Fitness and Nutrition

[madupont]

barton, thought of you and your famous "regimen" when I read this, thought it best to send it along before you resume your famous regimen:

"Keep Yourself on Track

By Keeping Track"
 
     A great tool for maintaining overall health is keeping a personal food diary.

     Whether you are just starting to eat healthier, or struggling say on the right track, incorporating a food diary into your plan is a great way to keep yourself on course.

     There is something about looking at your food intake in indisputable writing that helps you curb your bad food habits.

      Keeping a food diary will show you exactly how much you are eating, as well as documenting the types of food that make up the majority of your diet.

      Some people find it helpful to keep a food diary for a week or so before changing their eating habits to enable them to more accurately target problem areas.

     Understanding your weaknesses and preparing yourself to combat issues is a great step in maintaining a healthy relationship with food.

     There are no strict rules about how to keep a food diary. The important thing to remember is to write down everything that you eat.

     Remember, no one but you is going to see what is written in your food diary, so omitting snacks or other food items will mean that you are only lying to yourself.

     If you are serious about being healthier, it is critical that you understand exactly how much and what types of food your eating.

     Once you find out exactly what you eat you'll be better able to lay a strong foundation for better eating habits.

     When you get into the hang of keeping a food journal, you might want to consider expanding the information that you track.

     Along with food intake, tracking physical activity is a great way to compare how much you eat to how many calories you are burning.

     After you get the hang of it and want to take the next step it may also helpful to note the number of calories and nutritional information for the food you write down.

     Developing healthy eating habits has as much to do with what you eat as how much you consume.

    Once you have a good understanding of the Types of food you are eating, it will be easier to plan more balanced eating habits that help you stay in shape and be healthier.

Proper posture is vital both at work and at home.

     Posture plays an important part in preventing or managing back pain during any activity. Bad posture while sitting in an office chair, driving, or standing for long periods of time may lead to back pain.

     When standing it is important to maintain the natural curve of the spine in order to achieve good posture.

     The spine is similar to the letter S when viewed from the side and maintaining the two curves is what is key to proper posture.

· Your head should be directly over the shoulders     (chest out, head back)
· Keep Shoulders directly over your pelvis
· Tighten your abdominal muscles
· Tuck in your buttocks
· Your feet should be slightly apart, with one foot slightly ahead of the other, with your knees bent slightly.

    When you first attempt this posture if you are not already doing it, you may feel a bit awkward. Give it some time and it will begin to feel natural.

     It can sometimes be tiring and this can be due to weak spine muscles. Another cause of pain is prolonged standing on a concrete or hard floor. If you must do this, it is best to wear shoes with cushioning and good support.

     Often a rubber mat or cushioned mat can help. Using a mat and wearing the proper shoes are important steps to ease pressure on the back.

     While many of us are increasingly spending large portions of our day in front of a desk it is important to have the correct sitting posture.

     Bad sitting posture can result in back pain and neck pain. Most of this pain is avoidable and the first step is to make some simple adjustments.

     Adjust your chair to modify your sitting position from a forward leaning slump. The best position is to sit back in the chair and to use the chairs lumbar support to keep the head and neck erect.

     Your work surface should be elbow high. Two fingers should be able to slip under the bottom of your thigh. If this is not possible then a foot rest might correct this.

     The back of your chair should push your lower back forward slightly to offer lumbar support. Adjust your computer screen.

     Sit in your chair and close your eyes and relax. Open you eyes slowly and where your sight initially focuses is the proper placement of the center of your computer screen.

     This can be accomplished by using a screen stand or the tilt operation on many screens. The new flat panel screens make this a simple fix.

     Remember to periodically take stretching and walking breaks when sitting for long periods of time.
 
 

 

[barton]

Ha!

Re

"There is something about looking at your food intake...."

Fortunately, I rarely have the chance, as my meals stay down.

[madupont]

Good one, there seem to be other implications to that so I will have to point out to the writer how that wording lends to other interpretations.

[TrojanHorse]

Calorie counter programs -- despite all their bad press -- are also excellent "diaries" for keeping track.   Many of them will track total percentages of carbs, protein, fat, etc  (some even salt, fiber, whatever).

