BSCTC presidential finalists

Getting started, part 5: Get to know the food you eat

OK, so you've started on this journey. You are properly motivated, you're exercising at least 30 minutes a day, 3 or 4 times a week, and we still haven't even begun to talk about your diet.

Until today.

But first, we're just going to talk about it and think about it, because if I've learned one thing in my experience, most of the stuff you hear is wrong.

If you are looking for a crash diet to lose X-number of pounds in X-number of days, you are looking in the wrong place. If you are looking for a secret pill or juice or vitamin that will melt away that extra weight you're carrying, you are looking in the wrong place. If you're looking for that magical gadget or exercise video that will tighten your tummy or shrink your butt or get rid of your flab in 3 minutes a day with absolutely no effort, you're looking in the wrong place.

But if you are looking for a simple formula to becoming healthier and happier, with the extra bonus of losing weight along the way, then this might be the place for you. I have a simple two-step plan that will accomplish all of those things. Get ready, because here it comes:

Get off your butt.

Stop shoving junk down your piehole.

See? Simple!

OK, so that's a joke ... sort of. It's also true. If you want health, there is no substitute. Every other gimmick, gadget, fad, solution, craze or secret you've heard in the past works in one of two ways:

Either it achieves a temporary solution to a symptom, without tackling or even addressing the underlying problem, or

It doesn't work at all.

So, we've already been talking about exercise, and I hope you have begun to work on that. If so, you might already have noticed changes in your appetite. I know that when I first started, after I had spent an half-hour huffing, puffing and sweating away on my bike, the last thing in the world that I wanted was a greasy cheeseburger.

Still, exercise alone will not help you meet your goals. You might crave healthier food once you begin exercising, but if you don't know what that is, how do you know what to put in your body?


We'll get there, but not quite yet. For this step, all that you need to do is start forming new habits to educate yourself. To do that, keep eating the way you have been (for now), but start looking at the food labels of what you're eating. Get familiar with what you are putting in your body. In particular, pay attention to the serving size and number of servings in the package and compare it to how you actually consume it.

A lot of times, food companies use the serving size to mask how unhealthy their products actually are. You might pick up a 24 oz. bottle of Pepsi and see "100 calories" and think, "Well, that's not too bad, especially since I just walked for an hour and burned 200 calories." But if you look a little closer, you'll see that it actually says that there are 100 calories per serving, and there are 3 servings in a bottle! So now, even with your 200-calorie-burning walk, you're 100 calories in the hole! That might not sound like much, but a month of 100 extra calories a day means about one extra pound on the scale.

Another example: The other day, my wife asked me to stop by the store to get some sauerkraut for a country dinner she was preparing. I looked at the label and saw that it appeared to be very low-impact on my diet. I have been particularly concerned about the amount of sodium in processed foods lately, so I took special note of that category and saw that it contained only 5 percent of my recommended daily allowance of sodium ... per serving. My eyes then went back to the top of the label to see that there were -- HOLY CRAP -- 14 "servings" in this itty-bitty can! Wow! So not only was sauerkraut low in calories, it was truly a miracle food! And by "miracle," I'm talking about the fishes-and-loaves variety. Imagine, feeding 14 people from one 16-ounce can of sauerkraut!

But seriously, I'm sure there are plenty of people who could put away half of that can by themselves, and in so doing would be wolfing down one-third of their recommended sodium intake for the day from one side dish!

These are the types of things you learn if you simply pay attention to the food labels. And while I've told you to not bother making changes to your diet yet, I can't imagine how anyone could not be affected upon seeing exactly how unhealthy some of this stuff is.

In many ways, this is simply the same advice that financial experts give to people about their money, when they tell them to keep a journal of everything they spend their money on, with the same results. Little by little, they don't see how much money they are wasting on, for example, a bottle of soda from the pop machine at work. A dollar here, a dollar there ... who cares? But when they see the grand total at the end of a week or month and realize they're spending the equivalent of that month's water bill or a new outfit, they begin to think of ways to cut back on those bottles of pop.

It's the same way with nutrition labels. Start keeping track of what the food you are eating contains. Do this by examining the food labels on everything you eat, or by asking for the nutritional information at restaurants. If you are feeling especially motivated, you can keep all of that information in a journal. Then, after awhile, you should begin to notice some patterns ... too much of this, too little of that, WAY too much of that.

I have a feeling that once you begin to see exactly what you are putting into your body, you will be ready to start making changes for the better.

For more information about how to understand food labels, the Food and Drug Administration has a great guide available online here.

