Jan

30

Addicted To Drugs

Filed Under Health, Money, Nutrition | 7 Comments

For most of last year, I was caffeine free. I had kicked the caffiene habit back in 2006 and I stuck to my guns most of the way through 2007. However, towards the end of 2007, I decided to see if I could use caffeine as a substitute for my sugar cravings. I would drink an occasional diet coke if I felt the urge to snack on chocolate or candy bars. This seemed to be working and I thought I had things under control. Unfortunately, my recent surge of travel has tossed all that out the window.With the time zone changes, the constant meetings, endless restaurant meals and an expense account that makes little things like sodas seem meaningless, my caffeine habit has grown from a controlled experiment into an out of control issue. Now if you read the title of this post, you’re probably wondering what all this has to do with drug addiction. The fact is that caffeine is a drug. It is a stimulant and you can in fact get addicted to it. Unfortunately, most people refuse to believe that. Tell them that they’re addicted to caffeine and they’ll say “no way! I just need that morning coffee to get out of bed.” Well, I am addicted to caffeine.

So What?

The first question is, so what? So what if I need/want/crave caffeine? Is that bad? And the answer is, absolutely. There are a variety of ways in which caffeine harms your life. They range from physical to financial to a few less tangible. Let’s start with health.

Health Impact of Caffeine

Here’s a list of potential side effects of caffeine taken from the University of Columbia’s health information site.

  • Osteoporosis
  • Birth defects
  • Miscarriages
  • Infertility
  • Cancers
  • High blood pressure
  • Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
  • Ulcers and heartburn
  • Fibrocystic breast disease
  • Heart disease

That’s right, caffiene can increase your chance of all of these conditions. Sure, it’s not as bad as smoking, but it’s pretty bad.

Financial Impact of Caffeine

Want an extra million dollars when you retire? Take a look at the Latte Factor. It’s a term that’s been bounced around quite a bit in the personal finance side of the internet. It essentially says that cutting out small expenses can have a huge impact on your overall financial health. Here’s a link with more information.

Because most of the past few week’s travel was for business, I kept all my receipts and added them up when I did my expense reports. A quick check showed that the latte factor was absolutely accurate. In fact, it seemed to be underestimating things. On average, I spent about $6.50 EVERY DAY on caffeinated drinks. By the way, I don’t drink coffee, so all of this money is being spent on relatively cheap sodas. I can only imagine the daily caffeine bill of someone who likes high priced Starbuck’s lattes.

The Intangible Effects

Didn’t have enough caffeine this morning? You’re going to experience:

  • sleepiness
  • feeling overtired (from not having had any caffeine to energize you)
  • a terrible headache (when you abruptly stop having caffeine regularly)

From the University of Columbia’s health information site

Had too much? You’re in for:

  • anxious
  • excitable
  • restless
  • dizzy
  • irritable
  • unable to concentrate
  • gastrointestinal (GI) aches
  • headaches that don’t seem to go away
  • trouble with sleeping

From the University of Columbia’s health information site

Worried about the environment? That drink container has an impact.

  • The amount of glass bottles Americans throw away every two weeks would have filled both World Trade Center towers.
  • Americans throw away enough aluminum cans to rebuild our commercial air fleet every three months, and enough iron and steel to supply all our nation’s automakers every day.
  • Throwing away one aluminum can wastes as much energy as if that can were 1/2 full of gasoline.

From the Clean Air Council

Bottom Line

Every time you pick up a can of soda or a cup of coffee, you are making a decision to pay money in return for destroying your health and the environment around you. What kind of a decision is that? To me, it’s a choice I’m no longer willing to make. My little experiment became something much worse and I have no desire to keep going. So as of today, it’s no more caffeine for me. I’ll take the pain of withdrawal for the next few days. In the end, it’ll be worth it.

