there is no finish line...enjoy the ride...

Good information, Wrong interpretation

A good friend of mine once said that people can only hear the information that supports their own belief systems.  We see this all the time.  It’s why there’s polarizing opinions when it comes to topics like politics, or the existence of a God.  Regardless of the information, people will only hear what justifies the continuation of their own beliefs, even when the actual facts beg to differ.

I thought about this as I read the results of a recent study published by the British medical journal, “Heart”. This study was recently featured in articles within the Wall Street Journal and the Globe and Mail.  The study suggests that people that run too fast, for too far, for too many decades, may find themselves running to their early and ultimate “finish line”.   

My 87 year old father running in Greece

In the shadow of a national health crisis, where overweight and obese people represent the majority of the population, and citizens with chronic illnesses such as Diabetes, CODP, Cardiac Disease and various forms of Cancer are reaching epidemic proportions, I’m concerned that a health illiterate public will interpret the results of this study as an excuse NOT to exercise.  They will read the headline in the paper that says, “One Running Shoe in the Grave”.  As a result, this will fuel the belief system of many that if daily exercise isn’t good for runners, so why bother exercising at all. 

In actual fact, the study involved 52,600 subjects that were followed for three (3) decades, but what was glossed over was the fact that the runners in this group had an overall 19% lower death rate than the non-runners, and within the running group only the runners that ran longer than 40kms/week and faster than 13km/hour lost their mortality advantage. 

We’ve seen the impact of this kind of reporting from the past.  A study from a few decades ago suggested drinking a glass of red wine a day is good for your heart health.  Now we have a culture of social alcoholics who justify two to three drinks a day because it’s good for their heart health, when in fact nothing could be further from the truth.  Let's be clear, alcohol should not be part of a person's health habbits.

We live in a world where people have limited attention spans and are bombarded with catchy buy lines and punchy sound bites; the headline of this running report should have read, “Long term study suggests that life-long runners enjoy a lower death rate than non-runners”.  Just like the headline of the wine report should have said, “Study finds that consuming more than one drink a day for women and two for men, leads to negative health consequences”. 

We now have a population that takes little to no interest in their personal health until they’re told by their doctor that they have a serious, possibly life threatening chronic disease and that's the moment they decide it's time to practice positive health practices.  And the sad part is many of these situations are entirely preventable. 

How are we supposed to motivate our children to be active and make healthy life choices when they watch their parents make poor choices?  Media that report the findings of studies like this recent running study have a responsibility to be mindful of the role they play in the health of the public.  Our hospitals and long term care facilities are full of people that got there because they were inactive and made poor lifelong health choices. 

This study contains valuable information for a very small number of aging runners that push the performance envelope in their training and racing.  These runners should consider the consequences of these findings and adjust their running programs accordingly. 

Finally, I’d like to report that my father who is pictured above turns 88 next year and has been walk/joggng 8kms to 10kms every day, (or about 56+km a week) for years and only stopped racing marathons when he turned 79.  While he stills enjoys excellent health, most of his friends and family that lived a sedentary life, are either ill, immobile, or dead.  I guess he and the many seniors like him are the exceptions to this study.

Enjoy the Ride....Rob

Action Flicks the Switch - an inspirational story

I’ve often said the intent of writing my blog is to provide people with information that when put into action will improve the quality of their life.  Except for the number comments and emails I receive from time to time, I really don’t know the personal impact I have on the thousands of people that tune in from time to time....that is until this past year!

The saying, “Knowledge is Power, but Action Flicks the Switch” is epitomized by Peter LeClair.   Let me introduce you to Peter.  Last summer, Peter weighed an unhealthy 245lbs (a BMI of 33.5 or considered obese) and at the age of 53, this kind of weight carries all kinds of health risks that I’ve discussed in numerous posts. 

Even at this weight, Peter is an avid cyclist and through a chance guided bike ride through the South of France with my step-brother (Gerry Patterson), I was introduced to Peter.  You see, Peter had a dream of competing in a bike race held every year in conjunction with the Tour de France.  The race is called Etape du Tour  and there are two events; Act 1 - held in the French Alps and Act 2 - held in the French Pyrenees.  Peter elected to participate in Act 2, the longer and more difficult of the two races.  Act 2 is a grueling 201km trek over four monster mountain passes unlike anything we see on this side of the North American side of the ocean and will be ridden by the pro riders in the Tour de France a few days after he rides it.  Every year, the Etape du Tour attracts approximately 9000 cyclists participate and this year was no exception.

