When Exercise and Art come Together

I make art. I have another blog that is for artsy stuff and traveling around the northwest. As I was out on my walk today, I thought about how the two aspects of my life have been combined. I should walk to maintain my health, but it has a few other benefits as well

1. The first benefit is pretty obvious. Going outside allows me to visualize new paintings and collect new materials. I love this season. The air is cool. Early in the morning, the frost paints the trees and grasses with white. Ice forms on my car windshield in wonderful patterns. Dew hangs on the spider webs making them stand out against the foliage. The trees are dropping their leaves and seedpods. A cool crisp morning is a great inspiration.

2. Walking helps me clear my mind. I often get “stuck” when I’m painting or working on something. Leaving something behind, strapping on my tennis shoes and going for a walk gives my conscience mind a break. Sometimes great solutions come to me in the middle of the walk. Sometimes I come back to look at my work in progress and I see it in a new light.

3. Although my family is often around me while I’m working, I spend a lot of time alone. It’s easy to see things from a limited perspective (no pun intended) when you work alone. Going for a walk, especially in a different neighborhood, I sometimes stop and chat. The other day I met an older man who was raking leaves. He stopped me and started reminiscing about a street in Boston where he grew up. I was reminded that things have changed considerably since he was a child. People didn’t have TV or computers, so they socialized and chatted more. He obviously missed the camaraderie. I think I miss it too. Great artwork has emotional depth. Contact with people helps to develop compassion and understanding.

I’ve struggled with integrating my work with my healthy lifestyle changes. I have days where I just want to finish my most recent project. I’m slowly learning to set things aside to exercise for 30 to 45 minutes. When I truly enjoy my walk, I get the added benefit of improving my art.

Body Types, Somatotypes, Endomorphs, Ectomorphs, Mesomorphs and Fitness Routines

Since I heard about the 3 different body types, I’ve wondered what they really mean and if we can all be divided up so easily. I went off to do some internet research. My first stop was wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatotype. I was surprised to learn that the body type descriptions were developed in the 40’s by an American psychologist name William Sheldon. He was actually using the body types to match personalities with types of bodies. It also turns out that William Sheldon was a thief, according to Wikipedia. It seems Sheldon’s theories have been discredited by modern scientists (again according to Wikipedia).

Given that Sheldon was discredited, I was surprised to see that the body type descriptions are still widely used by fitness advice sites. These sites give fitness information, usually body building, according to body type.

http://www.epigee.org/fitness/body_shape.html
http://bodybuildingpro.com/bodytypeinformation.html
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek60.htm
http://www.gold1043.com.au/competition_xtras/gold/CraigsBodyTypes.pdf

Above is just a few of those sites.

Personally, I think Sheldon did bring up something very important about body type, dieting and exercise. Note, I don’t buy in to the connection between body type and personality. I really believe that fitness regimes have to be designed on an individual basis. I also believe that some people are naturally thinner, fatter or more muscular.

Because I’ve had to fight the insurance charts all my life, I know that not everyone fits within the normal range. I look at least 20 lbs lighter than most people who are my same height and weight. I build muscle very quickly. At the top of my weight range according to the standard charts, my muscles are well-defined and my hip bones protrude. Although just about every program stresses weight lifting, I do minimal amounts of weight lifting. I’m just not fond of great big muscles. Although I can’t control the definition of my muscles, I can make sure that I look like an lean and muscular athlete rather than a candidate for Ms. Universe.

Even though I’m not a body builder, I really appreciate that the body building websites take into account body type when designing a fitness routines. I wish more of the lifestyle change and dieting sites did the same thing. I resent the one size fits all fitness and dieting strategies.

YAY! I went for a walk today.

I know not everyone gets as excited about a walk. When you live in Oregon, unless you want to get soaked, you have to time your walks just right this time of year. Between the weather and appointments, I've had a hard time squeezing in exercise. We have had lots of rain and wind this week. The rain has been coming down in buckets.

Thank heavens I still feel very motivated to keep on exercising. After 3 days of nasty weather, I finally decided to do the eliptical. After 2 days on the eliptical, I was ready for a break.

This afternoon the rain let up for a brief moment. I threw on my walking shoes and headed out the door. I was a little worried when I passed the llamas. They were heading for cover. I persevered and continued on.

I think I set a personal best walking time. Between the threat of rain and the excitement of finally getting a chance to go outside, I was highly motivated to get my walking in. It felt great. I love the crisp air on my face.

The rain started when I was about 3/4 of the way done. Even the rain felt great. Luckily it didn't really pour until after I was inside.

I love walking outside!

Caffeine Makes Me Hungry

I had to stop drinking my green tea in the afternoon because about an hour later I would be starving. When I don’t drink the tea, I don’t get hungry. I’m back to just one cup of coffee in the morning. I’ve asked other people if caffeine makes them hungry. I’ve yet to find someone else who has noticed a connection between caffeine and hunger. I want to know why this is happening to me, so I decided to do a bit of research.

I know caffeine is a diuretic; therefore, drinking a lot will make you thirsty. I’ve heard that sometimes when a person thinks they’re hungry, they’re actually thirsty. This might be the case, but even if I drink water, I still think I’m hungry.

I found an interesting article on caffeine, http://www.stanford.edu/~johnbrks/theCafe/substance/caffeine.html. The article is somewhat contradictory because it states that caffeine is used as an appetite suppressant and then it goes on. Here’s the thing about caffeine and hunger “Ironically, caffeine can make it more difficult to lose weight because it stimulates insulin secretion, which reduces serum glucose, which in turn can increase hunger”. Aha! I thought I was getting hungry! The article is definitely worth reading because it talks about the amount of caffeine in a few beverages. It also says that more than 10 grams of coffee per day is lethal…hah…death by coffee! That would make an interesting mystery novel.

