Let's Move, York

Just Say Yes!

Posted on February 6, 2012 by barb lefko

So, did your motivation to be become Younger Next Year fade when 2011 ended? Not unlike my motivation to blog more regularly – I apologize for that, but won’t “should” on myself. And, have your New Year’s resolutions to try again to be Younger Next Year been long forgotten? Do you think you are the only one who fails to follow through on commitments to “get moving” and “get fit”? Well, you are not – all the people who have read this blog and all the people who are (or should be) involved in “Let’s Move, York” have failed at times to follow Harry’s Rules. The only difference between those who succeed and those who fail is that those who fail JUST SAY YES - just as Chris exhorts us to do in Chapter 19, “Connect and Commit”. Those, who eventually succeed, fail to follow Harry’s Rules equally as often as those who succeed – they just refuse to “should on themselves” as often as those who fail. When that little guy in their head says they don’t have the guts to try again, they answer with a resounding “YES, I DO!”

Chris calls this attitude the “default-to-yes” mode. Think about how often we reflexly choose to say NO – like I did the other day. John had asked me to go out for a run with him. It was the last thing I had on my “to-do” list for that day and my initial reaction was even one of annoyance that he put me in the position of having to consider it. Then, I remembered my lecturing him earlier in the day about needing to JUST SAY YES more often and looked in the mirror at my own behavior. Got my running gear on and headed out the door with him. Know what? I ended up going more miles than I had grudgingly said I would do. And, I felt great! And decided that Harry and Chris should have subtitled Younger Next Year, JUST SAY YES!

After all, if we JUST SAY YES to every one of Harry’s Rules more often than we say no, we will all be younger next year. If we persist in saying “no” we will most certainly be older functionally, as well as chronologically, next year. Now, that we’ve covered all the rules, we just need to help each other stay with the program. Harry and Chris never said it would be easy – and its NOT. That’s where “Let’s Move,York” comes in. There’s a much better chance of success if we pick each other up when we fall and if we challenge each other to JUST SAY YES when the NO word rolls off our tongues. In the next phase of “Let’s Move, York” and in the coming months, we will be sharing the stories of fellow York countians who have chosen to JUST SAY YES more often than not – and who are happy to tell us about their journey to becoming “younger next year”. I think we’ll find out that they are just like us – not super jocks or even super humans – just people whose vocabularies have more YES words than NOs.

Posted in Caring, Commitment, Connections, Fitness, Motivation | Leave a comment

A Role Model for CARING, CONNECTING AND COMMITING

Posted on December 19, 2011 by barb lefko

Even though Thanksgiving is a distant memory and Christmas and the New Year are upon us, for me the entire season is about gratitude. Gratitude for what I have to be thankful for and sharing that gratitude with those around me. When Harry formulated Rules #6 and 7, CARE, CONNECT AND COMMIT I’m thinking it must have been this time of year. On Thanksgiving morning, I thought a lot about these rules while running the Turkey Trot with 13 grade school girls from Southern Elementary’s “Girls on the Run” program. I realized how grateful I am that, at 60 years of age, I have been given the opportunity to run alongside youngsters more than 50 years younger than me and show them that fitness is not only life enhancing, but fun. And, as I ran through the streets of York with the girls, I hoped that some of the record turnout for the race this year were folks who had been positively impacted by “Let’s Move, York…” Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Try This Exercise!

Posted on November 15, 2011 by barb lefko

In the final chapters of Younger Next Year, Harry and Chris tell us that no matter how well we follow rules 1 through 6, if we really want to succeed at being younger next year, we need to take Rule # 7 very seriously - CONNECT AND COMMIT. They go so far as to infer that we can exercise until the cows come home, but if we don’t simultaneously CONNECT AND COMMIT, we will perish.

