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Eating Disorders Affecting Olympic Athletes

heather by
heather

August 6, 2008
posted to Olympics.

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beijing olympics

It’s not just the pressure from fashion magazines and the Hollywood elite to be thin. For athletes, being thin means more. From making your weight to increasing your speed, the pressure for athletes to keep their weight at a certain level equates to pleasing coaches and securing a victory.

Even though men are not totally immune from eating disorders, by and large, the majority of eating disorder cases affect females. Most often, it strikes females in the late adolescent and college years and comes in the form of anorexia nervosa or bulimia. According to the organization Athletes with Eating Disorders, female athletes are at a double risk for developing an eating disorder. On one hand, she has the constant social pressure to be as thin as a model in a magazine or an actress on television; as an athlete, her sport often overvalues performance, low body fat, and promotes an idealized, unrealistic body size. Female athletes that participate in sports that value appearance and a lean body like figure skating or gymnastics, are more prone to developing an eating disorder.

dara torresWhen an athlete steps up and admits of a past or current eating disorder, she (or he) should be lauded for their courage and openness. One such sports figure is swimmer Dara Torres. Dara, who just also happens to be 41 and a mother of a toddler, is about to vy for a gold medal at her fifth Olympics this summer in Beijing. In a recent interview, she openly discussed the pressure to be thin and make weight as a swimmer back in her college years. When the scales were tipping to high for her coaches’ likes, a friend in her dormitory showed her how to be a bulimic.

Dara’s bulimia lasted for about five years and during those years as a bulimic she competed in the 1988 Olympics and was ranked Number One in the world for 100 freestyle. But she placed seventh in the ‘88 Olympics. When she decided to try out for the ‘92 Olympics team, she realized that she could never make it if she continued on with her bulimia. Even though she was making weight, she had no energy. So Dara decided to quit. Just like that. Cold turkey.

Fast-forward 16 years and one pregnancy later and you have Dara’s inspiring physical and mental condition sending a clear message to all of us, including her young daughter: If you treat your body with respect and protection, its power can surpass your wildest expectations.

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Olympic Athletes Who Cheat… on Their Diets

heather by
heather

August 5, 2008
posted to Olympics and Diet Tips.

beijing olympics

As we embark upon the 2008 Beijing Olympics, we marvel at the way these conditioned athletes have taken care of their bodies and health as if it were a fine piece of exquisite art. But it might be comforting to know that even some of your favorite Olympiads honor their sweet tooths every now and then.

katie hoffSwimmer Katie Hoff, 19 of Maryland, loves Hostess 100-calorie mini muffin packs. Their controlled portions and their yummy three flavors of banana, blueberry, and cinnamon coffee cake make this gold-medal hopeful feel like she’s indulging in something she shouldn’t even though they only pack a soft 100 calorie punch. And after a few hours of racing laps in the pool, I’d imagine those 100 calories are well-deserved.

In addition to  a post-workout snack, Katie has a splurge day to avoid having feelings of diet deprivation breaking her focused concentration. Many successful diets make room for a day when you can eat your favorite dishes, just not to the point of being stuffed. The Cheat to Lose and The Crack the Fat Loss Code are just two popular diet programs that have a cheat day built in to their weekly dieting cycle. Weight Watchers even gives each person 10 “flex” points each week to use how they like. For Katie, once a week, she splits a slice of Oreo cheesecake with a friend and leaves any trace of  leftover guilt on her napkin.jessica mendoza

Ninety-nine percent of the time, these athletes are noshing on a disciplined diet of good carbohydrates, lean proteins and quality fats. To return some fuel to a fatigued body, Jessica Mendoza, an Olympic softball player who also won a gold medal in the 2004 Olympics, refuels with a banana, peanut butter and berry smoothie. The combination of carbs, protein and fat gives back to Jessica’s body after hours of working hard in her position as an outfielder.

So as we all watch these world-class athletes from our cushy couches, we can steal a few of their secrets on how to live a fit and healthy life.

Stop by the DietsInReview.com throughout the 2008 Beijing Olympics to learn more about fitness and nutrition from our esteemed U.S. Olympics team.

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Review: Crack the Fat-Loss Code

heather by
heather

July 29, 2008
posted to Diets in Review.

