Sad day

Well readers, today was my last day of health and fitness writing. Sad, I know. I think it even deserves an emoticon. :(

We played a game of "Survivor" for our last reading quiz grades and A Tribe Called Quest, my team, took second place and received a 100 on our "quiz." We scored five points, three of which were scored by me. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I'm basically a health and fitness writing expert. NOT.

But I did learn a few things in class:

1. Functional fitness, movement prep; I'm still not totally clear on what these things are, but they sound REALLY good when trainers talk about it. I mean it makes sense to do exercises that will suit the specific movements you make in your sport, the way Matt Herring trains the University of Florida men's basketball team.

2. Cadavers are gross, especially when compared to everyday items. Like comparing a face peeling off with a Halloween mask. It's weird. Researchers will throw cadavers around, crash cars with the body inside, but when it comes to shooting a gun at a cadaver, even in the name of research, it's the first time the researchers get squeamish.

3. Skipping is difficult. Apparently I've been doing it incorrectly my entire life. But according to Corey at IMG Academies, I'm not getting enough height or moving my legs the right way. Also I don't know if skipping is a tissue or a neural exercise, so apparently that makes it worthless.

4. Taking a chance on a class can be worth it. I know this might seem like sucking up, but it's not. I'm just glad that last semester, I had it in my head that I wanted to be a real journalist, so I should take classes applicable to that goal. While I've since changed my mind (I want to be a teacher) I'm still glad I took this class. I got to meet some cool people and learn a lot more about health, working out and proper diet than I ever would have on my own. So thank you, professor Spiker, and whoever else is reading this blog (a.k.a. my mom), for your time throughout the semester.

Bad beef

The American Food Groups of Green Bay recently recalled 96,000 pounds of beef products after two people got sick, possibly from E. coli bacteria, according to an article in the New York Times.

GROSS.

I don't know what to say to that. After the bagged spinach scare during the summer, I must say, I'm over this whole E. coli thing. I don't know how much more beef I want to eat in the near future, which is sad considering I'm having hamburgers for lunch on Friday.

Watch out readers, if you live in Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin, because all those states were distributed recalled beef.

E. coli is a leading cause of foodborne illness, and infection often leads to bloody diarrhea (EW!) and kidney failure (boo). Neither of which I want. Be careful, friends, be careful.

Calorie counting

Well after three months of being on Weight Watchers (last summer) I thought I was a calorie-counting expert, but looking up nutritional values of foods, I realized the steady decline of my skills. And as if I needed more proof that my skills aren't what I thought they were, I read this article on the New York Times Web site.

The bigger the meal, the bigger the error rate in calorie counting; and with the holidays coming up, I have a feeling accuracy is going to take a dive on my list of priorities.

I don't know how I'm going to measure all the ham, green bean casserole, rolls, mashed potatoes, carrots and pie that I plan on eating Christmas Day (and that doesn't include the wine). I didn't even attempt to count my Thanksgiving meal.

I looked at my empty plate and felt disgusted with how much I had eaten. Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce and a VERY sizable piece of french silk pie. Before dinner (which was at 3) I had a ham sandwich. And at about 9:30 p.m., after a glorious nap, I ate a turkey sandwich for a late snack.

Go ahead, be disgusted. I'll give you some more space to be grossed out.

Are you O.K. now? Sorry I had to give you all those details, but I feel better now that I've gotten holiday eating habits off my chest. I know I needed to be more careful, and if I was still doing Weight Watchers, I would definitely be dreading the next meeting.

Hopefully I'll be more careful during Christmas, and I'm sure being under my mother's watchful eye will help. (She gives my plate what I like to call "The Look of Judgement.") At least now I know not to trust myself when it comes to counting calories.

Decisions, decisions

Every winter I get so excited when I see people walking around with the red cups from Starbucks. To me it means that Christmas time is almost here. It also means that final exam time is imminent. And with exam time coming, my weekly plans include studying, studying and well, more studying. I’ll be camped out in my favorite place on campus, the Library West basement.

