Speed Bump

I can get behind this 7 minute workout . This simple workout was published in a scientific journal, and has research behind it to support its effectiveness. The key to this workout is intensity. "The exercises should be performed in rapid succession, allowing 30 seconds for each, while, throughout, the intensity hovers at about an 8 on a discomfort scale of 1 to 10...Those seven minutes should be, in a word, unpleasant. The upside is, after seven minutes, you're done."  Important to know: "Interval training, though, requires intervals; the extremely intense activity must be intermingled with brief periods of recovery. In the program outlined by Mr. Jordan and his colleagues, this recovery is provided in part by a 10-second rest between exercises. But even more, he says, it’s accomplished by alternating an exercise that emphasizes the large muscles in the upper body with those in the lower body. During the intermezzo, the unexercised muscles have a moment to...

This is Zip, my new Fitbit. Tragically, I lost my Fitbit Ultra a few weeks ago, and after going for several aimless, lost weeks without a tracker, I purchased the Zip. This is a new tracker from Fitbit that sells for almost half the price of the Ultra. It has a few less features than the Ultra that I already miss (no stop watch, no cheeky messages when you pick it up, no personal greetings) and has a replaceable watch battery instead of a USB charger. It comes in snappy colors and the clip comes on and off (I think I would really be likely to lose it without the clip).  I will report back after a few weeks to let you know how I like the Zip. The lower price is a great option for someone wanting to try out a tracker. Which everyone should! And...more info on the harms of sitting all day. Are you still sitting? One of the easiest and best things you can do for your health today, right now, is to stop sitting. Read about it here .

Please watch this video . And think. Then move.

Do you remember when I raved about my new Fitbit at the beginning of the summer? (Check out the post here ). Are you wondering if my love has faded? Wondering if this toy is gathering dust on a shelf, neglected and ignored like most fitness gadgets? Well, wonder and worry no more. My fitbit is still enjoying a special place in my daily routine and attire. If I leave the house without it, I feel at a complete loss for the day. I wear it every day, strive to hit my 10,000 steps every day (most days I get there), and I love it. Some family members recently received Fitbit gifts...the message of moving more, walking as much as possible every day is so important to me. I want everyone I love to get with the program. I'm working on putting together a Fitbit-inspired program with a group at work, too. More steps = better, happier, healthier lives! We recently added another Fitbit gadget to our home collection. The wi-fi smart scale from Fitbit, called Aria. Our ratty ...

Fellow Kansas Citians take note - we have a brand new bike sharing program in the city. The bicycle program is called Kansas City B-cycle  and it is definitely something to get excited about. The new bikes arrived at 12 locations around downtown KC in time for the 4th of July and the All Star game hoopla. I had heard about the bikes on  NPR  one morning and then we saw them first hand at Crown Center during All Star weekend. Cowtown Couriers - I had no idea we had bike couriers in KC. From their website "If you need a delivery made at the last minute, during rush hour, with a concert at the Sprint Center, Cowtown Couriers is the only service that can get the job done." Good to know! Another plug for Cafe Gratitude (I wrote about this unique new spot in KC here ). During All Star weekend, there was someone stationed with the bikes at the Crown Center location to answer questions and offer help with the new system. The 12 bike stati...

I have a new favorite toy. This is my Fitbit Wireless Activity Tracker  and even though I've had it for less than a week, we have become fast friends. Pedometers are nothing new and even the message that we should be walking 10,000 steps a day is not news. But Fitbit is not your father's pedometer - it has all the bells and whistles to make tech geeks happy, and is easy enough to use for those that are tech-challenged. Even though you've heard the message about getting in 10,000 daily steps, there are new reasons you should pay attention. I wrote previously about how inactivity can be just as detrimental to your health as activity can be beneficial. Researchers are finding out that sitting all day can increase your chances for cardiovascular disease and factors leading to type 2 diabetes and obesity. It's time to step up! I bought Ryan's Fitbit for Father's Day, knowing I had to get one for myself, too. We heard about Fitbit fro...

