Lost 100

How much should you exercise? Differing reports, differing answers--are you confused?

Recently an article was online about the differing recommendations science has put out for physical activity.  Some say 20 minutes/day, some day 60 minutes/day (just to maintain)--that's a HUGE difference!  What's a girl to do?  I for one believe we must challenge our bodies.  We should push ourselves to do more and to grow.  It's not an easy proposition, but I believe stagnation does you no favors.  My experience is when I have a goal I'm working towards (physically) I notice changes in my body and fitness level.  When I'm not working on a specific goal, but simply to maintain, over time I notice a decrease in my fitness level.  That said, not everyone should go out and sign up for a marathon, much of the key to my personal success has been finding something I love to do.  For me, that's running, pilates, yoga & swimming.  For you maybe it's golf, tennis, spinning, cardio-interval aerobics...  Find something you love, make a note of your current abilities and set out to increase your abilities/stamina/resistance/ whatever and you'll see the results you want, I guarantee it! 

By Madison Park, CNN

March 30, 2010 8:36 a.m. EDT

Recent exercise findings have confused some people on whether they need to work out harder for a shorter amount of time or moderately for a longer period of time.

(CNN) -- The headlines sounded promising -- 20 minutes of interval exercise can provide the same benefits as many hours of conventional workouts. But soon after came another study, this one suggesting that women should work out an hour every day just to maintain their weight.

"It does get confusing," Janice Bissex, mother of two and regular exerciser, said after the studies were released in the past two weeks.

The contradictory information can be disconcerting, said Stephen Ball, associate professor of nutrition and exercise physiology at the University of Missouri. "It makes it look bad -- like physical activity scientists, we're changing what we're saying all the time. We're really not."

Exercise experts say the most important message is to be active, regardless of the latest studies. How much one should exercise depends on personal fitness goals, they said.

But experts recommend that an average person stick to existing public health guidelines, which recommend that children and teenagers exercise one hour every day and adults get a weekly minimum of two hours and 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity (such as brisk walking, dancing, gardening) or one hour and 15 minutes of vigorous activity (jogging, aerobic dancing and jumping rope).

The key to exercise is that "some is better than none. More is better than some. Too much is difficult to get," Ball said.

The two seemingly conflicting studies (20 minutes versus an hour of exercise) examined different populations: young men versus middle-aged women.

A study published in the March edition of the Journal of Physiology found that short periods of high-interval training was just as effective as long durations of endurance training, based on the results from seven young, healthy men.

Some is better than none. More is better than some. Too much is difficult to get.
--Stephen Ball, associate professor about how much to exercise

Researchers from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, had the seven subjects pedal for one minute on a stationary bike at the highest intensity they could muster.

This one-minute burst was followed by about a minute of rest, another minute of intense exercise, and so on, until participants reached 20 minutes total -- 10 exercising, 10 resting.

Working out harder for less time effective

The study suggested that quick, high-interval training "may represent an alternative to endurance training to improve metabolic health and reduce the risk for chronic diseases."

But, interval training isn't easy. It cuts down on time, but many people find the intense bursts of vigorous exercise difficult.

"It's uncomfortable exercise. It's high intensity, so it hurts," said Martin Gibala, lead author of the study.

While interval training might be attractive for athletes or time-crunched, twentysomethings who already work out, it may be daunting for others.

"It's tough to get people [in their 50s] to do moderate exercises," Ball said. "For intense exercises, it hurts. People don't like to do it."

Gibala, chair of the kinesiology department at McMaster, said the results of his research are not intended to replace existing guidelines.

"We're certainly not suggesting this is the optimal approach to fitness," he said. "Public health guidelines are based on very good science, so the recommendations are very sound. But we also know the number one barrier for exercise is the lack of time. It's incumbent on scientists to look at other potential ways that we can get many of the same benefits in a time-efficient manner."

Another research getting attention was a March article in the Journal of the American Medical Association that found that women who exercised an hour every day were better able to stave off weight gain.

Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School studied 34,000 women, with the average age of 54.

