February is American Heart Month.

Dr. Luis Tami, interventional cardiologist, will discuss “Heart Health” on Wednesday, February 4, at 7:30 p.m. at Body Mechanics Fitness & Training.

The American Heart Association provides these tips to increase activity levels at your worksite:

• Brainstorm project ideas with a co-worker while taking a walk.

• Stand while talking on the telephone.

• Walk down the hall to speak with someone rather than using the telephone.

• Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Or get off a few floors early and take the stairs the rest of the way.

• Walk while waiting for the plane at the airport.

• Stay at hotels with fitness centers or swimming pools and use them while on business trips.

• Take along a jump rope in your suitcase when you travel. Jump and do calisthenics in your hotel room.

• Participate in or start a recreation league at your company.

• Form a sports team to raise money for charity events.

• Join a fitness center or Y near your job. Work out before or after work to avoid rush-hour traffic, or drop by for a noon workout.

• Schedule exercise time on your business calendar and treat it as any other important appointment.

• Get off the bus a few blocks early and walk the rest of the way to work or home.

• Walk around your building for a break during the work day or during lunch.

“I believe that our future is our choice…”

 —President Obama

• As our country pulls together under the guidance of this brilliant young leader, we must choose a pro-active approach to our own bio-individual health.
• Exercise, strength training and cardio, good nutrition, stress management, all contribute to optimal health and reduction of degenerative disease symptoms.
• This is a good start to help our country retrieve its greatness by increasing productivity and reducing medical costs.

Make Your Food Work For You!

GIGO is an old-school computer term, “garbage in – garbage out”. It fits when considering the quality of food in one’s diet. Fried foods, soda, excess salt or sugar, trans fats, partially hydrogenated fat, high fructose corn syrup, fatty meats, MSG, hydrolyzed protein and preservatives are major culprits you want to avoid if your vision of your long term future includes your good health.

Unfortunately, it is often difficult to find anything healthy when you’re trying to find a snack in a vending machine or a quick meal during a lunch break or for an inexpensive dinner out. You’re better off packing your own lunch and snacks – try an almond butter sandwich on Ezekiel bread, an apple or grapes; carry a bag of raw nuts (suggesting almonds or walnuts); make your own trail mix with ingredients that are healthy and that you really enjoy. Just a little of this nutrient -dense snack provides satiety and health benefits.

“The food choices you make
will either build you up,
or do you in..”

-Suzanne Somers on Larry King Live / CNN Saturday night, 12/20/08

Suzanne Somers said a lot of wonderful things about preventive healthcare on Larry King Live tonight. I agree with everything she said except for one thing and I especially applaud her encouraging the teaching of children about living healthier.

Here are some other highlights:

• “Dark chocolate is good for serotonin and is an anti-oxidant.”
• She spoke about how important it is to consume good oils, omega 3s, and how we consume too much omega 6s, including safflower and canola oils.
• She lamented that the flouride in her city’s water was highly carcinogenic.
• She spoke of the importance of eating real food and how butter is not the enemy.
• She was spellbinding when she demonstrated how difficult it is for improperly chewed food to traverse your digestive tract and how bloating and indigestion could result.

I only took issue with one thing – I prefer the use of digestive enzymes to hydrochloric acid to improve digestion. Oh, and I learned something majorly exciting to me – there is a nannotechnology patch for detox with glutathione. This resounded with me as I am always endeavoring to support my liver.

—Stephanie Shorr December 20, 2008

• Snack before you go.
• Don’t skip meals to compensate for the party.
• Eat slowly and savor the flavor.
• Socialize away from the buffet, table, bar, or kitchen.
• Take moderate portions of specialty food you really love.
• Try spritzers or low calorie mixers, and limit use of alcohol.
• Use smaller plates & don’t go for seconds.

November 1,2008

Put your food to work for you…

As we are living in these one-day-at-a time, tremulous times where everything appears to be melting around us, I wonder what I can do to make it better. This “Put your food to work for you” article is the first in a series of “how to improve your health” articles where I will share what I have learned in my life so far. The main points are in boldface type to make them more palatable.

If you can eat foods that maintain or improve your health, why wouldn’t you?

I am writing this on the morning after Halloween and I’m sure my pancreas is in a state of limp exhaustion after eating too much candy last night. We all digress, and I believe the endorphins produced by chocolate are highly beneficial. The points to remember here are: quality over quantity, dark chocolate has antioxidants, a small piece is sufficient, too much of anything is dangerous.

For anyone who doesn’t know this, when you eat too much sugar, your pancreas is called to action to produce insulin, a storage hormone. The insulin clears your blood of excess glucose and stores it in cells as fat.

Please recognize that French fries, chips, any simple carb which may have little or no sugar in its ingredients is turned into sugar in your body. Therefore, to provide better functionality and reduce opportunities to become or remain overweight or obese: Choose carbs with fiber, vitamins and/or minerals to provide better functionality.

More to come…

-Steff Shorr

Be a part of this community-wide effort to improve health and fitness.

Increase your knowledge of exercise and good nutrition…. Receive health information by email…Learn new stress management techniques….Make healthy choices … Attend events…. Join walking groups….

Come to our first event on Tuesday, October 28, at 8:00 p.m. at Body Mechanics Fitness & Training (address below). October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Trivel McKire of the Broward County Department of Health will make a presentation on Breast Health and Breast Cancer Detection. Call for more information 954/749-8558.

Sign up In person on BMO’s Home-Page … or visit our Fitness Center:

Body Mechanics Fitness & Training5109 N. University Drive, Lauderhill, FL 33351
On our website: www.bodymechanicsonline.com

By email:

By phone: 954/749-8558 or 954/804-8604

By fax: 954-749-8098

The first 30 people to sign up receive a free personal training session!