For those of you out there who feel like you are doing all the right steps to lose weight by eating right and exercising often, but you can’t seem to lose any weight, there may a secret solution to your weighty dilemma.

crack the fat loss codeIn the book, Crack the Fat-Loss Code, personal trainer and performance nutrition specialist, Wendy Chant, MPT, SPN, lays out a pretty thorough and comprehensive plan for why you’ve hit your diet plateau and what you can do to break this stagnant cycle.

Relying on a system that has you eating a set amount of carbs each day over an 8-week period, Chant’s system tries to trick your body’s metabolism into munching on your conserved fat stores rather than eating your muscle or slowing down your metabolism, two survival techniques that your body does when you reduce your caloric intake. Chant spells out  the body’s complex but brilliant mechanism for conserving energy and illustrates why our bodies’ aren’t equipped to handle the enormous amounts of food we available to us and how our bodies hate to diet. In fact, when our bodies think they are on a diet, they do all they can to kidnap and keep safe what we just eat in fear that it will be its last meal.

Cracking the Fat-Loss Code on your body relies on taking two days out of each week to reduce your glycogen levels just enough for your body to grab fat. Then you replace those glycogen levels so that your body won’t kick into starvation mode. For those of you whose last biology class was a few decades ago, glycogen is energy that is stored in your muscles following carbohydrate consumption. Cracking the Fat-Loss Code is a distant cousin to the Atkins diet, since Chant has you reducing your carb intake to only 20 grams of certain carbs for the first seven days of your 8-week cycle. But it separates itself from many of the high protein, low carb diets by allowing you to eat carbs, the yummy carbs too like pizza and pasta, on your “carb-up” days: days when you replace those glycogen stores.

It’s a pretty cool concept: To trick our hard-wired metabolism that has been set in place since our hairy ancestors feasted on just game, nuts and berries to survive until their next meal which might not come for days or longer. I’m half-tempted to test it out. I’m not in the market to lose weight, but I’m curious to see how years of dysfunctional eating patterns has thrown a curveball or two into my metabolism and knocked it out of balance. Many of the testimonials are quite remarkable from those who have cracked the Fat-Loss Code, but I felt the book could have done a better job at spelling out portion sizes and exercise requirements for those of us who don’t know what a reasonable serving of rigatoni looks like or whether walking briskly through the grocery store in tennis shoes constitutes a work-out. So if I decide to test the Fat-Loss Code, I’ll keep you posted.

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Raising Little Yogis: 4 Reasons Yoga Benefits Kids

heather by
heather

July 27, 2008
posted to Yoga and Children and Teens.

Maybe you can’t survive without your Thursday evening yoga class. It calms you down, it gets your heart rate going, it stretches out tight muscles, and it makes you feel like you just gained about 3 inches in height and in self-esteem. So if yoga does this for you, think about what it might do for your child who has to deal with his or her own set of stresses?children yoga

In typical yoga for kids classes, the same postures that you breathe and sweat through, are taught to your little ones, but in a more creative, playful and fun manner. Here are three reasons why having your child learn how to down-dog is so important to their health and yours.

Enhanced flexibility: Keeping kids flexible is so important, especially since their day-to-day lives seem to become more  stressful and sedentary as they clock hours at school and in front of the computer. Stiff muscles can lead to injuries later on, particularly in the lower back since hips and hamstrings tug on the lower back to compensate for their immobility. Kids tend to be a lot more limber and daring than most of adults. So balancing on one foot and being able to twist their bodies into some pretzel-like positions comes much easier to them than to us. But we used to be that limber!

Years of walking, sitting on chairs, engaging in Western exercise like running and cycling or years of not exercising at all, has stiffened us up. Take a quick jaunt back down on memory lane and remember how you could swing from limb to limb on a tree, legs and arms outstretched. Or remember how you could sit in a cross-legged position for hours as you colored for hour in your coloring book? For adults, even though that kind of flexibility may no longer seem like it’s available to you, it is. But just as it took your hips and hamstrings decades to get to the stiff-place they are in now, it will similarly take you some time to soften those taut muscles and joints and get them moving again like when you were a kid.

