What do you think of CVS not selling cigs? Did they read the new WHO cancer report?

So, I read an article during my lunch break that was very startling and it had to do with cancer.

A report that recently came out from WHO or the World Health Organization stated that they believe that the cancer rate will increase by 57% in the next 20 years. That would mean that the amount of cases of cancer would rise from 14 million to 22 million.

Experts are saying more and more that it will be impossible to "treat our way out of cancer." I would assume that they mean that the rate at which cancer is being diagnosed is far faster than any treatments can be developed to keep in under control or possibly stop/reverse it.

There are some positives and in the essence of being fair, some of the statistics that explain this information have some caveats. For example, we have to take into account larger populations who are living longer and also have to do with a much larger elderly population. More people are living longer which means the statistical rate at which larger/longer living populations will get cancer, increases with it.

However, they state that the two MAIN ways that we can curb this cancer rate are listed as reducing alcohol consumption and curbing obesity rates. They state that 1/3 of the most common cancers could be prevented through maintaining a healthy weight, eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly. Novel idea, huh?

The leading cause of cancer in the world, according to this report, remains to be lung cancer caused by the inhalation of carcinogens. AKA- smoking. These cases equal 1.8 million cases a year most of which are fatal diagnosis with 1.6 million of those cases causing death. It still boggles my mind why anyone would take up this habit to begin with, knowing that it has 0 health benefits and does nothing but kill you. For those who say "it's a stress reliever" well so is yoga and meditation, those can be done for free and make you healthier instead of slowly killing you.

So, that is the perfect segway into the big news that hit today about CVS. CVS announced that they will be halting the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products starting October 1st in an effort to remain true to their credo of helping people live healthier lives. Some say it's a re branding campaign, probably some components of both.

On a personal note, my own company will be going smoke free in 2015. This means that no one is allowed to smoke anywhere on the property. As a non-smoker that makes me happy to hear that I don't have to breath in nasty, stale cigarette air. Obviously though, I am biased.

I give a huge thumbs up to CVS for taking this stance for 2 reasons. The first reason being that they are actually one of the few companies who is willing to put their beliefs and credo above profits. It is estimated that they will lose 1-2 billion dollars a year in revenue.

The second reason being that they are trying to help people make good decisions about their health. With the cancer reports findings, it looks like we could use some help!

However, not everyone is happy about this. While the majority of people that I have seen approve of the decision and see it's healthful impact, others are not pleased. Look at some of the tweets that you can find if you search the public #CVS hashtag.

Eric Shapiro ‏@EricShapiro3 4h

It's not the role of drugstore chains to cure bad habits & it's not "courageous" to be a corporate busybody. #cvs

Emily! ‏@EmilyF_NC 2m

If #cvs was interested in consumer health, half their store wouldn't be taken up by Russell Stover this week. I'm not buying it @morningmika

 

Oz Banks ‏@ozbanks1 5m

In protest, I'm chain smoking in front of every CVS in town while lighting homeless, elderly, and children on fire! #CVS #FightThePower

 

So, with new ads coming out to turn off teen smokers, cigarettes being taxes at a higher rate, no smoking in bars/entryways,restaurants and now major retailers refusing to sell them - what will happen to tobacco? Will we actually manage to move towards a society where lung cancer rates bottom out? Will we be healthier as a whole?

I don't know but I for one am happy to see ANY movement towards a healthier America. Now if we can get people moving and eating better - we will live forever! Mwahaha!

Hey, Does Your Blog Look Different?

Hello all!

You may have noticed that my blog has changed, ever so slightly. I realized that the blogspot has some more dynamic blog looks and I decided to play around. I really like the new one and I am hoping that it will help make the different older blog posts more accessible to folks. In other words, feel free to look around! ; )

I didn't intend for my workout yesterday to be a killer but it definitely was! I am a huge advocate for circuit training and have recently really tried to put it into my routine pretty often because the Spartan Race in the Poconos is coming up in a few weeks. (gulp)

It looked something like this if you want to try- I promise it will leave you sweaty and the constant change from one exercise to another makes it pretty face paced!

