Bad Soda!

People always say that soda is bad for you. And while I believed them, I also thought that soda is everywhere; it can't be that bad for you if you can get it anywhere you go.

I was wrong. According to the article, "Nutritionists: Soda making Americans drink themselves fat," soda contributes up to 10 percent of the daily caloric intake in the American diet. In a 32 oz. cup of Coke, there is around 400 calories--nearly 25 percent of a womans daily caloric needs.

The most interesting part, however, is how the body responds to soda. The body releases a hormone called ghrelin that tells the body to be hungry and to eat. If you eat a meal, the levels of ghrelin would drop for a while. When you drink a soda, however, that does not happen. So you could eat a whole meal plus the 400 extra calories from the soda and not know the difference.

Some soft drink companies, like Pepsi, are making an effort to make their products better. They also have a program for teens called "Get Active, Stay active" which, as a consumer, shows me they care about the health of their customers. Check out the nutrition facts for Pepsi products and see if you can change how you look at soda.

Tragedy and Confusion

This weekend, a CSU junior was killed in an accident in the mountains. A group of people were four-wheeling up in the mountains west of Fort Collins, and one of the SUV's, a Toyota 4-Runner, went off the road and rolled.

The part that gets confusing is that every news outlet that I have read has said so far that the driver swerved off the road in order to aviod hitting two oncoming vehicles. But there is a facebook group called Mike Morgan RIP! that informs its members what actually happened.

The driver of the 4-Runner took a turn too sharpley and the car rolled; there were no other cars on the road. The person who wrote on the facebook group wall was driving behind the 4-Runner and saw the whole thing happen.

The victim was a guy named Mike Morgan, an active member of Delta Tau Delta on CSU's campus. The driver was also a Delt named Robert Bowling. Morgan died on Saturday, and Bowling was arrested and thrown in jail with charges of vehicular homicide. It is still not determined whethere alcohol was involved or not.

I heard about this tragedy on Sunday, the 23rd, and went looking all over for some news outlet that had some information. I finally found an article that gave some information, but was absolutely disguisted at what I read in the comments below it. This article is "One dead in off-road accident."

Some of the people who commented on this article said things about how this should be used as a lesson to others, that CSU could have somehow stopped this as well as Greek Life. The most outrageous part of these comments though, was that they believed somehow that the parents of the victim were to blame because they didn't teach their children strongly enough not to drink and drive.

How dare someone blame the parents of this man for something he could not control. Not only that, but CSU and the Greek life are mourning the loss of a fellow student and friend. People, students and Greeks make their own decisions; blaming the organizations they belong to does not change the fact that this was a very tragic incident.

Why eating healthy is so important

Colorado is one of the more health-conscious places, and looking around, it is rare to see someone grossly obese. I mistakingly thought that the high levels of obeseity were finally falling, but I was wrong.

According to the article, "Fighting Obesity: The Role of Behavior, Biology and Bad Choices," written by Martica Heaner, obese means having a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 30 or higher. Because just a scale cannot accurately measure fat and muscle together, the BMI takes your height and weight into consideration.

According to this study done by Centers for Disease Control's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which you can also find on MSN, Colorado is one of the states with the lowest levels of obeseity. Colorado had an obesity prevalence of around 18.9%, which is lower than most out there.

Our bodies store fat in situations that we can't eat. It is pretty common knowledge that food and calories equal energy, but having too much calories can add up.

"Since the body is hardwired to be thrifty, it keeps on doing what it does best—storing all the extra calories that you consume," wrote Heaner.

Cycling: A great way to stay healthy

I had heard one time that Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France champion, had an unusually strong body and heart that scientists had never seen before. I did not really think much of it though, until I ran across an article.

This article, titled "Tour de France cyclists' hearts bigger than normal" by the Associated Press, explains that the hearts of many athletes, especially cyclists, have larger hearts.

According to some researchers, many cyclists who ride in extremely difficult rides like the Tour de France have unusually large hearts: up to 20-40% larger than most.

