Carole Carson

Three Simple Steps Will Improve Your Sex Life

Do you and your spouse need to lose a few pounds? Improve your strength and endurance? Maybe tone your body?

If none of these questions trigger an irresistible impulse to eat differently and exercise, consider this question: would you like to spice up your sex life?

Getting fit together may be the answer. One of the top 10 reasons for a reduction in sex between partners is a dislike of one’s body. When this obstacle is removed, sexual interest and performance increase.

“Whatever your age, working out together can do wonders for your relationship and your body,” says Gayle Lossman, certified personal trainer with the South Yuba Club in Nevada City, California.

Here are three ideas couples can practice to become more FIT:

F: Find time for fun. Given the pressures of today’s economy, fun is the missing ingredient in many marriages. Lifting each other’s spirits through play reinforces your partnership and helps you remember why you married. Adopt an adventuresome spirit as you undertake your fitness makeover. Keep a joint journal. Record your progress and setbacks. Post pictures as the pounds start dropping off.

I: Integrate exercise into your daily routine. At the start of each month, schedule exercise play dates on your calendar. Make the appointments an inviolable part of your routine. Carving out a specific and recurring time for the two of you creates time together to look forward to. As you repeat the exercise activity, the experience becomes richer and more meaningful.

T: Tell your friends, neighbors and family about the fitness goals you and your spouse share. Take classes together. For example, sign up for a tennis clinic or play table tennis with neighbors each week. Enroll in a cooking class to learn how to enhance flavor and trim unneeded calories. If you’re trying to lose weight, attend weight-loss programs together.

As you move toward fitness, remember that a partner’s praise means more than praise from strangers. If your partner drops out, don’t give up. Continue your own regimen of eating carefully and exercising regularly. Partners influence each other—be patient while your partner decides to recommit to fitness. Remind your partner that better shape means better sex. And don’t forget that sex counts as exercise. You can burn about 200 calories in 30 minutes.

Setting aside time to play and get fit together improves the odds you’ll stay together—and live healthfully and happily ever after.

"Sex is not the answer. Sex is the question. "Yes" is the answer.                         Swami X

An Apple a Day: Food for Thought

If you read the latest reports on the health benefits of eating apples, you’ll find that apples are credited with the following:

• Reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease

• Reducing the risk of heart disease, diabetes and stroke

• Boosting the immune system

• Reducing the risk of breast, colon, prostate and lung cancer

• Preventing tooth decay

• Aiding hair growth

• Protecting skin against the sun

• Preventing menopausal bone loss

• Improving symptoms for sufferers of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)

• Stabilizing blood sugar

• Aiding in the prevention of kidney stones

• Aiding weight loss

The list is impressive, and it will likely grow as more research is conducted. Evidently, the 1900s adage “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” is solid advice.

Apples are indeed a nutritional superfood. An average apple has only about 80 calories, yet it contains potassium, folic acid, vitamin C and 3.7 grams of fiber. Apples also contain trace amounts of B vitamins, iron, magnesium and more. The skin and the portion of apple just under the skin contain most of the nutrients. Consequently, eating unpeeled apples provides the greatest nutritional benefit; however, unpeeled apples need to be washed thoroughly to make sure they are free of toxic pesticides.

Apples didn’t start out with a good reputation. Remember the role of the tempting apple in the biblical story of Adam and Eve? And what about the wicked witch who poisoned the beautiful red apple she gave to innocent Snow White?

Johnny Appleseed (whose real name was John Chapman) was untroubled by the apple’s questionable reputation. Legend has it that in the 1800s Johnny walked thousands of miles throughout the Midwest and planted apple trees wherever he went. In fact, he was a nurseryman who planted orchards for local farmers before continuing his journey and planting more apple trees.

Johnny Appleseed must have done his job well because the variety of apples today seems almost countless. Over 300 varieties are identified by www.allaboutapples.com.

