It is important to note that I was not serious about it. I was just pointing out and exaggerating some points. It’s like saying that the reason that the sea level is rising is that fat Americans are pushing the continent down, making it appear as though the sea levels are rising around us. That’s absurd isn’t it? Well, that’s as absurd as some of the claims these new Global Warming studies are making.

I’m all for the Earth and greening things up, I really am. But when you start pulling things out of the air and claiming idiocies it gets to me. I can’t stand it when groups have agendas and try to force their agendas down your throat. I’m already fat, stop force-feeding me all this crap!

Go out and do your part for the Earth and the environment (or don’t), but let’s keep it in perspective. I linked to my fat people/global warming post from last year above. Give it a read if you want a quick laugh.

Here is another piece on Earth Day and how I think it’s a big waste of time. Sort of like only buying flowers and doing nice things for your loved one on Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day…what about the other 364 days of the year? Why not practice Earth Year?!

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Fat People and Global Warming…Happy Earth Day

Happy Holidays

I can’t believe it’s already Christmas Eve 2008. It seemed like just yesterday it was Spring time and we were at the beach enjoying the sun. It just goes to show you how important it is to live in the now (but still plan for tomorrow). As Santa approaches all of our homes today, I want to wish you all a Happy Holiday season and a great 2009 New Year.

Holiday Health Posts from Health Bloggers

Here are some holiday posts from around the health blogosphere, if I missed your holiday post let me know in the comments with a link to the post and I will approve it. I read these blogs frequently for their health tips and sometimes candid writings about their health. Feel free to subscribe to their feeds.

A Jewish Mizfit’s Guide to Making It Through Xmas & Cruising into the New Year @ MizFit

Secret Guide to Eating ANYTHING You Want at Christmas @ Diet Blog

It’s Holiday, Not Holimonth @ Get Fit Slowly

3 Quick & Simple Holiday Eating Tips @ Mr. Low Body Fat

Diet Holiday Cookies…..I Wish @ Fatty Weight Loss

A Couples History in Ornaments @ Roni’s Weigh

Dear Santa! @ The Anti Jared

OFF ON HOLIDAY! @ Discipline or Regret

Blizzards, Cabin Fever, and My Parents @ 4XLT

Dashing Through the Snow @ Diets In Review

Christmas Gift Ideas for Fitness Fanatics @ Families Fitness Blog

An Awesome Christmas Gift… @ Total Transformation Test

Healthy Christmas Dinner Ideas and Variations @ Former Fat Guy Blog

Bashing Holiday Stress + Happy Hanukkah! @ Diabetes Mine

Easy Exercises To Do During the Holidays @ Weight Ladder

It’s Christmas Time In The City @ Big Fat Deal

The CF Holiday party: Yule be surprised @ Cranky Fitness

Holiday Giveaways @ Health Bolt (not necessarily Holiday posts, but they are giving away prizes each day of the month).

Well, that’s about it. Make sure to watch yourself this holiday season and maintain those good habits you’ve built. It’s okay to eat whatever you want, just control how much of it you do eat.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Happy Holidays, Health Posts from Health Bloggers

One organ that is scientifically proven to have been utilized for internal food storage is the appendix. If the appendix served as a back up calorie source in times of need why wouldn’t fat storage as a whole be equally valuable? We have all heard the joke: “Hey, I may be fat but I’ll survive a food shortage!” I have used that line once, twice, or trice in my life time.

So can having extra fat keep you alive in a post apocalyptic nuclear crisis? I say yes! When Earth’s food crops are molecularly incinerated and the local Taco Bell is nothing but a pile of rubble sound filled sour cream fat folks will rule the Earth. I can definitely imagine a slow trekking group of chubby cave people. I think we better craft new depictions of what early man’s body looked like, less muscle more flab. Extra large on the Woolly Mammoth skin pimp trench coat please!

Extra FAT Facts:
Our genes determine the fat and muscle composition in our bodies. Genes and heredity even call the shots when it comes to where on our frame we carry fat. If your mom has a fat butt chances are you will have one. But I advise all male readers not to blame your mothers for your man boobs.

