Busting the Body Myths Part 1

There is so much misinformation about how to lose weight that it’s not surprising people don’t know which way to turn when a new product comes out. My heart sinks whenever I hear of new fads and gimmicks that are on the market, and I grieve for all the people taken in by false promises and clever marketing. I believe it is emotional blackmail: ”Try this pill/potion/drink, and presto, no more fat.”

Have you been taken in by quick-fix products? If you have had a weight problem for some time, then I’d be surprised if you have not. After all, faced with the choice of taking a pill or going on a diet to lose weight, don’t we always want to take the easy option? Of course we do; it’s human nature. Unfortunately, as I have already mentioned, none of these products actually works. They may even harm you and promote weight gain, which would of course make you a perfect customer for the next product that comes along.

I was recently speaking to a friend who is in her mid-30s and suffers from acne and blemishes. She said, “Janet, I never learn. I have tried every potion and lotion on the market, and yet each time a new one comes out I think, ‘This is the one that’s going to do it’—but it never does.” Does this sound familiar? Is this how you feel about every miracle diet that comes along?

Let’s look at a few of the myths that surround the diet industry. Here are some of the most common misconceptions.

1) Potatoes and pasta will make me fat. False. Both of these foods are carbohydrates and can make up a valuable portion of your diet. It’s what you put on them that usually causes the problem. A baked potato smothered in butter will certainly be high in fat. If it is filled with raw vegetables in a low-fat dressing, however, it can make a nutritious low-fat meal or snack. Pasta also contains very little fat itself (provided you buy the durum-wheat variety and not the type that contains egg). A pasta salad provides lots of nutrients for a tasty meal. Both potatoes and pasta are quite slow to release carbohydrates. This means that they release glucose into our bloodstream gradually over a period of time, giving us a constant supply of energy. As a result of this, you won’t feel full one minute and hungry an hour later. Of course, too much of anything—including carbohydrates—will cause you to gain weight. If the total amount of calories you consume is greater than the total amount you burn, the excess will be stored—as fat.

2) If I diet, I will lose fat from only one part of my body, so I can choose a diet specifically designed for my problem area. False. It is impossible to lose fat from one part of the body and nowhere else. As we explain later in this chapter, you lay down your fat cells at three stages of your life. Whether or not you fill them up depends on what you eat and if you exercise or not. This you can change, but no diet can empty fat only from certain cells and not from others. It’s a physiological impossibility. You will lose fat from where you store it. So if you store fat on your stomach and you diet, you will lose it from this area.

Find out more misconceptions at our next part of this series!

Lunch: Remember The Side Order of Oxygen

Twelve noon. Time for . . . the usual tuna sandwich and rice pudding from the company cafeteria? Lunch out somewhere with coworkers? Yogurt at your desk along with a juicy novel?

Whatever it is that you do for lunch, you can do more. Even if you get only 30 minutes instead of an hour, you can fit fitness into your lunch break. How long does it take, after all, to eat?

If you really need a full hour, l’m going to guess that might be one of your fitness problems right there. Yes, we should chew our food thoroughly, but that’s a lot of food chewed.

The point is simply this: Today’s lunch hour offers itself as one of the richest opportunities for exercise.

Think about it:
1) It doesn’t dip into family time. Don’t you hate those dinners messed up by having to get to the health club, health—rider, fitness video, or whatever other nighttime exercise obligation you’ve come to despise?

2) If can give you the energy you need when youneed it. And don’t you regret those late-night workouts that rev you up only so you can stay up too late watching how to make fattening meals on the Food Network? Working out during lunch can iuice you up for the rest of your money—making day.

3) It can be free. lf your company has a fitness facility, and many do nowadays, some of those unaffordable exercise gizmos you lust for probably are there just waiting tor you. And even it your place of business doesn’t have a fitness facility, you’ll be exercising on company time. Your lunch hour is built into your contract; you may use it however you see fit.

4) It can put those Lunch-time calories to work rather than just to fat. Sit back down at your desk after one of those four-star lunches intended to impress somebody, and what happens? Calories with nowhere to go generally turn to fat. But by working out- lightly — alter you eat, you give all those chocolate mousse calories in your blood something more productive to do. Research shows that moderate exercise after eating, in tact, can increase calorie-burning by as much as 30 percent.

Exercising For Arthritis Sufferers

If you suffer from arthritis, you have yet another reason to work your workouts into your morning routine: Exercise, and stretching especially, can help alleviate stiffness in joints, which tend to tighten up as we sleep. I can vouch for this personally, as an old football injury has left me with a pretty nasty case of arthritis in my lower back that leaves me feeling about as mobile as a mannequin when I first roll out of bed. After several minutes of stretching, however (pulling my knees into my chest is especially effective), followed by some chin-ups and a quick aerobic workout on my rowing machine, I feel like a new guy.

