One For the Road

photo via James Vaughan

Guest Post by Jan Bono

Crabby McSlacker and her intrepid spouse, known here as"The Lobster," are currently on the road. Regular readers may recall that they are heading from Provincetown Massachusetts to Austin Texas to spend the winter.  They are not flying (or walking or biking for that matter), so they find themselves spending many, many, many hours every day scrunched up in their perky but diminutive Honda Fit. Alas, it takes quite a bit of unscrunching at the end of the day to be able to walk again.

But anyway, it seems fitting that this week we have a car-related excerpt from Jan Bono's inspirational book, “Back from Obesity: My 252-pound Weight-Loss Journey.” Enjoy! --Crabby

Singing the car buying blues

My car was nine years old and had over 130,000 hard-earned miles on it. The trips to the repair shop had become alarmingly frequent. On Thanksgiving eve my vehicle had refused to restart after I shut it off at the gas station.

It was time to buy something new, but I was dragging my feet. I had purchased my Honda Accord in 1991 simply because it was the only car I could find at the time I could fit into. Now I was 30 or 40 pounds heavier. I was terrified I wouldn’t be able to find anything I could safely drive and stay within my budget.

“Get a Toyota,” said my friend Pat. “You’ll fit in a Camry, I’d bet on it.”

I didn’t want a Toyota.

Exercise vs. Diet for Weight Loss: Is There Any Reason to Get Off the Couch at ALL?

photo: Alexandra from München

By Crabby McSlacker

Those of you who are still pissed off at Cranky Fitness for exposing how easy it is to overestimate calories burned by walking may not be happy about some of the information I'm going to discuss in this post.

But as I was following up on an interesting comment that appeared in that last post (thanks JessicaB!) I came across some more depressing research, at least for folks like me who justify caloric indulgence with increased activity. Because according to a bunch of recent health and fitness articles, experts have concluded: when it comes to weight loss, it's pretty much all about diet, not exercise.

A couple examples:  "Exercise Alone Does Not Help in Losing Weight," and "To Lose Weight Eating is Far More Important than Exercising More."

It's not too far a leap to imagine some folks concluding there is almost no point in exercising at all! Especially people who don't like to exercise anyway and are hoping for a free pass to say the hell with it and settle down on the couch with a Lean Cuisine and a crate of Diet Pepsi for a 5 hour Netflix binge-watch.

Do I have some cranky things to say about these articles and the "screw exercise it's useless" school of thought?  Gosh, perhaps I do!

On the other hand, I don't believe in failing to report important research because we don't like what it says. I fail to report important research all the time, but it's out of sheer laziness and ignorance, a far better reason, don't you think? Anyway, more thoughts on the whole Diet vs Exercise debate below.

Plus, Labor Day has come and gone which means it's the beginning of a new season, right? So it would be awesome if any of you were willing to pop down into the comments and check in with what you've been up to over the summer, or what you're dreaming and scheming about these days, or how the heck you feel about life right now.

OCD and Obesity: Willpower vs. Won’t Power

photo: cheezburger

By Jan Bono

By this time, contributor Jan Bono needs no introduction! (Although if you haven't yet, you may still want to consider buying her book “Back from Obesity: My 252-pound Weight-Loss Journey” either in print or on Jan's smashwords page). At the moment I'm off traveling--and most likely, not exercising any willpower whatsoever. So it's nice to have have someone put in a good word for it!--Crabby  

I’d love to blame my father’s side of the family for my “Obesity Gene.” Dad was one of eight siblings, five boys and three girls, and I’m fairly certain that none of them spent any of their adult lives under 220 pounds.

But I’m also fairly certain that both hereditary and environmental factors gang up on a person to create a bona fide Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder, and in my personal definition of OCD, overeating definitely qualifies.

So what do you think? Is OCD found more in the genes or is it a learned behavior? Is it something that lives deep within our DNA, or did I pick mine up by watching my mother fanatically try to keep an immaculate house with four small children underfoot?

Broasted Chicken and the Banishing Bra

ByJan Bono

Yep, it's time for another amusing and inspiring post by blog contributor Jan Bono! See more about her on our "info"page and don't forget to check out her “Back from Obesity: My 252-pound Weight-Loss Journey” either in print or on Jan's smashwords page. --Crabby

Saying “no” to food not allowed on my healthy food plan is often a challenge. Sometimes I manage to say “maybe,” or “later,” but occasionally I throw sanity to the wind and scream “Hell, yes!”

It takes discipline to maintain a 252-pound weight loss—something I’ve managed to do for over a year—yet there are days when that discipline is in short supply. So naturally, I need solid strategies in place to keep me from caving in on a regular basis.

One sunny Saturday afternoon I stood before the open refrigerator, pondering my food choices for the rest of the day. I’d already had my usual yogurt breakfast, my mid-morning low-sodium V-8 juice break, and it was time for a satisfying low-calorie lunch.

But today there was nothing in the fridge that appealed to me. I closed the door and peered into the cupboard. Nothing too exciting there, either.

What I really wanted, I realized, was that amazing broasted chicken they served in the local bar.

Resistant Starch, Gut Health, Weight Loss, and the Infernal Internet Rathole

Who you callin' resistant?

photo by Alan via flickr

Eons ago, I posted about Resistant Starch, which was then being touted by Prevention Magazine as a miracle weight loss cure.

Basically, certain kinds of starch aren't easy to digest. Even though these stealth starches may seem all fluffy and yummy and potentially evil, like white rice and potatoes, if eaten in the right forms they can actually act in a beneficial non-carby way.  They are said to blunt blood sugar spikes, feed beneficial gut bacteria, and perform a host of other health and fat-eradicating miracles.

There was some actual research to back some of this up, but in my view I'd felt Prevention was totally over-hyping it. They were acting as though adding a slightly greenish banana, some potato salad, and a dollop of hummus to your diet was going to magically turn you into a fat-torching superhuman. I was skeptical, but I confess I did coincidentally start to buy bananas on the greener side for a few weeks.

And then, as is so often the case with any overhyped health or weight loss trend, I pretty much forgot all about it.

But now, guess what? Resistant starch is back.

Too Big for Horseback Riding?

Guest Post by Jan Bono

Horseback riding?  Way too scary for the cowardly Crabby McSlacker, so today we have another great guest post by Jan Bono. You may remember her fascinating first person account of  the whole Skin Removal process is like.  We're hoping to see more guest posts from her in the future, fingers crossed!  

For more about Jan, check out her book Back from Obesity, or scroll on down over at the  Cranky Fitness Info Page, which mysteriously depublished itself for a while but seems to have returned. --Crabby

Heigh-ho Silver, away!

