I feel like I've been zapped back to a fallish day in southern Alberta. Only, there are more trees.
Wind is blowing outside my window, making memories of the red and orange and golden yellow leaves that cling hopelessly to tree branches throughout the parks and front yards of town. Clouds have been hanging over the city for a few days now... they make their way through the valley, but on some days, there's an infinite supply of cumulonimbus waiting to stretch out over our lovely city. Rotting foliage litters the streets, and rather than using my car's windshield wipers to remove rain, I use them to scatter the leaves that cover my car from time to time. Ironically enough, as I'm typing, rain is painting the windowpanes just beyond my desk, and the birds that were on my deck just a few moments ago have fled for coverage to the trees that will protect them more effectively against the watery onslaught.
Even worse, now, is that the rain has turned to a sort of strange snow-hail mixture, and the flakes are desperately trying to survive their encounter with the asphalt of the parking lot. Goodbye summer...
I have the day off, and I'm slightly bored. I know there are probably things that I could be doing, but I'm having a bit of a hard time getting to them. I could be putting together short story units in case I get a job. I could be organizing my eight million binders and folders from my practicum last year (that still reside in my office closet, untouched.... well, other than to be moved to get at luggage). I could be returning our late videos to the video store or reading or something. But, I choose to be a lump in front of the TV and computer for the timebeing. The idea of a nap lingers nearby... maybe this afternoon. Maybe I should surprise K with flowers at work when I meet her for lunch. Maybe.
I find that when I'm really busy, that I find time to do things that I neglect when I have an endless number of free time. I'm also usually more tired when it comes to having days off... I need to plan in order to get stuff done.
Okay, enough of this mindless droning... I think I'm just trying to fill space since, other than this week's postings, I've been neglecting this less-than-artistic outlet for rants and other such musings. And I just hate the fact that I'm not working today. Bah... working on call and not getting a call is not fun. I guess it's in my power to change that, so, off I go. Until again...
T
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
The common sense approach to fitness...
I find that the idea of a common-sense approach to getting fit is strangely absent among much of the population. Magazines offer quick fixes to blast gut fat and make your ass go from jiggly to just plain tight. All of this in only 8, 5, 2 minutes a day while still eating anything that you want. I just have to shake my head at this whole notion.
The human body, although infinitely complex in many aspects, can also be seen as a relatively simple input/output machine. To maintain a steady weight, what gets put in must be removed (in one manner or another). It's like balancing a ledger... what goes in on one side must be balanced on the other side. In all reality, the same goes with diet and exercise. What you put into your body must exit in caloric consumption (and, of course, the bowel movement). Sure, we burn calories just breathing, and things like sleeping will get rid of a few grams of carbs, but ultimately, if you want to see a drop on the scale, your physical output has to outweigh your intake.
The reason I'm blabbing about this is simply out of sheer annoyance. I hate watching commercials and seeing ads that try to sell wonderland treatments and cures for having too much junk in the trunk. Granted, these companies do include fine print and the quickly rambled associated facts about the realities of "these results not typical", which go largely ignored. Have you ever noticed how these "guarantees" always add in, "With a balanced diet and regular exercise" but is usually said so quickly that you barely catch it (or is in print so small that it's barely readable)? Advertisers try to get the audience to ignore these facts because they know that people only hear what they want to. "What? I can get a 6-pack just by taking a handful of ephedrine tablets? Quoi? I can get a Jennifer Aniston quality heiney just by sitting at my desk? WOW! I'll take a year's supply, please!" Ummm... no. If you work out like a banshee, stop eating chili dogs and hit the gym 6 times a week with a trainer, it might happen. But these things do not just manifest themselves in some sort of divine fashion. Sorry, but it's just a whole lot of rubbish.
Also, people are also really apt to believe that things like ephedrine and Red Bull and other energy drinks are a great thing to have at the gym. They don't realize that there's a tonne of stress placed upon the heart when doing intense activities with a truckload of caffeine and taurine and sugar and other associated uppers pumping through your system. Water is good... caffeine is bad. Caffeine dehydrates you, it's highly addictive, and is hard on your body. However, every time I'm at a gym, I see muscleheads lifting weights who barely let go of their energy drink to do another 5 reps. Every trainer or coach I've met with nutrition knowledge says the same thing... get rid of the caffeine and increase the water. Dehydration slows metabolism and prevents the body from processing food at an optimum level. Caffeine is a diuretic. So is alcohol. A large coke for a hangover is quite possibly the worst thing you can drink, even if it does help you feel better. It's also brutal for the gym. Have some of Bobby Boucher's high quality H20.
