Bad Advice from Celebs and Good Advice from Bloggers: Where you do you get your advice?
Running in a sauna suit? A $425 cleanse? Bringing your personal chef to cook for you at restaurants because you can’t trust the food? Stars, they really are just like us! Sorta! While I’ll never have a personal chef (but neither will I have people with telephoto lenses trying to take pictures of me bending over in a swimsuit, so there’s that), when it comes to making diet and fitness mistakes, it turns out celebrities are just like the rest of us. This week I did a slideshow for Shape.com highlighting some of the bad advice certain A-listers are spewing of late. Not to mock them – heaven knows I’ve made so many mistakes in the name of “health” that I could write a book about them (oh wait, I DID) – but because it makes me feel better to know everyone struggles with trying to figure this whole healthy living thing out. And because it made me laugh out loud when Serena Williams said, “I don’t like anything physical. If it involves sitting down or shopping, I’m excellent at it.” Honesty for the win!
But my favorite quote was from Katherine Heigel, because it is such a perfect example of how no woman, no matter how talented or beautiful, escapes the comparing curse:
“On comparing herself to other stars, Katherine Heigl recently said she doesn’t “have the discipline to work out 2 hours a day like Jennifer Aniston and doesn’t want to eat packaged meals like Jessica Alba.” She adds, “It’s only now that I realize how hard those girls work for their bodies, and what level of commitment they make to do that. I’m too lazy and I like food and I like my free time too much to spend it working out!”
While we admire Heigl for being true to herself and her natural body shape, she shows the danger of comparing ourselves to other women. Eating properly and exercising are good for you in so many ways, even if they never make you look like Aniston or Alba.” (May I say it feels weird to put my own quote in block quotes??)
To read the rest: 7 Celebrity Health Tips That Are Anything But Healthy
On the other end of the spectrum, I got to do an awesome slideshow featuring some of my fave bloggers (YOU GUYS!) and what they carry in their gym bag. Due to some technical difficulties (Dear Editor, the Internet ate my e-mail) it’s taken a couple of months to finally get posted but it’s now live on Shape. Go check out MizFit, Cranky Fitness, Mama Sweat, Cort the Sport, Ulli, All Health Breaks Loose, Bikini or Bust, Man Bicep, Go Tami Go, Truth 2 Being Fit, and TGI Paleo and see what these fit ladies are hiding in their gym bags! (Hint: one of them has 7 tubes of lip gloss!)
As a mom, I loved Mama Sweat/Kara’s description of her bag:
“Like most moms with un-potty-trained children, the must-haves include diapers, wipes, changing pad, sippy cup, and emergency snack (for both of us). I also keep everything I would need if I get the opportunity to shower (which rarely happens). I also want to be prepared for any workout, because I never know how I’ll feel once I walk in the door. So you’ll find everything from swim goggles to cycling shoes in my bag, and another important item: an extra sports bra. You never know.”
And the picture is hilarious as she’s holding her baby, her gym bag and possibly the dog too.
To read the rest: Fitness Bloggers Reveal: What’s in my gym bag
All of which made me think about where we get our health advice from. Obviously straight from the scientists and researchers would be ideal but let’s be honest, that often takes more time and money than most of us have. (And also more brain cells than I have left over after spending 14 straight hours with tiny tyrants who think nothing of peeling 4 pounds of oranges and shoving the peels in our new couch so I wouldn’t find them. Of course they overlooked the Hansel & Gretel-esque trail of partially chewed orange segments pointing like a guilty arrow at their feet.) The next level up would be sites like MSN Health or WebMD but they lack a certain charm. And then we have bloggers. Bloggers often get a lot of flack for giving advice that we are either unqualified to give or is just outright bad – which is exactly why I try never to give advice. But I tend to think of blogging as the modern-day equivalent of the backyard fence – it may not be the most accurate but it’s the most accessible and there’s something to be said for anecdotal evidence.
And the final tier of information is your mother. In case you don’t remember, your mother basically out-ranks everyone and you should always listen to her advice, mostly because she can tell when you’re getting a cold just by hearing you on the phone.
What sources do you trust for your health and fitness advice? What’s the most heinous piece of advice you’ve ever heard a celeb/writer/blogger give (We’ll leave your mother out of this)?
Oils for Acne and Oily Skin: Good or Bad?
