67A - Fit and Well Column for April 11th, 2004

67A - TITLE: "Bursting Fitness Bubbles!"

There is no evidence that eating only fruit at breakfast has any health or weight loss benefits. Most fruits are not very high in complex carbohydrates, which the body needs after an all-night fast. They are a good source of fiber and vitamins. Cereal foods (especially whole grain varieties) like bread, muffins and breakfast cereals are a much better source of carbohydrates to get you going in the morning.

There are some magical foods that cause weight loss

Some foods, such as grapefruit or kelp, are said to burn off body fat. This is not true. Dietary fiber comes closest to fulfilling this wish because it provides a feeling of 'fullness' with minimal calories. High fiber foods such as fruit, vegetables, whole grain breads and cereals, and legumes also tend to be low in fat.

Drinking while you are eating is fattening

• Don't crash diet; you'll most likely regain the lost weight within five years.
• Aim for small, slow losses of around one pound per week or less.
• Cut down on dietary fats, especially saturated fat.
• Cut back on refined carbohydrates.
• Increase your intake of fresh fruit, vegetables and whole grain foods.
• Consume less alcohol.
• Eat less fast food and snack foods.
• Exercise for approximately 30 minutes at least a few times every week. Introduce more movement into your day - try to accumulate 30 minutes of walking daily.
• Don't eliminate any one food group - choose from a wide range of foods every day instead and prefer 'whole', less processed foods.

Starches make you fat. Not true. Starchy foods such as potatoes, breads and pasta are the fastest-burning foods you can eat. All are carbohydrates, which provide the body's main source of ready-to-use fuel.

Nutritionists and dieticians recommend that the greatest share of our diet - 60% - be composed of this fuel. "Only a tiny percentage of carbohydrates is ever converted to fat in the body," says Adam Drewnowski, Ph.D., director of the human nutrition program at the University of Michigan's School of Public Health.

High-fat foods that disguise themselves as low-fat ones include crackers, croissants, baked potatoes, and microwave popcorn.

You need to cut calories drastically to lose weight. Not really. When you cut back too hard on calories, the body goes into a conservation mode in which your metabolism (the rate at which the body's calorie-burning machinery turns over) switches to a slower pace.

This actually decreases your ability to lose weight. To make sure your body keeps burning fat, experts advise that you drop your total caloric-intake only a little while adjusting the fuel mix. According to one study, men who got 25% of their calories from fat (as opposed to 38% typically for most men), but ate as much as they wanted of other types of food, lost an average of a half-pound per week

Only drastic diets work. Sure, if you eat nothing but oranges all day long for a week, you'll inevitably lose weight. But if you're considering going on a diet of this kind, I suggest you ask yourself: "Can I eat nothing but oranges for the rest of my life?" Right, sure, uh huh.

The problem here is that these kinds of diets aren't realistic. All of us eventually have a craving for a rib steak, and once we get back to reality, the extra pounds start rolling in.

To take weight off, and keep it off, I suggest gradually changing your diet habits. The brain often does not perceive small changes, and you start getting used to it. For example, the next time you go to a hamburger joint and order a burger, tell them to hold the cheese. This will automatically reduce your calorie intake from fats by 100 calories.

You have to give up your favorite foods. You don't. In fact, you can eat anything you want. Depriving yourself of pleasure isn't fun, and it doesn't work. "There's something called the abstinence violation effect, which says that if you insist on completely avoiding something, human nature makes it likely that you'll break your resolution," says Dr. Susan Kayman, nutritionist.

"Then you'll tell yourself you've blown it and simply give up. It's much better to allow yourself enjoyable choices every now and then, which makes the real issue how much you have and how often."

For example, red meat can readily be part of a healthy diet if you eat small portions once or twice a week. Choose a lean cut that allows you to eat bigger portions. A simple rule to follow: anything with the words "round" or "loin" is low-fat, such as Sirloin or Eye of Round.

When you overeat, it's because you're hungry. Hunger has nothing to do with it. We overeat for emotional reasons, and if you know your emotional triggers, you'll start eating better.

