In September I moved from Washington State in the USA where I lived for 26 years, to Jyväskylä in order to study. In America I drive a lot, as many do. I drove approximately 250 km a week - the...
While the decrease in daily energy expenditure in our working environments can explain, in part, the obesity epidemic, the other parts of our daily life are not without blame. At work we sit and move primarily just our fingers, so...
In the 1960s almost half of jobs required moderate physical activity. Nowadays, only 20% of jobs require at least moderate physical activity. It is no surprise that four out of five Finns does their work sitting in front of a...
Work has traditionally been a significant part of our lives and our identity. Professions have been passed on from fathers to sons for generations while both physical labor and handcraft have been valued. At the same time, physical labor has...
Expending energy includes a lot more than just recreational exercise. We can do shoulder shrugs for other reasons than to simply indicate our lack of knowledge. In other words, we can exercise every day. Researchers in the USA asked approximately 10000 people...
Let’s examine the energy equation from the perspective of spending energy. As I told you before, the number of adults participating in recreational physical activity is larger than ever before. According to questionnaires used in studies the number of adults...
I have news for you: According to studies, our energy consumption, the amount of food we eat, has actually decreased or stayed the same over the past 20 years. In Finland the results of the large “Finnravinto” study suggested that energy...
In the USA over 6 billion dollars a year are spent on diet foods. Close to a billion cans of low calorie “diet sodas” were sold in 2010 alone. In Finland, we are following this trend. Up to half of...
Losing weight is annoyingly easy: Consume less energy than you expend or expend more energy than you consume. Move more, eat smaller serving sizes and enjoy the results! As I said before, the struggle with this elementary school level mathematics problem is actually...
The models of the health and wellness business are images of dazzling perfection. Sharp shadows are cast by the light bouncing off of glimmering oiled muscles and the fitness machine’s lofty being justifies its confident and goal-oriented smile. The bronzed statue...
Overweight is no longer a valued ideal but a prevailing condition. Ideals have changed. The worshiping of a round belly has given way to a craving to lose weight and be thin. These changes have made overweight a favorite topic...
Basically, weight gain is the result of an imbalance between energy consumption and energy expenditure. This balance is partly regulated by our genetics, our environment, and psychosocial factors. One, or many of these factors, has gotten members of our society...
The increase in overweight is predicted to minimize the many health benefits of e.g. reducing or quitting smoking and for the first time in history, life expectancy is expected to decrease despite advances in medicine and technology. This energy crisis is...
At the same time as the offerings of the new virtual age are developing beyond our understanding, our waistlines are expanding at such a rate that statistics can barely keep up. Overweight/obesity is a hot topic that evokes a number...
Take a seat, please! This polite invitation offers a chance to take a load off your feet, rest for a moment and settle in. That politeness might shock you, especially when you read what I plan on writing here next....
