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.

Does Kombucha Have Health Benefits?

You've seen the cute little bottles, haven't you, in the "Fancy Beverage" endcap at your local health food or upscale grocery store? Kombucha is a fermented beverage, generally made from black tea and sugar and other flavors, plus a scary-looking (yet apparently friendly) culture of yeast and bacteria.

Have you been tempted? Have you succumbed?

I have.  But with much hand-wringing and angst and ambivalence because that's how I approach any complicated consumer decision. (Btw, it is hell to go grocery shopping with me unless you have all the time in the world or are perhaps heavily medicated).

Anyway, here's my dilemma with Kombucha:

If you don't make it yourself, which looks to be a bit of a hassle, it's really damn expensive. And the taste... well, at first it may seem foul but then it can kind of grow on you. Tangy, just a little sweet, though not quite sweet enough for me for it to feel like a splurge, or at least not a $3-$5 per bottle splurge.  It's fairly low cal for a naturally sweetened beverage, about 20-40 calories for 8 ounces, depending on brand, but again, did I mention it was expensive?  So I've been on the fence about whether I should keep buying it.

The key question for me: Is it actually healthy?

Online Health Research Tips

The Good Ol' Days.

 Kinda.

Image: Duke yearbook

Doing health research online is crazy-making enough, even when you manage to find reliable and credible sources. There are so many bickering experts and contradictory findings to sort out!

But most people don't even manage to GET to the reputable sources in the first place. Typing in a random google query can quickly lead to quacks and crackpots, sponsored ads, and forums full of blathering no-nothings repeating something they read "somewhere."

So this next guest post by Dr. Tiffany Reiss, an actual professor with a background in exercise physiology, offers some tips for navigating the interwebs when you have a question about health and fitness.

Say hi to Tiffany!

Dr. Tiffany Reiss serves as an adjunct faculty member for Seattle University, Lake Washington Institute of Technology, American Public University and Walden University. She received her PhD from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in Health Promotion at Virginia Tech and holds a MS degree in Exercise Physiology from Appalachian State University. She is a contributor for the Sports and Fitness Network and is the co-founder of TheHubEdu: A Learning Library. (More about that later; it's pretty cool and right now it's FREE!)

As for Crabby, she's still off on her South African Adventure and hopes to pop in at some point when there's internet. In the meantime, please welcome Tiffany Reiss .--Crabby

If It Sounds Too Good To Be True....

We live in the information age.  We have more information available to us at our fingertips than any individual can manage to keep up with on a daily basis.  We think because we have access to all of this information, we are better informed.  The problem is, we aren't.

Do I Have To? On Warming Up, Cooling Down and Stretching

There are lots of virtuous angels out there who don't just do some form of cardio and strength training, but are also religious about always warming up, cooling down, and gently stretching their various hard-working body parts.

Others may think all that sounds like a very good idea, and do it sometimes... while frequently blowing it off and just feeling guilty about it instead.

And then there is a third camp--those who just jump in cold, exercise as hard and as long as seems warranted, and then... screeech! ... come to a complete stop when they feel done. They then head straight for the shower, or more stinkily, back into their cars or jobs or lives, without doing any of that sissy in-between stuff that makes exercise take so much longer without really "counting" as exercise.

I've generally been in the second group, the guilty-semi-slackers, though as I've gotten older I've been getting closer to the first angelic-anal-compulsive category. So I was all prepared to jump right in with some tips about how to become better about doing all that stuff.

But, I figured first I better warm up with a little research, just to be able to scare you with a good list of Horrible Consequences that might ensue if you skip these pre and post workout rituals.

And guess what?  Well... crap!  Turns out it's all more complicated than I thought. I had to really stretch to reconcile my discoveries with the "expert" advice I've been reading for decades.  How annoying! But then I cooled down a bit and decided I did not actually need to report every damn conflicting research study or expert opinion on the matter. Reading and then ignoring research is something of a specialty here at Cranky Fitness.

(Especially since for some reason the malevolent blogger platform has recently been refusing to save my drafts, but passively-aggressively failing to tell me that before I innocently shut down the computer to go raid the refrigerator. So I'm now starting this over for the third f--cking time and hunting down the links all over again. Grrr.)

Anyway, here is some of the shocking information I discovered about stretching, warming up, and cooling down, as well as some thoughts on doing or not doing them.

The Enlightened Brain Review

So why would Cranky Fitness readers want to check out a review of an online course I took this summer called The Enlightened Brain?

Well, because the course was pretty cool!  And perhaps there are a few other tightly-wired, over-reactive types like me out there who could use some research-based tricks (or a whole spiritual path, depending on your proclivities) to tone down the psychological alarm bells and enjoy more tranquility and happiness.

But you don't have to have to be a natural-born stress-bucket to take an interest. Folks who want to know more about the neuroscience of positive and negative emotions, and perhaps even re-wire their brain so as to serve up more of the former and less of the latter, might want to check this thing out.

(Plus, I was in a weird mood and threw in gratuitous pictures of a controversial pop-culture diva--so you can always just weigh in on whether you think she's a genius or find her appalling).

Why I Signed Up for The Enlightened Brain.

Of course y'all don't care, but when has that stopped me from explaining something before? Feel free to skip on down.

If you've always been a bit on the anxious, pessimistic side, it's easy to just throw up your hands and say "Well Baby, I Was Born This Way." (And I'm sure you appreciate now having Lady Gaga lodged inside your head. Oh, and sorry... sometimes she likes to settle in).

Love ya, Lady Gaga!
But wanna stop singing that song now? It's been 27 hours.

Yet despite Lady Gaga's reassurance that I don't have to feel badly about my inborn neurotic  tendencies, one thing being a psychotherapist teaches you is that you can change your thoughts, and consequently your emotional reactions to things.  And, though this isn't saying much, I'm definitely more mellow now than I used to be! But I'm still too prone to stressing over minor upsets, and wanted a motivational kick in the pants to try the whole meditation thing again for the thousandth time.

So since I'd previously read Rick Hanson's book, Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom, and was impressed, I thought I'd see if I could beg my way in to his online course and review it.  And thanks to the generosity of the author and Sounds True, the company that hosts it, I got to take it for free.  Hooray! I finished the course a couple weeks back and would have reviewed it sooner, were I not too busy futzing around on the web and plotting how to eat more  kettlecorn without gaining weight doing scholarly research and helping people in need.

What's The Enlightened Brain About and How Did it Work?

To swipe copy from the website (lazy, who me?) the course description is: "Meditation Meets Neuroscience—Practical Tools to Reshape Your Brain for Awakening."

It's technically an "interactive" online course, though it's mostly pre-recorded video and audio presentations by Rick Hanson. Some of these were in a lecture format, and others were guided meditations. There were two live sessions in which Rick took questions, but these were questions submitted earlier offline. While it didn't exactly feel like Rick and I were hanging out drinking beer herb tea and chatting together, he did answer the question I submitted carefully, thoroughly, and quite helpfully. There was a forum thing available too if you wanted to connect with other folks taking the course.

The course lasted six weeks, with numerous short audios and videos for each week. It was self-paced and flexible, so if you got "behind," there was no pressure. And once you sign up you can review it all over again if you, like me, are forgetful. The material stays available for download for a few months after the course is over, and if you get off your butt and download the sessions, you can hang onto them.

