Archive for category diet

Change Your Mind To Change Your Body…And Change Your Life

Robin Quivers drank sweetened lemonade with red pepper to lose 70 pounds

The three people below (two friends, one celebrity) were all able to change their body weight by finally making some change in their minds. Something clicked that allowed them or compelled them to alter their eating patterns of many many years.

How does that happen, especially after so many frustrating attempts or inability to even deal with their unsatisfactory situation? Sometimes people have life-threatening situations—a heart attack, a doctor’s warning of a probable stroke. But that didn’t happen in these cases.

If we could only harness this energy and discipline in so many other aspects of our lives, we might all be super powers.

Now here are their stories:

Met a friend I hadn’t seen in four months, and she was 25 pounds lighter…positively THIN. She said she’d seen some pictures of herself and finally was fed up with how she was feeding. So she gave up red meat, most carbohydrates, ice cream (which like me she loves), and eats more vegetables. The weight just melted away.

One continuing disappointment for this lady in her 50’s is that she still can’t look like she did in her 20’s, before she was a parent. Not sure there is any solution to that problem. It’s best to be glad we lived all those years, rather than having died earlier, and accept that things change with time, including our bodies. And also to be proud of how much wiser and smarter we are as adults.

Another friend’s scales had needles pointing to 230 pounds, and he finally changed his eating routine, so that he now weighs 189 after about six months. No more skipping breakfast and lunch and then eating enormous meals late at night that fail to satisfy his starving body. Though he is in his late 60’s, he still works full-time with the energy of a man half his age. Now that he is so much lighter, he is probably moving like a teenager.

Scanning the radio stations, I bumped into Robin Quivers for the first time and learned how she lost 70 pounds (of her former 218) by spending weeks drinking just water laced with lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. It’s called a Master Cleanser, and she was thrilled to also lose some joint pain and aches, sleep much better and make some best-dressed and most-beautiful people lists.

Most impressive about Robin’s words were how she went from not being able to be in a house that lacked ice cream in the freezer—so she had to run out and buy a pint or two to feel sane—to becoming indifferent to the dessert. She no longer felt the deprivation and was not avoiding or curtailing her urges. The desire for unhealthy, fattening foods had gone away.

The video will give you more details, which include a skeptical point of view that this cleansing diet is safe and sound.

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Many Americans Don’t Even Know They’re Fat

First I read an article by Amanda Gardner suggesting that fat people don’t realize they are fat. Then a friend sent me some pictures of females at the beach over a 60 or 70 year period. You can see these above and wonder if aging has to lead to such blubberous decay.

I am including some snippets from the article. The biggest culprit suggested by this poll is that overweight comes from lack of exercise more than bad food. I can easily understand this resistance to exercise. These days I find it almost impossible to “exercise” by lifting weights or driving to the gym. That is boring and tedious. But I have no trouble making myself go to the tennis court—over 42 hours last month. That is fun, and I am eager to play. The article does point out, however, that just walking is considered exercise…you don’t have to make beautifully sculpted muscles.

(HealthDay News) — Many Americans have skewed perceptions when it comes to their weight, often believing they are thinner than they really are, even when the scales are shouting otherwise, a new poll finds.

Thirty percent of those in the “overweight” class believed they were actually normal size, while 70 percent of those classified as obese felt they were simply overweight. Among the heaviest group, the morbidly obese, almost 60 percent pegged themselves as obese, while another 39 percent considered themselves merely overweight.

These findings may help to explain why overweight and obesity rates in the United States continue to go up, experts say.

“While there are some people who have body images in line with their actual Body Mass Index, for many people they are not, and this may be where part of the problem lies,” said Regina Corso, vice president of Harris Poll Solutions. “If they do not recognize the problem or don’t recognize the severity of the problem, they are less likely to do something about it.”

And that means that obesity may be becoming the new norm, raising the specter of increasing rates of health threats such as diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers.

“I think too many people are unsure of what they should actually weigh,” said Keri Gans, a registered dietician and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. “For many, they have grown up in a culture were most people are overweight and that is the norm, or they have been surrounded by too many celebrities and fashion in the media and think very thin is the norm.”

Most respondents to the poll who felt they were heavier than they should be blamed sloth, rather than poor eating habits, for their predicament.

“We’re seeing the couch potato stigma [syndrome],” Corso said. “Three out of five Americans overall are saying they don’t exercise as much as they should.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Growing Stomachs And Wrinkles Over The Years

I’m really laughing at myself…and you can too. Back in January I posted a story about aging and showed pictures of a number of celebrities when they were young and then decades later. How they changed. My, my, oh my. Included snaps of myself over the years and a high school friend. But all the celebrities were women.

So why didn’t I also show photos of male film stars? I dunno. Maybe I couldn’t take the pain of making their evolutions a bit more real. Too close to home, my gender-mates, mates. This week I TV-surfed into an old James Bond movie starring Roger Moore…and I remembered a recent picture of him that froze his figure in the guillotine of time. Finally I am motivated to publish these images of movie gods who were so physically attractive in their youth and have morphed into less glorious specimens of our species. Whatever. Maybe more fitness, less calories and minimal alcohol would make a big difference. But it’s so hard to be disciplined. We need more food police…

roger moore

clint eastwood

arnold schwarzenegger

mickey rourke

alex baldwin

russell crowe

rod stewart

val kilmer

richard gere

brendan fraser

pierce brosnan

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The Difficulty Of Thinking About Your Future

I spent yesterday visiting with two great kids around 20. The girl was beautiful and bronze. She admitted that she tans easily and didn’t use sun screen yet this summer. He admitted that when you are 20, you never think about what life will be like when you are 40. We were talking about staying fit and healthy, and I had mentioned how many women I saw who may have gained just two pounds a year after college, so they were 40 pounds heavier at age 40, or weighed an extra 60+ pounds by the time they were 60 or 70.

The concerned parent in me told the girl how I worked as a cabana boy in Florida during high school and even used baby oil to intensify my tan. My blond hairs against a bronze skin were often admired by the tourist girls I was trying to impress.

At my annual physical, when I was in my 50’s, my new doctor in Connecticut was also very impressed: “Lots of sun damage here.” He explained that it can take decades for the harm from excessive sun tanning to show itself.

My doc insisted that I see a dermatologist every six months. It may have kept me alive, because in addition to various, benign skin cancers that appeared and needed to be removed, there was one very deadly cancer, melanoma, that surfaced. It was removed early enough that five years have passed without a flare up or serious consequence. Lucky me. But a friend’s friend died of melanoma after years sailing joyfully, and unprotected, in the sun.

So it’s hard to be young and worry about consequences later, when you are old. That was me too in college. I was just trying to pass some courses, get a date, have fun, earn some respect. Normal and very understandable. Maybe many people don’t ever see how earlier actions are connected to later results. I read that the human brain can’t think very far into the future until it is around 25 years old. That is why insurance rates for drivers are so high until age 25. At that time those drivers still alive have a bit more “common sense.” It’s not true when it comes to eating. Not when one third of the people are obese and another third are overweight.

And it may not be true when it comes to our leaders anticipating international relations, economics, climate change. So we just have to muddle along, trying not to be fearful of all the foods we encounter. Being aware enough to not fall into the hole of denial. Controlling what we can of the choices we have. Taking the time to become informed.

Most of us don’t have the energy to do this in addition to all the demands of a busy overstimulated, overwhelming life. We are simply trying to survive, to make it to the next day, the next paycheck, the next vacation or family dinner.

Sometimes we can’t change our behavior, even when we know what the consequences are likely to be. My father used to say, “If the crime is worth the punishment, then commit the crime.” I read an essay about cancer this week by Christopher Hitchens, a famous intellectual who wrote books, high-brow essays and appeared on talk shows. I saw a video today in which he states, “I am dying. Read the rest of this entry »

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Dangerous Diets Make Bosoms Bigger And Puberty Earlier

A few years ago, someone informed me that young girls are more bosomy and beginning puberty at younger ages, because of the hormones they are drinking in milk. These bovine growth hormones (BGH) are being given to dairy cows to increase milk production, the life of their herds and farmers’ profits.

This week I read that some Chinese babies between 4-15 months fed formula with BGH are actually growing breasts. I also read that more U.S. girls are beginning puberty at younger ages, like 7 or 8, than occurred in studies 20 years ago. This may be attributed to obesity or chemicals in the environment and could lead to greater likelihood of breast cancer.

My main point is how at risk we are to illness or harm just from eating what used to be regarded as “healthy” foods. It’s not enough to avoid junk food and fast food. Now milk is a danger. To avoid high cholesterol foods, I avoid egg yolks, organ meats like liver, ice cream. I am told sugar, specifically fructose, is loved by cancer cells. So I have to watch out for that—it’s in everything. Then there is mercury in fish, now oil in Gulf of Mexico shrimp and crabs. Etc, etc, etc. What a mess.

Clearly it’s hazardous to eat so many foods that I didn’t hesitate to enjoy as a kid. Is this change because the foods have been polluted, like milk, or because I have a different viewpoint as an older man wanting to stay healthy? Probably both. What a tightrope to walk on each day. Tense, nerve-wracking, terrible.

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How To Contol Your Life…And Your Death

I read two articles recently having nothing to do with abs that made me think of how to fit crunches and exercise into a busy life…and all of us have busy lives.

David Brooks wrote a piece for the New York Times describing two ways to live a life: as a Well-Planned project and as a more fluid exploration, the Summoned Life, that starts with the particular circumstances one faces.

“Once you have come up with an overall purpose,” he continues, “a person following a Well-Planned life has to make decisions about allocating his time, energy and talent. When he is done, life comes to appear as a well-designed project, carefully conceived in the beginning, reviewed and adjusted along the way and brought toward a well-rounded fruition.

“The person leading the Summoned Life starts with a very concrete situation: I’m living in a specific year in a specific place facing specific problems and needs. At this moment in my life, I am confronted with specific job opportunities and specific options. The important questions are: What are these circumstances summoning me to do? What is needed in this place? What is the most useful social role before me?”

When I say I want to crunch abs at least twice a week, I am often disappointed at failing to reach this goal. I visit kids and friends, see a movie, dine out, travel. I don’t hit my target. Other people do make and exceed those goals. I saw the gym rats who said they were pumping iron four times a week. I was never ever one of them. I made different life choices involving others I have relationships and obligations with. I am also playing tennis five to 14 hours a week. The muscle builders are probably not doing that also. But I want to have the muscles too.

I’d be a lot happier, I am concluding if I could just adopt the more relaxed attitude of accepting my circumstances and the time-limited opportunities in my life to: carry out survival functions, work for money and causes, write for this site, spend time with loved ones, play tennis for fun and cardio, handle car and house repairs, and also squeeze in some crunches. I always think I can do it watching TV, but usually I am too tired to do much more than eat a snack and push the remote.

Any suggestions? I actually have friends who don’t watch TV, hardly use a computer. They have time to exercise every day an hour or two and also get up with the birds and the sun. I have to stop wanting it all and learn to accept my limits. But it’s almost impossible. Too greedy for a closer step toward perfection. Too interested in tennis over gym exercise. But when I was younger and working full steam, I barely spent an hour a week some years doing any kind of physical activity

The second article by Dr. David Katz, Director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center, talks about “the three leading causes of death that we have control of: tobacco use, poor dietary pattern and limited physical activity. Read the rest of this entry »

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How John Isner Trains For Long Tennis Matches

I wrote recently about the dangers of playing sports like tennis in hot weather. Doing it is much more difficult than watching it. I remember during the 2009 Australian Open that announcers were commenting on record temperatures over 100 degrees—it reached 111 one day. I had trouble in Miami, where I grew up, when I visited last year and played in just 87 humid degrees. How do players survive it for hours?

Isner and Roddick—2007

I heard that John Isner trained for this year’s Wimbledon by practicing heavily at Saddlebrook Resort in Florida’s mid-day heat. He spent up to 3 ½ hours a day on strength training and endurance. He also drinks coconut milk. By the way, he is 6’9″ and weighs 250 pounds. You can get some sense of his size in these pictures.

John Isner

So I looked up his specially designed training program and found this story by Joey Johnston of the Tampa Tribune:

… Before Wimbledon began, Craig Boynton, Isner’s coach, told the player he was strong enough to play for 10 hours. It was meant as confidence-building inspiration. But he wasn’t far off the mark.

