Fitness Together - Nichols Hills

Why the Campaign to Stop America's Obesity Crisis Keeps Failing

Mon, 14 May 2012 14:15:00 -0500

The Weight of the Nation, which will begin airing May 14 is “a nationwide community-based outreach campaign.” The project was created by a coalition among HBO and three key public-health institutions: the nonprofit Institute of Medicine, and two federal agencies, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. Indeed, it is unprecedented to have the IOM, CDC, and NIH all supporting a single television documentary, says producer John Hoffmann. The idea is to “sound the alarm” and motivate the nation to act.At its heart is a simple “energy balance” idea: we get fat because we consume too many calories and expend too few. If we could just control our impulses—or at least control our environment, thereby removing temptation—and push ourselves to exercise, we’d be fine. This logic is everywhere you look in the official guidelines, commentary, and advice. “The same amount of energy IN and energy OUT over time = weight stays the same,” the NIH website counsels Americans, while the CDC site tells us, “Overweight and obesity result from an energy imbalance.”

Dr. Mark Hyman on obesity-related disease prevention.

The problem is, the solutions this multi-level campaign promotes are the same ones that have been used to fight obesity for a century—and they just haven’t worked. “We are struggling to figure this out,” NIH Director Francis Collins conceded to Newsweek last week. When I interviewed CDC obesity expert William Dietz back in 2001, he told me that his primary accomplishment had been getting childhood obesity “on the map.” “It’s now widely recognized as a major health problem in the United States,” he said then—and that was 10 years and a few million obese children ago.

There is an alternative theory, one that has also been around for decades but that the establishment has largely ignored. This theory implicates specific foods—refined sugars and grains—because of their effect on the hormone insulin, which regulates fat accumulation. If this hormonal-defect hypothesis is true, not all calories are created equal, as the conventional wisdom holds. And if it is true, the problem is not only controlling our impulses, but also changing the entire American food economy and rewriting our beliefs about what constitutes a healthy diet.

Oddly, this nutrient-hormone-fat interaction is not particularly controversial. You can find it in medical textbooks as the explanation for why our fat cells get fat. But the anti-obesity establishment doesn’t take the next step: that fat fat cells lead to fat humans. In their eyes, yes, insulin regulates how much fat gets trapped in your fat cells, and the kinds of carbohydrates we eat today pretty much drive up your insulin levels. But, they conclude, while individual cells get fat that way, the reason an entire human gets fat has nothing to do with it. We’re just eating too much.

I’ve been arguing otherwise. And one reason I like this hormonal hypothesis of obesity is that it explains the fat kids in Depression-era New York. As the extreme situation of exceedingly poor populations shows, the problem could not have been that they ate too much, because they didn’t have enough food available. The problem then—as now, across America—was the prevalence of sugars, refined flour, and starches in their diets. These are the cheapest calories, and they can be plenty tasty without a lot of preparation and preservation. And the biology suggests that they are literally fattening—they make us fat, while other foods (fats, proteins, and green leafy vegetables) don’t.

If this hypothesis is right, then the reason the anti-obesity efforts championed by the IOM, the CDC, and the NIH haven’t worked and won’t work is not because we’re not listening, and not because we just can’t say no, but because these efforts are not addressing the fundamental cause of the problem. Like trying to prevent lung cancer by getting smokers to eat less and run more, it won’t work because the intervention is wrong.

The authority figures in obesity and nutrition are so fixed on the simplistic calorie-balance idea that they’re willing to ignore virtually any science to hold on to it.

The first and most obvious mistake they make is embracing the notion that the only way foods can influence how fat we get is through the amount of energy—calories—they contain. The iconic example here is sugar, or rather sugars, since we’re talking about both sucrose (the white, granulated stuff we sprinkle on cereal) and high-fructose corn syrup. “What’s the single best thing I can do for me and my family?” asks one obese mother in The Weight of the Nation. The answer she’s given is “stop drinking sugar-sweetened beverages.” But the official wisdom—that all we need know is that a calorie is a calorie is a calorie—doesn’t explain why that might be so.

Left unsaid is the fact that sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup have a unique chemical composition, a near 50-50 combination of two different carbohydrates: glucose and fructose. And while glucose is metabolized by virtually every cell in the body, the fructose (also found in fruit, but in much lower concentrations) is metabolized mostly by liver cells. From there, the chain of metabolic events has been worked out by biochemists over 50 years: some of the fructose is converted into fat, the fat accumulates in the liver cells, which become resistant to the action of insulin, and so more insulin is secreted to compensate. The end results are elevated levels of insulin, which is the hallmark of type 2 diabetes, and the steady accumulation of fat in our fat tissue—a few tens of calories worth per day, leading to pounds per year, and obesity over the course of a few decades.