But spending so much time in the basement means I have to make a choice. What Starbucks drink is going to become my signature drink of the winter 2007 exam season?

I have a few options:

Peppermint Mocha: Tuesday night I went to the Starbucks in downtown Gainesville, with my heart set on my first Peppermint Mocha of the season. But what I heard when I tried to order one of my seasonal favorites, I heard some dreaded words, “we’re out of peppermint syrup.” I guess peppermint is so popular right now that they just can’t order enough. At a complete loss for what to order, I panicked. But after much deliberation I came across another one of my options:

Caramel Apple Spice: A mixture of steamed apple juice, cinnamon and caramel syrup topped with whipped cream. Healthy, I know, but it tasted delicious. But there’s one small issue with making that drink my signature study drink. NO CAFFEINE. How can I possibly have a “study drink” that has no caffeine? I can’t. Moving on.

Pumpkin Spice Latte: My all time favorite Starbucks drink. The second they bring this bad boy out in early October, I’m standing in line ready to order a Venti. This drink = yum. But like I said, I’ve been ordering this drink since early October, so I’m in the mood for a change.

I’ll have to test drive some drinks before I make my final decision, but I’m not worried about time, I have about 20 study days left in my semester. Readers, I’ll let you know what I choose.

Now you know

I remember the days of watching "Bill Nye the Science Guy" on PBS and in my elementary school science classes. He typically had a segment called "Now you know" when an announcer would list off a few interesting facts about the day's show's topic in a deep, booming voice.

Well readers, just imagine you're hearing these interesting (at least interesting to me) facts in a deep, booming voice. The facts for today are a selection from one or two articles I read this week.

NOW YOU KNOW:

Humor can improve your memory. Actually you might already know that. When was the last time you remembered a car insurance commercial during which a seemingly randomly selected person stood there and talked to you about how you could get a better deal by switching to their company? When was the last time you remembered a car insurance commercial during which a talking, computer-animated lizard made jokes and introduced you to a new brand of car insurance? Yeah. That's what I thought.

They have casinos in Seattle. Yeah I was suprised too. Random.

What "off-label drugs" are. When I first read this article I thought it meant some variation of off-brand drugs. You know, the non-brand name drugs that are usually a lot cheaper than the most popular ones and they're supposed to do the same thing. But no. Off-label drugs are drugs that people use for purposes other than what's prescribed on the label. Off-label drugs are used by non-impaired people, like people who take Adderall when they need to pull an all-nighter. Or new memory drugs being marketed not to people with memory problems, but to lawyers who want to remember more about their clients or real estate agents who want to remember more about the property they're selling. Scary, isn't it?

IMG Academies

It's been quite a while since I've been on a field trip. Over two and a half years to be precise. But last Thursday morning, our 20-person class boarded a 56-person charter bus and went to IMG Academies in Bradenton, Florida, with Captain "Yo guys check it out" Brian as our fearless driver.

IMG is a training and educational facility for both youth and professional athletes. It has training facilities for tennis, golf, baseball, basketball, soccer and other sports. At IMG they also help athletes with general performance and mental conditioning.

We had speakers talk with us about performing under pressure, proper nutrition and got hands on training with Steve and Blair, two former actors who help athletes by honing their communication skills with improvisation activities. This is supposed to make athletes more comfortable with social and professional interaction.

Another part of our tour was a workout led by one of IMG's performance trainers for the entertainment of many of IMG's trainees. We did lots of lateral bounds, skips and gallops, reminiscent of my days as a high school lacrosse player. And when I say reminiscent of those days, I mean I hadn't done exercises like that since those days. Needless to say the next day, when I swung my legs down to get out of my bed, I almost yelled out in pain. I guess I didn't realize the consequences of using muscles that I hadn't used in almost three years. But I liked the workout, I miss exercising like that. Almost makes me want to join a club sport. Almost.

Mmmm

Today was a day of reminiscing. I had lunch at the Olive Garden. Now for many the two do not go together, but I haven't eaten at Olive Garden since the heyday of my high school swimming career.

