The Best Of…Healthy Life Style Key to Losing and Maintaining Weight Loss

Published August  2008, Senior Digest

           Not only are food and gasoline prices skyrocketing nationwide, a growing number of Americans with bulging waist lines are watching their weight steadily increase, too.  Those overweight see diets as a remedy to drop the pounds.  But to most, finding the right weight loss strategy is at most confusing and difficult to follow.

           For over forty years, Donald Grebien, a supply chain manager at the Mansfield, Massachusetts-based American Insulated Wire Corp.(AIW), has always struggled with his waistline.  In high school, Grebien recalls being a ‘chubby senior’, weighing as much as 280 pounds. Even though he managed to shed 30 pounds through regular exercise, eliminating snacks and eating healthy foods, it is still a daily struggle. 

           Grebien’s weight would fluctuate throughout his middle age because of a variety of factors.   His family obligations of raising two small children, combined with the pressures of being a Pawtucket City Councilman, made it extremely difficult for the young man to successfully stick with a diet. It was not until this young City Councilman was faced with high blood pressure, that would ultimately force him to confront his weight issue.

            “Losing weight is a daily battle for me,” says Grebien, who noted that when his weight spiked, it was very uncomfortable wearing tight-fitting clothes.

            Joining Weight Watchers with his wife, Laureen has made a world of difference to Grebien.  He has maintained his weight loss of 10.3 pounds for the last 10 weeks.  “I am on track and feel a lot better,” he says, even noting that his waist line seems to be shrinking a bit.  His workplace even supports his dieting efforts, such as offering on site Weight Watcher classes, a nutrition newsletter and promoting employees walking during their lunch hours.

            While Grebien is tackling his weight problem through the support of his wife and belonging to a community weight loss program, finding the right diet plan or strategy can be difficult chore for many. 

 Tips on Losing Weight

            “Get responsible and sound advice about dieting before you begin,” recommends Randi Belhumeur, a Registered Dietitian who serves as statewide nutrition coordinator for the Rhode Island Health Department’s Initiative for Healthy Weight.  There is no  major expense for the consultation because most health plans now cover nutritional counseling as long as you have a medical diagnoses (including high cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes), she says.

             Belhumeur says that a nutritionist can provide specifics as to serving sizes, label reading, meal planning and weight loss goal setting.  When setting your weight loss goals, “always start with small goals that are realistic for you,” she says.  “Losing a pound or two a week is considered by medical experts to be a safe weight loss,” she adds.

            “Don’t forget to dovetail physical activity into your weight loss goals,” suggests Belhumeur.  “If a pedometer tells you that you that the baseline number of steps you take a day is 2,000, increase that number by 1,000 steps,” she says.

            “Always keep an ‘activity and food journal’ also,” adds Belhumeur, who stresses that the documentation will be critical to your losing and maintaining your weight loss.  “You really need to be honest with yourself when you are writing the details down.  Journaling will help you make better food choices and make you aware of what you are eating,” she says.

            Belhumeur also recommends to plan exercising each week by scheduling the time in your Black Berry, Palm Pilot or in your schedule book.  “With exercise, find something you enjoy doing.  If you don’t like going to the gym, you just won’t go.”

            Social support  from family and friends is also very crucial in your efforts to successfully lose weight, notes Belhumeur.  “Weight Watchers is one of the few responsible diet programs that offers group support and sound dieting advice,” she says.

            Finally, Belhumeur says, “Don’t forget the behavioral component of weight loss.”  Psychotherapy or nutritional counseling can be helpful to changing a behavior, like night time eating or eating unhealthy foods at the workplace.      .

 Weight Loss and Lifestyle Changes

            Ray Rickman, senior consultant, for Rhode Island’s Shape Up RI Program, a state-wide exercise and weight challenge program, is not a fan of dieting.  His nonprofit group helps participants  improve their health and lifestyle by increasing their physical activity levels and developing smart eating habits. 

            Supported by Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Life Span, over 12,000 Rhode Islanders, in 13,000 teams participate to see who can lose the greatest percentage of collective team weight, log the most hours of physical activity, and walk the highest number of pedometer steps over a twelve week period.

             The fifty-five year old Eastsider and State Legislator has lost over 20 pounds by following his nonprofit group’s philosophy of reducing daily calorie intake and daily exercise.

            According to Rickman, people become overweight or obese because of their lifestyle and not from medical or chemical imbalance.

             “Most diets you just starve yourself or you eat foods you don’t like,” Rickman says.  “While many people can lose weight by dieting, they usually regain all the weight back within 12 months.” 

            “We consume more food than the body can rid itself of, where portion sizes are increasing”, say Rickman, noting that an ‘unhealthy life style and poor eating’ causes weight gain.  Almost 50 years ago, a typical orange juice serving was 250 calories; today a larger glass increases the calories to 800, he adds. 

