Healthy Social Media

Healthaholics, Meet Shareaholic

May 12th, 2008 Posted in Social Media, Updates | No Comments »

We were just informed that Health Ranker has been added to the latest release of Shareaholic. Shareaholic makes it possible to share, bookmark and e-mail web pages quickly without leaving your browser.

Shareaholic was developed by Jay Meattle. Thanks Jay! Head on over and download it.

Shareaholic is now on the featured list on Mozilla’s official add-ons directory! You can read more at Shareaholic’s Blog. Here is the official release update.

14 Habits That Make You Fat

April 22nd, 2008 Posted in Random Health | No Comments »

1. TV Watching

Prolonged TV watching is a strong predictor for obesity*. Recent research* has proved that people who watch around two hours of TV per day are much more likely to be overweight than those who watched only half an hour per day. When you watch TV you are virtually motionless. Your heart rate, blood pressure and metabolic rate decline, resulting in burning 20 to 30 calories less per hour. Research by Harvard University* has shown that there is a link between the amount children eat and the amount of television they watch.

2. Eating Too Fast

It is a habit of most people living in a fast paced society. Eating fast lets you eat too much before you are fully aware of it. It takes the brain about 15-20 minutes to start signaling feelings of fullness. Scientists suppose that fast eating is a risk factor for the metabolic syndrome*, a combination of the symptoms such as high blood pressure, obesity, high cholesterol, and insulin resistance.

3. Task Snacking

Task snacking refers to eating while doing other activities. if you often eat meals or snacks while working by yourself in front of your computer, while driving, watching TV, or standing at the kitchen counter, shopping with a friend, or talking on the phone, it’s likely that the “task snacking” eating style is increasing your odds of becoming overweight or obese.

4. Frequent Fast Food Consumption

One of the big reasons we’re seeing more obesity in our society these days is that we are too stressed and busy to make healthy dinners at home, often opting to get fast food at the nearest drive-thru instead. Fast foods compromise the quality of the diet by replacing more healthy foods. Fast foods are known for having high content of saturated and trans-fat, low content of fiber and massive portion sizes, which leads to obesity.

5. Eating To Manage Feelings

Emotional eating is the practice of consuming large quantities of food (usually “comfort” or junk foods) in response to feelings (such as depression, anxiety, or loneliness) instead of hunger.

Experts estimate that 75% of overeating is caused by emotions. How many times have you found yourself scouring the kitchen for a snack, or absently munching on junk food when you’re stressed, but not really hungry?

6. Too Busy To Exercise

With all the demands on your schedule, exercise may be one of the last things on your to-do list. If so, you’re not alone. Americans live a more sedentary lifestyle than we have in past generations, yet our minds seem to be racing from everything we have to do. Unfortunately, from sitting in traffic, clocking hours at our desks, and plopping in front of the TV in exhaustion at the end of the day, exercise often goes by the wayside.

7. Your Friends Can Make You Fat

If you’re putting on weight, you might want to take a look at who you’re hanging around with. A study* published in the July 26, 2007 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that obesity may be “socially contagious.” The study was conducted on more than 12,000 people over 32 years, and concluded that having an overweight friend, sibling or spouse increased one’s risk of obesity by 37 to 57 percent.

8. Lack Of Sleep

Sleep deprivation can increase your risk of obesity by boosting ghrelin (an appetite stimulating hormone) and lowering leptin (an appetite suppressor). The study* from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom found that, compared to an eight hours of shut-eye, each one-hour decrease in sleep duration was linked to almost 3% more body fat.

9. Unaware Of Calories And Fat

Many people eat foods with no idea of the calorie or fat value. This leads to weight gain and unhealthy eating habits because you can easily consume twice the normal calories required to maintain your weight, let alone lose weight, if you don’t know how many calories you are eating.

10. Credit Cards

Your plastic may be affecting more than just your credit score. Visa conducted a study of 100,000 fast-food restaurant transactions and found that people who pay for their food with a credit card spend 30% more than those who pay with cash. For the average woman, who visits a fast-food restaurant once a week, that adds an extra 17,160 calories, or 4.9 pounds, per year.

