Health

Molokai Fitness: My Secret Diet?

Thursday, February 12th, 2015

Community Contributed

By Ayda Ersoy

I keep hearing that everyone all over Molokai is trying the 21-Day diet. Awesome! That means you are already aware that you need to change something, and you are trying hard. Is 21 days the magical number that you need to create a new eating habit? Enough people keep saying this, so of course, everyone is starting to believe.

Let’s look a little at how changing habits really works. In the 1960s, a plastic surgeon named Maxwell Maltz did research, and noticed on himself, that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. His book Psycho Cybernetics went on to sell 30 million copies!…

Molokai Fitness: Makahiki Time!

Friday, January 30th, 2015

Community Contributed

By Ayda Ersoy

Makahiki is the ancient Hawaiian festival in honor of the god Lono. I love the Makahiki season – nowadays, it means fun games, seeing everyone, watching the kids’ happy faces. And food!

We definitely need to support everyone who cooks all the food for the festival. Mahalo!
Here are some tips for the Makahiki, or any time you go out to a party or a meal, on how you can still eat healthily and at the same time have fun.

First, make sure you eat well before you go, so you’re not so hungry. When you get there, everything looks and smells delicious; there’s food all around you and everyone else is eating.…

Improve Your Cholesterol Levels

Friday, January 9th, 2015

Community Contributed

By Jon Mikami, RPh, and Kelly Go, RPh, Molokai Drugs, Inc.

Cholesterol is a soft, waxy substance in your blood. It increases your chance of heart disease, stroke and other problems. Many things may put you at risk for high cholesterol. You can’t control some of these risks such as your age, gender, or family history. Fortunately, the list of things you can control is longer; it includes your weight, diet, exercise, blood sugar and smoking.

Maybe you’ve put on a few pounds in the last couple of years. Or your 2014 New Year’s resolutions were short-lived, making that Na Pu`uwai gym membership a bit of a waste.…

Molokai Fitness: Why Are We Getting Overweight?

Wednesday, November 12th, 2014

Community Contributed

By Ayda Ersoy

Do we get fat because we overeat? Or do we overeat because our fat tissue and our genetics effect our body and cause it to accumulate excess fat? Actually both are true to some extent.  Remember that anything that you eat that’s beyond your immediate need for energy creates new body fat.

A study by Colorado University showed that one third of all women and one quarter of all men in the U.S. are on a diet right now! I could tell you endless reasons why we struggle with our weight, and why being overweight is connected with so many other health problems, but here are a few of them: Increased portion size of restaurant food and grocery products; Mislabeling on the packaged food; Artificial sweeteners; Soft drinks; Consuming many more calories than we need; Sedentary lifestyle; Increased intake of processed food; Increased sugar intake; Using food for our emotional needs, or giving it as a “gift” to our kids; We are not paying attention to our bodies actual need for food.…

Molokai Fitness: Behavior Change

Wednesday, October 29th, 2014

Community Contributed

By Ayda Ersoy

Why do we create habits? If something feels good, then most likely we will do it again and again, even if it is not really doing us good. But our body starts automatically doing it, without thinking about it. Our body takes control over our mind.

And why then is it so hard when we try to break our habits? Because a change, or a new habit, feels uncomfortable, unfamiliar. We are trying to change ourselves without changing the way we think. We can’t change the way we feel, or what we do, if we don’t first change the way we think.…