<p>Not too bad. Fresh blackberries for late night snack, again.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Deb922’ I hope your h feels better soon. Has a doc suggested maybe a nerve block? That might at least help isolate or dx the culprit. I’m sending him the healin mojo! Pain sucks!</p>
<p>I know you’re a bit north of me but they’re calling for -15-20 today with windchill so if you go out, be sure to cover your face. I usually wear ear muffs AND a hat AND two hoods plus scarf when i start out a trek on a day like today (and then take them all off midway thru). Might be a good treadmill day 
Even I am debating the hill, as I also have fresh snow to contend with on a section I didn’t walk Wed. And would have to shovel out my back gate to get through. That might be a bit too much invigoration for me when I have an early morning meeting and am racing against the light! A better plan might be to dig out tomorrow instead :)</p>
<p>At any rate, good luck with the training and be kind to yourself. Those 8k will go however they go when the time comes and the important part is just doing it (says the non-runner. When they have 8 k snow shoe events I’ll be all over it ;)</p>
<p>Idad, your posting of dietary percentages always makes me think to look at mine. Because this time I didn’t deliberately go low carb, and because lunch time protein shakes, despite the sugar, make it conceivable and convenient for me to manage the budget, I don think I’ll ever get quite as low as you on the carbs and sugar, but I seem to run roughly 38/40/22 percentage wise, and that’s been a decent mix for me. I feel good, my energy level is pretty stable, I don’t really walk around feeling hungry and I have better mental clarity than when I started a year ago. Switching up to morning omlettes about six months ago altered the mix and improved my sense of satiety. </p>
<p>Okay, deb92/, our weather guys are masters of hyperbole in these parts…I just did the hill and it wasn’t very cold at all! So I checked and it’s 9 degrees with windchill -8. I didn’t even need the scarf and was way overdressed!</p>
<p>I’m glad I did the hill and shoveled the gate…because if I don’t…nobody else will. It’s a highly personal thing, knowing that maintaining that trail is a solo endeavor…kind of a metaphor for the better living notion…nobody’s gonna do it for me :)</p>
<p>Haha, I say that it’s a weather suggestion here not a forecast. When we lived downstate the forecast was pretty accurate compared to here. Everyone tells me the lake screws everything up, it takes some getting use to. </p>
<p>Thanks for all the kind words. Off day for me. I think I picked up H’s stomach virus 
</p>
<p>idad may have linked this before, <a href=“Cancer, metabolism, fructose, artificial sweeteners, and going cold turkey on sugar | BMC Biology | Full Text”>Cancer, metabolism, fructose, artificial sweeteners, and going cold turkey on sugar | BMC Biology | Full Text; , but dh came across this. I’ve been telling him about sugar for a while and he hasn’t really believed me. I didn’t read the actual article, but I thought these statements in the interview were helpful, especially since they are in English, not science jargon: </p>
<p>**Difference between fructose and glucose **
<br>
**Why fructose makes you hungrier **
</p>
<p>** Real Fruit is probably okay **
** Artificial sweetener on the other hand probably not okay**
</p>
<p>Idad-
The NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Study) agrees with you re: sugar and CVD.</p>
<p>Yang et al inform this debate by showing that the risk of CVD mortality becomes elevated once added sugar intake surpasses 15% of daily calories—equivalent to drinking one 20-ounce Mountain Dew soda in a 2000-calorie daily diet," Dr Laura A Schmidt (University of California, San Francisco) writes in an invited commentary [2] . The risk rises exponentially as sugar intake increases, peaking with a fourfold increased risk of CVD death for individuals who consume one-third or more of their daily calories in added sugar, she adds. </p>
<p>“Until federal guidelines are forthcoming, physicians may want to caution patients that, to support cardiovascular health, it is safest to consume less than 15% of their daily calories as added sugar,” she advises</p>
<p>Yesterday - PT exercises, and 45 minutes on NuStep.
