What's the deal with French women and the perception that they're better than American women?

Seriously. What's the deal? Is it that half of France smokes? For those that don't know, smoking acts as an appetite suppressant. Is it all the rich buttery food they eat? I don't know why this annoys me, but it does.

Here's the article that inspired me to write something about the ridiculous "French women are better" movement. Yes, exercise throughout the day is good for you and can burn extra calories with little additional effort, but to look down on those of us who do try to exercise regularly (and those like me who fall off the wagon occasionally), I think, is wrong. To just tell people to eat less shows a clear lack of understanding of how the human body works.

Anyway, that's the end of my ranting for tonight. I have a 5k coming up on Halloween, and I have promised myself to start running regularly again to make sure I'm ready for it. School is gearing up so this will be hard, combined with shorter daylight and cooler weather. I can do it! I did it last year, sans school, so I should be able to do it this year.

On another note, is there a specific topic anyone would like me to research and write about? Let me know and I'll see what I can do. I know that there are readers out there who lurk (the vast majority of responses I get are friends on my facebook page). Let me know!

Sticker shock

So remember how I was wanting to buy more organic meat to make sure I was eating more Omega-3? Since the roast I wanted to get today was more than double the conventional meat was ($16 vs $7.50), I got the conventional. Here's something else I discovered though. Just because the meat is organic doesn't mean the animal was fed grass only. The label said "vegetarian fed". Corn is vegetarian. I don't feel bad about skipping the organic now, but I will have to forgo the organic meat option for now and just try to eat more leafy greens.

On another note that is money related, I may have to break down and just get a gym membership. With the weather cramping my running style (I haven't run in over two weeks), and Winter and its daylight saving garbage, I won't reliably be able to run outdoors. Unfortunately the gym costs money, while running outside is free. This will have to be mulled over for a bit.

Have we sabotaged ourselves?

If you haven't been getting enough Omega-3s in your diet, this article may convince you to change your diet. It's kind of long, but stick with it.

Here's what I gained from the findings in this article:

- The reason we've been seeing an increase in heart disease is, in part, due to the kinds of fats we're getting from our diets.

- The Omega-3 deficiency we're experiencing can be blamed on so-called heart-healthy oils like sunflower oil.

- Eating more fish can't fix this problem because 1. there isn't enough fish for everyone and 2. most farmed fish is fed corn and soy, increasing the Omega-6 levels

- Eat more leafy greens!

What I find most groundbreaking for me personally is that adding more leafy greens and buying more organic meat is relatively easy for me. Organic meat is expensive, but by cutting my intake of conventionally raised meat even a little and increasing my intake of leafy greens significantly can help me (and Rex by default since I make his meals) be healthier. I've been more and more concerned about my heart health because heart disease runs rampant on my father's side of the family. Type 2 diabetes also takes a heavy toll, which doesn't help the heart either.

The best part of making these changes in my diet? I am only changing the way my meat is raised and adding more greens. I still get to enjoy bread (sans trans-fats), butter, and pasta. Nom!

Flood pictures

Just in case anyone was wondering what kind of flooding this horrible rain has caused Atlanta, this blog posted some aerial shots.

Will it ever stop raining?

It's been raining nearly non-stop for over a week now. I think it's been closer to two weeks straight, and the weather report doesn't predict a stop until Thursday. Thursday!! What's a girl to do? I'm cheap, so I don't have a gym membership. This puts me in a pickle as far as working out is concerned. What do I do?? Seriously, I can't figure it out.

Does any one have suggestions on how to keep up my cardio routine indoors, sans equipment? I know I can do some circuit training, but frankly the reason I don't do that now is because I hate it. Whoops...did I just admit that I don't like all forms of exercise? Yup!

Image found at Atlanta EcoLocalizer.

Where did all of my excitement go?

Apparently it evaporated in the hot July heat while I was training for the Peachtree Road Race. With the hardcore training schedule and the training-induced sciatica, the Peachtree ended up being very anti-climactic for me. I haven't been in a race since, and running has honestly been quite frustrating for me. I realized that what I had lost was that spark. That excitement I would get knowing another race was around the corner. Performance be damned, I just needed something to get excited about!

So I've decided which races I will run in October, November, and December! The October race is a race I ran last year, so now I'm super excited about it. I've never run a race more than once. The longest distance will be 4.5 miles, which is very doable. Now if only this incessant rain would end...

Caster Semenya part 2

I ought to be in bed right now, but I couldn't help but make another post about this woman based on the article I just came across. It turns out that experts agree with me on this one...splashing her test results and declaring her a hermaphrodite is psychologically damaging her. For all intents and purposes she's a woman with a birth defect.

Thanks goes to a good friend of mine who had a good discussion with me about this.

Caster Semenya

I just have to say that I feel bad for this girl. The whole world now knows that she is a hermaphrodite. Unfortunately this kind of genetic testing is part of women's running, but it doesn't mean we can't feel a little pity for her. It turns out that her condition may have medical complications as she ages as well. I don't think I'd have such a problem if she knew this before hand and was dealing with it just fine. Her condition was announced to her and the world at pretty much the same time. Do I have a solution to any of this? No. I just feel bad for her.

Did you know....

That your weight is largely determined by genetics? I find the publication of this article to be ironic because my friend Atalanta and I were just talking about this very subject over the holiday weekend. We can't all be lithe and modelesque. It's simply not possible. My mother has a tendency to harp on me about my weight. It appears that I have a typical Asian relationship with my mom in that no matter my weight, I am overweight in her eyes. This from the woman who feeds me more than I could possibly eat in one sitting. Luckily for me I developed a love for good food, not an eating disorder.

Anyway, the reason Atalanta and I were talking about this was because we were remarking on the genetics of our respective families and how there was a shock felt in the fashion world recently about how a plus-sized model posed nearly nude....with her belly not as perfect as it "should" have been. She was sitting with her legs crossed, bending forward and her belly touched the top of her thighs. The picture is found here. I personally think she looks gorgeous, and that she has a body most women in America envy.

The reason my mom has a hard time understanding my weight and why it's different from her weight at my age is this: my dad. He is a little overweight, but he does come from old British-isles stock. He's short, muscular, and built like a log. Consequently I'm a little stockier than my mom. That's okay. I'm fit and healthy and that's what matters.

I actually ran on vacation!

Not just once. Twice!! I lucked out on my vacation this weekend and stayed at a really nice Hilton in downtown Atlanta. They had a fitness center that was open 24 hours, had headphones for the tvs on each treadmill, and all the towels and ice cold water I could handle. All this with a view of the pool!

My first run was really good. I ran for 40 minutes, and I felt like I could keep going but since I hadn't run in a while like that I decided to stop. It was nice being able to walk comfortably the rest of the day. LOL!!

The second run was not so good. I got calves so tight that I thought about stopping after about 10 minutes of running. Needless to say this run didn't last very long. I'm glad I went, but the treadmill really changes how I run for the worse.

At least I was able to enjoy my eating all weekend without feeling guilty about missing a run. Conversely I am skipping this week's runs until Saturday, but we all need a break right? =)

Vacation!

I'm taking a teensy vacation this holiday weekend, and we'll have to see if my intentions of running on Saturday morning pan out. I won't be able to post to the blog, since I won't really have any relevant info to share, but I will let you know if I am successful. Running while on vacation is very hard for the average person, since you want to spend so much time enjoying the vacation itself. It's also a diet pitfall with the kind of food that tends to be consumed. I will eat my fair share of fast food and fattening restaurant food. To hold me over, I did purchase Luna bars, fruit, veggies, cheese, hummus, and other easy and tasty snacks.

Enjoy your holiday, and be safe!!