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I have a BBQ to go to later today. Still trying to figure out what to take. BBQ’s a bit difficult for me these days because they’re usually unhealthy and unvegeterian. Luckily, the people I’m going to meet have no problem with things like veggie burgers so I should be fine.

Before we get to the articles, I just wanted to say a quick thank you to The Digerati Life and The Writer’s Manifesto. Both chose to feature articles from 60 in 3 on their weekend posts. The Writer’s Manifesto is running a very neat writing project by the way, so if you’re interested, click the link and head on over there. Big thank you as well to the Weight Master Blog for featuring a different 60 in 3 article in their carnival. Remember, if you feature a 60 in 3 article on your blog and I forgot to mention you in these weekend roundups, please send me an email and remind me. Trackbacks and pingbacks are sometimes missed or my gmail account may decide to filter them out. And now, on to this week’s interesting health articles:

From Veggie Chic we have this article which shows 12 tips for eating more vegetables. Remember, vegetables are a basic part of any balanced and healthy diet. If you’re not eating enough of them, you’re missing out. They’ll fill you up without too many calories and they’re also full of essential vitamins, minerals and fiber. If you don’t like veggies very much, take a look at this article and try a few of the tips. You might find something you like.
@Veggie Chic

One more article full of good tips is this one from the Diet Blog. This one is more concerned with what not to do than what to do, but it’s still useful. It’s 7 ways to beat the buffet.
@The Diet Blog

And in keeping with this theme of useful tips, here’s a guide from Mark’s Daily Apple on 5 tips to avoid temptation. This is actually one of my worst issues. I love food and I love eating. So when I see food, I’m very tempted to eat it, even when I’m not hungry.
@Mark’s Daily Apple

And here’s the counterpoint to Mark’s article from Back In Skinny Jeans. One of the reasons I like this blog so much is because it has a different take on health and fitness. It’s less focused on the physical and more on the emotional. So here’s Steph talking about chocolate as though it’s a divine part of her diet. I like this approach. She’s not encouraging overeating, she’s just encouraging a pure enjoyment of food in moderate quantities. That’s something I can definitely support.
@Back In Skinny Jeans

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Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but it’s also the most hurried time of the day. We just woke up, we’re in a hurry, we’re getting dressed, looking for our keys and trying to make it out the door. Most mornings, I have about 5 minutes to spend on breakfast, if that. So how do you get a good healthy meal into that time?

The Fast and the Bad

Unfortunately, some of us choose to rely on fast food restaurants for our breakfasts. We go for things like the Egg McMuffin or a breakfast burrito. Most of these selections have too much fat and too many calories. Here’s a great example of something you shouldn’t be eating, the Hardee’s Breakfast Burrito.  Seriously, if you’re thinking of starting out your day with 920 calories and 60g of fat, well then, I just have nothing to say to that except that you’re probably reading the wrong blog.

Good Breakfasts Start At Home

For me, the best breakfasts are simple things that I made myself.  Here’s a good example:

1. Take one whole wheat wrap.  I like the smaller, taco shell sized variety rather than the larger, burrito sized variety.  These have about 60 calories and a decent amount of protein and fiber.
2. Crumble one hard boiled egg onto this wrap for another 90 calories or so.  The hardboiled egg can be prepared at any time.  You can make a batch of them and then store them in the fridge for days.
3. If you like warm food, microwave the wrap right now for about 20 to 30 seconds.  Otherwise, keep going.
4. Add a few leaves of spinach and some chopped up tomatoes.  Again, these are both things you can prepare ahead of time or things you can easily make in a few seconds.
5. Season to your liking.  I usually add a bit of Tapatio sauce because I like spicy things, but it’s good as is.

Nutritional Content

Total calories for this breakfast are around 150.  These calories come from a mixture of healthy carbs (the veggies and the whole wheat wrap) plus healthy protein and fat (the wrap and the egg).  You’ve also got a good amount of fiber in this breakfast (from the wrap and the veggies).  The carbs will get you the quick energy you need in the morning and the fat plus the protein will keep you satisfied for a while.