Today - PT water exercises, and hour-long water aerobics class. </p>
<p>busyparent:</p>
<p>I saw that. That study, published this week in JAMA Internal Medicine, has been getting a lot of press this week:</p>
<p><a href=“For the Media - Embargoed Access to the JAMA Network”>For the Media - Embargoed Access to the JAMA Network;
<p>These sorts of studies, looking at population statistics, can’t prove cause and effect. But they can highlight correlations that are worth considering with further research.</p>
<p>The cancer guys are going to figure out the sugar thing. It is pretty clear that metabolic syndrome is linked to coronary artery disease and directly to type 2 diabetes. You have metabolic syndrome if you have three of the following five:</p>
<ol>
<li>Big waist size (abdominal fat)
2 Elevated fasting blood sugar
3 High blood pressure
4 Elevated triglycerides
5 Low HDL cholesterol</li>
</ol>
<p>If you have metabolic syndrome, your risk of coronary artery disease doubles and risk fo Type 2 Diabetes goes up 5-fold.</p>
<p>It appears that metabolic syndrome is essentially a condition linked to insulin resistance – the inability to process carbohydrates efficiently resulting in increasing levels of insulin. Until recently, the nutrition scientists haven’t been interested in trying to figure it out – for the last several decades, all the money was in proving that eating fat causes heart disease and pursuing alternative theories was a career-killer.</p>
<p>But, now it is turning out that this metabolic syndrome condition is linked to some major forms of cancer and that insulin and insulin-like hormones make these cancers grow like wildfire. So, the cancer researchers are very interested in figuring out what the heck is going on and what can be done to improve it. Most of them don’t want to touch the nutrition side publicly (career-killer), but suspect sugar is to be avoided with these sorts of cancers and in cancer prevention overall.</p>
<p>The elevated triglycerides are the most interesting marker. As mathmom’s link points out, excess fructose is converted to triglycerides (fat) by the liver. This is stored as liver fat (fatty liver disease) and dumped into the bloodstream where it is carried by LDL particles that would normally be carrying cholesterol. As triglycerides go up, the number of LDL particles goes up to carry it. There is pretty convincing research that shows the NUMBER of LDL particles predicts coronary artery disease much better than the amount of LDL cholesterol.</p>
<hr>
<p>mathmom:</p>
<p>One clarification. Fructose is only converted to triglycerides when the liver has to process a bigger hit of fructose than it can handle in too short a time. Small amounts are handled fine, mostly getting stored as glycogen. And, someone who has just run a marathon and depleted all their glycogen will have even large amounts of fructose converted to glycogen, not triglyerides.</p>
<p>The problem is excess fructose in a non-glycogen depleted state. Drinking Pepsi, It’s a dosage issue and, specifically, a chronic overconsumption dosage issue.</p>
<p>
“All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; only the dose permits something not to be poisonous” - Paracelsus, sometime in the 1500’s.</p>
<p>Or more commonly,</p>
<p>“The dose makes the poison.”</p>
<p>Just got back from three days at Canyon Ranch (it’s a health/fitness/integrative medicine program) in Lenox, MA. My H gave me and my two daughters a gift card to CR as a Christmas gift. I loved it! Went to many classes: spinning, fitness walking, TRX, Abs on the ball, yoga, cardio circuit, and Indo row (it’s a rowing machine). I know I overdid it because I tried to keep up with my daughters. Went to a meditation class at the end of the last day and fell asleep. I did lose 4 pounds. The meals were small, but nutritious and tasty. No alcohol, no salt–you could also get vegetarian offerings and there was a desert selection (mostly fruit but also some sorbet and small cookies).</p>
