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

This TEDMed video was titled, “How healthy living nearly killed me.” It’s not quite as dramatic as that, but it was interesting.

When he talked about wearing a helmet EVERYWHERE, it pushed things over the edge for me. I admit I’ve had a bicycle helmet that I’ve loved so much that I wanted to wear it all the time, but when I said that to Mike, he let me know with a single look that I was acting crazy.

When the health advice out there is so extreme that it makes you look crazy to follow it, it’s time to reevaluate our health advice.

The next time you think men only like skinny women, remember this song by Blind Boy Fuller.

“I got a big fat woman and don’t need little lean woman no mo’!”

The next time you see a Victoria’s Secret model and wish you could look like her, remember this. That girl is starving herself. The pre-show diet of one of the models is so extreme, it made Anderson Cooper’s Ridiculist:

Here are the details of Adriana Lima’s diet before the Victoria’s Secret Show, which she revealed in her Telegraph interview:

“It is really intense, it’s not really the amount of time you spend working out, it’s the intensity: I jump rope, I do boxing, I lift weights, but I get bored doing that. If I am not moving I get bored very easily.”

She sees a nutritionist, who has measured her body’s muscle mass, fat ratio and levels of water retention. He prescribes protein shakes, vitamins and supplements to keep Lima’s energy levels up during this training period. Lima drinks a gallon of water a day. For nine days before the show, she will drink only protein shakes – “no solids”. The concoctions include powdered egg. Two days before the show, she will abstain from the daily gallon of water, and “just drink normally”. Then, 12 hours before the show, she will stop drinking entirely.

“No liquids at all so you dry out, sometimes you can lose up to eight pounds just from that,” she says.

What you see on stage (and in commercials and magazines) aren’t healthy women. They are women who have been starving themselves for DAYS before the show (or shoot). They are hungry and dehydrated and should NOT be emulated.

Via: Shoebox » Newsdroppings 11-11-11

I spend most of my time writing while sitting on a chair. The idea of exercising while I work is appealing because I imagine that I’d be able to get in a workout when I’m usually just sitting. Kickstand Furniture has created an option for me with their Kickstand Desk.

It’s a great idea, but they are asking $2500 for the desk, which seems rather steep, especially when I could buy the Vika Amon tabletop at Ikea and their adjustable legs, the Vika Byske, all for less than 200 bucks. Of course, I would recommend also buying a Stig barstool for an extra $20 so that you’ll be able to rest from biking when your poor bottom can’t take anymore from your bicycle seat.

The bike is mounted on a trainer to give it resistance while you pedal. For the last several years, I have used the CycleOps Mag and it has held up really well and is easy to use no matter what bike you are training with.

The next time you blame your lack of exercise on your long work hours, remember these options. You could adjust your desk a bit and have a way to work AND exercise all day long.

Via: Kickstand Desk Lets You Ride Your Bike at Work

Ever since the first Fit Flops showed up on the market, I have been warning you about shoes that promise to tone your butt. Reebok EasyTone and RunTone shoes were just another in a long line of shoes that made those promises.

They promised that their shoes could give you 28% more toning on your butt and 11% more toning in your legs. I called baloney and just ignored them. Now, it seems that the Federal Trade Commission agrees with me:

• Federal Trade Commission: Reebok Easytone & Runtone Refunds

The Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency, charged Reebok with making claims about EasyTone and RunTone shoes that the company couldn’t support. According to the FTC, Reebok claimed that using these products would strengthen and tone leg and butt muscles.

To settle the case, Reebok has agreed to pay $25 million for refunds to people who bought Reebok toning shoes or apparel.

If you bought a pair of EasyTone or RunTone shoes, then you are eligible for a refund. The smarter consumer, however, didn’t buy the shoes because these claims have been around for a LONG time. In fact, I’ve been warning you about them for four years. Here are some of the entries I wrote about shoes that make claims that they can’t support with research data:

• Starling Fitness: 6/8/2007 » The Fit Flop: How About Just Flop?
• Starling Fitness: 11/28/2008 » Can Walking In Special Sandals Make You Thin?
• Starling Fitness: 9/18/2010 » Skechers Resistance Runner: Where’s The Research Data?

Shoe manufacturers have been making unsubstantiated claims about their shoes for YEARS and it takes the FTC even longer to catch up with them and require a retraction and refund. I’m still waiting for the FTC to force Skechers to release their research data on their Resistance Runner and it seems that they will never stop the Fit Flop people from making claims.

My grandmother wore these Dr. Scholls sandals for YEARS, thinking that they would make her legs more toned than just wearing normal shoes and she never saw any results from them. Don’t be taken in by claims from the shoe manufacturers.