When I first spoke to Peter, he told me about this dream and was looking for a little training advice, while at the same time telling me he was a “little” overweight.   You could imagine my reaction when his actual weight was revealed, because Etape du Tour is for the most seriously fit cyclists and although Peter was motivated, he wasn’t in any condition to attempt such a ride.  In fact, I told him his first order of business was to focus on his health. 

Every few years, I personally coach a few people; sometimes it’s an athlete wanting to improve their athletic performance; other times it’s to assist someone determined to transform their lifestyle.  With Peter, I did both. 

Since I don’t charge fees for my services, my only reward is to see someone like Peter transform their life while watching their physical and psychological changes.  I only have four criteria before working with someone, because if I’m going to invest my time I need to know they are equally motivated and driven by a larger purpose than just vanity.  These include:

1. 100% support from their significant other (it's almost impossible to make this kind of lifestyle transformation if the other people in the home aren't on the same page)
2. Committed to a long term (as in decades) purpose to why they’re making this change (short term goals like just losing weight won’t get you through the tough days)
3. Commitment to my suggested dietary and exercise changes (it took years to become unhealthy, it’s tough to replace bad habits with new healthy ones)
4. Take responsibility and agree that you alone are responsible for your health (good or bad)

Peter met my criteria in spades and we started working together in early October last year (10 months ago). 

Peter was initially focussed on wanting to weigh less than 200lbs in preparation for Etape, while I just wanted him to focus on his health.  To set the appropriate weight expectation, I asked Peter what he weighed in his final year of High School, and he said around 170lbs.  I said, “Well that’s the weight you will be next summer”.  Peter thought I was nuts, as a 75lb weight loss seemed unrealistic. I simply said, “Stop worrying about weight, because if you live a healthy lifestyle, your weight will take care of itself.”  There’s no reason why anyone should gain weight throughout their life if they eat properly, limit alcohol consumption and exercise regularly.  Most excuses I hear why someone gains weight throughout their life are simply that, excuses for a lazy and unhealthy lifestyle.

I won’t take you through the detail of Peter’s transformation program, other than to say, I provided him with a daily workout schedule and a dietary plan with general concepts and rules and Peter followed the program to the letter.  Again, knowledge may be key, but more important was Peter's dedication to turn this knowledge into action.

Peter’s journey just to get him to the Etape de Tour starting line is a great success story, as he had to lose approximately 1/3 of his body weight in addition to train hard enough to be sufficiently prepared to endure over 200km of the toughest cycling conditions that would make the most seasoned pro cyclist lose sleep with anxiety.  Peter not only met his goal, but surpassed it, as he transformed his lifestyle and attitude towards his personal health and as a side benefit he ultimately weighed in at a healthy 165lbs on race day.  A loss of 80lbs in 10 months.

Below is the transformed Peter, sporting his great riding form in his size MEDIUM cycling kit.

Providing Peter the information to make his transformation possible was important, but as the saying goes, “Information is Power, but Action Flicks the Switch.  And Peter flicked that switch.  He switched his dietary practices and for the most part followed my guidelines and rules.

And when it came to training, Peter rarely missed a scheuled workout (many in his basement as pictured above during the cold Canadian winter months), even when he felt like taking a day off.  And believe me it was a tough program, which had to be proportional to the event he was perparing for.  Peter demonstrated the kind of determination, commitment and never ending positive attitude that’s usually reserved for Olympic champions.  

The day before Peter competed in Etape, I emailed and told him regardless of how he performed in the race, he was already and winner.  Below, Peter standing in front of a motivational poster the day before the big race. 

Race day was this past Saturday (July 14) and I’m delighted to report that both Peter and my step-brother Gerry (who also raced Etape du Tour - Act 1 the previous weekend) completed the Etape du Tour - Act 2 in what were horrific wet and cold conditions.  I’m hoping Peter will provide a guest blog describing his journey back to health as his story is one of inspiration, determination and what it's like to live in the world of the possibility. 

