Posts
It's national quit smoking week again.
I smoked most of the major brands, filtered and non-filtered. Tried menthol, didn't really like those but I'd smoke one if I was desperate enough. Did the roll your own thing. I could roll a smoke with one hand. I also had one of those mini automatic cigarette makers where you load a blank tube into one side and the soft, sweet smelling luxurious tobacco into the other. In a satisfying shick shick mechanical motion not unlike cocking a gun I would make myself my very own dart of death, and cheap too.
I had a pipe for a while. A pipe is the ultimate portrayal of the educated smoker who has advanced their carbon monoxide connoisseurship beyond that of the pedestrian inhaler.
Quitting smoking was one of the best things I've ever done, but it wasn't without challenge.
Rather than re-write my quit smoking experience, here are links to two posts where I relate what I went through..
Non-smoking week
No safe level of cigarette smoke
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Fake data behind red wine benefit claims, experts allege | CTV News
Fake data behind red wine benefit claims, experts allege | CTV News
The old red wine argument.. I've never found good quality research that demonstrated any truly significant advantage to consuming red wine for any health purpose that was more effective than the standard of eating healthy, exercising regularly, keeping weight down, and consistently getting good sleep.
You think you read about research that proves cardiovascular benefits of red wine consumption? Maybe not.. Dipak Das, a researcher known for his work demonstrating heart health benefits from red wine has been exposed as a faker, falsifying data more than 100 times.
I did a simple pubmed search using "das red wine" as the search criteria and found 39 studies where this Das was an author or was cited. Searching for abstracts that included this authors name alone results in 619 studies. Disheartening that many of these studies were spoiled by falsified data regarding red wine and resveratrol, an important antioxidant found in dark coloured grapes, cranberries, cranberry juice, purple grape juice, and red wine, with the highest concentrations in red grapes, cranberries, and the juice of these.
I won't throw the baby out with the bathwater, there is ongoing research done by other researchers finding possible benefits of resveratrol.
I did a simple pubmed search using "das red wine" as the search criteria and found 39 studies where this Das was an author or was cited. Searching for abstracts that included this authors name alone results in 619 studies. Disheartening that many of these studies were spoiled by falsified data regarding red wine and resveratrol, an important antioxidant found in dark coloured grapes, cranberries, cranberry juice, purple grape juice, and red wine, with the highest concentrations in red grapes, cranberries, and the juice of these.
I won't throw the baby out with the bathwater, there is ongoing research done by other researchers finding possible benefits of resveratrol.
Much to the chagrin of many, I have steadfastly maintained that there isn't really any good health related reason to drink red wine. You want a glass of red wine? It won't hurt, but more than 1.5 or 2 glasses per day may be harmful (woman, men). For sure overconsumption of booze is undeniably harmful in many ways physically and psychologically.
What I really believe is that many will use the "it's healthy" excuse to justify daily wine drinking. Get over it, because it isn't.
We'll have to wait and see if someone does discover some truly significant health benefit from wine drinking. For now, wine can't compete with a healthy diet, exercise, keeping weight down, and getting a good nights sleep.
The experts say that if you don't drink now, don't start, as the possible health benefits are not great enough to justify starting to drink.
There is no harm in infrequent light drinking so don't worry about that.
Mindful eating strategies can help people who dine out | CTV News
Mindful eating strategies can help people who dine out | CTV News
This CTV article is about a study that demonstrated that by navigating typical restaurant food choices it's possible to take actions that can result in not gaining weight, even losing weight, eating at restaurants.
I couldn't help but thinking that in order for such a study to occur, some interesting criteria is required; restaurant menus require careful navigation to avoid overeating, as the article points out a seemingly healthy taco salad contained 1,100 calories and 71 grams of fat.
What if most menu items in most restaurants were not laden with meals that have enormous caloric values? It would be hard to do this study, in fact there would be no point.
Allow me to digress with an apt analogy:
What if some astute researchers did a study on how to prevent getting wet walking through puddles.. the intervention group stepped lightly to prevent splashing, and wore big rubber boots. The control group stomped through the puddle wearing socks.
Wow.. the intervention group got less wet!
Someone comes along and says, "there are no puddles on the other side of the street. If you don't want to get wet, walk there". Kind of makes the puddle study somewhat useless, leaving the researchers all wet.
I think it's crazy that restaurant eating strategies are seen as the way to resolve overeating in restaurants. How about not having the majority of the menu items being high calorie? What, exactly, is the point of having almost all meal choices, save for a few, being so hyper-caloric? How about not going to restaurants that serve mostly high calorie meals?
Delusion of choice
I think we are given a false sense of choice when presented with most restaurant menus. How's that? Check it out.. the majority of the menu items will be high calorie, high sodium, and high fat. Your choice is between how you want your fat bomb delivered, bottom line; most of the choices are obesogenic. It's a lipstick on a pig thing. You can try as many different colours of lipstick as you want, but those are still pig lips you're kissing. Those menus are not increasing your choices, you're choices are restricted to choosing between fat bombs.
Delusion of choice
I think we are given a false sense of choice when presented with most restaurant menus. How's that? Check it out.. the majority of the menu items will be high calorie, high sodium, and high fat. Your choice is between how you want your fat bomb delivered, bottom line; most of the choices are obesogenic. It's a lipstick on a pig thing. You can try as many different colours of lipstick as you want, but those are still pig lips you're kissing. Those menus are not increasing your choices, you're choices are restricted to choosing between fat bombs.