Finally, the last of my rant... I think some people constantly trick themselves into believing they eat better than they do. Don't get me wrong... I don't have the best eating habits from time to time. I eat fast food more often than I should, and I love a Timmy Ho's coffee with cream and sugar as much (or, quite possibly, even more) than the next guy. But I know it's crap for me. I just try to balance it out, that's all. I've actually heard people honestly trying to believe that "Pizza isn't THAT bad for me! Look, it has tomato sauce! And green peppers! Those are both vegetables and they're good for you." Okay, sure thing. That pound of cheese and pepperoni is really good for burning calories. Riiiiiight. Vegetables are good. Protein is good... if you have too much, the body simply gets rid of it. Carbs and sugar, on the other hand, are kept by the body and, if unused, are turned into fat. I love my carbs, and I think that low-carb and no-carb diets can also be brutally hard on your body, but they need to be moderated. Eating a whole box of KD for lunch? Not a good idea. You might as well go enjoy a Big Mac meal and, while you're at it, Supersize it.
Okay, enough of my preaching and proselytizing. I know I'm not a guru on personal health and fitness, and I'm not a dietician. I just think that people need a bit more common sense when it comes to this obsession with weight and personal health and the pursuit of a sleeker build and bulging biceps. Ask a licensed trainer or dietician about these things... don't rely on fads that come and go. Eat more whole grains, drink more water, and exercise regularly. It's pretty basic. Vegetables, good. Water, good. Doughnuts, energy drinks, and buckets of pizza, bad.
-T
The human body, although infinitely complex in many aspects, can also be seen as a relatively simple input/output machine. To maintain a steady weight, what gets put in must be removed (in one manner or another). It's like balancing a ledger... what goes in on one side must be balanced on the other side. In all reality, the same goes with diet and exercise. What you put into your body must exit in caloric consumption (and, of course, the bowel movement). Sure, we burn calories just breathing, and things like sleeping will get rid of a few grams of carbs, but ultimately, if you want to see a drop on the scale, your physical output has to outweigh your intake.
The reason I'm blabbing about this is simply out of sheer annoyance. I hate watching commercials and seeing ads that try to sell wonderland treatments and cures for having too much junk in the trunk. Granted, these companies do include fine print and the quickly rambled associated facts about the realities of "these results not typical", which go largely ignored. Have you ever noticed how these "guarantees" always add in, "With a balanced diet and regular exercise" but is usually said so quickly that you barely catch it (or is in print so small that it's barely readable)? Advertisers try to get the audience to ignore these facts because they know that people only hear what they want to. "What? I can get a 6-pack just by taking a handful of ephedrine tablets? Quoi? I can get a Jennifer Aniston quality heiney just by sitting at my desk? WOW! I'll take a year's supply, please!" Ummm... no. If you work out like a banshee, stop eating chili dogs and hit the gym 6 times a week with a trainer, it might happen. But these things do not just manifest themselves in some sort of divine fashion. Sorry, but it's just a whole lot of rubbish.
Also, people are also really apt to believe that things like ephedrine and Red Bull and other energy drinks are a great thing to have at the gym. They don't realize that there's a tonne of stress placed upon the heart when doing intense activities with a truckload of caffeine and taurine and sugar and other associated uppers pumping through your system. Water is good... caffeine is bad. Caffeine dehydrates you, it's highly addictive, and is hard on your body. However, every time I'm at a gym, I see muscleheads lifting weights who barely let go of their energy drink to do another 5 reps. Every trainer or coach I've met with nutrition knowledge says the same thing... get rid of the caffeine and increase the water. Dehydration slows metabolism and prevents the body from processing food at an optimum level. Caffeine is a diuretic. So is alcohol. A large coke for a hangover is quite possibly the worst thing you can drink, even if it does help you feel better. It's also brutal for the gym. Have some of Bobby Boucher's high quality H20.