“We develop programs for a lot of different players – some of them follow the plan and others don’t as well as they should,” said Jason Riley, Saddlebrook’s director of sports performance, who serves as Isner’s strength and conditioning coach, along with Kyle Morgan.

“John is meticulous about it. He implements the plan. He really takes care of his body. Coming out of college, it’s just speculation, but I’m not sure if his body would’ve held up. Physically and mentally, I’m not sure if he could’ve withstood a match like that.”

The essentials:

Diet: Riley is a big proponent of coconut water, which mimics electrolytes. He stresses food that provides sustained energy, such as fish, chicken, brown rice, sweet potatoes, whole wheat pasta and “a ton of vegetables.”

“When you go 70-68 in the fifth set, there’s going to be a lot of inflammation in your body,” Riley said. “The more antioxidants and vegetables you put in there, the better off you’re going to be.”
Does Isner ever stray from his diet, perhaps getting spotted as a fast-food drive-thru?

“I’m sure he does – but not very often,” Riley said with a smile. “You’ve got to know the times you can do those things – and the times you can’t do those things. He’s in a good place with his body now and he doesn’t want to mess that up. That could mean gaining weight or losing weight.”

Strength and conditioning: Isner alternates between the weight room and exercises to aid his movement and agility. Read the rest of this entry »

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Isner-Mahut Match Like Running Two Marathons Or Doing Jumping Jacks Throughout 11 Hours

While we admire John Isner winning the longest-ever tennis match against Nicolas Mahut—70-68 after 11 hours over three days, and 7 hours five minutes for part of the fifth set alone on the second day in 81 degrees—it’s the fitness, endurance and determination to keep playing by both men that impresses me the most. Even if Isner was looking and acting like a zombie with no idea of where he was and what was happening.

John Isner

How did they survive it? Here is what : Lauren La Rose wrote for The Canadian Press:

…So just what would it feel like to play that much tennis over the course of three days? Imagine expending the energy equivalent of running two marathons, says Brendon Gurd, an assistant professor in the school of kinesiology and health studies at Queen’s University.
Gurd says the intensity of tennis is probably on par with a light jog.

“It was separated by two nights, but they essentially jogged for 11 hours total, so it’s a huge demand,” he said from Kingston, Ont.

“What goes along with that is as they’re exercising, they’re using stored fuels, so they’re using carbohydrates stored within their muscles, they’re using fat stored in their fat cells, so a lot of that as you continue to exercise will become depleted.”

Lance Watson of B.C.-based LifeSport, who has been coaching triathlon and distance runners for more than 20 years, including Canadian Olympic triathlete champion Simon Whitfield, said the big difference with tennis is that it’s a stop-and-go sport.

“Eleven hours of that would just be brutal because there would be so much muscle teardown,” he said from Victoria.

“I guess for the regular person if you could imagine doing sets of jumping jacks on and off for 11 hours I think that would be a comparison.”

Nicolas Mahut

Gurd said in a rough estimate, the players were probably burning somewhere in the neighbourhood of 600 to 700 calories an hour, but those figures could potentially be higher.

Both Gurd and Watson said staying nourished and hydrated while competing is critical.

Watson said in working with Ironman athletes, a huge part of their preparation and training is becoming systematic about the way they consume calories and fluids. For example, many will set their watches to go off every 15 minutes to ensure they’ll remember to eat a certain amount of carbs, he said.

“They would be probably preparing their hydration and their nutrition for their typical length of match and they wouldn’t have probably preloaded and kept the calories coming in in anticipation of that kind of an endurance match.”

Gurd said Isner and Mahut were probably eating as many carbohyrdates as possible to stay fuelled, while also guzzling Gatorade, which is source of both carbs and hydration. Read the rest of this entry »

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Jason Statham’s Workout Routine

After admiring his physique, I bumped into this Men’s Health article about how Jason lost 17 pounds in six weeks and how he grew all his muscles. It’s an eye opener to someone like me who loves sugar and spends 30 minutes doing only abs exercises. Jason’s entire routine takes just 35 minutes. But he does it six days a week, and the pictures show he is doing something very right. I love his comment in the article: If Statham’s workout is your model, you should understand that, at times during our talk, he referred to it as horrible, nauseating, bastard, murder, nightmare, and priceless, preceding each description with the word “f–king.”

Jason's muscles pop in Transporter 3

Statham’s Secrets of Superlean

Actor Jason Statham took on a brutal new training regimen and dropped 17 pounds in 6 weeks. So, what are you waiting for?

“He’s a bit lardy, isn’t he?” Jason Statham says in his gritty British voice, chuckling. He’s referring to the man in two pictures he’s holding, a pair of classic “before” shots, one from the front, one from the back. Indeed, the man in the photos has some extra dough, and not the green kind. There’s muscle there for sure, but no definition at all. Jason Statham isn’t ripping on just anyone: He’s the guy in the photos.

Jason Statham’s weight gain came the same way it does for most of us: a few too many beers and a couple of extra servings, compounded over time. Work out hard and you’ll crave calories as fuel at the same time you loathe the millstone they can form around your middle.

“I never gave a f–k about a calorie,” Statham says. “An apple? It’s good for me. I’d have five. Bananas? Eat the bunch.”

Statham was staying active at work, filming the shoot-’em-up War, in which he has his first fight scenes with a worthy adversary — Jet Li. But the pounds crept onto his torso and hung there like the remembrance of meals past.

Now Jason Statham brushes aside the ugly photos on the coffee table in his living room and gives me a dose of his current reality: He lifts up his shirt. He’s shredded — rumble-strip abs, cords in his chest, veins in his arms.

“That’s 17 pounds in 6 weeks, mate,” he says, and then plops down on his sofa again. “And that’s working out 6 days a week for, at most, about 35 minutes a day. I’ve never, ever gotten results like this before.”

That’s a bold statement from a man who used to be on the British Olympic diving team and lists mixed martial arts (that’s UFC-style fighting) as a hobby. In fact, he sounds like an infomercial. So what’s the secret?

Prepare to sweat. And hurt. And, well, eat. But only enough to stoke your fire, not smother it.

Jason in jail in Death Race


The Workout

If Statham’s workout is your model, you should understand that, at times during our talk, he referred to it as horrible, nauseating, bastard, murder, nightmare, and priceless, preceding each description with the word “f–king.”

What follows are his general guidelines and some sample exercises. For a typical week’s complete workout, go here.

He works out every day but Sunday with Logan Hood, a former Navy SEAL that runs Epoch Training (www.epochtraining.com). Saturdays are reserved for hour long sustained trail runs in the Hollywood Hills while the other 5 days are spent at 87Eleven, a full service action film company and stunt studio located in a converted warehouse near the Los Angeles airport. Hollywood stuntmen own and train at the unique facility. There are trampolines, climbing ropes, heavy bags, barbells, kettlebells, crash pads, and a complex apparatus of pullup bars.

There are only two real rules to the workout.
1. No repeats. “I haven’t had one single day in 6 weeks that has been a repeat,” he says. “Every single day has had a different combination of exercises. Obviously, you repeat exercises over the course of 6 weeks, but you’ll never do that workout you did on Thursday the 23rd of August again. It always changes, and that’s what keeps it so interesting.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Exercise Should Be Like Brushing Your Teeth

Jane Brody wrote an article for the New York Times this past January 10th that questions the benefits of dietary supplements like vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidant drinks. She describes what a good diet should be and urges us all to exercise.

…Each year millions of people fall prey to false promises that this, that or the other formula or fortified food can protect their hearts, prevent cancer, improve memory, strengthen their bones, uncreak their joints, build their muscles, even enable them to burn extra calories without moving.

The desire to achieve a healthy old age is laudable indeed, and will be even more so in the future. According to a projection of the century-long rise in life expectancy published in The Lancet in October, more than half the children born since 2000 in wealthy countries can expect to celebrate their 100th birthday.

If so many of us are destined to become centenarians, it is all the more important to be able to enjoy those years unencumbered by chronic disease and disability. There is no virtue in simply living long; the goal should be to live long and well.

But while much is known about how to raise the odds of a healthy old age, only a minority of Americans incorporate into their lives what is likely to give them the biggest bang for their buck. Like the woman in the health food store, they’d rather rely on supplements of vitamins and minerals, fish oils and herbs, perhaps washed down with pricey antioxidant juices.

Unfortunately, sound evidence for the benefits of most such products is sorely lacking; in some cases the best scientific evidence has shown no benefit, and in a few cases has even shown harm…

…we are a long way from consuming the kind of diet most closely linked to a low risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stroke and dementia. That diet need not be strictly vegetarian, but it should emphasize plant-based foods over the meat and other products that come from animals that eat plants. The closer to the earth we eat, the healthier — and leaner — we are likely to be.

…The second crucial ingredient is regular physical exercise. I know, you’ve heard this song before and you know you should do it, but … fill in the blank: you hate exercise, you have no time, the weather is lousy, the children are sick, you’re injured, you don’t get enough sleep as it is. It’s easy to find reasons not to exercise.

It’s time to stop making excuses and make regular physical activity an integral part of your life, like eating, sleeping and brushing your teeth. You don’t decide every day to do these things, you just do them. Likewise with exercise. Read the rest of this entry »

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Spring Into Shape With Smart Exercise

When I started reading this article, I immediately thought, “Another author telling the same obvious tale—exercise is good for you. Don’t people get it yet? Is it really necessary to keep saying the same thing?”

But then I recognized one of the books Dr. Ni has written—I already own it and like it. And he talks about injuries, while I also was enduring a back pain that may have come from too many weights lifted or too many crunches after too long of not doing too much. So I am sharing a few excerpts. He also mentions and includes links to Tai Chi and acupuncture.

No Pain, No Gain? Think Again! I have a number of patients who are “weekend warriors”—people who don’t exercise much during the week but go to the extreme on weekends. They’ll engage in vigorous physical activities like mountain biking or high-impact aerobics—and then usually end up in my office with an injury. There is nothing wrong with these intense athletic activities, but when they are done infrequently, they often lead to injuries.

To reap the benefits of exercise, it isn’t necessary to work out to the extreme or get your heart pumping to its maximum. On the contrary, many studies show that regular, moderate exercise does more for your health and waistline than periodic intense workouts. Also keep in mind, when exercising beyond a healthy level of heart rate, your body switches from burning fat to burning carbohydrates for energy. The old maxim of “no pain, no gain” is destructive, and the wear and tear of physical strain takes its toll.

… From my clinical experience and research, I am convinced that it is best to exercise four times or more per week, for 30 minutes each time.

…In my 25 years of clinical practice and research on centenarians, I have never met a healthy person or centenarian that lived a physically inactive life. Exercise brings with it numerous benefits, from boosting your energy and reducing stress hormones to lowering your risk for heart disease, stroke, cancer depression, and diabetes.

Dr. Maoshing Ni, Longevity Expert
Author of Secrets of Longevity: Hundreds of Ways to Live to Be 100

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Can Anyone Fit In An Hour Of Exercise Each Day?

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Healthy middle-aged women in America will be hard pressed to get in the full hour of moderate exercise it will take to avoid gaining weight as they age, and it may be too challenging for some.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Tuesday found that middle-aged women need to get at least an hour a day of moderate exercise if they hope to ward off the creep of extra pounds that comes with aging.
“Time is a four-letter word,” said Eva Lazarra, 48, a pharmacist at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois, who was taking a break from work to lift weights at the facility’s fitness center.

“In a realistic world of a working mom with a family, it can be difficult. I’ve done my best,” said Lazarra. “I have done marathons. I have done triathlons. Unfortunately, we have to start looking at prevention, and that being part of our daily life.”

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are already waging a war on childhood obesity. It may take a similar push in adults to help them avoid the health consequences of obesity such as heart attacks, strokes and diabetes.

Already, two-thirds of U.S. adults and nearly one in three children are overweight or obese — a condition that increases their risk for diabetes, heart disease and other chronic illnesses. Read the rest of this entry »

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Older Women Need Exercise PLUS DIETING To Lose Weight

CHICAGO – Rev up the treadmill: Sobering new research spells out just how much exercise women need to keep the flab off as they age — and it’s a lot.

At least an hour of moderate activity a day is needed for older women at a healthy weight who aren’t dieting. For those who are already overweight — and that’s most American women — even more exercise is called for to avoid gaining weight without eating less, the study results suggest.

“We all have to work at it. If it were easy to be skinny, we would all be skinny,” said John Foreyt, a behavioral medicine expert who reviewed the study but wasn’t involved in the research.

