iamgeekfit

I've just found a free ref for some great desert/treat ideas that may just be the icing on the cake, as it were, for a new year's soiree - especially if you want to take "something" to the affair.

The recipes include

• peach mango cobbler
• chocolate ricotta
• poached pear with raspberries
• mixed berry pudding
• tuscan strawberry meringue
• lemon cheesecake
• mixed nut cookies
• lemon blueberry bites
• chocolate hazelnut bites
• raspberry peach granola
• peanut butter cookies
• cheese blintzes
• apricot yogurt parfait
• apple cinnamon tortilla cups
• chocolate cheesecake

And if afterwards, you're thinking about your resolutions and goals for your diet in the new year - like packing your own healthy lunch three times a week - these "free ref for some great desert/treat ideas" can help you gird your loins for the task ahead.

Posted by at 1:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've posted before about the importance of having SMART goals - ones that have a specific, measurable, acheivable, relevant and timed deliverable, like be able to do one pistol, each leg, in 12 weeks. That's a measurable, specific and timed goal, also very relevant to health as the ability to do a pistol is a great sign of overall strength, balance and well being. no kidding. 12 weeks is pretty good estimate for an able-bodied person to achieve with the right practice plan to get there. If it's not, it's always possible, once into it, to adjust the plan to better suit the individual.

Getting to a pistol is a commitment, and that level of commitment may seem a bit steep for someone just starting out on a fitness plan. But, tell you what: i'll make a commitment that i'll join any ECS iamfitter in that goal this term for as long as they stick with it.

But steep commitments aside (and it's just dumb to commit to do something that is just a turn off and you won't do), 'tis the season of resolutions, so how take the SMART approach and apply it to new year's resolutions for health, weight loss, fitness etc.

It can be easier than you think. Take a look at these examples.

There's a great post on new year's resolutions over at Coach Mike's blog that talks about getting real with resolutions. Riffing on Mike's fantastic post, here's some ideas for highly doable, realistic, measurable, achievable wonderful resolutions:

• - keep a water bottle at my desk every day - and drain it a few times
• - take the stairs wherever and whenever possible
• - pack my own healthy lunch at least three times a week *
• - write down what i commit to do and track how i abide for at least a week
• - introduce myself on the iamgeekfit forum before midnight tonight : )

* (check out this post for all sorts of free links on what a "healthy" lunch might be)

These are not huge things, but they're real. And as such so much better, as Coach Mike points out, than saying "i'm gonna go on a diet" or "i'm gonna workout." Planning and practicing these tangible real things says something pretty solid: you can commit to something and carry it through. You have immediate feedback: yes you took the stairs instead of the elevator; yes your waterbottle is at hand; here is your lunch container packed and ready to go; there is your forum entry! If you can commit to the smaller challenges and achieve them, you have proof in your self for a history of taking on larger challenges, goals and commitments.

What real tangible SMART thing are you planning, or have you already started to carry out? Why not put it in your intro or in the members log on the forum??

All the best of the coming new year to you, and here's to your health, eh?

ps - here's some examples of real transformations of people who committed to 16 weeks of good nutrition and fitness. Who had a plan and stayed with it. Note, they're not going from hugely obese to slender and ripped. They are real people making real progress without going insane.

Posted by at 6:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Because we're heading into the holiday season, thought it might be worth mentioning a few things to have on hand in case of colds.

First and foremost, one of the biggest aids to avoiding catching a cold is washing one's hands regularly and vigorously with soap and water - there's more research that shows spays are less effective than even water alone especially when used repeatedly. Good ol' soap and water (not anti-bacterial either) still rules.

Second of course is staying well rested and well hydrated. But if a germ does get you (why i hate plane travel will be an upcoming post, no doubt), one way to get on top of its effects may well be zinc lozenges, nasal gel, and maybe chelated zinc tablets.

