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

I saw this advertisement on Facebook the other day and it made me crinkle my brow. It says:

Drop 20lb for summer
Try Life Support Diet and lose up to 20 pounds in 6 weeks. Recommended by Oprah.

I clicked over to the site and it was for Life Support Herbal and Hoodia diet pills. Here is a screenshot of their site.

Now, the advertisement said that a diet was recommended by Oprah, but all they showed is that O Magazine had written a little blurb about hoodia saying that it “may” help you lose weight. In fact, all their “Featured in” mentions had NOTHING to do with Life Support Herbal and their product. They only mentioned hoodia.

Firstly, the cactus, hoodia gordonii, has not been proven to help you lose weight. The Wikipedia entry on Hoodia gordonii sums it up perfectly:

There is no published scientific evidence that Hoodia works as an appetite suppressant in humans. The safety and/or effectiveness of Hoodia Gordonii as a dietary supplement must thus be considered as unsubstantiated.

While the cactus hasn’t been proven to help you lose weight, there is absolutely NO proof that some pill that says it contains hoodia could help you lose weight. Just because a news program talked about hoodia doesn’t mean it’s a miracle drug. Just because O Magazine wrote an article about hoodia doesn’t mean that it’s recommended by Oprah.

Secondly, Life Support Diet? Really? You’re going to name yourself Life Support? When I read their name, I immediately thought of my grandma after her stroke on life support. They fed her through a tube that ran through her nose, down her throat and into her stomach. When it was obvious that she was never going to recover, they took her OFF the life support diet. It’s not really an image of health and vitality to go on a life support diet.

There are tiny ads for weight loss pills like these EVERYWHERE on the Internet, even on Starling Fitness. Just based on the fact that I write about health and fitness, ads for products like these show up on my site. Don’t believe them.

It has been a while since I released a new Starling Fitness Walking Video. I filmed this rainy video back in August, but I have procrastinated the editing until now. The day I filmed this video, I was so happy to be able to walk around the park in the rain, recording it for my future workouts.

I’ve worked out with this video a few times and it’s great for walking and running on the treadmill. It’s not so great for working out on the exercise bike unless you don’t mind imagining dodging geese, children and walkers on your bike. The times when I was passing people made me want to slow down a bit.

Here is a glimpse of what the video looks like:

Here is the distance according to Google Maps:

Estimated Distance: 1.84 miles
Estimated Speed: 2.5 mph
Time: 43 minutes

I’m offering this workout DVD for $5 plus shipping.

Order Starling Fitness Walking Videos Here

You can see the route I walked here:

Video Description:

It looks like rain outside, but the day is too beautiful to stay indoors. How about a quick walk at Liberty Park? Dodge the geese as they are being fed. Watch the romantic couple in the paddle boat on the pond. Listen to the children calling out on the playground equipment. The blue skies are threatened by big clouds, but you still keep walking. You enjoy the camaraderie of others as you pass them exercising.

The sound of the birds at Tracy Aviary make you want to go inside, but you have a workout to do, so you keep on walking. The tiny rain drops start to collect on your glasses, but that doesn’t stop you or the children splashing in the fountain. The smell of water in the air makes you want to walk even more. Who knew a walk in the rain could be so much fun?!

Order Starling Fitness Walking Videos Here

Being able to hike to a beautiful place like this is the reason I exercise. Back when I first started exercising, I would have never been able to do something like what I did last Friday, but now I have the video to prove it.

Enjoy this little vacation courtesy of my treadmill and weight bench (oh yeah, and my camera).

Whenever I hear from people about how they have tried to lose weight, they first mention all the ways they have tried to lose weight. “I tried Atkins, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Overeater’s Anonymous…” Next time you think that losing weight is impossible because you’ve tried “everything,” watch this video.

It is possible for you to eat healthy, get to your goal weight and be strong again. Just because you have failed before, doesn’t mean you won’t get there this time. You can do this!