It's all in how you see it

It's no secret that one's outlook makes all the difference when tackling any task, and that is especially true of exercise. If you are dreading your workout, then chances are it's not going to be very fun and it's going to be a lot harder. But go into it with a positive attitude, and suddenly it's no longer work. If you're having fun, it's practically effortless and immensely more enjoyable.

I've known this all along, but I never knew quite how true it was until the other day. On Monday, I was not looking forward to that evening's run at all. It wasn't much, just 3 miles. But it might as well have been 300. I just wasn't in the mood.

But I did it anyway. I grimaced and grunted and made myself go, and as a result, every step along the way was pure torture. I felt the pavement pounding into my legs, rattling my bones, jarring my knees and seemingly ripping apart my shins. It was pure hell, and every mile -- heck, every half-mile, every quarter-mile -- I kept telling myself, "Just a little further and then I'm going to abandon this run. I just don't have it today."

But I stuck it out anyway and managed to finish. Not that I was happy about it. I seriously began questioning whether I should continue my marathon training at all. How could I ever run 26.2 miles, if this little 3-mile run was kicking my butt?

When I got home that evening, after dinner my wife and youngest son were getting ready to go for a run, when my oldest son chimed in that he wanted to go, too. Then their eyes turned to me: "We're only one person away from having the whole family ..."

At first, I thought, "No way. I've already done my running for the day." But the more I thought about how it might be fun to run with my family, and about how I could maybe cross another day's run off the list and get another rest day this week, the more I was convinced to go.

As we got started, we made the decision that I would run with my older son, while my wife hung back with our younger son. And then my older son took off without me, so I started running a little faster than usual to catch up to him, but being in a playful mood, I sprinted on past him. He's every bit as competitive as I am, so sprinted to catch back up and pass me again. We laughed, and a little later I did it again, and again he responded. And then again, with the same result. Finally, I saw him looking at a passing car, so I sprinted around the other side of him and got a good lead before he ran me down again. And we laughed the whole way.

That got us through the first mile, and afterwards I noticed how dramatically different I felt on my second run of the night. And although this was a 4-mile run, I wasn't tired, there was no pain in my legs, and to top it off, I was running a much faster pace than normal. I ended up sprinting the final five blocks and ran my fastest time ever (which isn't very fast, but still ...).

In his books, Lance Armstrong describes a similar feeling on the bike as "riding with no chain," describing the feeling of riding seemingly without effort. I suppose the best way to describe my second run that night would be as "running without road," because it really did feel like I was airborne. My legs didn't feel that pounding from the pavement, and I couldn't even hear the usual "clomp" of my footsteps as I ran.

It was simply magic.

So what changed? How could a 4-mile run be so effortless, after an earlier 3-mile run was such punishment? The only answer must be "attitude."

During that first run, it felt like work because it was work, and unwanted work at that. I really didn't want to be there, and my body responded by trying to give me every reason to give up.

But the second run was playtime. I was having fun and laughing. There was no "work" involved, so my body responded by giving me no reason to quit.

It all sounds so simple, but I realize it isn't. I know there are going to be days when I don't want to run, and I'm not going to be able to simply flip a switch and change my attitude about it.

But maybe the knowledge that those perfect runs are out there, that it really is possible to "run without a road," will be enough to keep those dreaded days at a minimum. The effortless run truly is a marvelous experience, and one that is worthy of pursuit. Hopefully, continuing to pursue it will help me view my upcoming runs with anticipation rather than dread, and thereby make it more attainable.

Trying a different number

If you watched the Biggest Loser last week, you couldn't have missed the repeated suggestions from Dr. Huizenga and others to "know your number" by visiting the Biggest Loser website and clicking the Know Your Number link. Basically, this is supposed to be a way of determining your overall health my giving you a number that represents how "old" you are physically. In other words, if you're 30 years old and have a lot of health issues, such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes, your physical condition might have your body more in the shape of a 50- or 60-year-old. Likewise, if you have none of those issues and you're taking steps to maintain and improve your health, then your score might be more like 20.

OK, I know this is sort of a gimmicky kind of thing, but it piqued my curiosity. But I must say I much more interested in knowing my number before I knew theirs -- $89.99.

This is exactly why the Biggest Loser has started rubbing me the wrong way. While I still enjoy the show immensely, it seems more and more like the show is devolving into a two-hour infomercial for weight-loss products, and in some cases the tie to weight-loss is tangential at best. ("To curb your snack cravings, try chewing Brand X sugarless gum! Then wash the cancer-causing artificial sweetener out of your mouth using this Acme water filter!")

