Sacramento Health & Fitness Blog

The World Health Organization has released a pretty grisly photo gallery of public service ads that various countries produce to discourage smoking.

Most show the graphic health consequences. It's hard to stomach. But if your teenager is a smoker, you might want to show them the gallery and what might be in store for them.

Click here for the link.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have debunked the popular belief that parents significantly influence a child's eating patterns.

In a study published in the journal Social Science and Medicine, Johns Hopkins nutrition professor Dr. Youfa Wang said "factors other than family and parental eating behaviors may play an important role in affecting American children's dietary intakes."

And what are those factors?

Answer: Community and school environment, peer influence, television viewing habits, self-image. 

So now I can eat that Twinkie in front of my brood without guilt, right?

Howdy, podner: How 'bout you round up four of your friends, tie yourselves together and run the inaugural Running of the Bullipedes on July 1 at 6 p.m. in old town Folsom?

It's only a mile and only cost $50 for a team. Awards will be given for best costume. Best of all, the Bullipedes run happens before the annual running of the bulls that kicks off the Folsom Pro Rodeo. So you don't have to, uh, watch your step.

However, race organizers warn that your team better finish that one-mile jaunt in a half an hour because the actual cattle drive starts at 6:30.

More information here.

Oh, and in case you aren't sure what a centipede running group is, here's a "deck of cards" centipede from the Bay to Breakers in San Francisco.

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I've always wondered about whether that Yoga Toes product, advertised in the back of seemingly every health and fitness magazine, really works in relieving pain from bunions, corns and plantar fasciitis.

Now, msnbc.com provides the answer in its wonderfully informative online column, "Does It Work?" Read the verdict on Yoga Toes here.  

In this age of media consolidation, in which large corporations own a stable of magazines, the humble "Marathon & Beyond" bi-monthly keeps chugging along like an ultramarathoner sucking on packets of Gu.

The May/June edition is the 75th for this Little Magazine That Could, started 13 years ago by Northern California ultra runner Richard Benyo. Here's how old school Benyo, who lives and publishes in Forestville (Sonoma County),  is: "From the first issue ... I've used a lined sheet of paper to plan each issue, the sets of lines broken into various categories," he writes.

Many of the feature stories in "Marathon & Beyond" appeal to those not crazy enough to run ultras, but there's also enough geeky, insider ultra tips and information to statisfy the hard core readership.

This month, for instance, there's a great general interest feature on the history behind the Western States 100 trail. Read it and you'll find out who Brney Cavanaugh, of Cavanaugh Ridge, was, as well as other origins for Devil's Thumb and Rucky Chucky.

To check out "Marathon & Beyond's" Web site, click here.     

It's been more than 20 years since the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, released guidelines for the amount of weight that women should gain during pregnancy.

Today, the new charts are out, and the Institute of Medicine team that set the guidelines say it's needed.  

A new study. published in July issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, reports that by ninth grade students mostly abandon pphysical activities they enjoyed while younger.

That's mostly because, when kids get older, they get weeded out of team sports because the competitive level rises.

According to Montreal researchers, who conducted the study of midle and high schoolers, students reported their participation in 29 physical activities over five years. Although participation in team-based activities started high at 94 percent in seventh grade, 50 percent of girls and 31 percent of boys had dropped out by the end of high school. Conversely, only 10 percent of adolescents abandoned their individual activities during the same period.

According to Dr. Mathieu Bélanger, research director at the New Brunswick Medical Training Centre,  the most popular activities in seventh grade -- such as walking, running and physical conditioning -- had the highest levels of reuptake five years later (around 50 percent). In fact, walking was the only activity that girls continued to participate in at the same level over time.

The idea is that if schools taught lifelong fitness activities in PE class (walking for fitness, running, cycling, swimming), all of those ex-soccer and football playing teens would be able to stay in shape once they stop participating in team sports.

That pleasant late August 5K evening run, the Race for the Arts, will be moving from its usual  downtown (3rd and O streets) to William Land Park this year because of construction in the Crocker Park area.

Mark your calendars. For more information, click here.  

Courtesy of Sport Photo, Inc.