Last fall, researchers at the University of California, Davis, published three studies—two of humans, one of rhesus monkeys—confirming the deleterious effect of these sugars on metabolism and insulin levels. The message of all three studies was that sugars are unhealthy—not because people or monkeys consumed too much of them, but because, well, they do things to our bodies that the other nutrients we eat simply don’t do.

The second fallacy is the belief that physical activity plays a meaningful role in keeping off the pounds—an idea that the authorities just can’t seem to let go of, despite all evidence to the contrary. “We don’t walk, we don’t bike,” says University of North Carolina economist Barry Popkin in The Weight of the Nation. If we do exercise regularly, the logic goes, then we’ll at least maintain a healthy weight (along with other health benefits), which is why the official government recommendations from the USDA are that we should all do 150 minutes each week of “moderate intensity” aerobic exercise. And if that’s not enough to maintain a healthy weight or lose the excess, then, well, we should do more.

So why is the world full of obese individuals who do exercise regularly? Arkansas construction workers in The Weight of the Nation, for instance, do jobs that require constant lifting and running up ladders with “about 50 to 60 pounds of tools”—and an equal amount of excess fat. They’re on-camera making the point about how the combination is exhausting. “By the time the day’s over,” one tells us, “your feet are killing you; your legs are cramping. You can’t last as long as you used to.” If physical activity helps us lose weight or even just maintain it, how did these hardworking men get so fat?

There are two obvious reasons why this idea that working out makes you skinny or keeps you skinny is likely to be just wrong. One is that it takes a significant amount of exercise to burn even a modest amount of calories. Run three miles, says Cornell University researcher Brian Wansink in the documentary, and you’ll burn up roughly the amount of calories in a single candy bar. And this brings up the second reason: you’re likely to be hungrier after strenuous exercise than before and so you’re more likely to eat that candy bar’s worth of calories after than before. (When the American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine jointly published physical-activity guidelines back in 2007, they described the evidence that exercise can even prevent us from growing fatter as “not particularly compelling,” which was a kind way to put it.)

Finally, the anti-obesity establishment embraces the idea that what are really missing from our diet are fresh fruits and vegetables—that these are the sine qua non of a healthy diet—and that meat, red meat in particular, is a likely cause of obesity. Since the mid-1970s, health agencies have waged a campaign to reduce our meat consumption, for a host of reasons: it causes colon cancer or heart disease (because of the saturated fat) and now because it supposedly makes us fat as well. The lowly cheeseburger is consistently targeted as a contributor to both obesity and diabetes.

But when David Wallinga of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy tells us in The Weight of the Nation that the USDA has established the cause of the obesity epidemic and it’s “an increase in our calorie consumption over the last 30, 35 years,” he also tells us where those calories come from: a quarter come from added sugars, a quarter from added fats (“most of which are from soy”), and “almost half is from refined grains, mainly corn starches, wheat, and the like.” What Wallinga doesn’t say is that the same USDA data clearly shows that red-meat consumption peaked in this country in the mid-1970s, before the obesity epidemic started. It’s been dropping ever since, consistent with a nation that has been doing exactly what health authorities have been telling it to do.

At the moment, the government efforts to curb obesity and diabetes avoid the all-too-apparent fact, as Hilde Bruch pointed out more than half a century ago, that exhorting obese people to eat less and exercise more doesn’t work, and that this shouldn’t be an indictment of their character but of the value of the advice. By institutionalizing this advice as public-health policy, we waste enormous amounts of money and effort on programs that might make communities nicer places to live—building parks and making green markets available—but that we have little reason to believe will make anyone thinner. When I asked CDC Director Thomas Frieden about this, he pointed to two recent reports, from Massachusetts and New York, documenting small but real decreases in childhood-obesity levels. He then admitted that they had no idea why this had happened. “I’m doing everything I can do,” he said, “to assure that we rigorously monitor the efforts underway so we can try to understand what works and what doesn’t.”

If the latest research is any indication, sugar may have been the primary problem all along. Back in the 1980s, the FDA gave sugar a free pass based on the idea that the evidence wasn’t conclusive. While the government spent hundreds of millions trying to prove that salt and saturated fat are bad for our health, it spent virtually nothing on sugar. Had it targeted sugar then, instead of waiting for an obesity and diabetes epidemic for motivation, our entire food culture and the options that go with it might have changed as they did with low-fat and low-salt foods.

So what should we eat? The latest clinical trials suggest that all of us would benefit from fewer (if any) sugars and fewer refined grains (bread, pasta) and starchy vegetables (potatoes). This was the conventional wisdom through the mid-1960s, and then we turned the grains and starches into heart-healthy diet foods and the USDA enshrined them in the base of its famous Food Guide Pyramid as the staples of our diet. That this shift coincides with the obesity epidemic is probably not a coincidence. As for those of us who are overweight, experimental trials, the gold standard of medical evidence, suggest that diets that are severely restricted in fattening carbohydrates and rich in animal products—meat, eggs, cheese—and green leafy vegetables are arguably the best approach, if not the healthiest diet to eat. Not only does weight go down when people eat like this, but heart disease and diabetes risk factors are reduced. Ethical arguments against meat-eating are always valid; health arguments against it can no longer be defended.