To be fair, this does seem to be a little more than a super-expensive online quiz about your health habits. I noticed that you actually send them a blood sample during the process, so hopefully you actually get some worthwhile information (perhaps cholesterol or blood sugar analysis) for your hard-earned money.

Still, in this economy, shelling out $90 for a questionable health analysis is something a lot of people, myself included, might shy away from. So, today I thought I'd offer the cheapskate's way of obtaining questionable health info.

First, keep on the lookout for health fairs sponsored by local hospitals and clinics. A lot of times, these events will provide such services as cholesterol and blood sugar screening for free, and you'll have the added bonus of having a health professional right there with you to answer questions about your results. This will be much better, much more personally relevant information than you could get from Know Your Number.

But if you're really interested in assigning an age or score to your body's health, you can always check out Real Age. This is a website that offers an online quiz, during which you answer questions about your health and habits. Then, by adding years for bad answers and subtracting years for good answers, the site gives you a "Real Age" to let you know how healthy you are.

Best of all, the site is completely free, which is a good thing because I don't know how much value there is in it, other than as a general reminder of things you should and shouldn't be doing. I mean, it's OK in the sense that it will tell you whether your diet needs more fruits and vegetables, or that you need to quit smoking, or that you're doing a good job in exercising. But it's also not exactly an authoritative picture of your health.

For one thing, if you really want to know how healthy you are, go see a doctor ... preferably one who recognizes health does not consist of taking pills to mask symptoms.

Secondly, the main problem with an online quiz for the masses is that health really isn't a one-size-fits-all proposition. For example, the Real Age quiz treated my heart rate as a negative, saying it was too low. But here's the deal: The average "normal" resting heart rate is between 60 and 80 beats a minute. Back before I changed my diet and started exercising, my heart rate would generally range from 80 to 90 beats a minute, which was just starting to get bad, but not really a huge concern. However, exercise will cause your resting heart rate to go down, because your body becomes more adept at transporting oxygen to its cells, and therefore it doesn't need to beat quite as often to get the job done. And as a result of all the cardiovascular exercise I've done over the past three years or so, I've watched my resting heart rate fall consistently as I've gotten healthier, dropping from a high of 90 three years ago, to an average of 48 now. So is that really something that should be considered a negative? If so, then poor Lance Armstrong must be on the verge of death, because his resting heart rate is around the 35-beats-a-minute range.

Still, the Real Age quiz does have some value, in that it can point out some unhealthy behaviors you might be unaware of, or give you some new ideas about improvements you can make. And you certainly can't beat the price.

Just cold incorrect

It's been cold across much of the country lately, including where I live. As a result of this fact, and my decision to go through Hal Higdon's marathon training program as a way to keep in shape this winter, I've been doing a lot of my running when the temperature is in the teens and 20s.

Now, my schedule is pretty tight, and during the week I usually change into my running clothes at the end of work and hit the streets before heading home. Of course, my coworkers notice this, and their response is pretty much universal: "You're going to get pneumonia!"

Really, it's kind of annoying, especially considering that the strongest warnings come from those who smoke ("You're *cough* *cough* going to *HACK!* catch pneumonia!"). Maybe I should jump up and confront them every time they get up to head outside for a cigarette: "You're going to catch heart disease, emphysema, COPD and cancer!"

Anyway, as a rational, thinking adult, I know that infections of the human body, including pneumonia, are caused by bacteria and viruses. A change in the temperature being responsible for producing illness would be an act of spontaneous generation, much like rotting meat magically turning into maggots, or dirt becoming plants. In other words, a total fallacy.

But while I know this, I also know the reason people used to believe in those other examples of spontaneous generation was ignorance of the full process in play. Rotting meat appears to turn into maggots because flies lay their eggs in rotting meat. Dirt appears to turn into plants because there are seeds in the dirt. Perhaps there is some larger mechanism at work that makes people exposed to cooler temperatures more susceptible to infection, creating the false notion that cold weather causes disease. So I decided to check it out.

First of all, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pneumonia is a serious matter, resulting in 1.2 million hospitalizations and over 55,000 deaths in 2006. But all authoritative sources I've been able to find note that the illness is caused generally by bacteria, although it can also be brought on by viruses, fungi and chemicals (CDC, American Lung Association, WebMD).

WebMD comes right out and explicitly addresses the concerns about cold weather, saying, "You do not catch pneumonia by not dressing properly for cold weather or by being caught in the rain."