While I was watching yesterday’s Michael Pollan video, he mentioned a new eating disorder, Orthorexia. It was a term created by Steven Bratman, author of the book Health Food Junkies: Orthorexia Nervosa. Here is more information on it:

• Orthorexia nervosa – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Steven Bratman coined the term in 1997 from the Greek orthos, “correct or right”, and orexis for “appetite”. Literally “correct appetite”, the word is modeled on anorexia, “without appetite”, as used in definition of the condition anorexia nervosa. Bratman describes orthorexia as an unhealthy obsession (as in obsessive-compulsive disorder) with what the sufferer considers to be healthy eating. The subject may avoid certain foods, such as those containing fats, preservatives, or animal products, and suffer malnutrition. Bratman asserts that “emaciation is common among followers of health food diets.”

Michael Pollan described the perfect way of looking at unhealthy food when you are faced with it. Throughout history, cultures have had “banquet food,” which is food that is served only for special occasions. He said that it’s alright to eat banquet food as long as we don’t celebrate every day. Our food culture now has made all of our special occasion food available EVERY day. Eat healthy every day and save the banquet food for the banquets.

What should you eat? What is healthy? Which foods will help you live longer? It’s obvious that we were meant to eat both meat and vegetables. We are omnivores, after all. What should an omnivore eat?

The science of it all is a little sketchy and the way we look at food (Nutritionism) can make the whole experience of eating very confusing.

Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, explains what he believes is Nutritionism and how to see through the myths:

1. The important thing about any food are the nutrients it contains (i.e. fat, protein, carbohydrates, vitamin, etc.)

2. If nutrients are all that matter in food, and they are basically invisible to the naked eye (you can’t smell, taste or see a nutrient), then you need an expert to tell you how to eat. It’s a little like a religion.

3. Like any religion, Nutritionism divides the world into good and evil. Sometimes, the evil nutrient is protein, carbohydrates, fat, etc. The good nutrient also changes.

4. The whole point of eating is health. Historically, there were many reasons for eating, such as pleasure, community, family, ritual purposes (religious), or to express identity.

Unfortunately, all of this dedication to eating for health hasn’t really helped us be healthier. Michael Pollan’s simple advice is, “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.”

You can see more from Michael Pollan here:

The truth of the matter is that we haven’t totally figured out how food helps us be healthy and how our digestive system works. Michael Pollan suggests that we take back control over our eating from the corporations that we have allowed to cook for us. We have learned that they don’t cook very well. They cook with lots of salt, sugar and fat because we are hard-wired to like those tastes. Salt, sweeten and fatten up your own whole food and you’ll do a better job of it, even if you’re not a good cook.

Via: Good Food, Eating, and Diet Advice Talk by Michael Pollan: Some random bits scribbled by Jeremy Zawodny

Of all the things that my dad taught me about eating, the most healthy is Egg Thing. He never called it that. He used to have a name for it, but I can’t remember what it was called. I’ve called it Egg Thing for years, but I rarely made it for myself. It’s very filling and fairly low in calories, but the way my dad taught me to make it, well… it looks kind of gross.

So, after years of making it for myself, I’ve finally found a way to make Egg Thing appealing. It looks good, doesn’t it?

Here’s the recipe:

Egg Thing

Ingredients:

• One Egg
• 1 Tbsp. of mayonnaise
• 1 Tbsp. of mustard
• 1 Tbsp. of ketchup
• Non-stick cooking spray

Instructions:

• Using an egg separator, separate the yolk from the egg white. Set aside the yolk.
• Mix the mayonnaise, mustard and ketchup in with the egg whites.
• Spray your pan with non-stick cooking spray.
• Pour the mixture into pan and add the egg yolk on top of it.
• Cook for four minutes on medium heat.

Servings: 1 Calories: approximately 150 WW Points: 3

When my dad made Egg Thing, he would just crack the egg in the pan and squirt the condiments onto the egg, which was less than appealing. By mixing in the condiments with the egg white, it tastes the same and looks better.

