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

The biggest problem with patients with Anorexia Nervosa is relapse. They don’t seem to bond with their therapists and don’t do what their therapists suggest. Dr. Nancy Zucker wanted to know why:

• || DukeMedNews || Socialization May Be Key to New Treatment for Anorexia Nervosa

After combing through the literature, she discovered evidence that people with anorexia nervosa often have difficulty reading the emotions of others, and are often anxious in social situations. Published research also demonstrated a link between social dysfunction and poor treatment response.

“The research shows their relationship difficulties are not just a scar of the disease,” she says. “There is evidence that the social challenges predate their anorexia, and persist after they recover.”

According to Treatment Online, there’s hope:

• Researchers Examine Social Interactions in Anorexia Nervosa

Where Dr. Zucker’s efforts will come into play is in longer term treatment. The outlook for anorexia can be poor. Even those who succeed with treatment will tend to stay thin and continue to be preoccupied with food. While all treatments strive to address the psychological underpinnings that motivate the negative behaviors, a greater understanding of the interpersonal difficulties of those with anorexia could lead to more effective treatments of this variety.

Remember a couple of years ago when researchers found the shocking discovery that people who are overweight have a lower death rate than people who are underweight, normal weight or obese? The data has been analyzed, verified and quantified and it’s true.

• Causes of Death Are Linked to a Person’s Weight – New York Times

If you’re more likely to live longer by being a little overweight, is there any reason to eat healthy and exercise? YES.

Dr. Mitchell Gail, a cancer institute scientist and an author of the paper, had some advice, which, he said, is his personal opinion as a physician and researcher: “If you are in the pink and feeling well and getting a good amount of exercise and if your doctor is very happy with your lab values and other test results, then I am not sure there is any urgency to change your weight.”

Keep up the good work and know that you’ll live happier by taking care of yourself.

Via: A group of federal researchers reports that there were 100,000… (kottke.org)

I can tell you the exact day I got black toenail. It was December 20th, 2006. Even though my nails are still a little damaged from that day, I can tell you that they are finally healed. Yes, it took TEN months for my nails to grow back. I spent all summer with ugly feet because I didn’t SLOWLY increase my mileage.

I went from doing one or two miles a day up to doing five and ten miles a day. I figured that since my muscles could handle it, there was no problem, right? Wrong. The weakest link was my toenails and I paid for it for ten months. Fortunately, it didn’t hurt more than a few weeks of that time and when they grew back, they look just like they did before.

Don’t be stupid like me. Take care of yourself. Slowly increase your mileage to protect your muscles, your joints AND your toenails.

I’m just so glad to have my normal feet back! I feel like celebrating!

Previous Entries:

• Starling Fitness » Black Toenail

• Starling Fitness » How I Treated My Black Toenail

• Starling Fitness » Black Toenails: Final Update

• Starling Fitness » Black Toenail: Biggest Fear

I feel a certain companionship with anorexics. I have never been able to starve myself, but I feel like there is some connection between anorexia and bingeing disorders. Recent research shows that anorexics don’t react to sugar the way “normal” people do.

• Anorexics May Have Altered Sense of Taste

While the view of anorexia as an addiction is intriguing, there are other possible physiological explanations for the disorder. Dr. Angela Wagner performed an experiment to study the reactions of 16 recovered anorexics to sugar. Recovered anorexics were chosen to avoid the confounding psychological factors that might be present in still-struggling subjects. Recovered anorexics took the sweet drink without protest, but an MRI revealed that while their behavior may have returned to normal, their brains have not. Compared to the control subjects, there was much less activation of the insular cortex, especially the primary cortical taste region. This suggests the possibility that rather than missing meals to feel high, anorexics don’t eat because they simply find normally pleasant tastes less appealing.

If anorexics don’t find food as appealing as “normal” people, then could it be possible that I find it MORE appealing? This seems like very important research, but the sample size of sixteen participants is so small that I can’t really trust the conclusions.

I’m hoping for more research along these lines.

What do you think? Do we overeat because food just tastes better to us?

