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

I was just cruising the grocery aisle when I came across this TV Dinner. It’s 16 ounces of food. The box announces it in bold letters, “1 lb. of food!” That cheeseburger and cheese fries looked so good to me. I figured it must be pretty small considering how big the box was. I was shocked when I turned it over and looked at the nutrition facts.

At 1110 calories, 66 grams of fat and 9 grams of fiber, that calculates to 27 Points on the Weight Watchers Flex Point Plan. Do you know how many points I’m allotted every day? 22 That one frozen dinner is a full 5 Points more than I’m supposed to eat every day (not including Flex Points).

If someone had shown me the picture and asked me to guess the points, I would have guessed 6 for the burger and 8 for the fries. I would have said 14 points, missing the mark by a full 13 points. I am so grateful that the FDA requires the nutrition facts on all food now. I would have eaten this monster and wondered why I didn’t lose weight.

I put the dinner back in the freezer where I found it…

This article from Boing Boing brings up so many bad memories for me.

• Boing Boing – Torrid: Hot Topic for heavy girls – by Cory Doctorow

It talks about Torrid, which is a plus-sized store from the Hot Topic people. Cool clothes for plus-sized kids. Growing up a plus-sized teen was hard. There are some stores to this day that I won’t even walk into because they were so pretentious. Even though I can wear their clothes now, I boycott them.

Knowing that Hot Topic has set up these Torrid stores makes me so happy. It almost eases the pain that I felt back then. There were times when I had a purse full of money and nothing to buy that was cool or fit. I could buy cool clothes that didn’t fit or I could buy old lady clothes that did fit. Neither choice worked for me. I remember holding back my tears while my skinny cheerleader friend found outfit after outfit of cute, cool clothes.

There is a curmudgeon in the back of my mind that says, “Doesn’t having options like this promote unhealthy weight? Shouldn’t we only release cool clothes in small sizes as an incentive to overweight people to get healthy?”

No.

Getting to a healthy weight doesn’t happen easily. I didn’t get to a healthy weight when stores told me I was not welcome. It wasn’t the exclusiveness that attracted me to lose weight. I didn’t lose it for the clothes. In fact, I still shun those stores that treated me like a second class citizen when I was fat. I lost weight for me. I lost weight to be healthy. I lost it so that I would live a few years longer on this planet.

I was only able to get to that point in the journey when I believed that I was worth it. I deserve a healthy body. I deserve to live longer. I deserve to look good. Having stores exclude me didn’t help in that process, they hindered me. That’s why I’m so glad that Torrid exists.

WebMD has a nice article that gives you reasons for eating the recommended amount of veggies and dairy. It also has some good ideas on how to fit them into your diet.

• WebMD – Secret Summer Diet Foods – by Janice McDonald

These foods aren’t really a “secret,” but I would definitely recommend them to mix up your fruit and veggie routine. If you are sick of carrots, apples and salad, give these options a try.

“I’m sick of the news talking about obesity.” I had just written “Who Is To Blame?” Stacey, Dan and Mike nodded. They braced themselves for a Laura Tirade. “No matter where I look, there is some news program about obesity.”

Stacey surprised us all. “I think it’s the insurance companies.”

I crinkled my brow. “The insurance companies are to blame for obesity?”

She shook her head. “Obesity costs insurance companies a lot of money. I think they are promoting this idea that obesity is a problem so they won’t have to pay so much.”

She stopped the Laura Tirade in its tracks. Over a month later, I’m still thinking about what she said. I understand that the news moguls are controlled by the businesses that own them. I realize that insurance companies are big players in our economy. Could all those news programs be an underhanded method to absolve the health insurance companies from paying for obesity-related illnesses? Am I helping them out and doing their work for them?

For about a month, I have been fretting about whether I’m working for “The Man.” Martin Luther King, Jr. once wrote, “The church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.” Am I merely a thermometer of popular opinion instead of a thermostat of change?

After all this fretting, I realized the truth…

Obesity not only costs insurance companies money. It robs people of their lives and their quality of life. When I weighed 235 pounds, I was tired. I was relatively healthy, but I couldn’t tie my shoes without holding my breath. If I had let my bingeing continue, I would have ended up not being able to go grocery shopping without one of those electric grocery carts. I’m intimately familiar with where the path of obesity leads.

If I can convince just one of you to take charge of your health, then I am the thermostat for change. If just one of you decides to exercise today instead of skipping your workout, then I have achieved my goal. If just one of you decides to choose a healthy snack instead of the food that is tempting you, then I am working for you, not “The Man.”

