Biggest Eating Day of the Year – Thanksgiving (unsurprisingly) is the biggest eating day of the year for Americans with the Superbowl as a close second.

Yesterday, while the Giants were beating the Patriots, an estimated 48 million Americans ordered takeout or delivery food from a restaurant. Another 12 million were out at a restaurant or bar indulging in football and endless calories.

According to an article in the Daily Courier-Observer printed before Sunday’s big game:

“The most popular item on the Super Bowl menu – chips and dip. Chicken wings come in a close second as 23 percent of people say they are a must have on their party platter, studies say.

The National Chicken Council predicts 1.25 billion wing portions, weighing more than 100 million pounds, will be snacked on over the two-day weekend.”

Millions of Americans gorged themselves yesterday– but it’s pale in comparison to what happens every year in November.

Biggest Eating Day of the Year

It’s shocking but true– experts believe that the average American consumes an incredible 5,000 calories during their Thanksgiving dinner! Not only is that more than double the recommended amount of daily calories but it would take the average person miles (a lot of miles!) to burn the holiday meal off.

Let’s break down Thanksgiving dinner and examine how it impacts your gut. Keep in mind that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year and I strongly believe that indulging in its gluttonous ways is fine as long as it’s not every day.

This is my family’s Thanksgiving menu:

Turkey (dark meat) - 380 calories a 4 oz serving

Cranberry Sauce - 110 calories a serving

Gravy - 50 calories a cup

Dinner roll - 87 calories a roll

Stuffing - 190 calories a cup

Mashed Potatoes - 190 a cup

Candied Yams - 210 calories a serving

Green Bean Casserole - 75 calories a serving

Pumpkin Pie - 316 calories a slice

Whipped Cream - 50 calories a dollop

Wine - 120 a glass

Now, the grand total for one plateful of my family’s traditional Thanksgiving dinner is 1,778 calories. The recommended number of daily calories for a woman is 1800.  And I’d say that I always go back for seconds so really my Thanksgiving dinner caloric intake is about 3,556.

It’s kind of incredible that we as Americans have at least two days out of the year where we wreak havoc on our bodies. I suppose two days out the year really aren’t that bad, but I personally feel like I’ve been unable to escape the holiday eating pattern. After New Year’s Eve, friends were still coming and going and I was still eating out at restaurants, etc.

But with the Superbowl comes the end of that whole binge eating for me (I hope). It’s time to get back into good habits, and stop spending so much money on food that’s terrible for me.

Hopefully everybody else hasn’t continued with bad holiday eating habits this month! If so, you might have to join me on the quest to exercise more and eat less.

Biggest Eating Day of the Year

Biggest Eating Day of the Year

Best Cardio Songs – I’m on a running kick right now. I just arrived in New Zealand and I have been out running every day for the past week. Admittedly my body is a little tired and it’s been getting tough but one of the main things keeping me pounding the pavement, beaches, tracks and grassland is music.

My Best Cardio Songs

Best Cardio Songs

Our heart rates tend to be around 120-140 when doing moderate cardio so it makes sense that they say the best music for cardio is at around 120-140 beats per minute.

The sciency bit is good to know but to be honest I don’t know if the songs and music I judge to be the best for my running line up with the recommended bpm. All I know is that by starting off with my whole music collection on random I have found songs I love to work out to and have been honing down a more refined play-list. I wanted to share some of my favorites and then hopefully you’ll do the same in the comments below.

First off I tend to prefer music with guitar. I don’t have anything against electronically created music or even things like classical but it’s not usually what I listen to on a daily basis. So my running soundtrack reflects that.

I like music that goes up and down and probably even changes beat pattern (I guess I am not musically inclined enough to know). When it has hard, soft, fast, slow it tends to help push my pace and vary my running style, something I think ultimately benefits my overall fitness. Ok, so here goes.

Green Day – At The Library

I find the fairly constant rhythm of this song helps me dig in when the going gets tough.

Scout Niblett – I Wanna Love

For those times when you just need to straighten up your back and soak in the surroundings, I love this song and it relaxes my breathing allowing me to take longer breaths and keep pushing.