The six sessions were:

1. Self-Directed Neuroplasticity
2. Taking in the Good
3. The Neuroscience of Mindfulness
4. Concentrating the Mind
5. Equanimity
6. Beyond the Self

What Was Great About The Enlightened Brain

1. Rick Hanson! I found him to be completely charming. He's warm, funny, and, well, pretty adorable. He's geeky enough (compliment) to be precise and clear, and he doesn't shy away from long words or complicated concepts. However, he always takes a step back after presenting difficult material to rephrase it in language anyone could understand, and he gives concrete examples.

He shares his own struggles, and doesn't try to lecture from a guru/expert perspective, even if it's abundantly clear from listening to him that he knows his stuff. And sure, he's just a video playing on your screen (or an audio track), but he manages to project so much empathy and kindness, it's hard not to feel like he's actually in the room with you. (Oh, and, because he's so enlightened and has worked so hard to transcend "self" and all that, I don't have to worry about him getting a big head should he read this!).

2. The Format While the course was more expensive than a hardbound book, it was immensely helpful to have a structure and a human face to the experience. A self help book is all too easy to put down... while a series of very short lessons and practices paced over a number of weeks is a lot more engaging and motivating. There was homework too, if you wanted to do it. (And if you're in a helping profession and need continuing education hours, they can hook you up for an extra $36. I intend to go back and do that myself, as this is WAY superior to so much of the usual CE schlock available, and less expensive than most too.)

3. The Content Did you know that changing the way you think and focus your attention can actually change the way your brain is structured? Not just conceptually, but physically! You can carve new neuronal paths, secrete different chemicals, expand "good" regions of the brain and chill out "bad" ones. (Is it pretty darn clear I'm not a neuroscientist?) Basically, you can upgrade your hard drive to one that runs quieter and smoother, has more memory, functions better, and is less prone to crashing. Rick patiently explains how it all works, and gives lots of practical tips and techniques to get you started.

There are lots of different suggestions for finding tranquility and happiness in everyday moments--I find myself using several of these routinely now, and they really do work!

Just a Few Minor Quibbles

We can't leave the "Cranky" out of "Cranky Fitness" entirely, can we? That just wouldn't be right.

1. Technical Issues: There were a few minor glitches... during some of the video sessions, Rick would refer to charts that weren't there; the first live session wouldn't stream properly and kept hanging up; and one of the meditation practices was missing for quite a long time. (Ironically, as I recall it was on the subject of "letting go," and I kept obsessing about its absence, and I emailed support, and then grew unduly irritated when I didn't hear back... Of course I should have just let it go. But I couldn't because I didn't know how yet!)

2. The Buddhist Emphasis: In all fairness, there's a lot of scientific validation for many Buddhist meditation practices and the beneficial effects they can have on your brain. And the course does say "Enlightened" right in the title, not "Optimized" or "Enhanced" or "Super-charged" or something. So I kinda knew what I was getting into. But there are other kinds of meditation, and other psychological techniques out there, that could be useful in reshaping the brain too. These aren't really included much.

Personally, I suck at struggle with most forms of meditation. (And yeah, a major problem is I don't stick with it long enough to get more comfortable. Rick doesn't promise that it will be effortless, he's very upfront that you may need a bit of self-discipline). But slacker or not, I still would have appreciated a few more alternative approaches for brain re-sculpting and focusing my attention. Not that the course doesn't have tips on sustaining focus, it does! (And also includes a fascinating discussion about how dopamine levels affect attention). But there is heavy reliance on breathing as a focus in most of the practices, which never seems to work for me. The course was SO convincing about the benefits of building a practice of mediation/focused attention (and other Virtuous Mental Habits as well) that I feel very motivated to find something that helps hold my attention better than my damn breath.

3. More! More! This is actually more of a compliment than a quibble, but I loved the videos, and would have liked to have seen a few more of them for the lecture parts of the course. (For the meditation practices, where you're often closing your eyes anyway, audio is fine). Oh hell, as long as I'm getting all demanding and unrealistic, how about a few different backgrounds, more visual aids, hmm, perhaps some costumes, wigs and back-up dancers? Hey, I think I know someone who could help!

Anyone have any luck with meditation or other methods for finding happiness and tranquility that don't involve large slabs of chocolate cake? Or heck, got any opinions about Lady Gaga?

Toxins In Your Cereal? And Other Cheerful News 'Round The Web

Yep, it's time again for a round-up of random health news and links. Besides toxic cereal, we've got info on scrotum injections, free running apps, snacks to help weight loss, and how to tell if you might make a good cocaine addict.

Well, I did say random, didn't I?

First up, the whistleblowin' Cornucopia folks have a report out that may scare you off your favorite breakfast cereal.  They say "natural" cereals sold by companies like Kellogg’s, Quaker Oats, and even Barbara’s Bakery and Whole Foods are actually  "contaminated with toxic agrichemicals and genetically engineered organisms." They've got a cereal scorecard listing both Virtuous and Unfortunate choices.

Runners: Could you use a list of the best free running apps? There ya' go.

Over at Jody's great blog Truth2BeingFit, there's an important post about an auto-immune disorder called Lichen Sclerosis.  Sadly, because it affects the genitals, many people who get it are too embarrassed to seek treatment early enough--and they end up with scarring and other painful problems. Got anything funny going on down there? You may want to give it a look-see. (Um, I meant give the blog post a look-see. You may want to hold off on that other look-see until you're home from work).

And speaking of genitals...Male birth control: coming soon? One kind they're mulling over requires scrotum injections.  Good luck to the marketing folks on that one.

Got a dog who likes to chew on stuff ?  Lure that precious pup away from your shoes and purses with some lovely... antlers.  Roxy the Traveling Dog says they're so tasty they warrant a reader giveaway.  Random drawing happens Oct 19.

Stuff lifted from my Twitter Stream Out of Pure Laziness:

Research flip-flops yet again--say avoids most supplements, including multivitamins. But hey, calcium is now OK! http://bit.ly/pxmvP1

Hate broccoli? Sorry, you can't get its awesome phytochemicals in a pill. http://bit.ly/osYJTI. Worse news? You're best eating it raw.

Swedish study says chocolate reduces stroke risk: http://t.co/Y1OAhIMS But warns that typical crappy US chocolate may not do the trick.

Find dull tasks excruciating? Could be you have entitlement issues. http://t.co/07EVojTS Uh oh, I'm queen of chore-avoiders...

Best migraine-prevention drug? Study says: Exercise! http://t.co/4XZcpECz Then why do so many folks who exercise a lot still get' em?

Love coffee? Study says you'd make a good cocaine addict: http://t.co/UWqybknL I'm not worried... Least not til cocaine drops to $10/lb.

L'Oreal to introduce pill to reduce incidence of gray hair. http://t.co/aEN4MFr5 Say, isn't that called a "birth control pill?"

False memories good for more than sending innocent people to jail: expert says they can boost confidence etc http://t.co/7AaxPvrP

Think you can't get too much iron? Men and post-menopausal women sure can, so ditch iron-containing supplements http://t.co/Lp1p1tWE

Don't freak if your guy likes porn, it's normal! http://t.co/vPBSEQl2 Only about 5% let it interfere w/ life.

Yet another reason to quit: smokers have strokes 10 years earlier than nonsmokers. http://t.co/ypOq21zA But easier said than done, eh?

