Month: August 2015

cycling

Buy the damn bike (snow shoes, dress, whatever…)

Sam B7 Comments

 

We’ve bought a lot of new bikes around this place! And we’ve blogged lots about it too.

Here’s our new bike stories:

I might have missed some. Let me know if I have!

Now bikes aren’t cheap and I know not everyone can afford to just “buy the damn bike.” And if finances are the issue, I understand. But so many women tell me they’re waiting until they get fit, or get thin, or do something to deserve the new bike, that I get worried. You don’t need to deserve the bike (or the dress, or the snow shoes). Take pleasure in movement now whatever your size, shape, or activity level.

In the same spirit, I’ve been posting to Facebook recently about teaching in my fancy shoes, my beautiful Fluevogs, rather than saving them (for what?). A few friends chimed in about wearing their cocktail dresses to work. And I get that. Life is precious and short. Use the good china. Wear the party dresses. And just buy the bike!

 

 

 

 

 

Cycling and Kayaking– The Case for Them as Companion Sports
Weekends with Womack

Cycling and Kayaking– The Case for Them as Companion Sports

catherine w1 Comment

Last Tuesday, I was delighted to be able to meet up with Fit is a Feminist Issue Co-Founder Samantha, who was visiting in my area. We had lunch, caught up on all manner of news (domestic and professional), and then proceeded to the nearest kayak rental place to take out a double kayak on the Charles River. Sam told me she had never kayaked before, so wanted to try it. I have a season pass, so the rental was free. Suhweet…

While out on the water, we talked a good bit about the ways kayaking is or is not like other sports that we do. (For philosophers who read this blog, you know the deal: when in doubt, try to categorize and make distinctions). Sam has a lot of experience with rowing and is also the proud owner of a new canoe but she said she’d never been in a kayak before. In the course of leisurely discussion, we both came up with these features that kayaking and cycling have in common (which in fact make them both appealing).

  1. Both kayaking and cycling are relatively easy to do as a complete beginner.

Cycling does generally require some instruction, but once you have the basics, you’re good to go. For kayaking, you just have to get into the boat and move the paddle, and you’re kayaking. The main point here is that you don’t need to know very much about either sport in order to do it.

  1. Kayaking and cycling are endurance sports—if you pace yourself, you can (eventually) go all day long.

People use bikes and kayaks to go long distances, and both lend themselves to getting into a groove, just moving through space/water/wind. My kayak instructor Spencer talks about finding his rhythm and settling into that for a long paddle, and how satisfying that is. Cycling is the same way—turning the cranks and rolling down a country road can be a positively meditative activity.

  1. Both kayaking and cycling afford you the opportunity to spend absolutely all your discretionary income on gear. Or not.

Bikes and kayaks can be had for cheap. You can buy a used kayak at the end of the season from a rental place for a few hundred dollars. OR you can buy this Kevlar beauty for about $4500:

kevlar

Of course, don’t get me started on bike prices. Yes, you can buy a decent (if heavy) used commuter bike for $100–$200. And then there’s the $12K Pinarello Dogma 2, with Campy record groupo:

campy

And of course there is ample opportunity for accessorizing in both sports. My friend Janet, who has taken to kayaking like a fish to water, already owns (at least count) 4 different sizes of dry bag for stowing stuff in the kayak. And she’s shopping around for her own boat, although has not yet taken the plunge. I’m holding off purchasing a boat until at least next season.

  1. In both kayaking and cycling, there’s a lot of variation in both speed and technique between beginning/recreational participants and competitive/hardcore ones.

Samantha and I were talking about this while tooling around the Charles River in our double kayak—cycling for fun on a bike path is a very different experience from a group road ride. Similarly, taking a kayak out on a lake for an hour quite different from a 6-day ocean kayak touring trip (in the actual ocean). In each case, doing the latter requires conditioning, skill, fancier equipment and experience. As a kayaker, I’m still on the cusp of being able to paddle safely and comfortably in the ocean; I’m still working on learning solo rescue (getting myself back in my boat after turning it over and going in the water). Janet’s got that down pat already, and is planning on taking a rolling class this winter.