Cardio
25 Minutes Elliptical Hills
5 - Uphill Sprints for 30 seconds year (equals 5 minutes 30 sec sprint/30 sec rest)
Circuit
1 Minute Jump rope
10 Push Ups
10 Lunges
1 Minute Jump rope
1 Minute Plank
10 Dips
25 Sit ups

Repeat circuit at least 3 times! It was over before I knew it and I was on fire afterwards!

So, for those of you who read my post yesterday, I am sorry to announce that the package that I had waiting for me at home was not full of nutritious freebies but was full of something just as good! I had forgotten that a few weeks ago, I had ordered a hard cover book for our engagement photos with the hopes of it being used as our guest book.

However, when it came, it was much smaller than I thought it would be - darn. I think that the use of the black and white photos make it quite romantic though so perhaps we can use it as a coffee table book.

I guess I am still waiting for my health food delivery and in the mean time I am going to keep chipping away at stuff for the wedding and keep on jumping on that treadmill. Aroo!!

Life Updates (Big Announcement) and My Next Year

Hello all my blog followers- of which I am sure there are only a few at this point if any because I haven't blogged in quite some time! Sorry about that but life in Charlotte has been absolutely crazy with my job sending me all over the country and working 50-60 hour weeks at times.

Also, can't forget to mention taking care of this little guy: ) Who isn't so little anymore! He has changed from my 30 pound puppy to a 60 pound cuddle monster.

As you can see, he is obviously quite the handful even if he is a puppy school graduate! I decided to take blogging back up (if my schedule will allow it) because there is a something quite important that I need to really focus on my health, fitness and stress level control to get ready for in the next year. If you are a close friend you already know what I am talking about. If you are just as avid reader of the goings on in my life but from a distance, it is my job to tell you that I, Mackenzie Farone, am getting married in a year.

 

 

My amazingly and devestatingly handsome now fiance proposed over Thanksgiving dinner at a cabin in Bryson City and now we are taking that leap down the aisle after about 4 years of dating. I couldn't be more excited and stressed at the thought of planning this thing and the only reason is because we live in Charlotte, North Carolina but will be getting married in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. So, I figured a good stress reliever and a good way to keep myself on track to push a little harder than my normal fitness routine could be to blog! So my dear, dear friends this blog will now become (at least for the next year) my health/ fitness/ talking about wedding plans blog.

 

 

We have finally chosen a venue in Pittsburgh after a VERY long weekend of searching but we haven't signed a contract yet. Once we do, I will certainly let everyone know! I am so very blessed to have had one of my old college roommates and an amazing friend of mine take our engagement photos while we were in Pittsburgh. Rachel Tokarski is an amazing photographer and I can't wait to see what she does with our wedding photos next year! She actually blogs too about her photography and she does a ton of sports photos for Pittsburgh Hockey teams - you can't beat that! Check her out here http://racheltokarskiphotography.blogspot.com/.  They aren't edited yet, we are still in the process of choosing but I thought I would share some of my favorite raw photos!

 

The one thing that I will say is that the weekend of searching for venues, seeing friends (which I loved) and running around was stressful and I noticed a major change in my body when I got back including stomach gurgles, tiredness and my brain wasn't functioning on all levels. I figured what a great time to get strict again about my healthy eating habits! I have one year until the wedding where I will probably be looked at and photographed more than any other time in my life sooo... I should get it together. Plus, it will help me more than I can imagine with handling stress.

Don't get me wrong, health and fitness had still been a HUGE part of my life even if I wasn't blogging about it but my workouts have turned from 5 times a week to 3 times and my company candy dish has been calling my name on a daily basis. SO! come with me on my fitness journey with just a dash of wedding 'goings on' in the mix too.

