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

Lisa Williams is another excellent person I met at the South by Southwest Interactive conference (SXSWi). She is currently training to do a Century Ride, which is a 100-mile bike race. She talks about it here:

• Learning The Lessons of Nixon » Century Ride

This inspirational entry talks about the training, how it has affected her dreaming and how she is able to escape from the stress of work using her bicycle.

“I don’t think they can run as fast as I can bike, however… Part of my ride involves a shortcut through a graveyard. So many Irish names, then as I dash south, they begin to be interspersed with Italian and Portuguese names.”

All of it boils down to her work and what she wants out of life. With 100 mile bike races on her mind, she wants her work to last 100 years. She has a plan to make her life’s work last a century.

“The only way to last a really long time is to build something useful enough that people will want to keep it going after you die, and to cultivate a sense of ownership in other people. In short: make good shit and give it away as fast as you can.”

I wish her the best of luck with both her website and her bike race. It seems that pushing our bodies beyond their limits somehow shows us how to push ourselves in the other facets of our lives.

All fad diets work for a reason. Sometimes it’s because they lower your calorie intake by limiting your food choices. Other times its because they promise results so strongly that the placebo effect takes place.

What fad diets have you tried?

For how long did each one work?

What made you finally give them up?

What will you do in the future to evaluate whether another diet is simply a fad diet or a healthy way of eating?

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.

I know you’ve heard it because I’ve heard it so many times that I almost believed it a little bit. They told us that green tea has anti-oxidants in it. It does, but does that mean that green tea will help keep your heart healthy? The FDA says, “No.”

• FDA Denies Green Tea Cardiovascular Health Claim

So many times food manufacturers try to play off the supposed health benefits of food. They try to create green tea extract, green tea pills and green tea candies that are supposed to heal you. Don’t fall for the propaganda. After looking at over 100 studies, the FDA has stated that there is “no credible evidence” that green tea is “heart healthy.”

Drink green tea because you like the flavor, but don’t depend on it to keep your heart strong. To do that, make sure you exercise and eat healthy. There is no substitute for that.

Via: Consumer Health Digest, May 16, 2006

Laura,

So many have the symptom of feeling cold after losing weight but no one has said why this happens and what they have done to fix it.

My friend just lost close to 200 lbs and is suddenly feeling cold and doesn’t know how to get warm. Any suggestions.

Marie

Marie,

I bring a sweater or cardigan wherever I go. I even bring it during the summer because so many places have the A/C blasting. REI (or a sporting goods store) has some jackets that fold up in a tiny little envelope that you can take out of your purse and wear if you suddenly get the chills.

I’ve stopped saying “It’s cold” when I’m feeling cold because everyone else argues. Instead, I say, “I’ve got the chills.” Everyone seems to understand that.

Good luck, Laura Moncur

GamerCycle says that it’s building healthy kids, but does it really?

• GamerCycle – Building Healthy Kids

They describe how it works here:

“The premise is simple – as long you keep pedaling, the television screen is “ON”… stop pedaling, and the TV screen goes blank. Go from 100% sedentary time to 100% exercise time! Need a break? Hit pause, then resume the game when you are ready.”

The first thought that came to my mind was, “They’ll just unplug the thing,” but GamerCycle has thought about that:

“Video lock box prevents unplugging of the cable from the GamerCycle.”

This idea might actually work if you have a child who loves video games or television. If they feel ambivalent toward TV or games, then the extra effort isn’t worth it.

This would do nothing for me. I can already play video games while I’m riding my bike on the trainer. What I want is a bicycle that controls the game. Then my performance on the game is dependent on how well I ride the bike. I want to go faster in the game if I turn up the resistance and I want it to feel like real life. I know that’s a lot to ask from video games and equipment. I just wonder why none of the big companies are seriously devoting programming and development time to this.

The Utah Better Business Bureau cited UltraLife Fitness, Trugenix and Trugenix Hoodia as websites that have been scamming people.

• Better Business Bureau of Utah

They were using the popular method of giving people “free” diet pills and then charging them for a “membership” in a club in which they send pills every month. We’ve talked about this method of scamming people before:

• Starling Fitness » Steer Clear of the Free Diet Pills

Now, that the BBB of Utah has singled them out, they have gone underground. Their websites are offline and they are no where to be found. If you thought you could get your money back on that “money back guarantee” you’re out of luck because they’re gone.

That’s how it works for most diet pill scammers. They set up shop, sell a bunch of pills and then disappear when the FTC or BBB come knocking on their door. Don’t let yourself be a victim. There is no pill out there that will help you lose weight without diet and exercise. If you have to diet and exercise anyway, do it without the pills.

To see some of the responses people have given Truegenix Hoodia, see Rate The Offers:

• Rate The Offers.com – Offer Ratings – TruGenix Hoodia

Via: Consumer Health Digest, May 9, 2006

On those long bike rides, it’s good to keep water nearby. When your hands are busy with driving the bike, a hydration system like the Camelback makes it easier, but they are so expensive. This writer made a hydration system out of $7 worth of tubing.

• Cheap Hydration System

We don’t need the fancy toys to get healthy and strong. All we need is a little ingenuity and some aquarium tubing.

Via: MAKE: Blog: Cheap hydration system

Worth 1000 had another Photoshop contest where you combine sports. Here is the complete list of entries here:

• Worth1000.com | Photoshop Contests | Hybrid Sports 2

This one looked especially fun, Skateball. I love new ideas about extreme sports.

Next time you are uninspired by your workout, just think about Skateball. Practicing basketball and shooting some hoops would help you do better at Skateball. Practicing with a skateboard would help you do better at Skateball. Thinking about all the weird things that might exist in the future inspires me to keep fit now so I can try them out when they actually come along.

Sports Bras aren’t supposed to be sexy. They’re supposed to hold things down and prevent chafing.

• USATODAY.com – Victoria’s Secret tries on sexy sports bras

Considering that all Victoria’s models are so obviously fake, why would they even need sports bras? Fake boobs stay aloft on their own. It’s us girls with the real thing that need sports bras.

I have all this anger at this move by Victoria’s Secret, but I do love their bras. Their underwire bras are the first I’ve ever enjoyed wearing. Why do I feel like they are completely unprepared to take care of me when I’m running 6 mph?

I guess it’s the advertising. I see those models and they don’t look fit and strong to me. They look fake and emaciated.

Try again Victoria…

Via: adfreak: Victoria’s Secret gets into sports bras

Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink and The Tipping Point, noticed a study on health care in the U.S. and U.K.

“The United States spends $5274 per person, per year, on health care and the United Kingdom spends $2164, or substantially less than half as much. The question is—what do we get, in terms of health, that for extra $3100 a year?”

It turns out that on all levels, Americans are less healthy than Brits. If you think obesity was the nail in the coffin, think again and read his weblog:

• gladwell.com: U.S. versus U.K.

The truth of the matter is that you can’t buy health. You can’t buy it at the doctor’s office, the hospital or the drug store. You have to give it to yourself every day.