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

Chris at Runner+ gave us a fantastic review of the new Garmin Forerunner 405. It’s a GPS running watch that will track your runs (like Nike+, but more accurate).

• Garmin Forerunner 405 first impressions & review – RUNNER+

Here is the killer for me:

First off, most important issue: there is Zero Mac support. The frustrating thing about this is that nowhere does it say this. Not on the box it came in, and not in the documentation that comes with the 405. Thankfully I have both Mac and Windows PCs, but I primarily use a Mac. Even the 305 has some moderate support for Mac. I called Garmin and they confirmed that Mac support is non-existent, and if you are a Mac-only runner, you’ll have to wait for “late Q3 or Q4 2008” to use this device. Merry Christmas!

On the bright side, I heard that REI is putting the older Forerunner 305 on clearance for less than $200 and it DOES work with the Mac. If you are a PC user, then the software problems are not an issue.

After a few runs, he also noted a few more things:

• The battery life of the 405 with GPS enabled is only 8 hours (compared to the 305’s 10 hour life) which may prohibit some ultra marathon runners from upgrading to the 405 and sticking with the 305.

• Charging the battery on the 405 couldn’t be easier. You can charge it with the included USB cable to any PC (including a Mac), or attach the adapter to charge via any household power outlet. The way it charges the 405 is via a clip (think of an aligator clip) that clips onto the side of the watch and makes contact with two metal contact points on the bottom of the watch. Pretty cool!

• The default backlight timeout is 8 seconds, probably to conserve battery life from the get-go, but it’s far too short. Luckily it’s easy to change in the options menu to 15 or 30 seconds, 1 minute, or “stays on” mode which keeps the light on until you touch the bezel with two fingers. My preference is 15 seconds.

• Odd GPS behavior: after my run it kept the GPS turned on. This drained my battery life after a few hours from 100% down to 91%. Would prefer that if I wasn’t in training mode that it would automatically turn the GPS off. So now it’s a bit of a pain to have to turn the GPS on and off, before and after each run. It should be automatic.

Chris had a lot more to say about the Forerunner 405, so click on over to the full review to see the rest:

• Garmin Forerunner 405 first impressions & review – RUNNER+

When I saw this advertisement, I laughed at the description: Pure Delicious Vegetable Fat. Sure, adding fat to your food can enhance the flavor, but do any of us consider Wesson Oil to be delicious?

I love to look at old advertisements because they seem so wrong. It makes me feel smart and I think that I am impervious to advertising. Then I look at the current ads for Wesson:

• ConAgra Foods: Wesson

They are STILL using the same “delicious” advertising that they used back then:

Pure Wesson Cooking Oils have been at The Heart and Soul of Good Food for 100 years. Pure Wesson Cooking Oil provides fried foods with a crispy, golden outside and a juicy inside, while allowing the cook’s own seasoning to shine through. Great chefs agree and recognized Wesson with the American Tasting Institute’s Gold Medal Taste Award in 2001.

Oh?! They won an award?! Well then, they MUST be delicious.

The truth of the matter is that we need some healthy fat in our diet. Canola oil, which is one of the oils that Wesson sells, is a method of adding that healthy fat. I don’t need an advertisement to tell me that and I certainly don’t need the mom from the Brady Bunch telling me that it’s “All Natural.”

If you can’t sell me the oil, how about the bottle?

In the end, companies are trying to sell us their food by any means possible. Next time you see an ad to the TV or in a magazine, remember that.

Photo via: Found in Mom’s Basement: Vintage Art Deco ads for Wesson oil, 1920s

This postcard from PostSecret showed up in last Sunday’s list:

It reads:

I suspect that my chronic health problems are related to the fact that I make myself throw up multiple times a day.

To me, the first thing I think is, “Don’t do that! Just stop it.” When I am tempted to binge, however, the advice, “Don’t binge! Quit eating so much you hurt yourself,” doesn’t really help me. In fact, it makes me want to do it even more. Talking to a doctor never really helped me either. Their advice wasn’t much better than, “Don’t do that.” Oh yeah, and the ever-present, “Eat more fiber.”

I suspect that we’ll eventually find that all eating disorders are triggered by physiological responses in the body rather than psychological responses in the mind. In the future, there will be a diet to stop bingeing, a diet to stop starving yourself to death and a diet to stop causing yourself to vomit. Until the doctors figure it out, find out what YOUR healthiest diet is for your body. I KNOW there is some way out there to prevent you from feeling to constant urge to vomit. Find it.