Convenience Factor

If you hardboiled the egg in advance then total preparation time is less than 1 minute if you’re not chopping up veggies and around 2 minutes if you are.  It’s even a portable breafast which you can take with you on the run.

Alternatives

If you’re not the biggest egg fan, feel free to substitute something else in there.  A bit of cottage cheese, a few pieces of lean chicken or fish, they all work.   Whatever you substitute should be a good source of healthy fat and protein to make this a balanced meal.

Summary

There’s no reason to start your day off at a fast food place or coffee house.  You can easily make a quick and healthy breakfast at home that will get you started and keep you going.

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There have been several studies lately that have examined the impact of social ties on physical health.  The results were interesting.  If you have friends that are out of shape and overweight, you are 20% to 50% more likely to be overweight and out of shape yourself.  Think about that for a moment.  If you have friends that are unhealthy, you have a significantly higher chance to be unhealthy yourself.  That brings up two follow up questions.  First, why does this relationship exist, and second, what can you do about it?

Why Do Fat People Have Fat Friends?

First, why is it that people who are overweight tend to have friends who are overweight?  The studies suggest two possible reasons:

Activity and eating Habits are shared in a social circle - This means that a group of friends is likely to have the same habits, and that includes eating and exercise.  If your friends enjoy going out to fast food every day, you’re likely to do the same because you like spending time with them.  If your friends enjoy playing soccer every day, you’re likely to do the same.  In other words, you spend time with your friends because you enjoy doing so.  The more time you spend with them, the more likely you are to eat the same things and have the same level of physical activity.

Perception of health issues - This one is a bit more complex.  The studies showed that if you have friends who are overweight and out of shape, you are more likely to see this as normal and less likely to view it as something that needs fixing.  That is, if I spend all my time with people who are overweight, then I will tend to see overweight people as normal.  I will therefore be unlikely to think of losing weight as a necessary goal.

How Do We Fix This?

Communication - First of all, communicate with your friends.  If you do have some health goals in mind, make sure they’re aware of them.  You don’t need to be offensive about it and rub it in their faces that you’re doing something about your health while they’re not, that’s a good way to lose friends.  Just make sure they know your preferences.  Tell them when you go to the gym so they don’t plan activities around those times.  Tell them about the restaurants you don’t want to go to.  I’ve personally found my friends to be extremely reasonable about this.  Even though my health and eating habits are now very different from theirs, they’ve never had an issue with it and are always willing to find a restaurant we will all enjoy.

Exercise on a regular schedule - This is a key point.  Set aside time for your exercise, put it on your schedule and stick to it.  If your friends know they you’re always unavailable on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 5 and 6pm, they’re going to be fine.  Everyone has schedules that they stick to and good friends understand that.  However, if you don’t have a regular schedule which your friends know about, they’re going to ask you to go to various events that might prevent you from working out.  That means temptation.  Do you really want to go to the gym or do you want to go out to that movie with your friends?  Either way you’ve lost because you’re either disappointing your friends or you’re missing out on your workout.  So make your exercise schedule, let your friends know about it and then stick to it.  Your social life will thank you.

Stick to your plan - So you’re at the restaurant and your friends have all ordered the milk shakes and those things really look tasty.  Are you going to stick to your healthy sandwich and water?  It’s a bit hard to do when everyone around you sure does seem to be enjoying themselves.  It’s hard, but you’re going to need to stick to your plan.  You know why you’re doing this and you know being healthy is an important goal.  Remind yourself of that and stick to your sandwich and water.  After all, having fun with your friends means spending time with them, it doesn’t mean eating the same things they’re eating.

Recruit them - You know the old saying, “if you can’t beat them, have them join you.”  Well, I guess that’s not quite the old saying but I like this version better.  How about asking some of your friends if they want to work out with you?  How about taking an active role in picking out restaurants to dine at and selecting something healthy?  How about picking an activity that’s not sitting around watching the game on TV and involves a bit more physical activity?  You don’t have to ask your friends to run a marathon with you, it could be something as simple as going to the park and tossing the ball around.

Summary

Your friends influence your life, no question about that.  Make sure they don’t influence you into something unhealthy or even better, use that influence as support in your quest for better health.