Chris sites a number of population studies that all reach the same scientific conclusion that without human connections, humans fail to thrive, get sick, and die young. In the one study he describes infant orphans that were isolated in germ free environments to lessen their chance of dying from an infectious disease – and in a cruel twist of fate, died in droves; while the control group who had been given old-fashioned, non-sterile TLC lived! He talks about the well-known research into the fact that married people are healthier than their single counterparts. And, my personal favorite piece of research that Chris writes about is a study of the effect of a drug known as a beta-blocker, in men being discharged from the hospital after suffering a heart attack, on the prevention of a second attack. The men given the beta-blocker were also defined by social group – whether or not they were married or single. And, even though the study proved it’s hypothesis that men who did not receive a beta-blocker, were twice as likely to sustain a second heart attack, it incidentally identified that single men were four times as likely to have one! Chris points out that, as a result of this study, “almost all good hospitals routinely give beta-blockers now, but virtually no one inquires into, or does anything about, loneliness and isolation.” In fact, most hospitals have drastically cut the number of social workers over the past decade so we don’t have a clue if patients have a support system (or pack) when they leave. That’s why Harry says the practice of medicine in America “drives him crazy”. A classic example of giving good “medicine” but not good “health” care.

Speaking of taking care of our hearts. In all the previous chapters of the book, Harry and Chris, repeatedly emphasize that daily, hard exercise, will not only make us “younger next year”, but keep our tickers strong and healthy. Now, when they are trying to convince us of the absolute necessity of connecting and committing, they point out these studies that prove we will be healthier if we are part of a pack. But they stopped short of driving home the recommendation that I believe is absolutely fool-proof when it comes to getting and staying healthy. Trite as it sounds, if we could bottle this medical advice, America’s health care deficit would be wiped out!! Don’t just be part of a pack. Don’t just be picky about your pack. Do IT FOR OTHERS. Harry limits this advice to a single paragraph in the summary chapter, ”Relentless Optimism”, writing: ”one of the roads you should try in the next part of your life …. is the road to altruism.” He says “… a lot of people have taken it, and they all recommend it”. Harry is right, if not very understated! I believed in Harry’s seven rules before ever seeing them in print because of an altruistic endurance training program called Team in Training. While I am not here to endorse this one specific program, I am here to tell you that their methods work – and there are dozens of charity training programs you can choose from to join – as I highly recommend you do. Remember my blog from July 5th, “Exercise Your Independence”, about needing a group, a goal and some gumption. These groups work because you sign up to do a specific endurance event, like a marathon or a triathlon (your goal). You train with others who have the same goal (your group). And you help others (your gumption) by getting sponsors for your event and raising money for the organization’s cause which is often to help people with cancer or some other disease. I have done too-many-to-count events for Team in Training over the past 11 years, and I have guided hundreds of others through the program as well. And, I can tell you, that the people that do these kind of things (whether for Team in Training, the American Cancer Society, LiveSTRONG, the MS Society – I could go on and on) have not only the healthiest hearts in the world, but the biggest ones too! And in a paradoxical, sort-of ironic sense, exercising for the sake of helping others is highly contagious – if we could only get this “infectious disease” up to epidemic proportions we’d wipe out so many chronic diseases that the people who practice only medicine and not health care would be out of a job!

After several years of experience with seeing the profound impact of programs like Team in Training on people’s lives and health, I came across a quote by American Author and Minister, John A. Holmes, that sounds like something Harry and Chris could have, and I believe should have, said. “There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting other people up.” In fact, I believe this so strongly that I wish Harry had made it Rule # 8. Try exercising for others. It might do more than make you “younger next year”; it just might save your life while you’re saving that of someone else!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Be Picky About Your Pack

Posted on October 27, 2011 by barb lefko

Henry insists that we find a pack in the chapters of Younger Next Year that talk about Caring, Connecting and Committing – Rules # 6 and 7. He says in Chapter 18: ”We evolved as social pack animals, like wolves and dolphins”, and throughout the book, repeatedly tells us: ”It’s not a choice; our survival depends on being part of a group.” Even in the early chapters of the book, Chris alluded to the necessity of being part of a pack and encouraged us to find someone/anyone to join us in this journey to becoming younger next year. For the record, I agree. But, please, please – don’t make it just someone or anyone; be very picky about your pack!

In last week’s blog about limbic resonance (“The Limbic Dance is a Circle”), we looked at how interactions happen every time we are in the presence of others that unconsciously mold our emotional reactions to any situation. And if Henry is right (as I believe he is) that emotions are the dominant force in almost every situation we find ourselves in, then we’d better be pretty picky about who we do that limbic dance with – who we prowl around with in our pack. In Henry’s summary paragraph on “The Dance of Life”, he offers that “how you live, and how you think about it, is a big part of how your life goes, so there is a real premium on having positive emotions.” And, he tells us to use our human, conscious brain to create these environments – or packs – so that the positive behaviors we want to foster are influencing us. So … be picky about your pack – your limbic life depends on it.