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.

There have been some studies that show that cinnamon can reduce insulin resistance.

• USDA – Cinnamon Extracts Boost Insulin Sensitivity

ARS chemist Richard A. Anderson and co-workers at the Beltsville (Maryland) Human Nutrition Research Center assayed plants and spices used in folk medicine. They found that a few spices—especially cinnamon—made fat cells much more responsive to insulin, the hormone that regulates sugar metabolism and thus controls the level of glucose in the blood.

If it seems like you are hungry every two hours or if you constantly crave sugar or bread, you might have insulin resistance. It has been said that a dose of a 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon a day can help reduce your cravings and correct your body’s reaction to sugar.

• About.com: Health Benefits of Cinnamon – Cinnamon for Diabetes and Insulin Resistant

Several studies have shown improved insulin sensitivity and blood glucose control by taking as little as 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon per day. Improving insulin resistance can help in weight control as well as decreasing the risk for heart disease, so this has a lot of people interested. Although the results of preliminary studies are somewhat mixed, the majority of the research seems to be pointing in the direction of cinnamon being beneficial.

But watch out, it’s possible to eat too much cinnamon. Here are some of the common negative reactions:

• Skin rashes
• Irritation to the tissues of the mouth or stomach
• Mild anti-clotting effect in the blood
• Stimulating effects on the uterus (not recommended for pregnant women)

In an effort to increase my cinnamon intake, I created this cinnamon tea, which I’m rather fond of.

Cinnamon Tea

• 7 ounces of boiling water
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon of heavy whipping cream

Pour the boiling water into a coffee cup. Add the 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and mix well. This takes quite a bit of time since cinnamon isn’t easily soluble in water, but if you keep stirring, it will eventually mix into the hot water. Add the cream and continue mixing.

I keep the spoon in the cup and keep stirring between sips because the cinnamon will sink to the bottom otherwise.

Calories: 50 Carbohydrates: 0 WW Points: 1

This treat has replaced my evening sugar-free cocoa. Strangely, it tastes a little sweet, even though you don’t add any sweetener. It’s perfect for people following Weight Watchers and Atkins, since it’s low-calorie AND low-carb.

You could substitute 6 ounces of heated skim milk for the cream and boiling water to make a low-fat version with the same amount of calories. I haven’t tried this, so I don’t know how well the cinnamon would mix with milk. If you try it, leave a comment telling me how it is.

Enjoy!

If you watch television late at night or if you scan the advertisements in any fashion magazine, there are plenty of pills and gadgets that promise you better health. This is not a new phenomenon. Here is an advertisement from 1883 for an electric corset:

You can click on the photo to see the full ad, which reads:

Dr. Scott’s Electric Corset

Owing to the unprecedented success attending the sale and use of our $3 Electric Corset, and the constant demand for Electric Corsets of less price, but of the same therapeutic value, we have decided to place upon the market A HANDSOME LINE OF ELECTRIC CORSETS, ranging in price from $1 to $3, thus bringing them within the reach of all who desire them.

Thanks, so now you can bilk people in all the financial strata.

Their therapeutic value is unquestioned, and they quickly cure in a marvelous manner, Nervous Debility, Spinal Complaints, Rheumatism, Paralysis, Numbness, Dyspepsia, Liver and Kidney troubles, Impaired Circulation, Constipation, and all other diseases peculiar to women, particularly those of sedentary habits. They also become, when constantly worn, equalizing agents in all cases of extreme fatness or leanness, by imparting to the system the required amount of “odic force” which Nature’s law demands.

So they can make me thinner AND fatter. And all those problems CAUSED by corsets, like “spinal complaints, liver and kidney troubles, impaired circulation, constipation, and all other diseases peculiar to women” will be CURED by an electric corset? Sounds like poppycock to me!

It’s really easy to disregard this electric corset, but even now, the same item is being sold. It’s called Slendertone:

Just like the electric corset, they have a Slendertone for every budget:

SLENDERTONE products for every fitness level, body toning need and budget.

They make very similar claims, although they don’t profess to cure paralysis:

Get firmer, stronger abs with FLEX Abdominal Toning Belt. In just a few weeks, you’ll feel more fit and confident as you firm, tone and strengthen your ab muscles. Even if you’re too tired or too busy for a traditional workout, just slip on our toning belt and you’ll get an effective workout that stimulates all the muscles in your abdomen.

