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

This week we are reviewing many of the diet books that have shown up on the market recently. There is a lot of hype about all these diets, so I’m here to sift through all those chapters, recipes and pictures of exercise to tell you the nitty gritty about each diet book. Will they be helpful to you? Are they healthy or do they recommend some quacky ideas? All of this will be revealed this week.

Books to be reviewed:

• The Flavor Point Diet
• The Biggest Loser with Bob Harper
• Winng By Losing by Jillian Michaels
• Eating for IBS
• Living Cuisine: The Art and Spirit of Raw Foods
• Curves On The Go
• Helping Your Child Lose Weight the Healthy Way
• Weight Watchers: Stop Stuffing Yourself
• Weight Watchers: Weight Loss That Lasts

If you have been thinking of buying any of these books, wait until this week’s review.

The Olympics provided us with a lot of inspiration for physical activity, here is an inspirational story about a competitor who turned to skiing instead of other ways of dealing with hard times.

• Happy News – Skiing was getaway through tough childhood – by Bob Baum with Associated Press

United States Olympic skiier, Julia Mancuso, had a childhood that was difficult. Her father was accused of crimes and even spent time in jail. Skiing was Julia’s way of coping with it.

From 1989 until his guilty plea six years later, the family lived under a legal cloud. For Julia, who was on skis by age 2, the sport was her passion and perhaps an escape. She was racing by age 8.

”Looking back now, it’s just times when maybe skiing was the only thing for me to do,” she said. ”I just spent most of my time on the hill with my two sisters, chasing them around.”

Next time you’re tempted to turn to food when you’re having an emotional time, think about Julia Mancuso. Instead of turning to food, she relied on skiing to keep her healthy and help her beyond the stressful times in her life. Find something athletic that you can do to keep you healthy in times of stress.

I had a low blood sugar incident yesterday and I am still feeling the effects of it. Sometimes I forget that I can be sensitive to sugar. Since I’ve started eating healthy, I’ve had few blood sugar problems, so I kind of forgot that I used to have sensitivity to huge sugary treats.

Ironically, the low blood sugar problems that I used to have on a regular basis weren’t enough to get me to eat healthy. It wasn’t until my stomach started bothering me that I thought I better get my eating under control. After yesterday, that kind of shocks me. Half my day was wasted with a unplanned nap and I still feel a little yucky this morning. I used to live with this on a regular basis and it wasn’t enough for me to start taking care of myself. How did I stand it?

Now that I eat healthy, I usually don’t have to worry about low blood sugar. I have been avoiding simple sugars, so they don’t set me off and I eat protein regularly, so I just don’t have those incidents anymore. Yesterday was set off by an apple and pecan bread pudding with carmel sauce. I had plenty of room for it in my diet, but I guess my body couldn’t handle that much sugar.

I forgot how crappy I used to feel all the time. This has been a vivid reminder of why I eat healthy 90% of the time.

Wil Wheaton, actor and writer, participated in this year’s Race For The Cure to benefit breast cancer research. He describes his race in this entry:

• WWdN: In Exile: race for the cure

It’s surprising to me to see a writer who I have been reading for years talk about running, muscle soreness and not being able to run the entire race, but still completing it. Our different professions mean nothing when we are out on the road running. We are no longer actors, writers or insurance adjusters. Suddenly, we are all athletes.

Mike wanted to go to Wienerschnitzel for lunch the other day. When we walked in, all the cups had advertisements for The Chili Dog Diet. I laughed happily to myself. It’s no stranger than any of the other diets I have seen over the last twenty years.

• Wienerschnitzel.com

You eat one chili dog in the morning, one at lunch and finish up with two corn dogs and chili cheese fries for dinner. Most importantly, you’re not hungry! They don’t claim to help you lose weight or even pretend that their food is a healthy staple. They are just promoting themselves as a diet.

Our cups said:

Join the Chili Dog Diet!

• No Guilt
• No Cravings
• No Costly Food to Buy
• A Diet That Isn’t One

I thought the concept was so funny that I was sure they must be promoting it like crazy, but when I went to their website, there was no record of it. I wonder if they were scared to actually have fun with the idea.