Scientists just now figuring out "brain continues to develop beyond adolescence?" http://t.co/LIhvR0TN Um... duh?

14 low-calorie snacks that power up weight loss http://ow.ly/6HPYy Alas, kettlecorn doesn't seem to be on the list.

Resveratrol stops breast cancer cell growth! http://t.co/XcLAGM83 But sadly, spoilsport experts do not suggest intensive red wine therapy

Reebok pays settlement over deceptive shoe "toning" claims. http://t.co/SC7lXfjU Gosh I'm shocked--gotta exercise, the shoes aren't magic?



In Blog News:

It was an exciting week at Cranky Fitness:  the blog got nominated in Shape's Best Fitness Blogger poll!  Voting is still on-going if you want to help Cranky Fitness stave off a bottom-of-the-pile finish.  Which would be a shame--even though Shape presents it as a one-person blog, it certainly wasn't in the good ol' days.  It would do a disservice to all the awesome writing by former cobloggers Merry, Jo, and Gigi if my crappy social networking ability sinks the Cranky ship.

And thanks again to all the kind readers who've been helping out--MUCH appreciated!

So, anything exciting or not-so-exciting happen for you guys this week?   Thoughts about toxic cereal, male birth control, or anything else?

Lazy Links--Casual Friday Edition

Photo: Mother Awesome

Yep, it's time again for Crabby's Completely Casual Collection of random health and fitness links!

And for those of you too fatigued or busy to concentrate on big long paragraphs of stuff? No worries! It's Friday, we'll keep it simple. You can pop in, find a magic (and tasty) cure for depression, then find some good news to pass along to your pothead friends, and check out some fun links... then scoot right back to playing Words With Friends finishing off your important work that you always do so diligently.

First up, ever wonder if taking fish oil capsules will work as well as eating real fish for getting Omega-3's? Or curious whether flaxseed oil will do the trick? The quick answers: Yes, and No. (Get the full scoop from the Diet Doctor).

Have you heard about the birth control pill packaging error that could lead to unintended pregnancies? Or new research challenging the notion that menopause increases heart disease risk? Or, hey, need a recipe for leftover lamb and mango salad?  These all courtesy of my new favorite gyno-food blog, The Blog that Ate Manhattan. And ok, it's probably the only gyno-food blog out there, but that only makes it more awesome.

Get tired of female celebrities being criticized for their curves? Charlotte has their comebacks over at Shape, plus some behind-the-scenes thoughts on her slideshow at The Great Fitness Experiment.

Wondering where you can find a list of good cardio-only workout DVD's? Ask the FBG's, they're on it.

Got a couple minutes to kill?  Check out the weirdly entertaining Draw a Stickman site, which brings your attempt at a stick-figure to life.  (I found myself, however, compelled to give my stick figure a That-Girl style flip haircut, so that she was clearly a stick-woman.  Down with sticksexism!) 

And Healthy Dish has more random health and fitness info--like how to know if you're at risk for osteoporosis.

Recent Stuff Copied from Twitter:

Study: older overweight women don't seem to have stronger leg muscles to compensate, making mobility difficult: http://t.co/h3MVFBuU

Colon cancer hits men earlier, so study suggests men should get dreaded colonoscopies sooner, women later. http://t.co/sz7Ua0l9 (whew!)

Lots of coffee may lower risk of depression in women: http://t.co/nl4s30g98 But 4+ cups a day? Yikes!

Pot smokers LESS likely to be obese: http://t.co/YrHPmi7i  Hmm, if we exploit it as a weight-loss aid, can we finally legalize it?

[Plus, Dr. J reports that timely pot-smoking may help prevent PTSD]

Study I plan to forget: chores like cleaning, laundry, may help ward off dementia: http://t.co/e93xxVeQ (Chores? Sorry, I have an allergy to those)

Shocking finding! "Most Patients Want Experienced Surgeons, Not Trainees" http://t.co/RLONgQhc

Aerobic exercise great for blasting belly fat: http://t.co/aoYwVmhR (But clearly not perfect solution, according to my belly.)

Stop dissin' granny's driving! Kids less likely to get injured in crashes when a grandparent drives than a parent. http://t.co/jNAbeFPs

Slumping at your pc right now? Ha, thought so! An exercise to fix that: http://t.co/0EiTAkKO Though you may get funny looks at work.

More creepy MRSA news: antibacterial ointments like neosporin don't kill it, and may actually hasten its spread. http://t.co/Rp3byZlY

And that's about it...  Oh wait:


My favorite recent google query that led a reader to Cranky Fitness? "can i do lsd after the master cleanse?"

So, any thoughts, gripes, or stuff you're grateful for this Friday? Feel free to spill!

Kirstie Alley's Weight Loss and Other Lazy Links

Since People Magazine didn't get around to suing me two years ago...

Are you dying to know how much weight Kirstie Alley lost this time? Or don't give a crap?  Either way, hang out with us here at Cranky Fitness and see if there's anything you missed this week in health, fitness, or whining!

So the People cover is from a few years ago. But if you care to know Kirstie Alley's latest weight loss total...

This time, it's 100 pounds.  Huffpo has some Kirstie Alley 100 lb weight loss photos if you wanna check 'em out.

And what's the only reason I know about this? Well, a vintage Cranky Fitness post about Kirstie Alley's weight loss program all of a sudden got weirdly popular. Not that I check my stat counter program all the time or anything!  I just pop in there every three minutes occasionally and so I happened to catch an unexpected flurry of Kirstie Alley activity. So what do you guys think? Should I feel bad about teasing her two years ago with some skepticism about her efforts to make a buck off weight she hadn't lost yet? Should I apologize for being premature?  If someone wants to get her on the line...  I'm sure she's eager to hear what Crabby McSlacker has to say.

And elsewhere around the web:

Just wanted to recommend a couple of blogs I've recently become fond of. Over at Results Not Typical Girl, WTF Wednesdays are always good, plus, for those of you looking to beef up your resume and apply for a new job, Kirsten has some awesome tips!

Another great blog to check out is Keeping the Pounds Off, where among other inspirational and useful posts, you can discover a whole new kind of damage evil processed junk food can do.  Turns out snausages and other sugary doggy treats may be slowly killing your dog!

Want to discover out 10 mistakes you might be making at the gym or would you rather stay happily oblivious?

Do you find you're afraid to get hungry? Watch out--it could mean you're eating too much, and you may want to check out what to do about it.

Got an opinion about second hand smoke and higher education?  Read about the controversy on campus-wide smoking bans.


And some stuff I shared on twitter in the last couple weeks:

Remember that annoying study warning against taking Vitamins A, E, and beta-carotene? A newer study says these supps lower mortality rather than raise it. http://t.co/ye615zC

USDA finally bans any bacteria from meat that sickens more than 100,000 a year. http://t.co/d9Ajv8V But if 99K get sick, bring it on?

Not a perfect-enough perfectionist? This books tells you how to be a better perfectionist: http://t.co/V4Z0uVx

Got at least one family member with insomnia? Your risk is 67% higher.  http://t.co/7ju1s7u  Got three? It's 314% higher. Yikes!

