Health & Fitness | Weight Loss

Postpartum Weight Loss- “Best Abdominal Equipment to Flatten My Stomach?

October 27, 2009 on 9:34 pm | In Uncategorized | Comments Off

To Sara of Fit by Sara: “What is the best abdominal equipment to flatten my stomach?”

From Sara of Fit by Sara: “I have good news and I have bad news.  The good news is you don’t need any fancy equipment to flatten your abdominals.  The bad news is it takes more than doing abdominal crunches to get flat abs.  The key to flat abs is eating healthy (i.e., cut back on processed foods, white flour foods, chips, cookies, and sodas), and up your cardio.  Cardiovascular exercise such as walking, swimming, biking, aerobics, etc. will burn calories and reduce body fat.  Then add in the good ole abdominal crunches 3-4 x per week or yoga and/ or pilates and you’ll start to see flattening of the abdominals.  So you don’t need any equipment, just work on reducing body fat, because once you reduce body fat you’ll start seeing abdominal flattening and definition.” -Sara Holliday

*Have a question for me?  I’d love to answer it!  Email me at info@fitbysara.com and leave a comment here.

Senate panel adopts bill restricting generic drug delays

October 27, 2009 on 12:57 pm | In Uncategorized | Comments Off Washington The Senate Judiciary Committee on Oct. 15 approved a bill that would restrict brand-name drug companies' abilities to settle patent disputes by paying drugmakers to delay the introduction of generics -- an arrangement sometimes called "pay-for-delay."

The committee voted 12-7 to adopt the measure, known as the Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Act. The bill has eight co-sponsors, including two Republicans. One of them -- Sen. Charles Grassley (R, Iowa) -- said the legislation is a response to a flurry of pay-for-delay arrangements after two appellate court decisions in 2005 allowed such deals. Nearly half of all patent settlements in the two years after the decisions involved pay-for-delay, he said.

"Our bill takes direct aim at anti-consumer, anticompetitive agreements between generic and brand-name pharmaceutical manufacturers that line drugmakers' pockets at the expense of consumers," Grassley said.

The bill would presume that pay-for-delay deals are illegal. But the companies would have a chance to provide clear and convincing evidence in court that the settlement provides more pro-competition benefits than anti-consumer effects. If not, the Federal Trade Commission could issue a cease-and-desist order and pursue financial penalties against the parties.

Generic Pharmaceutical Assn. President and CEO Kathleen Jaeger said the bill needs a Congressional Budget Office cost estimate to help judge its merits. Sometimes patent settlements actually lead to the earlier introduction of generic drugs, which benefits consumers, she said. "Without the ability to settle litigation, generic companies are far less likely to challenge brand patents to the detriment of the health care system and consumers."

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R, Utah) said he agrees on the need to stop anti-consumer settlements, but he did not support the bill, partly because he believes it could discourage generic drugmakers from pursuing patent infringement lawsuits. "We've made some significant improvements to this bill, but I don't think we're there yet."

Sen. Herb Kohl (D, Wis.), the bill's sponsor, first introduced the measure in 2006. A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee approved its own legislation in June that would ban pay-for-delay agreements.

This content was published online only.

Senate rejects plan to repeal Medicare physician pay formula

October 26, 2009 on 12:00 pm | In Uncategorized | Comments Off Washington Senate Democratic leaders took steps to move a stand-alone bill that would have repealed the widely criticized Medicare physician payment formula in advance of other health system reforms, laying the foundation for a new system to update doctor rates. But the legislation was blocked Oct. 21 by Republicans and Democrats who expressed worries about its cost.

The development means that a multiple-year Medicare payment solution will have to wait until after the Senate takes care of a national health system reform bill later this year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, Nev.) said after the vote.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D, Mich.) on Oct. 13 introduced the Medicare Physician Fairness Act (S 1776), which would abandon the current physician pay formula and set future annual payment updates at zero, a revision that would cost roughly $245 billion over the next decade. By passing a bill that repealed the sustainable growth rate formula and eliminated its accumulated spending target debt, budget constraints that have hobbled permanent pay reform in the past would have been lifted, thereby allowing a new system to be crafted through future legislation.

"Enough is enough," Stabenow said before the vote. "Enough of running physicians up to the brink every year without them knowing what is going to happen. This legislation will wipe the slate clean."