According to Chris Woolston at the L.A. Times, however, the Slendertone doesn’t do much more than zap your body, despite the FDA approval:

• Slim results for ‘electric exercise’? – Los Angeles Times

Claims of “1,500 sit-ups an hour” or “rippling muscles” from EMS are ludicrous, and no EMS device could dramatically flatten a stomach or speed weight loss, he says. A person needs to burn calories to lose weight, and it’s not possible to burn significant calories through contractions alone. “You’d have to do thousands of actual sit-ups to lose any weight,” adds Wayne Miller, an exercise physiologist at George Washington University. “Anyone who can do that many sit-ups probably doesn’t need to.”

It’s easy to make fun of the fantastic claims made by an electric corset back in 1883, but don’t let yourself be fooled by similar claims made today.

Via: Retro Futurism: Zap Yourself Healthy With The Electric Corset, 1883

ABC News has a video on their site about LipoDissolve:

ABC News: Lipodissolve: Too Good to Be True?

Here are some of the quotes from the video:

Annette Clark didn’t blink at the steep 2400 dollar bill for a series of multiple injections. “They gave me about six injections across my abdomen and by the time I got home, I looked like I was eight months pregnant.” The swelling was one of the MILDER side effects. “My whole body, just covered in hives, itching bad. I became very hot… I wake up in an ambulance.”

Gigi Hinton had a nearly perfect body simply hoped to trim her thighs and knees. After a second round of nearly twenty injections, her treatments turned nightmarish. “It really seemed like something started to eat away at the skin beneath.”

Next time you see one of those billboards that promise you that you’re fat will melt away with no effort, remember what Gigi’s leg looked like and steer clear of them.

I’ve talked about LipoDissolve before here:

• Starling Fitness » LipoDissolve Banned in Kansas

• Starling Fitness » LipoDissolve Billboard

Watch this video from Equinox Fitness:

Download this video for your iPod

This was an advertisement posted on Equinox’s website here:

• Equinox | What’s Your After?

Their whole theme is “Happily Ever After: What’s Your After?” Apparently, their “After” is:

I want women of questionable sexuality to hire me to be a coffee table at their Marie Antoinette party.

Is that really the “After” they’re trying to promote?

More problematic are their print advertising. I consider this a shameful display (click to see full size):

Perfect women with plastic surgeons’ marks all over their body. THIS is a happily ever after?! Never mind the controversy with the nuns and the naked art model, it is advertising like the one above that causes PostSecrets like this:

If you notice, whomever sent in this postcard to PostSecret, cut it out of the Equinox Fitness ad. Remember, gyms, fitness centers, personal trainers and weight loss medications PROFIT when you don’t like your body. Don’t let them make you feel unworthy and take your money for the privilege of it.

Via: Sexy Gym Ads: Clever or Sleazy?

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.

For the longest time, my PowerSong on my iPod has been Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger by Daft Punk. I talked about it almost a year ago here:

• Starling Fitness » Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

It looks like a lot of hard bodies have chosen that song as well. Here is the cute girl version:

Then, here is the cute guys version:

Next time you’re thinking of skipping out on your workout, imagine yourself as trim as these guys and get your butt moving!

Via: Blind Prophecy » Music Monday

This postcard from PostSecret showed up last week.

I am continually fascinated at how judgmental mothers are. From potty training to discipline to eating, it seems that mothers are eager to judge each other with ferocity. Since I’ve never had children, I don’t find myself judging other women in this manner, so I can watch it from the outside.

If a child is fat, are the parents to blame?

That’s an interesting question. If a child is tall, are the parents to blame? I wonder why we are so willing to blame the parents with one direction of growth and not the other.

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.

If you are one of the many people who have bought a Starling Fitness Yearly Journal, then you know that the quote of the month is about pain and illness. If not, you can see the quote here:

The more severe the pain or illness, the more severe will be the necessary changes. These may involve breaking bad habits, or acquiring some new and better ones.

Peter McWilliams, Life 101

If you have been overweight for a long time (or even your whole life), I’m going to be honest with you. It’s going to be a little harder for you than the person who used to be skinny and gained a few pounds over the last couple of years. What habits will you be breaking? What new ones will you acquire? Your changes might need to be more severe, but they are not out of your reach. What will you do to bring yourself back to health?

If you would like to order your own Starling Fitness Yearly Journal, you can do so here:

• Starling Fitness » Order Your Starling Fitness Yearly Journal

If you order it now, you can choose the month you want it to start and it will last you a year from that date. You won’t have to throw away any unused days from the first of the year. You can start fresh now.