I was always looking for fun and creative ways to get more exercise as I took years to work my weight down from 396 to 144. High on my list of “someday I’m gonna be able to do this again” was horseback riding.

As a teen, I’d ridden horses with my country cousins, so I was well aware how much core muscle strength it took just to stay upright. I figured I’d probably be brave enough, and fit enough, to mount up again once I got under 200 pounds.

The Universe, however, had other ideas. The Universe thought it would be funny as hell to see me astride a powerful equine long before I deemed myself “ready.”

The Skinny on Skin Removal

skin photo Laura Prado

Guest Post by Jan Bono

Ok, so you probably figured out, even before you got to the byline, that this was a guest post. Skin removal? That's a surgical procedure associated with massive weight loss. And massive weight loss... well, that implies incredible will-power, courage, and persistence.

So, you had to know this was written by someone other than Crabby McSlacker!

But I'm psyched to introduce Jan Bono to you. She's written a book, Back from Obesity, about her weight loss, which I hope you check out.  Her story is pretty damn inspirational.

If you don't believe me, just check out a couple of Jan's "before" and "after" photos.

Obesity and Life Satisfaction: Surprise!

postcard at kellydessaint.com 

Guest Post By Dr. J (with Additional Contrarian Input by Crabby McSlacker)

Many of you are already acquainted with the knowledgeable and amusing Dr. J, who blogs over at Calorie Lab. He's a maxillofacial surgeon, as well as a dedicated runner and a pilot. Dr. J kindly sent me a very interesting article he wrote and let me share it here.

And in return for his generosity?  I'm gonna jump in afterwards and wrassle with him a little, offering a slightly different take.

Obnoxious? Sure! Stupid? Possibly! Because Dr. J is an actual physician plus he has a black belt in karate.

But Dr. J is also an old blog pal who knows I agree with him on about 98% of health and fitness matters and I suspect I'd have to work pretty hard to get him riled.   He's just more of a Tough Love kinda guy than I am when it comes to certain questions of lifestyle and health.

So what's the tussle about?

A study of obesity and life satisfaction that Dr. J dug up suggests: in communities where obesity is common, being obese has little negative effect on life satisfaction.

Wow, right? This I did not know. 

Going by everything I've read, I thought it was kinda tough to be obese, and that a lot of things just sucked more, and that people were generally more satisfied with their lives after they'd lost weight.

So, if you're curious to see what the Doctor and the Crab think about all this...

Nuts: Can They Help You Lose Weight?

Note: you may have to be a bit more particular as to where you get your nuts.

Photo: oddsock 

So you've probably read over and over that nuts are good wholesome whole food you should be eating.

Rather than do the whole tedious round up, I'll just let the able Jane Brody of the NY Times step in. She can sum up the ginormous 119,000 subject Nurses study findings for us on the health benefits of nuts:

"The more often nuts were consumed, the less likely participants were to die of cancer, heart disease and respiratory disease, and not because nut eaters succumbed to other diseases. Their death rate from any cause was lower during the years they were followed. (The nuts in question were pistachios, almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, peanuts and walnuts.)"

(Though if you are allergic to nuts, I imagine all this "you should eat nuts!" stuff must get awfully tiresome. You must be wanting to scream "NO I F--CKING SHOULDN'T EAT NUTS OR I'LL DIE YOU MORON!!!"  dozens of times a day.  Feel free to do so now if that makes you feel any better).

But, for the rest of us, yeah: Nuts are no longer considered a "bad" fatty food that you should avoid (if you are old enough to remember those ancient times). Now nuts have somehow changed into a virtuous snack with untold health benefits.

But can they help you lose weight? For reals?

Random Friday: Holiday Hodgepodge

Photo: djwhelan

So I'm not going to even try to put these random items together in any sort of theme. It's the start of a holiday weekend and my brain is already long gone, perhaps snoozing on an imaginary beach, or dancing to imaginary music, or snarfing up imaginary cheeseburgers and ice cream...

But who needs a brain? Even without one I can still string a few unrelated paragraphs together!

So stay tuned for some new weird health and weight loss news, an awesome stealthy commando grassroots movement that you may want to join, more of the usual random silliness, and a Dramatic Personal Announcement!***

Oh and specially for the holiday weekend: now with 60% more Exclamation Points!

Help Others Feel Beautiful!

Have you already heard of Operation Beautiful, the campaign to leave sneaky messages around town to boost body image and defeat the nefarious advertisers trying to exploit our insecurities?

I'd heard of it too, but was too chicken to leave messages like:


But you know who is not the least bit chicken about anything?



That's right, Mizfit!

Go check out her blog post (if you haven't already) about her Operation Beautiful Adventures and you may find yourself inspired to join in too.

(Note: I saw an earlier post on this by one of our readers, and I meant to go back and link to it but I forgot where I saw it! Sorry! So if any of you also have blog posts about Operation Beautiful, remind me in the comments and I'll re-edit to include a link to your blog post here.)


Or, Congratulate Yourself!

Apparently Americans are blowing off health advice, and doing worse than ever before when it comes to exercising, eating vegetables, and trying to keep their BMI in healthy ranges. And guess what? "Individuals with a history of hypertension/diabetes/cardiovascular disease were no more likely to be adherent to a healthy lifestyle than people without these conditions."

That seems sort of, well, dumb.

And is it a coincidence that a new report says obesity rates are higher than ever?

So it's bad news of course, especially given how much of our national resources go to medical costs. On the other hand, psychologically, it's a reminder that healthy living is a CHALLENGE! And most people don't even seem to be trying. So for those of you who are making an effort every day to be healthy, no matter what your current weight or state of fitness? Congratulations, you're even more of a freak than you thought!


Weight Loss Weapons:

First, a weird one: a recent study on mice reported over at Booster Shots found that acetic acid, the main ingredient of vinegar, reduced body fat gain. Other studies have indicated it might help with blood pressure, blood sugar levels and fat accumulation. Crabby cautions, however: do not read this and then run out and start drinking quarts of vinegar, ok? I do not want to hear about a Peck of Pickled People showing up at the doctor's office with weird stomach complaints.

Quick Quiz: And Diane at Fit to the Finish pointed me to this helpful quiz to get some perspective on portion sizes. What, you mean a bagel the size of your head actually has a lot of calories? Surprise!


But Don't Despair Over a Few Extra Pounds!

Yes, obesity is a health risk. But yet another study recently reinforced what we reported here before at Cranky Fitness about extra weight and longevity. Overweight people live longer! As long as you are not obese.