11. Missing Meals

Research shows that people who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight, and that morning meals seem to help those who’ve lost weight keep it off. Denise Bruner, MD, obesity specialist and former president of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians, says that skipping meals of any kind results in a “tremendous bout of compensatory hunger.”

12. Uncomfortable Clothing

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse* found that casual and comfortable clothing workdays promote increased physical activity. Specifically, study participants took an average of 491 (or 8%) more steps on Jeans Day than on those days in which they wore normal business attire. It is also estimated that study participants burned an average of 25 additional calories on Jeans Day with the extra steps and miles walked. Wearing casual clothing every day for 50 weeks of work translates into burning an additional 125 calories per week and 6,250 calories per year.

13. Neglecting Scales

Recent study from the University of Minnesota found that dieters who weighed themselves daily lost about 12 pounds over two years, while those who never did shed only four pounds. Other research, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, concluded that those who have daily weigh-ins (along with face-to-face support) are 82% less likely to regain five pounds than a control group without weigh-ins or support.

14. Boredom

A survey by the Priory Group in the U.K. found that more people ate when bored than when stressed.

Source: Health Assist. Head over and check out their other great health articles.

Sources & References

  • 1. Hu FB, Li TY, Colditz GA, Willett WC, Manson JE. Television watching and other sedentary behaviors in relation to risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus in women. JAMA. 2003 Apr 9;289(14):1785-91. PubMed
  • 2. Shanthy A Bowman. Television-Viewing Characteristics of Adults: Correlations to Eating Practices and Overweight and Health Status. Prev Chronic Dis. 2006 April; 3(2): A38. PubMed
  • 3. Kral JG, Buckley MC, Kissileff HR, Schaffner F. Metabolic correlates of eating behavior in severe obesity. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2001 Feb;25(2):258-64. PubMed
  • 4. Ads for Unhealthy Foods May Explain Link Between Television Viewing and Overweight in Children
  • 5. Rontoyanni VG, Baic S, Cooper AR. Association between nocturnal sleep duration, body fatness, and dietary intake in Greek women. Nutrition. 2007 Nov-Dec;23(11-12):773-7. Epub 2007 Sep 20. PubMed
  • 6. Casual And Comfortable Clothing Workdays Promote Increased Physical Activity American Council on Exercise
  • 7. Nicholas A. Christakis, James H. Fowler. The Spread of Obesity in a Large Social Network over 32 Years Volume 357:370-379 July 26, 2007 Number 4 NEJM

Video and Photo Uploading Added

April 14th, 2008 Posted in Updates | No Comments »

We have gone ahead and added photo and video uploading, as requested by a large percentage of the community. This is something we have been working on for a while and are glad to finally have incorporated.

Video Uploading
You can now add links to video pages, such as YouTube videos. This is an example of a listing with a video: Exposing The Cholesterol Myth

As you can see, you can click on the video thumbnail and the video will play, darkening the back ground. To get back to Ranking, all you need to do is click on the “close” link on the top right of the video pop up.

Photo Uploading
We have also added the ability to upload photos with your submissions. You can upload a total of 14 photos for a submission. It’s pretty simple really. On step 2 of the submission process, simply scroll down to the photo browsing section and find the photo on your computer.

Once you complete the submission process you will see that the first photo is displayed on the left side of the story. When you go to the story page you will be able to see the rest of the photos. Clicking on the photos makes them pop up on the page, similar to the video pop up, allowing you to scroll through all of the photos.

Here is an example of a photo submission: Baby with 2 Faces

We have more enhancements and updates planned for Health Ranker, but one step at a time.

Medical News Today Adds Health Ranker

April 13th, 2008 Posted in Updates | 1 Comment »

Medical News Today, one of the largest independent health and medical news websites on the Internet, has added Health Ranker to its list of article bookmarking services. As part of its new design, readers will be able to click on the Health Ranker icon and submit the article to be listed on our site.