Barbara Miller, the swift 69-year-old runner from Modesto (pictured), was the winner for the second straight year Monday in the age-graded Buzz Oates No Excuses 5K at Sacramento's Land Park.

This popular handicapped race (by age and gender) gives those, ahem, "veteran" runners a chance to shine. And no one shined brighter than Miller, an excellent Masters runner who in February won her age division in the USA Master's Half Marathon Championships in Melbourne, Fla., with a time of 1 hour 48 minutes 37 seconds.

In the 5th Annual No Excuses run on Memorial Day, Miller finished in 23:36. Given the mathematical calculations of world record 5K times broken down by age and gender -- way too complicated to explain here -- Miller's age-graded time was converted to 13:44. She was well ahead of the second-place finisher, 48-year-old Wendy Pratt of Davis, who finished in 18:55 (converted to 14:46 in the age grade), and the third place finished, 39-year-old Mary Coordt of Elk Grove, who finished at 17:59 (15:14.2 converted).

In 2008, Miller also emerged victorious with a time of 23:11, which converted to 13:52.

The top male -- eighth overall -- this year was 44-year-old Mike Livingston of Folsom, who finished at 16:37 (converted to 15:14.6).

Oh, yeah: The actual overall, non-handicapped winner was some young whippersnapper, 19-year-old James Tracy of Fair Oaks, who ran the 3.1 mile course in 15:45. That converted to a 15:25 time, good enough for eighth place.    

Celebrity note: Sacramento Mayor (and former NBA star) Kevin Johnson, age 43, competed in the race. He finished at 30:50 (28:29, age grades), placing him 651st out of 1,057 runners.

A new survey set to be released to coincide with the advocacy group Corporate Accountability International's "Value the Meal" campaign found that 57 percent of Americans believe the fast food industry is "responsible for the increase in diet-related diseases and health conditions" in the U.S.  The survey was conducted by Lake Research in Chicago.

The advocacy group has produced an online mapping tool that shows the proximity of fast food restaurants to schools in San Francisco, Boston and Chicago. Check it out here.

The group wants to push for zoning changes to eliminate the proliferation of burger joints around schools.

One of our favorite personal trainers-slash-philosophers, Chip Conrad of Body Tribe Fitness in midtown Sacramento, has released a DVD called "Strength Rituals."

As Chip says, "There is no magic in a single tool, a single program or a single principle. The Bodytribe template is license for creativity, allowing you to escape dogmas by embracing and manipulating the many malleable factors that we can use to forge our strength."

What that means is plenty of old-school workouts featuring pull-ups, push-ups, dumb bells, bar bells and your own body weight. Plus, Chip and crew were using kettlebells, leverage clubs and sandbags as fitness tenchniques before they became trendy. The video contains four complete workouts and promises you'll never have to use a weight machine again. 

You may recall Chip as the "model" The Bee used is a recent Health & Fitness section story on the pleasures and sorrows of the humble push-up. Read the stories here and here.

To order "Strength Rituals" ($55), go to Body Tribe at 920 21st Street in Sacramento, or click here.  

It's not too late to register for Monday's Buzz Oates No Excuses 5K at William Land Park.

Race director Rich Hanna goes to extremes to make the race entertaining -- age-graded finishes; the 50th finisher gets a Laz-E-Boy chair -- but the best part are the T-shirts. Last year's features a crying runner on the front; on the back is a list of top excuses for "Why I didn't win the Buzz Oates No Excuses 5K."

The excuses range from "Serious bottleneck at the waterstation"  to "Too many slow-twitch muscles" to "My shorts kept riding up."

My favorite excuse, sort of an inside joke to runners, is: "Galloway Method didn't work." That's a reference to former Olympian Jeff Galloway, who trains novice marathoners by having them combine running and walking. Not exactly the way to go in a 5K (3.1miles).

One other excuse is an inside joke to friends of Hanna: "Pre-race bacon and eggs-- bad idea." That was the breakfast Hanna's mom served him at age 13 on the day he ran his first marathon in 1977. Despite that, Hanna still finished in 3 hours 1 minute.  