With all their nutritional benefits, apples shouldn’t be limited to the role of occasional afternoon snack. With a little imagination, we can spruce up any menu with apples. Add a chopped apple to your favorite green salad. Doesn’t a steaming bowl of beet and apple soup sound good? Top off your meal with slices of apple and cheese or serve an easy-to-make, delicious apple crisp dessert. And the next time you bake a cake or a batch of muffins, remember to substitute applesauce in equivalent amounts for oil or shortening. The applesauce enhances the flavor, and your baked goods won’t dry out.

One of my fondest childhood memories is that of sitting in an apple tree with my oldest sister in the front yard on our Iowa farm. We would spend lazy afternoons talking about life as we ate apple after apple. As much as I loved apples then, my appreciation of them rose exponentially since I reviewed the latest research on the considerable health benefits that apples provide. I’d write more, but I need to take a break—I’m hungry for an apple.

"We are born believing. A man bears beliefs, as a tree bears apples."                    Ralph Waldo Emerson

One-Step Holiday Eating Plan: Let Your Fork Do the Heavy Lifting

If you’re committed to hosting or attending parties during the holidays, you will face a never-ending array of tempting food choices. If you’re not careful, the pounds you add are likely to become lifelong companions.

 

Some of us are very strict about our diets. We bring our own food in a plastic container and eat it while others enjoy the holiday fare. Others of us are perhaps a little too self-indulgent, denying ourselves nothing.

 

Here’s one simple step you can take at parties that will help you minimize your caloric intake:

 

Eat nothing except what you can put on a fork.

 

In other words, eat foods only where you can sit down and use utensils, including your fork.

 

The calories in those bite-size nibbles and finger foods you eat unconsciously while standing and talking with friends and acquaintances quickly add up. You can easily consume 600–800 calories solely from appetizers. The same holds true when you are preparing food for your own party. The little nibbles you take to “test” your appetizers count, as far as your body is concerned.

 

By limiting yourself to food eaten with a fork, you can minimize the accumulation of unwanted pounds during the holidays. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful weigh to start the New Year?

"Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence."                             Erma Bombeck

Nothing Comes between Me and My Slogan

Most days I find a way to sail through the temptations that would steer me away from my commitment to a healthy lifestyle. Other days—and I can never predict when they will occur—I am challenged to stay on course.

When the sweet siren song of seductive indulgence calls my name and my fitness plans are in danger of being shipwrecked, I need a reminder to help me navigate through the shoals. But what kind of reminder?

I needed an internal marketing plan. My first step was to order a personalized “Fat2Fit” license plate for my car. I knew that I could not drive a car with this message on the plate if I didn’t look fit. (Incidentally, I ordered the license plate a year before my book From Fat to Fit: Turn Yourself into a Weapon of Mass Reduction was written and three years before it was published.)

My next idea was to find a meaningful mantra or slogan. Why did I need one? For the same reason advertisers spend millions to develop slogans—because they stick in our heads. If you’re old enough, you may remember Brylcreem’s slogan “A Little Dab’ll Do Ya,” the U.S. Forest Service’s slogan “Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires” or Wendy’s slogan “Where’s the Beef?” Why not, I asked myself, harness the power of a slogan to create awareness of my commitment to a healthy lifestyle? And if the slogan lost its impact over time, I could adopt a new one.

Searching the Internet, I found a Web site that allows visitors to insert key words into well-known commercial slogans. I inserted the words body, fit, fitness and health. Here are a few of the generated slogans:

Make room in your life for your body.

All you need is a body and a dream.

Body is Job #1.

I’d walk a mile for a body.

A body is forever.

A body is a terrible thing to waste.

No size fits all.

Better living through fitness.

Because so much is riding on your health.

My body. My way.

I had so much fun playing with the slogan generator that I had to stop myself when the list approached 50. After all, how many slogans could I use?

I hope you’ll adopt one of these slogans or, better yet, create one of your own. Be sure to display the slogan where you will see it throughout the day—on the bathroom mirror, on the refrigerator door, in your wallet and on the dashboard of your car.

You can also have your slogan imprinted on a coffee cup or t-shirt—buy one for your friends and one for yourself. If you create your own slogan, be sure to send it to me so I can add it to the list. And please let me know if your internal marketing campaign steers you toward healthier choices.

