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

Last year, I wrote a weekly plan to get you on track for a healthy and active life. If you followed the plan last week, then here is the link to this week’s plan:

• Starling Fitness » New Year’s Resolutions: Week 7

The Short Version:

• Reduce your daily caloric average by another 100 calories. Write down EVERYTHING you eat including measurements and calories.
• Choose lean protein and whole grains.
• Save enough calories to eat two teaspoons of healthy oil each day.
• Avoid the feeling of deprivation by finding non-food activities to nurture yourself EVERY day.
• Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day.
• Save enough calories to eat two servings of dairy products each day.
• Increase your mileage. Walk 2.0 miles five days this week. You are allowed to increase your speed to the point of sweating, but if you are sore the next day you MUST go slow again.
• Give yourself kudos for coming this far.

This week’s US Weekly reads:

Jessica’s Agony
Bullied For Her Weight
Her rage over ‘fat’ insults
Suddenly back with a trainer
Tony’s reaction and did he cheat?
How she’s tortured…

Do they think that we don’t remember? Did we forget WHO is bullying her?

Just in case we did, last week’s US Weekly got left behind. US Weekly isn’t some “nice” tabloid that’s trying to protect poor Jessica Simpson. They were the ones who were perfectly happy to post the photos and repeat the “Jumbo Jessica” insult.

Bad form, US Weekly, bad form.

This week, Dawn Porter goes to Los Angeles to further her goal to get to a Size Zero.

She goes to Barry’s Boot Camp in West Hollywood to see how the celebrities workout. She also interviews Debbie Matenopoulos, who has been a size zero on how she maintains her weight. She said:

“The thinner that people become the more roles [in Hollywood] that they seem to get. Right now I’m a size 2-4, but I was a size zero. I’m a size 25 jean.”

She stands up and shows Dawn her waistline. Dawn asks, “How do you maintain that?” Debbie replies,

“You don’t eat. It’s a HARD thing. It’s so easy to get caught up in it. I went on a fast for 18 days and did not eat food. Not an ounce. I was drinking these Chinese herbs, this brown water, and doing yoga and being very sad. And I kept saying, ‘I’m very calm. Food just distracts you from really what’s going on.” All my friends kept saying, ‘You don’t have oxygen going to your brain. That’s why you think this.'”

THAT’S what people are doing to get to size zero.

Next week, Dawn goes to Venice Beach to see if normal people are just as obsessed with being size zero as the celebrities in Hollywood.

I got this question in the comments the other day:

Hi,
I am type 2 diabetic.May I use organic cane sugar as a sweetener instead of splenda?
Thanks
manoucher

Dear Manoucher,

Firstly, it’s NEVER a good idea to get medical advice from the Internet. My favorite quote from Chasing Windmills is true in every case:

If you trust Google more than your doctor then maybe it’s time to switch doctors.

Jadelr and Cristina Cordova, Chasing Windmills, 08-21-06

That said, it seems the question is whether organic cane sugar will affect a diabetic the same as NORMAL sugar. Can you use organic cane sugar instead of Splenda?

The answer to that question is NO.

Just because something is organic doesn’t automatically mean it’s healthy. Organic cane sugar is still SUGAR. It has the word right in its name. It will effect you the same way as white sugar or high fructose corn syrup or any of the other foods that are restricted for diabetics.

The reason why so many people prefer organic cane sugar to high fructose corn syrup is because they think it TASTES better. I’m not sure whether that’s true or not. Personally, I can’t tell the difference between USA Coca-Cola (made with high fructose corn syrup) and Mexican Coca-Cola (made with cane sugar), but a lot of people say they can tell the difference.

If you’re diabetic, however, organic cane sugar acts exactly the same in your body as beet sugar or corn syrup. They are all simple carbohydrates that break down easily in the body and wreak havoc on insulin levels.

Remember to talk to your doctor, but if you’re diabetic, I think you should stay away from ALL sugars.

Good luck,
Laura Moncur

Oprah Winfrey has created a whole array of podcasts that are meant to help you get the Best Life. In particular, she has a Health and Wellness podcast that you can watch every week. You can find her podcast on iTunes and on YouTube:

• iTunes – Oprah’s Best Life Podcasts: This link will open iTunes and take you to the iTunes Store

• YouTube – OPRAH’s Channel

You can find additional materials on Oprah’s website here:

• Oprah’s Best Life Series

The podcast that corresponded to this episode about Dr. Oz’s Ultimate Health Checklist was pretty interesting:

Skateboarding has been around for over thirty years. Longboards are skateboards that are bigger and react more like a surfboard on the road. These are both great exercise and give you an awesome lower body workout. If you want to add an upper body workout, now there is Land Paddling.

