Tag: health

Look better naked!

Cover of DVDI’m not entirely sure what to make of the marketing of this DVD. Six weeks to my leanest, hottest body ever—really? Even though I’m now in my 40s, and when in my 20s, apart from having 20 years fewer gravity effects to combat, I worked out something an hour or two a day? Still, this DVD’s going to make me look better than that?

I’m skeptical.

Also, it looks a little porn-y. But in case you’re wondering, the fitness instructors are in fact clothed during the workout, in fairly standard (not especially slutty) workout gear.

And, I assume the title is meant to evoke that Showtime series, How to Look Good Naked. Although the whole point of that show was not that fitness and better diet were necessary, but mostly improved self-esteem. (And maybe a more supportive bra.) It was all about making women feel better about their current size, not trying to change it.

So, it seems I should be sort of offended by this thing. But in fact… It’s a really good DVD workout. What I like is that in a compressed 30 minutes, you get a really good workout. One 30-minute option is called “Metabolic”; the other “Strength”. But with both of them, you actually get a combination of aerobics and muscle training. So covering a lot of fitness needs in a short amount of time. (You can also do the whole thing in 50 minutes.)

The queuing is excellent, with a visual appearing before each new move giving the name and number of reps, along with verbal queuing by the instructor. And she’s quite appealing, motivating without being irritating. Two other women do the workout with her, one modifying some of the moves for beginners.

And I’ve been feeling it. The metabolic one has this interval training approach that is a good addition for me, because you do get to some pretty intense moves, but only for a reasonable number of reps, then followed by an easier set of moves. The strength requires one set of dumbbells, and moves you through the items before any get tedious.

And you know, it may even be possible that my abdominals looks slightly more defined now. Though it hasn’t been six weeks yet.

So what can I say. Despite the dubious packaging, I do recommend this DVD if you are looking for an aerobic/strength training workout. (I also recommend Collage Video in general for fitness DVDs.)

And don’t discount the fun of having a reason to entitle a blog post, Look better naked!

This is your cold on Cold-FX

ColdFX bottleColds used to always run their predictable course with me:

  1. Throat scratchy.
  2. Throat sore and scratchy.
  3. Nose starts to run.
  4. Nose becomes faucet; Kleenex stores deleted.
  5. Nose starts to clear; cough sets in.

If lucky, the whole thing would be over in around 7 days. When unlucky, residual stuffiness / coughing would linger for some weeks afterward.

So last Wednesday, when my throat felt scratchy, I felt a certain sense of doom. Not for the first time, I dosed with Cold-FX in response. (Per their recommendations—six pills the first day, then four, then two.) I have found that, for me, Cold-FX tends to lessen the severity and duration of colds. But this time, it was quite extreme. Really, I had a mildly scratchy throat and a bit of coughing at night, for about five days. No fatigue. No stuffed-up nose. No real sense that I ever needed a cough drop or a Tylenol sinus or anything.

Was that even a cold? Jean says no (partly because he didn’t catch anything at all). But I definitely had some sort of throat thing for a few days. It was just super mild.

Oh, well. No sense in worrying about not being sick. And I don’t know whether Cold-FX deserves any credit or not. But I’m certainly keeping it on hand…

Movie review: Love and Other Drugs

***½ Love and Other Drugs (November 2010) – Theatre
Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway. Aspiring Pfizer drug rep meets early-onset Parkinson’s patient. Romance and other complications ensue.

He says: OK, I really liked that movie. It was very good. And not just because Anne Hathaway looks great naked (although she really does). It had a lot of complexity. It sure didn’t paint the pharmaceutical industry in a good light. The medical industry didn’t come off that great, either.
She says: Yeah, I liked it also. And not just because Jake Gyllenhaal looks great naked (although he really does). I don’t really agree with the criticism that the romantic story didn’t fit well with the medical industry story. I thought it all made sense together, and made the movie more layered.

The office water cooler could kill you

I’m a fan of the Food Network’s Food Detectives. I record it every week. On Food Detectives, they do experiments to solve those nagging questions, such as, is there any validity to the 5-second rule? (No.) Does eating turkey actually make you sleepy? (No.) Do you really eat less if you use smaller plates? (Yes.)

It’s great because it combines two of my favourite things: facts and food. Facts are good because I can then recite them and look smart. And food… Well, everything is good about food: eating it, cooking it, reading about it, talking about it… even watching it on TV.

So a recent test they did was of public water fountains. Just how bacteria-filled is the water from those things?