I found it hard to pick my favorite slogan. Given my role as fitness advocate, I finally chose “Make Every Body Count."

"Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stearn resolve. He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind."                Leonardo DaVinci 

What’s Triggering Body Inflation?

The price of food throughout the world has risen at an unprecedented rate, according to a warning issued by United Nations. In 2007, the global food price index rose over 40 percent compared to 9 percent in 2006. Agency officials cite global warming, changes in farming practices, natural disasters, war and rising demand for food and fuel from growing populations as key factors.

In the United States, the price of fresh fruits and vegetables rose 74% between 1989 and 2005, and we can expect the cost to continue to rise given the damage to crops from flooding in the Midwest and a drought on the west coast. In terms of the dollar’s purchasing power, it takes $125 to buy the same goods today that $100 bought in 2000.

Given the rising cost of food, why are Americans—along with citizens of other countries—ballooning? Obesity is even becoming a problem in some parts of Africa as the pendulum for many now swings from under-nutrition to obesity without bothering to stop at normal weight. Is inflation contagious? Is it triggering inflation in body weight as well?

In an effort to address this question, a special health issue of Time magazine focused on supersized kids. The expanding problem (excuse the pun) of childhood obsesity is a concern for many but especially parents, grandparents, teachers and medical professionals.

Time’s eight lengthy, well-researched articles cover topics ranging from the economics of obesity (how limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables in inner cities and certain rural areas, referred to as food deserts, encourages calorie-laden diets) to genetic causes of obesity and medical solutins. Practical tips to help parents trim their oversized kids by helping them become more active is also included.

But is the problem of body inflation this complex? And is the solution more exercise?

Not according to biologist John Speakman at the University of Aberdeen in the U.K. He narrows it down to one simple cause: we eat too much. In a study reported in the June 4, 2008, issue of Science Now titled “The Couch Isn’t Making You Fat,” Dr. Speakman asserts that overeating rather than under-exercising is the root cause of obesity.

Dr. Speakman and a fellow biologist, Klaas Westerterp of Maastricht University in the Netherlands, studied data that measured the daily energy expenditure stretching over a twenty year period. Then they compared the data from the long term studies with results they obtained measuring the current energy expenditure of 366 individuals. Rather than rely on subjective reporting, the researchers measured the ratio of hydrogen and oxygen in the urine of subjects, a ratio that provides information on the rate of metabolism.

Their conclusion was both startling and controversial. The researchers found that the daily expenditure of energy for their subjects was about the same as it was for people measured twenty years ago. True, watching television has replaced listening to the radio, and surfing the Internet or playing video games has replaced reading books. But the effect of these changes does not significantly alter energy expenditure.

Even more impressive was their conclusion that the expenditure of energy was consistent over the entire twenty year period. Surprisingly, geography had little impact. That is, the expenditure of energy remained constant whether the data came from studies in developing or westernized countries.

His study confirms my own experience in losing over sixty pounds. How did I acquire the surplus pounds? I ate too much.

Here’s a typical day of eating before I lost weight.

Breakfast

1 fried egg 100

2 slices of bacon 80

2 slices whole wheat bread 200

2 cups of coffee with cream 90

1 8-ounce glass of orange juice 130

Total 600

Lunch

1 double cheeseburger 440

1 large order French fries 500

1 packet catsup 15

1 12-ounce McFlurry with M&Ms 620

Total 1,570

Snack

2 chocolate chip cookies 200

Dinner

2 slices cheddar cheese 210

4 whole wheat crackers 100

1 baked potato 90

2 heaping tablespoons sour cream 120

1 heaping tablespoon butter 100

1 breast of chicken 200

1 cup green salad 180

3 tablespoons salad dressing 100

1 cup green beans with butter 100

Total 1,200

Total for the day 3,570

Given my height of 5-feet 2-inches, even with an hour of exercise, my body burns around 1,500 calories a day. So what happened to the 2,080 surplus calories on my typical eating day? My body stored fat around my middle, hips and thighs.

Had I tried to burn the extra calories through exercise, I would have needed to walk 10 hours. As you can see, there weren’t enough hours in the day to burn off the surplus calories.

