Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

Of all the nasty tricks that can happen to someone who is trying to eat healthy, the worst is living near Durrant’s Crown Bakery. Whenever Mike and I walk within four blocks of their building, we can smell what they are baking. Most of the time, the air smells thick with the fragrance of donuts. Just last week, it smelled like white powdered donuts with raspberry filling. The smell was that distinct. Our mouths watered, but we could not eat the donuts.

It wasn’t worries about our health that kept us from partaking of the mouth-watering donuts that we could smell from across the street. In fact, a donut treat every now and again can help stave off the feeling of deprivation when it is planned for. No, the reason we can’t eat the donuts is far more cruel. It is the fact that we can’t buy them. Durrant’s Crown Bakery sells their treats to gas stations and convenience stores in the area. We have walked up to the door of the building many times, but there is no way to buy their treats directly from the source. We have to wait until they are stale and tasteless in the convenience store.

I honestly believe that if I could eat their pastries fresh from their bakery, they would be delicious, but every time I have purchased a Durrant’s Crown Bakery treat from a gas station, I’ve thrown it away, half-eaten. By the time they get to the store, they are stale. The half-life of utterly delicious pastries is something on the order of six hours. By the time their wares are packaged and delivered, they are about as tasty as the cellophane they come in.

Durrant’s Crown Bakery is truly the most nasty trick played on a healthy eater in Salt Lake City, Utah.

This article on Happy News makes me nostalgic about food and candy.

• Happy News – Candy bar inspired by Idaho spuds a seller – by Associated Press

My grandma used to love the Idaho Spud candy bars. I have no idea if these are available outside the western states surrounding Idaho, but they taste very good. The exterior is a waxy, cheap chocolate with coconut. The insides of the candy bar taste like a combination of maple and marshmallow. It almost melts the moment it hits your tongue. My grandma used to love these candy bars. They were a special treat and she wouldn’t share.

My memories of her eating these candy bars is in complete conflict with her personality. She was obsessed with dieting. She was obsessed with making us be on a diet. There was a time when I had to share the last boiled potato with my grandma. I was so hungry that it was the most delicious potato I’ve ever tasted in my life. How can I equate that grandma that shared the potato with me and the one that obsessed over Idaho Spud?

It’s not like she was bingeing on the candy bars. They are difficult candies to find in Montana. Yet, she was all about denial. She wasn’t at a healthy weight when we were up in Montana, and she never lost weight while she was up there. Was she quietly bingeing in the middle of the night when we couldn’t see her? I learned my bingeing behaviors from my dad (her son). Did he learn this behavior from her or because of her?

Eating behavior is such an “in the closet” thing. There is so much about my grandma and my father that I just don’t know and I have no desire to ask about it. She died years ago and I rarely speak to my dad, so I guess it will all just stay in the closet. It’s such a private thing that I can’t even talk to my dad about it.

I saw The Essential Guide to Pilates at the store and I picked it up, excited about the idea of a Pilates workout on my computer. I imagined something like Yourself! Fitness that would take me through a Pilates workout on my computer. When I turned the box over, however, I was disappointed.

Looking at the details at Amazon.com wouldn’t tell you anything about this, but what you need to know is what is on those “Interactive” CDs. One CD is the software that is installed on the computer. It shows you how to perform the various Pilates moves. It’s not a workout, but more like a list of little movies to show you how to correctly perform the moves. The other CD is an audio CD that takes you through two “workouts.” You put the CD in your player, press play and someone tells you which moves to perform. I had a workout LP record like this when I was in 7th grade. I worked out with it once.

Instead of a computer animated trainer, running you through a workout, this software is the worst of both worlds. There’s no way you can look up the moves on the computer in the middle of your workout. You might as well just get a Pilates DVD that you can follow along.

Before I even read the words on this PostSecret postcard, I knew that it was saying something to me. I’ve never truly been skinny for a long time, so I haven’t had the constant yo-yoing in my life, but it’s true. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have an eating disorder. I have only about three or four memories from before the day that I decided I was fat.

