Booklist: Polar Dream by Helen Thayer

What can a lifelong athlete do when she tries? Why, climb mountains, and ski to the North Pole.

My ambitions - and everyone should have ambititions - are more comfortable and less dangerous - I want to be able to ride up that hill as fast as possible and without puffing at the top, and then zoom down the other side, triumphant.

But you've got to admire the dedication and ambition of those who like going into cold places...


Polar Dream: The Heroic Saga of the First Solo Journey by a Woman and Her Dog to the Pole, by Helen Thayer
Simon & Schuster, 1993
252 pages, plus acknowledgements. No index. 8 pages of color photos

Description
Seldom has there been a story as enthralling or inspiring as Polar Dream - the real life adventure of Helen Thayer's courageous journey to the magnetic North Pole.

In 1988-at the age of 50-Helen Thayer became the first woman to ski solo to the Pole, her only companion a big, black husky she'd named Charlie. Polar Dream is the vivid first-prson account of this grueling 27-day odyssey, during which Helen and Charlie trekked 345 miles through the desolation and dangers of the Arctic. There they braved brutal subzero temperatures, gale-force storms, treacherous ice floes and, toward the end of the journey, near starvation as well as the greatest danger of all - marauding polar bears.

But Polar Dream is more than a tale of heroic determination in a hostile world of ice. It is also a testament to the intense bond of love and trust that developed between Helen and Charlie, a dog wise in the ways of Arctic survival. Several times, Charlie risked his own life to protect Helen from huge, hungry bears. And he learned to become just as skillful at begging for Helen's food and, eventually, winning his way into her tent-and her heart.

Helen writes of the incredible beauty of the Arctic and of her hopes, fears and deep feelings of isolation. Her book is an amazing account of courage and endurance in the face of unrelenting hardship, and a touching tale of loyalty and love between human and animal that will not soon be forgotten.

Born in New Zealand, Helen Thayer is a professional mountain guide and a former discus thrower, sled racer and US National Luge Champion (1975.) She was the recipient of the American Mountain Foundation Outstanding Achievement award in 1988 and in 1990, she served as the American leader of the first international US/Soviet arctic women's expedition. She has also climbed the highest mountains in North America, South America, and the former Soviet Union.

In May 1982 she and her 65-year old husband Bill became the first - and oldest - married couple to reach the magnetic North Pole on foot, unresupplied.

When they're not fending off polar bears, fighting frostbite, or climbing mountains, Helen, Bill and Charlie make their home in Snohomish, Washington.

Get Off the Guilt Express

I have a few subscriptions to email newsletters, some financial, some regarding weight training, some on other topics that I won't bore you with.

A financial newsletter (one devoted to giving tips to achieve "debt-proof living" )that I received today had this headline:

Enjoy Cinco de Mayo Menu without the Guilt

And the opening text:

Food for your Cinco de Mayo celebration doesn't have to be unhealthy. Skip the guilt but keep the flavor with these recipes from our favorite registered dietician, Brenda Ponichtera...

Well, frankly I think that's a pretty tragic headline. In the first place because why am I being guilted into giving up food I like by a newsletter whose purpose for existence is to give me financial tips, not diet tips?

Secondly, because it only underscores what is too true in American society today - and indeed in England as well. Women who eat what they are told not to eat (by the government, by their family and friends) are consumed with guilt.

Women who are more than five pounds overweight are racked with anxiety...they don't lose the weight for whatever reason, but inwardly they feel so depressed and unworthy because they don't match that slender image put out by mass media...that's how bulimia starts - stuffing yourself full of food, then vomiting it all up again.

There is no reason in the world to feel guilty because you like to have dollops of sour cream on your tacos or burritos! There's no reason in the world to give up fried icecream or sopapillas, or the American abomination, churros. There's no reason to feel guilty because you're a whole five pounds over your ideal weight. Five pounds is nothing.

Eat the foods you want, just do it in moderation! If you find after you've celebrated a holiday by over-indulging, that you've gained five pounds, don't panic, dont' reproach yourself, just remind yourself that you enjoyed what you were eating, you had a good time, and now for the next month you'll go back to your normal food portions, until you lose that five pounds.

We need food to live. There's nothing to be ashamed of in enjoying our food. It's like sex. It feels good so we'll have it... in the same way food tastes good so we'll eat it!

