Halfpounder’s Blog

I have been thinking lately about why I have spent most of my life being overweight. I am trying to recall specific events that might help describe my attitudes towards food and eating. I suppose any worthwhile analysis will also need to include my feelings towards exercise.

My grandfather owned a restaurant (Kirk’s Drive Inn Café) in Orem, Utah and I grew up spending much of my time there. His name was Marvin Kirk (and now you have a good idea where my middle initial and first name came from.) When I was eight years old Grandpa asked me if I would like to come work at the Drive Inn? My eyes opened wide and I said, “Really?” He told me I could come wash dishes in the back and he would pay me 50 cents an hour if I would put half of everything I earned into a savings account. (I readily agreed—and boy do I wish now I had made good on my promise to save half my wages. That savings habit would be something to cherish now.)

I wasn’t tall enough to reach the sink so a wooden crate was overturned to provide me a step up. I worked nearly every Friday and Saturday night until I was almost 16 years old. I only washed dishes for about a year and then was elevated to Fry Cook. Grandpa had me all decked out in an apron and hat, still using the overturned crate for a step, and showed me how to turn hamburgers on the grill. I also learned how to make French fries and onion rings. Other duties included helping to keep the parking lot clean, cleaning restrooms, sweeping up around the tables, putting away supplies and restocking shelves, more dishwashing and pot scrubbing, and learning how to prepare all the food items on the menu.

Grandpa and Grandma did most of the food preparation too. They ground their own hamburger, cut and blanched potatoes for French fries, breaded chicken, fish, shrimp, and onion rings, made homemade soups, chili, gravy, coleslaw (that tasted better than KFC—I promise), scones, and even froze their own ice cream. It was a great place to work and grow and I loved being around my grandparents.

My mom (their daughter) also worked at the Drive Inn as a waitress and worked the soda fountain. The job taught me how to work and be responsible—and it shaped my early relationship to food and eating.

As a result of my Drive Inn experiences I am very comfortable in a kitchen. I am not afraid to prepare anything. I enjoy cooking and find it very rewarding still. I love to share meals with others and look forward to opportunities for friend and family gatherings. On my personal resume one would find a prominent entry for cooking under my hobbies and activities and I love trying new recipes. (I am even known in tight family circles for creating an incredible chocolate chip cookie. I fashioned it on what I thought a recipe for Mrs. Field’s Cookies would be like and it turned out very well. My family and friends refer to them as Kirk’s Killer Cookies… and I am constantly asked to bake up batches for Uncles, Aunts, nieces, and nephews.)

A few years ago I learned about cooking outdoors with iron dutch ovens and enjoy preparing food when we go camping. (I have even tried a short stint as a dutch oven caterer. It’s a lot of work and loses much of its appeal when the cooking is under strict client restraints for schedule and location. I much prefer cooking as a hobby—something that can be enjoyed by my family and loved ones according to my own timetable, location, and menu whim.)

I’m sure I will revisit this topic often as I come to understand more about where my attitudes about eating come from. For now, let’s just say that eating and preparing food has been a huge part of my life for 45 years (ever since standing tippy-toe on the Coke crate to flip the burgers.) I love to eat. I love to prepare the food. I love to share food with others and find it very gratifying when people compliment my dishes.

When I started Weight Watchers last year I remember telling someone that I “used” to like cooking for other people. I told them that because I was watching the diet plan so closely I didn’t find as much enjoyment from cooking. Surprisingly, after 13 months on the program, I have found that statement not to be the case. I still enjoy cooking for others, now my passion is to prepare healthier choices. I don’t make as many killer cookies and raspberry trifles, but I still find great satisfaction from feeding friends and family and having them push away from a meal well fed. I work harder to use more vegetables and lean protein. The recipes are much different, and I hardly ever use white sauces and gravy anymore, but I have learned how to prepare some very tasty new meals. I still like to try new recipes—they are often low calorie and low fat—and enjoy reading diabetes publications for healthy food choice ideas.

The journey to be healthy and strong is a life-long commitment. Diets are too short. Learning to eat nutritious foods for a healthy body is a daily commitment to be continued until you take the final big dirt nap.

Thanks for reading my ramblings. If you don’t regularly take time to journal or record your thoughts and feelings, try it—the process is very cathartic.

Summer is here. I’m working hard to get my knee back in shape after surgery last week. I have too much bike riding, walking, and hiking planned this summer to be hobbling around on a rummy knee.

I hope you have a great weekend. Bye for now,
Kirk

A childhood birthday gift I really enjoyed was an oil painting-by-the-numbers kit. A picture was outlined and areas were marked with numbers corresponding to paints included in the box. All I had to do was find the right numbered paint and fill in all the areas in the picture with that number. When I finished, I had a nice painting and it really didn’t require an artistic eye. I just followed the numbers and it turned out just like it promised on the packaging. Not bad for an eight year old without any artistic training.

Wouldn’t it be great if everything was so easy? Living by-the-numbers. Raising our children by-the-numbers. Staying healthy by-the-numbers. Fortunately life requires much more than following a pre-marked plan. We learn by experience and build successes on the back of failures. We live in a world where we can make choices good or bad that directly affect our progress. And I think it is this ability to choose that helps make life so interesting.

Ultimately we have the ability to choose good health over poor health. We can choose careful nutrition and ample exercise over an overweight, couch-potato-slothful life. Sooner or later I think everyone will come to this crossroad. Behind us will be the invincible 20-something-year-old and we will face head-on the aches and pains of aging.

