Aug 2008
Big problems with Obesity
There are a lot of complications that
result from obesity. Here are some that I observe on almost a daily
basis:
- Obese people can’t exercise easily, which only compounds the difficulty in losing weight, since most studies have shown that exercise is a requisite for permanent successful weight control.
- It may prevent needed diagnostic studies--there are weight limits for the tables used in medical imaging, for example. Even if one is under the weight limit, the bigger the patient the worse the quality of the study--fat scatters X-rays and exacerbates artifacts.
- High blood pressure is difficult or impossible to control
- Diabetes is difficult or impossible to control
- Cholesterol levels are difficult or impossible to control
- Obese patients wind up taking lots of medicines, sometimes ten or fifteen or even twenty different agents-expensive!
- It promotes blood clots in the legs and lungs--potentially fatal
- Obesity increases the risk of heart disease independently of other risk factors
- It increases the risk of arthritis and early joint replacement
- Chronic low back pain and accelerated arthritis can lead to painkiller addiction
The Long Ride
05 August 2008
Categories: Cycling
Categories: Cycling
I finally did it. For weeks I had been
meaning to get up some weekend morning and go for a longer ride on
my bike. But laziness intruded, other pleasures beckoned, and I
procrastinated. This past Saturday I made myself get up and get out
on the road before 7 am to beat the Tennessee heat. My plan was to
start slowly in pace and then build up. After an hour on a course
of gently rolling hills, my average was about 16.3 mph-faster than
I had intended. So I slowed down and took a break, stopping by a
babbling stream in the shade, where I got off the bike, stretched,
and re-hydrated. Then I got back on the bike and felt
much better. The remainder of the ride was
pleasant (after one short but gut-wrenching steep hill) and I
returned home a bout 9 am after 28+ miles. I savored my sense of
accomplishment. My ride didn’t interfere with the rest of the
family’s activities because save one they were all still asleep
when I returned. So the lesson (learned again and again): start
your day with something you want to accomplish, get it done, move
on with your day. The key is to start early. Getting the
lazy butt out of bed is the biggest hurdle, but it’s worth
it.
Odd & Beautiful
July 31
Some recent observations and sights while cyling:
* A flock of at least 25 turkey chicks scrambling behind Mom Turkey around a pond near Hendersonville
* A woman at 6 am walking one small dog and pushing a 1950s style baby carriage with her other small dog in the carriage!
* A beautiful sequence of irrigation sprinklers spewing misty spray by the side of the road
* A quick red brown fox carrying breakfast back to her kits in the den
* Large man in large truck pulls up next to me at a traffic light, leans out the window while we’re waiting and says “Yeah, you might as well bring your shavin’ kit to this light cuz’ it takes so long . . .”
Some recent observations and sights while cyling:
* A flock of at least 25 turkey chicks scrambling behind Mom Turkey around a pond near Hendersonville
* A woman at 6 am walking one small dog and pushing a 1950s style baby carriage with her other small dog in the carriage!
* A beautiful sequence of irrigation sprinklers spewing misty spray by the side of the road
* A quick red brown fox carrying breakfast back to her kits in the den
* Large man in large truck pulls up next to me at a traffic light, leans out the window while we’re waiting and says “Yeah, you might as well bring your shavin’ kit to this light cuz’ it takes so long . . .”