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Jan

28

A Blast From The Past - The Cheese Sandwich

Filed Under Eating Healthy | 8 Comments

It’s funny where we get our ideas for healthy meals.  I usually assume that healthy ideas come from books and websites.  After all, health is a modern thing, right?  Of course, we forget all about the fact that the obesity epidemic is actually a rather recent thing.  It’s only in the past few decades that our activity levels have sunk to an amazing low while our consumption of crappy food has risen to an alarming high.  So I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me when some very healthy ideas come from sources that are less than modern.

In this particular case, I’m referring to a conversation I had over the weekend.  If you read the 60 in 3 weekend roundup, you’ll know that I spent the weekend at a convention here in San Jose.  The convention had nothing to do with health or fitness, but I got the chance to meet with quite a few people and talk to them.  One of them was a rather interesting gentleman who I would never have expected to meet at a convention like this.  Most of the participants were in their teens or early twenties.  This gentleman was in his 80’s.

The Secrets of Living Long

For a man in his 80’s, he was in excellent shape, and he really seemed to be enjoying his life.  We chatted for a while and eventually the conversation turned to health.  And before you ask, no, I don’t always talk about health and fitness with everyone I meet :)  Anyway, some of what he said I already knew.  He doesn’t do much in the way of formal exercise but he walks everywhere.  He hasn’t owned a car in twenty years and doesn’t plan on buying one now so his only modes of transportation are the bus and his legs.  As far as eating habits, he eats rather simple meals, nothing too fancy and very rarely eats out at restaurants.

The Cheese Sandwich

We both ate our lunch while we chatted.  I was having a salad while he had a sandwich he had brought with him.  His meal was pretty simple.  Black bread, Cheese and some veggies.  An apple for dessert.  It reminded me of the meals I had when I was a child.  Out of curiosity, I decided to check out some facts about that sandwich when I got home and here’s what I found.

For about $2 total cost and 5 minutes preparation, that man had a far healthier meal than the salad which cost me $4 and 10 minutes to make.  His lunch had a more balanced nutrient load plus it just seemed tastier.  Now before you go off and make a cheese sandwich, let me add a few details.

  • Coarsely ground black bread, not enriched white bread - Enriched white bread like wonder bread or most sandwich bread is nothing more than empty refined carbohydrates.  Look for coarsely ground, whole grain black bread.
  • No butter - You don’t need butter or margarine.  If you add them, you’re adding unnecessary saturated fats to your meal.
  • Don’t overdo the cheese - Cheese is very nutritious but it’s also high in calories.  So enjoy it in moderation.
  • Don’t forget the veggies - Slice a few cucumbers and tomatoes on that sandwich or try a bit of pepper or onion for more flavor.  They’re a vital part of a healthy diet.
  • Fruit for dessert - No yogurt, no candy bars and no juice.  Bring an apple or an orange as your dessert.
  • Drink water - This one is obvious.  You don’t want to ruin your healthy meal with an unhealthy drink.

Summary

Sometimes the old ways really do work.  Just make sure to do your research and don’t spoil what you find with modern accessories (like switching in wonderbread).   And if you see an elderly gentleman by the name of Anthony walking the streets of San Jose, tell him Gal says hi.

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Jan

27

Weekend Roundup - Convention Edition

Filed Under Weekend Roundup | 1 Comment

One of my hobbies is volunteering with a group called FLARE. It’s an all volunteer organization which provides security services for small conventions around the SF bay area. Most of the conventions FLARE works are SciFi related, which I really enjoy. So volunteering for FLARE is really fun for me. I get to spend a whole weekend at a convention, hang out with friends and help out. It’s a complete departure from my normal life and I find it a refreshing change. So here’s to the folks at FLARE, thank you for giving me a fun and rewarding hobby.