As I say again and again, the only reason to be at your correct weight for your height, age and frame, is for health reasons only. And sometimes these health problems won't manifest til you're in your 60s and 70s. When people are young, most of them can carry around extra weight with impunity - look at athletes such as CC Sabathia, or any defensive or offensive lineman in football! But as you grow older all that extra weight you've been carrying will take its toll on your joints, such that it'll be harder to move once you get old.

If you carry around just the right amount of weight, so you don't stress the tendons unduly, you should be good right into old age.

It's your body - it's your health. Don't feel guilty to take an extra dollop of sour cream or to have a cinnamon-coated dessert if you feel like it. The next day, ride an extra few miles on your bike, or skip a dessert on that day, or take a tinier portion than usual.

Don't Put Other People's Needs Ahead of Your Own

Most women do it - especially if they have children.

And let me tell you that's a mistake. Children need to hear "no" once in a while. If the mom is always giving the kid the last bit of food on the plate (or allowing the kid to stroll into the room and change the TV channel from what the mom is already watching to what the kid wants to watch - a pet peeve of mine as that's what my sister allows her son to do) - it is only bad for them, as they grow up believing that what their parents want - and particularly what their mom wants - doesn't matter.

Well, let me get off that rant.

When two people are married, or living together, eating habits change. Always remember that a guy can typically eat more than a woman without gaining weight because they have faster metabolisms and more muscle mass (which burns calories faster).

Guys will attempt to "sabotage" their mate's dieting. According to 10 Habits That Mess Up A Woman's Diet, a guy will think that if his girlfriend/wife goes on a diet, he'll have to do so, too. So it's not so much that he doesn't care what his woman looks like, he just doesn't want her to care what he looks like.

There's some truth to that. It's always easier to lose weight and maintain weight if you have a partner who is with you every step of the way, and it's much harder to lose weight if you're relaxing in bed with an apple while your partner is gorging on a hot fudge sundae!

The solution to this problem is up to you. There's such a cliche about women nagging their husbands to do this and not do that... I personally would prefer a man to keep his weight within the normal range for his height, body frame and age... I don't find pot bellies attractive...but it's important for women to realize that they are not going to lose the love of their partner if they dare to put on 5 extra pounds!

But one thing to do with spouse and kids is to eliminate food gifts. For bithdays, mother's days (and father's day) no chocolate - just flowers. Split desserts in restaurants instead of each person having their own dessert (which kids, very likely, won't finish on their own, anyway.)

Kicking habits, or replacing bad habits with good, takes time.

For various and sundry reasons I'm trying to keep track of my car mileage, which I want to do by recording the mileage before I start, every place I go, and then back home.

I purchased a small notebook for this purpose, which I have easily accessible in the car. Nevertheless over the last week I have forgotten to write down at least one leg of a trip, more often than not. Sometimes it's because I'm on my own and I just forget because I've got so much I'm thinking about (I like to go for long drives when I'm writing fiction stories, because it helps me think), and sometimes its because I've got other people in the car and they're chattering at me and I just forget.

I'm trying to turn it into a habit and it's not there yet...hopefully in another week or so.

It's even harder to change a food-eating habit, since there are a lot of psychological pressures involved, not to mention phsysiogical pressures like just plain feeling hungry.

But if you set out your clear goal of what habit you want to establish, and work on it consistently despite initial setbacks, eventually that habit will be entrenched.

So if you want to make a habit of eating cereal for breakfast, instead of a donut, or of gradually cutting back on the amount of salad dressing you put on your salad, things like that, it can be done. And you can do it. Just give yourself a reasonable length of time to achieve it.

Don't Carry Measuring Cups WIth You

I'm going through the book 10 Habits that Mess up A Woman's Diet, plucking out the good advice the author gives.

But I have to admit some of the stuff is irritating, not only in her book but in others of the same nature.

She specifies - eat a 3 oz grilled chicken breast. Eat an ounce of sliced turkey, a cup of fat-free cottage cheese, two ounces of salmon, etc.

Oh, please! There is no reason to measure your way into madness. There's no need to get all flustered because you have a 3.5 oz grilled chicken breast instead of one that is precisely 3 ounces. Will you gain five pounds if you eat 2.5 ounces of salmon instead 2 ounces?

No!

If you're the type of person who is always very precise, well, use such measurements. But if you're the type of person who just wants to live your life, don't worry about such precise measurements.

No need to give up cake and cookies,either - as long as you've deveveloped the willpower to handle them effectively. Don't cut yourself an extremely large slice of chocolate cake, so that you can only eat half of it and feel virtuous, if that half of cake is a normal size! Cut yourself a normal size piece, cut that in half, and have that for your dessert.