Dieters assigned to Weight Watchers instead of just getting a Dr's advice lost 2x as much...said study funded by Weight Watchers. http://t.co/K2Kb25y (but it looks legit)

Cheers! Middle aged women who had 3-15 alcoholic drinks per week had the best physical and mental health by age 70. http://t.co/CxfpS1A

Birth control pills affect memory--women on them remember emotional gist better, but are fuzzier on details. http://t.co/QCwzzsq

Why are kick-ass exercises labeled "Men's" anyway? Great inspiration at Shape Magazine by Charlotte of the Great Fitness Experiment. http://t.co/hdbz9HS

Vigorous exercise burns a bunch of extra calories after working out, moderate exercise doesn't. http://ow.ly/6pUBw

Nearly 40% of Europeans suffer from mental disorders? http://t.co/uQ4e0Mz And here I thought we 'Mercuns were #1 in head cases.

Couch potatoes rejoice! You can now blame your genes (at least if you're a mouse) http://t.co/DUURtF9 But you still need to get fit.

Strange: subconsciously, most people find straight white men more likeable than gay white men, but prefer black gay men to black straight men. http://t.co/jSosLRH

Remember the marshmallow experiments? Follow-up says kids' ability to delay gratification (or not) persists for decades http://t.co/PVDoMlv

Heavier women over 60 have fewer hot flashes: http://t.co/olneCb7 But experts warn: don't gain weight on purpose. Gosh, really?

Gotta Love Google:
What was my favorite recent search term for finding Cranky Fitness?

"why does it seem I cant focous?"

And lastly,

Giveaway Reminder!

Don't forget to enter to win one of 2 pair of nifty BTB sunglasses on Wednesday's giveaway post. 

Have a great Friday! Anything on your minds?

Pre-Labor Day Weekend Lazy Links

OK so not everyone is a lazy-assed napper when they hit the beach.

Photo: kiyoshi.be

Technically it's only Thursday and not really Labor Day weekend yet, but let's go ahead and start slacking early, shall we? Shut off the laptop, put your feet up on your desk, and grab a cold one! So what if your boss and your hard-working colleagues are giving you dirty looks? Just tell them Crabby McSlacker,  obscure and irresponsible world renowned and respected fitness blogger, said you're supposed to relax and take it easy for your health.

Anyway, here's a little of what's been happening in the health and fitness webworld over the past couple of weeks. Because in keeping with the "lazy" theme, these link roundups now seem to happen biweekly.  Um, unless "biweekly" actually means twice a week, in which case, sorry--that's a total lie.

In Blogland:

Should all previous track and field world records for female athletes be tossed out and the slate wiped clean?   Fit and Feminist has the details on this controversy, one I was completely unaware of.  Plus, you gotta love a blog that has a whole category called "fascist beauty standards."

Feeling sleep deprived? You're not alone! Here are some ideas on how to catch some more zzz's.

No need to be scared of purple green beans or purple potatoes! Find out at Escape from Obesity why they're so awesome and what to do with them. (Bonus: pretty pictures of food!)

The always hilarious Leslie Goldman, who was recently on the Today Show talking about how women can't take a compliment, has coined some awesome new sports and fitness terms.  Example:  " Zomba (n.) ZAHM-buh. A person who looks hopelessly lost and unable to follow the lead in a Zumba class. Usually characterized by a scared, wide-eyed, frozen stare, open mouth and stiff limbs."

Want to save money when buying organic, or find out why Paula Deen is the “worst, most dangerous person to America”?  Healthy Candy has that and more in their always-tasty link roundup.

And Here's Stuff Crabby Tweeted About Recently (as edited and interpreted for the Twitter-Impaired):

High protein diet + dairy is better than high carb for gaining muscle, losing fat. Says, um, study funded by dairy group. http://t.co/Al37Cro

Yet another study says chocolate has health benefits, yay! This one says lower risk of heart disease: http://t.co/Yja1FY7

Climbing Everest? Or, (much harder) enduring a calorie-restricted diet? Leucine may help burn fat, conserve muscle: http://t.co/P6FFcAs

Brain imaging techniques better identify those at risk for Alzheimer's. http://t.co/pBFXSR1 But do you want to know?

In the war between scientists and antibiotic-resistant bacteria, scientists find a new weapon: http://t.co/5w8ssUb Your move, bacteria?

Study: Consuming 25% of calories in fructose or HFCS raised heart disease risk factors; glucose didn't. http://t.co/J2gAMmq

Brits issue new guidelines for diagnosing high BP: http://t.co/S8hi82Z Cool! You gotta wear a bp cuff all day, but much more accurate.

Bad news if you argue lots, good news if you don't: conflict levels in couples don't change much over 20 yrs. http://t.co/OWatMw8

Bi-guys validated! Scientists belatedly discover male bisexuality DOES exist. http://t.co/kpLBIbr Older study implied bi meant gay men lying to themselves.

Get off the couch! Yet another study says exercise good for your brain; both aerobic & strengthening: http://t.co/VOkEAHr

Triclosan, an antibacterial in soaps, under scrutiny for safety. Creepy: it's also in Colgate Total toothpaste. http://t.co/K6x32WM

Study: Moderate drinking cuts alzheimers risk; heavy drinking may worsen memory. Wine looks to be most protective: http://t.co/BVMT7tG

And at Cranky Fitness:

What were recent non-obvious search terms folks used to find Cranky Fitness? My faves: "gorilla without fur" and "moo you bastard I was going to say that."

Planning on hiking this weekend? You may want to re-read this vintage post on how to pee outdoors.

Got plans for Labor Day?  Miscellaneous thoughts or complaints? 

Lazy Links: Now, With Extra Enlightenment!

Photo: Moloko Sara Four

What's with the enlightenment? Well, in addition to the usual odd assortment of health news, links, and miscellaneous ramblings, Crabby announces a radical upcoming experiment in which she attempts to force-feed zen-style enlightenment into her stubborn, rusty, twisted neurotic neural circuits.

And let's see what else we've got this week...

Re-wiring Crabby's brain:

So a while back  I checked out a fascinating book from the library by Rick Hanson called Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom.  It's a well-researched blend of western neuroscience and psychology as well as pragmatic and spiritual Eastern Zen-style practices.  It was great! It had me totally convinced that ONCE and FOR ALL I was going to take stress reduction seriously, start meditating, look at life differently. There was all kinds of encouraging research about how we easily-stressed types can rewire our brains to be all calm, happy, and peaceful.  But then I took the book back to the library, forgot most of what was in there, remembered I suck at meditating and... Well, it was another self-help FAIL.  After all, Crabby's Epic and Unsuccessful Struggle with Relaxation and Meditation has been well documented here at Cranky Fitness.

So I'm trying a different approach this time. I'm taking Rick Hansons' six week "The Enlightened Brain" Online Course.  Check it out, it's pretty nifty! I've only just started but I'm liking it a lot so far. Rick is warm and personable like Mr. Rogers... well, a really brainy Mr. Rogers with a ginormous vocabulary and a fondness for research. In short: my kinda guy. And the course promises to help you learn to change your brain so it's not so f#*ked up, so, what's not to like?  I'll be doing a review once it's over and reporting back.   (Hmm, by then will I be needing to change the blog's name to "Mellow Fitness?")


We got other news around the web:

Is eating red meat linked to a higher risk of diabetes?  The primal folks at Mark's Daily Apple don't sound too worried.

Got slothful self-indulgent friends and wonder whether you should dump 'em? Scientist bicker over the question: are bad habits contagious?

Is "runners high" just an urban legend?  (Well, Crabby certainly thinks it's real, and in this vintage post, concocted her very own recipe for runner's high).