Lately, this theme seems to be invading my consciousness every time I turn around – so I’m taking that as a signpost to share it with my “Lets Move, York…” pack. My current, favorite book, Mile Markers, by Kristin Armstrong (yes, that’s Lance’s ex-) is a collection of blog posts and pieces she has written for Runner’s World and other publications. One of the most thought provoking entries in the book, for me, is entitled “Surrounded” (read it at http://milemarkers.runnersworld.com/2009/01/surrounded.html). It alludes to the type of limbic resonance that Henry does – only with practical applications. Kristin muses that we unconsciously alter our behavior depending on our audience – or pack, as Henry would have it. Like – how ”…our driving improves and we are careful about our speed when we see a police car on the side of the road. Or how we double check our spelling and our grammar when we hold the recipient of our letter in high regard. Or how we stand up straighter when talking to our yoga instructor. Or how we choose our language more carefully when we know our children are listening. Or the way new love generates an excess of thoughtfulness.” Kristin goes on to suggest that we should choose our relationships by surrounding ourselves with those who emulate what we want to be like – “…whose standards subconsciously raise (our) own.” Again – limbic resonance imploring us to be a picky pack picker!

And, I am blessed to spend some of my afternoons coaching girls more than 5 generations younger than me as part of the awesome program called Girls on the Run, where we teach this same lesson about being picky about your pack. Molly Barker, founder of Girls on Run, labels the lesson “It’s Okay to Choose Our Friends!” and through games and run workouts, convinces 8, 9, and 10 year-olds of the importance of being intentional about our friendships (or packs) if we want to bring out the best in us. The insights that grade-schoolers share in our sessions about this need for limbic resonance convinces me that Henry Lodge is absolutely accurate in his theory that we are indeed pack driven creatures.

So, if you are serious about “moving” and following Harry’s Rules be picky about your pack. Find someone or someone(s) who value exercise -maybe even someone(s) who intimidate you – and, as Chris would say, “cuddle” up to them. Join a program like Team in Training – google charity endurance training programs for tons of options. Find someone(s) who values good nutrition – and ask them for their “secrets” of eating right. Find someone(s) who acts way younger than their age, and spend some time with them to see what they’re doing differently than you. Find someone who loves Younger Next Year and pick their brain about how they follow the rules. If you are a picky pack picker, the rules will not just be dictums to force yourself to follow – they will subconsciously seep into your life and shape your behavior. ”Let’s Move, York…” can be one of these packs, if we all care, connect and commit.

Posted in Caring, Commitment, Connections | Leave a comment

The Limbic Dance is a Circle

Posted on October 20, 2011 by barb lefko

As with all the other rules in Younger Next Year, Chris introduces them, then, in the next chapter, Harry gives us the scientific evidence to try to convince us that we have no choice but to follow that rule – if we want to become younger. Chapter 18, “The Limbic Brain and the Biology of Emotion” is Harry’s theory on the biologically imperative need to embrace Rule # 6, CARE - and embrace others in the process. He puts the need to care into an evolutionary framework. First, we had reptilian brains – primitive structures with only self-centered, fight or flight responses to environmental stimuli. Then our brains evolved to the mammalian limbic brains that dole out chemicals bringing the caring emotions like love, joy, parenting and pleasure into play. Millions of years later we actually earned the evolutionary prizes of language and thinking that makes us, not just mammals, but human. Harry helps me get a grasp of what this all means to me, personally, when he writes: ”We are primitives, we are mammals and we are humans, all at once. And the three brains are intricately wired together. What that means for the limbic brain is that conscious thoughts and the actions they generate shoot back huge streams of information to the limbic system. Thoughts and emotions are partners in a never-ending tango: a dance of life, with no solos. Thoughts and emotions alternate the lead, but careful research has shown that, most of the time, our emotions are Fred Astaire. . . they take the lead.” And, Harry adds “to make it more complex, our physical actions (primitive brain) cut in on the dance floor, too, sharing the lead with our emotions.” Sounds like the limbic circle to me – primitive reactions, limbic emotions and cognitive rational thinking all sashaying and intertwining to the music of life.