One of the major reasons is stress, because it causes you to eat more quickly. And the foods you want to eat when stressed are more likely to be fatty, pleasurable things. The best way to foil a craving is to take your mind off it, preferably by keeping yourself busy with a task where it's impossible to eat, such as going for a long walk.

Walking, chopping wood, mowing the lawn, and cleaning the basement are some examples of added activities you can add on to your daily routine. It was believed that you needed an average workout of 3 times a week of intense training to melt away those pounds.

Such workouts are important at increasing cardiovascular fitness, however, fat burning takes place at lower intensity levels.

Strength training, however, keeps your metabolism alive long after the workout is over. Look at it this way; weight training is like a salary, whereas aerobics is the bonus.

The best part of all of this is that with nutrition experts now advocating occasional splurges, you'll never have to make another resolution about what you eat. So enjoy yourself!

To get clients into good physical shape, training actions should be based on accurate, scientific information. Unfortunately, many common health/fitness myths and misconceptions exist that can influence people's behavior. This article puts into perspective the concerns raised by several of these ill-founded notions to enable exercise leaders to more accurately respond to them and to reassure prospective clients of the value of initiating and maintaining a regular exercise program.

No pain, no gain? Working out is good for you, physically and mentally, but hurting yourself is not.

Except for those few who are genetically gifted or those who's goal IS to get big, you won't get too big if you don't want to. You can tailor a weight lifting program to meet any number of fitness goals be it size, strength, muscularity, toning or even losing weight!. It takes the following conditions to gain a lot of mass:

- Intense training. It takes a long time to realize and learn just how hard some weightlifters train. Unless you have some extreme goals, you will not have to approach that level of intensity. And even then, the average person can only put on around 5 pounds of muscle per year.
- Heavy weights. I guarantee you will not get big lifting a 10 pound weight all day.
- Genetics and metabolism. Some people will have a hard time getting bigger or adding weight no matter what they do.
- Supplements and/or drugs. Many of the professionals you see who are truly massive use various kinds of weight gaining supplements or steroids.

If I stop, the muscle will turn to fat.

Impossible. Muscle and fat are two different tissues in your body. What happens is that when people stop working out, it's a good sign that their general lifestyle has changed. They become less active and start developing bad eating habits. The result is muscles shrink while their fat cells grow. You know the rest. You start hearing jokes like "When she sits around the house, she sits AROUND the house!"

I will get too musclebound and lose flexibility.

People who train with weights are some of the most flexible people I know. That's because stretching and flexibility are part of weight training. You stretch before, during and after your workouts. This keeps your muscles supple and ready to handle the stress you put on them with resistance training.

It costs too much to buy equipment or a club membership.

Sure, if you listen to advertisements that say you need the latest exercise contraption or you have to join a snazzy health club. If having a shiny piece of exercise equipment in your living room or joining an expensive health club will get you off the couch and exercising, then I'd say go for it. If you're self motivated and want some options, here are a couple:

* All you need at home to work your entire body is a $20 pair of dumbbells. If you want to spend a little more, you can get a barbell with some interchangeable plates and a weight bench. You can do all this for under $100. Then read up and learn how you can get an excellent, whole body workout with just that equipment.

* You could also look into what other facilities are available in your neighborhood or close by. YMCA fitness rooms are a less expensive alternative or a local community center almost always has a fitness room. These give you the gym atmosphere at a lot less than you would pay at a private club.

1. If I lift weights I will become bulky. On the contrary, strength-training builds lean, fat-burning muscle.

2. I shouldn’t eat anything before my workout. Actually, eating a pre-workout snack such as a piece of fruit within an hour before exercise will actually help improve performance. Choose healthy snacks that are under 250 calories.

3. If I experience pain during my workout I should keep going. This is not smart thinking. Take time to recover by decreasing your pace for a few minutes, then resume. If pain persists discontinue. If you experience persistent, chronic exercise related pain see your doctor.

4. As long as I exercise I can eat whatever I want. If only it was that simple. Diet and exercise are the two components of the fitness equation.

5. Cardio alone is enough. False, everyone should do some form of resistance training.

6. I need expensive clothing and equipment and a high-priced gym membership. Incorrect assumptions- there are plenty of physical activities that you can participate in at a low cost. For example, all you need for a walking program is a good, supportive pair of sneakers.