Extra FAT Facts:
Extra fat can serve as a shock absorber during weight training. Most competitive body builders hold on to body fat during intense training to help prevent joint injuries. Of course muscle heads eventually shed the excess fat and water weight the closer they get to contest day. Nevertheless fat and water can do wonders to keep you injury free during heavy lifts and mass building. Drink at least half a gallon of water before and after training. So take that skinny people!

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Is Being Fat in Our DNA?

Due to the increase of obesity in today’s society everyone is looking for quick weight loss. This is dangerous, and can lead to developing binge eating disorder. Eating disorders are psychiatric abnormalities in one’s eating habits. Tabloids display the secret eating disorders of movie stars and musicians. Yet the news never discuss how dangerous these eating disorders really are, and how common they are.

Most quick weight loss techniques require crazy unrealistic diets. Obviously these diets never keep the weight off. Even if a diet works, often the pounds lost are gained back slowly simply because no one can diet forever. The problem with quick weight loss trial is that they often require you to avoid junk foods and fast foods. This often leads to binge eating.

Binge eating is consuming very large quantities of food in a short period of time. Binge eating isn’t related to hunger most of the time. Often it’s consuming food beyond the point of satisfying one’s physical hunger. Binge eaters often eat large amounts of food even when they aren’t really hungry. Binge eating usually leads to feelings of guilt or sadness because of the future weight gain it will lead to.

Following the popular advice of diets that recommend avoiding junk foods and fast foods is dangerous. When one avoids such foods, one starts craving them more and more. These carvings get out of control and usually lead to binge eating. For example, if a person has been avoiding cookies, and then decides to eat one, he’ll often end up eating several more and lose control.

It’s important to note that binge eating is different from bulimia. Bulimia usually involves overeating which is followed by self-induced vomiting, or fasting. Binge eating is also one of the main causes of obesity today. Obesity is very dangerous for one’s health, yet often it’s very challenging to treat.

Often obese individuals eat for comfort, and develop food addictions. These addictions can also be a form of emotional eating. Emotional eating is basically when one eats not to satisfy physical hunger but rather to deal with tough or negative emotions. Stress eating is a common example where one will consume more food on a stressful day.

Binge eating is usually kept a secret. A food addict will usually overeat in private to avoid others finding out about their disorderly eating habits. This is why binge eating is very tough to treat because sufferers often keep it a secret. Many will overeat until becoming obese and then will eventually feel desperate and seek help.

Therapy is the most common treatment for binge eating. There are also recovery clinics that a binge eater can check into. Additionally there are many books on the topic where the authors share their own recovery efforts, what worked for them and what didn’t. There are also support groups such as overeaters anonymous and eating disorder support forums online.

Next time you are thinking about quick weight loss, think again. Trying to lose weight quickly is unrealistic and dangerous. Also being obsessed with your body shape can lead to developing eating disorders. It’s best to lose weight naturally through exercise, and slowly implementing healthier eating habits.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Rise in Obesity Related to Quick Weight Loss Diets?

Health Ranker
It’s been a long time since I updated on the status of Health Ranker. I launched this social media site focused on health back around March 2008 and it has really done well so far. I appreciate the support it has received from the health blogging community. I have some site enhancements planned for the next few months. I’ve made some great contacts and things are looking pretty promising.

I use the site to get inspiration for posts and to keep up to date on health news. As the enhancements are made it will continue to blossom into a top health news destination.

Feel free to visit the site and submit your health blog posts, videos, and those from around the web.

Fitness Health Network
It’s been a really long day, and I still need to do some cardio, so I am going to keep this short and share some posts from the Fitness Health Network.

Weight Ladder writes about Natural Remedies.

NCN write about Debt Reduction and Weight Loss.

Mr. Low Body Fat posts his Fat Loss Inspirational Story.

Lazy Man covers Common Female Strength Training Misconceptions.

Journal of Healthy Living takes a Bike Ride.

Get Fit Slowly talks about Fat Free and Half & Half.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Fitness Health Network, Health Ranker, and Sorry

There are many reasons to purchase health insurance: to off-set the cost of prescription pills, to pay for treatment for chronic conditions, such as asthma, to cover the cost of maternity and well-baby care, as well as the cost of childbirth itself, and to help guarantee access to medical care in emergent situations, but all health insurance is not equal.

