Wall St Journal article

Today's Wall Street Journal published an article about vitamins.  The article is ery well written.  Key points: everyone's vitamin needs are different, The RDAs are very outdated.   

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304070104576397783641749972.html?mod=ITP_personaljournal_0

Anyway, remember the 3 Bs.  Breakfast, B Vitamins and Be Smart.

Breakfast How early?

Many men aren't hungry when they wake up. 
The point of starting your day with breakfast is to kick-start your metabolism.  Eating early in the day will maximize the number of hours your body is in 'high gear', so try to eat as early as you can.   For me, I start each morning with a glass of water (while waiting for the coffee to brew).  Then I eat a small breakfast, followed by my B-vitamin and another glass of water.  I've learned the hard way that vitamins are a lot better when taken with food, otherwise you might get nautious. 

This simple morning ritual gets TheMansDiet going early each day.  Now, all you have to worry about for the rest of the day is to make smarter decisions with your food and excercise.  

resolutions update

It's been a couple of weeks since New Years Day.  Hopefully, you're still on track to take better care of yourself.  If you've fallen off the wagon, it's OK.  Get back on track by simply committing to the three rules:

  Breakfast, B Vitamins, Be Smart.

Start with breakfast, any breakfast.  This is difficult for me and many people.  If you take any prescription medications along with your Vitamin B, you might get an upset stomache when you take your meds without food.  (Check the Rx labels to make sure it doesn't advise you to take on an empty stomache.)

Eat something, take your B vitamin (and other AM meds) and chug a full glass of water.   Make this part of your daily routine. 

What is The Man's Diet?

All diets work about the same way: burn more calories than you eat.  Whether it's a program where you buy your food from the program, count calories or carbs, or even those meal replacement diets (cookie diets) - they all require that you eat less calories than you burn.  The Mans Diet is no different, it's just smarter:  we take advantage of our metabolism to burn more calories.  We do this by jump-starting our metabolism with breakfast.  This gets our systems working early to burn more calories for more hours.  The B-vitamins boost the metabolism even more.   By being smart, we add some excercise and reduce the calories we eat. 

So what's the difference?  
 
 The Man's Diet is easy.  By changing our lifestyle little-by-little, it's no longer a diet!  We're just taking better care of our bodies by being smart.

Of course your doctor should have some input, especially if you have a serious health condition.  Every doctor I've discussed  The Mans Diet with agrees that this is a good aproach to better health,albeit some doctors have some other advice for men with special situations.

Send me your questions.  If I can't answer them, I'll find someone who can.

Be Smart walking article

Today's USA Today has a good article about walking:

http://usat.me?37187116

It's a bit more complicated than I think it needs to be, but a good message.

resolutions

Of course it's time for resolutions.  You've probably already picked yours.  If not, here are some suggestions (it's never too late to improve yourself):

Start taking care of yourself
Get healthy
Lose weight

 You can start right now by simply committing to eat breakfast and take your vitamins. 

Remember the mans diet 3 rules:  Breakfast, B Vitamins, Be Smart.

Be Smart The holidays

The holidays are difficult times to be on a 'diet'. 

Enjoy yourself.  Just be smart: only one helping of mashed potatoes, take a long walk after that holiday party.

More on leashes for your dog

The reason I recommend a short leash is to keep your dog focused on walking.  The long retactable leashes encourage your dog to wander ahead, then lag behind you.  The reason you are walking your dog is for YOUR excercise, not your dog's entertainment.  Use a short lease (in your left/non-dominant hand) and you just keep walking.  Your pooch will soon learn that lolly-gagging isn't an option.  She will learn rather quickly that walking is her job.


Be Smart: keep walking at least 20 minutes per day. 

Walking your dog

Since your walking 20 minutes (1 mile) every day, you might be a bit frustrated with your dog. She's likely a pain in the butt on your walks: stopping/sniffing/pulling a lot. She'll get the idea pretty quick if you stick with it.

Here are my three suggestions for walking with your dog:
use a harness. This will keep the leash up where she won't trip or tangle as much

use a short leash. The long retractable leashes encourage her to stop and smell the roses.

hold her leash in your left hand. You're likely right-handed, holding her leash will actually excercise your left arm whole you walk. It's also proper form to hold the leash on the left.