As a road rider, you have to have a bunch of bike handling skills, including knowing how to paceline. Also, you have to develop enough fitness and strength and stamina to hang in for the length of the ride. In short, both cycling and kayaking offer opportunities for a wide variety of sport participation.

  1. You can kayak and cycle from childhood throughout your whole life.

This is something I love about both activities—I can do them at whatever pace, intensity and duration I choose, in whatever outdoor venue, in whatever weather I can manage (this is where more gear helps—see number 3 above), and at whatever level I am feeling up to at the time. Not all sports are like this.

  1. Both kayaking and cycling are lovely ways to put the power, coordination and efficiency of your body in motion—wherever you live, whenever you want. Yay!

cover end

fitness · Sat with Nat

The beauty of bodies in motion

natalieh (she/her)7 Comments

There are somethings I find absolutely beautiful: flowers, babies laughing, dog faces and well made food.

There are things that are contextually beautiful, like a moment of compassion or tenderness in the midst of chaos, but I never thought much about non-elite athletes, motion and beauty before. There certainly have been posts here about the different kinds of bodies elite athlete have, and yes, I think those bodies are quite beautiful. I loved Catherine’s post on Athleticism is Beauty so maybe that is where this post came from.

Amanda Bingson, hammer thrower, USA track and field team.

I was riding with Sam and Dave last weekend, bringing up the rear so to speak, when I was struck by how beautiful it is to see two cyclists who can perfectly match each other’s pace and ride really close to each other. Unlike running, where I seldom see anyone once we start, cycling and swimming let me see other bodies in motion and it is awesome. It’s more than mere movement for me, it’s the skill of an efficient and effective propulsion of a body through space and time.

The thing is, I don’t really like watching sports, I like doing more. Baseball is a great example. It’s fun to play but watching a live game is like pouring lemon juice on paper cuts for me. Spectators are far away and the action is quite short lived.

Riding along a road at 20 km/hr (that’s fast for some but slow for most road cyclists) I feel a little part of the action and I appreciate the skill differential between me and my friends. I find that in yoga too, all the bodies doing the poses are beautiful. For me, when something is beautiful my breath catches a little bit and I’m noticing more and more I get to have those moments.

What things in fitness and sports do you find breath catching or beautiful?

canoe

Why hello new canoe, lovely to meet you

Sam B3 Comments

When I’m away my partner sometimes goes into advanced shopping mode. He enjoys the research, the negotiating, and the actual purchasing. (Not me. According to family lore, though it’s not quite true, when I want something I just walk into a store and buy it.) His process is more involved, takes much more reading and research, and it’s something he finally has time to do when I’m away.

One rule though is checking in before buying.

Before the rule, a few years ago he bought a new (used) car and posted a picture to Facebook captioned “our new car.”

“Who’d you buy a car with?” I commented. I was serious. It wasn’t entirely implausible that he might buy a car with someone else. I was on sabbatical very far away. But no, it was a car for our family, and since then we’ve agreed to check in before major, shared budget acquisitions.

(You reading this, honey? No buying a Willard 30–the most recent boat infatuation/search–while I’m in Algonquin. It’s true there’s no cellular service and I don’t have my phone but please wait till I get back.)

We’ve been talking about buying a canoe for about a year so it was no great surprise when I got a text message from him while in Montreal, after the bike rally.

“Do you have any concerns about me buying a canoe?”

Susan and I found it highly amusing. We were tired and giggly after our very long bike ride. Of all the things I might have concerns about while I was away–we have teenagers, aging parents, a new puppy– buying a canoe was pretty low on my list. He meant did I have any specific canoe features I really cared about. Oh.

Weight. And stability.

In a series of texts, I got the details. It’s a Swift canoe, a Keewaydin 17, “in guide fusion with kevlar carbon gunwales,” I’m told. Not quite sure yet what that means.