If The Weight of the Nation accomplishes anything, it’s communicating the desperation of obese Americans trying to understand their condition and, even more, of lean (or relatively lean) parents trying to cope with the obesity of their offspring. Lack of will isn’t their problem. It’s the absence of advice that might actually work. If our authorities on this subject could accept that maybe their fundamental understanding of the problem needs to be rethought, we and they might begin to make progress. Clearly the conventional wisdom has failed so far. We can hold onto it only so long.

Healthy Heart, Healthy You

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:55:00 -0600

Heart candies, heart shaped valentines and chocolate hearts are everywhere this time of year, but the heart that should be getting your undivided attention everyday is the one in your chest that works 24/7 to power your body and fuel your internal system. As the powerhouse of your body, the heart needs to run in tip-top shape for overall health and fitness. To celebrate National Heart Month this February, give your heart and body the gift of longevity and health by starting a heart healthy fitness regimen that focuses on metabolic cardiovascular exercises and combines muscle pumping strength workouts with healthy nutrition choices.

Feel the Love with High Intensity, Heart Healthy Cardio

A strong heart drives a healthy body and metabolic cardiovascular training is the key to not only living a heart healthy lifestyle, but also to feel better, look better and perform better throughout your life. Although nutrition and strength training are important elements to physical fitness, you can’t rely solely on one or the other to achieve overall health and fitness well-being. A recent study from Duke University found that when compared with strength training alone, cardio exercise is the most efficient and effective way to lose the belly fat located deep within the abdominal cavity, which is the kind of fat that is the most damaging to your health and heart. Specifically, aerobic training burned 67 percent more calories in the study when compared to strength/resistance training.1

The first step to a healthy you is establishing a strong cardiovascular foundation to jumpstart your body’s metabolism, increase stamina and energize your body’s cells by pumping oxygen rich blood throughout your body. This leads to not only burning away excess fat, but lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, and reducing the risk of heart attack and cardiovascular disease. Studies show that high intensity metabolic training in particular is a leading force to reducing heart attack risk and improving physical fitness. In fact, a recent study from the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) found that three hours per week of vigorous exercise can cut a man’s risk of heart attack by 22 percent.2 High intensity cardio exercises can range from wind sprints to moving jump squats and plyometrics.

Make Time for Heart Pumping Workouts

While cardio training is king to heart healthy fitness, strength training is an integral counterpart to attaining optimal health and fitness. Strength/resistance exercise allows for developing and maintaining muscular fitness, strength and lean body mass gains, as well as strengthening of connective tissues, increased bone mass and metabolic rate.

Heart healthy exercises that fuel your body with lasting benefits long after you’ve left the gym don’t have to eat up your entire day. As little as 15 minutes a day of metabolic cardio training, combined with 15 minutes of strength intervals, may be all you need. According to industry studies, 15 minutes of total body resistance training can elevate your resting energy and boost metabolism by 6 percent for up to 72 hours,3 and those who added intervals into their fitness routines for two weeks burned 36 percent more fat than those who stuck with traditional exercise routines.4 A 45-minute interval circuit workout that combines a handful of high impact cardio exercises, such as box squat jumps, mountain climbers and burpees, with total body strength exercises, such as weighted lunges with bicep curls and wall sits with shoulder presses, can quickly and effectively build your heart and body’s strength and endurance.

Active Lifestyle, Active Heart

According to the American Heart Association (AHA), seven out of ten Americans don’t get enough physical activity on a daily basis. In today’s fast-paced, over scheduled world, carving out time for physical activity can be a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be if you focus on adding cardio elements into your workouts, as well as your everyday activities. The AHA recommend that healthy adults under the age of 65 engage in moderately intense cardio 30 minutes a day, five days a week or vigorously intense cardio 20 minutes a day, three times a week; paired with strength training exercises.5

Working out regularly with a professional trainer one-on-one or in a small group setting is a critical component to keeping your heart healthy and strong, but complementing your regularly scheduled total body workouts with cardio activities throughout your day also helps to promote a healthy and active lifestyle. The following simple tips will help you get a move on and add heart healthy activities into your daily lifestyle.

Instead of wasting time searching for the closest parking spot, pull into the furthest spot away from the door and enjoy the extra walk to the building.
Use the stairs at work and for appointments instead of the elevator.
Walk or bike your kids to school and use two wheels (or feet) instead of your car when running neighborhood errands.
Take a 10-minute activity break at work to stretch or take a quick walk.
Walk to visit co-workers instead of sending an e-mail message.
Instead of sedentary nights out to the movie theater, take your spouse or friends out for a night of dancing.