I read a couple of interesting articles today about food colors. We hear all the time about not eating too much red meat, avoiding white flour, white rice, and white pasta, and how beneficial green leafy vegetables are for us. Healthy eating can almost be planned like one would color coordinate clothing and accessories. After reading these articles you may agree that a colorful plate of food is usually more healthy than colorless alternatives. I also found it very interesting what Jillian Michaels wrote about nutritional value changes when foods are cooked.

I hope this blog helps all of us remember the importance of planning our meals. As these articles suggest, knowing what types (colors) of foods to eat and how to properly prepare them makes a big difference toward optimal nutrition.

I hope you are having a nice weekend and that you enjoy Memorial Day with your loved ones. Take care,
Kirk

Green Leafy Vegetables – Nutritional Powerhouses
by Laura Dolson, About.com

Dark green leafy vegetables are, calorie for calorie, perhaps the most concentrated source of nutrition of any food. They are a rich source of minerals (including iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium) and vitamins, including vitamins K, C, E, and many of the B vitamins. They also provide a variety of phytonutrients including beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin, which protect our cells from damage and our eyes from age-related problems, among many other effects. Dark green leaves even contain small amounts of Omega-3 fats.

Perhaps the star of these nutrients is Vitamin K. A cup of most cooked greens provides at least nine times the minimum recommended intake of Vitamin K, and even a couple of cups of dark salad greens usually provide the minimum all on their own. Recent research has provided evidence that this vitamin may be even more important than we once thought (the current minimum may not be optimal), and many people do not get enough of it.

Vitamin K:
• Regulates blood clotting
• Helps protect bones from osteoporosis
• May help prevent and possibly even reduce atherosclerosis by reducing calcium in arterial plaques
• May be a key regulator of inflammation, and may help protect us from inflammatory diseases including arthitis
• May help prevent diabetes
Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin, so make sure to put dressing on your salad, or cook your greens with oil.

Almost Carb-Free
Greens have very little carbohydrate in them, and the carbs that are there are packed in layers of fiber, which make them very slow to digest. That is why, in general, greens have very little impact on blood glucose. In some systems greens are even treated as a “freebie” carb-wise (meaning the carbohydrate doesn’t have to be counted at all).

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarbsuperfoods/a/greensnutrition.htm

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT
by Jillian Michaels
Losing It with Jillian Michaels, Saturday, May 23, 2009

What Colors Are on Your Plate?
Pick a color, any color. If you want to improve your health one serving at a time, choose vegetables and fruits of varying colors. Vibrant-colored fruits and veggies give you a range of phytonutrients, each with its own health-promoting strengths. Colorful plant foods happen to be incredible sources of soluble and insoluble fiber — both of which are essential for hormone balance and impossible to get from animal products.
Everyone knows that green veggies are great for you, but you don’t always have to think green — explore your options. The UCLA Center for Human Nutrition has developed a system for grouping fruits and vegetables by color for easier selection. I’ve adapted this system into four categories, and I recommend aiming for one fruit or vegetable from each color group (including the greens!) every day.

Orange: Carrots, sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, and mangoes are high in beta-carotene, which may help cells communicate with one another a bit more frequently, therefore increasing the body’s ability to avoid cancer. Beta-carotene also plays an important role in the production of progesterone, which contributes to a smooth pregnancy.

Yellow: Research suggests that the vitamin C in citrus foods can be a stress-buster. A German study tested this theory by subjecting people to a high-stress situation (they had to do math problem in front of a bunch of other people — I’d say that’s stressful!). Half of those studied were given 1,000 mg of vitamin C and half were not. The people who did not get the vitamin C had elevated levels of cortisol and high blood pressure — surefire signs of stress. Those who’d taken vitamin C felt less stressed. (However, why supplement? Get the real thing and eat your vitamin C!) Foods in the Yellow group include oranges, tangerines (I know that sounds odd, but nutritionally oranges and tangerines are “yellow”), yellow grapefruit, lemons, peaches, and nectarines.

Purple: Berries are powerhouse foods that can help you lose weight and keep your blood sugar low, so definitely include them in your diet. Look out for other purple fruits and vegetables too, including plums, prunes, grapes, and eggplant, which all boast numerous vitamins and minerals.

Red: Red fruits and veggies contain the phytochemical lycopene, a powerful cancer-fighting antioxidant. Studies showed that men with high blood levels of lycopene had the lowest risk of developing prostate cancer. Tomatoes are one of the richest sources of lycopene. Plus, one cup of tomatoes gives you almost 60 percent of your daily value of vitamin C and almost 8 percent of your daily fiber needs. You can get the health benefits from organic pasta sauce, tomato paste, and ketchup — just make sure there’s no high-fructose corn syrup in the products you buy!

To Cook or Not to Cook?
The powerful lycopene and antioxidant activity of tomatoes is concentrated by 50 percent if they are cooked for 1 minute, and by 150 percent if they are cooked for 30 minutes. However, some colorful veggies lose their potency with cooking. Data from the University of California at Davis revealed that when cooked, fresh spinach loses 64 percent of its vitamin C, while canned peas and carrots lose 85 to 95 percent. Eat a combination of raw and cooked vegetables to cover all bases.

One of the huge downsides of weight loss is baggy skin. I tell my wife all the time that she is now married to a sharpei—you know the dog with the extra skin that makes you think, “One Size Fits All.” At 450 pounds my skin was stretched quite tight. Now at 276 pounds… not so much. I have wings of skin hanging down under my arms and an apron of fatty skin that I swear is nearly down to my knees (well, not quite.)

