Diet/Exercise/Health/Wellness Support Thread

Parent Cafe
28341

<p>MiamiDAP- (someone might want to post this for her since I think she has me blocked) </p>

<p>Swimming strengthens your muscles. That is a good thing. For bone density to increase the exercise must be weight-bearing. Swimming is not. </p>

<p>If anyone has any interest in reading a lot about the Boston bombing and different reactions from runners (notable and otherwise), the current issue of Runner’s World is excellent (and I don’t usually say that). The back page is an interview with my buddy Frank Shorter, and it is very compelling. He had an abusive childhood, and experienced the 1972 massacre at the Olympics and had the courage to still run the marathon the next day even though it was risky. It’s all just so unreal to me still.</p>

28342

<p>^The most common for me is a foot cramp. Thankfully, I discovered what to do - taking stairs up and down. However, sometime it is very very hard to get rid of and then I am stuck in a place since I cannot drive and my H. might not be there, his massage and stretch (his hand are very warm) are also very good remedy. However, the lighter cramp can happen on any part of my body. It is incredibly painful. Most time if it happens during swimming, I have to get out, sometime I am able to stop it in a water, but definitely would have to switch to breast stroke - the least prone to cramp my feet. One time I got out, went into hot shower while still streatching and was able to fonish my swim afterwards. It is a great nuisance and so is my vertigo, which I learned to control better than cramps</p>

28343

<p>Bromfield, here are the things I do religiously before I run. Not sure if this routine helps or whether I’ve just been lucky in not cramping up.</p>

<p>Eat half a banana or part of a mango about an hour before I run. In addition I usually have some almonds and maybe some berries or a spoonful or two of peanut butter. </p>

<p>Stretches: 5 legs swings each side, a couple of reverse lunges each side, quads, and a few squats. Before I put on my shoes I do hurdler’s stretch and a couple of inner and outer thigh stretches. I also walk for a few minutes.</p>

28344

<p>Here is a helpful post from Runningahead for anyone who will be running in hot weather (DadII, BCE, Plantmom et al). The topic was running in extreme heat. This guy really knows his HR stuff.</p>

<p>“A heart rate monitor will help you to stay at proper intensities during the summer. For some people, race pace in temps 80°+ can be as much as 20% or more slower than races run in 50°. Your training paces have to be adjusted to be slower. Otherwise, you can end up doing a good portion of your summer training near summer marathon pace, which could lead to regression. Or if you’re doing speed work, you could be easily pushing near MHR, when perhaps you want to be working near 5k-10k pace (for summer). If you do aerobic workouts normally at (e.g.) 70-75% in the cool months, you should be doing them at the same intensity during the summer. A heart rate monitor can help you keep your intensities where they should be. You might find these paces will also be up to 20% slower like your race paces would be. I find that aerobic progress can be made in the summer with lesser volume than the cooler months. You can measure progress with aerobic runs run on the same course at the same HR. The body will acclimate to a certain degree after a few weeks, if you keep at it in the hot weather—avoiding overdoing it. Proper training is really all about managing the total stress on the body (work + rest). The summer can easily add 20% more stress to some people’s training load, if they don’t adjust. A heart rate monitor is a great tool to help make the necessary adjustments.”</p>

28345

<p>Vitamin D book:</p>

<p>[The</a> Vitamin D Solution: A 3-Step Strategy to Cure Our Most Common Health Problems: Michael F. Holick, Andrew Weil: 9780452296886: Amazon.com: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/The-Vitamin-Solution-Strategy-Problems/dp/0452296889]The”>http://www.amazon.com/The-Vitamin-Solution-Strategy-Problems/dp/0452296889)</p>

<p>The doc’s name is [Michael</a> Holick](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_F._Holick]Michael”>Michael F. Holick - Wikipedia). He identified the two main forms of Vitamin D in the body as a young researcher and built a career as the Vitamin D guru.</p>

<p>To be honest, the book is probably TMI. Chapter after chapter on how Vitamin D cures every imaginable ailment. I read it because I figured he would be the guy for authoritative advice on a reasonable range of vitamin D supplementation. Not that I don’t trust the usual suspects I turn to, but you know… trust and verify!</p>