Whether your insurance comes from your employer, or you are purchasing your own, you will most likely have to choose between an HMO – Health Maintenance Organization – or a PPO – Preferred Provider Organization. While there are similar features of each (discounted fees in-network, for example) there are also some major differences. Here’s a quick description of each:

HMOs
These are the most affordable health insurance plans available, but they’re also the least flexible, and are generally geared toward members of a large group. In fact a major objective of the HMO system is to reduce medical expenses for everyone by sharing the cost, and increasing preventive care.

Advantages of HMOs include:
• Customers get low co-payments and minimal paperwork, as well as access to preventive care programs.
• Customers pay only the co-payment for most routine visits to in-network doctors, including specialists.
• HMO health insurance typically includes routine doctor’s visits, outpatient services, medical care, emergency room visits, and short-term mental health care.

Disadvantages of HMOs include:
• Customers must choose a PCP, or primary care physician, who oversees their medical care.
• If you go to an out-of-network doctor, you are not covered.
• Your PCP must refer you to any specialists you need to see (though most HMOs now allow women direct access to ob/gyns).

PPOs
PPOs, also known as POS plans are similar to HMOs in that customers must still select a primary care physician, but they offer a bit more flexibility in that there is coverage for out-of-network doctors, it’s just not as much. In-network physician visits generally involve a low co-payment.

Advantages of PPOs include:
• A low co-payment for in-network doctors and specialists, as well as emergency care.
• The ability to visit out-of-network doctors
• Direct access to specialists
• Preventive services and well-being workshops (weight loss and quitting smoking, for example)

Disadvantages of PPOs include:
• Customers must still select a PCP
• Visiting an out-of-network doctor may entail extra paperwork, and instead of the doctor billing your insurance, you may have to pay upfront, and be reimbursed.

Whether you ultimately choose an HMO, PPO, or individual plan (in which you don’t have a primary care physician, and simply see doctors as-needed), one thing to remember is to remain insured, especially if you have ongoing medical issues. If you allow health insurance to lapse, you could end up with a chronic condition not being covered, or having to wait a year for coverage. As well, if you visit a private hospital without insurance, treatment may be withheld (county facilities generally cannot refuse).

Be sure that you address all concerns either with your insurance agent, or with your company’s benefits representative before committing to a plan, or severing your relationship with the insurance or the company itself, and remember, health insurance of any kind is still better than not having any.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Health Insurance: A Brief Overview

So often people try new fad diets but cannot (and should not) continue to follow the guidelines of these diets. Atkin’s, South Beach, The Chocolate Diet — you name it and it probably exists. Anyway, there is no reason for you to go on a “diet” – Yes, whatever you consume throughout the day is part of your “diet”, but work on creating a balanced diet and you will create for yourself a lifetime of proper nutrition and good health.

The problem with fad diets, is that people need to make complete lifestyle changes to adhere to the terms of whichever diet they have chosen. If you have a family you need to eat specialized meals or buy completely different food than the rest of the people eating with you. It can become extremely burdensome. Here is a number of ways to make small changes throughout your day that will make a big difference in the long run. Of course some amount of self control is still needed, but much less than if you were to get on a stupid fad diet. After all, do you want to be healthy or not?

Breakfast – If you do not already eat breakfast, the addition of breakfast can make a huge, healthier change for you. I wrote about the importance of breakfast, calcium, and fiber, but I will briefly explain them here as well.

Not enough time for breakfast? Wake up 15 minutes earlier and you have just begun your journey to lose an additional 12 pounds in the next year.

Don’t like breakfast foods? Don’t be turned away because you don’t like cereal or because you don’t like milk. Have a couple pieces of whole wheat toast with low fat butter or peanut butter, a glass of juice (orange, apple, pineapple), and a banana.

Portion size – Instead of 2 sandwiches, eat only 1. Instead of bringing a bag of chips to watch TV, bring a bowl with a handful of chips.

