Health and Fitness

Beware the ‘HumbleBrag’!

Despite the fact that in February of next year I will mark 24 years since I first ‘went out for a jog’ at almost 23 years old in order to help lose weight, it has been less than 6 months that I can say that I have really been ‘in love’ with running – and even less that I have considered myself ‘a runner’. I recently wrote about achieving a major milestone by completing my first marathon … and it is something I am proud of and want to share. As I have progressed through my training and various road…

Editorials, Health and Fitness

Should Doping in Sports Be Considered Cheating?

I like to skim my news RSS feed every morning just to catch up on headlines, world events, etc. Most of the time I blow off CNN’s Opinion columnists, because frankly they tend to be either fluffy rehashes of public opinion or purposeful bear-poking statements. Today’s, though, has me outraged, as the author had the gall and ignorance to argue that performance-enhancing drugs, or PEDs, should be legalized in the wake of the Lance Armstrong doping scandal. Rather than just rant on my feelings regarding doping (spoiler alert: I think it’s cheating), let me go piece by piece through Prof…

Health and Fitness, Reviews

Garmin ForeRunner 10 GPS Watch Hands-On Review

I usually like to lead my reviews with an intro, give the company providing a product the chance to say something, and then dig in … but not this time, because the Garmin ForeRunner 10 is simply that easy to recommend. In fact, here are the only people I would NOT recommend getting the Garmin ForeRunner 10: You run races of more than 50 miles distance or 5 hours duration. You don’t like to sync/charge your GPS watch within 50-60 miles or 5-6 hours of use (or 7 ‘events’). You need to use a heart-rate monitor or other ANT+ wireless…

You Dropped Your Food on the Floor. Do You Eat It?

Gear Bits, Health and Fitness

The Five-Second Rule Can Make You Sick

I’d be the first to admit that for years I have used a shorter variant of the five-second rule, which at my house we called the three-second rule. When Sarah was growing up, if she dropped something hard and dry on the kitchen floor, at least one person would gleefully shout out “three-second rule!” and the item would be picked up and consumed. For (what should be) obvious reasons, this rule did not apply to wet or sticky items, but it did apply to adults as well as children. Hey … parenting is all about compromises and on the spot decision…

Editorials, Health and Fitness

Cheater or Sympathetic Character? It Depends upon Who You Ask.

So much of a story is about perception. Present someone’s tale as one of woe, with the right keywords and attitude, and you can make a sympathetic figure. Present it differently, and the sympathetic victim becomes the villain. Today the running news has been buzzing with the tale of Christian Hesch, an elite runner who confessed to blood doping and is facing a ban from the USADA as a result. What really fascinates and appalls me though, is the wide disparity in how it is being presented, made worse by a major newspaper whose coverage blatantly manipulates the facts. Here’s…

Health and Fitness, Outdoors, Reviews

iBike POWERHOUSE Complete Cycling Fitness Plan

Through the years, I’ve reviewed several devices for iPhones and iPods that purport to be sturdy protective mounts for bicycle usage. Keeping in mind that there are inherent dangers in listening to music while you’re cycling, especially if you have to worry about dangling headphone wires, it’s important to make sure that safety is your first concern. The iBike POWERHOUSE ensures both the safety of your iPhone and your body with its well-designed mount for the 3 and 4 series iPhones. (No luck for you early iPhone 5 adopters yet.) Add in a software solution for exercise and cycling technique…

Health and Fitness

From Couch to Marathon in 6 Months, Losing 85 Pounds on the Way!

I have to confess that inside of myself, even as I notched 5Ks, 8Ks and a half-marathon, I still held the notion that I wouldn’t be a REAL runner until I completed a marathon. And having just completed my first marathon – the Wineglass Marathon in Corning, NY – and having done it better than expected … I am now a REAL runner. At the beginning of June, I wrote about what I termed the “Adult Vanquishing of Childhood Monsters” … as I ran my first (and second) 5K Road Race and totally banished my self-imposed thought of myself as…

Health and Fitness, Outdoors

The New Garmin ForeRunner 10 Prepares for the Wineglass Marathon!

I had posted about the Garmin ForeRunner 10 announcement previously, and we were expecting a review sample but had been notified that they were still waiting for stock before shipping. While acknowledging the message and thanking them for the update, I mentioned that it was too bad it wouldn’t arrive in time for the Wineglass Marathon I am running this weekend, but since I would be running a half-marathon in a month it was no big deal. Justin at Garmin got back to me quickly, saying that he would have one in my hands by Friday (yesterday) … just in time…

Health and Fitness

Is It More Expensive to Eat Better?

We have been pounding the drum of eating better for your health for a while here at Gear Diary. But Dan brought up an interesting point last week, one that gets tossed around as an excuse often: is it really cheaper to eat processed food options over fresh food you prepare yourself? I decided to do some comparison shopping this weekend, buying food for a typical day and comparing the prices for a pre-made, processed substitute meal. The results were …. read on to find out! Here was my “fresh” menu: Breakfast: Two eggs ($.22), one slice Canadian bacon($.36), and…

Gear Bits, Health and Fitness

Global Bacon Shortage Coming in 2013!