Via: Get a Refund on Reebok RunTone or EasyTone Shoes

This advertisement from Nike pisses me off:

It reads:

My butt is big and round like the letter C and ten thousand lunges has made it rounder but not smaller and that’s just fine. It’s a space heater for my side of the bed. It’s my embassador to those who walk behind me. It’s a border collie that herds skinny women away from the best deals at clothing sales. My butt is big and that’s just fine and those who might scorn it are invited to kiss it.

Just do it.

NikeWomen.com

I just sat there looking at the ad for five minutes as my brain locked up.

I looked at the picture of the absolutely PERFECT woman in their ad and tried to fathom how ANYONE at Nike thought her butt was big.

What the BLEEP is the matter with you, Nike?! Her butt is NOT big! It’s obvious that the folks at Nike haven’t seen a normal woman in SO long that they actually believe that this model’s butt was “big and round.”

This isn’t the first time I’ve realized that Nike is absolutely out of touch with reality. I wrote about it FIVE years ago (to the day):

• Starling Fitness 08-31-2006 » Why I’m Angry At Nike

I had gone into the Nike store in Las Vegas to purchase some of their overpriced iPod clothing, but the XL shirt was the size of a XS at a normal store.

The fact that they don’t carry a size for me when I’m fifty pounds lighter, just tells me that they aren’t an athletic clothing company. They’re a fashion clothing company just like Kenneth Cole. They don’t want “fatties” like me wearing their clothes and giving them a bad name.

Despite the look on my face, I was near tears when I had Mike click this picture of me. Despite all the weight I’ve lost, I’m still not thin enough for Nike. Well, they can take their 70-dollar shirts and stuff ‘em. I’m going to give my money to a company that deserves it.

I can’t believe they haven’t gotten the message yet. I still use my Nike+ every once and a while, and back in 2006, it single-handedly got me running. EVERYTHING else about the company, however, has made me want to bite, scratch and burn down the place. F-you, Nike! Her butt is NOT big!

Advert via: For Women In Shape! | The Fitness Low Down

Update 09-01-11: Apparently, the ad above is NOT from Nike. It was created by someone else, using the Nike wording from THIS ad:

Of course, the butt shown in the Nike ad is SMALLER and less rounded than the beautiful girl in the photoshopped ad, so I stand by EVERY word I say. What the BLEEP is the matter with Nike?!

Oh, and if you are self-conscious about any other part of your body, here is a bunch of other ads to make you feel like you’re not good enough:

This one reads:

I have thunder thighs, and that’s a compliment because they are strong and toned and muscular and though they are unwelcome in the petite section, they are cheered on in marathons. Fifty years from now, I’ll bounce a grandchild on my thunder thighs and then I’ll go out for a run.

Just do it.

NikeWomen.com

This one isn’t nearly so denigrating:

My knees are tomboys. They get bruised and cut every time I play soccer. I’m proud of them and wear my dresses short. My mother worries I will never marry with knees like that, but I know there’s someone out there who will say to me: I love you and I love your knees. I want the four of us to grow old together.

Just do it.

NikeWomen.com

The ad actually gets it right. Instead of pretending that the perfect legs shown are imperfect in some way, this ad actually is an AFTER picture. Nike actually did it right on this ad. It reads:

My legs were once two hairy sticks that weren’t very good at jump rope, but by the time I reached the age of algebra, they had come into their own and now in spin class, they are revered. Envied for their strength. Honored for their beauty. Hairless for the most part, except that place the razor misses just behind the ankles.

Just do it.

NikeWomen.com

Of course, then they got it wrong again with this one. Those shoulders do NOT look like a man’s. It reads:

My shoulders aren’t dainty or proportional to my hips. Some say they are like a man’s . I say leave men out of it. They are mine. I made them in a swimming pool then I went to yoga and made my arms.

Just do it.

NikeWomen.com

Correct Nike Ad Images via:

• Nike Confirms “My Butt Is Big” Ad Is A Fake | The Frisky

• New Nike Women Print Ad–”My Butt is Big”

I saw this on Hulu this morning:

Even though Demi Lovato looks lovely and PERFECT, some people were commenting on how she looked in a negative way. Demi was having NONE of it and turned to Twitter to answer:

I’ve gained weight. Get over it. That’s what happens when you get out of treatment for AN EATING DISORDER.

Guess what, I’m healthy and happy, and if you’re hating on my weight you obviously aren’t. 🙂 #UNBROKEN

The next time someone tells you that you are too fat, remember Demi Lovato. She looks absolutely lovely and some crackpots were calling HER fat. There is no pleasing some people and they will ALWAYS be jerks. As long as you are at a healthy weight, leave the haters behind, just like Demi did!

