As I’ve mentioned, I’m training for a marathon this year and, before that, a 30-km. And while I run once a week with a friend, the majority of the miles I log are on my own. I could never imagine setting off without my iPod; here are my top 25 running songs – in no particular order (beware, there’s lots of cheese).
I’m always look for new ones to add the the mix, so your suggestions are most welcome!
Hotel Yorba – The White Stripes
Electric Feel – MGMT
Timebomb – Beck
Paper Planes - M.I.A.
Everyday People – Arrested Development
Womanizer – Britney Spears
Salute Your Solution – The Raconteurs
Can’t Tell Me Nothing – Kanye West
Bust a Move – Young MC
Family Affair – Mary J. Blige
Live Your Life – T.I. (featuring Rihanna)
Hey Ya! – OutKast
ABC – The Jackson Five
Borderline – Madonna
Cause and Effect – The White Stripes
It Takes Two To Make a Thing Go Right – Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock
Gamma Ray – Beck
Crazy in Love – Beyonce
This is How We Do It – Montell Jordan
When I Grow Up – The Pussycat Dolls
Stronger – Kanye West
Superhero – Jane’s Addiction
Let Me Blow Ya Mind – Eve
Poker Face – Lady Gaga
Let Me Clear My Throat – DJ Kool
I swore last week that I wouldn’t talk about dieting in my next post, but technically that doesn’t exclude a discussion on weight. In specific, I’m fascinated by the brouhaha in the U.S. over Dr. Regina Benjamin – the new surgeon general – who many suggest is at least 40 pounds overweight and as such, an unsuitable pick for the top medical post in the country.
My take? Who better to help tackle the obesity crisis than someone who knows first-hand how hard it is to lose weight. And I’m not assuming anything here – Dr. Benjamin told Good Morning America that she struggles with her size. But more importantly, she notes that “being healthy and being fit isn’t about a dress size.” Sound familiar? It’s also not about body mass index (BMI), the standard measure for obesity calculated by height and weight – which, as numerous people have pointed out, is far from perfect. (This slide show from Kate Harding at Shapely Prose illustrates how just how widely body size can fluctuate within the underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese BMI ranges.) Really, the only person who can tell whether your weight is affecting your health is your doctor.
Do you think Dr. Benjamin’s weight is an issue when it comes to her ability to fight obesity? By extension, do you care whether the health professionals in your life are overweight? I’d love to know what you think.
I’ve made a few diet- and weight loss-related posts this week and it’s proven to be a hot topic, so while I have your attention I’d like to talk about one easy diet resolution I was hoping we could all make.
When I spoke to Dr. Valerie Taylor, director of the bariatric surgery psychiatry program at McMaster University in Hamilton, she mentioned in passing that Canada needs to regulate the diet industry, noting that the obese are a “vulnerable population” who are being taken advantage of by companies that promote “unsafe dietary practises.” Dr. Arya Sharma, another obesity expert, makes a similar argument here.
I thought about Taylor’s comment again this morning as I read this post from the New York Times’s Well blog, about new research which found that young adults who consider themselves to be overweight are particularly susceptible to weight loss products marketed via spam emails:
“Joshua Fogel, associate professor of behavioral sciences at Brooklyn College, asked students about a variety of spam-related products and online scams, anticipating that only a small percentage would be vulnerable to the hype. In reviewing the responses of the students, he said he was stunned to discover that a large percentage of students were reading health-related spam e-mail messages and buying the products offered.
Among students with weight problems, 42 percent reported opening spam messages offering weight loss products and nearly 19 percent ordered the product. Among normal weight students, 18 percent said they read the e-mail offers and 5 percent bought the product.”
Wouldn’t it be great if the only diet products allowed to be promoted in Canada met a universal set of safety and effectiveness guidelines, with legal ramifications for marketing products that didn’t meet them? I know effectiveness might be a hard one to determine, as ultimately most diets fail, but surely a sound program like Weight Watchers – when properly followed – can be proven to work better and be far less harmful to consumers than some of the snake oil potions and gadgets marketed online. This might be lofty, but in the spirit of putting my money where my mouth is, I’ve emailed our federal health minister, Leona Aglukkaq, and asked her why there is no legislation regulating the diet industry in Canada. You can do the same here. At the very least, it can’t hurt (unlike some diet pills).
Tomorrow: a non diet-related post, I promise.
You’ve heard me rant about diets and crazy-seeming weight loss gadgets, so for a refreshing change in tone, today I’m going to blog about a weight loss tool that actually makes sense.
Yesterday I interviewed Dr. Valerie Taylor, who is the director of the bariatric surgery psychiatry program at McMaster University. We talked a lot about food addiction, a controversial but – Taylor argues – very real condition that you can read more about in the March issue of Chatelaine. As part of her work, she has also co-authored a cognitive therapy workbook for patients about to undergo weight loss surgery. The book, which is called The Cognitive Behavioral Workbook for Weight Management: A Step-by-Step Program for Real People, helps readers to create a individualized weight management strategy and provides suggestions for dealing with triggers and critical thoughts – sound advice for anyone who needs help maintaining a healthy weight.
The concept of this book fits perfectly with something that was said to me a few weeks ago by Dr. Arya Sharma, another obesity expert:
“Telling someone who is overweight to eat less is the equivalent of telling someone who is depressed to go and watch something funny on television.”
Instead, it’s much, much, MUCH more important to examine the reasons why we overeat in the first place. And that’s why I think Taylor’s book is such an excellent resource.
You may wonder why I’m speaking positively about something that encourages people to lose weight, considering that I’ve described myself repeatedly as anti-diet and have also pledged my allegiance to the Health at Every Size (HAES) approach to diet and exercise. Well, it’s thanks to something else Dr. Sharma said during our interview (you’ll find the full Q&A in our March issue). I asked him what he thought about HAES, and while he agreed that it’s important to live a healthy lifestyle no matter your size, he stressed that if “excess weight is affecting your health, the only solution is to lose weight.” Very sage advice. As for whether to diet when your weight isn’t causing medical problems, that’s not so clear-cut. Being happy with your body is so much better for you, but considering that it took me about a billion years to get to that point, it’s definitely easier said than done.
What are your thoughts on dieting? I’d love to know.
Jan
04
1/ Eat more vegetables
2/ Stay at home more often (instead of making plans for every night of the week and becoming a total crab by Friday)
3/ Run my first marathon (this one, in specific)
I’m off to a good start, as I spent most of the weekend in my pajamas, only leaving the house to buy the ingredients for an amazing vegetable-tofu-coconut-curry soup (the recipe will appear in our March 2010 issue; find more super-healthy Chatelaine soup recipes here).
I mentioned last week that I don’t believe in diet-related resolutions, and, honestly, I think that resolutions – like diets – rarely ever stick. But I can’t help but get sucked in by the glimmering possibility of making positive changes in my life. (Which is really what Oprah has made her fortune on, no?) If that results in me eating more broccoli or running a little farther this year, then so be it.
What are your 2010 resolutions? I’d love to hear them. And if you’re looking for inspiration, check out this great list from the commenters on one of my favourite blogs, Kate Harding’s Shapely Prose.