Heart Healthy Nutrition

You will look better, feel better and perform better mentally and physically if you fuel your body with foods that are nutrient rich and support a strong cardiovascular system. Foods that enhance cardiovascular health can include Mediterranean type foods such as lean proteins, olive oils, dark leafy greens for a strong heart and blood vessels, whole grains and fiber such as oatmeal and brown rice. Researchers also have found evidence that the high levels of antioxidants found in spices with bold flavors such as cinnamon, rosemary, oregano, black pepper and garlic powder can reduce fat levels in your blood linked to heart problems by 30 percent.6

A healthy body and a healthy you start with a healthy heart. Adopting healthy lifestyle habits such as cardio exercises, strength conditioning and healthy eating will not only strengthen your body’s heart and lower your risk of disease, but it also will help you live your life looking, feeling and performing better. Certified personal trainers at Fitness Together are available today to help you get started on living a heart healthy lifestyle. Contact your local Fitness Together studio to begin one-on-one personal training or group PACK training focused on a healthy heart and a healthy you.

XXX

Sources:

1 Duke University Medical Center, The Effects of Aerobic versus Resistance Training on Visceral and Liver Fat Stores, Liver Enzymes and HOMA from STRRIDE AT/RT: A Randomized Trial”, AJP, Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2011.

2American College of Sports Medicine, “Vigorous Physical Activity, Mediating Biomarkers, and Risk of Myocardial Infarction,” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, October 2011.

3European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2011.

4 Journal of Applied Physiology, “Two weeks of high-intensity aerobic interval training increases the capacity for fat oxidation during exercise in women,” April 2007.

5American Heart Association, www.heart.org.

6 Pennsylvania State University, “A High Antioxidant Spice Blend Attenuates Postprandial Insulin and Triglyceride Responses and Increases Some Plasma Measures of Antioxidant Activity in Healthy, Overweight Menhttp://jn.nutrition.org/content/early/2011/06/22/jn.111.138966.abstract?cited-by=yes&legid=nutrition;jn.111.138966v1 - fn-1#fn-1,” The Journal of Nutrition, 2011.

Go Outside Your Comfort Zone

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:32:00 -0600

Even if you have a physical challenge or condition that limits you in some way, most of us also create false boundaries for ourselves — “no-can-do’s” that are only in our heads. And more and more studies are showing that the thing you think you can’t do just might be the one thing you MUST do to light a fire under your workout results.

Breaking through these false limits can also lead you to be more consistent about your workout regimen.

“Intensity is by far the most important factor affecting increases in, and maintenance of, cardio fitness,” notes Jeffrey M. Janot, PhD, technical editor of the IDEA Fitness Journal. “Although we do not know the exact level of intensity that provides optimal health and fitness benefits, we know the optimal range and that it is directly related to exercise program adherence. You may not enjoy an exercise program if you get sore or injured because the intensity is too high. On the other hand, you can grow bored with a program if intensity is below the optimal range and you aren’t improving.”

Why push your limits in your workout regimen?

The body is wired to adapt to routine. Once your body gets used to a routine of walking 2 miles a day, for example, you’ll likely see less or slower weight loss than when you first began that routine. Extensive research has shown that to keep seeing results from an exercise routine, it’s essential to continually include intervals of higher stress and demand on the muscles and cardiovascular system.

Many people work out only hard enough to maintain their existing weight and physique. Going outside your comfort zone includes adding some intense workout challenges to build muscle and get stronger, faster, leaner. That doesn’t mean you have to run a marathon or work out 6 hours a day to lose weight or reach your goals. The point is to keep adding new challenges and different ways of pushing past your limits for speed, distance, weight you can heft, etc.

Why don’t more people go “outside the lines” with their workouts?

Challenging yourself is uncomfortable by nature. It’s normal to feel a sense of fear or angst when you think about pushing beyond the places where you usually stop, ease up, or take a break. Common fears include whether you can handle an intense “burn” in your muscles and not get injured; or feeling embarrassed about getting out of breath, or even sweating more than you’re used to.

Can a personal trainer help you break through that fear — without yelling at you?

Yes! A great personal trainer should confidently instill in you the belief that you can do this.

“We know they can, even though you might not know it yet,” says my friend Russ Yeager, owner of Fitness Together in Atlanta. “The empowerment our clients gain once they actually do it is awesome. We recently helped a client who at first could barely get through a workout and was very self-conscious. She’s now lost 50 pounds and did a 3.5 mile hike with a straight-up climb at the end!”

You or your personal trainer can determine your optimal cardio exercise intensity range via a number of methods including percent of maximum heart rate, the “talk test,” or rating of perceived exertion (RPE). Whether you’re training for a triathlon, hitting a weight loss plateau or ready to give up on ever having toned upper arms, one-on-one training can help you go where your mind has never let you go before.

PS. Call 285-9307 (Edmond) or 842-7373 OKC or go to www.fitnesstogether.com/edmond to get started today. Like us on Facebook as well for daily tips and information.