Peter in full flight living his dream of health and competing in 2012 Etape du Tour. 

Enjoy the Ride ... Rob

Prevention Is Thy Cure

I don’t talk much about my day job, but let me start off by saying, I love what I do.  I get to work in an area that aligns with my passion for health by marketing solutions that improve the quality of life by leveraging technology.  Whether it’s Personal Health Records that enable citizens to monitor their own health and wellness, and that of their loved ones, or Remote Patient Monitoring thereby empowering individuals to self monitor their condition(s) and become more aware of their own health recovery.  All the solutions I sell to government and health institutions are designed to increase health quality, while reducing overall costs. 

I’m always surprised where I get the inspiration for my blog content.  The great thing about blogging is there is no preselected topic or a schedule to maintain.  I just write when something catches my attention and aligns with the purpose and theme of my site that I think you may be interested in reading.  And today, my inspiration came while meeting a healthcare executive that’s about to embark on an impressive transformational initiative that reminded me of an article I read in the Globe and Mail at the beginning of the year.  The title of the article was “Wellness Model Emphasizes Illness Prevention”.   (I’ve also copied the article below for your convenience)

I’ve often said the majority of North Americans don’t care about their health until they’re faced with a health crisis that forces them to care.  I’m often challenge when I say this, but how can you argue the fact that 50% of Canadian’s don’t meet the minimum physical activity and healthy eating recommendations, or 55% of Canadians and over 70% of Americans are overweight or obese.  Approximately 20% of Canadians still smoke (and amazingly, male smoking is back on the rise) and alcohol consumption has increased to the point that many no longer know or choose to care what is consider unhealthy.  The Heart and Stroke Foundation published a study conducted in 2010 that an amazing 9 out of 10 Canadians are jeopardizing the quality and length of their lives by ignoring these and other risk factors that they’re in complete control of.

In Canada, over 40% of your tax dollars feed an ever ravenous healthcare system, but did you know that the use of the system you pay into is wildly disproportionate.  People with one or more of the five major chronic illnesses consume over 66% of our health services.  If Canadian’s attitudes towards their personal health and illness prevention continue, the statistics above will surely worsen (and take note, the situation in the USA is even worse).  Healthcare institutions throughout North America and around the world are continually exploring options and solutions to keep up with the demand for health services, while at the same time the people that complain most about the quality of care are the same people that take little or no interest in their lifestyle choices that directly affect their health.   

Besides being a health advocate that is concerned about the quality of health of individuals and the greater population, I’m also a businessman that is witness to a healthcare system that has the potential of either bankrupting our country if current spending trends continue, or my larger concern is that the quality of life for so many will be compromised when governments and health institutions have the difficult decision of selecting which programs are to receive funding and which ones will not because of a lack of funding. 

So the day of waiting for the crisis has arrived at our door step.  The question is what can you do about it?  The answer has been under our noises for decades.  The cure to prevent many chronic illnesses and recover our critically ill healthcare system is one in the same....PREVENTION through healthy lifestyle choices. 

I’m not sure if we’re actually seeing more marketing and media push in the area of illness prevention, or if it’s just that I have a heightened sense of awareness given my passion for the topic and the career I’ve chosen.  Regardless, there seems to be more and more information available and the article below from the Globe and Mail is just one of many examples I’ve read or seen on television. 

I’ve often said, “If you don’t take time for your health today, you will have lots of time to be sick in the future”.  I’m not so sure this statement is entirely  true, because if things go unchanged and the health of North Americans continues to deteriorate at its current rate, we will run out of money to treat the volume of people with chronic illnesses and the expanding services they demand, and you may not have as much time to be sick in the future as you once thought. 

Make your health and the health of others a lifelong priority so you can “Enjoy the Ride”....Rob

CHRONIC DISEASE

Wellness model emphasizes illness prevention

The Globe and Mail

Published Thursday, Nov. 24 2011, 2:28 PM EST

Dr. John Haggie is a strong proponent of the adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

As a surgeon practising in Gander, Nfld., he has first-hand experience with serious medical conditions that could be prevented with early intervention.