I remember the days. The days when I didn't give a thought to eating four breadsticks because I knew I had worked off forty breadsticks during workouts that day. The days when I wasn't allowed to choose what I ate, my coach chose it for me.

Now whenever I eat at Olive Garden, I'm overwhelmed with choices. Our menu used to consist of water, salad, breadsticks and pasta with red sauce (we could choose to have it with or without meat). And since our meals were so boring, our team needed some way to entertain ourselves. And what better way than with a breadstick eating contest?

The current record is 17, held by Daniel T. I don't think it's been broken and I don't think it ever will. Will we ever go back to the days of 17 breadsticks in one sitting? Probably not, and we probably never should.

My crackpod

Before I even walk out the door to go to the gym or start running, I have my iPod plugged into my ears. I've spent the past five minutes deciding what to listen to or carefully constructing the perfect playlist for my work out. If I couldn't listen to music while exercising I don't think my body would know what to do with itself.

When I swam in high school, and basically my entire life, I would spend two hours repeating the same three lines of a song to myself in my head, and believe me, that got old quickly.

According to an article in the New York Times, USA Track & Field, the national governing body for running has banned headphones and audio players at its races this year. They said it was primarily for safety but also to stop runners from gaining an edge.

As much as I could not run without the encouragement of an iPod, I understand the second reason for the ban. Whenever a favorite or particularly inspiring song comes on I run or push myself that much harder.

Because I didn't have music to listen to in the pool, I feel for these runners who must spend hours on the asphalt without extra inspiration. Good luck runners, good luck.

Florida-Georgia

Well gentle readers, I told you I would update you and I will.

The craziness, well it would have been crazier had we won the game, but I won't even get started on that. Let's talk about the tailgating. I would have thought it would be more detrimental to my health.

First of all, we had both fruit and vegetable platters at our tailgate. I must say that the girl who organized it did a great job including all the food groups. We had chicken wings (for protein), sandwiches (for carbs and more protein), the fruit and vegetables, bagels, and of course cookies and cupcakes (for the sugar content).

I ate a few chicken wings, a piece of sandwich, a cookie and some potato chips. In addition to that I also had pineapple, watermelon, cucumbers, carrots and celery. I felt like that was sufficient.

There was water, juice, Gatorade and the requisite alcoholic beverages. It was raining off and on, and there was only one Port-a-Potty for the entire parking lot, but the pre-game festivities were fun.

After the game though, it was all I could do to walk back to the tailgate and ride in the car home before I fell asleep in misery over the Gators' loss. Can't win 'em all I guess. At least I didn't over eat.

"Where shopping is a pleasure"

Before last summer, I had never experienced life without a Publix grocery store. In March of 2006 my parents moved to North Carolina and the grocery store scene there is not a pretty sight.

How are Bi-Lo and Ingles supposed to stand up to the brightly-lit, well-organized aisles of my local Publix? Whenever my mom comes to visit me at school, she comes up with any excuse to go to Publix. She relishes taking me grocery shopping to stock my house, a formerly hated task.

If you visit the three stores Web site's you can see that the other two do not hold a candle to Publix, even it's Web site is the prettiest.

But now down to the nitty-gritty of a grocery store. While browsing the aisles of one of my favorite Publix's (located at 34th Street and University Avenue) I found myself in a very happy place; the dairy aisle. The selection and quality of the food at Publix cannot be beat. I find myself taking things off the shelves at random, just because they are so pleasingly packaged. When I'm buying the "Publix brand" food I don't feel like I'm buying an off-brand, like I do when buying food from Bi-Lo.

I just love Publix, because even though shopping there inspires me to fill my cart with only healthy foods (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), everything I buy looks delicious under those bright lights.

If you're looking for me...

I'll be at Florida-Georgia, the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party! I'll be eating tailgate food and filling my stomach (and liver) with delicious beverages. Hopefully this weekend will be safer than previous Fl/Ga weekends, and in light of recent events unfolding at my school, hopefully the Greek community will be able to represent itself as it truly is: leaders in service that our school couldn't do without.
I'll keep you updated on the craziness when I get back!

