23 1/2 hours a day

Can YOU limit your sitting & sleeping to just twenty-three and a half hours a day?!

Seems like a ridiculous question, but it makes a fantastic point.

This is a very quick & cool lecture by Dr. Mike Evans which breaks down the research behind the health benefits of just 30 minutes of physical activity a day.  We can all certainly do that, no matter how busy we may be!

Check it out, and pass it along:

Food Consumption by Country

We all know Americans take in way too many calories as compared to what is recommended for their height, weight and age.  So when I came across this study by the Food Service Warehouse, I wasn't surprised to see the U.S. is the #1 country in calorie consumption. 


Below is the link to the interactive results from the study...take some time to click around and check it out! Of course, developed countries consume the most calories, but it's interesting to see the percent of income these countries spend on food.  If you focus on the countries taking in the least amount of calories, they are spending about half of their income on food.  On the other hand, countries consuming the most calories per person are spending 25% or less of their incomes on food.  Insane!

Source: Food Service Warehouse

One Expense We Should NOT Be Paying!

One of my favorite resources for the newest research and information in nutrition is the NY Times.  On September 27, 2010 the New York Times posted this report: Obesity Costs Women More.  The CDC estimates that Americans spend about $147 billion a year on the direct and indirect costs of obesity.  The report by researchers at GWU caught my attention because they break down the costs to the individual level, showing that obese women have double the annual expenses as their male counterparts.  This doesn't even take into consideration health costs down the road (such as medications for Type 2 Diabetes, Hypertension, Hypercholesterolemia, etc). 

As we all know and hear, the rates of overweight and obese Americans are steadily climbing, and we need to take action now! I love Michelle Obama's campaign against childhood obesity: Let's Move! because it encourages physical activity and healthy food choices, as well as demands action on the community and political levels.