This article from yourlife.usatoday.com says my home town is the fittest and healthiest city in the USA!
The Twin Cities Minneapolis-St. Paul are the healthiest, fittest cities in the USA, followed by Washington, D.C., and Boston, according to a new analysis of the 50 most populous metro areas.
Oklahoma City ranks last, and Louisville is second to last.
The annual American Fitness Index, out today from the American College of Sports Medicine, is based on a number of health factors, including percentage of residents who smoke, obesity rates, percentage of people who exercise and availability of parks, walking trails and farmers' markets.
“It takes a healthy community to produce a healthy population, and Minneapolis-St. Paul is a beautiful place to live if you're interested in a physically active lifestyle,” says Barbara Ainsworth, president-elect of the sports medicine group and a professor in Arizona State University's exercise and wellness program in Phoenix.
Where does your city fall in the fitness rankings?
1. Minneapolis-St. Paul
2. Washington, D.C.
3. Boston
4. Portland, Ore.
5. Denver
6. San Francisco
7. Hartford, Conn.
8. Seattle
9. Virginia Beach
10. Sacramento
11. San Jose, Calif.
12. Richmond, Va.
13. San Diego, Calif.
14. Cincinnati, Ohio.
15. Salt Lake City, Utah
16. Austin, Texas
17. Pittsburgh, Pa.
18. Atlanta
19. Providence
20. Baltimore
21. Milwaukee, Wisc.
22. Kansas City, Mo.
23. Buffalo
24. Raleigh,N.C.
25. Cleveland
26. St. Louis, Mo.
27. Philadelphia
28. Chicago
29. Orlando
30. New York City
31. Jacksonville, Fla.
32. Phoenix
33. San Antonio
34. New Orleans, La.
35. Miami
36. Charlotte
37. Nashville
38. Columbus
39. Dallas
40. Tampa
41. Los Angeles
42. Houston
43. Las Vegas
44. Riverside, Calif.
45. Indianapolis
46. Detroit
47. Birmingham, Ala.
48. Memphis
49. Louisville
50. Oklahoma City, Okla.
Source: American Fitness Index from the American College of Sports Medicine
Among the reasons the Twin Cities ranked No. 1: a lower-than-average obesity rate, an above-average percentage of residents who exercise, a relatively low smoking rate and moderate-to-low rates of chronic health problems such as asthma, heart disease and diabetes. Plus the area has lots of parks and recreational facilities.
Minneapolis was one of the first cities to have organized bicycle trails and to prohibit smoking in public places, she says, and it has many parks and public golf courses. You can read the rest here.
Is it possible – even imaginable – that nearly everyone has been wrong about saturated fat and its connection to heart disease? Brace yourself. Based on a wave of new research, all the dietary admonitions about saturated fat could end up being little more than a huge mistake.
“The question is whether saturated fat is harmful or is just a bystander,” says Ronald M. Krauss, MD, a lipid specialist and the director of atherosclerosis research at the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute. “Saturated fat may have an effect on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, but the effect is so small that we just can’t detect it. We shouldn’t be demonizing saturated fat.”
And what did the expert's mistake contribute to society?
Food manufacturers responded by creating thousands of products in which saturated fat and cholesterol were replaced with refined carbohydrates, sugars and trans fats. And therein lies the problem. Not only do trans fats drive bodywide inflammation, but foods rich in refined carbohydrates and sugars trigger sharp increases in blood-sugar and insulin levels, which then set the stage for weight and blood-sugar problems – the leading risk factors for type 2 diabetes and CVD. “Replacing saturated fat with refined carbohydrates and sugars does not decrease CVD risk,” says Krauss. “More and more, the evidence shows that eating more refined carbs and sugars increases CVD risk.”
The late Robert C. Atkins, MD, sounded the alarm about the increase in carb and sugar consumption in the 1980s, when he noticed a dramatic rise in obesity and type 2 diabetes. But his solution, a diet rich in saturated fats, was roundly criticized – mostly because people believed that Atkins advised avoiding all carbs, including vegetables, when, in reality, he meant refined carbs. It took years of research before his approach was eventually vindicated.
This may sound like heresy, but the science behind it is solid. Sabina Sieri, PhD, of Italy’s National Cancer Institute, for example, tracked almost 48,000 people over eight years and found that women who ate more refined carbs and sugars had a significantly greater risk of coronary heart disease than those with a lower refined-carb intake.
It's been easy to blame the food manufactures for the obesity epidemic… but they were simply responding to market forces… that started when the “experts” convinced us that eating eggs and red meat was going to kill us all.
My money is on some future study confirming that stress and anxiety, from from listening to “experts”, is the real cause of CVD.
Back on ICI Podcast #125 — Barbara Hoots Explains How To Get Your Playlist Order Right, Barbara explained the importance of using recognizable music in your class as an important little detail your class will really appreciate and enjoy. But the solution may not be playing the same old tired version everyone has heard a thousand times. Finding a new version, in the form of a cover, re-mix or mash-up, can really freshen up your playlist and add that special connection we all look to make with our students.
So where do you find these tracks?
Better question; where do you find these tracks and download them for FREE?
Barbara turned me on to soundcloud.com as a fantastic source for music – much of it is not only free, but legal 🙂 Sound Cloud's users are made up of DJ's and Bands that upload their latest creations. Some are available as free downloads.
Like any other music discovery process, navigating through Sound Cloud will take some time. We're all spoiled with by the speed of iTunes' music sampling (I hate clicking and then waiting for something to happen) and I don't think you'll be disappointed by Sound Cloud. Their streaming is very fast and you can click on the music wave form to quickly sample within the song!
Go ahead and create a profile at Sound Cloud
Here's how to search Sound Cloud so you only see tracks that can be downloaded – NOTE: some tracks may have reached their download limit and no longer available. At the top go to Tracks > Search for Tracks and then tick the box for Show Advanced Search Options to see this: (click image to enlarge)
I set the Track/set type to Remix and then add search terms into the Tags/genres box. You may also what to choose the length of songs, long = ~9 minutes or more. Looking for a fun 80's mix? Try this one (it includes promos). Dj Vegaz – In The Lab – April 2010 Eighties Rock by Dj Vegaz
Click the little down arrow on the right to download.
I've been bugging Gene Nacey at Cycling Fusion to send me some video clips of the classes they have been filming. He's finally caught up enough to begin providing them for you to watch.
There will be two versions avalible;
In the right hand side bar – scroll down to see it.
As ICI/PRO member only videos.
We are trying to get these on a somewhat regular schedule 🙂
I just got an email about this new discount shopping service for sports and fitness clothing and accessories and I thought it may interest you. It looks similar to Amazon's Gold Box Deal of the Day where they send you notifications of special deals.
If you are like me and like this kind of stuff, this could become one of those emails that you enjoy getting.
where they send you notifications of special deals.