Feeling Great At 38

Salmonella Outbreak - Peanut Butter

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:32:00 +0000

The big health news of the week was the latest outbreak of Salmonella in peanut butter.

So will this news effect the peanut butter industry the way Taco Bell was effected by it's E. Coli outbreak? And do you plan on avoiding peanut butter the way that most people avoided bagged spinach? How long will be before we can all start enjoying peanut butter and jelly sandwiches without any worries?

I've been trying to eat only natural peanut butter lately because it's a lot more healthy than brand name peanut butter. You have to mix the peanut oil that rises to the top of the jar back in but other than that I'm quite fond of it.

With all these outbreaks in the news, do you think that they're occurring more frequently or do you think that they are just being reported more?

And how long before all these health scares are tied to some sort of terrorism? I can see it now, "Is Al Queda poisoning your peanut butter? Film at eleven."

Keeping Your Brain Fit

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 15:32:00 +0000

Staying fit is a great plan to help lead a longer healthier life but if my brain can't keep up, then what's the point. The brain is a muscle too and it follows the same "use it or lose it" policy as your other muscles. So how can you keep your brain fit? Brain exercise is the answer.

Two of the most important factors in keeping your brain healthy are traditional exercise and nutrition. Keep your body healthy and your brain will follow suit. But after that there are other ways to exercise your mind.

You've probably heard people describe one of their older relatives like this, "my Uncle Larry is a sharp as a tack, he does the New York Times Crossword puzzle everyday." Well, Uncle Larry has the right idea but his execution is a little off. You see the best way to stimulate your brain is to break free of everyday activities and challenge yourself in new and unexpected ways. By doing the crosswords everyday, he has created a familiar routine that becomes less challenging everyday. Uncle Larry, it's time to add Word Searches and Sudoku for some variety.

Activities to exercise your mind:

If you're right handed, trying brushing your teeth with your left hand

Try accomplishing something with your eyes closed, such as putting the key in your front door or walking to your fridge

Try a different route on your daily commute

Reconstruct your day by writing down what you did. For example, if you take a trip to the zoo, when you get home try to write down all the animals that you saw in the order that your saw them.

Your mother may have told you that playing too many video games will turn your brain to mush, but she was wrong. The Nintendo DS Lite (aff) has a few games that are designed to exercise your brain and they are varied enough to avoid becoming routine.

I recently played my cousin's copy of Big Brain Academy (aff) on her DS. The game consists of a bunch of fun puzzles that you try to finish in a set amount of time. Just as you get the hang of the puzzle, it's over and there's a new one to try. When I finished, the game informed me that my score was that of a hair stylist.

Yikes! I had better get some more brain exercise.

Health News, Articles & More

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 04:31:00 +0000

In my quest to get myself fit and healthy, I browse a lot of websites. And it's a sad fact that most of the diet, nutrition, exercise or health related websites out there are all trying to sell you something. So it's hard to weed through all the junk to find the good stuff.

Well I just discovered some good stuff at the Yahoo!Health website and I'm impressed. It's really full web portal and it's got a little bit of everything related to healthy living. Yahoo!Health includes health news, articles, healthy recipes, dieting tips and tons of other stuff.

It's going to take me a while to digest all of this information but right off the bat I plan on doing the Free Diet Evaluation.

Chocolate - Fatigue Fighter

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 18:12:00 +0000

2006 was an excellent year for Dark Chocolate. Studies concluded that dark chocolate, with it's high levels of polyphenols and flavanols, is actually good for you.

Another recent study has shown dark chocolate to fight fatigue. According to UK researchers, a small piece of dark chocolate on a daily basis, can help with the symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS).

Who doesn't love eating chocolate and now that it's a heart healthy food and helps fight fatigue, why deprive yourself. Obviously this doesn't mean to hit the vending machine with a pocket full of quarters and think that your doing yourself a favor. No, as usual, moderation is important.

I think I'm going to try adding a small piece of organic dark chocolate (I've seen it at Trader Joe's) as an after dinner snack.

Trans Fat

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 03:00:00 +0000

Trans Fat is probably one of the most talked about health issues of 2006. And looks to continue to be hot topic through 2007. Even if you don’t follow health news, you may still have seen all the hoopla created by Mayor Bloomberg who passed a law to ban all Trans fats in NYC. The ban will force restaurants to switch to healthier cooking oils as well as salad dressings, baked goods, etc.

So what is trans fat. The American Heart Association defines it like this.

Trans fat (also called trans fatty acids) is formed when liquid vegetable oils go through a chemical process called hydrogenation, in which hydrogen is added to make the oils more solid. Hydrogenated vegetable fats are used by food processors because they allow longer shelf-life and give food desirable taste, shape and texture.

Are all fats bad for you? No, there are healthier forms of fat than trans fat. But remember that even though they lower the bad cholesterol in your body they should only be consumed in moderation.

Monounsaturated Fat: Found in most nuts, olive oil and avocados.
Polyunsaturated Fat: Found in vegetable oils like corn, soy and sunflower
Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Found in seafood such as salmon & herring as well as in flax oil and walnuts

Tips to avoid Trans Fat:

Just say no to doughnuts
Switch to natural peanut butter
Replace your butter or margerine with Smart Balance
Substitute apple sauce for oil when baking
Check ingredient labels and avoid anything that includes hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated anything

Foods To Avoid

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 16:26:00 +0000

eDiets has posted a list of 7 foods to avoid. It's a good list but the foods are way too obviously bad for you. Everyone knows that doughnuts are bad for you. You don't see many infomercials about the new and amazing Doughnut Diet do you?