Among his examples, Dr. Haggie points to a patient who is about to lose her leg due to complications of type 2 diabetes. “This outcome could have been avoided at any number of points,” he says. “Better childhood nutrition and fitness could have prevented the obesity that led to the development of this woman’s diabetes. Better drug coverage could have improved her blood glucose management. Even something as simple as having her feet checked by a nurse, which costs about $20, could have saved this woman’s leg and tens of thousands of dollars to the health care system.”

As president of the Canadian Medical Association, Dr. Haggie is promoting a transformation of the health care system that will focus on illness prevention and health promotion. “The current acute disease model of health care is 20 years out of date. Today, the biggest burden on the system comes from largely preventable chronic diseases and their complications,” he says, noting part of the challenge in promoting health is that many highly effective interventions are based in the community, not in hospital or doctors’ offices (for example, programs to encourage youth fitness and smoking cessation initiatives). As a result, they are not funded by medicare.

“We have to convince the government to invest in primary and secondary prevention initiatives. The evidence shows that an upfront investment more than pays for itself down the road,” says Michael Cloutier, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Diabetes Association. He notes that just a two per cent reduction in diabetes prevalence rates would result in a nine per cent reduction in direct health care costs.

Unfortunately, the tools and medications that promote health are not accessible to all Canadians. Almost two-thirds of people with diabetes report that they cannot afford to comply with their prescribed therapy to effectively manage their disease. “A lot of people have to choose between paying for their rent or for their medications. Many more – especially those in remote and lower income communities – cannot afford healthy food. The result is more diabetes-related complications, poorer quality of life for these individuals and an increasing strain on our health care system,” says Mr. Cloutier. “We need to create a standard of care for chronic disease management across Canada.”

The Canadian Medical Association is advocating for co-ordinated investments in health promotion and disease prevention that will eliminate these gaps.

“Our goal is to ensure that by the end of the end of the next Health Care Accord, Canadians will have the best health in the world,” says Dr. Haggie.

“There is no reason why we can’t do that. By emphasizing health promotion now, we will see results by 2020.”

Common Sense Isn’t So Common Anymore!

I just finished my annual two week cycling training camp at my place in Arizona.  It's a place where the weather is more conducive to early season cycling, unlike my home town of Calgary where you can still get caught in a freak snow storm in the middle of a 100km ride.  My feelings about Calgary weather are another topic and not what I’m writing about today. 

As I was returning home and waiting for my plane in the Phoenix Sky Harbour airport, I stopped at the bookstore to get something to read for the 3 hours flight back to Calgary, so I picked up the current issue of Bicycling Magazine when I came across an article that I just have to share with you.  The title of the article is: “Why Johnny Can’t Ride” and I’d like to hear from you on this one.  I hope I’m not the only one that thinks the “Nanny State” filled with “Helicopter Parents” has gone too far.

I wrote a post a while back titled, "Childhood Fitness, Where Did It Go".  The topic was about the absence of kids playing in the streets and parks because of many factors including, over-protective parents that can’t let their kids out of their sight for more than a nano-second, and the fact that today’s children are addicted to video games and monitors (TV, Computers, etc), which are both contributing to the probability if a child is under the age 16 they will live a shorter and less healthy life than their parents (if that can even be possible, judging by the current health of North Americans adults today). 

The more I read this article about Adam's situation, the more piss-off I got.  It’s a long article so let me give you the “Cole’s Notes Version”.

This is a story about a seventh-grader at Maple Avenue Middle School in Saratoga Springs, New York.  His name is Adam Mario and he’s getting a firsthand lesson in civil disobedience. The 12-year-old and his mother, Janette Marino, are defying Saratoga Springs school policy by riding his bike to school; yes, you read that correctly, for biking to school.  Something we as kids took for granted and were encouraged; in fact, we had two ways to get to school back then; you either walked, or rode your bike.  Adam rides about 4 miles (6.4km), each way to school and his mother rides with him to ensure his safety.   By the way, this is something my mother at that age would never do, nor would I want her because I enjoyed the confidence my parents had in me, not to mention the feeling of independence.  So when Adam and his mother arrived at his school, they were met by school officials and a State Trooper who informed them that such an act was extremely dangerous, strictly prohibited and she would have to come back to the school and pick up his bike.  They went on further to say the only two modes of transportation to and from the school were bus or car.

