Be Thankful You Can Exercise
One of my my body pump instructors made an excellent point the other day during class as we were going through the leg track. She’s normally a pretty chatty instructor and one of my favorites, but she made a great point about how we should enjoy how exercise feels, how exercise makes us feel, and how we should be thankful we can exercise. That our bodies are healthy enough to allow us to work it this way because not everyone is so fortunate.
I thought that was a remarkably different way to approach exercise and one that never occurred to me because I’ve been fortunate enough to always been able to exercise. Working out shouldn’t be a chore, it should be an enjoyable experience that has positive effects on your body. You aren’t going for a painful 30 minute cardio session or attending an hour-long class of misery, you’re working your machine of a body to ensure it can run farther, faster, and stronger than it did before the session. You’re working out so you can continue to work out in the future, you’re doing yourself a service and something some people can’t.
It’s a mindset thing and a very astute observation.
Subscribe to the comments for this postWhy is Red Wine Good for You?
What makes red wine good for you is because it contains a high amount of a phytoalexin called Resveratrol. Resveratrol is produced naturally by some plants when they’re under attack by bacteria and fungi, it’s also been produced through chemical synthesis and sold as a nutritional supplement. The reason red wine contains a high amount of resveratrol is because it’s found in the skin of red grapes and thus transfers to the wine through production.
Muscadine Wines actually contain the most amount of resveratrol followed soon after by global and Spanish red wines, according to Wikipedia. If you aren’t a wine drinker, you can get resveratrol through just eating red grapes and consuming some peanuts (boiled is better). In fact, peanuts have more resveratrol than red grapes do.
Another reason red wine is good for you is because of the antioxidants. Wine and grape juice have a higher concentration of antioxidants compared to fresh grapes, though if you really want some good antioxidants you should consider tea. 2 cups of tea = 2 glasses of juice or wine and fewer calories.
How To Improve Circulation
One of the things I noticed as I grew older was that circulation to my legs was becoming worse and worse. If I cross my legs or raise my knee above my hips, within ten or fifteen minutes my foot will fall asleep. To figure out how I could improve my circulation, I turned to the internet. It’s amazing the number of herbal supplements you can take to improve circulation! (though I wonder how many actually do improve circulation!) So, the only suggestions I have are those having nothing to do with herbal remedies.
- Be hydrated: Did you know you’re supposed to have eight glasses a day of water? I know I wasn’t getting quite that much and I’ll be drinking more to see if it’ll improve my circulation.
- Wear proper shoes: Your feet swell during the day so be sure to purchase shoes when your feet are the fattest, near the end. If you wear uncomfortable shoes or shoes that don’t fit, it’ll affect the circulation to your feet and thus affect your circulation overall.
- Exercise regularly: This is a no brainer as the more you move the blood around, the better it is at getting around. However, even small exercises, like walking around during the day, can improve circulation to your feet.
- Consume high-bioflavonoid foods: Bioflava-what??? Actually, bioflavonoids improve the strength of your veins in terms of tone and elasticity as well as promotes healing and reduces swelling. The net effect is that your veins and arteries are stronger and thus better able to pump blood, thus improving circulation. This has a side effect of reducing the incidence of varicose veins. High bioflavonoid foods include berries such as blueberries and raspberries.
- Consume omega-3 oils and protein: Walnuts, fish, and flaxseed oil are all good sources of those components which have anti-inflammatory effects. These are also good for circulation.
Why Are Trans Fats Bad For You?
New York was the first to ban trans fats and, soon after, many other cities followed suit by banning the stuff. The question is, why exactly are trans fats bad for you? Before we answer that, let’s first talk about what trans fats are.
Trans fats are vegetables fats that have been chemically “transformed” so that they become a solid at room temperature. The transformation process is called hydrogenation and companies do it because it increases the shelf life of the products that use them and it gives them a crispier texture, making it great for fried foods like French fries and fried chicken (and crackers, cookies, etc). A side effect is that the body sees this trans fat and treats it like saturated fat, which is what clogs arteries, and so you take a normally healthier oil and turn it into a saturated fat.
Trans fats are bad for you because the body treats it like saturated fat.
Almost Didn’t Go To The Gym Today…
I’ve been going to a Body Pump class at my local gym every Tuesday and Thursday for at least a month and it’s been great. As you know, today is Thursday and I almost didn’t make it today. In fact, I had a whole bunch of excuses lined up… here they are:
- My wife’s been a little sick lately and last night she was coughing and kicking and I didn’t get a good night’s sleep,
- I was going to meet my friends for lunch and the class really pushes into the lunch period,
- I was tired, see the first reason,
- It’s okay if I miss it.
Reason 1 is a pretty good reason and reason 2 is a so-so reason, reason 3 and 4 were just pile on reasons to validate my decision to not go. That was, until JD of Get Rich Slowly and Get Fit Slowly and asks me if the stay at home moms at the gym would miss him if he didn’t go today. I told him I was tired and that he was enabling me to sit at home and not work out. Then he said he was putting on his shorts and going to the gym. I put on my workout clothes and went to the gym.
Funny thing is, JD lives in Seattle and I live near Baltimore (that’s two different coasts). We don’t work out together. But that little chat threw all the reasons out the window and I headed over to the gym despite my sluggishness. Good for me! 
Pesticide Levels on Conventional Fruits & Vegetables
One of the arguments I’ve heard about people buying organic is that it organic foods have less pesticide residue than conventionally farmed foods because of the organic methods. Well, the Environmental Working Group looked at forty-three fruits and vegetables, washed them as they typically would be washed, and then tested them for pesticide residue. The five worst were peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery and nectarines (strawberries weren’t too far behind nectarines) while the five best were onions, avocado, frozen sweet corn (corn didn’t appear elsewhere on the list), pineapples, and mango.