Here’s a view of a live article: Blood Vessels: The Pied Piper For Growing Nerve Cells.

This is just another step in the right direction for spreading health news and information.

Health Ranker is On a Diet

April 11th, 2008 Posted in Updates | No Comments »

That’s right. Health Ranker has started a diet. Well, not really, but our Rank it! button has been added to the very popular Diet Blog. By the way, did you notice their sweet new logo?

Head on over to Diet Blog and show them some love. Oh yeah, and while you’re at it start submitting their articles to Health Ranker. :)

Diet Blog Adds Rank It Button

How To Become Fat and Avoid Losing That Precious Fatness: 20 Key Elements

March 22nd, 2008 Posted in Random Health | 2 Comments »

fat women in bikinis

A lot of folks are concerned about how to lose weight (and fat) and how to then stay that way, but there is a segment of the population that wishes to gain weight (not just muscle, but fat) and are interested in knowing the steps to take in order to not lose any of that precious fat that has been gained, joyfully and over time.

Having been in both boats I have decided to give you my advice. I have been a Nutritionist after all. I’ve been thin and I’ve been fat. And there is nothing wrong with that.

So first let’s talk about how to gain weight, and fat.

In order to gain that fat you must start to eat more fatty foods. Avoid lean ground beef and stick with the regular. And don’t cut down on the portions. Smother it with gravy, add that butter to your mashed potatoes, and enjoy lots of deserts, especially the sugary ones. Avoid that aspartame! It’s a killer!

I would also recommend a job where you would be mostly sitting during the day. Drinking lots of liquor like vodka is also encouraged as most of that gets turned into glucose, glycogen, and once your liver is full of glycogen your alcohol will then be converted into fat and stored in various visible areas on your body. A sight to behold!

Big Burger

Lots of junk food is also in order. Once you follow these instructions for a few months you will be at your fat target.

Ok, now that you are fat there are various dangers you should avoid in order not to lose that fat and weight.

I’m going to list them here in no sort of order, but follow all of them as best you can, else the consequences are dire:

1. Avoid getting an apartment that requires you to climb any stairs. Or always take the elevator. Stair climbing can lead to loss of fat.

2. Avoid all exercise, especially walking, as the slow type of exercise will activate the “slow twitch” muscles and burn fat, instead of sugar. So avoid walking, slow cycling and the like.

3. Make sure that when watching TV you snack a lot. That keeps the fat in balance, you may even be able to gain some more.

4. Do NOT get a pet, like a dog. They will want you to walk them, even run with them, on occasion. That can lead to weight loss.

5. If you are interested in sports then play Golf, and bring some beer with you, or drink lots of it before the game. That will ensure you do not lose any fat, you may even gain some.


6. Do NOT eat at Subway’s! But if you do get the urge? Add lots of Mayo, avoid the lettuce and most veggies.

7. When drinking make sure you have lots of snacks, so that you don’t get too drunk and unable to eat more snacks. That will help to keep that fat on.

8. Avoid cleaning your place too much. That takes slow, active, work and may burn off some fat. That is undesirable. But if you insist? Make sure you drink some beer or vodka or whatever your favorite alcoholic beverage is.

9. Never take enzymes with your meals! That may lead to weight loss!

10. Do not take such nutrients as blue-green algae! What you need is fat, not nutrients!

11. Instead of walking to the liquor store take a taxi.

12. Get a divorce or do something else terrible that will put you in a depressed state and then compensate by eating lots of fatty and sugary foods.

fat ladies

13. If you are single? Stay that way. And be celibate. That way you won’t have to worry about looking “nice” and “attractive” to the opposite sex. Being fat will keep them away like no other method can. It’s great! Oh and sexual exertion may cause heart-attack and even loss of fat, so avoid it.

14. Do not take any weight-loss products. Most contain herbs like Ma Huang and others, which will raise your blood pressure, and if you’re fat? You already have high Blood Pressure. So avoid those.

