Mental Health Break

Just eat a goddamn vegetable:



Good advice.

A Tribute to Jack LaLanne

Stop Being so Tired.



His advise made sense then, and still makes sense today.

RIP Jack LaLanne

The Godfather of working out and eating healthy, Jack LaLanne is dead at 96.

Among other things, LaLanne was at the forefront of eating naturally to be healthy long before Michael Pollan and others came on the scene. He is credited with saying: "If man made it, don't eat it."

Another notable quote: "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."

If you go to YouTube and search for old Jack LaLanne clips from is old show, what really strikes you is just how sane his advice was to lose weight and be fit. He essentially said, move more and eat better.

His advice is just as relevant now as it was thirty years ago.

Which makes it so sad to think that we, as a nation, have gotten lazier and fatter since then.

We miss you Jack!!

Menopause and Weight Gain

I don't have a lot of time to comment, but I found this interesting: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/patricia-yarberry-allen/menopause-weight-gain_b_811143.html

I found that once I started going into menopause I had to eat about 20% fewer calories and exercise a lot more intensely and longer just to maintain my pre-menopausal weight. And, to be perfectly honest, I really need to lose another 5 or 6 pounds just to get back to my pre-menopausal weight (never mind my pre-kids weight).

If anything, I'm less sedentary now then I was 4 or 5 years ago, and I still seem to put on weight much more easily then I did ten years ago. And, I'm also drinking less alcohol now then I did then as well because I have to watch every calorie that I consume.

So, while the advice in this article was good, it still doesn't explain the reasons for the weight gain.

Post-boomer Female Mid-Life Crisis

It seems that when men reach that certain age, they get mistresses and fast little cars. Women, on the other hand, when they begin to feel the ennui of middle age, practice yoga. At least that's the theory of the New York Times. You can read about it here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/magazine/09fob-wwln-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2

I was somewhat astonished to find out that my devotion to a 2,000 year old practice had more to do with middle age then enlightenment. The Times wrote:

"Today the daughters of these runaway moms, having arrived at the shores of middle age, are taking flight, too. But they’re not, by and large, dumping their husbands. They’re not looking to the job market with expectations of liberation.

Instead, they’re fleeing to yoga, imitating flight in the downward-gazing contortion called the crow position. They’re striving, through exquisite new adventures in internal fine-tuning, to feel more deeply, live more meaningfully, better inhabit each and every moment of each and every day and attain “a more superior, evolved state of being,” as Claire Dederer puts it in her just-published book, “Poser: My Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses,” the latest installment in the burgeoning literature of postboomer-female midlife crisis."

Of ocurse, my mother never "dumped" my father. They've been married over 50 years, thank you very much. I also had my day in the sun in the job market, having worked as an attorney in one of the largest, most prestigious, law firms in New York. Indeed, I still work as a freelance journalist which has more to do with economic necessity then liberation.

I also found this tidbit from the Times interesting, although I'm not quite sure what to make of it.

"The values and beliefs and practices that go into sustaining and maintaining the way right-thinking, highly educated, generally affluent folk go about living their lives today ­— and that have made yoga a multibillion-dollar-a-year escape from the crush of modern life — are not rejected. Rather, as ever, the women question themselves. They can always be — must always be — further perfected, their performance of selfhood more highly refined."

Gee, what would I have done without the Times to explain my decision to practice yoga to me?.

OK, this is the reality. I started practicing yoga when I had severe back pain seven years ago. I am naturally quite stiff, particularly in the hamstrings, quadriceps and hip region, and that led to a lot of pain due to sciatica. I was told to practice yoga, focusing on stretching out this area, and it worked. The pain went away.

Along the way, I also discovered it was a phenomenal exercise practice for strength and toning, and I enjoyed the spiritual aspect of it as well.

Women, as we age, lose muscle, and less muscle means fewer calories that we can consume, which leads to more fat. Yoga, particularly the more strenuous practices like Ashtanga, help to build and retain muscle, so naturally, they're great toning and weight loss (although you still need an aerobic activity ).