I do know that it’s 17 feet, 46 pounds.

We are going to do two kinds of touring in it, Algonquin back country and river trips. New adventures ahead! It seems pretty light, good for gear, stable.

I’d been inspired last year by Susan’s canoe purchase. I encouraged her to buy a road bike so it seemed only fair that she play a role in my getting a share in a canoe.

Susan, Mallory, and I are going to Algonquin today! They’ll be seven of us in total including mothers and daughters and Sarah who did the Port Stanley bike ride with us. All women.

We’re taking three canoes, including my new one. I’ll let you know how it goes. I’m excited!

image

 

So far no name..

Do you name your small boats? Mallory even names her bicycles. Maybe we’ll wait until one suggests itself to us.

I think I can actually name it. Jeff has a generic name for all of his boats, mostly small sailboats. When asked to supply a name they’re all “Trouble.”

fitness

My Glove (Guest Post)

Tracy I5 Comments

by Shelley Tremain

I haven’t really run since I became disabled at twenty-five. Not that I have missed it. But when I was a teenager, I was a star softball player.

I started playing league softball when I was nine. By the time I was twelve, I was a better batter than the seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds in the league. But it was my role at first base that really stood out.

I’m left-handed, so I caught with my right hand and had a terrific stretch off the bag. I never missed a throw, not even one way over my head.

I had one glove for all the years that I played. I loved that glove. That glove was my summer. Softball was my summer.

I can still remember how, when I first got my glove, I greased it and tied a ball in it for a couple of days to “work it in.” I remember the colour of my glove, how it looked on my hand, the subdued shine of the leather. I remember how it felt, especially how it felt when the ball snapped in it.

We had the strongest infield. Me and Cathy and Sue. We won the league championship a few years in a row. We were first-draft picks for our team. All three of us were on the all-star team for our league. I won best batter in the city-wide tournament one year.

Then Bill, our coach, started standing close to me and putting his arm around me, saying things to me. I didn’t want to play first base for him anymore. I asked to be traded to another team and then asked my new coach to put me in the outfield. I stopped playing after a couple more years.

I don’t know what became of my glove.

—

Shelley Tremain is a disabled feminist philosopher of disability and publishes on a variety of topics, including disability and philosophy, ableism in feminist philosophy, disability and bioethics, and Foucault. Shelley is the editor of Foucault and the Government of Disability (University of Michigan Press, 2005, 2015) and is completing a monograph entitled Foucault and (A) Feminist Philosophy of Disability (University of Michigan Press, forthcoming). She derives pleasure from writing, long walks, and doodling and blogs regularly at the Discrimination and Disadvantage blog: http://philosophycommons.typepad.com/disability_and_disadvanta/

 

food · nutrition

The weak link in intuitive eating, our hunger signals aren’t terribly reliable

Sam B21 Comments

I wrote the other day about my brand new life experience, missing meals and forgetting to eat. That’s not me. (See Forgetting to eat? Who are these people?)

And it’s really shaken me, got me thinking about the role of hormones in appetite regulation and about the ideas behind intuitive eating.

You know the drill, eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re full. Pay attention to satiety clues and eat mindfully. In terms of the blog, roughly Tracy is a fan but Catherine and I have both expressed doubts. See here and here.

Intuitive eating sounds great for the person who eats when they’re supposed to, because of what the clocks says, or who starves him or herself, for whom hunger has become meaningless.

But aside from the ignoring hunger bit (been there, done that) that’s not me. I’m routinely hungry. Like stomach growling, weak feeling, dizzy hungry. So when people have said, in the past, just eat when you’re hungry, I’ve often been puzzled. “You mean, like always.”

The context for the change is that I’ve had my thyroid removed and I’m taking medication as a result. I’m in the stage where they’re fiddling with various levels. I’m doing fine, receiving excellent health care, and it’s all settling into the new normal for me. But there’s one big change: For the first time in my life, I’m not hungry all the time. Often I’m not hungry at all and I’m having to eat because of external factors, like going for a bike ride.

