Whats more I would hazarda guess and say that fad diets of any genre do [...]]]> The word “diet” is becoming passe like vampire movies. Everywhere I turn there are diet pills, commercials, books, websites (yes this I guess is one more to a point) and people espousing the latest, greatest diet! I am sick of diets!!!

Whats more I would hazarda guess and say that fad diets of any genre do not work. Now wait a moment – I’m not saying you cannot lose some weight with many of them, I am saying that if you are trying to reverse obesity – diets are not going to do the trick.

Here is what I have found to work. Eat or burn less calories than you take in. Now how you decide to do that is the only trick. You can pay some company the big bucks to “do their plan” or figure it out for yourself. The cool thing is if you figure it out for yourself (hopefully) you will find a compromise (yes – there will be some hard decisions) you can live with!

Now I happen to like eating less and exercising more because this is a good strategy for getting fit. But the devil is in the details. In this post I will go over how my diet is helping my overall fitness level and will not focus too much on exercise (see other posts for that). To start the conversation I found a couple of videos stating that diets do not work for your perusal.

While I agree with most of this video and really like how the focus is not on diets, I will say that one can try and eat healthy, love them self, increase activity levels, lose weight slowly, and still love themselves! I do understand that liking/loving yourself is the first step to making healthy changes.

I also agree that diets do not work. If the focus is short term to loose the love handles to strut your stuff at the beach and then go back to the “normal” way of eating – that is an unhealthy attitude I think (I’m not a health professional).

I think making “lifestyle changes” is the proper approach. This includes moving more and eating less calories than one burns (assuming you need to lose some fat). I don’t think anyone should starve themselves because how can someone eat like that for the rest of their lives? No what I am talking about if changing your food choices from high calorie to lower calorie choices (cumulative over the whole day) that meet your needs. If you need to lose fat, then you would eat less calories than you use reasonably.

What is reasonable? I would guess a pound a week for most people is doable without too much pain after they get used to the idea. Exercise should make this easier too such as walking for 30 to 60 minutes a day. Most people have tons of down time they use up watching a tv show they don’t really like. Why taking the dog out for a walk daily would accomplish exercise for you and your dog!

Here is what I ate yesterday.

• Breakfast
  • egg sandwich with cheese and low-cal margarine
  • glass of orange juice
  • banana
  • orange
  • coffee with half and half & splenda
• Lunch
  • 1/2 torpedo roll with 3oz roast beef, slice of cheese and low-cal mayo
  • diet root beer
  • banana
  • orange
• Dinner
  • turkey burger with slice cheese on full torpedo roll
  • two red potatoes
  • two carrots
  • diet orange soda

The calorie totals are about 650 for breakfast, 450 for lunch, and 600 for dinner or a grand total of 1700 calories. You see I am shooting for 1500 to 1800 calories a day. I was not hungry all day and I did a 45 minute boxing workout on the bag.

The trick is consistency for me. I find if I jump off of the reservation too many times a week – I will have a wash in calories but the way I eat is not really a diet (I don’t count anymore while I am doing it) but rather a way of eating I’ve grown accustomed to doing. We have junk food for my son but I mostly stay away from that.

This doctor makes a good point about seeing a health professional for advice. If the doctor does not feel comfortable making recommendations he or she can refer you to a nutritionist. The main point here is if you find yourself obese, you probably have not been making good food choices so you will have to “adjust” what foods you already like to ones you CAN eat for life!

Another good point is to visit USDA website for approved dietary guidelines so you can see the latest recommendations for healthy eating choices!

So I say Diet Smiet! Go figure out how to transform your diet into YOUR healthy living plan.

At the time I thought the meatloaf was the normal way to make burgers but when I grew up I [...]]]> When I was a kid, I used to really look forward to hamburger night! My mom would basically mix meatloaf (bread, egg, milk, celery, onion and seasonings with hamburger) to make a couple of patty’s each!

At the time I thought the meatloaf was the normal way to make burgers but when I grew up I learned that real beef made teriffic hamburgers! In high school I learned that a Jumbo Jack with cheese was the perfect balanced meal, you know the four food groups (I’m dating myself).

Today I happened on an article entitled The Worst Burgers in America, that gave me pause. I mean I grew up eating hamburgers and the schools served them for lunches! Is any one food bad or is this just because of these grease oozing examples of Wimpy’s fare of choice – the American Hamburger?

In this post I will try to answer the question are hamburgers any better or worse for you than any other food. Understand that I am looking through the prisim of middle age and answer that I come up with now might not have reflected my thoughts when I was a fit youngster.

When I was 21 I started to get a beer belly so I went on a diet. I only had two 1/2 pound burgers for lunch instead of four! That and cutting down my beer intake to a six pack a day lost the weight!

You see younger people have fast metabolisms and can indulge in bad habits without any apparent lasting effects.

The problem or challenge for me was I got used to eating massive amounts of food and when I hit my late twenties – I’ve had to battle the weight ever since!

Unfortunately I used to think the problem was I did not workout enough. That lead to massive workouts and more massive eating where I saw little weight loss.

