Running: A Fever

http://RunningAFEVER Here's a look back at the best of our first 100 podcast episodes, including some funning, scary, rainy, sad, inspiring, depressing, and hopeful moments. I hope you enjoy it. I also look forward to some changes: More studio episodes. A focus on nutrition and body composition. Investigation into some other longevity topics. More about how to love your life. And hopefully, more from you! Let me know what you'd like to hear in future episodes. Email me anytime at mail@RunningAFEVER.com. Recorded in 2018. 2018 Goals: (1) Run 10.5 miles in one day by 11/18/18 (2) Lose 100lbs by 12/25/18 2019 Goal: 15% Body Fat

http://RunningAFEVER I got lost taking a very long walk (see stats below) today. And I'm wondering about a recent experience I had. I attended my first demolition derby! What happened surprised me. MY reaction surprised me. When the action started and the wrecks began, I laughed. Why? I think we need to laugh at things that make us uncomfortable, things that cause us stress. Laughter is the best medicine for stress. Recorded October 13, 2018. Weight (change since Jan 2018): 201 (-73) Workout time: 182 Minutes Total Distance (total since Nov 2017): 8.97 Miles (178.9) Steps: 20,125 Muscle Mass (change since Aug 2018): 139 (+0) Body Fat: 27.2% 2018 Goals: (1) Run 10.5 miles in one day by 11/18/18 (2) Lose 100lbs by 12/25/18 2019 Goal: 15% Body Fat

http://RunningAFEVER.com After a year of preparation, thinking and talking about it, biometrics day is finally here. I take a drive to the main corporate office to join the rest of my fellow employees in getting stuck, swabbed, weighed and measured to see if we can get a break on health insurance in the coming year. I go in a bit concerned about my blood pressure, which is still marginal, though I did a test under similar conditions a couple of weeks ago and the measurement was in the acceptable range. The "conditions" include the recommended preparation: fast for 12 hours with nothing but coffee or water, refrain from exercise for 48 hours. Exercise raises the blood pressure temporarily. So I have done that today. The procedure is a little more complex than I expected. I did not know I would be tested for tobacco. This involves swabbing the mouth with a sponge-tipped plastic stick until the sponge is soft, which takes a while. It is then inserted into a cap and a result is provided immediately. I pass. I rem

http://RunningAFEVER.com This is the first episode that I have recorded on a hike. This relatively new Arkansas state park not only offers a number of trails of various lengths, but has a visitor's center in which one can view various animal skins and try to match the fur with the name of the type of animal from which it came. Progress on my weight loss continues very slowly, and I continue to learn about how to diet. I have always known that I can go into a caloric deficit that is too low, and I have just learned that a good number to base that floor on is the Basal Metabolic Rate, which can be calculated based on body composition. I had an allergic reaction after eating some peanuts recently, so I have replaced those with cashews, pecans, and almonds (including almond butter). So my snacks are now usually dried apples, dried bananas, raisins, and nuts or nut butter. These are your higher-calories snacks, but they are healthy whole foods, and the fat in nuts contains plenty of good omega-3 fatty acids. Here

http://RunningAFEVER.com Diet dept. My current diet includes at least 1 serving of fruit during the day. One of my snacks at work is either dried apple or banana, pretty much every single day. At home, when I get hungry I'll grab a small handful of peanuts or raisins. I still like pickles also, they have zero calories.Diet dept. My current diet includes at least 1 serving of fruit during the day. One of my snacks at work is either dried apple or banana, pretty much every single day. At home, when I get hungry I'll grab a small handful of peanuts or raisins. I still like pickles also, they have zero calories.Amy asked me what my go-to snack was in the old days. The only thing I could think of is chocolate chip cookie dough. I always had a 1-lb tub of that around, I still have the used ones to prove it, though now I use them to freeze fruit or thaw chicken. Hydration dept. A slight change in my drinking routine is that instead of drinking my favorite diet soda all the time, I usually mix it with water and juice

