Day 85 - "A Diet Manifesto, Drop the Apple and Walk Away"

In an article found in the New York Times, the debate rages on for how to best diet or eat in order to obtain weight loss and good health. As writer Abigail Zuger puts it "in one corner this month we find the chief executive of Weight Watchers" whose program allows fruit to be freely eaten, and "in the opposite corner we have Gary Taubes, the science journalist" who argues that "the overweight should just put down their apples and walk away", saying that fruit will make the problem worse and not better for those predisposed to fat.

While Taubes is not trying to sell you anything, other than his book "Why We Get Fat: And What To Do About It" of course, the book is still a manifesto. The book itself, as Taubes admits, is actually more of a cliff-notes version of his longer book "Good Calories, Bad Calories", meant to get a broader audience and make a larger impact. According to Zuger, "Taubes proceeds to stand the received wisdom about diet and exercise on its head in a particularly intriguing and readable synthesis."

According to Taubes, "Eating in moderation and being physically active (literally, having the energy to exercise) are not evidence of moral rectitude. Rather, they're the metabolic benefits of a body that's programmed to remain lean." Meanwhile, "those who get fat do so because of the way their fat happens to be regulated. A conspicuous consequence of this regulation is to cause the eating behavior (gluttony) and the physical inactivity (sloth) that we so readily assume are the actual causes." And really the only hormone we can voluntarily control is insulin. Taubes then continues his book in arguing that the regulation of carbohydrates and insulin are the primary causes of fat gain.

Zuger, however, argues that the various shapes and sizes of the human organism are to clearly driven "by such a vast array of different appetites and genetic cues" makes it "foolish to expect a single diet to serve all corners."

Exercise: Starting on today and going until whenever, I am starting a new workout routine with some of my co-workers. We do an hour swim workout and then an hour long yoga class. Unfortunately, today we got started a little late and only had time for the swim workout. But here is today's swim workout routine:

200 warm up

2 x set of three 50s descending (first=easy, second=medium, final=hard)

Complete the following set two times:

200 freestyle

3x100 I.M.

4 x set of three 50s descending

100 cool down

TOTAL: 2800 meters

Eat: Continuing in fruit benefits, four more fruits with huge benefits are figs, grapes, kiwis, and mangos. Figs are full of fiber, iron, calcium, and potassium. Grapes have vitamin C, manganese, and vitamin K in them. Grapes also have disease fighting polyphenols in them - the higher the count, the deeper red or purple the color. Kiwis contain vitamin C, vitamin K, fiber, and potassium. Finally, Mangos have vitamin C, vitamin A, and beta-carotene.

Relax: After my workout today, I headed over to my favorite mall to participate in a girls shopping day with my mom, sister, aunt, and cousin. We had a fun time shopping for spring/summer clothes and eating at our all time favorite restaurant: Red Robin!