            “In every area of our lives we try to find ways to not exercise,” Rickman notes.  “Go into a four story building and you will see people waiting for an elevator to go to the second floor, rather than just walking up two flights of stairs.  Or watch shoppers wait for a parking space close to the grocery store’s entrance rather than parking farther away.”

            To successfully lose weight, find out how many calories you need a day, based on your height and weight, Rickman recommends. “ He estimates that eating 200 fewer calories along with exercise will help you lose a 1/16 of a pound a day.  In just one month , a person can lose 2 pounds. In one year, you can expect to lose at least 25 pounds.

            Exercise does not have to be grueling.  Rickman says, “Go to the grocery store and park in the last spot on the lot where the employees park. By doing this you can lose 1/36 of a pound by choosing not to park near the entrance.  Walking up three flights of stairs will also help you lose 1/36 of a pound. 

            Brown Medical Student, Rajiv Kumar, Founder of Shape Up RI program, sees long-term sustained weight loss for those participating in his program.  The average weight loss per person is 10 pounds with preliminary research indicating that 70 percent of the participants have kept their weight off for six months. 

           For chronic dieters like Grebien (or this writer) who work daily to shed pounds, the secret to successfully losing and maintaining weight loss may well be tied to healthy eating habits, exercise and an active social network to create accountability and motivation, It’s as simple as that.

            Herb Weiss is a Pawtucket-based health care writer who covers aging, health care, and medical issues.  He can be reached at hweissri@aol.com.  This article appeared in August 2008 issue of Senior Digest.

The Best of…Baby Boomers Tighten Belts to Pay for Rising Food Costs, Says AARP

Published August 4, 2008, All Pawtucket All the Times    

         A soft economy, combined with stagnate wage increases and skyrocketing fuel prices, are hitting aging baby boomers right in their wallets. On top of this they must also juggle their household budgets to pay for rising food costs, too, impacted by egg, dairy and poultry price increases.  According to a June 2008 AARP Bulletin on Rising Food Costs, older consumers are taking the necessary steps to rein in their rising household food expenses.   

            The AARP telephone survey findings, taken from a nationally represented sample of 1,009 people ages 45 and older, revealed that over fifty percent responding to the survey have taken the necessary steps to cope with rising food prices.  Slightly half of the respondents believe that there is a global food shortage.  However, less than half of those surveyed think that certain food items may need to be rationed within the next year.  Most of those surveyed blame the government directly for food cost increases 

            The June telephone survey found that almost half of those polled (49%) believe that food prices have caused a hardship on their budget.  Consumers, ages 45 to 49 (69%) were more like than those age 50 and over (49%) to report that they have started cutting back on summer entertaining to cope with rising food prices.  In addition, almost four out of five respondents (78%) ages 45 to 49 said that they have started eating out less, compared to over half of those 50 years old and over (54%).

Boomers Dining Out Less

            Just over half of those polled (53%) do not think it is likely that certain food items may need to be rationed within the next year.  Four out of five (81%) reported that they have not started eating fewer meals in the past six months.  However, over half have started using discount coupons at grocery stores (57%) and started buying generic grocery brand items (56%), and one in five (19%) have started eating fewer meals.

            Meanwhile, the majority of respondents (71%) think that the government is responsible for rising food prices.  Two out of five respondents (44%) think that national disasters play a role in rising food costs.  Respondents were less likely to think that restaurants (11%), farmers (16%), grocery stores (28%), or food processing plants L(29%) were responsible for these rising costs. 

            Slightly over half of the respondents (52%) think that there is a global food shortage. Respondents ages 50 plus (55%) are more likely than those ages 49 to 49 (38%) to think there is a global food shortage.  However, those age 50 and over (39%) are less likely than those ages 45 to 49 (51%) to think that certain food items may need to be rationed within the next year.

In Rhode Island…

            Like those polled by AARP, Rhode Islanders are also seeking ways to lower their household expenses, by eating out less.  As reported by the Providence Journal on July 22, 2008 (Down Turn Eats into Restaurant Sales), the state’s Division of Taxation has reported a drop of 9 percent in the state’s meals and beverage tax, when compared with the same time period a year ago. Providence,Warwick,Newport and Cranstonhad a decrease of 10.5 percent, 2.9 percent, 8.0 percent and 13.7 percent, respectively. Pawtucket’s numbers decreased by 5.3 percent.

             Lay offs, and food and fuel increases are bringing more families into the state’s food stamp program.  A March 31 article in The New York Times (As Jobs Vanish and Prices Rise, Food Stamp use Nears Record) reported that Rhode Island saw an increase of 18 percent in the state’s food stamp recipients over the last two ears, to more than 84,000 as of February, or about 8.4 percent of the population.

             “Clearly the economy is hurting both [Rhode Island’s] poor and middle class,” says Kathleen Connell, AARP State Director. “People are just tightening their belts and many are struggling to spend their money on just the essentials to make ends meet,” she says.