Loose skin everywhere. My daughter Hannah told me I feel softer since losing the weight. I think she is just used to the plump skin I used to have.

I’ve thought about how cool it would be to have surgery to remove the extra skin. In fact, someone was telling me the other day what a great contribution I could make to a burn victim. Eew… that sounds so gross to me. I’m sure there are people who would be very grateful for a donation of healthy skin, but I just don’t think of my own skin as being that donation.

I’m worried about two things: the cost of surgery, and the scaring. I tend to form a lot of scar tissue (keloid tissue). I don’t know if I really have a problem with keloid scar tissue, but I worry about it. Perhaps a visit with a cosmetic surgeon at some point would be a good idea.

I like what Jillian Michaels had to say about this same issue in today’s online Question and Answer on her site. I should wait and see. I guess the best way for me to think about it is: “I took 52 years to grow a morbidly obese body, maybe I can give it 2 or 3 years to bring it back to a more normal shape.” That’s what feels right for me. Give it some time. I’m sure at some point I will consult with a surgeon, but for now, I am grateful to feel better and be able to enjoy more activity.

Who knows? Maybe I’ll have even postponed or eliminated diabetes, serious heart disease, or increased respiratory problems. I really am blessed with better health as a result of my weight loss journey.

Take care everyone,
Kirk

P.S. I hope you enjoy Jillian’s comments too.

Question from Ask Jillian
Losing it with Jillian Michaels, May 17, 2009

Battling Baggy Skin
Q: I have excess skin after weight loss. What should I do?
A: I hear this question all the time, and I’ve got good news and bad news. Okay, bad news first: The skin is an organ and not a rubber band — it can only stretch and tighten so much. It has nothing to do with how quickly you lose weight and everything to do with your genetics, weight, and age. The younger you are, the more collagen you have; collagen is what gives the skin its elasticity and ability to shrink after weight loss or pregnancy.
Ready for the good news? You are no longer unhealthy and obese! Let’s take a look at your scorecard. You have significantly decreased if not eradicated your chances of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, sleep apnea, arthritis, GERD, gout…the list goes on! And now that you are healthier, you should be feeling better both physically and emotionally. I am even willing to bet that your weight-loss success is motivating others around you to get healthy as well!

Jillian’s Tip of the Day

Nip and Tuck?
Of course, surgery is an option. Cosmetic surgery — such as a tummy tuck — can remedy the situation effectively, but this kind of surgery is costly and painful. My advice after weight loss is to keep the weight off for a year. If you still have loose skin and it really bothers you, then and only then consider a tummy tuck of other procedures. No matter what, please do not let the thought of some extra skin deter you from losing weight or keeping the weight off — and more important, improving your health!

The last couple of weeks have been a roller coaster ride for me at the Weight Watcher’s weigh-in. I had a really good meeting when we were visiting Rocklin, California, only to come back and record gains the following two weeks. As of last week I was up over nine pounds! It was a bit disheartening, but I kept reminding myself that the overall picture looked good: I was down over 160 pounds for the 13 months I have been working on the program. Still it isn’t fun to go to a weigh-in and show a gain.

This week was a BIG turnaround. It’s almost like my body decided to give up trying to cling to those extra pounds. I showed a 14.4 pound loss since the last time I attended a Weight Watcher’s Meeting. Last week Linda and I were celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary in Park City and I didn’t get to a meeting. What a thrill to show significant loss again this week.

I looked at the overall trend line for the past 13 months. You can almost draw a straight line from start to finish. I have a few weeks that show a bump, but then I come right back to the trend and continue losing. I have averaged almost 3 pounds (2.9) per week loss over the past 58 weeks.

I was in the supermarket the other day and one of the Cashier Supervisors, who sees me all the time, asked me how I had lost all the weight. I explained that I had been attending Weight Watcher’s and had literally been working my fanny off at the gym. She laughed and asked if I had been “whistled” yet? I didn’t know what she meant. She said, “You know… have the women been whistling at you, good lookin’?” Needless to say she embarrassed me—and I think she really wanted to see my face all red—but it was a very nice compliment.

I have people constantly tell me how different I look, how good I look, congratulations on how well I’ve done, and “Tell me what you’re doing so I can try it too.” I always tell them thanks and then tell them it is nothing more than eating well and exercising. (and then they add…. “and dedication.”) Again, another compliment. It sure feels good to have people notice and then let me know how much better I look. I’m quick to tell them how much better I feel and how worth losing the weight has been.

This week I had an appointment with an orthopaedic surgeon. It was a follow-up to an MRI and X-rays taken of my left knee. I’ve been feeling a lot of pain, so much pain that it has slowed me down on my cardio. I haven’t been able to keep up the pace of 2 miles walking each day. I have often come home to cramping muscles that have needed to be iced down and quieted with ibuprophen.

The ortho guy told me that my left knee has quite a bit of arthritis in it and has some cartilage damage that needs to be repaired. He told me a total knee replacement would be needed sometime in the future, but that he should be able to get me feeling better with the orthoscopic procedure he has planned for next Tuesday.

During his discussion with me I kept feeling that it was a very good thing I have taken off so much weight in the past year. Instead of a simple orthoscopic procedure now, I might have been looking at a full knee replacement already. The list of benefits for getting healthier keeps getting added to.

I would be a liar if I said I wasn’t nervous about Tuesday. I really don’t like hospitals very much. The surgeon assured me it would be a simple procedure in and out the same day. He said I would be up and around on my knee within a day or two, but still I am being a bit of a worrywart about the whole thing. I hope the recovery period will be short and that I can get quickly back into my regular exercise routine. I know how important exercise has been to my weight loss and I don’t want to change my losing trend.