How To Kick Bad Habits continued

"Mindless Eating"
If you have a family that you cook for - husband and children - do you finish off the food on their plate - that they leave behind - before eating your own meals? Apparently some women do, if Chapter 1 of 10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman's Diet is to be believed.

Do you snack on a donut in the employee lounge (if you work), snag a Hershey's Kiss from a fellow's employees candy-dish every time you go by, taste-test the food you cook, eat samples offered at grocery stores, and so on. [It all adds up.]

"Women's relationship with food can be divided into categories: the foods chosen when our minds are engaged, and the foods nibbled and noshed mindlessly. ... If you can't lose weight no matter how hard you try, or you're not as healthy as you would like, this mindless eating is the first place to check."

Bibliography:
10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman's Diet, by Elisabeth Somer, MA, RD

I Think Summer Is Here...

Not that I can tell here in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where the wind is blowing gusts up to 70 mph outside my windows... no hitting golf balls for me today...

But I know summer is here because the subscriptions to this blog have gone up considerably in the last two weeks - people want to lose weight in time for July!

Losing 2 pounds a week is the only safe goal to have, so in 3 months, just in time for July, it's possible to have dropped about 20 pounds (but then comes the work to keep it off).

It's always a LOT easier to lose weight during spring and summer, than during fall and winter. The skies are typically bright and sunny, and the weather (except, I fear, in Cheyenne) is so nice, that it's easy to go out and about, jogging and biking, and one's mood is just generally lifted because of the bright sunshine and the warmth it gives.

For my new readers, I want to emphasize that before you start trying to change your eating habits and increase your exercise, you keep a journal for at least one week, delineating everything you eat and drink in a day, the times you do so, and why you do so. (Do you snack when you're bored or depressed, or happy?)

You are going to take your time in losing weight - the longer it takes you to lose weight, the easier it will be for you to keep it off. THat may sound like a contradiction in terms, but it's not.

If you try to starve yourself into losing weight, your body goes into hibernation mode and will burn calories more slowly as it attempts to save its life. You'll lose muscle before you lose fat, never a good idea.

So eat normally, but cut out a portion here and there each day. No snacks except fruit or veggies after 8 pm. If you drink sodapop, that's the easiest thing to cut out that will help you to lose weight - drink one a day instead of five or six, and you problaby won't need to do anything else!

And, of course, get out and walk, bike, play tennis, anything to enjoy life and the sunshine!

Dance Like A Cat

I just got back from seeing the traveling version of Cats, the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical that ran for 20 years in the West End and 18 years on Broadway, and all I can say is.... bor-ing.

It had one good song in the first act (not counting Memory) and one good song in the second act (loved that Macavity!) and it had Memory, and that's it.

Having said that, it was a joy to see some of the actresses/dancers/singer cats. While a couple of them were very skinny, most of them were of normal weight, and oh that was a joy to see. Not fat, not skeletal, just normal weight for their height, the kind of thing you very rarely see in dancers.

And of course, how do they stay so fit and trim? Why, by dancing. And dancing for fitness and exercise is a heckuva lot more fun than jogging a couple of miles .And it'll pay off in the long run if you ever get invited to go to a dance at your local palais de dance (if those even exist anymore, of course...)

I'm not talking about the sexual gyrations that seem to pass for dance these days ,but real dancing - the Charleston, line dancing, heck, even shuffle dancing can get the blood pumping and bring joy to your heart.

That is the key to a long and happy life - joy in your heart...and music and dance can provide that for you.

What would you have as your last meal?

If you knew for a fact that you were going to die tomorrow, how would you spend your last 24 hours on earth?

I know how I would spend it, stuck as I am in Cheyenne, Wyoming with no plays in sight. I'd read some of my favorite books, and while I did so I'd stuff myself with chocolate. Why not?

I once had a client who had a serious illness, and confidently believed for about a 6 month period that when she went to bed that night, there was a pretty good chance that she'd be dead the next morning. And if she was going to die, she was going to die with the taste of chocolate on her lips.

Well, she didn't die, she recovered, and gained about 70 pounds, which I helped her to get rid of.

But can you blame her? If you know you're going to die, or at least think there's a high probability of it, why not eat chocolate?

That's why I really cut some slack for those people with chronic illnesses - those people in chronic pain who eat comfort food. You can't really blame them - what other pleasures do they have? Of course it is a Catch-22. By eating all the time to assuage their pain, they put on weight that will add to their pain as they try to move around on muscles that are strained by the extra weight.

