Fat vs. Fiction

Fat vs. Fiction
Photos by CM Photography

Most of the questions I hear as a trainer revolve around one thing, you guessed it, “How do I lose weight?”
Coincidentally, the people who ask me these questions are the same people who have tried numerous diets and exercise programs all promising fantastic results. My goal today is to clear up some of the myths about losing weight, especially when it comes to body fat.

Myth #1 Carbohydrates make people fat.

Truth #1 Consuming too much of anything whether it’s fat, protein, carbohydrates, or even alcohol will make you fat. Most snack foods have a very high concentration of simple carbohydrates or sugars, which provide little to no sustenance and often lead to overeating. Eating a combination of protein, carbohydrates (especially fiber), and fats will fill you up longer than carbohydrates alone.

Myth #2 Aerobics or “cardio” is the best way to lose weight.

Truth #2 Burning more calories than you consume is the best way to lose weight. While aerobic activity helps you burn calories, it doesn’t increase your resting metabolic rate (RMR) like weight resistance training does. Our RMR makes up the majority of the calories we burn in one day, unless you happen to be an ultra endurance athlete. Resistance training boosts our RMR by increasing our muscle mass. Weight training not only burns calories while doing it, but also has a residual effect of helping burn more calories 24/7.

Myth #3 You must train in the “Fat Burning Zone” to lose body fat.

Truth #3 We burn a combination of carbohydrates and fats all day long. The “Fat Burning Zone” is when the percentage of calories used from fat is higher than that of carbohydrates. This doesn’t necessarily mean you are burning more fat calories overall. As the intensity of an activity rises, our use of carbohydrates increases, while our use of fat remains the same. Only the percentage of calories burned from fat goes down. In addition, higher intensity exercise increases EPOC (Excess Post Oxygen Consumption) after the workout. This is commonly referred to as the “After Burn” of exercise, when metabolism is elevated following completion of a workout.

Myth #4 Working out on an empty stomach helps burn more body fat.

Truth #4 Although the percentage of calories burned from fat will be higher, working out on an empty stomach usually shortens the duration and limits the intensity of exercise you can perform that workout. The best policy is to eat a small snack or meal 1 to 2 hours before exercise. Eating a small amount of calories before exercise, especially early in the morning, will help ensure you don’t fatigue prematurely during your workout.

Myth #5 Weight training turns fat into muscle.

Truth #5 Fat is fat and muscle is muscle. Over time, when we weight train, we build muscle and it increases our metabolism. If we don’t increase the amount of calories we eat after building the muscle, we may burn off the fat for energy to support the muscle. Sometimes people believe their fat turns to muscle because they appear smaller even though they weigh the same. Muscle is very dense, so a pound of muscle appears smaller than a pound of fat.

Myth #6 You can exercise specific areas of your body to burn off the fat located there.

Truth #6 Working out a specific area of your body will increase muscle activity in that area, but won’t necessarily reduce body fat there. Body fat typically comes off in just the opposite order it comes on. Although you can’t target areas to burn off body fat, usually you can predict where you will lose it first, last, etc. If the last place you noticed a little more chub was your abs, then as you start to lose body fat that will most likely be the place you notice shrinking first. Likewise, the first place you put on body fat is often the last place you are able to burn off the unsightly nuisance.

Mark Brandenburg is a fitness professional with a B.S. in Exercise and Sport Science from Iowa State University.
He serves the greater Twin Cities area as a personal trainer and fitness consultant. For more information about the services Mark has to offer go to www.fitandfitted.com or call (651) 366-1988

Navigating the Waters

By Josh P. Roberts

While city water probably won’t kill you, many people prefer to eschew the tap for a variety of reasons. Whether it’s a spring-filled hydration pack on their back or a bottle of “designer water” in their backpack, they opt for alternative ways of quenching their thirst for clean, refreshing H2O.

There are plenty of options to choose from. For pure convenience, nothing beats buying a lightweight plastic bottle of water when you’re thirsty, then tossing it into the nearest trashcan. But that is a high cost for the environment and your pocketbook. Plus, if you want to use “good” water not just for drinking but for cooking as well, you probably want to figure out a way to have a ready supply in your home.

Supermarkets and coops sell water by the gallon. Many will have taps to fill your own jugs: at Rainbow Foods, for example, you can get a gallon of micro-filtered, carbon filtered, reverse-osmosed, UV-light-treated tap water for just 39¢. With the average family of four going through about 3 gallons of drinking and cooking water per day, that can be a lot of lugging even for a single person (it doesn’t take much less water to make pasta for one).

