Why I Started Biking to Work

Another hotel bathroom, but this one had good air circulation which meant that mirror didn’t fog up. When I pulled back the shower curtain I got a shock—that naked dripping guy looking back at me was getting old, bald, and really, really fat. Something had to be done. But…

Old – nothing I can do about that.

Bald – Comb-over? Toupe? Nothing I can do about that (and keep my dignity, anyway).

Fat – I can do something about that…if I have to…I guess.

What to do? I hate to exercise, and I don’t have time for it anyway. When I looked out the bus window a few days later, I saw a guy riding a bike and thought, “I have one of those.” I mulled it over for a few weeks, then the end of the month arrived: it was time to buy a new bus pass and the price was going up to $50. My old mountain bike was collecting dust. It was time to act.

I went to the thrift store and picked up a used backpack, put my bus pass with one day left on it in my pocket (just in case), headed off to work…and survived.

Things have changed over the years: the backpack was replaced by a sweet garment bag, the beat-up mountain bike is now a dedicated commuting machine, the office moved to a new building four miles further away, bus passes are now $72, and I am fifty pounds lighter.

I’ve learned to question assumptions about what it means to get to work: I used think my commute was just a requirement of life, now it is a valuable part of my day. I’ve also learned that I can even do something about old and bald.

• Old–I look and feel younger (studies show that those who get regular exercise have a body age lower than those who don’t).
• Bald–your hairline doesn’t matter when you are wearing a bike helmet.

One more thing: hotel mirrors don’t scare me anymore.

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Is it Possible to Bulk Up On a Vegan Diet?

by JJ Muenz

If you’ve ever thought about how to build muscle on a plant-based diet, you’ve come to the right place.

Some people picture vegans as willowy and lean, but vegans come in all shapes and sizes. Whether your goals are to lean out, run faster, or put on muscle, it can be done on a vegan diet.

Why Switch to a Vegan Diet?

People come to vegan diets for numerous reasons. I tried a vegan diet for four years, but had no idea how to do it the right way.

I failed miserably, eating inflammatory foods and enough carbs to cause a 20-pound weight gain. If I had researched or talked to healthy vegans who knew how to cook, my experience with veganism would’ve been quite different.

Don’t turn into the chips and salsa, corn tortilla, and black bean burrito vegan eater that I was, and take the advice from star athlete Pat Reeves.

Vegan power lifter Pat Reeves, who has followed a plant-based diet for more than forty-four years, originally started her vegan diet to fight cancer, but continues because of her high levels of energy. Four years ago, at age 66, she became the oldest competing weightlifter in Europe. And just last year, she broke her own deadlift record.

Pat Reeves’ Daily Vegan Meals

Here’s a quick look at Pat’s daily meals, via veganbodybuilding.org:

Breakfast: Sprouted groats, plus fruit, homemade soy/almond yoghurt, sometimes dehydrated into ‘biscuits’ and topped with fresh fruit and seeds

Midmorning: Nut/seed milk, fruit

Lunch: – At least 8 types of sprouted greens, plus tofu (I make this and yoghurt and this is basically my only cooked food), or sprouted pulses, plus a dressing,

Mid-afternoon: Vegetable pate with crudities, a sprouted grain and fruit,

Evening meal: Similar to lunch, perhaps a raw warmed-through soup, but I will use different vegetables, grains etc.

Other vegan athletes say to eat these foods in abundance when trying to bulk: black lentils, beans, nuts, protein shakes with at least 40 grams of vegan protein, coconut oil, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, brown rice, broccoli, high fat almond milk, asparagus, tomatoes and olive oil.

So if you are looking to bulk up and lean out, incorporate these foods into your diet. As you probably know, every body is different, so it will take some trials to see what food works best for your unique body.

You could do well on sprouted foods, or a bag of trail mix filled with nuts, sunflower seeds and goji berries or maybe high fat almond milk is the ticket to your prime-bulking venture.

Either way, diet is a part of the equation, but fitness must be incorporated to make your vegan bulking a success.