Yesterday was a detox day full of fruits and vegetables and I could tell the damage I had done with a week of no exercise and bad eating habits because I felt sick on the treadmill. This only happens when my work out comes as a total shock to my body.

Today, I started off with the yummiest of yummy breakfast shakes full of super foods! I suggest this green monster to anyone!

- 1/2 cup Almond Milk
-1/2 cup strawberries
-1 cup spinach
- 1 scoop of protein powder
- Ice

Let me know what you want to hear about! Future blogs will contain my workouts, new recipes, trials and tribulations of exercising and nutrition. Also, I will update everyone on exciting steps in the wedding planning process including the venue, save the date designs, my beautiful wedding party all right up until the big day!!

 

 

Young Women More Prone to Stress and How It Effects Our Health and Fitness!

So I want to talk about something that I don't usually pay a lot of attention to but seems to be really prevalent in my life recently, STRESS!

For the last few months I have had major tooth sensitivity and finally last week while I was traveling in Chicago, it started to hurt so much that finally decided it was time to find a dentist here in Charlotte and do something about it. I went this morning and they told me that it wasn't a cavity (totally suprised me!) but instead it was a problem with the gum line and it was caused by stress! How does stress effect your teeth you ask? I asked the same question and the doctor cleared it up for me.

Apparently, women between the ages of 18-25 usually have this problem from stress and muscle reaction! When we are stressed during the day and then have no release for that stress before we go to bed, our bodies take it out in our muscles by clenching and grinding our teeth. This clenching of your jaw causes pressure on your teeth which causes your gum lines to become painful and recede! Who would've thought! So the trick to get my tooth to stop hurting wasn't a brand new filling but instead was taking up something to relieve stress!

It made me start to think, while I have had stressful situations recently (within the last 6 months) -job hunting, moving, graduation, new job, apartment getting broken into (yea.. that happened) I didnt FEEL more stressed out at most points than usual. So I started to think, what are the main stress points for young professionals women, what effect do they have on us and how do we combat them?

I came to the following conclusions - at least for myself
Main Stressors

- WORK! - Number 1 is work, as young professional women, we have to be faster, smarter, stronger, more professional and we are expected to do it all in high heels, perfectly highlighted hair and full face make up (Ps I am not getting my butt out of bed early enough to do all that) Especially being a young woman adds the factor of office jealousy, politics and caddiness. Usually you will only hear men talk about other men as related to their work so basically if you do your work then you're safe. Women bring a whole new ball game, women will always talk about each other and not only your work but you can't get angry, you have to be careful of what you wear, you have to be careful talking about your personal life, and you can't make anyone else angry, sad or upset whether intentional or unintentional. Its a lot of stress and work to do your job while making sure you take 50 other women's feelings into consideration.. sheesh!

- Money - Money will always be a stressor, for me the main money related stressor is student loans which is something that a lot of people both male and female have to deal with. We have all probably been brought to the point of tears to see 3/4 of your paycheck get taken by Sallie Mae. How do they expect a new college grad with an entry level job to afford an $800 a month payment? Really? No wonder the banks failed if thats their logic!

- Taking Care of Yourself and Your Place
Sometimes the thought of having to do all the things you have to do, just to maintain your life, is stressful. Sometimes you just want to go home and do nothing.. read a book or watch mindless television but you cant because you know you have no food so you have to run to the grocery store, your apartment is a mess and you can't stand the thought of cooking dinner in a disgusting kitchen so you have to spend an hour cleaning when you get home before you an even do anything. You have an 8-10 hour day of work just to know that when you get done, you have more errands to run and by the time you finally get home and get to sit down, you look at the clock and its already 9 oclock and you have 2 hours before bed and going to do it all again.. and oh wait! You forgot to pack your lunch for tomorrow and you should probably answer some emails that piled up from work, right?

All of this everyday plus the little things that pop up constantly to add more responsibility can add up and even if you walk around with a smile and you dont feel anything out of the ordinary, your body will never let you actually be fooled because it will bring your stress out in other ways if need be! Like my tooth apparently. You can also run into things like headaches, eye strain, muscle aches, skin problems, being more prone to illness, tiredness and weight gain.

