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

This postcard showed up on PostSecret this weekend. I originally thought that the numbers assigned to the forks represented dates, but then 0-6 isn’t a date. What do the numbers represent?

Because they are forks, I immediately thought that they represented disordered eating. What do you all think? What is the solution to the Three Forks Enigma?

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.

I was at the local health food restaurant the other day and I saw their sign that read, “Frittata of the Day.” I knew a frittata was some egg dish, but I didn’t really know anything else about it, so I decided to look it up. According to Wikipedia, a frittata is slightly different than an omelette.

A frittata is a type of Italian omelette that frequently features fillings such as meats, cheeses, and vegetables. Like a traditional French omelette, a frittata is prepared in a skillet. However, whereas an omelette is cooked on a stovetop and served folded, a frittata is first partially cooked on a stovetop but then finished under the grill (broiler) and served open-faced.

So all those years when I thought I was making an omelette, yeah, I was making an omelette. A frittata has an extra step in the broiler to brown the top. I love omelettes because they are so easy to make. Here’s my easiest recipe:

Ham and Cheese Omelette:

Ingredients:

• One egg
• 1 ounce of chopped ham (you can buy pre-chopped in the meat section)
• 1 ounce of cheddar cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Non-stick spray

Directions:

• Spray a pan with non-stick spray.
• Break the egg into the pan, add ham, salt and pepper.
• Mix vigorously with a fork.
• Sprinkle cheese on top. Do not mix again after this step.
• Turn the burner on Medium heat, cover and cook for three to five minutes.
• When the omelette looks like the picture, carefully fold it in half and serve.

Calories: approximately 250
WW Points: 5

This clip from Penn and Teller’s television show called Bullsh!t! talks about the obesity epidemic and how it isn’t much of an epidemic.

Paul Campos, the author of the book The Obesity Myth, talks about the myths about what is going on.

Myth 1: Weight is a good proxy for health: You can’t tell what’s going on with a person’s organs just by looking at them.

Myth 2: If you take a fat person and turn them into a thin person, you will improve their health.

Myth 3: We know how to produce significant long term weight loss.

Glenn Alan Gaesser, author of the book Big Fat Lies, talks about the dangers of constant dieting:

It is far more dangerous to ones health to be chronically yo-yoing up and down in weight on one diet after another than it would be to be a stable weight. Even if that happens to be heavier than the charts say you should weigh. Fat people who exercise regularly are better off healthwise and have lower mortality rates than people who don’t.

These issues are real and they aren’t going away quickly. The biggest problem is that we are being judged by our government and the insurance industry based on our weight. They have the right to raise our insurance premiums if we gain weight and are even pushing for the right to deny payment for illnesses that they consider weight related. The best thing we can do is work our hardest to get within their recommended ranges until the insanity of this country subsides and a more realistic approach is adopted.

When Super-Size Me came out, I had some major disagreements with the movie that I voiced here:

• Starling Fitness » Fast Food Nation the Movie

• Starling Fitness » Supersize Me Rebuttal

• Starling Fitness » Comment on Supersize Me Rebuttal

It looks like Tom Naughton had the same problems with the movie as I did and he made a movie to prove his point:

• FatHead The Movie Home Page

Here is their description of the movie:

Have you seen the news stories about the obesity epidemic? Did you see Super Size Me? Then guess what? … You’ve been fed a load of bologna. Comedian (and former health writer) Tom Naughton replies to the blame-McDonald’s crowd by losing weight on a fat-laden fast-food diet while demonstrating that nearly everything we’ve been told about obesity and healthy eating is wrong. Along with some delicious parody of Super Size Me Naughton serves up plenty of no-bologna facts that will stun most viewers, such as: The obesity “epidemic” has been wildly exaggerated by the CDC. People the government classifies as “overweight” have longer lifespans than people classified as “normal weight.” Having low cholesterol is unhealthy. Lowfat diets can lead to depression and type II diabetes. Saturated fat doesn’t cause heart disease — but sugars, starches and processed vegetable oils do.