And with that, let’s look at some articles from this past week:

Speaking of hobbies and volunteering, take a look at this article from the Chicago Tribune. It talks about fundraising and fitness and how they go hand in hand. Specifically, the article mentions Team in Training as one of the causes that help motivate people towards fitness. I still believe that motivation is one of the most important if not THE most important factors behind fitness. Once your find your motivation, your chance of success go way up. So take a look at this article and consider joining something like Team in Training or the AIDS ride or one of a dozen other causes. If they cause you to get off your ass and move, they’re already doing a good deed.
@Chicago Tribune

I’m not usually a fan of celebrity diet books, nor am I endorsing any book mentioned in the following article. In fact, I have not read the book mentioned in this article and I know nothing about it. I just happened to be struck by the tone of the article about talk show host Montel Williams and his newfound focus on fitness. Here’s someone who found motivation and then made a lifelong commitment to keeping himself fit. Note his comments on diet and why he dislikes the word. Plus I liked his solution to fitting veggies into a busy day. :)
@The Seattle Times

On a completely unrelated note, here’s an article from US News & World Report that discusses a health study on the connection between red meat and processed meat consumption and increased risk of cancer. You all know I’m a vegetarian, but you should also know that I have nothing against meat. I think it can be a great part of a healthy diet. I just think most people eat way too much red meat and way too much processed meat. If you eat a lot of steaks, hamburgers or fast food, maybe you should read this article and find out what you’re doing to your body.
@US News & World Report

And on a bit of a more esoteric tangent, here’s an interesting article about the effect of Vitamin E. The article is way too detailed for me to summarize, so just go on over to the Medical News Today website and read it. It’s an interesting look at both the facts on Vitamin E and also at how medical studies are carried out.
@Medical News Today

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Jan

25

Stretching, Injury Prevention or Useless Waste of Time?

Filed Under Exercise, Injuries, Work Out | 1 Comment

NOTE - Today’s post is based on large part on an excellent podcast I heard from Fitness Rocks. If you’re interested in Fitness Rocks podcasts, please go here.

Stretching

From the moment I started exercising, I heard a lot of talk about stretching. Some people said I should stretch before a workout to prevent injury. Others said I should stretch after a workout to maintain flexibility. I even got some advice on stretching that said it should be done regardless of your workout. What I didn’t get was anything that resembled factual evidence on the benefits of stretching. This means that I’ve usually avoided stretching before or after a workout in the interest of time.

However, I’ve recently become more interested in stretching after discovering that my flexibility was woefully low. I’ve been looking into things like yoga as a way of building flexibility but I haven’t managed to find the time to go to a yoga class. I talked about this with a coworker and she mentioned that simple stretching could be useful. I was interested and decided to do a bit more research. What I found was the following:

No Clear Evidence but Plenty of Common Sense

The first thing I found was that there was no clear evidence one way or another of the benefits of stretching. I couldn’t locate any studies or research pieces on injury rates or flexibility and how they were decreased or increased with stretching. So for those of you who demand solid evidence, the jury is still out on stretching.

There are however plenty of opinions by people who seem to know what they’re talking about and they all agree that stretching should be good for you. Their thinking goes something like this: many training injuries occur when you move a joint or muscle past its intended range of motion. Stretching seems to increase the available range of motion for muscles and joints. Therefore, stretching should lower injury risk by decreasing the chance that you’ll go past your muscle or joint acceptable range of motion. Seems pretty logical to me.

So, I Want To Stretch, Now What?

Ok, assuming you agree with that line of thinking, the question still remains, how and when should I stretch? In regards to when, the most common recommendation I found is to stretch before your workout, preferably after a short warm up. That means a brisk 5 minute walk followed by stretching and then your normal workout.

As for the how, I found a number of useful tips on what to do and not to do:

  • To properly stretch, you need to slowly move the area you’re stretching until you feel tightness but not to the point of actual discomfort. That means if you feel pain you’ve gone too far.
  • Hold a stretch for 15 to 30 seconds. Too little and you won’t get the benefit. Too much and you risk injury.
  • Repeat each stretch twice if you have time.
  • Don’t bounce! How many times have you seen people stretch by bouncing up and down? That’s actually going to increase your injury risk, so don’t do it. Just stretch that muscle slowly and gradually until you feel it tighten. Hold that position for 15 to 30 seconds and then slowly release. No bouncing!

