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

Kirstie Alley has had a very visible weight reduction using Jenny Craig. She recently went on Oprah Winfrey’s show and was willing to wear a bikini for the cameras. She actually looks amazing and I find her bravado inspiring.

Whether Jenny Craig is any better than eating whole, fresh food in moderate portions is another story, but kudos to Kirstie for being willing to show off her newly toned body.

I don’t like to give bad reviews. I prefer to find something else positive to talk about instead. There is so much to write about, you really don’t need to hear me talking negatively about a product that is trying to do some good in the world and just doesn’t do it good enough for me.

When I see articles like this, however, I want to scream to the whole world:

• Dieters skip doctors, turn to ‘magical thinking’ – Diet & Nutrition – MSNBC.com

This article talks about a survey with startling statistics:

“70 percent of Americans who are trying to lose weight are following their own diet plans and have no interest in seeking a doctor’s help.”

I can understand that. I have received HORRIBLE advice from general practitioners about diet and nutrition, so I can see why most of us are trying our own diet plan. This statistic surprised me, though.

“One-third have tried dietary supplements of unproven benefit — pills and powders that promise to burn fat, boost metabolism or melt pounds without the sweaty hard work of exercise or the discipline and deprivation of diets.”

One-third?! Thirty-three percent?! Even if it was ten percent, that would be far too many people trying products that have no proven benefit. No matter what they promise you, don’t spend your money on that junk. One-third is a HUGE amount of people! Even if each person only spent a dollar, it would amount to 100 million bucks! No wonder my email box is filled with spam trying to promise me magical weight loss! No wonder Starling Fitness comments are regularly vandalized by comment spam trying to get YOU to buy magical weight loss! Even if only 33% of you respond, that’s a major profit.

Don’t do it!

I know you’re tempted right now. Halloween just passed us by and Thanksgiving is right around the corner. After that, there is the month-long binge of Christmas to survive. Buying a bottle of pills that promise to boost your metabolism or burn fat while you sleep is really enticing, but don’t do it. Eating healthy during this time of the year is the best Christmas present you can give yourself. Plan for it now and you’ll be able to afford it by then.

Via: Integral Options Cafe

Hi Laura,

Have you noticed this problem when running with the Nano Nike+ Sensor on your treadmill?

Support Forums : Treadmills …

Hope all is well.
Shiny Penny

Shiny Penny,

Yeah, I mentioned that it doesn’t match perfectly to my treadmill or even the Google Pedometer readings. The thing is, I’m not worried about being THAT exact. I just want an estimate of my workout. Sometimes I think I obsess over the measuring of things instead of just doing the workout.

Thanks for the link to the forum, though. If other people have questions, they can see more info there.

Thanks again,
Laura

Remember those? I bet you had some weight loss or healthy living resolutions back in January. What did you do with them? Did you write them down? Did you leave a comment on a forum, a message board, or maybe even here at Starling Fitness? Were they just a passing thought?

Whatever they were, either find what you wrote down or try to remember what went through your head.

How are you doing?

Have you met any of your New Year’s Resolutions? If you did, which ones?

If you haven’t met your New Year’s Resolutions, how close are you? Did you backslide or are you pretty near your goal?

You’re lucky. You still have two months until that clock strikes midnight again. You have two months to get to that goal and really feel good about yourself. Don’t waste another second and get working on last year’s New Year’s Resolutions NOW!

The Question of the Week is meant to be an Inner Workout for you. Find some time during the week and allow yourself to write the answers to the questions posted. You can write them on paper, on a word processor or here in the comments section. Whatever works for you as long as you do it.

Keep writing until you find out something about yourself that you didn’t know before. I’ve also heard that it works to keep writing until you cry, but that doesn’t really work for me. Whatever works for you. Just keep writing until it feels right.

I always have two voices in my head. One that comments on my weight and how I need to be leaner and stronger. The other one that says that I never want to get an eating disorder like my friends in high school did. Somehow, the second voice never realizes that bingeing WITHOUT purging is still an eating disorder. All she remembers are her thin friends vomiting in the toilet.

This article by Ariel M. Stallings also deals with two voices in the author’s head. One voice wants to avoid doing anything that strengthens the patriarchy and another noticed that her frame was holding a little too much bulk. It’s a great read.

• AlterNet: Is Dieting Anti-Feminist? by Ariel M. Stallings

She also dealt with friends with eating disorders in her teen years:

“I felt like it was my job to be the one who held down the fort of healthy eating, setting a good example for women who were crushed under the thumb of eating disorders and weight issues.

“In my mind, the only way to fight eating disorders and the all-too-common feminine weight neurosis was not to think about food or weight at all … I ate HEALTHY food, but the thought “maybe I should eat less” always felt like it was just around the corner from some sort of Karen Carpenter nightmare, where I suddenly became a neurotic starving skeleton with amenorrhea. But still, I desperately wanted to loose the extra poundage, at least so I’d feel as healthy as I was supposedly being.”

In the end, she lost the weight and realized that it’s possible to be a feminist AND eat healthy.