Actually, not that bacteria-filled at all. They’re cleverly designed such that the water arcs out of them, not really coming into contact with the spout. As long as your mouth touches only the water, not the spout (some people don’t, so the spouts do end up somewhat bacterial), you’ll be fine.

The water from the office water coolers, though… woah. Bacteria city! Not so well designed. Activated by bacteria-covered hands. In contact with reused, improperly cleaned water bottles… And rarely cleaned. Result was much worse than any of the tested public fountains.

Now I haven’t used the office water cooler in years. I’d like to say it was because of a well thought-out concern about bacterial contamination, but actually, it was because of a completely paranoid concern about water sitting in plastic for so long potentially picking up carcinogens. So instead I’ve been drinking bubbly water out of glass bottles, which I hope is slightly more environmental than plastic bottles—but I’m not sure.

At any rate, I have been remarkably cold- and flu-free the past few years. And it seems that, at least partly, this is why.

It’s getting better all the time

Given my last post, I thought I should just update that things are going better. My little news break seems to have helped reset the brain out of panic mode. (The sun’s been nice, too.) Now I just have the normal “I’m about to travel; must remember to do x, y, and z” jitters.

Excuse for me for not blogging, but I’ve been a crazy person

Woke up in a panic
Like somebody fired a gun
I wish I could be dreaming
But the nightmare’s just begun

Ever do that? Wake up from a dead sleep in full panic mode, heart pounding, mind racing?

It’s happened to me a few times in the past couple weeks, and it’s quite unpleasant. I do not recommend it. And as sleep deprivation accumulates, the brain gets less and less effective. For the first time, I feel I have just a tiny understanding of what parents of babies and young children go through.

Don’t know why I feel so bad
Is it the weather, or am I going mad?
Don’t know why I feel this way
I don’t know whether I’m coming or I’m going
Can’t cover up, ’cause it’s obviously showing

Normally, I’m a fairly calm person, not given to emotional outbursts. So the number of times I’ve heard “You’re stressing me out!” in the past few weeks must be some sort of record.

I didn’t actually know, before, that stress was catching.

“Nice to know you’re human, too,” I also heard. Well that’s over-rated, I say.

Standing on an island
In the middle of the road
Traffic either side of me
Now which way do I go?
I should have stayed at home
I should have never come outside
Now I wish I’d never tried
To cross to the other side

So what’s been bothering me? Well, I’m not going to say. It’s personal, and it’s nothing dire—no cancer, no house burned down. It’s just stuff, that’s led to a lot more introspection than I’m used to, which is clearly bad for me. Frankly, I’m getting quite sick of myself.

Lyin’ awake in a cold, cold sweat
Am I overdrawn, am I going into debt?
It gets worse, the older that you get
No escape from this state of confusion I’m in

The Kinks: State of Confusion

And anyway, it’s gone beyond anything real, and I actually am panicking about going in debt, even though I have no real reason to do so, upcoming trip to Europe or no. And hearing all this bad economic news—not helpful! I’m like a walking Dow Jones average, overreacting to every new bit of information.

I thought, maybe a news break would help, then noticed how much news permeates my life. I wake up to CBC news (business news at 6:45), get up and get the paper (hard to get to the Arts section without passing by Business news with all its downward red arrows), cook dinner to CTV News 1: Your News first! (Business report at 6:30 pm).

So anyway, that’s why I haven’t been writing about politics much. But I suppose I should say something about the federal election results.

Given how bad the Liberal campaign was, it’s fortunate Conservatives managed to lose the majority on their own, scaring the Quebecois with thoughts of arts cuts and 14-year-olds in jail. But they did get a stronger minority, one that will take two parties to bring them down. Stéphane Dion didn’t dither in doing the right thing and stepping down, though this means the Liberals will again be spending all their money on getting a new leader, and not on winning power. There’s been lots of talk of uniting the Left. I’d love to see it, but won’t hold my breath.

Most disappointing for me had to be the local results, losing two excellent Liberal MPs: Andrew Telegdi (by 43 votes!) and Karen Redman. Redman lost to yet another “holy roller”—a social conservative, against gay marriage, pro-life, etc. So the whole region is now “served” by undistinguished Conservative members who will be as muzzled in office as they were running for it.

At least south of border, knock wood and all that, election results are looking to be much more promising. In fact, I was listening to Mr. Obama read from his own Audacity of Hope book today. It was very relaxing. He’s so smart, so well spoken.

It did, indeed, provide me some escape from the state of confusion I’m in.