Fitness Fact: Let's Move

Marci Anderson - Thursday, February 18, 2010

For this month's fitness fact blog post, I decided to highlight the new Let's Move website I mentioned on Monday's blog post.

Did you know that children need at least an hour a day of vigorous play and activity to stay healthy?  This may seem like a lot but consider the number of hours children spend sitting at school, watching TV, or playing on the internet.  Our society is built around stationary activities and getting enough healthy movement takes planning and effort.  The American of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry has an excellent article which delineates the harmful effects of excessive media consumption on our nation's kids.  

The Let's Move website provides a list of resources to help parents and other caretakers make sure kids get the 60 minutes of play they need as well as ideas of how to keep your kids active in your community.

One of my favorite pages on the website gives a whole list of ways that you can help make family time, play time.  As a person who does not yet have children of my own, I'm curious to know if any of these tips seem helpful or feasible.  I'm eager to hear about your own success stories that involve increasing play time together as a family.

Your dietitian in Harvard Square,
Marci
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Exercise & Depression

Marci Anderson - Wednesday, January 27, 2010
If you tend to feel a bit blue during the winter months, you are not alone. Rates of depression increase during the winter, including people who suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). In fact, recent findings suggest that the severity of eating disorder symptoms for bulimia peak in the Fall & Winter months.

While clinically significant depressive disorders need to be treated by a competent medical professional, a little exercise can go a long way to boosting mood, reducing anxiety, and improving sleep patterns.  While you may not be as committed as these gentleman are to exercise, I thought you'd appreciate the laugh. :) How's that for a little mood booster?

Here are a few facts you might not know:

1.) As you exercise your body's feel good chemicals called endorphins are produced.  This helps to increase your energy levels which over time increases your stamina.  

2.) Exercise is a positive distraction that illicits a relaxation response in your body to help lower feelings of stress and anxiety.

3.) As you exercise, more serotonin is available to your brain.  As a result you feel happier, more relaxed, and more confident in your ability to manage your life's stressors. This may also help reduce carbohydrate cravings, a symptom of SAD.

It's tempting to want to hibernate for the winter. But a small does of exercise (30 minutes) is all you need to reap the disease-fighting and mood enhancing benefits.  And you don't necessarily need a gym either! 

Here is my Top 10 list of simple strategies to moving more.  

1. Keep it simple. The only cost is a good pair of walking shoes. Walking the neighborhood or even walking the mall is something that is affordable and easy.

2. Many schools open their gyms up to the community for walking programs so check a local school.

3. Turn up the music and dance. A friend lost 19# by doing this for 60 minutes a day with her kids.

4. Take family night to another level with a game like Wii Fit.

5. Use a pedometer and make your own records for as many steps in a single day.

6. Get outside in any season: In the summer, go for walks, hike a new trail, go for a bike ride, kayak, canoe, swim. In the fall, do your own color tour - bring your camera and walk through the beautiful colors. In the winter, ski - downhill can be expensive but if you already have the equipment night skiing is cheaper, cross-country skiing is a great work out, go ice skating, slide down a hill in a toboggan - climbing up the hill is great exercise, go snow shoeing, have a snowball fight, build a snowman. In the spring, take a walk to see all the flowers and trees budding and waking up from their winter slumber.

7. Take work breaks: 30 min at lunch, 15 min in the morning and afternoon. Other people get a smoke break, right?

8. Commercial Break Competitions: Do some routines with hand held weights (or improvised wts from filled water bottles). March, climb stairs, do jumping jacks, push ups, etc.

9. Play like your kids and with your kids. Get down on the ground with them, do somersaults, climb, run, skip, jump, play tag, toss and chase a ball. Have Fun!

10. Join a club or team.

Identify your barriers to moving more and create a game plan. Start simple and specific and let me know how it goes. And always check with your Dr. before starting an exercise program.

Your neighborhood nutritionist in Cambridge,
Marci 

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Healthy Weight Week

Marci Anderson - Tuesday, January 19, 2010
You might not know it, but this week has been officially named "Healthy Weight Week."  As a dietitian in Cambridge who specializes in the treatment of eating disorders and works predominantly with women who struggle with their weight and body image issues, I'm pretty sensitive to the topic of weight.

It's been my experience that pre-occupation with weight and body size is extremely unhealthy and incredibly unproductive.  I've worked with clinically obese/morbidly obese clients who agonize over their excess pounds and fear the implications it has for their health. 

On the flip side, I've worked with plenty of women who appear to have very normal/healthy body weights but also obsess over their desire to be thinner.  This results in hours spent at the gym accompanied with guilt about they did/did not eat the day before.  

