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Civista Women's Health Center Debuts New Weight Loss Program

Great Bones at Any Age

Tips for Stress Reduction

Health and Healing through Massage

Glance at a magazine in the check-out line of your local grocery store and peruse the headlines, "Walk Off the Pounds in Just 3 Days", "Sexy Abs by Summer", "The Best Diet On Earth". On these same magazine covers you might also find such highlights as, "The Yummiest Chocolate Cake Recipe Ever", "10 Easy Dinners for the Cheese Lover in You", and "Eat All the Ice Cream You Want and Still Lose Weight". Confused and overwhelmed? You're not alone.

Americans spend more money on weight loss trends than any other group of individuals in the world and yet this nation's obesity epidemic continues to climb. The diet and weight loss industry was estimated at $30 billion in 1990 and since 1990, the number of people weighing 100lbs. or more above their ideal body weight has quadrupled. What's even more frightening is that men and women that are overweight are at a significant increased risk of death.

It's not that individuals that are overweight have not tried to lose the excess pounds; it's that they have been unsuccessful. The Civista Women's Health Center is proud to offer a weight management program that really helps women to lose weight and more importantly, improve their health.

This comprehensive 12 - week program is designed for women, by women. We considered your unique role in your families to make sure you can have the best success in your journey towards a healthier you.

Here are some unique factors in Civista Women's Health Center Weight Management Program:

• You will be part of a medically managed program including a team of licensed, certified, women's health professionals including a board certified physician and physician assistant, two registered, licensed dietitians, and two ACSM certified exercise physiologists.
• Weekly educational support sessions including a weigh-in, instructional lesson, and individual review of weekly food record. Topics covered include Holiday eating, Jump Start Your Metabolism, Healthy Recipe Substitutions, Eating Out, and Fitting in Fitness just to name a few.
•Unique activity offerings including weekly strength training for women and yoga classes, a pedometer (step counter) and tracking, incentive offers with area gyms and workout facilities especially for our program participants.
• Maintenance Program available after you complete your first 12 weeks to keep you on track at a reduced rate.

Our successful pilot program has paved the way for new participants to start looking and feeling better. Every woman in the pilot program lost weight and inches. One participant, Debbie Lanahm said, "I have lost 25 pounds and my clothes are too baggy and that's great, but I just feel so good now that I have more energy and sleep even better. I am really glad I made the commitment. If other women could just make the commitment to the program they'll start to feel better too.

" It is our goal at the Civista Women's Health Center to provide each woman enrolled in the weight management program the tools to reach her weight loss goals. No points, no fad diets, no gimmicks, just great results and the most qualified staff of health care professionals in the area. If you are interested in losing weight and keeping it off, come to a "Place to call your own". Come to the Civista Women's Health Center.

Call 301.609.5200 to register for the last weight loss program you will ever need.
Classes are offered quarterly.

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At my 14-year-old daughter's annual physical, her pediatrician discussed, at length the importance of calcium and weight bearing activity in osteoporosis prevention. When I mentioned how pleasantly surprised I was to see physicians teaching osteoporosis prevention in teenage girls, she replied "Osteoporosis is NOT a geriatric disease, it's a pediatric disease." How true!

Teaching teenagers, and in particular teenage girls, the importance of prevention is paramount during the time when the bone mass increases most rapidly. Until about age 20, bone tissue is most actively forming and between the ages of 25 to 30 the building process slows down.

According to Morris Notelovitz, MD, Ph.D., President and Founder of the Women's Medical Diagnostic Center in Gainesville, Florida, "Osteoporosis prevention should begin with the first menstrual period, not the last." Unfortunately, we don't really discuss osteoporosis prevention until the mid-life years and frequently that is too late. Osteoporosis is a silent disease and often the first symptom is a fracture. It is characterized by low bone mass and deterioration of bone tissue leading to susceptibility to fractures of the hip, spine and wrist.

