It’s christmas morning and all through my house, not a creature was stirring, except me. Hopefully the mouse that’s been meandering on the counter near my home-made bread – he/she never did get any but keeps leaving droppings as proof of intent – has died from the poison I planted there for him. My kidsRead More
Fitness Blog
On Vitamin D: Changing Standards?
The other day, I got my tufts nutrition newsletter. There was a small piece in there about the need to take more vitamin D and how many are getting this message. The same day, the NY times and wall street journal reported on an institute of medicine committee that reviewed hundreds of articles and cameRead More
Too Much Time, Not Enough Activity
As I’ve reported in the past, sedentary behavior, of which we are all guilty in the modern society of advanced economies, is killing us. (Disclosure: while you sit and read this, I’m typing it standing up at my new upright computer desk. It feels good to be standing.) I’m not going to dwell any furtherRead More
Water and Calories
Just a pint full of water makes the calories go down, doown, dooown. I read this in another place and now in the NY times, of a study, and other supporting studies, that showed overweight folks told to drink 2 cups of water before meals lost more weight over a 3 month period than didRead More
Aging and ‘Physiologic Reverse’
Maybe you think I’m afraid of aging because I cover it so often. The reality is, we’re all doing it so I find its processes and progressions quite fascinating. Kinda like following my newborns’ progressions via the many books my wives (two divorces, so I credit each of them) had bought so we could benchmarkRead More
The Doctor-Patient Wt Management Plan
It’s on everyone’s mind, whether you’re lean and fit or obese and diseased: why can’t I/they/he/she lose weight? Well, if you’re a doctor administering to a patient whose health can be dramatically altered by losing weight, you have several options: talk nice, give orders, don’t say anything, or present the data. This article in theRead More
Knees, Arthritis, Running: Are They Connected?
I’ve probably written on this before but this article in the ny times inspired tonite’s blog: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/phys-ed-do-marathons-wreck-your… I alert you to the concluding line: ‘There’s no strong evidence,’’ he said, that, if your knees are healthy to start with, ‘‘running a marathon will hurt them.’’ I think it’s fair to say, as I’ve long held,Read More
Supplements, Free Radicals, and Anti-Oxidants
I have colleagues who, as trainers, wish to help their clients and friends by also supplementing their incomes passively. So they sell or market supplements, either muscle building or immunity-enhancing or disease-reducing “proprietary blends” that have an ounce of science and a ton of marketing behind them. Just the other day, a close associate wasRead More
ACLs, Knees, and Genes
A provocative article in the NY Times projects the possibility that genetics predisposes some – esp women – to NON-CONTACT anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/phys-ed-are-bad-knees-in-our-ge… Tim Hewett, of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, a prominent researcher on ACL injury and prevention, reports that one set of twin girls tore their knees up within a year. TheirRead More
Stability Balls at Work
Much has been done by exercise pros over the past 20 yrs to elevate the formerly known “Swiss ball” (SB) to near-Olympian levels of wonder results. What was originally a ball used in neurological therapy for newborns with developmental issues. Once the ball hit America, like many other things that had intrinsic value and utilityRead More