Lazy Linkage: Making New Friends Edition

Photo: Fazen

Hey, it's a new year, and a good time for new ventures and new experiences, right?

In "real life," The Lobster and I are challenging ourselves to get off our asses and meet new friends.  We've started spending winters in San Diego, and wow, there are lots of nice people here! However, it took us a while to figure out that in order to meet these people, we actually have to venture outside of the house.  Furthermore, it turns out you need to do things like initiate conversations with strangers,  follow up when things click, and get dates on calendars... yikes!

But as you might predict, we're finding the effort is well worth it.  Cool people who are fun to hang out with live here! And as any self-improvement guru will tell you, adding connectedness and a sense of community makes life richer and more meaningful. (Plus, it's great for rides to the airport).

The nice thing about the Blogosphere though, as opposed to real life, is that you can be the laziest health and fitness blogger on the planet, and rarely leave your blog "house," and fun helpful people will come visit you and entertain you and point you to new resources!

So, wanna meet some new webfriends, plus find out why you should eat more zombie food, and stop gorging on spandex no matter how delicious it tastes?

Say hello to...

The webcomic The Juanelo Show, brought to you in English by a talented and hardworking team of "translation monkeys." Nice folks behind this strip, and at least one of them reads Cranky Fitness, hooray! (Click to enlarge).

And meet the awesome Mary Sisson! She has a cool looking sci-fi ebook for sale, called Trang, as well as lots of info (and encouragement) on the DIY self-publishing front. She's the inspiration behind one of my new years resolutions, so you'll have to blame thank Mary when I start using the blog to pimp for my novel as well as my Life and Wellness Coaching practice!

The website Fitnessbeans, which is aimed a bit more at guys.  Why is this awesome news for this blog, even though it has tons of female readers?  Well, because (a) guys exercise resources like this one are often more straightforward and challenging than the "tiny pink weights" stuff aimed at women.  Plus, (b) with a bunch of hetero female readers I love to find sites crammed with beefcake photos so I can slip them in totally gratuitiously!  And they've got tons.

Photo: fitnessbeans

And finally, reader Our Lady of Forever Homes introduced me to a cool concept: Just1Moon, which hooks you up with a yahoo group and Facebook page to try to provide goal sharing and encouragement.  And who doesn't need support and encouragement?

Now on to...

Stuff Copied from my Twitter feed 'cause I'm so damn lazy:

(Note: I've heard reports that my twitter feed isn't showing up on the blog, but I see it fine on my computer. Anyone else not seeing it on the right sidebar?)

Eat your way to a better brain!  Study touts leafy greens, fish, nuts, and zombie food (organs).

Controversy:Is spandex making Americans fat? Wow, I had no idea people were eating that much of it! Oh wait, you mean... Never mind.

Study: eating fish boosts brain volume if you don't fry it.  ("It" meaning the fish--but don't fry your brain either).

"Cancer Survivors Should Take Steps to Keep Healthy During Holidays"  So the rest of the year, just say screw it?

Study: taking brief walk decreases desire to shove "fun-sized" chocolates down your gullet at work.

Vitamin D helps prevent fractures, but only with help from calcium.  I'm guessin' Not Falling Down helps too.

Ab exercises for throughout the day--if you're don't mind looking like an ass in public.  (btw, I've been that ass)

2 for 1: Active nonsmokers with good BMI, diet, cholesterol, BP & glucose at less risk of heart disease AND cancer.

Study: less risk of dementia for women who are active early in the day.  So go early birds, chase those worms!

Study: gender differences in math/science due to cultural, not genetic factors.  So time to get geeky, girls.

Low carb wins another round in diet wars: may work better than low cal for weight loss and lowering insulin.

Nice roundup of natural ways to lower blood sugar, if you've got the patience for a slideshow:  (Or, hit print at top )

Marathon running can damage right ventrical: More study needed, but meanwhile, awesome excuse for not running one!

Study: upping fiber more crucial than nixing saturated fat to avoid metabolic syndrome.  Thus the bacon kettlecorn spotted at Whole Foods?

Way More New and Old Friends to Thank!

As you might have noticed, I tend to be terribly lazy and thus totally random about visiting blogs, responding to comments, passing on links etc. I would love to get better and translate all the gratitude in my head to actual public acknowledgement, because I LOVE all the folks who leave comments and email etc. I just sort of hope that those of you who brighten my day through the blog are psychic and totally get how much your comments and readership and support and ideas mean to me! And feel free to nudge me with an email or a comment if you have a special post you'd like to share in a future roundup, because I might well miss it on my own.

Anyway, has anyone else met any new friends or helpful resources lately, whether IRL or through the web? Thoughts on anything else? And again, thanks everyone!