But by a vote of 47 in favor to 53 opposed, the Stabenow bill failed to proceed beyond the first of possibly several procedural challenges that would have required 60 votes to overcome. A successful vote would have brought the legislation to the floor and limited debate on it.

The bill also would have been subject to a budgetary point of order. Because the costs of scrapping the payment formula wouldn't be paid for, the bill would have violated budget rules and raised the federal deficit.

"I don't know of a single person who wants to see reimbursement cuts to doctors who treat Medicare patients, but if Congress is going to step in and prevent it, we shouldn't do it by racking up more debt on the government's credit card," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R, Ky.) said before the vote.

The deficit issue also resonated with some key Democrats. For instance, Senate Budget Committee Chair Kent Conrad (D, N.D.) said he could not support the Stabenow bill without finding money to offset its costs. He instead floated an offset, $25 billion measure that would prevent physician cuts and replace them with annual 0.5% pay increases for only two years, through 2011. At this article's deadline, Senate negotiators were considering Conrad's proposal or a one-year patch as a possible interim measure.

Democratic House leaders indicated earlier in October that they would take steps to strip a 10-year Medicare physician payment provision out of pending health system reform legislation and move it as a separate measure. That action also would have the effect of lowering the projected cost of the House reform bill.

But leaders in that chamber want to pass the payment solution in conjunction with statutory "pay-as-you-go" legislation. That move would allow the physician pay piece and several other measures to raise the federal deficit, but would require budgetary offsets for any other new spending going forward.

Doctors, seniors step up the pressure

The American Medical Association and other physician organizations came out in strong support of the Medicare Physician Fairness Act soon after its introduction. AMA President J. James Rohack, MD, said the Association was "deeply disappointed" with the vote and said the Senate had failed Medicare beneficiaries.

"There is widespread agreement among Republicans and Democrats that the formula is broken and needs to be repealed," he said. "Congress created the Medicare physician payment system, and Congress needs to fix this problem once and for all to fulfill its obligation to seniors, baby boomers and military families."

An AMA ad calls for the Senate to pass legislation to preserve access to health care for America's seniors.[Photo from AMA video]

The AMA launched a television ad campaign Oct. 15 featuring seniors and physicians calling on the Senate to protect Medicare security by repealing the physician payment formula. The ad urged viewers to call their senators in support of the Stabenow bill.

Physician organizations also picked up key support from the seniors group AARP.

AARP and the AMA sent an Oct. 16 letter to the Senate urging lawmakers to pass the bill. "The continuing threat of steep Medicare payment cuts jeopardizes seniors' access to care and physicians' confidence in the government's commitment to funding a strong and reliable Medicare program," the letter stated.

Leaders of the AMA, AARP and the Military Officers Assn. of America appeared with Stabenow at an Oct. 20 news conference at the Capitol in an effort to push support for the legislation over the 60-vote margin.

But Rep. Wally Herger (R, Calif.) questioned AARP's endorsement of the measure, saying it was expected to result in more than $60 billion worth of Medicare premium increases for seniors. By law, 25% of any increases in Medicare Part B spending must come from beneficiaries' premiums unless Congress finds additional funds to keep premiums stable, he noted.

"It makes no sense for AARP to abandon their long-stated legislative priorities, which had included ensuring Medicare physician payment reform wouldn't increase seniors' premiums," Herger said.

A two-step process

Even if the Senate and House end up agreeing on some plan that involves repealing the current Medicare physician pay system, a new update formula would be needed if doctors were to receive rates that track their costs of providing care.

Congress could wipe the budgetary slate clean and eliminate reductions going forward, but Medicare still would need a new way to update physician pay, said Robert Doherty, senior vice president of governmental affairs and public policy for the American College of Physicians. "That will be a second piece of legislation that still needs to be developed. But you can't get to that step two until you get rid of the accumulated cuts."

Dr. Rohack reiterated the AMA's support for the permanent repeal language in the House health system reform bill. The House measure proposes establishing a new formula, starting in 2011, that would allow annual spending targets to grow based on a rate of the gross domestic product plus 1%. It also would provide a 5% Medicare bonus for physicians in specialties traditionally considered to be primary care.

The Senate Finance Committee version of health reform, which Democratic leaders still were busy merging with another bill, would replace the planned 21.5% cut in 2010 with a 0.5% increase, but it would not provide any additional updates in future years.

Dr. Rohack reiterated that a permanent Medicare pay overhaul -- not a temporary patch -- is an essential part of health system reform, regardless of the path it takes to enactment.