http://runningafever.com It's August, hottest part of the year here. But not in Australia. There it's in the 50's (Fahrenheit). It is winter time there in the southern hemisphere. Running: A FEVER now has listeners in 26 different countries, Australia being #4 in RAF downloads. I like to know more about my listeners, so I did a little on Australia. Here are some facts: - A culturally and racially diverse country. - 23.6 million people. - The northern part is warm all year round. - The south is similar to Arkansas (RAF World Headquarters), rarely sub-zero. - Started as a British penal colony 1788, abolished by 1868. - 63% of adults are overweight or obese (70% in the U.S.). - The most popular spectator sport - Australian rules football (Baseball in the U.S.). Cricket and rugby are also very big. - MOST POPULAR sport by participation by far is walking, more so for women (30% men 15%). It is the same in the U.S., maybe this show should be called Walking: A FEVER! - Adults less into sports than children. I visite

http://runningafever.com Thanks and welcome to new YouTube YouTube subscriber Ron! You can also subscribe here: http://runningafever.com/youtube Today we are walking in a new location, which, like Lake Fayetteville, is a paved trail surrounding a lake, known as Lake Atalanta, located in Rogers, Arkansas, about a half-hour drive from the usual location in Fayetteville. It is just as beautiful and I can see the lake from the trail over the entire perimeter. I think it is four miles, which makes it easier to extend the workout by walking a second lap. Muscle masss. Comparing my BIA (bioelectrical impedence analysis) from February, with the current reading from my scale, it looks like I have gained a net three pounds. I have lost 28 pounds since the initial reading, so I know I have lost muscle in this process, but have probably started gaining since I am starting to do serious resistance training. I had hoped to do better with gains, but I think this is far more difficult to do when I am always in a caloric defi

http://runningafever.com Loving my life is a full, whole life thing. I can't just decide one day not to love my life. So how do I love my life when events make it seems unlovable. I think some of it is just down to habit and mantra. I used to think affirmations were bunk. Saying something doesn't make it true. But I don't think that anymore. If I say something enough times I start to believe it, whether it is a negative or positive thing. Habits are hard to break. We are built for habit. If you make something a habit it becomes an integrated part of your life, and then it becomes harder not to do it. Think about the big picture. When I think of my whole life, one day of some stressful things at work is not that big of a deal. It also helps to keep a list of the things I am grateful for, the things that are the manifestations of my love of life. Love is a choice, so make that choice. All I did was choose to love my life. A new workout plan. I've gone from walking daily to walking thrice weekly, to now taking a

http://RunningAFEVER.com A listener let me in on a new service offered by the NutriSystem company. They call it DNA Body Blueprint. Genetics impact how our bodies process the foods we eat. Some people are genetically disposed to have a higher metabolism, so it is easier for them to burn fat and lose weight, physically at least. Others are naturally slow at burning calories and for them it takes more activity to burn the same calories. We are all individuals, which is why there is no one solution for weight management. If all of these genetically different people use the same nutrisystem product, some will have more or less success simply because of their genes. Hence the new product. Here's how it works: (1) You pay $99.99, for which you are sent a kit to take a DNA sample; (2) You send a cheek swab back; (3) NutriSystem analyzes your DNA and provides a report to help you tailor your NutriSystem plan to your specific genetic signature. One thing that genetics probably cannot take into account is our own prefe

Last episode I interviewed Anasasia Strokova. I particularly wanted to know her opinion on dealing with the plethora of good and bad information available to those of us who want to live a healthy life. She has her opinions and her advice is the same as mine, really. Just do your best to be educated. Here are some of the keys to longer life based on Dan Buettner's book The Blue Zones Solution: 1. Spirituality. 2. Faith. 3. Family. 4. Having a network of people around you who support you. 5. Movement (exercise). 6. Having a passion, a reason to live longer. 7. Stop eating when your stomach is 80% full. Many of these things I have validated from my own experience. But I will definitely look deeper into this book. The theme seems to be that these people who live to be 100 or older are living balanced lives. Stress relief is very important and supported by the seven concepts listed above. Weight (change since Jan 2018): 204 (-70) Workout time: 85 Minutes Total Distance (total since Nov 2017): 4.21 Miles (162.1) S