Kahuna Creations has invented the Big Stick, which allows you to paddle along the street on your longboard. You can still move using your feet like a skateboard, but the Big Stick gives you the option of working your arms, back, abs and chest.

Here is a video showing it in motion:

For all of you out there who are financially challenged, you can probably create something like this on your own. As soon as the snow melts off the sidewalks and the streets, you can get out there and enjoy a whole new way to exercise!

ABC News was nice enough to use my photo of Black Toenails again. A special thank you to Radha Chitale, for contacting me about this. Radha wrote an AWESOME article called Freaky Fitness:

• ABC News: Freaky Fitness: What Working Out Can Do to You

When it comes to exercise, you get out what you put in. So, when you devote a lot of work, you expect fabulous results. But, sometimes, the results of a workout are far from what was expected.

From surprise orgasms to black toes, a number of strange things can happen to the body when put through its paces. These issues often occur when the exercise is intense, when it lasts a long time and is atypical — running a marathon, for example.

I didn’t run a marathon when I got my black toenails. I walked on the treadmill pretty slowly for ten miles one day and then seven miles the next. It’s possible to hurt yourself without exerting yourself too much. If you’re curious about ABC News’ other article about black toenails and how to prepare for a marathon, there’s a link here.

• Starling Fitness » Marathon Running Can Hurt

It has been over three years since I gave myself black toenail. My feet look as lovely as they ever did and there was no cause for alarm, but I was mortified for an entire summer when my toenails fell off. For more information on how I dealt with my Black Toenails, you can read here:

• Starling Fitness » Black Toenail

• Starling Fitness » How I Treated My Black Toenail

• Starling Fitness » Black Toenails: Final Update

• Starling Fitness » Black Toenail: Biggest Fear

• Starling Fitness » Black Toenail: Finally Healed

Last year, I wrote a weekly plan to get you on track for a healthy and active life. If you followed the plan last week, then here is the link to this week’s plan:

• Starling Fitness » New Year’s Resolutions: Week 6

The Short Version:

• Reduce your daily caloric average by another 100 calories. Write down EVERYTHING you eat including measurements and calories.
• Choose lean protein and whole grains.
• Save enough calories to eat two teaspoons of healthy oil each day.
• Avoid the feeling of deprivation by finding non-food activities to nurture yourself EVERY day.
• Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day.
• Save enough calories to eat two servings of dairy products each day.
• Increase your mileage. Walk 1.75 miles five days this week. You are allowed to increase your speed to the point of sweating, but if you are sore the next day you MUST go slow again.
• Give yourself kudos for coming this far.

Back in April of 2007, I wrote an entry about Diet Coke Plus:

• Starling Fitness » Diet Coke Plus

Back then, I said:

Just because they added a few vitamins and minerals doesn’t mean it’s any healthier for you. If you enjoy Diet Coke, don’t bother spending the extra money for this. You don’t need a multi-vitamin in your soda when you eat whole foods in healthy portions.

I still believe that’s true, but it’s supremely pleasing to know that the FDA believes the same thing. Here is a copy of the FDA’s warning letter to Coca-Cola for their product, Diet Coke Plus:

• FDA Warning Letter to Coca-Cola

They are bothered because the word “plus” is supposed to indicate more nutrients than a reference and they didn’t provide that information, but this is even more damning:

Your product Diet Coke Plus is a carbonated beverage. The policy on fortification states that the FDA does not consider it appropriate to fortify snack foods such as carbonated beverages.

It took a year and a half for the FDA to smack down Coca-Cola, but they were eventually able to get them. I’m glad to know that they are doing their best to take care of American consumers.

The BBC has created this BRILLIANT documentary called Super Slim Me. Dawn Porter is a healthy reporter who never had to diet in her life. She looks gorgeous at the beginning of the documentary, hires a team of doctors and nutritionists and embarks on the goal of getting to Size Zero.

She starts with a beautiful 33 inch waist and a VERY healthy BMI of 22. Here is part one:

She sets up a dietary regime with her nutritionist of 500 calories a day. All she eats during the day would look like this:

This is NOT a healthy diet and she knows it. That’s why she has a team of doctors monitoring her progress during this experiment.

Tune in next week to see Part two of the BBC’s Super Slim Me.