Very few of us know when our time will actually come. We can be physically fit, have no chronic diseases.... but be hit by a drunk driver at any time, or killed by a tornado as happened to 50+ people in North Carolina last week. We just dont' know.

If you did know that you have six months to live, what would you do with your time? Would you turn into a party person - pack 6 months of fun and no accomplishment into your life?

Or would you try to accomplish something in those 6 months - leave behind a legacy: a book written, a piece of music performed, good deeds done for others...

And then think...since we don't know when our time will come, should we not spend every day like it is our last day on earth? I don't want to party my life away, and I hope you don't either.

Leave behind a lasting legacy.

Food, Food, Beautiful Food

Here's all the food you should eat, every day.

Vegetables and fruits - 8 or more servings a day (In other words, there's no need to go hungry. If you do feel hungry, grab ab apple or orange or a few carrots.)
-Most women need to double or even triple their current intake of fruits and vegetables to meet minimum standards of vitamin and other nutrient intakes.

Grains (minimum of 6 servings daily. At least 3 should be whole grains)
Whole wheat bread, brown rice, and plain oatmeal. Cut back on white bread, white rice and granola bars. Try to substitute baked corn chips, rather than donuts!

Non-fat milk, or fortified soy milk
Calcium is extremely important for women!

Legumes (that'd be beans), Fish, Poultry Breast
Beans typically "fill you up before they fill you out." Try kidney beans, and hummus. Fish is good gor omega-3 fats.

According to 10 Habits that Mess up a Woman's Diet, salad dressing is the number one source of fat in women's diets. Baked potatoes are good, potato chips, not so much.

Sugar
Give up sugared drinks - and diet drinks, as they have chemicals you don't want.
It's hard to cut back on coke or Pepsi - I can tell you that - but it can be done if you go at it gradually.
---------How many cans of pop do you drink in a day? Each can has 150 calories. If you drink 5 a day, and can cut that out, then you can maintain the rest of your food choices, whatever they might be, and still lose weight!







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10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman's Diet: Simple Strategies to Eat right, Lose Weight, & Reclaim Your Health, by Elizabeth Somer, MA, RD

10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman's Diet, by Elizabeth Somer

10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman's Diet: Simple Strategies to Eat right, Lose Weight, & Reclaim Your Health, by Elizabeth Somer, MA, RD (author of Food and Mood)
McGraw-Hill, 2006
267 pages, plus Selectred REading, References and Index
Library: 613 SOM

Description

Are you in a constant battle with your weight? Do you feel like the scales are tipped against you no matter what you do? You're not alone. Millions of women are stuck on a diet roller coaster, watching in frustration as their weight goes up and down again. 10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman's Diet will help you get off - and stay off - that roller coaster for good.

Elizabeth Somer has spent more than 25 years on the front lines of nutrition research and counseling. She reveals the bad habits - many so subtle you don't even know you have them - that stand in the way of successful weight loss and offers checklists, menu plans, and snacking tips that you can use to eat healthfully, lose weight, and turn your life around - one habit at a time.

Normally when I share the description of a book that I think my readers will find helpful, I also include the table of contents. However, this book is so good that I'm going to be using it as a reference work for my next several posts, so I'll get in the table of contents at that time.

This is an excellent book - and it should be at your library.

Stay tuned for some advice from it.

The Way of the Solitary Cyclist, #8

A short pencil is better than a long memory
Traditional saying

Practical application: Don't rely solely on your memory. In the heat of the moment, at moments of stress, things can fall by the wayside.

If you've taken notes, or drafted an action plan you can refer to, or made a checklist, you can accomplish things each day and nothing falls through the cracks.

It's also good advice - keep a journal. It is always fun for you to browse through the pages of your journal and see that three weeks ago you couldn't jog a mile, or couldn't get all the way up a hill on a bike without stopping - but now you can. What a feeling of achievement! And something you can relive each time you browse through your journal.

Don't Watch Commercials!

If you watch a lot of TV, you have doubtless noticed that there are a lot of commercials for food - restaurants, soups, etc.

Have you ever noticed that these commercials trigger in you a desire to eat? Do you find yourself getting up in the middle of a TV show - after you've seen a commercial for a restaurant - showing all kinds of mouth-watering food- and gotten something to eat.

My advice to you is not only to mute your TV when commercials come on, but to walk away from them altogether. If you're a devotee of a particular show - for example NCIS or CSI, you probably know what kinds of commercials are shown during commercial breaks (they usually show the same ones) and you know how long the commercials last.

