The Vita Myth: Do supplements really do any good?
(from SLATE.com)
Deciding what to eat for dinner can be mind-bending. How do we keep track of the ever-evolving recommendations for what to put on, and leave off, the plate? Red meat might cause cancer! But don’t replace it with tofu—soy concoctions might be carcinogenic, too! Don’t even try to figure out where carbs stand this week. And the verdict on coffee, chocolate, and alcohol changes faster than you can order a mocha martini.
Vitamins—with their promise to bridge the gap between the nutrients our bodies need and those they get—have always seemed reassuringly simple: Just pop a multivitamin and let your body soak in those extra nutrients. But not any longer. During the past few years, study after study has raised doubts about what, if any, good vitamins actually do a body. They could even pose some real medical risks.
Half of all American adults take some sort of nutritional supplement. But research on a wide variety of patient populations and medical conditions has failed to find much evidence that multivitamins, the most commonly used of the lot, prevent major chronic diseases in healthy people. The most recent knockcame this spring, when a study of more than 160,000 post-menopausal women, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that the all-in-one pills did not prevent cancer, heart attacks, or strokes and did not reduce overall mortality.
more here: http://www.slate.com/id/2240688/
Just before dawn, naked and dehydrated, I weighed just under 180. Damn I am taking that win today.
I have a busy day planned actually, already started. Yesterday I was poking around in the basement, which is storage and laundry, when I discovered why my kitchen has been so so cold. The window directly under the kitchen sink was broken. Before I bought the house, this window was boarded up. I always thought it was for security and never really inspected it closely. Turns out the glass panes were missing, and not only that, the window itself was an old wooden one and there were 1/4 gaps between the window itself and the frame. So in fact, I had a hole in the wall. All of this was hidden by the boards that were loosely nailed over the thing. Took me most of the afternoon to ‘macgyver’ a solution that will last until spring, and keep the cold air outside. It is not pretty but it is functional, and not really visible from the street. Already an amazing difference. Wow.
I have packed a lunch and I am heading up the highway for a snowshoe hike in to a place called Pancake Bay. It is within a provincial park so I won’t have to dodge snowmobilers and it will probably be deserted. I always follow good protocol when I do these little trips and make sure someone knows where I am going and is prepared to call for help if I am not home by dark. Snowshoeing is such great exercise and I love being outside much more than the gym.
Bitterly cold, brilliantly bright day out there. I have lots to do inside the house so I will delay going outside as long as possible, I know, what a wimp I have become! I do want to go for a snowshoe hike today, and I do have a plan, so I will get some exercise, I have promised myself (and the dog). I also am about to do a yoga/weight workout. I have run out of ‘reasons’ to postpone that as well. The first hour will be painful but once I get that over with I will be able to incorporate it into my week. Every second day for a month, then up the routine by going to the gym. I am waiting until Feb to go as I know it is so crowded right now.
Yesterday I almost blew it with a sub sandwich for lunch. It was a working lunch I had forgotten about, so no alternative at hand. I started with the sandwich as provided without even thinking. I was halfway through it before I realised what I was doing. HOWEVER it did not derail me, I did NOT go for sugar later in the afternoon, I did NOT throw the whole day away. I simply acknowledged the mistake, logged it, and moved on. Carbs and calories were both higher than I wanted for the day.
Today I am more aware of what I am putting in my mouth, that’s for sure.
My new big external drive won’t get here until Monday, so I won’t be able to set up the Mac to run MS until then. However, I am going to try to install the new scanner/printer. Crawling around on the floor tangled in cable is rarely my idea of a good time….but it must be done!
Friday night What Not To Wear Marathon…me, in flannel pjs, couch. Great Fri night, except I did of course eventually have to walk the dog….-20C out there. Really. Any moment global warming would like to kick in, I think I might be ready.
Today was a better day, a bit high on the carb count (close to 50) but more balanced. All that sugar yesterday did set me back a bit and I was starving all day, even though I have definitely had more than enough to eat. Still, the scale was showing a shocking drop this morning. I don’t believe it for a minute, but I am pretending I do.
I thought Sailorboy was away for one more week but he comes home on Sunday. On the one hand, I am happy because of course I miss him; on the other hand though, I had another whole week of being alone planned out in my head. Working late, puttering around the house - I really don’t mind being on my own. I have had years of practice.
But alright, it will be great to have him back.
I have been watching the reports from CES in Vegas and there is now a very amazing scuba mask with digital video embedded in the mask. I want one! and I don’t even scuba dive! But if I have to learn to justify owning a gizmo like this I will.