Plus, when you're a working mother with an autistic child adding exercise into the daily routine can add stress to an already stressful life. So doesn't it make sense to practice yoga which is proven to reduce stress?

While the idea that practicing yoga is just the latest incarnation of women seeking an outlet for their mid-life crisis is an easy, pat explanation for the current popularity of yoga, I think it's hogwash. Anyone who has devoted themselves to the practice of yoga can tell you it is so much more than that.

Besides, how does it explain all the dudes doing yoga?

I'll Believe it when I see It

Wal-Mart announced that they will make and sell healthier foods. Among the changes they've announced is a reduction of salt and sugar in processed foods, and a reduction in produce prices.

You can read about it here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/20/walmart-healthy-food-push_n_811473.html

Personally, I think that if you're serious about losing weight and eating healthy, you shouldn't be shopping for food in Wal-Mart. However, I realize that in many parts of the country, you really don't have a choice. It's Wal-Mart or nothing.

I'm also somewhat dubious as to Wal-Mart's actually doing what they promised. It's one thing to announce that you're going to do something, and quite another thing to do it. If Wal-Mart begins to think that making food "healthier" is negatively impacting profits, you can bet dollars to dimes that they'll go right back to the old formulations and pricing.

If, however, Wal-Mart does carry through on its promise, it will be a good step in the right direction for the whole country's waist-line problem. It certainly won't fix the problem, but it will help.

Los Angeles, Let Jamie in!!!

Jamie Oliver wants to bring his Food Revolution to LA, but the LA school district authorities don't want to hear about it. They're claiming that they don't want the "drama" (reality check, isn't this Hollywood?)

Jamie is still going ahead in LA, but let's get real here, it just won't be the same if Jamie is not interacting with Lunch Ladies. Read about it here: http://losangeles.grubstreet.com/2011/01/jamie_oliver.html

Come on LA, we need more Jamie on TV. Not only is he absolutely adorable to watch, but he really knows how to get the good eating message out.

Plus, you're LA. You must be used to reality TV crews by now. And, as far as drama is concerned, you probably get more of it from teen-age drama queens.

Yet Another Reason to Go Organic

New research suggests that organic milk is healthier: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/organic-milk-is-better-for-you-say-scientists-2186302.html

Mental Health Break

Working out circa 1945, although something tells me that these women didn't lose any weight nor tone any muscles despite grinning and bearing it.

Is it just me or does this video remind you of the Shake Weight TV ads? Same kind of crazy device promising weight loss and toning with no real effort.

One thing that has improved a thousand-fold since the 1940's--work-out outfits. Even if the 1940's babes were toning anything, how could you tell under those lumpy grey sweats?

BTW, did you notice how the camera lingered on that pointy bra set? The video may have been targeted to women, but obviously filmed and edited by a guy.

The Good Thing about Being a Skier is . . .

The good thing about being a skier is that you can look out your window to the 26 inches of snow falling in your yard and get psyched for the weekend.

In case you haven't heard, New England has been getting socked with snow this winter.
The storms this year have been coming one on top of the other.

There is so much snow piled up in my drive-way, that we're running out of room to park the cars. My children had 2 days off from school last week, and now they 're off again today.

But, unlike many of my friends and neighbors, I'm not in a constant state of grousing due to the snow. Because I ski (and have a house in New Hampshire), I see snow as a good thing.

Last night I just came back from three glorious days in New Hampshire. I cross-country skied one day, alpine skied the other, and on the third day took a walk on my snowshoes across Lake Sunapee.

All three activities are fabulous calorie burning exercises (and I worked quite a few muscles as well), but, they also get me out of the winter gloom and funk that most people seem to work themselves into every year.

So, instead of looking at snow as a negative, think positive. There are plenty of activities you can do to get yourself (and your family), outside and enjoying the snow. Strap on a set of skis, snow-shoes, or ice skates or grab a sled or a tube and get yourself outside and moving.

The snow and ice is only here for a few months, get outside and enjoy it!!

