More Photoshop Phun
If you liked this month’s rant, check out this Photoshop transformation.
Yooo are soooo beautiful… to meeeee!
Blood pressure in younguns
From Statistics Canada:
Data from the 2007 to 2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS) found that mean systolic blood pressure was significantly higher among boys aged 12 to 19 and girls aged 6 to 11 who were overweight or obese. Mean diastolic blood pressure was significantly higher only among obese boys aged 12 to 19.
Excess weight is believed to influence blood pressure through increased sympathetic nervous system activation, which is associated with systolic blood pressure.
Elevated blood pressure is one of the most important causes of death and disability worldwide, accounting for 7.6 million premature deaths and 92 million disability-adjusted life years annually. Children who have higher blood pressure tend to stay at higher blood pressure levels when they reach adulthood. Hence, high blood pressure in youth may be a risk factor for the development of hypertension in adulthood. This persistence of high blood pressure from younger to older ages is more apparent among overweight and obese youth.
I don’t suck!!
Hooray! Stumptuous.com got a great shout-out in 3 Fitness Blogs for Women that Don’t Suck.
The rest of Grit & Glimmer is totally worth the read, too. It’s smart, interesting, well-written, and purdy. I cracked up to discover that the “Food” section includes both “Nutrition” and “Booze”.
C’mon… check it out… what have you got to lose besides your meaningless workday anyway?
Rant 57 May 2010: What’s Eating You?
Once upon a time there was a magical land. The inhabitants of this land were lean and sculpted. These divine citizens wore hot pants Rollerblading and tiny swimsuits to do their laundry, and lo, it was good. There was only one problem with this magical land.
It was complete. And utter. BULLSHIT.
Everything you need to know about fitness modeling… which is enough to turn me off it
First of all, fitness models are no slouches. It requires years of difficult training and months of rigid, restrictive dieting even to make it on an amateur stage — never mind a professional one. It’s a hard road, so much respect to the women who do it.
However, it’s hard to argue that as a practice, fitness modeling really highlights athleticism — i.e. the performance of tasks. This video kind of sums it all up for me.
Physique competition is better understood as a body modification subculture, not a sport, nor — this is key — a role model for most women’s fitness. Ironic, of course, since “model of fitness” would be implied by the job title. Also ironic that women competing as fitness models do have an all-round athleticism — strength, flexibility, fluidity of movement, work capacity — that would be a great thing to emulate. However, sadly, the athleticism of these women is generally overlooked in favour of the fitness-industrial complex chewing them up into supplement hawkers and spitting them out as metabolically damaged (as Scott Abel has extensively critiqued).
I maintain that a wicked “fitness model” competition would dump the eeny-weeny bikinis, makeup, and Lucite heels, and get the ladies running some bitchin’ obstacle courses!
Today’s crock of crap: Becel Vegan
Wow! Becel has an all-vegan, kosher formula! Omega-3s! That must be good for me!
Oh wait… canola & sunflower oils 74%, water 19%, modified palm & palm kernel oils 6%, salt 0.4%, soy lecithin 0.2%, vegetables monoglycerides 0.2%, potassium sorbate 0.1%, citric acid, alpha-tocopherol acetate (vitamin E), natural & artificial flavours, vitamin A palmitate (vitamin A), vitamin D2, beta carotene… and you had to make that all into a shelf-stable (‘How long can you store Becel Vegan? Several months (refrigerated)”), solid, pleasingly golden-coloured product?
Why am I eating this again?
Next up: Vegan Candy.
Read your labels. “Vegan” is not a magic talisman of health promotion. Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease. And remember, the more a food trumpets how “healthy” it is — the more likely it actually isn’t.
Spezzatino Vol 9, and looking for writers
Gentle food loving peeps: I’ve just published another issue of my baby, Spezzatino! This one is all about garlic. Check it out!
Spezzatino supports the Healthy Food Bank foundation, a charity devoted to raising money to buy healthy food for food banks. Spezzatino is the food magazine that really feeds people… one ingredient at a time.
If you’re food-minded and literate, I’m always looking for talented volunteer writers. Drop me an email at krista [at] healthyfoodbank [dot] com and pitch me some ideas. I’ll entertain any and all suggestions, no matter how weird (in fact, the weirder the better). Health, science, culture, politics, art & literature — whatever ya got.
The only rule is that the ideas have to match the themes. Upcoming issues:
Rice
Squash
Citrus
Mushrooms
In return we’re happy to feature and promote your work, whether it’s a blog, book, or business. Hit me, guys!
OMGBFFA beats ass – the movie
If you’ve been following my rants and the occasional blog post you’ll know that OMGBFFA and I started grappling together a few years ago. She’s way better than me, and continues to kick serious ass — she represented Canada at the international grappling championships with barely two years of training under her now-purple belt. She’s just produced a highlight video that shows some of her best moments. She’s hoping the video will help to get her some athletic sponsorship, and part of this will be based on the vid’s popularity.
So go and check it out! There are some sweet armbars in it!
Why is running making me fat?
Most people overestimate how many calories they’ve burned during exercise, so they overindulge at the dinner table and pack on the pounds.
Full story in the Globe and Mail
The article fails to mention that certain types of activity — particularly endurance cardio — can upregulate appetite, making you hungrier. Yet many folks do this to lose fat. Irony!