<p>Also went to several lectures on nutrition–heard much about avoiding sugar. Came away with the message that exercise is not going to make you lose weight but it has other great health benefits. Another message–the best way to lose weight is to eat much less but also to have a diet that is made up of unprocessed foods. I also learned that new research shows people need to keep moving all day. Going to the gym and working out is good, but you also need to move about all day. It was a good reminder for me, because I tend to go to the gym for a decent amount of time but I’m fairly inactive when working at home. I decided to set the alarm on my iPhone every hour and make myself get up and walk up the stairs or go outside and walk the dog to the cross street or even do squats or push-ups. I actually have a high-standing desk–there’s a stool I can use, but I prefer to stand up when I work. It seems that this is good thing.</p>
<p>The only downside to the getaway was that I lost my Fitbit Zip. I may break down and buy one of those activity bracelets. It’s confusing–can’t decide between the Fitbit bands or the Polar activity band. I have a Polar bluetooth HRM and strap so Polar might be the way to go. Anyone have experience with the Polar band? I liked the Fitbit Zip but it didn’t provide heart rate information–still had to wear the HRM and the watch (I had an FT4 model).</p>
<p>kmcmom:</p>
<p>Kudos on the hill today. Fantastic to overcome inertia and get out there.</p>
<p>bromfield:</p>
<p>That getaway sounds fantastic. Those views on exercise are echoed by Lustig. In his book, he says that exercise is the single best thing you can do to improve your health, but, if you think it will be effective for weight loss, you’ll be disappointed.</p>
<p>If the Polar wristband will link to your heart rate monitor strap, then that seems like a pretty decisive reason to select that one, assuming they are all about the same price and features otherwise.</p>
<p>After a week of stall, I dropped to my lowest weight since before Halloween this morning. It requires a lot of patience to drop a couple of pounds when at or near target. I’m confident that when I’m tracking calories in the 1800 to 2000 a day range, I will tend to drift down and/or drop a little body fat, but there are no five pound parties for motivation.</p>
<p>The couple of pounds came just in the nick of time. I got two new options for hiking, made out of a new Polartec Power Dry High Efficiency fabric. Patagucci calls theirs Capilene 4 and Marmot calls theirs Thermo. It’s basically power stretch fleece, but with big slices of the inner fuzzy layer cut away into a grid pattern. </p>
<p>[grid</a> pattern](<a href=“http://cache.backpackinglight.com/backpackinglight/user_uploads/1346283711_67282.jpg]grid”>http://cache.backpackinglight.com/backpackinglight/user_uploads/1346283711_67282.jpg)</p>
![http://cache.backpackinglight.com/backpackinglight/user_uploads/1346283711_67282.jpg]grid](http://cache.backpackinglight.com/backpackinglight/user_uploads/1346283711_67282.jpg%5Dgrid){kind=link}
<p>I got a half-zip and a hoody. Neither one would be very flattering with a couple pounds of Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas belly fat…</p>
<p>[1/2</a> zip](<a href=“http://www.rei.com/media/zz/9c8317c3-f13a-4e61-9498-c968304053d5.jpg]1/2”>http://www.rei.com/media/zz/9c8317c3-f13a-4e61-9498-c968304053d5.jpg)
[ninja</a> hoody](<a href=“http://cdnmedia.marmot.com/images/product/hires/83610_1414_f.jpg]ninja”>http://cdnmedia.marmot.com/images/product/hires/83610_1414_f.jpg)</p>
![http://www.rei.com/media/zz/9c8317c3-f13a-4e61-9498-c968304053d5.jpg]1/2](http://www.rei.com/media/zz/9c8317c3-f13a-4e61-9498-c968304053d5.jpg%5D1/2){kind=link}
![http://cdnmedia.marmot.com/images/product/hires/83610_1414_f.jpg]ninja](http://cdnmedia.marmot.com/images/product/hires/83610_1414_f.jpg%5Dninja){kind=link}
<p>It’s nominally intended to be a baselayer, but I’m going to wear it over a t-shirt as a crazy breathable hoody just like PowerStretch, but when PowerStretch is too hot. Kind of a perfectly high sweat aerobic cold weather top. Oh, and just maybe as pajamas on a cold night in a tent (or at home!)</p>
<p>I’m going to try the hoody tomorrow on the uphill leg in Franconia Notch. High around 20 degrees, mostly sunny.</p>
