Dec

21

Airport Gyms

Filed Under Gyms, Time Management, Work Out | Leave a Comment

My wife and I are about to spend the next 24 hours in various airports and airplanes. Since travel is relatively common this time of year, I thought I might share a link with you that I find useful.

Airport Gyms is a site that has exactly what its name suggests, lots of gyms near various airports. It’s a good resource for finding something to do while you’re waiting for your next flight.  Take a look and, next time your travel, put that layover to good use. It will make the whole trip feel better.

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Dec

21

Holiday Announcement

Filed Under Announcement, Web Site | Leave a Comment

My wife and I are about to leave on our vacation to Israel.  I’ve convinced her that 60 in 3 is a hobby and not a job, so I’ll still be posting during our absence :)  However, the normal post schedule may be a bit off.  We’ll be back to our normal schedule on Jan 2nd.

Happy Holidays,

Gal

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Dec

19

The Improvised Workout

Filed Under Motivation, Time Management, Work Out | 2 Comments

The hotel I spent the last two days in had no exercise room. That’s rare these days, almost every hotel targeted at business travelers has some kind of gym, but this one didn’t. Going outside to run was out of the question since the roads near the hotel had no sidewalks and were covered in ice. While I may think that exercise is good for me, I don’t believe in putting myself in danger of being run over for the sake of a good cardio workout. Instead of skipping my workout, I came up with this improvised one:
Back and Abs

  • 20 crunches
  • 20 dead lifts with no weights (essentially toe touches)
  • 20 lying leg lifts
  • 20 more dead lifts

Cardio

  • 50 jumping jacks

Legs

  • 20 lunges
  • 20 squats
  • 20 calf raises
  • 20 thigh adductions
  • 20 thigh abductions

Cardio

  • 50 jumping jacks

Biceps and Triceps

  • 20 curls while holding my backback (about 10lbs worth of computer and books inside).
  • 20 standing tricep extensions while holding the backpack
  • 20 dips between two chairs

Cardio

  • 50 jumping jacks

Chest and Shoulders

  • 20 pushups
  • 40 presses using the backback again as a weight
  • 20 weight pullovers using the backpack while lying on the bed.
  • 20 indian pushups

Cardio

  • 50 jumping jacks

If you want to learn more about these exercises, take a look at these previous posts from 60 in 3.
I did all of these with relatively few breaks in between. End result, I was out of breath, heart rate elevated and my muscles were tired. Exactly how I want to feel at the end of a good workout. The workout took about 45 minutes total and required absolutely no special equipment, unless you count a backpack as workout gear.

What’s The Point?

The point is that you shouldn’t use a minor setback like a hotel with no gym as an excuse not to workout. A workout basically means moving your body around and that you can do with or without a gym, with or without equipment and with or without a lot of time. Just stop looking at workouts as something you HAVE to do. When you do that, you see them as a chore, a thing you dislike but must do. That means you’ll start trying to find excuses.

Change your outlook and start thinking of workouts as something you choose to do. They’re something you want to do because you want to be healthy. You choose to do them because you want to spend a lot of healthy years with your kids. You choose to do them because you need a good break to clear your mind of work. You choose to do them because you to feel good about your body. Whatever it works for you, use it. You’ll find yourself improvising workouts rather than excuses to avoid them.

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Dec

17

Is A Vegetarian Diet Healthy?

Filed Under Eating Healthy, Nutrition, Protein | 3 Comments

As long time readers of 60 in 3 know, I’m vegetarian.  To be a bit more specific, I’m a lacto-ovo vegetarian, which means I still eat eggs and dairy products.  Over the past year, I’ve had a few questions from readers about why I chose this diet and do I recommend it for health reasons.  So I wanted to review a few things that readers might find useful.

Is a vegetarian diet healthy?

Not necessarily.  After all, a vegetarian diet could mean nothing but soda and potato chips with a few twinkies thrown in.  That qualifies as vegetarian and yet it’s definitely not healthy.  Being vegetarian does not automatically mean being health,  you still need to try and balance your diet and you still need to make an effort and look for healthy foods.

Is a vegetarian diet unhealthy?

Again, not necessarily.  As long as you put in a bit of effort to balance your diet, a vegetarian diets can be very healthy.

I heard vegetarians are missing some nutrients like protein or b12

Incorrect.  A balanced vegetarian diet has all the nutrients you need.  I get plenty of protein even without any protein supplements.  As for B12, there are many vegetarian items like soy milk which are fortified with it.  Vegetarians also get plenty of iron.

Vegetarians eat a lot of soy, which I hear is bad for you

Some vegetarians eat a lot of soy products, and there are a few rumors about soy which make it sound unhealthy.  Thus far, I haven’t seen any real studies to indicate it’s a bad food item.  Even if it was, I’m not that concerned.  Since I eat a balanced diet, soy isn’t really my main food staple.