Read full story on The Green Beauty Guide
A few days ago a customer complained that Purifying Skinsaver Original Cream contains plant oils which she believes are bad for acne. She admitted she was a fan of “not-so-green” (can I assume conventional, chemical?) acne products and advised that we made our acne products oil-free, that is, made with synthetic emollients and silicones.
Sorry. Not going to happen. If you want a chemical solution for your acne, you know where to get it. From Proactiv to Neutrogena, there’s plenty of options in every price range, and even the least expensive line offers lots of “oil-free”, toxin-rich acne treatments.
Yes, our products contain plant oils, and for good reason. For example, most of our skin oils contain organic grape seed oil that is full of antioxidant polyphenols, proanthocyanidins, and resveratrol. I use oils daily on my combination oily skin and my skin is perfectly clear. But when I use (occasionally) an oil-free foundation with silicones in it (no scent, no FD&C colors, no parabens), I break out mercilessly in hard-to-treat deeply rooted acne blemishes.
Petite Marie Organics face creams also contain organic cold-pressed olive oil which contains the highest amount of polyphenol antioxidants. In fact, application of olive oil immediately following exposure to UVB rays has a preventive effect on the formation of tumors and skin cancer. So along with emollient and film-forming qualities of oil we are supplying a rich dose of skin-protecting antioxidants.
There’s a classical myth that oily skin gets only worse from application of oils, and to prevent skin from becoming oily you should get rid of all oils altogether.
This same myth spawned a fat-free diet craze in early 1990s, and just like that craze proved to be worthless in terms of weight loss, so is oil-free myth is useless and in fact harmful when it comes to skincare. Oil production cannot be regulated from outside.
Sebum glands operate based on “commands” from our endocrine system, not the olive oil applied to skin surface. Regular cleansing, avoidance of irritating synthetic chemicals and fragrances, and careful moisturization with skin-friendly oils will do your acne-prone skin much more good than rubbing your skin with benzoyl peroxide, paraffin-laden “oil-free” lotion.
But the choice is yours, of course. Going green is a decision that you should make yourself.
How Can I Tell What’s Good to Eat??
Hello,
I’m a young male who has a very sedentary job. Although I don’t weigh a lot and I do get exercise, I know that my diet isn’t very healthy. I’ve seen my fair share of documentaries, researched on the internet, and been given advice by friends and family. Almost all of it seems to contradict each other.
Saturated fats are bad, then they’re good, and trans fats are bad. Don’t use butter use margarine (can something so artificial really be better?). Only eat raw uncooked food. Cut out all the dairy and meat. Lower your carbs. Buy 99% fat free food, no don’t, they just substitute it with sugar. And so it goes on.
My own gut feeling is that we have evolved to crave the foods that are good for us. We cooked our prey from the hunt over fires. There was no bread, fruit juice, soy milk, olive oil etc.
To put it simply, I’m looking for the truth. I want to do the right thing for my body, but I just don’t know what that is. Has the scientific community actually come up with a consensus on what a healthy diet is? Is all this contradictory and misinformation just being fed to us by people with a vested interest and an agenda? —Nat G.
Hi Nat,
You are right! There is a ton of information out there. The key is knowing who to listen to.
If you look at our health agencies, there IS a consensus. The American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, American Dietetic Association, and USDA, etc all say “Eat more fiber, less fat, less sodium (read: less processed food), more whole grains, and less sugar”. You won’t find anywhere on these sites that says to cut out an entire food group, eat low carb, or eat all your food raw. And none of them are promoting some food group to sell (such as, say the American Dairy Council or the Pork Board).
Unfortunately we have not evolved to crave what is good for us: we still crave very calorie-dense foods like sugars and fats because without this biological drive there is the chance we could starve to death. And I think cave-men very well may have baked bread over the fire, juiced fruits from the trees, and pressed olives for their oil!
The motto of dietitians is “everything in moderation”…. you can’t win if you’re jumping from one diet fad to the next, chasing the latest ‘good for you’ food group and eliminating entire food groups, such as all dairy foods. Our food guide pyramid still makes sense: choose a variety of foods from each group every day, limit your intake of fats and sugars, and get some physical activity to balance it all. (see http://www.myplate.gov/ ).
Good LORD I love my HEALTH! DANG!
This was KELLY the past few days. Seriously. Only without red hair. But I do love that coffee mug. Y’all know how I love my big mugs. 
