Hazelnuts, Flat Bellies, and My New BFF's

[By Crabby]

Back in the olden days of Cranky Fitness, when bloggers wore togas and carved out blog posts on stone tablets, I wrote something about the health benefits of pistachios.

First known BlogHer conference; circa 23 A.D.

(photo credit: Betsymartian)

And now, all of a sudden, I'm feeling motivated to write another post about nuts! Specifically, how nutritious and tasty hazelnuts are.

Is it because of a recent study that said that hazelnuts contain massive amounts of proanthocyanidin, a powerful antioxidant--in even greater quantities than many other "superfoods?"

Well, er, it might be... if I could find a link to the damn study.

Is it because hazelnuts actually are really good for you, containing lots of fiber, vitamin E, vitamin B, iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium, and potassium?

Uh, sure, yeah, that's it!

But could it also be because hazelnuts contain lots of monounsaturated fatty acids, making them a high MUFA food that will make it easier to stay on your Flat Belly Diet?

(Note: for those of you who have blogs: MUFA's and Flat Belly Diet are very search-friendly terms. Just in case you might want to work them gratuitously into a post someday.)

Speaking of Gratuitous Flat Bellies...

In any event, my current enthusiasm for hazelnuts has absolutely nothing to do with this Hazelnut Gift Tray that arrived recently courtesy of the friendly folks at the Hazelnut Council!



Because bloggers are very ethical folks who would never extol the virtues of a food, even one that is HEALTHY and DELICIOUS, just because they might have received, oh, say, hypothetically...



...their very favorite candy bar in the entire world for FREE.

(And does anyone else find they are subliminally influenced by the term "Ritter Sport" into thinking that somehow this particular candy is the sort athletes would pick because it's so nutritious even though that's STUPID??!!)

In the interest of full disclosure, I should reveal that I also got a cookie sheet, mixing spoon, spices, nuts, yummy English Toffee (which must have had hazelnuts in it? I sort of missed that part in the frenzy) and assorted recipes.

Oh, and...

A whole new passel of Best Friends!!! Aren't you all jealous?



According to the accompanying hazelnut literature, which takes the form of a journal/scrapbook, I am invited to Cecelia's house on Saturday at 8pm... and boy howdy, am I excited!

(The Lobster is going to be SO jealous because she doesn't have a blog and so is not invited and Cecelia is pretty darn cute! You can click on the picture if you want to verify. She's in the lower right hand corner.)

However, I kinda think my new BFF, Galena, said something about Cecelia having a little Frangelico problem...

So it's a good thing they also gave me a handy Hazelnut Journal to record every exciting moment of my new, hazelnut-filled life!




(Confidential to Hershey's and Dunkin' Donuts PR people: No free samples, huh? This coulda been ALL ABOUT YOU! Maybe next time, eh?)

Actually, as it happens I really DO like nuts, including (thank goodness) hazelnuts. I eat a lot more of them than I did back in the "you must count every gram of fat" days. Anyone else? Or have thoughts on sleazy bloggers scarfing up free food and then attempting to blog about it?

The Cranky Fitness Guide to the Olympics

[By Merry]

Hey, this guy can run rings around me anytime...

Confused about all these sports that are suddenly showing up on your television? Help is on the way. Unfortunately, help is running late, so we at Cranky Fitness are filling in with an explanation of some of the terms used in the Olympic Games.


Archery - a sport where two people ("friends") try to outdo each other with snide, coyly playful remarks.

Bronze - fake tanning solution.

Dressage - Fashion show where competitors have to estimate just how out-of-date an outfit is.

Gold - the form of currency most favored by gym managers.

Gymnastics - various competitors try to out do each other in nasty gym behavior. (Don't ask. Really.) Oh all right, if you need to ask, they try to see who can be the first to get to the best treadmill, cycle, or fan. (There. Happy?)

Olympic flame - a scorching blog post about Beijing sports in 2008.

Relay - a second intimate encounter.

Show jumping - competitors strive to prove their dexterity in manipulating a TV remote to switch between Reality shows.

Anyone else have any terms they'd like to define? Getting excited about the Olympics, or is it Not Your Thing?

Why Diets Don't Work

[By Crabby]

For those of you who are trying to lose weight, especially those of you who have had a frustrating time of it, we have a cool giveaway this week:

Two Six Month Memberships to the "Why Diets Don't Work Club".


(And there's also a free 75 minute Introductory Download for anyone who's interested. More on that in a moment).

