Weight Management: State of the Science and Opportunities for Military Programs
Author: Institute of Medicin
The primary purpose of fitness and body composition standards in the U.S. Armed Forces has always been to select individuals best suited to the physical demands of military service, based on the assumption that proper body weight and composition supports good health, physical fitness, and appropriate military appearance.
The current epidemic of overweight and obesity in the United States affects the military services. The pool of available recruits is reduced because of failure to meet body composition standards for entry into the services and a high percentage of individuals exceeding military weight-for-height standards at the time of entry into the service leave the military before completing their term of enlistment.
To aid in developing strategies for prevention and remediation of overweight in military personnel, the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command requested the Committee on Military Nutrition Research to review the scientific evidence for: factors that influence body weight, optimal components of a weight loss and weight maintenance program, and the role of gender, age, and ethnicity in weight management.
Doody Review Services
Reviewer: Jamie A. Cooper, MS (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Description: This book provides a comprehensive overview of strategies for effective weight loss and weight management in the U.S. military. Military standards for fitness, weight, and body composition as well as factors that influence body weight are also addressed.
Purpose: The purposes are threefold: to assess existing data on the components of an effective weight management program; to examine what role age, gender, and ethnicity play in effective weight management; and finally to evaluate current Department of Defense (DOD) weight management strategies and provide insight for more effective weight management methods.
Audience: This book is written as a request from the Director of Military Operational Medicine Research at USAMRMC and is intended to target all military personnel, particularly those who have the ability to provide proper nutrition and exercise education. The book provides the basics in nutrition, physical activity, and health to those who may be trained in one, but not all areas. The depth of subject matter in any one area, however, is average. The authors are the national experts in nutrition, physical activity, health, and obesity. Together they constitute the leading authority on prevention and treatment of obesity.
Features: This book centers on the issues of weight loss and weight management in the military. The authors express the need for making lifestyle changes in both physical activity and nutrition and provide recommendations to several specific military questions. Nutrition and physical activity concerns, issues, or problems that could arise due to the nature of a specific military environment are also addressed, which makes the information very applicable.
Assessment: This book provides a very comprehensive and thorough overview of strategies and suggestions for weight loss and weight maintenance in the military. It should aid the DOD in creating more successful weight loss and weight management programs for military personnel and provide them with the education they need to make life-long changes in their eating and exercise patterns.
Rating
4 Stars! from Doody
New interesting book: Soups and Stews or First Impressions
Youth Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior: Challenges and Solutions
Author: Alan L Smith
As interest in the public health challenge of youth inactivity increases, the ambitious Youth Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior sets a standard for addressing a problem with worldwide implications. Drawing on the contributions of a diverse group of international experts, this reference challenges professionals, researchers, and students to implement new solutions and further their research and work.
No other text addresses the causes, contributing factors, and fundamental issues in dealing with youth physical activity with such depth or comprehensive coverage. Using a multidisciplinary approach, Youth Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior breaks away from traditional thinking that places activity and sedentary behavior on a single continuum, which may limit progress in addressing youth inactivity. Instead, the authors encourage readers to focus on how sedentary and physically active behaviors coexist and consider how the two behaviors may have different determinants. In doing so, the text also considers developmental features such as maturation, ethnicity, environment, and genetics across both childhood (through age 12) and adolescence (the teen years). By looking at a variety of psychosocial and epidemiological factors, the authors set the stage for a critical analysis of beliefs and views at a time when many assumptions are taken for granted.
This book is organized in three parts that build on one another to deepen readers' understanding of this complex problem. This text begins by addressing the fundamental issues and assumptions pertaining to youth physical activity and sedentary behavior, covering such topics as measurement of the behaviorin question, health outcomes, concepts, and trends in a public health context. Once readers have grasped this foundational knowledge, they advance to part II for a comprehensive account of personal factors likely to be associated with the problem. Part III moves beyond the individual into the wider social and contextual aspects of physically active and sedentary living in young people. Through this concluding part, readers gain the latest thinking on how parents, peers, schools, organized sport, and related factors link to youth physical activity and sedentary behavior.
Each chapter presents the latest theory and research, real-world approaches to implementation, and background information to encourage discussion and future directions in national policy making. Youth Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior also contains the following features that add to an unprecedented learning experience:
• An at-a-glance look at why and how research can be used in the real world helps researchers relate their work to overall solutions.
• Coverage of more issues related to this subject than are available in any other reference makes this a one-stop resource.
• Internationally respected foreword writer, editors, and contributors provide a cross-disciplinary perspective valuable for putting solutions into a wider context.
• Applications for Professionals boxes and Applications for Researchers boxes at the end of each chapter provide practical suggestions for implementing solutions.
Youth Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior: Challenges and Solutions considers current research about youth physical activity and sedentary behavior across a range of personal factors as well as cultural and social influences. The text communicates the knowledge base on developmental, economic, psychological, and social factors related to youth physical activity and sedentary behavior and provides an overview of youth-specific approaches to addressing the problem of inactivity among youth.
Table of Contents:
Pt. I Conceptualization of Youth Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior 1
Ch. 1 Definitions and Measurement 3
Ch. 2 Youth Health Outcomes 31
Ch. 3 A Sociohistorical Analysis of U.S. Youth Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior 59
Ch. 4 Conceptual Perspectives 79
Ch. 5 "Couch Potatoes" and "Wind-up Dolls"?: A Critical Assessment of the Ethics of Youth Physical Activity Research 115
Pt. II Developmental and Psychological Factors in Youth Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior 139
Ch. 6 Biocultural Factors in Developing Physical Activity Levels 141
Ch. 7 Youth Attitudes 167
Ch. 8 Motivational Characteristics 193
Ch. 9 The Role of the Self 215
Ch. 10 Youth With Movement Difficulties 239
Pt. III Social and Contextual Factors in Youth Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior 265
Ch. 11 The Family 267
Ch. 12 Peers 295
Ch. 13 Physical Activity Levels During the School Day 321
Ch. 14 Organized Sport and PhysicalActivity Promotion 351
Ch. 15 Community Out-of-School Physical Activity Promotion 377
Ch. 16 Living Environments 403
Ch. 17 Economic Principles 429
Ch. 18 Culturally Appropriate Research and Interventions 453
Index 479
No comments:
Post a Comment