Or more commonly for many of my nutrition clients, their weight and body obsession leads to eating which becomes disordered to the point of starvation, binging, purging, laxative abuse, etc.

It saddens me to see the number of women who waste their precious time thinking, agonizing, and lamenting over their bodies and what they put into them. So naturally, I have mixed feelings about an entire week focused on that very topic.

However, when I found the website for the Healthy Weight Network I was thrilled to find out what they intend "Healthy Weight Week" to be about:

The 17th annual H ealthy Weight Week is a time to celebrate healthy living habits that last a lifetime and prevent eating and weight problems, rather than intensifying them, as diets do.

Traditionally many Americans begin a diet the first week in January and "blow" it the second week. Healthy Weight Week, the third week, is a time to stop dieting for good and help people normalize their lives. It’s a welcome antedote to the dieting and bingeing that typically begin the New Year!
Healthy Weight Week promotes healthy nondiet lifestyles for children and adults of every size. It helps them move ahead to healthy habits they can live with long term – sound, reasonable habits that allow them to live well and get on with their lives. Eat well, live actively, and feel good about yourself and others.

It's my philosophy that your "healthy weight" is:
  • Partially determined by your genetics
  • A range of a few pounds that may vary depending on the time of month
  • Where your body goes naturally when you are eating when hungry, stopping when satisfied, and usually a result of physical rather than emotional or social hunger
  • Is supported by a moderate exercise program

It's also my philosophy that your "heathy weight" is NOT:
  • Determined by a scale, jeans size, or weight chart
  • Attained by calorie counting, low cal diets, and excessive exercise
  • Necessarily what you weighed when you graduated high school :)

So let's celebrate what it really means to find a healthy weight- treating your body with respect, feeding yourself appropriately, enjoying the movement of exercise, and trusting that your body will find it's natural healthy place.

If you are interested in learning more about this approach, here are a few books I HIGHLY recommend:

And a couple of websites to check out too:

Here's to a new look at what it means to find your "healthy weight."
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Fitness Fact: Why Exercise Won't Help You Lose Weight

Marci Anderson - Tuesday, December 15, 2009


I know, I know. You are probably thinking that I made an error typing out the title of this blog post. Nope. Despite the fact that I am a registered dietitian, certified personal trainer, and group exercise instructor in Cambridge, MA I firmly believe that using exercise as a means to lose weight can actually be harmful. Yes, you heard me right. And I wanted to yell Hallelujah when I came across this Time article "Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin." Please take the time to read it! Then forward it along to all of your family members and friends.

Here are the basic take home points I’d like you to think about:
1. Intense bouts of calorie-burning exercise (think 60 minutes on a piece of cardio equipment or your favorite cycling class) stimulate your appetite. Consequently, most people unknowingly eat more calories than they just burned after intense exercise. If you don’t believe me, check out the research cited in the Times article under the heading “The Compensation Problem.”

I have a saying which goes “You can’t outrun your fork.” And it’s true. We can eat in 10 minutes what would take us 10 hours to burn off. I’m sorry for that- it’s simply the way we humans have evolved.

2. Replacing fat tissue with lean muscle mass does not do much to increase our metabolic rates- no matter how much your personal trainer would like you to believe otherwise. In fact, replacing 10 lbs of fat with 10 lbs of muscle leads to a paltry increase of 40 calories burned. 40 calories? That’s the equivalent of 2 Hershey’s Kisses- just 2!

3.) A butt-blasting, cardio kicking workout often creates the halo effect. How many times have you finished an intense workout, only to indulge afterwards. Hey, you burned a lot of calories after that 60 minute hill climb on the treadmill. Next thing you know, you’ve gone totally overboard at dinner…but with good intentions to “make up for it” tomorrow. It’s an endless and tireless feedback loop.

I have seen this feedback loop in full force in the work I do in eating disorders as well as working with healthy populations. Using exercise to burn calories fuels disordered eating patterns (i.e. a few extra cookies because you’ve been “good.”)

4.) Excessive exercise can lead to overly sore muscles and a feeling of heaviness that can actually lead to more hours of sedentary down time when you aren’t working out.

Please know that I am not suggesting that you stop exercising all together. Exercise provides a host of benefits:
**Enhances heart health and helps to prevent chronic disease
**Improves mental capacity and cognitive ability
**Helps regulate mood by decreasing anxiety and improving feelings of depression
**Enhances stamina
**Supports a healthy immune system
**Helps maintain muscle mass and flexibility, which is crucial for maintaining function as we age
**Improves balance and helps to prevent falls in the elderly

This is not an exhaustive list. Clearly I’m in full support of a healthy exercise program. But the research shows that the benefits of exercise can be obtained at moderate intensities for moderate amounts of time. So now that you don’t have to spend hours burning up calories at your local gym, I wonder how you could use your time more positively. Hmmm, now that’s something to think about.