             Connell says that when people go out to eat they may now choose less costly items off the menu, or even cut down on the number of trips to their favorite local restaurant.  Grocery shopping lists may well include cheaper food items, too, she says.  “It remains to be seen what the winter will bring to baby boomers struggling to pay rising food costs with the expected National Grid utility increases.”

             Herb Weiss is a Pawtucket-based writer who covers aging, medical and health care issues. This article appeared in the August 4, 2008 issue of All Pawtucket All The Time.  He can be reached at hweissri@aol.com.

The Best of…Keeping Your Memory Sharp in Your Later Years

Published October 2008, Pawtucket Times  

          In her twenties, while attending nursing school, Donna Policastro discovered she had a photographic memory.  Years later, even in her middle years, theProvidenceresident’s memory was still pretty good.  She had no need for appointment books or PDA’s to keep up with her hurried work schedule as a Registered Nurse.  Like an elephant, she never forgot, always remembering minute details, never missing an appointment or meeting.

             Approaching age 50, missing meetings and even some appointments forced Policastro, Executive Director of the Rhode Island State Nurses Association (RISNA), to keep a To-Do list and to use her computer’s calendar program. Policastro, now age 59, speculates that being overwhelmed at work because she had no support staff combined with not being able to say no to taking on new duties and responsibilities took a toll on her memory,

            Sometimes the aging baby boomer, like many,  would forget a colleague or patient’s name all together, or just not remember either their first or last moniker.  She became physically exhausted trying to remember their full name or little details of their initial meeting.  Sometimes it even bothered Policastro “to no end” when she could not remember an actor’s name she saw on a television program, becoming obsessed in an attempting to remember the name.

          As Policastro would ultimately discover when reading Aging With Grace, a book that described a longitudinal health study of an order of nuns, she was not losing her mind or becoming afflicted with dementia or devastating Alzheimer’s, her memory loss was due to normal aging. 

 Memory Gradually Declines with Age

           Laurence M. Hirshberg, Ph.D., Director of the Providence-based Neuro Development Center, would agree with Polacastro’s self-assessment of why her memory was not as sharp or clear as in her earlier years.  “Advancing age seems to cause gradual declines in some aspects of memory and thinking, brain structure, and brain functioning, while sparing others,” he says. 

            The Clinical Psychologist notes that research findings indicate that up to half of people over age 50 have mild forgetfulness linked to age-associated memory impairment,

           According to Dr. Hirshberg, who serves as a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown Medical School, as a person ages, there is often decline in one’s ability to encode new memories of events or facts, as well as the ability to hold the information you need to perform a simple task (for example, to dial a telephone number).  “Studies also show declines in memory of events, times, places, associated emotions., certain forms of reasoning, and numeric and verbal ability.  Procedural memory – remembering how to perform a process, for example playing the piano, is less affected by aging, as is memory of words and memory of emotional experience, both of which are enhanced with age,” Hirshberg says.

           “All of us show some forgetfulness at times, notes Dr. Hirshberg, especially when we forget where the car is parked, forget a persons name (but remember it later), forget events from the distant past, or forget parts of an experience.   He notes that signs of more serious memory problems include forgetting an experience or recent events, forgetting how to drive a car or read a clock, forgetting ever having known a particular person or loss of function, confusion or decreased alertness.

           Memory loss can be caused by a variety of factors, Dr. Hirshberg says, from lack of physical or mental activity, boredom, social isolation, stress, drug or alcohol use, smoking, poor nutrition, to an array of medical conditions that includes sleep disorders, head trauma, depression, diabetes, impairment to vision and hearing, head trauma, and even high blood pressure and cholesterol..

Living with Memory Loss

           Preventing memory loss in your later years can be as simple as staying socially active, keep learning and staying mentally active, eating nutritious meals, reducing stress and seeking help from medical conditions, Dr. Hirshberg suggested,  “Making lists and creating schedules can be effective strategies to increase memory skills. Many people use technological aids such as Palm Pilots.”  

            Even brain exercises can be helpful in keeping your memory sharp, Hirshberg says, specifically working cross word puzzles and soduko, playing chess, checkers, bridge and other card games. Reading, attending lectures, learning a new skill are also beneficial, along with using formal brain exercise programs for the computer (such a Mental Fitness, Brain Power, Captains Log, and Sharper Brain). Some examples of computerized brain exercise games can be seen at youcanstaysharp.com.

          Many aging baby boomers wonder when is the appropriate time to see their physician about memory loss.  Dr. Hirshberg says the rule of thumb that clinicians often use is, if you’re worried about your memory, it’s probably not that serious, but if your friends and relatives are worried about it, then it probably is more serious. . 

           Final note…You can also take part in a comprehensive mental fitness training program through the Stay Sharp Mental Fitness Center. This center offers brain fitness training exercise and EEG guided brain training to train your brain younger. For more information, visit youcanstaysharp.com or call 401 383 4104.

           Herb Weiss is a Pawtucket-based Freelance writing who has covered aging, health care and medical issues.  This article was published in October 2008.  Contact him at hweissri@aol.com .