There are, however, several different ways to have plenty of water ready to fill up those reusable bottles and stockpots without having to schlep.

No-plumb solutions

Perhaps the easiest way to have purified water at home is to have it delivered. Several companies will drop off 5-gallon jugs water at your doorstep, and pick up the empty ones to be refilled. Glenwood Inglewood, for example, offers a choice of distilled, purified, or spring water (from a natural spring in Minneapolis) for about $8.50/jug. A stand with a cooler rents for $5/month. Be careful though, jugs weigh about 50 pounds and need to be lifted onto the stand.

Some people opt for a pitcher with a built-in activated carbon filter, like those sold under the Brita brand name. These can be purchased from supermarkets, drug stores, or even Costco, for about $11-32 for 40-80-oz. capacity pitchers. There’s even a 144-oz. dispenser with a spigot. Replacement filters are available so you don’t have to toss the whole thing when it’s no longer doing its job, and if you’re so inclined you can replace the charcoal itself for a fraction of the cost.

Another option is to attach a filter to your tap. You’ve probably seen one sticking up from the end of the kitchen faucet arm. These can be had from places like Home Depot from about $25 on up, and may use sediment or other filters in addition to the carbon (all replaceable). A diverter lets you choose between tap water and filtered water at the flip of a switch.

If you have the space, you might even want to think about a countertop incarnation, which can get as big and sophisticated as you like, and many of which supply up to 10,000 gallons without changing a cartridge. A tube runs from a diverter at the faucet arm to the filter unit — flip the switch and water runs through the filters and out a separate tap on the unit. Both the faucet and countertop versions can be installed without tools in just a few minutes.

Under-sink filters

Similar units can be plumbed in and installed under the sink (or in a utility room below)—all you see is a separate spigot that sits next to the main faucet. Perhaps the most common version combines a sediment filter—to remove particulates—with an activated carbon filter to take out chloride, fluoride, and some organics. A large selection of specific filters, for removing lead, for example, or ion exchange filters for removing certain minerals, can also be added.

Some people opt to rent units instead of buying them. A basic installation is about $30 from Glenwood Inglewood, says outside sales representative Ron Heath. The monthly fee is about $21.

Reverse osmosis and distilled

After running through a sedimentation filter, water in a reverse osmosis (RO) system is forced through a thin membrane with tiny pores, leaving behind dissolved inorganics like chloride and sulfate. The water is stored in a holding tank with 96-98% of impurities removed, giving the consumer “the highest grade water,” notes Anthony Commers, vice president of the Blaine-based company bearing his family name.

Such purity comes with a price, though. Commers charges about $1100 for a basic installation, and filters run about $100 per year. The holding tank takes up considerable space. The process uses at least two gallons of tap water for each gallon of RO water (the rest goes down the drain), and there’s a limit to how much RO water can be drawn over a given time.

Commers notes that while distillation is technically better at removing impurities, including sodium – they can leave water over 99% pure—“they’re kind of fading away because of the cost: we haven’t sold them in 25 years.” Distillers use energy — typically electricity, but sometimes fire or even solar — to boil water. The vapor is then condensed, collected, and stored in a holding tank.

So … what do I do?

The EPA mandates quality and safety standards for water. From that perspective, the Minnesota Department of Health’s website says water treatment units are most appropriately used “for the removal of substances that affect the physical or aesthetic quality of water—taste, color, and odor … If you receive your water from a public water supply, it should be safe to drink.”

Many people prefer to err on the side of caution, however, and go beyond government standards. Many others simply don’t like the taste of city water. Whatever your reasons, the first step in choosing a purifier should be to know why you’re doing it. Then look at the upfront and ongoing costs involved, space availability, and capacity needs. And last, but not least, try and taste some of the water from the different types of filters. You agonized long enough, it’s time to enjoy that cold, refreshing glass of water.

Massage

Everyone knows the pleasure that a great massage provides, but are there other benefits of this age old art? Here’s a glance at the extraordinary health benefits that come with it. Ryan Flicek gives us

A fresh look at an ancient art.

It’s not often that you find something that feels good and is beneficial to your health.  Those who regularly enjoy massage can attest to the benefits, both to personal health and to the pleasure-center. Most people know, from personal experience, how pleasurable massage can be.  On the other hand, the extraordinary health benefits of massage are not widely realized.

