Author Archive
Tips to Success when Starting an Exercise Program
Posted by: | CommentsHere are a few tips to help you not fail at starting a new exercise program or any other new activity.- Get the proper equipment. For running and walking this starts with good shoes fitted by an expert. Dri-fit (a trademarked type of cloth that wicks sweat away from the body) gear is made for hot and cold weather and is more than fashion.
- Get some one to do it with you or you join them. Get in a class or walking group Don’t be a loner.
- Start with the most natural of all exercises – walk. Start slow and go slow but work towards one hour a day. Ten minutes is better than no minutes!
- Don’t wait until ya gotta. Do you want to go to cardiac or stroke or Hip-fracture rehab or to a gym. Do it now or you will be doing it so you can work and dress and feed yourself in the future.
- Do what it takes to establish a habit first. Better to mosey so slow someone needs an “aimin’ stick” to tell if you are moving. The habit is more important than the exercise initially.
-Reward yourself in small ways for doing the small things. Stick with it 21 days? Give yourself a reward. Decide in advance what that will be. When I lose 10 pounds and keep it off 90 days I have $75 to spend on myself. It doesn’t have to be that much, but it needs to be a reward. One of my clients wanted to drive to particular park about 20 miles away and hike for 2 hours.
-Vary your routine from time to time. Get some expert advice. Don’t push, push, push! Give yourself a break from training. Marathoners taper down to race day, maybe even taking 48 hours off before a big race. Do the same on a planned basis. Let breaks be part of your planned routine.
-Don’t just do aerobic activity. You need some resistance exercise. You can just do body weight exercise. Beth Shaw does a great job with her form of Power Yoga. I got one of her CDs, she was calling out the flow, I was dripping sweat and then she says,”OK, now we are all warmed up!” OMG! I still haven’t conquered that tape. You could do the 5×5 with weights- go over to Strong Lifts and see what he recommends. He has the 5×5 ebook available for download if you subscribe to his feed.
-Don’t be in a hurry. Establish a habit at the same time everyday. It is also good to increase the steps you take whenever possible. Walk up one flight and down two, park further away from your destination, get in some extra steps.
So how will you fail?
- By never making a plan and starting. Don’t stay in “I can’t” or “I sure want to.”
- NOT Doing something small regularly and building on your success is the way to succeed.
- NOT Do something you like or that is easy – walking – and that you know you can sustain. Ten minutes a day is better than no minutes.
- DO NOT Increase your effort after 3 weeks but not before.
- You fail by not trying at all or stopping instead of readjusting.
All the top 10 causes of death are ameliorated by one hour of moderate (read walking) exercise each day. Early death is a big failure.
Make a commitment to exercise and write it down here. If you are an exerciser, how did you start and how do you keep your commitment? Leave a comment to let us all know.
Need some help? Let me know, email me and maybe I can coach you some.
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You are Not on a Diet but a Lifetime Plan
Posted by: | CommentsThose are words (in the tittle) written on Dr. Cliff Sheats’ Lean Bodies web site. The complete statement says, “You are not on a diet, you are on an “eating and exercise program” for life … designed to build your “metabolic furnace”.
I don’t quite believe all his claims but there is a point to what he says. You are on a life time plan. What ever you do, planned or unplanned is your dietary plan. Ask yourself this question, “Why do I eat?”.
You should have multiple reasons for eating as an action. Now another question, “What do I eat and why do I eat it?”. That is actually two questions but they are closely related. Do you eat to live or eat to live? Do you know how many calories you need to eat to maintain your weight? What do you want your diet to do for you in the next day, week, month and year? Ever thought about it? Probably if you are reading this you have and do think about it.
Do you think your diet is successfully taking you to where you want to go? My personal diet is intended to keep me healthy, energetic, and help me to fuel my body for work, play and rejuvenation. I have taken some time to develop a system of eating that keeps me away form things I am allergic to, foods that contain lots of sugar, and highly processed foods.
You can tell about your diet by your solid waste products. Is your solid waste soft, easy to pass, light brown and coil up in the toilet like rope? No! Well, you need a dietary adjustment for more vegetables and fruits and more fiber. If yo make changes expect it to take some time before you see changes – weeks of time – not just a day or two. Just like an exercise program yields results slowly but steadily, so will your eating program.
Here are a few dietary tips:
- Get 35 grams of fiber per day
- Eat 14 ounces of fruits and vegetables per day
- don’t eat protein more than twice a day
- your meat serving should be the size of the palm of your hand
- drink more unsweetened low caffeine fluids
- Eat some protein and carbs within 30-45 minutes of working out – 8 ounces of beer is good and so is chocolate milk.