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Sports Drinks

Marci Anderson - Monday, November 23, 2009
On Saturday I had a great time teaching a workshop at Wu Dao Kung Fu on fueling for exercise and everyday living.  One of the things we discussed was using sports drinks for hydration, a topic that I thought others might be interested in as well. 

I see people sipping on powerade, gatorade, vitamin water, etc. all the time.  One thing to consider is that the purpose of the extra sugar and electrolytes is to replenish what is lost during extensive and very vigorous exercise.  So I typically recommend using those types of drinks if you are exercising vigorosly for more than an hour.  If you are exercising less than that, plenty of water along with a diet rich in whole fruits and veggies is likely sufficient.
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Fitness Fact: Exercise & Diabetes

Marci Anderson - Monday, November 16, 2009
Since it is Diabetes Awareness Month, I wanted to share with you a bit of information regarding diabetes and exercise.  And if you don't have diabetes, keep reading!  Chances are, you already know someone or will know someone diagnosed with this serious disease.

Did you know that exercise acts just like insulin?  Insulin is the key that allows blood sugar to enter into the cells of our body.  A person with Type I diabetes doesn't supply enough insulin and a person with Type II diabetes doesn't seem to respond to the insulin their body does supply.  Incidently, exercise can help people with either type of diabetes manage their blood sugar.

So whether you are healthy, have pre-diabetes, or have already been diagnosed with diabetes- get your body moving!  I'm not talking about hours at the gym, 30 minutes of walking everyday is enough to give your body the health benefits of exercise.  But if you already have diabetes, here are a few pointers to beginning an exercise program.

1.) Always talk to your doctor first.
2.) Check your blood sugar before you exercise (read this helpful article from The Mayo Clinic for more details).
3.) Check your blood sugar after you exercise
4.) Start slow and start small.  You aren't in a hurry, slow and steady wins the race and every step counts!
5.) Try walking with a buddy.  This may help you feel safe and stay consistent.

Exercise is the #1 tool for chronic disease prevention and boosting your mood and energy levels today.  Whether it's playing with your kids, raking leaves, or participating in a walk for charity you gotta' move it!
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Exercise & Osteoporosis Prevention

Marci Anderson - Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Turns out that October 20th, 2009 is World Osteoporosis Day.  Additionally, the National Osteoporosis Foundation is celebrating its 25th anniversary.  They've developed several useful handouts:

25 Facts about Your Bones & Osteoporosis

25 Calcium Rich Foods

25 Ways to Improve Your Bone Health

25 Ways to Prevent Falls

While you might not be able to control some of the risk factors for developing osteoporosis (being female, Asian/Caucasian, and getting older) there are a handful of really important things you can do NOW to prevent osteoporosis. 

You may already know this but consistent exercise is one of the best things you can build healthy bones.  And the National Osteoporosis Foundation has a great article on their website.  Below is a basic run down of the types of exercises and their effectiveness in improving bone health.

Weight-bearing, High-Impact Exercises are best for building bones in people who do not have low bone mass, osteoporosis or are frail.

Some of these exercises include:
Dancing
High-impact aerobics
Hiking
Jogging/running
Jumping Rope
Stair climbing
Tennis

Weight-bearing, Low-Impact Exercises can also help to build bones and are safer for people who cannot do high-impact exercises.

Some of these exercises include:
Elliptical training machines
Low impact aerobics
Stair-step machines
Walking (treadmill/outside)

RESISTANCE AND STRENGTHENING EXERCISES
These exercises include activities where you move your body, a weight or some other resistance against gravity.

Functional movements, such as standing and rising up on your toes
Lifting weights
Using elastic exercise bands
Using weight machines
Lifting your own body weight

NON-IMPACT ACTIVITIES (BALANCE, FUNCTIONAL AND POSTURE EXERCISES)
These exercises can help you to improve balance, posture, and how well you move in every day activities. These exercises can also help to increase muscle strength and decrease the risk of falls and broken bones.

Some of these exercises include:
Balance exercises. Exercises that strengthen your legs and challenge your balance, such as Tai Chi, can decrease your risk of falls.

Posture exercises. Exercises that improve your posture and reduce rounded or “sloping” shoulders can help you decrease the risk of fractures, especially in the spine.