In this age of global shipping and corporate farming conglomerates, we like to think that dealing with seasons and shortages of anything is a thing of the past. But now the British National Pig Association issues a warning that I am sure is being met with great consternation at places like Epic Meal Time: New data shows the European Union pig herd is declining at a significant rate, and this is a trend that is being mirrored around the world. Pig farmers have been plunged into loss by high pig-feed costs, caused by the global failure of maize and soya…

Editorials, Health and Fitness

“Weight of the Nation” Documentary Series Challenges Obesity on DVD

Film documentaries can weigh heavy on our hearts with stark, realistic presentation on prevalent issues in our lives. In the Emmy nominated 2012 documentary film series The Weight of the Nation, filmmakers present individual testimonials, interviews, stories, and day-in-the-life footage through many perspectives on our obesity epidemic. Individual health narratives, economic factors, health care system, food industries, and genetic history/biological consequences from unhealthy diets provide the evidence and support that a multidimensional solution is essential to stop the “obesity epidemic” in our nation. Part 1, titled Consequences, contains many personal stories including a landmark study in a small Louisiana town….

Health and Fitness, Reviews

SOUND+SLEEP Nomad Sound Machine Review

I tend to fall asleep with earphones in and soft music on. It works for me and helps me fall asleep fairly quickly. (The fact that I usually go to be quite late and get up fairly early doesn’t hurt either.) My wife Elana, on the other hand, has a tough time relaxing and an even tougher time falling asleep some nights. That’s why I was interested in getting a review sample of the SOUND+SLEEP Nomad Sound Machine. The nomad is the smaller of the company’s two sound machines and it is primarily intended for travel. (It works just fine…

Health and Fitness, News & Features

My Five Day ‘Juice Detox’ Experience

The expression goes that a juice diet has three stages: “I’m hungry”, “this isn’t so bad”, and “please someone shoot me NOW”! I had the opportunity to get a package from ‘A Choice for Life’ for a 5 day detox, and as I had just spent the past several months losing weight and getting into shape I was intrigued about the ability to ‘press reset’ on my system. So I decided to give it a shot. Of course there were a few concerns and caveats: – The ‘check with your doctor’ advice should always be taken seriously: I had a…

Health and Fitness, Reviews

Aqua Zinger Water Bottle, Review

Water! It is wet. Water! It is cold (when it comes out of the fridge at least)! Water! It is key to a healthy life. Water! Too often it has been replaced by sugary soda and “sports drinks”. And it is killing us. Water is healthy. Soda is not. Unfortunately soda tastes awesome and waters… well it tastes like water. It is, in fact, why I have been drinking (way too much) Crystal Light for the past few months. Yes, diet drinks are bad for us too but I like the flavor and miss the flavor when I drink water…

Health and Fitness, Yum Log

The Most Amazing Breakfast Frittata Ever

Ok, so the title of this recipe might be slightly exaggerated, but the great thing about it is that you can make it with practically any ingredients, so while my fully customized frittata may not be your favorite, the base recipe can be used to make one you think is pretty darn good! Sarah and I eat this for breakfast almost every morning, but it would make an equally good lunch or dinner. I love it because it stays well for a few days in the fridge, and only requires 10 minutes of prep time. This covers two days of…

Health and Fitness, News & Features, Travel

Make Your Next Trip as Healthy as You Want

Ask any business traveler, the toughest thing is maintaining your exercise and eating regime while on the road. I remember when I was traveling heavily many years ago, it made keeping a routine very difficult – but gaining weight easy. I don’t have to travel very much for work anymore, but when I was planning my trip to Utah to check out the new Hyundai Santa Fe, I wanted to be sure that my marathon training and associated eating habits were not severely impacted. The first thing is exercise – this can be the hardest thing to do, as you…

Health and Fitness, News & Features

Grocery Shopping Across Generations

Last year, my mom was complaining about the quality of her local grocery store. She still liked their produce, but their meat offerings had been dropping in quality. There was a newer grocery store that opened equidistant to her house, and she just switched completely to the other store. I asked her why she didn’t shop at both stores, since each offered foods she liked, and she explained it was just too much work. In contrast, Sarah and I shop at three to four grocery stores. There’s a farmer’s market down the street and the big box grocery store up…

Health and Fitness

Does Organic Mean “More Nutritious”?

I am going to admit that while we eat a lot of fruits and veggies in my house, I can’t always bring myself to buy organic. I try to, but sometimes certain foods are just too expensive or unavailable in my area. Still, it’s always in the back of my head that it would be “better” if we bought more organic produce, but is it actually more nutritionally sound? According to a new study, it depends. There is no magic change that makes foods healthier when they are grown organic. NPR did an excellent job breaking this down into layman’s…

Health and Fitness

Eating Well on the Road

Sarah and I recently took a road trip out to Ohio for a family wedding. New Jersey to Dayton, Ohio is about a 10 hour drive, so it required travel time as well as a few days in Ohio itself. We knew from previous experiences that if we failed to eat well on the road, we would regret it with low energy and cranky behavior, so we set out to plan healthy meals and snacks along the way. Not only did we eat well, we saved money and felt better! How did we do it? It was remarkably easy! First,…

Health and Fitness, Reviews

Go Caddy Water Bottle/Gear Pack Review

Last week we posted about the importance of staying hydrated. We won’t reopen that kettle of fish but I will say that on more than one occasion I let myself get dehydrated while working on archaeological excavations in Israel and it wasn’t a whole lot of fun. So while there may be differences in opinion with regard to how much water one should drink, we can all agree that drinking water is a smart thing to do. Right? And we can all agree that drinking water beats sugary soda or diet whatever. Right? That’s what I thought. So when we…

Health and Fitness, News & Features

Garmin Introduces the Entry-Level Forerunner 10 GPS Watch for Runners

When Carly and I went for our run at GearFest in July, something that came with each of us was our GPS watch. We compared and contrasted the features and results in a video here, but the bottom line is this: we both firmly believe that using a GPS watch has made us better runners. Two of the problems with GPS watches are that they are bulky and expensive. More recently watches have dropped below $200, which is the range both of our watches cost. But the bulky part has only somewhat diminished from the Garmin 305 days to current…

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