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I’m usually a big supporter of personal responsibility. I believe that we are responsible for ourselves and our decisions. That means I have no one to blame for who I am and where I am in my life. I got here through my own decisions. I hold to that standard when it comes to physical fitness and health. I gained weight through my own bad choices and I lost it through my own good choices. This is why I take issue with people who say “it’s not my fault I’m out of shape and overweight.” With the very rare exception of those with genuine medical conditions, it is in fact your fault that you’re overweight and out of shape.

I’m also a firm believer in less government regulation. I don’t like all this talk of an obesity epidemic and what the government should do about it. I think the government should stay out of peoples’ lives and let them make their own decisions. Again, people should be responsible for themselves and not ask the government to be responsible for them. However, I have to admit that I’ve been questioning both of these views over the past few weeks, due to a number of news and blog articles I’ve read.

Here’s an example from Chew On That. It’s an article that discusses fast food restaurants and their variety of bad food. Here’s another one from Mark’s Daily Apple that discusses the maker of fried foods. Note the comments on this one. Here’s an older article from the Diet Blog which discusses the lawsuit versus a fast food place restaurant by a patron who claimed they made her fat. There have also been recent news paper stories about laws in New York that would force restaurants to post calorie numbers on their menus and how the restaurants are fighting these laws.

It seems like a lot of people are looking for others to blame. We want to hold the fried food maker responsible for coming up with worse and worse foods. We want to hold the fast food place responsible for selling crappy burgers. We even want to hold restaurants responsible for not telling us the calorie count in their foods. Shouldn’t we hold ourselves responsible for all this? No one forced us to eat the burger, no one forced us to eat the deep fried latte and no one held our hands and pushed us into those restaurants that don’t offer nutritional information. We chose to do all this, even though we knew we had other, healthier choices.

Or did we?

Here’s the problem. We, and I mostly mean the US although this is applicable in many other countries, aren’t educated about nutrition. We grow up eating junk. Our parents give us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches when we’re little. Our grandparents spoil us with chocolate and candy. Our schools serve pizza and burritos for lunch. Our TV’s constantly tell us about the latest sugary cereal, the biggest burger and the coolest beer. With all that, do we ever hear the truth? Did anyone ever have a nutrition class in school where they explained what’s good and what’s bad? I know I didn’t. Was there an educational program I missed that reviewed healthy diets and exercise habits? I don’t believe I saw one. We don’t even educate our kids on how to educate themselves. Most schools offer no classes in critical thinking, analysis or how to research problems. So how can we expect people to be responsible for themselves when we don’t give them the tools to do so?

But Isn’t It Common Knowledge?

At the same time, it’s hard for me to accept that excuse. How can you not know that eating too much will make you gain weight? How can you not know that smoking is bad for you? How can you not know that sitting on your butt watching TV is going to lead to poor health? How can you not know that the triple cheeseburger and a milk shake you had for lunch is bad for you? I never had those nutrition classes or health education programs either and I knew this. There are a thousand and one information resources out there these days. Use them! Take responsibility for educating yourself on what’s good and what’s bad.

But Why Not Have The Government Do It For Us?

I don’t know about this one. Should the government step in? Should they force people to provide healthy food? Let me ask you a question. Here in the US, we recently had a toy recall. The toys were found to have lead in them which causes cancer. Do you believe the government was right in forcing a recall? Do you think the government should set safety standards for toys? Most of us would say yes. We do have the right to be protected from unsafe products.

So how is this different from food? Shouldn’t the government protect us from unsafe food? Isn’t a triple cheeseburger at McDonald’s just as bad as a lead tainted toy? Both lead to long term health issues which can cause death or a serious decrease in quality of life. If your kids are protected from lead based paints, shouldn’t they also be protected from deep fried twinkies?

In My Ideal World

In my ideal world, the government worries about educating people and then lets them make their own choices. Information is freely available and people can choose to use it or ignore it. The only people who have some of their decisions restricted are children and those who might be incompetent to make their own decisions. That means restaurants can make as many deep fried twinkies as they want and sell them to any adult who wishes to eat one, just as long as they’re very clear about the contents.

