I’m personally not a big fan of listening to music while running — except on the treadmill. But I know that a lot of people find running without music as crazy as running without shoes… wait, I do that too. Anyway… Nike just launched a new version of their iPhone/iPod Nike + GPS Touch app. Thought you might want to know about it. You can download it here (iTunes link).

Though my Nike Free do support the little in-shoe foot pod thing, I have not tried it. However, I’ve read and had runners tell me that it’s pretty good. The interface design is pretty stellar and it’s socially connected so you can share your workouts with people on Facebook.

It apparently also offers in-run motivational messages from athletes to help keep you going. Kinda cool.

Green fluorescence in Nubian skeletons indicated tetracycline-labeled bone, the first clue that the ancients were producing the antibiotic. (Credit: Emory)

Now this is a treatment I would like to try

Check out this article on Futurity. It seems that ancient Nubians used Tetracycline-infused beer in an attempt to cure sickness in people.

…researchers later tied the source of the antibiotic to the Nubian beer. The grain used to make the fermented gruel contained the soil bacteria streptomyces, which produces tetracycline.

I always thought that antibiotic use started back in the mid to late 1800s, but apparently the Nubians were fermenting-up some microbrewed goodness over 2,000 years ago.

Sign me up for that IV!!

Just when I feel committed to the reality and the process, articles like this throw a wrench in the works.

I’m not good at judging the structure of studies like this, but I read through this one and — from a non-researcher point of view — it seems well done. The aim was to study the effects an exercise routine had on the musculoskeletal discomfort and mental/physical fatigue of airline call center employees.

The results showed that appropriately designed and supervised exercise programs may be more efficient than rest breaks in decreasing discomfort and fatigue levels in call-center operators.

Musculoskeletal discomfort decreased in both groups, and in the experimental group significant differences in the level of mental fatigue, especially in questions related to memory were found.

Two thoughts came to mind upon reading this

1. People move around and they feel better and smarter? Duh?!
2. The study results fall inline with my theory that the level of activity I keep is what helps preserve my lack of major Lyme-related joint issues.

I also know a woman who currently suffers from fibromyalgia (but who also “had” Lyme twice several years ago) and she says that staying active and playing tennis really cuts down on her joint and muscle pains.

Again, just more reasons to stay active and keep moving!

“As we live cleaner, we’re not just changing our exposure to infectious agents, but we’re changing our relationship with the entire microbial world, both around and inside us, and we may be altering the balance between pro- and anti-inflammatory bacteria,” leading to diseases like MS, Mazmanian says.

Makes me wonder about the people who test positive for Lyme, but do not have symptoms.

Bla bla bla… running… bla bla bla… runnning…

Websites about running are plentiful, but it seems that many of them are committed to voraciously evangelizing or debunking a certain training program or style of running. Others are pure fanboy fluff about how great this product is or how you should only be running in a certain brand. It’s tiring to weed through the junk to find the truly interesting.

Thankfully, coaches Dean Hebert and Joe English have recently launched a new site — Running-Advice.com. On there you can find a whole collection of weekly videos full of level-headed and sensible discussion about everything from pacing to vomiting (I think experiencing the latter means you didn’t apply the former properly).

I particularly liked this video about solitude, introspection, and meditation because for me this is what running has become all about.

Discussing barefoot running

Another video (I haven’t watched ALL of them) that I found interesting was their discussion about barefoot running. If you’re not already aware, barefoot running… or “natural running” and it’s often called… is probably the hottest topic in the running community right now. Even I get asked about on a regular basis from the runners I work with.

I’ll talk about why it’s such an issue in an upcoming post, but when it comes to running barefoot there are two camps:

1. Those who embrace the concept and would rather die than have to strap shoes on their feet again.
2. Those who believe that mega-corporations like Nike who spend millions on research must know what’s best for their running.

Personally, I believe, as is often the case with such heated and fierce debate, that the truth lies somewhere in between. Dean and Joe net out in the same place and for this I was really grateful. I’ve read a lot on the subject an have found very, VERY few neutral opinions. But I shouldn’t be surprised, I guess. This follows along with the tone of the other videos.

So, if you want to watch some quick, quality videos that don’t preach, checkout Running-Advice.com.

An interesting article from Futurity.com popped up in my RSS feed today. Seems that researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have determined that patients and survivors of breast, prostate, hematologic, colon and gynecological cancers should strive to get the same 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise that is recommended for the general public

For patients suffering from cancer-related weight loss, physical activity helps to maintain lean body mass, which can contribute to increased strength and well being.

Researchers do advise that certain accommodations be made regarding the patient’s level of fitness as well as his or her treatment process.

If it’s helpful for cancer patients and survivors, it’s gotta be good for Lyme too. Think about it and look for ways to be active.

Photo by flickrgao

My head is a sieve

Keeping track of things is a huge challenge for me right now and I have a lot going on. There’s my design and photography business, family, this blog, my training, health research, a motorcycle that needs maintenance… the list goes on. The ONLY way I’ve been able to keep track of all the info I need to have handy is with an awesome application called Evernote.

What is Evernote?