One week in to sort-of-atkins. The last two days were so busy at work that I literally did not have time to eat between 9 am and 4:30 pm. Today I missed lunch and got a candy bar from a vending machine at 3 pm just because it was on the way between things. Plus I was afraid I was going to faint in the hallway. Still, I only managed about 1100 calories today. I know that is not good, but surprisingly I am not starving, as much as I was the first couple of days on 1600-1800 low-carb calories. However I have to get a handle on this. At least I am taking my vitamin supplements, especially Vit D, C and Calcium/Magnesium/Potassium.
Dog is getting his regular walks again, after a couple of weeks of fast tours of the neighbourhood. Well, it was -20C so he couldn’t be out there too long anyway. It has warmed up (!) to -8C so it is bearable.
My late night shopping spree choices are arriving. First the printer, today, and then the external drive will get here tomorrow. I have lots of plans for this new technology. My new little digital video camera is a lot of fun too. I haven’t quite got all the features figured out yet though, or how to use the editing suite on the Mac. Lots of fun to learn, I am sure.
Sailorboy and I were planning a trip to the big city next week but I don’t think I can pull it off, I will have to look at the job schedule. We have a big press conference scheduled for the Monday so I could only be gone for 2 days and it is a long way to go for an overnighter. I think a road trip is out of the question at this time, Sailorboy and I will have to wait for the spring for roadtrips. Winter is for cocooning, anyway, right?
Day 5 of sort-of Atkins. I can’t keep the carb count as low as recommended for the induction phase, I feel quite ‘off’ if I do. So I am aiming at less than 50 grams a day, which is still low but gives me a bit of wiggle room for vegetables or fruit. No sugar, no flour, no rice, no pasta - that part is working quite well overall. Each day gets easier and easier, and it seems to be working - I have lost that bloated sickish feeling I had all December. My first benchmark check-in date is Jan 16 - we’ll see what happens between now and then. (Of course I am hopping on that d*** scale every morning regardless.)
My Nike ipod thingy is reaching the end of its life and needs to be replaced. This annoys me as it seems to have a built-in obsolescence that feels like a cash grab, but I find it so useful and motivating that I will go ahead and purchase another one.
I have to get out of the house because I am just becoming an online shopping demon. This is not a good omen for 2010.
I have been clearing out my closet and caching all the clothes that don’t fit in one place. This is a sobering exercise. I have filled one standing wardrobe closet and one giant plastic bin with clothes I cannot wear! Some of them still have pricetags on them! Well, I have put them away to clear some psychic space, and I will go through them in Feb and see what fits then. If I stick with the program, I expect I will be able to pull some of them back into the rotation. It will be like an in-house shopping spree!
My snowshoe hike is off until it warms up a bit - it is -19C right now. Sunny, pretty, but darn cold. the Olympic Torch is coming through town tonight and all the outdoor festivities have been cancelled or moved inside.
Ok, I have really done it now, I have officially shaken hands on a TBL competition with my 25 year old son. Three month timeline, percentage loss and total number are the goals, rules include a blood promise that we will both do it safely. We both weighed in and signed on. Man, talk about motivation.
I have found my motto for 2010, thanks to Jeffrey Simpson of the Globe and Mail:
“Think harder. Think more about tomorrow and less about yesterday…about which nothing can be done.”
It’s a beautiful bright wintry start to 2010. But cold, the temp is down to -12C and I don’t know what the windchill is. I am postponing the day hike until tomorrow, but I will head out later for a couple of hours along the beach. I am getting my snowshoe technique back, after a couple of face planting falls. Hey, I never said I was good at it.
Sailorboy is somewhere over the Pacific, heading to Australia. They are ferrying a new plane to Brisbane for Quantas, and it is not a big jet so they have to make several stops along the way. I think he is in the Marshall Islands right now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Islands_International_Airport. Then he will be stopping in Vancouver on his way back to visit family; his mother is elderly and his brother is quite ill.
I had all sorts of projects I was going to take care of this week and I have done very little that was on my list. I got distracted by the new Mac and have spent way too much time downloading and organizing files and photos and shopping online. I have been having fun, though! I think I needed the mental break. Not having internet access at home for a couple of days was good, as I couldn’t get at work emails. And Mac’s Safari doesn’t like the work web email system so I can’t check in now either. Oh well, if anyone really needs me they know where I live.
Yesterday I bought 2 books - 501 Islands to Visit and 501 Destinations. This will kickoff my travel researching and planning and hopefully motivate me to maintain some financial discipline. Also picturing myself in a swimsuit on some of those beaches might help keep the sugar away.
Happy New Year!
PS Yes I am aware of the gap between goal (financial discipline) and actions (shopping!). Hmmm, do I see a pattern?