Of course, there are other commercials you should avoid - and your family.

I watch a lot of sports and for the last several weeks have been seeing a Direct TV commercial, featuring some Russian guy with electrodes on his biceps. Behind him is a muscle bound guy, also attached to electrodes. That guy does the exercising, and the biceps of the "wealthy, sneering" Russian guy get better. And of course he's waited on by two skinny, beautiful, scantily clad women. One wipes his brow, the other is languidly walking on a treadmill (which isnt' going fast enough to give her any kind of workout, and all she's doing is walking on it and pouting into the camera like a loser.)

And of course the rich Russian blows a kiss...not to the two members of his harem but to the miniature giraffe that is apparently the guy's pet.

Not the kind of commercial you want impressionable young girls to watch...although one would hope they'd look at it and see how bogus it all is.

Filling but low in calories

Did a search for this phrase on the web, and found 5,390,000 results.

Just goes to show that that is most people's problems - they want to be able to satisfy their hunger, without eating a lot of calories.

Most of the results, however, come from "amateurs." Someone posts the question on a message board, and other people answer it.

Well, unless someone is a professional - a nutritionist or doctor or personal trainer - someone like myself in fact (ie personal trainer) I wouldn't take their advice.

This article provides excellent advice:
Healthy, Filling, Low Calorie Foods

Green Vegetables

Green vegetables contain minerals, vitamins, fibre, water, and are rich in antioxidants. This puts them on the top of the list of foods that are beneficial for those who want to cut out the extra calories and remain healthy. Vegetables help in the process of digestion and will help you feel full. Some vegetables that are extremely beneficial are asparagus, butternut squash, winter squash, cauliflower, beans, spinach and carrots.



Fruits

Fruits have high water content and these are therefore ideal choices for those who would like to opt for low calorie, filling food. They keep the body satisfied for a longer time and are rich in vitamins and fibre. Some of the recommended low calorie foods are lemon, sweet lime, grapefruit, guava, papaya, tomatoes, pears, watermelon, cranberries, citrus fruits, blueberries and strawberries. The health benefits from these are numerous as they are nature's own health supplements in terms of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

Whole Grains

Whole grains are broken down slowly during digestion and are also rich in fibre and carbohydrates. Blood sugar levels are brought under control and sugar craving is combated. Some whole grains that are beneficial are rye, barley, maize, pearl millet, brown rice, wheat pasta, sorghum and oatmeal.

Legumes and Pulses

Include high protein food in your list of low calorie foods. Great sources of proteins are pulses and legumes, which not only helps you cut down on calories, but also helps you feel full. Good choices of these are pinto beans, black beans, sprouts, peas and kidney beans.

Popcorn

Popcorn is low in calories, but rich in fibre. You will be amazed at how filling it can be. However, eating buttered popcorn will not have the same results as eating plain popcorn.

Almonds and Walnuts

Almonds and walnuts are great for the health and will keep you bubbling with energy for much longer than other foods. They provide you with the needed fat, protein, minerals and micronutrients that are need to help you burn calories and stay fit.

Low-Fat Dairy Products

Consuming foods rich in calcium will help prevent the release of calcitrol in the body, which is a hormone that stimulates the storage of fat. Go in for dairy products, but choose the products that are low in fat, such as low fat cheese and skimmed milk. Apart from adding to your reserves of calcium, it will also help you burn fat.

Fatty Fish

The omega-3 fatty acids that are present in fatty fish actually helps boost the metabolism rate and reduce cholesterol. Since fish is also a rich source of protein, it can be beneficial further in breaking down fat cells.

Those midnight cravings, part 2

In my websurfing today, I came across an ad for WeightWatchers that said, "Lose weight without feeling hungry."

Well, that's the key, isn't it. That's the big stumbling block for everybody who wants to lose weight - they have an abhorrence of feeling hungry.

There's nothing wrong with feeling hungry! The point is, don't let yourself get to the point where you're extremely hungry, ie starving. That's what happens if you try to not eat all day, and just have one meal - dinner. Typically you'll pig out during dinner...and then snack at night.

The solution is simple. Do not deprive yourself of any meals. You can try a variety of solutions - three meals a day is the typical American standard, but you could also try eating 5 small meals a day. (With dessert only after the mid-day meal)

It's all a question of changing habits. If you are fortunate enough to work a 9 to 5 job, it should be easy to change your habits so that you don't eat after a certain time at night - unless its to munch on carrots or some delicious fruit.