It's funny how rarely these sort of statistics gets reported. (And granted, there are other measures of health besides longevity). But whenever these studies come out they get pretty much ignored, because it just doesn't fit with the "thin is always healthier" narrative we have going in our culture.


Win an iPod Shuffle!

Yep, this is me slipping in my weekly plug for The Juice again, because not only is there cool stuff over there, but they are the Official Sponsor of these next few paragraphs!

Hi there, Juice!

Anyway, there's a video interview with Deb of Weight of Deb, full of great motivational tips for healthy eating. Plus, I've collected some sneaky tips from other smart bloggers for staying on track, and Laura at Org Junkie discusses the wonders of Green Smoothies. Got any healthy eating tips? We'd love to hear them!

Oh, and the iPod Shuffle and "Getting to 50/50" giveaway is still going on. Just sayin'-- the odds are still really good and I would love to see a Cranky Fitness reader walk off with the prize.


For All You Parents:

Er, or maybe us non-parents might appreciate this even more. Let's Panic is a funny new parenting website. Their approach to raising children is very similar to the enthusiastic approach Cranky Fitness takes to vigorous exercise and proper nutrition!

Photo: Let's Panic

Let's just say that, like Cranky Fitness, perhaps it's not for everyone.


So What's Up With All the Dead Celebrities Lately?

Seriously, they're piling up at an alarming rate: Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Carl Malden, the Infomercial Guy... is it just me, or is it escalating? Conspiracy theories, whether semi-serious or totally wacky, would be appreciated.

Graph: by Graphjam

Cat Video:

Why? Just because, that's why!

Video from: CollegeHumor.

And Now, For The Dramatic*** Personal Announcement!

So I suspect I'm going to have to go to McSlacker Re-Education Camp, because I seem to have accidentally acquired a couple of jobs this summer. One of which is not even the convenient virtual kind, but is instead the old-fashioned real kind. I'm required to, get this: show up in an actual physical location (the local library) at specified hours. Yikes!

So over the next couple of months, you may notice some possible service interruptions at Cranky Fitness on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Do not adjust your monitors; trained technicians are standing by. But be prepared for the possibility of:

Exceptionally Lame Posts;
Short Posts;
Missing Posts;
Failure to Leave Comments on Other Blogs Very Often, No Matter How Awesome They Are;
General Half-Assedness; and
Radioactivity.

Oh wait... I've just been informed by our chief engineer that we will not be radioactive! Hooray!

Anyway, if you can hang in there for a couple months, all should be back to normal before too long. (And thank goodness for Merry Sunshine, who somehow writes great posts while holding down an actual Adult Full Time Job!)

***Dramatic? You call that Dramatic?
Yeah, I know--not so much. But this is McSlackerland! Were you thinking maybe I was just appointed to a Cabinet post, or adopted triplets, or was selected to go on the space shuttle, or was just indicted on felony charges in a ponzi scheme? All that would take too much effort! But if President Obama does call me and needs a Secretary of Whining and Crankiness, I shall be sure to let you know.

Got any holiday plans? Any thoughts on Operation Beautiful, dead celebrities, vegetable-shunning Americans, or anything at all? And have a great weekend!
---Crabby

Obesity, Probiotics, and Pregnancy

Photo credit: mahalie

Good news for pregnant yogurt-lovers! Scientists in Finland looked into the effects of probiotic consumption during pregnancy. And they found that probiotics helped reduce post-pregnancy obesity levels.

Probiotics, as you may recall, are those "good" bugs that live in cultured foods like yogurt and kefir. (As opposed to the "bad" bugs you get when you drop your food on the kitchen floor and, if no-one's looking, decide to invoke the "five second rule" and eat it anyway.)

Nachos: Sadly, not a great candidate for the 5 second rule.
Unless you're really, really, hungry.

Photo: AKMA

So, you might wonder, what if you're not pregnant--can you eat a bunch of yogurt or takes some capsules and lose some quick belly fat?

Well, I wondered that too. And I am still wondering that. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of research yet. But in the meantime, there are lots of reasons you might benefit from eating probiotics anyway.


But First, The Pregnancy Study

The researchers assigned 256 pregnant women randomly into one of three groups. The first group (we'll call it the "Lucky" group) got capsules with lactobacillus and bifidobacterium as well as dietary counseling. The second group (the "Dummies") got dietary counseling and placebo "dummy" pills with no good bugs in them. The third group (the "Loser" group) got bupkus--no dietary counseling and no real capsules, just the placebos.

The women took the capsules starting in their first trimester of pregnancy, and continued until "the women stopped exclusive breastfeeding, after up to six months." (Presumably they meant after the baby stopped exclusive breastfeeding--unless there are some very odd diets new moms are trying out these days).

The researchers were particular interested in "central obesity," which is worse for your health than the big-butt kind of obesity. Central obesity was defined as "a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more or a waist circumference over 80 centimetres." (Or for those of us who live in the United States where we're too damn lazy to just suck it up and switch to the metric system like the rest of the world--80 centimetres is about 31 and a half inches.)

(Picky, boring research side note: Here's where I thought the methodology got kinda funky. How accurate are stomach measurements during pregnancy at capturing actual fat gain? Probably not very. Because one woman might be carrying twin sumo wrestlers, while another woman may be pregnant with a tiny future ballerina. So the researchers didn't gather initial waist measurements, even though central obesity is what they were mostly interested in. Apparently they couldn't go back in time and get them pre-pregnancy. Instead it looks like they just used post-partum averages to compare the groups, which would mean a lot of noise in the data).

Anyway, turns out only 25 per cent of the women who had been given the probiotics as well as diet advice fell into the "central obesity" category, compared to 43 per cent of the women who got dietary counseling alone, and 40 per cent of the women who got neither diet advice nor probiotics. The average body fat differences were less dramatic, but I'm assuming they were statistically significant: 28 per cent, 29 per cent, and 30 per cent respectively.

Blah blah blah. You lost me at 256 pregnant women. Get to the point, willya?


Oh, hi there! Yeah, so it seems like there's at least something interesting going on with probiotics perhaps helping fight post-pregnancy obesity. Keep an eye out for further studies.

(And does anyone else find it interesting how little impact dietary counseling had compared to the probiotic pills? Sounds like either most women pretty much blew off the advice, or that the standard nutritional advice doesn't do squat towards preventing obesity.)


Why Did They Just Study Pregant Women?

One might wonder why the researchers chose to study the probiotic/obesity connection in pregnant women since pregnant women are so hard to measure and all?