By the way, don’t just mix them all together with the yolk. I tried the scrambled egg version of Egg Thing and it changed the egg texture so that it stuck to the pan, was too thin and difficult to eat. If you want easy, just squirt the stuff on the top of a normal egg.

My dad is one of the people in my life who actually TAUGHT me how to binge, but Egg Thing is one of those dishes that is relatively healthy and very filling. Try it and see if you like it!

Egg Thing is featured in the online fictional serial, Merriton, in the following episodes:

• Merriton » Elvis said you folks pulled in late last night.

• Merriton » God, tourists everywhere.

• Merriton » Celebratory Egg Thing

Ghrelin is a hormone that makes you more hungry, more focused on food and willing to eat more. This article from CBS mentions it:

• The Hunger Hormone, Controlling Ghrelin May Be Key To Curing Obesity – CBS News

We observed one illustration of ghrelin’s power. A mouse was injected with the hormone. Just 15 minutes later, he was absolutely wild for food, even though he’d already eaten enough to be full.

This article from New Scientist explains it:

• Stomach hormone turns hungry people into junkies – health – 06 May 2008 – New Scientist

The hormone also made food more memorable. Volunteers better recalled the food pictures after they got the hormone, and an area of the brain involved in memory lit up when subjects viewed images of food.

Several pharmaceutical companies already have their sights set on ghrelin, as drugs that block the hormone may quell hunger and fight obesity.

I’m not so sure the pharmaceutical companies are setting their sites on ghrelin just to help us. What if they were double-dealing? What if drug companies sell us pills to block the hormone and at the same time, sell the hormone to fast food companies? The minute you take a bite of your hamburger, your appetite for food increases until you cannot stop eating.

That is the premise set up by io9, a science-fiction blog:

• Hormone Tampering: Fast Food Joints Add Hormone to Food That Makes You Want to Eat More

Since ghrelin isn’t regulated, a fast food restaurant that wanted to sell more food could easily turn it into an additive in their hamburgers or donuts, essentially “addicting” people to their food. Or making them hungrier so that they buy more.

My paranoid mind convinces me that something like this could already be happening. When I eat whole foods from the grocery store, my appetite is satiated far quicker than when I eat processed food. What is it about processed food that makes me want to eat more? Is it more digestible? Has it been specially formulated to taste good?

It’s not like grocery food would be safe either. Fresh meat, cheeses and vegetables could be infused with ghrelin, causing that insatiable hunger as well. In the future, we might have to go back to raising and killing our own food if we want to be healthy.

This postcard from PostSecret was from a couple of Sundays ago:

It reads:

I was beautiful too…

When we get older, does that make us ugly? I’ve known tons of beautiful women in the 70’s and 80’s. Sure, the advertisers never put them on their covers or plaster them on walls, but I have come to realize that marketing and reality are two VERY different things.

I never felt beautiful, so I don’t know what that feels like. As I head into my forties, I really have no fear because I was never pretty, I have no good looks to lose. I kind of feel sorry for those that have prided themselves on their appearance to the detriment of other features that are more permanent, like intellect, humor and wit.

In the end, we are mortal and there will come a time when I lose my quick mind, but I’m sure that I’ll have it far longer than any of my peers will have their good looks.

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.

Long before my tread on the bottom of my shoes wears out, the inside heel of my shoes gives up the ghost. This entry from Instructables shows you how to repair the inside heel:

• How to Repair the Heel of Athletic Shoes – Instructables – DIY, How To,

With some durable cloth, strong thread and shoe glue, you can add miles to your favorite shoes. They end up looking like this:

I’ve talked about cleaning my shoes and replacing the shoelaces to make my running shoes last longer here:

• Starling Fitness » Bringing New Life To Running Shoes

They say that you should replace your shoes every 400 miles, but if you can get extra miles out of your shoes, it not only saves you money, you don’t have to go through the trouble of breaking in new shoes.

Via: Craftzine.com blog: HOW TO: Repair the Heels of Athletic Shoes