Brisk walking, leisurely bicycling and golfing are all examples of moderate exercise. But don’t throw in the towel if you can’t do those things for at least an hour a day. Even a little exercise is good for your health even if it won’t make you thin, the researchers said.

Their findings are based on 34,079 middle-aged women followed for about 13 years. Most were not on calorie-cutting diets. The women gained an average of almost 6 pounds during the study.

Those who started out at a healthy weight, with a body mass index less than 25, and who gained little or no weight during the study consistently got the equivalent of about an hour of moderate activity daily. Few women — only 13 percent — were in this category.

Few already overweight women got that amount of exercise, and the results suggest it wasn’t enough to stop them from gaining weight. Read the rest of this entry »

High Protein Diets Can Make You Gain Weight Not Lose It

Since I began this web site, it’s obvious to me that there are thousands or millions of articles telling people how to be healthy and fit: just eat “right” and exercise. So easy as to almost be boring. How many times do people need to hear or read these almost identical words of well-meant guidance? But humans aren’t logical. We are emotional and often take actions that are against our better interests. As one friend said to me over 20 years ago, “I knew what I was doing, and I didn’t want to do it. I just couldn’t stop myself.”

Maybe it takes the 10th or the 99th article to stimulate a reader to make a meaningful change in her behavior. I will keep trying. So here is another good one by author and wellness expert Kathy Freston, who interviewed Dr. Dean Ornish about diet and losing weight. You can read the whole article here after glancing at some of the excerpts below.

Everyone knows that diet and exercise play a role in how much we weigh, but many are surprised to learn what a powerful role emotional stress has in causing us to gain weight and how stress management techniques can help us to lose it and keep it off…

Good carbs are whole foods. These include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and soy products in their natural, unrefined, unprocessed forms. Because these good carbs are unrefined, they are naturally high in fiber as well. The fiber fills you up before you eat too much…

Diets that are high in animal protein are usually high in saturated fat, which promotes both heart disease and cancer…Fat (from any source) has nine calories per gram, whereas protein and carbohydrates have only four calories per gram. Thus, when you eat less fat, you consume fewer calories even if you eat the same amount of food—because the food is less dense in calories…

As you begin to eat more healthfully, your taste preferences change. You begin to prefer foods that are more healthful. And you connect the dots between what you eat and how you feel…

KF: What is a reasonable rate of weight loss?

DO: In most cases, no more than three pounds/week.

KF: What if we want to lose weight faster; is there a healthy way to do it?

DO: Do more exercise and meditation and eat smaller amounts of healthy foods and less salt. Regular exercise not only burns calories, it also raises your basal metabolic rate, the number of calories you burn while at rest. Thus, exercise helps you lose weight even when you’re not exercising. Do some strength training as well as aerobic exercise. Walking a mile burns even more calories than running a mile. Exercise in ways that you enjoy, then you’re more likely to do it. If it’s fun, it’s sustainable.

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Your Chair Is Your Enemy

Ahhh the frustrations of living a fit and healthy life. I already referred to an article suggesting that if you exercise, there is a good chance you will GAIN weight…because you will be hungrier—and eat more—after all that calorie burning. Now here are excerpts from a New York Times article by Olivia Judson suggeting that even though you exercise daily, you can still gain weight if you mostly sit the rest of the day. What a battle for those trying to lose a few pounds…

It doesn’t matter if you go running every morning, or you’re a regular at the gym. If you spend most of the rest of the day sitting—in your car, your office chair, on your sofa at home—you are putting yourself at increased risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, a variety of cancers and an early death. In other words, irrespective of whether you exercise vigorously, sitting for long periods is bad for you.

That, at least, is the conclusion of several recent studies. Indeed, if you consider only healthy people who exercise regularly, those who sit the most during the rest of the day have larger waists and worse profiles of blood pressure and blood sugar than those who sit less. Among people who sit in front of the television for more than three hours each day, those who exercise are as fat as those who don’t: sitting a lot appears to offset some of the benefits of jogging a lot…

For many people, weight gain is a matter of slow creep—two pounds this year, three pounds next year. You can gain this much if, each day, you eat just 30 calories more than you burn. Thirty calories is hardly anything—it’s a couple of mouthfuls of banana, or a few potato chips. Thus, a little more time on your feet today and tomorrow can easily make the difference between remaining lean and getting fat…

…But it looks as though there’s a more sinister aspect to sitting, too. Several strands of evidence suggest that there’s a “physiology of inactivity”: that when you spend long periods sitting, your body actually does things that are bad for you… Read the rest of this entry »

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Guess What Most Motivates People To Lose Weight

I saw a friend this week I hadn’t seen in two years. He looked good. Here is our conversation:

me: You look a little thinner. Have you lost any weight recently?

him: No. I’ve weighed the same the last few months.

me: Well what about in the last year or two?

him: Oh that far back. Yeah, I lost 30 pounds.

me: Congratulations. You look great. How did you do it?

him: I changed my diet—stopped eating junk food. I started exercising. Then I quit drinking. I haven’t had a drop of alcohol in over a year.

me: That’s amazing. What motivated you to do it? It takes a lot of discipline to make all those changes.

him: (totally straight-faced) I had a heart attack and thought I was going to die. Had to go right to the hospital, and had two stents put in. Only took a day.

me: (silence)

So the fear of Death is a great motivator. How come so many wait until it comes that close before we are prodded to do something about our health? Or make changes in other parts of our lives? I’m a big procrastinator myself…when it comes to taxes. But not when we are talking about that other certainty in Life: Death.

Another overweight friend and I were talking today. Read the rest of this entry »

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Shocking Good News About Living 100 Years

Here is some shocking news: According to a projection of the century-long rise in life expectancy published in The Lancet in October, 2009, more than half the children born since 2000 in wealthy countries can expect to celebrate their 100th birthday.

This New York Times article by Jane Brody continues in predictable ways: “ If so many of us are destined to become centenarians, it is all the more important to be able to enjoy those years unencumbered by chronic disease and disability. There is no virtue in simply living long; the goal should be to live long and well.”

This is certainly how I feel. My brother wrote that my anxiety about dying was what drove me to watch my diet and to exercise so passionately. I still disagree. I want to be fit and mobile as I grow older.

“But while much is known about how to raise the odds of a healthy old age, only a minority of Americans incorporate into their lives what is likely to give them the biggest bang for their buck…

“After decades of government guidelines and advice from friends, family and physicians, Americans have made some improvements in their eating habits. On average, we consume less red meat and saturated fat and somewhat more whole grains, fruits and vegetables…

“But, and this is a big but, we are a long way from consuming the kind of diet most closely linked to a low risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stroke and dementia. That diet need not be strictly vegetarian, but it should emphasize plant-based foods over the meat and other products that come from animals that eat plants. The closer to the earth we eat, the healthier — and leaner — we are likely to be…

“The second crucial ingredient is regular physical exercise. The single most effective activity, studies have found, is an aerobic activity like brisk walking — about 30 minutes a day. If you can’t get out of the house, walk inside. Go up and down stairs, walk the hall, walk from room to room, walk in place. If walking doesn’t suit you, try dancing to music…

“So get off the couch and make this year the year you discover the joys and benefits of movement.”

The article has lots of good hyperlinks to other articles that you may find beneficial, and I will post excerpts from some of them soon.

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The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating

(These excerpts are from an article By Tara Parker-Pope that was originally published on June 30, 2008 and recently appeared on The New York Times’s list of most-viewed stories for 2009. I just ordered a delicious sardine sandwich with capers, onions and tomato as a result of #8.To read the entire article, go here

Nutritionist and author Jonny Bowden has created several lists of healthful foods people should be eating but aren’t. But some of his favorites, like purslane, guava and goji berries, aren’t always available at regular grocery stores. I asked Dr. Bowden, author of “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth,” to update his list with some favorite foods that are easy to find but don’t always find their way into our shopping carts. Here’s his advice.

1. Beets: Think of beets as red spinach, Dr. Bowden said, because they are a rich source of folate as well as natural red pigments that may be cancer fighters.
How to eat: Fresh, raw and grated to make a salad. Heating decreases the antioxidant power.
2. Cabbage: Loaded with nutrients like sulforaphane, a chemical said to boost cancer-fighting enzymes.
How to eat: Asian-style slaw or as a crunchy topping on burgers and sandwiches.
3. Swiss chard: A leafy green vegetable packed with carotenoids that protect aging eyes.
How to eat it: Chop and saute in olive oil.
4. Cinnamon: May help control blood sugar and cholesterol.
How to eat it: Sprinkle on coffee or oatmeal.
5. Pomegranate juice: Appears to lower blood pressure and loaded with antioxidants.
How to eat: Just drink it.
6. Dried plums: Okay, so they are really prunes, but they are packed with antioxidants.
How to eat: Wrapped in prosciutto and baked.
7. Pumpkin seeds: The most nutritious part of the pumpkin and packed with magnesium; high levels of the mineral are associated with lower risk for early death.
How to eat: Roasted as a snack, or sprinkled on salad.
8. Sardines: Dr. Bowden calls them “health food in a can.” They are high in omega-3’s, contain virtually no mercury and are loaded with calcium. They also contain iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese as well as a full complement of B vitamins.
How to eat: Choose sardines packed in olive or sardine oil. Eat plain, mixed with salad, on toast, or mashed with dijon mustard and onions as a spread.
9. Turmeric: The “superstar of spices,” it may have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.
How to eat: Mix with scrambled eggs or in any vegetable dish.
10. Frozen blueberries: Even though freezing can degrade some of the nutrients in fruits and vegetables, frozen blueberries are available year-round and don’t spoil; associated with better memory in animal studies.
How to eat: Blended with yogurt or chocolate soy milk and sprinkled with crushed almonds.
11. Canned pumpkin: A low-calorie vegetable that is high in fiber and immune-stimulating vitamin A; fills you up on very few calories.
How to eat: Mix with a little butter, cinnamon and nutmeg.

You can find more details and recipes on the Men’s Health Web site which published the original version of the list last year.

Joe Rollino—The Greatest Strongman Ever (Pound For Pound)

[How do some people become so much stronger or physically talented than others? Is it just that people are born with superior physical capabilities, and you are lucky if you have those skills ? Of course you have to cultivate your potential? My doctor suggested that I can play three to five hours of tennis nonstop, "because of my physiology," while he is wiped out at the end of just two hours. Anyway one of the world's greatest strongmen died yesterday. Here are excerpts from his story in today's New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/nyregion/12ironman.html?hp)]

Joe Rollino once lifted 475 pounds. He used neither his arms nor his legs but, reportedly, his teeth. With just one finger he raised up 635 pounds; with his back he moved 3,200. He bit down on quarters to bend them with his thumb…

Joe Rollino at 10 years old and 68 pounds

Joe Rollino at 10 years old and 68 pounds


People called him the Great Joe Rollino, the Mighty Joe Rollino and even the World’s Strongest Man. Mr. Rollino stayed away from meat. And cigarettes. And alcohol… He said he walked five miles every morning, rain or shine. At the height of his career, he weighed between 125 and 150 pounds and stood about 5-foot-5…
Joe Rollino—2009

Joe Rollino—2009

He was a legend within that small Coney Island society in which few New Yorkers would want to become known as legends: the men and women who swim in the Atlantic when it is at its harshest and coldest. On a 6-degree day in January 1974, Mr. Rollino and six other members of the Iceberg Athletic Club swam into the waters off Coney Island. The freezing Atlantic was like steel: It didn’t intimidate him…

“He was known as the Great Joe Rollino, and he was great. You knew he was great just by standing next to him. He just had that humble confidence and strength. It shined.”

Sounds like a very special human. Even if we can’t come close to equalling his talents, we can learn how to be healthy and stronger like him. I’m very impressed that he acquired all that strength and protein without eating meat. When he died from a car accident, he was still fit and had lived to 104.

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Different Views About High Cholesterol

My brother, Michael, stayed at my house a few days and said that I am obsessed with food, and that he was uncomfortable eating with me, believing that I am judging him for eating “badly.” “I like to eat what I want,” he said, “and if it means I live a couple of years less, who cares. I’m not willing to give up those foods I like so much.” My argument about how some people get their endorphin high from food instead of exercise doesn’t seem to apply in his case, because for many years he did triathlons, and at 53 still does one leg of those races. He also goes to the gym once a week or more.