Mental Health Break

Losing Weight Starts in the Kitchen

Just an interesting little piece which agrees with what I always say--If you want to lose weight and keep it off then you need to make your own food: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/family-dinner-how_b_806114.html<

Frankly, I don't understand why people don't cook from scratch more. It really takes less time and effort then constantly driving around looking for prepared food. You go to the grocery store a couple of times a week, stock up, and then just cook.

One habit which continues to baffle me is people who leave home to get coffee, then bring it back. It takes me less then 5 minutes to make a cup of coffee that's 20 times better (and hotter) then anything that takes a 20 minute round trip of driving (and waiting in line for).

If all the people who drive to Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts for their morning cup of joe just made it themselves (I use one of those ceramic cones that makes one cup at a time), they could use that 15 minutes they save to make a healthier breakfast. Instead that Starbucks Blueberry scone (460 calories) and Caffe Latte (190 calories), if you just made yourself a nice cup of coffee with milk (15 calories) and a bowl of old-fashioned oatmeal (150 calories) you'd save 485 calories a day. That would mean you could potentially lose 1 pound a week just from the breakfast shift alone. Plus, it would still take you less time then your drive to Starbucks.

And, just so you know, even the "skinny" drinks at Starbucks have over 100 calories each. The Skinny flavored lattes are 130 calories. That's 115 extra calories a day over just your home-made joe. Just change that you you could lose 12 pounds in a year.

Even Food Company's Don't Expect You To Believe Their Claims

Only an idiot would actually believe that Vitamin water is a healthy beverage. That is essentially Coke's defense in a lawsuit they're facing because, it seems, Vitaminwater actually contains so little vitamins that the sugar content more then offsets any perceived benefit.

Coke actually asserts that "no consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking vitaminwater was a healthy beverage." So, I guess only unreasonable people are stupid enough to believe?

Read about it here: http://jezebel.com/5730613/the-audacity-of-coke-and-the-trouble-with-vitaminwater.

Which gets us back to one of the top rules for losing weight and keeping it off--If a product promises health benefits or to help you lose weight then DO NOT EAT OR DRINK IT. The reality of "healthy" or "weight loss" products is that they're usually unhealthy or actually lead to weight gain.

Vitaminwater, it turns out, is nothing but a sugar-filled soda in a deceptive package. People trying to lose weight and get healthy wouldn't drink it if they knew it was no nutritionally better then a can of Classic Coke, so let's pretend it's got vitamins.

Here's what some dude over at HuffPo had to say:

How many people with weight problems have consumed products like vitaminwater in the mistaken belief that the product was nutritionally positive and carried no caloric consequences? How many have thought that consuming vitaminwater was a smart choice from a weight-loss perspective? The very name "vitaminwater" suggests that the product is simply water with added nutrients, disguising the fact that it's actually full of added sugar.

The truth is that when it comes to weight loss, what you drink may be even more important than what you eat. Americans now get nearly 25 percent of their calories from liquids. In 2009, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health published a report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, finding that the quickest and most reliable way to lose weight is to cut down on liquid calorie consumption. And the best way to do that is to reduce or eliminate beverages that contain added sugar.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-robbins/the-dark-side-of-vitaminw_b_669716.html

You Know you Shouldn't be Drinking it . . . .

. . if you can run your car on it. Producers are turning the now banned Four Loko beverage into ethanol: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/06/four-loko-recycled-into-e_n_805365.html?ir=Food

Guide to Navigating the Supermarket

I love this flow chart. It's been bumping around the Internet and I think it nails the point. In case you need some additional guidance, if you want to get real about weight loss then don't eat:

•Anything with more than five ingredients becuase then its too processed,
•Anything that contains an ingredient you can’t pronounce (ditto)
•Anything artificial (ditto)
•Anything that makes a health claim on the front (these are always about marketing, not health)
•Anything with a cartoon on the package (it’s being marketed to kids)

Lunchables will Not Make Your Kid President

I saw this over at Fed Up with School Lunch and was appalled: http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/

"Princess today. President tomorrow?
Kids are full of potential. And
unlocking it starts with a great lunch.
Now LUNCHABLES has mandarin
oranges
for a full serving of real fruit.


it doesn't get better than this"

Um, actually, it can get considerably better then this were kids' nutrition is concerned. Even with the "Mandarin oranges" (which are no doubt preserved in copious amounts of sugar, Lunchables are a foul substitute for a healthy nutritious lunch for kids. Lunchables are full of fat, sodium and dubious man-made chemicals. Plus, feeding your kids this kind of processed crap puts them on the road to bad life-time eating habits.

