Journal of Healthy Living

Running & Walking Burns Equal Calories

Did you know that you burn the same number of calories when you run a mile versus when you walk a mile? They’re not identical but they’re pretty close. Surprising right?

Well, before you get too excited, know this: running is a lot better for you. Why? It’s better because it works out your muscles harder, including your heart. When you work your muscles, they get stronger. When you work your heart, it gets stronger.

So, even though a leisurely walk will burn as many calories as a run, a run is much better for your heart. However, the best counter against this is to walk briskly! As long as you get your heart rate up, your heart is working harder and you gain some health benefits because of it.

Dealing with Itchy, Dry Skin

There’s been a tremendous response to my article on itchy legs when running or walking, especially when it’s cold out, so I figured I could write a little about how I deal with itchy and dry skin when I’m not walking or running in the winter. You all probably know what I mean, you get out of the shower, you towel off, and your skin ends up being dry and itchy. It’s infuriating and it seems to only happen in the winter! The reason this happens is because most heating systems blow hot air (duh!) and that hot air is typically very dry. That dryness makes the air in your house very dry. When you combine that with a hot shower and a towel, you end up with skin that is very dry and thus itchy. So, how do you deal with this?

• Lotion. A bit of an obvious answer but lotion is the best response, especially for those designed for dry skin. You want to use it liberally because you need your skin to be healthy and well moisturized.
• Bundle up. The cold air does an excellent job of drying out your skin. If you have a hat and gloves, be sure to put them on even if you don’t think you’ll need them because the cold air can strip your skin of that moisture. This is why your hands are often drier than other parts of your body.
• Shave less frequently. Pulling a razor across your skin is bound to dry it out, you won’t notice it in the summer because there’s more moisture in the air, but it’s very obvious in the winter.

What’s your favorite tip for dealing with itchy, dry skin?

Avoid These Chinese Take Out Foods

Newsweek has a useful article today by Tina Peng titled Unhealthy Chinese-Food Choices listing the seven worst choices at a Chinese restaurant.

1. Fried rice
2. Lo mein
3. Chow fun
4. Crispy (orange) beef
5. Lemon chicken
6. General Tso’s chicken
7. Barbequed spare ribs

Why were some of those foods bad? Fat, sodium, and calories. All pack more than you think but those are the worst offenders. What are good choices? “Stir-fried dishes, such as shrimp with garlic sauce, Szechuan shrimp, moo goo gai pan and chicken with black bean sauce all contain less than 1,000 calories a plate, she says, and vegetarian dishes such as Buddha’s Delight, stir-fried mixed vegetables, ma po tofu and Szechuan string beans also are healthier. Still, she cautions that these alternatives are all still heavy on the salt, so think about ordering the sauce on the side.”

Weekly Roundup: Childhood Obesity, Breastmilk & Book Reviews

Lazy Man has some good tips for dealing with childhood obesity, here’s one: “Introduce your children to a wide variety of foods, including lots of fruits and vegetables. Consuming lots of fresh produce is a great way to promote healthy eating, and giving your kids variety increases the chances of them finding produce that they truly enjoy eating. A varied diet also has the benefit of a wide variety of nutrients, which is essential to healthy development.”

Thankfully, Ben and Jerry said no to breast milk in ice cream. PETA is craaaazy.

Thinking about getting a copy of Foods That Help You Lose Weight By Neal Barnard, Weight Ladder does a good review of the book.

10 Things That Are Surprisingly Good For You

The List Universe has a list of ten things that are surprisingly good for you, which really means they’re healthier than you may think. The reality is that most things that are bad aren’t that bad when taken in moderation, but I was very happy to learn that Ice Cream made the list at #1.

Ice-cream is a low GI (glycemic-index) food. This means that it is a slow sugar release food that keeps you satisfied for a longer period of time than a high GI food. For that reason, you are less likely to binge after eating ice-cream. 75 grams of Ben and Jerry’s Cookies and Cream ice-cream contains only 114 calories compared to a slice of cheesecake with 511 calories. Furthermore, ice-cream is made of milk which contains many essential nutrients and vitamins. 1 cup of milk contains up to 30% of a man’s daily recommended intake. Other nutrients in ice-cream are biotin, iodine, potassium, selenium, vitamins a, b12, D, and K. Studies show a possible link between milk consumption and a lowered risk of arterial hypertension, coronary heart disease, colorectal cancer.

The full list:

1. Pornography – yay!
2. Smoking
3. Beer
4. Cannabis
5. Chocolate
6. Red Wine
7. Caffeine
8. Stress
9. Dirt
10. Ice Cream

5 Weight Loss Foods: Grains, Asparagus, Pomegranates, Nuts & Green Tea

Ever get tired of seeing all those green tea weight loss advertisements everywhere? Think they’re scams? Turns out they’re, green tea anyway, actually on the list of five foods that can help you lose weight according to Dr. Maoshing Ni, author of Ask. Dr. Mao on Yahoo! Health.