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Wellness Coaching for Fitness Success – 3 Tips
Posted by: | Comments 
Ask any wellness coach and they will tell you that holiday weight gain is over exaggerated. However, the 1-2 pounds gained usually do not come off and over 20 years this can amount to 20-40 pounds and that can mean the difference between good health and a diagnosis of diabetes and/or heart disease.
Hiring a wellness coach to help you identify and correct bad habits in the areas of fitness and nutrition is a smart idea. A coach can dis-spell myths, help you identify physical needs, deal with stress and assist you in setting and accomplishing goals.
A coach will also help you with nutrition and ways to improve your focus on your true desires. Then come holidays or other periods of celebration you are going to avoid those weight gains and the potential problems that accompany them.
When I talk to patients and clients they are usually unaware of the portion size they eat. Another problem is they over estimate the amount and effect of the exercise they do get. Change is all about awareness and focus. Without both, you will never achieve your wellness goals.
Here are three things you can do that will help you increase your wellness.
1. Buy a step counter and begin to increase your steps per day. Without exercise I only get 3500 steps. When I take a walk on trails near my house I get another 3800. That takes me over 7000 but still shy of 10,000. One thing I know, 7000 is on the way to that goal. I am not perfect but I am nearer it with 7000 steps than with 3500.
2. Measure your portions and record them for one week. Then the next week, calculate the amount of calories per day. Pay attention to the amount of all sweetened foods you eat. I have posts on how many calories you need but take your weight in pounds and multiply it by 13 if you walk less than 30 minutes 3 times per week. If you walk 30 minutes 3 times per week, use 14, if 30 minutes 5 or more times per week use 15. That is the amount of calories you need to eat to maintain your weight at that exercise level. Cut your calories by 20% to begin losing weight. I weigh 165. I should weigh 150. I walk twice a week now for 30 minutes every week. Sometime I get in a third one but my number would be 13. 165 x 13 = 2145 calories per day. I must be very close to that every day as my weight is very stable. I could cut 20% of my calories to a total of 2145 – 429 = 1716. If I can’t get my mileage up to 3 30 minute walks per week by the end of February, I will have to cut calories more. How about you? Can I be of help?
3. Get more sleep. You are not going to lose weight and gain muscle on poor sleep. You need to get up refreshed. That can be a mental thing but more often it is a sleep deficit thing. Your body needs time to relax and recover. Give it more sleep. I do best with 7 hours and OK on 6. That is me. I know what I need. If I increase my exercise, I am going to have to add some sleep time. How is your sleep?
If you are having challenges with your health goals and wellness situation then talk with me. We can work something out so I can help you. I would love to hear about how you are doing with your diet, exercise and sleep.
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Diet Advice
Posted by: | CommentsDiets are always the rage. What is the newest, best, safest, most effective?
How do you know what is the best?
Who should you listen to?
Should you pay for diet information? 
How do you implement a diet?
What about a diet helps you accomplish your goal and maintain it?
Find the answers to these and other questions in this article I have written.
Leave me a comment on what you thought either here or by phone at 646-495-9201, Extension 81804. The web page for this to listen to comments is here.
The password is skinneydiet.
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My Online Wellness related FEEDS
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I love the Internet. Since I learned about rss, feeds, blogs, and Internet information, I have become addicted to reading more than ever. I read about 200 medical headlines per day. I subscribe to a number of helpful blogs and I spend about 2 hours per day reviewing material that I largely pass on to my patients. I also assemble some of that information into blog posts that are in the Thursday category. It is one to go exploring in and find out about how to diagnose and treat strep throat, how to remove ticks or prevent them from getting on you and many other topics. Some are well written and others just contain some good links. I am still a work in progress with my writing.
I thought you might like to know what I read and why. Then you can get the information for yourself. First let me review my medical news feeds.
Health Scout is a good one for general news. It is part of the Choicemedia network.
News-Medical.Net is free and able to access global medical news services for the consumer, professional and researcher.
News-Target.com is different with this -The Declaration of Journalistic Independence
The News-Target site is free of ads but leans far left. I have to grudgingly agree with the viewpoint very often.
ON the blog side of things I like:
Mark’s Daily Apple, today he has a article about human growth hormone.
Moses Fitness is a blog by Kevin an entrepreneur and health nut who has a worth while blog even if he does post irregularly.
Strong Lifts.com is a site that encourages fat loss and muscle building through weight lifting. You should get his e-book Strong Lifts 5×5 free by subscribing to his rss feed. At the bottom of every post you receive via rss or email, he puts the link for the download at the bottom.
