Health and fitness briefs, May 20

Rocky Mountain News

Monday, May 19, 2008

READER WEIGHT-LOSS SUCCESS STORIES

I'm a loser!

* Who: Donna Downing, 76, of Wheat Ridge

* How much lost: 71 pounds since March 1989

* Typical week's workout: Mostly walking at the beginning. She now attends a class at the senior center twice a week and climbs her stairs each day. She stays active.

* Typical week's diet: Breakfast: Oatmeal with milk and half a banana; 4 ounces of juice. Lunch: She eats out a lot but asks for a box and cuts her order in half. Dinner: fruit or melon, and a cookie.

* Cooking tips: Avoid frozen dinners. Cook with a lot of peppers, onions and celery.

* She said it: "Always enjoy what you're eating. When it stops tasting really good, give the rest to the dog. Learn to throw away food. I developed a 'Three bites and you're out' rule for apple pie. You take a piece of really good pie; the first bite is reasonably large, eat it slowly and enjoy. The second bite is smaller than the first: Notice that it won't taste quite as good. Now decide if a third bite is necessary. If it is, make sure it's smaller than the second bite. Push the plate back and be sure to tell the cook how good it was. You're done."

Massage for the Cure

The weather's lovely and you've been trying to lose a few pounds, so you've been biking, hiking, running and swimming. Now you're a bit sore.

Solution: Get a massage. And feel good about yourself while you do it. Massage Envy Limited is hosting the second annual Massage for the Cure event to benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure. On June 9, all 14 Front Range Massage Envy clinics will offer one-hour therapeutic massages in exchange for donations to Komen for the Cure.

Proceeds will benefit Colorado Springs and Denver affiliates of Komen for the Cure. These donations will be used to support breast cancer research and local programs focusing on breast health and breast cancer education, screening and treatment.

Massage Envy will begin accepting appointments on June 2 for one-hour slots. To reserve, call 877-330-3689.

A prescription for high costs?

73% of nearly 1,700 poll participants said prescription drugs developed in the past 20 years have improved lives. The poll was conducted in January by the Harvard School of Public Health, the Kaiser Family Foundation and USA Today.

79% call the cost of prescriptions "unreasonable."

41% indicate that paying for prescriptions is a problem.

29% hadn't filled prescriptions because of the cost in the past two years.

23% had skipped doses or cut pills in half to make their drug supplies last longer in the past two years.

- WebMD