If you work nights, then its a bit more difficult. Most people will come home from a night at work, fix a meal, and then go right to bed - allowing the meal to convert into fat at a quicker rate. Therefore, if you do work nights, try to just have a small meal before you go to bed - something light like fruit, just to take the edge off your hunger, and have your big meal when you wake up and are going to be active.

The Way of the Solitary Cyclist, #7

Measure twice so you only have to cut once
Traditional saying

And as true now as its ever been.

It's more than measuring. Proofread your work before giving a report to your superior...if he/she sends it back to you for corrections, you'll have to make those corrections and also deal with suspicion on the part of the boss that they'll always have to check your work. Not a good position to be in.

As for weight loss/maintenance - extrapolate it. You only want to have to lose weight once. You then want to maintain that weight! Yo Yo dieting is worse for your health than being overweight!

If you've successfully lost a lot of weight in the past, only to see yourself gain it back, the problem was that you stopped what was working for you and went back to your old ways. You CAN NOT do that. Once you adopt a healthier, more active lifestyle (and all that requires is portion control and a bicycle), you must do it for the rest of your life. That should not be a hardship, it should be a source of joy.

The Way of the Solitary Cyclist, #6

Employ your time improving yourself by other men's writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored for.
Socrates

In other words, if you're looking for weight loss/maintenance advice, don't doubt me! Employ my advice, and you will see improvement.

Jennifer Anniston's "Skinny" Secrets

Do they really expect the very little info included here to help people?

[Note that it's "low carbs" not "No carbs" - you do need carbohydrates in your diet.

I share this just for info sake.

(Her real secret is that she's hired a Nutritionist to create her meal plan, and she exercises. A Nutritionist is an excellent person to devise such a plan, because they know what foods you have to eat to stay healthy.)

Jennifer Aniston's Skinny Secrets

Hard to believe it's been more than a decade and a half since a 25-year-old Jennifer Aniston began her rise to superstardom, playing rich-girl-turned-waitress Rachel Green on NBC's super successful sitcom "Friends." So how does the now 42-year-old manage to look better now than she did then?

According to her nutritionist Carrie Wiatt, prior to landing her stint on "Friends," Jen's agent insisted she would get more roles if she lost weight, so Wiatt created a portion-controlled, nutrient-dense meal delivery service for the actress, who, indeed, got her breakout role soon after.

"For Jennifer, the key was high protein and low carbs, with plenty of vegetables and fruit and no processed foods," Wiatt tells Life & Style. "It's an understatement to say Jen has maintained her weight beautifully."

Over the years, media reports have had Aniston on a variety of kooky diets, from eating only cucumbers to a baby-food plan, a rumor she has vehemently denied. "I've been asked lately, 'Jen, what's this baby food diet all about?' I kept thinking: That's the strangest question ever," Aniston said last year. "Sorry, but the last time I had baby food, I believe I was 1. I've been on solids for about 40 years now."

The actress has also admitted that she doesn't starve herself, and when she feels like indulging, as she once told ABC News, "I pretty much go to grease, fried foods. Salt."

As for exercise, the svelte star credits yoga for keeping her body toned and slender. "My legs got leaner," she said in the UK edition of Harper's Bazaar. "My arms got strong."

Good Food = Good Health

As I tell all my clients, there's no need to deprive yourself of the foods you love. If you love chocolate cake, eat it. If you like real butter, eat it.

In moderation.

But there's no denying that our diets effect our health.


Vitamin A (Retinol) Cod liver oil
Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) Rice bran
Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid) Citrus, most fresh foods
Vitamin D (Calciferol) Cod liver oil
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) Meat, eggs
Vitamin E (Tocopherol) Wheat germ oil, unrefined vegetable oils
Vitamin B12 (Cobalamins) liver, eggs, animal products
Vitamin K1 (Phylloquinone) Leafy green vegetables
Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid) Meat, whole grains,
in many foods
Vitamin B7 (Biotin) Meat, dairy products, eggs
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine) Meat, dairy products
Vitamin B3 (Niacin) Meat, eggs, grains
Vitamin B9 (Folic acid) Leafy green vegetables

The value of eating a certain food to maintain health was recognized long before vitamins were identified. The ancient Egyptians knew that feeding liver to a patient would help cure night blindness, an illness now known to be caused by a vitamin A deficiency. The advancement of ocean voyages during the Renaissance resulted in prolonged periods without access to fresh fruits and vegetables, and made illnesses from vitamin deficiency common among ships' crews