Janette Marino believes they didn’t do anything wrong and that it’s none of the state or school’s business what form of transportation she uses to get their son to school, as long as he gets there on time.  Besides, Adam would be one less child why the school has to buy another polluting bus, or idling car that sits in front of the school during pick up and drop off time.  The Marino’s  are part of a small, but growing number of parents challenging the sedentary habits of today's youths and what they view as overanxious "helicopter parenting”, where “Free Range” children is considered irresponsible parenting.  To these modern day parents, the thought of sending their children out the door to participate in unsupervised play, or to let them walk to school themselves is simply unthinkable.  So the Marino's basically said to hell with you; try and stop us.

Riding his 21-speed Giant mountain bike to school benefits Adam Marino's health and the environment, but state and school believe that biking and walking (which is also banded, believe me, I can’t make this stuff up) are too dangerous for middle school aged children to handle, although no walking or bike accidents have ever been reported on the school’s road.

So that’s the summary of this story; read the full story to fill in the gaps and I’m sure you will shake your head like my wife and I did.  There are many social issues one can comment on a story like this, especially given the health of the typical North American.  Given the theme of my blog I will focus on two that I believe are contributing negatively to the health of our children:

1)      Helicopter Parenting

2)      Health is Not a Priority

Helicopter Parenting:  I’m not sure when it happened, but over the decades since I was a kid, parents have become so protective of their children, it’s now affecting their health.  And for the most part, they fear something that’s not real and only in their mind.  This fear is further manifested when they hear about the one or two child abduction cases that are sensationalized by the media.  They fear if their children play too out of their sight that bad shit will happen to them, when in fact this kind of smothering is one of the causes why we have so many obese children.

My father who’s now 87 told me a great when he was a young lad of 7 or 8 years old, growing up in Scotland.  He and his best friend set out to ride their bikes from Edinburgh Scotland to Blackpool England a distance of 320km (one way) with no parent supervision.  They had a map, (which they could read and understand), a few shillings in their pockets to buy some food and shelter, and good health to get them there and back!  Remember, I’m talking about two 7 year old boys and the only thing my Grandmother said to him as he set off, was to ride safe (oh yea, and they weren't wearing helmets).  This could never happen in today’s culture, because every stranger is considered a potential kidnapper, or worse and what would happen if their little sweethearts fell.  Not to mention, most children are so out of shape they could never physically consider such a trip.  Finally, today's children are driven to all their activities, so they have no idea how to navigate much further than a few hundred meters from their front door.  If today’s Child Services ever caught wind of such parental freedom for their children, they would have locked my Grandmother up for being an irresponsible parent.  (By the way, the two lads only made it as far as Carlisle in Northern England, because they realized they would run out of money.   Even still, they rode a total distance of 320km and spent a couple nights on their own staying at youth hostels!) 

This story is so extreme by today’s standards, were “Free Range” play for children is such a rarity.  Except for organized hockey where my father was the coach, we never participated in any organized play, however we were always playing sports in the fields, climbing trees, riding our bikes, playing touch football and scrub baseball.  And there was never a parent watching over our shoulder.  This unnatural act that parents have developed prevents their children to roam free and play naturally.  By restricting the movement’s like we see today, says to children that their parents can’t trust them to be responsible for their decisions and actions.  No wonder children are so rebelious today.  And when combined with the Nintendo Culture of sitting their little fat behinds in front of a monitor for 5 to 6 hours a day you have a major contributor to the obesity epidemic we find in our young people today.

Health is Not a Priority: the fact that the majority of North Americans are not healthy means that health is no longer a priority in many people’s lives.  The statistics don’t lie and the costs to our healthcare system are out of control as a direct outcome.  If health isn’t a priority for the parents, it’s certainly not going to be a priority for their children’s.  Children emulate the actions of their parents, not their words.  So if they see dad sitting on his fat ass all weekend watching sports on TV, while eating junk food and drinking beer, instead of actually participating in a sport, they will do the same.  If the family eats highly processed, or  fast food from one of the many unhealthy convenient fast food restaurants, because mom or dad are too lazy to prepare something healthy, well this sets in motion a lifestyle of poor eating habits, which leads to all kinds of degenerative diseases. 