Get Rich Slowly is a favorite blog. What does it have to do with wellness. Dr. N. Hadler of UNC and author of The Last Well Patient says that your economic status will have as much to do with how long you live as your genetics and medical care. J.D. the blog author (there is more here than just a blog) has attracted enough of a following that in 2007 he had a top 100 blog. There are millions of blogs, to have one rated this high is astounding and worth reading literally for your health.
Welcome to Dumb Little Man. Each week we provide a handful of tips that will save you money, increase your productivity, or simply keep you sane. Another blog focused on having a good life.
Timely and worth while tips. This is another top 100 blog.
One last RSS feed is my Google feeds from Google Blogs, Google News, and Google Scholar. I use Firefox browser. I go into Google News(or Blog, or Scholar) and create a search and then can click on the feed creator in the Firefox search window and direct it to my feed reader which happens to be Google but I could direct it to Bloglines or another reader.
I would like suggestions about what you think is worthy to use your time to read.
(The picture of the P51 Mustang is courtesy of the Library of Congress which released 3000 of them on Flicker. You can download them for free.)
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Choose one exercise but which one
Posted by: | Comments 
If you could only choose one exercise as your fitness activity, which one would it be? This is the dilemma I faced recently. I faced it because I know who I am and how I will prioritize my time. As much as I wanted to set a goal to do these great circuits and join a gym and on and on, I knew that my commitment level was too low. If you aren’t committed at a 7/10 or above, you aren’t going to do it.
I am and always have been committed to walking. The problem is I need to walk an hour to get enough benefit. One day a month or so ago I went to a Saturday morning walking class with Shari Sharp*, a guest author here. She is a Nordic walking instructor. We did a 3.5 mile walk over wooded terrain and a few paved roads with the Nordic poles. It left me mildly sore and enthusiastic. I hired Shari again last week and this time bought poles and got another lesson. Now, I am an enthusiastic Nordic walker/trekker. I loved it. I did a 28 minute 2 mile trek Sunday over really hilly terrain. It made me just slightly sore but I was able to recover in a day.
So, why did I choose this exercise? Because of its muscular and cardiovascular effect on my fitness. Look at this site to see the number of muscles involved.
Here are some other benefits I culled from this site:
I encourage you to consider Nordic Walking if you are looking for a single exercise to improve you fitness and control your body fat percentage.
* North Carolina Shari Sharp
Chapel Hill North Carolina
Personal Trainer and Group Fitness Instructor
Ace Certified
Senior Fitness, Nordic Walking, Indoor Cycling
www.nordicwalkingnc.com
917-357-6335
ssharp1@nc.rr.com
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Which Drug War should WE be Concerned about
Posted by: | Comments 
This is a Home Work Assignment to all my readers.
Are we a society that seeks a pill for the solution for all our troubles. Which pill is better? One that cures you in 90 days and costs $10,000 or one that controls your condition but requires a daily dose all your life and costs $3.50 per day or over $27,000 during the remaining 25 years of the persons life? We are at war with Big Pharma. They get breaks from the Federal Govt. like no negotiating the price of Medicare part D drugs, the FDA having to collect fees for drug approval from the company that wants the approval and other sordid situations. It is in the interest of the company bottom line to control and not cure problems.
Should we use pills to control a child’s behavior or should we use other modalities and pills occasionally. At what age is a child’s brain ready for the medication without harm?
Should members of panels making recommendations for the care of patients and the use of medications have had any financial dealings with a drug company in the preceeding 5 years or the 5 years after serving on the panel? Should a physician have to decide early in a medical career that they will or won’t have income from the suppliers to the medical community like pharmaceutical companies and medical device companies? They do it for their speciality, why not for business relationships. You opt for a number that indicates to everyone throughout your career that you will work on industry and ethics then removes you from making recommendations on general patient care like the panel that recommends standards of care for prevention and treatment of heart disease and cholesterol.
I have written a blog post on my site on Stumble Upon. (But to save you the time http://drop.io/oneanswer. The password is myanswer. the phone number is -
646 495 9203 ext 30697. Look forward to hearing from you there.) It is in response to an article I read and book marked there. I also set up a drop at drop.io(www.drop.io/oneanswer Password myanswer) for comments. Please, click on the link, go to the post on stumble upon, if you agree with the article and what I have written there, go to the Drop.io site or use the number (646 495 9203 ext 30697) and call in your comments and suggestions.