Harry goes on to tell us that whenever we are in groups – or packs, as he says we are genetically mandated to be a part of – this limbic circle subtly weaves its web around us. Physical and chemical reactions and interactions happen every time we are in the presence of others – that unconsciously mold our emotional reactions to any situation. Harry calls it limbic resonance, and says “it happens every second that you spend with other people. You are always tuning in to those around you, changing their moods, and being changed by them in turn in a constant limbic dance.”

Well, last weekend I got to see this Limbic Dance evolve right in front of my eyes. I have read Harry’s explanations of limbic resonance at least a dozen times but never did I “get it” like I did last Sunday when I was part of the circle. That morning, I helped coach the 70+ Team in Training participants who ran or walked the Hershey Half-Marathon in the “Sweetest Place on Earth”. When most of our Team had already finished the race, I got a call about a runner who was injured and had fallen back behind what we call the “sweep” vehicle at Mile 9. Typically, when this happens, a participant is no longer able to continue, as the course is being closed down so regular traffic can resume. In this case, race officials decided our Team in Training runner (who now was a walker/hobbler) could proceed but would be unsupported by the event support staff. Our participant initially reacted with her primitive brain – she fought for her survival on the course. Hearing about this unfortunate turn of events, and seeing her response, triggered the mammalian, caring instinct in several of the coaches still out on the course and we took over her support – walking with her to the Finish, keeping her survival instinct intact to keep moving forward, providing her fluids – when water stations were closed and guiding her when the course was being torn down. As we traversed the last 4 miles of the Race, very slowly, word spread back to the Finish Line about what was transpiring and the human, conscious brains reacted. As our injured runner approached what used to be the official Finish Line, a very HUMAN, CARING group of Team in Training angels had formed a make-shift Finish Line replete with banner, cowbells, cheering and hugs – not to mention her medal. There were few dry eyes observing this ultimate example of Limbic Resonance!

Next month, when I blog about Rule #7, we’ll look at Chris and Harry’s thoughts on “connecting”, but it’s impossible to CARE without connecting and this example of what groups like Team in Training can do to make that happen is spot-on. And the amazing thing that happens when we do this limbic dance in the environment of exercise is that it makes it almost impossible not to also follow all of Harry’s other Rules. So, go find yourself a group to work-out with, let the limbic resonance happen and get out on the dance floor of life. You’ll be using all of your brains – AND CARING - and be Younger Next Year.

Posted in Caring, Connections, Exercise | Leave a comment

Who Cares?

Posted on October 12, 2011 by barb lefko

Do you think the action word in “Let’s Move, York” is only about putting one foot in front of the other? It’s not. It’s not just about exercising our bodies every day – it’s also about exercising our minds – caring about what we’re doing with the rest of our lives. In Part Two of Younger Next Year, “Take Charge of Your Life”, Henry and Chris diverge from their missives of how to take care of our bodies and tell us that we also need to take care of all the other “stuff” that makes up our life – our connections like family and friends, our activities, our beliefs.

So, Rule # 6 is simply: CARE.

Want to know how to be older next year? Quit caring!! Chris introduces Rule #6 in Chapter 17, telling us that “once you’ve taken charge of your body, you have to think about taking charge of your life” and paints a portrait of Teddy, a childhood classmate of his, as the polar opposite of someone who cares. Teddy sat in the back of every class, never answered questions, never was prepared for tests, never got involved in clubs or sports; just drifted along in school – and later in life. No passion. No life. Aren’t we all like Teddy at some point?? Chris warns us that, as we age, Teddy’s inertia will threaten to take over our personality more and more. He says, “at some juncture, some dark and stormy night when you can’t sleep, some dreary Monday morning when you’ve lost interest in yourself and others, there is an almost irresistible temptation to say, ‘Who gives a *&#* (insert your favorite 4 letter word)?’.” And, the answer, Chris says, has to be: ”I do. Or you’re cooked.” Or older. Or dead. If you don’t care, who will?

