A Fitness Minute

This is what I saw today.

2010-03-21T06:55:00.000-07:00

This is what I saw today.

2010-03-20T06:50:00.000-07:00

I live here on Sandy Beach in Puerto Penasco, Mexico. I walk this beach every day. And every day I see something different. It feels a little like paradise here.

2010-03-19T06:27:00.000-07:00

Have You Cut Back On That Salt Yet?

2010-03-18T05:42:00.000-07:00

According to a new study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, lowering the amount of salt you eat just a little, could have a huge impact on your health.

Consuming just 1/2 teaspoon less salt per day can substantially lower risk of heart attacks. Although you may have cut back on the salt in your cooking or at the dinner table, 80% of the salt in your diet comes from packaged foods and restaurant foods.

You really need to make an effort to read food labels
and buy products that contain reduced sodium. Be particularly aware of pasta sauces and frozen meals. They are high in salt.

How To Improve Your Self-Control

2010-03-15T05:22:00.000-07:00

New research from Duke University says if you spend time around people who have good self-control, then you can expect your own self-control to be good.

And spending time with people who have less self-control will influence you negatively. There is a direct effect of your friend's behavior on your behavior.

In fact, this applies to not only friends, but the people you're around a lot such as coworkers, husband, wife, boyfriend or girlfriend. Surrounding yourself with motivated, healthy people, improves your odds of staying in control.

If you want to help your spouse or partner to lose weight, set a good example by eating healthy and exercising. Odds are they will start doing the same.

Is Obama's "Let's Move" Program Enough?

2010-03-12T06:11:00.000-08:00

Michelle Obama announced a 10 billion dollar program to help American children to get off their couches and start eating healthier food. Her "Let's Move" campaign aims to improve nutrition in schools, provide more physical activity for kids, give people more access to healthy foods and to give parents the info they need to make healthy food choices. But is it enough? Childhood obesity rates in the U.S. have tripled in the last 30 years. 1 out of 3 kids are officially overweight or obese. As a result, kids are suffering from high blood pressure, diabetes, fatty liver disease, and heart disease. The Texas Children's Hospital now performs 1 to 2 gastric bypasses a month on obese kids. The Director of the Obesity Institute at Children's National Medical Center in Washington says that "within 5-10 years you'll see as many children getting weight loss procedures as adults".
The National School Lunch Program serves 31 million children in more than 100,000 schools. The three major suppliers of school lunches have pledged to cut back the amount of fat, sugar and salt in kids' meals OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS. Why does it take 5 years to do this?
The "Let's Move" Program is a start, but a more aggressive program is needed NOW to help our kids. Food manufacturers should be banned from marketing unhealthy food products to kids and all schools should be mandated NOW to provide healthy meals for our kids.

I took this photo while walking on Sandy Beach.

2010-03-09T05:31:00.000-08:00

Are You Hula-Hooping Yet?

2010-03-06T05:10:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not, the Hula Hoop has gone from being a 1950's fad to the latest fitness trend. One enthusiast started hooping and liked it so much, she started her own company called Hoop Girl. She now has 350 instructors in 12 countries teaching hula-hooping. Hooping can burn up to 600 calories an hour. Fans of hooping say not only does it get you in shape, but it helps you to not take things so seriously. Hula- Hooping started in the late 50's and sold 100 million hoops in just 2 years. Who knew it would still be around! Sounds like a great way to get that waist in shape.

Camel's Milk In Stores Soon?

2010-03-03T10:08:00.000-08:00

According to a Wall Street Journal report, camel's milk has 3 times as much Vitamin C as cow's milk and contains high amounts of iron, unsaturated fatty acids and B Vitamins. Fans of camel's milk say it's an aid for everything from diabetes to autism. One Belgium company think it's so therapeutic, they are working on developing drugs based on the antibodies found in camels. The milk is marketed under the brand name Camelicious.

There are some entrepreneurs who think there may be a market for camel's milk in the U.S.. They are currently lobbying the FDA to approve the tests required to get camel's milk in a store near you. You can read more about it here.

2010-03-01T13:17:00.000-08:00

What do you think of fat people?

2010-02-24T15:39:00.000-08:00

There is a way.

2010-02-21T08:50:00.000-08:00

There is no virtue in simply living long; the goal should be to live long and well.
Jane Brody

Too Fat To Fly?

2010-02-17T13:23:00.000-08:00

On February 13th, Director Kevin Smith was asked to get off the plane because he was too fat to fly. He was on a Southwest Airline plane. As you will see in this story, many things contributed to that decision, first and foremost, that he was fat.