Greater focus and attention: I’ve often wondered what would happen if we took a group of rambunctious kids and had them go through a 20-minute yoga class filled with closed-eye breathing and gentle postures. Could continuous and thorough yoga classes be a replacement or a therapeutic compliment to  many of the pharmaceuticals being dispensed to children all in an effort to quiet them down? I don’t know but a test experiment might me worth trying. It can’t hurt.

Fosters self-esteem and body awareness in a non-competitive way: By drawing awareness on how their young bodies feel and the power and strength in their muscles, kids yoga improves self-esteem and helps children connect how what they do to their body affects how they feel. This same kind of awareness can spill over from the yoga mat into the kitchen:   Kids can learn to make better food choices by realizing how what they put into their mouths affects how they feel. With childhood obesity and diabetes rates at record levels, having children become aware of what they are eating, why they are eating and how much they are eating is indispensable knowledge that can keep them feeling and staying healthy for years to come.kids yoga

Creates a connection to Mother Nature: Today, so many children are so removed from nature and its surroundings. Whether they live in an urban area or whether their activity schedule leaves them little time to play outdoors, many of the children today don’t feel a connection to nature. When yoga postures were devised thousands of years ago, the Indian sages developed postures by mimicking the animals and plants that they lived in tandem with. Postures like tree pose, lion’s pose, cobra pose and turtle pose all get their names and appearance from the creatures in nature. This provides a powerful connection to nature for children who don’t enjoy such access to the natural world.

If you’re curious about yoga for kids classes, inquire with your local yoga centers and look for a teacher who either has a certification from a yoga for kids training program like YogaKids. There are also tons of DVDs for kids yoga. To make it more fun, do the DVD with them or invite some of your childrens’ friends over for a yoga party.

Have fun!

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Lovely Lavender- The Health and Recipe Benefits

heather by
heather

July 25, 2008
posted to Healthy Lifestyle.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of going to a local lavender festival where every vendor, baked good, sandwich, and craft heralded the beauty of this multi-purposed purple-hued herb.

Over the course of the afternoon, I learned about all the different uses of lavender. Lavender is much more than an aromatic scent that is added to shampoos and soaps. In fact, it has been long used for medicinal purposes as well as a kitchen staple.

lavender 

Here is a list of just a few of the things you can do with lavender:

Relieve stress: If you’ve ever taken a deep breath of fresh lavender, your senses are immediately swept away by its soothing fragrance and its almost instant ability to caste a wave of peacefulness over you. It should come as no surprise then that many aromatherapists use lavender essential oil as a way to calm nervous conditions like anxiety or stress.  But you don’t have to make an aromatherapy appointment to reap the calming effects of lavender. Burn a lavender candle or add a few drops of lavender essential oil into a carrier oil like olive oil and apply a fingerprint-sized drop onto your wrists or on your clavicle. Take a deep breath and relax.

lavender sugar cookiesBake with it: The next time you are baking a batch of cookies or shortbread, add a tablespoon of dried lavender leaves to your batter. Your cookies specked with soft purple leaves will not only look extra beautiful, but everyone will be begging you for the secret ingredient that turned your basic sugar cookies into an aromatic culinary delight.

Ease skin ailments: If you suffer from eczema or acne, research shows that lavender oil has antiseptic and antifungal properties making it a favorite natural treatment option for skin disorders, scars, cuts, sunburns and psoriasis.

Treat hair loss: In one study, people with alopecia areata, a kind of disease that is characterized by patchy hair loss, those who massaged their scalps with lavender oil  had significant hair re-growth in comparison to those who didn’t use any oil.

Catch some ZZZs: Getting a good night’s rest is a privilege that far too many of us don’t enjoy. Rather than relying on over-the-counter sleeping aids, studies have shown that having a massage with lavender essential oil may improve sleep quality, lift spirits and contribute to a solid’s night rest.

Bug Off!: With summer in full swing, mosquitoes and other pesky insects can ruin an evening’s barbeque or a star-gazing night. To naturally protect your skin, add a few drops of lavender oil to one teaspoon of carrier oil and apply to your skin. The insect-fighting magic bullet in lavender comes from the compound, geraniol, which helps to ward off biting bugs. But since lavender does increase skin’s photosensitivity, make sure you stay in the shade.