5 running mistakes you didn't know you make

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:13:00 -0600

If you're a runner, it can be hard to see your own mistakes.

Unless you're constantly running alongside a full-length mirror to check out your reflection, it's impossible to notice that your posture is off. Maybe you have back pain, but you're not sure where it's coming from. Or maybe you're not getting the most out of your stride, but you're not sure how to properly adjust it.

That's where Gregory Holtzman comes in. Holtzman is an assistant professor of physical therapy and director of the newly opened running clinic at Washington University in St. Louis, and he diagnoses movement problems to improve runners' techniques and lessen their pain.

Patients who come to the clinic are first given a musculoskeletal evaluation so Holtzman and his colleagues can identify any problems with their muscle length, mobility or strength.

Then patients are videotaped from the front, sides and back while running on a treadmill so that the physical therapists can see any mechanical abnormalities up close and in slow motion.

"It's a very individualized sort of treatment because not everyone will respond to the same type of cues," Holtzman told MyHealthNewsDaily.

Holtzman shared with MyHealthNewsDaily the five most common issues his patients face (though the solution for each problem can differ from person to person).

To find the right remedy for you, he encourages scheduling an appointment at a nearby physical therapy or running clinic.

1. Asymmetrical running pattern
An asymmetrical running pattern — landing harder on one side of the body than the other — is one of the first things Holtzman takes note of when he observes a new patient. He evaluates this problem by listening to the way the patient runs.

"I think it's an overlooked component of running," Holtzman said. "You can get a lot out of the sound."

If a runner comes down harder on the right side than the left, or vice versa, it could signal an inherent mechanical flaw of the running style that can lead to pain, Holtzman said.

2. Inward knee collapse and weak hips
Another running problem Holtzman commonly observes are people whose knees collapse inward when they run, which is caused by weak gluteus muscles.

When you run, your knees are supposed to stay in line with your hips. But if your hip muscles are weak and aren't supporting your body weight, that weight will go to your knees and cause them to bow inward, he said.

"The knee bends and takes the shock," Holtzman said.

To resolve this problem, Holtzman recommends doing exercises to build up the posterior gluteus medius and the gluteus maximus, two of the key muscles in the buttocks.

3. Running on your fore-foot when you're really a rear-foot runner (and vice versa)
Some people are rear-foot runners who strike down harder on the rear part of the feet, and others are forefoot runners and strike down harder on the front part of their feet. One running style is not necessarily better than the other, Holtzman said, but impact forces may be different between the two running styles.

Rear-foot runners tend to have a higher amount of force exerted on their feet when they strike down compared with forefoot runners, he said.

"For rear-foot runners that are having problems, a lot of times you can make changes to the mechanics up and down the chain that alter the degree of that impact force," Holtzman said.

You do not necessarily have to change from a rear-foot strike pattern to a forefoot pattern, but a physical therapist can help to make subtle changes in mechanics to reduce pain, he said.

Forefoot running has gained popularity with the marketing of “barefoot” running shoes, but it takes time and training to run in this manner if you're a natural rear-foot runner, he said.

"The problem with forefoot running with some people is [that] their feet aren’t strong enough to support their weight," Holtzman said. "That's why if you're going to transition to forefoot or barefoot running, and you’ve been a rear-foot shoe runner, then you need to make that progression gradually so you can increase the strength of your foot."

4. Over-striding and over-swinging
Over-striding and swinging your arms unevenly are two of the main causes of back pain from running, Holtzman said.

"We tend to move in certain ways, or favor certain movements, that in the long term can contribute to stress on the back," he said. "Some people believe you alter your movements because of back pain, but our philosophy is that improper movement or postural alignment may increase the stress on the lower back and cause back pain."

Over-striding, which occurs when the steps you take are too big for your body size, can spur excessive rotation because the pelvis and spine move toward one direction more than the other, Holtzman said.

Swinging one arm further back than the other can also contribute to the spine

misalignment while running, he added.

5. Being unaware of your foot type
Not everyone is blessed with perfect arches — and those who are more flat-footed than they realize could be suffering for it.

"People might recognize the fact that they don’t have great arches, but they might be wearing shoes that aren’t appropriate for their foot type," Holtzman said.

Wearing the wrong shoes can lead to hip, back and knee pain, he said.

Holtzman said it's best to go to a custom orthotics or specialty running-shoe store to buy special shoes for flat feet.

Sneakers from the regular big-box stores don't have custom fits, so they may not be able to alleviate pain, he said.

Pass it on: Visit a running clinic or physical therapist to find a solution to some of the most common running mistakes, which can cause pain and make your work-out less efficient.

Winter Got You Feelin' Blue?