In east Asia, where polished white rice was the common staple food of the middle class, beriberi resulting from lack of vitamin B1 was endemic. In 1884, Takaki Kanehiro, a British trained medical doctor of the Imperial Japanese Navy, observed that beriberi was endemic among low-ranking crew who often ate nothing but rice, but not among officers who consumed a Western-style diet. With the support of the Japanese navy, he experimented using crews of two battleships; one crew was fed only white rice, while the other was fed a diet of meat, fish, barley, rice, and beans. The group that ate only white rice documented 161 crew members with beriberi and 25 deaths, while the latter group had only 14 cases of beriberi and no deaths.

Vitamins are classified as either water-soluble or fat-soluble. In humans there are 13 vitamins: 4 fat-soluble (A, D, E, and K) and 9 water-soluble (8 B vitamins and vitamin C). Water-soluble vitamins dissolve easily in water and, in general, are readily excreted from the body, to the degree that urinary output is a strong predictor of vitamin consumption.[13] Because they are not readily stored, consistent daily intake is important.[14] Many types of water-soluble vitamins are synthesized by bacteria. Fat-soluble vitamins are absorbed through the intestinal tract with the help of lipids (fats). Because they are more likely to accumulate in the body, they are more likely to lead to hypervitaminosis than are water-soluble vitamins. Fat-soluble vitamin regulation is of particular significance in cystic fibrosis.

More on this tomorrow.

Choose an evaluation day

I've posted about this in the past. I've typically chosen Friday or Sunday, as my client's "evaluation day" but you can choose any day you like.

Basically, once a week, you evaluate how you are doing on your weight loss or weight maintenance program.

You step on the scale, you see if you've lost 2 pounds, or kept off 2 pounds...or if, you've gained.

And then you analyze why this happened.

My program is all about portion control. There's no need to count calories (although of course you should have some idea of what kinds of calories you consume. A large piece of Chocolate cake is going to have a lot of calories, one chocolate chip cookies not quite as much, a salad with dressing even less. That's easy to figure out - the better food tastes - the more calories it's going to have.)

In order to lose weight, you must burn more calories than you consume. To do it safely, you will burn/consume these calories over the course of a week, and after a week, you should have lost two pounds. No more than that. If you're losing more than two pounds a week, you may be dieting a bit too strenuously - and that is not healthy for you.

Remember also that weight loss is easier than weight maintenance. Statistics show that most people who lose weight gain it all back within 5 years. That's because they go back to their old lifestyle after they've successfully lost weight the first time, and that cannot be done.

A new lifestyle must be adopted and lived to ensure that you don't regain the weight you worked so hard to lose.

Regaining weight is a bit psychological and a bit physical. Psychological, because when you're trying to lose weight, there's a tension there - whether or not you're aware of it. It's like a stretching rubber band. Once you achieve your goal, the tension snaps, and all of a sudden you're celebrating and eating and find that you can't stop!

For women, there's also the issue of why they lost weight in the first place. Some do it just to lose weight, others do it because they think that people will like them now that they're skinny. When people continue to ignore them just as much as they did when they were obese, there's a bit of despair there, and the comfort food binges start again. (School kids, in particular girls, are very cruel to each other.)

Then there's the physical problem. For those individuals who have lost weight relatively rapidly, their bodies aren't happy with this weight loss, and their body metabolsim changes. When they start eating 'normally" again, their bodies actually work to regain all the weight they lost!

That's why it's necessary to be very carefully with weight maintenance eating. If you've lost weight gradually, it's a lot easier to just increase your portions by a little bit, and ensure that your body is happy with its new weight.

Oh, Horrors! Movie Theater Food Won't Have To Post Calorie Counts!

The FDA continues to think people are idiots.

I mean, really - who in their right minds buys food at a movie theater, anyway? $3 for a watered-down cup of Coke or Pepsi? $5 for popcorn or a hotdog? Who can afford that on top of the cost of the tickets themselves?

Or, if they do buy it, doesn't realize that if they're eating popcorn drenched in butter, they're getting a helluva lot of calories.

It's also absolutely ridiculous for restaurauts to have to post the calorie contents of each meal. That requirement will cause the price of a meal to go up - so they can pay for the expense of doing the signage.

And, again - anyone who does count calories knows already, from their experience paging through those little calorie books, that if they're eating... one of my favorite meals at Olive Garden, Chicken Scampi, for example - with noodles, a rich garlic sauce and chicken - obviously that's got a heckuva lot of calories.