The other interesting criteria required for this study to have been conceptualized is that enough people in the population habitually overeat that it's perceived that the public may benefit from learning about how they overeat, and how to manage overeating.
So we have a large portion of the population seeking to overeat in restaurants, and a great many restaurants serving meals that are so huge that to eat just one constitutes overeating.
A proposed answer to this is not to reduce the size of restaurant portions, but rather develop food ordering strategies to try and compensate for the poor choices available in restaurants.
Personally I almost never go to restaurants that serve these 1000+ calorie meals. What for?
Instead I go to restaurants where the majority of menu choices are healthy and of reasonable caloric value. Of course the food has to taste good, that's part of why I eat out, when I eat out.
In Winnipeg my favorite restaurant is Fresh Cafe on Corydon Ave. Imagine a restaurant where every meal on the menu is healthy, and none will overfeed you. Now that my friends is real choice.
It's true we definitely need to exercise personal responsibility and choose to eat less, eat healthy, and learn to realize how much more gratifying it is to eat healthy while working on our contrived beliefs in crazy notions like; in order to taste good, food has to be bad for you, or that you have to stuff yourself in order to be satisfied. Those distorted beliefs cause us nothing but trouble.
If you've decided you're going to make a difference in your life, lose weight and get healthy, what is the point in going to restaurants where you need to pick apart every single meal in order to alter it to be a reasonably healthy meal? You are essentially remaking the meal yourself. Why not just go to restaurants that are catering to those who are looking for healthy great tasting foods? Why support those who primarily serve obesogenic meals?
Fresh Cafe Winnipeg
No, I don't know the owners of Fresh Cafe and I don't go there often enough to be recognized as a regular. It's simply a great restaurant. One that I have total confidence that I will be able to choose a healthy meal that meets my criteria, and I am a very tough critic of restaurants. If you read the CTV article and are interested in trying some of the eating strategies.. half those strategies are not needed if you go to restaurants that specialize in healthy eating.
No, I don't know the owners of Fresh Cafe and I don't go there often enough to be recognized as a regular. It's simply a great restaurant. One that I have total confidence that I will be able to choose a healthy meal that meets my criteria, and I am a very tough critic of restaurants. If you read the CTV article and are interested in trying some of the eating strategies.. half those strategies are not needed if you go to restaurants that specialize in healthy eating.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Just teasing
Back in high school I had quite the wit, as did a few of my best friends. At any given moment the gauntlet would be dropped, usually a not so subtle cut down delivered with confidence and a bit of premature gloating as though the most cleaver and indefensible witticism had been unleashed on our hapless peer who surly would concede defeat to satirical superiority.
Of course a retort salvo delivered with impunity was the only possible response, and expected response, despite the pretence of a no contest victory.
Each counter attack expanded the creative use of foul vulgarity, coaxing us to exercise our cerebral powers with more passion than any physics class could hope to muster. The escalating exchange of zingers would bind our friendships more as we opened ourselves to benign thrusts that would surly emotionally injure the unprotected. A deserved tip of the hat gesture or "touché" was the currency of trust and acknowledgement of "a good one" delivered into your court with such alacrity and venom that a return was not possible.. until the next serve.
These exchanges were like an episode of Seinfeld, in that they were essentially about nothing, but we sure laughed a lot. At the time I really enjoyed it.
Over time the one-upmanship banter lost its lustre and our conversations, as we navigated adolescent maturity, waded into the meaning of life, politics, as well as biceps, girls, and the myriad of subjects that randomly occupy the young soon to be adult mind.
This teasing in retrospect seems to be some kind of right of passage or perhaps pseudo intellectual conversation for those who are not yet comfortable enough or experienced enough to rely on meaningful exchanges to engage each-other.
An interesting conundrum with teasing is that while some research shows that the non-bullying type of teasing is seldom meant to be hurtful to the recipient, the recipient more often perceives the tease as hurtful. (1)
The explanation is that teaser knows what they are doing in advance, and the teased does not, making the delivered insult hard to see as benign most of the time. Additionally, the person being teased is likely to perceive the teaser as disingenuous.. their clumsy delivery of an insult thinly disguised with humour displays a lack of ability to be conscientious. The old "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything" applies here.
It seems that teasing, according to experts, has a better chance of working in a benign or even uplifting way if the tease is delivered with obvious openness instead of coy mischievousness, and between those who have accepted that teasing is ok between them. Otherwise most of the time teasing is an epic failure for both teaser and teasee. When this happens the teaser doesn't understand that being an a$$ isn't really a good idea, because they can't perceive how such behaviour is a$$-like.
Instead of diffusing the situation amicably the teaser will stubbornly raise the ante by delivering the quintessential socially inept accusatory question, "what, can't you take a joke?"
Take a joke. As though the purpose of peoples existence is to be the wanting and diminutive recipient of the teasers put-down. Or that the recipient is somehow implicitly expected to be indoctrinated into complying by gestating and delivering an equally dismissive comeback.
While truly benign teasing is fun, it's prone to failure if it's unexpectedly sprung on someone.. you need to be in tune with the person you're teasing to avoid either hurt feelings or being perceived as a jerk.