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:08:00 -0600

It's that time of year, when twinkle lights make houses and trees sparkle, smiling snowmen stand proud on front lawns and everyone salesperson and random stranger wishes you a happy holiday — and yet, you feel anything but. For many, it's a funk that'll pass, and for many people it is; for others, the mood shift runs a little deeper: Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression most often linked to winter. About 5% of Americans suffer from it; an additional 10% to 20% experience a milder form. The fact it gets so dark outside so early plays a role. Here's what else you need to know:

For many, it's a funk that'll pass, and for many people it is; for others, the mood shift runs a little deeper: Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression most often linked to winter.

The symptoms.

Symptoms include hopelessness, irritability and fatigue; hunger, especially for sweet or starchy foods, and subsequent weight gain; oversleeping; having a tough time concentrating; and/or wanting to avoid social situations. In most cases, symptoms appear in late fall or early winter, and fade in the spring.

The treatments.

Light therapy seems to work for most people. You might sit in front of a light box or wear a light visor, but either way the idea is to expose you to about 30 minutes of bright light every day, which appears to affect mood-related chemicals in your brain, eases symptoms. Some people with SAD need antidepressants, others benefit from talk therapy as well. What doesn't work: Tanning beds — the lights are high in ultraviolet rays, which harm both your eyes and your skin. Talk to your doctor if you think you have SAD.

Can I prevent it?

No, there's no known way to stop seasonal depression from developing, but you can take steps to manage symptoms early on, and keep them from getting worse. Spend some time outside, even when it's cloudy; natural light helps, especially within two hours of getting up in the morning. Eat well — a healthy diet boosts energy; exercise regularly to help relieve stress and anxiety; and hang out with your friends often, which can provide tremendous support during winter months.

Small Group Training vs. Boot Camps

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 09:35:00 -0600

Posted By: Steve Long on 12/14/2011

The following is taken directly fromn Steve's post:

The other day I was invited by someone to attend a bootcamp that they had been doing. I gladly accepted the invitation because I saw that this could be a great opportunity to learn a little bit more about what is out there, and maybe have a little fun in the process.

Now as someone who has been running “bootcamps” for over 2 years and doing personal training for 8 plus years I know a little bit about how to execute group training. I’ve never actually attended a bootcamp before I started my bootcamp, but I’ve heard plenty about other bootcamps and I wanted to experience the difference between the norm and what I was calling bootcamp. This process has led me to consider not calling my bootcamp by that name any longer. Here is why.

Bootcamp

My alarm goes off at 5 AM to wake me up for the workout, which is no biggie for me, I’m used to it. Although, I would have rather done an afternoon workout, I can understand that a lot of people like to get their workouts in early so I was glad to join this group of go-getters for an early workout.

I show up early at the freezing cold park where the workout takes place to meet the instructor and fill out some paperwork. I understand paperwork is completely necessary to get to know your clients. I realized quickly however that I could’ve just slept in an extra 15 minutes because the instructor didn’t get there until about 5 minutes prior to the workout beginning. The instructor gave me a sheet of paper to fill out. Contact info, how I heard of the bootcamp, and if I’d had a heart attack lately were the depth of these questions. I was a little upset to see that after I gave the instructor the sheet of paper I had just filled out he just said thank you and put it in pile along with the other new peoples sheets. He didn’t even look at it. What was the point of the health history if you aren’t going to look at it, but oh well; I’m healthy, so lets move on.

By this time I’m already a little skeptical, but willing to put it aside to get a good workout on. Ugh, I’ll make this quick. The workout consisted of the following:

1. Running laps around the park for 10 minutes
2. Forming a line and doing random amounts of pushups, burpees, jumping jacks, squats, and lunges. I love all of those exercises, but the programming left a lot to be desired.
3. Running laps and taking breaks to do more jumping jacks, jumping on park benches, more pushups, and more burpees.
4. We finally ended with about 20,000 sit-ups, crunches, and more mountain climbers.

Even better yet, I had a non certified trainer who was a drill sergeant want to be, yelling at me the entire time telling me to work harder. Naturally when I started getting too tired to do the some of the exercises in good form I dropped down to an easier regression of the exercise. I wanted to make sure I didn’t get hurt, but that’s a no go in this bootcamp. Work hard and do what everyone else is doing in bad form maggot! That’s what it takes to get results. Sure, if the results you are looking for is bad posture and injury. This guy either didn’t know what good form was, or just didn’t care.

To give the bootcamp some credit however, everyone was working his or her butt off, and it was really cheap.

Group Personal Training

Leaving that bootcamp made me realize that I had to write this article. I had to let people know there is a better way to train large groups, but still get people to work hard, and work smart at the same time. I’ve been working hard over the last few years with some of the best in the industry like BJ Gaddour, Mike Robertson, Jared Woolever, Pat Rigsby, the people at FMS, and many others and have found a better way to train groups.

So what is the difference between “bootcamp” and group personal training? It’s huge. Lets begin.