Take this example – for what it’s worth. This summer I was unable to complete that “kedging” trip I blogged about in early August – (www.yorkblog.com/letsmoveyork/kedging-priceless)
after I fell on the third day of my bike ride, on wet railroad tracks, near Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, and broke my collarbone. I’d invested a lot of myself into that trip – training my butt off in the hot weeks leading up to it, fundraising a good bit of money, confronting my fears of being the last cyclist out every day and then sleeping in a crowded gym with 80+ strangers who had more right to be there than me. So, when I sat in the support vehicle for the remainder of the trip, watching all the “capable” cyclists ride by, it was a demoralizing feeling. I decided within 12 hours of the crash that I would go back, after my fracture was healed, and ride every last one of the miles I missed. ”Why?”, many of my well-meaning friends, would ask, when I told them of my plan. ”Nobody cares.” Not even Teddy! Well, I do! Yesterday, I rode over those railroad tracks that have taunted me since August 3rd:

And, I slept better last night for it. I care – that I made a commitment to ride every mile from West Virginia to Eastern PA. I care – that my donors expected me to do just that when they sent me money. I care – that I have unfinished business that gets in the way of “moving” forward when it pops into my conscience. And, I still have 177 miles of the ride to do – but I care enough to get ‘em done. And I will. My Mom didn’t ask “why”; she just told me I’m courageous. Sometimes, it takes courage to care when everyone else doesn’t.

Will this caring make me feel younger next year? Nothing is guaranteed, but last night, after crossing those tracks and finishing the rest of that day’s ride, I felt like the weight of the world was off my shoulders – or, should I say, collarbones. I slept like a baby. And, this morning, I’m ready to tackle the logistics necessary to do the rest of the ride. I don’t look any younger, but I feel it today.

Samuel Ullman, author of the poem Youth that General Douglas MacArthur kept on his office wall for motivation, must have had a Teddy in his first grade class too. In his poem beginning “youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind”, he implores us to keep caring with the observation that “…nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.” Or worse, puts a major wrinkle in our lives – Chris tells us that Teddy died young. He just didn’t care!

Posted in Connections, Cycling, Exercise, Motivation, Science of Aging | Leave a comment

Put Your Mind Where Your Mouth Is

Posted on September 30, 2011 by barb lefko

So, why should we follow Rule #5,

“Quit Eating Crap”

if it’s true, as I said in my blog entry “Fitness is a Low Fat Diet” on 9-13-11, that escalating exercise will eventually get us down to the weight we want to be? Because eating crap, or as Harry defines crap – free sugar and starch – does a lot more than put pounds on us. It ages us prematurely – and it may even kill us. It is the cause, or largely contributes to the onset, of a heck of a lot of the lifestyle diseases for which Harry treats patients at way-too-early-an-age in his Manhattan based practice. Things like diabetes, heart disease, hypercholesterlemia, obesity, cancer, strokes! In Chapter 15, “The Biology of Nutrition: Thinner Next Year”, Harry explains how “The White Foods” (potatoes, white bread, white rice, white pasta) trigger a chain reaction of hypersecretion of insulin and gastric acid, followed by conversion of the excess energy (sugar) to fat, then plummeting blood sugar – which in turn sends you off looking for more to eat! Then the vicious cycle starts all over again. Harry urges us to stop this “…ultra-rapid cycling between gluttony and starvation” because it signals decay, plays havoc with our physiology and sets the stage for those nasty lifestyle diseases. He implores us to “…not go on a diet, but quit eating crap. No matter what else (we) do, cut out the junk. Cut out the starch and the sugar, and replace them with fruits, vegetables and whole grains – primitive, unrefined grains like pumpernickel and seven-grain bread. Quit eating more than you want. Say no to supersize portions, whether it’s fries at the fast-food place or popcorn at the movies.”

Brian Wansink, Ph.D, food psychologist and Director of Cornell University’s Food and Brand Laboratory, tells us how to do just what Harry recommends in his scientific, but very humorous, book Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think.