Aside from simply being annoying teasing can become bullying and harassment.
So why am I writing an article about this? In the context of living healthy, our emotional health is of course of paramount importance. Unless under the ideal scenarios I've described here, I've more often witnessed teasing be either hurtful or annoyingly inappropriate.
It seems that the chronic teaser lacks the ability to produce a genuine compliment or constructive criticism to others, always attempting to veil their social ineptness with humour, which makes it hard to take them seriously.
We all know how good it feels to receive a truly genuine compliment, and how it feels to be the butt end of joke, or to be annoyed by the eternal jester.
So if we all know this, wouldn't it be better to offer more genuine compliments to each-other?
I'm not talking about platitudes and phoney smiles.. no need to make up heartless anecdotes. It really does make us feel better whether we are the ones doing the delivery, or are the recipient.. compliments and being good natured makes us feel good, not in a way that clouds judgment or plops rose coloured glasses on us, but simply feeling good. What's wrong with that?
Research (2) shows that with practiced mindful thinking the part of our brain that allows us to be complimentary and compassionate grows larger while the part of our brain that processes being negative and judgmental shrinks. Amazing.. through being genuinely nice to others our brain remodels to become more efficient at producing positive thoughts and less at producing negative thoughts.
Have you ever felt burdened by negative thoughts that seem to never go away? Feel stressed about all the negative people out there? Some of that negativity may be self generated. We can't really control others, and the world will always have unfair, rude, ne'er-do-wells, but what if there was something we had real control over that really did reduce our stress and leave us feeling happier more often? There are a lot of things we can do to achieve this; one of them is being mindful of where our emotions come from, and how our actions may affect others.
Next time you're thinking of delivering a zinger, think about something genuinely good about that person and say that instead. You may be surprised how good you feel about being compassionate. And while you may get the odd person wondering what you really want, the person on the receiving end will also feel a bit of a warm fuzzy.
Think this is too egalitarian or devoid of real practical usefulness? Guess again.. Being positive and mindful of our own and others feelings has a place, and does contribute to better relationships, better efficiency in the work place, and less stress. Additionally teasing is devastating to many people leading to eating disorders, self esteem challenges, depression, and suicide. Not so funny hey?
Try it! Give out genuine complements to someone today. It has to be genuine though, otherwise it's phoney and counter productive. You won't have to wait long.. Lot's of people do good things frequently.. when they do, that's your chance to pounce! Carefully though.. overdo this and you might merely become an ideologue..
Spread some happiness :-)
(1) PsycNET - Display Record
(2) http://www.umassmed.edu/uploadedFiles/cfm2/Psychiatry_Resarch_Mindfulness.pdf
Showing empathy to patients can improve care
Of course a retort salvo delivered with impunity was the only possible response, and expected response, despite the pretence of a no contest victory.
Each counter attack expanded the creative use of foul vulgarity, coaxing us to exercise our cerebral powers with more passion than any physics class could hope to muster. The escalating exchange of zingers would bind our friendships more as we opened ourselves to benign thrusts that would surly emotionally injure the unprotected. A deserved tip of the hat gesture or "touché" was the currency of trust and acknowledgement of "a good one" delivered into your court with such alacrity and venom that a return was not possible.. until the next serve.
These exchanges were like an episode of Seinfeld, in that they were essentially about nothing, but we sure laughed a lot. At the time I really enjoyed it.
Over time the one-upmanship banter lost its lustre and our conversations, as we navigated adolescent maturity, waded into the meaning of life, politics, as well as biceps, girls, and the myriad of subjects that randomly occupy the young soon to be adult mind.
This teasing in retrospect seems to be some kind of right of passage or perhaps pseudo intellectual conversation for those who are not yet comfortable enough or experienced enough to rely on meaningful exchanges to engage each-other.
An interesting conundrum with teasing is that while some research shows that the non-bullying type of teasing is seldom meant to be hurtful to the recipient, the recipient more often perceives the tease as hurtful. (1)
The explanation is that teaser knows what they are doing in advance, and the teased does not, making the delivered insult hard to see as benign most of the time. Additionally, the person being teased is likely to perceive the teaser as disingenuous.. their clumsy delivery of an insult thinly disguised with humour displays a lack of ability to be conscientious. The old "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything" applies here.
It seems that teasing, according to experts, has a better chance of working in a benign or even uplifting way if the tease is delivered with obvious openness instead of coy mischievousness, and between those who have accepted that teasing is ok between them. Otherwise most of the time teasing is an epic failure for both teaser and teasee. When this happens the teaser doesn't understand that being an a$$ isn't really a good idea, because they can't perceive how such behaviour is a$$-like.
Instead of diffusing the situation amicably the teaser will stubbornly raise the ante by delivering the quintessential socially inept accusatory question, "what, can't you take a joke?"
Take a joke. As though the purpose of peoples existence is to be the wanting and diminutive recipient of the teasers put-down. Or that the recipient is somehow implicitly expected to be indoctrinated into complying by gestating and delivering an equally dismissive comeback.
While truly benign teasing is fun, it's prone to failure if it's unexpectedly sprung on someone.. you need to be in tune with the person you're teasing to avoid either hurt feelings or being perceived as a jerk.