7. Doing crunches alone will tighten my abs. Unfortunately, achieving a svelte, sleekly toned midsection requires not only ab moves, but cardio sessions and a healthy diet that is low in fat.

8. Exercise is too time-consuming. Not really, if you can devote 30 minutes a day to physical activity you’re on your way.

9. Exercise, in order to be efficient, must be rigorous or strenuous. Not hardly-in fact if you are reluctant to start a fitness program because of health reasons or past injury there are several low-impact programs that can be just as effective as high impact programs.

10. Sports drinks are better at replenishing and dehydrating your body during a workout. Pure and simple- nothing beats H20.

11. Cardio workouts need to be performed in the zone (65-85% of maximum target heart- rate) in order to burn fat and calories. While exercising in the zone burns fat and calories most efficiently, don’t let this deter you from exercising if you’re a beginner and can’t exercise at this level. Pace yourself, exercise slower for a longer period of time.

12. Stretching is unnecessary. Untrue-stretching is one of the most important things you can do to prevent injury.

13. I can skip my warm up and cool down periods if I’m pressed for time. Don’t count on it- you need to prepare your body for activity, as well as return your body back to its normal state.

MYTH #1:
An Increased Heart Rate Improves Fitness

If this misconception were true, high-strung, nervous individuals would be the most physically fit people in the world! Although a regular, sustained increase in heart rate is widely recognized as important to achieving increased aerobic fitness, the heart rate merely serves as a monitor for the real training stimulus (increased energy expenditure or oxygen consumption).

Another way of disproving this belief is to study the effects of an exercise program on patients who are taking certain cardiac medications. Beta-blockers, for example, can markedly decrease the heart rate at rest and during exercise. As a result, some patients on these drugs have resting heart rates in the 40s and exercise heart rates in the 80s or 90s. Nevertheless, they can still achieve normal improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness with regular exercise.

Additional evidence, refuting the rise in heart rate as the "key" to increased fitness, comes from a study that appeared in the medical literature years ago. Cardiac patients who had implanted, fixed-rate pacemakers (electrical devices that maintained a constant heart rate, regardless of their level of activity) were subjected to an endurance exercise program. While all subjects showed improvements in aerobic fitness, their heart rates never budged from the values at rest.

MYTH #2:
Marathon Runners Are Immune to Heart Disease

Regular exercise training, regardless of the intensity, duration, or both, does not confer "immunity" to heart disease. Anecdotal case reports are available that have documented the progression of heart disease during participation in an exercise program. Such was the case with the late author and distance runner, Jim Fixx, who died of a cardiovascular event during a training run.

In the mid 1970s, a search of the scientific literature by the American Medical Joggers Association failed to document a single death due to coronary heart disease among 26-mile marathon finishers. Subsequent publications from the same source promulgated the notion that marathon running provided absolute immunity against coronary heart disease. The "Bassler hypothesis," as it subsequently became known, implied that marathon running exceeded the threshold intensity needed to protect against heart disease.

The first report disproving the Bassler hypothesis was published in 1979. 13 This was followed by a series of related studies further refuting the "immunity theory." Indeed, coronary artery disease appears to be the major killer of conditioned runners, aged 40 years and older, who die while running. 18 Accordingly, it is obvious that structure and function are not necessarily synonymous. Although highly trained distance runners are at a lower overall risk for heart-related problems, their superb physical prowess doesn't necessarily guarantee the absence of cholesterol-clogged coronary arteries.

MYTH #3:
Exercise Must Be Continuous to Be of Any Benefit

Considerable data now suggest that the accumulation of physical activity in intermittent, short bouts is an appropriate alternative to continuous (sustained) exercise for achieving health and fitness. Several years ago, researchers at Stanford University compared the training effects in subjects who completed three 10-minute bouts of moderate-intensity exercise per day, versus those who performed one "long" exercise bout of 30 minutes, five days per week for eight weeks. Both groups demonstrated identical percentage increases and decreases in maximal exercise test duration and submaximal heart rate, respectively.