Exercise can help soothe painful arthritic joints not only by “greasing” them with a natural lubricant known as synovial fluid, but by strengthening the muscles that support them, thereby protecting the joints by absorbing impact in ways that weaker muscles could not. “By strengthening the muscles around a joint,” says George E. Ehrlich, M.D.,

Director of the Division of Rheumatology at Hahnemann Hospital and Medical College in Philadelphia, “you not only help protect the joint, you allow it to function as it was designed,”

Check first with your doctor before you start exercising if your condition is serious. It’s going to be my guess, however, that you’ll be getting a green light, and a very enthusiastic one.

Early morning exercise is such a great eye-opener because it’s such a great artery-opener, providing your body’s cells with the oxygen and other vital nutrients they need to come to life after a night’s sleep. The lift that morning exercise gives you comes from the mood-boosting cocktail of endorphins, which can produce a first-grade “high” with no strings attached, except better health.

Even if your morning routine is just some jumping and light stretching in the shower, it’s going to make a noticeable difference in how you feel, mentally as well as physically ——— precisely the stuff of which career advancement is made, according to

Robert K. Cooper, author of Health and Fitness Excellence and The Performance Edge. For most of us in today’s hyper-automated world, “increasing our physical activity is the single most important thing we can do to improve the way we look, feel, think and perform,” according to Dr. Cooper. Better yet, it doesn’t take a lot of effort to bring these energizing changes into play.

So try to make at least some form of exercise a regular part of your morning routine. And if none of the workouts we`ve suggested seem to be your style, come up with one of your own. No one knows your schedule, your body, or your temperament better than you do, after all, so you be the fitness instructor. Be creative and be flexible, varying your activities as circumstances dictate, but always remembering that exercise is exercise whether it’s done in a sweat suit or your birthday suit, in a health club or on your bedroom floor. You’ll be burning calories and building health the same as any fitness guru with chrome bar-bells and a full-length mirror.

Strength Workouts for the AM

Remember, your daily goal is to get at least 20 minutes of cardiovascular exercise, 5 to 10 minutes of strength activity, and 5 to 10 more minutes of stretching, divided into whatever increments and accomplished at whatever times you find most convenient. So if it’s some mild grunting and groaning you might prefer to do before beginning your day, try any of the following. And again, no elaborate exercise attire required. Flannel pajamas will absorb a little morning perspiration as well as any sweat suit.

Indoor Strengthening Exercises
Before you shower, try spending 5 to 10 minutes doing these strengtheners.
Back and Butt Builder. This exercise feels like swimming on land and can be done before you even get out of bed.
1) Lie facedown with your feet slightly open and your arms stretched out in front of you.
2) Keeping your head down and your abdominal muscles tightened, lift one leg and your opposite arm 6 to 12 inches off the floor. Hold for at least 5 seconds. Repeat for a total of 10, then switch to your other arm and leg.

Semi Sit-ups. Another good in-bed exercise, this one tightens the abdominals. Keep your arms straight out in front of you, crossed over your chest, or with hands clasped behind your neck, depending on your level of fitness.
1) Lie on your book with your legs bent. Keeping your chin tucked, raise your head and shoulders.
2) Hold for 5 seconds and slowly lie buck down.
Do 3 sets of 10: one forward, one to the right, and one to the left.

Arm Curls. If you have 1-3 pound weights, use them for these exercises. If you don’t, use cans of soup or jars of spaghetti sauce.

Wall Slides. Nothing beats this exercise for firming upper thighs.
1) Stand with your back against a wall with your feet about a foot from it. Keep your feet about a foot apart.
2. Slide down until your knees are bent at a 90°angle. Hold for a count of 10 and repeat as many times as you can.

Toe Raises. A good calf firmer, this can be done most anytime of the day.
1) Raise both heels from the floor to stand tip-toe. Hold for a count of 5.
2) Lower and repeat 10 times.

Isometric Curls. While waiting for your coffee to brew, do 3 sets (10 repetitions per set) with 2-minute rest in between.
1) Clasp your hands together in front of you with your elbows bent at about a 90° angle. The palm of your right hand should be facing upward, the palm of your left hand, downward.
2. Lift upward with your right hand with all the force you can while pushing down with your left hand. Hold for about 5 seconds with your handsremaining essentially motionless.
3. Repeat with hands in opposite positions.