Spiritual/Emotional

Feb

Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Quick Tips, Seniors/fit, Spiritual/Emotional, Sports, Youth/fit | Add Comment

Coke

Most people have no idea how many calories they eat and drink every day. They just eat an drink whatever they want with no concept of what is healthy and normal. Soda, sweet tea, and specialty coffee drinks from Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts can easily add over 1000 calories per day to your diet. That is huge since most people only need 2000-2500 calories/day to maintain a healthy weight. Unfortunately, the excerpt below describes a pretty typical American lifestyle… one that will kill you. I suspect that this lady was also at very high risk for diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. From MSNBC-

…

The newest member of the Joy Fit Club, who once weighed 308 pounds, recalls being heavy all her life. Although she considered herself happy and successful, with a loving family and an engaging career, she knew she needed a healthier lifestyle. Her daily intake, primarily fast food, hovered around 5,000 empty calories a day. “I just ate with no rhyme or reason … all day, every day, nonstop.” Billie’s biggest vice was soda; she would drink six 20-oz. bottles of regular Coca-Cola.
More important, Billie realized the impact she was having on her kids. Not only did she set a poor example; she also often felt she couldn’t fully participate in their lives: She couldn’t run, play or do anything but sit with them.

…

My advice to all of my friends and family is to wean yourself off of any kind of sugary drinks. There is no nutritional value in these types of drinks and huge risks for most people. Water is the best thing to drink but coffee, tea and other kinds of unsweetened drinks are fine if you like them. It’s OK to put a teaspoon of sugar in your coffee if you need to, but if you need to make it super sweet just to drink it, you should probably find something you like better. Cutting you sugar intake will have a huge beneficial effect on your weight and how you feel. So just do it! Get someone at home or work to take the challenge with you and hold each other accountable. It is a lot easier to make these kinds of changes if you have a partner. Oh and keep your kids from getting addicted to high sugar drinks by not keeping them in the house. Simple and effective.

Jan

Weight Lifting Makes You Smarter- Really

Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Quick Tips, Seniors/fit, Spiritual/Emotional, Sports, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | Add Comment

Hack Squats

There is an old stereotype out there of the dumb weightlifter who really can’t do anything else very well. I think that stereotype really came from people who just don’t want to workout. Actually, the reverse is true… people who lift weights become measurably smarter. Really. I’ve met many very brilliant people in the gym and they weren’t just treadmill rats, they were hard core weightlifters. In one gym I worked out in, the evening crowd included a bunch of high powered personalities. One guy was an eye surgeon, another was a lawyer, another a CPA, etc. Of course there were stupid people in the gym as well. But there are stupid people everywhere. Yet, the perception persists and I really don’t know why- maybe the high school jocks vs. geeks thing. But the fact is that even at the most basic level, people who exercise are smarter simply because they realize that exercise is important for good health.

But, that’s not even the point of the article I’m referring to. Andrew over at MPF linked an article which suggests that weightlifting actually increases your cognitive abilities.

…Researchers in British Columbia randomly assigned 155 women ages 65 to 75 either to strength training with dumbbells and weight machines once or twice a week, or to a comparison group doing balance and toning exercises.

A year later, the women who did strength training had improved their performance on tests of so-called executive function by 10.9 percent to 12.6 percent, while those assigned to balance and toning exercises experienced a slight deterioration — 0.5 percent. The improvements in the strength training group included an enhanced ability to make decisions, resolve conflicts and focus on subjects without being distracted by competing stimuli.

…

I’ve been lifting weights ever since college and I don’t think most people consider me all that smart. It’s scary to think what I would be like if I didn’t lift weights every day! Anyways, good article. Check it out.

Jan

Correlation between depression and junk food found

Skip this for better health!

Whenever you start looking for cause/effect relationships, you invariably run the risk of getting it wrong and possibly backwards. But in this study there is a pretty good case to be made for eliminating as much junk food from your diet as possible since the correlation is so strong. It is possible that depressed people just eat more junk food. But with what we know about how diet affects every area of our lives, it is very likely that whole, natural, healthy foods benefit our brain function. So with that in mind, check out this article over at MSNBC Health and pass it along to your friends and family who might be struggling with depression. My experience is that changing your diet and adding exercise to your daily regimen has a powerful effect on mood as well as physical well-being. For a good 6 meal per day diet, check out this page…

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British and French epidemiologists analyzed food and mood data from 3,486 men and women (average age 55) in the Whitehall II study on London-based office staff. Each participant answered a food frequency questionnaire in which they were asked how often they had eaten a designated portion size of a food during the previous year (set responses ranged from “never” to “six or more times per day”).

That data was then converted to a daily intake and two dietary patterns were identified: the “whole food pattern” (defined by a high daily intake of vegetables, fruits, and fish) and the “processed food pattern” (characterized by high consumption of sweetened desserts, chocolates, fried food, processed meat, pies, refined grains, high-fat dairy products, and condiments). Five years later, all the participants answered a short questionnaire designed to measure symptoms of depression in the general population.

