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

Fitness Magazine provided me with a complimentary subscription in exchange for a monthly review of their magazine.

The November/December cover, however, looks strangely out of place. It’s WINTER, folks! Show a trim and beautiful girl in a snowsuit. Those sun-kissed locks and swimming trunks just feel wrong when we are feeling the winter chill. Working out in the snow is just as photogenic. I KNOW you folks understand cold and snow. You’re stationed in New York, for heaven’s sake!

Cover art aside, this month’s issue seemed to be all about shopping. I know Christmas is coming, so it’s nice to have lots of present ideas at your fingertips, but I’m just not that much of a shopper, so over a dozen pages were lost on me. They just looked like huge chunks of advertising.

The GOOD stuff, however, was really good! They tested the Skineez Thigh Slimming products and gave us their verdict. Did they help her lose inches on her thighs?

“Nope, after six weeks, my thighs are the same size, but I have to admit that they look smoother.”

I talked about Skineez back in January when they won the Slim Chance Award for Fraud and Quackery.

• Starling Fitness » Slim Chance Awards 2008: Skineez

It’s good to see that Fitness Magazine was independently able to determine that it’s not worth your money to buy Skineez.

I absolutely loved this quick little article about hiking. Mount Hood is one of my favorite spots for hiking and getting away from everything. It was there that I got the inspiration for Merriton and my Wildwood Walking DVD was filmed in that area. The long walks clear my head and make writing easy again. It’s a workout for my body and my mind.

This article about losing weight during the holiday season was wonderful advice. There were tips to keep away from the food court at the mall and some instant motivation to choose a “nice” treat instead of a “naughty” one.

I wrote a similar group of entries. You can read them here:

• Starling Fitness » Surviving Christmas Shopping

• Starling Fitness » Christmas Shopping: The Workout

• Starling Fitness » How To Survive Christmas in the Office

• Starling Fitness » How To Handle Neighbor Treats

Pick up the Nov/Dec 2009 Fitness Magazine and check out what they have to offer. If your motivation is flagging in response to the holiday season, it’s the perfect pick-me-up to keep you on track for the next couple of months.

This 1968 ad from Sugar Information, Inc. is laughable.

It reads:

Tucked away in your brain is a hunger switch. It’s called an “appestat.” It helps control the amount you eat. Sugar can help you switch your appestat from “on” to “off.” Read more about sugar and weight control.

Everyone knows sugar contains calories. So it’s hard to think of sugar as a big help in weight control, yet that’s exactly what sugar can be.

When your blood sugar level is low, your appestat is tuned up and you’re hungry. (Probably tired, too) Just a small amount of sugar, in a soft drink, candy, coffee, or tea, will turn your appestat down. Then you’re not so apt to overeat, and overeating is really what makes you fat.

In addition to helping with weight control, sugar does other good things. For one, it gives you quick energy. Sugar is all energy, and is taken into your blood stream faster than any other food. So when sugar turns your appestat “off” you might say it “turns you on.” Artificial sweeteners don’t affect your appestat and have no energy value. Also, sugar tastes good, and so do foods made with sugar. Stay with sugar. Sugar’s got what it takes!

Before you think this ad was an isolated incident, know that this was just one of an entire marketing campaign. Here are two other examples:

• 1956 Importance of Sugar Report Vintage Print Ad

• A message from Sugar Information, Inc. — “She needs sugar in her life.” – Boing Boing

I don’t know who financed the Sugar Information, Inc. marketing campaign, but I have a sneaking suspicion it might have been people who SELL sugar. I doubt any doctors had anything to do with this information.

Sugar DOES affect my hunger. Unfortunately, simple sugars like the white sugar shown in the ad, cause a rebound effect. After I’ve eaten something loaded with sugar, I tend to want MORE sugar after about a half hour. I’ve noticed the same effect with artificial sweeteners as well.

I do much better with sugars found in fruit. I can eat an apple and be satiated for a couple of hours, but if I just swallowed a spoonful of the same amount of sugar that you find in an apple, I’m still hungry. It’s not the sugar that makes me feel full, it’s all the bulky stuff in the apple. Fiber and water satiate my appetite FAR more than sugar ever has.