Frequency – Eat less, more often. This is similar to portion size, but linking them together has a huge impact. Instead of eating 2 sandwiches, and then 2 hours later eating something else, simply eat 1 sandwich, and then 1-2 hours later eat another sandwich. When you eat a lot and then don’t eat for awhile, your body goes into conservation mode. It doesn’t know when it will get energy again, so it stores it just in case it won’t for awhile. If you train your body to understand that you are providing it constant energy, it will work with you and become a constant calorie burning machine.

Water – Water is one of the most important factors. DRINK WATER! Bring a regular size cup of water to your desk computer. When you finish, go fill it up again. Do this all day. You will be annoyed by peeing every 13 seconds, but your body will thank you. Drinking cold water helps weight loss as your body works harder to bring the cold water up to your body’s temperature. Drink water when you are really hungry, and then eat. You will eat less. Creating a deficit in your eating vs. what you burn = weight loss! Drink water or skim milk instead of pop or 2% milk. Small change… Big results!

Fiber – Fiber is great at filling you up. You eat less food but feel full quicker. Whole wheat bread, vegetables, healthy cereals (raisin bran, cheerios, etc), fruits, beans, wheat pasta are all great examples.

Sugar – Sugar intake releases insulin which promotes the storage of fat (not good). Candy and pop are completely “sugarified” and un-needed. Mild portions if you are craving it, otherwise lay off!

Fat – Fat is needed, there is no doubt about that. But, there is fat in nearly everything we eat, and we do not need much extra. Therefore, instead of a turkey and cheese sandwich, eat just a turkey sandwich instead (use mustard and/or pickles as mustard has 0 calories).

Sleep – Sleep more. When you don’t get enough sleep, it drives leptin levels down, which means you don’t feel as satisfied after you eat. Lack of sleep also causes ghrelin levels to rise, which means your appetite is stimulated, so you want more food.

Remember, attempting to implement all of these changes at once will be extremely difficult. Best results are shown when people work really hard at changing 1 or 2 things per week. If you can concentrate really hard on decreasing sugar and doing that alone, you are much more likely to be successful in making these small, yet very effective changes in your lifestyle.

Good luck.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

8 Reasons Why Size Matters: When Smaller is King

With the ever increasing gas prices (doesn’t seem like it’s going down any time soon) I figured I had better take advantage of it some how. One way that I thought of was to not use my car as much. That’s right. I have not only saved money, but gotten healthier in the process. I don’t drive to every single destination unless absolutely necessary.

“But that’s impossible Israel,” you say. WRONG! I know people that live 3 or 4 miles from a place they need to get and get there without the use of a car. I live in Florida and it’s pretty much important that you have a car here. It’s bad actually. Originating from New York City, I am used to walking and biking everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE. This one time I had purchased a mountain bike and rode it all the way down to where I work. The actual distance usually took an hour on the MTA subway. Checking Google Maps reveals that the distance I rode was 12 miles each way! Not bad at all. I recall being extremely sweaty and my butt hurting from the long ride. That same approach can be used in places like Tampa or The Boondocks, Alabama (this is a fictitious location).

The point I’m trying to make is that you don’t necessarily have to be a slave to the rising gas prices. A bike at Wal-Mart, Target, or K-Mart can go for as low as $199. That’s about what some people spend on gas per month, depending on where they live. The price per gallon in my part of Tampa is at $3.74 at the time of this writing. If you can’t ride all the way to work maybe you can ride to the parking station, park the bike and ride the train or bus to work for the remainder of the distance. That’s one example. Or how about jogging to work and showering there? If you put you mind to it you can come up with some way to make a positive (health, fitness) out of a negative (high gas prices). Another example of something I did in New York was workout during my lunch break. Luckily for me there was a gym two blocks away. I know that’ not an example of taking advantage of the gas prices, but I wanted to illustrate the ability to think outside the box.

What about when you need to go to Blockbuster Video, the bank, or run some errand? Have you ever considered just walking there? For dinner the other night we walked to the restaurant. It was a 15 minute walk that not only allowed for a quick, healthy workout but brought us closer together (we spoke the whole way there). My 3 year old daughter was also along for the walk and loved it. It reminded me of all the walks I used to take in NY. Back in NY there are tons of hidden landmarks scattered throughout the five boroughs that people aren’t aware of. Over the years walking had helped me discover them. Walking to dinner that night opened my eyes up the beauty of my community and it’s surroundings. So walking not only was healthy for my body, it was healthy for my mind.