So what can we do about this? My goal is take more time for me and exercise. I stopped doing super hard, bootcamp style work outs because they are kind of awkward to do by yourself in the gym but maybe its time to start again. Those kind of workouts will help relieve any stress!

If anyone have any comments on what stresses you? How do you handle it? How have you seen it effect your body? I would love to hear them!

Using drugs that fight cocaine addiction for weight loss?

Happy blustery cold morning my lovely blog readers,

I was outside today for a whopping 3 minutes between getting into my car and walking from the car to the shuttle and let me tell you.. That was quite enough time. If you arent reading from the Pittsburgh area, let it be known that as I was getting ready for work this morning I was watching the local news and 370 schools have already been closed or delayed today due to extreme snow and cold temperatures. We have a windchill of -7 and its supposed to reach a high of 20 degrees today.. a HIGH of 20 degrees? Gross.

Disgusting!

but anyway, onto the topic of todays blog post. I know that I have blogged before about the dangers of diet pills and some supplements. I believe that it was one of my older blogs on the Http://www/networkpittsburgh.com site. Diet pills have back in the news lately because the FDA just recently approved a diet drug for the morbidly obese. It had rejected two earlier in the year by the names of lorcaserin and QNexa.. the reason? The side effects of these drugs can be heart attacks, heart weakening and major links to cancer! I'm sorry but isn't the point of a diet drug to aid in making you healthier not give you more health problems to worry about?

So what makes this new FDA approved drug so different? The new drug that has been approved is called Contrave and it is actually a combination of two drugs that were already on the market. Now for the crazy part.. the two drugs that are mixed to create this new "miracle diet pill" are nalterxone and bupropion which are used to treat what? Naltrexone is used to treat those with COCAINE addiction and bupropion is used as an anti depressant. Why? because they are assuming that everyone that is obese is addicted to food and depressed. Also, weight loss pills have a high risk of increasing suicidal thoughts. So basically the pills help to make you happy and motivated while blocking the pleasure receptors in the brain that are associated with food.

Now, call me a realist or maybe just a romantic dreamer but why are we wasting money even researching these things? I understand that people who are morbidly obese may have to take off weight quickly to save their health and may not even be able to move to exercise because it may cause serious physical harm.. but how about being proactive instead of reactive? How about giving people the tools to naturally lead a healthy lifestyle that will prevent them from becoming obese instead of treating the problem afterwards? How about fining companies and restaurants that use preservatives and addictive additives in their food (McDonalds.. cough cough.. Burger King..cough cough) ? How about supporting the youth nutrition bills currently in the Senate? (which Obama signed this morning by the way!! yay!) What about giving tax breaks or incentives to companies that offer mid day exercise breaks? or healthy vending machines?

We are already in a major deficit and an economy that is struggling every day to rebuild itself. Why are we spending money researching drugs like this when there are diseases that arent preventable that need the attention of top scientists? Cancer, MS, and other major diseases deserve the funding.

We need to teach America not to be lazy and think of the amount of money we would save? I am not saying that I dont take my weekends sometimes to just relax but if you're spending your life "just relaxing" than thats an issue. People need to stop waiting for the next miracle drug or surgery to come out, put down the cheeseburger and get outside.

Cant Believe Im saying it.. but lay off McDonalds!!

Alright everyone.. so I was taking a quick lunch break today to have some hot soup on this cold and windy winter day in Pittsburgh and I ran across something that really made me shake my head. I always surf the health sections of websites like CNN, Yahoo, NY Times, etc.. (usually disappointed because they are rarely updated) but today I stumbled upon the following article about a former McDonalds employee who sued the company and won.. Now normally I am not an advocate of the dollar menu toting fast food chain.. or any fast food chain for that matter. Yes it can be delicious and I am not saying I dont partake a few times a year if I am on the road.. but not the point.

