Billions of fat cells
Here’s a horrifying fact: The average adult who is not overweight still walks around with 30 billion to 40 billion fat cells whose job it is to store the body’s excess energy. Although that information may send you screaming out the door to sign up for liposuction, understand that lipo may not be the best way to take care of excess fat, notes a feature in the July/August issue of Women’s Health. Here are four reasons:
– The procedure involves poking a hoselike tube under your skin multiple times to extract the fat. Afterward, you will have post-op pain, oozing and swelling.
– Even if fat cells are taken out, other fat cells will continue to divide if you add weight in the future.
– After fat is removed from your thighs, for example, new fat could show up anywhere, says Laurie Casas, associate professor of surgery at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, perhaps on your once-toned arms.
– After liposuction, some patients develop bulges or indentations on their bodies because of now unevenly distributed fat cells, adds Casas.
Considering these issues, diet and exercise may not be so bad after all.
Over-the-top grief
It is normal and expected for people to grieve over the loss of a family member or good friend. Yet sometimes “normal” grief spills over into a category called complicated grief, according to a story in the July issue of the Johns Hopkins Medical Letter Health After 50.
The difference between the two is the intensity and duration of the grief. Complicated grief, experienced by up to 20 percent of grievers, also interferes more with everyday living. This disorder usually is treated with antidepressants and counseling, which helps “patients adapt to the differences in their lives brought on by the loss in the best way possible,” says the story.
Here are some good resources on dealing with grief:
– AARP Grieving Resources, aarp.org/families/grief(underscore)loss/ a2004-11-15-community.html.
– American Psychological Association, locator.apahelpcenter.org; 800-964-2000.
– American Psychiatric Association, 888-357-7924.
– National Association of Social Workers, search.socialworkers.org.
Grocery-list help
Quit complaining that you can’t figure out which healthy foods to eat. The American Heart Association makes it easy with its new online grocery list program. Go to HeartCheckmark.org and click on “grocery list” in the right-hand column. There you’ll find all kinds of great foods listed by category, such as beverages, breads, soup, dairy, frozen foods, pastas, snacks and more.
The work is done for you, and you’ll be less tempted to grab foods high in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol and added sugar.
Find what ails you
Now there’s an easy way to connect to information on ailments related to everything from your liver to your heart, lungs, brain and more. The Web site of the National Institute of Health’s National Library of Medicine (healthhotlines.nlm.nih.gov) offers an online database of more than 14,000 health-related organizations that have toll-free phone numbers.
If you want to find organizations specifically dealing with heart-related problems, for example, just type in “heart” and eight organizations will pop up. Click on an organization’s name, and you also can get its address, a list of health areas covered and the Web address. Be aware, however, that the National Library of Medicine has not reviewed or evaluated the services of the organizations listed.