Be Smart Walk

Still not walking?  

Today: leave your home, walk away for ten minutes, turn around and come back. 

That's about a mile. 

You've probably wasted 20 minutes today already on the web. 

Breakfast Anything will do

My breakfast this morning (Hostess fruit pie) was probably not the smartest choice.  But the important thing is to east breakfast.  Anything will do. 

The goal is to kick-start your metabolism.  I probably had more calories than I should have, but my metabolism is definately up and running now.  I'll probably be hungry by noon.  That's a good sign that things are working.

Sure, a yogurt or fruit is best, but eat whatever you can as early as you can!

Be Smart drink more water

I don't know of too many men who drink 8 glasses of water per day.  You probably need to drink more than you already do, however.

I recommend a glass first thing in the morning.  Try to add another glass during the day.  Drink water with lunch.

If you can get a few more drinks of water in your day - you will feel a lot better!

Be Smart Walk you dog.

Walking with your dog is great excercise.  It's also a great way to improve your relationship with her.  She will absolutely love it.  My dog used to be a runner; everytime a door was open - she would bolt!  Now, after a few months of (almost) daily walks, she's a much better dog.  She doesn't run away anymore; maybe she was just curious about the outside world.  Now she is very attached to me.

Regular walks with your dog will keep you honest.  She'll remind you when it's time to take a walk.

Be Smart Talk to your doctor.

I suppose I should advise everyone to talk to their doctor before starting any 'diet'.  This is especially true if you have a serious health condition.  This does not apply if you are an aggressive driver; why take care of yourself when your just going to wind up killing yourself? 

Seriously guys - why do you tailgate?  You aren't getting there any quicker. 

B Vitamins. How much?

Most experts agree that you should get your vitamins from the food you eat, rather than from supplements.

This works only if you eat a well balanced diet. Most of us don't, which is why we're so pudgy.

I recommend that you supplement your diet with lower dosed vitamin B complex tablets. Look for those labeled 'B-50'.



The next time you see your doctor, ask him/her about it. Let us know.

Be Smart Walk

Take a walk.  Every day.  If you can find just 20 minutes in your day for some 'me' time, do it today.  At an average walking pace, you can walk 3 miles per hour, mile in 20 minutes.   You'll feel better.  I shouldn't have to tell you why walking is good for you, but I'll name a few:  cardio excersice, muscle excercise, fresh air, peace/quiet.

Lots more on walking coming up.    Tell us about your excercise program.

Breakfast. Fruit

This morning I had another perfect breakfast-a banana.

Quick, easy, no mess. And it was healthy!


More in fruit later. What's your favorite breakfast fruit?

Be Smart Talk to your doctor.

Every diet is supposed to advise you to talk to your doctor first.   This is smart.  Can you imagine some of those conversations? 

"Doc, I'm starting this new diet where I only eat spinach smoothies....."

What doctor in the world would endorse these fad diets?

The Mans Diet is different.  Tell your doctor that you're trying something you saw on the internet:

"Doc, I'm starting this diet where you eat breakfast, take B vitamins and make smart decisions about your health.  You know, things like adding some excersice, eating healthier etc.    What do you think?"

Any good doctor will tell you that this isn't a 'diet', but a healthy lifestyle.  

Go ahead, check with your doctor.  Let us know what he/she says.

Be Smart. Push aways

You've heard of push-ups. Sure they're good for you. But even better are 'push-aways'. Try pushing away from the table when you're full. You don't need another helping. Who cares if there is a leftover piece of pizza?

Today try a push-away.

Be Smart drink a glass of water

While aiting for the coffee to brew, chug a glass of water.   You know you need it, you're thirsty.  Think about it: you urinated before you went to bed.  The first thing you did when you woke up was to go to the bathroom. Where do you think all that fluid came from?   While you were sleeping, your body took fluid from every organ and every cell and filled your bladder.   You need to replenish that fluid.

I know that coffee has water in it.   But be smart about it - drink a glass of water first thing.