Marino has lost 22 pounds and kept it off for 4 years. He says he is back to his 1983 playing weight.

For fitness, he plays golf and works out when he can. He has six kids so he is always doing something.

Bradshaw says he has lost 32 lbs. He says he does his daily three – three 10 minute activity sessions. Based on the U.S. Physical Guidelines for Americans published by the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services.

Charles Barkley has lost at least 37 pounds on the Weight Watchers diet. I first wrote up Charles here.

So, we have here three Hall of Fame athletes who also, not incidentally, remain in the public eye for their work commenting on their sport.

While I am a lifetime sports fan and look very favorably on these champions of their sports, I don’t have any interest in buying their prepared meals.

I have tried some of the Weight Watchers ones and enjoyed them very much. When I am feeling lazy I will take one from the freezer and pop it in the microwave for a good hot meal in minutes. Mr. Lazy Cook lives. However, I mostly make my own meals because I think it is important to know everything that went into the meal. These prepared meals have tons of additives that I can’t believe are as healthy as natural fresh foods.

I read the Nutrisystem page looking for its take on exercise and it appeared to do a minimal coverage of it.

The positive side of this seems to be that these formerly overweight jocks have regained control of their weight by eating the meals in their respective plans.

You can get control of your weight by paying attention to your calories (or, less efficiently, the quantities that you consume) without paying out all that money. If you are just lazy or have very little self-discipline, then by all means purchase the meals because the plans still work. You can’t argue with the math as we say on our How to Control Your Weight Page.

There are 3500 calories to a pound. If you go over your budget by that in a week you will likely put on a pound. Do it every week and you will be around 50 pounds heavier a year later.

So, make your choice, but do something to get control of your consumption. Obesity is a bitch as we say in our blog item on it here.

My biggest complaint about these endorsers is that they all rose to fame on their athletic achievements yet now all they can promote is these pretty much brainless diet programs. I wish they would give much more attention to promoting exercise, too.

Just eating correctly and not doing your daily exercise will not yield the best results
as far as your good health and more importantly healthy aging are concerned.

We have written extensively about how important exercise is to the brain as well as the body and to leave it off almost entirely is a serious lapse.

Please click on any of the brain, exercise or aging links at the right for more info.

Tony

Here are some photos of them. I think they are beautiful and hope you enjoy them as much as I did. Miry made the first one and her daughter, Marty the second.


The third photo is a little different. Unlike all the previous pastries I have shown, this one is real. The early ones were what I call ‘no calorie’ because you can look at them and enjoy that without fear of stuffing yourself with a lot of empty calories.

The lovely cupcake in its own package came from a bakery nearby. It is equally beautiful removed from the box, but probably 300 calories at least. The chocolate frosting is magnificent. Thanks, Monica.

Actual cupcake

I think the important thing to keep in mind with treats like this is that you can enjoy them for what they are – very tasty fun food. I don’t consider this good nutrition, just a nice way to celebrate my birthday. I rode  my bike around 60 miles in the three days centered about my birthday. So, I have plenty of calories ‘in the bank.’ I can spend some on this.

I ate three full meals on my birthday and also some snacks. I kept the cupcake to eat today. Again, I ate my three meals, so I have adequate nutrition. I can splurge on this sweet treat. Birthdays only come along once a year. Why not enjoy mine?

I hope it is clear that I was fully conscious of eating this large calorie piece of pastry. As John has demonstrated with his year end write-ups, unconscious snacking on many smaller treats can have diabolical results.

Tony

What is it? The U.S. National Library of Medicine describes it as “… a narrowing of the small blood vessels that supply blood and oxygen to the heart. CHD is also called coronary artery disease.”

It results from plaque building up on the walls of your coronary arteries. You might know it as hardening of the arteries. The buildup causes the arteries to narrow and then blood flow to the heart can slow down or stop entirely.

A risk factor is anything that can increase your chance of getting it. There are two types of risk factors – Those you can change and those that you can’t change.

According to The U.S. National Library of Medicine:

The risk factors for heart disease that you CANNOT change are:
• Your age. The risk of heart disease increases with age.
• Your gender. Men have a higher risk of getting heart disease than women who are still getting their menstrual period. After menopause, the risk for women is closer to the risk for men.
• Your genes. If your parents or other close relatives had heart disease, you are at higher risk.
• Your race. African Americans, Mexican Americans, American Indians, Hawaiians, and some Asian Americans also have a higher risk for heart problems.