Relax sore muscles: Whether you pushed yourself too hard at the gym or pulled up too many weeds in your garden, rather than popping a few over-the-counter pain relievers, try massaging lavender oil onto your achy joints to ease pain. Just the smell of the lavender oil alone, will help to take your mind off of your tired muscles.

Here’s one last tidbit before you go out and purchase lavender: “Lavender” comes from the Latin word, “lavare,” which means to wash. The Romans first used lavender to scent bath water and they believed that this ancient herb was also able to replenish the skin.

Do a bit of research around your own town. Lavender festivals are popping up more and more during the summer months in part due to the beauty and many uses of this cherished purple herb.

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The Magic Nutrient That Banishes Bloat

heather by
heather

July 23, 2008
posted to Nutrition.

I love summer, but one of the things about this sweltering time of year that I really have a hard time with is feeling bloated and heavier when the humidity starts to peak around 80% and upward. My rings don’t fit on my fingers, my ankles feel wider, my belly feels a bit jollier, and the list goes on.

honeydew melonWhether you experience these same feelings of puffiness because of the weather, hormones or from a night of debauchery, there is a natural solution to help you to get rid of that excess water-weight and it’s found right in the foods we eat. The electrolyte potassium is a powerful ally to have around your kitchen when those bloated symptoms start to puff up. Potassium works its magic by counterbalancing sodium, which we all know is a primary culprit in feeling bloated.  Eating foods that are high in potassium has a diuretic effect so you’re able to eliminate that extra water and start feeling more like that svelte you.

Foods that are potassium-rich are in full bloom this time of year and all of these foods offer a host of other nutritious benefits too, in addition to packing a powerful potassium punch. Aim for getting about 3500 to 4000 mg of potassium a day.  But if your feeling bloated last for more than a day or so and it is accompanied by digestive distress, put a call into your doctor just to make sure nothing else is going on.

Slice into some honeydew: Potassium-rich honeydew melon is a surefire way to take the pudge off your bloat.  It is also super high in Vitamin C and contains only 65 calories per one cup. 

Bake a batch of sweet potato fries: Sweet potatoes are another potassium-winner. They are also loaded with Vitamin A: One cup contains 769% of your recommended Vitamin A! Slice up a sweet potato, toss in a tablespoon of olive oil and bake in the oven for about 35 minutes.

avocadoAdd an avocado to your salad: In addition to avocadoes containing those fabulous heart-healthy fats, they are also packed with potassium. Make a salad with fresh spinach, which is another potassium powerhouse, and throw in a few slices of avocado.  Just go easy on the salad dressing since one cup of diced avocado contains 22 grams of fat and about 250 calories.

Peel away a banana: No discussion on potassium would be complete without mentioning the world’s most popular fruit, the banana. One banana contains between 500 to 750 mg of potassium. Slice a banana in your cereal or yogurt or freeze one and then blend it with a few dashes of soymilk for a quick frozen treat.

Using natural foods to cure some of our most uncomfortable maladies is just more proof that eating a diet that is comprised of whole foods will keep us feeling and looking great.

Happy Noshing!

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Yoga Keeps You Calm in the Midst of Chaos

heather by
heather

July 20, 2008
posted to Yoga.

We all have (or should have) our own sacred moments or times of the day. Mine is my morning yoga practice which even though I do every day, is often less than peaceful. Just yesterday, my daughter who is not quite three, woke up earlier than usual just as our new puppy, Kala, was vying for some needed attention and love. One groggy toddler and a high-energy puppy equals a very high maintenance duo that this yogini was going to have a hard time controlling.

yoga

As I was trying to get through one sequence in my practice, I realized how utterly chaotic my yoga practice had become: My daughter was running around chasing our puppy while he was running up to my mat, trying to kiss me, tug at my yoga shorts and plopping down right underneath me in a downward dog.

I had to surrender and be honest to myself, that today, my yoga practice was not going to be as complete in postures as it normally is. My attention and role as a mother, and now as a dog-owner, would have to take precedence over my stubborn determination to finish those last 20 minutes or so of postures.

So I rolled up my mat a bit begrudgingly and then got on with my motherly duties of doling out attention, affection and then some breakfast to my “two” children.