Aside from simply being annoying teasing can become bullying and harassment.
So why am I writing an article about this? In the context of living healthy, our emotional health is of course of paramount importance. Unless under the ideal scenarios I've described here, I've more often witnessed teasing be either hurtful or annoyingly inappropriate.
It seems that the chronic teaser lacks the ability to produce a genuine compliment or constructive criticism to others, always attempting to veil their social ineptness with humour, which makes it hard to take them seriously.
We all know how good it feels to receive a truly genuine compliment, and how it feels to be the butt end of joke, or to be annoyed by the eternal jester.
So if we all know this, wouldn't it be better to offer more genuine compliments to each-other?
I'm not talking about platitudes and phoney smiles.. no need to make up heartless anecdotes. It really does make us feel better whether we are the ones doing the delivery, or are the recipient.. compliments and being good natured makes us feel good, not in a way that clouds judgment or plops rose coloured glasses on us, but simply feeling good. What's wrong with that?
Research (2) shows that with practiced mindful thinking the part of our brain that allows us to be complimentary and compassionate grows larger while the part of our brain that processes being negative and judgmental shrinks. Amazing.. through being genuinely nice to others our brain remodels to become more efficient at producing positive thoughts and less at producing negative thoughts.
Have you ever felt burdened by negative thoughts that seem to never go away? Feel stressed about all the negative people out there? Some of that negativity may be self generated. We can't really control others, and the world will always have unfair, rude, ne'er-do-wells, but what if there was something we had real control over that really did reduce our stress and leave us feeling happier more often? There are a lot of things we can do to achieve this; one of them is being mindful of where our emotions come from, and how our actions may affect others.
Next time you're thinking of delivering a zinger, think about something genuinely good about that person and say that instead. You may be surprised how good you feel about being compassionate. And while you may get the odd person wondering what you really want, the person on the receiving end will also feel a bit of a warm fuzzy.
Think this is too egalitarian or devoid of real practical usefulness? Guess again.. Being positive and mindful of our own and others feelings has a place, and does contribute to better relationships, better efficiency in the work place, and less stress. Additionally teasing is devastating to many people leading to eating disorders, self esteem challenges, depression, and suicide. Not so funny hey?
Try it! Give out genuine complements to someone today. It has to be genuine though, otherwise it's phoney and counter productive. You won't have to wait long.. Lot's of people do good things frequently.. when they do, that's your chance to pounce! Carefully though.. overdo this and you might merely become an ideologue..
Spread some happiness :-)
(1) PsycNET - Display Record
(2) http://www.umassmed.edu/uploadedFiles/cfm2/Psychiatry_Resarch_Mindfulness.pdf
Showing empathy to patients can improve care
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Fitness Trends 2011 2012
American College of Sports Medicine survey predicts fitness trends for 2012 (1)
1. Educated and experienced fitness professionals. Given the large number of organizations offering health and fitness certifications, it’s important that consumers choose professionals certified through programs that are accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), such as those offered by ACSM.
2. Strength training. Strength training remains a central emphasis for many health clubs. Incorporating strength training is an essential part of a complete physical activity program for all physical activity levels and genders.
3. Fitness programs for older adults. As the baby boom generation ages into retirement, some of these people have more discretionary money than their younger counterparts. Therefore, many health and fitness professionals are taking the time to create age-appropriate fitness programs to keep older adults healthy and active.
4. Exercise and weight loss. In addition to nutrition, exercise is a key component of a proper weight loss program. Health and fitness professionals who provide weight loss programs are increasingly incorporating regular exercise and caloric restriction for better weight control in their clients.
5. Children and obesity. With childhood obesity growing at an alarming rate, health and fitness professionals see the epidemic as an opportunity to create programs tailored to overweight and obese children. Solving the problem of childhood obesity will have an impact on the health care industry today and for years to come.
6. Personal training. More and more students are majoring in kinesiology, which indicates that students are preparing themselves for careers in allied health fields such as personal training. Education, training and proper credentialing for personal trainers have become increasingly important to the health and fitness facilities that employ them.
7. Core training. Distinct from strength training, core training specifically emphasizes conditioning of the middle-body muscles, including the pelvis, lower back, hips and abdomen – all of which provide needed support for the spine.
8. Group personal training. In challenging economic times, many personal trainers are offering group training options. Training two or three people at once makes economic sense for both the trainer and the clients.
9. Zumba and other dance workouts. A workout that requires energy and enthusiasm, Zumba combines Latin rhythms with interval-type exercise and resistance training.
10. Functional fitness. This is a trend toward using strength training to improve balance and ease of daily living. Functional fitness and special fitness programs for older adults are closely related.
Although producing educated and experienced fitness pro's is the top fitness industry trend it's still very much buyer beware. Take a look at this video posted on the American Counsel on Exercise website..
The ACE article say's, "If a trainer demonstrates a technically challenging exercise that you don’t feel comfortable attempting your next exercise, run (not walk) away from that trainer in order to avoid an unnecessary (and completely preventable) injury,"
The article was also careful to point out that "this is not an indictment against Crossfit". I agree. In general the Crossfit program places special emphasis on good technique, but as I have seen over and over, it does't matter what kind of certification a trainer has, I've seen all levels of trainers make these critical errors.