There have been a number of studies over the past decade looking at the effects of zinc on colds. While some studies have shown zero impact compared with placebo, others have shown considerable reduction in the length and effect of cold symptoms, generally cutting symptoms duration in half [Healthlink]. The important component in zinc use is to get the zinc to the membranes within 24 hours of the onset of symptoms [Medscape], and keep taking it throughout the cold, every 2-3 hours while awake.

How best to take the zinc is an interesting point: studies have looked at types of oral application of the zinc. It seems the point is to get the zinc to the mucous membranes involved. The most common way to do this is zinc lozenges with 13.3 mg of elemental zinc [MedicineNet] per lozenge. Ironically, some zinc lozenges are sold with C in them. C (or citric fruit or juices) actually nullifies the effect of the zinc. Har! so be sure to get stuff that is ONLY zinc, and avoid eating citrus fruits in particular about an hour or so before sucking up some zinc lozenges. This doesn't mean don't take vitamin C; it does mean don't take it mixed with a zinc lozenge.

Some studies have shown that zinc nasal gels may have a better effect than zinc lozenges (closer to the source of the virus, maybe). Back in 2000 one study by Hirt, Nobel and Barron looked at Zicam, a zinc nasal gel spray, and found it cut symptoms from 9 days to 2.3 days [PubMed]. Another study in 2003 [cited in Baystr Center for Natural Heath] found similar results. Freakily, though, in 2006, according to the Washington Post, Zicam manufactures Matrixx settled 340 lawsuits claiming that these folks had lost their sense of smell after using Zicam (apparently one's sense of smell is worth $21,100USD). According to the story, because Zinc is not a drug, the FDA can't really do anything about forcing the version of the product around which the suits were brought off the shelves. But also, experts in the story are reported as (naturally) divided as to whether these sprays could cause anosmia.

In the meantime, i'll keep using zinc. My favorite variant of these zinc things is in dissolvable tablet form. As far as i know, only cold-eeze makes this version, and now markets them as "diabetic-safe" - in other words instead of being sugar based suckies, they're rather bland little tablets that dissolve under the tongue. The problem is, the dose is a third of the suckies, so you have to take more (hourly rather than every three hours) to get the same dose. Mixing them up can be an option.

According to one site geared at diabetics, they recommend just using chelated [definition] zinc tablets. I haven't been able to find studies that support this kind of ingestion rather than oral application (neither does the article), but the post claims it's easy to tell if the zinc taken like this will work:

Have 25 mg. zinc tablets available, and at the earliest sign of cold symptoms, take two tablets. If the zinc is going to work on this viral strain, your symptoms will largely disappear within 30 to 60 minutes. If a marked improvement is not seen following the first dose, zinc is unlikely to work for that strain or for whatever else might be causing your symptoms.

On the plus side, it seems this kind of 25mg chelated zinc gluconate is easier to get in the UK than zinc lozenges. Also, if it works, it means fewer doses of stuff. Please post a comment if you find good sources, or if you've had good experiences with zinc in fighting cold symptoms.

A note of caution: taking the amount of zinc needed to kill the cold is about 5 times the daily dose of zinc needed in one's diet. So this dosage is only a short term thing. A good thing, but a short term thing to do.

Why Zinc works on colds is still an open question [WebMD] - some thoughts are that it inhibits protein formation that the cold virus needs to reproduce itself (yay! go zinc). Just remember to take it (whether orally or, er, with nasal gel, all caveats above being considered or by ingestible tablet), and to take the stuff AS SOON AS you feel cold symptoms even have a whiff of your attention.

Happy holidays.

Posted by at 3:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Apparently only 3% of Americans (1) eat five servings of fruit/veg a day (2) don't smoke (3) exercise regularly (4) are at a healthy weight. While the first two of these are quantified, the last two are not. What does "regular exercise" mean? what is a "healthy weight"?