According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, Osteoporosis can strike at any age, affects more than 28 million Americans, (80 percent of whom are women), and causes 1.5 million fractures annually. Most of those fractures (about 800,000/year) are to the spine or hip. The healthcare bill due to osteoporosis and associated fractures is $14 billion and rising. Osteoporosis is a preventable disease and is not an inevitable part of aging.

National Osteoporosis Foundation Web Site

An Ounce of Prevention
Intervention is key to helping our teenage daughters, nieces, and granddaughters understand what steps can be taken to ward off this very preventable disease. All women can benefit from these ounces of prevention that are worth a pound of bone! Eat a balanced diet rich in calcium. Easy sources are calcium-fortified orange juice, yogurt, and dark green leafy vegetables.

Provide a calcium supplement, if needed, to reach the desired intake. National Institutes of Health recommendations are:

11–24 years old—1200–1500 mg
25–49 years old—1000 mg
Pregnant or nursing—1200–1500 mg
Post-menopausal on Estrogen Replacement Therapy (ERT)—1000 mg
Post-menopausal not on ERT—1500 mg

• Exercise regularly. Weight bearing exercise, in particular, strength training and walking are beneficial.

• Don't start smoking and if you do smoke, quit!

• Reduce soda intake. Phosphorous in soda reduces the absorption of calcium.

• Reduce caffeine intake. Caffeine can speed up the breakdown of bone by increasing calcium loss through the kidneys.

• Limit alcohol intake.

• If you are a teenager, don't drink!

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Here are 5 Quick Tips to reduce stress in your life.

Take a hike. So often when the weather gets colder and the days get shorter we don't think of taking a walk. But this time of year is perfect for walking. The air is clear, the sun is bright, and nothing relieves stress like walking away from it. Somehow, things look better when you get back from a walk

Take a breather. Literally. During stressful times we tend to breathe more shallow and rapidly giving us less oxygen for our brains and muscles. Taking time out to breathe deeply several times a day will slow you down and clear your head.

Take time to help someone else. Nothing makes you appreciate what you have more than giving to someone who needs your help. There are plenty of good organizations that need your help this time of year. You'll help yourself as well as someone else.

"Take time to share good news." Loretta LaRoche, humorist and author of "Relax, You Only Live Once" says "Find someone doing something right and tell them." Your words can make someone's day.

Take a look at the bright side. Remember a sense of humor can put even the most stressful situations into perspective. Susan Vass, author of "Laughing Your Way to Good Health" says "In the spirit of concern for a troubled world, take care of your own mental health first. Take frequent laugh breaks throughout the day. Learn to laugh at yourself. Cultivate a sense of fun and play which carries over into all aspects of your busy life."

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Massage not only feels good; it's good for you. According to the American Massage Therapy Association, massage reduces heart rate and blood pressure, increases blood circulation and lymph flow, facilitates the removal of metabolic waste products resulting from exercise or inactivity, relaxes muscles, improves range of motion, and stimulates the release of endorphins, the body's natural pain killer. Physicians are increasingly recommending therapeutic massage for a wide variety of medical conditions ranging from allergies to carpal tunnel syndrome to insomnia.

A growing body of contemporary research is beginning to document the positive impact of massage therapy, whose origins date back 3,000 years ago to early Chinese folk medicine and ancient Ayurvedic medicine of India. Studies funded by the National Institutes of Health have found that cancer patients who had massage while undergoing bone marrow transplants were much less fatigued and anxious.

The Touch Research Institute, University of Miami School of Medicine, is investigating the effects of massage therapy in a broad range of clinical situations from post-traumatic stress to migraine headaches. Researchers have found that children with asthma demonstrate improved pulmonary function after massage therapy; massage therapy reduced stress and pain in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis; and mothers massaged during labor report less pain, experience shorter labors, shorter hospital stays and less postpartum depression.

Civista Women's Health Center is now offering Therapeutic Massage. Civista Women's Health Center is committed to improving the health of women focused on issues important to women with a preventative health approach. Call 301.609.5200 to schedule your appointment.

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