Well, it turns out one of the reasons was that the researchers wanted to keep following the women and their babies to see whether the pre-natal probiotics will influence the babies' health.

“Particularly during pregnancy, the impacts of obesity can be immense, with the effects seen both in the mother and the child. Bacteria are passed from mother to child through the birth canal, as well as through breast milk, and research indicates that early nutrition may influence the risk of obesity later in life. There is growing evidence that this approach might open a new angle on the fight against obesity, either through prevention or treatment.”

Dang it. Cute babies... they win every time!




So Should We All Start Eating Yogurt For Weight Management?

Alas, I couldn't find much other non-pregnancy research on probiotics fighting obesity, other than the "scientists are looking in to it" kind of thing. But it's possible that my hours and hours of scholarly research 3 minutes on google might have missed something useful.

However, you can bet if it turns out there's any connection, scientists and product marketers will be all over this one.


But There Are Other Great Reasons to Get "Cultured" Too!

Mayo Clinic has a brief run-down on some of the medical benefits of probiotics. Like they can:

• Treat diarrhea, especially the kind you get after taking antibiotics
• Prevent and treat vaginal yeast infections and urinary tract infections
• Treat irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
• Reduce bladder cancer recurrence
• Shorten the duration of intestinal infections
• Prevent and treat inflammation following colon surgery (pouchitis)
• Prevent eczema in children
• Aid in general health
  

Which Bugs for Which Problems?

While the supplements in the pregnancy study were the commonly seen lactobacillus and bifidobacterium, there are lots of other different probiotics strains out there. Some work better than others for specific medical conditions.

For a helpful guide to probiotics you may want to check out Love That Bug (Old-timer Cranky Fitness readers may recognize that as that the site of our friend Dawn Rotarangi of The Flightless Writer). There are lots of specifics there, whether you're dealing with hay fever, IBS, "women' stuff," or a bunch of other medical issues.

And speaking of "women's stuff"...


Why Women MUST Eat Yogurt!

I probably ran this video already, since it's a year old and I thought it was hilarious when I first saw it. Anyway, here it is again:





So do you folks make an effort to get some good bugs in your diet? Would you eat more if it turned out it discouraged extra fat around your waist?

Fatty Fish, Obesity, and More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Omega 3's

So it's not exactly news that Omega 3's are a "good" fat.

Health benefits? Oh yeah. Consumption of Omega 3's has been linked to a reduced risk of lots of bad things, like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, certain kinds of cancer, diabetes, arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, depression, Alzheimer's, and spontaneous combustion.

OK, so I just made that last one up to see if you were paying attention. Come to think of it, all that extra oil would probably make you MORE combustible, not less.

Always good to have handy.

Anyway.

Omega 3 fatty acids are also awesome because they reduce inflammation, and because of their high concentration in the brain, they help cognitive functioning. Not getting enough Omega 3's? Symptoms of a deficiency include extreme fatigue, crappy memory, dry skin, heart problems, mood swings or depression, and poor circulation.

The American Heart Association, for example, recommends a couple of servings of fatty fish a week for most adults.

And now there's some new research on even more benefits you can get from Omega 3's if you are overweight or obese. I'll have additional info on that in a moment.

But here's the tricky part: Omega-3 isn't a food itself, like a watermelon. You can't just go to the grocery store an throw a big ol' Omega-3 in your shopping cart. You get it in something, like a bottle of supplements or a can of tuna or a bag of walnuts.


And that's where it starts to get complicated. Some experts say Omega 3 fatty acids aren't all created equal.

There's a helpful article about the the best sources of Omega 3's over at US News and World Report. And by helpful I mean the "Oh crap, why did I have to read this and get all confused?" kind of helpful.

Because apparently there is some disagreement about whether fish omega 3's and plant omega 3's are equally beneficial.


EPA, DHA, and ALA and Blah blah blah blah

On the one hand, you got your oily cold-water fish kind of Omega 3's. These are the long chain fatty acids, DHA and EPA. You get these from fish like salmon, mackerel, halibut, sardines, tuna, and herring.

And then there's the plant kind of Omega 3's (the short chain one, ALA), like in walnuts, canola oil, flax seeds, and ch-ch-ch-chia seeds.

Also, there's algae! These contain the long chain type like fish. (But hang on, it gets more complicated).

And finally we have the Great American Marketing kind of Omega 3, which comes in supplement bottles or appears in all kinds of processed food with cheerful labels saying "Now with Omega-3's!" What are these? Well, they could be DHA or EPA or ALA, it depends. You have to look at the label, if it's a supplement, or the ingredients if it's a processed food to see what's in there. If there are anchovies in your orange juice, for example, it's probably DHA and EPA.

Now after you eat ALA (the plant kind), the body converts it to EPA and DHA, which are more readily used by the body. So why does it matter if you're getting DHA, EPA, or ALA?

Well, according to the US News article above, and a bunch of other random experts I've come across recently but don't feel like chasing down right now, it's not clear you really get the same benefits from ALA (plant-based Omega 3's) that you do from DHA and EPA. More and more I'm seeing the recommendation to make sure some of your Omega 3's are from marine sources too, not just plants.

Plus, a further complication: some sources of Omega 3's like tilapia or soybean oil are also high in Omega 6's.


What's Wrong With Omega 6's?

Nothing, if we ate the amounts we used to back in the olden days--more like a 1/1 ratio with Omega 3's. But in modern diets, we eat too damn much, like 16 to 1. Excess Omega 6 compared to Omega 3 has serious health consequences. Dr. Weil, for example, suggests cutting down on cut down on consumption of "processed and fast foods and polyunsaturated vegetable oils (corn, sunflower, safflower, soy, and cottonseed)."

The bottom line recommendation seemed to be: get lots of different sources of Omega 3's, both plant and fish-based, but watch out you don't overdo the Omega 6's.


Good Foods for Omega 3's:

Here's one compilation of good omega 3 sources; google will probably find you lots more:

Seafood: Salmon, bluefin tuna, mackerel, herring, rainbow trout, anchovies and sardines, shrimp, mollusks, and Alaskan king crab.

Oils: flaxseed oil and canola oil. (Other vegetable oils like soybean, corn, and cottonseed oils have lots of omega-6).

Beans: Kidney, pinto, and mungo beans especially. (Anyone know what the hell a mungo bean is?) Chickpeas--not so much.

Nuts and seeds: Walnuts and flaxseed particularly rock.

Spinach, winter squash, broccoli, cauliflower, and papaya. Who knew?


So what if I Hate Fish or I'm Freaked Out by Mercury or I'm a Vegetarian?