When I mentioned that maybe his diet and high cholesterol numbers—I think he is near the 240-plus that I read is heart attack range—might cost him 10 or 20 years, not just two, and that he was setting himself up for a heart attack, he said that I was overreacting. He pointed out that our father had a cholesterol count of 300 and lived to 88. It’s just genetic for him, and nothing he does lowers his count. So why worry about high numbers or attempt to do anything that isn’t going change them.

HERE IS MY BROTHER’S RESPONSE TO THE TWO PARAGRAPHS ABOVE.

Ira, a couple of things as I remember them:

I observed that you are obsessed with Dying, and eating correctly is a part of that. You are obsessed over cholesterol, I am less of a fanatic. I am not “uncomfortable” eating with you, I enjoy eating with you, we have great conversations. I feel that you are often lecturing that “what works for you” should be the standard for everyone. I have read many relatively new reports that imply that the cholesterol connection has been flawed, and we have 3 generations of doctors who have been taught that this is gospel. The AMA doesn’t want to admit they made a mistake! They don’t want to tell you that cholesterol is totally necessary for proper brain function, and that the drugs they have prescribed for years may be the cause of some alzheimers patients, in addition to the known liver damage, kidney damage, and possibly cancers people seem to be having.

I don’t give up anything, but I eat and drink everything in moderation. When at your house, I eat all those great cheeses you supposedly buy for us. I never have them (unless someone gives them as presents) except at your house, or the occasional party. Are you then buying them for us, or for you?

I don’t get an endorphin high from eating, or biking, or running, or cycling, or tennis. No need to go into details about when I do get that high by the way!

My cholesterol is around 235. Doctors (who insist it should be under 200) still want to put me on cholesterol medicine to bring it down. I refuse—the fix is more damaging then the cholesterol. I am not a heart attack candidate, I am not significantly overweight, I can out run, out swim, and out cycle most of my peers, and many who are 15 years younger than me. Read the rest of this entry »

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A Reader Criticizes This Site

A woman friend said my web site is now sending out a bad and superficial message: that it is important to look good, and that your body’s appearance is ultra important. This is reinforcing our culture’s terrible emphasis on youth, looking young, and acting like anything but your age, if you are over 30 or 40. I have been seduced, she said, and am simply a pawn in the plan, especially when I am showing so many toned and fit bodies, women naked or in bikinis, and working to make my own body look younger and fitter with defined abs and hair coloring. Most people are not so muscular or thin, and the pictures on my site are insensitive, making some viewers feel resentful, insecure and unattractive.

I actually thought the photos might inspire people to work at diet and exercise to improve not only how they looked, but how they felt physically as well as psychologically. An additional benefit, I thought, was that readers would become healthier and have fewer colds and illnesses.

What do you think?

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How Far Will YOU Go To Improve Your Appearance?

Demi Moore’s name and body have been in my consciousness since I saw this 1991 cover.

Demi Moore—1991

Demi Moore—1991

She was criticized recently for looking old, especially her neck and cheeks. She responded, “I’m 47 how am I supposed to look?” Over the years, she has been fighting ageism in Hollywood, and complaining about her difficulty in landing some of the few good parts for older women. All this in spite of how young she looks.

Demi's rumored plastic surgery and expense—2007

Demi's rumored plastic surgery and expense—2007

Having just colored my hair to look younger in keeping with my more youthful body, I wondered if she was modifying her looks artificially as well? After “doing the google,” I discovered some startling stories:

“Demi Moore is rumored to have spent over $120,000 on plastic surgery over the years and over $330,000 on diet and fitness routines, including nutritionist, personal trainer, yoga instructor and kick-boxing champion. Demi Moore has had a breast augmentation in 1996 for the film Striptease, only to remove them subsequently and get a breast lift. Additionally, Demi Moore is rumored to have had liposuction to her hips, stomach, and inner and outer hips, a brow lift, numerous Botox injections and chemical peels, and teeth veneers. Most recently, the actress has been rumored to have had a knee liposuction surgery. The actress is also rumored to have had her nose done. Moore has all these procedures because she reportedly cannot bear to find any part of her body with flaws.”

HOWEVER MOORE DENIES THAT SHE HAS EVER HAD ANY PLASTIC SURGERY AT ALL.

Here are some more Moore photos.

Another Moore nude—1992

Another Moore nude—1992


Demi's abs in movie, Striptease—1996

Demi's abs in movie, Striptease—1996

Demi flexing

Demi flexing

Movie stars obviously go to extreme lengths to keep their careers alive. Yet the idea of shaping your body with the knife, Botox injection or steroids is a question many ordinary people must face all the time. You can only do so much by just eating differently and working out. Maybe you can lose a few inches around the waist, thin out your back. But doesn’t it take surgery to change breast size or eliminate deep facial wrinkles? It’s sort of cheating, but so what, if no one knows…about your nose? I grew up with hair color ads asking “Does she or doesn’t she?” Now I am reading that the perfect plastic surgeon’s work is not apparent to anyone. It looks as natural as apple pie…

My own interest in a six-pack has a lot to do with improving my appearance. I also like seeing definition in my arms. And this is mainly for me, so that I like how I look in the mirror. Of course I am proud when others who see my changes are impressed as well.

How we look—and desire to appear—has to play a major part for many who go to the gym or exercise in other ways. The path we select to come closer to that idealized vision is another story. Maybe sit ups are fine, but liposuction is off limits. Or maybe sit ups are too difficult, and liposuction does the trick easily. Cosmetic surgery can be a tough personal choice. And I know many friends who have done it. Is it okay for you? What do you think?

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Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin

Here is a challenging article that John Cloud wrote for Time Magazine’s August 9, 2009 edition. (http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914857,00.html)
A summary of the main thesis is as follows:

“…The conventional wisdom that exercise is essential for shedding pounds is actually fairly new. As recently as the 1960s, doctors routinely advised against rigorous exercise, particularly for older adults who could injure themselves. Today doctors encourage even their oldest patients to exercise, which is sound advice for many reasons: People who regularly exercise are at significantly lower risk for all manner of diseases — those of the heart in particular. They less often develop cancer, diabetes and many other illnesses. But the past few years of obesity research show that the role of exercise in weight loss has been wildly overstated…

“…The basic problem is that while it’s true that exercise burns calories and that you must burn calories to lose weight, exercise has another effect: it can stimulate hunger. That causes us to eat more, which in turn can negate the weight-loss benefits we just accrued. Exercise, in other words, isn’t necessarily helping us lose weight. It may even be making it harder….

“…Yes, it’s entirely possible that those of us who regularly go to the gym would weigh even more if we exercised less. But like many other people, I get hungry after I exercise, so I often eat more on the days I work out than on the days I don’t. Could exercise actually be keeping me from losing weight?…”

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How To Catch And Cook A Pheasant

Went hunting for pheasant twice last week. With a double-barreled, side-by-side, 1929 American-made (an L.C. Smith), 20-gauge shotgun that has art deco, large-leaf engravings. Five and a half hours walking in swamps, mud, cornfields, hayfields, woods, brooks and briars. Joyfully watching two friends’ dogs sniff and search for birds. There are now two pheasants and a quail in the freezer that I prepared for Thanksgiving dinner.

Ira, Blitz the German Shorthaired Pointer, and shotgun get the birds—11/10/09

Ira, Blitz the German Shorthaired Pointer, and shotgun get the birds—11/10/09


Pheasants and quail caught for Thanksgiving dinner—11/10/09

Pheasants and quail caught for Thanksgiving dinner—11/10/09

Non-hunters can never know the glorious hearts of canine breeds that find those still and silent birds. These pets track bird scent with the grace of ballerinas and have almost inexhaustible energy. When close, some dogs freeze, point and wait for the bird to bolt…or the hunter to prod the prey into the air, where it rockets suddenly at 40 to 60 miles per hour. Hopefully a retrieval follows.

Other dogs, like my English Springer Spaniel, Bella, are flushers. They track and do the bump as well. You just have to keep them relatively near by, because the shotgun only has an effective range of 35 or 40 yards. The pointers can wander all over, maybe a football field away. Some will stay motionless with nose aiming at the pheasant for 20 minutes. Then the hunter has plenty of time to close in for the shot. But a flusher out of range is a real frustration. You just watch the birds fly away, and curse, and yell at your dog.

As I mentioned in my bird stocking post (http://www.irasabs.com/?p=2430), the pheasants have a much better chance than chickens raised for supermarkets. In fact on the second day, during four hours of hunting, my friend and I fired at five pheasants and a woodcock, but only took one pheasant home.

My English Springer Bella after a swim—6/11/08

My English Springer Bella after a swim—6/11/08

Bella was lame for many months, so she hasn’t hunted for two years. She now seems healed. Hopefully we can search the fields together soon. She loves to romp and jump. She gets so excited when I take out the neck bell that helps me locate her as she scours the bushes and grasses. It is grown-up Hide and Seek.

For the birds the stakes are high. It is not a game. Yet they would probably not be alive in the first place if there weren’t hunting clubs eager to purchase them. Over 10 million pheasants are raised each year. It is an annual ritual anticipated by two million American hunters. These sportsmen welcome the challenge, the camaraderie, the preparation of the birds and the various recipes. My favorite way to cook pheasants is double-basted in raw eggs and flour, sauteed and topped with strawberry liqueur.

art deco shotgun engraving

art deco shotgun engraving

I only learned to hunt as an adult after I moved from Manhattan to Connecticut in 1990. Read the rest of this entry »

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Cyclist Frank Krasowski’s Year-Round Rides Create Endorphin Satisfactions Exceeding Food Pleasures

At the therapist the other day for my arm, I mentioned “Beth’s Story” (see November 6th post below) to Frank Krasowski, the owner of The Hills Physical Therapy in Bantam, CT. He had his own ideas about what it takes to diet, exercise, and lose weight.

“Some people are disciplined, and others aren’t. Food gives some people so much pleasure that they can’t give it up…unless there is another pleasure to compensate for that loss.”

For Frank, riding his bike on hilly, scenic roads does the trick. The sweating, the big gears, and the views he enjoys outdoors trigger endorphins into his system that easily make up for his more limited diet. “I love biking. It changes my mind set, so that food becomes fuel, rather than a source of pleasure and satisfaction. This doesn’t happen for me with other kinds of exercise.”

Frank Krasowski resting from a ride—2007

Frank Krasowski resting from a ride—2007

He admitted that his ability to be disciplined with food goes in spurts. And he really admires people who can stick to their own rules with consistency. He also volunteered that he rides in the winter as long as there isn’t much snow on the ground. He has all the necessary clothing layers, masks and gloves to build up the warmth needed to ride comfortably in freezing temperatures. Sounds pretty disciplined to me…

After hearing Frank’s words, I did a few searches on the net about sugar rushes and endorphin highs.

SUGAR RUSHES

Time and again you’ve experienced the intense effects that food can have on your moods. Cakes, cookies, and fudge are known as pleasure foods not only because they delight your taste buds but because they can make you feel calm and happy – at least temporarily. This sugar induced sense of euphoria comes from several chemical mechanisms in your brain. First of all, the sheer pleasure of tasting a chocolate treat or powdery donut stimulates your brain’s pleasure pathways and the release of dopamine and endorphins, the chemicals that makes you feel exhilarated. You also get a quick surge of energy as the sugar hits your bloodstream. Unfortunately, that energized feeling lasts only as long as the sugar rush. Once your blood-sugar levels drop (about an hour or two later), you’re left feeling drained and out of sorts. You become an addict looking for another hit.

Clearly, then, food can be as powerful as the most addictive drug. If you’re experiencing carbohydrate cravings as a result of taking antidepressants, you’re probably well aware of the addictive nature of certain foods. Addictive foods are almost always processed foods. (I have never known anyone addicted to lima beans.) And you probably know that feeding your cravings only makes you crave the food even more. In fact, some studies suggest that food cravings may be triggered by low levels of neurotransmitters (dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins), a phenomenon that may also occur in people who are addicted to alcohol and drugs.

NOW SOME INFO ABOUT ENDORPHINS Read the rest of this entry »

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How Beth Lost 28 Pounds So Easily That She Is Unimpressed With Her Achievement

Met a very attractive woman named Beth a couple of months ago who admitted gradually as we talked that she lost 28 pounds in about a year: “From 170 to 142,” she responded matter of factly. There was no excited pride or emotional celebration in describing her achievement. She was completely nonchalant, which surprised me. Acted as if anyone could do it. I think she may be too shy to ever show me a “before” picture, but these days she looks healthy, fit and stands tall.

“How did you do this?” I wondered, “and what motivated you to start?”