Dec

The Benefits of Exercise for the Mind and Spirit

walking in the woods

We often think that when it comes to diet, exercise and health that the latest is the greatest. We also tend to think that no one before us could possibly have the insight and clarity that our current generation has. But that is of course a fallacy and falls under the category of “chronological snobbery” as CS Lewis calls it. So here is a quote from the famous 19th century preacher Charles Spurgeon-

He who forgets the humming of the bees among the heather, the cooing of the wood-pigeons in the forest, the song of birds in the woods, the rippling of rills among the rushes, and the sighing of the wind among the pines, needs not wonder if his heart forgets to sing and his soul grows heavy. A day’s breathing of fresh air upon the hills, or a few hours, ramble in the beech woods’ umbrageous calm, would sweep the cobwebs out of the brain of scores of our toiling ministers who are now but half alive. A mouthful of sea air, or a stiff walk in the wind’s face, would not give grace to the soul, but it would yield oxygen to the body, which is next best.

So head out and get oxygen! It will be good for you body, mind and spirit.

Nov

A Guide for Healthy Food and Eating

Grilled Fish

WebMD has an article about an address Michael Pollan gave to a gathering of scientists and doctors at the CDC back in March. In the talk he gives 7 words and 7 rules for food and eating. He also notes that there are some ironies about American eating habits that we should pay attention to. Although he makes little mention of the importance of exercise, I feel the need to remind you that exercise has huge benefits that diet alone cannot make up for. But, all in all, he has some really good advice. When guys in the gym asks me about supplements and protein powder, I always tell them to simply save their money and buy good real food.

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As part of an effort to bring new ideas to the national debate on food issues, the CDC invited Pollan — a harsh critic of U.S. food policies — to address CDC researchers and to meet with leaders of the federal agency.

“The French paradox is that they have better heart health than we do despite being a cheese-eating, wine-swilling, fois-gras-gobbling people,” Pollan said. “The American paradox is we are a people who worry unreasonably about dietary health yet have the worst diet in the world.”

In various parts of the world, Pollan noted, necessity has forced human beings to adapt to all kinds of diets.

“The Masai subsist on cattle blood and meat and milk and little else. Native Americans subsist on beans and maize. And the Inuit in Greenland subsist on whale blubber and a little bit of lichen,” he said. “The irony is, the one diet we have invented for ourselves — the Western diet — is the one that makes us sick.”

Snowballing rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease in the U.S. can be traced to our unhealthy diet. So how do we change? Read on here!

Oct

Keeping Your Mind Sharp as You Age

Take a Bike Ride!

If you want the magic formula for staying sharp mentally as you age, here it is- EXERCISE. Well, what did you think I was going to say, “watch more TV”? There are tons of studies that show huge benefits for our brains as well as the rest of our bodies from daily exercise. This article from Prevention lists a week long (7 day) program for staying young and feeling better. It works for kids and it works for senior adults, although the results for seniors is nothing short of amazing. Take the time to read through it and write down a daily schedule to follow. None of the suggestions are overly time consuming and most can be done at home. Just DO IT! From MSNBC-

To create the ultimate brainpower workout, we developed this 7-day plan based on cutting-edge research that will wake you up above the neck while still delivering the calorie-torching, body-toning benefits of ordinary workouts. The twist: Simple tweaks such as choosing scenic walking routes, closing your eyes while strength-training, and even playing catch activate areas of your brain that regular exercise doesn’t challenge. Follow along for a week’s worth of workouts, then continue to use the strategies below as often as possible, whether you repeat the 7-day plan or incorporate the techniques into your own routine.

Aug

Scientists Working on Anti-Fat Pill

Bike Ride

I’m not sure how good an idea this is… giving people the option to simply take a pill instead of controlling their diet and exercising will surely have unintended consequences. At any rate, if they can’t get a drug company to help develop it, I’m sure the fast food industry will be glad to step in and help! Seriously, the problem with a “pill” solution is that while it may help with weight loss, it does nothing for the other huge problem- lack of exercise. Exercise is the magic pill that everyone is looking for- and it has many benefits beyond weight loss. Exercise has been shown to change your body’s chemistry and hormones in a positive way. While there are still questions about how far reaching the benefits of exercise are, I suspect there are things that we will still be learning 20 years from now. So, the magic pill is already here- get out and exercise. Work in your yard or go to the park. Head to the gym. Ride your bike. Sit down and think of ways to add just 30 minutes of exercise to each day and you will look and feel better almost immediately.

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WASHINGTON – Researchers searching for a cure for obesity said on Thursday they have developed a drug that not only makes mice lose weight, but reverses diabetes and lowers their cholesterol, too.

The drug, which they have dubbed fatostatin, stops the body from making fat, instead releasing the energy from food. They hope it may lead to a pill that would fight obesity, diabetes and cholesterol, all at once.

