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Doctor of Fitness Articles

Health & Fitness Insights from the Experts

Welcome to our extensive library of articles on topics from medication news to fitness tips to oatmeal!

To access any of our experts’ articles, simply click on one of the subject headings below.

Get Out And Play - The Childhood Obesity Epidemic

In this article I want to discuss the disturbing increase in childhood obesity in the United States. There are some frightening numbers being mentioned with regards to the growing number of children who are obese. Fifteen percent of children aged 6 to 19 are obese which means their BMI (Body Mass Index) is above the 95th percentile for their age.1 The Bogalusa Heart study showed that nearly 90% of kids less than eight years old who are overweight become obese adults.2 And as every day passes those figures, like the waistlines of America’s youth get bigger and bigger.

Nutrition Q & A – Not All Calories Are Created Equal

“What do you mean not all calories are not the same? Your last e-newsletter discussed how 100 calories from broccoli was different from 100 calories of white bread or chicken. I was totally shocked by this. Can you explain this a little more for me?”

This was just one of many similar questions that I received in response to my last response to a question on counting calories. Here is a little more background on calories and nutrition. The definition of a calorie has nothing to do with the human body. A calorie is defined as the amount of energy needed to raise one cubic centimeter (cc) of water one degree Celsius.

Most people may remember from their nutrition classes that certain fats, carbs, and proteins each provide a set number of calories per gram. Fats provide nine calories per gram, carbohydrates and proteins each provide four, alcohol provides seven, and water provides none. However, once nutrients are in the body everything changes.

The Beauty of Oatmeal

Since it is quite true that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, I decided to start by sharing some of my oatmeal recipes. So stop having breakfasts of coffee and donuts, or coffee and bagels, and start eating healthier.

Oatmeal is an incredible food. Of course I am referring to the whole rolled oats, or steel cut oats, and not the instant, loaded with sugar varieties. Below is a comparison between a typical sugar-laden instant oatmeal, whole rolled oats oatmeal, and steel cut oats oatmeal.

The Facts About Splenda

On the market today are a variety of artificial sweeteners being used in everything from bread to cakes to orange juice. One of the newest sweeteners gaining notoriety on television ads and in new low carb products in Splenda. From where does Splenda come? How safe is it for people to eat? What separates it from other more common sweeteners like aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal), saccharin (Sweet’n Low), or acesulfame potassium (Sunette)?