<p>Poking around his website is probably just as effective:</p>

<p>[Vitamin</a> D Health](<a href=“http://vitamindhealth.org/]Vitamin”>http://vitamindhealth.org/)</p>

28346

<p>I like this web site:</p>

<p>[Vitamin</a> D Council](<a href=“http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/]Vitamin”>http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/)</p>

28347

<p>If you have a reasonable exposure to day light every day, you probably will end up with sufficient level of D. The key in everything that I do in my life has been to approach it from Common Sense or being Reasonable about it. Too much of anything, including too much focus on something will harm me, the least, it would drive me into depression. Well, maybe others have a different opinion, but I keep reminding my kids about balanced life and both (adults) seem to appreciate this approach and pursue it whenever possible. There are some crazy periods in everybody life that will be skewed in some direction. But if I personally cannot continue this indefinitely, need to go back to the balance. Too much attention to anything seems not to work for me at all, forget D, there are other more important things that still need to be balnaced.</p>

28348

<p>newfaith:</p>

<p>My go to sources for good protein include:</p>

<p>Chicken
Usually breast, sometimes skinless, sometimes not. I always cook enough for two meals. Leftover chicken is great in my world famous chicken caesar salad, which I have for dinner once a week because I like it so much…</p>

<p>**All types of seafood **
The few types that aren’t “lean” per se, like salmon, have very beneficial fats that increase Omega 3s and raise HDL.</p>

<p>Center cut pork chops and pork roasts
A major staple for me, inexensive, easy to cook. I do a big center cut pork roast on the grill, slice it into single servings (12 to 14 ounces raw) and freeze the leftovers.</p>

<p>Flank steak, steak tips, ribeye steak
Big fan of grilling flank steak or big steak tips and having it for several meals. Occasionally, a big 16 ounce rib eye as a treat.</p>

<p>Eggs and cheese
I don’t eat a lot of eggs, but I will have three eggs and bacon or a three-egg omelet once a week or so. I eat an ounce or two of cheese every day. Always full-fat aged cheddar, blue cheese, or parmegianno reggiano…</p>

<hr>

<p>I’m not really concerned about the fat in my diet, so I also cook some fatty cuts of meat, including baby back ribs, pork shoulder, beef pot roast, etc. I also eat some bacon.</p>

<p>I should cook some lamb chops from time to time just for variety, although it’s hard to eat lamb without mint jelly (and that stuff will kill you…)</p>

<hr>

<p>I think the starting point on “lean protein” is asking yourself what you are trying to accomplish by limiting protein choices to “lean”. It now turns out that there isn’t any link between dietary fat from animal protein sources and risk of death from cardiovascular or any other kind of disease. Without that link, you have ask if there is really any reason to avoid animal protein – within reason.</p>

28349

<p>Good Vit D info:</p>

<p><a href=“http://medschool.creighton.edu/fileadmin/user/medicine/Departments/Medicine/Endocrinology/ORC/Vitamin_20D_20for_20website_MOD_2.pdf[/url]”>http://medschool.creighton.edu/fileadmin/user/medicine/Departments/Medicine/Endocrinology/ORC/Vitamin_20D_20for_20website_MOD_2.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

28350

<p>*If you have a reasonable exposure to day light every day, you probably will end up with sufficient level of D. *</p>

<p>I certainly believed this.
Until I was diagnosed with osteoporosis five years ago, despite a physical job that took me outside virtually everyday year round, & not having any other risk factors except for being white & female. :frowning:
I began taking Vit D supplementation as per my rheumatologists orders but otherwise haven’t changed anything and my follow up Dexa a month ago indicated I no longer have osteoporosis.</p>

28351

<p>The only reason I can come up with for limiting your protein foods to lean protein only is to reduce overall calories.</p>

28352

<p>Ek, people who spend a lot of time outdoors do not make enough Vit D if they use sun protection; sunscreen affects your skin’s ability to produce Vit D since it blocks the part of the UV spectrum needed for the reaction to happen.</p>

28353

<p>EK - how much vitamin D did you take? The rheumatologist didn’t put you on one of those scary drugs? thanks for the info</p>

