Burning calories through mental gymnastics, the doctor who went too far and the era of oversize turkeys
To burn more energy, use the muscle between your ears
Wish you could hike up your calorie burn rate just a tad when striding along on the treadmill or pedaling away on the stationary bike? No problem. Just grab the morning paper and a pencil and have go at the crossword puzzle or Sudoku challenger while working out.
According to cannyminds.com, a website that bills itself as “The Gymnasium for Your Brain,” when our brains are up to speed working on a problem or conundrum, they can consume energy at a rate ten times greater than at rest, some 1.5 calories per minute, or 90 per hour.
Presumably, the Sunday New York Times crossword could jack that rate up by another good 10 percent. And if the mental challenge involves an owner’s manual of any kind, it’s probably off the charts.
“You’re fat.” “I’d like a second opinion.” “OK, you’re irresponsible, too.”
The news item reported that Dr. Earl Sunderhaus of Asheville, North Carolina, could have his license yanked by the state Medical Board because he told a female patient that she was fat. One’s first reaction might be that this is political correctness gone ape, and that it is a physician’s duty to advise patients of conditions effecting their health.
However, one then reads that Dr. Sunderhaus is an eye doctor, and one sees where his remark is perhaps not diagnostic, but gratuitous.
However, one reads a bit further, and finds that Sunderhaus pointed out to her the risk of diabetes and possible blindness that she was running, and one decides that he was well within the bounds of professional protocol.
However, one then reads that he also poked her in the thigh and scolded her for being unemployed, pregnant and on the dole.
One winds up suspecting that Sunderhaus and his patient might actually be a match.
It’s an era of fatter-than-ever gobblers . . . both feathered and otherwise
Now that you should be done polishing off the remains of your Thanksgiving bird, from The Economist, of all sources, comes a pair of statistics that may be more than coincidental, especially at this time of year.
Number one: According to the USDA, between 1960 and 2008 turkeys increased in weight from an average 18 pounds to an average 29, a 64 percent rise. Number two: According to the CDC, in that same span of time the average male American increased in weight by 28 pounds.
Of course, it would be simplistic to attribute men’s weight gain just to larger holiday turkeys. There’s also gravy, and dressing, and candied yams…
(By Robert S. Wieder for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)
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