Yes it is probable if you have a huge appetite like me – you will struggle maintaining your weight when you are older.

Does it have to be that way? NO!!!

But to transition your ying and yang into peaceful co-existance you will have to make some hard choices.

Here is what I’ve had to do about hamburgers. I don’t eat them any more for the most part. I think I ate one last year at a party when there was not anything else available.

I’ve found that I cannot simply eat one small hamburger and be satisfied so I don’t eat any! I’ve not been to Jack in the Box, McDonalds, or Burger King in years!

Its not that I don’t like hamburgers – I do. I do eat turkey burgers, boca burgers, salmon burgers, chicken breast burgers and any other lower fat cut of meat on a roll but I cannot eat the hamburger.

Why? Because if I were to eat a hamburger (unless I paid the big bucks for the leanest cut) I would eat twice the calories than my other choices.

I have another year to go before I reach my personal goal so I cannot afford the extra calories!

Lets examine the other part of this I implied in the title. Burgers to die for? I mean is any one food so bad that one would worry about ones mortality?

One of the burgers in the article happend to be a local restaurant - T.G.I. Friday’s Jack Daniel Burger. This burger has almost 1600 calories! That is the amount of calories I try to limit myself to in one day on my diet!

So the answer to the burger to die for in my case is Yes!!! I would have to worry that I’d start gaining fat/weight again and ultimately shorten my life span by consuming the “normal” fast food burgers – never mind these extreme burgers.

Having said this I would agree that a burger, including a fast-food burger can certainly be part of an overall healthy diet if one does not over do it.

So now that I’ve tempted your taste buds I’ll leave you with a hamburger that can really kill you. Enjoy!

What’s this post going to be about? Getting older and how it affects your plan to stay or get fit. As you might image if you are [...]]]> While searching for a good song for this post about getting older I figured out that Mother’s Little Helper was not really a song about getting older.

What’s this post going to be about? Getting older and how it affects your plan to stay or get fit. As you might image if you are young (I couldn’t), getting older means you have to make allowances to one’s diet and exercises to get and keep fit.

First here is a timless melody from the Blue Oyster Cult entitled, “Don’t Fear the Reaper.”

When is old? Well I would think that depends on what level of activity you are used to and your physical fitness level. Some people are not that fit and will notice age earlier in life. Others that have kept in good shape their entire life may not notice getting old until their 70′s.

I started out in great shape when I was a young man because I was an athlete. I won some contests in the long jump and hurdles and later became proficient at karate.

Life changed a bit when I started a family and I had to work two jobs for 14 years to make ends meet. Exercise fell by the wayside and I’ve had to get back into shape several times over the years.

What are the biggest hurdles I and many people face turning older?

• injuries while exercising (may derail your fitness plan)
• poor diet (may make exercising futile)
• medical challenges (may make diet and exercising challenging)
• acquiescence (accepting current poor health as “normal”)

 Let’s address acquiescence first; have you taken stock of your health and decided how to best keep or attain a state of good fitness?

If you have assessed your current state of health and noted some areas of improvement were needed – what’s stopping you from creating a plan to slowly change some things?

Inertia is hard to overcome! First off let me say that living healthier is not that hard to do but it will take some changes. The key is as soon as you can formulate a plan, you can overcome acquiescence!

The plan might take several years to slowly change habits. It make take some research on your part to find acceptable changes to your diet, exercise, and medical conditions that can lead to better health.

How about poor diet? One thing that I’ve done to make it easier is to not follow any diet. Just figure out what you already like to eat and cut down on the fat and calories of foods that are the most problematic. But my way is but one of many (and there are a lot of ideas out there).

Whatever way you choose to lose weight (if that is one of your challenges), keep it as closes to the foods you already like to eat because someday you will want to maintain you weight loss. Remember losing the weight is the easy part – keeping it off is the challenge. 

What about medical challenges? Go for your yearly physical and reassess your health every year. If you have challenges – make a plan to address those concerns. I have borderline high blood pressure. I could choose to ignore and no one around me would be the wiser but I would be playing roulette with a stroke. Better to deal with whatever medical challenges you have then to play ostrich!

The biggie for me is to try and get into half as good shape as when I was young. I have come to the conclusion that this is a lost cause for me! I was in such good shape as a youth that I cannot now, as a man of 53, ever hope to attain near the fitness level that I once had. That being said, I would settle for 25% of the shape I had!

Injuries have been my greatest obstacle and I am starting to realize that I have to make allowances for my age. For instance when I kick box the bag for 30 minutes, I work up a great sweat! But I pay dearly for days afterwords with neck and back pain. You see my body does not like the twisting and contorting one has to do in a high-impact near fighting situation. My body does not care about my lofty goal of trying to get into my best fighting shape… rather my body is telling me that I am getting older – find a compromise!

What an eye opener for me! Just because I have a 23 year old mind does not mean my 53 year old body has to respond!