You Gotta Have Friends

Photo: Loldogs

So as I've mentioned before, this week I've been taking time off from "normal" health blogging. (Which is why I've been throwing any old crap up here instead of health and fitness posts). Fortunately, clever and funny readers have come to the rescue with great observations about sucky jobs and manipulative pets! And again, thank goodness for Merry Sunshine on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

So why the blog-slacking? Well, it's because we have two sets of very good friends in town, as well as the Lobster's mom. Since some of these folks have traveled thousands of miles to be here, and they are all extremely fun to hang with, it seems a little silly for me to say "you guys go on without me, I have to blog." Most people are not all that familiar with the verb "to blog" anyway, and probably think I'm referring to some sort medical condition that requires me to gargle repeatedly or flush out my sinuses with saline or who knows what.

Yet the result is that by spending time with friends who are physically present, I'm missing my Internet Friends! I'm way behind on blog visits, and emails, and I hate being so lame. I'm one of those people who considers friendships with people I only know through pixels on a computer screen to be just as "real" as my friendships with physically-present people. You aren't all imaginary, are you? Please tell me you aren't!

My internet friendships have, over time, become an important part of my social network. There are too many to list them all, but, for example, I am absolutely certain I would not still be blogging without the behind-the-scenes support of Merry and Carla and Charlotte and the Bag Lady and POD and Dr. J. and Leah and Katieo. And I feel like I know so many of the people who regularly comment here! I wonder how people are doing with their new homes or lost jobs or gluten-free diets or medical recoveries or marathon training or Dorito cravings.

But sometimes it feels weird to admit this in the "real world." Anyone else? Like if you're talking to people "in real life," do you ever hesitate to bring up a story about a blog friend, even if it's totally relevant and hilarious, because you're afraid people will think you're socially retarded and don't get out enough? Plus, there's the name thing. "Oh, the exact same thing happened to this woman I know, the Bag Lady..."

Am I just weird, or do other people feel that online relationships are "real" and important too?

Oh, and speaking of "friends," I have to pass on this Sarah Haskins video, "Ladyfriends." Let the Madison Avenue folks show us women what our friendships are supposed to be about: products!

Obesity is "Socially Contagious"

So this study of obesity and social networks is pretty darn intriguing. Cranky Fitness will no doubt be among many other blogs writing about it today--but if Crabby can't the be first, at least she can be the silliest! Anyway, here's the bottom line: if your friends are starting to pack on the pounds, watch out--you may catch "obesity" from them.

Seems unlikely, doesn't it? But the effects of social networks, especially same-sex friendships, were extremely powerful when it came to subsequent weight gain (or, more optimistically, weight loss).

The actual journal article cited above is somewhat impenetrable, though it is has really cool charts, and diagrams of social networks that make them look like creepy organisms that could infect and kill you. So go there for hard core analysis.

Crabby is no scientist, but it looked like these guys thought things through pretty well, and controlled for factors like people's possible tendency to choose friends of their own size, or quit smoking at the same time.

However, for the less hard core, there's a watered down USA Today version that's much easier to follow.

Anyway, the clever researchers, James Fowler from UCSD (go Tritons!) and Nicholas Christakis from some medical school or other in Boston, took a fresh look at the Framington Heart Study data. Framington is that ginormous study that's been going on forever (well, 32 years). From that they could look at both social networks and weight gain (or loss), and here are some of their findings:

A person's chances of becoming obese increased by 37% if a spouse became obese.

The chances of becoming obese increased by 40% if a sibling became obese.

They increased by 57% a friend became obese. And the mutuality of the friendship made a difference: between mutual friends, one friend's obesity increased the other's risk by a whopping 171%.

No effects were seen between neighbors.

And those of the same sex had a greater influence on each other.

Christakis explained that "at the heart of the matter is the sharing of acceptable norms for weight, not just sharing the same eating-and-exercise habits... If someone you care about gains weight, your notion of an acceptable body size may change. You may decide it's OK to go up a couple of sizes."

But here's the icky part of this whole thing--the conclusions some people are drawing. According to the USA Today article, an obesity researcher at Baylor advises: "if you are trying to lose or control your weight, pick your friends carefully. You may not want to be around people who are gaining weight or who are too heavy."

Now that's just not nice.

Crabby suggests that instead of being a total jerk and cutting your overweight friends loose, that you simply use your brain. Make an effort to realize the impact their weight may be having on you, and don't use their larger size as an excuse for an extra slice of pizza or a "Baconator" with a large order of fries.

And you could also perhaps realize that your own efforts to eat healthy foods in reasonable portions, as well as your commitment to exercise, might be helping your less health-minded friends! Crabby prefers this approach to fleeing in terror from your friends lest they infect you with Contagious Obesity.

So what do you all think? Are your fat friends making you fatter? Are your skinny friends making you skinnier? Or are you impervious to the effects of your social network?