Finally, the last of my rant... I think some people constantly trick themselves into believing they eat better than they do. Don't get me wrong... I don't have the best eating habits from time to time. I eat fast food more often than I should, and I love a Timmy Ho's coffee with cream and sugar as much (or, quite possibly, even more) than the next guy. But I know it's crap for me. I just try to balance it out, that's all. I've actually heard people honestly trying to believe that "Pizza isn't THAT bad for me! Look, it has tomato sauce! And green peppers! Those are both vegetables and they're good for you." Okay, sure thing. That pound of cheese and pepperoni is really good for burning calories. Riiiiiight. Vegetables are good. Protein is good... if you have too much, the body simply gets rid of it. Carbs and sugar, on the other hand, are kept by the body and, if unused, are turned into fat. I love my carbs, and I think that low-carb and no-carb diets can also be brutally hard on your body, but they need to be moderated. Eating a whole box of KD for lunch? Not a good idea. You might as well go enjoy a Big Mac meal and, while you're at it, Supersize it.
Okay, enough of my preaching and proselytizing. I know I'm not a guru on personal health and fitness, and I'm not a dietician. I just think that people need a bit more common sense when it comes to this obsession with weight and personal health and the pursuit of a sleeker build and bulging biceps. Ask a licensed trainer or dietician about these things... don't rely on fads that come and go. Eat more whole grains, drink more water, and exercise regularly. It's pretty basic. Vegetables, good. Water, good. Doughnuts, energy drinks, and buckets of pizza, bad.
-T
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Hypochondriacs and the cult of pharmacology...
Over the past few months, I've done my best to get back in shape. I've never experienced obesity and, although my cadio-vascular system was shocked by actually doing more exercise than a single trip up a flight stairs, I've managed quite easily to get back in a rhythm of regular workouts and reasonable eating habits.
The one thing that seems to go along with the pursuit of physical fitness and personal health is one's interest in metabolism, carb-counting, protein shakes, doping scandals and celebrity weight-loss stories that seem to maintain a grip on magazine covers and reality TV shows. My wife has picked up a few of these magazines (not only celebrity gossip, but more respectable fitness magazines as well), and after looking through them and watching (too much) TV, I've noticed a sort of cult mentality developing.
You pick up a copy of fitness magazines which promise butt-busting exercises which will change your life, or non-crunch ab workouts that guaratee results. However, beyond these fairy tale ideas of how to fix one's body, there are drug ads. Not just one two, but mounds of them. Full page spreads with attractive people suffering from any list of 8 million exotic dysfunctions, all which have a new cure coming in the form of a name-brand drug. "Next time you see your doctor, ask him if our new drug is right for you". A hypocondriac's blissful dream! "Maybe THAT'S what's wrong with me!". Sure, they're up front with the side effects (some which are FAR worse than the actual condition being cleared up by said drug), but some of them are getting much sneakier. As I was ignoring the show that was on last night, a drug commercial came on for some earth-shattering new drug to help something. As always, some pretty, healthy person was featured, obviously relieved of some sort of major anomalous disease, and there was a beautiful natural background involved that made all viewers feel warm and fuzzy. Pretty typical, right? Well, up to this point, yes. Until the end of the commercial came. There was definitely some SUPER-fine print on the bottom of the screen, and in the last 5-6 seconds, there was definitely some disclaimer provided verbally that was about 20 notches UNDER the regular level of volume. It was like it was whispering! It's bad enough that they ramble through the side effects and disclaimers on a typical ad. Now, they're trying to disguise it even more by killing the volume so only those with supersonic hearing can listen in to the, "It may cause sudden death if you take this purple pill" thing.
Beyond the fact that this annoys me, I hate the fact that nearly every single one of these drugs has someone telling the audience that they should "ask their doctor" if it is right for you. How many hours of doctor-patient discussions are wasted with regular conversations about some guy who thinks that he might have irritable bowel syndrome because he drank 4 pitchers of beer the previous night at the pub? Is this not instituting a cult of pharmacology that actually inspires people to develop hypochondria?