I'd rather see a list of foods being passed off as healthy that actually aren't good for you.

Brain Wave Therapy

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 15:31:00 +0000

When I was younger and was willing to try anything that sounded cool, I stumbled across Brain Wave Therapy. Unlike some of the other odd things I tried, Brain Wave Therapy actually works.

Here’s how it works. Your brain resonates at different frequencies based on what you’re doing. You’re creating Delta waves when you sleep, Alpha waves when you’re focused and theta waves when you’re meditating. By listening to the right frequencies, you can coax your brain to do what you want it to. For example, if you listen to theta waves when you’re trying to meditate you should be able to achieve a deeper state of relaxation then you normally would without the theta waves. Sort of like your own meditation guru in a your MP3 player.

Eager to revisit Brain Wave Therapy I downloaded some of the BrainSync audio files. All I had to do was listen to them with stereo headphones and I would be on my way to the benefits of meditation.

If you don’t like the idea of listening to static then maybe BrainSync's Audio Recordings aren't for you. Well maybe not static, it’s more of a constant hum. There’s some bells and chimes and some of recordings sort of sound like music but you really shouldn’t expect to be rocking to the oldies. There are some other recordings that you could try such as those by Dr. Jeffrey Thompson but my experience is with BrainSync so I can't vouch for them.

But it definitely works for me and Brain Wave Therapy has been clinically proven to be effective. They are also offered to patients at America's most respected cancer treatment hospitals, Memorial Sloan Kettering and Dana Farber.

E. Coli On The Menu

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 15:27:00 +0000

Most people are aware that fast food isn’t the most healthy choice out there but lately it’s becoming deadly.

First there was the bagged spinach outbreak, then Taco Bell and now I’m seeing reports of E. Coli at the Olive Garden.

I think my policy going forward is going to be to try to cook and eat as much fresh food as I can. Conveniences like fast food and bagged greens are nice but if I want a taco, I should make it myself. As someone trying to eat healthy and lose weight, it’ll take more time to wash some greens from the produce market instead of ripping open a pre-washed bag but in the long run I’ll probably be better off.

Body Mass Index (BMI)

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 04:47:00 +0000

A common way to quickly determine if you are overweight is by calculating your Body Mass Index or BMI. The number is based on your height and your weight. At a certain height you should weigh a certain amount. Go over that amount and you are overweight. Go way over and you are obese.

BMI is your weight divided by the square of your height. But before you break out a pad and pencil, you could try one of the many BMI Calculators on the web.

If your BMI is over 30, you're obese. Score 25-29 and you're overweight. A normal BMI is in the 18 to 24 range.

At 5 feet 10 inches and 225 pounds, my BMI is 32.3 and that firmly places me in the obese category.

But remember that muscle weighs more than fat. So athletes with heavier body mass because of their muscles are likely to be in the obese category as well. Unfortunately for me, I am no longer an athlete so the point is moot.

If I want to move into the "Normal" BMI category, then I'll need to weigh in around 170 pounds. Losing 45 pounds sounds like a really long term goal for me. My goal weight loss is about 25 pounds. That's a much smaller number and much more attainable.

No more fast food

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 20:02:00 +0000

The easiest way to immediately start cutting calories and eating healthier is to stop eating fast foods. I went for many years without eating any fast foods but sadly, I’ve started again. Being a father of kids ages 4 and 2, means that Happy Meals are a part of your life. I know that the right thing to do would be to introduce the kids to healthy foods at a young age so that they develop good eating habits early on but that just isn’t realistic all the time. Sometimes they’re so finicky that they won’t eat anything but chicken nuggets. We’ve even tried to buy chicken nuggets at the supermarket but they won’t even try them. And when your kids are yelling Wendys, Wendys, Wendys at dinnertime you usually give in just for the silence.

So Mommy and Daddy started to grab a meal with the kids and now we eating fast food again. 500 + calories for a hamburger and then add fries and a soda on top of that and that’s just not good for anyone. Especially if your on a diet.

Recently, the kids have started eating Subway sandwiches. They have a Kids Meal deal where you get a small sandwich, a fruit roll up and a juice box. Obviously still not the greatest thing for you but much better than a hamburger.

Avoiding fast food is a must and sometimes you have to get creative to find alternatives when you’re on the run or if you have small kids.

About Me

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 05:31:00 +0000

My name is Anthony and I'm 38 years old but not feeling great. As a father of two young children who are running me ragged, I find myself at a point in my life where I starting to physically feel old. In my teens and twenties I used to eat whatever I wanted and was a regular at many happy hour hot spots in NYC. I still did 10Ks and a few triathlons and felt great. Alas, age has caught up with me as well as my sedentary 9-5 job in front of a computer.

This blog is to document the steps that I'm taking to start feeling good again. A guide to becoming healthy and feeling young. Since this is a journey and not a destination, the blog will eventually become a great resource for information on health, fitness, nutrition and many other topics that should make a difference in how you feel.

Some stats about myself at the start of this journey:
Sex: Male
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 230 lbs