Yoga is a different form of exercise than other forms of fitness since there is such a strong mental component that forces you to look at your mind as if it were a mirror. Many experts call the ancient practices of yoga, tai chi and qigong as moving meditations. As you move and breathe, you tune inward to the thoughts and sensations that circle round and round in our minds with the ultimate hope of observing them and allowing them to pass without having them ruffle the stillness that we seek to cultivate.

I tried this attempt with Kala and my daughter. And it worked. It enabled me to roll up my mat and stop practicing rather than trying to push through those final postures, and get my practice done in a way that is familiar and comfortable to me and it prevented my daughter and puppy from further scampering around all in the effort to get me to pay attention to them.

It seems that it’s an oxymoron to utter the words chaos and yoga in the same situation, but anyone who has practiced yoga is probably a bit familiar with the external or internal chaos that goes on as we are deep within our yoga practice.

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Review: A New Food Diary Software

heather by
heather

July 19, 2008
posted to Diet Tips and Diets in Review.

Keeping a food diary is a frequently used way to take a very realistic look at what we eat and how much we eat throughout the course of the day. Not only does it make you accountable for every morsel of food you put into your mouth, but this meticulous and often illuminating food exercise causes us to pause before we reach for a handful of this or that.

For anyone who is at a loss as to why they won’t lose weight or why four secret pounds have crept on, keep a food diary for three days and write down every sugar packet that you dump into your coffee and each nibble in the snack cabinet to see as clear as day just how much you are really eating.

weight by date

Weight By Date is a software program that takes your food diary one step further by calculating the calories and nutrients of each food that passes your lips for you. Best of all, it’s affordable at under $40.

BACKGROUND
Weight-by-Date is a diet software package that journals your own fitness goals and diet progress. There are no claims that you will lose a certain amount of weight by a certain amount of time. It instead includes a weight loss calendar which tells you how much you’ve lost and when you’ll reach your goal. It also has a food diary which keeps track of what you are eating, the nutrients you are getting and helps you to stay under your caloric limits with its organized calculations. Weight-by-Date contains a health and fitness journal which allows you to track your fitness activities and progress. All of the information can be downloaded to your PDA.

PRO
- An organized and comprehensive tool for monitoring weight loss
- Personalized to your body requirements
- Syncs with PDA or travels on your PC laptop
- Affordable

CON
- Software is only available for PC users
- Requires time for entering data
- Must be technologically-savvy

Read the complete review for Weight By Date.

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Weighing in on a New Weight Loss Surgery

heather by
heather

July 14, 2008
posted to Diet News and Diets in Review.

We sure do have a confusing relationship with weight and food in our country. On one hand, we herald those who are thin and fit; but then look at the enormous availability of pre-packed, processed food that is ripe and ready for the picking 24 hours a day, seven days a week for anyone living in this country.weight loss surgery

When it comes to those who are overweight or obese, our compassion flies out the window as quickly as we can toss that burger wrapper in a nearby garbage can. As obesity reaches epidemic proportions and weight-related conditions like diabetes and heart disease are starting to be diagnosed in younger and younger people, science has started to redefine and rethink its long-held hypotheses on obesity. Namely, that obesity, just like other inherited diseases, is hereditary. Even though, we still don’t have the grasp on the precise mechanism for how obesity becomes expressed, we do know that a variety of biological, environmental, social and psychological factors come into play that make it easier for one person to become obese and another to stay trim his or her whole life.

From diet pills, to body wraps to hypnosis, we have invented, created and crafted a multitude of measures to shed unwanted pounds. And after psychological and behavioral interventions have been enacted to help someone lose weight, in steps the medical community to take a scientific stab to drop those extra pounds that too many of us carry around.

According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, in cases of severe obesity, treatment through diet and exercise alone fall short of assisting in significant weight loss. One of the ways that medicine has tried to help obese individuals is through surgery.

Gastric bypass surgery is one such popular procedure made famous by Al Roker, Star Jones and about 150,000 additional individuals each year. Recently, other forms of weight loss surgeries, often referred to as bariatric surgery, have also been created. Despite the differences between the styles of procedures, according to the Mayo Clinic, in general, all bariatric procedures alter the anatomy of the digestive system thereby controlling or limited the amount of food that can be eaten and digested.duodenal switch

Even though gastric bypass surgery is the most popular form of weight loss surgery, a new procedure called the Duodenal Switch, or Biliopancreatic Diversion, has been an increasingly popular choice among patients and doctors.