Did you know that walking, combined with healthy eating, can boost your metabolism which would help you lose weight? All it would take is 30 minutes a day 5 or 6 times a week. That can equal to quite a few pounds in the span of a year.

What are some ways you can think of making high gas prices benefit your health and weight loss?

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Rising Gas Prices Can Help Your Weight Loss

• If your BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9, your weight is considered healthy.
• If it falls between 25.0 and 29.9 you are overweight but not obese. Not yet.
• Greater than 30 places you in the obese range. You may want to sit down first.

Accepting the Truth

Most of you reading this post are either overweight or obese. You must accept this fact in order to move on. Remember, you do not have to look or feel overweight to be overweight. If your BMI is greater than 25, you are at an unhealthy weight and at an increased risk of obtaining several deadly medical conditions.

Waist Circumference

Waist circumference is another useful method to determine if you are at a healthy weight. Large amounts of fat around your midsection increase the risks associated with being overweight. To determine your waist circumference, measure around your bare abdomen right above the two highest points of your hip. A man’s measurement should be less than 40 inches and a woman’s less than 35 inches. If your waist circumference is not what it should be, your first goal will be to get it there.

Body Fat Percentage

The Body Mass Index and waist measurement are reliable ways to determine healthy weight. However, some of you still doubt your overweight or obese status. You skeptics should then get your body fat percentage checked. Body Fat Percentage (B.F.P.) is the percent of your body that is composed of fat.

• A healthy BFP for women is 15% to 25%, and for men is 10% to 20%.
• Overweight is described as a BFP of 25.1% to 30% for women and 20.1& to 25% for men; and
• Obesity is considered greater than 30% and greater than 25% respectively.

Body fat percentages can be checked at home using special bathroom scales. More accurate, expensive or difficult to obtain tests are also available: Dexa Scanning (uses x-rays), Underwater Testing (uses water) or Bod Pods (uses air).

Use these various methods to figure out whether or not you are at a healthy weight. If you are not, make a commitment to start losing weight today.

Dr. Kalvin Chinyere is a weight-loss expert and ex-fat man. He is also the creator of the Don’t Go Broke Weight Loss Plan and the main contributor at Dr. Kal’s Blog.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Are You Overweight?

I gave in because I wanted to see what the big deal was that everyone was making. Now I know! Twitter is like a mini version of blogging, letting you use 140 characters per entry. It’s like an instant messenger and a blog molded together. It’s pretty addictive actually. I can see how someone would just stay online all day, tweeting away their health. But this isn’t about “killing” yourself by being online too much. It’s about the potentially positive aspects that Twitter can have on your health.

Side thought: I wouldn’t be surprised if some one starts some form of twitter-only blog or writing, totally removing any semblance of a blog hosted with its own domain. If you do, I’m expecting credit for giving you the idea . That would be a cool project actually. Anyway, back to what I was trying to get at with health.

After a few days of tweeting I started thinking of how I can use Twitter to help achieve my health goals and spread health information (instead of just letting it consume me). Twitter is a socially focused tool. It’s easy to build a large and dedicated community. That got me thinking: why not use this awesomely-awesome tool to communicate with people about health. It’s instant gratification. If you need a health question answered or a new workout idea just tweet it and bammmmm, you got it (if your followers have that info).

At the very least it can be a great supplement to the vast amount of web tools available. It’s pretty cool to see what some big name bloggers are doing and reading. There are some major brands that are starting to see the benefits of social media in general, which is an extension of their customer service. It’s also another way to network with like minded individuals, I’ve already made a few connections that may lead to good things.

So would you guys like to start a health focused Twitter group? Would you take advantage of this type of community? I would like to hear your thoughts.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Twitter’s Effect on Your Health

Today, April 22nd, is Earth Day. So I guess I should be saying happy earth day, right? Earth Day is supposed to inspire awareness and appreciation of Earth. Wow, an entire day just for the environment.

What’s The Big Deal?