5109 N. University Drive Lauderhill, FL 33351 954/749-8558

PRESS RELEASE

Fit & Healthy Florida kickoff in Broward County!!!


Simone Narcis of the Lauderhill Chamber of Commerce and Sharon Trepiccione of Bank Atlantic have formed a strategic alliance with Stephanie Shorr and Tony Ferguson of Body Mechanics Fitness & Training to bring Fit & Healthy Florida, a comprehensive health and wellness collaboration, to south Florida. Fit & Healthy Florida will spark interest to improve health with the goal of mobilizing the community to exercise more, choose good nutrition and endeavor to reduce stress. Fit & Healthy Florida is the community wellness program of Body Mechanics Fitness & Training’s Wellness Plan.

The idea for this project has been under discussion for over two years. “People should understand the need for exercise and make healthy eating habits a priority,” said Stephanie Shorr. “The statistics regarding obesity are staggering and associated diseases and symptoms are epidemic.” According to the National Guidelines and Tools for Cardiovascular Risk Reduction, published by the PCNA (Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association), 140 million people – 66% of the population, are overweight or obese and these conditions together represent the number 2 preventable cause of death in the U.S.

As Tony Ferguson, owner of Body Mechanics, always says to anyone who says they don’t have time to exercise, “There are 24 hours in every day. Surely you can take one of them for yourself and exercise.”

The kickoff event is on Tuesday, October 28 at 8:00 pm, onsite at Body Mechanics Fitness & Training, 5109 N. University Drive, Lauderhill, Florida. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Fit & Healthy Florida’s first event is “Breast Health & Breast Cancer Detection,” a presentation by Trivel McKire. Ms. McKire is Program Manager for the Breast & Cervical Cancer Initiative of the Broward County Health Department.

Fit & Healthy Florida follows the principles and guidelines of HealthyPeople2010, managed by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service).

HealthyPeople2010 emphasizes four pillars of health:

• 1— Be physically active
• 2— Eat a nutritious diet
• 3— Get preventive screenings
• 4— Make healthy choices

Effective immediately, all Broward residents are invited to visit Body Mechanics Fitness & Training to have their BMI and Waist/Hip Ratio calculated. BMI scores are used to determine the existence and degree of obesity. The Waist/Hip Ratio is currently used as a marker to help determine potential risk of heart disease. Information regarding health and nutrition will be sent to email addresses of participants on a regular basis.

Sign up to improve your health in a community effort with the common goal of of improving health and fitness. The first 30 people to signup for this cooperative effort will receive 1 free personal training session.

Sign up In person: Body Mechanics Fitness & Training, 5109 N. University Drive, Lauderhill, FL 33351

On our website: www.bodymechanicsonline.com

By email:

By phone: 954/749-8558 or 954/804-8604

By fax: 954-749-8098

For further information contact:

Stephanie Shorr 954/804-8604

Simone Narcis 954/318-6118

Sharon Trepiccione 954/721-0248.

New Era in Cardiovascular Medicine: Early Detection and less invasive therapies

Atherosclerotic Disease is a Generalized Process

Although the single most important disease entity is coronary artery disease (CAD), cardiovascular specialists are now treating atherosclerotic vascular disease as a generalized process that may affect any organ. Not uncommonly patients may have symptoms in one or two areas simultaneously. If it affects the heart, patients may experience chest pain or discomfort (angina) or heart attacks (myocardial infarction). If it affects the carotid arteries, it may result in brain damage (stroke). When severe blockages obstruct blood flow to the kidneys they result in worsening hypertension or kidney failure. Finally, if the leg arteries are affected, patients may have leg pain when walking (claudication).

Another consequence of atherosclerosis besides blockages, are aneurysms. The most common serious aneurysm occurs in the abdominal aorta. The outcome may be fatal if rupture occurs.

New Approach in Dealing with Affected Patients

Life expectancy and quality of life among the elderly (over age 65) continues to improve in U.S. The generally held impression that old age is synonymous with sickness, disability, and death is incorrect. In fact, three fourths of the elderly have no or only minor limitations of their activities. Over half of the elderly are vigorous and completely independent.

The leading causes of disability and death in the elderly are due directly or indirectly to vascular disease: heart attacks, strokes, and claudication. The traditional approach has been a conservative one because the only therapeutic alternative was major surgery, which was considered “too aggressive” or “too risky” for the elderly. “Cost-conscious” insurance companies, HMOs and government have further promoted this approach.

Recent advances in the non-surgical treatment of coronary and peripheral vascular diseases have created the opportunity for less invasive treatment for the vast majority of vascular patients. This new technology and the improved health of older Americans are changing the previous “indifferent” approach for a new, more active and aggressive, attitude that emphasizes early diagnosis and less invasive treatment.

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Omega-3 Fatty Acids: The Facts

Are they really helpful?

The American Heart Association (AHA) has endorsed the use of omega-3 fatty acids to prevent cardiovascular (CV) events. Three large trials that combined included more than 32,000 participants, have shown significant reduction of CV events and mortality. The benefit occurred in patients who had experienced already a heart attack: The DART trial 20 yrs ago reduced the 2-year mortality by 29%, and more recently, two megatrials, the GISSI trial in Italy and JELIS trial in Japan, have confirmed reduction in death by 21% at 3.5 years and 19% at 5 years, respectively. The specific omega-3 fatty acids associated with this benefit were those from fish oils: Docosahexaenoic (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic (EPA). Other sources of omega-3 fatty acids such as nuts and green leafy vegetables are inadequate dietary source and benefit is questionable.

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