In this first video interview I chat with Anastasia Strokova of Health Matters Coaching. We talked about what makes for a long life, and the book The Blue Zone Solution. In addition to being a health coach, Anastasia is a nutritionist, which differs from a dietician, which is a degreed medical professional. Nutritionists, who are trained providers of nutritional counseling and advice. Anastasia recommends a plant-based diet supported by her training, and personal experience. But she is adamant that each individual should do the research and become educated before changing his or her diet. There are plenty of ways to get protein from plant-based foods. Also, against popular belief, she recommends against a diet that is low in carbohydrates. I agree that these popular low-carb diets can be too extreme. The body needs carbohydrates. As people who exercise, we're interested in hydration. Anastasia has a great trick for helping the body absorb water by adding citrus, cucumber or watermelon juice to your water. I g

http://runningafever.com Back in episode 45 I talked about trying on some jeans. At that point I had slimmed down to a about a size 38 from 44. I later bought a two pair of size 36 jeans which I hoped would last me a few months. One of them has worn out since I have worn it 4-5 days a week for six months. So I just bought a new pair and the size that fits me now is 34. That is 10 inches lost or 5 pants sizes. I am also at a new low for weight, at 200.1 today. And unlike when I had lost 74 pounds, at the end of the biggest loser contest, I am not starved, nor dehydraded. I believe I have lost those last twelve pounds the right way. This feels like completely new territory, because I think the last time I weighed 200 pounds or less, I wasn't really concerned about my weight. Super-listener Amy is on the walk with me today and we discover the true length of the Lake Fayetteville Trail is 5.25 miles, although there is a 5.28 mile marker near Veteran's Memorial Park. I welcome all of my new listeners in Venezuela.

My knee is giving me some trouble with some pain now and then. I don't want to make these long walks a regular activity until I see the orthopedic surgeon. I have been going to the gym to use a stationary bike for a couple of reasons. One is that it's lower-impact to my knee. The other is that I want to do High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) which is one of those things, if you do it several times a week, that is a key to the kind of heart health that extends life. Loving life is something I choose to do. It didn't just happen to me, but I am grateful for my many blessings, one of them being the awareness of this abundance in my life. I gave a couple of rock star examples: Jani Lane, Kurt Cobain. I don't think they realized the abundance of blessings in their lives. If one realizes this, things will get better. I really believe this. One reason this is true may be the concept of visualization. The idea is that whever we focus on comes to us. If I think of the things I fear enough, they will appear all aro

http://runningafever.com Diet Department: I am now ten pounds below my target short-term maintenance weight. I'm already lighter than I have been in twenty-five years. My new target weight is 174 pounds. I have gone back to my pre-maintenance diet of 1800 calories per day. I'm only concerned about averaging that and losing 1 or 2 pounds per week. Part of what goes into that count is the supplements that I use on workout days. When I was on the metabolic project (see episode 57) I added a few things, fruit in my oatmeal, grape nuts in my yogurt, and wheat thins with my chili. So I am cutting those out now for this cutting phase. I'm going back to turkey as my ground meat of choice, a taco or two less, or with no chips. Small adjustments now are all that is necessary. Fitness Department: I'm coming off a series of physical therapy sessions. And I need to adjust my workout routine now that I'm on my own. I did go to my very economical gym this week. There are some deficiencies, I might upgrade if my situation im

http://runningafever.com It has been a whole month since I recorded the last episode. I had a bachelor party weekend for a friend. It lasted a couple of days and included a number of activities. It was a very active weekend. We played horseshoes, went hiking at Devil's Den State Park (where the before and after pictures featured here were taken), played disc golf, mini-golf, and went bowling. It was great to finally play on the disc golf course at Lake Fayetteville which I had walked by many times. It was a good experience and made me realize there are many ways to have fun and be active at the same time. Why not do activities like these instead of going out to eat. At least more than I usually have. One downside of that weekend was that I started feeling discomfort in my knee in exactly the same spot that was injured last December, so I'm going to the orthopedic surgeon sometime in the next month. No one has told me not to walk, so I am walking. Also in the last month I have had a full set of physical therap