Her answers make it all sound so easy…

First her sister-in-law joined a WeightWatchers Program, followed the recommended menu and started losing pounds. That inspired Beth to finally change her own life. She modified her sister-in-law’s plan to suit her own needs and preferences.

Mainly she cut out all junk foods and reduced her portion sizes.

Next she began exercising at least three to four days a week, an hour each time. She limited this effort to running on a treadmill while shadowboxing simultaneously for her upper body. She demonstrated how she throws punches in the air, and I was glad that I was a few feet away.

The frequent exercise apparently reduced her desire for non-essential calories. Now when she goes out with girl friends, she simply avoids the desserts that she used to love and crave and thought she could not possibly do without.

I asked Beth to write about her life-changing accomplishment, but she thought there wasn’t much to say. It was easy, and she looks and feels great. End of story!

But we all know that giving up desserts and other taste treats while somehow making yourself exercise three or four hours a week takes major determination, time and continuous discipline. Beth may be unimpressed with her success, but I am applauding her silently every time I think of her. What is your reaction?

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Obesity Can Be Contagious!

(Edit: When a friend told me today that 75% of the people who were called up in the past for military service were too heavy and out of shape to pass the physical, I thought of some of the reasons obesity is such a problem, according to Shahreen Abedin’s article in Time Magazine, Thursday, Sep. 03, 2009.)

Really, an “obesity bug”? In 2007, Harvard researcher Nicholas Christakis and his colleagues analyzed 32 years’ worth of data from an interconnected social network of 12,000 adults and found that a person’s chances of becoming obese increased 37% if a spouse had become obese, 40% if a sibling had and 57% if a friend had.

Socializing with overweight people can change what we perceive as the norm; it raises our tolerance for obesity both in others and in ourselves. It’s also about letting your hair down. Past research has shown that adults tend to eat more around friends and family than they do with strangers. They shed their inhibitions about how it looks when they go back for thirds or order the alfredo sauce instead of the marinara.

Finally, there’s the idea that we like to hang with people who are like ourselves. Cornell food sociologist Jeffrey Sobal explains that “especially among two overweight people, there’s a sort of permission-giving going on. We’re encouraging each other to eat more.”

Clinical psychologist Sarah-Jeanne Salvy, who is an assistant professor of pediatrics at the State University of New York at Buffalo, refers to this phenomenon as a sort of feedback effect. Conversely, she suggests, overweight diners are more likely to tone down how much they eat in front of skinny people to avoid the stigma of overeating.

You can read the whole article by clicking on the following link: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1919885,00.html?iid=tsmodule

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Helluva Week For Physical Stuff—From A (abs) to Z (zumba)

Back home to normal life: signing checks, initiating roof replacement, selling a horse. But still awed with the increased physical activity of the last week. I will post specifics later of my time:

hot tubbing with Palm Beach girls,
eating enough desserts in Florida to gain five pounds,
swimming in the country’s biggest hotel pool,
tennis playing/practice (four times in six days),
squash practice twice, including a one-hour group lesson,
ab crunch workouts twice,
practicing archery for upcoming hunting of wild turkeys,
two gym visits for mi latissimi,
Zumba dancing with 26 mostly Latina ladies,
skipping Connecticut meals and exercising enough to lose five pounds,
driving a newly-leased, “brilliant red” car like I was on the race track, and
making 25 green-headed, red-faced, white-ring-necked pheasants feel drunk, so they wouldn’t fly away as I set them in bushes.

I am determined to rebuild my abs and play better squash and tennis, and this burst of body energy better jump-start the effort.

Top 10 Tips From A Personal Trainer

Lots of good specifics here, but #8 celebrates one of the main reasons for this site: “We are not supposed to get weak and incapacitated as we get older. It is not true that we should stop being physically active as we age. Instead we should continue with cardio, resistance training and core building for a lifetime. Tennis, swimming, golf, yoga and power walking can be done forever.”

by Kari Henley, President of the Board of Directors at the Women & Family Life Center
October 18, 2009

Personal fitness is one of my ongoing challenges to balance in life. Last week, I wrote about how I am a “workout flunkie” and my pursuits of neighborhood fitness – with the help of personal trainer, Terry O’Hara. Most of us can’t afford a personal trainer, yet the ideas, support and insights are real gems that have me rethinking the investment!

This week, I want to share her “Top Ten Tips” – and I’ll bet you will be surprised they have nothing to do with money, struggle or pain:

1. Your mental image of yourself defines what you will work toward. What is your reason for getting out to exercise in the first place? Is it so your clothes fit better, or to be able to ski this winter without dying on the slopes? Developing a strong mental image that is specific and positive will help motivate and guide your decisions.

2. Nobody eats enough good food. This one is huge, as most of us are on a perpetual diet, and pride ourselves by not eating, or skimping along with a minimal meal in order to splurge later. Wrong! “By 1pm, you should have already eaten breakfast, a snack, lunch, and be getting ready for another small snack,” said O’Hara. “You need to take a counter intuitive approach to your diet and until you start eating, the diet cycle can trap you.”

3. Your body adapts to everything. This applies to your diet and exercise, or lack of it. If you start walking a route in your neighborhood and think you can just do that forever- wrong! Ever noticed you start on new cardio equipment at the gym and it is hard to get through 20 minutes, but after a month you are hardly out of breath? That means it is time to mix it up and do something new. Try rowing, or stairs.

4. The word “Carbs” is a misnomer for dieting. Read the rest of this entry »

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Which Do You Prefer: Living Longer Less Happily Or Dying Younger After Many Pleasures?

monkeys fed different diets—2009

monkeys fed different diets—2009

Here is a provoking article from the NY Times (July 16, 2009) about two monkeys around the same age. The younger-looking one on the left has had 30% less calories than the aged-looking one on the right, who could eat all he wanted. But author Richard Cohen thinks the healthier-looking, younger-seeming monkey has had a boring and less happy existence. So should we let ourselves eat another piece of cake?

Cohen also doesn’t “…buy this gain-without-pain notion. Duality resides, indissoluble, at life’s core…Life without death would be miserable. Its beauty is bound to its fragility. Dawn is unimaginable without the dusk.” What do you think?

THE MEANING OF LIFE by Roger Cohen

What’s life for? That question stirred as I contemplated two rhesus monkeys, Canto, aged 27, and Owen, aged 29, whose photographs appeared last week in The New York Times.

The monkeys are part of a protracted experiment in aging being conducted by a University of Wisconsin team. Canto gets a restricted diet with 30 percent fewer calories than usual while Owen gets to eat whatever the heck he pleases.

Preliminary conclusions, published in Science two decades after the experiment began, “demonstrate that caloric restriction slows aging in a primate species,” the scientists leading the experiment wrote. While just 13 percent of the dieting group has died in ways judged due to old age, 37 percent of the feasting monkeys are already dead.

These conclusions have been contested by other scientists for various reasons I won’t bore you with — boredom definitely shortens life spans. Read the rest of this entry »

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Fitness Difficulties When Traveling

Just returned yesterday from 11 days in Sweden, where I enjoyed different herrings, the history, old architecture, a boat tour, happy people. I stayed in Stockholm, two country manor houses (classified as castles) and the airport. Eating healthy and exercising regularly were impossible.

Can someone advise me how to travel and stay fit?

ira visiting stockholm—10/5/09

ira visiting stockholm—10/5/09

None of the places had an exercise room; the airport hotel had only treadmills. One castle was literally 20 miles from a gym. In Stockholm I was so busy sightseeing that I never searched out a fitness place. The one nearby that the hotel recommended offered spa, cafe and pool and cost $70 a visit! I just looked. I did do crunches in my room two days before breakfast and without any stretches. That was it. Pathetic.

dwindling abs in stockholm—10/5/09

dwindling abs in stockholm—10/5/09

Of course I could have done more exercises in the room, but my sore arm kept me from doing pushups. And between de-jet lagging, staying up late, and getting up just in time for breakfast, which stopped being served at 9:00 in most of the places, I didn’t fit in anything else. I was also too full to do exercises after eating and in a rush to get out and see the sights.

The good news is that I walked miles looking at the buildings and palaces, the gardens and museums. Read the rest of this entry »

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Josh Sobel Eats Scorpions, Snakes And Sea Horses While Getting Fitter And Losing 20 Pounds

To put it simple, I felt like shit when I got up in the morning. My back ached, my legs hurt and my body didn’t feel like it belonged to a 21-year-old. After I reflected the obvious, I concluded that being overweight and out of shape would become a thing of the past! I had never been on a diet, and I knew that it would be hard to change my eating habits, but I was committed to feeling healthier. That’s how it started. After talking with some friends, some of whom were personal trainers, I was told that the most important thing would be transforming from ‘Static Josh’ into ‘Active Josh.’

Static Josh—1/09

Static Josh—1/09

I started simple: I changed my eating habits and started exercising. I became a man of habit. I tried to eat the same meals over and over again, and made it a point to exercise every day. My diet was boring, and I struggled to stick with it, but I started feeling better after Day One. Every morning I started the day with an egg white sandwich, followed by some turkey and salad for lunch, and had fish or chicken for dinner. I would often allow myself to cheat and have something sweet at the end of the night; I don’t think I would have been able to live if I
didn’t.

Active Josh 20 pounds lighter—8/09

Active Josh 20 pounds lighter—8/09

The diet wasn’t that hard to stick to. After I was able to shake my diet-coke habit (aspartame is highly addictive), no one could stop me. I began climbing the stairs of my 17-floor apartment building and playing basketball in the park. I recalled how well I used to play basketball as a kid, but when I tried to play this summer, I realized how out of shape I was. A game to 11 would leave me gasping and limping for water. Fortunately, I had my roommates who would soon double as my personal trainer and nutritionist. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Truth About Getting Flat Abs—It May Be Impossible!

Here is an article a friend sent me from Singapore that suggests not only how hard it is to make a six-pack, but that it may be impossible to lose enough belly flat to reveal your abs if you don’t have the right genes—no matter how much exercise and diet you do. The article also has many other links that are useful.

By Paige Waehner, About.com
Updated: April 3, 2009
http://exercise.about.com/od/abs/a/flatabs.htm

I get many questions about getting flat abs, but one email stands out. This reader wrote: “I’ve been working on my lower belly pooch for about 2.5 years and it still won’t go away even though I have a good diet.” That email made me realize how long many of us persist with these types of goals, even in the face of failure.
Despite the facts, many people still think they can get flat abs if they do enough ab exercises. They think, if they’re not achieving that goal, they must be doing something wrong. The truth is, getting six-pack abs is hard and, if you haven’t seen yours yet, maybe it’s not what you’re doing that’s the problem.

The Myth That Wouldn’t Die

If you’ve been doing crunches forever and are wondering why you still don’t have flat abs, you’re no doubt operating under what I consider the biggest myth of weight loss: That you can do an exercise for a certain area of your body and get rid of the fat there. Read the rest of this entry »

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Rudy’s Muscles

When Rudy Kellerman is not playing jai alai (see his story on August 31st http://www.irasabs.com/?m=20090831), he likes to do other things involving muscles…oops, I think he means mussels. He actually sent me this high-protein recipe:

Ira, I thought I would share my recipe for mussels with you. This is a quick and tasty meal, all protein. You can have it over a bed of pasta or on it’s own as a soup to dip your favorite bread. It should take you less than 15 minutes to make and you can impress your significant other. Read the rest of this entry »

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A Reader Writes:

On Aug 28, 2009, at 3:42 PM, Michael Bluejay wrote:

Hi Ira. I always think of you when I use the crunch machine at the gym. I still don’t have visible abs but I think I’m close. My first problem was that I had a lot of weight to lose, but I lost nearly 20 pounds in the last 2.5 months, so I’m close.

On Sep 11, 2009, at 4:12 PM, Ira wrote:

Hi Michael–Congratulations on your progress and thanks for the kind words. Is it OK if I post them on the site?

You should write a story of your own about your fitness efforts. You know it doesn’t have to be a before and after tale…it can be a work in progress just like mine.

On Sep 11, 2009, at 9:23 PM, Michael Bluejay wrote:

Sure, feel free to post my comments. Read the rest of this entry »

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Injury and Laziness Set Me Back Big Time!

Haven’t been to the gym since July 30th. What the hell happened? Where is all that discipline that others are resenting (see post on August 17)? How could I go at least six times a month for two years—and eight times a month since I started this site—and give it all up so completely?