Kids, I did my workout on Monday night and woke up Tuesday like a freight train name THE FLU hit me. OMG. I have not been that sick in years and it was ODD because- no sore throat- but I became SO OVERWHELMINGLY WEAK and every muscle in my body hurt and I was nauseated like to the nth degree. OMG. Bad fever too. Today, Thursday (is it Thursday? I’m in a fog) is my first day feeling remotely normal.
I’m telling you, although I do wake up every day and say my prayers and thank God for my health, being sick makes you SO GRATEFUL for your health!! Seriously! How can we complain about working out and getting fit EVER when there are people stuck in hospitals and that can’t walk!
I’m so in the mood for a kicka** workout today but…..I better take it easy. It’s about 6pm so I am going for a walk outside. Fresh air, reasonable way to get back into my workouts….sigh. Another week where I can’t say I did 6x a week. RATS!! BUT I am ok with it this week, as I literally could barely MOVE or eat or speak. That’s RARE!
I also feel like doing a Crossfit WOD but hello I haven’t even gone to my local Crossfit gym yet. I’m being patient because I know we have a whole lotta Crossfit fun coming up with FitFluential in 2012, and I am NOT going to a Crossfit gym locally alone….my Realtor actually is a total hardcore fitness-ninja-badass and I’m going to interview him for a future WWF– maybe he and his badass wife will go with me. He did a Tough Mudder race recently and loved it.
Also– today guess what arrived in the mail?? MY NEW TRX!! OMG OMG OMG. So badass!!
That dude pretty much defined Badass.com. right there. Holy Cow.
Anyway, I also found this video while I was dreaming about researching George St. Pierre….check it:
So. Awesome.
Anyway, I’ll be back with a KO vlog and workout tomorrow. Thanks for the well wishes!
Question of the Day: Do you get the flu shot? LOL my mom was just telling me I should and I said NO and then I get the dang flu…..
Tuesday. It’s All Good!
What’s UP people? Are you having a great week so far? I am. I’m really turning that ship around- the one that had me a bit too drained and all “I just need a nap” all the time. NO MORE OF THAT! I’m getting to bed a bit earlier every night. I’m eating the right stuff and not rushing. Thanks to our Brita Challenge* I’m drinking a Titanic amount of water every day. This is yea, keeping me from overdosing on Coke Zero, not that I think that’s a bad thing really. #dontjudgeme
Today’s workout was originally going to be Hot Yoga- but alas, I realized that with my lunch meeting (SUSHI!!) at 12:30pm, I would not have time to get home from Hot Yoga in time. So, I adjusted. I knew that I had to get my workout in before I left or I’d be pushing it to fit it in later. YEA I CAN WORKOUT LATER but the odds are not in my favor. The couch after a long day of kicking butt just CALLS TO ME. It says, Kelly it’s time to turn the brain off and close the mouth and mentally DETOX…..So. I did Cathe’s HIIT 30/30 followed by Yummy Georges St. Pierre and some GSP Rushfit.
Let me tell you- when I have a sweatfest workout, it’s easy to chug close to a gallon of water. Hot Yoga has the same effect on me. But it’s during the day that I have A CHALLENGE wanting to drink my water. I tend to reach for a CokeZero rather than water. So, taking part in this Brita Challenge has been FUN and a great way to get me challenging myself and having water chugging as part of my day. It NEEDS TO BE. We all know the benefits of hydration and water- don’t we??
- Water is nature’s appetite suppressant. A glass or two before meals can help you eat less.
- Water is essential for your body to metabolize fat.
- Substituting water for sugary beverages or juices is a great way to cut calories. If you substitute a glass of water for one 140-calorie sugary drink a day, in four weeks you’ll have cut 3,920 calories!
- When you’re in motion, water cushions and lubricates bones and joints. It also lubricates cartilage and helps the joints glide freely. So, water helps minimize joint damage caused by friction.
- Water also maintains muscle tone and strength. Muscles are composed primarily of water. It also transports nutrients to the muscle cells and decreases recovery time.
Seriously– clearly this is not in dispute. My BFF Sherry and I will text each other all day, we’ve done this for years, to show off how much water we’ve had to drink that day. We always try to one-up each other. Let’s get real too peeps, the more water you drink, the more full you are and the less you tend to mindlessly snack.
I got that cute new purple Brita pitcher for my house drinking and the freaking awesome Brita Water Bottle WITH FILTER to take to the gym, hot yoga, in the car etc. It’s working. I’ve probably doubled my water intake over the past week.