It can be trully shocking to see what your regular, unchecvked intake looks like after one week...

I highly recommend it

[weezo]

Food Recall

Botulism has been found in people food - canned hot dog chili

See: http://www.nationalpetfoundation.com:80/foods/natural-balance.html

[barton]

Canned hot dog chili sounds vile, even without botulism in it. 

What is it with the salt?  I am prone to a mild inner ear problem once in a while, and am encouraged to keep the salt intake down among other things.  One thing I can't fathom is canned soups and chilis which have about three times the salt needed to render a satisfyingly salty taste.  It would seem to me to be good business practice to just PUT IN LESS SALT and save the expense of all that salt.  Instead, companies will produce a lower salt variety which is available, as far as I can tell, at one market that is two hundred miles from wherever you live, and charge you EXTRA FOR PUTTING LESS OF SOMETHING IN IT.   What could these companies possibly have to lose by just putting in less salt?  400 mg, say, instead of 1200, per serving, will still taste pretty salty.

[weezo]

Barton,

Salt is a preservative.

[Lhoffman]

Barton....I've always found it odd that it costs more to buy less processed foods.  I guess people are more willing to pay for convenience than they are to pay for quality. 

But, do you think the salt might aggravate the inner ear because it causes water retention?  If you are really craving salt, putting a few slices of lemon in your water may counteract the problem....and thre are always decongestants.

[thecap0]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Diet-Eating-Disorders-Midlife.html

Could anyone please explain why anorexics and bulimics get care, concern, and compassion while the obese get scorn, sarcasm, and stupidity directed at them.

Why will the same person who says to one who is obese, "It's just a matter of willpower; you can eat less if you try." will never say, "It's just a matter of willpower; you can eat more if you try." to an anorexic.

Is discrimination against the obese the last acceptable prejudice in the USA?

[Lhoffman]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Diet-Eating-Disorders-Midlife.html

Could anyone please explain why anorexics and bulimics get care, concern, and compassion while the obese get scorn, sarcasm, and stupidity directed at them.

Why will the same person who says to one who is obese, "It's just a matter of willpower; you can eat less if you try." will never say, "It's just a matter of willpower; you can eat more if you try." to an anorexic.

Is discrimination against the obese the last acceptable prejudice in the USA?

Anorexia is about will and control.  An anorexic who exerts more willpower is probably just committing suicide faster. 

Bulimia is a bit more complex than anorexia or obesity because it's usually not obvious that the bulimic has a problem.  They often look normal or even a little overweight.

Many insurance companies now offer help with obesity...discounts on gym memberships, weight watchers, nutritional counselling and the like.

[desdemona222b]

You guys aren't ready for what else I learned about the lemonade diet.  Not only do you consume nothing but the lemon, water, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper mixture for 10 days, but you also drink sea salt water everyday, which "detoxifies" your body (read:  it gives you intense, violent diarrhea).  The notion is that you are replacing all the bad with the good.  Aye God!  My friend was saying, "that's why you have to be so careful when you're going off the diet - you just introduce orange juice at first to get your body used to solid food again."  "You can even die from it if you're not careful."

She cancelled her plans when she realized you can't go on this diet and work both, but it all seems to make perfect sense to her - she gets mad when I try to say anything.

[thecap0]

http://forums.escapefromelba.com/index.php/topic,43.msg21094.html#msg21094

All that you say may or may not be true, but it does not address the attitude of SOCIETY toward each of the issues.

[weezo]

Dessie,

Don't say anything. Don't preach. Be glad she decided against it and wait for the next miracle diet she digs up. If she wants to clean her system out, tell her to sign up for a colonoscopy, and she will end up clean as a whistle.

[desdemona222b]

I wouldn't call what I said preaching, just gentle questions and yes, I'll admit, perhaps one or two warnings -- then I just listened.

[pontalba]

but you also drink sea salt water everyday, which "detoxifies" your body (read:  it gives you intense, violent diarrhea).  The notion is that you are replacing all the bad with the good. 

If it even gets that far, it makes you puke.  Fast.