Here are my excuses. I strained so hard setting new records for chin ups and pull ups, that I hurt my shoulders, forearms and right elbow. The tennis and squash that followed probably didn’t help. But I played through the aching. I needed to stay away from the machines and weights in the gym to recuperate. However I still could have done my crunches. Yet I didn’t. After just three days of them in two weeks, I stopped.

Traveling eight days and having visitors and events at the house another four may have kept me from the gym. But crunches take less than half an hour. So there is no excuse. Just laziness.

Saw the doctor and am now wearing a tennis-elbow, velcro wrap. Read the rest of this entry »

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Tresa Stephens Feels Texas Pressure To Eat Too Much Bad Food, All The Time

In response to the jealousy and resentment my eating discipline is generating (see post on August 17th), Tresa Stephens described the pressure she experiences to overeat junk food back home:

I think that the pressure others put on us to jump on the band wagon and eat absolute dietary garbage is unfair. Especially considering I just read an article in Time Magazine (http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914857,00.html/) this month about how exercise isn’t as important as diet when attempting weight loss. So many Americans are obese and apparently just hitting the treadmill doesn’t cut it when it comes to cutting fat.

I know I’ve also encountered opposition while dieting myself. In the south, you’re expected to eat ALL THE TIME. The inability to digest greasy, enormous, fattening portions is basically considered a sign of weakness or illness. Admittedly, when I was younger I hardly noticed the pressure that people put on me to finish the very last bit of whatever tasty, deep-fried/re-fried/stir-fried/chicken-fried face-sized piece of whatever I had on my plate, but since moving off to college in New York (land of expensive portions no bigger than your fist) I’ve opened my eyes and assimilated to the New York diet. I eat less (probably because I can afford less) and therefore make wiser decisions when it comes to what nutrients I’m spending my hard-earned dollars on. Since moving to the city I’ve noticed I eat fewer fatty foods and generally just feel healthier.

The only problem arrises when I return home to visit my family. They expect my old eating habits Read the rest of this entry »

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Jealousy Of My Diet Discipline Hits Me In The Abs

Oh boy oh boy oh boy. So I am making all this progress towards fitness and better health, and some people around me are really upset and pissed.

The reports are coming in gradually in roundabout ways, but here is the basic story. My ability to be disciplined in avoiding high-cholesterol foods is contrasting with others’ inability to cut back on their own caloric intake. So they are embarrassed and annoyed by my success. They don’t want to hear about it, and I have been asked not to talk about my diet, my web site and its content in their presence.

When my cholesterol numbers were just one digit away from the heart attack zone, and I was scared I could die, I suddenly stopped eating high cholesterol foods. I thought possible instant death was a pretty good motivator. I mean we aren’t talking here about a few extra pounds of cute chubbiness. I was terrified.

No matter. It’s offensive and insensitive at some people’s dinner tables for me to be saying “No” to cheese or creamy soups in their’ presence. It would be better if I just ate what I consider life-threatening foods that are offered. Even in restaurants, I shouldn’t be asking about the ingredients of certain dishes. All this discipline I am displaying is really not nice. It’s even very inconsiderate of those in the room who are not able to avoid foods that are making them weigh more than they would like to weigh.

Talk about social pressure. Read the rest of this entry »

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Changing your Diet Big Time

My daughter loves her steak (with ketchup) eats pounds of cheese, and chicken too…until recently. She read a book called Skinny Bitch, which has been criticized for being misleading. It supposedly advises readers how to lose weight, but it is apparently a treatise promoting veganism—no animal foods or animal products. It describes how cows and chickens are raised and killed, and the description is so gross that the message worked: she gave up eating meat and cheese and much of her chicken too. What a powerful story.

Now she is eating hummus a lot, vegetables and fish. She looks for organic or free-range fowl. Quite a transformation…I’m awed that it happened so fast.

With the news about animal cruelty in my mind, I looked up some undercover videos on YouTube revealing how animals are raised and killed. They were worse than I remembered from my earlier experiences, which included a photo assignment in a cattle slaughterhouse, watching pigs being beaten before the knife came out, and talking to a large-scale, chicken-farmer salesman decades ago. No wonder some readers are giving up meat.

(A little comic relief from the fictitious doctor quoted in my August 11th post:

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables? 

A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient 
mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.

Q: Aren’t fried foods bad for you?

A: YOU’RE NOT LISTENING!!! Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they’re permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you? )




A friend has been talking up veganism for years. The meals with her have been very tedious—don’t eat this, that’s bad for you—and also funny: “I’d like a salad, please (to the waitress), but please don’t include any green peppers, because they make me pass gas!” Who asked? Yum-yum, now let’s eat, thinking about the dangers of eggs and the flow of chewed food through her digestive tract…all the way to the end. But this friend also warned me wisely about saturated fats Read the rest of this entry »

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I Love This Doctor’s Ridiculous, Wonderful Advice

Chris Curtis sent me this advice from France.

I Love This Doctor.
He has the right slant on things….hehehhehehehh


Q: Doctor, I’ve heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true? 

A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that’s it… don’t waste them on exercise. 
Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; 
 that’s like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.



Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables? 

A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient 
mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.



Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake? 
 Read the rest of this entry »

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How the Food Makers Captured Our Brains

Here are various excerpts with some of my own insertions from a New York Times article written by Tara Parker-Pope. While my quest is for a six-pack…

…the result of Dr. David Kessler’s quest is a fascinating new book, “The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite” (Rodale).

(Kessler was the head of the Food and Drug Administration.) He is perhaps best known for his efforts to investigate and regulate the tobacco industry, and his accusation that cigarette makers intentionally manipulated nicotine content to make their products more addictive.

In “The End of Overeating,” Dr. Kessler finds some similarities in the food industry, which has combined and created foods in a way that taps into our brain circuitry and stimulates our desire for more.

When it comes to stimulating our brains, Dr. Kessler noted, individual ingredients aren’t particularly potent. But by combining fats, sugar and salt in innumerable ways, food makers have essentially tapped into the brain’s reward system, creating a feedback loop that stimulates our desire to eat and leaves us wanting more and more even when we’re full. Read the rest of this entry »

Peter Houldin Tells How He Lost 130 Pounds and Became a Marathon Runner!

I’LL START WITH A CONCLUSION: DIETS ALONE DO NOT WORK. YOU HAVE TO EAT PROPERLY AND EXERCISE REGULARLY. YOU HAVE TO ADOPT A DIFFERENT LIFESTYE.

HERE’S MY STORY:

Peter Houldin in 2008

Peter Houldin in 2008

Growing up, I always carried a few extra pounds, but never considered myself obese. In high school, I played football, basketball, and golf and was in decent enough shape.

Not until I reached college did the weight start pouring on. In the fall of 1992, I entered my freshman year of college and probably weighed 210 pounds and wore a 38-waist pant. I had a large frame and am six feet tall, so wasn’t overly worried. Certainly didn’t feel fat.

Over the next few years—probably due to too little exercise and too much cafeteria food, pizza, and cheap beer—the weight slowly–ok quickly–started to pile on. By junior year, I weighed 284 pounds and was squeezing into a 44 pant. I had gained 74 pounds in 2½ years!

Peter Houldin in 1994 at 284 pounds

Peter Houldin in 1994 at 284 pounds


Peter Houldin in 1990's before weight loss

Peter Houldin in 1990's before weight loss

While I was having a great time putting on the weight and playing collegiate golf, my studies took a back seat. Over the holiday break of my junior term, I received a letter from the academic dean suggesting I stay home for a semester and prove that I wanted to be in his school.

As it turns out, that was one of the better letters I ever received. I took it as a challenge. I enrolled in a local state college and spent the spring semester working hard at both school and on my weight. Not only did I excel in school, but by the summer, I had dropped a ton of weight.

To be honest, the first pounds were the easiest ones to lose. Given I had put the weight on so quickly, fortunately, it came off equally as quick. That’s not to say I wasn’t diligent about it. I took stock of the habits that caused the weight gain, namely, fast food, pizza, beer, and zero exercises. I decided to do just the opposite. I began a cardio regimen and went back to the basics with regards to food. I ate very boring and plain foods – turkey, mustard, and whole wheat sandwiches. Chicken and veggies for dinner, and eliminated alcohol and snacks.

When I returned to my original school the following fall, I had taken off 60 pounds. Read the rest of this entry »

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David Is To Be Returned To Italy

A bit of cultural news for a welcome change:

 Michelangelo's  David

Michelangelo's David

After a two-year loan to the United States,
Michelangelo’s David is being returned to Italy . . .

Ooops, look what happened in just two years

Ooops, look what happened in just two years

His Proud Sponsors were:

American Adults Getting Fatter

TWO-THIRDS OF AMERICAN ADULTS ARE EITHER OBESE OR OVERWEIGHT, AS DEFINED BY THEIR BODY MASS INDEX OR BMI.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Obesity rates continued to climb in the past year with 23 U.S. states reporting adults in their states are fatter now than they were a year ago, two advocacy groups said on Wednesday.

Obesity rates did not decrease in a single state last year, and the groups warned that the U.S. obesity epidemic must be addressed as lawmakers reform the nation’s health system…

Being overweight or obese raises the risk of heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, arthritis and other conditions… Read the rest of this entry »

Some Advice For Gaining Weight And Mastering the Universe

At the hotel gym in Newport, a very big older man—maybe 230-250 and in his 70’s—came in from the pool area wearing a white bathrobe and raised a few small dumbbells. He saw me pumping iron in my tank top and said I looked fit and like I had lost weight. When I told him that I wanted to gain weight, he immediately told me how to do it: “Macademia Nuts,” he blurted effortlessly. I had the feeling he spoke from long experience.

It was also like a scene out of the movie, The Graduate, when Dustin Hoffman’s character came out of the swimming pool wearing a face mask with snorkel tube and had the word “Plastics” whispered into his ear by a family friend who was giving him the secret of the universe and where the future was for a young man seeking his fortune.

It was life imitating art for me…Plastics…Macademia Nuts. Aha. I understand it all now, says Grasshopper.

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Food Is Not Better Than Sex

At lunch on the 24th, a woman friend said that anyone who says food is better than sex hasn’t had good sex. Also that sex is more than just the physical act, it is also the intimacy, the closeness, the sharing, the afterglow.

I was asking my friend about the woman who wrote (in a newspaper article I read) that music and food—specifically 70% dark chocolate—give her more of a rush than sex (see post on June 9th about overeating)

Last week I met a man who buys cocoa beans and turns them into chocolate bars. He also said that as good as chocolate is, especially his high-quality bars, he can’t imagine any man thinking chocolate, or any food, is above sexual activity in the pleasure-rating scale. He also thought most women would agree with him, but suspected that women probably do have more enjoyment eating than men, in general. What do you think?

Thursday tennis was fair—my team split the two sets. I hit fewer long balls, serve was stronger than anyone’s (though I was broken twice), and my net game was mediocre.

Also made arrangements with the coach at the local squash club to join and play more regularly.

One more gym visit due for the month…and maybe some effort at home to bring out more muscles than is possible with just eight workouts a month.

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The Obamas Promote Healthy Eating and Fitness, But the President’s Abs Need Work!

Here is a view of the President’s abs. You can see he needs a lot of work:

Obama abs need work

Obama abs need work

These are excerpts from a June 16th column by Maureen Dowd in The New York Times:

…He (President Barack Obama) clearly feels strongly about nutrition and fat. The child who looks a little chubby in that famous picture of himself with his long-lost father in Hawaii grew up to be extremely careful about eating and drinking in a healthy way.

The willowy commander in chief urges out-of-shape and overweight aides to go to his Chicago trainer who now works part-time at the White House — and even offers to treat especially recalcitrant cases.

On a date night this spring with Michelle at the Georgetown restaurant Citronelle, the president showed how calorie-conscious he was when, over a three-hour meal, he managed the impossible feat of nibbling only one French fry. “He wants to stay skinny, you know?” chef Michel Richard mischievously told “Extra” afterward. Read the rest of this entry »

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Two Enormously Different Ways to View Food and Life—Narrow and Wide

Here is an email I received from Dorli DiGrigorio commenting on a June 6th post questioning if you should tell your friends that they are fat?

Ira,

I feel it is so important to keep our one given body that miraculously works most of the time in as good condition as possible. Your site gives people a chance to vent and share their successes and failures.

Your concern over the criticism you gave your friend eating multiple desserts (ed: see June 6 post) sparked my writing about what I learned at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation in relation to food. I don’t think you meant to put your friend down, but since he was trying to lose weight, you reminded him, and he didn’t seem to like that too much.