Should you buy your 6-year-old a diet book for girls?

Health Stuff Crabby Covered on Twitter:

MRI Techniques Can Detect Early Osteoarthritis: http://t.co/G0j1cXq  Thanks, MRI, but my knees are already shouting it loud & clear.

Caffeine lowers risk of skin cancer. Scientists working on a java-sunscreen, but in the meantime, mmm, coffee! http://t.co/f6cRJHE

Protein supplementation lowers systolic blood pressure! But don't get too excited, only by a couple of points: http://t.co/QV8RNG0

Who knew? Girls with low vitamin D levels start menstruating earlier--which is linked to social & health problems: http://t.co/Xh1mrY8

Coffee and tea drinkers less likely to carry MSRA: http://bit.ly/qDXpuv. Maybe we're too hyper to sit still and get exposed?

Like it spicy? Adding 2 tbs of antioxidant spices per serving can help mitigate evil effects of a high fat meal. http://bit.ly/qQ4nHw

What kind of dietary fiber fights colon polyps? All-stars: brown rice, legumes, dried fruit, cooked veggies. http://on-msn.com/o7UXII

Wow. Tucked in article about teens who FB too much is this stat: Average teen sends out over 2000 texts a month. http://lat.ms/mUCE2B

Even mild traumatic brain injuries double risk of dementia. http://bit.ly/oetL60  I'm clumsy enough, I should probably wear a crash helmet all day.

350: Number of extra calories a day fidgety people burn compared to people who sit still. http://ow.ly/5QAgX

Odd trick to control cravings: eat a bit of favorite Evil Treat WITHIN a meal, not before or after. http://bit.ly/oXUbxF 

Southeastern states: no longer just the "stroke belt," now they're also the "sepsis belt." http://on-msn.com/o4KCFl Wow, jump on that, travel marketers!

More weird ways people find Cranky Fitness on Google: "fat men in spandex," "do koreans have nude coed saunas?" and "yoga pants cameltoe."

Did you enter the Jungle Gym XT giveaway yet?  It's not too late; winner announced on Wednesday!

So how 'bout you guys, learn anything interesting this week? Got fun plans for the weekend? Random thoughts or gripes?  It's all good!

Late-Week Lazy Links

Hey, it's Friday, whaddya expect?

Photo: Roozbeh Rokni

What have we got this week?  Well, something that may be even better for you than green tea, sunscreen alternatives, why people made miserable by allergies may actually be lucky, and the usual half-assed "health research lite" from Crabby McSlacker!


Let's get this party started, shall we?

First off, I'm making yet another plea for reader help!  You guys were so awesome about helping out the Cranky Fitness Facebook page .  Every new "like" brings joy to this Crabby ol' heart! So I feel a bit guilty asking for another favor.  But what the heck, here goes:

If in your webtravels, any of you run across a recent health and fitness post or article at another website that you think Cranky Fitness folks might enjoy, wanna send me an email or leave me a comment about it?  I'd like to start including reader suggestions in the weekly lazy links post since I'm so crappy at research you folks are so well-informed.  I know there are tons of great health and fitness bloggers out there and I'm not getting around as much as I used to, and I don't want to be stingy with the link love.

This week in Blogland:  

So I confess I'm intrigued by the Diet Blog post on Matcha vs. Green Tea.  Sounds like Matcha could be even healthier, and better tasting?  Anyone tried it yet?  Is it hype or something worth looking in to?

Do you have the vague sense that Greek yogurt is good for you, but can't remember why the heck that is?  Marsha at Fit Woman has you covered with the nutritional nitty gritty on why Greek yogurt rocks.

Love watermelon?  Find out why you can feel smug eating it at Fit Bottomed Girls. 

At Vitamin G there's a sneaky trick for staving off hunger without eating any extra calories.

More links? Sure!  There's a Healthy Candy link roundup that includes foods that fight fat, ways to get more out of your workout, and suggestions from some obvious crackpot on how to make smoothies.

And remember a couple weeks ago when I wrote about my Stand Up Desk experiment?  Well, I'm still standing as I write this, and I'm just gonna trust that I'm getting all those nifty longevity benefits. (Though as to the supposed calorie burn? I haven't exactly been plagued with drastic unstoppable weight loss). But I was pleased to see that Carrie at FitApproach also decided to take a stand for fitness! Check out her post for some more ideas on how to stand more and sit less.

Next up: this week's health and fitness research on Twitter:

Another reason to get strong & muscular, besides feeling all bad-ass & confident: you can lower your risk of diabetes. http://bit.ly/oi7dMZ

Loss of Memory Due to Aging May Be Reversible: http://bit.ly/rmewys. Best news I heard all day! But heck, its the only news I can remember.

Only 15% Use Calorie Info at NYC Fast Food Chains http://on-msn.com/q9PLRn

Well duh: Smoking After Heart Attack Raises Risk of Dying. http://on-msn.com/nTpHQ2

Seriously? No cure for cancer yet but there's funding for: "Medieval Armor Drained Soldier's Energy, Study Finds" http://on-msn.com/mUmDuF

Just got lectured by my dermatologist, so I'm not gonna ditch sunscreen. But @Mark_Sisson has natural alternatives: http://bit.ly/oAReSp

Allergies driving you nuts? Silver lining: research suggests you may have lower cancer risk. http://nyti.ms/pDeqVL

Glad Dr. Mike is dissing "detox" diets in Shape magazine: http://bit.ly/omo2Us. But "cut out caffeine?" Ain't happening!

Is there some conspiracy afoot to get me to try yoga? Studies show yoga can cut hot flashes by 31%. http://ow.ly/5JvFI

Mmm, a great excuse for apple pie? Cinnamon compound may help prevent alzheimers: http://bit.ly/pvgD6x

This week in "Weird Ways People Found Cranky Fitness," we have the somewhat creepy: "circuit training ideas for two year olds," "cannibal rice ball," and "whales having sex."  But low-carbers may relate to this one: "atkins cranky how long?"

And finally, the most hilariously terrible public service campaign ever is apparently still ongoing! But don't ignore the message behind it.  Read this vintage CF post so you don't die this summer please.

One last reminder: Don't forget to enter this week's New Balance UV workout wear giveaway!  And I won't spoil the surprise, but next week's giveaway is really awesome: not only is it for a great, gender neutral fitness product, but Canadians will be included too. Hooray!

Happy Friday, everyone. Got any thoughts, advice, fun weekend plans, jokes, complaints? It's all good!

Random Round-Up: the Yep, Still Lazy Edition

Why yes, I believe this IS the same picture as last time!

What's happened recently in the health and fitness world that I was too lazy to blog about?

Well, favorite Fitness blogger Charlotte from The Great Fitness Experiment did something childish, various research studies said something or other about things that might either kill you or help you live to be 100, etc,  a poll revealed a surprisingly lame thing men find particularly attractive in women... all this and more!


Ready?

So our pal Charlotte from The Great Fitness Experiment took Shape Magazine by storm with a playground workout!

My kinda cooking demonstrations:  Jack Sh*t does battle with a mango, and Hannah Hart demonstrates her patriotism by baking apple pie the 'Merican way at My Drunk Kitchen.  (Note: Hannah is adorable and cracks me up; however, if you have loved ones with alcohol issues or strong feelings about Apple Pie, Baking or Patriotism, you may want to skip this one).