**You can improve your health one step at a time. Start here, start now.** Happy Monday! I am happy to report that my exercise for the past week went much better than last week . And I think I actually have the hot weather to thank. Knowing there is no way I would want to run in these afternoon temperatures, I got up early and exercised in the AM every day last week. I was dragging by the end of the week, but it was a sure fire plan to get in the miles. I was out the door for a run at 6am, home by 6:45. I have the kids to thank as well, as they slept in long enough for me to get in my workout (although I had to sneak out from under Izzy every morning as she has been in our bed every night since we returned from Spain. Going to have to do something about that soon). My weekly total:  170 minutes of exercise, 18.5 miles running and 3 toning workouts. My every day activity was probably very low given the heat - no trips to the park, no bike rides, no walks to the Farm...

**You can improve your health one step at a time. Start here, start now. ** My best workout of the week involved the whole family and a really small soccer ball. 

**You can improve your health one step at a time. Start here, start now.** Did you stay active this weekend? Move a little more? Hopefully you got in your daily exercise and also stayed active enough around the house to reach 10,000 steps per day - finally you get credit for mowing the lawn and cleaning the floors! Add 'em up! We're planning to purchase a couple pedometers and start tracking our daily steps. If you feel up to a little healthy competition, get yourself a pedometer and we can have some fun. I've rounded up a few health articles to start off the week: Finding the sweet spot  for exercise. In some cases, less is more. Here's an update on barefoot running  for those that might be interested. I am still not used to my Merrell's , but starting to like them more. Ever wonder how many daily steps kids need to stay healthy? I found this article on sugar very interesting. While we certainly consume way too much sugar, making it th...

Tired of hearing the bad news about skyrocketing diabetes and obesity rates reported almost daily? Well, you can do something about it - quickly and in a big way. If I had to pick one message from the Exercise is Medicine meeting last week to pass on, it would be the need to decrease inactivity. Did you catch that? DECREASE INACTIVITY. Not INCREASE ACTIVITY - that is a message we hear all the time -  and one I absolutely want to continue to stress. By no means are we getting around the need to exercise to improve overall health. But, there is a growing body of evidence that inactivity - essentially sitting all day - is a major risk factor for chronic disease. Surprisingly, the biggest offenders of this inactive lifestyle can be regular exercisers. Do you know anyone that goes to the gym for 30 minutes and then sits for the remaining 15 1/2 hours of time spent awake each day? This descri...

I don't know anyone that would argue against the benefits of exercise, so let's start this series on exercise with the real issue most people face - lack of time. Here are my best tips on carving out time for exercise in your day. 1. Make exercise a priority.  Take stock of all the things in your life that are important to you - even go so far as to make a list and rank your priorities in order. Where does exercise fall on this list? If you value your health and want to live your best life, then it should be close to the top. Make it clear to those close to you that exercise is a priority and call on your family, friends, and even co-workers, to help you make this happen. Your spouse can watch the kids for an hour, explain to your kids why you need to go to the gym, and grab a co-worker for a walk during your lunch break. 2. Make exercise a habit. This is really key for me. If I get out of the habit of exercising on a regular basis, I have almost...

Happy May Day! It is the first day of May and, whatever that means to you, I hope it is a great one. As a child, I remember celebrating with May Day baskets at school. And when I lived in Italy, we celebrated European labor day by striking and not going to work (hey, when in Rome...). Now, I have a new tradition to celebrate this first day of May - exercise! The American Academy of Sports Medicine, the largest sports medicine and exercise science organization in the world, has declared May Exercise is Medicine TM month . Exercise is Medicine TM is a global initiative designed to make "levels of physical activity" a standard vital sign to be assessed in every patient visit with a physician. It is based on the idea that exercise is a powerful tool in the prevention of chronic disease and should be prescribed by physicians as both preventative medicine and a first line of treatment. Exercise is medicine. Think about it. Exercise has proven health benefits for...