Functional exercises. Exercises that improve how well you move can help you in everyday activities and decrease your risk of falls and fractures. For example, if you have trouble getting up from a chair or climbing stairs, you should do these activities as exercises (try standing up and sitting down several times until you are tired).

Yoga and Pilates can also improve strength, balance and flexibility; however people with low bone density or osteoporosis should avoid certain positions to prevent fractures. These include forward-bending exercises. A physical therapist should be able to help you learn which exercises are safe and appropriate for you.

NON-WEIGHT-BEARING, NON-IMPACT ACTIVITIES
These exercises can be part of a well-rounded exercise program, but do not help to build bones. If you like these activities, try to add in others that work your bones

Some of these exercises include:
Bicycling/indoor cycling
Deep-water walking
Stretching and flexibility exercises
Swimming
Water aerobics

So get your body movin' today, your bones will thank you for it!  You may want to check out an old posting I did on Vitamin D supplemenation.  Calcium and Vitamin D supplementation is essential for healthy bones.
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Client Spotlight: Physical Activity

Marci Anderson - Wednesday, September 30, 2009
I'm often inspired and amazed at the changes my clients make to improve the quality of their lives. Sometimes these changes are quite major, but most of the time they are small yet significant steps to better health.  So I thought it would be fun to anonymously spotlight my clients once a month.  I'll focus on actual behavior changes these people are incorporating into their daily routine.  And regardless of your stage in life and current habits, they just may inspire you to keep making healthy choices, one small step at a time.

We'll start with a client I'll call Lucy.  Lucy has battled emotional and binge eating for decades.  But it wasn't until a recent series of health crises that she realized that her food addiction had seriously implications for her health.  Years of overeating and an extremely sedentary lifestyle was taking a toll on her body.  While Lucy has made some significant changes over the past month, one of the most impressive is her commitment to daily physical exercise. Despite the extra 150 lbs she is carrying on her frame, she now gets out of her house and takes a walk every single day.

The benefits of daily physical exercise is astounding: it helps regulate sleep, improves mood, prevents the development of chronic disease and excessive weight gain, improves brain function, preserves body function, improves the ability to perform simple tasks of daily living, enhances metabolic function, and even reduces symptoms of chronic disease (i.e. helps regulate blood sugar control for people with diabetes).

So if you aren't all that active now, how can you follow Lucy's lead and start incorporating a little more movement today?
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Fitness Fact: Exercise & Sick Days

Marci Anderson - Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Professor David Nieman, Dr. PH. of Appalachian State University, conducted three trials with more than 150 females comparing sedentary individuals to participants who engaged in moderate exercise (i.e., a brisk walk for 45 minutes, five days per week). After three and a half months Nieman reported that, “the number of days of sickness in the walkers was just almost half of the [sedentary] control group. This is huge statistically. There’s no other supplement, no drug, that comes close to reducing the number of sickness days.”

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Boston Marathon: A spirit of motivation

Marci Anderson - Monday, April 20, 2009
As I type, the Boston Marathon is well underway.  Since 1897, thousands of athletes have trained rigorously in order to compete in the world's oldest annual marathon race.  And it is a site to behold!  Last year, I cheered on runners at mile 22.  With a few miles to go, some competitors were running, some were walking, and some were even limping. 

As I stood there I thought "while this is truly amazing, long distance running is not for me!"  And I would imagine that many of you feel the same way.  But in the spirit of the marathon, I'd like to send out a message of encouragement and motivation.  Let this marathon season ignite a desire to set a new goal or a new challenge for yourself.  Our bodies are made to move!  And the natural consequences of inactivity are numerous: risk for developing chronic disease increases, muscle tone is lost, flexibility slackens, and our ability to keep up with the rigours of daily life (including children and grandchildren!) diminshes.

For health benefits, exercise at least 30 minutes a day.  Those 30 minutes do not have to be continuous but they do need to be designed to get your heart rate up.  Make it intentional, make it consistent, and make it something you enjoy.  Consider partnering with a buddy for moral support, accountability, and some good conversation (but make sure you are working your bodies more than your mouths).

So here is my challenge to you, make a fitness goal for the coming week.  Track it.  And see how you do.  Trust me, writing it down and tracking it is essential.  Here is an example of a "SMART GOAL."  A goal that is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.

1.) I will walk with my husband for 30 minutes on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 7:00 pm.
Notice the detail.  A specific plan is in place and it is very easy to measure whether or not the goal has been accomplished.

Good luck with your fitness challenge and feel free to report back on your successes!  If you like what you are reading, forward this blog along to a friend.  Create a network of friends and family that are working together for a healthier future.
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