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

I once told a friend that I had a personal chef.

“You do?” they responded.

“Yes, I have many in the restaurants all over town,” was my answer.

The only problem with that plan is that restaurant food isn’t always healthy or even freshly prepared. Here are a couple of options. If you wish you had a personal chef, there are companies out there that are willing to create healthy and delicious food for you. They’ll probably even help you with portion control.

• The Dinner A’Fare | 12 Meals. 2 Hours. Simple.

• Dream Dinners Meal Preparation Stores & Franchise Opportunities

• Dinners Done Right – Cook and Carry Cuisine: Home

Now, I am on both sides of this argument. The first is: Yeah! There are companies out there who will make healthy food for me to have every evening!

The other side is: Geez! You can’t even cook for yourself?! If you paid more attention to what you put in your mouth, maybe you wouldn’t be so fat.

That other side is the destructive side of myself. It’s the mean part of myself that berates me until I end up bingeing. If you heard that voice within yourself, sit down with a piece of paper and write it out. What do you need to do to be healthy? If it means paying a company to make you dinner, then it just might be worth it.

Via: Rudd Sound Bites: 12 Meals…in 2 Hours!

While I am researching for Starling Fitness, I read a number of weblogs. They give me ideas. They tell me about the news. They inspire me to keep fit. If you were wondering what I read every day, here is my list of weblogs I read. Just to be fair these are in alphabetical order:

• Accidental Hedonist: This weblog is about eating well. Every once and a while they’ll have a health or obesity entry, but mostly it’s about food.

• Complete Running Network » Where Passion Runs Deep: I would like to say that this is a great weblog for people who like running, but it isn’t. They tend to go overboard on their recommendations and idolize people who push themselves to the point of exhaustion. I get a little bit of inspiration here, but it’s hard to wade through all the entries to find it.

• food museum blog: Another weblog about food and eating well. I get some good information about food safety and such here.

• Health-Hack.com | Health News and Tips For Computer Users and Abusers: There is some good stuff here. They also have a podcast if you like listening to your health and fitness news.

• Health Hacks | Healthacker.comThis is a different weblog about health issues. Every once and a while, I find something good here. Usually, it’s just an echo chamber, but if I didn’t hear the original call, the echo helps me.

• A Passion for Running: I don’t always agree with Mark, but I do enjoy reading his website. He is a barefoot runner who has recently overcome an injury and changed his running style from striking with the heel to landing on the ball of his foot. He hopes to see if this change in stride will improve his running times. I get inspired (or worried) every time I read his entries.

• Rudd Sound Bites: Whenever I take the time to read Rudd Sound Bites, I usually am rewarded with something entirely different. That’s the beauty of a weblog like this one. It’s pretty unique.

• Slashfood: This website is all about food in the most decadent sense. If you are going to spend your calories, do it on food that is REALLY good. Don’t waste it on junk. This website gives you an idea of what good food is.

• SupersizedMeals.com – Foodstuffs of Epic Proportions: Yet ANOTHER weblog about food. The large meals, super-sized creations and strange fair food that make me disgusted and curious at the same time.

• That’s Fit: This is a weblog that is pumped out by several people posting several times a day. It’s easy to just get buried under the weight of this weblog. Sadly, it would be a great place to turn to if it were comprehensive, but they miss out on some of the coolest things every time. I scan the headlines to see if there is anything interesting. Usually there isn’t and I wasted a couple of minutes loading up fifty entries a day on my blog reader.

• Treatment Online – Anxiety, Addiction and Depression Treatments: This is where I find out more information on eating disorders like anorexia, bulimia and binge-eating. They also cover a wide variety of other subjects.

• A Veggie Venture: This weblog is about inventive ways to add vegetables to your life.

• About.com – Walking for Fitness – by Wendy Bumgardner: If you didn’t know that I LOVE this weblog, you haven’t been paying attention. Some of the best thoughts about fitness come from this weblog. Kudos to Wendy!

