potpourri – Betsy Schow

Potpourri: Muscle loss

Here’s my current lament. Intense cardio for long periods of time,- ie marathon training- eats muscle. Your heart rate surpasses that fat burning zone and starts eating the carbs and protein, not the fat. So whenever I hit this stage in training, all the hard work I put into my triceps and thighs – totally gone.

So as soon as my training is over (two and a half weeks!) it’s back to the weight room to tone up. Just declaring my intention so you can hold me accountable.

But glean the bit of information from the top, it’s hard to tone up and build muscle if you do regular high intensity (2 hours) cardio a few times a week. By high intensity, I mean your heart rate stays at darn near max the whole time.

Potpourri: Muffin FAIL

I was running out the door one morning and starving. I didn’t have time for my cottage cheese, and I was out of yogurt. So I thought I would just grab one of my husbands muffins from Costco. Couldn’t be too bad right? I mean it’s a muffin for heaven’s sake. I figured 400 calories tops. When I checked later that day to add to my calorie total I was floored. 695!!!!

So not fair that it take 5 minutes to consume and 70 minutes to run off.

Potpourri: Breath through your nose

I always hated it when teachers would tell me to breath through my nose. My sinuses suck, and its just hard. Why should I. Is mouth breathing so faux-pas? Do I have bad breath?

Turns out, the fitness teachers weren’t just being obnoxious, just obtuse. Maybe they had no idea either.

Breathing through your nose makes the oxygen reach your blood stream faster. Thereby oxygenating your muscles you are trying to work and stretch. Making the workout easier and less likely to get injured. Breathing out through the nose also rids the bad air faster.

Huh.. who knew?

Potpourri: Food like substance

So I went to a nutrition slash cooking class on Tuesday, and I’m going to the cooking part tonite.

The class was hosted by Tres Hatch, the author of The Miracle Pill. I will review this later. Great book.

Anyway, she said something that made me think. Therefore I think you should think.

How much of the food you eat comes from a box? Or a drive thru bag?

I want to take it one step further. How much of the food you eat is actually food, and how much is just a food-like-substance. Does what you eat actually resemble the way the ingredients started out?

For me the answer is a no.

Potpourri: Dark Chocolate

Don’t know if it’s true. I just found this quote and footnote. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Bring on the dark chocolate.

Exercisers can improve their performance by as much as 50 percent if they eat dark chocolate regularly.At least they can if they’re mice. Researchers fed mice the flavonol epicatechin, a key ingredient in dark chocolate, then put them through two weeks of treadmill tests and observed “an integrated response that includes structural and metabolic changes in skeletal and cardiac muscles resulting in greater endurance capacity.”

Leonardo Nogueira et al., “Epicatechin Enhances Fatigue Resistance and Oxidative Capacity in Mouse Muscle.” Journal of Physiology, 2011, doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.2011.20992.

Potpourri: Obesity by tax bracket

I recently read a study whose findings indicated that women in a lower tax brackets are more likely to be obese than their wealthier counterparts.

To this I say a big fat “duh”. Unless you’re starving yourself, if you got no money, you eat off the dollar menu, or ramen. Cheeseburger and fries do not exactly help the waistline.

It’s very easy to say, “Well If I had money for a personal chef and trainer, I’d be skinny too.” That’s true, but I know I still need to be making better choices. I can’t afford a trainer or a fancy gym, but I can take community classes. Or run for free.

Food is still a problem though. Why is it that Cheap food is unhealthy, and healthy food is uncheap? Buying fresh fruits and veggies can kill a budget in a week. Try a farmer’s market, a co-op, or growing your own. Or do what I do, beg your neighbors for leftovers from their gardens.

Potpourri: Caffeine

Random fact I came across: Caffeine speeds up the metabolism but slows down the fat burning process.

I will definitely think twice about my 4th can of Diet Coke.