Cute. Sassy. Sporty. Like me.
Brilliant. That’s all I can say. Do you dig it?? You really must, I almost insist that you sign up for the Brita Challenge with me and go nutty drinking water. We’ll have some fun giveaways shortly and we’ll be hosting a Twitter party in a few weeks. FUN.
Here is my post-workout – or wait, sorry mid-workout sweaty vlog:
That workout broke me– burned 625 calories!! BOOYA!!
Question of the day: How do YOU get yourself to drink your water?? Do you like it hot or cold or room temp?
*Disclosure: I am working with Clorox and Brita on the #BritaChallenge campaign and have been compensated for my time commitment. The opinions that I share here and online are solely my own.*
The Dairy Dilemma [Because 'almond beverage and cookies' just doesn't sound as good.]
You can’t swing a cat in a barn these days without hitting some new report out on the beleaguered dairy industry. Not that I’m endorsing cat swinging. Or swinging objects in barns. In fact, I can’t even endorse dairy because – have you heard? – 60% of adults can’t digest milk. And the bad news keeps rolling in: all of that stuff we’ve been told about low-fat dairy aiding in weight loss and strengthening bones and giving us a healthy smile? All those claims are just not true, so says the new research which contradicts the old research – the old research that was all funded by the dairy industry. Pretty much the only thing all the researchers can agree on is that Heidi Klum is the world’s hottest milkmaid – paper coming to an academic conference near you.
You remember this ad campaign? All lies.This news greatly concerns me because I happen to love my dairy products. When I was breast-feeding Jelly Bean, I had to take dairy out of my diet because she had a milk protein allergy (which she has since outgrown). During this time I learned that I can do without most dairy. Even now that I’m done nursing I don’t think I’ve had a glass of milk in a year, I can do without most cheeses and coconut or goats-milk ice cream is just as good but there is no good non-dairy substitute for yogurt. I love full-fat, plain yogurt and I eat it every day. I also love brie with a passion usually only seen in 13-year-old girls waiting outside for the first screening of Twilight: The Sparkly Stalker Story. Not to mention that taking out whey as a protein source would seriously cramp my protein intake as even though I am no longer a vegetarian I still don’t like to eat a ton of meat. (I recently read an interesting post from Mark Sisson about why whey protein powder is acceptable on a Primal/Paleo eating plan even when dairy is generally not.)
And what about the people who just love a cold glass of milk with a warm cookie? Cue the horror of the people who like to point out ad nauseum that humans are the only animals to drink milk past infancy and/or drink the milk of other mammals – a fact which isn’t true despite being repeated a whole lot. Many animals will drink milk of any variety if they can get their paws on it (What do you think all those cats you were just swinging around were doing in the barn in the first place?) We just happen to be the only animals who farm.
Aside from my gustatory predilections, however, there remain two important pieces of information:
1) The 60% of adults as described earlier who can’t digest milk.
2) Nobody past infancy needs milk to survive.
Taken together, this makes me wonder if we aren’t too enamored of our moo juice.
So what exactly does an “inability to digest milk” look like? According to recent research, the ability to metabolize lactose, the sugar in milk, is an aberration.
It’s not normal. Somewhat less than 40% of people in the world retain the ability to digest lactose after childhood. The numbers are often given as close to 0% of Native Americans, 5% of Asians, 25% of African and Caribbean peoples, 50% of Mediterranean peoples and 90% of northern Europeans. Sweden has one of the world’s highest percentages of lactase tolerant people.
Being able to digest milk is so strange that scientists say we shouldn’t really call lactose intolerance a disease, because that presumes it’s abnormal. Instead, they call it lactase persistence, indicating what’s really weird is the ability to continue to drink milk.
Being of mostly northern European descent, I suppose that makes me one of the fortunate mutants. I personally have never had a negative reaction – usually described as cramping, bloating, flatulence, or diarrhea but can also include symptoms like achy joints, acne and chronic congestion – from a dairy product. But apparently a lot of people do, thus ushering in a new wave of dairy teetotalers. (Gives a whole new meaning to the question of “Do you drink?”)
