Good night’s sleep helps in avoiding obesity

Wikipedia reports:

Scientists have uncovered an inverse relationship between the hours of
sleep and blood plasma concentrations of ghrelin; as the hours of sleep
increase, ghrelin concentrations were considerably lower, thereby
potentially reducing appetite and avoiding potential obesity.

Mother diary’s probiotic milk

Well after a year of its launch, Mother Diary’s probiotic milk has finally made it to the shop in my apartment complex.

A bottle sells at Rs.10, is 100 ml and is based on the symbiotic combination of LA-5 and BB-12 which Yoplait has done long ago. Though presence of BB-12 is written on the bottle itself, curiously, Mother Diary’s own website does not mention BB-12.

The website also only mentions “billions of bacteria” without exactly specifying “how many billions of what” in each serving.

Each serving (of Mango flavour) is loaded with 12.3 grams of sugar for 100 ml and some fruit pulp, but it sure doesnt taste as “addictive” as Yakult. The date of packaging is printed on the cap of each bottle and you will need to add 21 days to determine whether or not you can consume it.

I clearly felt as if Rs. 10 bought more with Mother Dairy than with Yakult- there is 50% more milk per bottle!

Will Smith, a role model to look up to

“I will NOT be outworked. Period… You might have more talent than me,
you might be smarter than me, you might be sexier than me, you might be
all of those things. You got it on me in nine categories. But if we get
on the treadmill together, there’s two things:  Either you’re getting
off first, or I’m gonna die. It’s really that simple.”

-Will Smith, on his work ethic

On probiotic drinks

I have been using Probiotic products for about a year now. I started with Yakult, but later went on to try several other brands. The four probiotic drinks that I’ve had extensively are:

1. Yakult with Lactobacillus casei Shirota
2. Mother Dairy Probiotic Dahi with Bifidobacterium BB-12®
3. Danon Danimals with L Bulgaricus, S Thermophilus and Lactobacilus GG
4. Danon Danactive with L Bulgaricus, S Thermophilus and L Casei Immunitas

I can say that having probiotic drinks has helped my digestive system and Yakult seems to be the best for me. I’d like to know from others about other brands and strains and which cultures seemed to have benefitted others.

First 5 mile run

Encouraged by yesterday’s effort to hit the one hour limit, today I ventured to run the first-non-stop-five-miles of my life.

Machine : LifeFitness 95Te

Warm up time : 5 mins
Warm up distance : 520 m
Running time : 55 mins
Distance covered : 5.1 miles
Inclination : 0 degrees
Cool down time : 5 mins
Cool down distance 460 m
Calories burnt : 635

After effects :
- A few people asking me if I was training for the half-marathon
- A ravenous appetite despite drinking a litre of water
- 1000 calorie breakfast
- 3 hours of sleep after breakfast

Where all does it still hurt?
- Calves
- Hamstrings
- Lower back

My first full hour of cardio

Date : 4-Oct-08
The machine : Lifefitness 95Xe Elliptical bike

Workout time : 63 mins
Distance covered : 12.0 kms
Height covered : 1698 m
Calories burnt : 578

Excellent cardio workout, and my knees didn’t even hurt.

Running the extra mile

For the last couple of days I’d not been eating my veggies and had been binging excessively on rice, oils, fats and chicken. Of late I’ve been irregular to the gym and my weight is on the increasing trend.

I got a bit worried and today I decided that I had to burn some calories and I decided to stretch myself to run 4 miles instead of the 3 point something miles I usually run.

I warmed by walking with increasing speeds for 5 minutes. Then ran at 5 miles per hour for a couple of minutes and then I set to do 6.1 miles per hour and ran steadily for 40 minutes. The surplus of carbs I’d been seem to make it possible for me to run more. At the end of 40 minutes it looked like I could run for a few more minutes, but I decided not to stretch my luck too far and dropped to cool down for 3 minutes before I pressed the stop button.

In 48 minutes, I’d covered 7.2 kms and burnt 500 calories.

But that is a mere 6% of my target. I know I need to burn 7500 surplus calories before I drop the extra kilo that I gained in the last couple of weeks

Why the hell do people make desserts?

Eat your good fats

These are a couple of excellent articles on dietary fats by Harvard School of Public Health I read recently.

1. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fats-full-story/index.html

2. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fats-table/index.html

Best time on a treadmill

After 15 years, today, I ran 5 kilometers. I was on a tread mill belt and not on terra firma – like I used to in “those days” when I ran before my Karate practice sessions.

I walked 500 m in 5 minutes to warm up. After 5 minutes, I started to jog at 8 kmph, slowly picked up speed in steps to 11 kmph in steps. As pain set in after 15 minutes of running, I reduced my speed in steps to 10 kmph, 9.5 kmph, and so on till I was running the last 500 m at 8.5 kmph. The whole thing lasted 32 minutes and 19 seconds and the belt had rolled 5000 m. When I crossed 5010 m, I hit the cool down button and dropped to 6.8 kmph. I cooled down by walking 420 m in 5 minutes.

It was the first time in years that I had run non-stop for 5 km. On earlier occasions where I’d run 5 km non-stop, I’d not timed myself. So this automatically became my personal best.

When I stepped off the treadmill, my calves where still beating to the rhythm of my heart. I could feel pain and I sat on the large steel frame of a rowing machine panting for a few minutes.

My instructor didn’t even seem to notice. He walked up to me and said, “Enough of rest. Now go pick the barbells, do four sets of 12 reps each and then do 3 sets with dumbells and wait for me”. When I hit the shower, it looked like another day at the gym. But now I feel good about it, despite my aching legs.

Daily values of nutrients