So is a vegetarian diet healthier than a diet that includes meat?

Not necessarily.  In fact, a diet that includes some meat is probably healthier than a purely vegetarian diet.  Lean meats like venison, fish and so on are healthy and, in combinations with plenty of fruit and vegetables, make for a very healthy diet.   This type of diet is just as healthy if not more so, than a balanced vegetarian diet.

So are you saying most meat eaters are healthier than vegetarian?

Unfortunately no.  Most people who include meat in their diets, especially in the US, eat way too much meat.  In addition, the meat they consume is unhealthy.  If you want a healthy diet that includes meat then you need to stay away from fast food meats, most beef and most pork.  Stick to things like lean fish, some turkey and wilder game like venison or rabbit.  Commercially raised meat is too full of fat and other crap to be healthy.

Do I have to give up steaks to be healthy?

No.  I eat a healthy and balanced vegetarian diet but even I occasionally indulge in unhealthy items.  For example, that chocolate mousse I ate last night certainly wasn’t #1 on the vegetarians top 10 healthy items list.  So yes, you can occasionally indulge.  However, unhealthy meat should not be a part of every single meal as it is today.  Try to eat meat once per day, limit your quantity and pick out healthier meats.  If on occasion you choose to indulge in a unhealthy steak, that’s fine, just don’t make a habit of it.

So why did you choose to be vegetarian?

Three reasons.  First, vegetarian diets are generally healthier for the environment.  Second, it was easier for me to explain to my family and friends that I won’t eat any meat rather than start explaining to them which meats I will or won’t eat.  Oddly enough, being vegetarian is far more acceptable than being a healthy meat eater.  Tell people you eat no meat and they’re fine, tell people that you only eat turkey and venison and they think you’re some survivalist nut.  Finally, it’s just easier for me to look for healthy vegetarian options than it is to find healthy meat options.  Again, odd but true.  It’s a lot faster to find a healthy option among the nonmeat options than it is in most restaurants’ selection of meat dishes.

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To be honest, if it was easier to find healthy meat sources that were easy on the environment, I probably would still be eating meat.  I have no moral issue with it and I did find it quite tasty.  Unfortunately, our society is set up around cheap, factory farmed beef, chicken and pork and those I simply won’t touch.  So yes, you can be just as healthy eating meat as you can being a vegetarian.  However, you still need to balance your diet and you definitely need to make smart choices in what you choose to eat.

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Dec

16

Weekend Roundup - Travel Edition

Filed Under Weekend Roundup | 1 Comment

The past week has been all about travel for me with business trips to Philadelphia and Princeton. This week is just as busy with a trip to Columbus and another one to Chicago. Next week gets even better as my wife and I travel to Israel to meet the family. Oddly enough, I actually have an easier time focusing on health and fitness when I’m on the road these days. I suppose it’s because I don’t have as many distractions around me like friends of a fridge with food in it. It really make me realize how much eating has become a social activity in my life.

And with that, here are a few articles from this week that I thought you might find useful:

From the LA times we have this list of alleged fitness gifts for the holidays. I say alleged because I can’t figure out why high priced headphone, t-shirts and an electronic scale are considered healthy. You’re much better off spending your money on a nice pair of running shoes. Please don’t fall for this kind of consumerism. If you really want to buy some healthy gifts, take a look at these posts right here and here. There’s just no reason to spend your money on useless junk when healthy gifts can be so much cheaper and healthier.
@LA Times

From the University of Buffalo we have this really interesting research article about the impact of severe calorie restrictions on old age. Before you go and try to minimize your calorie intake by 50%, please read the final section of the article where they discuss how this kind of diet simply isn’t realistic over a human lifespan. So unless you’re a lab rat, you may wish to take their recommendations for a more modest 8% cut instead. This is exactly the kind of research I like. It presents interesting facts but then also explains a practical application for them.
@Buffalo University

Since new year’s is coming up, I thought this article about keeping new year’s resolutions is appropriate. Remember, it took you a long time to get to where you are today. That fat didn’t just materialize overnight. So it’s unrealistic to expect a complete life turn around on January 1st. Instead, try to implement slow and gradual changes in your life. Pick one thing and change it and make sure it stick before moving on to the next.
@News Wise

From the land down under we have a dose of common sense amidst the scream of “obesity epidemic”. This article is a rather scathing criticism of the Australian government’s decision to measure school kids’ BMI. Not only is BMI a bad indicator of health in adult, it’s even worse in kids who are still growing. The article makes a great point that, rather than waste money on measuring BMI, the government could be doing a far better service for its citizens by providing them with the information they need to make good decisions.
@The Australian

Last week, I linked to another article which discussed this next topic, but I thought it was worth another spot. This is yet another study that shows fitness can lead to better health even in overweight people. This is why I never understood why most people think of weight loss when they try to figure a way to get healthier. Weight loss does NOT mean healthy. Sure, for most people, losing a few pounds is a good thing, but getting some exercise is much better. Think of weight loss as just another benefit of becoming fit through exercise, not a goal in and of itself.
@MedScape

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Dec

14

Fitness Is In The Air

Filed Under Healthy Habits | 3 Comments

Quick fitness tip for today.  Did you know you could actually make a slight improvement in your health while also saving money?  Yep, just adjust your air conditioning or heater two or three degrees away from where you really want it to be.  You’ll spend less money on electricity and gas while actually burning more calories.