Assessments: Having someone fill out a piece of paper and throw it into a pile without looking at it is a disgrace. Group personal trainers require some sort of screen or assessment. I currently use the FMS screen to make sure I know what’s going on with my client’s bodies. I will also go over the client’s health history and goals with them to make sure we know exactly what they want and exactly what they need.

Typically Inside: Workouts don’t have to be inside to be good, but it sure is nice. It also allows you to be able to have access to lots of strength training equipment, which is essential in a well-rounded training program.

Exercise Progressions: Everyone is different and everyone has different needs. If you aren’t going to do an assessment (which is crazy) you at least need to have different levels of difficulty for each exercise. At the bootcamp I tried to regress, but was yelled at. In group PT you are praised for being smart if you drop down. It’s about working as hard as you can at the appropriate level for your body.

Certified Personal Trainers: If someone who can’t put in the effort to get certified is training you please run as fast as you can away from that bootcamp.

Well Thought Out Programs: Random workouts that change by the minute may be fun, but if you want a real program that produces results it should follow some sort of training guidelines. You get results by learning exercises and tracking your progress. If you are just doing random exercises you will get random results. Programs should be based on your needs to get you the results you are looking for. How is a random workout going to give the 50 different people in the bootcamp the same results when each person is different?

Less People in the Workout: One coach can’t train 50+ people well. Indoor group PT typically has less people to make sure the coach can correct your form so you can improve.

Nutrition Intervention: I know a lot of group personal trainers and almost all of them include some sort of nutrition information or nutrition counseling in their programs. If nutrition is forgotten in your bootcamp, forget that bootcamp.

All of the Benefits of Bootcamp Without All of the Negatives: Outdoor bootcamps can be fun, low cost, and provide group support. That is the draw of bootcamps in the first place. Group PT offers all of these benefits without any of the drawbacks that I discussed above.

This article has been a long time coming. Anyone who knows me understands my strong dislike for generic crap training like the bootcamp I attended. It’s my mission in life to increase the quality of group training in America. I hope this article will make a small splash in that happening. I know the readers of this blog will understand the importance, so if you know anyone that may like this article please share it with them. If each person who reads this makes a vow to increase the quality of his or her bootcamps and/or group training I know I’ve begun to make the difference I’m trying so hard to make. Thank your for reading and for going the extra mile to do what is right.

Steve Long

PACK anyone?

How to Buy Healthy Food

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 12:37:00 -0500

Q: What is a good rule of thumb when purchasing healthy food? The fewer ingredients, the better?

A: Absolutely right! When it comes to making wise nutrition choices, the golden rule on the ingredient list is “less is better!” This is because the most nutritious foods are generally the least processed foods with the least amount of additives. The closer the food is to the way Mother Nature intended it to be, the more natural vitamins, minerals, fiber and phytonutrients the food product will contain.

For example, it’s always healthier to choose an apple over a slice of apple pie loaded with unhealthy fats, salt, spoilage retardants, refined carbohydrates and excess calories. If you peruse the frozen vegetable case, better to grab the bag of frozen peas that simply contains two ingredients—peas and salt—rather than a frozen pea product with 20 ingredients in the list. Another important tip regarding processed foods is that if you have a choice, make the food yourself (such as your own tomato sauce versus a jar of sauce). This way YOU control the ingredients and can be very judicious with adding in excess amounts of harmful ingredients such as sodium and bad fats.

Posted by Dr. Janet Bond Brill

ARE CARBS MORE ADDICTIVE THAN COCAINE?

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 21:25:00 -0500

I’m sitting in a comfortable chair, in a tastefully lit, cheerfully decorated drug den, watching a steady line of people approach their dealer. After scoring, they shuffle off to their tables to quietly indulge in what for some could become (if it hasn’t already) an addiction that screws up their lives. It’s likely you have friends and family members who are suffering from this dependence—and you may be on the same path yourself. But this addiction is not usually apparent to the casual observer. It has no use for the drama and the carnage you associate with cocaine and alcohol. It’s slower to show its hand, more socially acceptable—and way more insidious.

I’m in a Panera Bread outlet. The company is on Fortune‘s 2010 list of the 100 Fastest Growing Companies and earned more than $1.3 billion in 2009, mainly from selling flour and sugar by the railcar. Last year, Zagat named it the most popular large chain in the United States and ranked it second in the Healthy Options category. The company responded by touting its “wholesome” food. Sure, Panera sells a few salads. But why do the scones, pastries, baguettes, and bear claws get all the good lighting? Why are the grab-and-go packs of cookies and brownies next to the register? What need is fulfilled by serving soup bowls made of bread, with a mound of bread for dipping, and then offering more bread on the side? How come it’s noon and the couple behind me are eating bagels while the guy to my right is sawing into a cinnamon roll with a fork and a knife like it’s a steak? The answer is that fast-burning carbohydrates—just like cocaine—give you a rush. As with blow, this rush can lead to cravings in your brain and intrusive thoughts when you go too long without a fix. But unlike cocaine, this stuff does more than rewire your neurological system. It will short-circuit your body. Your metabolism normally stockpiles energy so you can use it as fuel later. A diet flush with carbohydrates will reprogram your metabolism, locking your food away as unburnable fat. When you get hungry again you won’t crave anything but more of the same food that started you down the path to dependency. Think of this stuff as more than a drug—it’s like a metabolic parasite, taking over your body and feeding itself.

