http.//www.thecharlottepost.conn
Cljarlottc
LIFE
THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2006
Religion 8B
Section
Helping
teen moms
lose
weight
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST LOUIS-Before she
became a teen mom, Emma
Richardson played high
sdiool sports and wore a size
8.
But 27 months after dau^-
ter Kajda’s biith, Richardson
feels stuck in a size 16 body,
forced to wear “older people’s
clothes” instead of the hot
stjdes for her generation.
‘1 feel fat,” the 18-year-old
high school junior said. “Like
a bear in hibernation.”
Richardson, 5-feet-4 and
180 pounds, would like to lose
weight but said her busy
schedule doesn’t allow for
basketball or for reading food
labels, so h^ “belly and hips”
aren’t budging.
She’d use a gym member
ship, but can’t afford it. She’d
walk, but her urban nei^-
borhood is too dangerous.
She’d take her daughter out
doors more often, but Kajda’s
asthma keeps them inside
during St. Louis’ hot, humid
summers.
Richardson also feels
tempted by the high-calorie
foods the rest of her family
eats.
“They’re all eating in fiunt
of me,” she said in finstra-
tion. “My mom will say.
That’s all you’re going to eat?
Thke more.’”
Researchers at Saint Louis
University School of Public
Health hope to help young
women like Richardson lose
weight gained during preg-
The schtx^’s Obesity
'f^vehtian Center has a five-
year, $3.5 million grant fiom
' /'dhe'National Cancer Institute
to study how best to do that.
Avoiding obesity helps pre-
’^v«it future heart problems,
diabetes and some cancers.
The university and its St.
Louis-based partner. Parents
as Tbachers, will launch a
five-year study to test the
effectiveness of various
strategies on 1,900 over-
wei^t teen moms in nine
states—Missouri, Illinois,
Iowa, Kansas, Delaware,
^chigan, Mississippi, South
Carolina and T^as.
The strategies combine diet
and ex^xase and emphasize
how small changes in b^iav-
ior can reap big results, said
Debra Haire-Joshu, principal
investigator and obesity cen
ter director.
The study—the first of its
kind—will focus on over
weight single moms of all
racial groups, £iges 15 to 18.
Each woman must be
enrolled in Parents as
Tfeachers, an international
program that helps educate
parents about eaiiy childhood
development, health and
other issues. The parent edu
cators will make additional
home visits to help moms
change bad diet habits and
make healthier choices.
The young women will be
advised to drink water and
low-fat milk instead of soft
drinks, and to replace junk
food with pretzels, fruit and
fresh vegetables. TheyTl
learn to limit portion size,
read food labels, and to walk,
take the stairs, and get up off
the couch
Internet chat rooms and
message boards will be set up
as a support network. The
ciuriculum and strategies
will be based in part on the
obstacles teen moms identify
in national focus groi^ set to
begin in February, research
coordinator Amanda Harrod
said.
The pregram wiU be evalu-
Ptease see STUDY/2B
Star treatment
Reynolds shares ups and downs in her new tell-all
By Chens F, Hodges
cheris hedges® thecharloueposi com
TV personality Star
Jones Reynolds could
have kept the secrets of
her ISO-poimd weight
loss and finding love to
herself, but that isn’t her
stjie.
Reynolds, a co-host of
ABC TV’s “The \Tew,”
wrote “Shine: A Physical,
Emotional & Spiritual
Journey to Finding Love”
to help other women fac
ing the same strug^es
that she tackled.
‘T went fix)m full-fig
ured to fat, fix)m fat to
obese, fiom obese to mor
bidly obese,” she says. T
am healthier than Tve
ever been. When I say
the words ‘morbidly
obese,’ it says to me it’s
something I will never be
again”
Reynolds will be in
Charlotte on Jan. 28 at
Joseph Beth Booksellers
at South Park signing
copies of her book at 1
p.m.
“Shine” is divided into
three parts. Part one
focuses on the physical;
weight loss, beauty tips
and fashion. Part two
probes the reader’s emo
tional preparedness,
including a look at past
relationships, previous
mistakes and wants and
desires. Part three delves
into spiritual life and
focuses on str^igthening
your relationship with
See STAR LIGHT/2B
Shed holiday pounds with these few tips
By Chens F. Hodges
cheris hedges® ihecharlottepost com
It’s time to undo the poimdage of
Christmas past.
If you’re experiencing Dunlap’ as
in, your belly has “done lapped”
your belt buckle, it’s time to rev up
your body
Healthmarkmultimedia.com has
three tips to insure that you lc»e
weight in 2006, control diabetes or
prevent it.
According to the site, following
the three R’s will make 2006 a
healthy one.
Reduce calorie intake;
• Increase the amount of fiiesh
vegetables in your diet
• Decrease amounts of meats,
WIRELESS STUDY
sweets, starches and fats in your
diet
• Explore low-fat, fat-fi;ee and
sugar-free substitutes for your
favorite foods
• Eat small nutritious meals
throughout the day
Revive your stride:
• Introduce bits of exercise each
time
• Work up to three one-hour ses
sions per week
• Add weight-bearing and flexi
bility to your r^ular routine
- carry two-pound weights or add
stair climbing to your usual walk
around the block
- include stretches of the arms
and body fixjm head to toe
• Find a workout buddy and
motivate each other to keep going
• Enroll in a wellness center to
find the right exercise program for
you
Reward yoursdf
• Give yourself treats to stay
motivated.