Millions have been made in the fitness industry on "recovery" drinks for athletes after vigorous exercise. Countless studies by nutritionists about what to eat, the protein-to-carb ratio, have been conducted.

But could the answer be in your cereal bowl?

A new study published this week in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition has shown that "readily available and relatively inexpensive breakfast food is as effective as popular, carbohydrate-based sports drinks."

Woo-hoo. Grrrreeeaatt!

Pass me the Frosted Flakes.

Not so fast. Turns out, it's got to be whole-grain cereal. But still, that's a lot more low-tech and tasty than whey-saturated sports drinks. The researchers at the University of Texas, Austin, studied 12 well-trained cyclists recovering after moderate exercise -- a regular workout, in other words.

"We wanted to understand their relative effects on glycogen repletion and muscle protein synthesis for the average individual," said Texas exercise physiologist Lynne Kammer in a press release. "We found that glycogen repletion, or the replenishment of immediate muscle fuel, was just as good after whole grain cereal consumption and that some aspects of protein synthesis were actually better.

"Cereal and non-fat milk are a less expensive option than sports drinks. The milk provides a source of easily digestible and high quality protein, which can promote protein synthesis and training adaptations, making this an attractive recovery option for those who refuel at home."

I had to really feel for the cyclists taking part in last Saturday's Davis Double Century (that's 200 miles) Bike Ride. Sunday's photos in The Bee really captured the heat and its affects on the riders.

But, as a longtime distance runner, I was perplexed by the above photo of cyclists cooling their feet in a kiddie ice bath -- with their toe-clip cleats and socks on!

Isn't that a great way to get blisters? Shouldn't they have taken off their shoes and socks?

Let me know, avid cyclists. Am I all wet, or is that asking for injury?  

The hot weather always brings out the "seasonal" lap pool swimmers in droves. At least, that's the case at the pool at my health club. Sunday night, I nicely asked a woman to share a lane, since it was the only lane not occupied by at least two swimmers. She said, curtly, "no." Sheesh!

So this seems a perfect time to remind people about lap pool etiquette. Here are some pointers, in truncated form, from a list posted by the staff at the Davis Athletic Club.

* Look for an open lane. "Pick the open lane most appropriate to your pace. Fast swimmers usually avoid the end lanes but otherwise group together in one half of the pool."

* Sharing. "Ask or otherwise let the other person(s) know when you're joining them...Let the other swimmer decided whether you will split the lane or swim in circles (each swims up one side and back on the other.) If you are the third swimmer, expect to swim in circles."

* Pacing. "Start 5-10 seconds after the other swimmer in your lane...If you get touched on the foot, the person behind you probably wants to pass, usually at the end of the lane."

* Resting. "If you stop to rest, move to the corner of the lane where you approach the wall."

* Waiting. "If you'd rather wait (for an open lane), stay on the pool deck and stretch/warmup away from a specific lane. Please give swimmers their space...You should not 'claim' a lane by placing your stuff at the end of your chosen lane or hovering nearby. People willing to share a lane may get in while you are waiting and, in a busy pool, you may never get a lane to yourself."   

Sunday's 98th Bay to Breakers 12K in San Francisco, which drew 62,000 runners ranging from those in elaborately dressed costumes to no clothes whatsoever, saw two Sacramento-area runners place in the top 15.

On the women's side, Folsom's Midori Sperandeo finished 12th at 44 minutes 53 seconds. She was the third U.S. resident to finish; Olympian Deena Kastor was the top U.S. woman, finishing third at 39:04. Ethiopian Tebya Erkesso was the winner at 38:29.

On the men's side, Davis' Brad Poore finished 13th at 39:08. The race was won by Kenyan Sammy Kitwara at 33:31.             

It's not too early to think about July 18 and the 36th running of Eppie's Great Race, the iconic 5.82-mile run, 12.5-mile bike and 6.35 paddle on and along the American River.

Race organizers have announced that, until the end of May, teams entering the race can get a $60 discount. For more infomation, click here.   

Olive Garden's "Tour of Italy" plate

Those crusaders at the Center for Science in the Public Interest are always looking out for our health, especially when it concerns the nutritional value of restaurant food.