It’s a bit disconcerting, like when I discovered drugs that took away my fear of flying. All that anxiety, just gone. I thought my anxiety was part of my identity. But it turned out to be pretty fixable. Now I’m no longer the person who wakes up hungry and that feels strange too.

All of this is making me rethink intuitive eating. It’s clear now that our hunger signals aren’t perfect at all. They’re pretty darn flexible. And I guess I knew that. I knew that formerly obese people have much higher levels of the hormones that signal hunger.

Here’s one such study, from Science Daily.

The study involved 50 overweight or obese adults, with a BMI of between 27 and 40, and an average weight of 95kg, who enrolled in a 10-week weight loss program using a very low energy diet. Levels of appetite-regulating hormones were measured at baseline, at the end of the program and one year after initial weight loss.

Results showed that following initial weight loss of about 13 kgs, the levels of hormones that influence hunger changed in a way which would be expected to increase appetite. These changes were sustained for at least one year. Participants regained around 5kgs during the one-year period of study.

Professor Joseph Proietto from the University of Melbourne and Austin Health said the study revealed the important roles that hormones play in regulating body weight, making dietary and behavioral change less likely to work in the long-term.

“Our study has provided clues as to why obese people who have lost weight often relapse. The relapse has a strong physiological basis and is not simply the result of the voluntary resumption of old habits,” he said.”

Why does it matter? What’s this got to do with intuitive eating?

My worry here is that intuitive eating assumes that our bodies are right about various things, that the signals they send us are correct. But if the formerly obese person eats when hungry, they’ll be eating a lot more often than is consistent with maintaining their weight.

It’s trickier than I thought. And it feels weird to me to be eating because I ought to–I can’t ride my bike if I don’t–and not because I’m hungry. This gives me a chance to be more deliberate about nutrition and I’m liking that aspect of it all.

Still thinking about this? Want more information? Here’s two articles from Precision Nutrition that do a pretty good job of explaining the hormones that regulate hunger: Leptin, ghrelin, and weight loss and  Weight loss & hunger hormones.

 

 

eating · fitness · food · nutrition

Really, it’s 2015 and we’re STILL talking about protein-combining for plant-based diet?

Tracy I12 Comments

This article came my way from Sam yesterday: “The Best Protein You Can Eat.” Before I read it, I prepared myself to be irked. I was, but not for the reasons I expected. I anticipated an article that focused only on protein from animal sources. That’s not quite what it says, but it does say this:

Animal-based sources (meat, eggs, dairy) pack them all in one amount or another, but most plant-based sources only contain a fraction of the nine essential amino acids, meaning that if you get all your plant-based protein from peas, you could end up not getting enough of certain amino acids, explains study co-author Rajavel Elango, a nutrition and metabolism researcher with the University of British Columbia’s School of Population and Public Health. When getting protein from plant-based sources, it’s important to munch on various protein-rich plants at every meal to help guarantee you get all of the amino acids you need by day’s end.

Back in the day, and by “the day” I mean the seventies, Diet for a Small Planet perpetuated the idea that you had to combine protein at every single meal in order to get “complete protein.” So if you were going to eat beans, you also had to eat rice. If you were going to eat lentils, you had to add some grains.

But the idea that plant proteins are incomplete and not likely to deliver all of the essential amino acids has not just been contested over the years, it’s been debunked.

The website One Green Planet says:

The idea that all essential amino acids must be eaten together at each meal isn’t true like we used to think. One can eat a variety of foods that are rich in essential and non-essential amino acids, and completely get their fill of protein. Many plant-based foods are filled with all essential amino acids (hemp, chia, sprouted brown rice, and spirulina, just to name a handful).