I want to do something and I want to use what the editors on lifehacker.com call the “Hive Mind”. The collective suggestions and opinion of everyone. We know there is a problem, lets begin to solve it. Lets discuss it and lets bring it to the attention of all our friends and neighbors. Lets think about things like getting all physicians to quit letting drug companies to buy them lunch. To get all physicians to quit seeing drug sales representatives. Lets have an online place so that physicians could get samples sent to their neediest patients but none in the office. I work in medicine and I won’t eat with the drug reps and won’t accept dinner invitations or anything I can’t use to help patients. Mostly I will sign for samples only but I would rather have a voucher and just give it to those who need it most. I want to use your comments to influence the FDA. I need 300-400 people to call the number and leave a comment about this problem.
I want your opinions. Please, read the article on Stumble Upon (Mercola here) and then call the Drop.io number or go to the site and use the password in my blog article on Stumble Upon (or as listed in the paragraphs above) and write a response. I appreciate your time and effort. Let’s DO something besides complain or restate the problem over and over.
I will be checking the Drop.io site daily an reporting results periodically.
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Podcasts for Get the Skinney
Posted by: | Comments 
Ever heard of Drop.io ? It is a cool little place that is free. You can create a drop of pictures, files, audio recordings etc… It can be private or public. Well, my blog has a couple of drops. There is the one for today’s blog article and one for the recordings of popular articles I just completed. They are not polished, there are a few ums and ands and misreads but they are short and can be listened to on the computer or downloaded.
You can find a drop at (http://drop.io/gettheskinney) here. The password is podcasts. You can even call in and tell me what you think – 1-646-495-9204 ext 71415. Remember you are on the Internet and you can’t get your words back so what you say to me may end up being said to everyone. I own the copy write to my words and contributions and you own your contribution so no one can use it without your permission but everyone might hear it.
I really would like your feedback. We are attempting to do more of this type of thing to include more professional quality sound and video. What do you want to know about, that a wellness coach can help you with? Write, call or comment but let me know.
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7 Tips to help you Eat a more Healthy Diet
Posted by: | CommentsSeven Tips to help you be more effective in pursuing a goal to eat healthy.
You can listen to these tips (5 minute mp3) by going here. Use the password podcast1.
- Do what ever you do for you and not for someone’s approval
- Know your limitations – keep away from temptation – don’t allow yourself an excuse
- Be satisfied with smaller portions, smaller rewards, smaller progress steps.
- Don’t procrastinate – if you can’t do it all, do something and do it regularly.
- You make a difference to you, don’t hold up a ruler that is used to measure someone else, measure yourself against your daily goal, did you do it. Don’t allow yourself the out that no one else in your family is thin, or fit or healthy. You can make a difference for your fate.
- Are you a VIP (very important person) or a UIP (UN-important person) to yourself? If you are a VIP, fuel yourself with the correct amount of food and the highest quality food. Organic or not eat fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, and clean meat ( from organic farms if possible).
- Prepare to be tired and hungry. Have a bottle of fresh water and a nutritious snack available for such times.
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Boot Camp or Yoga – Will you do what it takes
Posted by: | Comments Tim Lenczowski finally decided it was boot camp. He had serious health problems and had begun walking to help them. With the encouragement of friends he has progressed to losing 120 pounds, owning his own boot camp franchise and curing his symptoms of heart failure. What are his recommendations? Find a plan that works for you, Build a support system, Set goals, Challenge yourself, Focus on your goals mentally, and have Fun. Tim was able to do this because he got a health wake-up call in the form of hypertension and a serious heart problem. Many get the call, but decide not to answer. Why wait? Why not do something before the call? Walking, kick boxing and and finally boot camp were solutions for Tim, but not without encouragement from his friends. How do your friends and family encourage you? How do you encourage them? This not your solution? How about Yoga?
Lifehack.org is a blog, forum and general site with multiple authors on “how to” subjects from academics to “yoga”. In the link above, lifehack authors write about yoga. One of the impressive items in the article is a list of articles from reputable medical journals assembled in a list entitled “Yoga works, plain and simple“. Among the claims substantiated are its positive effects on Back Pain, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Weight Loss, Diabetes, Fibromyalgia and many others.
I did not know the difference between the types of Yoga. I had heard the words Vinyasa, Iyengar, Jivamukti etc… but did not know the type of yoga practice each entailed. The lifehack article lists and defines 12 different types. The authors says you have to know what you want and need from Yoga. Then pick the type best suited to meet your desires. I recommend you visit the article and get the benefit of the author’s words directly.
I will end my article the same way the yoga article ended:
NAMASTE
(according to the author, a Sanskrit word for the light in me honors the light in you)
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