Risk factors over which you have some control include:
• Do not smoke or use tobacco.
• Get plenty of exercise, at least 30 minutes a day on at least 5 days a week (talk to your doctor first).
• Maintain a healthy weight. Men and women should aim for a body mass index (BMI) between 18.5 and 24.9.
• Get checked and treated for depression.
• Women who are at high risk for heart disease should take omega-3 fatty acid supplements.
• If you drink alcohol, limit yourself to no more than one drink per day for women, and no more than two drinks per day for men.

Must confess that it is great to see that once again proper diet and regular exercise cover a multitude of sins. As we have said over and over here on the blog: Eat less; move more.

Tony

Thanks to all my friends for this thoughtful gift!

Special thanks to the baker, Maxine!

Tony

Stevie in action with his vacuum

The 57-year old Markovich does squats washing windows, performs lunges while vacuuming the rug. He tells The Journal the vacuum is “the most versatile exercise machine” that he knows.

The vacuum seems not a very likely candidate for versatile and I asked Stevie for more info. He gave the following explanation, “It’s more how I move when I use it…from hip twists to lunges to a move. It’s called “side to side” where I place my feet about twice my shoulder width, lower my hips to just above the floor and move my hips from above one foot to the other keeping my butt as low to the ground as possible…it is a KILLER workout for the legs and loosens the muscles in the legs and backside. It is also great for tuning balance.
“I demonstrate the “side to side” move on the local ABC TV interview at the beginning of the video on my web site. I also use the vacuum to do calf crunches when I clean the stairs and also when I lift the couches up and vacuum under them.

“If one puts on kneepads and tries to vacuum THAT way it is ridiculously hard.

“Then, vacuum with a backpack and heavy work boots.

“Folks in the old neighborhood tried it and were having a hard time doing even the simple moves.

“Vacuuming can be a workout in itself.

“I also posted some more pics on my website under the AerobicHouseCleaning tab.”

With 60 per cent of us overweight and 30 per cent obese, this country needs all the help it can get. We could use more Stevie Markoviches.

“He began developing his routines. With one hand, he hoists his sofa off the floor while vacuuming underneath with the other. He kicks high enough to close a kitchen cabinet with his toes. He puts on steel-toed boots and a backpack loaded with books while mowing the lawn to make it a sweatier chore,” The Journal continued.

I can’t help but admire this guy as well as his ingenuity. Talk about “when life gives you lemons making lemonade.” Stevie is doing it in spades. It looks to me like he is having fun doing it, too. I wrote about Enjoying Exercise here.

His video is available here.

With three weeks of January gone by, I can report I’ve lost three pounds.

John about to tackle a recent Chicago area snowstorm.

My daily net calorie intake has gone down about 1,000 calories a day without my chocolate junk foods and I’m getting slightly more protein thanks to the protein shakes I’m drinking. Having one of those every morning has been tricky, I need to integrate them into my busy morning routine and, many days, I’ve simply forgotten.

I’m doing pretty well in limiting HoHos, my greatest junk food addiction, to once a week. You may have noticed that Hostess, which makes HoHos, is in bankruptcy now. I like to joke there’s a direct relationship between me not eating HoHos and Hostess’s financial ills.

I’ve also cut back on Hershey Kisses; the most I’ve had on any one day so far this year is five, or about 100 calories.

My daily average sugar intake is below 100 grams this month, a major improvement from the 123 or more grams a day I was having last year.

I’m doing better at making sure I exercise every day and I recently bought an exercise step that my wife and I each plan to use for exercises this year. I had used one with hand weights at the gym last year and found it a nice change from my usual exercise bike riding.

Negatives so far mainly center around my constant hunger. Many mornings I drive to work screaming obscenities in the car to take my mind off it.

At work, I find myself curling up more in my chair, putting my right ankle under my left leg when I type rather than reaching for candy. The result has been a return of the psoriasis I’ve had on and off over the years on my right ankle.

I also find I’m leaning so hard on my right elbow while reading my computer screen that I hurt the elbow repeatedly.

My work days, which are already long, seem so much longer without constant snacking, a sign that the snacking was more about escaping from work than about wanting to eat.

So, on balance, I’m achieving my objectives of dropping pounds and exercising more.

Of course, there’s a long way to go and I’m assuming there will be slips, I never drop pounds in a straight line. But I’m back into the right habits.
John

I’m always looking for something to buy at McDonalds besides a salad or small hamburger that won’t be too unhealthy, so I was intrigued by this new offering.

Chicken McBites; this is a snack size serving

McDonalds has the nutrition info for the McBites posted on its nutrition page, kudos for that, so many chains introduce new items but never give nutrition info for them.

A snack size serving, three ounces, has 310 calories, 22g of carbs, 490 mg of sodium, and 3g of saturated fat.

