Exercise Addiction is Healthy! Really!

[TheSadeianLinguist]

From The Times Online:

The trainers in LA all come with their own trademark nutritional advice. There was a slight atmosphere when talking to Barry and the co-owner of Barry’s Boot Camp, Rachel Mumford, about the evils of complex carbohydrates. Mumford is in her late thirties, with three kids and the body of a slender 20-year-old. She works out a minimum of five times a week. If you are exercising twice a day, as plenty of LA women do, surely you need the sustained energy-release of starchy carbs?

Mumford: “You can get everything you need from fruit and vegetables, if you need to keep your weight down. Every trainer says no to complex carbs.”

Barry: “You should have a gram of carbs per pound of body weight, and they should come from fruit and vegetables.”

What about brown rice? “Only before 11am,” Barry says.

For dinner, Mumford has “chicken, fish or egg whites with broccoli and tomato”. I’m really struggling to countenance a diet such as this. Barry says: “If you are happy being a size 4 (UK size 8) then that’s okay. But it’s also okay if you want to be skinny, as long as you are eating right. Thin can be in shape, because you’re carrying less body weight. A true Barry’s girl is a shining example of healthy LA women on the go.”

Mumford says: “This is extreme fitness for people who want to get as fit as possible. It’s for A-type personalities. Perfectionists.”

I mention that I have seen two of their morning clients at other gym classes in the evening. “Coming twice a day, it’s not a bad thing; it’s a healthy addiction to have,” Mumford says. Those same two girls I mentioned had laughed, “Hey! Are you an LA girl now?” when they saw me at my second class of the day.

Just down the road is Train, a private gym where a hundred personal trainers hone their furiously goal-oriented clients. At reception, I say I want a trainer who can help me get thin. I say I really like the way Nicole Richie looks. “It’s a little bony for me,” he says, “but I know what you mean. Visible clavicles and hip bones, that sort of a look?” He writes down a list of trainers who deal in that sort of body.

The boot-camp approach is popular. It can have great results, according to Mimi Golnaraghi, who lost 21lb in three months and wound up, at 5ft, just over six stone. “I wasn’t as skinny as Nicole Richie, probably more the size of Hilary Duff. I had to get a boob job because I could no longer fit into the smallest bra size.”

But Golnaraghi’s experience also left her with no periods, a thyroid problem and IBS. “I went to my trainer two hours a day, five days a week for a year. I paid $550 a month. His schtick is, ‘I take your body, strip it of fat and then add muscle.’ His diet plan takes you into a state of ketosis [the state in which the body burns fat as fuel in the absence of carbohydrates]. My daily diet was, breakfast: egg whites and rocket; lunch: chicken breast and vegetables; dinner: egg white and rocket.

“Every day, he checks your pee for glucose levels, to make sure you are in ketosis. If you aren’t, he calls you a fat-ass. You don’t show up if you’ve eaten bread."

Well, at least he says it's okay to be as fat as a size four, right?

[Jane]

My thoughts exactly. Size four...my left calf muscle is a size 4.

[Ho Ho Tai]

I'm sending the article on to our personal trainer - a well-rounded woman of 35 years. In addition to training, she is a kick-boxing black belt, and her 200-odd pounds can really kick a_ _! I'm sure her comments will be interesting.

I read the whole story. It seems to be rather tongue-in-cheek about these people - not a true believer. Makes you want to pump 'em full of oatmeal, doesn't it?

Thanks for the link.

[TheSadeianLinguist]

Yes, I do love the Times' snarkiness. They're Brits though; they know we Americans are nuts.

[Michaela]

I know these people exaggerate ... but from my personal experience LowCarb isn't a bad thing.
I had insulin resistance and got from 243 lbs down to 160 lbs with lowcarb and daily exercise.
I still love to eat
I just avoid bread, rice, potatoes, noodles sugar and other carbs.

[Jes]

Originally Posted by Michaela

I know these people exaggerate ... but from my personal experience LowCarb isn't a bad thing.
I had insulin resistance and got from 243 lbs down to 160 lbs with lowcarb and daily exercise.
I still love to eat
I just avoid bread, rice, potatoes, noodles sugar and other carbs.

let me ask: how did you feel about the factthat the foods one is left with (well, the more protein-y foods) are definitely the fattier foods? I worry I'd just go for bacon and cheddar, adding extra lard. I definitely like carbs way too much. I coudn't cut them out much, I just know it.

[Sojourner]

Supposedly the proteins are the 'ticker' that the body counts to ensure it has enough calories, and the fats are the 'alert' that tells it it's getting too many. Carbs are 'dangerous' according to these fitness junkies because the body's regulation of carbohydrate intake is weak.

I do worry about these people's definition of 'healthy', though. They're not about to come down with heart disease, liver failure or hypertension, but let's see how their body copes with being forced out of its routine - say they're stuck out in the country for two weeks away from their gyms and health foods. How fast are they going to go hypoglycaemic and collapse because their body's lost the ability to regulate large swings?

To me, a 'healthy' body is one that can cope with anything you throw at it, physically and mentally. These people make me sad, because they're quite often fractious at best, and at worst weak-minded airheads who think that life should revolve around obsessively nurturing one of these bizarre lifestyle fads.

[Michaela]

In my opinion it is NOT true that fat food is bad for everyone.
My doctor told me that my body doesn't tolerate carbs (insulin resistance, PCO's etc.) and told me to avoid them.
Now i feel so much better (my insulin works much better and the symptoms of PCO's are gone). Of course i eat more fat than i used to but it doesn't harm me. I think it's important that everybody listens to his own body and not to some weird diet-guru.
If your body wants carbs, eat carbs - if your body wants fat, eat fat.
Well and if your body wants ice cream - then eat that f*cking ice cream !

[calauria]

Originally Posted by Michaela

In my opinion it is NOT true that fat food is bad for everyone.
My doctor told me that my body doesn't tolerate carbs (insulin resistance, PCO's etc.) and told me to avoid them.
Now i feel so much better (my insulin works much better and the symptoms of PCO's are gone). Of course i eat more fat than i used to but it doesn't harm me. I think it's important that everybody listens to his own body and not to some weird diet-guru.
If your body wants carbs, eat carbs - if your body wants fat, eat fat.
Well and if your body wants ice cream - then eat that f*cking ice cream !

Well, yeah, you should do what your doctor says.