And what health research did Crabby Tweet about this week?  Well, sure, you could look at the sidebar to find out, but then you'd have to scroll.

Painkillers Linked to Heart Rhythm Disorder: http://bit.ly/oSLk9K (yikes! Not just prescription NSAIDS--stuff like advil too)

Will going to a chiropractor help your back? This study is no help: http://on-msn.com/pmfvpA Bottom line seems to be: maybe?

I wear a size 10 shoe so I'm TWICE as hot right?  Poll: Women with Size-5 Feet Most Attractive to Men http://bit.ly/2jAjRG

Any other health bloggers just get an email that it's National Fried Chicken Day, with ideas for pairing wine with KFC?   #WTF? #PRFail

Are you getting enough good bugs in your diet? Probiotics may be good for your mental health as well as physical: http://bit.ly/nIzNVz

Does it seem like there's a new "hooray for vitamin D-3 study" every 3 minutes? This one says good for elderly women. http://bit.ly/pX0lMG

Awesome slideshow on finding ideas for blog posts by @nomorebacon. http://slidesha.re/pKXids (Great timing for this here lazy blogger !)

1 more reason I say stand up! @HeartsHealth: Sitting for Long Time Linked to Pulmonary Embolism http://bit.ly/r3fRfo

Annoying study: moderate salt reduction won't decrease your chance of dying. http://bit.ly/ojfrAY So: reduce more, or don't bother at all?

Though this study seems mainly relevant to mice contemplating spaceflights to Mars, love the headline: "Red wine: Exercise in a Bottle?" http://bit.ly/l9YwB2

Eating lots of veggies? Yet another reason to feel smug: leafy greens help build muscles! http://bit.ly/mCnQ3N

Biggest surprise: black tea lowers cortisol? Surprising Signs You'll Live To Be 100 http://bit.ly/mOMVst

You already knew to do strength training for healthy aging; this study says lift HEAVY for best benefits: http://bit.ly/jYAkKq

And now I believe it's time for a nap!!

Health & Fitness Research Round-Up, Lazy Blogger Edition

So I'm thinking I may start a weekly feature that pretty much just recycles recent health research and other miscellaneous stuff culled from my Twitter feed.  Health blogging doesn't get any lazier than that!

Why stoop so low?  Well, it occurs to me that (a) not everyone on the world is on twitter (b) my sidebar twitter widget probably isn't visible from most blog readers (c) even people who do follow me on Twitter may be following thousands of others folks and sadly, may not be holding their breath every moment of the day waiting for the latest from @CrabbyMcSlacker, and finally (d) if I'm going to waste away hours tweeting about health and fitness anyway, maybe I can leverage an additional blog post with almost no effort!

These little snippets will be edited a bit--I notice that Twitter staples like RT's, @ symbols etc  tend to make non-Twitter types cranky. Some hashtags may stay just 'cause I like 'em. But it means that credit for finding links probably won't be given where it's due. Sorry 'bout that, tweeps.

So here goes practically nothing!

I love when a study says to eat MORE of something!  Study: soluble fiber may reduce belly fat http://tinyurl.com/6kyvy9t

Study says working out an empty stomach won't burn more fat & may deplete muscle: http://nyti.ms/lamUtO

Hey, no fair: older women with more wrinkles also more likely to have low bone density. http://bit.ly/kNpyV7

Weird (but fascinating) study: Ovulation boosts women's "gaydar" http://on-msn.com/jgaWuX. Seems to be about mate choice; only works on men

Study on low-carb vs low-fat diets say both effective: http://on-msn.com/lOuL2h. Low carb faster at first, low fat catches up.

Average American gobbles up 580 calories a day in snacks. I'm guessing that's probably not veggies & hummus? http://on-msn.com/mjMQj1

Y'all have no doubt seen this, but if you missed the Whole Foods Parking Lot video, it's hilarious: http://youtu.be/2UFc1pr2yUU

Florida medical board says rape conviction no reason to keep doctor from practicing medicine: http://cbsloc.al/mNatek #gladIdontlivethere

Silver lining department: if you're over 65 and get breast cancer, you're more likely to die of something else. http://on-msn.com/k1ziyu

Calcium supps may help (a little) with weight loss: http://bit.ly/kiDM0m But they can mess with heart health: http://bit.ly/jX08qa

Study: folks who scarf chips, fries, sodas, red meat & watch tons of tv are fatter. http://on-msn.com/jW1DMi Gosh, who woulda thunk?

WTF? Fat substitutes actually lead to weight gain? http://bit.ly/luzMbs

Note: new post coming out early next week (I think!) and it's actually (a) new and not recycled and (b) health and fitness related!  And it will be appearing here at Cranky Fitness and will not be another sneaky attempt to send you over to my life and wellness coaching website.

Th...th...th...th...that's all, folks!  Have a happy Canada Day and a festive fourth of july weekend!

Intuitive Eating & Exercise, Cranky Style

Photo: Plan59

Do you keep up with the latest research to create your own health and fitness routines? Follow a best-selling diet book or a popular fitness guru? Or do you take an intuitive approach?

If you're one of those Tweeple who Twitter, or if you've stopped by the blog over the last few months and peeked at the right-hand column, you may have noticed that even though I've been too lazy busy to write blog posts, I'm still tweeting some of the latest health studies. (However, I still don't get Twitter and stubbornly do it all wrong. You're probably better off following a real fitness tweeter with an updated blog like @joycecherrier). But the reason I Tweet is because I'm addicted to these stupid health studies and want to share them. And no matter how ridiculous or inconclusive they are, they often end up influencing my own approach to fitness and nutrition.

Is interval training better for you than conventional cardio? Will drinking milk help you lose weight? Is your morning coffee poisoning you or will it help you live to be 100? What are the absolute best superfoods and the most efficient exercises? When, where and for how long should one exercise/eat/abstain/imbibe/sleep/ruminate/eliminate/meditate/cogitate/medicate/procrastinate/masturbate/exfoliate?

So many questions, and the scientists and experts say they have the answers! Hell, if there are sure-fire secrets to becoming stronger, healthier, happier, slimmer, more energetic and smarter, I want in on 'em.

But there are also a lot of people out there who are moving away from one-size-fits-all expert advice, and who are ditching structured approaches to fitness and nutrition. They are refusing to count calories or label foods as "good" or "bad" or "forbidden." They are participating in only the physical activities they enjoy, and are not worrying overmuch about whether the scientists say there are a bunch of other, better activities they should be doing instead. They check in with their own bodies rather than the latest Science Daily RSS feeds, and trust their own intuition about how to become fit and healthy.

What does Crabby think about all this? Does she have any opinions about how to balance personal intuition and expert advice?

Of course she does--Crabby has opinions about everything! However, before we get into that, here's a totally unrelated question for those with short attentions spans who came here googling "one rule for flat stomach" and are about to surf over to cats morphing into croissants or something equally compelling. Hang on a sec before you leave:

Does anyone have any advice re: Maintaining Fitness post-Menopause and/or Recovering from a Hysterectomy? Please email me at CrabbyMcSlacker at gmail dot com or leave a comment!