Although the question of whether or not milk is even all that good for you is far from settled, if you do decide to partake you open up a whole other can of research worms. Apparently the recommendations to eat and drink only low-fat dairy products are all based on faulty research. Those of us who grew up in the ’90s are still trying to wrap our brains around the fact that eating fat does not make us fat but nowhere is that more true than with dairy. According to researchers, the most valuable vitamins in milk – like the A & D that must be added back into skim milk – are all fat soluble. So by drinking your milk skimmed you’re just peeing out all those precious vitamins that it was fortified with. The solution according to science is to eat and drink your milk in the least-processed form available which would be non-homogenized, non-pasteurized whole milk, cheese and yogurt. (Preferably hormone-free, grass-fed and – finished and kissed by angels too, while we’re at it.) This type of milk, believe it or not, is illegal in many states (including mine) as they require pasteurization.
For a lot of people, the decision whether or not to eat dairy is a moral one. I almost envy them in a way; they have a reason beyond a quest for basic good health that tells them what not to eat. But for me, I’m conflicted. I like eating it. I seem to be one of the lucky freaks who can tolerate it. And yet I can’t afford the real quality stuff. In the end, is milk worth it?
What’s your take? Love dairy or hate it? Are you a genetic mutant too? If you avoid it – why? Any more research I should read in my quest to know a cow better than her own calf does?
Bad Things That Are Actually Good For You: Tanning?! [New research says Vitamin D deficiency may be deadlier than skin cancer]
This pic was taken during our photoshoot for an upcoming Shape Magazine slide show (Hint: Hip Hop is involved! Sooo fun!! Shh!). My first thought when I saw it was – and I’m just going to say this because I know you’re thinking it – “Huh, Al and I look like Turbo Jennie’s sex slaves!” (Which, for the record, was not what we were going for with this shot but whatever.) My second thought was, “Hello Casper!” Our photographer actually captioned it, “The 3 bears of skin tone.” Har har. (And my third thought was check out Jennie’s bufftastic arm!!)
“It’s official. You are the whitest person on the planet,” a friend greeted me as I showed up for Turbo Jennie’s annual outdoor birthday TurboKick extravaganza the other night.
As I stood there, already sweating so profusely in the 98 degree weather* that my shorts looked as if I’d peed myself, another Gym Buddy agreed, “Yeah, when you got here, the first thing I saw coming out of your car was your legs and I was like ‘Hey, there’s Charlotte!’”
They’re right of course. I’m so pale that I forgot my costume one year for Halloween and everyone just assumed I was Wednesday Addams.
But new research out about the advantages – yes, I wrote advanatages – of suntanning is making me rethink this milky white business. Not that I can do anything about it, mind you, but I like to rethink things I have no control over. Super fun! Anyhow, researchers found that the health problems that come from vitamin D deficiency – everything from an increased risk of Autism for a baby being carried by a deficient mother to many types of cancer – far outweigh the risk of sun cancer. Says one researcher, “ a spate of studies strongly indicating that vitamin D is the most powerful anticancer agent ever known.” Do you hear that? A whole spate of studies! According to this same article, the majority of people are terribly deficient.
John Cannell, MD, executive director of the Vitamin D Council, a nonprofit educational corporation, says, “everyone knows that there is an explosion of childhood cases of autism, asthma, and autoimmune disease. It all began when we took our children out of the Sun. Starting twenty-five years ago, a perfect storm of three events has changed how much sunlight children get. First came the scare of childhood sexual predators in the early eighties, then the fear of skin cancer, and finally the Nintendo and video game craze. Nowadays, kids do not play outdoors. Playgrounds are empty. You’re a bad mother if you let your child run around. And it’s almost a social services offense if your kid gets a sunburn. Never before have children’s brains had to develop in the absence of vitamin D.”
First the advice was to avoid the sun at all costs whether by UV-blocking sunscreen or clothing or both and now they’re saying that it’s more important to get your vitamin D from the sun? Frankly, neither scenario bodes well for white girls like me.
Being ultra pale has some advantages. First, I can rock a retro dress like nobody’s business (not that I have much occasion to get all Dita Von Teese’d up but whatever, I make my own occasion!) Second, I never have to worry about buying reflective gear – all I have to do is wear shorts and I’m set. Third, people can use the word “porcelain” and my name in the same sentence without it involving a frat house, a keg and a carpet stain.
The problem comes when I’m not dressing for a garden party or a midnight run. You know, like, the rest of my life. Let’s be honest: tan is in right now. Certainly ivory white skin has had its time in the sun (har!) in past generations so I’m not begrudging the bronzed folk their turn. But a tan is definitely this season’s must-have accessory. Not only, as every magazine will tell you, does it make you look thinner (question: does that mean being white makes me look fatter?) but a golden glow makes you look healthier, shows muscle definition better, camouflages cellulite and looks better in casual clothes.