So what kind of club is it, anyway? Is there a secret handshake? Funny hats? No girls/boys/grownups allowed like when you were a kid?

(Sorry, Eco-Friendly Biodegradable Clubhouse Not Included)
[photo by PittCaleb]

No, this is a better kind of club, for grown-ups. It's online too, so there's no need for a big cardboard box. Plus this means you can live anywhere in the world and attend! Those getting tired of "U.S. only giveaways" may appreciate being included for once.

Club founder Talia Mana, whom many of you know from her blog Centre for Emotional Well-Being, is a former Corporate Type who is now a trainer, professional speaker, and self-help author. She described the club and its workshops this way:

"The idea behind the workshops is to conduct live monthly workshops on the web for people to get advice and ask questions about everything to do with stress eating, body image and underlying belief systems that sabotage dieting efforts.

"The Why Diets Don’t Work Club will help people change their thinking so they can lose weight and keep it off long-term – or they may simply decide to accept themselves the way they are and throw away the scales and calorie counters."

(Talia will be conducing the monthly workshops, and Dr. Robin Shepherd will be on-board to offer one-on-one consultations for those wanting additional help).

To enter the drawing, just leave a comment on this post and two random winners will be chosen Tuesday night August 12th, midnight EST, and announced Wednesday morning the 13th. Please check back by Thursday night the 14th to claim your membership if you've won, and to receive emailing instructions.

And even if you don't win one of the memberships, you can go here to get a free 75 minute audio download explaining why diets don't work, including expert tips and tactics, information about emotional eating, and common diet myths.

Of course, some of you may have diets you're very attached to, and perhaps they're working well for you and you don't feel you need any additional help. We totally understand that, as there are some great diets out there.

[Cartoon courtesy of Natalie Dee].

So have you folks had any disappointments with dieting or has it worked just fine for you? What, if anything, was an obstacle to success?

Guilt: it's not just for mothers anymore

[By Merry]

Photo courtesy of flickr

I have a cold.

Earth-shattering news, right? Okay, maybe not, but the reason behind the cold is interesting.

I got a cold because I went to a family reunion and there encountered a teenage relation who insisted on giving everyone hugs seven to eight times a day. I pointed out that she had a rather nasty cold and that perhaps sharing wasn't always a good idea, but she got hurt feelings and apparently the only way to make her feel better was to let her go around giving more hugs.

So now I'm sitting here sniffling and cursing my inability to draw lines, define boundaries, and say "look, I know you're needy emotionally, but enough already!" The neat trick is that I'm managing to feel guilty both about being a wimp (for getting the cold) and being a bitch (for hurting her feelings) at the same time.

Guilt works

Not only can guilt be used for pointless feel-bad episodes such as the one above, guilt can be effective for making sure you exercise.

I trained for a 60 mile bicycle ride once. I'd never cycled more than 15 miles at a time up to that point, but a friend and I made a pact to get up early every weekend for 10 weeks and train. Left to myself, I probably would have skipped more than a few training sessions. Didn't really feel like getting up... it's too cold out... it won't hurt to skip just this once ... pretty much any excuse I could think up would have been used. Some mornings I would look at the phone and think "you know, I should call her and cancel... but I don't want her to think I'm a wimp. She's depending on me."

When I got to the meeting place for the ride, she would show up and say "you know, I really thought about calling you to cancel, but I couldn't face the guilt."

We used that fear quite effectively to become fit. Then I moved away, lost my guilt-partner, and slid into slothful ways.

Can guilt get you off the couch?

Usually when I miss a workout, it's down to one of the following causes:

1 - Dithering. "Oh, I'll go work out as soon as I've started a load of laundry, raked the lawn, watered the plants, regrouted the bathroom and cleaned out the attic. Oops, ran out of time. Oh well."

2 - Getting distracted. Similar to #1, except that there is no intention of eventually getting up and working out. I'll think about it, agree that it's a good idea and I should do it, then remember that it's almost time for House and I have to take out the trash and check my email, oh look at those nice shoes in that commercial maybe I should go shopping after work tomorrow?

I figure if I can add guilt to dithering or distraction, it will act as the memory-equivalent of a sticky note. If I can keep the idea of exercise somewhere near the front of my brain, I am more likely to get it done.

So guilt works. How can I use it?

I thought there might be some study out there in Research Land that would give me some more hints on how to use guilt as an exercise motivator. But I didn't have much luck.