Its latest examination is the sodium content of entrees at 17 chain restaurants. It found that 85 of the 102 meals contained more than a day's worth of sodium. Here are the worst offenders, according to the study:

• Red Lobster Admirals' Feast with Caesar Salad, Creamy Lobster Topped Mashed Potato, Cheddar Bay Biscuit, and a Lemonade:  7,106 mg
• Chili's Buffalo Chicken Fajitas (with tortillas and condiments) and a Dr Pepper:  6,916 mg
• Chili's Honey-Chipotle Ribs with Mashed Potatoes with Gravy, Seasonal Vegetables, and a Dr Pepper:  6,440 mg
• Olive Garden Tour of Italy (lasagna) with a Breadstick, Garden Fresh Salad with House Dressing, and a Coca-Cola:  6,176 mg
• Olive Garden Chicken Parmigiana with a Breadstick, Garden Fresh Salad with House Dressing, and Raspberry Leonade:  5,735 mg

Courtesy of The Guardian (London)

Raise your hand if you've every had a running injury?

OK, now put your hand down. You don't want to add a rotator cuff injury to your shin splints, hamstring pull, iliotibial band syndrome, patellar tendinitis and sacriliiac joint pain.

If you're a runner nursing an injury -- and, really, who hasn't at one time or another -- you might want to keep the evening of May 27 free.

Fleet Feet's Sacramento store (23rd and J streets) is teamming with Mercy Medical Center for a a "Running Without Pain" seminar at 7:15 p.m. Mercy doctors Heather Rachel Davids (pain management) and Topher Stephenson (physical medicine and rehabilitation) will lead the discussion that will answer, among other subjects, when to keep running and when to pull back when dealing with aches and pains. 

Here's hoping the chairs at Fleet Feet are comfortable. 

To RSVP for the event, click here.  

Speaking of seminars -- and rotator cuffs -- Arden Hills Resort Club & Spa (1220 Arden Hills Lane, Sacramento) will host an "Ask the Experts" forum on shoulder injuries on June 10 at 7 p.m. It cost $20. Call (916) 482-6111.

We're always told not to obsess about weight, and part of that obsession is daily weigh-ins on the ol' bathroom scale. Some have even suggested that people should weigh themselves once a week, only, at the same time of day. The worry has been that daily weighing would lead to body "dissatisfaction" and potential eating disorders.

But a new study by University of California San Diego researchers of 130 overweight adolescents found that "frequent self-weighing is associated with positive behaviors and may prove to be a useful weight-control tool," according to a UCSD press release.

Results of this study, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, shows that teens were more likely to exercise and eat more vegetables if they closely monitored their weight via scales.

 "It's a process called self-regulation, which is not about the weight; it's about paying attention," said UCSD Dr. Kerri N. Boutelle in a release. 

Don't know about you, but I believe everything I read on cereal boxes.

That's why I was shocked -- shocked! -- to read that my beloved Cheerios is making claims it can't back up. Specifically, it claims that eating the round ball o' whole grain can lower cholesterol by four percent in six weeks.

The Food and Drug Administration sent General Mills, Cheerios' maker, a warning letter this week, saying only a drug can make that claim. And Cheerios ain't no drug. Or, at least, it's an "unapproved drug," as the letter states.

Read the letter here.

I'm typing this standing up, which is no easy trick when the keyboard is at waist level.

I'm doing so because a study in May's Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise says that we are sitting ourselves to death. Yes, researchers from Ottawa and Lousiana have found a link between being a couch potato and "premature mortality."

More than 17,000 Canadians between ages 18 and 90 took part in the 1981 Canada Fitness Survey and were followed for 12 years. During that time, 1,832 participants died, and the mortality rate was nearly three times higher among the sedentary people.

The chilling part of the study was that even physically active people died prematurely -- if they had jobs a good chunk of the day sitting. Uh-oh. The authors wrote that "physicians should discourage sitting for extended periods." They suggest taking breaks to stand and walk around every hour.      

I've been training for an upcoming hilly race, the Dipsea, and I figured I better get some serious hill work in on Sunday.