The number one red flag that signals you should run, not walk, away from a trainer? No assessments or measurements. If a trainer doesn't do a valid fitness test or movement assessment (used to find common posture and biomechanical problems) it means they have no evidence from which to build a personal recommendation for you from. You are likely to receive a cookie cutter program from trainers that don't do assessments.
In my opinion the number one fitness/ healthy living trend that needs to occur is changing how we think and feel about healthy choices. Why? How many times have you or someone you know looked forward to their "cheat day" more than they look forward to making healthy choices?
Thats the self sabotage we inflict on ourselves and is the number one reason for failure to lose weight and get fit. We simply don't value the healthy choices as much as we do the unhealthy choices.
If you're in love with unhealthy choices you'll always feel drawn to those choices and the healthy choices will forever be relegated to being perceived as restrictions that prevent access to the supposedly more rewarding unhealthy choices.
In general I don't like most group exercise classes, the bigger they are the worse they are because individual attention becomes non-existent. Also group fitness classes place pressure on everyone to perform whether your tired or not. Group classes can work, but look for smaller groups with no more than 6-10 people per instructor.
Here is my list of what you must do to get and stay healthy:
Overall it's the psychological work that precipitates everything else. Free your mind and the rest will follow. Get your head and your heart into loving healthy living instead of viewing it as restrictive.
The top four things that you have control over that make your body healthy are:
Exercise: Strength train 1 to 2X per week. Cardio 2 to 3X per week, some activity daily
Nutrition: Pass on processed foods, fill 1/2 plate with veggies, be mindful of what you eat.. "is eating this really going to help me; or hurt me?"
Quality sleep: Get to bed early and same time every night. Avoid late nights.
Stress management
The first three also pull double duty and serve to aid stress management. In addition though cognitively processing why we get angry, why we fret and worry, as well as what makes up happy and content is very important. Most of us simply habitually react to situations instead of being mindful of our thoughts and emotions. Being mindful helps us realize we can choose not get so uptight about things, and be less judgemental of others and ourselves, helping us reduce our stress and even avoid stress altogether.
If you can get the right amount of these four you'll discover how liberating and rewarding it feels to be stronger with more energy, have fewer colds, have less body fat, and not feel like weight gain, being tired, and being stressed are a ball and chain.
(1) http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/images/12/16/fitness.trends.pdf
1. Educated and experienced fitness professionals. Given the large number of organizations offering health and fitness certifications, it’s important that consumers choose professionals certified through programs that are accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), such as those offered by ACSM.
2. Strength training. Strength training remains a central emphasis for many health clubs. Incorporating strength training is an essential part of a complete physical activity program for all physical activity levels and genders.
3. Fitness programs for older adults. As the baby boom generation ages into retirement, some of these people have more discretionary money than their younger counterparts. Therefore, many health and fitness professionals are taking the time to create age-appropriate fitness programs to keep older adults healthy and active.
4. Exercise and weight loss. In addition to nutrition, exercise is a key component of a proper weight loss program. Health and fitness professionals who provide weight loss programs are increasingly incorporating regular exercise and caloric restriction for better weight control in their clients.
5. Children and obesity. With childhood obesity growing at an alarming rate, health and fitness professionals see the epidemic as an opportunity to create programs tailored to overweight and obese children. Solving the problem of childhood obesity will have an impact on the health care industry today and for years to come.
6. Personal training. More and more students are majoring in kinesiology, which indicates that students are preparing themselves for careers in allied health fields such as personal training. Education, training and proper credentialing for personal trainers have become increasingly important to the health and fitness facilities that employ them.
7. Core training. Distinct from strength training, core training specifically emphasizes conditioning of the middle-body muscles, including the pelvis, lower back, hips and abdomen – all of which provide needed support for the spine.
8. Group personal training. In challenging economic times, many personal trainers are offering group training options. Training two or three people at once makes economic sense for both the trainer and the clients.
9. Zumba and other dance workouts. A workout that requires energy and enthusiasm, Zumba combines Latin rhythms with interval-type exercise and resistance training.
10. Functional fitness. This is a trend toward using strength training to improve balance and ease of daily living. Functional fitness and special fitness programs for older adults are closely related.
Although producing educated and experienced fitness pro's is the top fitness industry trend it's still very much buyer beware. Take a look at this video posted on the American Counsel on Exercise website..
The ACE article say's, "If a trainer demonstrates a technically challenging exercise that you don’t feel comfortable attempting your next exercise, run (not walk) away from that trainer in order to avoid an unnecessary (and completely preventable) injury,"
The article was also careful to point out that "this is not an indictment against Crossfit". I agree. In general the Crossfit program places special emphasis on good technique, but as I have seen over and over, it does't matter what kind of certification a trainer has, I've seen all levels of trainers make these critical errors.
The number one red flag that signals you should run, not walk, away from a trainer? No assessments or measurements. If a trainer doesn't do a valid fitness test or movement assessment (used to find common posture and biomechanical problems) it means they have no evidence from which to build a personal recommendation for you from. You are likely to receive a cookie cutter program from trainers that don't do assessments.
In my opinion the number one fitness/ healthy living trend that needs to occur is changing how we think and feel about healthy choices. Why? How many times have you or someone you know looked forward to their "cheat day" more than they look forward to making healthy choices?