The five foods are:

• Whole Grains: He specifically calls out millet, a type of whole grain that is non-glutinous, over 10% protein, with significant amounts of fiber and B-complex vitamins.
• Asparagus: Asparagus is rich in folate, vitamins A, C, and K, and fiber, which is great for helping you feel full. Asparagus also has a carb called inulin that promotes healthy bacteria in the large intestine.
• Pomegranates: Pomegranates, along with other fresh fruits, is valuable for its antioxidants. Go with the fresh fruit and not so much the juice because you’ll get more fiber and drink fewer calories.
• Pine Nuts: Chinese medicine believes pine nuts can improve digestive functions and the oil is often used for appetite suppression.
• Green Tea: I didn’t know this but apparently coffee and caffeine in large amounts can lead to food cravings, I’ve always found that coffee suppresses my appetite in the mornings. Either way, Green tea provides both a little caffeine and beneficial antioxidants.

Other tips? Learn to graze by eating five smaller meals, chew more slowly, and avoid processed foods.

5 Essential Weight Loss Foods [Yahoo! Health]

Don’t Focus on the Scale

Israel recently posted that he would be ditching the scale and weekly weigh-ins because seeing only a one pound drop on Monday really threw his head in for a loop. He’s a smart guy, he knows that it’s just a number and that he’s not a failure, but he’s also human. I personally don’t focus on the scale because I’m human too and your health cannot be boiled down into a single number.

Since I’ve started biking and working out more, I’ve noticed that my weight hasn’t really changed too much but my athleticism has increased. Running is easier and I run faster. I feel healthier and more active, two things that mean more to me than seeing the number on the scale.

Hiking Is Fun But Dangerous

This weekend, my wife and I visited some friends who live in the Poughkeepsie, NY area and, among other things, hiking a little trail Saturday afternoon. It was labeled a “moderately difficult” trail that had an estimated three hours round-trip completion time so we headed up there around 2 pm. My wife and I, and our friends, were pretty ill prepared for the trail as we just thought it was some little path through the woods that would be fairly easy to complete. What we discovered was a trail that required us to get one some hands and knees, climbing over rocks, and looking for hand hand holds; not really difficult but hardly a walk around our local lake. We had no maps, a bottle of water, and our trust of the trail marking system of one white dash or two (and some park service tags). It wasn’t a big deal but when we did get mildly lost, it did give us a little warning that hiking is fun but can be dangerous if you’re ill prepared.

There are three things we should’ve brought that we didn’t:

• A Map: Before you slap yourself and say “Duh!” I have to warn that we thought the trail was just a little walk that could be finished in short order. The trail itself was clearly marked but we weren’t 100% where each trail went. The trail also ended up being far easier to go up than it was to go down, because of the rocks, so our original plan of just back-tracking was adjusted. Regardless, it was a mistake not to have a map (the trail head didn’t have maps either, something we assumed).
• Food: We only ate breakfast at noon and I was starving by the time we made it halfway through. That’s bad… we needed some trail mix!
• Water: We had enough water for our needs but you never know. If we really got lost, we wouldn’t have had enough water.

Even if you think it’s a short hike, be armed with a map and water and food. Don’t be a fool like me.

Don’t Snack on Trail Mix

On my desk is a bag of PLanter’s Trail Mix – Fruit and Nut. It’s a pretty good medley of nuts and fruit actually, some peanuts, raisins, banana chips, cashews, pineapple, cranberries and even some papaya. It’s absolutely delicious. It’s also jam packed with a lot of fat (good and bad fats), calories, and sugar. Fortunately it doesn’t have much salt otherwise I’d give myself a heart attack considering all the caffeine I drink in the morning (just kidding!).

Trail mix is delicious but it’s also heavy on calories. Three tablespoons (28g) has 140 calories, 9 grams of fat (2.5g saturated), and 13g of carbs of which 10g is sugar. The dangerous part about trail mix is that you could end up eating the whole bag, all 6 oz., and not even realize it. There are six servings in the bag so you’d be talking about half of your caloric intake (assuming 2000 calorie day) in one sitting. Just snacking.

This is the same concerns some have about dried fruits. Since the fruit is dried, it takes up less space in your stomach so you end up snacking on way more than you should be. The fruit is also packed with sugars and calories so you unknowingly consume a tremendous amount of calories just snacking. While it’s better than snacking on potato chips or chocolate bars, it’s not something you want to make a habit of.

Those calories do come in handy when you’re actually hiking on a trail though!

Weekly Roundup: FullBars, Squats, and a Book Review

Israel received a box of FullBars, a product created by Dr. Michael Snyder. It’s designed to make you feel full and Israel says it does a great job of doing just that.

Lazy Man shares the right way to do squats. “Squats are perhaps one of the most misunderstood strength training exercises. They can be very beneficial if done properly, but there are a lot of misconceptions out there. If you’re not doings squats the right way, you can risk painful injury and you won’t be getting the full benefit of the exercise. Here are some tips on how to make sure you are doing squats the right way.”

Weight Ladder reviews Eating for Life By Bill Phillips. “This book made Bob Phillips a household name and we thought it was a good idea to revisit this book and see how it compares to the latest diet books on the market.”

Finally, Mac writes a poignant post “Why Am I Fat?” with a heck of an opening line -

In a nutshell, I’m fat because it’s easier to be fat than it is to be a healthy weight.