Over a 13-year period, the women gained an average of 5.7 pounds. The women who successfully maintained their weight (13 percent) exercised an hour a day at moderate intensity.

Hearing that left some women feeling discouraged.

"To say that most women need an hour a day, it puts it into the category of an unattainable goal," said Bissex, a working mother and a dietitian in Melrose, Massachusetts. "That's frustrating. Getting that hour of exercise, while being a successful career woman, while taking care of kids, a partner or spouse, and parents, we're going to all end up getting two hours of sleep."

That reaction is fairly common.

"When I see studies that say one hour of exercise a day, people freak out and say, 'I don't have that kind of time,' " Pete McCall, an exercise physiologist at the American Council on Exercise.

"We can argue about vigorous, moderate intensity and time. The fact is if you don't do anything, you're going to significantly increase risks for disease and other things that can take years off your life."

How much should a person exercise?

When looking for basic guidelines, exercise specialists recommend the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A committee of doctors and scientists reviewed the scientific literature to develop the recommendations.

The amount of time a person should exercise depends on his or her fitness goals, whether it's for weight loss, health maintenance or performance training. And that person also needs to fit diet and nutrition into the equation.

"If you take in lots of calories, it doesn't matter how much you exercise," Ball said. "It takes a lot of exercise if you don't watch what you eat."

Plus-Size Model Crystal Renn Talks Weight Issues

HERE'S A GREAT ARTICLE ABOUT CRYSTAL RENN 'PLUS-SIZE' MODEL (I MEAN REALLY, A SIZE 12 IS NOT PLUS-SIZE, BUT WHATEVER).   WHAT DO YOU THINK???

Model Crystal Renn: From size 0 to 12

By Charlotte Triggs, PEOPLE.com

February 25, 2010 7:13 p.m. EST

Crystal Renn, who spent years suffering from an eating disorder, is speaking out.

(PEOPLE.com) -- She suffered from a crippling eating disorder to maintain the size 0 frame she needed to work in the fashion industry, but eventually found greater fame as a size 12 model. Now Crystal Renn is speaking out about the changes she thinks the fashion industry should make.

"We, as a culture, are fixated, and perhaps even in an unhealthy way, with dress size and the scale size," Renn said in a new interview with ABC's 20/20, during which she debated the question, "Is it OK to be fat?"

The model, who has also been an advocate for a wider array of sample sizes (most runway samples are a size 0 or 2), also says she's faced discrimination due to her weight.

"Fat people are absolutely discriminated against. I know this because of the type of modeling I do. ... If it wasn't, then I'd be all over the runways, every single runway, like everyone else," she said.

Instead, she's had to make her mark in a specialized market -- on her own terms. "It's about the healthy eating habits that you have, and wherever your body falls," said Renn. "Whether that is actually a 4 or an 18, [doesn't matter]."

"Having had an eating disorder,I was obsessed with numbers and percentages -- how many minutes have I been on the treadmill, how many calories have I consumed today?" said Renn. "When you start obsessing about numbers you get nowhere. It really is about, you know, finding balance and moderation within yourself and are you healthy."

For original article go to PEOPLE.com

International Disasters & Falling Off the Wagon: Why it's Important to Stay True to Yourself During Trying Times

If you're like most people you are having a hard time reconciling going through your daily activities 'business as usual' while the devastation in Haiti is going on.  The images on the TV, the voices of the correspondents cracking as they fight back tears, the cries on anguish...and you feel so helpless.  Perhaps you think, 'if only I could be there...'.  As someone who has been observing this disaster and specifically my reaction to & my history of reactions to international disasters, I'd like to take a moment to use my psychology & social work degree.

Haiti, Asia's Tsunami, Katrina, 9/11...they are in our collective conscious, in our shared history, they are perhaps the things we will tell our grandchildren about and will be asked about, they are things we will never forget.  Where were we when we first heard?  When did we realize it was worse than we could have imagined?  How did we feel?  What did we do?