Thats the self sabotage we inflict on ourselves and is the number one reason for failure to lose weight and get fit. We simply don't value the healthy choices as much as we do the unhealthy choices.
If you're in love with unhealthy choices you'll always feel drawn to those choices and the healthy choices will forever be relegated to being perceived as restrictions that prevent access to the supposedly more rewarding unhealthy choices.
In general I don't like most group exercise classes, the bigger they are the worse they are because individual attention becomes non-existent. Also group fitness classes place pressure on everyone to perform whether your tired or not. Group classes can work, but look for smaller groups with no more than 6-10 people per instructor.
Here is my list of what you must do to get and stay healthy:
Overall it's the psychological work that precipitates everything else. Free your mind and the rest will follow. Get your head and your heart into loving healthy living instead of viewing it as restrictive.
The top four things that you have control over that make your body healthy are:
Exercise: Strength train 1 to 2X per week. Cardio 2 to 3X per week, some activity daily
Nutrition: Pass on processed foods, fill 1/2 plate with veggies, be mindful of what you eat.. "is eating this really going to help me; or hurt me?"
Quality sleep: Get to bed early and same time every night. Avoid late nights.
Stress management
The first three also pull double duty and serve to aid stress management. In addition though cognitively processing why we get angry, why we fret and worry, as well as what makes up happy and content is very important. Most of us simply habitually react to situations instead of being mindful of our thoughts and emotions. Being mindful helps us realize we can choose not get so uptight about things, and be less judgemental of others and ourselves, helping us reduce our stress and even avoid stress altogether.
If you can get the right amount of these four you'll discover how liberating and rewarding it feels to be stronger with more energy, have fewer colds, have less body fat, and not feel like weight gain, being tired, and being stressed are a ball and chain.
(1) http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/images/12/16/fitness.trends.pdf
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Eat Less To Get a Six Pack
The elusive six pack. There is an endless number of super six pack programs at your disposal. Entire books are created with the sole purpose of teaching you the super secrets, known only to the author until you buy the book.
What about incredibly challenging gut burning core workouts with everything from planks to throwing medicine balls at your mid section? These hardcore workouts are important for athletic performance, but are overkill if the main goal is solid posture, good strength, and a lean six pack. Besides, hard core training usually causes overtraining injuries when jumped into too quickly, typically with high hopes and promises of fast gains in exchange for a torturous workout. If you need this level of performance it's best to work up to it over a long period; athletic development takes months and years, not days and weeks.
Then there's the secret foods to eat that make abdominal fat disappear in which failing to eat these foods is proposed to be the true reason for failing to achieve a beach worthy state of being ripped. Nope, those are phoney claims.
There are only two primary variables that relate to revealing a six pack; how much food you eat, and increasing the size of the rectus abdominis muscles through resistance training.
Actually the second variable, training, isn't as critical as you might think to merely expose the outline of this muscle group. Certainly larger abdominal muscles stick out more and for sure make a difference in the wow factor, but anyone who is really lean will show abdominal muscles.
The main thing that stands between you and your hidden six pack is extra abdominal fat. To simplify the complex layers of tissue let's look at the three main layers; muscles on the bottom, subcutaneous adipose tissue (fat) is next, with the outer skin (epidermis) on the outside, forming a kind of fat sandwich if you will.
Those seeking the ultimate ripped showing, usually bodybuilders preparing for contest, will tell you about sodium, water, and carb intake manipulations to get that paper-thin skin over muscle look, but that group will also tell you that particular state is only sustainable for a short period.. don't worry about this approach as it's impractical for achieving or maintaining a healthy sustainable six pack.
Really the main variable is food intake. Can't get rid of that layer that's covering your six pack? Eat less.
There is no secret. Goofy fad diets need not be considered, simply employ a safe caloric deficit (around a 500 calorie deficit per day or most days) and every week you will lose fat. Of course keep up with healthy exercise and keep eating fresh whole foods and balanced nutrition, but eat less to lose fat.
There's no rush. Despite our ability to convince ourselves that we must lose fat or get ripped abs by a certain date, there really is no rhyme or logical reason to do so, and such goals are often set so unrealistically that most will give up when they fail to achieve unrealistic goals, or worse, turn to crazy supplements and even more crazy quick fix promises..
To maintain your ripped abs, continue with a healthy diet where you don't overeat. This is very difficult for most to achieve as most of us typically associate reward with overeating, and we typically make every excuse in the book to overeat whenever possible.
If you can get passed weekend binge eating and the huge environmental and social influences to overeat, you can successfully achieve and maintain the ripped abs look, and you don't need a weird diet to do so.
The real secret to the six pack? Not much of a secret, eat less to lose fat; maintain a healthy caloric balance to maintain it.
Final notes; your abs will look like your abs, not someone else's. There are of course genetic variances between us all that make our superficial surface appearance unique to each of us so don't get hung up on trying make your abs look exactly like someone else's. The width of the tendon material between those six pack blocks varies between people as does the exact shape of each segment of muscle; you can't change this.
