This article at WebMd today talks about how exercise is not only good for your heart and weight, it also can train your brain.
One of the doctors in the article said exercise is like taking a little Prozac or a little Ritalin:
"Exercise is really for the brain, not the body. It affects mood, vitality, alertness, and feelings of well-being."
So get out there and workout!
I read this article today about how fast food chains in NYC are going to give the mayor the finger... well, pretty much, ok - metaphorically. Anyway, they are refusing to post their calorie counts on their menu boards, saying that doing so would require them to make "times square size" menu boards and reading the menu board would be like "a bad trip to the eye doctor"
Man, they have a witty spokesman.
I posted on this about a week ago, and my opinions are still the same. The new New York City regulations are not only unfair (they only apply to certain restaurants and fast food joints) but they are also very idealistic and impractical. I mean, Mr. Bloomberg, think about it. You go into McDonalds and the menu board is so huge it wraps around two walls. Talk about overwhelming. And seriously, most people know what they are going to order when they walk in (like an All American Meal with Diet Coke), so they don't even need to look at the board.
This whole regulation affected me personally a few days ago (and I'm not in NYC, I live in stinkin' Baton Rouge, LA). A colleague and I were talking about Cold Stone Creamery and I went to their Website to get the nutritional information just in case we made the (bad) decision to get some cold stone. I've been to their site before, and I knew that they offered a very comprehensive breakdown of all of their menu items... so imagine my surprise (and disgust) when I read this:
"We regret that Cold Stone Creamery can no longer publicly post nutritional information on our website. This development is a result of the New York City Department of Health's decision to pass a regulation requiring restaurants that already publicly provide caloric information, to post product calories on their menu boards - using the same type size as the product listing.
We fully support the intent of this regulation; however, since most of our products are made-to-order, there simply isn't enough room on our existing menu boards to comply with the regulation. As a result, we will no longer be able to provide nutritional information on our website or to residents and customers of our New York City stores. We regret this inconvenience." Check it out
Thanks a lot New York City. Of course, I immediately went to calorieking.com where they did have the information still, but seriously, this is causing all the wrong repercussions. What's next? NYC will spoon feed their residents to curb obesity? Is this still a free society? My goodness.
What are your thoughts?
My all-time favorite columnist, Chris Rose, wrote a wonderful piece a few days ago about the lack of quality playgrounds for children in New Orleans. He tried taking his children to several playgrounds that had only one piece of equipment and over-grown grass and were quickly deemed "boring" by his kids. He heard about a company named Kaboom! that donated money and resources to build dynamic playgrounds for children in the hurricane-devastated communities. When Mr. Rose tried to bring his kids to one of the new "Kaboom!" playgrounds, they found them locked and chained (on a Saturday during the summer!!). This prompted him to write a very interesting and witty (like always) piece on how the children of New Orleans have nowhere open to play. That's a very sad thing.
The column brought back great memories of going to the park when I was a kid and sliding down that impossibly tall slide that made you go so fast you thought you were flying. It reminded me of all the summers we spent outdoors playing pirates, orphaned children and boxcar kids (yeah, like the children's book series). It reminded me of riding our bikes around the neighborhood pretending to be on horses (or unicorns). Ah, it was so fun. And the best part was that we were outside, using our imagination, sweating up a storm, and getting tons of physical activity.
I don't have kids - but I've worked at several day camps and it seems to me that a lot of today's children aren't playing outside as much. They have so much to occupy them indoors - video games, tv, internet, myspace (eek), etc. - that the art of playing outdoors and coming up with elaborate ways to keep yourself entertained all summer is completely lost on that generation.
And then I read this article about children (as young as 6!!) getting personal fitness trainers to help them lose weight, get fit, and "gain balance" WHAT?!? Yes, our kids are overweight, and yes, we need them to be active and fit... but outsourcing our children to gym trainers seems outrageously ridiculous and so "American."
Why can't these parents encourage their kids to go outside, ride bikes, go swimming, take up a recreational sport, throw a ball with them outside? I know they might be busy, but are you so busy that you can watch your child eat themselves into obesity??
It all coincides. Because then you have fathers like Mr. Rose, who really wants his kids to play outside, use their imagination and go wild, but unfortunately due to the idiocy that is New Orleans politics, his kids are limited to lame under-kept parks.
And so goes the cycle. We need to end it. We need to make sure every child has access to incredible and safe parks. We need to give them some outlet where they can be fit without going to a personal trainer! We need to encourage our kids to use their imaginations and have fun outdoors even if they don't have a Kaboom! park. We need to make sure our kids know that being active isn't a chore (like going to the gym to be with your trainer) but that it's a part of life. And it's a fun part of life. We need to go outside with the kids, and teach them "balance" on our own.
They're not going to be children forever, and the values you instill in them now will last a lifetime. So come home early from work, don't go to the gym, stop going to happy hour drinks, don't sign up for another professional association and GET HOME and PLAY WITH YOUR KIDS.
If you drink about 15 diet sodas a day, you may need to cut back on your intake. Although the FDA won't review aspartame's (sweetners in diet sodas) cancer risks, a new study found that rats who consumed the equivalent of 15 diet sodas a day developed luekemia, lymphoma and breast cancer.
The FDA says that the new study is not consistent with the plethora of other studies that show no cancer risks from aspartame. Therefore, they will not review it again.
But just to be safe (and to curb your extreme caffeine addiction) let's limit our diet soda intake - especially if you're up to 15 cans a day. (Sorry, but that just makes me sick thinking about 15 a day).
MSN put together this very interesting feature that tells you the calorie and fat information for popular chain restaurant meals and then gives you two options on how to slash both the calories and fat. (Don't worry, the options aren't just "eat half").