So I went from blissfully flat Davis to Vacaville, where the hills spring up next to Lagoon Valley Park (you can see it off I-80, looking east near the Pena Adobe exit). I'm running along a sloping, singletrack trail carved into the hillside and, just after a downhill stretch and negotiating a sharp right turn, the path was blocked by a cow.

A huge cow, I might add. We're talking obese, Type-2 Diabetic cow. There was no way I could go around the cow, which was the size of a Buick. It was just standing there, lazily grazing, with scores of flies swirling around its head. The animal seemed docile enough, but I was a little freaked out by the sheer size of the thing. Did I mention it was BIG?

(Do I even need to add that I'm a city boy used to running on asphalt?)

Question: What to do? I mean, it wasn't as if I could run up behind it and say, "on your left" and expect the cow to hoof it up the hillside. So, after about 15 seconds standing stock still, I figured I'd jog toward the cow and it would move out of the way.

Oh, it moved, all right. Farther along the trail. For the next two minutes, at least, the cow and I ran together -- it about five feet ahead of me. I'd stop, and then the cow would turn its head and stop, as well. I'd start up again and so would the Ms Cow, who proceeded to leave me a, uh, present on the trail, which I dodged nimbly.

Eventually, my strategy worked and I must have tired out the cow, who lugged itself up the hill to let me pass.

Afterward, I wondered about my cow etiquette. Was I being a wimp? Should I have immediately passed the cow from behind? Do cows attack, or is that just bulls?

Well, what else should I have expected: The town is call Vacaville, after all.  

Yes, there are some positives from the Swine Flu mania out there.

According to a Harvard Public Health survery released today, 67 percent report of Americans say they or someone in their household has washed their hands or used hand sanitizer more frequently in response to the flu.

Washing hands: always a good thing.

Another positive finding: 55 percent says made preparations to stay at home if they or a family member is sick.

On the other hand, some respondents seem to be overreating just a tad: 27 percent are avoiding air travel (including Joe Biden, apparently) and 14 percent say they have stopped shaking hands with people. 

The big event around these parts this weekend is the Komen Race for the Cure Saturday morning at Cal Expo. Registration is closed, but you can go out there anyway and cheer the racers on. Details here.

Another fun and challenging race that I've enjoyed (though my quadraceps complained) is the Mt. Tam Wild Boar Run 10K and 18K in Mill Valley on Saturday. Great off road trails highlight this run, not to mention cool T-shirt featuring snarling boars. Details here.

Triathletes can flock to Angels Camp for the 17th running of the Angels Camp Triathlon. It's a 1,00-yard swim (wetsuits allowed), 16-mile bike and 4-mile trail run. Details here.

The New York Times today ran a story  debunking the effectiveness of over-the-counter sports creams, which is a multi-million dollar industry. The Times quoted Mayo Clinic doctors, pain management experts, American College of Sports Medicine specialists and researchers, and not one of them said the gooey stuff does much good in easing pain or speeding recovery.

Because there are no double-blind clinical studies to back up any claims of healing properties, these creams are about as effective as rubbing Crisco on your quads.

Pardon me a moment while I weep for all the money I've spent as a runner over the years on these creams. And I'm not alone. When I was at the Eugene, Ore., Marathon Expo last week, I saw runners snapping up free samples of analgesics. And in the corral before the start, I saw many a hamstring get lubed up.

I've tried them all -- ALCiS (ineffective), ProfenHPCream (somewhat effective) and FlexPower (not sure but it sure feels good on my calves) -- and pretty much had the attitude of, Well, it can't hurt, can it? 

The ironic thing is that my orthopaedic doctor at the UC Davis Sports Medicine Clinic was the one who originally recommended FlexPower.

Oh, well.

CORRECTION (May 18): The proposed requirements for personal trainers under State Senate bill 374 would dictate that a personal trainer must have a degree in exercise science or related field or a certificate from an accredited organization.   

Uh-oh. My personal trainer's certification, which I spent 50 bucks on the Internet to acquire back in November, soon might be a useless piece of paper.

