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

As Wendy Bumgardner pointed out, it’s dark at night and not so safe for night time exercise:

• Time Change Deadly to Walkers

Changing from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time triples pedestrian deaths from 5 pm – 7 pm, according to two Carnegie Mellon University researchers. An average of 37 more people are killed each year in November vs. October around the 6 pm commute time.

She recommends a variety of reflective and lit items to make yourself visible. After looking at the reflective vests on Amazon, I’m shocked to see that they all are near the twenty dollar mark. Sure, you can’t put a price on safety, but it seems like an awful lot of money for a light little vest.

I found this reflective vest for walkers for six bucks, but other than that, anything under $15 was meant for construction workers.

Ironically, the best thing I’ve seen walkers do is carry a flashlight. Because it lights up itself, it doesn’t depend on the car headlights to hit it exactly right. The walker that does this in my area always carries it in the hand closest to the street. He lets his arm swing just as it would while walking and the light is moving, so it attracts your attention as a driver. A two buck flashlight and some batteries is a great way to keep yourself visible.

Me? I’m back to the treadmill now. It has gotten a little too cold out there for me and I’m logging my miles while watching my Walking DVDs.

What do you do for exercise when it gets dark and cold?

It was nice to know that someone is noticing us here at Starling Fitness. We were named #16 on the Top 100 Health and Wellness Blogs by the Nursing Online Educational Database:

• Top 100 Health and Wellness Blogs | NOEDb

Diet Blogs

Although some blogs listed below talk about fitness, the main focus is on diets. We don’t promote any diets, so don’t consider our choices as recommendations of the diets that any of these individuals espouse.

1. Fitness, Diet, and Health: You’ll find entries in this blog about fitness, diet, exercise programs and gadgets, and health. This blog is written by a Weight Watchers user who provides life experience information with passion.

They might not have gotten our name right, but they linked to us, so I’m pleased as punch!

Thanks, NOEDb!

Adele Hagan, a food stylist from Canada, was the guest blogger on The Diet Blog last week. Food styling is the art of making food look good for a photograph and making it look good for advertising.

• Are There Ethics in Food Styling?

When talking about food advertising, she said:

What you see on the plate probably won’t match what you see in the ad, but that’s to be expected.

Why? Why is that to be expected? She said that they have to make sure the food looks good under the grueling environment of the hot lights of photography. Shouldn’t the “better” environment of the real world make it appear better?

When you watch that television ad and are craving that food, remember that what you’ll get is a far cry from what you are looking at.

Is food styling deceptive? Yes. Be on the lookout for it.

• Starling Fitness » Fast Food: Ads vs. Reality

It feels so good to be running every day again. Whenever I fall out of the habit of exercising, EVERYTHING suffers. This week’s challenges were very close. Click over to Runner+ to see all the results.

Zadounet ran a total of 9.46 miles last week and took home the Level 1 Challenge!

Level 1 Results 11-05-07

Mvb99 ran a total of 18.52 miles and won the Level 2 Challenge.

Level 2 Results 11-05-07

Erik won the Level 3 Challenge with 28.81 miles. Right on his heels was mjna1877 with 28.33 miles. Close race!

Level 3 Results 11-05-07

If you thought Level 3 was a close race, just look at the final mileage on Level 4! Mike is the winner of the Level 4 Challenge with 34.58 miles. Finlandia lost the challenge by only 0.06 miles! Can’t wait to see how they do next week!

Level 4 Results 11-05-07

Finlandia may have lost the Level 4 Challenge by only 0.06 miles, but ended up winning Level 5!

Level 5 Results 11-05-07

Patcini won Level 6 by running 62.41 miles last week! That averages out to almost nine miles a day! Great job, Patcini!

Level 6 Results 11-05-07

Congratulations to all the competitors! Join us at Runner+ and show off your mileage!

If you exercise by running or walking, you can compete in the Starling Fitness Challenges on Runner+. All you need is an account at Runner+ (free) and you can log your miles there. If you have a Nike+iPod kit, then your runs will automatically be added, but the site will also allow you to add your runs manually. If you would like to compete against runners on your level, here are the links for this week’s challenges:

Level 1 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 0-10 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 1 (11-12-07) – RUNNER+

Level 2 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 10-20 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 2 (11-12-07) – RUNNER+

Level 3 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 20-30 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 3 (11-12-07) – RUNNER+

Level 4 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 30-40 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 4 (11-12-07) – RUNNER+

Level 5 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 40-50 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 5 (11-12-07) – RUNNER+

Level 6 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 50-60 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 6 (11-12-07) – RUNNER+

If you ordered yourself a Starling Fitness Yearly Journal, then you know that the quote of the month for November is:

Of all afflictions, the worst is self-contempt.
– Berthold Auerbach (1812 – 1882)

If you are suffering from being overweight, is that truly your worst affliction? If you are taking medication for diabetes, high blood pressure or any other weight-related diseases, are they really the root of your suffering?