What’s a (really) white girl to do?
From a medical standpoint, I could – and do, thanks to my seasonal affective disorder – take D3 supplements. Cannell advises 5,000 mg a day. I’ve been taking 1,000. But I’m a little leery of upping it so drastically on the basis of one, albeit very compelling, article. Also, says Cannell, “Some of my colleagues think D3 supplements are enough. But that supposes we know everything. I suspect that we do not know everything. Natural sunlight has to be the preferred route whenever possible.” I have to agree with him there that natural anything is always superior to man’s manufactured version.
I really don’t want to get skin cancer though. It runs in my family and it’s ugly stuff. Plus there’s the whole premature aging and wrinkles business. From an aesthetics standpoint I could self-tan. This is not as much fun as it sounds. In my mind that phrase conjures pictures of having the ability to change my skin color at will, like a chameleon super power. In reality it involves spreading a bunch of foul-smelling goo all over my body. And it must be all over my body because seriously what is the point of having tan legs if my arms, face and chest are white? The next problem is that self-tanning is an under appreciated art form. You have to smooth it on just right, making sure to use even strokes and skipping your knees and ankles so that you don’t end up with streaks or orange spots. I always admire girls who can do it and do it right. I suppose I could always pay for a spray tan but that comes down to the real reason I don’t self-tan: you have to maintain it. The definition of futility is spending your entire life literally painting your skin a different color than the one you were born with. To wit:
Was that really necessary?At the risk of sounding like a Dove commercial, the only real solution in my book is for people to be comfortable with the skin they’re in. Are you naturally brown, ebony or any shade in between? Rejoice! Flaunt it! Be proud of that your skin is beautiful without having to do a thing to it. Heaven knows it’s taken society long enough to get to this point. But the flip side is also being able to embrace your epidermis if it is milky, light-n-freckled or downright fish belly. That and getting outside in the sunlight on a regular basis for long enough (but not too long!).
You know what though? I like my skin the way it is. It’s me. I dig it.
Do you have “a flaw” that you actually love? What do you think about this new vitamin D/tanning research??
Down Time is Good.
Good Morning Kittens!! How are you? I’m feeling wonderful….vacation is just what I needed. NO schedule, no worrying about being back at the airport in two days, no “NEEDING” to do anything. And I have been getting my YOGA ON in a big way honey. See the crow pose above? I did it yesterday!!!
Ok, so I did it for about 2 seconds but still– Kelly, my BFF who has been practicing yoga for 10+ years now and teaches numerous classes per week– showed me a GREAT way to practice this pose and work UP to it using the block. I’m AMAZED at what a solid yoga teacher can do as far as adjusting you and making sure you are working a pose for the benefit of your body. Both Kelly and Bertha – the two teachers I’ve done classes with down here, both have fixed things in me and showed me some tendencies I have that I was totally unaware of- whoa.
These are the kind of poses that Kelly (not me, my BFF Kelly down here, don’t be confused) can do in her sleep. It’s awe inspiring to watch this woman. I am learning so much and certainly becoming more and more addicted to yoga.
We are off to yoga this morning, the past two days we’ve done hot yoga and today I’m going to Kelly’s class which is not hot yoga but another style– don’t worry, she said she’ll be on a vlog with me, we just haven’t had time, as we’ve been out and about.
I will tell you this, I’m working on getting Kelly to agree to participate in some of our future FitFluential events as we tour the country in 2012. She’s that amazing. For the record, yes, she also does weights but the majority of her “working out” is yoga. And I can tell you, at age — well, I won’t tell you her age and I’ll let you guess.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: Are you into yoga? Are you a regular or random student?
What To Do When You Get Injured Exercising [Good Sore Versus Bad Sore]
Scene: the sweat-soaked, MRSA-ridden, gritty, black stretching mats at the Y. My face is planted in a pool of someone else’s grime while I try and stretch my quads. I am trying not to inhale. Grossed out? It gets better. I look up to see my friend Bobby (Hi, Bobby!) taking off his running shoe and gasp as his sock is covered in oozy bright red blood, nearly to his ankle. Bobby seems unperturbed. “That’s funny,” he says. “I didn’t even feel anything!”
