Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

This is the office setup I want. A computer powered by me walking on my treadmill. Why can’t I buy this?!

Click here to see the full comic:

• PC and Pixel: 07-09-06

There were times when I tried to find exercise clothes to fit me and left store after store in tears. I kept thinking to myself, “Don’t they know that I need exercise clothes more than skinny people?” It was such an ordeal to find exercise clothes that when I finally found some that fit, I bought all they had. Now, you can find plus size exercise clothes in all the best brands from Greater Salt Lake Clothing Company.

• Greater Salt Lake Clothing Company

“The GSLCC offers the opportunity for all women to be active and to participate in sport and exercise. Plus size women are no longer held back by the lack of appropriate and attractive clothes THAT FIT. The GSLCC will continue to seek out genuine outdoor wear and specific sports wear for your active lifestyle.”

A great big shout out to GSLCC for bringing exercise clothes to us easily. They have online shopping, so anyone can get biking shorts, ski bibs and running tights from them.

Update 01-30-08: It seems that Greater Salt Lake Clothing Company has changed since July 2006. I wouldn’t recommend buying anything from them now and I’ve removed the link to their site.

That’s a shame, really. Is it possible to retract a “shout out?”

Negative self-talk has been my biggest problem lately. I have been consciously listening to the things that flow through my head and noticing which ones are positive and, worse, which ones are negative.

What is the worst thing you say to yourself on a regular basis?

What is the best thing you say to yourself on a regular basis?

If there was one thing you could have repeating to you over and over again without effort, what would it be?

The Question of the Week is meant to be an Inner Workout for you. Find some time during the week and allow yourself to write the answers to the questions posted. You can write them on paper, on a word processor or here in the comments section. Whatever works for you as long as you do it.

Keep writing until you find out something about yourself that you didn’t know before. I’ve also heard that it works to keep writing until you cry, but that doesn’t really work for me. Whatever works for you. Just keep writing until it feels right.

Colleen Wainwright had a stomach incident with a bowl of cherries and it showed her what people who purge deal with on a regular basis.

• communicatrix » Blog Archive » Poetry Thursday: Things that make you go hurl

She has never had a problem with bingeing and purging, but a trip to the porcelain goddess can educate quite well what some put themselves through:

and as I tried not to look
at the film of yuck
coating the porcelain
because seriously,
if I didn’t already have to puke
it would have made me…

it occurred to me:
those skinny, skinny girls
who look so sick to me
probably are.

Probably worse than I know.

Because seriously—
would you do that
if you didn’t have to?

Frankly,
whoever did make them think
they had to—
those are the sick ones.

For me, my bingeing is caused by not taking care of myself. If I limit my calories too drastically, it sets off a binge. If I start talking to myself negatively, I binge. If I let my head get into a sad spot without taking care of my emotions, I binge. It all has little to do with fashion magazines and celebrity gossip. I don’t blame anyone for my eating problems except myself.

It’s nice to know that other people understand a glimmer of how I feel, though.

Margaret Cho has been very open about her eating troubles over the years. She received a letter from a man who is struggling with bingeing and she responded with what is currently working for her.

• Margaret Cho’s Weblog – Dear Margaret

I love her advice on keeping healthy:

“I think that eating disorders are very common, much more than anyone realizes. Millions upon millions of people have them. Some of them die, but most live with the disease, and are constantly in varying degrees of pain, and you have to think, ‘Is that life? I might as well succumb if I have to go on like this….'”

“I watch myself. Kind of like when I used to diet, but now instead of limiting calories, I will not allow negative self talk. I cut out insults like I cut out carbs and it is hard as hell because I crave self abuse like hot, fresh sourdough bread, but you know you have to be nice to you if you are going to live together.”

If you are feeling like eating healthy and exercising is not worth it, interrupt that thought right now. You are worth it. Eating healthy and exercising are just ways for you to take care of yourself and you deserve it. Be like Margaret and concentrate on cutting out negative self talk. If you have been insulting yourself with that inner voice, stop now. You are worth it.

Yesterday, I talked about the hot dog eating contest that was sponsored by Nathan’s Hot Dogs. Rob Parrish was at a bar when the contest was televised and posted this video.

• Hopper Video: Dog Eating Contest

We are at war with a country far, far away. People on both sides are dying. To celebrate our nation’s birthday, Nathan’s Hot Dogs sponsored an event that just makes them hate us more: a twelve-minute spectacle that glorifies gluttony.

No wonder they hate us…

This article is talking about governmental regulation of “junk” food.

• NEJM — Obesity — The New Frontier of Public Health Law

Not only does this article suggest that the government should create regulation concerning the food industry, it alludes to the idea of creating an environment of “social disapproval” of obesity.

“Several factors have led to a reexamination of the historical view that food consumption and physical activity are inappropriate subjects for government regulation. Among the ‘triggers to action’ that have catalyzed government intervention in other areas of private behavior, such as alcohol and tobacco use, are the development of a scientific base and social disapproval. Both these triggers are now in play with regard to obesity.”

I think that people who are struggling with weight issues have enough disapproval to deal with. We don’t need the government to come in and tell us what is wrong and what is right. If Twinkies are outlawed, then anyone who is overweight will be under scrutiny. People will assume that overweight people are eating “contraband.” Being fat could be excuse enough for a police search of our homes and vehicles.

The last thing I need is the government to watching over every bite I take.

Via: Consumer Health Digest, June 27, 2006

With my IBS, the doctor told me a huge list of foods that I should avoid to alleviate the gut-wrenching pain. None of it worked, yet I stuck to cutting that food out of my diet in a desperate attempt to avoid pain.

It seems the IBS sufferers aren’t the only ones getting shoddy medical advice. Heartburn sufferers have also been victims.

• Heartburn not cured by avoiding foods – Slashfood

Ever since I discovered acidophilus and my IBS calmed to a minor and smelly inconvenience, I’ve noticed that other people have also been given poor advice about gastrointestinal distress. If avoiding spicy food isn’t working for you, it’s not because you’re not doing it right. It’s because your doctor is just spewing the same old wive’s tales that didn’t work way back when.

I struggle with binge eating and even I don’t understand competitive eating events. What possesses someone to try to win a hot dog eating contest and, even more strange, set a world record?

• SupersizedMeals.com – Kobayashi wins Nathan’s Famous with a new world record!

Susan McQuillan, a New York registered dietitian, commented on the amount of food consumed by a competitive eater during competition.

“In twelve minutes, they will consume a week’s worth of calories, 5 times the recommended daily limit for cholesterol, 17 times the daily limit for total fat, 21 times the limit for saturated fat, and more than 2 weeks worth of sodium.”

I don’t think any of my binges have been that amount of found in that short of a time. Why are these competitive eaters shown on ESPN2? They aren’t athletes, they have an eating disorder just like I do.

“I love every inch of my body.” How many of us can say that and really believe it. I can take my body apart and love some bits and pieces here and there, but do I love EVERY INCH of my body? It sounds strange to hear it. I love my legs. They’re strong and they take me lots of places. I love my brain. It earns me money and entertains me. I love my fingers. They type lots of words. Every inch?

Every inch includes the blackheads on my nose that I can never get rid of. Every inch includes the soft and sticky outy bits on my tummy. Every inch includes that knee I fell on back in college that gives me a twinge when I ride my bike. If I love them, does that mean I don’t want to change them? Is it okay to love my body even though it’s not perfect?

I have to think about this…

PostSecret‘s beneficiary is the National Hopeline Network. It is a 24-hour hotline (1 (800) SUICIDE) for anyone who is thinking about suicide or knows someone who is considering it.