SLB+ and I have run many challenges together on Nike+. I had noticed that his mileage had dropped and then he stopped running altogether. Finally, I know why now:

• Quadrathon: The Road to Recovery…Pt 1

“I had a long consult with my Physical Therapist on Monday; essentially I have; through running with insufficient cross training, unbalanced my quadriceps with my hamstrings. My IT Band is so tight it is pulling my kneecap off alignment by about 40 degrees.”

The race he was going to participate in is on hold, but he still has hope for one in October. He has decided to focus on riding his bikes until he is in better health.

It’s times like these when I wish the Nike+ worked with bicycles, because then SLB+ could still participate in the challenges.

You know how you work out in the gym and eat healthy every day and it takes you twice as long to get thin as your “naturally” thin friend? It’s not all in your head.

• ‘Fat’ gene found by scientists-News-UK-Health-TimesOnline

“People who inherit one version of the gene rather than another are 70 per cent more likely to be obese, British scientists have discovered. One in six people has the most vulnerable genetic make-up and weighs an average 3kg more than those with the lowest risk. They also have 15 per cent more body fat.”

So, why diet? If I’m just destined to be fat because of my genes, why should I suffer more than the normal person just to look normal?

Because it will probably save my life. An extra five years or so sounds really nice. If all I have to do is eat healthy food and move my body once a day, it’s worth it.

Based on this article, they might even solve the genetic problem:

If the biological function of the gene, known as FTO, can now be understood, it could become possible to design drugs that manipulate it to help people to control their weight. “Even though we have yet to fully understand the role played by the FTO gene in obesity, our findings are a source of great excitement,” Mark McCarthy, of the University of Oxford, who led the research, said.

“By identifying this genetic link it should be possible to improve our understanding of why some people are more obese, with all the associated implications such as increased risk of diabetes and heart disease. New insights will hopefully pave the way for us to explore novel ways of treating this condition.”

All I can say is don’t be the first in line for these miracle cures. You don’t want to be the guinea pig in the race to “cure” obesity.

Via: Blind Prophecy 2.0 – Is this why two years of regular gym workouts and dieting have had limited results?

While I am researching for Starling Fitness, I read a number of weblogs. They give me ideas. They tell me about the news. They inspire me to keep fit. If you were wondering what I read every day, here is my list of weblogs I read. Just to be fair these are in alphabetical order:

• Accidental Hedonist: This weblog is about eating well. Every once and a while they’ll have a health or obesity entry, but mostly it’s about food.

• Complete Running Network » Where Passion Runs Deep: I would like to say that this is a great weblog for people who like running, but it isn’t. They tend to go overboard on their recommendations and idolize people who push themselves to the point of exhaustion. I get a little bit of inspiration here, but it’s hard to wade through all the entries to find it.

• food museum blog: Another weblog about food and eating well. I get some good information about food safety and such here.

• Health-Hack.com | Health News and Tips For Computer Users and Abusers: There is some good stuff here. They also have a podcast if you like listening to your health and fitness news.

• Health Hacks | Healthacker.comThis is a different weblog about health issues. Every once and a while, I find something good here. Usually, it’s just an echo chamber, but if I didn’t hear the original call, the echo helps me.

• A Passion for Running: I don’t always agree with Mark, but I do enjoy reading his website. He is a barefoot runner who has recently overcome an injury and changed his running style from striking with the heel to landing on the ball of his foot. He hopes to see if this change in stride will improve his running times. I get inspired (or worried) every time I read his entries.

• Rudd Sound Bites: Whenever I take the time to read Rudd Sound Bites, I usually am rewarded with something entirely different. That’s the beauty of a weblog like this one. It’s pretty unique.

• Slashfood: This website is all about food in the most decadent sense. If you are going to spend your calories, do it on food that is REALLY good. Don’t waste it on junk. This website gives you an idea of what good food is.

• SupersizedMeals.com – Foodstuffs of Epic Proportions: Yet ANOTHER weblog about food. The large meals, super-sized creations and strange fair food that make me disgusted and curious at the same time.

• That’s Fit: This is a weblog that is pumped out by several people posting several times a day. It’s easy to just get buried under the weight of this weblog. Sadly, it would be a great place to turn to if it were comprehensive, but they miss out on some of the coolest things every time. I scan the headlines to see if there is anything interesting. Usually there isn’t and I wasted a couple of minutes loading up fifty entries a day on my blog reader.

