I found this article on MSN.com while I was reading about Mongolia's current status and their not-so-secret disatisfaction with China. Anyway this article is about how the food industry tries to, as the author calls it "hijack your brain". I think you should read it if you have ever asked why it was that you were craving potato skins SO BADLY! Or if even after your completely satisfying dinner salad (no cheese or croutons, dressing on the side) you couldn't help but give in to the siren song of the peanut butter brownie sundae! I thought I was partially mad when I would look at advertisments images on t.v. showing fried chicken, corn, mashed potatoes and biscuits and translating it as fat-salt, sugar-salt, sugar-fat-salt and more sugar-fat-salt. Now I know it isn't just me! This writer is crazy too!
Oh, and if you have ever eaten the KFC grilled chicken thinking you were doing something good then this article is worth a read for you too.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Thursday, July 2, 2009
The Magic (Sweaty) Bullet Is Not for Sissies!
There is no "magic bullet" for health and fitness per se. But that doesn't change the fact that we know what needs to be done to have good health and to be fit; eat well and exercise. So it's really more like a path than a bullet. A family member asked me recently, "hey michelle, can you write down how I can be as skinny as you? But it can't include eating too differently or exercising at all. I hate to sweat." Ooooh kaaaay.
Do you hate to sweat? That's kind of like saying you hate to pee. Sorry, it's just going to happen regardless of how you feel about it and the longer you don't do it, the more upset your body is going to be! Sweating is what your body does in order to cool itself down. As your body temperature rises, several things occur. In order to maintain a constant internal temperature your body will direct blood the surface of your skin to expose it to a circulating air current to cool it down. That is why your skin flushes when you get hot or you exercise. Similarly, your skin will allow moisture out to in order to let it evaporate. It's not the sweating itself that cools the body but the evaporation of that sweat that helps to cool us down.
If you started exercising after a long time of not exercising you may be confused by sweating. It is possible that you might not seem to be sweating for quite awhile into your workout. But then as you become more and more adjusted to exercising frequently you might start to sweat more and more often and sooner into your workout than you did at the beginning. What's going on?! Well, research has proven that folks that exercise more or who are more acclimated to hot temperatures start to sweat sooner then those who don't or who aren't. Their body's internal temp starts to rise and the body says, "Alert! Steady temp increase noted, due to recognizable pattern expect increase to continue. Initiate cooling system: sweat!" So the sooner into your exercise session that your body starts to sweat, the better and more efficient the cooling effect will be. Sweating is not a sign of weakness. Sweating is not a sign to others that you are unfit, or whatever you imagine. No one at the gym or on the trail is thinking, "Eew, that guy is TOTALLY sweating! That's gross."
So now that you're over the whole sweat thing, you should know that because your body knows what to do and is going to sweat more you need to keep your eye on your fluids! If you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated! As you start to work out in the sun and heat more make sure you slowly adjust to it. Start your workouts shorter and less intense then usual and gradually add time to your workouts, but don't add intensity for a bit. It's a fluid flux; add more time first, then shorten your workout and up the intensity a bit and so on. It's like if you went to Denver, you probably wouldn't expect to do the same workout you normally do at the same intensity etc until you were adjusted to the altitude right? Instead of altitude this is heat and humidity.
Does this sound sissy to you? Maybe it'll seem important when I tell you that this slow adjustment is important for your heart. You've already learned that your body has to move a greater quantity of blood to the skin's surface when you are exercising in the heat. Think of how much work your heart has to do to shuttle a higher volume of blood through all those tight little capillaries in your skin.Now figure in your body temperature itself and figure in the 10 beats per minute that your heart beats for every single degree that temperature rises. Okay, so then add the added stress of working out, your heart is beating to keep your muscles supplied with blood! This is a boat load of work that your heart has to do!
It doesn't sound so sissy now to warm up and to take your time to acclimate yourself to higher temps, more humidity and more exercise. Exercise is crucial to your health, hopefully you will see that taking the time to warm up and strengthen your heart (even though you cannot see it) is just as crucial!
If you need more information regarding proper hydration and what quantities are adequate for you, I would recommend using a search enginge to find more information about your particular scenario (hydration while hiking, cycling, swimming, etc). If you need a general jumping off point, you can visit the hydration calculator!
Happy sweating!
Do you hate to sweat? That's kind of like saying you hate to pee. Sorry, it's just going to happen regardless of how you feel about it and the longer you don't do it, the more upset your body is going to be! Sweating is what your body does in order to cool itself down. As your body temperature rises, several things occur. In order to maintain a constant internal temperature your body will direct blood the surface of your skin to expose it to a circulating air current to cool it down. That is why your skin flushes when you get hot or you exercise. Similarly, your skin will allow moisture out to in order to let it evaporate. It's not the sweating itself that cools the body but the evaporation of that sweat that helps to cool us down.
If you started exercising after a long time of not exercising you may be confused by sweating. It is possible that you might not seem to be sweating for quite awhile into your workout. But then as you become more and more adjusted to exercising frequently you might start to sweat more and more often and sooner into your workout than you did at the beginning. What's going on?! Well, research has proven that folks that exercise more or who are more acclimated to hot temperatures start to sweat sooner then those who don't or who aren't. Their body's internal temp starts to rise and the body says, "Alert! Steady temp increase noted, due to recognizable pattern expect increase to continue. Initiate cooling system: sweat!" So the sooner into your exercise session that your body starts to sweat, the better and more efficient the cooling effect will be. Sweating is not a sign of weakness. Sweating is not a sign to others that you are unfit, or whatever you imagine. No one at the gym or on the trail is thinking, "Eew, that guy is TOTALLY sweating! That's gross."
So now that you're over the whole sweat thing, you should know that because your body knows what to do and is going to sweat more you need to keep your eye on your fluids! If you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated! As you start to work out in the sun and heat more make sure you slowly adjust to it. Start your workouts shorter and less intense then usual and gradually add time to your workouts, but don't add intensity for a bit. It's a fluid flux; add more time first, then shorten your workout and up the intensity a bit and so on. It's like if you went to Denver, you probably wouldn't expect to do the same workout you normally do at the same intensity etc until you were adjusted to the altitude right? Instead of altitude this is heat and humidity.
Does this sound sissy to you? Maybe it'll seem important when I tell you that this slow adjustment is important for your heart. You've already learned that your body has to move a greater quantity of blood to the skin's surface when you are exercising in the heat. Think of how much work your heart has to do to shuttle a higher volume of blood through all those tight little capillaries in your skin.Now figure in your body temperature itself and figure in the 10 beats per minute that your heart beats for every single degree that temperature rises. Okay, so then add the added stress of working out, your heart is beating to keep your muscles supplied with blood! This is a boat load of work that your heart has to do!
It doesn't sound so sissy now to warm up and to take your time to acclimate yourself to higher temps, more humidity and more exercise. Exercise is crucial to your health, hopefully you will see that taking the time to warm up and strengthen your heart (even though you cannot see it) is just as crucial!
If you need more information regarding proper hydration and what quantities are adequate for you, I would recommend using a search enginge to find more information about your particular scenario (hydration while hiking, cycling, swimming, etc). If you need a general jumping off point, you can visit the hydration calculator!
Happy sweating!
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