Mixed messages

The Bad idea was Rafe's. The bad photoshop job is mine.

Long time readers of the site have probably picked up on the fact that Rafe and I have, at times, some very different views on what the “best” way to exercise is. As a general rule, Rafe is a big proponent of short, intense workouts designed to get the maximum benefit in the least amount of time. I, on the other hand, generally prefer the “slow and steady wins the race” approach. Instead of focusing on constantly trying to push my boundaries I find it’s more important to consistently get activity in at a level that is comfortable for me. Rafe has frequently characterized these mixed messages as our “good cop/bad cop” dichotomy. Rafe is the “bad cop” who will push you to levels that make you want to puke, while I’m the “good cop” that encourages you to be gentle with yourself. Both of us are trying to get the same thing out of you, but we do it in two radically different ways.

So who is right?

Well it turns out…we both are.

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Hidden treasures

Sinfest is Copyright 2008 by Tatsuya Ishida/Museworks

Moments before I sat down to start writing this post President Barack Obama signed the America’s Affordable Health Care Choices Act into law. Like most of you, I have not actually read the entirety of the bill. Truth be told, up until this morning I had not read any of it myself. Whether you are a supporter of the bill or not, though, you can’t deny that if it actually makes it over the administrative and legal hurdles that will undoubtedly be thrown in front of it in the next few months there are going to be some radical changes the landscape of American health care. While I’m sure that most Americans are familiar with the major provisions that are set forth in the bill (no denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions, children able to stay on their parents health insurance until the age of 26, etc…), like any piece of legislation that makes it through the House of Representatives there are a great number of changes that aren’t necessarily getting as much press.

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The letter I wrote to Representative C.W. Bill Young

Representative Young,

Unless I miss my guess, this email is likely to be screened through one of your aides and would not be likely to impact your decision to vote against the Health Care Reform bill that should be introduced in the House today. This makes me sad, but unlike Don Quixote I have no interest in tilting against windmills by trying to convince you to change your mind.

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Michelle Obama is looking for health oriented applications

While the First Lady of the United States of America has no official title or responsibilities, it has become tradition for the women in this arguably influential role to associate themselves with a humanitarian cause during their husbands administration. In the past few decades we have seen examples of this in Laura Bush’s efforts in support of womens’ rights and childhood literacy, Hillary Clinton’s push for Health Care reform, and (perhaps most famously) Nancy Reagan and her Just Say No anti-drug campaign. First Lady Michelle Obama is no exception to this tradition, and she’s taken up the fight against what many feel is an increasingly dangerous threat to our overall health as a nation – childhood obesity.

According to statistics from the Center for Disease Control, the number of children who are overweight to the point of obesity has increased dramatically since 1980. The percentage of children aged 12 to 19 who fell into this extremely unhealthy weight range (generally considered to be 50 pounds or more overweight) increased from 5% to a stunning 17.6% in 2006, more than tripling the 1980 numbers. Unsurprisingly, research has shown that nearly 80% of children who are obese between the ages of 10 and 15 continue to hold that unhappy distinction into adulthood. With obesity being linked to serious life threatening diseases such as Type II Diabetes and Heart Disease, it is clear that this trend is not only bad for our well-being as a nation but that it is also puts a strain on our already financially strapped health care system.

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EA SPORTS Active gets an upgrade

EA SPORTS is at it again. Last year they released the highly acclaimed EA SPORTS Active, and interactive fitness game for the Nintendo Wii that used the various motion detection equipment available for the platform to offer a wide array of physically challenging workouts in a convenient 30 day program. In the same year they came out with EA SPORTS Active More Workouts, expanding the already excellent game with a broader focus on core exercises and “leveling up” the challenge to last for six weeks. The franchise seems to be working out very well for EA SPORTS (no pun intended), so much so that they even expanded their advertising push to include the Sports Authority fitness equipment chain.

On Tuesday, EA SPORTS announced that they are expanding the line yet again. EA SPORTS Active 2.0 (working title) is currently in production at the Vancouver headquarters of EA Canada.

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Yawn

I’m getting old and boring.

It is 8:41 PM Eastern Standard Time on a Saturday night as I write this. I spent the majority of my day today grocery shopping and planning meals for the next two weeks. I got up at 7:30 AM. I am yawning my fool head off as I write this.

I figured perhaps with the quiet and calm that is currently settled around the house I could do some writing for my next episode of The Cast In Order of Appearance, but I do not feel awake enough to truly get any sort of productive writing out of it. So instead you all get some kind of random babblings. Lucky you.

Well, it’s not 12:16 PM EST on Sunday. As you can see I didn’t even finish up a mindless blathering post.

Pointless content launching now!

The end times are here

I browse through a lot of health and fitness related news every day in order to try and find things that can help our readers here improve their lives. In doing so I come across a fair number of unusual topics, but more often than not most of the things I read tend to get repetitive. That’s why, when I opened up my reader this morning, I darn near spewed a mouthful of coffee all over my dual monitor setup after I saw one of the headlines.

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Slow and steady wins the race

Bugs Bunny and Cecil Turtle are registered trademarks of Warner Brothers

Dieting is a touchy subject. We all have our own ideas as to what is the “best” way to lose weight, and with very little research we can often find studies that back up our claim. What’s more, we’re all pretty defensive of our choices. Getting together in a room full of low-carb and low-fat dieters and asking them which is the better way to diet is as fraught with danger as standing in the middle of the lobby of the Marriott at Dragon*Con with a bullhorn and asking what the best Science Fiction series is.

In the spirit of full disclosure I have to admit that I am a low-fat, calorie counting dieter. That’s what Weight Watchers® really is, when you get right down to it. They just wrap it up in a convenient system and assign food point values. I’ve been on Weight Watchers for over 9 years now and while the amount of weight I have lost has varied consistently I have managed to maintain the large majority of my loss following that program. As a result, I am obviously biased toward low-fat diets and a big proponent of them. I truly believe that portion control, exercise, and healthy food choices are the key factors in losing weight and keeping it off.

A study released in the Annals of Internal Medicine seems to back me up on that.

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