Wordplay

So I ran it. And I made it. No walking. Like a ****** ******* winner.

The very fit and fast L Saldutti (middle) kept my pace up. I figured if I could just keep time with her, I’d run the whole way. After I thanked her for motivating me in the last half mile, she laughed and revealed she has been just trying to keep pace with ME! Guess you never know who you’re pushing along.

Best motivators:
-The fact that I had an obnoxious Mean Girls-esque getup (see matching Brooks running top and shorts) in a sea of quirky sad “see you at the finish line” and “fast is as slow as we go” company mottos T-shirts. You can look lame walking in a T-shirt, but you just look like an A-hole walking in a matching uniform)
-Crowds of walkers (I pass you, I pass you, whoa, don’t trip me!–I pass you, too)
-Crowds of runners (You’re still running? YOURE’ still running, too? Wait, YOU can’t still be running!)
-The dude running with the giant back-to-the-future boombox strapped to his back with truck ties, blasting 80s music, going FASTER than me
-Random confused/excited onlookers and park-goers, cheering us on (gave a surprised few some spontaneous high fives)
-People with asses about four times my size, hauling ass
-Wanting to see the surprised/proud look on the face of a very patient and supportive bf at the finish line tent after being told that his usually lazy and downright slow partner didn’t walk one step.

The final time? 37.20

DON’T STOP WON’T STOP

You’re looking at (ok, listening to) a winner. Honest to blog (sorry, Diablo Cody). Ever put your name in a raffle and get nothing? Yes? Me, too…most of the time. Ever put your name in a raffle and win a whole bunch of money to a sporting good store? No? That’s because they picked MY name, fool!

We knew our first purchase (gift?) would no doubt be shoes. And not just any shoes. A couple of pairs of hardcore top-of-the-line cushioning super-supportive feet cradles (what we used to refer to as “running shoes”). But how to know which ones?

This called for research. Runner’s World helped with their nifty Running Shoe Finder. Just fill in your gender, shoe size and what type you’re looking for and *CLICK* running shoe reviews tailored to your needs! New ones, old ones, editor’s picks, you name it. Plus, they have pretty detailed descriptions of all the perks/disadvantages of the shoe.

Check out the one for the Saucony GRID Stabil 6: “The midsole employs three densities of foam on the medial (arch) side of the shoe, which are designed to slow the rate of pronation and encourage a smoother heel-to-toe transition. The base of the shoe has also been widened slightly for better stability. Recommended for larger runners with flat to low arches.”

Sound tricky? It’s really quite simple, seeing that RW has enough online foot tools to make you a bonafide uncertified podiatrist.
So medial they gave to us: arch side. Got it.
But pronation? And arch size? No problem.

Arches are easy – just take the Wet Test.

Pronation, on the other hand, is like enjoying reality TV – perfectly natural in small doses. And truly, it’s just a fancy term for the way your ankle and foot turn in (or out) when it hits the ground. Turning just a bit to the inside is “normal pronation,’ which is a little trick the foot uses to make sure it can support your body weight without any problems. It’s a trifle movement – only about a 5 percent rotation – and it helps distribute the impact and absorb shock (I wish my brain pronated when I read about Madonna and A-Rod!). Over-pronation – when the foot rolls inward more than just a trifle – puts unneeded pressure on the big toe and causes runners to have ankle problems. And the opposite of that? UNDER pronation, you assume? WRONG. Supination (still not good for you because it can cause knee injuries and plantar fasciitis – oosh!)

How are YOU p-nating?
There’s an easy/boring and a hard/fun way to know what’s going on with your gait. You can A) check the bottom of your running shoes or B) get a gait analysis.
If you want to check right now, flip those kicks over and analyze the wear on the sole. If there’s more wear to the inside of the shoe, you might be over-pronating. To the outside – supinating (did I just make that a verb?)
If you don’t see anything but a muddy shoe (and…gasp!… is that dog poo?) head down to your local shoe retailer and have a salesperson analyze your gait for free. TIP: Head to the larger chains (you know – the ones that can afford to spend money on high-tech gizmos). They’ll ask you to take a short run on a treadmill (“Please try not to fall”) while they video tape your feet hitting the ground. In slow-mo, they can see exactly how you pronate and by how much. The BF and I did this at the local Paragon Sports. Although I do have occasional knee pain, apparently I’m a normal p-nator (mild pronation). But the usually pain-free BF? OVER p-nator! And how!

