"Studies Show"

Today's rant is on a recent study posted on yahoo. In this, another pinnacle of modern research, more validity was given to the presence of chocolate in one's diet. The study followed a group of people who's lifestyles drastically declined along with their consumption of chocolate. Upon delving--something the researches (more likely those who funded the research, probably Nestle) didn't want you to do--you would see that there was a little more than chocolate consumption at hand. First off, the group lived on a rural island that was an agrarian society. This meant that there diet consisted a lot of natural plants and fish and that exercise was a requirement of daily life. The study group that declined in health had moved to an inner city region of a third world country. Living conditions were far from pristine, stress had increased, and they became impoverished. Gee, their health declined. Imagine my surprise. Under the same circumstances I'm certain that you could show smoking benefits lifestyle as well--at least you could if you could somehow get them to not smoke whilst living in squalor.

Even scarier; I've seen this study protocol--rural peoples moving into harsher urban settings--as the base for quite a few studies on controversial ingredients. Go figure.

The lesson for today is to take "studies show" with a grain of salt or, more appropriately, a hefty dose of skepticism.

In the beginning, it's always the same

I love beginning a new training program. I also hate it. I hate it because it's hard. It hurts. It's also why I love it.

Today is, essentially, day two. I'm about to head out but I'm sore, tired, and want to get back in bed. But I'm looking forward to it, even though I know it's about to hurt. I love this part of the process. Fighting through the inevitable suffer, soreness, and wondering "how was I ever so fit" and "maybe I won't get back to that level before".

I have an allie. Experience. I've been down this road before. Many many times. Each new season, new sport, new off-season is the same. It's hard, because you work on something new and whenever you do this you body must adjust to it. The result is pain and suffering. And it's something I love. Life would be empty without it.

Now then, let's get to it...

The Straight Dope

I write a lot about fitness and nutrition, which are the same thing as far as I'm concerned. It's all about health and lifestyle; the modern health care. Doctors and such are for when you haven't cared for your health or had an accident. Health care is what you do about your own health.

Anyway, most of what I write needs to be presentable. Here, however, I can rant. I may not, but I probably will. So much in today's world is guided by money only. Spun by marketers and/or politicians in order for their companies to 'stay in business', we're told to tone things down on a daily basis to keep those more powerful than us from 'causing us grief. Well, my friends, nobody's going to sue me for blogging so I'm going to say what I know. Hope it helps you out.

Cheers,
Steve