I saw this Egg Man animation a couple of days ago and it made me truly think about eggs:

The whole reason we eat cereal for breakfast instead of eggs is because of one crackpot (okay, maybe two or three): Sylvester Graham. He was a dietary reformer in the 19th century. He wasn’t the first vegetarian or even the first prominent one, but he was America’s first vegetarian reformer. He believed vegetarianism was a cure for alcoholism and sexual urges (do we really NEED a cure for sexual urges? Isn’t that the OPPOSITE of what Viagra is for?). He was a strong proponent of the temperance movement and invented the graham cracker as a digestive biscuit. Graham was trying to find a healthy alternative to white bread, which is a problem in itself, but instead of turning to meat and eggs, he clung to his vegetarianism in an effort to stave off sexual depravity.

Sylvester Graham inspired another crackpot, John Harvey Kellogg and his entrepreneurial brother, Will Keith Kellogg. John Harvey was so intent on the cure of sexual urges and a vegetarian diet that he suggested that men who would not stop masturbating should endure circumcision WITHOUT anesthesia. His brother created Corn Flakes and served them to the unlucky souls who were sick enough to be in the Battle Creek Sanitarium. Charles W. Post was one of those unlucky souls and after a little snooping in their kitchens, stole their recipe for dry cereal and started a company of his own under his own name.

The whole reason I was raised on Captain Crunch and Fruity Pebbles is because of Temperance. The faulty reasoning that sex is bad AND eating less meat would make people not want to have sex (which might be the case, who knows) has shaped my body and my life. Instead of eating eggs and bacon for breakfast, I ate Fruit Loops.

How about we re-evalutate EVERYTHING that we’ve been told for over 100 years? We know that sex isn’t bad. Maybe vegetarianism isn’t good. Maybe Eggman is trying to tell us that we need to stop eating food made by a man who never consummated his marriage and used electricity to jolt urges out of the body. The more I learn about the origins of some foods and dietary ideas, the less valid they seem to me.

When Mike and I visited Galveston, Texas a while back, we rented a surrey for an hour and rode it up and down the coastline. It was hot and sweaty fun and ever since, I have wanted to BUY a surrey to ride around my own neighborhood.

Just the other day, I saw this video on YouTube and it reminded me of the fun ride I had with Mike.

Of course, Mike and I weren’t drunk, so our ride was a little less rambunctious, but it was still great fun.

The next time you’re trying to figure out what to do with your weekend, check out the touristy areas of your town. Perhaps, there is a surrey rental company there for you. I highly recommend it for a fun and healthy activity.

I’ve just discovered Sean Croxton and Underground Wellness. His videos are entertaining and have demonstrated exactly what has been brewing in my mind. For example, here is his video from April 2009 called, “Sugar Is A Drug.”

At the 3:30 mark, he talks about how crappy you feel when you first start eating low carb. It’s true. My energy level dropped. I wanted to binge on any kind of food I saw and many more that I could imagine. I snapped at Mike, the dog and even my sick cat. I felt tired and I just didn’t want to do anything except nap and eat. After it passed, however, I felt MUCH better.

I had experienced that effect before. I had tried the Atkins diet several times and quit before I got past that sugar withdrawal stage. There were other times when I tried Atkins and never got past that stage because I was eating the Atkins Nutritional Bars. I don’t care what they say on the package, those bars acted like pure sugar in my body and I never got past the bonking stage when I ate them.

The reason I liked Sean and this video so much is because at the 3:55 mark, he explains why it’s not a good idea to eat a little sugar when you get to that stage:

You’re going to have MAJOR sugar cravings, but think about this: If you had a friend, who’s addicted to heroin, or crack, or somethin’ like that, and they wanna get off it. You send ’em to rehab, and, you know, a day or two into it, they start jonesin’ for crack. You don’t go, well, “Alright, man. Imma take care o’ this. Here’s a little crack.” NO YOU DON’T SAY THAT! So you have to DEAL with it! You gotta DEAL with those sugar cravings because THEY WILL PASS!

I felt like standing up and shouting, “Amen!” at him when he said that. I don’t know about the other things he says about the supplement and the other causes of sugar cravings. I have NO idea if that is based on science or not, but I DO know that the withdrawal symptoms go away and I felt MUCH better after they did.

If you’re feeling like you couldn’t possibly cut your carbohydrates down to 20g a day, don’t give up hope. If you think it’s crazy talk to excise sugar, flour, potatoes and even some fruit out of your diet because we all have been told that moderation is the key, don’t disregard it. There is no such thing as moderation when it comes to poison. You wouldn’t recommend moderation when it comes to electrical shocks, either. Sometimes moderation is NOT the key and carbohydrates are a glaring example of that.