Our very knowledgeable sales person directed us to shoes that might be a good fit, given our new gait analysis results (don’t worry, it’s not a test – you can’t fail). A really helpful tip for mild and over p-nators – you’ll need extra support on the inside (arch side) of the shoe. Of course, you can look at the thickness of the sole there, but an easier way to tell is by color. Most brands put extra support and motion control padding in grey, so look for one that has the a grey reinforcement near your arch.

After trying on and researching many pairs I went with the Brooks Adrenaline 8:

So far it’s been great – 4 ½ out of 5 stars from me.

And the over-pronating BF? The ever popular Brooks Beast:

You can see the difference in motion-control here, for sure. And yes, they are heavier than a normal running shoe, but the added support is supposed to make up for all that weight. The jury’s still out on the Beast, but I think he’s starting to like them.

And yes, we workout together (and did so this weekend at a very nice downtown gym, thanks to a hook up by a certain health magazine editor), but we did not – REPEAT: DID NOT – do this on purpose. This matching shoes thing was a coincidence. I promise. Plus, he runs way faster than I do, so it hasn’t been an issue thus far.

Now that you’ve had your daily dose of pronation, I’m going to go catch up some reality TV (but just a little – I hear it’s good for you).

I’d take garlic on my salad, garlic in my soup, garlic in my pasta and garlic on my ice cream if they’d let me. I love the stuff (thank God the bf loves it, too!) and now they say it wasn’t all for waste! The National Academy of Sciences publised last month proceedings that show eating garlic boosts our natural supply of hydrogen sulfide. Ok, so that sounds intriguing, but what does it really mean?

Well hydrogen sulfide, apparently (according to Tara Parker-Pope of the NYT) is that nauseating rotten-egg smell that is a byproduct of oil refining (what?!)…and too much of it is actually poisonious. But eating garlic (besides tortuing your date) boosts the body’s own production of the stuff, which is why the herb has been linked to prevention of various cancers.

But in order for you to build that immunity fortress, you’ll have to up the ante: we’re talking at least two cloves a day. Me, I’m not worried, but maybe you should be. All I’m saying is start searching for a soul mate that doesn’t hate the stuff, you’ll thank yourself for it on your 100th birthday.

Tip or two: To maximize your garlicky benefits, crush up your cloves at room temperature but don’t cook with it right away. If you let it sit for about 15 minutes, an enzyme reaction is triggered that boosts the healthy compounds. Come on, you’ve got 15 minutes to waste – throw away all the stuff in the fridge you don’t recognize anymore.
Also – if you really can’t stand having that severe garlic breath (which, I for one find quite sexy), Parker-Pope says you can hit the fennel to neatralize that “nauseating rotten-egg smell” we all love so dearly.

All that left-over turkey and green bean casserole wreaking havoc on your belly? Put down the pumpkin pie and check out MSN herb guru (I’m talking legal here) Douglas Schar’s natural tips to soothe stomach sickness:

All stopped up like rush hour traffic?
Try Dandelion:
No, don’t go pulling up weeds from the garden to get things moving. Take some dried dandelion root tea instead. The plant stimulates bile production, which can help resolve your plumbing issues. Smooth sailing.

Cramps feel like a twisting knife in your gut?
Try Cramp bark:
True, it sounds a little splintery to me, but it has been known to help relieve cramps as well as irritable bowel syndrome and bloating. Yay for pain-free periods.

Spending all your free time on the toilet?
Try Cinnamon:
Believe it – your powdered cinnamon can destroy your food poisoning dilemmas. The oils exterminate the bugs that can cause the problem then the mucilage and tannis (other weird-sounding compounds) dry you right up. Case (and toilet seat) closed.

Silent but deadly?
Try Fennel:
A European staple for making noses more happy, this herb slows down that methane buildup and can make you and your cubicle mate much happier.