I remember in each of the previous disasters feeling helpless.  I actually have Disaster Relief skills/background, as well as social service management/systems management/volunteer coordiantion skills, all of which could be put to great use.  I remember being angry that I could not be there to help (especially for Katrina, when I certainly felt I could jump in the car and drive to Lousiana, indeed that had been my plan, except for the fact that I realized I was pregnant just 2 days after the hurricane hit).  So in each of these past disasters (less so for the Tsunami because I had a newborn AND I was pregnant) I used my displaced feelings of helplessness & instead of channelling them into 'living my best life,' I did what I do best: zone out, eat, wallow, glue myself to the TV.

The thing is, it's not about us.  That may sound harsh.  But it's not.  There is always going to be somoene at any moment of the day on this earth going through hell.  There is always going to be someone having the best moment ever.  When we choose to sit back and live vicariously through people's lives, either through their tragedy or their success (think--celebrity obsession, reading about celebrities, wanting to date them, meet them, be them...) we are not being true to ourselves. 

I'll say it again, we are not living our best life, we are not holding true to our purpose in life when we allow all the things that go on in the world to derail us from what we should be doing.  The earthquake happened in Haiti, not in your kitchen.  There is no reason to overeat, to not cook, to fall off the wagon (so to speak).  You can still make a healthy meal, and have gratitude that you have the ability to cook, to purchase healthy food, to have the knowledge of wellness.

And here's the thing, when you live your best life; when you are, so-to-speak self-actualized, you actually contribute to the world through your energy, through your own goodwill.  Last night, as I watched the Golden Globes for a moment, actress Meryll Streep won an award.  She talked about feeling a bit incongruent putting on her nice dress, getting her hair & make-up done, celebrating during a time of so much sadness...then she remembered her mom's attitude and said, she felt gratitude that she could do something she loved and get paid so well, so because of the celebration she is quite wealthy, which meant that she's going to 'give today and give tomorrow and give the next day and the day after that...'. 

If you haven't been living your best life, choose now to do so.  Turn the negative emotions into a positive.  You don't have to continue to eat in front of the television crying when something bad happens.  Turn it off and tune in to your life.

Jillian Michael's Hawks Diet Supplements, is This in Line With What She Preaches?

My friend Judie, recently blogged about Jillian Michael's hawking diet supplements.  Is it in line her belief system?  What do you think about this?  Are you angry, happy, indifferent?  Here's my perspective:

I think I have a somewhat unique perspective: first, I use to weigh over 300 pounds, second, I’m a huge fan of TBL, third, I’ve met Jillian personally, and forth, I now work in the ‘the biz’.

When I met Jillian, I found her to be a person who is extremely passionate and authentic in what she does. She was at a small event with Sanjay Gupta for FitNation (CNN Special). She spent at least 10 minutes with each person, hearing their story, inspiring them & in turn being inspired (many of the people there were in ‘the biz’ and there were some people who lost a lot of weight & others who were trying to. She personally signed every book & wrote individual messages to each person, after learning a little about them. I found this to be so authentic & wonderful (especially considering that Rachel Ray left & never shook one hand).

On the other hand, having been a large person who looked for every shortcut in the world, I totally would have stocked up on this protein drink in the past (or anything someone told me to buy). But now I know & advocate just getting your butt out there and doing the work. I don’t need any protein, vitamins, specialty items. Just a pair of running shoes, a sports bra, my favorite workout outfit, my gym membership & 2 hours/day! My nutrition comes to me through my healthy diet. I have seen my body feel healthier, look healthier & now my bloodwork, etc. proves I am healthier. 5 years ago & 1000 protein drinks later I am sure I would still have 300lbs. The problem is you can’t sell inspiration, you can’t help people to make the connection unless you spend time with them, coach them, and find the inspiration within themselves–you can’t sell this & thus you can’t make money.

It is a mixed message, don’t fully agree with it (selling unnecessary protein supps), but I can understand it. Hopefully the good of TBL & her new show (where she moves in with a family for a couple weeks) will outweigh the effects of selling the bogus stuff!

'Julie & Julia': Applicable Life Lessons?