According to the article, "Athletes who train hard in aerobic sports, such as cycling, running or swimming, tend to have a bigger heart that pumps more blood throughout the body."

The athletes have better endurance because they have increased air flow throughout their body due to thicker heart walls that can handle more blood flow, according to the article. Cycling is a great way to get in shape because it is an endurance sport- if you can stand riding for hours, you can feel the burn but have fun at the same time. And it is a great heart work out as well.

If you are interested in cycling, check out Lee's Cyclery, a great locally-owned bike shop. Or if buying a bike is not an option, most gyms offer cycling classes which is a fun, great workout.

Are You In Shape for Winter?

Some of the most common complaints after a beautiful day on the slopes are "Man am I sore," or "I discovered some muscles I never knew I had- they feel like they're on fire." That is mostly because many people do not realize what a great work outs skiing and snowboarding are.

It does not matter if you ski or snowboard, both sports you will wantt to get in shape before you go up. Not only does working out keep you from getting sore on the slopes, it can also help in balance and flexability as well. I found a few websites that give some great exercises to help get you in shape for this new season.

The first is at SnowboardingSecrets.com. A few great exercises I like about this site are the tricep "dips" that essentially build the muscles that help snowboarders get off the ground. This site also has a balance exercise that I find very interesting. It consists of placing a tennis ball under the balls of your feet, and then trying to balance on them.

The other site is for skiiers and its netfit.com. Like the snowboard website, it recommends many leg exercises including the lunge and leg press. One of the things I like about this website is that it has two tables near the bottom of the screen that give examples of a good workout on a bike or a treadmill. I also like that this site gives a description of the exercises as well as photos.

Enviro Green AND Fun!

While I am interested in health and exercise, I am also very interested in trying to be as environmentally green as I can. For example: I drive a Honda, I like to recycle, and I try to ride my bike instead of drive my car when I can. But sometimes, I need to be able to get somewhere quickly and my legs just can not pedal that fast. What, besides a car, can do that?

A scooter. Scooters are fairly green, considering they get around 100 miles to the gallon, they come in a clean 2 stroke, or a 4 stroke and are fun to ride. They are also nice because they can be parked anywhere: on the sidewalk, in motorcycle parking or small places. For those who commute to campus or work, they are great because parking passes are usually much cheaper than for a car.

My favorite scooter out there is made by Genuine called the Buddy. The Buddy is a fun and quite small scooter that comes in a rainbow of colors to choose from. They have an under-the-seat storage compartment, a car charger and come in 50 cc's and 125 cc's. For those that don't know the difference in 50 and 125 cc's, the smaller one is legal without a motorcycle license and gets up to aroudn 35 mph, while the 125 cc gets up to aroudn 70 mph, but does require a license.

Looking forward to the winter

I have lived in Colorado my whole life, but until I came to college, I never realized what Colorado has to offer to the outdoor enthusiast. That could be because I was never much of an outdoors enthusiast until I moved up to Fort Collins and was introduced to everything Colorado had to offer.

One of the main reasons I like to be out enjoying the wilderness is because that usually means that you are doing some form of exercise, and what better way to work out than playing outside. That being said, my two favorite outdoor activities that occupy most of my free time are cycling and snowboarding. Although I may not be a huge health and exercise buff, I do enjoy eating healthy and working out whenever possible.

As it is fall, we are moving away from the beautiful Colorado summer hills where cycling occupied a few hours of my day, to Colorado's most popular playground; the slopes. Just recently, I purchased a new snowboard from Outpost Sunsport, a locally-owned sports shop that specializes in ski and snowboarding gear as well as patio furniture. Now I can not stop staring at my beautiful new snowboard in anticipation for the first time I get to take it out on the slopes.

For some great skiing/snowboarding passes, check out the Colorado Pass, which gives you unlimited skiing at Keystone, Breckenridge and A-Basin with 10 days at Vail and Beaver Creek. Another popular pass is the Rocky Mountain Pass, which gives you unlimited skiing and snowboarding at Copper, Winterpark and Mary Jane, as well as 6 days at Steamboat.