Hate Fish? I don't personally hate all fish, but I'm not crazy about the oily kind except for every now and them. So I'm not confident I'm getting all the EPA and DHA awesomeness that my body would appreciate. So I go the fish oil capsule route. I buy the enteric kind, if I can find them, to minimize the dreaded fish burps. (One expert suggested that freezing the capsules first will also help with this). The experts in the US News article felt that fish oil capsules were generally safe when it came to mercury and pcb's, noting a Consumer Reports survey that tested various store-bought brands and found they were cool.

Concern about Mercury in Fish: There are some kinds of fish known to be high in mercury which you should probably not eat a lot of, and may want to avoid entirely if you are pregnant. Beware of shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish. The American Heart Association has some recommendations for fish high in Omega 3 but generally low in mercury.

Also, you might want to check out Safe Harbor, which tests fish for mercury and has a seal indicating it's been tested--if you're lucky enough to have a store that sells their stuff in your area.

What About Vegetarians? Well, there are other experts who don't think failing to eat fish or fish oil is any big deal. And there are algae supplements, and algae has long chain Omega 3's.

However, these algae-based supplements tend to contain DHA but not EPA. So one of the expert recommendations was to combine algae supplements with plant-based Omega 3's for better health benefits.


Don't Take Too Much Though

If you're using supplements, you should probably stay under 3 grams of omega-3 fatty acids from capsules per day, unless you're being supervised by a doctor. Otherwise they're an increased risk of bleeding and possibly even hemorrhagic stroke. (That's where an artery in the brain ruptures. You don't want that). However, research is mixed on whether/how much Omega-3's increase this risk. Taking lots of omega 3's can also interfere with certain medications; another reason to check with your doctor if you want to take a bunch of the stuff.


New Studies on Omega 3's and Obesity

I did mention something about that at the beginning, didn't I? That was before I decided to write such a long-ass blog post on Omega 3's.

So I'll make it quick, in case you all are getting as bored of this dang topic as I am.

That'sFit has a good summary of the Omega 3 and obesity studies. One of them, on mice, suggested that "diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids protect the liver from damage caused by obesity and the insulin resistance it provokes." The editor and chief of the journal it was published in said "it's not unlikely that eating lots more fish or a simple switch to canola oil will make a difference," so I'm guessing it included both kinds of Omegas. But I couldn't tell for sure from the abstract.

And the other Omega 3 study, this one on actual overweight and obese people, indicated that eating long-chain (fishy) omega 3's helped those who were losing weight feel fuller after a meal.

Whew! So do you all get your Omega 3's? How? And do you watch your Omega 6's? Or do you just say "screw it" and figure if you're generally eating healthy you're probably OK?

Workout DVDs for kids? Also, Grammar Nazis

I know Crabby already covered the topic of children using kiddy treadmills. The trend of treating children as if they were adults has also drifted into the land of the workout video.

The title says it all: "Dance Workout with Barbie!" Yes, it's an exercise workout with an animated Barbie doll. For children 5 and up, this is apparently a serious workout video. (According to one source, Jennifer Love Hewitt is one of the backup dancers in this video. Since it was made over a decade ago, I don't feel bad about not recognizing her.) Take them to a park and let them play, fer Pete's sake!



I keep trying to see this from the point of view of the parent whose child's school no longer offers PE. Yes, gym was often heinous, especially if you were, like moi, uncoordinated. (Did you know that uncoordinated children are more likely to grow up to be obese? Seems to me what they could be teaching in schools is some form of exercise that's fun. Even if you're uncoordinated, if you can build up some confidence it would help.)



All the same, the idea of a workout video for 5-year old children really depresses me.

What do the parents out there think? Is this sort of thing teaching children to be cranky about fitness at way too early an age, or is it a necessary evil? (I'm sorry if that last term offends all the Barbie lovers out there, but that animated Barbie strikes me as the epitome of the poorly dressed and highly creepy low-life trailer-trash doll.)

Also, I had to include this video clip. The Onion News Network debates whether violent video games really prepare today's children for life in a post-apocalyptic world:



In honor of National Grammar Day (which was yesterday), I stole leveraged this video clip from the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar:



[Text for the video-impaired: Hitler rails about Grammar Nazis and the importance of spelling correctly on a job application. Some bad language, at least in the subtitles. But it's grammatically correct bad language.]

What do Grammar Nazis have to do with fitness, you ask? To celebrate National Grammar Day, even a day late, it is suggested that you hold a party featuring nutritional, high-fiber foods. Because they're good for the colon.

(No word yet on whether low-fiber Krispy Kreme doughnuts are good for the semicolon, or for the comma, exclamation point, or M-dash, but I'm thinking of conducting a study to research the matter.)

Feckless Friday: Scary Statistics and Sleepy Puppies

San Diego's Balboa Park

So the Crab and Lobster are heading off early this morning on a road trip to visit some friends in San Diego. We're psyched!

(And honestly, while driving is risky too, we are very happy we're not taking a plane. Yesterday's water landing and passenger rescue was one of the most scary/awesome stories I've heard about in a while. Three cheers for a well-trained, level-headed, heroic pilot and flight crew!)

Anyway, in addition to being the home of cool friends, San Diego was my old college stomping grounds. (I'm a UCSD alum, Revelle College, class of 19.. ahem, cough, cough mumble mumble). So there are a number of important scholarly questions I must research! Like: What sort of innovative health studies are going on in those campus science labs? Is Filippi's Pizza still there? How about that cheap Mexican restaurant near the racetrack that used to serve wine margaritas to college freshman without even requiring fake id? Are the health needs of the San Diego population being met in a comprehensive and sustainable matter? Is Black's Beach still clothing-optional? Is La Jolla still beautiful and snooty? Is Hillcrest still gay?) I shall clearly be very, very busy collecting important data.

Anyway, with the Crab off on another road trip, and it being Friday...what does that all add up to? Yep, you guessed it--a random mess of leftover research and random links and silliness instead of a real post.

But fear not, Merry will be wearing the Crankypants this coming Monday, and the Crab hopes to get her act together with a post that's actually about something health-related on Tuesday. In the meantime... let's get rolling with the randomness, shall we?

Obesity Not Going Away Anytime Soon

Keep in mind that being merely overweight is not necessarily a health risk--in fact, research suggests those who are overweight but not obese actually tend live longer than those who have a normal BMI. However, obesity is a health risk, and a recently-released health survey says there are now more obese Americans (34%) than those who are merely overweight (32.7%).