After looking at my list of weblogs that I read, it’s very indicative of my personality. Dealing with binge-eating disorder is like dealing with an addiction for me. I can tell if I’ve been restricting my diet too much because I end up reading EVERY entry in all the food weblogs. When I feel satiated, I don’t even read those weblogs and just pass them by. When I’m excited about exercise, I read the fitness weblogs more often. When I’m in a binge-induced slump, the entries just keep piling up higher and higher because I don’t want to read about anything.

So, if you were willing to read all those weblogs every day, you could almost replace me. Instead, I read and glean and wade through the information and you get the cream of the crop!

Consumer Reports released a list of weight-loss websites and their ratings. You can see it here:

• ConsumerReports.org – Weight loss on the Web: Where to turn for advice 9/06

I have never created a list like this. I tell you about things I find interesting, but I have never made a list of my favorite websites to read for information. Ironically, NONE of the websites Consumer Reports rated would make my list.

Via: Consumer Reports rates the dieting websites – Slashfood

There’s nothing worse than coming to a slow ballad when you’re in the middle of running fast during your interval training. It can throw you off. If you want to make a workout mix to put on your iPod to make your workouts easier, there is a new product out there that can help you do just that.

• Potion Factory Blog » Blog Archive » Introducing Tangerine

It looks like it only works with Macintosh computers, so if you have a PC, you’re out of luck. The way it works is that it analyzes your music on iTunes and calculates the BPM of the music, which lets you choose songs based on BPM. Here are some tips on BPM levels for workouts:

• Less than 115 BPM for Yoga and warmup stretches

• 115-120 BPM for walking

• 120-180 BPM for running

If you don’t have a Macintosh, you can use this online beat counter.

DJ BPM Counter

Play your song, and click the key to the beat. It will calculate the BPM for you. It’s a lot more labor intensive than Tangerine, but it gets the job done for free.

No matter what you do, you can make your workout a little easier with music. I love upbeat songs with a high BPM because they get my feet moving. Try this and see if you can make your workout a little easier.

Via: Tangerine beta – The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

There are some songs that make my body want to move even when I’m lying like a lump on the couch. They are songs that I put on my iPod so I’ll have an easy run every time.

Do you listen to music while you workout?

What songs are your favorite for exercise right now?

What songs were your favorite workout songs in the past?

What do you use to get you motivated to exercise besides music?

I remember I used to have an Oingo Boingo tape called Only a Lad that I listened to so often that the tape eventually broke. It was the music that I danced to over and over. I must have lost a 100 pounds to that tape (the same 10 pounds 10 times, probably). Even now, hearing Danny Elfman’s voice makes me want to exercise. What does that for you?

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.

There is a new kind of weight loss surgery that is being developed and it eliminates cutting into the body:

• Scalpel-free obesity surgery on the horizon – CNN.com

The procedure is described here:

“Natural orifice transendoscopic surgery, or NOTE, requires no incisions because instruments — such as long tubes with robotic arms and staple guns — can be inserted through the mouth and snaked down the esophagus. Another possibility, he said, is inserting a sleeve, or a tube, into the intestines that would interfere with calorie absorption.”

I’m all for surgeries that are less invasive, but no matter how much I weigh, I wouldn’t be the first one to sign up for this one. Are you willing to sacrifice your vocal chords and the ability to sing well just to lose a few pounds?

If you are willing to take the physical risks involved, then be willing to exercise and eat healthy. Don’t let the medical industry sell you ANOTHER weight loss surgery with unproven efficacy. Love yourself enough to take care of your body by eating right and exercising. It’s worth it.

Via: Big Fat Blog: Scalpel Free Weight Loss Surgery – Who Benefits?

Disney has made a decisive change in the food that is served in their amusement parks:

• Treatment Online – Disney Makes Strong Statement on Healthy Eating

By 2008, the following changes will be in place:

• No foods with trans fat

• Place a cap on total calories, which will result in smaller portion for children.