Food, I learned, like everything else, can be used to be wide and care for things more or to be narrow and give less meaning. We can, for instance, sit down at breakfast and think about where this food that is sustaining us comes from, and who were the people involved in growing, picking, delivering, selling it… and all the time having thoughts and feelings of their own. So, we are then using the food to be wide…to like the world more.

Then, there are instances when the world has given us a hard time. Perhaps there was traffic, an argument, or just plain everyday stress. We hit the refrigerator and look for a sweet treat or two and could unconsciously think, “now, the world is here to serve ME and assuage my hurt.” This is an example of food being narrow.

When one becomes too obsessive about one’s body, it is also narrow, and the wider world is not thought of enough. Read the rest of this entry »

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What’s Your Choice? 50 Years of Denial or 30 Years of Pleasure?

I met a 40-year-old woman yesterday whose husband used to go to the gym religiously and turned into quite a hunk, she told me. She knows what a fit body can look like and the work it takes to make one.

She is now 30 pounds heavier than she was 20 years ago, has a serious cholesterol problem and really intends to start exercising and cutting calories. She’d like to have her old, slimmer shape looking back at her in the mirror. Her only concrete effort so far is cut back her three-cokes-a-day habit (at 150 calories each) to one a day.At least it’s a start.

I told her how I gave up everyday cheese, my favorite source of protein, when my own cholesterol shot up. She said she loves cheese too, and can’t yet stop eating it regularly. Why is it so hard to take those steps to better health? Are we all just too busy? Or too lazy?

My son was impressed by the web site I found of a man who lost over 200 pounds. He found pictures of a different man who lost 400 pounds. Clearly those are horribly unhealthy cases of obesity. Those heavyweights can barely walk to the bathroom is my guess. It’s easy to see that they finally decided to alter their limited, immediate daily activities.

But if you are only 30 pounds heavier than you used to be, what’s the big deal? It’s not that bad, and the food tastes so good, and maybe you won’t continue to gain just a pound or two a year. And maybe the cholesterol won’t keep rising up and blocking arteries and lead to a heart attack. Just maybe.

Last night we went out to dinner, and I ordered the only soup—potato. I started to send it back after it arrived, because it was half cream. I need to avoid dairy products, because I want to keep my cholesterol down. My son said he would eat it, so it stayed.

Now here comes the silly part. With recent stories of two people dying of heart attacks, a friend who says he eats extra calories, because he could die in 10 minutes, and a woman telling me how much she likes cheese, I am sitting at the table wondering why I don’t have at least a taste, one spoonful, of this incredibly delicious-looking soup. After all, I rationalized, I just did 5+ hours of exercise in the last day—more than enough to offset the cholesterol damage that might result.

Absurd, right? No moderation here. Pretty extreme. One damn spoonful. Will I die on the court? If I am going to die, I may as well enjoy some potato soup. So I did. Had four spoonfuls. And swallowed each one so slowly and lovingly that you might have thought I was tasting fine wine or rare caviar. Swirling the juice around on my tongue. What a nutcase I am.

What is the goal, really? Read the rest of this entry »

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Death Plays Tennis and Wins

Had some pretty heavy coincidences recently. In my post of June 9th, a friend said “I could be dead in 10 minutes, so why not give myself some pleasure and have another dessert or third glass of wine.” Of course he hopes this possible reality doesn’t come true.

But while I was hitting tennis balls with my son yesterday afternoon, the man friend of a woman I know did die unexpectedly. I think it was a heart attack. I spoke to people who had seen this man just a few hours before he passed on. We are shocked and numb.

The suddenness of it is so traumatic, so startling. It makes one want to savor every moment possible, suck as much nectar as we can from the flowers of our lives. And when it happens to people we know, the nearness of it emphasizes the fragility of life much more than we care to recall.

Today at tennis, my friend Francois told two women at the indoor court an amazing story that had happened a couple of years ago at that same court. He had been playing with a friend, Cliff, as his teammate. The score was 6-6, and then the tie break was won by Francois and Cliff. They did it 7-0. Both men were very excited. Someone asked if the group wanted to stop or play some more, and Cliff said let’s play another set. He turned from the net and collapsed. Francois was unable to catch him, and he died before he was on the ground.

Then one of the women said that she had been there that day and had used her sweat pants to cover him and keep him warm until the ambulance came. But it was too late.

So if life can be so arbitrary, and death can be so abrupt and unpredictable, does it really make sense to not eat an extra dessert or two? What the hell? Who cares? Why care? These are legitimate questions that most of us answer by our actions. Read the rest of this entry »

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Why Some Overeat—for Extreme Pleasure or Because the Consequences Don’t Matter If We Die in 10 Minutes

I read an astonishing comment in the paper yesterday about couples over 50 who have ceased to have sexual relations or reduced the frequency to negligible levels from their earlier days.
(http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/when-sex-leaves-the-marriage/)

This one lady said something I didn’t know: The dopamine rush that we all love can come definitely from sexual orgasm, food and music. Maybe even from extreme sports as well. “For me personally?” this woman wrote. “Music does it most, but food is a very close second, if not a tie (just try a nearly pure, dark, bittersweet, 70 percent or higher chocolate sometime — WOW). Sex is just fine … but it doesn’t feel as vital personally as the other two do.”

Well I need to say WOW also. I had no idea that food could be that exciting. No wonder some people can’t stop over eating. I guess I am really missing out. I mean, I like a delicious meal and a pleasant tune or fabulous symphony. But I am clearly not aware of how stratospheric some highs can be from food and music. Well, we are who we are, and we are not all the same.

In a conversation today, a 53-year-old said to me, “I could be dead in 10 minutes, so why not give myself some pleasure and have another dessert or third glass of wine.”

This reminded me of an inspiring talk I had yesterday after tennis with Francois Di Gregorio, one of the regulars who has stayed in good condition and plays three or more times a week for decades. Read the rest of this entry »

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Is It OK To Tell Your Friends That They Are Fat And Should Lose Weight?

I took a little flak from a close friend about what I did say and what I didn’t say. When he ate four desserts at my dinner the other day, I spoke up. He chided me for noticing, counting and judging. I said I knew he was trying to lose weight, so I couldn’t not be a good pal and point out to him how he was sabotaging his effort.

Two days later he was annoyed that I hadn’t spoken up and given him some business advice. I said I didn’t feel it was my place to butt into his affairs. Maybe what he was doing would work out, and he hadn’t asked for my opinion.

“So if I have a broken leg and am not taking care of it, you’re not going to speak up or get me to a doctor?” he asked.

I reminded him about the four slices of cake, and he said that maybe he really doesn’t want to lose weight, in spite of his public declarations that he does want to be lighter and that he goes to the gym, he says, to burn calories.

Very confusing. Read the rest of this entry »

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Kill Bill’s “Bill” Voted For Exercise and Against Drinking

Although David Carradine (who played Bill) died an undignified death this week, his obituary reported good news about his interest in health and exercise:

“One thing remained a constant after “Kung Fu”: Carradine’s interest in Asian herbs, exercise and philosophy. He wrote a personal memoir called “Spirit of Shaolin” and continued to make instructional videos on tai chi and other martial arts.

“In the 2004 interview, Carradine talked candidly about his past boozing and narcotics use, but said he had put all that behind him and stuck to coffee and cigarettes.

” ‘I didn’t like the way I looked, for one thing. You’re kind of out of control emotionally when you drink that much. I was quicker to anger.’ ”

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Why Wild Turkey Is Such A Delicacy

The wild turkey was delicious, and all 11 diners at the party loved it, including the two boys who are 12. Of course it was a first for most of the group, and one woman said it was the best turkey she had ever tasted.

We agree. Since I started hunting and ate my first wild turkey, I have known that there is no comparison between a wild bird and a domestically raised bird. The wild breast meat is moist not dry, although the legs that run away from predators are tough and chewy. I always describe the taste as more like tender roast beef, but that doesn’t quite do it. The flavor has to be different when one bird is processing flowers, leaves, bugs like grasshoppers, and the pen-raised animal is eating cracked corn.

The hardest part was foregoing for years the ease of getting a wild bird with a shotgun and enjoying the major celebratory meal. Instead I have been denying myself and family of this delicacy in my quest to win the prize with a bow and arrow. But you are talking to the “food policeman” here (see my post of April 4th), so it wasn’t hard to defer outstanding tastes for a larger goal, a more challenging achievement.

If the hunt was perfect, the meal was also a perfect different experience involving loving friends, family (including teenagers with their buds), and flowers, which are out in glorious bloom. Our garden is spectacular, the weather was in the high 60s, and we ate outdoors with candles. You should have been there. I wish you many of those joyous, uplifting outdoor meals in your lifetime, whether with hot dogs, steaks, or BBQ chicken.

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Mother Nature Gets Even and Has a Tick Attack Me From Behind

The turkey is cooking as I write. Friends will come over to taste wild turkey for their first time. It is nothing like a domestic bird. I have marinated the turkey for two days in garlic, oil, white wine. It smells great.

before cooking

before cooking

The day of the hunt, Wednesday, I went to the gym. Nothing special. I was pretty tired. But at least I made it there–workout number 7 for the month.

On Thursday the 28th, I did 50 push ups again, 10 breaths, 10 more, 10 breaths, and 6 more. I wrote and rested.

Then Mother Nature got even with a smile. In the afternoon, I felt a sharp pin prick near my butt. I touched, my wife looked, and there was a tick, locked in a potentially harmful 36-hour kiss. It was hidden between my cheeks! And that was why I had missed it when I’d done my “tick check” with a mirror. Clever guy. He also knew how to conceal himself from the prey…which was me. And I was worried about the coyote jumping me from behind. A tiny tick did it.

Every time I come out of the woods, I unfailingly examine myself for ticks within three hours. I have been told that if you remove them within 24 hours, there is probably going to be no problem—not enough time for the insect’s saliva to make much of a difference. After a day, there is more danger of getting Lyme disease or another very serious bacterial infection called ehrlichiosis.

So if I got a bird, a tick got me. I have many friends who have been sickened by these bites, and in addition to dizziness, fatigue, fever, aches, some have had facial distortions, lost memory for years…it can be bad. So it goes.

I knew I had really adapted to country life when I could walk in the woods and tall grass and be OK about spending a few minutes taking 20 or more ticks off my clothes and skin. I felt I had arrived.

I have city friends who drove to our farm, got out of the car, stood on the driveway and unabashedly placed their pants inside their socks, sprayed insect repellent containing DEET on their clothes, and then walked on the driveway pebbles into the house. Fortunately I have learned to love the woods and live with its risks. And I have never even seen a bear or a mountain lion…just coyotes and bobcats, like this one a friend photographed at the same farm where I shot this week’s turkey.

bobcat

bobcat (photo by Rudy Kellerman)


Read the rest of this entry »

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Strange Advice About How To Take Care Of Yourself

old lady

A doctor on his morning walk noticed an older lady sitting on her front step smoking a cigar, so he walked up to her and said, “I couldn’t help but notice how happy you look! What is your secret?”
“I smoke ten cigars a day,” she said. “Before I go to bed, I smoke a nice big joint. Apart from that, I drink a whole bottle of Jack Daniels every week, and eat only junk food. On weekends, I pop pills, get laid, and don’t exercise at all.”

“That is absolutely amazing! How old are you?”

“Thirty-four” she replied.

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Can You Work Out Well At Home? I Can’t.

May 24, 2009

Well I did NOT make it to the gym yesterday. But I did work out at home, but with lots of interruptions and distractions. Hard to focus. Think I need the gym to concentrate. Read the rest of this entry »

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How Do You Gain Weight? Or Lose It Without Diet Change and Exercise?

I have been noticing these weeks all the ads about how to lose weight. Why does anyone believe you can lose weight without exercise and any change in your diet if you just send in your money for the secret promise? That you can eat all the sugar or carbs or sweets or bacon or meat…even pure lard, and you are “guaranteed” to lose pounds. You can almost lose the weight while you sleep if you just send in your check to find out the miraculous answer to your dreams. Am I so naive again to not grasp what is beguiling millions of others? Is it the instant gratification, the something for nothing philosophy? Tell us what you think.