The regular size offering, 4.5 ounces, has 470 calories, 33g of carbs, 730 mg of sodium, and 4g of saturated fat.

I doubt either size would be enough for a meal for me and the sodium in the regular size is high, more than a third of daily recommended levels.

There’s a shareable 10-ounce serving available too but sodium for that is 1,620 mg, off the charts for someone like me with high blood pressure.

All in all, this doesn’t sound like something I’ll be adding to my lunch-time options, although I will try them to see how they taste.
John

For me Plan B means using the health club in my building which includes, among other equipment, the Schwinn Airdyne Bike, a rowing machine, treadmills and several multiposition resistance machines.

At this point it must be clear that I usually go to the health club almost under duress. I can’t ride my bike, but I have to work out. So, I generally start out disappointed.

But this time it’s different. I have been working on adjusting my attitude upward for some months now. Back in May I wrote Some Super Tools for Handling Stress.

One of the key points in dealing with life in general and stress in particular is to be appreciative and look on the positive side. Instead of focusing on the fact that I can’t go out and ride my bike so I am forced to work out on these stationary machines, I look on the positive side. Despite the inclement weather I have it in my power to continue my healthy activities and get my exercise and burn my calories. In effect, I am beating the bad weather. That’s something to feel good about.

Another positive aspect of the exercise is that it is a powerful anti-aging activity. We have written numerous times about the physical and mental benefits of exercise here. Just click on any of the aging tags for previous blog posts. One of my favorites is Exercise, Aging and the Brain.

It feels great to actively work on slowing the aging process that is occurring in my senior citizen’s body.

Regarding rowing, I get totally into it. Enjoying the gripping of the bar and the full range of motion, gripping the bar and pulling while I explode out with my legs. While rowing this morning I was listening to my iPod and reading the feedback figures. My pace was 31 strokes per minute, burning calories at a rate in excess of 600 calories per hour. This brought a smile to my face as previously my pace was closer to 29 strokes a minute and the rate didn’t quite make the 600 calorie level. It felt nice to see that my body appeared to be building up from the recent sessions. Also, my wind must be improving as I had no trouble keeping up the pace.

Getting into the workout this way has made it substantially more enjoyable. I also like the music on my iPod and spending an hour downstairs on the machines gives me that entire time to listen. It’s all good.

I truly find that since making the mental adjustments my workout seems to have speeded by and I finish up feeling energized instead of worn out.

Try looking at the positive side and getting the whole experience. Consciously appreciate the benefits that your body will derive from your actions.

Tony

Many, many stories have been written trying to link her southern style of deep-fried, butter and lard-laden cooking as the cause of her diabetes.

Diabetes runs in my family; my grandmother had it, my mother and her sisters had it, a second cousin was born with it. There is a genetic component to it, but it’s also about sugar and starches that turn into sugars in our bodies. I’d say my mother’s family developed it mostly because of the starch intake that was common for them.

As my mother aged and her teeth went bad, she would eat bowls of mashed potatoes each night because they didn’t require chewing. They led to her Type 2 diabetes progressing from something she took pills for to something she needed regular insulin shots for each day.

Dealing with that is painful in many ways, including having to take a sample of your own blood every few hours to check your sugar levels. Then you need to inject yourself with insulin. Imagine having needles in your fingers and arms every day, several times a day. If that doesn’t sound like torture, I’m not sure what would.

In the last years of caring for my mother, I was diagnosed as having sugar levels that are considered prediabetic. The fear of what diabetes would mean for me caused me to start eating less candy, cakes, etc. as well as limiting my starch intake.

My sugar levels have returned to normal in my last several physicals but diabetes is one more problem I need to be constantly aware of. It’s a shame Paula wasn’t thinking the same thing.
John

Chocolate Chia Milk Shake
2 Tbsp Chia Seeds
1/4 c Lowfat Milk
3 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
1 Tbsp Hazelnut Agave (or any sweetener would probably work)
4 ice cubes

1. Stir chia seeds into cold milk and allow to thicken for a few minutes.

2. Add cocoa and agave to chia/milk mixture and stir.

3. Place ice cubes in Vitamix and add other ingredients.

4. Process on variable, from 1-10 and a few seconds on high.
I wrote about Chia Seeds back in July and suggested a number of ways of integrating these healthy seeds into your diet. Mr. Lazy Cook gives this one a big thumbs up.

I have used the Vitamix machine daily for over five years and recommend it highly. Lee Ann Savage is our favorite Vitamix Lady. You can find out more about using the machine as well as get a deal on buying one from her website.

Tony