Exercise Snacks
I had a pleasant surprise the other day when I went to put on a pair of dress slacks I don’t often wear… they were noticeably roomier than before. Not that they had been uncomfortably (or offensively) tight, but they were snug. At first I was a little perplexed, as I wasn’t sure what I had been doing differently. Serendipitously, I happened across Mike Mutzel’s quick post on “exercise snacks”—frequent short bursts of exercise sprinkled throughout the day—and then it clicked. Andrea has been on a let’s-get-three-short-walks-in-a-day kick for several months, with each “loop” around our neighborhood being 1.2 miles—precisely. (Thank you Garmin.) It takes approximately 18 minutes, which we do in the morning after school drop-off, midday after lunch, and typically in a final evening spin after Andrea and our son eat dinner.
For years I’ve read that exercise is cumulative and that short bursts are as effective as one long session, and while I believed that to be true, I didn’t have first-hand knowledge and irrefutable proof until now. Aside from my experience, quite a lot of science bears this out. A meta review of 19 studies concluded there is no difference in terms of effects on fitness, blood pressure, lipids, insulin, and glucose between a single bout of exercise or accumulated activity from shorter bouts throughout the day. In fact, there are a few small studies that suggest the effect on body mass may even be more favorable with short bouts. This holds true for moderate and high levels of intensity.
In terms of longevity, a study published in JAMA found that adding 10 minutes of physical activity per day resulted in an estimated 111,174 preventable deaths per year. Increase the accumulated activity to 20 minutes, and the number of preventable deaths grows to 209,459; with 30 extra minutes, it jumps to 272, 297.
Habit Stacking
In the last 6 months I’ve done a 180 with regard to how much I read. There is so much I’d like to learn and improve in my own life as well as be able to pass on to you, so I’m reading books on a wide range of topics that all contribute to living well, aging great. One such book is Atomic Habits by James Clear. Because I too believe that good habits form the foundation of living well, any insights on creating “atomic” habits was immediately intriguing. Although I’m only about a third of the way through it, one concept jumped out and stuck with me: Habit Stacking
The premise is to group habits together that have a natural synergy, thus making establishing habits a more successful endeavor. I thought this sounded brilliantly efficient. Killing two birds with one stone. I’m all about that. I was already doing something similar on the days that I strength train: as soon as I get up, I put on my exercise clothes. This puts me in the right frame of mind and commits me to exercise. So the habit of dressing for exercise is inextricably linked to the activity. Even on mornings where I’m running behind, if the thought of skipping my workout enters my mind, my next thought is I can’t change out of my exercise clothes without doing something with a kettlebell for at least 10 minutes.
With this concept in mind, I recently created another stacked habit for liposomal curcumin that must be taken on an empty stomach. After forgetting to take it before eating for several days in a row, I knew I needed a different approach. I had to be intentional. My thought was to put the bottle with the one thing I do first thing in the morning—make coffee. I placed it in the tray with the coffee jar and I haven’t forgotten it since. An atomic habit!
Sugar’s Role in Aging
We all know sugar isn’t good for us… with the most obvious result being weight gain. So much so, that a multi-billion dollar industry of sugar substitutes is growing by leaps and bounds. But sugar's effects on our bodies go far beyond weight, as Jessi Inshauspe—better known as the Glucose Goddess—discussed with Max Lugavere on an episode of The Genius Life.
Inshauspe, a French biochemist and author who unapologetically eats pasta and other seemingly forbidden foods, was promoting her new book, The Glucose Goddess Method, in which she delves into the cutting-edge science of sugar. While she outlined how her method can control sugar spikes and help people cut cravings, curb their hunger, have more energy, sleep better, have better skin, and improve their overall health, she also mentioned that sugar has a profound effect on aging. In particular, she was musing that the cartilage in babies is pristinely white, yet in older people it turns to brown. The culprit? Glycation.
Essentially, glycation is a chemical reaction that causes sugar molecules to bind to proteins and lipids that are present in the collagen of our skin and cartilage. When this happens in the skin, those important proteins are unable to properly support the structure of the skin—leading to wrinkles and other signs of aging. In our joints, the cartilage becomes stiff and brittle, resulting in many mobility issues over time.
While this is a naturally occurring process, it is accelerated by too much sugar in the diet and the resulting glucose spikes. Excessive sugar can also lead to inflammation, which triggers a whole other set of matters, including numerous age-related degenerative diseases and dysfunctions. Oh my.
S is for Saturday, Sunday, Splurge
Years ago, my husband Andrea and his friend nicknamed me “Rainman” after Dustin Hoffman’s character in the eponymous movie because of our shared proclivity to rigidly adhere to routines. Laugh all you will, gentlemen, but it works for me. If you’re an Ageosophy reader, you know I have many routines that help keep me on track, and this pearl is about how I even go so far as to schedule my weekly splurge meals.
Although I eat and truly do enjoy a very healthy diet, I’m only human and I need a few splurges to stay motivated. Andrea and I have had a weekly treat habit since we’ve been together. We incorporate a couple of (scheduled) splurge meals a week, and it’s so interesting how much we both look forward to those weekly indulgences. Though it may seem counterintuitive, this habit of building in treats actually exercises the discipline muscle and cultivates a mindful way of eating. Whenever I’m tempted to eat something that I typically don’t, I find myself thinking of our splurge meal, and I’m able to fend off the urge.
First up is Saturday night homemade pizza. I have a stellar cold-rise dough recipe from Cooks Illustrated that makes two rounds. The first pizza is a typical margarita, my family’s favorite, which is cheese and a quick tomato sauce of pureed tomato, tomato paste, and oregano. The second pizza is half cheese only and half plain—I eat the plain side with either bruschetta or simply drenched in olive oil. Heaven!
The second splurge is my favorite meal on vacations when I was a little girl. Breakfast. Luckily we both love a big breakfast, so Sunday morning has been one of those splurges—pancakes, waffles, Danish, croissants… an ooey-gooey treat of some kind. I confess I’ve replaced the Danish with farmers’ market sourdough bread because the intense sugar load was giving me headaches, but it’s still a treat, nonetheless.
After all these years, I’m amazed how much we still look forward to these simple meals, savor them immensely, and rely on them to keep us in check the rest of the week.