A bill proposed by State Sen. Ron Calderon to set rigorous standards for personal trainer certification, was approved recently in the senate and now is being mulled in the assembly.

If passed and signed by the Guv, SB 374 would prohibit anyone from offering services as a personal trainer with certification from a recognized national group and or a bachelor's degree in fields such as exercise science and kinesiology.

It's that college degree requirement that might strike fear in the hearts of many personal trainers. But Calderon (D-Montebello) says the bill is needed to protect consumers from trainers who could cause them to become injured.

"I was amazed that virtually anyone can call themselves a personal trainer, regardless of their education or lack thereof," Calderon said in a statement. "The implications of having no requirements for this profession are frightening. People who train improperly can be injured for life."

Several readers questioned the recent blog item about a new study in the European Heart Journal about the beneficial effects of eating fatty fish in combating heart failure.

We quoted the lead researcher as explaining that Swedish men who ate one serving per week of fish had a 12 percent reduced risk of heart failure. But those who ate more than that -- two or three servings a week -- had nearly the same heart failure rate as men who ate no fish at all.

That is an accurate figure, and Levitan says it's meant to show that moderation might be the key to fish intake and heart benefits. She hypothesizes that men who ate more fish may already be in poor health, and may be trying to improve their health through fish consumption.

"Our study reinforces the current recommendations for moderate consumption of fatty fish," Levitan said in the news release. "Current guidelines from the American Heart Association recommend eating fatty fish twice a week."   

It was a big weekend for local endurance racers, especially two Davis triathletes and two Sacramento marathoners.

In the popular Wildflower Triathlon in Monterey, Davis' Kyle Leto, 23, was the winner in the Olympic distance at 2 hours 2 minutes 23 seconds, two minutes ahead of second-place Kenneth Rakestraw of Newport Beach. Davis' Mary Ann Smith, 37, finished 10th among women at 2:29.26.

Meanwhile, up north at the Eugene (Ore.) Marathon, Sacramento marathoner Chad Worthen finished second out of 6,000 participants at 2:26.3, eight minutes behind winner Matt Hooley, 26, of Madison, Wisc. Sacramento's Emily Mah-Nakanishi, age 27, finished third overall among women at 3:01.25.

Worthen told the Eugene Register Guard newspaper  that he wasn't aware he finished second.

""I really had no idea. I ran by myself the whole way, from two miles on," Worthen told the paper. "I let (Hooley) go, and then there was a whole pack of (full marathon) guys I let go. At one point someone told me I was fourth, but a couple guys must have dropped out because I have no idea how I got second. It just happened."

Worthen was diappointed with his time. He was hoping to run two minutes faster. 

"I wish I had more people to run with, and I wish it hadn't been raining," he told the local paper, with a laugh. "Early on I was a little ahead of pace, so I slowed down and came into the halfway point right on pace. The second half I started falling apart a little bit. That's where if I had someone to work with it would have been easier. I did a lot of talking to myself to keep me going out there."

The top local finishers in the Avenue of the Giants Marathon up in redwood country were Lisa Elliott of Orangevale, 48, and Thersa Cane, 38, of Elverta, at 3:42.27.

Closer to home, Sacramento's Steve Schenck won the Fair Oaks 5 Mile at 27:20 and the first woman was Elissa Briggs at 31:43.

The Parkway Half Marathon in Sacramento saw local Justin Matulonis, 36, finished fourth at 1:19.29, with Janine Marello finishing as the second woman at 1:26.26. 

Specifically, if you've had a rotator cuff tear, it could be in part because you've had a relative suffer the same fate.

That's the result of a review of cases in a study published in the May 2009 issue of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. 

"This strongly suggests genetic predisposition as a possible cause for rotator cuff disease," said Robert Z. Tashjian, MD, associate professor of orthopaedic surgery, University of Utah School of Medicine Orthopaedic Center in Salt Lake City, in a press release.

Utah researchers crunched numbers from Utah's population database and medical files to come up with the theory that heredity can put one at a higher risk for rotator cuff tears (particularly if you're a baseball pitcher.) The risk extends out and beyond third-cousin relationships 

But researchers have yet to identify a genetic component.