15. Stop taking sea salt. Why? Because the truth is that sea salt will allow you to lose some weight, not like what the “Authorities” report about salt in general. Extra water and some salt can actually cause you to lose weight! So avoid those and listen to the official “Authorities”. Be afraid!

16. In order to conserve your energy and fat make all movements very slow, like reaching for a beer. Don’t be fast! Make it slow, like in those Tai Chi movements you’ve seen on TV. Don’t twitch your fingers, move your feet, simply stay as slow and one pointed as you can! Fat must be preserved! Not wasted!

17. Eat as many foods that contain carbs as you can! Those get converted into fat more quickly than any other type of foods. So… lots of spaghetti! Beefaroni, and so on.

18. Eat a lot of salami, as it is made mostly of fatty parts (pork), and nitrates. The nitrates will keep you from getting those chest pains and the fatty pork will keep your fat in balance, or better!

19. For your meals always either order out so you don’t have to go out, or get those frozen dinners, like the Hungry Man kind! That will ensure minimum expenditure in your energy, thus burning no fat at all.

20. If you get the urge to exercise? Just lie down on your couch until the feeling passes. Then you’re good to go! Get a snack and watch some TV!

Ok, I may add to this list in the future. You may also contribute! All comments are welcome. You must preserve your fatness!

Note: This is not medical or health advice. But instead one persons comical, reverse psychology approach to show how healthy living is good living.

17 Random Health Facts You Never Knew

March 17th, 2008 Posted in Random Health | 19 Comments »

Here are some interesting, and maybe even frightening health facts*, that you probably never knew about. After reading these facts, you might want to think twice about grabbing a cup of coffee or even drinking a glass of orange juice for breakfast! Want to be lazy and lose weight at the same time, just go to sleep!

1) Motorists who talk on cell phones are more impaired than drunk drivers with blood-alcohol levels exceeding .08!

2) Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.

3) Some parts of the world protect their babies from disease by bathing them in beer.

4) The word ‘gymnasium’ comes from the Greek word gymnazein which means ‘to exercise naked.’

5) There are more than 1,000 chemicals in a cup of coffee. Of these, only 26 have been tested, and half caused cancer in rats.

6) The average American eats at McDonalds more than 1,800 times in their life.

7) A hard working adult sweats up to 4 gallons per day.


8) There are more bacteria in your mouth than there are people in the world.

9) According to U.S. FDA standards, 1 cup of orange juice is allowed to contain 10 fruit fly eggs, but only 2 maggots.

10) Apples are more efficient than caffeine in keeping people awake in the morning.

11) Strawberries have more Vitamin C than oranges.

12) You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.

13) It is possible to go blind from smoking too heavily.

14) Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do.

15) You are about 1 centimeter taller in the morning than in the evening!

16) During your lifetime, you’ll eat about 60,000 pounds of food, that’s the weight of about 6 elephants.

17) If you fart consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb!

That last one is pretty gross. Imagine a tyrant harvesting fart gas with a factory full of fart slaves…

*These statements are not proven by any health/medical associations or studies and are simply meant to make you laugh.

Go To HealthRanker Social Media Health News

Invite A Friend and News Widget Added

March 9th, 2008 Posted in Updates | No Comments »

Just a quick update on some more tools we have added to Health Ranker. We have added a Health News Widget, making it super easy for anyone to add our top 5 health news items.

We have also added a cool tool for you to invite your friends to Health Ranker. All you do is enter your contact info and your address books are imported. You can then select which contacts to invite. Pretty simple.

That’s all for now.

Health Ranker Interview at Market Intell Now

March 8th, 2008 Posted in Press | No Comments »

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Pete over at Market Intell Now, head over and let me know what you think: Read it Here

New Rank It Button Added

March 5th, 2008 Posted in Updates | No Comments »

We just added a new, slimmer Rank It! button to the tools page. The new button should appear below on each of our posts, but just in case it doesn’t here is what it looks like:

The change was made in an effort to appeal to a clutter-less feel for blogs. The code for using the button can be found on our tools page.