My hope is to focus more on my upper-body exercises and to let the knee heal. I am anxious to see if the surgery will allow me to walk more this summer. I want to compete in the Provo River Half-Marathon in August and then be ready for the San Francisco Half-Marathon in November. My goal is to finish both events in 4 hours. That should be slightly faster than I walk now—maybe even jogging a little bit to get to the finish line in 4 hours.

I’ve included below an article I found that talks about my upcoming procedure.

Hope you have a good weekend. I’m going to get in a couple of bike rides before Tuesday. Talk to you later,
Kirk

Wikipedia Search for “Orthoscopic Surgery”

Arthroscopy (also called arthroscopic surgery) is a minimally invasive surgical procedure in which an examination and sometimes treatment of damage of the interior of a joint is performed using an arthroscope, a type of endoscope that is inserted into the joint through a small incision. Arthroscopic procedures can be performed either to evaluate or to treat many orthopedic conditions including torn floating cartilage, torn surface cartilage, ACL reconstruction, and trimming damaged cartilage.

The advantage of arthroscopy over traditional open surgery is that the joint does not have to be opened up fully. Instead, only two small incisions are made – one for the arthroscope and one for the surgical instruments to be used in the knee cavity to fully remove the kneecap. This reduces recovery time and may increase the rate of surgical success due to less trauma to the connective tissue. It is especially useful for professional athletes, who frequently injure knee joints and require fast healing time. There is also less scarring, because of the smaller incisions. Irrigation fluid is used to distend the joint and make a surgical space. Sometimes this fluid leaks into the surrounding soft tissue causing extravasation and edema.

The surgical instruments used are smaller than traditional instruments. Surgeons view the joint area on a video monitor, and can diagnose and repair torn joint tissue, such as ligaments and menisci or cartilage.
Arthroscopy is used for joints of the knee, shoulder, elbow, wrist, ankle, foot, and hip.

Knee arthroscopy has in many cases replaced the classic arthrotomy that was performed in the past. Today knee arthroscopy is commonly performed for treating meniscus injury, reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament and for cartilage microfracturing. Arthroscopy can also be performed just for diagnosing and checking of the knee; however, the latter use has been mainly replaced by magnetic resonance imaging.

During an average knee arthroscopy, a small fiberoptic camera (the endoscope) is inserted into the joint through a small incision, about 4 mm (1/8 inch) long. A special fluid is used to visualize the joint parts. More incisions might be performed in order to check other parts of the knee. Then other miniature instruments are used and the surgery is performed.

Recovery after a knee arthroscopy is significantly faster as compared to arthrotomy. Most patients can return home and walk using crutches the same or the next day after the surgery. Recovery time depends on the reason that surgery was needed and the patient’s physical condition. Usually a patient can fully load his leg within a couple of days and after a few weeks the joint function can fully recover. It is not uncommon for athletes who have an above average physical condition to return to normal athletic activities within a few weeks.

Arthroscopic surgeries of the knee are done for many reasons, but the usefulness of surgery for treating osteoarthritis is doubtful. A double-blind placebo-controlled study on arthroscopic surgery for osteoarthritis of the knee was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2002.[1] In this three-group study, 180 military veterans with osteoarthritis of the knee were randomly assigned to receive arthroscopic débridement with lavage, just arthroscopic lavage, or a sham surgery, which made superficial incisions to the skin while pretending to do the surgery. For two years after the surgeries, patients reported their pain levels and were evaluated for joint motion. Neither the patients nor the independent evaluators knew which patients had received which surgery. The study reported, “At no point did either of the intervention groups report less pain or better function than the placebo group.”[2] Because there is no confirmed usefulness for these surgeries, many agencies are reconsidering paying for a surgery, which seems to create risks with no benefit.[3] A 2008 study confirmed that there was no long-term benefit for chronic pain, above medication and physical therapy.[4] Since one of the main reasons for arthroscopy is to repair or trim a painful and torn or damaged meniscus, a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine which shows that about 60% of these tears cause no pain and are found in asymptomatic subjects, may further call the rationale for this procedure into question.[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthroscopy

Sleep is an essential part of good health. I have sleep apnea and have used a CPAP machine at night for about 8 years. I remember what being a zombie felt like—and then I had the sleep study and learned how to treat it. I think the only downside of using the machine to help me breath better at night is the noise it makes. I don’t notice it much, but my wife sure does. She is a light sleeper and getting used to the nightly noise all these years has been difficult for her. I appreciate her patience.

The following article is very interesting. It raised new questions for me. I think I would like to schedule another sleep study. Now that I have lost 170 pounds (exact number tomorrow at weigh-in) I would like to see how things have changed.

It was my birthday on Monday—53 big ones—and my 30th anniversary.

Hope you have had a great week too,
Kirk

5 Sleep Myths Busted
By Jim Gorman, Men’s Health Online, May 11, 2009

What a night. The woman of your dreams appeared. Your pulse raced. Heavy breathing ensued. You do remember it, right? Oh, wait, you were asleep. And that’s not all you missed. Under cover of night, sleep floods your veins with age-defying human growth hormone. Sleep raises an army of T cells and sends them into battle against colds and infection. Sleep resets the appetite controls that tell you to not hit the turn signal when you pass a McDonald’s. And, of course, sleep helps you above the neck as well as below the belt.