What we see here is a clear example of marketing posing as health information. We see that a lot, even today. Remember that idea that 2-3 servings of milk every day help with weight loss? The study was sponsored by the Dairy Council and has never been repeated with the same results. And that three apples a day diet? Yeah, that was sponsored by the Washington Apple Growers Association.

The most important thing that we need to do when marketing is stronger than science is find what works for us. When you find a diet that makes you feel good, keeps your weight at a healthy level and leaves you with energy to spare, stick to it. You don’t need Sugar Information, Inc. to tell you what you should eat.

Advertisement via: vintage_ads: Sugar Information, Inc.

I love this comic from Sheldon.

It reads:

How to Eat Chicken

If you grew up rich: Separate out the savory cuts from any indelicates (cartilage, arteries, veins, skin, etc.).

If you grew up poor: Plow right on in to the awesomeness (stopping only if you hit something truly nasty).

I grew up middle class, but I was starved as a child, so the “grew up poor” rules apply to me. I don’t know how to grow beyond my upbringing, but I would love to be the kind of person who can just casually eat chicken with a fork, separating the yummy bits from the gross bits instead of attacking my food like a concentration camp victim.

Fitness Magazine provided me with a complimentary subscription in exchange for a monthly review of their magazine. I haven’t bought a health or fitness magazine for a LONG time because all the stories seem like a rehash of stuff they wrote last month. Honestly, there are only so many ways to write eat less and exercise more and sometimes I get sick of reading it over and over. So, this month’s magazine actually seemed fresh to me because I hadn’t read this kind of magazine in a long time.

They grabbed me right from the beginning with their Reader Success Secrets. Unfortunately, I was unable to find them online, but the stories were inspiring for me to read.

Even more compelling, however, was the ad for the LunarGlide+ Nike shoes on the opposing page. Unless I look for them, I rarely see advertisements on the Internet. I hadn’t heard of these new shoes, despite the fact that I visit the Nike+ website EVERY day. That surprised me and I’m smiling at that fact that I enjoyed the ADVERTISEMENTS in Fitness Magazine more than the articles.

This article, called Souped Up, was wonderful inspiration for me to cook. Usually, I don’t want to eat something unless I can see it. The fact that they had a photo for EVERY recipe was enough to make me want to cook some food. The included nutrition facts after each one was an extra bonus that made me feel completely at ease with going to the trouble of cooking these healthy meals.

The photos of the soups on the website aren’t nearly as pretty as they were in the magazine. I actually tore out the pages and added them to my cookbook for inspiration next time I want to cook.

Finally, I was so motivated by this story about Kristin Armstrong. She was training to be an Olympic Triathlete, but osteoarthritis got in her way. Instead of giving up, she focused on cycling and won the gold medal in the Beijing Olympics.

I can read almost the whole magazine on the Internet, but having the magazine at my kitchen table was a great reminder to eat healthy. I think I’m going to like receiving it every month and I’m looking forward to the November issue!

Last month, those of the Islamic faith observed Ramadan. It’s a month-long fast during the day. Instead of eating throughout the day, you are only allowed to eat after sunset. You are also supposed to refrain from sex, speaking ill of others, using profane language and smoking during those hours. The practice is supposed to lead to a heightened sense of spirituality and aid the practice of self-restraint.

This year, an AppleGeeks Lite character was following the practice with predictable results:

I’ve talked about Ramadan before:

• Starling Fitness » Ramadan Starts Tomorrow

Limiting your diet can have two effects on people:

• It can give you a sense of control: When I am able to fast an entire day, it reminds me that I am in control of what goes into my mouth, not the beast within.
• It can make you lose control: Other times, denying myself spawns a binge that will last far longer than the fast did.

I’ve found that limiting my diet is far more harmful than helpful to me, but there are others who feel a sense of empowerment from a short fast (whether for religious reasons or health reasons). The next time you’re planning on going on a fast, take into account what your eating personality is and how this will affect you in the long run.

“Delays Expected”

That phrase is usually means bad things. Suddenly, you’re worried about being late for work or unable to complete your chores. Whenever I hear the word “delay” it has SUCH a negative connotation that I want to avoid whatever it is.