And Forks over Knives also talks about the myth of complementary protein. The author outlines the history of the myth and its correction:

The “incomplete protein” myth was inadvertently promoted and popularized in the 1971 book, Diet for a Small Planet, by Frances Moore Lappé. In it, the author stated that plant foods are deficient in some of the essential amino acids, so in order to be a healthy vegetarian, you needed to eat a combination of certain plant foods at the same time in order to get all of the essential amino acids in the right amounts. It was called the theory of “protein complementing.”

Lappé certainly meant no harm, and her mistake was somewhat understandable. She was not a nutritionist, physiologist, or medical doctor; she was a sociologist trying to end world hunger. She realized that converting vegetable protein into animal protein involved a lot of waste, and she calculated that if people ate just the plant protein, many more could be fed. In the tenth anniversary edition of her book (1981), she retracted her statement and basically said that in trying to end one myth—the inevitability of world hunger—she had created a second one, the myth of the need for “protein complementing.”

In this and later editions, she corrects her earlier mistake and clearly states that all plant foods typically consumed as sources of protein contain all the essential amino acids, and that humans are virtually certain of getting enough protein from plant sources if they consume sufficient calories.

It’s really hard to fall short of essential amino acids on a well-rounded plant-based diet even if working with the concept of recommended requirements:

Where did the concept of essential amino acids come from and how was the minimum requirement for essential amino acids derived? In 1952, William Rose and his colleagues completed research to determine the human requirements for each of the eight essential amino acids. They set the minimum amino acid requirement equal to the greatest amount required by any single person in their study. Then to arrive at the recommended amino acid requirement, they simply doubled the minimum requirements. This recommended amount was considered a definite safe intake.

Today, if you calculate the amount of each essential amino acid provided by unprocessed plant foods and compare these values with those determined by Rose, you will find that any single whole natural plant food, or any combination of them, if eaten as one’s sole source of calories for a day, would provide all of the essential amino acids and not just the minimum requirements but far more than the recommended requirements.

Modern researchers know that it is virtually impossible to design a calorie-sufficient diet based on unprocessed whole natural plant foods that is deficient in any of the amino acids. (The only possible exception could be a diet based solely on fruit).

But back to the “best protein sources.” The article I talked about at the beginning recommends the following:

  • eggs
  • cottage cheese
  • chicken
  • whole grains
  • fish
  • legumes
  • greek yogurt
  • nuts
  • leafy greens

What I love about this list is that 4/9 of the best sources are totally vegan. And, whereas the first thing that comes to most people minds when they talk about protein is steak or burgers, these are nowhere to be found on this list. So that’s progress.

While it’s true that many plants contain some protein, it’s also true that the amount varies. Here’s a good list of plant-sources and how much protein you can expect to get from them (from “Busted! The Myth about ‘Incomplete’ Plant-Based Protein”):

  • Broccoli: 5 grams per cup
  • Spinach: 5 grams per cup
  • Rye Grains: 5 grams per 1/2 cup cooked
  • Rolled Oats: 7 grams per 1/2 cup cooked
  • Millet: 5 grams per 1/2 cup cooked
  • Amaranth: 6 grams per 1/2 cup cooked
  • Freekah: 5 grams per 1/2 cup cooked
  • Teff: 7 grams per 1/2 cup cooked
  • Buckwheat: 7 grams per 1/2 cup cooked
  • Almond Butter: 7 Grams per 2 tablespoons
  • Spirulina: 4 grams per teaspoon (!!)
  • Chlorella: 2 grams per teaspoon
  • Chia seeds: 10 grams per 2 tablespoons
  • Flax Seeds: 5 grams per 2 tablespoons
  • Cacao Powder: 5 grams per 2 tablespoons
  • Maca: 3 grams per tablespoon
  • Acai: 5 grams per 3 ounce frozen puree
  • Kale: 5 grams per cup
  • Lentils- 18 grams per cup
  • Black Beans- 13 grams per cup
  • Chickpeas- 13 grams per cup
  • Tofu: 10 grams per 3 ounces
  • Tempeh: 10 grams per 2 ounces
  • Endamame (Soybeans) – 16 grams per cup
  • Romaine Lettuce: 3 grams per cup
  • Sunflower Seeds: 10 grams per 1/4 cup
  • Almonds: 7 grams per 1/4 cup
  • Pumpkin Seeds: 10 grams per 1/4 cup
  • Coconut Flour: 3.5 grams per 2 tablespoons
  • Quinoa: 7 grams per 1/2 cup cooked
  • Plant-Based Protein Powders (hemp, pea, brown rice, cranberry bean, soy, etc.) : 17-25 grams per scoop (depending on the brand)
  • Green Peas: 8 grams per cup