Sound Garden – Pretty Noose

The heavy drums and screeching vocals disguise a fairly slow song which is great for digging in. I find my feet tend to hit the floor with the beat pretty well when this song is playing.

Blackalicious – Deception

The song has great lyrics but the beat works great for plodding along.

The Pixies – Tame

I love The Pixies and the bass in this song tied with Black’s intensity makes it my goto hill song. I swear this song could get me up almost any hill! The heavy breathing helps too!

Ok, now time to share yours.

If you have any interests on my writings related to my running then you may find my blog Regular Runner pretty interesting. I would love to know what you think of it.

Thanks for reading.

How to Prevent Skiing Injury - After a year of inactivity you can’t just expect to rock up at the hill and start skiing with work cows form. Skiing and other winter sports are a hell of a lot of fun but are hard on the body and you need to respect that.

At this time of year a lot of us hit the slopes but a lot of us do so completely unprepared. Also while on the slopes stupid decisions lead to accident that we. An seriously regret. If you are lucky a sore knee may be all you have to deal with but it’s not far fetched to say that any of us could have a life changing accident.

How to Prevent Skiing Injury

How to Prevent Skiing Injury

I think it is extremely important to try and prepare to prevent injury as much as you can. It’s easy to get complacent but you have to do it.

I thought I would share some of my tips.

Before you hit the slopes

At very least you should be looking to gain a little cardio fitness and leg strength. Jogging, running, the ski machine at the gym.

You should try and do exercises that strengthen the muscles in your legs including your quadriceps hamstrings carbs ankles and knees.

Ideally you will engage in a pre-season training program many can be found that you can do at home or you can sign up at your local gym. This PDF from the National Institutes of Health has some great pre-season training ideas.

On the slopes

Before you head out for the day it is important to start your morning with basic stretching (nothing too crazy) and light jogging, you want to get your whole body mildly warm and suple before you get up there to help prevent quick strain injuries or muscles snapping from going from nothing to everything. I always recommend some Yoga, a lot of cool short yoga videos can be found on Youtube. Also make sure you do knee and ankle rotations, some light jogging around the chalet or on the spot and even a bit on an exercise bike whilst you watch the morning news if the chalet / hotel has one. Just don’t go up there and start skiing cold!

On the slopes you should take your first few runs slowly, get used to the terrain and study the maps so you understand the mountains you are skiing. Knowing your way around and what to expect will help you avoid running into dangerous situations.

Stay alert, look out for other people using the mountain and if you get too tired just take a rest. It’s essential to carry water and a little food and stay hydrated with good energy levels. Come lunch the beers and wines look tempting but just have one or ideally none. Drunk sports can often go wrong!

I think that is about it. Just be sensible and know your body and the slopes.

I would love to hear your tips.

Conquer Loneliness – Being alone and feeling lonely is a terrifying feeling and something that takes real hard work to conquer. However, we have all been lonely and it is totally something that we can all get through and rise above.

Tips To Conquer Loneliness

I’m going to New Zealand tomorrow, a new country, new city and not many friends. Although i’ll be there with my partner I will find myself in instances where I feel lonely. Loneliness is a strange beast and something that can happen no matter how surrounded by people you are. In fact i would say often the biggest cities can be the loneliest places.

Conquer Loneliness

The feeling of being lonely is, well I think is, a feeling of emptiness and lack of connection with others around you. You need to bridge that gap and make yourself feel connected to the world and other people to pull yourself out.

When alone in the home….

Listen to the radio – There is something about the radio that makes you feel others are out there and helps you feel you are not alone, especially talk radio I find.

Call a friend – It doesn’t matter if the friend is miles away, just call them and tell someone how you are feeling.

Go for a walk – I often found I felt lonely because I had no money and was stuck at home. I found going for a walk allowed me to at least open up my brain a little and maybe I would pop into a book store or local community center. It doesn’t cure the lonely feeling but it helps.

Plan something social – You may not be able to do anything social right now but sit down and plan something and it will help you get out of that feeling. It may be something that is happening in a few weeks or even tomorrow.

Read some blogs – Bloggers are often normal people just like you. Finding sites that interest you, reading articles and commenting can be a great way to interact with like-minded people. You may even get some great ideas for things to do.