Take a few minutes and write down what you are feeling about your health and whatever afflictions you feel you may have. Is Berthold Auerback right? Is self-contempt the problem? What do you think?

The Quote of the Month is meant to be an Inner Workout for you. Find some time during the month 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.

To order your own Starling Fitness Yearly Journal, click here:

• Starling Fitness » Order Your Starling Fitness Yearly Journal

The words Anatrim and spam are linked in my mind. Every day for the last few weeks, I have received a spam message in my email for a product called Anatrim. Here are some of the subject lines they have used:

• Healthy living with less fat
• Getting thinner can be enjoyable
• Say goodbye to extra pounds
• Doctors and Celebrities endorse Anatrim

And my favorite…

• You’ll love the new, non-obese you

Just based on the wording of the spam alone, I suspected that these messages were from a non-English speaker. I have never used the word non-obese, have you?

I decided to look them up and they are just peddling Hoodia under a different name:

• Anatrim – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anatrim is the name of a product that is marketed as hunger reducer or fat burner. According to websites and spam emails that promote the product, it contains hoodia, and helps people to lose weight by reducing the feeling of hunger. According to other sources, Anatrim tablets contain various ingredients, like green tea and spirulina.

It is unknown which company produces the Anatrim tablets; it is not registered as a trademark nor patented in Europe or the United States of America. According to the actual owner of the patent of hoodia for weight reduction, Phytopharm, Anatrim does not contain enough hoodia to be effective for the purpose of weight reduction.

As far as their origin, it looks like my instincts were right on:

• Who makes anatrim pills

The websites linked to from the emails give no information about the company who manufacture anatrim pills. There is no contact information given on these websites and the emails give a return address different from the website visitors are directed to. This is standard procedure for a product exclusively promoted by spam. Many of the domain names on which these websites are found are registered in China or Russia, but these change frequently.

Hoodia has not been shown to aid in weight loss. It is untested and companies that claim that Hoodia helps you lose weight are on thin ice.

• Starling Fitness » What’s the truth about Hoodia Gordonii?

If you get one of these emails, just file it in the spam folder with the rest of the people trying to take your money.

Remember a couple of years ago when researchers found the shocking discovery that people who are overweight have a lower death rate than people who are underweight, normal weight or obese? The data has been analyzed, verified and quantified and it’s true.

• Causes of Death Are Linked to a Person’s Weight – New York Times

If you’re more likely to live longer by being a little overweight, is there any reason to eat healthy and exercise? YES.

Dr. Mitchell Gail, a cancer institute scientist and an author of the paper, had some advice, which, he said, is his personal opinion as a physician and researcher: “If you are in the pink and feeling well and getting a good amount of exercise and if your doctor is very happy with your lab values and other test results, then I am not sure there is any urgency to change your weight.”

Keep up the good work and know that you’ll live happier by taking care of yourself.

Via: A group of federal researchers reports that there were 100,000… (kottke.org)

Since I’ve found Runner+, I hadn’t logged onto the Nike+ website for a while. I thought I’d check out the Nike+ website to see how they’re doing and to see if they released that cool Nike+ watch that I had read rumors of months ago. Their site is still a clunky Flash site that is difficult to use. Instead of the Nike+ watch, they were advertising the Nike Amp+, which is useless to me. Worse still, I found a link to buy a replacement sensor.

Cool, I thought! I needed a replacement sensor and I ended up buying a whole new Nike+ kit for twenty dollars at the Apple store. I could use the replacement sensor on my old kit and give it to Mike or my sister. I clicked to add the sensor to my shopping cart and this is what I found:

$19?! Are you kidding me?! You expect me to pay one dollar less than an entirely new kit?! Really?!

Every time I start to like Nike (I was loving my Air Zoom shoes), they do something like this and make me HATE them all over again.

Kiss my a$$, Nike, I’m buying a Garmin Forerunner 50!

