Thursday, March 21, 2013

One pound of fat requires 7 miles of blood vessels

Fact: Every pound of fat gained causes your body to make 7 new miles of blood vessels.

Knowing this, it’s easy to see why obesity and heart disease often go together. Most of the new blood vessels are tiny capillaries, but also include small veins and arteries. This means if you are “only” 10 pounds overweight your heart has to pump blood through an extra 70 miles of blood vessels.
 The good news is that this also works in reverse. If you lose a pound of fat, your body will break down and reabsorb the no longer needed blood vessels. This is encouraging to dieters, as one pound does not seem like a lot to lose, but even that little bit of difference will result in a large benefit for your heart!

Monday, March 18, 2013

Tools to help keep your Family Healthy

Do you know how much screen time your child had today? How about what size portions they should have given their age? How much physical activity did my family do today? The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute has put together a nice site full of tools to use to assist in keeping your family healthy.

 We Can!, Ways to Enhance Children's Activity and Nutrition

Tool parents can use to help keep your family healthy