And here’s what they say about how much you need:

If you’re still a little antsy and unsure about getting enough protein on a plant-based diet, just figure up how much you need. Multiply your body weight times .40 and that’s the recommended amount of protein you need for everyday functions. If you’re athletic, eat a little more and divide it up evenly between meals – simple as that.

I’ve heard people say that if you’re an athlete you should be thinking about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight every day. I find that impossible. And that would mean a heck of a lot of green peas, for sure. But no one is going to eat only green peas.

Like I said, 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight is way too much for me. Here’s where I like what the No Meat Athlete has to say in his vegetarian protein primer:

Sure, athletes need more protein than non-athletes.  But we also need more carbohydrates and fat—our overall caloric needs are much higher since we burn so much energy in our training.

So because we’re eating more calories, we’re automatically consuming more protein if we stay at 10-15 percent of the total.

For example: I’m about 80 kilograms and I need 2500 calories most days. If I want ten percent of those calories to be from protein, then I need about 63 grams of protein.

When I’m Ironman training or have an otherwise heavy load, my caloric needs double. Therefore, so does my protein, to 126 grams.

I tell the vegan athletes I consult to shoot for 1.0 to 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram body weight.  You can see from my numbers above that even when protein is only ten percent of calories, I’m getting 1.5 grams per kilogram body weight.

Contrary to what most people believe, more isn’t necessarily better when it comes to protein.  The body can only process so much per day, and any additional protein is inefficiently converted to energy or even stored as body fat.

– See more at: http://www.nomeatathlete.com/vegetarian-protein-primer/#sthash.dPsmaf91.dpuf

His formula is a lot less than the gram per pound formula. A kilogram is 2.2 pounds. So if you need 1 gram per kilogram, then that’s starting to sound more reasonable.
So here’s the thing: you can be on a vegan diet and get enough protein without having to torture yourself over food-combining at every meal. Just eat a variety of foods and — presto — it will all work out in the end.
And just a quick reminder. I know most of the people who read this blog regularly aren’t big dieters who are bent on losing weight, but it bears repeating that vegan is not a weight loss diet.  It’s a great way to eat, but it’s not a ticket to weight loss.
fitness

Cycling in a heatwave versus a torrential downpour, #F4LBR17

Sam B1 Comment

There’s a severe heat advisory in effect in Ontario this week and my newsfeed is full of stories like this one.

Me, I’m doing okay though I can’t run outside in these temperatures. Mostly though it’s making me miss the bike rally!

Last year on the Friends for Life Bike Rally, it rained and rained. I blogged lots about the rally but skipped some of the worst moments. (Hint: It wasn’t warm rain. There was wind too. And we also camped in the rain.) The worst bits didn’t bear reflecting on really. I tend to cope with these sorts of things stoically and when they’re over I forget about them and move on. Here’s the Yarn Harlot’s take on it all.

This year wasn’t without its weather challenges either. This year was the year of heat advisories. Almost every day had a severe heat alert. The road safety crew kept yelling at us, “Hydrate! Hydrate! ” A few people asked me which was worse but from my point of view there was no comparison. Give me scorching heat over cold torrential downpours any day.

image

I only had two bad thoughts about the heat and here they are:

Is this how the world is going to end? It’s okay now and okay here but with temperature records being broken daily, I started to get a bit apocalyptic about it all. The temperatures in Iran for example were terrifying me.