28354

<p>Need recommendations for a pair of cross-training shoes. Had a hard time stabilizing myself doing the Insanity jumps.</p>

28355

<p>I often forget sun protection, even in the winter when there is a great deal of reflection off the snow, although I am a redhead and should be more conscientious. ( worked tracking wildlife in the Cascades, amongst other things)</p>

<p>Actually, I did change something else. I began going gluten free as I noticed that I had severe digestive issues when eating wheat even though I tested negative for celiac & even allergy. I wondered if inability to absorb nutrients had caused the osteoporosis. I now still eat wheat, just not every day as to give my insides a chance to recover.</p>

<p>I probably only use( sunscreen) it 1/10th of the time.
I take vitamin D 400 mg a few times a week once I got my levels built back up. It is individual.</p>

28356

<p>

</p>

<p>I’m not sure what jumps are in Insanity, but I have found that jumps in general are a very advanced exercise. Seems silly, but they are very demanding, to the point where many trainers are hesitant to use them with older people. Definitely something to start slowly and progress only as you physically can. I was even warned not to go crazy with the agility ladder (basically like hopscotch). Sure enough, a little bit goes a long way.</p>

<p>It’s humbling to realize that something that any 8-year old kid can do is an “advanced” exercise, but it is what it is.</p>

<p>One of the drills in my warm up right now is simply jumping forward and back across an imaginary line and then jumping side to side across an imaginary line. Just little tiny jumps.</p>

<p>I just wear running shoes for these workouts. Either Brooks Addiction or Brooks Adrenaline.</p>

28357

<p>As I understand it, living as far north as New Hampshire, it is impossible to make any vitamin D from sun exposure 8 months of the year and essentially impossible to make enough at any time during the year.</p>

<p>Holick uses a rough rule of thumb. Every 100 IU of daily Vitamin D supplement will raise your blood test by one point. So, if you were at 10 ng/mL on the blood test, you would need to take 2000 IU daily to raise your test results to 30 mg/ML.</p>

<p>The recommended levels are a minimum of 20 ng/ML, but that is often considered to be marginal. Seems like 20 ng/ML to 60 ng/ML is an acceptable range.</p>

<p>I’ve not had mine tested, but living where I live, it would be very, very unlikely that I’ve been up at the bare minimum 20 ng/ML.</p>

28358

<p>Direct Labs has a June special on the Vitamin D blood test at $39:</p>

<p><a href=“Discount Online Blood Chemistry Tests & Results | DirectLabs”>Discount Online Blood Chemistry Tests & Results | DirectLabs;

<p>You pay online and print a req form which you take to any [LabCorp</a> office](<a href=“https://www.labcorp.com/wps/portal/findalab]LabCorp”>Find Your Nearest Lab Location| Labcorp). LabCorp draws the blood sample and does the testing. You log on to the Direct Labs site to get your results.</p>

<p>I was there today getting blood drawn for my annual physical, but I didn’t want to get my doc to order the test because I’ve not been taking the supplements long enough to get a good read on my stable levels. So, I’ll probably buy the test on sale in June and then go back and actually get it done in a month or two, once the supplements have had time to stabilize. Then, I can adjust from there. There’s virtually no risk of toxicity over the short term, especially for someone in my location.</p>

<p>Just as well. It was hard enough just getting the routine blood tests ordered. My doc sent the order for the fancy NMR lipid test I wanted, but forgot to send the normal metabolic panel and thyroid test. So, I waited for that to be faxed over to the lab and then saw that they ordered the regular Lipid panel (which already covered by the NMR). Meanwhile, I’m dying for my first swig of morning coffee in the car after fasting! I just want to get my blood drawn!</p>

28359

<p>I’m thinking this is going to be a slacker day. I have two cats and a dog laying on top of me and can’t get off the couch.</p>

<p>I know what you mean about the jumps Idad. I injured my Achilles trying to keep up the young guys jumping side to side over cones in a HIT class.</p>

28360

<p>One of this jumps is moving following an imaginary square - forward, left, backward and last right. </p>

<p>The running shoes sort want to push you forward, they are not design for stability, per my wed search. </p>

<p>But there are so many different cross training shoes, I am at a lost as where to start. The discount place I went seems to have running shoes only.</p>