Unfortunately, we don’t live in my ideal world. So what do we do in this less than ideal world? Do we legislate unhealthy food away as we do unsafe toys? I think that’s a mistake. I think laws of this type never accomplish what they set out to do. Legislating lead toys away is easy, no one really wants them. Legislating fast food away is much harder. I think we’d be much better off forcing these restaurants to clearly display the nutritional information in their foods and leave it at that. If you still want to eat that triple cheese burger and a milk shake knowing that they contain 3000 calories, that’s your decision. Don’t expect me to feel sympathy or pay your medical bills though.

Summary

I still believe in personal responsibility. I still believe in having the government stay out of our lives. However, I do believe that the government can help us be more responsible by arming us with information and knowledge. What you do with that knowledge is your own decision.

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I’ve had a few emails from readers lately, who provided me with a breakdown of their workouts. Most of them were relatively standard, but I did notice a few exercises that seemed to be missing. So I decided to write up a quick series of articles on some of the best exercises that most people are missing out on. Number 2 is a combo of abductions and adductions, two of the best leg exercises that most of you guys are missing.

The Basics

Adductions and abductions are both thigh workouts. They are essentially opposites of one another. One works the outer thigh and one works the inner thigh. They’re some of the simplest exercises to do and consist of lying down on your side and lifting your leg. Lying leg adductions consist of lifting up your inner leg, the one you’re lying on, as you can see in this video. Whereas with thigh abductions you lift the outer leg as you can see in this video. Neither one of these exercises uses weights, so if you want to increase the difficulty, simply do more of them or do them slower.

Proper Form

As usual, follow the 3 and 3 rule. 3 seconds up and 3 seconds down. This is especially important with the adductions. With the thigh abductions, you may want to limit your angle to no more than 45 degrees. Any more than that and you risk a very uncomfortable pulled muscle in the groin area.

Benefits

These two exercises are key to strengthening your thigh muscles.  That may not seem like much, but remember that the muscles around your thighs and butt are part of the core group of muscles that stabilize your every move.  Virtually every function of your body is in one way or another helped by the core muscle group.  Strengthening these muscles will reduce the risk of injury from other exercises and give you better performance with your other workouts.  Think of it as working on your foundation.   No one will ever see your foundation, but without it, your entire house will crumble.

Warnings

Not too many warnings around these two exercises, they are relatively risk free.

Variations

Again, not too many variations here.  There are some people who prefer to use a machine to work these muscles.  That’s fine, you get just as good of a workout on a machine.

Who’s Missing Out?With this exercise, it’s mainly guys who are missing out.  I’m not sure why, but say “thigh exercises” to a guy and he thinks “that’s for women.”  I have no idea why this is?  Men have thighs.  We have the same muscle groups as women, so why would we not want to work them out?  Just relax guys, no one will think any less of you for working on your thighs.

Summary

Two excellent exercises that work on your core muscles.  both will strengthen your upper legs to reduce the risk of injury and increase your overall performance. Neither requires any gear and both can be done with virtually no risk injury.  What else could you want?

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I’ve had a few emails from readers lately, who provided me with a breakdown of their workouts. Most of them were relatively standard, but I did notice a few exercises that seemed to be missing. So I decided to write up a quick series of articles on some of the best exercises that most people are missing out on. Number 3 is going to be push ups.

The Basics

Unlike our last two exercises, the lunge and the deadlift, push ups work the upper body. In fact, they work the entire upper body, from arms and shoulders to chest and abs. They even recruit some back and neck muscles to maintain good posture. Like the lunge, a push up is a simple movement. Straighten your whole body and balance yourself on your arms and toes. Now slowly lower your body down by bending your arms and then push up again. Here’s a video from Cooper’s on how to do a push up.

A couple of things about this video. First of all, Cooper’s likes to refer to a push up as a press up. That’s fine, it’s the same thing. Second, the variant shown here is a wide grip push up. There are quite a few variations which we will discuss a bit later.

Proper Form

My only comment about the Cooper’s video is the usual one, it’s too fast. Good form to me means going a bit slower. Remember the 3 and 3 rule. 3 seconds going down and 3 seconds coming up. Otherwise, this is great form for a push up. Note how the entire body is straight. Many people tend to either stick out their butts or sag around the middle section. Either one of these is bad. You should try to keep your whole body straight by tightening your abs and back muscles.