If you really want your kids to have fruit, peel and section a fresh clementine for them instead.

Habits that Pack on Pounds and shed them

Losing weight can be simpler then you think. Sometimes just making small changes can help you lose an extra pound or two over the course of a year. Here's an article that gives you seven habits you can change to shed pounds: http://health.yahoo.net/experts/eatthis/7-habits-make-you-fat

Beyond those suggestions, I have a few more.

First just get into the habit of moving more. I don't mean going to the gym every day for a sweat producing work-out. Just by taking a few extra steps. Stop avoiding stairs. Whenever you have the opportunity to go up or down stairs, take it. Walk to the mailbox instead of waiting until you drive by it. Take a walk to get your lunch or to a friend's house instead of driving.

Second, get into the habit of acting like a kid. Don't sit and watch them as they play tag, join in the fun.

Third, turn your bad habits into good habits. I'll admit it, I am a massive TV addict. I have my "shows" I've just got to watch, and I'm also a news junkie. When I decided to lose weight for good, I realized I had to confront my TV addiction, but rather than fight it, I embraced it. I bought a treadmill and a new TV and set it up in the guest room with a DVR. Then I made a rule, I can only watch my favorite shows if I'm on the treadmill. Even if I have it at a low speed with no incline, I'm still burning more calories and toning muscles then if I was sitting on my sofa watching. I also eventually put a TV in my kitchen. Now, I can get my news hit while I'm cooking or cleaning the kitchen--again I'm moving and watching TV as opposed to sitting.

Which gets me to my next point.

Fourth, get out of the habit of sitting. Don't sit unless you have to. I now have a rule for myself that when I attend any kind of party, I don't sit. I stand and mingle. Standing also leads to walking which leads to more calories being burned. I've gotten to the point that I can stand for 3 or 4 hours in my Manolo Blahniks with 3 inch spikes.

Fifth, get into the habit of going outside in all kinds of weather. Too often we shut ourselves up in the house because its too hot or too cold. Instead of avoiding the weather, learn to love it. I spent an hour yesterday afternoon snowshoeing with a girlfriend. It was 30 degrees outside, but we were quickly sweating. Also, turn off the damn air conditioning in the summer--you'll be doing yourself and the environment a favor. I've found that with the air conditioning on, we sit in the house. With it off we all go outside. The kids run around in the yard, and I putter around the garden.

Losing Weight Starts in the Kitchen

This article confirms what I preach--If you want to lose weight and keep it off, then you have to learn to make your own food from scratch. Check it out here: http://jezebel.com/5724547/resolved-eat-better-not-more-for-a-healthier-diet

Here are some stats:

"What separates average-weight Americans from the overweight? For one thing, they spend 6.8 minutes more per day shopping and preparing their meals, which contain 6 percent less fat than eat-out food."

Read more: http://lifehacker.com/5723507/resolved-eat-better-not-more-for-a-healthier-diet#ixzz1AADydgv1

And, when I say "make food from scratch" I mean exactly that--no pre-packaged mixes, etc. You start with raw fruits and veggies, meat, fish, eggs, spices, herbs etc. and you chop, cut, heat etc.

Making food from scratch does not have to be complicated. It can be as simple as peeling a banana and eating that for breakfast instead of a bowl of packaged cereal that has been processed to the point that it's calorie dense and provides no real nutritional value despite the health claims on the box.