Anyone that knows me at all knows that I have a love affair with chocolate. So I had to share this tidbit of good news about new potential health benefits of chocolate. We’ve been hearing for some time that chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, is good for us and the antioxidant properties of chocolate have been linked favorably with insulin sensitivity, blood pressure and LDL cholesterol levels.   News this week focused on the association between chocolate and body mass index (a ratio of body weight to height used to estimate body fat). In the study published by Golomb from the University of California San Diego, they asked a simple question to approximately 1000 men and women: “How many times a week do you consume chocolate?” The individuals that consumed chocolate more frequently had consistently lower BMIs. And this relationship was maintained even when factors such as age, sex, activity levels, calorie and saturated fat consumption, and mood were factored in. Wh...

Parlez-vous francais? Neither do I. But I secretly wish I could - definitely my favorite language to listen to. But before we talk about the French, can I get a Rock Chalk? I have to start this post by congratulating the Kansas Jayhawks for their improbable run to the Final Four. No one predicted this team to get this far. Just a few years ago, I would have been making plans to head to New Orleans for the games this weekend. But it isn't that easy with two little ones to plan for. So instead we will be cheering from home, wishing we were there. At any rate, I'm not sure they can top yesterday's win over UNC and our old friend Roy. Call it a season, wrap it up. It can't get any better than that.  Besides basketball, I have a couple parenting issues on my mind this Monday morning. This past Saturday I did something I've never done before - hire a babysitter to watch the kids while I'm also at home. We're trying to get our house ready to put ...

Here is a post to help you enjoy an extra glass of wine this Thanksgiving. Salute! I love red wine. And I really love the idea that red wine might actually be good for me. Unless you've been living under a rock, you're probably heard mention of the potential health benefits of red wine. Those health benefits are thought to be due to a compound found concentrated in grape skin called resveratrol. Despite all the hype and promise - the ability to protect against obesity and diabetes, to improve an individual's exercise capacity, and even to extend lifespan - the benefits of resveratrol have only been demonstrated in rats and mice. Until now. The first human study demonstrating positive health benefits of resveratrol was just published in the journal Cell Metabolism . This study, performed by a group from the Netherlands, appears promising. Eleven obese, but otherwise healthy, men were recruited to take either a placebo or resveratrol ...

Anyone that has ever dieted (who hasn't?) knows it is hard, incredibly hard. And at times it can feel like an exercise in futility. And if you have followed all the diet advice to the letter (take in fewer calories than you consume, eat small meals throughout the day, avoid carbs and sugar, exercise daily, don't eat after 7pm, etc. etc.) only to end up frustrated and right back where you started, you are not alone. The fact is, most diets do work. You can lose the weight if you restrict your diet and increase your calorie burn. The problem is keeping it off long term and this is where most diets fail. Unfortunately, scientists are still trying to understand how the body responds to an energy imbalance over time and the knowledge is far from complete. A new study to be published in the New England Journal of Medicine and profiled in the NYTimes ,  demonstrates how the body's own hormones work against permanent weight loss. Leptin, a hormone that is directly prop...

We have a bicycle for two! No, not for Ryan and me ( that would never work!) For Charlie and me. It's been in the works for awhile - actually, the bike seat was a Father's Day present from Charlie to Ryan which very mysteriously disappeared. Not all of it, just some of the major parts. No one knows what happened to the mysterious pieces and no one is taking the blame. So after several weeks of looking for said missing bike seat pieces, we did the only thing we could do, buy an entire new bike seat with all the necessary parts. Charlie got one seat for the price of two. While in between bike seats #1 and #2, we got Charlie accustomed to his new bike helmet. (Sidebar: why does every kid item at Target have to have a cartoon/movie/ tv theme? For the moment, Thomas the Train is lost on Charlie). Charlie especially likes his helmet if Mom wears hers, too.