and “awful” socialized health care is, you might want to send them this article.

According to the CIA World Factbook, Monaco has the longest life expectancy at an average of 89.68 years, five years higher than any other country.

What’s their secret? Monaco has a wealthy population and state-funded socialist health care, reports the Daily Mail.

Other countries with socialist healthcare systems such as Japan, Canada and the UK, each have average life expectancies of over 80 years.

The country with the shortest life expectancy is Chad, in Africa, at 48.69 years. Chad is right next door to the war-torn country of Sudan and has had to absorb many refugees. People are likely to live the shortest in sub-Saharan Africa, where no country has an average life expectancy of over 60.

Other countries with short life spans include Afghanistan (49.72), Swaziland (49.42), South Africa (49.41) and Guinea-Bissau (49.11).

Even though the U.S. pays more money for health care than any other industrialized nation, it comes in at 51st at 78.49 years, lower than Canada (81.48), which has socialized medicine.

Get Up. Get Out. Don't Sit.

Every single hour of television watched after the age of 25 reduces the viewer’s life expectancy by 21.8 minutes.

Gah! That’s a horrible statistic! And also questionable. By this logic, if I stop watching TV, I will live forever. The main message of the article is easier to swallow: sitting less + moving more = better health. Nothing new, but good to be reminded. 

Get Up. Get Out. Don’t Sit. by Gretchen Reynolds

Just as we were all settling in front of the television to watch the baseball playoffs, two new studies about the perils of sitting have spoiled our viewing pleasure.

The research, published in separate medical journals this month, adds to a growing scientific consensus that the more time someone spends sitting, especially in front of the television, the shorter and less robust his or her life may be.

To reach that conclusion, the authors of one of the studies, published in the October issue of The British Journal of Sports Medicine, turned to data from the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study, a large, continuing survey of the health habits of almost 12,000 Australian adults.

Along with questions about general health, disease status, exercise regimens, smoking, diet and so on, the survey asked respondents how many hours per day in the previous week they had spent sitting in front of the television.

Watching television is not, of course, in and of itself hazardous, unless you doze off and accidentally slip from the couch onto a hard floor. But television viewing time is a useful, if somewhat imprecise, marker of how much someone is engaging in so-called sedentary behavior.

“People can answer a question like, ‘How much time did you spend watching TV yesterday?’ much better than a question like ‘How much time did you spend sitting yesterday?’ ” says Dr. J. Lennert Veerman, a senior research fellow at the University of Queensland, who led the new study.

Australians, as it turns out, watch lots of telly. According to the survey data, in 2008, the year that the researchers chose as their benchmark, Australian adults viewed a collective 9.8 billion hours of television.

Using complex actuarial tables and adjusting for smoking, waist circumference, dietary quality, exercise habits and other variables, the scientists were next able to isolate the specific effect that the hours of sitting seemed to be having on people’s life spans.

And the findings were sobering: Every single hour of television watched after the age of 25 reduces the viewer’s life expectancy by 21.8 minutes.

Read the full article on the New York Times Blog. 

Top Artery-Clogging Cities in America

These urban centers have the highest rates of heart disease and obesity in the country, perhaps because they seem to promote sedentary lifestyles and diets heavy on fast food but light on fresh produce. We sorted through the latest statistical research from the CDC on obesity and heart disease rates to come up with this list of eight metropolitan areas with a population of over 200,000 that are most likely to clog your arteries. And because studies show that unhealthy habits are contagious, anybody moving to or spending time in these places should be extra careful to take care of their tickers.

1. Detroit, MI Detroit residents report more heart disease diagnoses than any other big city in the nation, according to CDC data, and 33% of them are obese. One thing the city’s hearts do have in their favor: A vibrant urban agriculture movement is transforming empty lots into veggie-filled community gardens, increasing access to fresh produce in neighborhoods where it was previously scarce.


2. Fort Wayne, IN Although people in this midsize city in northeast Indiana clearly need to take better care of their cardiovascular health (rates of obesity and heart disease are both sky-high) Fort Wayne has at least one thing going for it, health-wise: According to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which tracks various health markers across the country, Fort Wayne is a happy city. On a scale of “city optimism” it comes in six points above the national average.


3. Lubbock, TX Although it’s not a big city compared to other Texas urban centers, 32% of Lubbock residents are obese, in no small part due to the preponderance of artery-clogging steakhouses and barbecue joints.


4. New Orleans, LA With all those deep fried delicacies and the city’s general celebration of self-indulgence (it’s the home of the drive-through daiquiri, after all) it’s not hard to imagine why New Orleans denizens are more likely to be obese than those of many other cities. But those looking to shed the extra pounds have an abundance of scenic space in which to exercise: A whopping 25% of the city is parkland, one of the highest percentages of any city in the US.

5. Dallas, TX According to Sandelman and Associates, a restaurant industry consultancy, Dallas residents consume fast food an average of 20.7 times per month (the national average is 17), no doubt one reason for their high rates of heart disease and obesity. Another contributing factor: Despite its big city status, only 7% of Dallas residents’ trips are taken by foot or bike, according to the Alliance for Biking and Walking.


6. Baton Rouge, LA Although the Creole and Cajun cuisines Baton Rouge is known for contain lots of vegetables and heart-healthy spices, they often include lots of fat, probably one reason the residents’ arteries are in danger. Plus, in Gallup polling less than half of Baton Rouge residents report exercising frequently.


7. Tulsa, OK One thing that probably contributes to Tulsans’ high risk of heart disease is the city’s low “walkability.” According to Walk Score, an organization which promotes pedestrian-friendly communities, only 6% of Tulsa residents live in a neighborhood with a walk score of 70 or above (100 being best) and 57% live in entirely car-dependent locales.

8. Louisville, KY Louisville contains more McDonald’s outposts per capita (39) than any city in the country, according to a Daily Beast/Newsweek report, plus 20 Arby’s, 17 Dairy Queens and 19 Papa John’s-one reason its residents disproportionately suffer from heart disease. Aside from laying off the fast food, Louisville locals can improve their heart health by taking up cycling. The city is building a 100-mile bike and pedestrian path called the Louisville Loop, leading Bicycling magazine to place the city among the top 25 most bike-friendly in the nation.

Is your city on the list? If so, what are you going to do about it??