Just like other bariatric procedures, the surgery is not just for anyone who needs to lose a few pounds. In order to qualify for the having the operation performed, you must be at least 100 pounds over their normal weight and have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 40 or more. If you have a BMI between 35 and 40, you must also have weight-related health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, breathing problems, sleep apnea, high cholesterol or a few other degenerative conditions.

Duodenal Switch surgery is an effective weight-loss surgery that differs from gastric bypass in several ways. Rather than bypassing part of the stomach, about 75 percent of the stomach is removed. This drastic reduction in stomach size greatly limits the amount of food a person can eat in one setting. The small intestine is also shrunk so that the amount of fat and calories that are absorbed from food is greatly reduced.

Like any bariatric surgery, the surgery itself is just one element. It is by no means a cake-walk to a svelte self. Following surgery, blood clotting, hair loss, and loose stools are all common side effects. Individuals with Duodenal Switch surgery must follow a high-protein diet and lifelong vitamin and mineral supplementation to prevent nutrient deficiency.

For many who have had success with this surgery, they have learned to appropriately manage these potential consequences. And the benefits of losing weight, even if it means a drastic change in how and what a person eats, make it worth it.

Even though insurance companies are beginning to cover more and more weight-loss surgeries, many insurance companies still consider the Duodenal Switch procedure to be experimental and may therefore offer no monetary assistance toward it. If you are curious about it, talk to your primary care physician first and then inquire with your health insurance company.

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Yoga Injuries

heather by
heather

July 13, 2008
posted to Yoga and Fitness.

In a recent issue of Self magazine, there was an article on the perils of yoga. Namely, that the surge of yoga studios and yoga instructors all over has also sent a few too many yoga practitioners to the doctor’s office or even ER to deal with a pulled hamstring or a slipped disc.

When we think of yoga, most of us think of it as this very soft, mindful and non-combative form of exercise; yet according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety, nearly 4,500 people ended up in the emergency room after yoga injuries in 2006. When and how did downward dogs and tree pose become so dangerous?

As a yoga practitioner and instructor myself, I consider the problem two-fold. In one corner, you have the student who might be a Type A executive type who has turned to yoga to incorporate a bit more stress relief in her life. But the same personality that pushes them in the corporate world to succeed is also pushing them to lift off into a headstand or touch their nose to their legs in a forward-fold during their first class. I can just hear a left hamstring ripping into small little tears as I write this.

yoga classAnd in the other corner, is the yoga instructor. For many fitness instructors, keeping their classes filled means keeping abreast on the latest fitness trends and knowing how to teach a yoga class has almost become a marketing necessity for them to stay in business. But… many of the yoga teachers today are doing a quick weekend workshop in yoga, receiving a certificate and declaring themselves as a yoga instructor. Or even more dangerous, there are individuals who don’t have any sort of fitness background and want to go into yoga because there were cutbacks with their service-sector job or want a more fulfilling profession. They take the same weekend yoga training course and are quickly given the responsibility of teaching alignment, breathing and technique to students who may have a host of health conditions or injuries. Scary.

I don’t mean to get too hard on all of the yoga instructors out there because there are many brilliant, compassionate, and very learned teachers that have years of instruction and tutelage under their Prana yoga pants. The Yoga Alliance is an organization whose sole purpose is to ensure that individuals who want to become yoga instructors are receiving adequate training and instruction before they are allowed to help someone position themselves in triangle pose. But even this certification falls short because it is voluntary and it only requires about 200 hours of instruction.

My advice, look for a teacher who has real experience. By real experience, I mean, seek out an instructor who has learned a style of yoga from senior teachers, who was a devoted practitioner BEFORE he or she became a teacher and who teaches just one kind of yoga like Ashtanga, Anusara, or Iyengar rather than teaching a combination of different kinds of yoga.

And be nice to yourself. Remember in yoga, you’re not trying to get anywhere. You are no further along your path to enlightenment just because you can stand on your head.

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