Not breaking things down like you use to?
Try Cayenne:
When you’re too full or something that doesn’t want to digest, cayenne can be a safe and surprisingly gentle digestion aid. Can’t stand the zing? Pop some peppermint instead.

Can’t keep that stuffing down?
Try Ginger:
This famous root can stop even the most turbulent of motion sicknesses. Fresh or dried you’ll be ready to hop right back on the dingy.

Sore spot flaring up again?
Try Licorice:
Ulcers – what a pain! But a little dried licorice root, taken consistently, can speed up the healing of that sensitive tummy tumor.

Ok, I’m done lecturing – you can pick your pie back up (but don’t worry, I put an extra tablespoon of cinnamon in there just for you).

I’m not really that hungry, but there’s a bowl of pasta in the fridge and an apple pie (thanks a lot roommate) on the kitchen counter. My tummy says yes, but my brain says…ok, my brain says yes, too. Time to fight the hunger with a little food magic…

Here are six things O Magazine says can curb the pain:

1. Protein, Please
If you’re looking for satisfaction, protein wins out every time. Each calorie counts and does it’s job to make you feel fuller. Make sure to include some low-fat milk or yogurt in your breakfast or a hard-boiled egg if you are like me and are egg-friendly. If it’s during the afternoon that you feel a rumble, Barbara Rolls, PhD (and author of author of The Volumetrics Eating Plan: Techniques and Recipes for Feeling Full on Fewer Calories) recommends you test out a protein shake like Slim-Fast Optima.
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2. Fiber Forever
Like your boyfriend in your new apartment, fiber takes up a lot of extra space without adding much. It also slows down food passing through the body so it keeps your feeling fuller longer. Scarf down healthy doses of fruits, veges and whole grains and you’ll have a better chance of ignoring by the vending machine come lunchtime.
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3. Feel Nutty
Hop on the almond (or cashew, or peanut or maccademia) train and really pull a fast one on your tummy. It’s that silly hormone ghrelin that stimulates your appetite and makes your stomach growl but just a handful of nuts and ghrelin levels can take a plunge. Dr. Oz (see My Date) says that if you can put away a few nuts just half and hour before a meal, you’ll tend to skip attacking the bread basket and actually stop eating before your belt pops off. If only I’d known this, maybe I could have saved the lives of a few more belts…
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4. Walk it Off
Some studies show that just a little exercise can hold back hunger, if only temporarily. Or Dr. Oz recommends taking a few deep breaths before giving into to temptation. If your hunger was stress or anxiety-related, a little moment like this can help you realize you weren’t even hungry to begin with.
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5. Work for Your Food
Try to choose a snack that actually forces you to slow down your food intake. For example, edamame (soybeans) and pistachios come in shells that are downright annoying. But, the truth is, you’re probably going to eat less of them. I told you – it’s magic.
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6. Just a Little Something
Sometimes it’s not your hunger that is making you drool over everything in sight (even the brussel sprouts look good from here), it just a simple desire to taste something. Oz says pop a mint or chew on some licorice to satisfy your mouth. My current favorite? These IceBreakers Restore Pomegranate Lemon-Aid sugar-free mints. The flavor masks the fact that I’m actually getting vitamins A, C, E and zinc (so sneaky!).

Sweet (breath mint), I’m feeling full already.

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I can confidently say that most of us complain about working out. Ok, so it’s good for us (or so they say) and walking away from a workout, I do feel a little more badass than I did when I started, but the actual work-out part…not so great.

Unless you’re this woman:

Q: I have an exercise question that is a little out of the ordinary…When I’m at the gym doing abdominal/core exercises, I can experience what I call a “core-gasm” (an orgasm). Is this unusual or do a lot of women experience this? I’m not complaining, rather I’m just trying to educate myself…

I’m guessing this lady is pretty fit seeing as her workouts provide an added bonus.

The MSN smart fitness doctor – Irwin Goldstien, director of sexual medicine at the Alvarado Hospital in San Diego – responds to her question by telling her there’s probably a really good explanation for all this…luck. Maybe her gym clothes are too tight and during all that crunch-crunch-crunching they’ve been rub-rub-rubbing her the right way.

Or it could be that her nerves are firing without her permission, which is pretty impressive seeing that many women can’t even fire them with a signed permission slip and a Brad Pitt look-alike by their side.

