Articles by Michael Anderson

The tremors have already shaken us – Judie quit diet coke cold turkey (and yesterday — three days in — the massive headaches started). Last week the guy at my office who picks up the recycling noted that my intake of Diet Mountain Dew was way down (to at MOST one per day), and I haven’t had any coffee at work in more than four months (and I stick to one cup in the morning at home). In other words, we here at Gear Diary are much less caffeinated than we were  earlier this year. But that same trend is certainly…

Two years ago I wrote about the ‘2009 State of Obesity’, which showed a rate rising so quickly that the map-makers needed to change the color scales AGAIN to deal with things! At that point there were 6 states with OVER 30% obesity and a single state with LESS than 20%. Now it is time again for the updated numbers and … they aren’t good. Here are the basics: 12 states now have obesity rates above 30%, though none are above 35%. 11 are between 20-25% the remaining 27 states are between 25-30% The extreme low was 20.7% in Colorado…

News flash: this summer has been HOT! As noted here, an historic amount of the world has seen record temperatures and ‘extreme heat’ this summer. Naturally, this type of heat means that it is more important than ever to keep hydrated to avoid heat-related sickness. I am currently training for a marathon (my first ever) at the end of next month, and getting ready for a half-marathon (also my first) next weekend. This has meant running more miles, harder miles, more sprints and hills, and so on. In other words – more sweat and exhaustion with less down-time. Coupled with…

When you look at the news about the health of our kids, there has been little good news over the last couple of decades: obesity, lack of activity, increased food allergies, diabetes, and on and on. So when we DO get even somewhat good news it is exciting. Here is what is getting folks going: A big government study shows that in the past decade, the proportion of children who have high cholesterol has fallen. The results are surprising, given that the childhood obesity rate didn’t budge. How can that be? Some experts think that while most kids may not…