- Exercise three times a week-buy
yourself a comfortable pair of shoes
- Stay on your plan aU month-
take yourself out to dinner.
• Also reward and celebrate as
you reach key goals;
- Lose 10 pounds-take yourself
and a fiiend on a healthy retreat
- Lower blood pressure or (holes- -
terol to healthy levels-throw a
party with healthy food and lots of
dancing.
Women text more messages than men
By Cheris F. Hodges
cheris hedges®, thecharlottepostcom
Women may have the
gift of gab and according
to a wireless company’s
survey, they also have the
gift of texting.
Alltel wireless complet
ed a survey last month
that found that Charlotte
women send about 10
text messages a day
Charlotte men send
only six per day, and most
of these messages are
sent fiom woit
Sixty-two percent of
text messengers who
responded to the survey
send and receive mes
sages during woric houre,
according to the study.
However, it isn’t likely
that they’re texting a co
worker. Only 28 percent
of respondents are send
ing messages to cowcak-
ers. (Bosses r^ax, your
work day isn’t being
interrupted.)
‘The benefit of text mes
saging in business has
integrated text messag
ing into acc^epted business
practices,” said Wade
McGill, vice president of
wireless product manage-
ment at Alltel.
McGill added that text
messaging allows com
munications without
noise.
“Wth continued
advanc^nents in technol
ogy, text messaging will
only become easier and
more convenient for
Charlotte residents look
ing to keep in touch with
colleagues and filends,”
he said
Ihou^ text messaging
is convenient, it also
increases your cell phone
bill. Most carriers don’t
waive fees just because
you didn’t know In gen
eral, a wireless subscriber
can receive a text mes
sage for fiee, but it costs
between 4 and 10 cents to
send a message.
Thxt messaging is just
Texting Is a woman thing
study by Alltel wireless.
one of many ways in
which wireless carriers
are looking to find new
sources of revenue, pri
marily to offset the cost of
building new cell phone
networks - projects that
have run into the billions
of dollars, according to
CNETcom.
Alltel’s survey also
found
• Sixty-ei^t percent of
participants use text mes-
sa^ng to stay dose with
PHOTOWADE NASH
according to a new
filends.
• Forty-cme percent use
texting to flirt with poten
tial suitors and 51 per
cent would consider initi
ating flirting via text mes
sage.
And surdy much to the
chagrin of the Carolina
Panthers’ Jake
Delhomme, the ejuarter-
back area texters wcmld
like to message is New
England’s Tbm Brady
Can you be
fat and
healthy?
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO—Middle-age peo
ple who are overweight but have
normal blx)d pressure and cho
lesterol levels are kidding them
selves if they think their health
is just fine.
Northwestern University
rosearchei*s tracked 17,643
patients for three decades and
found that being overwei^t in
mid-life substantially increased
the risk of dying of heart disease
later in life —even in people who
began the study with healtliy
bl(X)d pressure and cholesterol
levels.
Hi^ blood pressure and cho
lesterol are strong risk factors for
heart disease. Both are common
in people who are too fat, and
often are thou^t to e^q^lain why
overweight people are more
prone to heart disease.
But there is a growing body of
science suggesting that excess
weight alone is an independent
risk factor for heart attacks,
strokes and diabetes.
The new study fits with that
evolving schcx)l of thought and
contrasts with a controversial
government study published last
year that suggested excess
weight might not be as deadly as,
previously thought.
“The take-home message
would be pay more attention to
your wQght even if you don’t
have an unhealthy risk factor
profile yet,” said lead author
Lijing Yan, a researcher at
Northwestern and Peking
University
The study appears in
Wednesday’s Journal of the
American Medical Association.
Participants were Chicago-
area men and women in their
mid-40s on average who had no
heart disease or diabetes when
the study begsin. They were fol
lowed for an average of 32 years.
The researchers tracked deaths
fix>m cardiovasnjlar disease and
diabetes, and hospitalizations for
those conditions, starting at ^e
65.
A total of 1,594 heart disease
deaths occurred, 31 of them in
people who started the study
with normal blood pressure and
cholesterol.
Among participants with nor
mal blood pressure and choles
terol at the start, those who were
obese — or grossly overweight _
were 43 percent more likely than
normal-wei^t participants to
die of heart disease later on.
They were also four times as
likely to be hospitalized for heart
disease.
Participants who were modest
ly overwei^t but had normal
blood pressure and cholesterol
still ran a hi^ier risk than the
normal-wei^t people.
A total of 1,187 participants —
494 of them overweight or obese
• had normal blexxi pressure
(120 over 80 or lower) and cho
lesterol levels (under 200) at the
outset. Standard bexiy-mass
index categories were used to
define weight • BMIs of 25 to 29
were considered overwei^t and
30 and above was obese.
Yan said it is possible that
some overwei^t participants
developed hi^ blood pressure
and cholesterol problems during
the study, which could have con
tributed to their deaths. But she
said researchers increasingly
believe that beii^ too fat causes
otha* cardiovascmlar problems,
too.
Fat tissue “is not likf» an inert
storage depot- it’s a very dynam
ic organ that is actually poduc-
ing hormones and chemical mes-
Please see CAN YOU/3B
mmo