So I have started working drills without a lot of twisting and contortions. If I end up getting into a self defense situation I will still be able to contort my body at will as I am in shape, stretched and have good wind!

So what I am saying in this post is getting older means you cannot workout the same as when you were younger but you have to work smarter. Remember with age can come great wisdom.

Just because it is not easy does not mean it is not attainable.

So the advice I would like to impart to you today is get fit and don’t fear the reaper!

Disclosure: I have been a lifetime fiscally conservative and [...]]]> Warning – if you are as sick and tired of politics as I am right now and are not wavering on your national election picks - Please skip this post. I am going to opine on an important health issue in the United States for the upcoming elections.

Disclosure: I have been a lifetime fiscally conservative and social liberal, generally voting and part of the Republican Party. Please if you are opposed to my view point – lets agree to disagree politely.

The last few elections (George W’s second term), I’ve had to change my party affiliation as we became embroiled in another unjust war (we found out after we entered – no WMDs). I’ve joined the Spendrician (whoops, I mean Democrat) Party and voted on a national level for the one elusive issue Republicans have not care for – Health Care!

Before I give my pitch for the angels, here is a video of a politican that I’ve not supported in most issues during my lifetime.

I have been patiently waiting since my adulthood (when I found out health-care was not a right) for the politicians to step up to the plate and create a one-tier heath-care system for the sick.

I’ve watch many friends and neighbor’s struggle to pay for their children’s health-care while insurance companies declined claims and/or coverage altogether for the search of the almighty buck!

I’ve hoped these “fellow” conservative” minded politicians that I voted for might try and do the right thing and at least throw a lifeline to the poor by passing laws to make coverage portable, get rid of pre-existing conditions and find options for affordable alternatives.

You know what? It never happened. I’ve not heard of any Republicians working with the Democrats to fix the broken healthcare system!

I’ve had to determine that the Republicans were beholden to big business at the cost of the middle class.

Unhappily I switched parties and even contributed to Hillary Clinton’s election campaign (I thought she was going to win), not because I agreed with most of her or the Democrats politics, but rather because of the one issue I have been waiting for my entire adult life, to be addressed!

So you get the idea – I am not happy with most Democratic canditates but I think econmically speaking – President Obama was just what we needed (and still need for the second term). That will be another post someday maybe but here is what I am going to do this election.

I am voting Democrat on a national level (house and senate) even though I am more closely aligned with the Republican candidates on most issues. If the Republicans were not swearing to repeal the new health-care act – I would probably be voting Republican as I mostly end up doing.

I am voting Democrat on a national level until after 2014 for sure so I have done everything I can to ensure our children will have the benefit of fairer health-care benefits (much like we have social security and medicare now – don’t get me started on how both party’s are robbing the social security fund every year to make the current budget… again another post someday).

So I would like you – whoever you are to consider your important issues and go vote your conscience – whatever you think IS important!

Voting is the only way you can make your voice heard!

By the way – if you agree or disagree, please feel free to comment. All polite, civil comments will be posted.

A couple of areas my diet used to be lacking in was vegetables and fruits. [...]]]> As you might know, part of eating healthy is eating a varied diet. There seem to be six food groups in the food pyramid (adopted by the USDA) as follows:

1. Carbohydrates: 6-11 servings
2. Vegetables: 3-5 servings
3. Fruits: 2-3 servings
4. Dairy: 2-3 servings
5. Protein: 2-3 servings
6. Fat: use sparingly

A couple of areas my diet used to be lacking in was vegetables and fruits. It was not that I had anything against them but I like mostly sandwiches. Most days I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner on a sandwich! If it does not fit on a sandwich – I didn’t eat it.

In this post I will talk about strategies to transition your diet to encompass all of the food groups (unless you are on a fad diet that excludes some of the food groups for some reason – if so I will understand if you ignore my point of view).  First here is a quick video of what prompted me as a kid to like lettuce!

Not my tortoise but after watching Sulcata chomping down that tasty lettuce, don’t you just want to grab a head of lettuce and partake in some delicious, heavenly vegetables?!!

You see when I was a boy living in 29 Palms, California (the Mojave Desert), we caught a tortoise. We did not know what to feed him so we raided the refrigerator and found out that he would eat many veggies but loved lettuce!

Now I know plenty of men that for whatever reason do not like “rabbit food.” I am told (by them) that they would rather eat the rabbit who ate the veggies for their vegetables. I guess the logic kind of follows to a point but the fallacy I can see is the nutrition is not the same. I mean the whole reason for the different food groups is to get a nutritious diet.

Now for me – I am basically a lazy eater. I mean when I throw together a quick sandwich, if it is not close – it won’t make it in the roll. For the past year the wife and I have been adding lettuce and tomatoes into the sandwiches (along with the all important grilled onions)!

The new thing I’m doing is zapping a single serving of mixed vegetables in the microwave most nights so I can get three servings of vegetables.

Do you think getting all of your food groups daily are important? Please let me know how you have surmounted your challenges in you diet and remember – it does not matter the reason for why you like veggies – just that you figure out a way to eat them!