For the long term…..

There are a lot of short-term fixes, many could end bad (like going alone to the bar and getting really drunk) but to really solve loneliness you need get to the root of the problem.

Write a list – Sit down and try and write down all the reasons why you feel lonely. Be honest with yourself, no one else has to see the list unless you want them too. Once you identify any causes you can work to tackle them one by one.

Join local groups – I often find the feeling that no one else around is like you is a problem. However there are always people like you. Join a group that interests you. It could be a chess club, a cycling group, book discussions at the library as examples. These places are a great place to meet new friends and if it’s love missing from your life you never know something could crop up there too!

Sort out your finances – Lack of money causes problems when it comes to being able to engage with friends socially and sometimes it isn’t lack of good friends but rather lack of chances to see them. Fixing your finances will mean you can engage more and you’ll feel less trapped in general life. Along the way you can develop better financial habits.

Tell all your friends about your feelings – When people you trust and love know how you feel they may make extra efforts to call you and come round, even if they live far away. You don’t have to be ashamed of your feelings and you need to open up.

Move! – It may well be that you hate where you live. If this is the case you need to make long-term plans to get out of there and get back to a place where you don’t feel so cut-off or out of place.

Get help – It could be that your feelings are linked to other issues. You may get anxiety when meeting new people, be extremely shy or feeling lonely and lazy due to depression. If you have any feeling the issue could be deeper make sure you seek professional help.

The feelings won’t just disappear but they can be alleviated with short and long term plans. We all get lonely but with hard work and awareness of our own feelings we can push through and make our lives better.

Good luck and please share your stories and tips.

Related: Best Things About Being Single

Thanks for reading.

How Much Sugar for Kids – It’s no secret that kids love sugar, but how much is appropriate without jeopardizing a child’s health? This is a question I’ve longed to know the answer for– as I’ve heard from numerous sources that white, processed sugar is awful for your body. Not only does it rot your teeth out (does it?) but it has been connected to depression.

How Much Sugar for Kids

Most things are alright in moderation– but does the same go for sugar? I started doing some research to look further into the subject. What I found was somewhat disturbing. While sugar may not be the best for you, most experts say that it’s okay in small amounts. The disturbing thing that I found out was that most Americans don’t eat it in small amounts– instead the average American consumes 22 teaspoons of the sweet stuff a day.

Take a teaspoon, a bowl, and your baking sugar out. Put 22 teaspoons into the bowl and really absorb just how much that is. Imagine that you kids are eating this amount, if not more!

Even more terrifying is the fact that teenagers eat about 34 teaspoons of sugar a day.

All ages should be eating less than 10 teaspoons of sugar a day. More on that later.

Let’s take a look at just how bad sugar is for kids (and adults) before we jump into what the appropriate amount is.

Sugar rots kids’ teeth. The bacteria in your mouth turn the sugar to acid and it goes to town on your enamel. This is especially true with soda and hard candies, which is why so many kids get cavities.

Sugar can make your kid obese. Childhood obesity is at epidemic levels in this country– and sugar might be the culprit. Just a few teaspoons of sugar can lead to an excess amount of calories. Letting your kid eat sugary snacks all day long will create a struggle with being overweight for the rest of their lives.

Sugar can affect your child’s immune system. Eating sugar slows down your immune system, practically to a crawl. It essentially paralyzes your white blood cells, which are essential to fight off bacteria and viruses.

Sugar can make your kid depressed. Sugar gives a spike in serotonin, or the happy chemical in your brain, but then it dips after the sugar spike is gone. Essentially, high consumption of sugar in kid will disrupt the natural balance of serotonin that their brain produces making them more prone to depression.

It’s scary but true. Sugar is terrible for growing children. If your child’s daily diet includes a lot of the following: sugary cereal, chocolate milk, pudding, and soda– you must do something to change this!

In reality your child should be consuming possibly one sweet a day. This could be a cookie after dinner or lunch, half a candy bar, etc. Anything more borders on dangerous. There are plenty of healthy alternatives for people who have a sweet tooth. Fruit, semi-sweetened dark chocolate, small amounts of honey/maple-syrup sweetened cereals.