Update 02-22-09: It has been a year and a half since I wrote this entry and I can’t believe how WRONG I was. Firstly, the sensor all by itself is TEN dollars less than a whole kit. I kind of got a little confused there.

More importantly, I LOVE my Nike+. Not only did I NOT buy the Garmin Forerunner 50 (doesn’t work with a Mac), I’ve bought TWO Nike+ sensors. They each have lasted about a year. I keep the sensor in my running shoes all the time, so it gets a lot of work. Twenty dollars a year is totally worth it.

Two weeks ago, the indicator on my Nano said that my sensor battery was low. I didn’t even flinch. I immediately got myself to the Apple store and bought a new sensor without grousing at all. I love my Nike+ that much. Garmin just haven’t figured out the social aspect of Nike+ and I’m beginning to think they never will. Nike UNDERSTANDS that I want to race against other people every week.

Whenever I run, it’s ALWAYS with my Nike+ and Nike+ running shoes. I have been hard on Nike in the past, but honestly I LOVE my Nike+.

With as much running as Mike and I do, we go through a lot of shoes. Mike, obviously has more of a problem with this because of his feet. I only have two pair in the pile. My OLD Rykas that are beyond use and the Dr. Scholls that never really worked for me.

Who IS Dr. Scholl, anyway? Was he a real person or just a company mascot? Wikipedia says he was a real person:

• William Scholl – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The company was founded by William Mathias Scholl, who was born in 1882 and graduated from Illinois Medical School in 1904, thereby becoming a doctor (podiatrist). Scholl and his company invented a number of foot care products, which he marketed with his company after 1906. These include the Foot Eazer, the Zino Pad, rubberless stockings, Foot Wings arch supports, and Ball-O-Foot Cushions. The first company retail store was opened in 1928. William M. Scholl passed away in 1968 at the age of 86, leaving the company to his nephews, William H. Scholl (1920-2002) and Jack E. Scholl (1926-2006). The company had an initial public offering in 1971.

Well, his running shoes didn’t help me at all.

Right now, I’m wearing Nike+ Air Zooms. I like them because they work with my Nike+, but they have an added benefit of being LIGHT. They weigh half what my Rykas weigh. It’s a plus that they don’t hurt my feet, but mostly I like them because they log my miles without a funny thing on the top of my shoe.

This pile is going to GoodWill. They might not be good for running anymore, but someone might be able to use them to mow the lawn.

Update 11-06-13

These journals are no longer for sale, but the forms are still available to download so you can make your own.

I created myself a yearly journal and I realized that I liked it so much that I wanted all of you to be able to have one as well. This book has a page for each week of the year to track your calories, exercise and how many healthy foods you’re eating.

If you follow Weight Watchers or track your calories the old fashioned way, this form makes things very easy. It has been available for download since June and if you want to make a book like this for yourself, you can do it with this Excel spreadsheet:

• Starling Fitness » Weight Watchers Form

If you’re not spreadsheet savvy, you can buy this journal from Starling Fitness.

The journal includes the following:

• Non-descript black cover
• Directions on how to use this book
• One sheet of stickers (for those weeks that you do an EXCELLENT job!)
• 12 monthly pages (to document your measurements, paste your monthly photo and write your monthly evaluation)
• 54 dated weekly pages
• 3-Hole Punch Binder Rings (you can easily remove pages without ripping them out)

The absolute coolest thing about it is you don’t have to wait until January 1st to use it. I will print it up with starting the month you specify, so you can use it immediately.

The journal is 3-Hole Punched for use with a Daytimer or other binder that takes 5 1/2″ X 8 1/2″ forms.

Update 01-29-08: Here are some photos of the 3-Hole Punched Journal so you know what to expect. They also have the same non-descript black cover and are bound with three plastic rings that make it just as easy to remove the pages.

You can also remove the rings and put the pages into your Daytimer or other 3-hole binder.

Order a Starling Fitness Yearly Journal (3-Hole Punched): 5 1/2″ X 8 1/2″ for use with a Daytimer or other planner: $25.00 plus shipping

These journals are hand-made so they take a while to be made. I usually ship within two weeks of payment. Journals are shipped using the U.S. Postal Service and usually arrive within five days.

Update 12-09-08: The comb-binders are no longer available, but I am still selling the journals in the 3-Hole Punch version. The current journals are compatible with the Momentum Plan.