My feelings exactly

I've always been the person who gets angry when they hear about celebrity weight loss. I mean how difficult can it be to drop five or 10 pounds when you have a personal trainer, trained chef and top-of-the-line gym equipment at your beck and call?? I was not surprised when Heidi Klum dropped her baby weight in what seemed like hours after birth. Renee Zellweger's post-Bridget Jones weight loss seemed effortless to me, and I was glad to know that someone else shares my frustration.

A recent article in the New York Times discussed viewer's reactions to NBC's "The Biggest Loser." Obese people compete on the show to see who can lose the most weight by the finale. These 18 people work out with a trainer and compete in challenges very different from the workouts of the average dieter.

People watching at home are at first inspired by the contestant's weight loss but quickly become discouraged when they see someone lose 31 pounds in one week. The reality of this reality show is that most people are not going to have the same weight loss experiences as the "normal people" on the show.

If I lose one or two pounds in a week when I'm dieting and making the effort to exercise, I feel accomplished and motivated to lose more next week, so I can't even imagine the sense of achievement the people on "The Biggest Loser" have.

I wish every overweight person in America could have all the necessary resources to lose the weight they want to get rid of, but the reality is that most people don't. Therefore Americans need to stop thinking that weight loss for themselves is going to be just as easy as weight loss for celebrities. Because it's not.

Powerthirst

My roommate keeps our mini-fridge stocked with Sugar-Free Red Bull so on my quest to out-energize her I stumbled across a new kind of energy drink, Powerthirst.

I certainly hope you clicked on the link and throughly enjoyed the ridiculous video. And for anyone who's interested, there is Powerthirst 2, also found on YouTube.

But other than Powerthirst, I've never had any desire to drink energy drinks. I started this school year off strong with an expensive and frivolous addiction to Vitamin Water. You know that water that 50 Cent and Kelly Clarkson advertise for, it has just as many calories and as much sugar as Gatorade but without the full flavor.

I began to drink it when my roommate over the summer was real heavy on the stuff. She never had less than three bottles of Vitamin Water in our refrigerator at a time and I mean come on, the bottles just look so cool. So I decided I would try one or two flavors and before I knew it I was on a quest to taste every single one.

Some were delicious, like Focus (kiwi-strawberry), XXX (a mix of blueberry, acai and pomegranate) and Rescue (a green tea flavor). And some were just downright disgusting, like Revive (fruit punch) and Energy (tropical citrus).

However, the Bi-Lo in Black Mountain, N.C. is very limited in its selection, so my interest was waning until I got back to school and discovered the wall of Vitamin Water at the 34th Street Publix. Then, with all the new flavors to try, my addiction blossomed into absurdity. I bought all the flavors I hadn't tried yet, along with the flavors I had grown to love over the summer.

Whenever I felt a little tickle in my throat or a runny nose coming on, I convinced myself that I was sick because I wasn't drinking enough Vitamin Water.

But I finally cured myself of my addiction when I realized, without a steady paycheck coming in, I couldn't afford the two-dollar-a-day habit it had become. That doesn't seem like much, but the disapproving looks I got from cashiers when my grocery bill turned out to be half Vitamin Water were almost deterrent enough.

Journalism and Anthropology?

I never thought that the classes from my minor would have anything to do with the classes from my major, but apparently I was wrong.

In health and fitness writing we're reading a book called "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers." Oddly enough, one of the anthropology classes I'm taking is introduction to forensic Science. In my forensics class we learned about the University of Tennessee Medical Center and its "lovely, forested grove" that is actually a hillside dedicated to the study of human decay (Roach 61). The researchers lay human bodies out in the sun or shade to study the way the bodies decay based on the environment they're in. I also read about this in the book and was shocked to actually recognize some information in a book about cadavers.

I think this is a pretty disgusting tactic, but then again I do have a pretty weak stomach. I was very disappointed to learn that I would be dealing with dead bodies and remains in my sanctuary from the strange and disgusting, my journalism classes.