Since we know that chefs don't count calories and that eating out can be very dangerous (health and diet-wise) we could all benefit from these tips.
Here's an example of one of their menu items: PF Chang's Sriracha Shrimp Salad
If you order this as is, you'll get a whopping 1,130 calories and 46 g fat. Eek. For a salad??
If you want it better, MSN suggests you ask for the salad without the candied papaya, which contain a whopping half-cup of sugar. The new count: Better: 600 cal, 42 g fat
And if you're feeling angelic, order the salad without the papaya and without the pine nuts and you'll only have to deal with 420 cal, 23 g fat, which means you save 710 cal, 23 g fat! Good for you.
The article has menu items from Chilis, Arbys, Ruby Tuesdays, Pizza Hut, On the Border and a few more.
The idea is great - do you have any calorie and fat saving strategies for your favorite menu items?
I've found some more interesting health news that works best in the "brief" format.
And now this is just adorable. I saw it on FitSugar. Look at the picture below and guess who is happy with themselves for putting in a great workout... (Click on the picture to find out who it is!)
We should all know that in order to get flat abs, you can't just do 1,000 crunches a day. You'll get some rock hard muscles, but they will still be covered by fat. So we've been told that you need to burn the fat away, which means do some cardio and calories in need to be less than calories out.
When I saw this article today on MSN about how just cutting calories, won't cut it. They've done research where women who ate 400 fewer calories but still ate the least nutritious foods had a 2 ½ times higher risk of abdominal obesity than those who ate that much more but made better choices.
Did you just hear all of Hollywood gasp? I guess that means their 1,000 calorie diet of frappacinos and alcohol won't keep them thin in the long run...
Sorry, I just had to put that in there. These hollywood waifs drink so many liquid calories! Back to the information:
So, if you're tired of counting calories and feel like that's not working (or it's just making you miserable) follow the 5 food fixes from the article:
Last night I took my first (ever) pilates class. I had heard from some friends that it was a great workout, etc. and of course every other article in my women's fitness magazines praise pilates like it's the next best thing to Christ. So, I tried it.
I was surprised at how many of the poses/exercises we did that I had already done before in my normal ab-strength routines. So it was great to be able to do some of the "advanced" forms being only a beginner. I definitely felt my core working during the moves and it pushed me to hold some poses longer than I would do on my own. (Like the 1-minute plank). I'm going to wait around to see if my abs are sore (they aren't yet, but sometimes it takes a while) and if they are I will definitely take the class again.
If they aren't? Well, then I'll probably stick to working out my abs on my own. I know that pilates isn't just about abs, but that's my "trouble spot" and that's what I want to target. I'm not saying I'd never take the class again, but I wouldn't up my attendance to more than once a week.
Have you had a success story with pilates, or a not-so-successful story? Share it. Got any tips for me, a beginner, on how to get the most out of the pilates class? I need them! Please comment.
I found this feature on ivillage that helps you pick foods that meet whatever your "diet" might be - whether it's low-calorie, anti-aging, athletic-endurance, low-sugar, etc. The premise of the feature (the one that I really like) is that we need to be eating real food - and as the author said "food that our grandmothers would have recognized as food"
I love this. Our nation is obsessed with processed food. Whether it's the fast food we pick up for lunch or the potato chips we munch on for a snack we're eating food with ingredients that we cannot even pronounce - let alone understand the nutritional nightmare they might inflict on our bodies.
I perused through the low-calorie diet and although a few of the tidbits were interesting, it's not going to be your end-all grocery list for the diet you're following. I liked reading about the facts they listed about each food mentioned. For example, strawberries are very low-calorie (50 calories per cup) but "research shows that extracts from these berries (as well as blueberries) significantly decreased the growth of cervical and breast cancer cells. Compounds in strawberries may also protect your brain and memory."
Take-away from this post - try to add more natural foods into your diet (whether you're on a "diet" or not) and try to eliminate as much processed foods as possible (p.s. by doing this you will really help your check balance, believe me).
I know it's the middle of June so you may be asking "a new year?" But yesterday was my birthday, so for me it is a new year. I found these two great articles/resource centers for getting outside in the summer and trying something new.
We all know that doing the same exact workout day after day, week after week, can quickly lead to boredom, apathy and finally quitting. So, it's always wise to switch things up. But for most of us (including me) "switching things up" means hopping on a different cardio machine. Eek.
I found this "Beginner Adventure Guide" on the Women's Health Website. Basically you choose "on land" or "on sea" and they have about 8-10 different activities ranging from triathlons, hiking, and extreme tree climbing. For each activity they link to about 4 articles with tips and advice on how to get started. I'm really interested in the triathlon link, since that's something I've been chewing over for the past few months.
Well if you're like me and live in Louisiana or any other climate where 80% humidity and 90 degree heat is norm, you may be thinking, "Stephanie, you're crazy, it's too hot to try something new"
So that's where this article comes in handy. The article is about running in the heat and humidity, but the author gives some great practical advice that can be applied to any outdoor activity. Some of the advice includes: fueling the workout properly, give your body at least 14 days to adapt to the heat and humidity - meaning power walking instead of running, or mixing up run and walk.
She also gives "tricks" to adapt. One of them is to take a Bikram yoga class, which is also called "hot yoga." Basically you do yoga in a room with 105 degree heat and 50% humidity. Yikes. But she says it's a great way to get your body used to the heat and humidity with out overextending yourself.
And of course, keep yourself hydrated no matter what you choose to do. Happy adventuring. Keep me updated if you try any of these new activities - I hope you do!