Why are we leaving on our bikes at 930? It’s getting hot and sunny by then. I’m up at 6. I could be ready to leave by 7. Let me get on my bike and ride, while it’s a little bit cooler outside. But we’re a group, groups have rules to make things safe for everyone and deep down I’m okay with that. On the surface I can be like a 3rd grader, “stupid rules” but in real life I’m a mom and I get the need for rules.

image

On the bright side, cycling in the heat is better than running in the heat. Our team had a few very fit young men who biked all day and then ran but I had zero temptation to join them. I love the breeze when you’re riding and stopping at traffic lights was its own special form of agony.

Hot cyclists!
Hot cyclists!

People say to take it slow and there’s some truth to that. But you don’t want to take it too slow. Why not? Time on the bike. Cyclists say that but what does it mean? “Time on the bike” refers to how long you’re out there and it’s a factor in suffering too. Sure it’s easier to ride at 20 km/hr. But then your hundred km event turns into an all day affair. If you ride 25 km/hr, it’s better to get it over with and be out there for less time. 30 km/hr might be pushing yourself too hard in the heat so you need to watch both time and effort.

Part of what made the heat okay was camping, sleeping outside and getting acclimated. It’s a very hot day today in the big city of Toronto and for some reason the heat always feels worse here. Something about coming and going out of air conditioned buildings and the heat radiating up from the concrete. On the rally we slept outside and it cooled down at night. We had easy access to lakes to swim in and after a day or two the heat felt pretty okay to me.

I confess that on the one day it did rain the cool water wasn’t entirely unwelcome.
image

I’ve registered for next year. What will it bring? Oobleck? Locusts? You can sponsor me here.

 

Here’s some tips about riding in the heat:

 

 

fitness

Sugar-sweetened science: Coca-Cola, exercise and complexity

catherine w10 Comments

This week a New York Times article reported that the Coca-Cola company was funding a new non-profit organization called the Global Energy Balance Network dedicated to shifting the obesity discussion away from calorie intake and instead focusing on energy output. Their message: don’t worry so much about what you eat (and drink—like sugary Coca-Cola products). If you want to reach and maintain a healthy weight, work on exercise—that will help much more than cutting calories.

Here’s the message (via the article) from one of the organization’s members:

“Most of the focus in the popular media and in the scientific press is, ‘Oh they’re eating too much, eating too much, eating too much’ — blaming fast food, blaming sugary drinks and so on,” the group’s vice president, Steven N. Blair, an exercise scientist, says in a recent video, announcing the new organization. “And there’s really virtually no compelling evidence that that, in fact, is the cause.”

So is this true? NO.

There are actually two complicated stories to explain the existence of this organization and its message. The first one is about what happens when industry partners very closely with scientific research, especially when that industry has a lot to gain (or lose), depending on the outcome of that research. Philosopher (and one of our readers!) Dan Hicks has worked on the politics and science of GMOs (genetically modified foods), and has found lots of ways that both scientific and political concerns about GMOs have been sidetracked or ignored. Here  is an interview he did about the issue, if you’re interested.

Public health policy and nutrition experts are criticizing the message, saying that it’s just a tactic on the part of Coca-Cola to engineer doubt about the contributors to obesity in order to continue selling its products. This is a well-known strategy, most famously used by the tobacco industry in its battle to deny that smoking was hazardous for your health. There’s a great book  (and even a film) on this issue.

There’s lots more to say about the first story, but I’m going to shift to the second one, which is about where the truth is with respect to this message. Just to remind us, here’s the message:

To maintain a healthy weight, get more exercise and worry less about cutting calories.

What do we know about exercise and body weight? First, science is complicated, and a process as complex as body weight regulation is governed by a lot of factors: genetics, calorie intake, physical activity, maybe to some extent type of food/beverage intake (the science on e.g. sugar and carb intake effects is still in progress), and lots of other things.

But we do know, through loads of studies (here  and here for instance) that physical activity has much less of an effect on body weight than calorie intake does.