What is "regular exercise"?
Whether the study above meant this level, healthy exercise has been studied to mean 5 hours a week. That's a minimum, regardless of body type. This is based on studies at the University of Wyoming and the University of Pittsburgh for people to be "happy" with their bodies: 270-300 mins per week to induce effective weight loss, and for good physical conditioning and health at least 5 hours of physical activity per week ; at least 50% of the activity (2.5+ hours) coming from high intensity work.

It's rare to be able to jump into that level of activity, and that mayn't even be healthy for people who have been more or less sedentary. The recommendation here is to start with three times a week for 30 minutes of activity. There have been some fantastic results in the thirty minutes, three times a week zone (when combined with appropriate nutrition) - see Tracy Reikind's story (pdf download). The main thing is to find activity you enjoy and VARY the intensity of the sessions throughout the week, too, and build up to getting the time up.

Variety is the spice of life: mixing up stuff to help your central nervous system recover from the week or from other workouts is also great. Yoga is super, and there are a ton of other approaches Z-health to Super Joints that give your body recuperative work.

What is a Healthy Weight?
As in figuring out what "regular exercise" means, there are some well known markers for healthy weights. Different measures of healthy weights take into account gender, age and height. For instance, the Body Mass Index is a measure of body fat (not the same as measuring for actual body fat %) which is a calculation of height and weight and is a cross gender measure. This measure is frequently used to calculate risks associated with being under weight (below 18.5 BMI) or overweight (25-29.9) or obese (BMI of greater than 30).

The simple waist measure is also used to show whether one's weight is healthy or not: a waist on a gal of over 35 or a guy over 40 inches has a substantially greater risk of obesity related disease. Combined with other risk factors like smoking, high blood pressure or high LDL-cholesterol, unhealthy weight or inactivity means increased risk.

As said before, my favorite measure of body fat is the Navy Circumference method: it's gender specific and takes into account measures you can get with only a tape measure. Add in body weight and one can then calculate lean muscle mass as well (more is better). The approach has been shown to be about as effective for body fat measuring as doing the full body immersion in a water tank. This same argument suggests that the measure is better than skinfold as more accurate and easier to learn. Not clear yet that that is the case. But that level of testing is for the truly intrigued (like me). If you want to get intrigued with the wide variety of ways you can measure your BF% and progress, sign up (free) to the PN forum and and search for Body Composition Measurement Guide - there's a bunch of links, but the first one is on assessing vs guessing.

The main take away here: take a look at the tables like these associated with these measures for understanding where healthy fat% ranges are.

Underweight BMI less than 18.5
Normal weight BMI 18.5 to 24.9
Overweight BMI 25 to 29.9
Obese BMI 30 or greater

Women Men
Essential fat 10-12% 2-4%
Athletes 14-20% 6-13%
Fitness 21-24% 14-17%
Acceptable 25-31% 18-25%
Obese 32% or more 26% or more

It's also important to note that as you build more lean muscle, your measures may start to come a little unstuck from these tables if you look at BMI alone. As the above page explains: someone with a lot of lean muscle mass may get a BMI measure that looks like they have high body fat (That's again why the navy circumference is a more reliable measure. Check it out, it's fast and easy) There's an easy test of BMI against fat if you are muscular: if your BMI is 25 or greater, and your Waist-to-Height ratio is less than 0.5 and your Percent Body Fat is in the "athlete" or "fitness" category, you are probably muscular and not fat.

So, there's a couple ways to think about regular exercise and healthy weight.

With that in mind, how would you do on that American fitness quiz? 1,2,3 or 4 out of 4? if you're not at 4 out of 4, what would help make that possible for you? what information do you need that you don't have?

Posted by at 6:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am often perplexed when i see healthy 20 somethings standing in front of the fourth floor escalator to go down to the ground floor. Besides the horrible needless waste of natural resources to catch that ride, they are missing a great opportunity to increase non exercise physical activity (NEPA). Every little really does help - potentially a lot. One lean athlete, Chris Shugart over at Testosterone Nation recently reported on simply adding a walk to his existing activity pattern - with no other changes to his work out / nutrition regime - that meant going from low double digits body fat to 9%. That's it. just that little extra activity. What that drop to 9% means is this guy's 6 pack shows.