We went to see Julie & Julia last night.  If you haven't seen it, it's a great movie! 

Now, I'm not just writing this because I have a blog and I live in NYC burbs and I want to jump on the bandwagon and be famous & successful too (because success is one thing, but fame is not so much my thing).  I honestly found some inspiration in the film.  You see, for Julie Powell and Julia Child it was never about a blog or about food--it was about something very simple, very human:  finding yourself.  Finding yourself in an all-encompassing, complete way.  Your life's purpose.  Becoming who you really are.  Living a passion.

I was filled with energy, filled with ideas, filled with emotion...I cried.  I so relate to that search Julie and Julia were on...and I so celebrate their success with them.  I realized I wasn't quite there...I haven't quite put my finger on that passion yet.  I see glimpses of it...I see it start to come to out from time to time...then it buries it head.  I don't know what that is...fear?  Lack of confidence?  Wait...I got it.  It's actually two things.  Two wonderful things...3 year old Sarah & 2 year old Zoe!

You see, there's another layer, or 7 (sort of like 7-layer cake--oh shit, this is suppose to be a weight loss blog!) when you have a kid in the mix!  They are a blessing, but TIME is luxury this mom does not have.  So, I have to cut myself a break, right?  Maybe that's just the way it is when you are the principle care giver for a 3 year old and a 2 year old...inspiration may just come in spurts (like during naps or when you ship them off with grandma....).

What are you passionate about?  Are you doing it?  Why not?  It's not too late to start RIGHT NOW!  And remember, Julia Child worked for over 10 years to get her first book published...sometimes I think the secret to being happy is to find something to do that makes you happy whether or not it makes you money.   

Lizzie Miller Show's that a Little bit o' Tummy Can be Beautiful

I LOVE this pic of 'plus-size' (and I use that term loosely because a woman who is a size 12 is not plus-sized) model Lizzie Miller, 20. It appeared in Glamour Magazine and has become a hit amongst women (and men). Even women size 4, 6, & 8 have been saying, 'Thank you!' because they admit their bodies have sections that aren't perfect and Lizzie looking so confident and gorgeous makes them feel more beautiful too.

I have that roll too, my tummy isn't perfect, but I have to tell you I felt a lot sexier being naked after I saw this picture!

What do you think? Are you a Lizzie Miller fan too?

Mourning Michael Jackson's Passing in the Time of Facebook

*Editors Note....this blog is normally devoted 100% to fitness/weight loss/ nutrition related material.  But I feel moved to post this essay I wrote about Michael Jackson's death.

I’m not a musician, or a journalist, or an entertainment specialist, but somehow feel driven to share my thoughts on Michael Jackson’s death.   I, like many 30-somethings (and 20, 40, & 50-somethings) felt moved to post on Facebook.  Throughout last night and even more so this morning I’m seeing more and more anti-MJ postings (has the media gone too far, yesterday you all hated him, he was ‘child molester’, he was a train wreck, etc.).  I myself was surprised at how all the major television networked covered Michael Jackson’s death, until I began to examine why we might be mourning.
In a sense, we are mourning our own mortality…every song that is played, every video that is played we remember our formative years. 

Michael Jackson’s song, for some of us, were some of the first songs we learned the lyrics to.  His videos were recreated in backyards and playgrounds everywhere.  His clothes set style and our first brush with urban legend (if the glove is on such & such hand it means your gay, if it’s on the other hand it means your cool—what was all that about?!)  Each song may strike a certain sentiment in us, we remember events of our youth….the prom, 8th grade dance, a college party, and dance clubs.  We aren’t necessarily remembering just the music—but WHO WE WERE at that time in our lives.  We become nostalgic for our youth—forgetting the bullies, the pimples, the hard times and relishing on the good memories we associate with these songs, these times in our lives.