“Blister?” I ask. I shouldn’t be grossed out – a mother who is a nurse breeds that out of you right quick – but I suppress a shudder. A better friend would run to get him paper towels and a band-aid. In this instance I don’t even qualify as a decent friend as all I can do is stare.
“Nope,” he answers as he peels off the sock.
Fresh blood can look like a lot more than it is. Now I consider running to get band-aids – to put over my eyes. I blame childbirth. Ever since my little monkeys started spewing bodily fluids I’ve gotten a lot wussier. My mother is not proud.
“Sharp toenail,” he finally declares. I faint.
Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?
As if Bobby’s bloody toe wasn’t bad enough, Gym Buddy Allison’s been nursing a “pinching pain” that starts on the outside of her hip and runs down the back of her leg. We don’t know how she did it or even what it is but it keeps the poor girl up at night it hurts so bad. Plus she can’t sit. (Although she and Gym Buddy Megan did do a hilarious “You can’t have me Lucky Charms” jig at the gym this morning so you know it’s not fatal.) Gym Buddy Daria’s elbow still hurts from several months ago. Krista is still recovering from her surgery. Megan’s back still spasms. Injuries and exercise, sadly, go hand in hand. (Knock on wood, I am not injured.)
Ace bandages and knee braces are the fashion statement du jour on the treadmill. Bruises (hah – you should see the bruise on my chest bone from bouncing the bar off of it doing a clean and jerk!), wrist straps and weight belts abound on the weight floor (but no, all the shaved heads are not indicative of a mental injury or a Britney fetish – although I’d love to see you ask one of those lifters about it!) In fact, if you pick any random person at the gym I bet you a thirty-pound dumbbell dropped on your chest that they have an injury story to tell. If they’re really, um, lucky they even have their very own pet injury – one they can feed & clothe and love just like a Webkin but without the yearly subscription fee!
Do You Really Want to Make Me Cry?
I won’t tell you about the worst exercise injury I’ve ever seen (In high school a soccer player caught his foot in a hole in the grass and went down, breaking his FEMUR. It sounded like a RIFLE going off. The bone came through his SKIN. His coach THREW UP. Sorry, that just popped out. I think I still have PTSD from it.) but I can tell you some things to help avoid exercise injuries.
1. Don’t exercise. Oh, wait. Not an option? Fine. You can do Sit and Be Fit. Mmm… except I bet somebody somewhere has fallen off their chair.
All right – if you exercise you’re going to get hurt. To be fair, if you do anything other than breathe you are going to get injured eventually. Which is why you need to be as smart as you can (wear appropriate clothing, ask for a spot when you need it, stretch properly etc.) but don’t despair when the inevitable occurs. (Knock, knock, knock on wood. Well, at least I think this is wood. If it’s not and I get injured today I’m so suing IKEA.)
Working Around An Injury
1. Rest. I am the worst possible person to talk to about this because as long as I can still get my shoes on, I’m in the gym that day. Hopefully you are not as compulsive as I am. But in case you are, at least try and rest the affected part. If your shins hurt (aHEM), try swimming or bike riding. If your wrists are sore avoid pull-ups and push-ups. The key here is to keep resting your Achilles heel even after it starts to feel better. Depending on the severity of your injury it could take weeks or even months. When I stress-fractured my leg several years ago during my great Over Exercising Debacle I was off all high-impact activity for 6 weeks. If I can do it, anyone can.
Ice, heat, massage and those crazy-fun foam rollers can also do wonders for mild injuries.
2. Get the proper equipment. Don’t let your pride or impeccable fashion sense prevent you from getting those butt-ugly orthopedic shoes or knee brace or basketball goggles (hee!) if you need them. Wear them with pride, bro, wear them with pride!
3. Don’t repeat. This sounds like a total duh but since I am so guilty of this one, I’m going to say it: don’t make the same mistake over again. Even if this means you can’t exercise at the level you used to. If you hurt your knee because you upped your mileage too fast then don’t do it again! Up your mileage slowly next time. Train for the surface you run on. Don’t walk and chew gum at the same time.
4. Strengthen the supporting muscles. I can’t say enough good things about this one. If you have knee pain, do more quad, ham & calf exercises. Stronger legs will help stabilize your knee and help it from going out again. Back pain? Make sure you are doing lots of core exercises. Ask a doc or physical therapist for exercises you can safely do to help with your injured area.
5. Whine a lot. Well, actually, have a good support group. Complaining loudly to a friend makes it feel so much better. Misery loves company. And sympathy. And chocolate.