I'm planning to do a post on this topic eventually and would love reader advice, warnings, personal experiences, weird-shit-your-mom-told-you, helpful links, etc. I'll run the post sometime after my hysterectomy, scheduled for October 19th. OK, so if they give me any good drugs, I may not understand the advice, but I'll appreciate any I can get. (And no worries, no cancer or anything scary; just loads o' big honkin' citrus-fruit sized fibroids. However, on the cancer front, Cranky co-blogger Jo has been dealing with some tough stuff; be sure to check in over at Head Nurse if you haven't already.)

Now back to the topic at hand...

So Who Knows Best What Your Body Needs: You? Or the Scientists?

Scientists Are Full of It!

How's this for a comforting statistic: apparently almost 70% of findings published in medical journals are refuted within a few years of publication. (Hey, thanks for that info, CalorieLab! ... Um, I think?)

However, I'm not sure what to make of that 70% figure. If over half of the medical research findings are bogus, that means that some of the studies that refute the bogus studies are bogus, which means... wait, my head hurts. And if that's true, wouldn't we be better off letting monkeys flip coins to determine answers to our health and medical questions? They'd be 20% righter!

But wait, if we asked the monkeys, they'd probably tell us to eat a lot of bananas and brachiate more often--which is fine, we'd get lots of potassium and have awesome upper body strength. But then if we only believed the monkeys and ignored modern health and medical discoveries, we wouldn't have doctors or medications or hospitals or iPods or deodorant or elliptical trainers, and we'd have to throw away our meditation tapes and start flinging our own feces around for stress relief. That can't be good. So all in all, I'm not quite ready to ditch the scientists for the coin-flipping monkeys just yet.

However, even if you prefer science to monkeys, it's awfully frustrating that many of the health headlines we read end up being contradicted by other health headlines practically the next day. Following every twist and turn and making lifestyle changes accordingly can drive a person bonkers! (Seriously, I am that bonkers person. Ask the Lobster--it's not pretty).

And that's just the actual scientific research. For every peer-reviewed fitness or nutrition article out there, there are dozens of self-styled pseudo health experts telling you to clean your colon with coffee grounds or do 5000 push ups before breakfast or eat nothing but bee pollen, grapefruit and shiitake mushrooms to rebalance your broken metabolism. No wonder people are saying "the hell with it" and trying to figure out what works best on their own.


But Most People, If Left to Their Own Devices, Are Even More Clueless!

If you take a look around at what the average Joe or Jane is eating and doing for physical activity, it makes both the scientists and the monkeys look pretty darn smart. I don't think even a monkey could sit still for four or five consecutive hours of "reality" TV, or contemplate eating a pizza the size of a beach umbrella followed by a quart of Ben and Jerry's. Yet that's what most folks, listening to their own intuition about what they're hungry for and what activities they're up for, end up doing.

As to the successful, healthy intuitive eaters? I suspect they didn't just wake up one day craving brussel sprouts instead of brownies. My guess is that the path to healthy eating involved at least some exposure to scientifically derived "good for you" and "bad for you" information. And also some effort, whether conscious or unconscious, to start hankering after the healthy stuff rather than the junk.

At Cranky Fitness, we tend to take the boring middle ground in most debates, because well, it's firmer and more comfy than the steep teetery controversial edges. So here are some special guidelines incorporating both schools of thought for you to read and ignore when constructing your own health and fitness plan.

The Cranky Fitness Informed-Intuitive Approach to Fitness and Nutrition.

A. How to Use Expert Advice

1. Be at Least Somewhat Aware of Scientific Consensus

Weirdly enough, there is actually a lot of agreement these days among health and nutrition experts about a lot of things. Do you really want to rely solely on intuition to determine if a food you're eating is going to give you cancer or diabetes in 20 years? Take advantage of all that research, you paid for it!

For example, experts seem to agree that getting lots of exercise and not sitting all day is Good for You. They also think refined grains, sugar, HFCS, transfats, processed meats, and excessive sodium are Bad for You. Foods like vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains, lean protein and even goodies like dark chocolate, green tea, red wine, avocados and coffee? These are good for you, hooray! (As to high-fat dairy, red meat and artificial sweeteners: sorry, slightly more controversy and contention there).

So if your intuition keeps telling you you need to eat a lot of Cheetos and Krispy-Kremes and Cherry Cokes and footlong chili-cheese dogs? You might want to tell your intuition to go f*ck off for a while until it has something sensible to say.

Sadly, there is a long way to go from the average American junk food diet to the point where one is debating whether raw whole milk from grassfed cows beats pasteurized nonfat, or whether you need to eat fish for Omega-3's or if you can get it from flax seed. So most people can skip worrying about the controversial stuff. Unless you're prepared to make a half-time job out of your health, you'll be doing better than 98% of the population if you just listen to the mainstream experts and heed their advice, however unhip these experts may seem.

2. Consider the Source

Sometimes you read some interesting health tidbit somewhere like "eat papaya every day it burns fat and fights cancer," or, "stop eating tropical fruit, it's got too much fructose and it's gonna give you metabolic syndrome." Well, it's human nature to store that information, no matter how questionable the source. Then you tend to forget where you heard it, and have a totally different reaction when you pass the big pyramid of papayas at the grocery store depending on which article you read.

Tip: don't even open junky non-reputable magazines offering health tips, because the crap you read in there will burn itself into your brain. And when your next door neighbor with the mail-order degree in natural healing starts telling you about the amazing supplement you can buy for only $99 a week that's going to give you more energy than Superman on steroids? Run away!

Where to get boring mainstream advice? Places like WebMd, or Mayo Clinic, or various disease groups like the Heart Association or government agencies like the ones that put out exercise guidelines or the food pyram.... oh wait. Never mind. The food pyramid people seem to have their heads up their asses.

3. Temper Advice With Moderation

Even expert, research-tested advice can be really stupid if you take it to an extreme and don't use common sense. For example, HCFS or transfats may not be good for you, but to freak out over an occasional processed cookie will cause more damage in stress than anything else. Very few substances, even the junky ones, are so toxic that you can't have them every once in a while. There's very little chance that ingesting a single package of Twinkies will cause you to dissolve instantly into a pile of chemically scorched molten mush. That hardly ever happens.

4. Be Prepared to Come Full Circle

I'm old enough to have worn bell-bottoms in the early seventies, and to watch them go from hip and happenin' to ugly and unfashionable and hideous. So then when they came back around again in the 90's and filled the store shelves so I had to buy them all over again? It just killed me!

Same thing happens in health research: old, out-of-fashion ideas come back around. For example, I am now pouring whole milk in my coffee (albeit the organic, grassfed, CLA-rich kind), after I totally trained myself to like nonfat. It tastes good but it seems so wrong! I'm prepared to switch back off it again if this whole CLA thing turns out to be a bunch of hooey. But I doubt my own intuition would have led me to embrace, reject, and then re-embrace dairy fat over and over.


B. How to Use Your Own Intuition

1. Slow the Heck Down and Pay Attention

"Intuition" doesn't mean habit, impulse, reflex, or half-assed, distracted, illogical thinking. It requires careful observation of your own body, how it reacts in different situations, and some monitoring of your own thought processes.

Sometimes it's hard to figure out whether you're really hungry or just bored; whether you're too tired from over-training to work out or just feeling lazy; or whether it's time to stop ignoring that funny lump and make a doctor's appointment. These decisions are even more difficult if you're on auto-pilot and not really paying attention.