More articles that confirm the caffeine and hunger link are below.

http://walking.about.com/od/walkoflife/a/blday24x.htm
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=11068

This one has some caffeine links.
http://www.peakperformance.on.ca/health/caffeine_connection.htm

This article is very interesting. It says that coffee causes irritation of body tissues, which is mistaken for hunger. Could I be confusing my body trying to eliminate an irritant with hunger?
http://ccmhi.org/coffeedrinkingandweightgain.html

Here’s a Wikipedia article that shows the spider web of a spider on caffeine. I remember that picture from my biology class in the late 70’s.

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine


This article, http://blogs.webmd.com/busy-family-healthy-family/2006_02_01_archive.html, backs up the insulin/caffeine connection.

I hear conflicting health information all the time. It can be confusing. For me, it comes down to which resources I trust. I tend to trust the medical and scientific resources over the newspaper or TV reports. I always give the sources of my information on my blog, so if someone reads my blog they can form their own opinions.

I’ll continue to drink my cup of coffee per day and only occasionally have afternoon tea. I believe the medical and scientific resources that tell me a cup of coffee or tea a day is beneficial to one's health.

Changing Habits Acquired in Childhood

I had to go to the dentist today. Since childhood the dentist has been a problem for me. Now the dentist is almost an hour away from my home and going to the dentist is still a problem.

You may think that the real problem I have with the dentist now is the distance. Although the distance is an issue, that is only a minor nuisance. I have two related issues with the dentist that occurred early in my childhood. The first time I went to the dentist I was horribly ill from an abscessed tooth. The second time I went to the dentist I had to have 3 teeth extracted followed by 3 more a couple weeks later. I started out early only going to the dentist when I had a problem. The second issue I have with the dentist is that I always received a treat after I finished my dentist appointment.

When I was a kid, not only did the doctor hand out suckers at the end of a visit, so did the dentist. Not only did I get a sucker, but also because my first appointments were so bad, I always received a treat from my mom when I was done. My treat was usually a milkshake. Maybe my mom felt guilty about waiting so long to take me to the dentist. I don’t know. Anyway every time I went to the dentist I received a treat.

The results from that cycle of dentist than treat are that I hate going to the dentist and after every trip to the dentist I feel like I need a treat. Twice a year for the last three years, I’ve been going to the same dentist. After every dentist appointment, I would stop at Starbucks and get a Chai, Mocha or Latte and a scone.

This time around I spent the long drive to the dentist thinking about my twice-yearly habit. I made a conscience decision to make a change. When I was finished with the dentist, I stopped at the drug store and bought myself a few new barrettes for my hair. I’m thinking buying things for my hair is better than unnecessary food for my tummy. We’ll see. Maybe I’ve just begun another ritual I’ll have to eventually break.

Taking a Break for a Day

I've been consistently keeping a journal of everything I eat for the past 6 weeks. I make sure I'm not eating too much fat or cholesterol. I've been eating only whole grains and no trans fats. I've been diligently reading labels and buying only the things that fit within my guidelines.

Today I decided to give myself a break. That didn't mean I gobbled up deep fried foods, processed foods, white starches and trans fats. I made what I figured were good food choices. I just didn't write down anything I ate. The great thing about taking a break was that I realized I could enjoy what I was eating even when the food was "healthy".

I didn't look up all the foods I ate to see how much carbs, proteins, fats, fiber or cholesterol they had. I didn't worry if I had to have a white flour tortilla rather than whole wheat or corn because the restaurant only had white flour. I was just careful not to eat too much of the stuff on my "no" list.

I really didn't have a lot of choice. We went on a little trip today. We ate out for lunch and dinner. I didn't want to be overly picky about where we ate. I wanted someone else to get to eat where they wanted. Given what I've learned over the years about nutrition, I made the best food choices I could.

I just made a decision not to be anal about tracking it. I don't want to minutely track what I eat every day for the rest of my life. Once I reach my goals, I plan on using my own judgement to find the best foods at the right quantity.

Recording the nutritional information for every morsel that ends up in my mouth has been great for learning about quantities. I will continue to look up nutritional information and keep a food journal. Until I reach my goal, every once in a while, I'm going to have to take a day off to truly enjoy what I'm eating.

The Power of Home Cooking

I loved the smell of coffee long before I ever drank it. When I was very young, I remember the smell of coffee brewing in the percolator, the smell of bacon frying and the murmur of adult voices. At Grandma’s and Thanksgiving morning at home, I would wake up to those smells and sounds. To this day, the smell of coffee and bacon in the morning comforts me.

Although my mother wasn’t a great cook, we almost always ate at home. She made a few things that I now consider comfort foods, beef stew, creamed tuna on toast, and oven fried chicken. My grandmother taught me to make the same fried chicken that my mother used to make. When my grandmother came for a visit, she brought gumdrop cake and potatoes. Because my grandmother and grandfather came at Thanksgiving, it was our big holiday of the year. Maybe that is why home cooking is so important to me.

I no longer eat any of those foods, but I think about them on occasions when I’m in the kitchen cooking a meal from “scratch”. Some of my kid’s favorites are pesto, sausage, tomato and basil spaghetti sauce, pumpkin pie, blackberry pie and apple pie. I love that they have favorites. Maybe someday after they have moved away the smell of an apple pie cooling on the counter will bring them back to me, if only in their memories.