One day out of the year we should all respect the Earth. We shouldn’t use plastic bags, or drink out of things that aren’t recyclable. We should take all of our aluminum cans back to the supermarkets and earn a little money. Yeah, that’s only one day. Earth day has become an excuse for companies and stores to pretend that they care about the environment. They send out millions of plastic bags per year, but one time per month they try to cut down. How nice of them to do that. I suppose it makes it okay for them to pollute and destroy the planet as long as they put up a green logo on their web sites and hold green events for the public on Earth Day.

Tons of different stores and companies have been making attempts to go green. Walmart, Vons/Safeway and Kroger have all made attempts to go green. By doing so they have offered free reusable bags to their customers. A buddy of mine picked up a free Vons bag for spending $50 today.

Keep in mind that plastic bags can take as long as 1,000 years to degrade. Yet a reusable shopping bag only costs about $1 to purchase. It’s been great to see these bags given free, now it’s time to use them!

How green are they really?

What is Earth Day?

Each year on April 22 Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement started in 1970. This day is an excuse to alert the world of pollution and environment issues. Does it work?

Possibly, for one day. Earth Day is like any other, one sided and short lived. If people really wanted to make a difference they would have Earth Day, Earth Month and Earth Year. As a matter of fact, forget that. We should just practice what we practice on Earth Day all year round, every single day. Save the country and the world.

So, I say again, what’s the big deal with Earth Day?

Earth Day: Do Your Part

Throughout this month there have been many attempts for people to “go green.” The green movement has finally caught a little bit of fire. There is no reason not to be green. Simple little things can be done to help save the Earth. Yahoo has a dedicated Go Green area on their site, check it out. Go clean up a beach or a park. Or maybe just make an effort to recycle every single day for the rest of your life, and teach your kids to do the same.

Lose Weight and Be Green

As I mentioned plastic bags are not very eco-friendly. Neither are plastic bottles. During my healthy weight loss journey I’ve consumed tons of water, all in my reusable water bottle. I convinced a buddy to purchase a reusable water bottle as well. Instead of using plastic bottles and throwing them away, he’s started using the reusable bottle. With filtered water, the bottle comes perfectly equipped as being eco-friendly. You can also make an effort to walk or ride a bike to where you need to go. That would help cut down on the pollution from cars. You could even use public transportation or carpool to work.

What are you doing to help make the environment, and yourself, healthy?

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Earth Day, What’s The Big Deal?

Well, the article basically says that blogging can kill ya! And it has, allegedly, killed some. Of course that’s a bit overboard but it does bring up some good points about blogging, and life in general. Now, as an ever thinking being I always try to extract positive, worthwhile information from my experiences. Always.

Continue reading my guest post over at Zen Habits.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Finding Health and Balance as a Blogger

This got me thinking because I advise my clients, who can afford one, to use a heart rate monitor. I also use one myself when I’m doing my high-intense uphill treadmill walking. Can you feel the burn?

My initial fear was that I had misled my clients and myself. But I quickly reassured myself of the benefits of using a heart rate monitor.

If you are trying to lose weight, a heart rate monitor is the best portable way to gauge how many calories you are burning. Knowing this is important when trying to figure out how much cardio you should be doing.

Most people overestimate how many calories they are burning with exercise, and a heart rate monitor brings you back to reality. Overestimating your calorie expenditure leads to overeating because you feel you “deserve” the food for all of your “hard” work.

If you are trying to lose weight, and you can afford it, I would recommend you get and use a heart rate monitor. It may or may not be accurate in gauging your cardiovascular fitness, but it is definitely the best portable device for gauging calories burned.

Dr. Kal is a weight-loss expert and ex-fat man. He is also the creator of the Don’t Go Broke Weight Loss Plan and the main contributor at Dr. Kal’s Blog.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Heart Rate Monitors Don’t Work?

Lately, we have noticed an increasing push for “going green.” We have seen changes in everything from transportation to food preparation to the internet. This got me thinking about how I could make my life greener. My immediate realization was that I was a walking global warming vessel. I’m fat. Being fat can’t be very green. Can it? We need to reduce our emissions of heat-trapping gases and learn how to use energy more efficiently.