“Women and food are big issues in this culture. I’ve tried to tip-toe through the minefield as carefully as possible, and I’ve had some great help from my mother and the women around me who’ve done everything to help me love my body … and it’s been my goal to deal with the process of losing weight in a positive, self-affirming, self-loving way. No deprivation or punishment but a pro-active approach toward my own health. It’s been good.”

What voices are talking in your head? What are they saying about weight loss, feminism and eating disorders? If you listen to your own thoughts and take the time to write them down, you just may make your road to eating healthy a little easier.

Via: Big Fat Blog: Dieting and Feminism

Laura,

I find your informations to be informative but I must ask, How do I stop the cravings for fatty foods and quick meat that has been processed. I live on a budget and do not have alot to choose from. It appears that prices are not fixed when it comes to fresh foods at my grocery store. I am wheelchair bound and it is difficult for me to cook meals constantly,not to mention that I am the worst cook ever. Can you tell me what is the best foods that I can afford and stay healthy doing it?

Ed

Ed,

You’re right fresh veggies and fruit are more expensive in the winter than they are in the summer, but compared to a frozen dinner, they are pretty inexpensive. You don’t have to be a good cook to cut up fresh veggies and eat them raw. That is what I do for most of my snacks throughout the day. Fresh apples, nectarines, pears, oranges, green peppers, carrots and celery are the best to choose from during the winter. I would avoid cucumbers and zuchinni. They tend to be small, shriveled and expensive this time of year.

As far as stoping cravings for fatty foods, I don’t really know what to tell you. I’ve found that my cravings have NOTHING to do with food and everything to do with my emotions. My binges are spurred by what I am feeling. Getting to the bottom of my feelings really helps, so I end up writing in my journal when I feel like eating food that I know isn’t healthy for me.

Choosing healthy options might not be the easiest thing to do. If it was easy, we all would be bastions of health. Choose to go to the extra effort. Choose life.

Good luck,
Laura Moncur

What is your favorite Thanksgiving food? Is it the pumpkin pie? The turkey? The stuffing? The mashed potatoes? That weird green bean casserole with the french fried onions on top?

Whatever it is, start eating it NOW.

If your mouth is watering at the thought of turkey and stuffing, make a turkey with stuffing this week. The fact that you even have a favorite Thanksgiving food may be the reason that you end up going overboard on Thanksgiving. The idea that food is scarce has caused some of my worst binges. Food that you can only have once a year is the definition of scarcity.

So, give yourself permission to have Thanksgiving food now, in April and even in July. Cooking a turkey several times a year will prevent the gorging that is typical on Thanksgiving. Suddenly, it’s just another meal instead of a once a year event.

Whatever your favorite Thanksgiving food is, your homework assignment this week is to have it now.

Now that we have entered the dark months, it is imperative that you prevent The Invisible Pedestrian Syndrome when you are out walking or running for your exercise. There have been so many times that the only reason I was able to see the pedestrian jaywalking across the street is because their dark clothes blocked out the headlights of the oncoming traffic.

Wendy has some gear for keeping yourself very visible this season:

• About.com – Night Walking Fun Gear – by Wendy Bumgardner

Here are some tips that don’t cost much:

• Wear light colored clothing: I know that black sweat suit is much more fashionable than white or powder blue, but it makes you INVISIBLE in the dark.

• Try reflective tape: You can buy reflective tape at the hardware store and tape a few bars across your back, down your arms and across your chest. It won’t wash well, but if you only wash your coat once a year, it should last the season.

• Carry a flashlight: Carry it in the hand that is closest to the street, so that the cars can see you from further away. It isn’t so you can see so much as to make you more visible.

Be safe during these dark months. No one wants to get hit by a car during their workout. Just taking a few precautions can keep you from getting injured.

Even though you know that you live in a neighborhood that doesn’t get many trick-or-treaters, you bought a few bags of candy. Not just normal candy, but your favorites. Now, you are sitting in a house full of individual servings of your favorite candy still sitting in a bowl, enticing you. I’m going to tell you what no other person would tell you.

Don’t throw it away.

Yep, don’t throw it away. If it was just candy that you didn’t like, I would happily tell you to take it to work and leave it in the breakroom for the people who don’t need to watch their weight, but because you bought your favorites “for the kids,” I’m telling you to keep it.

You bought that candy for a reason and you need to figure out what that reason is.

Have you been restricting your diet so much that tiny bars of your favorite candy were irresistible?

If you have been, KEEP the candy. Figure out the calorie counts for a couple of servings a day and make sure you include them in your diet. Plan for 150-200 calories a day of your favorite candy. If you keep restricting this food from your diet, you’ll end up with a HUGE binge that could end your dedication to eating healthy. Allowing yourself a small bit of your favorite candy every day is how to avoid the real binge.

Has it gone too far? Do you want to binge?

If you do, it’s NOT about the candy. Find out what spurred this desire to binge. What are you avoiding? What have you been sweeping under the rug of your consciousness? Get it out and suddenly that candy won’t have as much power over you.

Leftover Halloween candy is an amazing opportunity.

You have the chance to learn more about your own eating habits. Find out what you have been avoiding or make sure your diet hasn’t become lifeless. Whatever the temptation, you can master it, either by allowing a small portion every day or working through the problems that make you turn to food.