Massage is an ancient art, its earliest documentation dating back to 2000 B.C.  The art of massage has greatly evolved over time.  Today, massage has crossed over into many types of herbal and eastern medicine, making it nearly impossible to determine the number of massage types.  Massage therapy is the most common form found in local spas and wellness centers.  Even among massage therapists, there are over 50 different recognized types.

Despite the wide array of massage, most share the same common health benefits:

Circulation - The mechanics of the act of massage aid in improving circulation.  During massage, blood vessels dilate, allowing blood to flow more freely.  In areas of damaged tissue and decreased blood flow, the deep stroking involved in massage also encourages blood to flow back towards the heart.  This attribute can be especially beneficial to those recovering from injury.

Lymphatic Flow - In addition to decreased blood flow, injury or immobilization decreases the flow of fluid within the lymphatic system.  Massage improves lymphatic flow and helps to avoid the swelling usually associated with immobility or prolonged inactivity.

Adhesions - When your muscles are tense for a prolonged amount of time, on a microscopic level they actually tear open and bleed.  Once the muscles heal, scar tissue forms.  When you are undergoing a massage, you may hear a “crunchiness” in some of your muscles.  This crunchiness is scar tissue or adhesions which the massage will work out.

Stretching of Muscles - Muscles can be stretched and lengthened through direct exercise stretching.  However, when muscles remain unstretched for long periods of time they may shorten, making direct exercise stretching difficult and painful.  Massage can aid in stretching these muscles and increasing range of motion.

Muscle Tone - Massage helps improve muscle tone by thoroughly working all muscle groups.  Those who are immobile as the result of injury, illness, or age can help delay or prevent muscular atrophy by regularly receiving massage.

Infant Massage

It is well documented that infants are happier and less fussy when spoiled with skin-to-skin contact.  Aside from the obvious survival requirements, your baby needs and desires close physical contact.  Although massage therapy for adults is often associated with a need for physical healing, massage for infants has more of an emotional purpose.

Infant massage is fairly simple and many self-help books are available for new parents.  Massage helps parents bond with their baby.  “If you can massage your baby while looking into their eyes, that provides a very powerful bonding effect,” says Charlette Cornillie.

The first language your baby will ever know is the language of touch.  Skin stimulation is essential for the proper psychological development of babies.  The regular physical contact provided by massage allows a baby to be calmer, relaxed, and generally content.

Choosing a Massage Therapist

Knowing where to go for a quality massage can be somewhat confusing.  Each of the 50 states has its own rules and regulations with regard to massage therapists.  That, combined with the fact that so many different facets of massage exist, highlight the importance of carefully finding the right professional for your treatments.

“When it comes to massage therapy it’s definitely buyer-beware,” states Charlette Cornillie, a certified massage therapist at Cram Chiropractic and Wellness Center in Northfield, Minnesota.

If you find a massage therapist you think you might try, Charlette suggests finding the answers to three questions:

What are their qualifications?
Ask to see a certificate, license, or proof that they graduated from a certified massage school.  Many states do not require a certificate or license so there is virtually nothing preventing an untrained person from opening a massage business.

Do they possess liability insurance?
Although massage therapy is a very low-risk practice, possessing liability insurance displays a high level of professionalism on the part of the therapist.

Do they have references?
Ask for references of clients or colleagues.  This is often a better predictor of whether you will be satisfied than is a certificate or license on the wall.

If you try a massage therapist and have a negative experience, don’t give up on massage.  “It’s peculiar,” says Charlette. “If someone has a negative experience with a doctor or a dentist, they simply find a new doctor.  If someone has a negative first experience with massage, they likely avoid massage.  Touch evokes powerful memories.”

Health Food for Guys

Grab the phone, time to order in.  Men who eat a lot of tomatoes or tomato sauces (yes, this includes pizza) may be protecting themselves against prostate cancer. Researchers at Harvard studied the eating habits of more than 47,000 male health professionals. Their findings? Men who ate tomato sauce two to four times per week had a 35 percent lower risk of developing prostate cancer than men who ate none. Why, you ask?  No, the local pizza delivery joint wasn’t the sponsor.  Turns out, tomatoes contain a carotenoid called lycopene which appears to be responsible.  Tomato juice, by the way, doesn’t seem to have a protective effect. Other research showed that for best absorption, lycopene should be cooked with some kind of fat. So pizza may be just what the doctor ordered.