Avoid getting too worked up about the exact way you look. It's too easy for us emotional humans to develop self esteem and self image issues by placing too much emphasis on such things. Having said that, here is a narcissistic self photo (age 45).. My ab routine? Only once per week, and limited sets. I go harder when I feel good and do less when I feel off. Simple floor crunches, standing cable crunches, axe choppers, and cable crunches are my staples. Bridges occasionally, but bridges only drive your abs to about 45% of peak contractile force which is fair for a base or a beginners program, but bridges, despite all the hype, are not appropriate for advanced core strength and power.
If I didn't love riding my mountain bike so much I would love to be a gym rat and get big, but the trails call me more than the gym does.. Find what makes you feel good, and stick with it. Oh.. and watch the calories!
What about incredibly challenging gut burning core workouts with everything from planks to throwing medicine balls at your mid section? These hardcore workouts are important for athletic performance, but are overkill if the main goal is solid posture, good strength, and a lean six pack. Besides, hard core training usually causes overtraining injuries when jumped into too quickly, typically with high hopes and promises of fast gains in exchange for a torturous workout. If you need this level of performance it's best to work up to it over a long period; athletic development takes months and years, not days and weeks.
Then there's the secret foods to eat that make abdominal fat disappear in which failing to eat these foods is proposed to be the true reason for failing to achieve a beach worthy state of being ripped. Nope, those are phoney claims.
There are only two primary variables that relate to revealing a six pack; how much food you eat, and increasing the size of the rectus abdominis muscles through resistance training.
Actually the second variable, training, isn't as critical as you might think to merely expose the outline of this muscle group. Certainly larger abdominal muscles stick out more and for sure make a difference in the wow factor, but anyone who is really lean will show abdominal muscles.
The main thing that stands between you and your hidden six pack is extra abdominal fat. To simplify the complex layers of tissue let's look at the three main layers; muscles on the bottom, subcutaneous adipose tissue (fat) is next, with the outer skin (epidermis) on the outside, forming a kind of fat sandwich if you will.
Those seeking the ultimate ripped showing, usually bodybuilders preparing for contest, will tell you about sodium, water, and carb intake manipulations to get that paper-thin skin over muscle look, but that group will also tell you that particular state is only sustainable for a short period.. don't worry about this approach as it's impractical for achieving or maintaining a healthy sustainable six pack.
Really the main variable is food intake. Can't get rid of that layer that's covering your six pack? Eat less.
There is no secret. Goofy fad diets need not be considered, simply employ a safe caloric deficit (around a 500 calorie deficit per day or most days) and every week you will lose fat. Of course keep up with healthy exercise and keep eating fresh whole foods and balanced nutrition, but eat less to lose fat.
There's no rush. Despite our ability to convince ourselves that we must lose fat or get ripped abs by a certain date, there really is no rhyme or logical reason to do so, and such goals are often set so unrealistically that most will give up when they fail to achieve unrealistic goals, or worse, turn to crazy supplements and even more crazy quick fix promises..
To maintain your ripped abs, continue with a healthy diet where you don't overeat. This is very difficult for most to achieve as most of us typically associate reward with overeating, and we typically make every excuse in the book to overeat whenever possible.
If you can get passed weekend binge eating and the huge environmental and social influences to overeat, you can successfully achieve and maintain the ripped abs look, and you don't need a weird diet to do so.
The real secret to the six pack? Not much of a secret, eat less to lose fat; maintain a healthy caloric balance to maintain it.
Final notes; your abs will look like your abs, not someone else's. There are of course genetic variances between us all that make our superficial surface appearance unique to each of us so don't get hung up on trying make your abs look exactly like someone else's. The width of the tendon material between those six pack blocks varies between people as does the exact shape of each segment of muscle; you can't change this.
Avoid getting too worked up about the exact way you look. It's too easy for us emotional humans to develop self esteem and self image issues by placing too much emphasis on such things. Having said that, here is a narcissistic self photo (age 45).. My ab routine? Only once per week, and limited sets. I go harder when I feel good and do less when I feel off. Simple floor crunches, standing cable crunches, axe choppers, and cable crunches are my staples. Bridges occasionally, but bridges only drive your abs to about 45% of peak contractile force which is fair for a base or a beginners program, but bridges, despite all the hype, are not appropriate for advanced core strength and power.
If I didn't love riding my mountain bike so much I would love to be a gym rat and get big, but the trails call me more than the gym does.. Find what makes you feel good, and stick with it. Oh.. and watch the calories!
Monday, December 19, 2011
Fat Filibuster
Filibuster: a delay/ diversionary tactic.. keep talking but don't really say anything, and of course, avoid addressing the real issue.
For windbag politicians the filibuster seems to be part of their genetic code, but are we guilty of the same technique to avoid addressing our obesogenic culture?
Filibuster: Boy am I busy! Time is not my own, I simply don't have time to eat healthy.. between work, the kids, keeping up the house and everything else I do, I just don't have time to think about eating a stupid salad, I have to eat, and go. Besides, you have to live sometimes and I'm not going to live my life eating dried grass and nuts!
So.. eating a donut takes less time than eating a banana or an apple?
Eating a banana is such a huge cerebral challenge that it slows brain function? Is that why there is no time to think about healthy eating? Monkeys don't seem to have trouble deciding to eat banana's.. are we not as smart as monkeys?
Ordering an appetizer, main plate, and dessert takes less time than ordering less food?
Eating all that food in one sitting, typically over 1500 calories, takes less time than eating 400-700 calories?