Think about it. I’m overweight and require an above average usage of certain environmentally non-friendly things. Like what, you ask? Well, how about showering…? Being fat makes me take longer in the shower, using up more water than I should be using. So I waste water even though I make a conscious effort to “speed up” my showers. Another waste is toilet usage. I take, um, pretty big dumps and need more than one flush. I also use a lot of wipes to clean up. Don’t even get me started on my frequent urination due to all the water and green tea I consume. That equals quite a large amount of flushing per day.

Another way that being fat, or unhealthy, isn’t green is all the crap that gets consumed. I try to be as healthy as possible, but I do have my weaknesses. There are folks that eat out day after day after day. What do you think this does to the environment? That extra bag that was used to pack those 3 double cheeseburgers doesn’t just evaporate into thin air ya know. And the process of creating those burger wrappers doesn’t help either, factories and plants are needed for the creation of all of this.

How else can being fat not be very green? Clothes! Have you seen the amount of fabric needed to create some of the clothes that overweight people wear? I know you have. It’s all over television with the “I lost X amount of pounds” commercials. Think of what it takes to make that 5XL t-shirt. Think. What about all the washing that is needed for those large clothes? The water, the detergent, the softener, the dryer time…talk about endless loads of clothes.

If you’re fat you’re probably a notorious waster of electricity and gas too. It can be either watching too much television, having the air conditioning on a lot, or driving to that nearest fast food joint to pick up a “snack.” The heavier you are the more gas your car needs to carry you around. Fat = heavy = more gas needed. It’s simple math.

I’m not saying that being fat is causing global warming (need some research and scientific proof for this), but I can assure you that being fat isn’t very environmentally friendly.

Update: Looks like someone else feels the same way about global warming and fat people.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Fat People Cause Global Warming: Fat Isn’t Very Green

Aside from setting up partnerships with health related sites, I have been working on developing the site into not only a health bloggers resource, but a mainstream health news site as well. Speaking of which, if you are interested in setting up a partnership or cross promotion, or any thing for that matter, just shoot me an email using the contact form with your ideas and proposals. You will find that I am pretty much open to anything, so don’t hesitate to contact me. I have some ideas in the works for the site, but will most likely save those for another post. It’s too early to implement them anyway. I get ideas for my blog posts from the site, no more worrying about what to write about for me.

There are some cool tools in place to help spread the health news love. Some include adding a Rank it! button to your site, adding a Health Ranker Widget to Your Site (displaying the top 5 health news submissions), and inviting friends. I made sure to make the Rank it! button slimmer and less intrusive than it’s original version. The top 5 widget is simply amazing! Once you place the code on your site, it uses the CSS of your site and fits right into place. You can see some examples using the link above, or just take a look to your right. I am using the widget code and didn’t need to modify anything. The friend invite tool is pretty cool too. It let’s you import your contacts and send them an invite to the site. And no, it doesn’t store any data or emails. It uses a temporary solution to send out the email invites, then erases it’s memory (so to speak).

There have also been some social blog plugins that Health Ranker has been added to: Sociable Plugin by Joost de Valk and Socialmarker. I have been trying to get added to some other popular social bookmarking tools and will update you as it happens. Maybe with the help of some of you great readers, we can get added to even more tools. I won’t sit here and pretend to know all of the tools that exist, so if you know of any, please do let me know. Better yet, ask the specific tool developer to add Health Ranker to it.

I made this awesome banner with this awesome slogan, “Putting a Band-aid on Social Media.” What do you think? Some other slogans I plan on using include: “Help Spread the Health,” “Social Media Just Got Healthy,” and “No Health, No Glory!”

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Help Spread the Health, Health Ranker Update

Enter HealthRanker.com. Health Ranker is a social media news and voting site that is dedicated to all things health. It silently launched a day ago and is already receiving positive feedback. The membership is increasing each day and so is the usage. You can sign up and submit health news in the various categories. You can also place our Rank it! button on your web site for others to Rank your health news.

So if you are into health news, information and education, head on over and become a part of something fresh and new. Still in beta, there are some minor bugs but the site is fully functional. I would love for some more beta users so that we can tweak the system. Feedback and suggestions are always welcome.

It’s rare when we actually have the chance to be a part of something like this in the early stages, but I am extending the invitation to you now. See ya there, feel free to add me as a friend.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

A Healthy Social Media Site: HealthRanker.com