Delayed gratification, however, is supposed to be a GOOD thing. People who can delay gratification are far more successful than those who never learned that skill. I talked about it here:

• Starling Fitness » Don’t Eat The Marshmallow

That’s all well and good, but HOW do we learn how to delay gratification? The definition of it seems pretty self-explanatory: taking an action NOW that will cause a desired result LATER. If it were as easy as it sounds, then we would all be incredibly fit and eat only healthy food.

The important thing to remember is that this is DELAYED gratification, not NO gratification. Here are the techniques that I’ve used to focus on what I will achieve in exchange.

Be CLEAR About What You Want

It’s really hard to say no to that cake or pizza when it’s right there in your face. When you can smell the frosting or melted cheese, you have to have a CLEAR picture of what your final goal will be like in order to bypass it. One way to do that is making a photo of yourself when you’re at goal. I’ve talked about this before:

• Starling Fitness » The Digital Diet

• Starling Fitness » Face Swapping with Photoshop

Being able to SEE what I’ll look like if I just say no to another slice of pizza is really helpful. I keep a copy of the photo on my iPhone ALL the time just to keep myself focused on what I want.

Make A Mantra

Sometimes it helps me to have a phrase that I repeat to myself. For me, the mantra that has worked the best for me is:

“I’m in control, not the food.”

Of course, that phrase hasn’t always been my mantra. I used to use the quote from Winston Churchill.

“It’s not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what’s required.”

Mantras are VERY personal things, so you’ll have to choose one of your own, but here are a few to give you some ideas.

• Starling Fitness – Quote of the Month

Give Yourself Mini-Gratifications

Maybe if you only have ten pounds to lose, you can focus solely on your final goal, but if your goal is a big one, you need to have several pit stops along the way so that you don’t feel like you have had no positive reinforcement for months.

If your goal is a weight goal, you can give yourself presents for every few pounds lost. If your goal is a fitness goal, you can reward yourself for every speed record or distance you’ve achieved. Whatever your goal, you MUST give yourself mini-gratifications to keep the beast within you feeling placated.

You Have To DO It!

There is a famous story about Jim Carrey.

“I wrote myself a check for ten million dollars for acting services rendered and dated it Thanksgiving 1995. I put it in my wallet and it deteriorated. And then, just before Thanksgiving 1995, I found out I was going to make ten million dollars for Dumb & Dumber. I put that check in the casket with my father because it was our dream together.”

Hardly anyone talks about the corollary to the story, however.

“I would visualize things coming to me. It would just make me feel better. Visualization works if you work hard. That’s the thing. You can’t just visualize and go eat a sandwich.”

You can’t just make plans, visualize yourself at goal, and repeat mantras. You have to actually DO what you need to do to get to your goal. Whether that means eating healthier food or getting your butt out of bed an hour earlier every morning to exercise. Whatever you need to do, you have to DO it!

In the end, delaying gratification is THE KEY to getting to a healthy weight and fitness level. Putting off the tasty treats and luxury of sleeping in is what differentiates those that get to their goals and those that dream about them. It’s a skill that needs just as much practice as learning to play a game or how to cook a healthy meal, but when you take the time to learn that skill, you’ll profit from it far more than you can imagine!

Jere Keyes has been working hard for the last 16 weeks and has gone from 217 lbs. to 191 lbs.

• Now with 10% less of me | Blind Prophecy

He has done an incredible job of working out consistently. Here is a photo of his workout schedule.

When I read about his consistency, I was so impressed with how well he has done, especially when tempted with a birthday cake like this less than a week before:

If I found myself in front of a beautiful cake like this, I would have trouble eating it and even more trouble NOT eating it. I would have been paralyzed with indecision or acquiesce to a binge. Instead, they had a cake fight. You can read about it here.

• Green Frosting Stains | Blind Prophecy

The next time you are confronted with a beautiful dessert or savory treat, remember Jere and how his devotion to fitness really paid off. You are in control, not the food!