As a rule of thumb, women are supposed to consume no more than 6 teaspoons of sugar a day and men 9 teaspoons. Keep your kids’ consumption of the sweet stuff around this level, if not lower.

If you’re going to cook or bake with sugar, it’s been recommended that you go for organic, cane sugar.

It might be hard to cut sugar out of your family’s diet, but at the end of the day you’ll be glad you did it!

How Much Sugar for Kids

Related: Foods that Keep You Full

How Much Sugar for Kids

Canada Health Care Whats Not Covered

Canada has a public health care system that entitles every citizen to health care. It is financed via public taxes as outlined by the Canada Health Act of 1984 and provincially run. The system tries to keep itself simple but of course being different between provinces does cause some issues with portability of health insurance cards and general care. Canada’s expected spent on it’s healthcare was estimated at $183.1 billion in 2009 (I don’t know if this was the final figure), just over $4000 per person, no small amount that is for sure!

Still, I believe universal health care is an essential pillar of society and I am glad Canada upholds that, for now!

Canada Health Care Whats Not Covered

Now, under such a system obviously not everything can be covered. It just doesn’t make sense! I couldn’t go and ask my local hospital to enhance my nose or even something more realistic like laser my eyes so I don’t need to wear glasses anymore. There are and have to be limits to social health care and that is often where private based insurance, often employer provided in Canada, comes into play. It is estimated that 75% of Canadians have some kind of private insurance and this is expected to keep growing.

Generally, depending on the province, dentistry and optometry is not covered. Procedures that are not considered essential such as cosmetic surgeries and elective surgery are also not generally covered. However I believe that in a case of disfigurement or burns that the healthcare would deem some form of plastic surgery essential for the person to regain normal life so the operations would likely be covered.

Medicine in hospital is normally covered but prescription drugs that you collect from the pharmacy are normally paid out of pocket or sometimes covered with private insurance.

This is a very general overview but the Canadian systems really do have quite large provincial differences.

My experiences with the Quebec health system

I have to put a little about this in here. I love public health systems and I think they are very important as a structure. I lived in Montreal for two years and only had one run in with the hospital system. My partner damaged her foot to an extent that it was almost certainly broken. We had to wait at the hospital for hours and then she was pulled into a room where an angry doctor pushed her foot around, really hurting, shoved her out of the door and said it was just badly sprained. She had to ask if she could get some crutches or something and it was organised in a way that was like we were annoying flies…. The problem here, as we were not residents we were not covered. This terrible treatment, and not even any x-rays, cost us $700. From my one experience and many I have heard it seems Montreal needs to find a way to improve its system!

Do you live in Canada and can you share some of the details of your provinces health insurance and what it does and does not cover? How has your treatment been? Do you have any happy or horror stories?

Related: Canada Life Expectancy 81.38

Thanks for reading.

How famous fitness gurus have helped my life..

What famous fitness gurus can you think of? Immediately Richard Simmons comes to mind but seriously the guy is a joke, although he is responsible for getting a ton of old people off their backside, important work really!

I’m a bit arrogant when it comes to cheesy things like home fitness fads and such things but if you are a reader you’ll know that I follow a couple of said programs and have become a fan of something that I thought I would always loathe. I think in many ways celebrity and fitness is actually doing a service to people here there and everywhere.

The famous fitness gurus I learned to love but sometimes hate….

Tony Horton

When a friend of mine mentioned this P90X thingy I said P 90 What? He explained it was this workout thing and it gets you in great shape in all areas of your body and you did it by following some plans and watching some DVDs. He told me it was great but in typical cynic mode I was extremely skeptical! So I borrowed a DVD and from the first moment of meeting this Tony Horton fitness guru fellow I thought “What on earth is this crap!”. Anyway I did the workout whilst muttering “shut up” and “what the hell?” through the whole thing. The next morning I ached, I ached a lot! Tony with his silliness and cheesiness had worked me out harder than I had worked out for a long time.

So I learned to love P90X and I can’t give it enough credit for just being an awesome fitness program. These days I use P90X workouts as part of my regular fitness program.