This Article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101028/ap_on_he_me/lt_brazil_mcdonald_s_obese_manager

Is the story of a man in Brazil who sued McDonalds Corp for a small amount of money because the company "Made" him become obese. Just reading that sentence .. does anyone buy that?? I pray to the good Lord above that no one thinks that makes sense.

The former manager claimed that he was "forced" to try the food regularly in order to make sure that the standards for quality were met. I dont believe that for one second.. as a matter of fact I am pretty sure that it is against health codes to eat any of the food youre handling while working. McDonalds is a chain corporation meaning that the parent company leaves no room for change within the branches. The same food is shipped to every restaurant, frozen and only needing to be cooked, The food is cooked to specific temperatures for a specific amount of time which is all controlled by machinery so there is no room for human error. That means that every big mac will taste exactly the same.. its designed that way. So if thats the case.. why would the manager need to taste anything?

Also, he claims that the company offered their food for free lunches for employees. How dare they!? How dare a company offer their employees a free lunch. Note: Just because the lunch is free.. doesnt mean you have to eat it.. and if you had a choice between a chicken sandwhich and a super sized big mac and fries.. if you choose the fattier option.. than thats your problem for your bad decision making.. not the companies.


There were other cases of teenagers and mothers who sued McDonalds a few years ago claiming that the fast food chain made her children obese. NO LADY! McDonalds did not make your child obese.. it was your terrible parenting by taking them to eat fast food everyday instead of making them healthy food or teaching them that they should choose the milk and apples on the menu instead of the double cheeseburger.  I understand that busy parents might not have time to always make a meal but pack granola bars, string cheese, apples! Anything! it take 2 seconds and its cheaper than going out to eat every single day.

Heres one of the stories

This is similar to the women that sued McDonalds for spilling scolding hot coffee on her lap. She sued because McDonalds didnt "warn her" that the coffee was that hot. (which is why we now have the "CAUTION: Contents of this cup are extremely hot" disclaimer on all cups from McDonalds.  I'm sorry but are you really that dumb? Did you expect to go to McDonalds and get cold coffee? and if you did get coffee that was cold.. I am sure you would be the same person that would go and complain that your coffee wasnt hot enough.

Read the story HERE

I know that when I had gained weight, it was by no ones fault but my own. I was drinking, eating terrible- carb filled foods, not exercising.. and guess what? that combination of things makes you gain weight. Period. I couldnt blame Oaklands 5 dollar large pizzas for it.. because it was my choice to go out drinking and then eat 3 slices of pizza at 230am.. and its the same now. Its my decision to go to the gym or not everyday.. its my decision to pack a healthy lunch or go out and buy fast food. I have turned my health around because I made an active decision to do so every day. End of story..  nothing is forced upon anyone.

I am just getting sick of everyone taking the easy way out.. blaming everyone else for their bad decisions. STOP IT! .. Step up and be held accountable for you actions! Unless someone had a gun to your head and was forcing you to drink milkshakes.. you have no one else to blame. McDonalds isnt forcing anyone to drive thru to their windows..

Rant Over.

a 14 hour marathon thanksgiving

Good Morning everyone!!

I apologize for being absent for so long from the blogging community. I believe I havent written anything since about a week before Thanksgiving. I would like to say I was too busy but the truth of the matter is that I just didnt feel very inspired to write anything. The same things that had concerned me before are concerning me now.

For Example,
Have you seen the new and improved HFCS commercials? The one with a man walking his young daughter through a field of sunflowers telling you that your body doesnt know the difference between corn sugar and cane sugar because he has talked to scientists? The part that makes me angry about this advertising campaign is that they fail to tell you that both sugars are chemically enhanced. Yes your body cant tell the difference between the two BUT your body also doesnt recognize either compound as FOOD. All your body recognizes is that they are two foreign chemicals.

