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Newsletter: Volume 34, January 2002 SALE!!! It amazes me how good I can feel just five to seven minutes into an easy run. The vitality and attitude boost even when walking or jogging very slowly will enhance your life. Just get that body in motion and you'll have a better day, every day!
 Weight Management Update Recently I've had the opportunity to attend some conferences that have addressed weight management issues. The following nutrition news compiles some of the latest thinking about weight management, be you too fat or too thin. What's the best way to lose weight? One strategy that can help you maintain a low(er) fat diet is to
plan ahead and visualize yourself managing social situations appropriately.
For example, if you will be traveling to holiday gatherings, be
sure to: Low-fat diets offer one approach to weight loss; high protein diets
offer another. Researchers at Ball State University in Muncie, IN
studied 59 overweight and obese women who ate either The bottom line: to lose weight, you simply need to create a calorie deficit by eating slightly smaller portions of your standard foods. You can do the math: One pound of fat equates to 3,500 calories. By eating only 100 fewer calories per day, you can save 36,500 calories per year...and lose 10 pounds of body fat by simply eating the equivalent of 2 fewer Oreos per day. Sound reasonable? Is there good weight management info on the Internet? Remember: Everyone always wants to lose weight--but are you ready to lose weight? That is, you need energy to eat less and/or exercise a little more to create a calorie deficit. If your energy is going towards coping with terrorism, worrying about job layoffs or suffering from illness or injury, you may lack the energy you need to push yourself away from the dinner table. Food, after all, has a calming effect. When you overeat because you are stressed, you are only trying to be nice to yourself; food alters your brain chemistry and this can put you in a happier mood--for the moment, that is. In the long run, this inappropriate coping skill will leave you even more stressed and depressed from the weight gain. Hence, learning how to manage stress without food is the obvious solution. Instructors from the Mind/Body Medical Institute in Boston suggest taking three deep, slow breaths--breathe in peace, breathe out stress--to dissipate stress. Meditation can also be helpful. Calm your mind by sitting in a comfortable position and focusing on the word ocean. Slowly inhale on O and exhale on CEAN. Soon the calm vision of ocean waves can help soothe your nerves--and perhaps save you some calories. Q: I'm worried about my daughter who runs a lot and has gotten too thin, to the point she has stopped menstruating. Is this unhealthy? Nancy: Loss of menstrual periods (amenorrhea) is indeed an abnormal and unhealthy condition associated with eating too little to support normal body functioning. Amenorrhea leads to poor bone health. (The hormones involved in regular menstruation are important for optimizing bone density.) Amenorrheic athletes commonly have low bone density --and a 4.5 higher risk of suffering a stress fracture because their bones are weakened. Plus, these athletes face a grim future as they age. When a teenage athlete has the bones of a 60 year old woman, severe osteoporosis looms in the near future.... Although taking birth control pills has been deemed a way to protect bone health, the current research indicates otherwise. Speaking at a conference sponsored by Massachusetts General Hospital's Eating Disorders Program, Karen Miller MD shared the results of her bone research: the birth control pill has little impact on bone health in very thin women with amenorrhea. The better solution is to eat enough to support normal body functions. Female athletes who seek "the perfectly lean body" fail to understand that the thinnest athlete is not the best athlete. Thin athletes with stress fractures are not helpful to their team. Nancy Clark, MS, RD counsels clients privately at SportsMedicine
Associates in Brookline MA. Her best seller Nancy Clark's Sports
Nutrition Guidebook, 2nd Edition is available at www.nancyclarkrd.com
or by sending $23 to Sports Nutrition Services, 830 Boylston St.