It’s not actually one thing, it’s a system of applications designed to help you organize various types of information from several different sources into one, central, web-based location. It allows you to clip and archive web pages, store screen shots, photos and text notes, all within a customizable storage system that you can access from your computer, your phone or from the web.

How does it help?

It’s been a life-saver for me in managing my foggy life. I store everything from website passwords to questions for my LLMD in it. Most of this happens right in the application installed on my desktop computer’s hard drive. But the beauty of Evernote is that it syncs with any other computer or mobile device that’s running the Evernote application.

I can access my notes on my laptop, my iPhone or by accessing my account on the Evernote website. This has saved me many times. Like the other night at the store, I couldn’t recall which pasta sauce I had confirmed was gluten-free. I have a list of gluten-free foods in Evernote and I was able to look it up via my iPhone while standing in the aisle.

Here are some other things I use it for:

• Saving gluten-free recipes – Another handy thing to have access to at the store or when cooking away from home.
• Lyme research – I save web pages into Evernote and then “tag” them with keywords like “Bart”, “Babs”, “Rifampin” and “detox”. Later, when I want to refer back to something I saved, I just look it up by the tag.
• Photo scrapbook – You can email photos (or just text) to your Evernote account. The photos get saved in your list of notes. I sometimes take pix of news clippings to help me remember to look them up later.
• Training plans – I have a couple of different training plans that I like to keep handy either for myself or for people who ask me about training.
• Shopping – I want to refit the components on my road bike. I’ve been doing some comparison shopping from different dealers. I take screenshots and save them into Evernote along with my comments for later use.

I should also mention Evernote also has text recognition capabilities. This means you can take a photo of, say… a business card. Later, you can search for that person’s name and Evernote will find the picture of the card by “reading” the text in the image. It’s that smart.

It’s free to start, but you’re limited to a 40MB monthly upload allowance. I’ve upgraded to a paid account, but it’s only $5.00. This allows me to upload 500MB a month and remove the ads from the application (which aren’t that bad, really).

If you’re looking for a way to keep track of all the things running around your head, I highly recommend it.

Because of government subsidies, that’s why.

As I do research on ways to clean up my diet, I keep stumbling upon little gems like this. It drives me crazy!

The article is from 2007, so the Farm Bill it mentions has already come and gone, but it’s a clear illustration of how broken the American outlook on nutrition is. Lobbyists for the big agribusiness like Monsanto, ConAgra along with self-motivated government officials are killing us with their subsidies to meat and grain producing farmers.

The government also purchases surplus foods like cheese, milk, pork, and beef for distribution to food assistance programs—including school lunches. The government is not required to purchase nutritious foods.

Today, we get most our nutritional guidance from advertising and the government. Except for the very outer fringe of the food industry, their goal is to make money, not make you healthy. More often than not, the people making decisions about the content and quality of the items sold on the shelves at your grocery store are not nutritional experts, they’re business people.

Don’t be fooled by their purposely misleading terms like original, homemade, premium and authentic. These are marketing terms, not statements of food quality. Trust me… I work in advertising. It’s all half-truths and perception spinning.

I encourage everyone to take a good long look at what you’re eating. And when I say that, I mean look beyond the whole Lyme or anti-candida diet concept. Unless you specialized in nutrition in college, everything you learned in school about a healthy diet no longer applies. Even the pyramid on the right – the one that the government says exemplifies a health balance – is wrong.

Do your own research. Be your own nutritional expert.

A computer test for toxins in your brain?

My LLMD is suspicious that part of my brainfog issues stem from chronic neurotoxins. To sniff out the possibility, he asked me to check out ChronicNeurotoxins.com. It’s a site created and run by Dr. Shoemaker, a well-respected doctor and Lyme advocate (not sure if he’s what we would call a LLMD) and do his Visual Contrast Sensitivity (VCS) test.

Taking the VCS test is simple, painless, costs $15.00 (for the basic test) and takes about 15 minutes. The process involves filling out a simple online form and then looking at a series of patterns on your computer.

On the site, Dr. Shoemaker says,

[T]he “Visual Contrast Sensitivity” test, or VCS – that can tell a physician in five minutes whether or not the patient is suffering from the harmful effects of neurotoxins on the brain’s ability to distinguish contrast between black, white and gray. The deficit in the visual pathways mirrors the adverse effect the neurotoxins are causing throughout the body.

Really?

Like so many thing with this stupid disease, I find the theories behind some of the diagnostic tools a little suspect. Things like Kinesiology (muscle testing) and even some of the laboratory test just seem bogus to me. The VCS is no exception, but, because my LLMD asked me to give it a try I did.

Overall score = negative.

The image above shows my test results. Another negative test to add to my collection.

My left eye tested worse than my right, but I believe this was due to the way I carried out the test. The first step involves covering your left for about 5 minutes while you look at the patterns on your monitor with your right. I found that when it came time to switch eyes and open my left and cover right, my left eye was all blurry and dry from holding my hand on it. I guess I could have waited 10 minutes for everything to sort itself out, but I decided to push ahead. This definitely made the latter part of the test difficult.

Has anyone else done this test?

I’d be curious to hear other thoughts and/or results on this test. Like I said, I feel that the nature of the test is a rather questionable, but I’m open to hearing some personal accounts to the contrary.