Eating healthy is factually reduced to eating dried grass? That's not an extreme and phoney claim meant to portray healthy choices as unpalatable in order to justify eating fat-bombs?
Even when faced with obvious truth we'll spiral down into denial and spew out an essays worth of diatribe in order to justify our unhealthy habits that cause weight gain, leave us feeling tired and out of energy much of the time, and causes us to have more frequent colds, sick days, and ill-health in general.
Every defence from "right to choose", to "it's my genetics, hormones, big bones", is regurgitated over and over again each time espoused as novel and defensible reasoning. Really though it's all a diversion from having a real conversation about eating too much and how to overcome overeating.
I know this topic has a tendency to be viewed as an us and them confrontation, with the unhealthy on one side and the healthier on the other, both somehow perceived as having righteous indignation towards each other, but really that perception is simply another contrived diversion away from the real issue.
Most have a terribly difficult time talking straight about overeating and lack of exercise. Equally there are a great many people who exercise too much causing harm to themselves, who also follow weird fad diets with cult like tenacity, and they have just as much trouble talking about how they harm themselves with their actions.
The common thread here is that it's part of human behaviour to go into denial about bad decisions we make, and part of facilitating that denial is talking up a storm of diversionary irrelevant anecdotes.
When I used to eat 10 oz steaks (it's now closer to 3 oz), and sit on the couch bad-mouthing those crazy runners, I'd light up a smoke and berate the do-gooders who's healthy choices seemed to insult my personal autonomy and think defensively, "those people think they're better than me, who the hell are they to judge me?"
Into the filibuster I'd go.. but objectively what is the endpoint?
For me now the endpoint is this.. I haven't had a cold in years, I'm closing in on age 50 and I feel great, I'm strong, I'm not overweight and I rarely feel tired.
When I was a smoker I had smokers cough.. I couldn't enjoy the release of laughter without coughing.. is that fun? I hated feeling tied to the chain of addiction. Was that exercising my personal autonomy? I would feel lethargic and have indigestion after eating too much.. is that really enjoying a meal?
Am I wrong to believe that I'm better off now compared to what my health status would have been after overeating, inactivity, and smoking for the past 30 years? Is it worth working so hard to defend unhealthy choices?
For windbag politicians the filibuster seems to be part of their genetic code, but are we guilty of the same technique to avoid addressing our obesogenic culture?
Filibuster: Boy am I busy! Time is not my own, I simply don't have time to eat healthy.. between work, the kids, keeping up the house and everything else I do, I just don't have time to think about eating a stupid salad, I have to eat, and go. Besides, you have to live sometimes and I'm not going to live my life eating dried grass and nuts!
So.. eating a donut takes less time than eating a banana or an apple?
Eating a banana is such a huge cerebral challenge that it slows brain function? Is that why there is no time to think about healthy eating? Monkeys don't seem to have trouble deciding to eat banana's.. are we not as smart as monkeys?
Ordering an appetizer, main plate, and dessert takes less time than ordering less food?
Eating all that food in one sitting, typically over 1500 calories, takes less time than eating 400-700 calories?
Eating healthy is factually reduced to eating dried grass? That's not an extreme and phoney claim meant to portray healthy choices as unpalatable in order to justify eating fat-bombs?
Even when faced with obvious truth we'll spiral down into denial and spew out an essays worth of diatribe in order to justify our unhealthy habits that cause weight gain, leave us feeling tired and out of energy much of the time, and causes us to have more frequent colds, sick days, and ill-health in general.
Every defence from "right to choose", to "it's my genetics, hormones, big bones", is regurgitated over and over again each time espoused as novel and defensible reasoning. Really though it's all a diversion from having a real conversation about eating too much and how to overcome overeating.
I know this topic has a tendency to be viewed as an us and them confrontation, with the unhealthy on one side and the healthier on the other, both somehow perceived as having righteous indignation towards each other, but really that perception is simply another contrived diversion away from the real issue.
Most have a terribly difficult time talking straight about overeating and lack of exercise. Equally there are a great many people who exercise too much causing harm to themselves, who also follow weird fad diets with cult like tenacity, and they have just as much trouble talking about how they harm themselves with their actions.
The common thread here is that it's part of human behaviour to go into denial about bad decisions we make, and part of facilitating that denial is talking up a storm of diversionary irrelevant anecdotes.
When I used to eat 10 oz steaks (it's now closer to 3 oz), and sit on the couch bad-mouthing those crazy runners, I'd light up a smoke and berate the do-gooders who's healthy choices seemed to insult my personal autonomy and think defensively, "those people think they're better than me, who the hell are they to judge me?"
Into the filibuster I'd go.. but objectively what is the endpoint?
For me now the endpoint is this.. I haven't had a cold in years, I'm closing in on age 50 and I feel great, I'm strong, I'm not overweight and I rarely feel tired.
When I was a smoker I had smokers cough.. I couldn't enjoy the release of laughter without coughing.. is that fun? I hated feeling tied to the chain of addiction. Was that exercising my personal autonomy? I would feel lethargic and have indigestion after eating too much.. is that really enjoying a meal?
Am I wrong to believe that I'm better off now compared to what my health status would have been after overeating, inactivity, and smoking for the past 30 years? Is it worth working so hard to defend unhealthy choices?
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