Your calorie consumption with the Chili Dog Diet would be as follows:

• Chili Dog for breakfast: 290 Calories, 13 g of Fat, 1 g Fiber (6.7 WW Points)

• Chili Dog for lunch: 290 Calories, 13 g of Fat, 1 g Fiber (6.7 WW Points)

• Two Corn Dogs for dinner: 500 Calories, 34 g Fat, 2 g Fiber (12.4 WW Points)

• Chili Cheese Fries for dinner: 540 Calories, 38 g Fat, 4 g Fiber (13.2 WW Points)

• Total: 1620 Calories, 98 g Fat, 8 g Fiber (39 WW Points)

On the surface this looks like it might actually be a good diet because the calories are in the 1200-1800 range, but when you add in the fat from these foods, it’s far from healthy.

The Chili Dog Diet is a good joke, but it’s not an eating plan that will help you lose weight. All it will do is keep you from being hungry.

All calorie counts are provided by:

• NutritionData’s Nutrition Facts Calorie Counter

This little movie from January of 2005 describes Common Threads, a charity that teaches underprivileged children the art of cooking in Chicago.

They have some very healthy ideas about cooking:

“I don’t think we think enough that the culinary arts are valuable as the rest of our wonderful art world.” – Maggie Daley

“We try to find foods that every culture has and show similarities and not focus on the difference. This simple act of cooking shows the child how we share these common threads.” – Art Smith

Teaching children healthy recipes and a wide variety of foods from other cultures is a great way to enrich their lives. Thumbs up to you, Art Smith!

• Common Threads – A Non Profit Charity by Author and Oprah’s Personal Chef, Art Smith

When I realized that we were going to have a home gym with free weights, I kind of panicked. If there was one thing that I learned in my weight training class, it was never lift weights without a spotter. That fear eventually was updated to never lift weights over your head without a spotter when I realized that some exercises are completely safe to do alone. Which are which, though?

I got The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Body Sculpting for just that reason. Each exercise has detailed lists for Preparation, Movement and Precautions. Here are the precautions from the Bench Press:

“Do not do this exercise without a spotter. It may seem funny on TV when someone gets stuck under a bar, but you definitely won’t be laughing if it happens to you.”

“Do not let the bar ‘bounce’ off your chest. Some competetive lifters do this to get the bar moving upward, but it is really dangerous. Your chest is not a trampoline.”

“Keep your back flat on the bench. Arching your back while pushing the bar up can strain your lower back muscles and cause injury.”

Fortunately, there are MANY exercises that don’t need a spotter, so if you are a lone weight trainer, you can tailor a workout for you that will make you strong and keep you safe.

Mars Candy Company is trying to sell you a chocolate bar and tell you it’s healthy and will even “promote a healthy heart.”

• Happy News – Candy makers cater to the health-conscious – by Elliott Minor with Associated Press

They say that they “believe” it will increase blood flow, but they have no proof:

”We believe … there can be a significant benefit around blood pressure, but we have not conclusively proven that,” said Mars’ chief scientist Harold Schmitz.

Make them prove it with peer reviewed, double-blind tests before you shell out one penny for their over-priced candy bars. Until they are able to prove it, they are still just selling junk food.

This year, Mardi Gras has gotten a lot of attention because of Hurricane Katrina’s impact on New Orleans. Mardi Gras is a wild celebration with the idea of eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow starts Lent.

For those of the Catholic Faith, Lent starts today. For some, Lent involves much stricter (and maybe even healthier) living. Lent is the practice of giving up a food or activity that represents a sin that is particularly difficult for you to conquer. There is also an element of fasting in the tradition of Lent, whether it be meat (for the entire forty days or just on Fridays) or, for the truly devote, fasting entirely for one day a week.

Forty days is long enough to develop a new habit. You don’t need to be Catholic to give up something for Lent. Use this time to re-devote yourself to your personal health and fitness. Choose something to give up, or, even better, choose something positive to add to your life everyday. You can use this religious time for your own means and have a healthy habit in a month and a half.

For more information about Lent, see Belief.net:

Lent–Christian season of repentance and reflection before Easter–Beliefnet.com

It looks like adults are joining organized sports leagues and specialty classes in droves right now.

• Happy News – You’re never too old for dodgeball – by Robin Hindery with Associated Press

The idea of joining a gym in order to play dodgeball or kickball is outlandish to me. Those two games were the bane of my grade school existence. On the other hand, I had a truly enjoyable time with my softball experience last year.

I like the idea that adults are getting themselves off the sidelines. Instead of putting all their hopes on their children, they are playing for themselves. This is REALLY healthy, both physically and emotionally.