Similarly, a Japanese study examined the effects of running on aerobic fitness and blood cholesterol in three groups of men. Each group ran the same total distance, but in one, two, or three sessions daily. All exercising groups showed comparable increases in cardiorespiratory fitness (measured as maximal oxygen uptake). However, HDL-cholesterol levels improved only in the group that exercised three times per day.

A just-published report compared the effects of three short versus one long bout of brisk walking in women. Both groups burned a similar number of total calories. Again, the regimens were equally effective in promoting physiologic improvements.

Collectively, these findings and other recent reports suggest that multiple bouts of moderate-intensity physical exercise produce significant training effects. For some clients/patients, this exercise regimen may fit better into a busy schedule than a single long bout.

MYTH #4:
Exercise Wastes Heartbeats

Several years ago, Peter J. Steinchron, M.D., author of several books and a syndicated newspaper column on medical problems, offered the theory of a "heartbeat bank." According to Steinchron's hypothesis, every person is born with a given number of heartbeats (generally two to three billion) in his or her heart bank.

A person born with a small bank account "should not indiscriminately throw away those beats in unnecessary exertion known as exercise," he suggested. Steinchron surmised that individuals should ration their heartbeats, taking afternoon naps instead of jogging, because once heartbeats are withdrawn, they are lost forever.

In fact, the heartbeat bank notion ignores an important adaptation that occurs with regular exercise training: The conditioned heart beats at a slower rate at rest and during any given level of exercise, pumping more blood with each beat. Thus, being physically fit can actually save a person thousands of heartbeats each day, even after considering the "extra" heartbeats expended during exercise.

A simple example can illustrate the fallacy of Steinchron's reasoning: A vigorous, daily one-hour exercise program may require an increase of 5,000 heartbeats a day compared to rest. On the other hand, the improved cardiovascular fitness produced by the training will require fewer heartbeats at rest and during any level of activity. If, hypothetically, the savings is 10 beats per minute, at day's end, all other activities will yield a savings of 13,800 beats. The net savings is 8,800 beats a day and more than 60,000 beats a week!

The bottom line is straightforward. Individuals shouldn't worry about wasting precious heartbeats as a result of regular exercise. An improved level of fitness will actually save a person's heartbeats.

MYTH #5:
Exercise Always Increases Appetite and Caloric Intake

Exercise critics often cite the misconception that exercising increases an individual's appetite and, in the process, the person's level of caloric intake. As such, these naysayers claim that the impact of exercising on appetite actually negates the energy expenditure of the exercise itself. However, most research studies have failed to support this notion.

For example, rats exercised daily for up to one hour actually decreased their food intake and body weight when compared with totally inactive animals. When the exercise duration was increased beyond one hour, their food intake increased, but only to the point that body weight was maintained.

A similar relationship has been demonstrated in humans. Researchers measured physical activity and calories consumed in five occupational categories from sedentary to heavy industrial work. Their results confirmed earlier findings in animals that a linear relationship exists between activity levels and calories consumed, but only within a certain range. Those in the sedentary range tended to weigh more and eat more (calories) than did those who engaged in light-to-medium activity.

Most research indicates either no change in food intake with moderate exercise of extended duration, or slight decreases with vigorous exercise of shorter duration. 6 It has been suggested that appetite suppression or maintenance following exercise may be mediated by several physiologic responses, including increases in lactic acid, plasma catecholamines and core temperature, the formation of "anorexigenic substances," or combinations thereof.

MYTH #6:
Individuals Can Selectively "Spot Reduce" Certain Body Areas

Spot reducing has become a multi-million dollar industry in a country where the health and aesthetic disadvantages of obesity are well recognized. Numerous scientific studies, however, cast doubt on the validity of spot reduction - the process of selectively taking inches off the waist, thighs, or buttocks.

Several years ago, researchers compared the circumferences and fat deposits in the right and left arms of accomplished tennis players. The investigators proposed that if spot reduction worked, the racquet or playing arm of an athlete should have considerably less fat than the inactive arm. Although circumference measures in the playing arm were greater due to more muscular development, skinfold thickness measures revealed no difference in fat deposits between the two arms.