In addition, Michael Jackson taught us how to come together…because somehow if the varied voices of Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Al Jarreau, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry, Hall & Oates, Huey Lewis & the News, Cyndi Lauper, Kim Carnes, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Dan Aykroyd, Harry Belafonte, Lindsey Buckingham, Sheila E., Bob Geldof, Bette Midler, The Pointer Sisters & Smokey Robinson could come together to make a song the world couldn’t get enough of, maybe, just maybe the world could come together for a greater cause…hunger, peace, love.
Michael Jackson’s generosity inspired us to give….to give of our time, talent, and money.  As the news stories go on, I forgot how MJ donated money all the time, setting up foundations, and trust, putting on concerts for different causes.  Songs like Heal the World, You Are Not Alone, Man in the Mirror, and Black or White inspired us to make a difference in the world even if the difference was only making a small change in ourselves.

Because we want a good comeback story I believe many people may have written MJ off but hoped in their hearts he would overcome his demons.  I don’t know if Jackson committed the crimes he was accused of.  I know he was acquitted, I know Larry King and others overheard conversations by family members of the accusers stating they had a ploy to extort money.  I know that that Michael Jackson was a sad and lonely man who seemed very much innocent, childlike, naïve, and lonely.  Perhaps someone who wanted to give to others what he never had—unconditional love and acceptable.  In a sense we collectively weep for the vindication he never got in life, for the comeback he and we so desperately wanted….and most importantly because at the end of the day, we are human, we hope for the best in ourselves and we hope for the best in our friends. 

We grew up with Michael Jackson, and so now we wonder, if he’s gone, what does that mean?  Is our youth officially over (like the mortgage, the car payments, the screaming kids, the lawn and dishes hadn’t told us that already…but we hoped…..)?   So as we say goodbye to MJ, we say one last fleeting goodbye to our youth and we have in a sense a long reunion, with friends, with facebook, with our memories, of good times spent with a man who captured our emotions with his enigmatic voice and dance steps.

NIA VARDALOS: 'WHAT'S THE BIG FAT DEAL' Finally a Celeb Who Gets Real About Body Image!

Here's a blog post Nia Vardalos wrote for AC360 on CNN.  It is perhaps one of the best things I've ever read about body image and health.  I think I'm in love with Nia Vardalos!  She rocks--I love her confidence in herself, her sense of humor and that she doesn't think it's a big deal that she lost weight.  People magazine bikini shoot--no!  It was about her health, not how she felt in her skin.  I suspect Ms. Vardalos felt just as sexy before as she does now.  Her view of her body before is refeshing and sadly unexpected in a world where the Teenage Witch uses cruel terms to describe her post-partum fuller figure and a Ghost Whisperer yells and screams about how dare the media criticize her size 2 figure, only to drop 20 lbs and pay for do a major publicity tour about her 'new fabulous figure' and how much better she feels about her body.  Nia Vardalos never apologized for her body before and she isn't trashing it now~and to me that makes her a hero of sorts!  Way to go girlfriend~if I'm ever lucky enough to meet you I'm totally buying you a diet coke drink!!!

Editor’s Note: Nia Vardalos is the star and writer of the 2002 smash hit, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” Her new film, “My Life in Ruins,” is in theaters now.

Actress Nia Vardalos arrives at the premiere of 'My Life in Ruins' on May 29, 2009 in Los Angeles, California.

Nia Vardalos
Actress/Writer/Director

It’s just weight. Just 40 pounds of fat now gone from my body, but wow, it’s pretty much all I get asked about. In the last year, I got to star in a movie, wrote and directed my next one, and adopted a three year old from American Foster Care. But guess what I’m asked…how did I lose the weight?

I am embarrassed to be in the position of answering questions about my body again. On the publicity tour of ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ I was asked over and over again, if, as the writer, I felt it was a fair depiction of real life to have someone of my er, below average looks, hook up with hottie John Corbett.

It’s been years, and I have sat through many a movie like Sideways, where nobody blinks an eye when Paul Giamatti gets together with gorgeous Virginia Madsen. And, then ‘Knocked Up’….well, the visual of Seth Rogan on top of Katherine Heigl made me put the popcorn down and reach for my purse. Not because I was grossed out but because I knew the film was about to stop and Ashton Kutcher would now jump out and go “aha, you’ve been punked, that would never happen.” I waited. But no Ashton. The film went on. And many a reviewer, who probably look like sweet Seth (yes even the women) gave it a thumbs up.