Although I’m not a math major, I figured out that except for the ultra-athlete engaged in intense, continuous training or the competitors on The Biggest Loser, exercise by itself would not be sufficient to lose weight. Consequently, my approach to losing weight involved eating less (reducing portion sizes) and eat differently (substituting lower-calorie foods for richer ones.

Don’t get me wrong. Exercise shapes and tones my body, lowers my blood pressure, improves my balance, sharpens my mind, strengthens my muscles and bones, reduces the risk of certain chronic diseases and lifts my spirit. Exercise also helps me sleep better, boosts my energy and burns a few incidental calories. Because exercise has these enormous benefits, I’m committed to daily exercise. At the same time, I’m realistic about the ongoing need to monitor the amount of calories I consume if I want to keep from packing on pounds.

What triggers body inflation? Genetics? Too much screen time? Or do we eat too much? Is it simply consumption inflation? If it is, can we accept such a straightforward answer? Or will we seek an answer that does not require us to alter our current way of life. And eating.

Like Brutus, will we continue to look for answers—not in ourselves—but in the stars?

"The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars but in ourselves..."                            Shakespeare

To Size Down, Wise Up—on Serving Sizes

Are you the kind of person who calculates each serving you eat? Do you weigh each ounce of nourishment on a food scale? Most of us aren’t that precise about our eating habits, and perhaps it is just as well. Food is meant not only to nourish our bodies but to be enjoyed.

Still, to manage your weight, you need to have an accurate idea of what constitutes a serving. If you don’t pay attention to the amount of food you eat, you can easily consume 20 to 30 percent more calories each day than you realize. One study, reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that the larger the meal, the greater the underestimation of the total calories consumed—sometimes by as much as 38 percent. Another study estimates 40 percent. These researchers found that the more people eat, the more they underestimate their caloric consumption.

Labeling of food products is helpful, but the federal government requires that the caloric content be within only 20 percent of the actual content. And although New York City’s Board of Health recently introduced regulations requiring restaurants to post the caloric content of the food served, it did not mandate any standards for accuracy. The restaurants are on the honor system.

Making it harder for us to judge serving sizes is the supersizing of portions over the past 20 years. Here are a few dramatic comparisons in calories resulting from the supersizing of portions:

1988 2008 Difference

Cheeseburger 330 590 260

Bagel 140 350 210

Turkey sandwich 320 820 500

French fries 210 610 400

Soft drink 85 250 165

In general, today’s food portions contain over three times as many calories as the portions served 20 ago. We’ve become so accustomed to oversized, calorie-packed versions of our favorite foods that ordinary-sized servings seem woefully skimpy and certainly no match for our appetites. Who, for example, eats the standard serving size— 1/2 cup or 1 scoop—of ice cream? Aren’t we more likely to have 2 or 3 scoops?

Distinguishing between a portion, the amount of food served, and a serving, the measure of caloric and nutritional content, is essential for weight management. If you are not mindful of this distinction, you will underestimate the total calories consumed even though you are diligent in keeping a food journal.

The following list of common foods, along with a few tips, will help you gain perspective on what constitutes one serving:

1 slice bread

1/2 cup cooked grain, such as rice, oatmeal or pasta (about the size of a cupcake wrapper)

3/4 cup cereal

1 medium potato

1/2 cup cooked vegetables (about the size of one tennis ball)

1 cup raw leafy vegetable, such as lettuce

1/2 banana

1 cup melon or fresh berries

3/4 cup fruit juice

1/4 cup dried fruit

1 ounce meat, poultry or fish (3 ounces equals a deck of cards)

1 ounce cheese (equals about 4 dice)

1 egg

1/2 cup beans or tofu

1/3 cup nuts

2 tablespoons nut butter, such as peanut butter

1 cup milk

1/2 cup cottage cheese

2 teaspoons oil, butter, margarine or mayonnaise

2 tablespoons regular salad dressing

4 tablespoons reduced-fat dressing

Until you are familiar with serving sizes of various foods, it’s helpful to use a measuring cup, tablespoon or teaspoon to measure food. This exercise will help you gauge a normal serving size until the serving size looks familiar to you.