Wansink uses case studies to show us that we consume so much of our food “mindlessly” and that these mindless behaviors can add 200 or 300 calories to our diet each day and up to 20 or 30 excess pounds in the course of a year. Practical suggestions at the end of each chapter help the reader to make the simple changes that will allow you to “put your mind where your mouth is” and lose 2 or 3 pounds per month without resorting to conventional diet techniques that are doomed to failure. Like Harry and Chris, Brian Wansink, debunks the value of “dieting”. I first read the book two years ago – and am still hearing the admonition – “that’s mindless eating” – when I go for that extra helping or think I need to clean my plate. If you are wanting something besides Younger Next Year to put on your “Let’s Move, York..” recommended reading list, get this book! And “Quit Eating Crap”, but put your mind where your mouth is!

Posted in Healthy Eating, Nutrition | Leave a comment

The Big Walk – Sunday, September 25 – It’s Not Just About the Walk

Posted on September 18, 2011 by barb lefko

“Let’s Move, York…”, if you’ve been reading this blog and its newspaper host, is about getting Yorkies physically active and changing our community’s ranking on the List of Most Obese metropolitan areas. This grassroots organization formed in response to “The Fat Battleground” series published in the York Daily Record last year. We’re using the platform of the book, Younger Next Year, and the seven rules promulgated by one of the book’s authors, Henry Lodge, M.D, to inspire our readers to turn back their biological clocks through exercising the body, the mind and the spirit. We’ve organized several community events all aimed at getting people up and moving.

Next Sunday, September 25th, we will host our last “Big Walk” for 2011:

THE BIG WALK

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Rain or Shine!

1:00 p.m.

York County Rail Trail

(Brillhart Station at Days Mill Road)

Have we made any headway in York? Have we changed any lifestyles? Has anyone read the book, Younger Next Year, and, more importantly, incorporated Harry’s Rules into their life? We want to know. So, next Sunday, we want it to be more than about the walking. We want to hear your story – because it is your stories, your moments of victory, and even your discouraging moments, that will inspire others to take those first tentative steps toward an active lifestyle. In the weeks and months following the walk, we will showcase your stories regularly in the York Daily Record and on-line on the blog. It is our hope that, in this way, we will achieve some of Harry’s most important rules.

Harry’s final rules (which the blog will be exploring over the next few months) tell us to CARE, CONNECT AND COMMIT. ”Let’s Move, York…” will only be successful if everyone involved with the movement CARES about reaching every corner of our community with the news that “moving” is the answer to a happier, healthier life. It will only be successful if we all CONNECT to find ways to get the job done. And, it will only be successful if we all COMMIT to the belief that we can take charge of our own and our community’s health. So, come to “The Big Walk” next Sunday – but remember it’s not just about the walk. It’s really about CARING, CONNECTING AND COMMITTING! Bring your friends, your family, anyone you care enough about to help them get healthier and get moving. If you won’t come for you, come for them. ”Let’s Move, York…” TOGETHER.

Posted in Connections, Exercise, Inspiration, Walking | 1 Comment

Fitness is a Low Fat Diet

Posted on September 13, 2011 by barb lefko

“Let’s Move, York…” (off the obesity list), despite this moniker, is not about losing weight. Neither is Younger Next Year. That’s why:

Harry’s Rule #5 – QUIT EATING CRAP!

is my least favorite one to blog about. But, it’s also why Chapter 14 in the book is my favorite – “DON’T YOU LOSE A #!/%*&@#! POUND”.
You’ll have to read the book to fill in the bolded blank, but if Chris’s word offends you, please don’t discount his logic. He is so right!

My first “reading” of the book was actually by listening to the audiotape and when Chris’s words spilled out of the CD player in my car, I felt like calling up all my overweight friends and screaming into the phone, “I told you so – Diets Don’t Work”. Chris Crowley just said so. For years, as I had become more and more enmeshed in a lifestyle of fitness, I had urged my friends to join me – to quit wasting time – and money – on the latest diet fad. I told them my story of gradual weight loss – and more importantly a slow, subconscious transition to healthier food choices as a result of my escalating exercise. The adage that you can’t put cheap fuel in an expensive car and expect it to perform well clearly applied the first time I went out for a run after my “usual” Saturday morning diet of doughnuts. Nothing convinces you to make the right food choice (doughnuts vs. oatmeal) better than trying to find a patch of secluded cornfield along the road you are running on to eliminate the offending wrong choice. Now, here, right in Chapter 14, was my validation. Diets don’t work; Exercise Does.