Kevin had originally purchased 2 seats for the flight he was scheduled to take. He says he bought the 2 seats because "I am anti-social and didn't want to sit next to someone and possibly have to make conversation." He didn't buy them because he was too fat, although he does say he is fat.
Kevin got to the airport early and wanted to catch an earlier flight. The Southwest Airlines employee told him he could try standby, but there would not be two seats(together)available for him. He told the employee he did not need the two seats. He was able to get on the flight. He sat in the middle seat between two ladies. One lady was leaning against the window, the other was leaning toward the aisle. He said they were seated that way when he sat down.
Shortly after being seated, a flight attendant came to him and told him he would have to get off the plane as he was in violation of the company's Customer of Size Policy which states:
"Customers who are unable to lower both armrests and/or who compromise any portion of adjacent seating should proactively book the number of seats needed prior to travel. The armrest is considered to be the definitive boundary between seats and measures 17 inches in width. This purchase serves as a notification of a special seating need and allows us to process a refund of the additional seating cost after travel (provided the flight doesn’t oversell). Most importantly, it ensures that all onboard have access to safe and comfortable seating."
He was told that for "his comfort and those around him, he would need more space" and would have to take a later flight.
Kevin told the flight attendant he could put the armrest down and could fasten his seat belt without an extender. He was not too fat to fly. The flight attendant told him he had to leave. He was subsequently booked on a later flight and eventually offered a refund for his ticket.
The reason this story got so much press is because Kevin started tweeting about it on Twitter. He is a popular film director (He directed Chasing Amy and Clerks.) and has over 1 1/2 million followers on Twitter.
Kevin says a couple of days later he was contacted by a SWA employee who told him the confusion was a result of having a space issue on board with another passenger who had purchased two seats. They were having problems moving already seated passengers to accommodate this person. The flight attendant made a judgment call that Kevin needed more space because of his size and he was asked to take another flight.
Because of the heat they were getting (and maybe because it was the right thing to do), Southwest Airlines subsequently apologized on their blog about the way the situation was handled. Not good enough for Kevin. He told Southwest,
“Get me a document to sign, and I’ll swear on my child’s life and penalty of all I own that I’ll never sue your Airlines. But just PUT THE FUCKING TRUTH OUT THERE THAT I’M NOT TOO FAT TO FLY, AND THAT THIS WAS ALL AN UNFORTUNATE ERROR ON SOUTHWESTERN’S PART.”

There has been much debate about this incident. Some comments:
"As a very frequent business flyer on Southwest and other airlines, I'm a big believer in the concept of "owning" my seat while I fly. I bought that seat; the whole seat is mine for the duration of the flight. And when I'm seated next to someone who doesn't fit within their seat, they are using more space than what they paid for. In fact, they're using the space *I* paid for. How is that okay? How is that comfortable for anyone involved? If you need more room than one seat can provide, you should have to purchase it - unless, of course, the flight's not full. By all means, take up part of an empty seat, just not one that I'm sitting in."

"I certainly don't want to have to try and climb over some obese passenger who is stuffed into their seat in the event of an accident or other unexpected emergency."

"As an customer of Southwest and a 'larger' (fat) person, I can honestly say what little dignity I have left (once you factor in being a fat guy), is worth much more than $100 voucher, or buying two tickets out of fear of being booted.
While this may be a 25 year old policy, clearly its enforcement is capricious and Southwests' attempt to downplay this to ensure that fat folks won't cause trouble in the future is such a CYA move that its just insulting.
You've lost me as a customer, not because you've got rude employees but because of the 'It's not our fault it's his' PR attempt. Transparent and insulting."

Southwest handled the situation poorly. Had the booking agent done a better job, Kevin would not have been let on that full flight because his size was an issue.
When I fly, I do not want to sit next to a person who is really fat, spilling over into my space, whether the armrest can go down or not. It makes for a very uncomfortable flight FOR ME.
Am I prejudice against fat people? No.
Do fat people have rights? Yes.
But when that fat person infringes on my personal space that I am paying for, his rights stop there.

67% of the people in this country are overweight or obese. This issue is not going away.

2010-02-16T07:12:00.000-08:00

Success is determined not so much by the size of one's brain as it is by the size of one's thinking.
David Schwartz, PH.D

2010-02-14T05:36:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

You May Be Paying A "Fat Tax" Soon!