Also, with the cratering economy, many health professionals are worried that even more folks will put on "recession pounds." They say "cheap sources of calories tend to be high in total fats and sugars."

(And speaking of recessions and pounds, Ali from The Office Diet wants people to know that her ebook, Dieting Basics, is discounted to $4 through the end of January. Warning to other folks selling things: Ali is a good friend of the blog and has helped us out with quite a few great guest posts! We don't ordinarily put in random plugs for stuff that's on sale unless you do our work for us, or at least bribe us sufficiently. Plus, Ali is a sensible gal and we trust her diet advice.)


Facing Surgery? Will Your Surgeons Use a Checklist?

Most people would see this study on the effectiveness of surgery checklists as a positive thing--after all, once these checklists were instituted at various hospitals, patient mortality rates were cut nearly in half and complications decreased by more than a third.

But yikes! As a worrywart, this study made me even more nervous about ever needing surgery. In the article, it was noted that even after new policies were instituted, compliance with checklists still wasn't great. And experts are skeptical whether surgeons will keep using the checklists, or will start blowing them off once no one is watching them all that closely. Some of the issues these checklists address, like--is this the right patient? Did we leave any sponges inside?--you really hope someone is double-checking on.


Get More Sleep!

There are a LOT of reasons why you need to get enough sleep. A recent study adds yet another one: a better ability to fight off cold viruses. People who slept less than seven hours a night were about three times more likely to get a cold than people who slept eight hours or more a night.


Moving Vans in Blogland:

Was anyone else terribly sad to hear that the amusing and thought-provoking blog Elastic Waist closed its doors at the end of 2008? (Conde Nast, tsk tsk!) However, the bloggers behind Elastic Waist didn't go away, thank goodness, and you can still catch up with their exploits at their individual blogs, or at their new portal site, Dearest Mabel. Also listed as a potential contributor to Dearest Mabel is Jennette Fulda, otherwise known as Pasta Queen! Sounds cool huh? Cranky Fitness wishes all the best for the future success of Dearest Mabel.

And if you haven't updated your bookmarks--many of you have already caught the fact that Leslie Goldman, formerly of the Weighting Game, has moved to a different corner of iVillage and now blogs at Never Say Diet. She also had a great (and scary) piece in Health Magazine recently about her neck/back injury. (I caught it in the print copy; the online link wasn't up yet last time I checked, but be sure to look for it).


Stressed?

Well, apparently lots of folks are these days. How else to explain the exploding popularity and media coverage of websites such as Cute Things Falling Asleep?

Yep, that's what you see lots and lots of when you go there. Here's just one example:



(Warning: do not attempt to operate heavy machinery after watching this).

For more all-purpose, less specialized cuteness, there's always Cute Overload:

(Photo via cute overload)

Seriously, if you like cute, this is the place.

Is there a limit? Is Cute Overload just too much cute for some of you? Here's an alternative stress-reducer: at this site, you can vicariously microwave food and other random objects that have no business being microwaved. The Christmas lights and ketchup packages were both kinda cool. (Oh crap, was this a really unfortunate juxtaposition of items or what?)

Hope you all have such glorious, non-stressful weekends that you don't even need to watch cute sleepy furry things to unwind!

Got anything fun planned?

Boyfriends and Husbands: Health Hazards?

However Can A Gal Resist?
Photo: Plan59

Talk about a subject I know very little about.

But has my complete ignorance ever stopped my from blogging about a topic before? Of course not!

As I have a same-sex spouse, I'd been only vaguely aware of the impact that having a boyfriend or husband could have on a woman's efforts to meet her health and fitness goals.

However, I recently got a chance to peruse a book by Jenna Bergen, called: "Your Big Fat Boyfriend: How to Stay Thin When Dating a Diet Disaster." It's a cute little volume, sort of gifty-sized, combining humor with practical tips for how to stick to your own goals while dating a guy with a terrible diet. (And if you click on the link above, it comes complete with a blog.)

How clueless am I? It never occurred to me that heterosexual dating and relationships could pose such a health hazard! Or at least, according to the book, a dieting hazard. But I tend to mentally translate words like "diet" or "weight loss" into my own goals: "eating healthy" and "getting exercise," since they involve similar challenges.

So while I have a few general thoughts, I thought I'd take the issue to the smart readers of Cranky Fitness, many of whom are real live heterosexuals with actual experience in these matters. Are guys a Help or a Hazard when it comes to women's health and fitness goals?

But first, who is Jenna Bergen? Well, she's a fitness fiend and a writer whose articles have appeared in lots of great magazines. Including an article in Women's Health that mentioned Cranky Fitness--so we like Jenna 'round these parts.

She's got lots of practical tips for dealing with the phenomena that many women apparently experience: they fall for guys who are "diet disasters." (Her boyfriend, for example, went blithely through his adult life thinking that number of recommended calories a day was 20,000.) One of the fundamental messages of the book: if you are a woman, "you can't eat like a man and still fit in your pants."

Having any kind of romantic partner, male or female, can be a strong influence on behavior. (I bet there are studies, and I could look 'em up, but really, does anyone dispute this?)

This influence can be quite positive! I went from a cheeseburger-scarfing meat hog to a near-vegetarian in my early twenties, because my girlfriend at the time was a vegetarian. I learned to enjoy tofu and bean sprouts and kefir and all kinds of "exotic" (for back then) food that I never would have even tried if I'd been with someone more like myself.

And, even now, I can't stand not working out if the Lobster is heading off to the gym, even if I'd already given myself the day off. It just doesn't feel right to be slothful while someone else is sweating. So that's good, right?

But, on the negative side, I also find it extremely difficult to pass up an ice cream cone if the Lobster is having one. Suddenly, I feel entitled to that cone, even if ice cream had been the furthest thing from my mind. (Note: this is just an expression! There is never a time when Delicious Food is the furthest thing from my mind. What about quantum physics, or pre-cambrian flying insects, or Scandinavian love poetry? There is always something further from my mind than food.)

Ever fritter away some time people-watching at an airport or a mall, and notice how frequently couples end up roughly the same size? Do people choose partners who look like them, or do they influence each other into gaining or not gaining weight together? A bit of both, I suspect.

However, I do wonder whether the whole boy/girl thing does complicate matters for women.

I can kind of see how it might be a challenge dating or marrying one of those XY types who can eat an entire extra large pizza in one sitting. Or who can, if motivated, can get slim and buffed in a fraction of the time it takes an XX due to the wonders of testosterone. Or who, if not motivated, doesn't really give a damn what he looks like in a bathing suit.