Yes, there’s a double standard for women. Whatever. Yawn, we all know it, perpetuate it – we make it worse every time we buy a magazine showing “Stars with Cellulite.” And women, we do buy those magazines. Yes, we do. No, not just at the airport – you have a subscription, admit it. So do I.

So, it’s our fault. Let’s accept it and move on. Socially, the issue of men’s weight is simply not a big deal. Let’s face it: Russell Crowe is fat and no one ever talks about it. Alec Baldwin just orders his suits a size bigger and we continue to swoon.

So, what exactly is up with my weight loss? I get hit with this awkward question daily and have answered it in press interviews, at the grocery store, at the newspaper stand. Why? Because I see their anxious, open faces needing the secret, the new pill, the cure, anything. Just please share the secret. So I hesitantly answer and am always met with the same response: the glaze-eye slack-jawed face.

Because they don’t want to hear the truth: I had a blood sugar problem so my Doctor ordered me to lose weight, it was really hard but I did it through diet, exercise and it took a year.

This is when the boredom sets in on the querying person. I might as well just shove an Ambien up their nostril. The gleam in their eye fades and they get sleepy.

No one wants to hear the facts about weight loss. It’s simple. Take that bag of Doritos and throw it as far as you can. Now chase after it. Pick it up, do it again.

Or don’t. You don’t have to lose weight, unless like me, it becomes an issue of health. I thought I was attractive when I shot ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding.’ Studio executives and movie reviewers let me know I had a confidence in my looks that was not shared by them. In other words: they labeled me with words like, overweight, unattractive, unappealing. Hey, just say fat. I love the word fat. I used it in the title. It’s actually not a naughty word. We give it a power it actually doesn’t have. So, you’re fat. Big deal.

If now, I have a sudden validity because I look different on the red carpet, check out my Before pics on my Twitter. (@NiaVardalos) I am showing what happens before Team Miracle comes over in the Hazmat suits and works on me for a few hours. Anyone can look like they make me look. That’s why most malls offer a Glamour Shots booth.

I am just telling you the truth.

Here’s another fact: A studio executive recently asked me to change a male lead in a script to female because “women don’t go to movies.” He went on to explain some studios were no longer making female-lead movies because women don’t go to them.

Wow. I pointed out ‘Sex And The City,’ ‘Mamma Mia,’ and  ‘Obsessed,’ and he called them “flukes.”

He shrugged and explained he was just telling me the truth.

I wonder, is this the truth? Do we support female films? My film is out now and Sandra Bullock’s film ‘The Proposal’ opens soon. (Gasp, is she talking about a rival studio’s movie?) Yeah, I am. See it. See us both (just see us first, we’re low budget.)

So, I ask, can we tell that studio executive the truth? That women do go to the movies. Can we speak up with our wallets? Or did you doze off?

Nia Vardalos blogs for CNN

Musings of a Foodie...Why am I blessed with food choices while others go hungry???

So I'm sitting here at a little cafe in NYC, I just dropped my kids at their educationally adept daycare (you know, age appropriate toys, little stations, caregiver ratio of 2 to 1, bright colors, sleek furniture, fish to feed, puppets that come to life--it's like a freaking wonderland for a 3 year in that place & somehow when I pick them up at the end of the day they are perfectly clean and the women are not harried and all the toys are picked up and placed in their perfectly labeled containers and my kids have both taken naps and used the potty and not eaten any boogers--pretty much a complete 180 from what happens at a day at our house, which is why I never let my husband pick up the kids, lest he actually come to think this kind of irrational behavior is normal?!)...Anyway, yikes, where was I?  Oh yes, the kids are not my responsibility for an entire 8 1/4 hours--yippee!  The weight of world is off my shoulders!  I can do anything, be anyone 1/3 of a whole day.  Wow.

