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

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.

The tabloids are in a tizzy about Jessica Simpson. They have decided that only the most anorexic of our stars are worthy of positive attention. Jessica Simpson has finally gotten to a NORMAL weight and they have deemed her “Jumbo Jessica.”

• Curvier Jessica Simpson dukes it out with tabloids – USATODAY.com

The tormenting has gotten so bad that Jessica’s sister, Ashlee, has spoken out:

“I am completely disgusted by the headlines concerning my sister’s weight,” Ashlee Simpson-Wentz said Tuesday on her blog.

“All women come in different shapes, sizes, and forms, and just because you’re a celebrity, there shouldn’t be a different standard.”

When Jessica Simpson was working out four hours a day to get her Daisy Duke figure, the tabloids blasted her for being too thin. They said that she was anorexic. Now that she is a little curvier, they’re calling her fat. Is there anything good enough for the tabloids?

Next time you see those newspapers at the checkout stand, don’t even look at them. Don’t consider buying them. Just pass them on by, because if Jessica Simpson is “Jumbo” what does that make the rest of the women on the planet? Tabloid magazines are just misogyny in action. Don’t let them get any of your money.

Photo via: Curvier Jessica Simpson dukes it out with tabloids – USATODAY.com

Daisy Duke photo via: a pro-ana site for “thinspiration.” NO LINK FOR YOU!

Yesterday, we watched the video for Weight Bias at Home and School, but this one is even MORE important. Weight Bias in Healthcare is FAR more dangerous and pervasive. It doesn’t matter what your ailment, if you go into a doctor as an overweight adult, they will ALWAYS blame your weight and make assumptions about your eating habits.

I’m sure doctors watch this video and think that it’s blown out of proportion, but this is EXACTLY the kind of health “care” I received when I was at my highest weight. If you think that you have been discriminated against by any healthcare professional, don’t go back to them. If it’s a nurse or desk staff, mention it to the doctor, but if the doctor shows the same disregard, find a new one. That’s what I did and now it’s MUCH easier going in for a yearly check up.

Via: Rudd Sound Bites: Rudd Center Releases Videos on Weight Bias

The Rudd Center teamed up with super-model Emme to create a series of videos about Weight Bias.

I’ve found that kids tease about a lot of things. If they don’t tease you because you’re fat, they’ll tease you because you’re tall or smart or have green eyes or because your name rhymes with a funny word. TEASING is the problem, no matter what the teasing is about. It’s the first stage of bullying and THAT is what needs to be stopped.

Honestly, some of the worst offenders for weight bias are people who are overweight themselves (or even worse, used to be overweight). I like to think that I’m above this sort of thing, but even now, I catch myself making judgments about overweight people that I see. I won’t even know them. I haven’t even talked to them, but I’ll think that they are lazy or stupid. Catching it in myself and being aware of this is the first step toward getting past it.

Via: Rudd Sound Bites: Rudd Center Releases Videos on Weight Bias

Mark Bittman writes the Bitten Blog for the New York Times. He has been trying to lose some weight and decided to log what he ate for a couple of weeks.

• What I Ate Last Week – Bitten Blog – NYTimes.com

As I left on a tour for my new book, I had this notion that it would be interesting to log my eating for a day or two. My compulsive tendencies took over, and I wound up writing down everything I ate, and then some. As everyone knows, eating well on the road is tough, what with instability, temptations, and tight schedules.

• What I Ate, Week 2 – Bitten Blog – NYTimes.com

Still, in other years my weight swelled as I became more sedentary, and that doesn’t seem to be a problem now. I do feel as if I’m not eating the variety of food I want to, but I attribute that to a lack of home cooking because of the need to travel.

I’m always surprised when people who EAT for a living are thin. It looks like eating fresh foods in small portions during the other meals is a good way to compensate for the luxurious meals in the evenings.

Via: Littlest, Yellowest, Differentest – Mark Bittman logs what he eats for a week

This postcard from PostSecret is so motivating to me.

It reads:

Classic literature, religious texts, and self-help books aren’t helping me put myself back together, but 2Pac is.

I have found inspiration on YouTube FAR more often than in church. I have found the will to hold on one more day from listening to Weird Al Yankovic more than I’ve ever found it in classical music.

What keeps you from eating until your stomach bursts? What keeps you exercising every day? I think the entire world would be surprised to know what motivates us isn’t always the classic literature, religious texts and self-help books.

PostSecret‘s beneficiary is the National Hopeline Network. It is a 24-hour hotline (1 (800) SUICIDE) for anyone who is thinking about suicide or knows someone who is considering it.