“It stabilizes your waking brain, makes you more alert, and allows you to process information faster,” says David Dinges, Ph.D., who studies shut-eye at the University of Pennsylvania. “It helps you remember things and consolidate those memories.” You won’t get that from a Red Bull. So then why are we engaged in a society-wide experiment in sleep deprivation? Average nightly sleep time during the workweek in the United States is down nearly 20 minutes in the last decade, to six hours and 40 minutes. And men ages 30 to 44 are the worst offenders: Thirty percent of them say they log less than six hours of sleep at night, according to a survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The price you pay for this sleep deficit is more than just lost productivity—your health can suffer too. So wake up! It’s time to shed some light on this dark territory.

Successful, driven guys should be good to go on five hours a night: MYTH
True, Napoleon slept four to five hours a night, and Thomas Edison got by on four. But world domination and the lightbulb might have been mere warm-ups had these guys slept more. Sleep scientists estimate that only 10 percent of adults are hardwired to need appreciably less (or more) sleep than the recommended seven to eight hours. And by cheating on sleep, you’re limping through life with the cranial equivalent of a torn calf muscle. Scarier still, people who are sleep-deprived often don’t even know they’ve turned into zombies. After dividing 48 volunteers into four sleep regimens—eight, six, four and zero hours a night (a.k.a. torture)—University of Pennsylvania researchers found that the six-hours-a-night group fared as poorly on measures of alertness and memory after two weeks as the no-sleep crew did after 24 hours. But participants in the six-hour group didn’t feel very sleepy even when they were performing at their worst. Accumulating a sleep deficit also leads to “microsleeps” while you’re awake. “Your brain becomes unstable and will go ‘off-line’ for half a second,” Dinges says. The more sleep-deprived you are, the more frequent and longer the lapses.

Snooze strategy: If you didn’t sleep seven to eight hours every night this past week, go to bed this weekend at your regular weekday time, but don’t set your alarm clock. Did you rise on Saturday and Sunday at the same time you would have on, say, a Tuesday? Then you may be one of those few people who can sleep less yet remain healthy. The rest of us mere mortals can begin to repay our sleep debt by dozing 10 hours a night on weekends and then sticking to seven to eight hours during the week. Your brain will use this strategy whenever you accumulate a sleep debt, says Ruth Benca, M.D., Ph.D., medical director of the Wisconsin Sleep Center. Otherwise, you want to stay consistent with your sleeping.

Frequently needing to pee in the middle of the night might indicate a health problem: TRUTH
That first stumble to the bathroom in the dark can be chalked up to the beer you drank watching the Knicks game. The second one can spell trouble. “If you habitually take two or more bathroom trips a night, you probably have obstructive sleep apnea,” says Alex Chediak, M.D., medical director of the Miami Sleep Disorders Center. With sleep apnea, the soft tissue at the back of your throat blocks your upper airway during sleep, stopping your breathing for anywhere from 10 seconds to a minute or even longer. This can occur hundreds of times in a night, depriving you of restorative deep sleep and starving your vital organs of oxygen. No wonder sleep apnea has been linked to heart disease, hypertension, and mood disorders.
But why does it wake you up to pee? Because those mini-suffocations result in lower circulating oxygen levels, your heart pumps harder, raising your blood pressure. As excess fluid builds up in your veins, a feedback loop triggers the release of a pressure-relieving diuretic, making you need to pee. An enlarged prostate and high blood sugar can also prompt middle-of-the-night bowl breaks. But with those conditions, says Dr. Chediak, you’ll pee a lot day and night.

Snooze strategy: Raising the pillow end of your bed by a few inches can help prevent that tissue from blocking your throat. Snoring could also be waking you in the middle of the night, and one major cause is nasal obstruction. Wash out mucus and irritants by mixing 1/4 teaspoon of table salt in 2 cups of warm water and flushing your nose twice a day using a medical or bulb syringe. Japanese researchers found that people with nasal obstruction were twice as likely to experience daytime fatigue as people with clear passageways. For video instruction on the technique, visit mayoclinic.com and search “nasal irrigation.” If the peeing persists around the clock, schedule a prostate exam and have your blood-sugar level checked by your doctor after an overnight fast.

The post-lunch bonk can’t be avoided: MYTH
Many Europeans scarf down a carb-loaded lunch and then shut down from 1 to 4 in the afternoon. But with unemployment soaring, let’s assume a three-hour nap won’t play well at the office. If you find yourself entering what amounts to a food coma after lunch, you’re probably eating too many carbohydrates in the morning. And what you’re not getting enough of is making it worse. “A postlunch crash is a telltale sign of poor nighttime sleep, as is dozing in meetings, theater performances, or similar environments,” says Dr. Benca. Not sure if you’re experiencing a modest dip or a true crash? Take a minute or two to fill out the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. This online questionnaire is the same one sleep docs use on their new patients.

Snooze strategy: Along with improving your nightly sleep pattern, eat three small meals spaced two hours apart in the morning. Try a protein shake at 7 a.m., two eggs and a small cup of oatmeal at 9, and an apple and a handful of almonds at 11. You’ll consume fewer carbohydrates, and you won’t be as likely to overeat at lunchtime. In fact, a salad with grilled chicken and avocado on top should be enough to keep your mind focused and your head off the desk all afternoon, says Keith Berkowitz, M. D., medical director of the Center for Balanced Health in New York City.

Waking up at 4 a. m. every day just means I’m an early riser: MYTH
More likely, you—along with 60 million other Americans—have insomnia, an inability to fall or stay asleep. “Insomniacs wake at the slightest disturbance and feel unrefreshed in the morning,” says Dr. Benca. Insufficient sleep exposes the sufferer to a litany of performance and health problems. In a study published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, researchers found insomniacs were more than twice as likely as normal sleepers to call in sick for long periods.