So what do I do?  I go to this little cafe on the ground floor of the Time Life Building (where the kids are in their educationally adept, company paid for daycare--to be read 'expensive').  I am going to get so much done.  I check my e-mail, balance my checkbook online, and begin working on an on-going project (a ridiculously complicated chart plotting the weights and BMI's and loss percentages of Biggest Loser contestants and comparing it to past seasons).  Finally, with the din of radio and the random conversations around me as background noise I am able to work and start feeling 'in the zone' (I hate phrases like that, but sometimes they just describe it).

"Can anyone help me out?'  That's what he said.  Who's he talking to?  Does he think I work here?  I don't have on a uniform...I don't have a name tag on.  Do I somehow look official?    He, for the record is a man in his 30's, light skin bi-racial guy with a face covered in freckles and a ruddy orange sweatshirt.  To be honest, I don't want to be bothered.  I want to go on working on my project and being an anonymous person in the corner of the cafe hogging a table that happens to have an outlet next to it and drinking the water and coffee I bought and the sunflower seeds and dried prunes I brought.  But maybe he's lost and just doesn't know where to order? Or he's not sure where the subway is? 

I say, rather naively (especially for a girl whose lived here more than 2 minutes), 'what do you need help with'?  'Something to eat' is the curt, loud response carried with an intense, audacious stare. 

Oh shit.  What if this is the 2nd coming of Christ?  What if I say no and then when I go and meet with my accountant later he tells me there was a mistake on my taxes and I owe $5000?  What if I say no and then get hit by a taxi on my way out?  What if that Hawaiian guy from 20/20 pops out and tells me I was actually being secretly taped for the 'What would you do' segment and failed miserably?  What if my grandpa was watching me from heaven and shook his head sadly at his snotty granddaughter.  How could I say no?

'I have an apple' I say.  'Okay!' he says.  I proceed to look voraciously through my bag, glad to know he's hungry and didn't say, 'no thanks' like most people do when they ask for money and I offer them the perennial apple that I usually have in bag.  My papers fall on the floor.  My pen falls on the floor.  My freckled-faced caller picks up the papers and pen dutifully.  I can't find the frickin' apple--I took it out this morning because I wasn't going to eat it and needed the room in my bag for the organic carrots and organic cheese and organic rolled up turkey I packed instead. 

'You know what, just go up and order something for yourself' I find myself saying.  A bewildered stare meets my eyes.  'You paying?' he says suspiciously.  'Of course' I say quietly.  Shit, what if he orders $50 in food I think.  I should have just grabbed a gift card and put $20 on it.  He orders and I meet him at the register with my Visa Marriott Rewards card that I use so I can get points toward the Fiji vacation I want to take. 

Fiji vacation.  Organic cheese.  Organic carrots.  Who have I become?

Why on earth do I deserve these things?  For God sakes there are people dying of starvation all over the world.  And I discuss the differences between the Jewish preschool and the YMCA preschool and if we can afford the $5000+/year pricetags.  And when we will be renovating our perfectly fine (albeit out-of -style & out-of-date) kitchen?  And do I like this paint shade from Benjamin Moore or this other one? And shouldn't we hire an arborist? 

$50?  What would it have hurt?  Sure, I couldn't have made a huge difference, really I couldn't have.  But, what if that act of kindness inspired Mr. freckles?  What if it inspired the check-out clerk as she puts herself through college?  What if it inspired someone else?  One small act is sometimes the catalyst of something big. 

I'm glad the orange sweatshirt guy was able to eat his bacon, egg & cheese on roll with a large orange juice.  I wish I hadn't muttered under my breath 'your welcome' as I walked away after paying and saying, 'I hope you have a nice day'.  Afterall, why on earth would manners be important to someone who is told to fuck off by the world probably 500 times a day.  Maybe this meal will be the only one he eats all week.

 I wish I had done more.

Maybe by writing this I have.

Be grateful.  Be inspired.  Do something for someone today.  Even if you think they don't deserve it.  Even if you are feeling bad for yourself.  Do something.  Do something and expect nothing in return.  Not even a thank you.  Be that catalyst.  Please.  Pay it forward for Mr. Freckles sake.