Shaun T

After P90X I had more faith in the cheese ball of a company that is Beach Body. I hate the name and Tony was almost unbearable but oddly likeable at the same time. So I decided to look for some more cheesy torture. I didn’t take up the challenge of hip hop abs but I did go with one of Shaun T’s other fitness programs called Insanity. Oh boy does Insanity lives up to its name! I have completed about 2 and a half rounds of it so far. Shaun T is a little more serious than Tony but he is a guru in my eyes and knows how to hit you where it hurts. In fact my next round of P90X will likely have some days swapped for Insanity workouts.

Jillian Michaels – I watched my girlfriend do the 30 Day Shred for the most part (well I joined in a few) and Jillian has made a big name for herself on The Biggest Loser. She is quite new on the fitness guru scene and has a little controversy surrounding her choice of products to put her name to but when it comes to work outs I think she is great. The 30 Day Shred and some of her other workouts are not going to do much for P90X and Insanity grads but in general they will bring a beginner up to a reasonable fitness level. She is doing a great service.

These guys are my famous fitness guru’s and I can’t thank them for allowing me to really push my fitness within my own home (see my post for work out tips at home) at a reasonable price. Equipment to use with these workouts is limited and costs are relatively low, especially if you really do use them and follow the courses all the way through and beyond.

Who are your famous fitness gurus and how have they helped your life?

Work Out Tips At Home

It’s the time of the year when everyone runs to the gym and as Melissa pointed out in this post over at Free From Broke, the gyms are so packed at this time of year that you may not even get a chance to work out and it could lead to you giving up all together.

Besides doing your work out at home has a million upsides. Here are just a few I can think of:

• It saves you money, even if you have to purchase some equipment.
• You have no excuse, you can roll out of bed and work out.
• You don’t have to worry about looking stupid in front on people, if you feel embarrassed in-front of the cat I can’t help you there!
• You can try multiple programs, vary as much as you like and keep going until you find something you get along with.
• You’ll save a lot of time because you won’t need to travel.
• You can split workouts easily between morning and night.
• You never have to battle the crowds.

Work Out Tips At Home

I like the gym, I really do but these days I do almost all of the working out I do from home or outside. I travel a fair amount so this is the easiest option for me.

Work Out Tips At Home

So how do you get started at home? A couple of pushups and a pull up here and there isn’t going to do the trick, you need a plan and something to pursue. Following a program of sorts can help immensely and it is something I have done and do regularly. These days I am running and doing a few small strength training activities (just started the 100 push up challenge) at home. Let’s look at some general tips and then a look at a few routines I recommend.

General tips

• Realise it’s going to be hard.
• Treat yourself once a week or so but get serious about diet.
• Don’t go purchasing fancy equipment if you don’t have to. A lot of stuff can be found around the home or at garage sales or thrift stores. See our post: Home Fitness Exercise Equipment.
• Find a buddy and a once or twice a week workout together at each others homes or exercise outside.
• Always have fitness and body-fat / muscle-mass goals.
• Join online forums, read articles online and keep motivated through any means you can.
• If you don’t do great, don’t EVER give up. Fitness can take time.
• Consider doing a fitness class at a fitness center once per week. I would choose Yoga every time.

Recommended plans to follow

Couch to 5k – The UK National Health Service has an excellent and free couch to 5k plan aimed at those who want to get into running. It takes a beginner from pretty much nothing to running 5k and is proven to be highly successful. I love running (I even write about it at Regular Runner).

100 Pushup Challenge – I just started this. It’s only about 30minutes a week so can be bolted onto other exercise and it has one simple goal. In 7 weeks they want to push you to do 100 continuous pushups, pretty tough goal but something I am determined to make. here is there site: hundredpushups.com.