Last week I went through a tunnel on my walk. I've been thinking of the tunnel as a metaphor for obsession, particularly in fitness. I made fitness my number one priority, but I did not think that meant that I would focus on it to the exclusion of everything else in my life. It's easy to do once you get deep into the fitness routine. It's easy to start thinking about what the next meal is and how it fits into my diet, spend my time looking at bicycles, shoes and workout clothes, and talking about health and fitness all the time. One problem I see with this obsessions comes when reaching a level of success. When I feel great, look great, my medical numbers are in line, my BMI is in the right range, there are fitness models that don't have that physique that I do. If you have that kind of dedication, you will get there. Can I just forget fitness and get back to my regular life? No. If you've been through this as many times as I have, you know that doesn't work. Life is not a tunnel, it's a trail, a road and I c

http://runningafever.com This week I went to a new restaurant that had very innovative dishes. I had a Greek salad which had red bell pepper and green olives instead of tomatoes and black olives, and no red onion. It was topped with chicken which was all dark meat. I also had a new drink which included Jalapeno, Grenadine, LIme, and Honey as some of the flavors. The restaurant is called The Hive, located in the 21C hotel in downtown Bentonville, Arkansas. https://www.thehivebentonville.com/ It's important to innovate because it is too easy to get bored with our diets and fall back into eating delicious fast food and other things that are usually bad for us. My kind of wild fruit smoothie with sour fruits is a bit innovative. See the recipe in the blog post for Episode 82: http://runningafever.com/2018/09/28/raf082-beating-the-heat/ So try to think of tasty healthy things. Try to think of a way that, if you want to eat something that's not healthy, is there a way you can get that flavor in without using too mu

It's early morning, but plenty of people are out on the trail on this Saturday, which is sort of a holiday weekend. Independence Day in the U.S. was celebrated mid-week. The Declaration of Independence is dated July 4, and this is the date on which United States Independence is celebrated. However, this date, back in 1776 was not the beginning of the United States of America (USA) in a legal sense. A confederation existed, officially from 1781 when it was ratified by all thirteen states. The USA begins its existence in 1789 with the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Civil War, also known as the War Between the States, determined that the USA was a monolithic ruled state, and not a union of individual states with self-determination. Declaration of Independence (National Archives): https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript Articles of Confederation (Library of Congress): https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=001/llsl001.db&recNum=127 See also my po

Determined to find my way back on my first walk at Skull Creek, I walk a bit long. It's an adventure. In summertime it is important to be aware of the signs of heat-related diseases. You can find some great information at the Mayo Clinic website: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/exercise/art-20048167 Some of the symptoms of heat stroke or heat exhaustion are nausea, feeling light-headed or dizzy, irritability, impaired vision, headaches and cramps. Dehydration is another danger, so be sure to drink more water when the weather is hot. Speaking of hydrating, I finally tried an idea for a smoothie with sour fruit, and I think it worked out pretty well. Here's the recipe: Running: A FEVER Sour Fruit Smoothie Ingredients: 1 grapefruit 2 lemons 1 Granny Smith apple 1 cup Lime Juice A day ahead of time, peel grapefruit and lemons and divide into pieces of a few sections. Slice apple into 1/2 inch sections. Put all of this in a plastic container and freeze overnight. When ready to serve,

I walk a new trail today called Mud Creek Trail, which is part of the Skull Creek Trail system: http://www.fayetteville-ar.gov/facilities/facility/details/Scull-Creek-Trail-27 It is very well maintained, and unlike Lake Fayetteville, lighted. It is very hot today so I seek shade wherever it lurks as I walk. This is Razorback country and even here on this walking trail I see statues of the wild porcine creatures. PT can stand for Physical Therapy or Physical Torture. Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference. I am receiving Physical Therapy twice a week now because I have DISH (Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis) also known as Forestier’s disease. My spine is curved at the top such that I have to bend my neck backwards in order to see what’s in front of me. This causes a pinched nerve, which is what sent me to the neurosurgeon. The physical therapists are good at what they do. The first visit was an assessment using some high-tech weight machines that measure strength and range of motion. The same mac