Knowing how many calories your body requires and keeping track of your food intake are good foundations for weight management. Accuracy in gauging serving sizes, however, is just as critical. If the numbers on the scale aren’t moving in the right direction, keep this handy guide in your kitchen so that you can quickly identify your serving sizes and make corrections.

"The greatest gift that you can give yourself is a little bit of your own attention."                         Anthony J. D'Angelo

Three Tips for Creating Family Meals, Memories and Ties That Bind

However satisfying the activities, busy schedules wreck havoc on family mealtime. To accommodate hectic lifestyles, the average family spends $2,000 each year on outside dining. Unless you are vigilant, family meals can easily disappear from your routine. August is designated National Family Meal Month to remind families to break bread together each day.

Multiple studies confirm that families who eat together enjoy better physical and mental health. In his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families, Stephen Covey affirms the importance of eating together. I wrote about how this daily ritual benefits children nutritionally, emotionally and academically in an article titled “Three Tips for Creating Family Meals, Memories and Ties That Bind” that appeared on www.gotogabby.com on August 19, 2008. Go here for the full article.

Time to shop, prepare and clean up after meals is a scarce commodity, particularly when school starts. Yet creative planning for nightly suppers can trim the family budget and enrich family ties. Here are three tips (FIT) to bring back family meals:

F: Fill your freezer with cooked-ahead meals and fill your cupboard with ready-made sauces or marinades. Double your entrée recipes so you have a freezer full of meals ready to serve with a minimum of effort. Take advantage of prepared, nutritious foods at the supermarket, such as roasted chicken or cooked prawns. Adding a baked potato or brown rice, green beans and a salad completes the meal.

I: Involve everyone in meal preparation. Let children help decide the menu, set the table, prepare the food and clean up. Let small children become tasters. Older kids can follow recipes and become chef for the evening. Invest in a slow cooker and a bread maker. Slow cooking allows you to use less expensive cuts of meat, and a bread maker will give your family wholesome bread for pennies. Swap recipes with neighbors and friends.

T: Take time to share the day’s events as you sit around the table. Make eating together each night a treasured family tradition. Turn off the television and connect with each other through a dynamic exchange of ideas and feelings. Take advantage of teachable moments to share your values and insights with your children. Begin each meal with a moment of appreciation—for the food, for family and for the cook’s efforts. Teach manners by saying please and thank you, passing serving bowls and waiting until everyone is seated to begin eating.

The family that eats together stays together. When we share a centuries-old tradition of breaking bread together, we nourish not only our bodies but our minds and spirits as well. Establishing a nightly ritual of sharing stories about the day’s events creates priceless memories and a valuable sense of belonging. Aren’t these benefits worth making time for?

"Let us make one point, that we meet each other with a smile, when it is difficult to smile. Smile at each other, make time for each other in your family."                Mother Teresa

Back-to-School Tips to Trim Your Budget While Splurging on Fitness

Saving money is a high priority for many parents now that the school year is beginning. The worst food inflation in nearly two decades is placing a strain on family budgets.

The supersizing of prices at the grocery store and at the gas pump is matched by the supersizing of our bodies and weight. In the United States, two-thirds of adults and one-third of children are overweight or obese—a condition that alarms medical experts. And like food prices, the numbers are rising.

Families are forced to trim their expenses back to the basics. But when it comes to getting good grades, keeping our offspring physically fit isn’t a luxury. Fitness and academic achievement go hand in hand.

Today’s assignment for parents is to promote health and fitness and stay within the family budget. I wrote about this topic in an article titled “3 Back-to-School Tips to Trim Your Budget While Splurging on Fitness” that appeared on Gabby Reece’s Web site on August 13, 2008. Go here for the full article.

Although you may need to trim your budget during these uncertain times, you can confidently splurge on your efforts to promote family fitness. The reward will be seeing good grades on your children’s report cards today and watching your children develop into healthy, active and productive adults tomorrow.

"He who will not economize will have to agonize."                   Confucius

How to Age Disgracefully

The phone rang shortly after 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning, and the news was brief. Kay Cossette, a 94-year-old friend, had died in her sleep during the night.