But anyway,

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I know that mine was very busy but very worth it. My boyfriend came in to Pittsburgh and we decided that we were going to split the time between both holiday traditions. So in the morning him and his highschool buddies played in a "Turkey Bowl" while I ran to Starbucks to get coffee and brief the family on our days plans. Small Starbucks coffee with a shot of Hazelnut is delicious!!

Once I picked Dwayne up we were on the road to my hometown of Warren Pennsylvania. Its basically the smallest town in the world but its where I spent the first 18 years of my life. We went to my moms side of the family first (which was being held at my aunts) and ate our first meal of the day. It was soo good.. there were sweet potatoes, turkey, vegetables..MMmmm. I managed to keep my portions small because I knew that there would be a lot of good food that day.

Once we spent a few hours with my moms side, we left to go spend dessert and coffee with my dads side which is part of the wonder of a divorced family I guess. We got there just in time for some pumpkin pie and after dinner drinks. Dwayne thoroughly enjoyed talking sports and sipping Manhattans with my cousin. It was short lived though and we were off to Pittsburgh again.

The drive was so scary because it had been raining all day, it was dark and we were driving in areas without street lights. I was behind the wheel and I dont see very well at night to begin with. We hydroplaned once or twice on the way to the party we were heading to. I think what should have been two and a half hours ended up being closer to three and half but we were safe and thats what matters!

We ended our night with the "Whiskey and Pie" party that one of Dwaynes friends has every year. We walked in to a table filled with different kinds of desserts from pecan pie and pumpkin roll to some crazy strawberry concoction that kind of looked like stewed tomatoes in a crust. We ate dessert, drank wine and hot tubbed ending the whole day around 330am. It was a very very long day but I wouldnt have changed it because we got to see everyone that we wanted to see.

I didnt feel stuffed at any point during the day .. I probably indulged more than I should have on the different desserts but kept the portions small and didnt feel gross and tired by the end.

My gym being closed did mean that I couldnt work out for 5 days because I am not one to run outside in the rain or if its below 45 degrees. I hate the cold.. it makes my chest hurt to breath in cold air while running.. I wont do it.. I always look at the diehard runners in all their winter gear from my nice warm car and think "use a treadmill" haha

But yesterday it was back to the grind of the gym and it felt good. I am thinking about trying to be strict on my cardio between thanksgiving and christmas because the break for Christmas will be even longer with out being able to exercise. I will be traveling home and to NC after that for New Years. I want to have a little wiggle room..

Quick Routines

Good Morning Everyone!!

Normally I blog on Mondays but yesterday was just crazy!! I feel like this whole week is going to be a real stresser only because every second of every day is filled with something and if it isnt.. than its going to be filled with sleep because I dont always get enough : )

First let me start off by saying that I have the most amazing job in the world. I have truly been blessed to work with some very kind people, who really want to see young people succeed which is so refreshing! Especially refreshing to me since I had a boss through college that was a little angry jerk with a napoleon complex the size of Montana. The whole staff (especially me for some reason I have yet to figure out) was screamed at, manhandled and degraded every night by our piece of crap manager who was nothing more than a glorified host. Note to all readers: The Duquense Club = Amazing Tips but sometimes money isnt worth the piece of shit you have to work for ( I think he was jealous that we were young and just starting our lives and his had already gone to hell in a handbasket bc he was such an a** hole)... buuuut I digress hahaha That experience makes me truly appreciate the wonderful people I work for now and because they are so wonderful, they are letting me pick up some extra hours in the office to make up for money I have to pay to the University to finish my MBA.

This also means that I have to work later than usual which is screwing up my gym routine. Usually I would go to the gym at 4 when I was off of work and now I go at 5. I have class 2 nights a week at 6 which doesnt leave me much time.. I have been trying to go and at least run a few miles because I feel like a complete lump sitting in my office all day and then sitting in a classroom all night.. but hey you gotta do what you gotta do!

I would love some tips or routines that anyone has tried that are quick but an effective work out : ) Let me know if you have any thoughts on something I can complete in 30-40 minutes.

THANKS!!