Weekend Roundup - Travel Edition

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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