I'll admit that I know very little about the causes of such anxiety disorders. I've never battled them and don't actually know anyone suffering from such diseases. Still, it makes me uneasy to think that people would actually pursue these drugs for what ails them. It's widely known that North Americans rely far too much on medication (particularly pain meds and antibiotics) to get rid of things that could be solved in much easier ways. And obviously, since we live in a capitalistic society, I probably shouldn't find it strange that pharmaceutical companies engage in a dialogue that plays into typical fears of being unhealthy and unhappy and unloved and that, since there's a cure for anything, that they should pursue it until they're blue in the face (there's a cure for this too... it's called breathing). But it strikes a nerve... I guess a moral one to be more specific. How can they justify such advertising? It drives me looney.
Okay, enough ranting for the day. I'll leave it at that. I'll probably post something related in my hatred of the use of energy drinks at the gym and the total lack of common-sense that is absent in dieting and the other, related, cult of the skinny and fabulous. That's another talk for another day (or maybe later tonight... but I think the Biggest Loser is playing, so we'll have to see).
T
The one thing that seems to go along with the pursuit of physical fitness and personal health is one's interest in metabolism, carb-counting, protein shakes, doping scandals and celebrity weight-loss stories that seem to maintain a grip on magazine covers and reality TV shows. My wife has picked up a few of these magazines (not only celebrity gossip, but more respectable fitness magazines as well), and after looking through them and watching (too much) TV, I've noticed a sort of cult mentality developing.
You pick up a copy of fitness magazines which promise butt-busting exercises which will change your life, or non-crunch ab workouts that guaratee results. However, beyond these fairy tale ideas of how to fix one's body, there are drug ads. Not just one two, but mounds of them. Full page spreads with attractive people suffering from any list of 8 million exotic dysfunctions, all which have a new cure coming in the form of a name-brand drug. "Next time you see your doctor, ask him if our new drug is right for you". A hypocondriac's blissful dream! "Maybe THAT'S what's wrong with me!". Sure, they're up front with the side effects (some which are FAR worse than the actual condition being cleared up by said drug), but some of them are getting much sneakier. As I was ignoring the show that was on last night, a drug commercial came on for some earth-shattering new drug to help something. As always, some pretty, healthy person was featured, obviously relieved of some sort of major anomalous disease, and there was a beautiful natural background involved that made all viewers feel warm and fuzzy. Pretty typical, right? Well, up to this point, yes. Until the end of the commercial came. There was definitely some SUPER-fine print on the bottom of the screen, and in the last 5-6 seconds, there was definitely some disclaimer provided verbally that was about 20 notches UNDER the regular level of volume. It was like it was whispering! It's bad enough that they ramble through the side effects and disclaimers on a typical ad. Now, they're trying to disguise it even more by killing the volume so only those with supersonic hearing can listen in to the, "It may cause sudden death if you take this purple pill" thing.
Beyond the fact that this annoys me, I hate the fact that nearly every single one of these drugs has someone telling the audience that they should "ask their doctor" if it is right for you. How many hours of doctor-patient discussions are wasted with regular conversations about some guy who thinks that he might have irritable bowel syndrome because he drank 4 pitchers of beer the previous night at the pub? Is this not instituting a cult of pharmacology that actually inspires people to develop hypochondria?
I'll admit that I know very little about the causes of such anxiety disorders. I've never battled them and don't actually know anyone suffering from such diseases. Still, it makes me uneasy to think that people would actually pursue these drugs for what ails them. It's widely known that North Americans rely far too much on medication (particularly pain meds and antibiotics) to get rid of things that could be solved in much easier ways. And obviously, since we live in a capitalistic society, I probably shouldn't find it strange that pharmaceutical companies engage in a dialogue that plays into typical fears of being unhealthy and unhappy and unloved and that, since there's a cure for anything, that they should pursue it until they're blue in the face (there's a cure for this too... it's called breathing). But it strikes a nerve... I guess a moral one to be more specific. How can they justify such advertising? It drives me looney.
Okay, enough ranting for the day. I'll leave it at that. I'll probably post something related in my hatred of the use of energy drinks at the gym and the total lack of common-sense that is absent in dieting and the other, related, cult of the skinny and fabulous. That's another talk for another day (or maybe later tonight... but I think the Biggest Loser is playing, so we'll have to see).
T
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