• Limit fat to a maximum of 30 percent of calories for entrees and side dishes, and 35 percent for snacks.

• Cap saturated fat at 10 percent of calories for main dishes, side dishes and snacks.

• Limit sugar to 10 percent of calories for main dishes and side dishes, and 25 percent of calories for snacks.

This is great news for parents whose children are clamoring for the sugary food that is just going to make them bounce off the walls while they wait in line. Treatment online says it best:

“Many companies have been moving to reduce or cut the use of trans fats in their products, but Disney’s announcement is doubly important for the reverberations that it will have throughout the food industry. If Disney, one of the most powerful brands especially among children, won’t do business with companies that make unhealthy products, it should force many of these companies to rethink their own behaviors.”

Now, Disney just needs to make sure that their sugary cereal that they sell follows the same guidelines.

Researchers at BYU must have too much money on their hands. They are working on a test that can detect eating disorders by testing a sample of hair.

• Treatment Online: Hair Test Can Identify Eating Disorders, But How Useful Is It?

The folks at Treatment Online have a good reason why this test might be just an excuse to bill the insurance company.

“A month of growth is necessary for the test to be administered. But often patients in treatment are seen on a much more regular basis, and may fall back on unhealthy eating behaviors after a short time. The scale, used by many therapists in office environments, provides a much more valuable readout in terms of progress. In that way, even if the hair test was refined, it may still only prove to be a beneficial back up.”

More importantly, the fact that poor eating habits can be detected in the hair just shows how damaging diseases like bulimia and anorexia are to the body. Don’t give in to the temptation. Choose life and eat a healthy and balanced diet with moderate exercise.

Valerie at iPortion has an interesting entry about binge dreaming.

• Iportion: Binge Dreaming

Like Valerie, when I am restricting my diet, I have dreams about eating a lot and “blowing” my diet. Whenever I have those dreams, I feel a harbringer of dread, as if I KNOW that I will start bingeing because I had that dream.

I don’t believe the dreams cause the bingeing, however. It’s the other way around. Restricting my diet too much causes the feelings of deprivation and the worry about blowing my diet. That stress comes through loud and clear in my dreams. By the time I have a binge dream, I’ve already made the mistake of restricting my diet too closely.

Instead a harbringer of dread, they should be an indicator that I haven’t been eating enough or haven’t eaten a wide enough variety of foods.

I just keep forgetting that…

I have been playing Animal Crossing to an extreme over the last couple of weeks. It’s the reason there were a couple of days without entries. I’ve played it at home on the sofa and on the treadmill and at my friend’s house, linking to their towns. It is a game in which you create a town. Various talking animal creatures move in with their own personal obsessions.

I have two guys in my town that are obsessed with exercise and body building. Here are some of their quotes:

When you try to visit their homes while they are out, the notes on their door say, “I’ve gone out for a run.”

“My hobby? It’s fossil collecting , of course! See, if I did sit-ups while holding a fossil, it’d ROCK my lower abs!”

“He sounds homesick. I’m gonna invite this kid to my next 5-hour squat session.”

“I’ve got the perfect nickname for you: Dumbell! What?! Then you think of a better nickname!”

I can see these two characters running around the town, even though it’s the other townsfolk walk. What have I learned from them?

• Weight training is good.

• Never call your friend “Dumbell.”

• Why walk when you can run?

There are snooty females in the game as well. One particular character said the following to me:

“Have you gained weight? Oh, that’s right. Since I’ve lost weight everyone else looks so huge to me.”

“Could you return that diet book I lent you? Oh? That wasn’t you?”

What have I learned?

• When I am totally on program, I need to shut up about it to everyone else. It sounds like an insult to them if I talk about it.

Who knew that I was going to learn ANYTHING from this game. I’ve enjoyed myself while playing it AND I learned a couple of important life lessons.