This content was published online only.

Exercise For Fat Loss

October 19, 2009 on 1:02 am | In Uncategorized | Comments Off

This article has been provided by guest author Kyle Wood known as one of the best among up and coming Melbourne personal trainers.  Kyle has a keen interest in new and more effective training for himself and his clients and he believes exercise should contribute to your life and make it more fruitful rather than detract from it. He currently runs a blog in his spare time called Kyle’s Fitness Facts so take a look there if you want to know more...

Exercise for Fat Loss

Diet is very important when losing weight. The best training system in the world cannot out do a terrible diet filled with junk food, irregular meals and no veggies. However, as you reduce your caloric intake your body adapts to that caloric intake and the weight loss will plateau. This is where a lot of people will give up, however for those who continue, more calories must be cut and so on. This reaches a point where the calories are cut so low that you begin to starve your body.

A better solution to making that second cut in calories (or even the first) is to add exercise. If you are already exercising regularly then I suggest adding more intense workouts to your training schedule.  Here are some great ideas (that can all be done without a gym membership):

Sprint Intervals

Find your local track or oval (soccer pitches work excellent). Start off by doing one or two laps to warm up and then follow this cycle:

• Jog 50m
• Sprint 50m
• Walk 50m

Repeat this 4 times. Each week add an additional cycle until you reach 10 cycles. When you can do that move onto something new.

Note: A full size soccer pitch is 50m wide and 100m long so you can complete 2 cycles in one lap.

Circuit Training:

I’m not talking about walking around in a circuit on weight machines for 30 minutes, I’m talking all out circuits that will get your heart pumping through your chest and your fat cells dropping like flies. For these circuits you will need a railing or play equipment bar about 1.2m (4 feet) off the ground and a low bench or steps.

Circuit 1:

• Feet elevated push up x12 (on knees if unable to do on toes)
• Bodyweight squat x12
• Crunches x 12
• Butt Kick Jumps x12

Repeat 2 times before moving onto circuit two

Circuit 2:

• Burpees x10
• Inverted row (on railing) x10
• Forward Walking Lunges x5
• Reverse Walking Lunges x5
• Pushups x10

Repeat 2 times. Each week add an extra circuit to one of the circuits until you reach a total of 10 circuits.

Hill Sprints

Find a small hill. Sprint to the top, walk back down, rinse, repeat. You will be amazed at how awesome this simple activity is for cardiovascular fitness and fat shedding. Do this 5 times and then add an extra sprint each week.

Remember to warm up thoroughly beforehand and then warm down and stretch afterwards. This applies when doing any exercise.

You want more?

If you work your way up to doing all of that in a week then you can add low intensity recovery cardiovascular work to your off days. This kind of exercise is excellent at promoting blood to muscles to aid in recovery from your previous workouts. Good ideas are swimming, bike riding or brisk walks with your partner/family/dog.

Give these high intensity techniques a go. Stick to them for at least 6 weeks before you truly give them your analysis. I believe by then you will be addicted to high intensity training. Not only will they help you lose weight faster but you will also have more energy and feel more alert. Before I go, some great fun facts:

• Muscle requires more energy to exist, so the more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism.
• 20-30 minutes high intensity training burns more total energy (calories) over 24 hours than 60 minutes of low-moderate total training.
• Recent studies are continuing to show that the lactic acid system (shorter bursts of energy like sprinting and circuits) is a far greater channel for fat oxidizing (fat burning) than the aerobic study (longer low intensity training) which might explain why sprinters are so ripped.

Postpartum Weight Loss- Best Exercise After Having a Baby

October 8, 2009 on 4:49 pm | In Uncategorized | Comments Off

To Sara of Fit by Sara: What is the best exercise I should do after having my baby?

From Sara of Fit by Sara: After your doctor has given you the thumbs up to exercise (typically 4-6 weeks postpartum), I recommend starting off slow.  Walking with your baby in the stroller or baby bjorn is great exercise plus your baby will love the movement and typically fall asleep.  Work up to 40 min. of walking 3-5 X per week.  As  you get stronger you can start implementing interval training to burn more calories and reduce body fat.  For example you can do 5-10 min. power walking followed by a 2 min. jog (I highly recommend a jogging stroller for running), then repeat the sequence for a total of 40 min.-Sara Holliday 

**Have a question for me?  I’d love to answer it!  Email me at info@fitbysara.com or leave a comment here.