But to my surprise, I like the book. So far, so good. It's well written and actually kind of funny. The author, Mary Roach, looks at cadavers with a mixture of humor and respect and it works for her.

???

Fatblogs. What is a fatblog? Well gentle readers, I was wondering the same thing. Apparently there are people out there who find it fun and rewarding to share their weight loss experiences with the world at large. Jason McCabe Calacanis is a blogger who enlisted the help of his audience in his quest to lose weight.

The LA Times called it "Weight Watchers for the blog set, with a dash of public humiliation for incentive."

You might be wondering what's so humiliating about posting your diet or workout schedule on your blog. Well the answer is... not much. What's really humiliating is that he posted his weight, whether it was up or down, on his blog every day.

Now I used to go to Weight Watchers. It's a great program for people who want to lose weight and can't do it on their own. You're held accountable because every week, someone is looking at that number on the scale and writing it down. The key word here is someONE. Not however many people look at your blog, but just one person. And that is the reason for the question marks in the subject line of this blog. Never will I ever allow my weight to be known in such a public forum.

So readers, if you're logging on every day to see what fun and surprising subjects I'm posting about, keep logging in, because I will always be posting about fun and surprising subjects. But if all you're looking for is a number, I suggest you look somewhere else.

Functional Fitness

Functional fitness was a term I had never heard before I started this class. I never thought about exercising for any reasons other than competition or weight loss. Matt Herring, the strength coach for the University of Florida men's basketball team, described functional training as keeping in mind the way the body actually functions, not doing some crazy exercise just to improve your physique.

Functional exercise mirrors the body's actual movements, according to Renata Du Plessis, a trainer at Gainesville Health and Fitness Center, in Gainesville, Fla. She listed six exercises that mirror the movements we make in everyday life: squats, lunges, pulls, pushes, twists and bends.

I think functional fitness is a very interesting concept, especially since I hate the weight room at the gym. Everyone is looking at you, and since I have always avoided it at all costs, except when coaches have forced me to go, I really have not idea how to use the machines. But all the exercises Renata listed are ones that I know how to do and can do without the judgmental stares of the residents of the weight room.

Eighty percent of Americans complain of lower back pain, Renata said, and a way to cure that is to work on abs and improve core strength. This is a great example of functional fitness, exercises I can do to improve my body in a practical way. Sit-ups and crunches are some of my favorite exercises to do, ever since my swim coach went through a phase when she would make us do eight-minute abs, we would do abdominal exercises for eight minutes and change the exercise every 30 seconds.

So I'm not going to pull any moves like the pre-Kevin Federline Britney Spears (rumor had it that she did over 1000 crunches every day) but I do plan on doing more sit-ups and crunches in hopes of reducing my back pain.

Shake it like a salt shaker

An article published on the New York Times Web site today stated that American Medical Association officials are declaring an "urgent need" for Americans to lower the amount of sodium in our diets. The problem isn't the salt we're putting on our foods, but the amount of salt that is already in the food we're eating.

According to the A.M.A., if Americans cut their sodium intake in half, they could lower deaths from heart disease and stroke by 23 percent.

The average American takes in 4,000 milligrams of sodium per day, but the average person under 50 only needs about 1,500.

The article had a link for a table listing the sodium content of some processed and packaged foods. One order of lasagna has 2,000 milligrams of sodium, well over the amount of sodium one person needs. Two tablespoons of soy sauce have anywhere from 1,840 to 2,520 milligrams of sodium.

The article made me think about the "Hawaiian chicken" I had for dinner tonight, and the three spoonfuls of soy sauce I poured on my rice. Not to mention the salt I put on my rice. Sodium is an aspect of my diet that I don't consider at all when I decide what to eat. I worry about fats, sugars, oils and the amount of greens I'm eating, but I usually don't think about sodium.