So, if you’re one of the folks buying organic because of pesticide residue, you’ll be happy to learn that your efforts are well worth it for peaches but probably not that valuable for onions. This is because certain fruits and vegetables suck in the bad stuff far more readily than others. Onions don’t seem to suck in that much anyway, so going organic will provide you with no additional advantage.
The Full list: 43 Fruits & Veggies (from the New York Times)
14 Health Foods That Are Bad For You
First red wine is good for you, then it’s bad, then it’s good, then bad, then good… you get the idea. Things that were once good for you, quickly turn bad, then good… how are you supposed to keep it straight? I have absolutely no idea, but I do know that now there are fourteen more items on the “good” list that should instead be on the “bad list.” Those fourteen items, according to David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding, authors of Eat This, Not That! are:
- Bran Muffin - too much sugar and refined flour, it’ll spike your blood sugar
- Chicken Caesar Salad - fatty dressing and too much cheese
- Tuna Melt - too much mayo, cheese, and dressing
- Chicken Wrap - wrap is packed with calories and dense carbs
- Turkey Burger - can be just as bad as beef, go with a lean sirloin beef
- Fruit Smoothies - sugars and high-fructose corn syrup… please pass
- Granola Bar - high-fructose corn syrup is the glue
- Pasta Salad - pasta is highly refined flour, spikes your blood sugar
- Yogurt with Fruit on the Bottom - too much sugar or high fructose corn syrup!
- Bagel with Cream Cheese - bagels are not healthy, cream cheese is fatty
- Pasta Primavera - butter, cream & quick-burn carbs = badness
- Dried Fruit - you end up eating too much because it’s dried, plus added sugar
- Fish Sandwich - is it deep-fried and dipped in tartar? you know it’s bad
- Margarine - tons of trans-fats instead of saturated fat, use whipped butter
Ultimately, a lot of those things have bad versions and good versions. You can get a turkey burger that’s healthy for you or you can get a turkey burger drenched in all sorts of yummy badness, it’s a matter of choice. Buy a fruit smoothie from a store and you likely get bad, make it yourself and you should be fine. There are a few items on the list that might be surprising, like the dried fruit and the bagel with cream cheese, but ultimately if you’re smart you should be able to figure it out.
Why Is MSG Bad For You?
MSG stands for monosodium glutamate and is an food additive that, many years ago, got significant press about how bad it was for you. As it turns out, many Asian cuisine flavor enhancing ingredients contained high amounts of MSG but it wasn’t commercial separated and made into its own individual product until 1907 and introduced in the US in 1947. MSG was and is still used as a flavor enhancer in many foods, especially processed foods such as canned soups, frozen dinners, and fast food.
So why is MSG bad for you?
First off, it’s actually the glutamic acid in the MSG that is of concern for most people and in 1959 the FDA classified MSG as “generally recognized as safe.” However, because glutamate is absorbed very quickly in the gastointestinal tract it can spike blood plasma levels of glutamate. What does this mean for you? Well, glutamic acid is known as an excitotoxins and high levels of excitotoxins has been shown in animal studies to cause damage to areas of the brain. Does this happen in people? No one knows, but it’s been shown in mice.
Indirectly, MSG has been shown in lab tests to downregulate hypothalamic appetite supression, which is a fancy word for it makes you feel hungry again. That’s the whole joke about how you feel hungry thirty minutes after you eat at a Chinese restaurant. The indirect effect is that the mice in the lab just kept eating and thus got fatter. However, a 1973 study didn’t show a similar effect in human beings.
So it’s okay?
The FDA considers it safe but regulations require the clear labeling of MSG on any product that contains it or a product of it. There are no studies that show it’s bad for human beings but it hasn’t been good for mice.
The verdict? You can eat it, but I wouldn’t eat too much of it. And stop it with the Chinese food jokes.
Body Pump Is Teaching Me Correct Form
One of the great benefits of taking these twice (or thrice) weekly Body Pump classes is that it’s teaching me the correct form for lifting. The prime example is with the chest, I had always been using my triceps heavily to the push the weight when I should’ve been using my chest. This is because I wasn’t pulling my shoulder-blades together when lifting. By concentrating on pulling the blades together a little more, I felt the weight working my chest more. Part of the reason I was doing it wrong was because when I did chest lifting, I don’t feel the burn I do in other exercises, I just couldn’t lift anymore. With Body Pump, since it’s lower weight and higher repetition, I can feel the burn more and thus know which muscles are being used.
So, Body Pump is teaching me correct form!
(Today marked the first time I was in the only male in the class!)
Top Medical Myths Debunked
I’m a fan of the Brits, they like to tell it like it is, straight up, and with a funny accent. So, when I saw that the Times Online had an article on the top medical myths, I had to click through to read it.
Here are the top myths:
- Having sex can cause a heart attack in men - Whew!
- High blood pressure causes headaches
- Diabetics crave suger
- Women need to examine their breasts - This is a big one I had to comment on. They say that self-examinations aren’t sensitive enough to lumps, so don’t rely on it. Get regular checkups.
- Diets cut cholesterol
- Headaches alone can be a sign of a brain tumor
- You shouldn’t mix antibiotics and alcohol - Wow! I thought this reduced the effectiveness, but apparently it doesn’t with the only exception being metronidazole. Another related myth is that you should finish your course of antibiotics - that makes no difference! (but you already paid for the antibiotics, might as well use them)
- Your tiredness may be caused by anaemia - just sleep more.
- Flu jabs give you flu - Flu jabs refers to vaccinations, those Brits have crazy words huh?