#205, Brookline MA 02467
Jeff lists 25 ideas for cheerful winter running in the December, 2001 Runner's World, p. 34. www.runnersworld.com NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION DISCOUNTS:
Email jeffgalloway@mindspring.com for more information on these discounted items. When running in cold and sometimes wet weather, the primary goal is to wear clothing that will keep you warm and dry. The following points will guide you in determining your individual needs are and how to select the appropriate apparel and accessories. #1 What is cold? The answer will be different from one person to the next. Many runners use 40ƒ as the point when they change from shorts to tights and/or short sleeves to long, while others are cold when the temperatures drop below 60ƒ. The key is to be warm enough to keep the muscles from tightening up. In dressing for a cold day the rule of thumb is to check the temperature/wind-chill and add 15-20ƒ to that mark and dress for that. If you are comfortable when you walk out the door, you will soon realize you are overdressed for running. Overdressing can be more disastrous than underdressing because even technical clothes have a limit to how quickly they can wick. This increases your risk of dehydrating on long runs. #2 Eliminate use of cotton. Technical running clothes have an advantage by being able to wick moisture away from the skin over 50% faster than cotton. Polyester and nylon are the two most commonly used fabrics and can be made into specialized weaves that promote wicking and evaporation. Examples of these fabrics are coolmax, capilene, polypropylene, thermax, dryline/drylete, and the list goes on. #3 Dress in layers. There are two levels of dressing for cool to cold temperatures. The first is the use of a baselayer; this is the wicking layer and can be used by itself on cool to moderate days or as the underlayer on the cold days. The second level is a shell (vest or jacket) that protects from wind and rain/snow. Microfiber shells provide protection in a light rain and wind by using a tight weave of fibers that allows heat to escape and keeps large rain drops out. Some shells are treated to add to their water repellency or a laminate is attached to the shell to make them waterproof such as Gore-Tex. The greater protection you get from rain, the less breathable the shell becomes. Breathability is the key factor for winter weather in humid climates. #4. Keep head and hands covered. Over 50% of heat is lost through the head, making it important to keep covered on cold days. Ears tend to be most vulnerable so headbands that cover the ears are the most commonly used head gear. Beyond headbands, head coverage ranges from mesh to fleece caps. In terms of handgear, most runners use lightweight gloves, more commonly know as glove liners. For cold sensitive runners or those with circulation problems, fleece gloves or mitts with added layers or windproof properties are beneficial. One other key accessory (more so for men that women) are technical briefs especially with wind blocking for extremely cold days. Running specialty stores are great resources for providing runners with the latest in technical apparel. The key is to assess the weather conditions (cold, wind, humidity & precipitation) and to know how your body deals with these conditions. You can then increase your chances of a warm and dry run. Teresa Gibreal, Phidippides Running Center, Atlanta Insulin: Friend or Foe? Part
Two By Matt Fitzgerald Last month I wrote about the beneficial effects of insulin release on running performance. Now I'd like to talk about the beneficial effects of insulin release on post-run recovery. Insulin release offers three benefits in relation to recovery: as it accelerates muscle glycogen replenishment, reduces muscle tissue stress, and stimulates the rebuilding of muscle protein. These effects are mediated by the ability of insulin to deliver glucose to the muscles, where it is stored as glycogen, and the ability of insulin to blunt the damaging effects of another hormone, cortisol. Studies have shown that runners in heavy training often fail to completely restock muscle glycogen between workouts. This decreases performance. In order to ensure complete restoration of energy, it is essential to consume carbohydrate and stimulate insulin release within 30 minutes of completing exercise. Glycogen synthesis in the two-hour period post-exercise proceeds two to three times faster than normal. If a carbohydrate supplement is not consumed during this period of time, the muscle will become insensitive to insulin and the rate of glycogen recovery will be significantly slowed. Vigorous exercise causes the release of cortisol, which can severely hamper muscle recovery by reducing the amount of amino acids transported into the muscles and thereby slowing down the rebuilding of muscle protein. Insulin, which, again, is released when we consume carbohydrate, blunts the release of cortisol and accelerates the transport of amino acids into the muscles, thereby allowing tissue rebuilding to proceed more rapidly. The most efficient way to kick-start the recovery process following exercise is to consume a sports drink that is formulated to maximize insulin release. Research has shown that a four to one ratio of carbohydrate to protein is most desirable because it stimulates the strongest possible insulin response, leading to faster glycogen restocking and protein rebuilding. In recent tests, a sports drink containing carbohydrate and protein in a 4 to 1 ratio (Endurox R4) increased insulin levels 70% more than a conventional sports drink that contained no protein. It also reduced post-exercise muscle damage by 36% and increased endurance by 55% in the next workout. While a runner's normal diet should be rich in low-glycemic carbohydrates (such as whole grains) that produce a small insulin response and long-lasting energy, during and after workouts, insulin is a friend, not a foe, to runners. Maximizing insulin release during exercise delivers energy quickly to working muscles. Maximizing insulin release immediately following exercise enhances various facets of muscle recovery. IMMUNE BUILDING - THE NATURAL
WAY!! Why not strengthen your immune system before winter cold and flu season? Here are ways to build up your immune system: 1. EAT A WELL BALANCED PLANT-BASED DIET GOODIES NEWS: Healthy Food Should Taste GOOD! ISSN: 1532-5482, Editor: Linda Randall Publisher: Good Stuff Delicious Nutrition, http://www.goodstuffco.com "Don't Let Your Luck Run Out Run Defensively" by John Kelling from American Running Association's Running & Fit News (November, 2001), www.americanrunning.org Mr. Kelling gives us several suggestions on how to make our in-the-dark runs safer, including
He also points out that . . . road running is inherently dangerous. Your best chance to avoid injury is to practice defensive running, anticipating the possibilities long before they are out of your control. Editor's Advice "If you hate running in the cold weather, here's a tip that might help: Toss your running gear in the dryer for few minutes before getting dressed. Then you'll feel nice and toasty when you start your run." - Beth Moxey Eck, Runner's World senior editor See Jeff's article in the January issue of Runner's World: Runner's Six-Pack six running components to help you run faster and easier by spring
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