Snooze strategy: Let’s assume that you’ve already cut back on caffeine. What you want to do is make your sleep more efficient, says W. Christopher Winter, M.D., medical director of the sleep medicine center at Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville, Va. Dr. Winter likens poor sleep to a bookcase missing a few volumes, representing gaps in your sleep. By going to bed an hour or so later, those gaps won’t be as long as or frequent. Soon enough, you should be waking up after the roosters, not before them.

A tiring workout before bed will help me sleep more soundly: MYTH
Regular exercise is one of the best sleep-promoting remedies, but working out late at night risks leaving you wide-eyed in bed. “It’s easiest to fall asleep when your core body temperature goes relatively quickly from very warm to very cold,” says Dr. Chediak. “After exercise, that cooling process takes four to six hours.” It’s better to take a hot bath or sauna session close to bedtime. “Anything that raises core body temperature will help get you started on sleep,” says Dr. Chediak. He says the cooldown period into the sleep zone following a bath takes just two hours—half that of an exercise session.

Snooze strategy: Work out—but do it first thing in the morning for all-day energy and a quick drift into deep, restful sleep. Studies show that exercise improves sleep as effectively as a class of sleeping pills that includes Restoril and Halcion.

Alcohol can help me sleep at night: MYTH
Only if you equate a good night’s sleep with passing out drunk on your girlfriend’s sofa. Alcohol messes with the normal sleep cycle, especially the back end of the cycle. “Four hours into sleep, alcohol wears off and leaves you in an excitable state,” says Dr. Chediak. You’ll sleep lighter, wake more easily, and be hung over when you do wake. After three nights of intoxicated slumber, even the initial knockout punch begins to wane. Dr. Chediak warns of another drawback to using a six-pack as a sleep aid. “Being a muscle relaxant as well as sedative, alcohol can even create sleep apnea symptoms in snorers who don’t otherwise have the condition,” he says. Unfortunately, liquor is a go-to therapy for many sheep counters, used as often as over-the-counter sleeping pills and more often than prescription sleep meds.

Snooze strategy: Be consistent with your overall schedule and you won’t need booze. “Your internal clock is a structure in your brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus,” says Dr. Winter. “To set this clock, eat your breakfast, lunch, and dinner at exactly the same time every day for a week.”

Provided by Men’s Health
URL: http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100235358>1=31036

It was fun to read this article and nod my head as I moved down the numbered items. I’ve been doing most of these things during the past year and have been successful.

Take a minute and read through the list. These things work. I hope you discover some good ideas about how to make healthier choices as you read the article.

Have a good week,
Kirk

10 Steps to Speed Weight Loss
Making simple changes that either cut out or burn off extra calories will add up to weight loss over the course of a year.
By Madeline Vann, MPH
Medically reviewed by Lindsey Marcellin, MD, MPH
If you’re struggling with weight loss, then you already know it’s the little things that add up — the “little bit more” at the dinner buffet, the “little bit too tight” feeling of your clothes. But what if you also knew about the little things you could do every day to increase your weight- loss success? Here they are.
10 Steps to Speed Weight Loss
1. Switch up your snacks. “First of all, watch mindless snacking,” says Emily Banes, RD, clinical dietitian at the Houston Northwest Medical Center in Houston, Texas. “[Those calories] really add up.” Instead of grazing on the baked goodies in the break room, have a plan for healthy snacks that combines a little bit of fat, protein, and crunch, such as apple slices smeared with peanut butter. If you are counting calories, doing the math may help: a pound is the equivalent of 3,500 calories, so if you can cut 100 calories out of your day, you will lose a pound in just over a month.
2. Cut out high-calorie condiments and sugars. “Instead of getting a coffee with sugar, try Splenda,” says Banes. Likewise, try mustard on your burger or sandwich instead of mayonnaise, and order your salad dressing on the side so that you can control the amount you eat.
3. Hoof it. “Exercise is key,” says Banes. People who manage at least 150 minutes of activity a week are more successful with weight loss. Take the stairs instead of the elevator or park a bit farther from your destination so you have to walk. This will add extra exercise — and burn more calories.
4. Anticipate temptation. If you know you can’t resist freshly baked brownies, don’t keep a mix in your pantry. Also, if you are going somewhere with friends and family and know you’ll have a hard time controlling yourself, make a decision before you get there about what you will eat — and stick to it.
5. Try the veggie-loaded plate method. Banes recommends using your plate to guide your food selection and portion sizes. One half of the plate should be vegetables. The other side can be split between protein and starchy carbohydrates. If you decide to get a second plate, says Banes, it had better be all vegetables. People who eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day are more successful with weight loss.
6. Skip the fast food. A study of 1,713 adults who have been successful with weight loss demonstrated that people who eat at fast-food restaurants less than twice a week have greater success with their weight loss. “If you do eat fast foods, don’t supersize it,” says Banes, and try to opt for a salad, small portions, or “get baked, not fried.”
7. Limit the calories you drink. While most people understand sugary sodas add calories, Banes sees a misconception when it comes to sweet tea and juices. Sweetened tea is no less calorie-dense than soda, and you’d be better off eating the fruit than drinking the juice, advises Banes.
8. Be accountable. Whether you have a diet buddy you check in with, a support group, or a food diary, keeping track of your daily food choices takes only a few minutes, but can double your weight-loss success.
9. Order smaller portions. Data suggests that people who order smaller portions or share a plate at restaurants are more successful with weight loss. Banes recommends ordering the lunch portion, an appetizer, or a children’s meal — or put up to half your meal into a doggy bag before you begin eating.
10. Acknowledge your success. People who believe they can succeed with weight loss actually do lose weight more successfully. How do you gain this confidence? Take a moment to pat yourself on the back when you make healthy choices and achieve your short-term goals.
These small changes, all of which can easily be made, will quickly add up to more pounds lost over time.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/weight/steps-to-speed-up-weight-loss.aspx?xid=nl_EverydayHealthDietandNutrition_20090506

I’ve been thinking the last few days about high-fructose corn syrup. Mostly I’ve wondered about the link between increased consumption and obesity.