The doc goes on to ponder the idea that maybe her ab workout is stimulating the diaphragm, which in turn could trigger movement of the vagus nerve (well, that sounds dirty) which runs through the pelvis. Or heck, it may just be the rush of feel-good chemicals that she’s feeling which come after a good aerobic workout.

Just exercising can help with your sex life, Goldstein responds, even if it doesn’t feel quite as good as our writer’s. He reminds us that there is substantial evidence that associates exercise with prevention of sexual problems.

However – my favorite part of this scholarly explanation is the doc’s quote – unless you’re bothered by your “core-gasms”, don’t sweat it. “Continue the exercise if you’re enjoying it.”

Trust me, doc, I think she will.

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Ok, so maybe my posts about kids are getting out of hand (but they’re so cuddly and cute!) but this one’s a must. The AP just released a story detailing the recall of a popular kids toy in Australia because three children have been hospitalized from ingesting its contents. Why so harmful? It contains the chemicals found in date rape drugs.

Yes, you heard me right. Bindeez, the culprit, is some little DIY kit where kids can put beads together in designs and make them stick with a spritz of water. These beads were supposed to be made from a nontoxic compound used in glue but instead contains compounds, when metabolized, that turn into the drug gamma hydroxy butyrate. Side effects of these common and easily available ingredients include unconsciousness, seizures, drowsiness, coma and…(DUN DUH DUH)…death.

The kids, ages 19 months, 2 and 10, are receiving medical help after eating the beads. My guess is that they must taste pretty good (as most date rape drugs do) not because they were eaten by a baby and a toddler, which should be expected, but because a 10-year-old actually swallowed a handful! At 10, you’d have to offer me a heavy allowance to get me to eat a handful of toy beads…unless I thought they were candy (mmm…jawbreakers).

The New South Wales state minister for fair trading, Linda Burney, ordered that the toys be pulled from the shelves and urged parents to “immediately remove any Bindeez products from their children.” I would have suggested they remove them from their homes (because removing something from your child sounds a little surgical to me) but maybe that’s just Aussie for you.

The kicker of the story is that Australia named this date rape game the toy of the year earlier in 2007. Best toy for kids? I’m going with no. Toy that made the most headlines? Jackpot.

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Not that I had any real problems with weight growing up (I was more of a gangly thing, pimped out with braces and glasses to boot), but many kids across the nation battle with obesity. And no one wants to be the fat kid. So parents across the country are torturing their kids with disgusting salads and impossible workouts when they could just let them miss first period. A new study linked on HealthNews and printed in the November issue of the journal, Pediatrics, found that even just 45 minutes of extra sleep for kids made a significant difference in their weight. If only I had put on a few extra pounds growing up, I could have slept in, too. Well, damn.

The connections between the fat and the hours of shut-eye were not immediately apparent, but the researches reported a strong correlation between them, according to the study. Check this out: 6th graders (man, I’d give anything to go back) who slept less than an average of 8.5 hours a night had a 23 percent rate of obesity, while their lazy classmates who slept more than 9.25 hours a night had a rate of only 12 percent. Show THAT to Mom when she comes in to pull the covers off in the morning!

The study followed 785 children from the third grade and discovered that no matter what a child weighed in third grade, too little sleep correlated meant they had 40 percent high odds of being a chubby sixth-grader. Plus, if you were still skimping on the REM in the sixth grade, you were 20 percent more likely to tip the scales than your well-rested peers.

Basically, they’ve revolutionized the age old question. It’s not the fat kids who are tired – it’s the tired kids who are fat. But why?

Well, tired kids probably won’t be running around playing tag during recess and they’re probably more irritable and might reach for the potato chips to perk up their mood (shoot, I know I do). And if you want to get technical, the researchers are also taking a look at the possible connection between sleep and fat metabolism. There are all sorts of hormones that get disrupted when you don’t get enough Zs and that could mean a party for your fat cells.

Sincere apologies that this information wasn’t available in the early 90s – I guess we all could have forgone those embarrassing moments in gym class and the chubby kid nick names. But at least you’ll have this valuable information for when you decide to procreate. Let your kids sleep in – your pantry will thank you.