But what about the belief that cold weather, while not responsible for illness, could make one more susceptible to it? Turns out there might be an element of truth, albeit remote, to that fear. A 1996 article by Dr. Alan Greene investigating any potential link between cold air and the common cold notes that cold air does cause mucus to thicken, which may make it slightly more difficult for the body to prevent bacteria and viruses from entering the lungs.

As a counterpoint to that article, however, is this one, which reports on a number of studies that appear to show that brief periods of moderate exercise immediately boost the immune system over the short term, and engaging in such activities on a regular basis may prolong the effect over the long term. "During moderate exercise immune cells circulate through the body more quickly and are better able to kill bacteria and viruses," the article reads. "After exercise ends, the immune system generally returns to normal within a few hours, but consistent, regular exercise seems to make these changes a bit more long-lasting." It is important to note, however, that another study suggests that longer (e.g. 90 minutes), more strenuous exercise in the cold might actually weaken the immune response for up to 72 hours.

And then there's this article by Amby Burfoot, which appeared in Runner's World in 2004, that specifically explores whether there are any hazards to running when it's really cold, like 40-below-zero kind of cold. Told anecdotally, the article can find no real dangers, as long as proper precautions are taken to avoid such maladies as frostbite.

So, in summary, it appears that the old wives' tales about cold weather causing colds, the flu or pneumonia really have no basis in reality. In fact, while cold weather might inhibit the body's ability to prevent some microbes from entering, the immune system boost provided by exercise should actually mean that one would experience fewer illnesses of lesser severity.

As long as you take proper precautions to keep warm and don't overdo it, there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to continue enjoying your favorite outdoor activity in the winter. So, much as my sore legs and tired body might protest from time to time, I'll continue my training.

As for my smoking friends, maybe it is for the best that they be so concerned about the potential for pneumonia ... not for me, but for themselves. This 1999 Science Daily article reports on a study that year showing that those who smoke at least a pack a day are "almost three times more likely to acquire pneumonia than persons who never smoked." Maybe it's from all that time they spend outside in the cold.

Getting started, part 4: Chart a course to move and build

One last note about exercise, before we turn our attention to diet. We have already established that you need to find something you love, and you need to start doing it slowly. But you are not going to stay there.

You must channel your spirit of competitiveness, and in this instance, your competitor is you. At the first week or two of exercise, after your body has begun to adjust to the new demands you are placing on it, you need to keep upping the ante. I suggest whatever form of exercise you are doing, you begin keeping a journal of your progress. Start charting each workout and how long, how far and/or how many times you did it. For example, if you are cycling, running, walking or hiking, you want to know how far you went and how long it took you.

Now, when I started keeping a record of my workouts, I went the old-fashioned route of using a pen and paper. But the problem with that is that you might not always have your notepad with you when you need it.

Then I discovered MapMyRide.com, which I think began for cyclists, but has expanded to include other types of exercise, such as running, walking, hiking and even swimming,
sports and gym workouts. For the outdoors activities, you can draw your routes on a map and get the exact distance of your course, and even changes in elevation. Then, when you enter your time and weight, it will even calculate the number of calories you burned.

You can join MapMyRide.com for free and have more than enough features to keep track of all of your workouts, although they do offer premium subscriptions that give you access to some pretty nifty features, such as printable maps with turn-by-turn directions and workout plans.

Anyway, however you keep track of your workouts, once you have built up enough to begin seeing patterns, start challenging yourself. Push yourself to go longer or faster or harder or more often than you have in the past. You always want to be improving.

Why? Because the body is a miraculous machine that is able to adjust to the demands placed on it. This is a good thing, because it means that if the workout you start doing is killing you, it will get easier over time. But the bad thing about that is that it will become less effective over time. Let's say that you choose running as your exercise, and you eventually build up to running 3 miles, three times a week. You will probably lose a few pounds and you'll be thinking, "Great! I'll just keep this up and I'll continue to lose weight." But that isn't quite what happens. Eventually, your body becomes accustomed to the exercise you are doing and begin making adjustments accomplish the same task more efficiently. That means you will need to burn less energy (i.e., fewer calories) to complete your workout, rendering it less effective.

There are several ways to avoid that. The simplest is to always be setting new goals. Turn that 3-mile run into a 4-mile run, and start doing it four times a week. And then keep building. Another trick is something called "muscle confusion," which operates under the principle that if you constantly change up the types of exercise you are doing, your body won't fall into a routine that renders your workouts less effective. In essence, this is sort of the same principle as cross-training, and that means that as you progress, you will need to be on the lookout for other types of exercise that you enjoy doing. If you are a cyclist, you might start adding some running, hiking, swimming, rock climbing, aerobics or weight training into the mix.