While we were out at yard sales last weekend, we found this great can that used to have MSG (or monosodium Glutamate) in it. It was actually from the famous Ajinomoto Corporation of Japan, who patented MSG in 1909. MSG is a flavor enhancer, so it can make boring food taste really good. Sounds like a dieter’s dream, right? If you’re eating bland food, it can taste wonderful if you sprinkle on some magical MSG.

Unfortunately, many people have reported that MSG is bad for them. Is it something you should avoid?

• Monosodium glutamate – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

MSG as a food ingredient has been the subject of health studies. A report from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) compiled in 1995 on behalf of the FDA concluded that MSG was safe for most people when “eaten at customary levels.” However, it also said that, based on anecdotal reports, some people may have an MSG intolerance which causes “MSG symptom complex” — commonly referred to as Chinese restaurant syndrome — and/or a worsening of asthmatic symptoms.

Subsequent research found that while large doses of MSG given without food may elicit more symptoms than a placebo in individuals who believe that they react adversely to MSG, the frequency of the responses was low and the responses reported were inconsistent, not reproducible, and were not observed when MSG was given with food. Review of Alleged Reaction to Monosodium Glutamate and Outcome of a Multicenter Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Study — Journal of Nutrition

While many people believe that MSG is the cause of these symptoms, a statistical association has not been demonstrated under controlled conditions, even in studies with people who were convinced that they were sensitive to it. Adequately controlling for experimental bias includes a placebo-controlled double-blinded experimental design and the application in capsules because of the strong and unique after-taste of glutamates. ScienceDirect – Food and Chemical Toxicology : Monosodium L-glutamate: A double-blind study and review

So, for most people, MSG isn’t a problem. If that’s the case, why can’t you just buy it in any grocery store? Well, you CAN. MSG is an ingredient in MANY spices on the market today. It is hidden under different names because so many people have been scared of MSG for no scientific reason. You can find MSG hiding under the following names:

• Monosodium Glutamate
• Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein
• Hydrolyzed Protein
• Hydrolyzed Plant Protein
• Plant Protein Extract
• Sodium Caseinate
• Calcium Caseinate
• Yeast Extract
• Textured Protein
• Autolyzed Yeast
• Hydrolyzed Oat Flour
• Malt extract
• Bouillon
• Broth
• Stock
• Flavoring
• Natural Flavoring
• Natural Beef or Chicken Flavoring
• Seasoning
• Spices
• Carrageenan
• Enzymes
• Soy Protein Concentrate
• Soy Protein Isolate
• Whey Protein Concentrate

If you would like to make your food taste a little better and you know that you have no sensitivity to MSG, you can buy it in the grocery store or at Amazon.com:

• MSG FRESHLY PACKED IN LARGE JARS at Amazon.com

My new favorite find from the farmer’s market this weekend are Armenian Cucumbers.

Never bitter, you don’t have to peel these cucumbers. All you have to do is wash them thoroughly and slice them for beautiful cucumber chips with naturally scalloped edges.

I’ve been eating them in wraps with Flat Out flatbread and Laughing Cow cheese (both in the Light versions).

First, I lightly toast the Flat Out in my toaster oven. While it’s still warm, I spread one wedge of Laughing Cow cheese. I really like the garlic flavor.

Then, I put about a half a cup of cucumber slices on the flatbread. I want at least one serving of vegetables. You don’t have to use cucumbers, either. You can used any vegetables, either grilled or fresh.

After I put in the veggies, I wrap it up. The flatbread is usually a little stiff from being toasted. If you prefer your flatbread softer, then skip toasting it.

I count this whole wrap as only two points (0 points for the veggies, 1.2 points for the flatbread and .8 points for the cheese), so you can have a REALLY filling meal for only a couple of points.

ENJOY!

Summer and Fall are the seasons for farmer’s markets. They are the perfect places to buy fresh veggies and fruit at lower prices. Mike and I went to the South Jordan Farmer’s Market last weekend and found a bunch of goodies. You can see them all here:

I’ve talked about farmer’s markets before. You can get some great tips here:

• Starling Fitness » Farmer’s Market Season

Find a farmer’s market in your area:

• AMS at USDA – Farmers Markets Query Page