Benefits

The push up is an excellent upper body exercise. It uses quite a few muscles and recruits others to help in stabilizing your body. It’s completely equipment free which means you can do it anywhere. You do need a bit more space but that’s all. The push up can even be used as a cardio exercise of sorts. Just limit your movement and speed it up. That is, instead of lowering your body all the way down, lower it just part of the way down. Do that a few dozen times at a really fast pace and there you go, a bit of improvised cardio. The push up is relatively free of injury risk.

Warnings

The push up is relatively free of injury risk. The only things to watch out for are shoulder injuries. As usual, if it hurts, stop. If it keeps hurting, see a doctor.

Variations

The push up has dozens of variations, but here are a few:

• Kneeling push up - Instead of balancing your lower body on your toes, you’re going to be kneeling and just pushing your upper body up and down. This is a much easier variant and a good way for people to start out.
• Medicine Ball / Floor - And on the “I’m so fit I need to show off!” side of the spectrum, we have this variant which uses both the floor and a medicine ball. Don’t try this one unless you’re really well balanced and have a ton of upper body strength.
• Clapping Push Up - Another showy variant. I’m not a big fan of this one. It’s mainly for people who like silly gym tricks. To me, this adds too much injury risk without really adding enough workout benefit.
• One Handed Push Ups - And the ultimate in show off forms, the one handed. No clue why you would do this one. It’s not that good of an exercise.
• Close Grip Push Up - A bit more of a reasonable variant. This one will work your arms a bit more and your shoulders a bit less. Requires more balance work but I think it’s a great option to try out every once in a while.
• Hindu Push Up - I’d never even heard of this until a few months ago, but I got to say, I tried it and really liked it. It’s not as challenging on the arms but it’s a great whole body exercise. Plus it was a great back stretch.

Who’s Missing Out?

Quite a few people aren’t doing push ups.  Women seem to think of them as a “man’s exercise” while men tend to see pushups as something soldiers do, not gym goers.  I guess too many movies filled with “drop and give me 20 push ups!” have given the push up a bad image.  So let me clarify.  For you women, the push up will not make you into a body builder or some sort of super soldier.  For you men, it’s ok, not all gym exercises need to include weights.  Everyone can benefit from push ups.  Heck, I do them at home sometimes as a way of stretching if I’ve been sitting down too long.

Summary

There’s a reason the push up has become a standard for military training.  It’s an amazing all around exercise that uses a lot of your muscles and raises your heart rate.  It’s not meant to build up big bulky muscles, just to tone up the ones you have right now.

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I want to wish a happy birthday to my friend Greg, without which 60 in 3 would not be possible. He’s the one who helped me set up this website, figure out how to use wordpress and everything else I know about running a blog. He’s also been a workout partner and an inspiration as he works on his own fitness and health. So here’s to you Greg, happy birthday!

And with that, here are a few articles that I thought you (and Greg) might enjoy:

I don’t usually feature articles from finance blogs, but this one caught my attention. It’s from the Digerati Life and it talks about cheap ways to exercise. A lot of people I meet think exercise is something you can only do if you have a lot of money. However, exercise basically means moving around and that you can do for free. So here are a few more suggestions for cheap activities that’ll get your butt moving.
@The Digerati Life

Of course, don’t let all that activity go to your head (or to your stomach). From the Diet Blog, we have this article about the dangers of eating too much after a workout. I used to do this, I would go hiking and then to a buffet. All the benefit I would gain from the hike would be lost at the ice cream bar. So be active, but don’t use that as an excuse to binge.
@The Diet Blog

And while on the topic of cheap workouts, here’s an interesting article from Mark’s Daily Apple about running shoes. The most expensive brand is not always the best. Rather than going for price or looks, go for comfort and cushioning. A good sports store will have people who can look at your running steps and recommend a shoe that will work with you and protect you from injury.
@Mark’s Daily Apple

And in the motivation dept. here’s an article from Chew On That that talks about the author’s success in changing his diet. Just a great example of how little things like eating more fruit and eliminating calories from soda have a big impact.
@Chew On That

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