Reading this article will make me more conscious of my food choices when it comes to sodium content. Most of the sodium we eat come from restaurant and processed food, so the best way to cut down on sodium would be to eat out less. Trying to eating less sodium will hopefully help me save more money by skipping out on restaurant meals.

Late night eats: unnecessary and awkward.

Let's not kid ourselves people. You don't have to be under the influence of anything but hunger to get a little craving for some late night Pita Pit, Five Star Pizza, Jimmy Johns or even Whataburger. But immediately after eating you might get the familiar remorseful feelings, I know I do.

"Where did all that cheesy bread go?"

"Why did I eat that Number Seven with extra cheese?"

"I wonder how many calories are in a tacquito."

I don't have to get on my soapbox to tell you how bad eating fast food late at night is for you. But when you live in a place like Gainesville, late night eating takes on a whole new dimension. It's a small enough town just with the people who live there, but when you mix visitors in with the students it gets even smaller.

So, I warn you, if you're not ready for an awkward run-in, please don't leave your house in the middle of the night to hit up one of those popular late-night eating establishments. Especially if you are in your pajamas. There is a 99.9999 (and that's a legitimately made-up statistic) percent chance that you will run into someone you know and do not want to see.

So hopefully this post encourages you to stay home, no matter how loud your stomach is growling.

It's D'Lite-ful

Marketplace Plaza, on Northwest 16th Boulevard, is home to one of the most popular places in Gainesville. No it's not a bar, a club, a clothing store or even a real restaurant. It's D'Lites Emporium; a store that serves up tasty soft-serve treats at only 80 calories for an 8 ounce cup.
I love D'Lites for a little after dinner snack, along with almost every other sorority girl on campus. Tuesday through Thursday nights after dinner is over is the prime time for sorority girls to hit up D'Lites, myself included. I think every night, someone stands up at dinner and says, "we're going to D'Lites after dinner if anyone wants to come."
It's a great place to go and socialize with girls from other chapters, a tasty snack after the gym, and a guilt-free way to have great dessert. I know I sound like an ad for D'Lites but I just love it that much.
D'Lites is healthier than TCBY, another delicious low-fat dessert choice, and even though it's a little bit further away, totally worth it. D'Lites has a ton of flavors and they rotate every day, with chocolate and vanilla as constants. For example, a just a few of the flavors they have this week are Baby Ruth, chocolate pudding, hazelnut, strawberry cheesecake and butterscotch.
I had never had D'Lites before moving to Gainesville, but apparently they have stores in Orlando and South Florida. I've grown to love it but I don't think I can find an equivalent in the town of Burnsville, NC, where my parents live.

Orange and Blue

Last week Gator fans were asked to "blue out" the stadium by football coach Urban Meyer. Because we were playing the Tennessee Volunteers, whose color is a particularly heinous shade of orange, Meyer wanted all Gator fans to wear blue. The effect was awe-inspiring. As I looked across the storied Florida Field into the shady alumni section, all I saw was a mass of blue, peppered with a few (who obviously hadn't gotten the memo) wearing orange.
As I looked at the 70 rows behind me in the student section, I also saw a lot of blue. But another very noticeable color was orange. This wasn't the orange of a Gator polo or University of Florida T-shirt; but the orange color your skin takes on when you've been standing in the sun for too long.
Urban asked us to wear blue, but most people were sporting a nice orange glow. I realize I should have learned from the first game against Western Kentucky (and countless years of living across the street from the beach) that when you're out in the sun for that long, a little sunscreen never hurt anyone.
Sunscreen is a vital part of any pre-game ritual. As much as I love a tan line from my sunglasses and whatever style of dress I happen to be wearing that week, the amount of sun students are exposed to during games is highly dangerous. On a day like Saturday, when the clouds were few and far between, the sun beats down on the student side of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium like the Gators beat down on the Vols. We stand on the bleachers for four hours on a Saturday afternoon to cheer on our beloved boys without realizing the risk we're posing to ourselves.
So Gator fans, I ask you: when we play Auburn on Sept. 29 (the day after my birthday!), please wear an SPF that's at least as high as you want the Gators' score to be.