Obese don't just have a larger waistline...they have a larger footprint, carbon footprint.

Here's an interesting article from CNN.com about a study that concluded that overweight and obese people don't just have a larger waistline, they have a larger carbon footprint.  I checked out the message boards and you have the usual suspects, you know the type, 'fat people are ruining the world...just eat less and move more...fat people are gross' and the flip, 'i'm fat but very in shape....i'm sick of being blamed for everything....i'm fat and happy leave me alone'.  Folks need to take a step back here.  As far as I'm concerned this is just one more reason to work on becoming healthier, eating more local producer and dropping a bit of weight...just my 2 cents!

By Elizabeth Landau
CNN

(CNN) -- Here's yet another reason to stay in shape: Thinner people contribute less to global warming, according to a new study.

More than 1 billion adults worldwide are overweight, and about 300 million are obese.

Researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine published a study showing that, because of food production and transportation factors, a population of heavier people contributes more harmful gases to the planet than a population of thin people.

Given that it takes more energy to move heavier people, transportation of heavier people requires more fuel, which creates more greenhouse gas emissions, the authors write.

"The main message is staying thin. It's good for you, and it's good for the planet," said Phil Edwards, senior lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

The study offers this novel approach to the global warming problem as U.S. lawmakers discuss the future of climate change legislation. This week, the the House Energy and Commerce Committee is scheduled to begin on a comprehensive energy and climate bill. On Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that six greenhouse gases pose potential health hazards, an announcement that could prompt the regulation of the gases.

More than 1 billion adults worldwide are overweight, and about 300 million are obese, the study said. Generally, the body mass index, a measure of obesity, is increasing in most countries worldwide, from China to European countries to the United States.

BMI is going up because of the availability of food and motorized transportation, Edwards said. People are less active now than they were 30 years ago, and the prevalence of fast food has given people less healthy, more energy-dense options.

Health Library

• MayoClinic.com: Obesity

Using statistical models, the authors compared the distribution of BMI in the United Kingdom in the 1970s -- when 3.5 percent of the population was obese -- with a prediction for the country's BMI distribution in 2010, reflecting 40 percent obesity.

"In terms of environmental impact, the lean population has a much smaller carbon footprint," Edwards said.

The population with 40 percent obese people requires 19 percent more food energy for its total energy expenditure than the population with 3.5 percent obese people, the study showed.

This 19 percent increase in food consumption translates into an increase of 270 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, the study said.

"The findings make sense and highlight an important global co-benefit of losing weight, along with the significant personal health benefits," said Patrick Kinney, associate professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, who was not involved in the study.

In terms of obesity rate, the U.S. population is not far off from the overweight population model in this study. The country has 33.3 percent obese people, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The study suggests that governments have a responsibility to encourage people to be more physically active, Edwards said. Active transportation, such as cycling and walking, helps maintain a healthy weight but requires safe streets, he said.

"If the government wants to promote active transport, which would be good for the environment and for individual health, it needs to make the environment safe to do that," he said.

Although climate change has come into the forefront as a major world problem recently, this is not the first time scholars have thought about the connection between fossil fuel and body fat.

In 1978, a year the United States experienced an oil shock, a study in the American Journal of Public Health showed that if all overweight people in the country aged 18 to 79 reached their optimal weight, the resulting energy savings would equal 1.3 billion gallons of gasoline.

After the dieting period, about 750 million gallons of gasoline would be saved every year, said the authors, Bruce Hannon, professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and Timothy Lohman, now professor emeritus at the University of Arizona.

Today, research has shown that the obesity epidemic costs the United States about $100 billion a year, said Dr. Martin Donohoe of Portland State University, who runs the Web site Public Health and Social Justice. In terms of energy expenditure, the average food product travels 1,500 miles to get to your table, he said.

Some measures to curb obesity include making healthier meals available in schools, putting nutritional information on food packages and menus, and banning trans fats, he said.