Sometimes I feel like having a bingeing problem is so interlaced with my personality that I will never be able to be free of it. Sure, I can count the binges in the last few months on my hands, so the problem has dimished to the point where I can be healthy, but it’s still there. Do I just live with it for the rest of my life or is there a way to actually free myself of this pattern?

I refuse to believe that I have to fight bingeing for the rest of my life. I have to hold on to the hope that I will someday be able to finally conquer the feelings that cause this pattern. The more I learn and grow, the closer I get to that point every day.

PostSecret‘s beneficiary is the National Hopeline Network. It is a 24-hour hotline (1 (800) SUICIDE) for anyone who is thinking about suicide or knows someone who is considering it.

The Garmin booth at CES sported a bike signed by Lance Armstrong that had a Garmin product mounted on the handlebars. There was no information nearby about the little GPS indicator and the bike was mobbed by people just wanting to see Lance’s autograph. Can you imagine if Lance Armstrong had actually attended CES? I wouldn’t have been able to get near the booth.

I was more interested in Garmin’s new Forerunner 305. It’s a heart rate monitor and GPS tracker. The cool thing about this huge watch is that it’s supposed to work better in urban canyons and deep forests. GPS tends to have trouble tracking you when you are surrounded by huge buildings, but the Forerunner 305 is supposed to be better in that respect. Of course, the model that they had there didn’t work in the Las Vegas Convention Center, so I have my doubts about how much better it might be.

Here is a picture of the Forerunner 305 next to my Nike Imara. As you can see, the display is more difficult to read than my Nike watch, but the Forerunner also has the disadvantage of being huge. The Forerunner 305’s suggested retail price is $377, which is almost four times the cost my my Nike Imara. At that price, I’m sticking with my heart rate monitor and using the Google Pedometer to calculate my distance. It’s probably more accurate in the city anyway.

Click here to see Garmin’s Website:

• Garmin – Forerunner 305

After so many entries about the XaviX Console, this is the one that is the most exciting. XaviX was showing off a series of their prototypes for products that are due out within the next year or so. The two most interesting are the XaviX Health & Fitness Manager and the XaviX Stepper.

XaviX Health & Fitness Manager:

It looks just like a scale, but the cool thing about it is that it connects to your XaviX Console, documenting not only your weight, but also gives you access to all the information about the physical activity you have done with your XaviX machine. I tend to keep this information on an application on my Palm, but if XaviX was my primary exercise machine, I might be attracted to this product.

XaviX is the one thing that could bring the scale out of the bathroom and into the living room.

XaviX Stepper:

The XaviX Stepper was smack dab in the middle of the XaviX booth. All day long, they had a girl on it exercising. I told her I wanted to play with it and she eagerly hopped off, exclaiming, “I’ve been playing for 17 hours. I have lost two pants sizes since I got this job.” I eagerly took over for her and played with all the games. The software runs you through a variety of games that get you to use the stepper quickly for cardio-vascular training or use your coordination to step at the appropriate time. I played with many of the games. Most of them were the cutesy type that I love in Japanese gaming. Think Monkey Ball with a ferret and a stair stepper. That might give you an idea of what this game was like.

Even though it was a prototype, they had an idea what would come with the game. They have created wrist weights for the upper body workout and the stepper for the lower body workout. The stepper did not have a resistance setting on it, so if you got to the point where the stepper wasn’t doing it for you anymore, you would have to move on to something else. The game showed the girl on the stepper making movements with her arms where I was supposed to follow along. Just like with the Jackie Chan J-Mat, I had a hard time stepping correctly and moving my arms. That’s a part of coordination that I just haven’t gotten down pat yet.

The cool thing about the XaviX Stepper is that it’s small. It’s smaller than any other stepper I’ve ever seen, even the one from Brookstone that was so popular a couple of Christmases ago. That would make it very easy to store in the living room. The lack of a resistance knob, however, is a severe drawback to this product. My heart rate easily went into the high intensity range while I was playing this game, but if I did it every day, I might find that it’s a medium intensity workout. A resistance knob would extend the life of this workout product.