But that is on down the road. For now, as you are just getting started with fitness, one type of exercise will suffice. All you really need to remember for now is to keep track of your workouts, so that you will constantly be pushing yourself to do a little better.

Building healthier communities

I work as an editor at one of those "newspapers" you might have read about in history books, and one of my duties is to write editorials from time to time. Thankfully, I have a lot of freedom about what I write, so a lot of times I get to write about things such as fitness and nutrition, as they relate to social policy.

Here's one I wrote back in November. It was a response to a series of unfavorable health statistics regarding my community, but I think many of the ideas can be adapted to just about any community in need to a health makeover.

A healthier community can begin with small steps

As we wrote Wednesday, a report that labeled Eastern Kentucky's fifth congressional district as the nation's "unhappiest" might sound inflammatory on the surface, but it is actually a compelling wake-up call for a region that has fallen behind the rest of the nation in just about every significant health statistic.

When you look at such factors as smoking, obesity, heart disease, diabetes and depression, Eastern Kentucky ranks at or near the top in all the wrong ways. We have known these facts in isolation for some time, but the Gallup Healthways Well-Being Index is unique in lumping them all together to paint a picture that is more concerning than the sum of its parts.

Obviously, something needs to be done, and for the most part, it is up to us as individuals to do the heavy lifting -- by making the choices to quit smoking, get some exercise and eat better.

But local government -- county, city and school district -- can help promote the transition to healthier lifestyles, and there is good reason to do so. According to the World Health Organization, a concerted focus on tackling the three major risk factors -- smoking, poor diet and lack of exercise -- could prevent 80 percent of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and strokes, as well as 40 percent of cancers.

And government can help promote healthy behaviors while neither intruding in personal lives nor breaking the bank. Simple, low-cost, minor improvements can help a community.

To get the ball rolling, here are five suggestions we can offer:

Making public spaces more active. One of the most effective ways to encourage exercise is simply to give people convenient, equipped places to do it. Communities can encourage walking and running by providing trails in parks and other public lands, complete with benches and functioning water fountains. Floyd County, its five cities and local parks boards could also expand upon the idea of Second Sunday, simply by closing off a street once a month to provide residents a safe, convenient location to walk, run and bike.

Creating bicycle-friendly communities. Simply put, there is no healthier, cheaper or more environmentally-sound form of transportation than a bicycle. While Floyd County already has a small but dedicated cycling community, some who might otherwise ride a bike are discouraged by concerns over safety. Local governments could promote cycling and improve safety by painting designated cycling lanes in high-traffic areas, reducing speed bumps on city streets to allow unobstructed bicycle passage, posting "Share the Road" signs throughout their communities and providing convenient racks in which to park and lock bicycles.

Developing year-round adult intramural sports leagues. Mention the word "exercise" to sedentary people, and many will roll their eyes and envision sweating and hard work. Use the word "sports" instead, and they will conjure more positive images of fun, games and competition. But for most people, participation in sports ends in high school, if not sooner. Exercise should be a lifelong activity, not a childhood one. Local parks, churches and schools could organize adult-oriented sports leagues and trick people into exercising by letting them engage in regularly-scheduled, active fun.

Providing consistent and frequent nutritional education to students -- in the classroom and the lunchroom. Schools do educate their students about good nutrition, but a lot of times that education is infrequent, confusing and completely undermined when they reach the cafeteria. When students are taught to choose low-fat, high-fiber, fresh foods, those lessons are lost when they go to lunch to find pizza, hot dogs, chicken nuggets and French fries. It is a classic "do as we say, not as we do" scenario that almost always fails. Schools not only need to provide more frequent information about what to eat, they also need to provide menu options that rely less on highly refined and processed foods that are high in fat, sugar and sodium, and more on fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean meat choices that aren't deep-fried.

Expanding the smoke bans. Prestonsburg is already a leader in this regard, and it is time for Floyd County's four remaining cities and the fiscal court to follow suit. A report released last month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that simply enacting smoke bans in public places can reduce the number of heart attacks in a community by up to 47 percent. And to tackle the problem at its source, we would like to see any smoke ban improved by offering first-time violators the option of taking part in a smoking-cessation program in lieu of paying a fine.

-- The Floyd County Times, Nov. 20, 2009