Kay had suffered a stroke four years earlier, so the news was not unexpected. Yet I was surprisingly unsettled by the finality of her death. I spent the next few hours recalling hilarious times we had spent together and the enormous impact Kay had on my life.

I met Kay shortly after I moved to Alameda, California in the early ‘80s. She and I attended Twin Towers United Methodist Church, and when the pastor called for volunteers to host Sunday’s coffee hour, Kay and I responded. We teamed up for what would be the first of many delightful activities.

At the time, Kay was in her late seventies and was 30 or more years my senior. But in terms of outlook, Kay was easily 30 years my junior. Her first unsolicited observation about my life was that it was all work and no play. As a single parent of two, I had neglected my own needs and forgotten how to play.

When Kay learned that my closest relatives were 2,000 miles away, she adopted me. Making me over became her personal rehab project. Kay invited me to join a monthly bridge group, attend Oakland A’s baseball games (where, to our delight, we were regularly carded when we bought hot dogs and beers), experiment with golf and play tennis, my current passion. When I was bedridden following surgery, Kay brought me chicken soup. To while away the hours during my recovery, she climbed onto my bed, where we played her favorite card games, cribbage and Skip-bo.

I thanked Kay for bringing me back to life by taking her to dinner at the fanciest restaurant I could find—one in Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco overlooking the Bay on her 75^th birthday. Her birthday present was a 4-foot white stuffed gorilla that I crammed into an oversized black garbage bag topped off with a big yellow bow.

Surrounded by gleaming chandeliers, white linen, muted music, an impressive assortment of wine glasses and silverware and an attentive waiter, Kay opened her present. Kay immediately named the gorilla Alice, tied the yellow bow around Alice’s neck and seated her at our table. When the waiter took our order, Kay insisted Alice order first.

We shared conversation, food and drink with Alice that night, much to the amusement of neighboring patrons and the staff. We had too much fun with Alice to care about the odd looks we received. From that point on, Alice occupied a prominent seat in the middle of the sofa in Kay’s living room.

Until her stroke at age 90, Kay swam for an hour each day in her backyard pool, whatever the weather. She also captained her bowling team and loved to hike. Kay was active in community affairs and constantly took people, like me, under her wing. I’m certain that many of her adoptees attended her memorial service because they loved her as I did. But no matter how many people Kay befriended, she made each of us feel special.

I’m grateful for teachers, mentors and role models like Kay who make a powerful difference in the lives of everyone they meet. Kay helped me recover my sense of play, and her unconventional style confirmed my suspicion that we can be dynamic, involved, engaged and constructively influential, whatever our age. Our bodies may get older, but we can stay forever young at heart.

I miss Kay’s raucous laughter and treasure the memories of times we spent together. Most of all, though, I feel honored by Kay’s presence in my life. Kay taught me a great deal and presciently prepared me for a role I had no idea I would play in the future—fitness advocate. Standing on her shoulders, I’ll seek to repay Kay by making a difference in the lives of those around me. And like Kay, I intend to age disgracefully by having one heck of a good time.

"Teachers open the door. You enter by yourself."              Chinese Proverb

What’s Triggering Body Inflation?

Food prices throughout the world have risen at an unprecedented rate, according to a warning issued by the United Nations. Given the rising cost of food, why are Americans—along with citizens of other countries—ballooning?

In an article titled “What’s Triggering Body Inflation?” that appeared on basilandspice.com on July 24, 2008, I asked this question because I wondered if we had overcomplicated the matter. (Go here for the full article.) I cited research conducted in Europe that suggested people were gaining weight simply because they ate too much.

Researchers confirmed my own experience. How did I acquire 62 surplus pounds? I ate too much. How did I lose weight? I consumed fewer calories by eating differently.

What triggers body inflation? Genetics? Watching too much television? Perhaps the answer is simply consumption inflation. If it is, can we accept such a straightforward answer? Or will we seek an answer that does not require us to alter our current way of life—and eating?

Like Brutus, will we continue to look for answers not in ourselves but in the stars?

"The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves."                         William Shakespeare