I remember a statistics class I took in college that taught me an important lesson. The teacher was helping us understand the danger of using statistical evidence to prove a cause. He showed us charts indicating the surge of ice cream sales on the beach in the summer time. He then showed us a chart indicating increased shark attacks during the same period at the beach. He then announced, based on his evidence, that increased ice cream consumption caused the rise in shark attacks.

It was funny at the time, but the principle has stayed with me for many years: statistics can be used to validate just about any position. Does the use of statistics guarantee accurate analysis of a problem? Absolutely not. In my shark and ice cream example it could also be argued that shark attacks increase as temperatures rise and more people go to the beach. (Incidentally, I would also put forward the idea that increased temperatures account for more ice cream sales.) The point being many factors contribute to increased shark attacks on summer beaches. Consuming more ice cream is not the cause.

Is High-fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) the villain of American obesity? Not completely. Many factors contribute to that problem. I think it’s fair to say that an increased use of the sweetener in our American diet is unhealthy. But I also know that an increased pattern of eating more fast food is a big contributor to obesity. If we compare only the evening meal of today versus the evening meal of 1951 there would be a startling contrast. In the early 1950’s fast food was a novelty. Pizza delivery? Unheard of. Today, many families don’t take the time to prepare home cooked meals every night. As a result, American children are exposed to more processed foods. It isn’t nuclear science to realize that basic home-cooked meat, potatoes, and vegetables are more nutritious than what arrives at your door in a box.

My point is this: if you care about nutrition, take the time to make better nutritional choices. My assertion is that fast food will not contribute much to an improved diet and health.

The articles and comments I’ve posted about HFCS have merit. As Americans we consume more processed food than is healthy. We consume more sugar, by far, than any other nation on the planet. As a result, we Americans have a high incidence of obesity. But my point is this: just because you sip cold Coca-Cola on the beach in the summertime, it doesn’t explain why there are more shark attacks. Drinking cokes doesn’t cause shark bites.

Be more nutritionally minded. Read labels. Take time to prepare wholesome food: spend less money on pizza delivery and fast food drive-thrus. Its what’s important for health’s sake.

Below is an article published at Time Magazine Online that gives more insight into the HFCS debate. I found it helpful, I hope you do too.

Take care,
Kirk

Is High-Fructose Corn Syrup Really Good for You?
By Lisa McLaughlin, Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008
Time Magazine Online Article

Shopping last week in her local New York City grocery store, Elise Mackin, 32, filled her cart with items she knows to be good for her family — whole grains, fruits and veggies — and shied away from products that contained less wholesome ingredients. “Trans fats are out,” she said, “and anything with high-fructose corn syrup.”

The evils of trans fats are well known, but what’s wrong with high-fructose corn syrup? “It’s bad for you,” said Mackin, an office manager, emphatically, “really unhealthy.” But when a reporter pressed her for further explanation, she floundered. “It’s — well, I’m not sure, but I know it’s not good,” she finally said.
“You sound just like those commercials,” laughed her husband Doug.

Those commercials are two spots that are at the center of an 18-month campaign, launched this month by the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) in an effort to give high-fructose corn syrup — public enemy no. 1 to many healthy-eating advocates — an image makeover. In one ad, a mother pours a glass of bright red punch; in another, a woman offers her boyfriend a cherry-colored Popsicle. Both are confronted about the health effects of high-fructose corn syrup, but each has this ready response: High-fructose corn syrup is made from corn, has no artificial ingredients, has the same calories as sugar and is okay to eat in moderation.

That’s certainly contrary to the popular public perception. In our post–Fast Food Nation world, high-fructose corn syrup is reviled for contributing to everything from the obesity epidemic to rising rates of childhood diabetes. So, which side is correct: Is it the devil’s candy or a perfectly natural wonder?

The answer is somewhere in between, but high-fructose corn syrup is finding defenders from unusual corners. The American Medical Association recently announced at its annual policy-making meeting in Chicago that high-fructose corn syrup does not contribute more to obesity than sugar or other caloric sweeteners. Even Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, has to agree. He criticized early versions of the CRA’s ad campaign for its claims that high-fructose corn syrup is a “natural” product. “High-fructose corn syrup starts out as cornstarch, which is chemically or enzymatically degraded to glucose and some short polymers of glucose. Another enzyme is then used to convert varying fractions of glucose into fructose,” says Jacobson. “High-fructose corn syrup just doesn’t exist in nature.” But he admits that the sweetener gets a bum rap. “The special harmfulness of high-fructose corn syrup has become one of those urban myths that sounds right, but is basically wrong. Nutritionally, high-fructose corn syrup and sucrose may be identical.”