Just like the other XaviX games, this one keeps track of how much exercise you have done and allows separate people to enter their data.

The software for this machine was still in its beginning stages. It never crashed, but it did have some strange translations:

If only I knew what that phrase meant, I might not have to exercise so much. It’s kind of frustrating to think that the knowledge that I seek is right there in a bad translation…

Click here to visit the XaviX Website:

• XaviX Website

There was so much at the XaviX booth that I wasn’t able to try it all out, but I DID get to play with XaviX Baseball. The game comes with the Baseball game cartridge, a short bat, and an electronic ball to pitch. It’s available for $49.99 at the XaviX Webstore. The cool thing about this game is that it can be two-player, where one person can bat while the other pitches. The uncool thing about it is that it’s not aerobic at all. I barely made it into the light intensity range, so this game is just for fun and barely at that.

When I saw this game, I had fantasies about being able to play this and “practice” during the winter for softball, but after playing with it for a little bit, my hopes were dashed. The bat is a little small and doesn’t feel like a real baseball bat. Considering my clumsiness, that can be a good thing, but it does nothing to develop my muscles for the softball season.

Additionally, the physics of this game are off. When I tried to swing for a ball at the time when the ball would be over the plate in the “real” world, I struck out each time. I had to swing far earlier to hit the ball in the XaviX world. It only took me about five or six times to understand the new physics, but if I thought that playing with this game might help me a better player in the real world. I was sadly mistaken.

Still, it was fun to play. I could play it against a friend or play it alone. I could pitch or bat. After playing softball for a season, I KNOW that I didn’t hit that ball hard enough to get it out of the park, but that didn’t stop it from feeling really good when it congratulated me on my home run. If you’re looking for a workout, this isn’t your game. If you’re looking to increase your baseball or softball skills, this also isn’t your game. If you just want to have fun playing imaginary baseball, then this is the game for you.

Click here to visit the XaviX Website:

• XaviX Website

The next XaviX game I tried was the Jackie Chan Studio Fitness PowerBoxing. Unlike the other game, this one didn’t look like it was made specifically for Jackie Chan. The boxing looks like a normal boxing game and doesn’t involve any kicking, only punching. I found it to be quite fun, but it wasn’t very aerobic. My heart rate was only in the medium intensity range. I didn’t have to punch as hard as I did for the BodyForce controller. I think the intensity could be increased a little by adding wrist weights, but this game is basically a game that’s active instead of a workout.

The game comes with the XaviX game cartridge (including the boxing glove sensor) and two boxing gloves. It is available for $59.99 at the XaviX Webstore. The gloves are light weight. I noticed that XaviX also sells a different set of gloves with wrist weights attached in a “Power Up” set. You could do the same with a normal set of wrist weights.

The cool thing about these gloves is that they don’t fully enclose your hands, so they are less likely to get sweaty. If you enjoy the boxing game, full gloves would get hot and uncomfortable pretty quickly, but I didn’t have any trouble with these things.

As I mentioned before, the graphics on the XaviX machine are fairly simplistic, so don’t expect to play it on your HDTV and not notice the pixelation. No matter how primitive the graphics were, however, it still felt good to send that guy down for the count!

Click here to visit the XaviX Website:

• XaviX Website

After my visit to the raw food bar in Salt Lake City, I decided to research a little more about raw foods and what constitutes “raw.” The first book that the library sent my way was The Raw Truth: The Art of Preparing Living Foods by Jeremy A. Safron. It certainly isn’t the most scientific of the books that the library could have sent me.

The explanation for eating raw foods is based on enzymes. This book states that live enzymes are essential to digestion.

“When a food is exposed to temperatures greater than 116° F (108° F to be safe), most of its enzymes are killed. Enzyme-depleted food can be very hard to digest and gives very little energy to the body.”