There’s evidence here that diet plus exercise interventions have a greater effect on body weight reduction (in the short term) than diet interventions alone. However, we also know that in the long term (which for science and medicine means five years or more), no regiment of diet, exercise, diet plus exercise, or magic potions and incantations results in reliable maintenance of weight loss. Sam and Tracy and others have blogged about this a lot, like here and other places too.

So, as far as we can tell, it’s simply not true that exercise has more of an effect on body weight than calorie intake. In fact, there’s evidence that it has little effect at all on its own.

BUT: exercise does have all sorts of positive effects on our health and well-being.

There’s evidence here that physical activity can prevent, delay, and help slow the development of type 2 diabetes, even in the absence of significant weight loss. Basically, being active is good for what ails ya. You name it, physical activity helps it. Here’s a list from the Centers for Disease Control:

  • Reduces the risk of dying prematurely.
  • Reduces the risk of dying from heart disease.
  • Reduces the risk of developing diabetes.
  • Reduces the risk of developing high blood pressure.
  • Helps reduce blood pressure in people who already have high blood pressure.
  • Reduces the risk of developing colon cancer.
  • Reduces feelings of depression and anxiety.
  • Helps control weight.
  • Helps build and maintain healthy bones, muscles, and joints.
  • Helps older adults become stronger and better able to move about without falling.
  • Promotes psychological well-being.

But, look—there, item 8: helps control weight. It’s on the CDC list! So maybe those Coca-Cola-funded scientists have a point after all.

Sigh. Okay, one more time: when you dig into the details, you’ll see that the CDC’s message is a complicated one about the role of exercise and weight loss and maintenance. It’s the same one the other medical studies are saying: exercise does burn calories, and exercise is great for your health, but it just turns out that (for a bunch of complicated reasons), exercise is not the key to weight loss.

The good news (which is emerging on a lot of fronts) is that maybe we don’t need a key to weight loss after all. It’s not a door we have to beat down and try to storm through in order to live happy and healthy and active and awesome lives. We need keys to better health, and luckily there are a lot of them around.

The role that sugar-sweetened beverages (like the approximately 470 out of 650 products Coca-Cola sells) plays in obesity is an ongoing area of research (which I won’t discuss here, but probably will sometime). But the point is that trying to address body weight through exercise is bad science and bad medicine.  And however sugary sweet it may be, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Screen Shot 2015-08-16 at 10.47.47 AM

Sat with Nat

Belly Patrolling

natalieh (she/her)26 Comments

So I’ve touted my comfy no-bra summer styling and up until last week I had not gotten one piece of negative feedback.

IMG_3891IMG_3893

I love this combo, cool in the August heat and delightfully free of the boob jail thing called a bra. So I’m standing at a busy intersection at night wearing something similar to above. It’s after midnight on a Tuesday spent laughing with dear friends at Rock’n’Roll Bingo and a car drives by. A man in his late teens or early twenties yells out “I just LOVE YOUR BELLY!”

The sarcasm was pretty clear. I wasn’t terribly upset but I was perplexed. Why on earth would he feel entitled to comment on my belly?

My partner was quick to pick up the point “Oh women must be, at all times, attractive to all men or suffer the wrath of being patrolled.” Of course! How silly of me to forget sexism.

The idea that I, a women in my 40s, should strive to be attractive to all men, including men my son’s age, is ridiculous.

What bothered me most was that moment when I wondered if there was something wrong with the way I looked. I quickly shook it off, reminding myself that my belly carried two babies and looks, well, matronly. Sure, I can hoist my breasts up and look more traditionally appealing, but why would I? It’s summer, it’s hot and bras are for work or vigorous exercise.

I have a loving partner of 20 years who adores me. I have lots of flirty moments in my life where I feel attractive and get validated that I am my own brand of awesome.

So young fella, as adored as me you may not be when forty you are. Oh and SUCK IT, cause ya, I’m tired of this crap and it can end with you thank you very much!