So if you want to move away from diets and programs and rules and guidelines and doctor's orders? Then you have to step up and be present and accountable for your own well-being. There are some basic intuitive eating principles you can read about, and folks like Marsha over at A Weight Lifted or MizFit are big believers in intuitive health and fitness; check out their blogs for a sane, self-affirming approach to ditching diets and learning to personalize your own routine.

2. If You're Like Me: You May Have to Start With the Counter-Intuitive Approach

I follow a lot of the principles of intuitive eating, and intuitive exercise too. But totally by accident! I didn't arrive at the point where I actually enjoy and crave healthy foods and vigorous exercise by following my intuition. My intuition is pretty darned happy with cheeseburgers and cokes and brownies. Instead, I ignored my deep-felt preferences and inclinations and forced myself, over years and years, to try a lot of healthy, unappealing foods until I got used to most of them and even started to like them. And I made myself cut way back on yummy, delectable treats that I love, until I got out of the habit of expecting them very frequently. Exercise? Same thing. I sweated out a lot of classes and workouts that were sometimes no fun at all to get to the place where I've discovered enough fitness options I don't hate to keep me in reasonable shape.

However, if you naturally crave steamed vegetables and brown rice and getting up at 4 a.m. to work out, and you happen to despise warm cinnamon rolls fresh from the oven, crunchy nachos smothered in melted cheese, and lazing around reading the Sunday paper when you could be exercising, you may not need a Counterintuitive training period at all.

3. Don't Confuse Intuition with Wishful Thinking

This seems obvious in theory but is harder in practice. How many times have you heard someone express a self-serving, short-sighted, self-destructive impulse as a "gut feeling" that they just had to go with? "Sure, it may sound crazy to walk out on my job and my 20 year marriage and my darling kids to follow the hot Pilates instructor to Portugal to start an avant-garde theater troupe featuring trained parrots doing Shakespeare in exotic costumes, but I looked deep within and I just know, intuitively, that I'm doing exactly the right thing!"

4. Find Your Own Answers

Here's where the intuitive style and the scientific style can most complement one another. Learn to become your own lab rat! Because mainstream scientific advice often is about averages. And people are not statistics. Do you build more muscle mass using heavy weights and low repetitions, or light weights and high repetitions? Well, it doesn't matter what the scientists say if you've performed your own experiments and found out what works best for you. Can you skip breakfast with no ill effects? Does coffee keep you up at night? Do artificial sweeteners help you lose weight or cause you to put on pounds? Does chocolate give you migraines? Some questions don't require you to wait for the results of 20-year longitudinal studies of 200,000 randomly assigned research subjects. Pick something you're curious about, change it, and meanwhile don't mess with anything else for a few weeks, and then observe the results.

For example, in the course of dealing with my stupid plantar fasciitis, I found out that while interval training and long walks and strength training and stretching are all fine and dandy, my blood pressure only drops into a happy range when I'm doing 30-60 minutes of pretty heavy-duty cardio 5 or more days a week. Of course it took not being able to walk for more than ten minutes at a time to motivate me to stay on the elliptical that much, but whatever. Useful information! (And yes, I am finally seeing a PT for the PF and I'm hoping to God to see some improvement soon or I'm going to shoot somebody.)

5. Know When Your Intuition Tends to be Horseshit

Some mistakes that are so psychologically compelling, we just keep making them over and over because they feel so right at the time.

For some, it's the fantasy that "I'll just have one...[potato chip, tequila shot, week off from the gym]." If you are a person who can just have one, or a few, but get back on track? No worries! If you can't, your intuition may be screwing with you. If it does so over and over, it may be time to replace intuition with actual, you know, rules.

Another common "intuitive" error? Thinking that a short-term feeling of virtue is so important it's worth risking long-term health. This can lead to fad diets, weird cleansing rituals, or exercising too much while injured--which I suspect is the reason for the never-ending plantar fasciitis I was talking about. (Of course the most hilarious expert in over-training issues is Charlotte at The Great Fitness Experiment. Since all of you are fans already, and probably haven't been offline nearly as much as I have over the summer, I probably don't need to tell you she's back blogging again and has a new fitness book coming out soon! And another blogger inspiring me to pay attention to my foot issues and stop overdoing it is the always amusing Cranky co-blogger Merry, who is over at Sheesh dealing with frustrating foot issues of her own.)


So how about you guys? Do you take an intuitive approach, follow an expert, read the studies, or have other methods for deciding how to get fit and healthy and stay that way?

Random: poetry, sex, & journalists

Photo: DerrickT

This blog covers subjects of fitness
But sometimes, as God is my witness,
We need to be random
And share with the fandom
Some studies that are mostly hit/miss

What? Why're you looking at me like that? Poetry is educational. It's classy. Makes us look like we're into culture and all that stuff.

I know we joke about how a study is published and then the next week another study contradicts it, but in real life it usually takes longer than a week. Not this time.

According to one study, Britain is going to be a lot less crowded to visit in the future. British people are too lazy for sex.

I mean, we're talking seriously lazy. "One in six say that if the remote control was broken, they would prefer to watch a TV program they didn't like rather than get up to change the channel...."


And yes, this study is related to fitness. "More than half (58 per cent) ... blamed their barren sex lives on a lack of fitness."


Seems straightforward enough. Except...

The week after this study came out, it was followed up by this one:

The British birth rate is on the increase. "The UK population grew more in 2008 than at any time since 1962." How they're managing that when they're too lazy to have sex would make an interesting study in itself.

Um... this method doesn't look like much fun, judging by her expression...

All right, so half of the increased births were to women "born overseas, but living in the UK." Even so, if they're living in Britain, aren't they affected by the environment they're living in? According to the first study, Glasgow was "Britain's most slothful city, with 75 per cent of people admitting they don't get enough exercise, followed by Birmingham and Southampton in joint second place with 67 per cent admitting their laziness."

If you're surrounded by that many lazy bums, it's going to rub off. If nothing else, it's an environment geared toward people driving cars rather than walking, living in buildings with easily accessible elevators and dingy, hard-to-find stairs, being surrounded by fast food and slow traffic. Besides which, there have been enough studies out there demonstrating that hanging around obese people will increase your chances of gaining weight. One study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, "found that a mutual friend becoming obese correlated with a 171 percent increase in the probability of obesity in the other friend."

No, as I see it, the second study is 180 degrees from the first. The women being 'from overseas' isn't really an important enough factor. We tend to pick up on the behavior of those around us.

Photo: rumpleteaser

I know I tend to sound off a lot about journalists, but sometimes it's hard not to. For example, a Bangladesh newspaper picked up on an article in an American publication, which featured an interview with Neil Armstrong confirming that the Moon Landing was a hoax. Only problem? It wasn't a real story. It was a hoax. (I mean the story was a hoax. A hoax of a hoax, if that makes any kind of sense.)

This is the part that got me. The journalists' defense? "We thought it was true so we printed it without checking. We didn't know The Onion was not a real news site."

Okay, let me make this clear. Just because The Onion makes incredible sense sometimes Does Not mean it's real, 'k?



Bratz Dolls May Give Young Girls Unrealistic Expectations Of Head Size


Okay, one last weird story. I realize everybody's getting more lawsuit-happy these days, but even so...

Legal case against God dismissed
A US judge has thrown out a case against God, ruling that because the defendant has no address, legal papers cannot be served.


Oooooookay. I'm not even going to try to relate that one to health or fitness.