I probably shouldn’t ask this but I can’t help myself: what’s the worst exercise injury you’ve ever seen? Have you ever had to work around an injury? Anyone have any idea what’s wrong with Allison and have any advice for her??
Ruining Perfectly Good Food
Sprinkles for chest hair! Now all my cooking problems are solved! Thanks Tom Selleck (and Emma, you lucky lucky girl)!
Coffee cake is one of life’s nicest niceties. Not only does it have crunchy brown sugar streusel layered with moist cake and topped with icing but it also evokes images of tea parties and twee hats and gloves and dresses with nipped-in waists and Peter-Pan collars. Fun! So when Gym Buddy Lisseth waxed rhapsodic about the best coffee cake ever, which she had made the night before and eaten for breakfast this morning, you will understand why my mouth began to water.
The Gym Buddies and I have an interesting post-workout tradition. After we get good and sweaty together and bounce some iron around (and grunt and scratch ourselves), we sit on the stretching mats… and talk about food. No matter how hard we try, every post-workout conversation eventually comes back to food. What new restaurant Krista tried, the new recipe Megan found, the number of chicken wings Allison can eat in one sitting (her record thus far – with husband – 120. In her defense it was a serious pregnancy craving!) – it’s all fair game. By the end, each of us is drooling, starving and usually armed with a resolution to cook something when we get home.
This day it was coffee cake, courtesy of Lisseth. While I didn’t have her recipe, I do have a perfectly wonderful Betty Crocker cookbook that has served me well many a time and so I hauled that out. Turning the oven on to preheat, I checked to make sure I had all the ingredients. For something so tasty, coffee cake is amazingly simple. And also amazingly bad for you! How have I never known what is in coffee cake?! My heart pounded a little faster as I looked at the white flour, oil, butter, salt and all that sugar. I knew I couldn’t make it. What would be the point of that grueling workout I just finished if I were to eat half a coffee cake afterward? Sure Intuitive Eating says to eat what you really want but it also tells me that eating half a coffee cake will make me feel like crap both physically and mentally afterward.
Sighing, I started to put the book away. But then a thought came to my mind – I could healthify it! Happily, I got out my mixer and bowl and set about substituting every ingredient. I used whole wheat flour for the white flour, replaced the fat with a banana, the sugar with applesauce and so forth. Excitedly I poured the batter into a casserole dish (like I own a bundt pan – please, you’re talking to the girl who only owns one grown-up sharp knife). The kitchen filled with yummy smells and 60 minutes later I had… banana bread. And not even good banana bread! Healthified banana bread. That was most definitely not what I was craving. In fact it was so nasty that it sat on our kitchen counter for a week until my husband finally threw it away.
This is not the first time this has happened. In fact, you could say I have a reputation for ruining perfectly good food. The ingredients all start out fine but in the process of trying to healthify the recipe, I usually ruin it. It’s gotten to the point where my cooking has become a punchline among our friends. (“We’re picking up the rocks to landscape our yard this weekend.” “Oh, so you got invited to dinner at Charlotte’s too?” Ha ha ha.)
The problem stems from having my cake and wanting to eat it too. Some healthy living ascetics can give up sugar, fat and every other vice with nary a backward glance (I’m looking at you, Dr. J!). But for me a life without brownies is just too depressing to contemplate. My compromise is to make substitutions.
There is also the other end of the spectrum: the just-eat-the-cake-already people like Bethenney Frankel and all the Intuitive Eaters. If you want coffee cake, the reasoning goes, eat a little of the best coffee cake you can find, don’t deprive yourself and you’ll be sated. However, I have a rather addictive personality or perhaps my tastebuds are just slow to catch on but if I eat only three bites of a really yummy dessert I’m going to feel deprived. I will want more than three bites and telling me to stop there will only make me want to eat more. So we’re back to the substitutions.
Lest you think I’m brilliant – I hate to disillusion you but really you should know better by now – I am not the first person to come up with this idea. There are whole books and websites dedicated to making healthy, yummy food. They also happen to be run by people who are much better cooks than I am. Now the key for me is to hone my mad kitch skillz to the point that I don’t wreck their recipes. It might also help if I got some real cooking equipment.
What’s your food philosophy: have a little bit of what you really crave or focus on healthifying the decadent recipes? Any other chronic food ruiners in the house? Anyone else still cooking with the utensils they got at the thrift store in college?