• Treatment Online – Anxiety, Addiction and Depression Treatments: This is where I find out more information on eating disorders like anorexia, bulimia and binge-eating. They also cover a wide variety of other subjects.

• A Veggie Venture: This weblog is about inventive ways to add vegetables to your life.

• About.com – Walking for Fitness – by Wendy Bumgardner: If you didn’t know that I LOVE this weblog, you haven’t been paying attention. Some of the best thoughts about fitness come from this weblog. Kudos to Wendy!

After looking at my list of weblogs that I read, it’s very indicative of my personality. Dealing with binge-eating disorder is like dealing with an addiction for me. I can tell if I’ve been restricting my diet too much because I end up reading EVERY entry in all the food weblogs. When I feel satiated, I don’t even read those weblogs and just pass them by. When I’m excited about exercise, I read the fitness weblogs more often. When I’m in a binge-induced slump, the entries just keep piling up higher and higher because I don’t want to read about anything.

So, if you were willing to read all those weblogs every day, you could almost replace me. Instead, I read and glean and wade through the information and you get the cream of the crop!

Wendy Bumgardener over at About.com has an injured toe from hiking a trail with ill-fitting shoes.

• Walking About.com – Black Toenail

Black toenail is a common injury among runners, but can be avoided with proper shoe fitting and lacing techniques. It is covered so often by running magazines that I’m surprised that I have never had trouble with it. I’ve worn Ryka running shoes ever since I first started running, so I’ve never had trouble. I’m also reluctant to change shoes because of black toenail horror stories.

Black toenail has nothing to do with fungus (that’s a different malady). It is an injury to your toe from constant pressure from shoes. It’s like a bruise under your toenail, except if it’s bad enough, you can lose the nail.

Here is a technical explanation of black toenail from Wikipedia:

• Subungual hematoma – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you want to avoid getting a black toenail, here are some resources:

• Jeff Galloway Training – Injury Archives – Black Toenails

• About.com – Black Toenail from Running or Walking

• Footcare for the Woman runner – Women’s section – Time-to-Run – women’s on-line running information

• Weblog – London Marathon – Times Online: The curse of the black toenail

After reading so many stories from people who have had black toenail, I’m surprised that I’ve never experienced it. I’ve had sore toes after hiking for too long in the wrong shoes, but I’ve been fortunate enough to not have this problem. If you have, don’t worry. It’s VERY common. As one runner said it:

“I use my toes to tell the seasons. If my first two toes are black then it is running season. If my little toe is black it is cross country skiing season. If I don’t have any black toes then I’m 10 pounds over weight. It is easy to run withseveral black toes than with 10 extra pounds.” – Jim Benike at UltRunR

I’ll admit, I have. When our mail carrier left a plastic bag in our mailbox to donate food to the local food bank, I got rid of all the tempting food in my house. Anything that hadn’t been opened that was a troublesome food for me, I sent on its way to charity. I even felt like I was doing a good thing, but if it’s not good for me to eat, is it good for the homeless?

• Food banks and junk food – Slashfood

It seems food banks are receiving an influx of unhealthy food.

“The shift in the types of food donated to food banks leave the administration of the banks wondering ‘whether they should distribute all food received, regardless of nutritional value, or only the more healthful items.’ This is an area of concern for many, especially considering that obesity rates tend to be higher among the low income groups that need food assistance like food banks provide and in some cases, banks are already turning down certain food items, like sodas.”

The quote, “Beggars can’t be choosers,” is so old and such a part of our language that the original author of it was lost long ago. Then again, most of that food is something that I actually like. I consider it a treat and I’m only sending it on so that I don’t add to my girth. I really don’t know how I feel about this.

Weblogs, Inc. has finally started a healthy living weblog. You can read it here:

• That’s Fit

I have been waiting for a health related weblog from Weblogs, Inc. for almost two years. It has taken them a while to realize that this might be an interesting topic, but now that they are here, I’m excited to read their take on this subject.

Head on over there and see what they have to say!