You aren’t supposed to talk this way about carbohydrates. According to USDA dietary recommendations, they are not only healthy but are supposed to make up the majority of the food we eat—45 to 65 percent of all calories. Carbs, which are classified as starches and sugars, make up the essence of bread, cereal, corn, potatoes, cookies, pasta, fruit, juice, candy, beer, and sweetened drinks—basically anything that isn’t protein or fat. Our government’s recommendations were established in the 1970s and have since been accompanied by an explosion of obesity and diabetes. The advice came about as early nutrition scientists rallied around a misguided maxim that remains embedded in the fabric of our attitudes toward food to this day: Eating too much fat makes you fat. But science never bore out this pre-Galilean view of nutrition. What is now clear is this: At the center of the obesity universe lie carbohydrates, not fat. “You could live your whole life and never eat a single carbohydrate—other than what you get from mother’s milk and the tiny amount that comes naturally in meat—and probably be just fine,” says Gary Taubes, the award-winning author of Good Calories, Bad Calories, which is helping to reshape the conversation about what makes the American diet so fattening. If all you knew about food is what you read in the USDA guidelines, you’d think our bodies conveniently come into the world seeking the one nutrient that is cheap and amenable to commercial mass production: carbohydrates. “Sugars and starches provide energy to the body in the form of glucose, which is the only source of energy for red blood cells and is the preferred energy source for the brain,” says the latest edition of the guidelines. Wrong, says Taubes, who just released Why We Get Fat, a layman’s version of his influential scientific tome. In the absence of carbs, your body will burn fatty acids for energy. It’s how you sleep through the night without eating for eight hours. “The brain does indeed need carbohydrates for fuel,” Taubes says, “but the body is perfectly happy to make those out of protein, leafy green vegetables, and the animal fat you’re burning.” As a pair of Harvard doctors (one an endocrinologist and one an epidemiologist) wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association last summer, carbohydrates are “a nutrient for which humans have no absolute requirement.”

25 Ways to Make Time for Fitness

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 11:26:00 -0500

Here's a great article I came across and will definitely be referring to myself...

http://www.experiencelifemag.com/issues/march-2011/fit-body/25-ways-to-make-time-for-fitness.php

Ever Tried Trail Running??

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 13:49:00 -0600

I just took a client to run the mountain bike trails just north of the Lake Hefner dam. I think he enjoyed it...AFTER it was all over! Kidding aside, it is so much different than most people are accustomed to and that's a big reason you should consider doing it. If you run regularly and are like most people, you run a specific distance or time on the road or sidewalk. This is great for convenience, time-keeping and general safety. Where it is not-so-great is in terms of monotony, lack of scenery, the "hardness" of the running surface, and lack of varied muscular challenges. Put plainly, running through the forest on these (and most mountain bike trails) trails has these advantages:

1. The trail is usually hard to medium packed dirt which absorbs the weight of your body much better than pavement. This equates to less stress to your entire skeletal system and a "softer" ride.

2. The trail is not 100% level, straight, smooth or otherwise free of obstacles. This means that the small muscles and ligament and tendons surrounding the ankle, knee and hip joints get close to a 360 degree workout that straight, level pavement can not provide. There are tons of twists and turns, ups and downs and tree roots to step over and tree branches to duck from. This means your brain...that's right...your brain is much more engaged in this style of run.

3. It's actually pretty down there in those trails. Once you duck into the trail system, you enter a thick canopy and run over around and across creeks, bridges and have a decent chance of seeing deer, hawks and other wildlife.

So whether you are training for a race, just taking up running or simply looking for a great place to walk/hike, check out a mountain bike trail. It might just be the break you (and your body) are looking for.

Click on the link for more information and a map...

http://www.okearthbike.com/Trail_Pages/bluff_creek.html

In Honor of Jack LaLanne, RIP

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 21:52:00 -0600

When he turned 43 in 1957, Jack LaLanne performed
more than 1,000 push-ups in 23 minutes on the "You
Asked For It" television show.

At 60, he swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman's
Wharf in San Francisco -- handcuffed, shackled and
towing a boat.

Ten years later, at age 70, he performed a similar
feat in Long Beach harbor.

"The only way you can hurt the body is not use it,"
LaLanne said. "Inactivity is the killer and, remember,
it's never too late."

Amen brother.

Jack Lalanne died on Sunday.

Here's the Yahoo news article link:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110124/ap_on_en_ot/us_obit_jack_lalanne_11