2010-02-13T05:20:00.000-08:00

The average American drinks more than 48 gallons of sodas a year, which researchers believe is a major contributor to our obesity problem. To reduce your consumption of sodas, doctors, scientists, and lawmakers have proposed a "fat-tax" on sodas and other high-calorie drinks such as energy and sports drinks as well as candy.
What do you think? If you had to pay extra for soda and candy, would you think twice before buying it? A recent web poll of 1,000 people said yes--72% of them would think twice before buying it. Maybe that would be a good thing.

The Top 4 Habits Of Successful Dieters

2010-02-11T05:05:00.000-08:00

The National Weight Control Registry has collected data on thousands of people who have lost a lot of weight and have kept it off. These are the top four habits the dieters had:

78% of them ate breakfast every day--A healthy breakfast such as an egg white omelet with whole wheat toast.

62% of them watched less than 10 hours of TV per week.

90% of them exercised an hour a day.

75% of them weighed themselves once a week.

2010-02-09T05:24:00.000-08:00

Not All Dark Chocolate Is Healthy!

2010-02-07T07:38:00.000-08:00

Numerous studies have shown the benefits of dark chocolate. Like red wine and tea, dark chocolate contains flavonoids which are rich in antioxidants. Studies say a little bit of dark chocolate every day is better for you as it provides a steady stream of antioxidants. Unfortunately, not all dark chocolate products are healthy. Manufacturers are adding ingredients such as hydrogenated oil, palm oil and artificial ingredients to dark chocolate. Many of the dark chocolate products out there are just processed junk. If you want the health benefits of dark chocolate, buy organic dark chocolate that has these ingredients:

organic cocoa mass (100% crushed organic cocoa beans)

organic raw cane sugar

organic cocoa butter

organic cocoa powder

organic vanilla

at least 70% cocoa

I've tried several different brands of dark chocolate. The brand I like the best is Rapunzel Organic Extra Dark Chocolate. It costs about $4.00 a bar. Not only does it have healthy ingredients but it also gives you a natural energy boost. You can find it on Amazon.com.

Rev Up Your Metabolism With Weights!

2010-02-06T05:52:00.000-08:00

According to new research from the Physiology Society in London, lifting weights may restore your metabolism to the same level it was in your 20's. Wow-how nice is that!

The researchers found that weight training increased blood flow to the muscles which restored muscle-building capacity--one of the keys to a faster metabolism. Blood flow to muscles slows with age, so muscles get less of the nutrients needed to repair and rebuild. The study found that sedentary adults 45 and older who did weight training 3 days a week, gained as much strength as younger lifters and saw a significant increase in their metabolisms.

The Lowdown On High Blood Pressure

2010-02-03T05:36:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, if your blood pressure was below 140/90, you would have been considered fine. Now, with the new guidelines issued by the National Institutes of Health, if you're above 120/80, you're considered prehypertensive. Prehypertension, or borderline high blood pressure, is one of the risk factors doctors are identifying for heart disease, diabetes and stroke. You need to get your blood pressure checked periodically. Most people who have high blood
pressure didn't know it before they were diagnosed. To prevent high blood pressure, start exercising, don't smoke, cut back on salt, and watch your alcohol intake.

2010-02-01T05:22:00.000-08:00

How Big Is Your Waist?

2010-01-29T05:15:00.000-08:00

Researchers are finding that your waist size may predict your chances of having a heart attack. The bigger your waist, the greater your chance. In one study, the odds of developing heart disease were 55% greater for men and 90% greater for women with the largest bellies and smallest hips. Yikes!
What should your waist size be?

Take your height in inches and divide by 2. That number should equal your waist size. If you are 6' or 72", your waist should be no more than 36". If you are 5'4", or 64", your waist should be no more than 32".

How To Help Your Kid To Lose Weight

2010-01-27T05:05:00.000-08:00

25 million kids in this country are overweight. That's 1 in 3 kids. There are things parents can do to help their kid to lose weight. Researchers are finding that simple substitutions at meals and easy changes to recipes can dramatically cut the number of calories kids eat.
Give kids 1% milk instead of whole milk.
Serve canned fruit in juice instead of in syrup.
Make macaroni and cheese with 1% milk and reduced fat butter.
Serve low fat yogurt with fresh fruit.
Buy reduced-sugar cereals and serve them with 1% milk.
The researchers found that when kids were served the reduced calorie foods, they ate about 400 calories less and the kids still liked the taste of the foods.

2010-01-25T05:07:00.000-08:00