It sounds so easy, doesn’t it? Get a dog, and you’ll be forced to exercise at least twice a day. You will have a running partner who is always willing to go with you. You will have a foolproof reason to get your butt out the door. You’ll even feel a little safer with the dog with you.

Yeah… it didn’t quite work out like that for me…

(more…)

Eating Disorders are a hot topic again. This one confuses me, though. The National Eating Disorders Association wants you to join their ranks. Buy this bracelet and make your voice heard, is what they urge. Does that mean they want me to develop an eating disorder? Does buying the bracelet mean that I have an unhealthy relationship with food and I’m admitting it to the world?

I’ll freely admit that I have an unhealthy relationship with food. Controlling my bingeing has been the greatest struggle I’ve had through this entire journey. Do I want a bracelet that reminds me of that? Is it supposed to remind me to eat healthy? Is it supposed to identify me to others so they know to make sure they don’t get in the way between me and food the same way you would avoid getting between a mother bear and her cub?

It seems like every cause has some sort of jewelry attached to it. I know it’s just a way to make money to support the cause, but I just have a problem with this one. Is it the “Admitting You Have a Problem” step? Am I somehow not quite where I need to be in the recovery process? I just don’t know what to think about this…

It looks like Konami is thinking about marketing a DDR program that is meant for a group of up to eight people and to be used in a health club.

• DDR4Health – Konami unveils DDR Studio?

• Konami Sports Club Pictures

• Konami Video Footage

This sounds like a great idea. I’ve tried to sponsor workouts on Xbox Live and the four person limitation has impeded things at times. I wonder how it will be implemented in the United States…

A serving of peanuts is one ounce (28 grams). That’s a small amount of peanuts. It’s the amount that most people gobble in one bite. In that one ounce, there are 170 calories, 14 grams of fat and 7 grams of protein. One serving of chicken, on the other hand, is a huge 100 grams. For that amount of chicken, you consume 190 calories, 7.5 grams of fat and 28 grams of protein. You get a lot more bang for your buck with chicken than peanuts. Why would you choose nuts?

Well, peanuts are vegetarian. They are incredibly portable. Peanuts have vitamins that you just can’t find in chicken because they are plant matter. Chicken breasts are inconvenient to carry around for quick protein fixes, whereas one ounce of nuts fits in your pocket. That’s why nuts still exist.

From an evolutionary point of view, it makes perfect sense. You don’t have to risk your life to eat nuts (unless you are allergic to them). You don’t need to kill a huge beast. You don’t need to kill the chicken that lays eggs. You just pick them when they are ripe. You can bring a month’s supply of protein in a small bag with you if you need to migrate. Nuts are the perfect protein for cavemen.

We’re not cavemen anymore, though. Peanuts are now being hailed as the new health food. I agree. They are a perfectly healthy food in the proper portions. You just need to make sure you keep your serving of peanuts at one ounce.

About.com has a great workout that requires no equipment. Just print it out and put it in your suitcase on your next trip.

• About.com – Exercise – The No Equipment Travel Workout – by Paige Waehner

For the Pike Shoulder Pushup, the pictures shows an exercise ball, but if you read the directions, you can perform this move with a stool or on a step. The following moves are extremely hard if you’re a beginner: Staggered Pushups, Pike Shoulder Pushup, and Triceps Dips. These moves use your body as the weight. If you are overweight or if your muscles are new to strength training, these exercises can be challenging.

Other than that, this looks like a great strength training workout for your hotel room stay. Remember it next time you are trapped at a hotel without a gym or stuck at home unable to get to a gym.

If you’re lucky enough to be living in Washington D.C.; Austin, TX; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA; or New York City, NY, then here is a great series of articles for you revealing the best urban trails in those few cities.

• Outside Online – Urban Mountain Biking: A Guide – By Nathan Borchelt

The irony of these articles is that the locals know the good trails. We talk to each other and trade information about the best rides we’ve had recently. These articles are best for people who are visiting the highlighted cities. If you are trying to decide whether to strap the bikes on the back of the car, this series will give you a good description of the trails they have to offer.

If you’re thinking about coming to Salt Lake City, Utah, email me and I’ll tell you the best trails to ride here. We’ve got some great ones within five minutes of downtown. I’ll let you in on the secret; Moab isn’t the only great mountain biking in Utah.

Via: SportsGeezer