Even the scientists who first floated the idea of a link between high-fructose corn syrup and rising American obesity rates aren’t so sure. Barry Popkin, a nutrition professor at the University of North Carolina, and Dr. George Bray of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge published a widely read and quoted paper in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2004 noting that the rise in high-fructose corn syrup consumption paralleled the rise in obesity rates in the U.S. and hypothesized that the way fructose is metabolized could be uniquely fattening. But the authors say they were just putting forth a theory. It was meant to inspire further study, not be a definitive declaration.

Nutritionist, author and food-policy doyenne Marion Nestle has blogged and written extensively about the issue and says in response to the commercials, “Lots of people think high-fructose corn syrup is the new trans fat. It isn’t. … Biochemically, it is about the same as table sugar (both have about the same amount of fructose and calories) but it is in everything and Americans eat a lot of it — nearly 60 lbs. per capita in 2006, just a bit less than pounds of table sugar. High-fructose corn syrup is not a poison, but eating less of any kind of sugar is a good idea these days and anything that promotes eating more is not.”

And therein lies the problem. The commercials claim that just like sugar, high-fructose corn syrup isn’t unhealthy when consumed in moderation. But it’s hard to know exactly how much of it we’re actually consuming because it shows up in so many unexpected foods. “It was in my children’s vitamins!” said Elise Mackin. Because high-fructose corn syrup extends the shelf life of foods, and farm subsidies make it cheaper than sugar, it’s added to a staggering range of items, including fruity yogurts, cereals, crackers, ketchup and bread — and in most foods marketed to children. So, unless you’re making a concerted effort to avoid it, it’s pretty difficult to consume high-fructose corn syrup in moderation. “We did a consumers survey,” says Doug Radi of Boulder, Colo., based Rudi’s Organic Breads, “and less than 25% of them realized that high-fructose corn syrup is commonly used in bread.”

Rudi’s launched its own advertising campaign over the summer, encouraging Colorado consumers to read ingredients and nutrition labels before purchasing staple foods like bread. The company’s aim is to get people to choose Rudi’s, since its breads are free of high-fructose corn syrup. “Bread is one of those food items that has a halo of health — water, flour, yeast and salt. All natural,” says Radi, “but today there are often 15 unpronounceable, unnecessary ingredients.”
But where does that leave the average consumer? “I hate those commercials,” says Doug Mackin, “but they do make you think. I’m still not convinced. And I prefer to eat all-natural products, but I’m a little less likely to freak out if my kid drinks fruit punch at a party.”

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1841910,00.html

Hi Everyone, 

I’ve been home from the Yosemite trip for two weeks now and I am not back on track.  For the second week in a row I gained at the scale.  Last week it was almost 6 pounds and this week was a little over 3 pounds: 9.2 pounds gained since my weigh-in at the Rocklin, California meeting.  I suppose I could be all upset, but I’m not really.  I’ve lost about 160 pounds in the last year and fluctuations now and then are going to be okay.

Linda thinks maybe I’ve gained a little muscle…  the jury is still out on that one.  I won’t know for sure until I do a fat percentage test on Tuesday with Melanie.  In the meantime, I’m going to roll up my sleeves and work hard to get back to the basics: Journal, be careful with my points, work hard to keep the metabolism in gear, exercise, drink lots of water, and get my sleep.  I know what to do.  I’ve proved that it works—I just need to be more diligent.

I joined Jillian Michael’s Online last week.  I’m not following her diet, but I am recording my exercise and I enjoy reading her posts.  Today she discusses the “Most Evil Sweetener.”  Hope you enjoy it too.

Have a good weekend,

Kirk

Dump the Most Evil Sweetener of All

By Jillian Michaels, Losing it with Jillian Michaels, May 2, 2009

In the late seventies, less than 15 percent of Americans were obese. Thirty years later, 32 percent of us are obese. What happened between then and now? First, the idea became popular that fat was evil and “low fat” diets were best.

Whenever possible, fat was removed from processed foods and replaced with sugars and other carbs. At the same time, high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) got really cheap and became food manufacturers’ go-to sweetener.

Since the days of the low-fat diet craze, we’ve learned not only that fat doesn’t make you fat but that refined carbohydrates like sugar and HFCS do. Oops! A lot of damage has been done, but we can work with our hormones to teach our bodies to react to food the way they did before we overwhelmed our insulin response systems.

A good place to start is to get rid of HFCS. This evil sweetener is incredibly damaging to your metabolism, and it’s everywhere. Researchers at Tufts University report that Americans consume more calories from soda and other sweet drinks (which invariably contain tons of HFCS) than from any other source.

You may have seen a commercial run by the Corn Refiners Association that tries to convince you that people who think HFCS is bad for you are paranoid; it suggests that most people can’t even say why HFCS is bad for you. Well, here’s your answer (tell your friends!): HFCS boosts your fat-storing hormones and makes you fat. Glucose (what table sugar is turned into in your body) is metabolized by all your cells, but fructose (the “F” in HFCS) must be metabolized in the liver. Because of this, HFCS somehow tricks the body into not releasing insulin and leptin, two essential hormones that are usually released after you eat. Without insulin, your body can’t use those HFCS calories for energy, and without leptin, your body doesn’t know it’s full. Plus, unlike table sugar, HFCS doesn’t stop levels of ghrelin, your hunger hormone, from rising. If you eat or drink HFCS, you’ll actually continue to consume more calories, even 24 hours later, than you would had you just eaten plain table sugar. HFCS also increases triglycerides (a type of blood lipid), which prevent leptin from signaling the brain to stop eating.

I have zero tolerance for HFCS. For me, it’s a code word for poison, so toss it!