Posts filed under ‘Health’
The risks of marathon running
Some interesting numbers in this article about the risks of marathon running:
- based on data from 300 marathons per year, the number of finishers increased dramatically between 2000 and 2009, from 299,018 to 473,354
- the risk of dying during or soon after running a marathon is low: .75 per 100,000
- yearly incidence of injury in people marathon training is as high as 90 percent
- average finishing time of those 300 marathons per year from 2000 to 2009 hasn’t changed too much: 4 hours and 35 minutes
(Average time is 4 hours and 35 minutes? That makes my finish time in my very first marathon two weeks ago waaaay above average — yep, totes tooting my own horn! Toot, toot!)
(And the Build-a-Head video above — should I get some glam shots of myself taken for oversize cutouts from Build-a-Head of my face for my cheer squad to have so I can be sure to find them along the route? …or maybe I should just get the Chace Crawford ones the dude in the video is holding — I know those signs would get my attention! :)
Eating healthy isn’t more expensive
With $1 items on fast-food menus, it might seem that eating junk food high in sugar and fat is cheaper than eating healthy foods.
But a new study conducted by the Agriculture Department in the U.S. has found that when you look at it from a portion or weight (food weight, that is) perspective, eating veggies, fruit, grains and dairy products is less costly than eating foods high in sugar, saturated fats and salt.
So you can save your health and some money by eating well.
Which’ll give you more money to spend on sweet buys, such as this Banjo and Matilda cashmere heart sweater. It’s incentive enough (other than, of course, the incentive of good health and all!), dontcha think?
Go take a hike
No, really — can someone tell me how to take a hike?
Or rather where I can go take a hike.
I only seem to get the opportunity to hike when I’m traveling. I’ve done some great ones in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Scottsdale and Rwanda (OK, one of the hikes in Rwanda could be more accurately described as absolutely terrifying than “great”…more on that another time).
But I have no clue how to go about hiking in Toronto…or is Toronto not a hiking sorta city? Can someone tell me? (Note: I do not have a car)
Anyhow, yesterday I finally had the chance to check out Evergreen Brick Works with Wolverine (they’re the makers of rugged, outdoorsy footwear and apparel) where we did a “hike” (the quotation marks are because it was more of a very, very brief jaunt, followed by a super delicious lunch). It sure is purdy up at Brick Works (that’s where we hiked above).
We were trying out their new Wolverine Individual Comfort System. What is it? In their shoes outfitted with ICS, there’s an orange rubbery disc that you can turn and adjust based on the type of support your foot needs. You place the disc according to the stabilization that’s comfortable for you.
Yahn Lebo, product line manager with Wolverine, advises turning the disc gradually (rather than from one extreme to another) when testing out different settings so your foot can adjust more smoothly to the change. And if you use orthotics, he suggests putting the ICS on the cushioning setting. I asked if you can injure yourself by having it in the wrong setting, and Lebo said you’d notice symptoms (such as a blister) before you actually do any harm to yourself with the wrong setting of the ICS.
Now if only I knew where to hike….
WTH is WHtR?
Move over, BMI, there’s a new measurement in town.
A better predictor than BMI (that’s body-mass index, of course) of certain health risks is WtHR aka waist-to-height ratio. The findings, which are being presented at the 19th European Congress for Obesity, show that WtHR is better at detecting risk factors for conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, abnormal body fat levels and metabolic syndrome.
This suggests WtHR could be used as a screening tool for determining health risks, and the research shows that:
Your waist circumference should be less than half your height.
(Did that ratio make you pause? I know my gut reaction was to question it – but with our super-size-me lifestyles the world over, it’s not uncommon for one’s waist circumference to be greater than half one’s height).
Just another handy health tool your standard tape measure can be used for.
Although I kinda prefer a tape like the one above.
(Measuring tape mantra print, Modern Girl Blitz)