So as I read this article about Adam Marino and the Nanny State at the Maple Avenue Middle School in Saratoga Springs, I realize what a bizarre world we live in.  A world that’s so up-side-down, that something as healthy and natural as walking or riding a bike to school is considered dangerous to your health and should be prohibited. 

If you’re of a certain age, leave a comment and tell my readers about a story of “free range” play you used to do as a kid before the helicopter parents and the nanny state stepped in and ruined the fun we used to enjoy and take for granted as we explored our neighbourhoods and beyond.

Enjoy the Ride.....Rob

Are you suffering from "Nature Deficit Disorder"?

Can you feel it? I certainly can. I finally got out for my first bike ride of the year after hibernating and training indoors on my bike trainer. The weather conditions weren’t great, as I saw cool temperatures, a little snow, a little rain and for a very brief moment, a little sunshine. But who cares, I was back outside breathing fresh air and being reacquainted with my old friend, "Mother Nature".  My step brother who lives in the South of France has been rubbing my nose in his even earlier re-introduction with the French version of Mother Nature since February.  Regardless, I'm talking about Springtime….and even though the French enjoy it two months before those of us that live in Alberta, it's just around the corner and I can hardly wait to get out of my basement gym and into the great outdoors on a regular basis.

That said, not everyone thinks this way. In fact the majority of North Americans continue to turn inward, even though the outdoors is calling them. Something is certainly wrong with this picture, as over 60% of all North Americans are either overweight or obese and the thought of being active is considered by many as an unnatural act. When I was travelling through France last year, and trying my best to learn little bits of their language, I found out the French don’t even have a word for “fat people”. Or as Paul Rudnick commented in a mock-Parisian tone in The New Yorker last week. “If a woman is obese in France,” he wrote, “we simply call her American.”

Of course, North America’s national branding of size comes with a host of deadly degenerative diseases like: Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, many different kinds of cancer and all the medical costs that come with them, and you and I pay dearly for those that are obese due to inactivity and poor eating habits.

Spring is also Tax Season in Canada and let me remind all my Canadian readers that our healthcare system isn’t free, as many argue when comparing it to the US system. If you pay $50,000 in taxes, you are paying approximately $22,500 in healthcare fees through your taxes, and this is on top of your provincial health insurance premiums (except for Alberta). And let’s not forget that North Americans also voluntarily spend $55 billion on diet related products or services, which inevitably fail.

The sad part is; the solution is sitting right outside the door….and it’s free! For the last couple million years of human evolution, we have been a species that chased things to eat, or ran away from being eaten, or did physical labor necessary to grow our food. As a result we ate what was only needed, we took in Vitamin D from the sun (the best know antioxidant) and exercise was built into our lives (just like the French Paradox I wrote about last year). There were no gym clubs to belong to, we were simply active. And in less than one generation’s time, hundreds of millions of people have completely decoupled themselves from Mother Nature and all her health benefits.

There’s a new term for the consequences of this divorce between human and habitat — Nature Deficit Disorder,coined by the writer Richard Louv in a 2005 book, “Last Child in the Woods.” It sounds trendy, a bit of sociological shorthand, but give the man and his point a good listen. Louv argued that certain behavioral problems are caused by the sharp decline in how little time children spend outdoors, a trend updated in the latest Recreation Participation Report. For example, the number of boys aged 6 to 12 who engage in some kind of regular outdoor activity continues to slide. I wrote a blog last year about my observation that children no longer play outside in the numbers we used to see. Growing up, I remember my mother kicking me out the door in the morning and telling me she didn’t want to see me again until noon for lunch and again for dinner, and finally again when the street lights came on.  And all mothers did this.  Today, Social Services would be called in for this kind of parent behavior.