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Alright, so there were no candles or roses or R&B tracks on the stereo. And it was more of an early morning encounter (no dancing ’till dawn or anything like that), but nevertheless, we DID have a date. Dr. Oz and me…and the rest of our health writing class.

Best known as Oprah’s health guru, Dr. Oz is also vice chair of surgery and professor of cardiac surgery at Columbia University and a founder and medical director of the Integrative Medicine program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. I know. Intense. And he had a date with ME.

I couldn’t exactly tell you how tall Oz is (or how wide for that matter) for our date only consisted of a floating head web-cammed version of America’s doctor (Oh, the wonders of iChat). Although I am not the biggest fan of conducting conversations via 3rd party, I have become quite the pro at the art of the web chat (thanks only to the boyfriend living in New York), and can appreciate how small the world has become with the somewhat sketchy infiltration of the all-seeing webcam.

So what did I learn from my 2-D date with Oz?
I learned that a third of all diagnoses are wrong (oi vey!) and only 10 percent of patients ever get another opinion.
I learned that Americans spend twice as much on healthcare as Europeans, but we somehow find a way to be twice as sick.
I also learned that even if we got rid of all the cancers in the world, we would only be adding about 3 years to our life expectancies.
But more importantly, as a muck-racking journalist (or widely unknown blogger), we need to ask the tough questions, add a little humor and stop educating the caregiver. Because it’s only when they repeat their knowledge to someone else (by stealing a few of our jokes, of course) that the information is processed.

Thanks Oz, what a lovely (and informative) date. Perhaps we can arrange a second? We can pretend I have more pressing questions.

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When it comes to hot sauce, where do you stand? Do you love standing in the fire or can you not take the heat? I, for one, am not a fan of the inferno-in-your-mouth feeling, but new experiments are swaying my favor on the hot stuff. Doctors at California-based Anesiva, a biopharmaceutical company which makes its money on pain relievers, are actually dribbling the chemical that gives chili peppers their fire right into the open wounds (not open mouths) of patients during highly painful operations.

Much to my surprise, this isn’t a new form of pharmaceutical torture (which would be pretty unoriginal if you ask me) – they actually have hopes that the hot sauce ingredient will numb the area and speed up recovery. This could mean people could suffer quite a bit less pain after surgery and require a whole lot less narcotic assistance (bummer).

But no way should you be squirting your Xtreme Chili of Doom into a gash you got losing your shirt in a pick-up game of street hockey. These doctors are using a extra purified version of capsaicin (that firey chemical) PLUS the volunteers are under anesthesia so they don’t freak out at the initial burn (What…you’re surprised? It’s HOT SAUCE!).

Think all this is strange? Actually, folks have been using chili peppers in their pain remedies for centuries and you can actually walk into a drug store and pick up a heat-inducing capsaicin cream for your aching hammy right now if you wanted to.

But if you are wary about possibly sketch and selfish pharmaceutical research (which you rightfully should be), you’ll be glad to know that Harvard folks are also testing capsaicin with other anesthetics to alleviate some pain. Their research findings might mean you could be getting dental injections that don’t numb the whole mouth (say goodbye to your droopy spit lip) or epidurals that don’t confine you to the bed during childbirth (sorry guys, not for you). There are even scientists at the National Institutes of Health that want to start testing capsaicin derrivitives on cancer patients next year. And seriously, if this stuff can get rid of cancer-pain, I think they’re onto something.

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But how does it work?

Nerve cell that sense long-term pain each have a TRPV1 receptor. When capsaicin binds to it, it will open the receptor to enter only those pain fibers and not other nerves who need to pay attention to their own responsibilities (uhhh…movement would be nice). These C neurons (the ones that bring the hurt) also sense heat, which is why capsaicin burns. But when TRPV1 opens, it also lets extra calcium inside the cells until the nerves become crazy full and shut down. Wa-Lah: numbness.

There’s still a long way to go on this hot sauce kick (some injected into dogs’ spinal columns actually severed essential nerves!) but hold out, you feverent fire-eaters, and one day your favorite food accessory might move from the dinner table to the operating tables across the globe.

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