Stretching Exercises

I looked around for online source of stretching exercises and the best one I found was this website for the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. Beside stretching, they also have a variety of good information, including this interesting section about injury prevention.

SummarySo, is stretching beneficial?  Well, I couldn’t come out with a solid yes or no, but I did find enough evidence to convince me to try it.  So yah, I’ll be stretching before my workouts from now on.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

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Jan

23

Working Out Between Workouts

Filed Under Injuries, Work Out | 1 Comment

I’ve happily gotten to a point in my life where I actually feel good when I work out. It used to be a chore, something I tried to avoid, but these days, a good workout will actually make me feel better, both physically and mentally. Unfortunately, I also have a tendency to overdo things, and this causes problems.

In the past, I’ve had issues with overtraining with both weights and cardio. When I was training for a half marathon, my friend came up with a really good training program that included running three to four days a week. Being the overeager idiot that I am, I immediately started running five to six days a week. The end results was not better performance, it was a walking fracture which I then ran the half marathon on, making things even worse.

Now that said, I do believe in getting my body moving every single day. That means that on days like yesterday, when I spend most of it in meetings or working on a computer, I want to work out. However, I don’t want to do anything too strenuous and I had just done a serious workout the day before that left me very tired and in need of some recovery time. This is why I came up with my “in between workouts” workout. It’s a very easy routine meant to get my muscles active without really straining them.

The Details

My usual workout has 24 different exercises and I do ten sets of each. In that workout are 3 back exercises, 3 abs exercises, 3 chest, 3 shoulders, 3 biceps, 3 triceps and 6 legs. It’s actually very similar to the four day workout we discussed on 60 in 3 except that I do one set of each and I do all of them every time I work out.

For this particular workout, I cut that down significantly.  I do 1 set of abs, 1 set of back, 1 set of biceps, 1 set of triceps, 2 of legs, 1 chest and 1 shoulders.  I’ll do 20 reps of each but with a very low weight.  That gives me the feeling of a workout but without putting a lot of strain on muscles that are still trying to recover from the day before.  I’ll choose these exercises from my overall workout based on personal preference and the equipment I have available.  For example, yesterday I did:

  • Crunches
  • Dead lifts with 20lbs dumbbells
  • Squats with 20lbs dumbbells
  • Calf Raises with 20lbs dumbbells
  • Hammerhead curls with 10lbs dumbbells
  • Overhead tricep extensions with 10lbs dumbbells
  • Dumbbell bench press with 20lb dumbbells
  • Standing Rows with 10lb dumbbells

I’ll also add about 15 minutes of cardio but I’ll keep it to low impact things like elliptical or bike and I’ll make sure to keep the pace lower than usual.  By the way, this is also a good workout to do in the morning, right when you wake up.  If you remove the cardio section, it will take you less than 1o minutes to accomplish and requires nothing more than some cheap dumbbells.

Remember, it’s great to do something that gets your body moving every single day.  However, you should also make sure that your body is getting enough rest time, especially after strenuous workouts.  The alternative is injuries and I doubt anyone wants that.   So use light workouts like these on rest days if you want to get your butt out of that office chair, but don’t overdo them.

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Jan

21

Which Exercise Equipment Is Right For You

Filed Under Money | 1 Comment

I usually link to interesting articles in my weekend roundups. However, once in a while, there’s an article which I find extremely useful and deserving of its own entry at 60 in 3. Case in point, this article from SFGate, which is actually a summary of a Consumer Reports article. The article reviews exercise equipment and tries to help the user decide what’s right and what’s not.

If anyone can find the link to the original article on the Consumer Reports website, please add it in the comments or send it to me. Would love to link back to them since they’re the ones who deserve the credit for this information, but I couldn’t find the article on their website.

Infomercial Bait

The first section focuses on all those devices you see on infomercials. From abbusters to rocking exercise mats, they all promise instant results, improvements to specific body areas and results that take just minutes a day. The secret?