You can blame technology all you want, but behind every computer screen-dominant upbringing is an overly cautious parent that thinks there’s a “bogey-man” around every corner waiting to snatch their children. Understandably, we want to protect our kids from “out there” variables. But the fact remains that these over protective parents are setting their children down a lifestyle path that ends up in a long slow death.

Kids who do play outside are less likely to get sick, be stressed, or become aggressive, and are more adaptable to life’s unpredictable turns, and Louv said, since his book came out, things have gotten worse. “The average young American now spends practically every minute — except for the time in school – using smartphones, computers, televisions or electronic devices.”

It's time to change this trend and make this year, the year that you and your family shut off the electronics and rediscover the great outdoors. Your body will thank you.

Enjoy the Ride….Rob

HEALTH & DIET MISCONCEPTIONS

It’s now the beginning of March and I'll bet a few of you declared a New Year’s resolution to achieve better health this year.  If studies are correct, 78% of you have given up on that crazy notion and reverted back to your old ways and are using inaccurate misconceptions to justify your change of heart.

I wrote a blog a while back about all the excuses I hear why people don’t exercise.  Well here are some popular misconceptions I hear when it comes to starting or sticking with healthy habits.  The following ideas might seem like reasonable assumptions, but the research suggests otherwise. Here are eight misconceptions that might be getting in the way of your healthy resolution.

1.      My doctor will tell me if I have a weight problem

If you think your doctor will alert you that your weight is putting your health at risk, think again.  You’re better off looking at yourself in the mirror for an accurate assessment. And be honest with what you see.  A study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that less than half of those who were overweight and only two-thirds of those who were obese were told during the past year by their doctor that they were too heavy.  Doctors are trained to treat illness, not prevent it, so don’t expect them to tell you to lose the weight until you have a weight related crisis to deal with.  And by then it could be too late.

Furthermore, according to Dr. Christine Gerbstabt MD, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and author of “Doctor’s Detox Diet”, “weight is a touchy subject, especially for women, which might partially explain why female physicians are less likely to bring up weight with their patients. Plus, doctors sometimes figure that their patients have the resources to address weight issues on their own because there's so much diet and fitness information available to the public domain."  Which we also know is untrue.

2.      I'll eat less calories if I skip breakfast

Please drill this into your head: Skipping breakfast won't save you calories. "People have this notion that if they don't eat breakfast they'll save calories, or can cheat-eat later in the day, but it really doesn't work that way," says Gerbstadt. "Your body needs food in small increments throughout the day to stay powered, and research shows that people who eat 400 to 600 calories at breakfast are less likely to be overweight." Starting your day with a morning meal can help jump-start your metabolism by 10 percent and prevents you from overindulging on snacks and large meals later in the day because you're ravenous.

If you typically don't feel hungry in the morning, I suggest you skip dinner - just once or twice - to reset your appetite clock.  Many people say they're just not hungry when they wake up, but this is because they ate too much at dinner, or ate unhealthy snacks all through the evening up until bedtime. Another suggestion is to stop eating after 7:30pm in the evening, this way, you'll be sure to wake up hungry.

3.      Taking the stairs takes too long

Sorry, but taking the elevator at work isn't just lazy, it's inefficient, too.  Nothing frustrates me more than seeing a person take the elevator for one to five floors.  Worse still, if they're overweight and holding a can of Coke or a bag of chips.  I work with a guy that almost never takes an elevator, (only if he has to climb greater than 20 flights of stairs!).  And it should be no surprise that he’s in amazing shape.  A Canadian study calculated that when you factor in the time you spend waiting for an elevator to arrive; taking the stairs will actually save you about 15 minutes each workday. Researchers timed hospital workers making trips between one and six floors, and found that it took 2.8 times longer per floor to travel by elevator than by stairwell. So the next time you catch yourself complaining about being too busy to work out, taking the stairs is a healthy way to gain a few minutes to your day.

4.      I lost 10lbs, that’s good enough

Don’t settle with mediocrity.  Losing 10 pounds may feel good, but if you're overweight or obese, a small dip in weight is only the beginning and not the finish line.  Your goal weight should be very close to your graduating high school weight, (assuming you weren’t overweight when you graduated). 