You can see a trailer for the movie here:

You can see more clips from the movie at FatHead’s YouTube Channel or after the break. (more…)

Over the last couple of years, I’ve written a few entries about Valentine’s Day that I feel still apply today. You can see them here:

• Starling Fitness » Have a Healthy Valentine’s Day

• Starling Fitness » Valentine’s Breakfast In Bed

• Starling Fitness » Choose a Healthy Valentine’s Dinner

Valentine’s Day isn’t about the candy or the fancy dinner. It’s about the greeting cards. Focus on the greeting cards and forget about everything else. Here are some fun tips for creating your own Valentines Cards:

• Flickr: Retro Valentine’s Cards from valart2008

• Craftzine.com blog: ROUNDUP: Indie Valentine Cards

• yoonie-at-home: Say it sweet! Cute Valentines Cards to download

Instead of thinking about who is giving you attention, focus on giving cards to all the special people in your life. This holiday is about telling those you love that you love them. Do it today!

Every week, I’ll be giving you some direction for how to actually KEEP your New Year’s Resolution to lose weight or get more active. If you’re short on time, scroll down to the end and read “The Short Version” to get your weekly tips.

If you’re like a lot of people, you have given up on your New Year’s Resolutions, but are desperately trying to find SOMETHING that works. Somehow, you’ve found Starling Fitness. If this describes you, go back to New Year’s Resolutions: Week 1 and start from there.

If you have been faithfully following along since Week 1, this week is very much like last week.

Cut Your Intake By 100 Calories A Day

Your goal is to get to The USDA’s MyPyramid recommended daily calorie intake. If you complete their little questionaire, it will give you an idea of how many calories you should be eating every day. If you are still above that amount, then cut your intake by 100 calories a day.

If you are eating the right amount of calories every day, then keep it up. If you are eating LESS than the recommended amount, then increase your calories by adding healthy food. Never eat less than the USDA’s recommended daily calorie intake for your height and gender.

Save enough calories to eat two teaspoons of healthy oil each day

We talked last week about eating healthy oils. Increase your daily intake to two teaspoons. The USDA has a list of healthy oils that they recommend. My preferences are olive oil, flaxseed oil and sunflower oil. I don’t recommend just eating oil like medicine. Find a way to substitute healthy oils for other fats that you might use. How do I get my oils in? I cook with them and use them on salads. Sometimes I mix flaxseed oil with my cereal because I like the flavor of it.

Lean Proteins and Whole Grains

This week, manage your protein and “starches.” Choose lean meats with as little fat as possible. Choose whole grain breads and cereals over “white” bread. Choosing lean protein limits your fat intake and choosing whole grains increases your fiber intake. Both of these are supposed to be healthy. Once again, head over to the USDA’s MyPyramid to see the amounts recommended each day.

Plan One Non-Food Related Present Every Day

The longer you follow this program the more important it is to give yourself a non-food present every day. It will help you avoid the feeling of deprivation by finding non-food activities to nurture yourself. Since this is different for every person, think of some activities that you like to do. If you didn’t do this exercise, then go back to New Year’s Resolutions: Week 3 and work on finding out what these activities are for you.

Plan a non-food activity for yourself EVERY day and protect that time. It is your reward for eating healthy every day. You MUST reward yourself every day to stave off any feelings of deprivation that limiting your calories might cause.

Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day

One way to stay within your calorie range is to eat vegetables on a regular basis. You should be adding four to five 1/2 cup servings of fruits or veggies to your diet every day now. They are low in calories, provide essential vitamins and fiber and they keep you feeling full.

Save enough calories to eat two servings of dairy products each day

You need to make sure that you have enough calories saved up for two servings of dairy products every day. This is another healthy food to add to your diet. One cup of fat-free milk is approximately 110 calories. It’s probably your best option for adding calcium to your diet, so make sure you get two servings a day.

Increase Your Exercise

This week, I want you to increase your walking mileage to 2.0 miles five days a week. I want you to do it at the same time every day. If you want, you can increase your speed to really get yourself sweating, but if you end up sore the next day, you MUST slow down. It’s more important to exercise every day than to push yourself. Consistency is key. You need to learn the habit of exercising every day and that is WAY more important than going fast or covering a lot of miles.

If you are keeping track of your mileage, you can join us at Runner+ to track your miles and compete against other beginners.