One undesirable consequence for me of all this activity is that I am losing weight—down to 165 this morning. That’s nearly the lowest I have been since high school, and I am the guy who wants to build muscle and gain weight. So I have to be the goose who is cramming food down his own gullet. Not for paté, but for muscle. Some of the articles say that I need to eat at least 500 to 1000 more calories a day than usual. Have 5 or 6 little meals a day. And drink protein shakes! Read the rest of this entry »

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The Importance of Fitness When Seeking Happiness

I want to refer you to a terrific NY Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/opinion/12brooks.html)
that is based on an Atlantic magazine essay (http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200906/happiness)

It has to do with following 250+ Harvard College men over 70 years to find out who led happy lives and what might have been the sources of that happiness.

Here are two excerpts from the Atlantic Essay that are big determinants:

1. That the only thing that really matters in life are your relationships to other people.”
2. What allows people to work, and love, as they grow old? By the time the Grant Study men had entered retirement, Vaillant, who had then been following them for a quarter century, had identified seven major factors that predict healthy aging, both physically and psychologically.

Employing mature adaptations (see below) was one. The others were education, stable marriage, not smoking, not abusing alcohol, some exercise, and healthy weight. Of the 106 Harvard men who had five or six of these factors in their favor at age 50, half ended up at 80 as what Vaillant called “happy-well” and only 7.5 percent as “sad-sick.” Meanwhile, of the men who had three or fewer of the health factors at age 50, none ended up “happy-well” at 80. Even if they had been in adequate physical shape at 50, the men who had three or fewer protective factors were three times as likely to be dead at 80 as those with four or more factors. Read the rest of this entry »

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How Do You Think He Lost 130 Pounds?

Whew! I am OK. Thought I strained myself with too much exercise, and especially that ab workout last Wednesday, when I jumped right to some advanced drills on the ball. Could never be satisfied sticking with beginner stuff. Was worried that I might have caused a hernia, so I decided to rest a few days. Felt a little strain.

I did do 46 push ups on Friday morning, rested for 10 breaths, and dropped for another 14 My record in long ago days was 150 push ups total, with those 10 breath intervals. Also did 100 leg scissors to beef up my abs.

Thursday I left to watch my first professional squash match—very exciting and much higher level of play than the college games I have seen. As a friend said, those pros can really “whack” the ball. Reminds me of all the movie hitmen who whack their targets.

Came home Friday for the annual game dinner at a hunting and fishing club I joined a year ago. Love the talk about how many fish were caught, dogs flushing pheasants, deer missed by inches when they ducked the arrow heard whooshing towards them. Another world. Active and sometimes manly men…and a few women. They may have had quadruple bypasses two months ago—like one man in his 70’s or 80’s I met—but they are already walking their dog a mile or two each day to get in shape for walking the river with a fly rod.

Another member is now raising 25 chickens from chicks for the first time and buying organic lamb from a neighbor. All healthy and outdoors. And some of these gents are lawyers and hedge fund guys—along with serious and multi-generational farmers. An interesting mix.

One fit young man there I know is 35, weighs maybe 150, goes to the gym every work day, and has a private trainer work with him two of those days. “How are your abs?” I blurted out nosily. “I have too much skin to have abs,” he confessed. “I weighed 284 pounds in college.” Wow was I shocked. Turned out he didn’t eat properly. I didn’t pursue any deeper questions, like “How the hell did you lose 130 or 140 pounds?” Read the rest of this entry »

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Why Do We Eat (So Much) Good Food That It Is Bad for Us?

We met some friends for dinner Saturday night. The wife–a size ZERO–mentioned how thin I looked and that her husband had a growing belly, which she patted affectionately. Then he offered me a hard-liquor drink. I agreed to split a beer with him.

At the restaurant, he ordered a bottle for three people (I passed), and all the wine disappeared easily. It accompanied his enormous New York strip steak. The monstrous portion must have been two+ inches high and seven inches long and four inches wide. He enjoyed and put away almost all of it, sharing just a couple of slices with the other wine drinkers. The menu also offered a variety of sauces as toppings–gorgonzola, butter, cream. Gee I wonder why he has that cute expanding belly. I can’t imagine where all the food goes. My stomach could never contain such a giant quantity.

Clearly I am constructed differently from most people. I am more of a grazer who can eat two or three appetizers for dinner and be satisfied…plus a dessert of course.

My male friend from dinner is also unable to stop smoking–he has done it for years–even though his father died of emphysema, and his own lung capacity is diminished. But for me, I don’t think of gluttony as an addiction like tobacco and drugs. Am I naive? All three are major contributors to bad health. They are all undesirable…But eating too much food that gives the diner pleasure seems an easier habit to break than nicotine and cocaine. What do you think?

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How to Avoid Eating Crappy Food That is Bad for Us?

Went to a movie on Friday night and automatically bought some popcorn…with extra oil. I was told that it was not coconut oil (very high cholesterol) and that it was butter-flavored. So I still don’t know what it was and how bad for my health. With salt added, it was delicious munching during the show, and my friend had half the bag.

Later he chastised me for buying it at all. Although he loved eating it, he regretted that I had tempted him, and he had succumbed. He is usually the one who goes right to the popcorn counter and buys the super jumbo size. However now that he is going to the gym and is more determined than ever to lose weight, he sees how much effort it takes in the gym to offset those little white puffy kernels slathered in fattening oil. Nevertheless he ate his half with gusto.

Why do we so easily violate our resolutions? Why should it be so hard? These days I can ignore the ice cream in the freezer for months without so much as a small taste. Other years I was eating it nightly or a few times a week…with chocolate syrup added. In a reality TV show I saw, one of the obese twins who supposedly wanted to lose weight was caught squirting the chocolate syrup directly into her mouth.

My solution is not to have the “bad” food in the house at all. That way I am unable to eat it when I feel those inevitable cravings. (Some ice cream is there for the kids when they come home from college, but my desire for low cholesterol makes it easy to avoid my old ice cream addiction.) I know that I am very weak-willed and often can’t resist my hunger for sweets. I will even stoop to crappy Easter candy (two chocolate covered mints last night) or straight teaspoonfuls of honey.

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How Much Alcohol Do You Drink?

Most people like to drink alcohol, whether it’s beer, wine or liquor. These beverages lubricate social gatherings, relax people (numb them sometimes) and allow the bonds or the handcuffs of propriety to be released and put aside. Alcohol gives some people courage. I have had enough drunken stupors to know that I don’t like the hangovers, the embarrassing behavior, or being really sick. Like one New Year’s Day in high school, when I was the only band member who couldn’t and didn’t perform at half-time in the Orange Bowl–I was still dizzy and nauseous and in bed!

I have had plenty of beer in college and after to know that it fills me up till I am bloated, and I don’t care about telling an ale from a lager. I do know that I prefer foreign beers to the popular domestic ones, which are too thin for me. But aside from one trip to Ireland, where I longed constantly for a Guiness at the pub while I was touring (and probably would be an alcoholic if I lived there), I can usually pass.

That helps keep the weight off and the body healthier. Most people, however, need their drink.

I bought wine by the case when I first moved to Manhattan and had seen enough movies and sophisticated magazines promoting the mantra that any cool professional man knows his grapes and the good years to order. At one point I believed I could taste the minerals from particular French soil. I loved certain vineyards and knew lots of the best years. But after those many glasses at dinner, I was falling asleep when I wanted to read. So I stopped drinking every night.

For decades I have watched people twirl the glass, smell the bouquet and swish the delicacy in their mouths. Some talk incessantly about it, collect it, offer it with pride, and I appreciate their passion. Read the rest of this entry »

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Are You Able to Try New Things, Like Food and Experiences?

I have long thought of Life as a smorgasbord—a buffet table full of items to taste, to try at least once. Then I can decide if I like them and want more on my plate when it’s food, and repeated or deeper experiences when it’s a new adventure or pleasure or pastime. I can’t relate to diners who always order the same familiar foods…”What if I don’t like the new dish in a restaurant?” they worry. “I will have paid for something that I don’t want to eat.” I think they must live their lives the same way—afraid to do something different, take the new path to the left instead of the traditional path to the right.

People often choose what their peers or the society tell them they should like. But that stopped working for me before high school. Perhaps it’s the result of being an outsider who was laughed at because my father was regarded as a “quack” before holistic attitudes or chiropractic principles were appreciated. Unlike other kids, I had a working mother too, which was unusual in a world of women who were expected to be nurturing housewives. Anyway doing what one was supposed to do was not part of my character, and it has helped me deviate from the norm.

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Are You Ever Nauseous Doing Exercise?

Made it to the gym again today after a business lunch. Stayed 1 ½ hours, which is 30 minutes longer than usual. Doing extra stretches and gutting out abdominal exercises. This is hard. Some stud hung from a pull-up bar and slowly lifted both of his legs up to a right angle about 10 times–will I ever do ONE of those?

Then I tried that contraption where you entangle your ankles in four cylinders at the top and lean down at a 45 with your head near the floor and hold a 20-lb ball in your outstretched arms, tuck your arms with the ball and sit up to a crunch. I felt nauseous and worried about throwing up in the sparkling weight room. Only the idea that people might be watching these words kept me going.

Earlier at lunch, I passed on dessert–practically a first when my weight is ok. And my favorite–key lime pie–was on the menu. So I am taking this more seriously than I imagined. I asked one built guy doing the reclining sit-ups if he had a six pack, and he said he didn’t, because he drank too many beers. Diet counts a lot, it seems.

Finally I fantasized that everyone in the gym was going to recognize me from this web site and applaud my heroic, painful effort. It kept me doing more reps.

I like that I am having fantasies too. Real progress!

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A Fairly Rigorous Exercise/Athletic Program

Yesterday was my birthday–I ate homemade berry pie (instead of birthday cake and ice cream), lunched with friends and family and talked on the phone to well wishers. No exercise. But today I was real physical. I played 90 minutes of doubles tennis, rested 30 minutes, practiced squash for an hour, rested 30 minutes, then spent two hours practicing tennis with a partner and playing 12 games. This is certainly going to help me stay fit…and I played the best doubles net games of my life–very confident. Also pleased that I was not tired after such a long vacation from regular sports activity. I even spent about three minutes on my abs around 11:30 pm. As you gather, I can be compulsive at times–I want to get back in shape…although I don’t see that tennis or squash develop any stomach muscles. They appear to be merely cardio with fun and friends.

My brother trains for mini-triathlons, and he says I don’t eat enough protein to build muscle. So I ate a whitefish sandwich for lunch and mussels and shrimp for dinner–I almost never eat red meat, pork and veal.

Eating enough food is a new challenge as I am a modest eater and don’t seem to crave meals as often as most other people…when I do eat, the quantities are pretty minimal. As one girl friend’s frustrated mom said about 25 years ago, “He eats like a bird.” I am also increasing my intake of water. I have never followed that eight glasses of water a day routine, but I am aiming for that much daily agua now…

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Managing Your Food…If You Can

I have learned that as undisciplined as I am when it comes to exercising, I am very disciplined compared to others when it comes to eating. My father always said that “You are what you eat.” My wife calls me the “food police.” Since high school when I weighed 170, I have reached 185 pounds and dropped to 163 or so. But that drop was during a brief period when I jogged for a couple of months on a dare to run in a seven-mile road race.

It took me years to realize that when my clothes became tight, it was NOT because they were shrinking in the wash—I was gaining fat. So I would then give up the desserts I love and bread and muffins and lose the weight. I was that disciplined. Once the pounds were gone, I was back to ice cream every night, and sometimes three desserts a day between Thanksgiving and New Years. Predictably I regained 10 pounds each December…that I would then lose over the next few months.

About two years ago, my cholesterol rocketed up to 239, which is almost heart attack range I read—so I instantly changed my diet and my life. I began exercising daily on a rowing machine that had been gathering dust, gave up ice cream, chicken skin, sea urchin and many other high cholesterol foods. Within three months I was down to a cholesterol number of 178. Amazed everyone. I stopped the rowing. Now the number is 204. Not bad. Much safer.

But I asked my doctor at this year’s physical why people who say they want to lose weight continue to eat foods that are clearly fattening. “I can’t lose weight,” they whine, and then they drink almost a whole bottle of wine, snort that blue cheese down or have just a “tiny” spoonful or two of cake or ice cream at most meals. “Not everyone is as disciplined as you,” doc pointed out. “They don’t want to give up those good tasting foods that you can avoid.” Even though some of them go to the gym more than I do, spend an hour on a machine to lose 300 calories and then have one drink or dessert that in five minutes puts all those calories right back on them. Not logical…but people aren’t logical. Read the rest of this entry »

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