Health and Fitness

Finally Some (Mostly) Good News About Kids’ Health

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…

Health and Fitness

Introducing “Gear Diary Health And Fitness Tips”

You may have noticed over the last year or so that we have sprinkled an increasing number of fitness related posts and tips throughout Gear Diary. All of us have an interest and have taken active steps toward becoming healthier, and we want to share more of these experiences with our readers. Too often, people say it is too expensive or complicated to get, and stay, healthy. The truth is, if you know where to shop, what steps to take, and what ingredients to keep on hand it really isn’t. In fact, it is not only easy, but eating and…

Health and Fitness

The Narrative of the Olympics Is What the Media Wants It to Be

The fascinating part of the Olympics to me isn’t just how badly NBC manages to screw everyone. It isn’t even the athletic achievements. What really catches my attention is the way certain stories are presented. We get fed storylines by the media to make us feel sympathetic towards one athlete, or disdainful towards another. It’s amazing how perspective on someone’s story makes a huge difference. Let’s look at the story of athlete A. There were major expectations placed on this athlete in Beijing, and she sadly failed to deliver. In the four years since, she’s suffered some ups and downs,…

Health and Fitness, Reviews

Nom Nom Paleo Recipe App Review

Sarah and I are attempting to improve our eating habits, and a big part of that is adapting a more “Paleo” style of eating. This means cutting out grains, sugar, legumes, and focusing heavily on protein, fat, fruit, and vegetables. We can come up with some basic recipes on our own, but we would get bored quickly eating the same few dishes. One of my friends has been advocating the Paleo diet and recommended the “Nom Nom Paleo” app for the iPad, and I am thrilled that he did! The app itself is visually stunning. You can flip through recipes…

Health and Fitness, Outdoors

Are You Tough Enough For Badwater?

(image courtesy rpmbold) The Northeast USA today “issued” an “excessive heat warning”. That can only mean one thing… everyone is complaining about how hot it is outside. Some people thrive on the heat and enjoy running in it. They might want to start prepping now for the ultimate race goal: Badwater. What’s a Badwater, you ask? It is a short 135 mile race through Death Valley. Think of it as a nice afternoon stroll… if your idea of a nice afternoon stroll is taking a walk in or around your oven! It is an easy course. As you can see…

Health and Fitness

The Singularity Is Coming, and It Says You Run too Slowly!

Runners have all sorts of ways to make themselves run faster. Personally, I like using my Garmin Forerunner, since nothing makes me feel slower than watching my snail’s pace tick off on my wrist. Then I convince myself the Garmin is judging me for being slow, and it makes me push harder. Others use landmarks, like trying to run harder to the nearest tree and then slowing down, etc. Now there’s a way to train harder that ups the geek ante to near-infinite levels. According to Runners World, engineers in Australia have invented “joggobot”, a flying drone that floats ahead…

Gear Bits, Health and Fitness

Sugar, Salt, and Why We Love Junk Food

I love salt. A lot. My college friends still tease me about how I would salt my fries, then salt my ketchup for good measure. For the record, I don’t do that anymore, and not just because Sarah made me stop. We really do try to make an effort to eat “real food” (and yes, I recognize that the fried Oreos I had at the town carnival last night do not count), and this graphic shared by author Michael Pollan just further cemented that drive to eat better. I don’t know for certain that all of the claims are true,…

Health and Fitness

How Dangerous Is Football?

I played rugby for several years, both in college and post-college. Just about every person who heard I played rugby had the following comment: “Rugby? Isn’t that dangerous?” Yes, rugby is a rough sport, and I can’t deny that (especially with two screws in my knee from a rugby practice-related injury). But I always tell people that I feel rugby is safer than American Football, which has always struck me as a dangerous and chaotic sport. There’s been quite a bit of debate about concussions and football lately, and according to Forbes, even former football player Kurt Warner doesn’t want…

Health and Fitness, Reviews

C9 by Champion Flip Top “Glommit” Review

It hasn’t been too cold yet this winter, but I am sure now that it is January the cooler temps will be coming. And like every year, I’ll have two issues. One, my hands get super cold when I run, but then they heat up in gloves, necessitating a gloves on/gloves off routine every half mile. Second, using a smartphone in the dead of winter is a huge pain. It’s a juggling routine to free my fingers from gloves to tap the screen, then cover them back up before it gets too cold. I could use special gloves with capacitive…

Health and Fitness

Join a Virtual Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving for Charity!

“Turkey trots” are a very popular Thanksgiving tradition. Usually, they’re organized events, with a large group of people and race volunteers, etc. But you don’t need to join a full race to run a Turkey Trot this Thanksgiving, just head right out your front door! Instead of just running your usual route, though, you can still make Thursday’s run special. The fine folks at Dailymile are spearheading the “Feed the Turkey” virtual run this Thursday to benefit St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. All it takes is pledging $1, $5, or $10, and then heading out for your run! So this Thursday,…

Health and Fitness

C25K: Larry Is too Cool for School

Week of 6 of the C25K program is in the books. Only three more weeks to go. Here’s how this week’s workouts looked: Larry: If you follow me on Twitter you may have noticed the lack of Tweets related to the C25K program this week. No it wasn’t a Twitter failure. Judie: And if you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed the same lack of Tweets; that was not a Twitter failure, either. Larry: I was all set to follow this week’s plan until I ran until my old marathon training buddy at my neighborhood’s swimming pool over…

Gear Bits, Health and Fitness

Add 10 calories, 3G Sugar, and 50 Mg Caffeine to Water and What Do You Get? TrimWater??

When I see products like TrimWater I wonder how any of it gets sold except through slick marketing. The company, the same one that makes TrimSpa diet products, used to market this through a now expired agreement with the TrimSpa diet folks, appears to have taken …. water … added flavoring and sweetener (10 calories per drink plus 3 G sugar) – and then marketed it as TrimWater. Since when is ADDING 10 calories, 50 mg of caffeine (12 oz Diet Pepsi has 35 mg for comparison), and 3 grams of sugar (no matter how small an amount) to water…

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