All but one come with diet plans, some “very restrictive,” Hirsh says. “They also recommend, in addition to the miracle 60 seconds on the device, aerobic exercise. They’ll refer to ’systems.’ I think that’s how they keep it legal. The system consists of a machine, a reduced-calorie diet plus aerobic exercise in a lot of cases.”

That’s right, that “magic” machine that will give you 6 pack abs is actually a small part of an overall exercise and diet plan. Even worse, Consumer Reports tested the machines and compared them to no cost workouts. Here were the results:

The users “got just as good or a better workout,” using the no-cost exercises, Hirsh says.

So you can spend money on these devices or you can do some basic exercises at home without spending a dime and get as good or better workout. Your choice. The nice folks at Consumer Reports even summed it up at the end:

“If you have to have equipment at home, start with stability balls (which cost about $25) and resistance bands (which cost $5 to $20). They have stood the test of time and they’re inexpensive.”

Rating Healthclubs

The article also has a section about healthclubs and how they compare to one another. The results may surprise you.

Almost across the board, independent and nonprofit options such as community centers, universities, offices, YMCAs and Jewish Community Centers fared better than for-profit chains.

That’s right, free or almost free gyms beat out all those expensive chains. There was one exception called Lifetime Fitness, which the article describes in more detail. If you have one of their gyms around you, you may want to read up about them. However, for most of us, the results mean we should look at less expensive gym alternatives first. We may actually find ourselves enjoying them more. I know that for me personally, the gym at my office complex is more convenient, cleaner and friendlier than the 24 hour fitness I used to go to. That means I’m more likely to go, which in turns makes the gym even more useful. All that for $0 a month.

Summary

There’s also a section in the article about bigger exercise machines like treadmills. However, the real lessons come from the first two sections. Essentially, this articles clearly shows that it’s not necessary to spend a lot of money to get a good workout. Don’t fall for all that advertising on TV. It will try to sell you insta fitness solutions, expensive gym plans and fancy exercise machines but the truth is that you don’t need these things. A good workout can be had for free. If you really want to spend a bit of money, focus on the basics, a pair of dumbbells, a mat, a jump rope, bands and maybe a stability ball. If you shop right, the total is going to be less than $100.

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Jan

20

Weekend Roundup - Back Home Edition

Filed Under Weekend Roundup | 1 Comment

After spending 4 days out of the last two months at home, it’s nice to be writing this from my dining room table. My wife seems to be happy I’m home too, and is currently wondering why I’m working on the computer rather than spending time with her. So without further ado, here are some quick links for this week.

Via Newswise, we have this research study about walking carried out by the University of Michigan. It’s not a very fancy study, but it does show some of the simple benefits of walking. I can’t emphasize enough how important a simple 30 minute walk per day is. It doesn’t sound like much but it’s one of the most important changes you can make in your life.
@Newswise

From the Indystar we have this article with some general tips about how to get fit and healthy. I like the content here very much. It’s not specific tips on what to eat or what exercises to do, it’s more general than that and includes useful information on motivation and overall planning. Too many people worry too much about the little stuff and never pay attention to big stuff like this.
@Indystar

From the Herald is an article that I found very interesting. It discusses the eating habits of new immigrants to western societies and how their health has worsened since they came to their new homes. There’s a number of lessons to be learned here, but I think the most important one is how a diet that used to be healthy, has suddenly become unhealthy. Why is that? Well, because food is much more available in western societies as is meat. So these immigrants are eating a lot more of what they used to and they’re eating more of the meat and other dishes they used to consider rare delicacies. Keep this in mind.
@The Herald

And from NewsOK (Funny how the most interesting health news comes from these little publications. Seems like the big newspapers are too busy trying to scare us with their news to really print useful stuff) we have this article full of interesting ideas on how to keep that new year’s resolution. Essentially, the article says that most people stop working out soon after the new years because they’re bored and unmotivated, something I agree with. Motivation is one of the most important factors in health and one which many people ignore.
@NewsOK
@NewsOK

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