Writing in the journal Chemistry and Biology, Salih Wakil of Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, Motonari Uesugi of Kyoto University in Japan and colleagues said the drug interferes with a suite of genes turned on by overeating.

Jul

Starting a Training Program- Motivation is Key

The pastor at my church was told by his doctor that he needed to lose weight and start exercising due to some not so good test results. So finally, I have gotten him into the gym and after a week of relatively light training, he is getting the initial soreness worked out. I will ask him if it is OK to post his initial picture along with updates as we move along. One of the things he has in his favor is that his wife is an aerobics instructor who is very health/diet conscious. So it will be interesting to see how this progresses. Stay tuned.

One of the biggest factors (probably THE biggest) in making a real change is motivation. So with his wife, me and the other guy who works out with us all encouraging him, I think he has a good chance of making a real lifestyle change. The other motivating influence is other people who might not want to see you succeed. It amazes me how negative so many people are when they find out a friend or family member is trying to lose weight and get in shape. That is just the “misery loves company” attitude coming out. But you can channel that “negativity” and use it for motivation. One thing that really motivates me is people thinking I can’t do something. So if you are in the same situation, feed off of those who want you to succeed- and those who don’t. Then use your success to encourage someone else.

Jun

Fish Oil and Vitamin D to be Studied for Benifits

The government is sponsoring a new study to determine the effectiveness of 2 very popular supplements- Fish Oil (the best source of Omega 3’s) and vitamin D. Both supplements have evidence that they may help protect against cancer, heart disease and a host of other diseases. But most of the evidence is anecdotal so this study seeks to put some hard numbers to the claims. At any rate, we do know that many people are deficient in vitamin D (and most other nutrients) and really should take a supplement, but the best way is to let your body make its own by getting about 15 minutes of direct sun on at least 30% of your body several time a week. Vitamin D is made by your skin in large quantities when exposed to sun light.

Grilled Salmon

The same is true of fish oil- eating oily fish like tuna and salmon a couple of time a week may be better than taking a capsule.

…

The new study, which will start later this year, will enroll 20,000 people with no history of heart attacks, stroke or a major cancer — women 65 or older and men 60 or older. They will be randomly assigned to take vitamin D, fish oil, both nutrients or dummy pills for five years.

The daily dose of vitamin D will be about 2,000 international units of D-3, also known as cholecalciferol, the most active form. For fish oil, the daily dose will be about one gram — five to 10 times what the average American gets.

Participants’ health will be monitored through questionnaires, medical records and in some cases, periodic in-person exams.

“We’re hoping to see a result during the trial, that we won’t have to wait five years” to find out if supplements help, Manson said.

Researchers also plan to study whether these nutrients help prevent memory loss, depression, diabetes, osteoporosis and other problems, Buring said.

The $20 million study will be sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and other federal agencies. Pharmavite LLC of Northridge, Calif., is providing the vitamin D pills, and Ocean Nutrition Canada Ltd. of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, is providing the omega-3 fish oil capsules.

May

Getting a Good Night’s Sleep- Essential for Training

We all know how good we feel when we get a good night’s rest and we all know how tired and crappy we feel when we don’t sleep well or get enough rest. But it actually goes further than that since getting enough quality sleep is essential for your body to heal and grow- especially for athletes. I can attest to this since my chronic back problems often wake me during the night to roll over and change positions. For a lot of other people, it is just anxiety and stress that keeps them from sleeping well. The irony is that when you do sleep well, you are usually a lot less anxious and stressed. So here is a good article from Prevention that can probably help most of us sleep better and be more productive during the day. While not all of the suggestions apply to everyone, you will find some good advice that will help you sleep better, feel better, train harder and grow faster!

Unplug an hour before bed. That includes the television, computer, cell phone, and any other glowing tech tools. Research shows that the brain misreads artificial light as daylight, so it doesn’t release melatonin, a sleep-regulating chemical, which is normally triggered by darkness.

Take a warm shower or bath. Your body temperature goes down when you get out, which makes you feel sleepy. That’s because it mimics what occurs deep inside the body at night, when internal temperature drops to its lowest level.

Meditate or pray for 10 minutes. Several studies show that it can help reduce anxiety, release negative thinking, and improve sleep. Sit quietly in a comfortable position and repeat a phrase you find relaxing, such as Keep letting go.

Limit liquids after 6 p.m. The reason she wakes up so often to use the bathroom is simply because she drinks too much fluid during the second half of the day. After 6 p.m., have just one to two glasses of water…

Set a bedtime and stick to it. Going to bed at different times throws the internal body clock out of whack. It’s better if she hit the sack at the same time every night and set the alarm for the same time every morning — even on weekends, suggests Naiman. This will help get her body on a regular pattern, which makes it easier to fall and stay asleep.

Try a small dose of melatonin. The brain makes this chemical naturally, but it’s often in short supply in people with insomnia. Studies have shown that taking a melatonin supplement helps improve sleep, but you need only a small amount: 0.5 mg, 15 minutes before bed.

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