And is it just a stereotype that women are generally more interested in preventive health than men? It sure seems like one gender is more likely to scrutinize food labels and make appointments for checkups than the other.

My own intuitive guess is that I'd have a harder time sticking to my healthy-eating goals if I were with a guy than with a gal. If he could have a double cheeseburger, I'd want one too.

But wait! Here's a curious fact: Compared to straight women, lesbians are more than twice as likely to be obese. So while being with a guy may seem like a challenge to healthy eating, maybe his guyness is not really the issue?

This brings up the question: why do lesbians get fat? This study said for the same reasons straight women do, which wasn't much help.

Personally, I think on average, lesbians care far less about looking like the current cultural and media ideal--ultra feminine and super skinny. (In the age of The L-Word, I know it may be shocking to hear that many of us gay gals are still old-school and have entirely different standards of attractiveness than straight folks do!) But in rejecting these images as irrelevant, many lesbians also lose the powerful weight-loss motivation that comes with appearance-based goals.

So now I'm more confused than ever. It sure seems like being with a guy could present some healthy-eating challenges--what do you folks find? And if you have one of those exotic opposite-sex partners, what accommodations do you make to stay healthy?

It's a Big Country

Our Road Trip Comes to an End

Possibly legally insufficient photo credit
(But heck, at least we tried)

Damn it's great to be back to Cranky Fitness. I really missed everybody!

As regular readers may recall, I've been on the road for the past two or three weeks, traveling cross-country with my lawfully wedded spouse the Lobster and our aging but always amiable cat. This is the first year of our Great Bi-Coastal Living Experiment: we spend the temperate seasons in Provincetown, Massachusetts, but flee to sunny California in the winter to stay with the Lobster's mom instead of stoically freezing our butts off like true New Englanders. No point in pretending otherwise: we are weather wimps.

As to the experiment: so far, so good! Our posteriors remain warm; we had Excellent Adventures crossing the country, and arrived back in the S.F. Bay Area safe and sound.

A Shocking Reality Check
However, in some respects the trip was a wake-up call. You know those studies that say obesity rates and healthy behaviors tend to vary by state or by neighborhood?


Well, holy crap is that the truth. (Warning: potentially offensive material ahead.)

I've lived most of my life in various "elitist'" neighborhoods in coastal blue states. Even in the hippest urban neighborhood there is enough variation in how people approach health and fitness that you think you have some sense of perspective. Then you travel across the country and realize you had no freakin' clue.

Making the Worst of a Bad Situation
Not everyone is lucky enough to have the money to choose their "perfect" neighborhood. I think it's awful when so many towns are built with hardly any parks, trails or even sidewalks. Often in these same car-centric places the restaurants are mostly chains, featuring gargantuan meaty greasy cheesy saucy fried dinners paired with decadent desserts. The grocery stores are skimpy in the produce section, and offer mostly processed snack foods, desserts, frozen dinners, and meat laced with hormones, antibiotics, and preservatives.

I know I'd really, really struggle if I lived in some of these places. I'd probably eat lousier and exercise less and feel pretty helpless about it.

But damn, lots of these folks don't seem to be "struggling" with it at all. They're driving everywhere, ignoring their few exercise options, and gobbling up every bite of the junk food on offer.

Hello, personal responsibility?

It was shocking to look at the crap piled up in most people's shopping carts or watch what they ordered at restaurants or even to see how many were smoking. I also had to wonder: was the reason many of the convenience stores had no non-fat milk part of a sinister "make 'em drink whole milk and die young" campaign? Was the grocery store produce section so skimpy because tyrannical suppliers refused to send a variety of wholesome healthy fruits and vegetables?

Or were the selections so lame because the local vendors have discovered most folks won't buy the healthy stuff when they try to stock it?

We are freaks here in health blogland. In much of America, folks are not debating: Should I get my Omega 3 from fish or flax? They are wondering: what do I want for dessert after my triple cheeseburger and fries and coke, the cherry pie with ice cream or the caramel chocolate pecan cake with whipped cream?

And, um, I couldn't help noticing... a huge percentage of people in a lot of these places were fat.

Thin Ice
This is a sensitive issue, and I don't want to be an asshole and start shrieking "Oh My God, Our country is fat! And that's so terrrribbble!"

Because I'm not anti-fat!

At least I think I'm not. I'm all for Fat Acceptance. I hate that the media tells us we're all supposed to be scrawny stick figures and that so many women buy into that. And I firmly believe you can be quite a bit heavier that what those annoying BMI charts say and still be totally healthy and beautiful. Hell, I love adipositivity!

Plus, I think many people have crappy genes and metabolisms and are fat in spite of all their healthy efforts. (And I was thoroughly ridiculed recently over at a site called... wait for it... Testosterone Nation for suggesting that not everyone gets the same deal, genetically, when it comes to losing weight.)

But I have to confess: wandering into communities where most people are not just chunky but are obese, and where exercise is considered eccentric and people make stupid food choices, I find myself troubled.

There is "fit and healthy and making smart choices" kind of fat... many of our readers have that kind. But then there is the other kind. The kind that involves Oreo Dessert pizzas and buckets of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

I think I have perhaps underestimated the extent to which "the other kind" of fat is still a huge problem in our country. You folks who live in these places must be going: "Duh, Crabby!"

A Shining Exception
In our travels through the South, one city stood out as being 180% the opposite: Austin Texas. Wow, what an awesome town!

The Whole Foods Flagship store goes on for acres and acres. (And to cheer a lazy slacker's heart, much of what is on offer is already prepared. There may be better healthy grocery stores for those who love to cook, my favorite being Berkeley Bowl in the SF Bay Area, but if you want to grab a quick healthy meal to go? This place is freakin' amazing. (However, I do feel it is my duty, whenever I go to a Whole Foods, to stand in their bakery section, peruse the bread and roll options, and complain loudly to no one in particular that the items that say "whole grain" still list wheat flour as their first ingredient. The Lobster, who has seen this performance repeated many times to absolutely no effect, just rolls her eyes.))

And it's not only the Whole Foods in Austin but the awesome running trails along the river packed with folks huffing and puffing happily at all hours of the day; the many gyms and outdoor gear companies; the walkability of the city, and just the general good cheer which must come from all the music those young folks are listening to or all the coffee they are drinking. Or something. I was impressed--but perhaps you folks who actually live there have a different perspective.

Suggestion to folks in the South: more Austins, please!

Travel is Broadening
At least that's what my mother used to say. (And please excuse the pun). Our trip, while it did set off a blog rant I may end up regretting, gave me new admiration for all of you out there who live in communities where the healthy choices are so limited. How the heck do you cope?