Give Yourself Kudos

If you are still working toward your New Year’s Resolution, then you need to give yourself kudos. There are little boxes on the forms every day to give yourself a shiny sticker. Each day that you stay on the program, you need to acknowledge yourself and how good you are doing.

See you next week!

The Short Version:

• Reduce your daily caloric average by another 100 calories. Write down EVERYTHING you eat including measurements and calories.

• Choose lean protein and whole grains.

• Save enough calories to eat two teaspoons of healthy oil each day.

• Avoid the feeling of deprivation by finding non-food activities to nurture yourself EVERY day.

• Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day.

• Save enough calories to eat two servings of dairy products each day.

• Increase your mileage. Walk 2.0 miles five days this week. You are allowed to increase your speed to the point of sweating, but if you are sore the next day you MUST go slow again.

• Give yourself kudos for coming this far.

When I think of silly diets, the Grapefruit Diet comes to mind. I never went on the grapefruit diet, but I watched my weight obsessed friend try it and the funny little pills that they sold for it so long ago. Brie Cadman has a list of her top ten most ridiculous diets.

• The Top Ten Most Ridiculous Diets by Brie Cadman : DivineCaroline

The quick version is here:

• Dr. Siegal’s® Cookie Dietâ„¢
• The Subway Diet
• The Cereal Diet
• Cabbage Soup Diet
• Slim Fast
• Blood Type Diet
• Russian Air Force Diet
• The Three-Day Diet/Hot Dog Diet
• The Apple Cider Vinegar Diet
• The Writing Diet
• The Atkins Diet

There are remnants of some of these diet fads that remain. For example, the cabbage soup diet lives on at Weight Watchers with their zero point soup that you can eat for zero points. If you are low on points, you can just make up some of their cabbage soup and fill up on that.

I had never heard of the Russian Air Force Diet or the Writing Diet. I love Julia Cameron, but I never heard of her book, The Writing Diet: Write Yourself Right-Size. Honestly, I’ve been writing about my emotions every day in my personal journal for years. I truly believe that writing does help me, so this might be a good book for me to try in the future.

For now, I think I’ll try the “Putting Less Food In My Mouth” Diet. It has worked for me for a while.

Via: Digg – The Top Ten Most Ridiculous Diets

Sometimes getting all your fruits and vegetables eaten is a challenge and sometimes it’s easy and delicious. Take the recipe for microwave apples, for example.

Microwave Apples

• One apple (1 point)
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon (0 points)
• 1 packet of Splenda, Stevia, or Sweet N Low (if desired)

Total: 1 point

With a apple slicer, cut up an apple into bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle the apple pieces with cinnamon and sweetener (if desired). Cook in the microwave on high for two to three minutes.

Your house will smell like freshly baked apple pie and you will think you just ate some fresh apple pie as well. I used to make this on my break at work and all the engineers would come out of their offices to see where the yummy apple dessert was.

My favorite apples to do this with are Honeycrisp. I don’t care for Red Delicious, but I’m sure they would work with this as well. I’ve done this with Granny Smith, but they are so sour, not even a packet of Stevia can make them taste like apple pie.

Try this recipe out and tell me what you think.

Every week, I’ll be giving you some direction for how to actually KEEP your New Year’s Resolution to lose weight or get more active. If you’re short on time, scroll down to the end and read “The Short Version” to get your weekly tips.

If you’re like a lot of people, you have given up on your New Year’s Resolutions, but are desperately trying to find SOMETHING that works. Somehow, you’ve found Starling Fitness. If this describes you, go back to New Year’s Resolutions: Week 1 and start from there.

If you have been faithfully following along since Week 1, this week is very much like last week.

Cut Your Intake By 100 Calories A Day

Your goal is to get to The USDA’s MyPyramid recommended daily calorie intake. If you complete their little questionaire, it will give you an idea of how many calories you should be eating every day. If you are still above that amount, then cut your intake by 100 calories a day.

If you are eating the right amount of calories every day, then keep it up. If you are eating LESS than the recommended amount, then increase your calories by adding healthy food. Never eat less than the USDA’s recommended daily calorie intake for your height and gender.