This morning my breakfast consisted of half a cantalope and a banana. Making a salad and dressing from scratch is also a breeze, so that will be my lunch (I generally try to follow the vegan before dinner rule).

I'm also always looking out for simple, easy to prepare dinner recipes. My main prefererance is that everything be cooked in one pan (I hate cleaning pots and pans.) I found this recipe on the Williams-Sonoma website an am trying it for dinner tonight: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/alaskan-halibut-cioppino.html?print=true

There's a grocery store with a wonderful fish market right across from where I practice yoga, so I can dash over right after I finish my practice and pick up all the ingredients to make this Alaskan Halibut Cioppino (although something tells me I'll have to substitute another firm, white fleshed fish for the Alaskan Halibut).

The point is, that if you're serious about watching your weight for the rest of your life, you have to get off convenience foods, take-out food, restaurant food and frozen foods. Going out to dinner or getting take-out now and again is OK, but every day for all your meals or most days is going to expand your waistline. That's just a fact.

New Year's Resolutions to Lose Weight

I've still got New Year's Resolutions on the brain. I'm constantly thinking of what I can do to further improve my eating habits and get myself moving more. I know this is a big topic right now (losing the weight put on over the last month is a big topic everywhere I go). I thought I'd share some ideas for resolutions that are not all that difficult, but can get anyone on the right track to losing weight.

1. Go Vegetarian one day a week. Pick a day, any day. Meatless Mondays have become all the rage, but just pick one day a week and resolve to eat vegetarian that day. And, by vegetarian, I mean focusing on eating mostly plant-based food. If you want to get really serious, go vegan for the day.

2. Get yourself some gadgets. I bought a pedometer this year, and it really made me aware of just how much (and how little) I was moving and burning calories. It inspired me to both move more, and eat less. Besides pedometers there are a whole slew of weight loss gadgets on the market these days, but I say keep it simple.

3. Learn to cook from scratch. I say that losing weight starts in the kitchen, the more you cook for yourself from scratch (no Sandra Lee cooking here), the more weight you'll lose. You'll also be eating cleaner since you won't be eating as many chemicals and preservatives. It may seem counter-intuitive, but taking a few cooking classes may be the best thing you can do to put yourself on the road to long term weight loss. Plus, once you get the hang of cooking from scratch, all those processed convenience foods start to taste pretty awful.

4. Read the labels of everything you buy, and if it contains ingredients you can't pronounce, don't buy it. The closer you stick to "real" food the more weight you'll lose.

I'm Ba-a-a-ck!!!

Back from a week of Winter fun in New Hampshire, but the skiing hasn't stopped. Tonight is the first night of Special Olympics' practice. I'm head coach for the local Alpine team, and my son is one of the athletes competing on the team. Every Monday for the next two months we head up to a local ski mountain to train.

It is, of course, a new year, and that means resolutions. So here are my resolutions:

First, I'm going to continue to strive to practice yoga every day. As those of you who follow the blog know, I'm an Ashtanga practitioner, and I'm training to be a yoga instructor. In the Ashtanga tradition you practice six days a week, taking Saturdays off, and you also take "Moon" days off. A full primary series practice can take 1 hour and 45 minutes, so needless to say, I won't be doing that daily. Ashtanga tradition, however, says that a "practice" can be as little as six sun salutations and three seated closing poses--which takes ten minutes. So while I do try to fit in the full primary at least once a week, most days I'm doing a shorter practice. I've gotten good at fitting in a ten to fifteen minute practice on those days I can't make it to the Shala, but I do need to improve.

Second, I want to continue to work on improving my eating habits. Over the past several years, I've made incredible progress in eliminating junk food from my diet, but improvement is still needed. My biggest weakeness is junk sugar. Put a bowl of peanut M&Ms or Reeses Peanut Butter cups in front of me and I'm a goner. I've learned over the years that willpower is cumulative. It's better to set short term goals of eliminating junk foods from your diet then just go cold turkey. I think the goal this year is to totally avoid eating Reeses Peanut butter cups. Maybe next year I'll work on peanut M&Ms.