<p>Oh, and splurged and got the [Patagonia</a> Houdini Pants](<a href=“http://www.patagonia.com/tsimages/24130_155_STUFF.fpx?wid=1000&hei=1000&ftr=8&cvt=jpeg]Patagonia”>http://www.patagonia.com/tsimages/24130_155_STUFF.fpx?wid=1000&hei=1000&ftr=8&cvt=jpeg). Wow. Cool weather runners would love these babies. 3.1 ounces for the medium. Zipper rear pocket that doubles as a stuff pouch. Just big enough to wear over hiking pants or shorts or as a wind breaker layer over power stretch fleece tights. Perfect for days when you want to be in shorts, but might just get a little cold or when the wind is cutting through the tights. This solves a problem for winter hking. Power Stretch Fleece tights under hiking pants is very warm. Overkill, sweat-city trudging up hill unless its 10 degrees. But, what do you do if the light long johns and hiking pants gets cold in the wind or coming downhill? It’s not very practical to stop in the snow, strip down to skivvies, and swap out the long johns for power stretch tights. Too cold to fiddle with boot laces and bare hands. So this gives an option for a little more warmth, but cutting the wind. </p>
<p>And at 3.1 ounces, easy to carry… These and a similar jacket are 8 ounces for a full wind suit…</p>
<p>Brom, my niece worked at that Canyon Ranch for awhile as a nutritionist and exercise instructor - sounds like an amazing place!!!</p>
<p>Went to a similar type of spa called the Lodge at Woodloch in the Poconos in PA. Great time, like overnight camp for adults. Did 5 hrs of classes a day. Biggest differences were that alcohol was available and no medical component to the program. What was really nice was thar cell phone usage was prohibited except in hotel rooms. Ah, the joy of being disconnected!</p>
<p>idad - do you ever wish you had taken before and after pictures of your closet? You know, one when you had all the old ‘fat guy’ clothes (which I’m guessing are no longer in there, or if they are, they shouldn’t be!), and one now that is like a performance gear sample closet? </p>
<p>Oh, man… I’ve been through closet after closet. I started with size 42 and 44 pants and XL shirts/fleeces. Those got replaced with 40s. And, then with 38 waist. And, then 36 waist and LARGE shirts/fleeces/jackets. I was sure that was the end of the road, so I packed up all my 32 and Mediums from the good ol’ days and trundled them over to Goodwill. Then, I kept losing and had NOTHING in the closet. So I bought 34s and then those didn’t fit so had to buy 32s and medium shirts and jackets. I have the 34s and Large shirts in a closet in the basement. I wear a few of the shirts as PJs. The only one I saved from way back was the pair of 44 inch jeans. I haven’t had them out in a while, but it’s a pretty breathtaking reminder of where I never want to be again. I’m not quit in Biggest Loser range, but I lost more than 36% of my body weight.</p>
<p>Being able to fit in clothes is a HUGE motivational tool. The Rachel Cosgrove tip of hanging a pair of thermometer jeans two sizes too small in the closet as a ,measuring stick sure worked for me. Getting a new top or a jacket is a small price to pay for fitness in the grand scheme of things.It’s a lot cheaper than blood pressure medication, blood sugar medication, and cholesterol medication. </p>
<p>And, it’s a heck of lot less than I used to spend on cigarettes. I have a little quit counter app thats’ been running on my computer for six years. Initially, it tracked hours then days then weeks, then months without nicotine. I just clicked it. Today, It says that, at the pack a day I was smoking, I would have smoked 43,776 cigarettes if I had kept at it (and not keeled over dead). At $6 a pack, that would have cost $14,388. Worse than flushed down the drain. Flushed down the drain and killing me, day by day. So, I’d say fancy fitness clothes, the same size 32 pants I wore in my 20s, for huffin and puffin’ up mountains is a bargain too good to pass up! The day I quit smoking, I literally could not walk to the mailbox without getting winded.</p>
<p>Speaking of new duds, I hopped on the Airdyne in a new pair of bargain basement Brooks running shorts.60% off retail., $20. I guess they are supposed to be trail runner shorts. 5.5. inch length. Front hand pockets. Zip pocket in back that is waterproof. And, two little loops that are, I guess, intended to hang your little rain jacket or rain pants or whatever. I just liked the color:</p>
<p>[Brooks</a> Grit front](<a href=“http://demandware.edgesuite.net/sits_pod21/dw/image/v2/aaev_prd/on/demandware.static/Sites-BrooksRunning-Site/Sites-BrooksCatalog/default/v1391780638915/images/ProductImages/210473/210473_914_f_ZM.jpg?sw=1200]Brooks”>http://demandware.edgesuite.net/sits_pod21/dw/image/v2/aaev_prd/on/demandware.static/Sites-BrooksRunning-Site/Sites-BrooksCatalog/default/v1391780638915/images/ProductImages/210473/210473_914_f_ZM.jpg?sw=1200)