Perhaps the most convincing evidence against the theory of spot reduction comes from a more recent study conducted at the University of Massachusetts. Thirteen male subjects underwent a vigorous abdominal exercise program for 27 days. Each subject performed a total of 5,000 sit-ups. Fat biopsies were taken before and after the exercise program from their abdomen, buttocks, and upper back. Results showed that fat decreased similarly at all three sites - not just in the stomach region. These findings may explain one reason why spot reducing sometimes seems to work. If the caloric expenditure is sufficient enough, it will cause fat from the entire body to be reduced, including a particular target area.

LIFESTYLE

The body cells depend on circulation in order to get the energy they need, and to get rid of their waste products. When you become dehydrated, the fluids that bathe the cells diminish. The cells cannot function properly until it is restored. When that happens, your muscles cannot keep up the work they are doing and your heart receives an added strain. Part of the fluid you've lost is blood fluid. This means that the heart has to pump that many more times to re-circulate the diminished supply of blood.

Sugar ingested before a contest or workout can do more harm than good. Even the intake of preparations like honey and lemon juice is counter productive. Sweets can trigger an insulin reaction. The effect is to drive the body's sugar into the storage organs. The only time you need to eat sugar to replace the amount that has been depleted is after an hour-and-a-half of steady exercise, such as a marathon race or a golf or tennis match.

Extensive tests at the University of California (LA)'s Human Performance Laboratory has yet to prove that the kind of food you eat makes the slightest difference in your performance levels. The literature on this subject has been combed. Every food on the forbidden list was offered free to campus athletes. Heavy foods, gas-producing foods, and spicy foods - they were given all. Neither on the playing field nor in the laboratory could players or researchers discern any difference. Nor did any of the players become sick from the forbidden foods.

Cramps have rarely caused drowning. People who have supposedly drowned from cramps probably had heart attacks. The theory against eating before swimming is that it draws the blood into your intestine; when you start exercising, the circulation to the intestine shuts down and the blood goes to the muscles.

The most you might get if you exercise after eating is a stitch in the side. But cramps do not seem to be related to food at all. For example, a young American swimmer ate a hamburger with onions and mustard, and four candy bars, and drank a coke, just before a 1968 Olympic race, and broke her own world record. This isn't to suggest that you should eat a big meal before swimming in a race. Any violent activity after a meal will cause nausea. But you can certainly paddle around a warm pool to your heart's content.

It is true that when you perspire copiously, you will get muscle cramps unless you replace the lost salt. But a salt tablet is a solid piece of brine, and a solid piece of brine resting on the mucous membrane of the stomach can cause nausea and vomiting.

If you know you are going to perspire during a workout or contest, you can take a little extra salt with your food beforehand. During the contest you can take some salt after your activity. But don't overdo it. Be sure you are only restoring salt that you have lost by sweating. The body can't store salt. If you overdo it, you may actually induce the cramps and muscular weakness you were trying to avoid. The fluids from the cells in your body will be drawn into the bloodstream and the digestive tract in order to dilute the salt so that it can be more easily excreted from the body.

The body has tremendous reserves and is very adaptive. The idea that you have to eat specified foods in specified amounts every day to maintain performance is unsound. The average person has no business to crash diet to lose weight. When we are active, our body uses its own fat and carbohydrate for fuel. A diet that includes animal and vegetable protein supplies all the body needs to replenish its stores. There is no superdiet for super performance. You need every kind of food. Avoiding any kind of food is just as wrong as ingesting food supplements.

You can't store sleep. You can't catch up on sleep, either. If you try by sleeping twelve hours, you will be worse off than if you just got the normal eight hours of sleep. Bed rest does not give energy after eight hours, nine at most. In fact bed rest has a severe de-conditioning effect as all the body processes slow down. After six hours, the heart beat gets down to its basal rate, the metabolism drops and circulation becomes sluggish. Muscles become flaccid and your body begins to lose its tone. A person who has been inactive for three days has lost five per cent of his strength. Remaining in bed beyond a maximum of nine hours only makes you weaker.

Lying in bed in a relaxed state, incidentally, is almost as restful as sleeping and your level of recovery is sufficient. Rather than remaining in bed beyond eight hours because you haven't slept the night before, get out of bed - and promise to yourself to relax the next time you cannot get to sleep.