[ Warning: the following paragraph contains potentially hazardous levels of whining. Nursing mothers and women who are pregnant or may become pregnant are advised that the following may resemble their children's behavior and proceed accordingly.*]


Why aren't there more studies about slugs who know what they should do but don't almost always go out and do it? Why, in short, aren't there more studies about people like me? :(

[*Not sure what 'accordingly' means exactly, in this context, but it sounded impressive.]

Closest thing I could find was a phone study ("A phone study!" I can hear the jeers already) which basically summed up a successful strategy as 'stop talking about it and exercise already.'

Yeah, that was a big help, thank you so much...

No doubt it's true, but not what I was looking for. What I was hoping for was something along the lines of ways to trick, tempt, taunt or tantalize my lazy-ass self into getting off the couch. (Once I'm actually working out, it's fine. It's getting to that point that is the problem.)


Guilt has nothing to do with Viagra

Interestingly, what I did find is that there are a lot of studies about guilt and exercise in regards toward people with eating disorders. (Sorry, but I can't abbreviate that phrase. When I see "ED" I always think "Erectile Dysfunction" and get confused, since that condition almost never applies to the excellent bloggers who've written about this subject.)

It seems that people who suffer from an eating disorder apparently also tend to overdo the guilt about exercising.

One study of 230 women, aged 18-45, found that women "who always felt guilty after they missed a regular exercise session were the ones most likely to rate highly on measures for eating disorders." About 12 percent of the regular exercisers fell into this category.

I can't comment intelligently on this disorder since it's one that I seem to have escaped. (I have lots of other disorders so I suppose it balances out.)

All I can think is that guilt is a useful but potentially dangerous weapon. If you're one of the 88 percent who don't rate highly on eating disorder issues, if you suffer from low-motivation, have trouble getting moving, or in general spend too much time listening to your inner slug, guilt can be hella useful to get you off that couch and into those running shoes.

But if you're one of the people who need to watch out for eating disorders, you might want to go easy on the guilt, lest it trigger other issues.

I don't suppose anyone out there -- in the 88 percentile -- has any good guilt-inducing tricks I can use to get motivated again?

Breast Self-Exam Slackers: Good news?

[By Crabby]

(Photo credit: emilygoodstein)

There may be some of you out there who've managed to actively embrace the whole monthly breast-self exam process.

Do you dim the lights, turn on soft music, and perhaps chant some uplifting affirmations as you create your own empowering, nurturing self-care ritual?

Oh Goody, It's That Time Again!

Oh wait, sorry, this is Cranky Fitness. If you are that sort of person, there's a good chance you're here by mistake. Darn that Google, huh? You perhaps meant to be here instead. Buh bye!

It's more likely that you do breast self-exams dutifully but grudgingly. It's a chore, right? And a slightly creepy, anxiety-provoking one at that. But the gynecologist told you to and it's dumb to disobey your gynecologist so you sigh and get it over with.

Breast cancer is not something to mess around with and you don't want to take your chances.

Of course there is yet another subgroup of women. These women nod obediently when their gynecologists tell them to do self-exams. But then they go home and they never, ever do them. Bad, bad breast-exam slackers!

[Photo: His Noodly Appendage. Seriously.]

I have to confess I'm one of these terrible slackers.

It's just that I find self-exams awkward and stressful. I never really got the hang of the whole thing. Plus (warning: TMI alert) I have the lumpy fibrocystic kind of tissue that always feels suspect. My gynecologist can do the exam without freaking out, but I can't. So when she asks if I've been doing them every month I usually just stammer some excuse and promise to be better about it in the future.

But I'm lying! I will never be better about doing them in the future. Ain't gonna happen.

(I am, however, incredibly conscientious about getting my annual office exams and mammograms).

So a few years ago I read a surprising study that seemed to suggest that doing regular breast self-exams didn't even help women survive breast cancer. That's right--women who didn't do self-exams still had the same breast cancer survival rates as those who did.

Huh?

While this information helped justify my self-exam avoidance, I didn't really believe it. I figured another study would come a long any minute and contradict it, because the result didn't seem to make any sense.

Now there's been a follow up breast self-exam study: and yet again, they found that women who did self exams had virtually no increase in cancer survival rates!

It still confounds me, because it really seems like catching cancer early is better. Certainly that should boost survival rates? But the study involved almost 400,000 women and followed them over 10 years. There were 292 breast cancer deaths in the self-exam group as opposed to 295 in the control group--the difference wasn't statistically significant. Plus, the regular breast self-exams doubled the risk of undergoing a biopsy.

So does this mean I can finally stop feeling guilty for not doing the damn things?

What do you folks think? Do you do them? Will you keep doing them?