This is the premise of the raw food movement. Cooked food is bad. Raw food is best. Dehydrated food is ok as long as it doesn’t get above 108° F. I don’t believe a word of it. It is the responsibility of the idea to prove itself, but this book doesn’t cite any medical or nutritional studies that back up the idea of “live enzymes.” There is no scientific proof of anything and I’m supposed to just believe it because this book said so.

In addition to the lack of proof, the idea slips between nutrition and religion far too easily for me to take seriously. Any food “made with anger” is considered unhealthy, and is on the list of “Biodestructive Foods.” Any food “made with love” or “hand picked” is healing, and is on the list of “Bio-Regenerative Foods.”

Based on the lack of supporting evidence, this book assumes that you are already convinced that eating raw food is the way to go. Over half of the book is devoted to recipes, most of which utilize blenders, dehydrators and a lot of allowing things to sit in bowls of water. The pictures look appetizing, but many of the recipes seem to be trying to recreate old favorites (like fruit pie) without cooking.

The Raw Food Movement is lacking enough proof for me to take it seriously. The food at Living Cuisine was delicious and I enjoyed the atmosphere. I eat most of my fruits and vegetables in the raw form, yet I can’t accept the philosophy of raw food. The reason I eat raw food is that it tastes better. Unless I learn how to be a better cook, raw fruits and veggies taste better than the overcooked and soggy versions of themselves. It has nothing to do with “living enzymes” and everything to do with taste as far as I’m concerned.

Once you purchase a XaviX Console, you need to buy games for it. The first game I tried out was Jackie Chan Studio Fitness: J-Mat. This one really seemed to have the potential for high intensity exercise. It was a lot of fun. I was able to get my heart rate high enough for it to be high intensity exercise. The J-Mat consists of a wired mat that connects to the Xavix console, handweights and a game cartridge. The J-Mat is wide, white and has four spots to step. The cost is $89.99 at the XaviX Webstore.

The cool things about the J-Mat:

• You can set the intensity: The exercise program has enough intensity for it to be a high intensity workout, but can be reduced for beginners. I checked my heart rate monitor in the middle of things and it was well above the 128 bpm I need to get me into the high intensity range.

• Hand weights: The game comes with hand weights to work your arms. I tried to do the hand movements to follow along with what Jackie was doing, but that was really hard for me. I’m sure I would be able to do it with some practice, but for now, that was more coordination than I have.

• The Jackie Chan Action Game is fun: You run down the street, dodge things in your way and jump over barriers. Ninjas come at you and you need to step on them to get them to disappear. It’s not very realistic because the Jackie doesn’t run faster when you jump faster on the mat, but it got my heart rate higher than when I was playing in the Fitness Mode. I really wanted to beat up those ninjas.

• It can be played by different people: You can log in yourself, input your weight, sex and other important information. It will track your exercise and calorie expenditure separately from anyone else who logs in. The Xavix that they had on display had profiles for over five people, so your entire family can track their progress and high scores.

The limitations of the J-Mat:

• No stretching to prevent soreness: Just like DDR, the primary exercise is stepping, which works your calf muscles intensely, but the cool down doesn’t stretch that muscle, it just has you stepping a little slower to cool down. Unless you stretch your calf muscles on your own, you’ll end up really sore.

• You have to play barefoot: To prevent the mat from breaking, you really should play it without shoes, but that can be hard on your feet.

• Wide stance: The shape of the J-Mat has you stretching your legs out to reach the two furthest pads. I’m pretty short, so reaching that far was a little difficult for me. I think it would be just as hard for kids to reach. Without a wide stance, some of the moves are a little difficult.

• The J-Mat is white and will get grimy after a while: These mats were all still very clean after two days of continuous play, but if they are anything like my DDR dance pads, they will get grimy very quickly.

On the whole, the J-Mat seemed like a lot of fun. I was able to get my heart range high enough for it to be a workout and I enjoyed playing the game. There was enough variation that it would take a while to get bored of the game. I especially liked fighting the ninjas.

• XaviX Website