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Thailand scrapping squat loos for sit downs due to alarming number of arthritis cases

Just over 85% of households and public facilities use ankle-high Nile pans, but these are being blamed as a cause of osteoarthritis of the knee

Thai people were relieved yesterday... to hear the country is scrapping its squat loos.

The Public Health Ministry revealed it will remove 90% of their bog-standard toilets by 2016 and replace them with sit-downs.

The poop-ular move comes due to an alarming number of people suffering from squat-related arthritis.

Just over 85% of households and public facilities use ankle-high Nile pans.

But these are being blamed as a cause of osteoarthritis of the knee.

Deputy Minister, Cholanan Srikaew, revealed that six million natives – and some expats – have the ­condition.

It is also hoped new facilities will improve tourism, which earns 7% of Thailand’s gross domestic product.

A source said: “Prolonged periods of squatting have been found to cause arthritis. It is hoped the new toilets will save a few more knees and boost tourism.”

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3 Mindful Things To Do Before You Fall Asleep

You can't force a better night's sleep—but it does help to try something new.

By Elisha Goldstein

Do you find it difficult to get a decent night’s rest? Do you spend a good deal of the night tossing and turning? Then you might be among the ranks of the 30% of adults in the United States who are regularly sleep deprived, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Fortunately, there’s a few key habits that can help you turn over a new leaf—or in this instance, a new pillowcase. As Jason Ong, a sleep psychologist at Rush University Medical Center reminds us: “Each night is a new night. Be open and try something different! What you have been doing to this point is probably not working well.”

Try these three mindful tips for a better night’s sleep and see what you notice:

Before you go to bed:

1. Say goodnight to your devices: The first thing we need to pay attention to is getting our screens out of the room. If you have your phone or a tablet lighting up your bedside table, it’s going to disturb your sleeping patterns. It’s best if it’s not in your room at all. It’s creating activity in your mind that you have to pay attention to.

2. Don’t force it: We have to stop trying to fall asleep. Our brains are too smart for that. The moment we’re trying to do something, we’re creating stress on top of it. So we don’t want to try and fall asleep. See if you can let go of the notion of trying to fall asleep at all.

3. Try a body scan meditation: Bring mindfulness into the sleep experience. You can do a gentle body scan practice where you’re being curious about just noticing sensations in your body and your breathing. When your attention wanders or becomes frustrated, see if you can just take note of that and gently come back to being with what’s here. When we allow ourselves to be with what’s here, the body naturally goes to rest, which is what it wants to do.

     

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Office cake culture is 'danger to health'

Having cake at work to celebrate colleagues' birthdays, engagements or just surviving the week is a danger to health, a senior dentist argues.

By James Gallagher

Health editor, BBC News website

Image: Thinkstock

Prof Nigel Hunt, from the Faculty of Dental Surgery, at the Royal College of Surgeons, says "cake culture" is fuelling obesity and dental problems.

At the organisation's annual dinner for dentists, he will say workplace temptation stops people losing weight.

And staff should be rewarded with fruit, nuts or cheese instead.

Sugar rush

In the speech, he will say: "Managers want to reward staff for their efforts, colleagues want to celebrate special occasions, and workers want to bring back a gift from their holidays.

"But for many people the workplace is now the primary site of their sugar intake and is contributing to the current obesity epidemic and poor oral health."

He will say nearly 65,000 adults every year need hospital treatment for tooth decay.

Prof Hunt will say: "Cake culture also poses difficulties for those who are trying their hardest to lose weight or become healthier - how many of us have begun such diets only to cave in to the temptation of the doughnuts, cookies or the triple chocolate biscuits?"

Fruit platter

While he does not believe office cake should be banned, he will say it should be purchased in smaller quantities and consumed only with lunch.

Dentists recommend cutting down on sugary or starchy foods between meals as they give bacteria fuel to produce acids that decay teeth.

At the dinner, which is being rounded off with mint panna cotta, British strawberries and chocolate soil, Prof Hunt will say: "Ideally office workers should consider other alternatives altogether like fruit platters, nuts, or cheese.

"Responsible employers should take a lead and avoid such snacks in meetings."