How you ask?  Well, our bodies are very finely tuned temperature maintenance devices and when our environments are either colder or warmer than our ideal temperature, our bodies will spend energy to either heat us up or cool us down.  If it’s a bit cold, our bodies will burn more energy trying to keep us warm.  If it’s a bit too warm, our bodies will burn energy trying to cool us down.

Now don’t go overboard with this, there’s no reason to turn the temperature up to 110 or down to 0, just turn that AC to 75 to 78 on warm days and the heater to 68 to 70 on cold days.  Your body will burn calories will do the rest.

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Dec

12

Stop Snacking With the Inconvenience Factor

Filed Under Healthy Habits, Motivation, Snacks | 1 Comment

One of the worst problems I had with my eating habits was my snacking. I love food. I enjoy eating it even when I’m not hungry. So I would find myself snacking all through the day. Anytime I needed something to do I would find food and eat it. Over time, I realized that this habit is one of the worst parts of my diet. It was quite literally the difference between getting to the weight I wanted to be at or staying at the weight I was. The only problem was, I wasn’t quite sure how to stop.

No matter how many times I told myself that “from now on, things will be different” I would always find myself dipping into that chocolate jar or taking things from the cookie tray. I knew it was bad, I even realized that as I was eating the snack but that didn’t make me stop. So, since will power alone seemed unreliable, I decided to do something else. What I came up with is the Inconvenience Factor. Simply put, I snacked because it was convenient. So if I wanted to stop snacking, I had to make it less convenient. These are the things I came up with:

Never Carry Cash

Cash makes snacking easier because it makes snacks easier to purchase. Less cash means less snacks. That means I carry less cash in my wallet, I don’t carry change with me, the cash I do carry is in $20 bills and I leave my wallet in my desk drawer at work. This way, if I pass by the vending machine or some street vendor, it’s going to be difficult for me to buy anything.

Don’t Buy Snacks At the Supermarket

I don’t care how much will power you think you have, if you have a snacking problem, you shouldn’t be buying things you’ll snack on. That means no buying large bags of potato chips, no buying packages of candy and no buying premade, no cooking required food. You’ll tell yourself that you won’t snack but you will. Leave that stuff in the supermarket.

Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind

If you do end up buying something, keep it somewhere inconvenient. Putting your potato chips in the highest cabinet you have behind some dishes is a great idea. Believe me, you’re going to need to be really hungry before you go for those chips. Do not put snacks in plain sight. Just seeing snacks can sometimes trigger the urge to eat them.

Buy Raw

This means your food should require as much preparation as possible. The more preparation your food needs the less likely you are to snack on it. It’s real easy to snack on some premade meal you just need to pop into the microwave. It’s a lot harder to snack on raw ingredients you need to prepare.

Stay Away From The Snack Trays

Parties are difficult for me. Everyone always lays out bowls of chips, plates of cookies and trays of finger foods. Best way to avoid eating them is to literally avoid being near them. Go to other side of the room, pick a table away from the buffet or just move to a different room. Do whatever you can to avoid being near the food.

Ask Your Friends For Help

Don’t be shy. In many cases, your friends think going to the supermarket to get a bag of chips every time you come over to play video games is annoying. They might just be glad to hear you’d rather do away with the chips altogether. Same goes for family. Let mom know that you love her food and would much rather save room for the dinner she made than munch away at some cookies she bought at the supermarket. It’s a great way of saying “thanks, but no thanks” to snacks.

The Five Minute Rule

If you can, use the five minute rule. That means every time you have an urge to snack, move away and spend at least five minutes before coming back. If you still want that snack, then maybe you really are hungry. However, in most cases you’ll find that you forget all about that snack in five minutes.

Reward Yourself

Don’t be shy, you’re doing a great job when you avoid snacks and there’s no reason not to reward yourself. Now don’t go overboard but do make sure to positively reinforce your good days. I used to allow myself to buy an iTunes song every day that I went without snacking. At 99 cents a song, I thought it was a bargain compared to the 2 or 3 dollars a day I would spend on snacks, not to mention the extra calories I didn’t need.

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Eating between meals is not necessarily a bad thing. If you’re hungry, eat something. Just make sure you’re eating because you’re hungry and not because there’s food in front of you. If you’re the type of person who eats whenever food is conveniently close by, then maybe you should try to make that food a bit less convenient.

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