Welcome to the Wing Walker Project!

Welcome to Winging It, a walking project designed to motivate the Wing Walkers, a seriously addled group from deep inside the North Wing Asylum. The Asylum we love has wonderful facilities and endless space, but they try to medicate us if we bounce around too much or make a mess, so we've set up a hidden space here at the back of the grounds where we can have our meetings and bounce as we please. My name is Sarah, and I've got the whistle, so that makes me Coach. Anyone calling me Coach Cupcake will drop & give me a tag before resuming the program. Respect my author-it-tie! Sorry, I forgot to warn you all that I channel Cartman when I'm under stress. Pay no attention, please. We will have a theme each week, with goals and set activities. There will be five daily assignments per week, and bonus points for those who do weekend activites. The theme for the first week is Getting Ready. We'll discuss proper shoes, and set some goals. We'll also begin the walking program with learning to stretch, learning to warm up & cool down, and take some short walks. There will be surprises & a lot of fun along the way, so dig out some comfy walking clothes and I'll see you all here Monday for the first meeting!

Monday

Meeting 2-Tuesday

Feel free to turn the music off, but not until you've listened all the way through at least once, because these songs were chosen not only for being on the walking theme, but also to give you a good half hour plus perfect walking rhythm. It starts with a good brisk pace, picks up a little speed for a short time, back to the nice brisk pace, and then a nice slowdown to bring it home with. I like to take quiet walks most of the time, but those days when I need a little extra push to get started are when the I-pod goes walking with me. No one can mope around to the Tennessee Birdwalk, pmsl! Now let's get this meeting started--

Thanks to everybody for filling out the questionaires from Monday's class. Now I can tailor this project to meet our specific needs and abilities. It looks like we're all into this for our health, with some of us wanting to see some weight loss, too, so I'm going to use that as the main perspective, with some emphasis on nutrition, injuries and overall health. I have learned a lot researching this project, and I hope you all learn a few new things along the way, too.

(and yes, I'll fix the graphic on Monday's post, I forgot the copyright & one of you are bound to point out that I know better, so I'll try to get it done before Cuddz tries to take her copyright scissors to the blog! --ouch, dammit, don't poke ME with 'em, either!)

Today's Mini Lecture:

One of the best benefits of regular exercise for women is that it can help improve bone health, a serious health issue for women as they age. Did you all know that by age 30 most of us are already experiencing some bone loss? And, depending on several other factors such as heredity, diet & exercise--or lack of it--bone loss can even begin in our teens and twenties? There's not a darn thing I can do about your gene pool, but diet & exercise is what this project is all about. So let's discuss diet as it relates to bone loss over the next few days. Today I've got a list for you of everyday foodstuff that has been proven to contribute to bone loss.

Calcium sapping foods

SALT

Salt saps calcium from the bones. For every 2300 mg of sodium that you take in, you lose about 40 mg of calcium. Most of us ingest more than double the 2300 mg/day standard. The biggest problem is processed foods.
Foods to avoid:
processed & deli meats (also linked to colon cancer)
frozen meals
canned soup
pizza
fast food
canned vegetables

CAFFEINE

For every 100 mg of caffeine you take in, you lose 6 mg of calcium. Although tea and coffee contain a lot of caffeine, one of the biggest calcium grabbers out there, soft drinks, are the worst here, because not only are they high in caffeine, but also because the carbonation is usually from phosporic acid, which also increases the rate at which calcium is excreted in urine. It's thought to be a leading factor in the formation of kidney stones, a very painful condition.

VITAMIN A

Recent research has shown that you really can get too much of a good thing. The modern diet, full of eggs and full-fat milk is rich in Vitamin A, which is important for vision and the immune system. But most fortified foods, such as packaged breakfast cereals, also contain Vitamin A, as do our daily multivitamins. So it's possible to get much more than the recommended 5,000 mg/day, which most researchers think is already too high. Research has shown that women who exceed 5,000 IU's/day had more than twice the bone fracture rate of women whose intake was 1,600 IU's/day. What to do? Switch to low fat or nonfat dairy products only, and check your multivitamin. If it's high in Vitamin A, switch to a different brand.

ALCOHOL

Think of alcohol as a calcium blocker. It prevents the bone-building minerals we eat from being absorbed. It also blocks osteoblasts, the bone-building cells, from doing their job, so if you do get a fracture, you'll heal more slowly.

HYDROGENATED OILS

In addition to the other harm they cause, hydrogenated oils have lost their Vitamin K, which is the little goodie that makes our blood clot, and it's essential for strong bones. Natural vegetable oils, such as olive & cannola oil are the richest sources of this necessary nutrient, with dark leafy vegetables such as spinach running a distant second.


The solution? Less baked goods, unless you bake at home with non-hydrogenated oils, and more dark green leafy vegetables.

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Today's Walk: 15-30 minutes at a steady pace, finish with 5-10 minutes at a more controlled, slower pace than your usual walk. Just take it down half a notch, it gives your muscles as well as your heart a nice slowdown. At the halfway point raise your arms & give yourself a good stretch. You can pause to stretch out your upper body, or you can do it as you walk.

Always keep your arms moving in rhythm with your walk, it not only adds to your workout, it also improves your circulation as well as your balance.

Todays homework (reply in the comments area, please)

Be honest about how you eat-- which of these calcium sappers are you most guilty of? Tell me your guilty secrets & also give me a short plan on how you'll improve these areas.

See you tomorrow, happy walking!

6 comments:

  1. I can improve on every single one of these points. We've gotten into the habit of eating pizza once a week, and I've always just grabbed MickeyD's for lunch when I'm working. I also discovered that the vitamin I've been taking had waaaaaay too much Vitamin A in it, a full days' dose, in fact! So, no more pizza for this pitiful Italian girl, no more fast foods, and I'm going shopping for new vitamins today. Oh, moan, I'm gonna miss my pizza!

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  2. I'm guilty of eating pizza about twice a month and drinking soda's,
    although these days I'm drinking more water,about 10 cups a day.
    Everyone here is trying to cut back and lose weight so no fast food for us. we only eat fresh veggies, with plenty of dark greens
    as well as corn on occasion. because it's so hot I have been doing a cardio program on TV, but I do make myself walk in the morning before
    it get too hot.I don't drink alcohol and we use canola oil most of the time...well no more pizza for me and ease up on the soda....also need to start taking a multi vitamin Thanks Sarah for the info

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  3. I'm not bad on the Pizza front. I'll make my own over shop/takeout pizza which is probably better for me. I'm also already using low fat dairy as I'm watching my weight. I bake my own bread and cakes as I have a low tolerance to yeast and processed bread has about 10 times too much yeast! People.. you need like a half teaspoon to make a loaf rise! The alcohol and caffine is a big thing for me. I'm trying to give up Coke to reduce caffine. I'm guilty of canned soup and deli meats.. I'm going to get back to making homemade soup. and I'm thinking if i do a roast on a sunday night I can carve it for meat for sandwiches for the rest of the week. (I can bag and freeze). I'm not one to take vitamin pills as it can be dangerous if you are taking too much so I'll adjust my diet to help out.

    Psst. .can't hear the music in my country boooo

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  4. What? NONE of it? Grrr, off to see what I can do about that!

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  5. nope "due to licensing restrictions" I can't ever hear that type.. I can only hear mixpod ones

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  6. Guess Im a bit klate replying to this...didnt realise you were leaving answers in comments lol.
    As I have already started my diet through my dietician before we started this I dont eat anything on your list.
    Whoooo Hooo good ole me hehehe.
    xxxx

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