Added to the breadsticks and the salad that I also have.

But guess what. I eat half of it for dinner and bring the other half home to have for lunch the next day.

There have been calorie counts on the food we buy for 30 years. Has that helped anyone lose weight? No! The only thing that will help someone lose weight is to use portion control.

So don't become obsessed with how many calories you're eating. Just realize that as long as you only eat one portion - instead of three or four - and do your exercises, you'll be just fine!

Update: No Calorie Counts at Movie Theater Concession Stands
Theater owners have had a tough go of it lately: First it was announced that studios were rolling out a program that would allow viewers to watch new releases on Pay Per View just weeks after they'd been in theaters, even if the outrageous PPV price of $30 isn't likely to have many takers.

And then came news that the FDA wanted theaters -- just like restaurants -- to post nutritional information on every item they served so consumers could make healthier food choices. Naturally, theater owners aren't a fan of either development, but at least they got some good news today. The FDA has decided that movie theaters will be exempt from the new nutrition info rules.

These new rules come as a result of last year's health care overhaul law, which mandated that any chain restaurant or similar establishment that served food at more than 20 locations post nutrition info for all of their menu items where they could be seen by patrons.

Hit the jump to find out why theaters are exempt.

The Food and Drug Administration has tweaked the requirements and now only establishments where the primary objective is to sell food, or where more than half of the location's space is devoted to food sales, will be required to post the info. This means places like theaters, bowling alleys and carnivals are off the hook. It will still apply to supermarkets and convenience stores that serve ready-to-eat items, though. This is good news for theater owners, who don't want you realizing that large popcorn and 64 oz. soda contain more calories than you're supposed to eat in a day.

The new law had the support of the restaurant industry, if only because it creates a national standard for them to adhere to instead of leaving the rules in the hands of individual cities and states. However, theater owners chafed at the idea, saying they weren't in the business of selling meals. "We're not restaurants where people go to eat and satisfy themselves," said Gary Klein, the National Association of Theater Owners' general counsel. "It's dinner and a movie, not dinner at a movie."

Some are displeased by the loophole that will allow theaters to continue to serve unhealthy food to patrons without them knowing how bad it is. Margo G. Wootan, director of nutrition policy of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said "It doesn't matter whether you happen to be watching a movie while you're eating. Those calories still count."

Wootan certainly has a point, but the question remains – does anyone think a large tub of popcorn and a gallon of soda is actually good for them? Nutrition information that points out the deceptive and devious practices of restaurants (places where things like a salad are worse for you than a burger and fries) is helpful, but do we really need the nutrition values for theater snacks? Given our country's ever-increasing waistline, maybe we do. For the time being, though, many will continue to munch popcorn and slurp soda in ignorance of just how bad it is for them.

TV Dinners

I bought some Banquet TV dinners the other day, and my goodness they are offal. Oh, I meant awful.

But probably offal, as well.

If you don't have time to cook, you can still eat good food that goes into a microwave - you just have to make the right choices.

I don't buy low calorie food as a rule - as I reeat here almost every day - it's portion control that helps you maintain your weight, not food esciverated of all its taste!

However, Weight Watchers and various other companies do put out good food that you can find in the freezer section of your grocery. But buy the good stuff - actual chicken breasts - not chopped and formed mystery meat that you find in Banquet.

For that matter, if you're going to eat hotdogs, eath all beef franks, not those kind that are cheap, but have beef, chicken and turkey all mixed together. You can tell the difference! The cheap stuff...tastes so cheap.

Typically foods covered with sauces will have more calories than food that is sauceless. But depending on your taste, you'll like food with sauces. No need to give that up, either.

Just remember - portion control!

And good - real - food, not chopped and formed muck.

The Way of the Solitary Cyclist, #5

If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six hours sharpening the axe.
Traditional saying

Learn the skills necessary to do your job. Or to do your hobby.

If you're barely Microsoft Word literate, for example, there are a lot of features you probably don't know how to do. You might spend three hours creating a Table of Contents of a report you were writing, for example, when, if you'd put in the proper codes as you did your writing, which would have taken no time at all, the program will create the table of contents for you within seconds.

In the same way, if you're trying to lose weight, you need to hone your weight loss skills - build your willpower muscles, your knowledge of food muscles, and so on.

Knowledge is everything.

The Way of the Solitary Cyclist, #4

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.
The second best time is now.
Chinese proverb