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Exercising After a Task Improves Memory

Here's another reason to hit the gym

by Alexandra Sifferlin

Working out might keep the brain sharp, and according to a new study, exercising four hours after learning a task can improve memory.

In the new report, published Thursday in the journal Current Biology, researchers found that exercising four hours after a memory task increased brain patterns associated with memory, and helped people retain information better than people who exercised immediately after or people who did not work out.

Seventy two people partook in a picture-location memory task for about 40 minutes. Then, the people were either randomly assigned to 35 minutes of exercise right away, exercise four hours later, or no exercise at all. Two days later, the people came back to see how well they remembered what they had learned, and their brains were scanned. The people who exercised hours later had better recall and stronger and more clear activation in the areas of their brain associated with memory retrieval.

“There is good evidence from animal data that the release of certain neurotransmitters—dopamine and norepinephrine—leads to a biochemical cascade leading to the production of so called plasticity related proteins,” says study author Guillén Fernández, director of the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour at Radboud University Medical Center in an email to TIME. “These proteins help stabilize new memory traces, which would otherwise be lost. Physical exercise is at the start of this sequence, because it is accompanied by the release of dopamine and norepinephrine.”

The idea that regular exercise has an impact on brain health, including memory, has been reported in many studies and Fernández says the new report adds to the evidence by showing a single session of exercise can aid in memory retention.

The number of people in the study is small, so it’s hard to say whether people should start pacing workouts exactly four hours after learning something important. Still, the study authors argue that their study is a proof of principal that exercise should be considered as a strategy for long-term memory.

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People ignore healthy options despite experience from loved ones, study shows

UK adults are not taking steps to reduce the chances of developing illnesses, even someone they know has experienced a serious condition, according to research released today by Royal London.

21 JUNE 2016 | CINTIA CHEONG

Heart disease is the least-ignored condition, with 55% of people taking steps to avoid it.

The life insurer believes this is because they don’t know what to do or don’t believe there is anything they can do.

Based on a survey of 2,093 UK adults, almost nine in 10 (85%) know someone who has been diagnosed with cancer, heart disease, diabetes, dementia, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis or a stroke.

However, 70% have not taken action to reduce the chances of developing dementia or Alzheimer’s. More than half (58%) has not done so to avoid suffering a stroke.

This is followed by cancer (56%) and diabetes (56%). Meanwhile, more than two fifths (42%) have not taken steps against heart disease.

Commenting on this, Trisha Macnair, community doctor at Milford Hospital and Royal Surrey County Hospital, argues “there is so much” that people can do to stay healthy and help prevent serious conditions.

“They may have a vague idea of a few things they should be addressing, but even if they witness a loved-one battling with illness, this is often still not enough to motivate them to protect themselves,” she said.

Macnair is also calling on more action from policymakers and health authorities to encourage people to improve their health, such as facilitating gym access with funding or raising tax on alcohol to reduce consumption.

Dementia and Alzheimer’s are the illnesses where respondents are least confident of knowing how to reduce their risks of developing, with 59% stating they don’t know how to or don’t think there is anything they can do.

Cancer is the second biggest condition where 51% of people demonstrated limited confidence, followed by stroke (44%), heart disease (25%) and diabetes (25%).

Debbie Kennedy, head of protection for Royal London Intermediary, said the findings showed a link between people taking action against developing illnesses and the instances of these falling, “making a strong case for the nation to start taking some simple steps to lead a healthier lifestyle”.

Heart disease is the least-ignored condition, with 55% of respondents having taken steps to avoid it and only 11% saying they do not know how to do so.

Royal London added deaths caused by disease of the circulatory system in the UK were down 4.1% from 2012 to 2014, according to the British Heart Foundation.

The research also found that as people get older, they are more likely to have taken preventative measures.

Those aged 55 and over are the most likely to have taken steps to reduce their chances of developing them, while people aged 25-34 and 35-44 are the least likely to do so.

Macnair said younger people tend to push health to the back of their mind because they had “other more exciting things to focus on”.

“Younger people especially tend to feel invincible and don't want to dwell on health issues or imagine they might one day develop a chronic illness,” she said.

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