And, do you want to know the best thing about this transformation to healthier eating? It is totally painless, because it is subconscious. I don’t sit around counting calories, planning low fat meals, attending diet therapy sessions. Nor do I sit around ruminating about all the things I can’t eat anymore because they’re not on my list of approved foods. I eat what I want, as much as I want, and when I want. I just don’t want to eat crap anymore most of the time – and when I do, I usually feel bad on it and that’s the best negative reinforcement I need to not make that mistake real soon again.

If you are having trouble believing me, here’s part of the scientific explanation behind Chris and Harry’s claim that diets don’t work. By exercising six days a week (Remember Rule #1), you are “…building up your muscle mass over time, …… and muscles require a lot more food, a lot more energy, just for maintenance, than does fat. More mitochondria burning away, night and day, whether you’re doing anything or not. So, once you get in shape, you’re constantly burning more energy, even when you’re not working out.” That’s calories, friends. That’s fat. That’s weight loss. Without ever dieting. Diets – or even healthy food choices – will never build a single muscle fiber. Only exercise will do that. So, “Let’s Move, York” and as Chris ends Chapter 14 more delicately than he began it: “Thin will take care of itself.”

Posted in Healthy Eating, Nutrition, Wellness | Leave a comment

No Tolls on this Road

Posted on September 1, 2011 by barb lefko

So, are you wondering why Harry thought the advice to SPEND LESS THAN YOU MAKE warranted being one of his seven rules? Harry and Chris really do want us to be happy -no matter what age we are. And they built the seven rules on that premise. Money doesn’t buy happiness – fitness does. Becoming “younger next year” will make you happy. All makes sense, right?

Chris explains further in Chapter 13, “Chasing the Iron Bunny”. He tells us American culture has sold us a bill of goods – convincing us to chase the Iron Bunny of material possessions and status. Chris says “…we’ve been persuaded that we are what we make”, and what we have, instead of what we are; then reminds us of the many studies that prove that “…above the poverty level, there is no correlation between money and happiness.”

He suggests taking the road less travelled – let me show you the way:

First, let me borrow words from another of my favorite authors, Dean Karnazes to help you make this leap of faith that becoming younger next year will make it easier to spend less than you make. Dean is a legend in the ultramarathon world and one of the most inspirational writers I know. In his most recent book, Run!, Dean gives his own interpretation of where “moving” [Let's Move, York...] should be on the scale of things that matter to us. In his initial chapter in the book, Dean sums it up this way. ”The human body was made to move. Everything about us was designed for locomotion, engineered for movement. Our modern world, however, invites just the opposite: idleness. We go from air-conditioned cars to the elevators of our climate-controlled buildings to our comfortable office chairs. Modern rationale equates comfort and convenience [and the money it takes to buy it] – the total absence of pain and struggle – with happiness.” Dean goes on to say that he believes just the opposite – and I am certain Harry and Chris would agree. “We’ve grown so comfortable, we’re miserable.” Dean says he feels most alive when he’s pushing his body to perform – to persevere against tough challenges. And, while I will never presume to know the level to which a man like Dean Karnzes can push himself, I can relate to the feeling of utter satisfaction that I feel when I have achieved a new, personal-best physical goal. No material purchase I have ever made has given me anywhere near that level of satisfaction – even if it was money-back guaranteed. No one can take away the feeling of pride and accomplishment obtained by reaching a goal that you’ve been training for over an extended time.

But, this shift of mindset doesn’t happen overnight – gradually, as fitness (and moving) become your new lifestyle, the material things (cars, houses, clothes, vacations) that spend our money before it’s earned (spending more than we make) decrease dramatically in priority. Chasing the Iron Bunny is seen for what it is – something the marketing industry has cleverly “sold” us. Harry and Chris use a terrific analogy, in the final chapters of the book to describe the transition from “chasing the Iron Bunny” to “becoming younger next year”. They liken it to exiting the super highway of a life of status seeking and accumulating things and detouring onto a scenic, meandering back road without traffic jams or rush hours. The only vehicle needed for this journey is your “younger next year” body and you’ll find no tolls on this scenic route. You’ll spend way less than you make!

Posted in Fitness, Money | Leave a comment