30 Day Shred – My girlfriend did this and I joined in here and there. For those of you who have heard of Insanity and P90X, it’s a great program to do if you are not ready for those more intense ones. Jillian Michaels can be a little annoying but she puts forward a great routine and it will work you. You can find it on Amazon here: Jillian Michaels – 30 Day Shred.  (<– affiliate link)

Insanity – Insanity is Insane but I love it! Aimed more at those of you that want to get lean rather than ripped and basically a hard circuit training routine. Shaun T, again is a little annoying (but they all are to me) but I can’t deny both the awesomeness and effectiveness of the program. These days I don’t follow in order but do use Insanity as part of my working out at home. You can purchase Insanity here: Insanity Home Workout. (<– affiliate link)

P90X – P90X is a program for people who want to put on muscle mass and gain general fitness. I went through it and although I didn’t see the stunning results that some see, like Pat Flynn, I did see massive strength and general fitness gains and I still use many of the workouts to this day. It works, I can say that. You can purchase P90X here: Use this for text link for PPC and Search Traffic.  (<– affiliate link)

No matter what you decide to do make sure you stick it out before you say it doesn’t work. Motivation is the one reason people fail, pretty much any program that works you hard will yield results.

I also didn’t touch much on diet in this post but it is an essential part of getting into shape and cannot be overlooked. I choose a diet reasonably low in carbs and although I failed miserably over Christmas, I am back on it and doing great.

I wrote more on the subject in the article Working Out At Home.

Good luck and please take the time to drop any  thoughts or comments you have - Work Out Tips At Home

Taxes On Yoga Classes

As far as I could see, at present Missouri is the only State to impose sales tax on Yoga classes. Washington used to but they scrapped that in 2008 but Connecticut is proposing the possibility.

It seems that as budgets get thinner and States get more and more brassick they are really starting to dig into the sofa looking for spare change. If the proposed tax on Yoga becomes a reality in CT it could be quite likely that other states will start to follow.

Taxes On Yoga Classes

Yoga has been increasing in popularity over the last 10 years, so much so that it’s spiritual founders are starting to get really upset by how mainstream and anti-spiritual it has become, it’s like a rockband leaving ti’s small town, going on tour and then selling out to a big record label. The thing is, it cannot be denied, at least with current science, that Yoga, even in it Western less-spiritual form is amazingly good for the body and I would say mind too.

It’s popularity makes it the perfect thing to tax and earn money from, at least from a cash-strapped local government perspective. However this really irks me. Don’t get me wrong, I am pro-tax but you should be taxing things in society that are bad for you.

Health and exericse related endeavors should only be taxed the most minimal of taxes and the 4-6% should be added to things that could be deemed to be harmful to a States people. Beer isn’t that expensive and it certainly isn’t needed no matter what people say. Surely a 4% rise on a $3 pint of beer won’t be a huge deal? Cigarettes should double or triple in costs and high fat fast food, well…..

That’s the way I feel about the whole thing anyway. Instead fo trying to drip taxes out of something because it is popular I think healthy behavior could be encouraged and even funded to a degree that it could save your State money in things such as Medicare. A rise in taxes/prices on the bad stuff could save too, if people can’t afford to get quite so drunk maybe the police will have less drunk drivers to deal with and their resources could be used for other things.

I don’t think taxes on yoga classes is right, in fact I would support them being funded!

So, what do you think? I would love your input.

Related: How I Lost Weight

Thanks for reading.

Portion Size Cheat Sheet

After the devastating affects of splurging during the holidays it’s hard to look at a normal sized meal and feel that it’s an adequate amount of food!!! We probably all indulged a little more than we meant to and we need some reminding about what is the right amount of food to eat to keep ourselves in good trim shape.

Obviously its best to stay with healthy lean meats, healthy small starch portions, grains, lots of (more of less unlimited) vegetables and just good quality unprocessed foods. Even with healthy foods it’s easy to eat too much and keep stalling weight loss or maintaining goals.

So to help out I thought I would create a very simple visual portion size cheat sheet that you can download.

Portion Size Cheat Sheet

Portion Size Cheat Sheet

So all you have to do is:

• Click on the image to open it full size.
• Right click the full size image and select save as or save to desktop. Save it to your computer.
• Open the image and print out at 100%.
• Keep it by you when serving food.

Remember that you can pretty much eat as many vegetables (boiled or steamed) as you like and keep breads and processed carbs to a minmum.

If the sheet is successful then I may expand it to include more food groups and make additional sheets, I hope this is helpful.

Thanks and good luck. Also thanks to Work Out World for the guide to portion sizing. If you want to share the image on your blog please feel free but do reference this article.

Related: Guide to Appropriate Serving Sizes

Thanks for reading.