The Pizza Diet, Size Issues, and Making a Change

It has come to our attention that supplies of cynicism are at an all-time low in many states around the country, and countries around the world. So this seems like a good time to run these studies past you. Besides, the really Deep & Serious post I was working on has gotten too deep and too serious. Thursdays require some levity.

The Red Wine & Pizza Diet

I'd hate for this to be the only blog that doesn't mention this new study.

A team of scientists at the University of Louis Pasteur claim to have discovered a drug SIRT1 that counteracts "some effects of a high-calorie diet." Chemically related to components found in red wine, this drug shifts the metabolism to "fat-burning mode" without side effects.

In mice, at any rate, it can prevent weight gain and improve blood sugar tolerance as well as insulin sensitivity. In other words, these mice can pig out on the Red-Wine-and-Pizza-Palooza diet without gaining weight.

Photo: Lulu

Is it too late to change my species to Mouse?

Who says size doesn't matter?

In a study of 7,000 women carried out by the University of Hawaii and published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 92 per cent of those who were overweight had slept with a man, as compared to 87 per cent of women of "normal" size.

Is that the truth? The whole Truth? Nothing but the truth?

Honestly, if some researcher came up to me and asked about my sex life, regardless of what size I was, I'd want to know either a)what she was smokin' or b)what she intended to pay me to talk about something that's none of her business. I certainly wouldn't feel it was my duty to tell her the absolute, strict, hand-on-the-Bible truth. Plus, being easily distracted/amused, I was distracted and amused by the fact that the main researcher's first name was 'Bliss.' (Never said I was deep & profound, okay?)

Okay, any parents out there, listen up. Be aware that what you name your child may affect her or his career decades later.

Want to make a difference? Register and maybe save a life

On a much more serious note, if you’re feeling altruistic you should know that November is Marrow Awareness Month in America. Anyone who donates at the National Marrow Donor Program can do so for free.

Apparently in many other countries, registration is free. In America it usually costs about $50. (The cost is to cover the process of tissue typing your sample.) To register as a bone marrow donor, you need to fill out a questionnaire, swab your cheek with a cotton swab, and mail the swab in to the donor program. (They provide a kit for swabbing.)

Being a bone marrow donor can save the life of someone suffering from leukemia and similar ailments. A lot of people are talking about Change right now. If you want to make a change, that's one way to do it. I'm going for it.

Do you see any reason not to become a bone marrow donor? Or are you still mulling over the wine-and-pizza diet, and the women of varying sizes?

Fat is Not Fair

[by Crabby]


It is not a scientific secret that genetics play a role in weight gain and obesity.

People have different metabolisms. There are people who eat tons of food and never exercise, yet they are skinny. There are other people who eat healthy foods in reasonable portions, exercise for hours, and will still probably always be "overweight."

Yet because so much hard work and sacrifice is involved in weight loss, there is a tendency among people who are successful to act as though everyone gets the exact same deal. "I gave up my hot fudge sundaes and started running, and look at me! If you're still overweight, it's because you must be eating crap and sitting on your ass all day."

Well, some of you know from experience that it's just not true.

And sure, plenty of people are overweight because they eat way too much and exercise too little. But there are also plenty of others who get a raw deal in the genetic lottery--maybe growing up, you did the same stuff everyone around you was doing, but instead of getting heavy, you got obese. Or maybe you've struggled your whole life to keep from being obese, going to great lengths to be merely overweight. Or perhaps you've swung back and forth, losing and gaining, messing with your already unfriendly metabolism and through the best of intentions making things worse.

It's not fair.

What's It Like To Have the Deck Stacked Against You?

Are you one of those unlucky people? I'm not myself, but I believe that among readers of health and weight loss blogs, there are quite a few. People who are motivated enough to visit blogs and even start their own, and research all the right things to do and try and try and try... but still find the pounds fall off very, very slowly. And sometimes not at all.

I read what some of you folks are eating and what you're doing for exercise, and Holey Moley! It's a lot more demanding than what I have to do to maintain my weight. I would get so exhausted by the daily battle of "bad cookie/good carrot/how many steps on the pedometer today" that I think I'd want to pull my hair out.

I have a pretty "normal" metabolism. If I start eating like an average American and exercising like an average American, even for a few months, I gain weight. I would be overweight now if I hadn't woken up (twice) and reformed my ways when I started to get too self-indulgent. But, unlike some of you, if I eat 90% healthy, count calories for a while, and get a bunch of exercise, I can lose the weight again fairly easily and keep it off.

It makes me wonder what my attitudes would be like if I weren't so lucky. What if I were suddenly "blessed" with a hundred or so extra pounds and a stubborn metabolism? How would I handle it?

The Optimistic Scenario



Here's what I hope I would do:

1. Learn how to reject all the appearance-related garbage we're exposed to daily. I hope I'd learn to love my large thighs and unshedable belly fat even while being constantly told my every magazine, billboard, tv show and casual conversation that I should hate everything about myself.

2. Concentrate more on health goals--getting stronger, fueling my body with nutritious healthy food, building endurance, doing enough cardio to reduce my risk for heart disease and cancer and diabetes, etc. Define progress according to these goals, not a number on the scale.

3. Try to be grateful for all the other ways in which I was still lucky, by looking beyond my immediate situation. I hope I'd remind myself that I could be living in a poverty-stricken nation; I could be in the midst of a war; I could be maimed or disfigured or dying of a painful disease or the victim of any number of unjust fates.

4. Surround myself with supportive, non-judgmental, healthy friends who would understand me and encourage my efforts to be strong and healthy and happy.

5. Seek balance in life and see myself as a whole person with many talents and goals, and not just as number on a scale or a clothing size.

But honestly? I am not a particularly evolved, mature, self-confident person.

The Darker Scenario:




Here is how I fear I might deal with the situation instead:

1. Learn to hate my body, and by extension, myself.

2. Get so focused on calories and portion sizes and "good" and "bad" foods that I'd no longer be able to enjoy eating as a simple pleasurable activity. And with food and exercise so emotionally charged, I fear I'd veer between frantic determination to lose weight versus giving up entirely and bingeing.

3. Become more self-absorbed (if possible) and depressed.

4. Withdraw from social situations out of fear of rejection.

5. Start judging my sense of self worth by how my clothes fit rather than who I was as a person.

Yikes, what a downer, I should have gone in the other order!

So does anyone with a "good" metabolism wonder how they'd fare if they weren't so lucky? Or does anyone who's unlucky have any stories from the trenches or advice for those struggling against unfair odds?