[Brooks</a> Grit rear](<a href=“http://demandware.edgesuite.net/sits_pod21/dw/image/v2/aaev_prd/on/demandware.static/Sites-BrooksRunning-Site/Sites-BrooksCatalog/default/v1391780638915/images/ProductImages/210473/210473_914_b_ZM.jpg?sw=1200]Brooks”>http://demandware.edgesuite.net/sits_pod21/dw/image/v2/aaev_prd/on/demandware.static/Sites-BrooksRunning-Site/Sites-BrooksCatalog/default/v1391780638915/images/ProductImages/210473/210473_914_b_ZM.jpg?sw=1200)</p>
![http://demandware.edgesuite.net/sits_pod21/dw/image/v2/aaev_prd/on/demandware.static/Sites-BrooksRunning-Site/Sites-BrooksCatalog/default/v1391780638915/images/ProductImages/210473/210473_914_f_ZM.jpg?sw=1200]Brooks](http://demandware.edgesuite.net/sits_pod21/dw/image/v2/aaev_prd/on/demandware.static/Sites-BrooksRunning-Site/Sites-BrooksCatalog/default/v1391780638915/images/ProductImages/210473/210473_914_f_ZM.jpg?sw=1200%5DBrooks){kind=link}
![http://demandware.edgesuite.net/sits_pod21/dw/image/v2/aaev_prd/on/demandware.static/Sites-BrooksRunning-Site/Sites-BrooksCatalog/default/v1391780638915/images/ProductImages/210473/210473_914_b_ZM.jpg?sw=1200]Brooks](http://demandware.edgesuite.net/sits_pod21/dw/image/v2/aaev_prd/on/demandware.static/Sites-BrooksRunning-Site/Sites-BrooksCatalog/default/v1391780638915/images/ProductImages/210473/210473_914_b_ZM.jpg?sw=1200%5DBrooks){kind=link}
<p>Dreaded 1 mile intervals on the Airdyne. Not aiming for any particular pace or trying to push it, but stepped it up quit a bit. Saw 97% of my max heart rate on the third interval. Must be the shorts…:)</p>
<p>That stuff looks good, iDad. Did you order online or buy locally? Any preference on the brand?</p>
<p>I think it’s six in one, half dozen in the other on brand. It’s the same Polartec fabric. The Marmot stuff is styled a bit more like a jacket, trim finishing around the hem, etc. The Patagonia is styled more like a hipster hoody, shirt tail hems, etc. The Marmot hoodie hasn’t arrived yet. Here are the ladies versions:</p>
<p><a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube;
<a href=“Climbing magazine Editors' Choice 2013: Patagonia Capilene 4 Hood - YouTube”>Climbing magazine Editors' Choice 2013: Patagonia Capilene 4 Hood - YouTube;
<p>This is a new material. It’s like Patagonia’s best selling hoody, the R1 hoody, that was the first “grid fleece”. But, that’s is heavier, more like weight/warmth of a Power Stretch hoody. I’ve got plenty of Power Stretch, since I pretty much live in it during the winter. But, the Power Stretch is too hot for me once it gets up in the 20 to 30 degree range, when I’m huffin’ and puffiin… This stuff is more halfway between a thermal running shirt and a fleece. It replaced the old Capilene 4, which actually was a very light Power Stretch.</p>
<p>Alas, deals on this stuff are few and far between. It’s like biting the bullet on Lululemon. REI has a “sale” on some size/color combos of the 1/2 zip and the hoody. To the extent that you can call $69 for glorified long johns a “sale”…</p>
<p>[REI</a> Patagonia sale](<a href=“http://www.rei.com/search?cat=4501792&jxBrand=Patagonia&hist=cat%2C4501792%3AWomen’s+Heavyweight+Long+Underwear+Tops^jxBrand%2CPatagonia]REI”>http://www.rei.com/search?cat=4501792&jxBrand=Patagonia&hist=cat%2C4501792%3AWomen’s+Heavyweight+Long+Underwear+Tops^jxBrand%2CPatagonia)</p>
<p>Otherwise, you just have to start googling for size and color combinations. I’ve given up buying any of this stuff locally. REI sells some of it, but the odds of finding my size aren’t worth the aggravation. Best place for me to actually lay hands on this stuff is at big outdoor retailer up in Lincoln after hiking. Everything is pretty much full price (or discounted XXL), but at least I can see it.</p>
<p>Sidenote: I bet that WildChild and GF of WildChild would go ga ga for the Patagonia hoodies… And, 1% goes to save the whales or something… :)</p>
<p>The Patagucci Capilene 4 pants are impossible to find in normal sizes. The onsie seems to be available if you are scheduled to be the star of an Obamacare web ad… :)</p>
<p>Thanks. I think you should get the onesie! I bet the kids would love the hoodie,</p>