New research is showing, however, that going for that doing stuff other than sitting (or riding the elevator) - in other words, getting ambulatory in some way - has other significant benefits for health than keeping a lean guy lean. Indeed, new studies are showing it's critical to get off our butts.

Technorati Tags: fitness

First, a note: studying NEPA's ain't easy to do directly. H. Sesso in the American Journal of Epidemiology this past June noted the difficulty in trying to measure such potentially low intensity activities- like taking the stairs, walking to work, carrying heavy stuff. Sesso was commenting on an article by matthews and co on both exercise related to transpotation (walking, cycling to work) and NEPAs and mortality rates of women as covered in a 5.7 year study of women in Shanghai.

Bottom line: move and your mortality rate goes down. Really, just do "it."

Women reporting no regular exercise but who reported 10 or more metabolic equivalent (MET)-hours/day of nonexercise activity were at 25–50% reduced risk (ptrend < 0.01) relative to less active women (0–9.9 MET-hours/day). Among women reporting the least nonexercise activity (0–9.9 MET-hours/day) but reporting regular exercise participation, exercise was associated with reduced mortality (hazard ratio = 0.78, 95% confidence interval: 0.62, 0.99). These findings add new evidence that overall physical activity levels are an important determinant of longevity, and that health benefit can be obtained through an active lifestyle, exercise, or combinations of both.

So women involved in physical activity that was not "exercise" - like stair climbing, housework, walking to work - the greater the amount (say four hours rather than 2 in a day) the lower (signficantly lower) risk of various mortality causes from cancer to heart attack. And if you do bike to work? A study done back in 2000 showed that folks who biked to work decreased risk of mortality by 40%.

These studies are mainly statistical analysis of other data collected on thousands of people over years.

Meanwhile, the journal Diabetes, has a complementary article (Nov 07), by Hamilton, Hamilton and Zderic on the effects of, effectively, too much sitting. This is so far one of the only in-lab studies of effects of non-activity. The muscular/skeletal impact shown in these unique studies of sitting at long intervals without some NEPAs is not attractive. Sitting too long without going for a walk, getting up, stretching doing SOMETHING had an effect on LPL - liprotein lipase - something that regulates breakdown of fat, regulation of HDL cholstorol and "other metabolic risk factors"

But here's the kicker: there was a bigger effect on LPL in the negative direction from sitting too long than there was in the other from "vigorous exercise." This means being sedantary has just gone from bad to worse. It's not just "doing nothing" means less calories burned, less muscle built, etc; it means the body starts to do negative stuff to the system that has a high recovery cost.

So next time your at your desk, in your bay, wherever you are sitting, get up and do something. Go see someone down the hall (way down the hall); use the washroom two floors down instead of the one just outside the door (take the stairs rather than the elevator); if you drive to work, park further away and walk. Did i say "take the stairs"? That's .075MET hours per flight (met=standard metabolic unit - hours). 4METhrs of NEPA is what reduced mortality rates by 40%. Another way to frame this: cold hard calories: 5 cals potentially for going up the stairs. Go up more flights?

One health expert suggested that if people found a way to carve off just 25 calories a day from their diet it would make a signficant impact over a year. He suggested just don't have that potato chip. Imagine blending that not having a potato chip with taking the stairs rather than the elevator. The math is compelling: 3500 cals in one pound of fat. Shaving 25 calories a day will add up to 9125 cals in a year. That's over a kilo of fat in one year. That's not nothing.

At the end of the day, moving at all has HUGE benefits - and those benefits it seems increasingly clear are now needed to outweigh the serious negatives of sitting around - or taking the elevator.

Here's somewhere where we can provide easy peer support for ourselves and others: when you see your colleagues head for the elevator, invite them to head for the stairs with you. Maybe they'll say thanks for the encouragement, and you'll have started a trend

Posted by at 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)