Save enough calories to eat two teaspoons of healthy oil each day

We talked last week about eating healthy oils. Increase your daily intake to two teaspoons. The USDA has a list of healthy oils that they recommend. My preferences are olive oil, flaxseed oil and sunflower oil. I don’t recommend just eating oil like medicine. Find a way to substitute healthy oils for other fats that you might use. How do I get my oils in? I cook with them and use them on salads. Sometimes I mix flaxseed oil with my cereal because I like the flavor of it.

Lean Proteins and Whole Grains

This week, manage your protein and “starches.” Choose lean meats with as little fat as possible. Choose whole grain breads and cereals over “white” bread. Choosing lean protein limits your fat intake and choosing whole grains increases your fiber intake. Both of these are supposed to be healthy. Once again, head over to the USDA’s MyPyramid to see the amounts recommended each day.

Plan One Non-Food Related Present Every Day

The longer you follow this program the more important it is to give yourself a non-food present every day. It will help you avoid the feeling of deprivation by finding non-food activities to nurture yourself. Since this is different for every person, think of some activities that you like to do. If you didn’t do this exercise, then go back to New Year’s Resolutions: Week 3 and work on finding out what these activities are for you.

Plan a non-food activity for yourself EVERY day and protect that time. It is your reward for eating healthy every day. You MUST reward yourself every day to stave off any feelings of deprivation that limiting your calories might cause.

Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day

One way to stay within your calorie range is to eat vegetables on a regular basis. You should be adding four to five 1/2 cup servings of fruits or veggies to your diet every day now. They are low in calories, provide essential vitamins and fiber and they keep you feeling full.

Save enough calories to eat two servings of dairy products each day

You need to make sure that you have enough calories saved up for two servings of dairy products every day. This is another healthy food to add to your diet. One cup of fat-free milk is approximately 110 calories. It’s probably your best option for adding calcium to your diet, so make sure you get two servings a day.

Increase Your Exercise

This week, I want you to increase your walking mileage to 1.75 miles five days a week. I want you to do it at the same time every day. If you want, you can increase your speed to really get yourself sweating, but if you end up sore the next day, you MUST slow down. It’s more important to exercise every day than to push yourself. Consistency is key. You need to learn the habit of exercising every day and that is WAY more important than going fast or covering a lot of miles.

If you are keeping track of your mileage, you can join us at Runner+ to track your miles and compete against other beginners.

Give Yourself Kudos

If you are still working toward your New Year’s Resolution, then you need to give yourself kudos. There are little boxes on the forms every day to give yourself a shiny sticker. Each day that you stay on the program, you need to acknowledge yourself and how good you are doing.

See you next week!

The Short Version:

• Reduce your daily caloric average by another 100 calories. Write down EVERYTHING you eat including measurements and calories.

• Choose lean protein and whole grains.

• Save enough calories to eat two teaspoons of healthy oil each day.

• Avoid the feeling of deprivation by finding non-food activities to nurture yourself EVERY day.

• Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day.

• Save enough calories to eat two servings of dairy products each day.

• Increase your mileage. Walk 1.75 miles five days this week. You are allowed to increase your speed to the point of sweating, but if you are sore the next day you MUST go slow again.

• Give yourself kudos for coming this far.

These billboards have shown up all over my town. Can I just say that it has taken me over a month to realize that it’s advertising a government website that is supposed to help you lose weight? Heck, it took me over a month to realized that it’s a picture of a belly with a valve like a beach ball. I guess following the plan on smallstep.gov will help “deflate” your gut.

I checked out the website and almost everything they recommend is a really good idea.

• Smallstep

There are a bunch of recipes there, a list of 100 steps you can take to live a healthier life, and resources you can turn to if you need to lose weight.

I know a bunch of people worked really hard on this website, but I have my doubts about how helpful it will be. For example, their page about portion control is a huge block of text, when a few pictures would be so much more helpful.

• Smallstep – Portion Control

A photo of what a serving of rice should look live versus what I am usually served at a restaurant is far more helpful than talking to me about limiting my portion sizes. Give me useful information, don’t preach at me.

If you need a link to the US Department of Health and Human Services, then Smallstep has your back. If you really need to lose weight, you are going to have to dig a little.