I’m training a 50+ year old fellow right now who had a starting weight of around 240lbs and when asked what his goal weight should be, he was somewhat surprised when I suggested his high school weight, which was around 170lbs.  Six months after starting, his weight is a very healthy 179lb, with only 9lbs to go!  When we started, I said we would focus on healthy lifestyle choices (Diet, Exercise, Rest, Reduced Stress) and the weight will take care of itself.  The results below speak for themself:

While short-term studies have concluded that obese people can see significant improvements in their heart health after a 5 percent weight loss, a new 10-year Swedish study found that you most likely need to lose twice this much to yield meaningful results. Obese people who lost 4 percent of their body weight showed no significant improvements in terms of major health risk factors, like blood pressure, diabetes, or any of a number of weight related degenerative diseases. 

5.      I’ll just work off that extra Big Mac

You probably know a thing or two about calories; like you need to eat less of them and burn more of them if you want to see the number on the scale go down, but chances are you may underestimate the effort associated with "burning" those extra calories off your body.

According to the Mayo Clinic, one MacDonalds Big Mac (540 calories) requires over an hour of stationary rowing to burn it off.  A study in the American Journal of Public Health found that when teens read a sign that said it takes 50 minutes of jogging to burn off a bottle of Coca Cola, sales fell 50% compared with those teens who just read the number of calories, suggesting that people have a false sense about how many calories they consume versus the exercise required to burn off those extra unhealthy calories.  People I speak with have a false understanding how easy it is to consume calories and how hard it is to burn them off.  So, my advice is to always be mindful of what you eat, because unless you’re training for an Ironman, exercise alone won’t address your weight gain associated with the consumption of unhealthy high calorie foods. choices

6.      I'm in control of what I'm eating

Sure you're in control and you have no one to blame for eating that extra cookie, or slice of apple pie but yourself, but no matter how strong your willpower, you may be consuming more food without even knowing it. A number of studies show that there are sneaky, subliminal factors that affect how much we serve ourselves. Not only do people dish out and eat larger portions when using bigger spoons, plates and bowls, as I spoke about in my Portion Control blog post a few months ago, but they also tend to eat more when their food is a similar color to their plate, say researchers from Cornell University.  Mindless-eating expert Brian Wansink found that people were more likely to dish out a big helping of pasta Alfredo on a white plate than a red one. No wonder when I vacation in Tuscany the Itialians serve their pasta in those brightly colored bowls in reduced quantities. 

7.       It's too expensive to eat healthy

I often get the excuse from all income brackets that it’s too expensive to eat healthy.  Times may be lean, but eating healthy doesn't have to be a luxury.  A 2011 study in Health Affairs calculated that following the USDA's MyPlate guidelines would only cost an extra $380 a year in groceries, or $1.04 a day. Also, findings from George Washington University researchers show that obese women earned $5,826 less per year than their thinner counterparts - so maybe eating right is worth the investment, both physically and financially.

Eating healthy doesn't have to be exotic or gourmet.  To see just how much it would cost to shape up your eating habits, try tallying a week's worth of food and meal receipts – count everything and don’t cheat.  Include your $15 lunch to your $4 Starbucks cappuccino - and then compare it with 7-day's worth of well planned healthy groceries.  Studies say it’s usually less expensive compared with how much you're spending dining out and eating on the run.

8.       A little snack won't hurt

Well, that depends on your perception of what qualifies as a snack and how often you're noshing between meals.  Remember point #5 above, and it’s not just what you eat that counts, but when you eat it.  Investigating the snacking habits over the course of a year, researchers found that healthy midmorning snackers lost 7 percent of their body weight compared with those who ate their healthy snack later in the day, who lost 11 percent of their body weight. Why? Midmorning snackers usually didn't stop at just one snack and tended to eat another later in the day too, as opposed to afternoon snackers.

The problem with snacking is that people don't know what a snack is.  A snack is nutritious and filling; it bridges meals and is no more than 200 calories.  Snack packs, cookies and candies aren't snacks - they're treats. You need to know the difference and know that there is a limit.

Summary

Hopefully, those of you that started down the path of healthy choices back in January are still committed to those resolutions as the day you started.  If not, hopefully this little post will re-focus your commitment and get you back on track. 

Enjoy the Ride….Rob