With summer right around the corner, it is time for many local farmers’ markets in the area to spring to life. These markets provide food that is fresh, and often free of pesticides and certified organic. So to kick off the unofficial start to summer on a healthy note, I thought I would provide links to some of the local farmers’ markets.

Anselma Farmers and Artisans Market – Chester Springs
Chester County Farmers’ Markets – multiple locations
West Chester Growers’ Market – West Chester
Lancaster County Farmers’ Market - Wayne
Linvilla Orchard – Media
Oakmont Farmer’s Market – Havertown
Swarthmore Farmer’s Market/Food Co-op – Swarthmore
Ardmore Farmer’s Market – Ardmore
Bryn Mawr Farmer’s Market – Bryn Mawr

And last but not least, no list of great places to get your produce would be complete without mention of Gentile’s Market!

To find out what phytonutrients you are getting based on the color of the fruits and vegetables you are eating, here is a great guide.

I hope you have an enjoyable, and colorful, holiday weekend!

To your health and happiness…

If it were April Fool’s Day, I would have gotten a chuckle out of a US News and World Report headline this week, “Healthy Retirees Have Higher Medical Costs“. It’s certainly a counter-intuitive statement, but if you were to read the research study, there seems to be evidence to support such a claim!

The researchers calculated that a couple turning 65 in 2009 in which one or both spouses suffer from a chronic disease is likely to have lifetime health care costs totaling $220,000. A 65-year-old couple without any health problems can expect to spend $260,000 on health costs throughout retirement.

So a knee-jerk reaction may be to question what the value of exercise and healthy eating may be, if such a lifestyle leads to higher medical costs in retirement. However, upon closer inspection, the results make perfect (and common) sense.

If someone has a chronic disease at age 65, their life expectancy may be 5-10 more years. For someone who is healthy at age 65, their life expectancy may be 20-25 more years. Guess who is going to incur higher lifetime medical costs after age 65? The person who is healthy, because they are going to live a lot longer, and will continue to incur medical costs. And the person with the chronic disease? Well, he or she has successfully lowered his or her medical costs to zero. (Death is one way to dramatically lower your medical costs.)

To me, the relevant part of the study is the part that shows that current health care costs at any given age in retirement are substantially lower for healthy individuals versus those with a chronic disease. For example, at age 75, the average annual medical costs of a healthy individual are $6,700 while for those not in good health the average annual costs are $8,000. This certainly makes sense, and is one of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. However, this fact is often not mentioned in many of the stories written this past week about this research.

The headlines for the study focused on the higher lifetime medical costs of those in good health, and not the lower annual costs. I can understand a newspaper or magazine (or me) using such headlines to capture readers’ attention, but it would be nice if they were a little clearer on exactly what the research results indicated. However, what I found most disturbing was a statement made by the authors of the study itself: “The reality is that even the currently healthy can expect to eventually suffer from one or more chronic diseases...”

I certainly don’t accept that getting chronic diseases is a natural part of the aging process, and neither does Jack LaLanne, John Robbins, or Joel Fuhrman. So I will continue to advocate the benefits of exercise and good nutrition.

And finally, Carla Fried of CBS Moneywatch makes a good point; “There is … one contingent that has been rendered absolutely giddy by this research. The marketing departments at financial service firms. I imagine the teams tasked with boosting long-term care insurance and annuity sales are firing up PowerPoint right now, eager to drop in some references to this research, which just happens to have been financed by Prudential Financial.” Like they always say, just follow the money…

To your happiness and a long, healthy life.

I’ve mentioned Jack LaLanne in previous newsletters, but someone recently sent me a link to a video about Jack on his 95th birthday, and I thought I would share it with you. After watching the video and reading up on Jack, I learned s good deal more about him and what a true visionary he was. Plus, I never knew that jumping jacks were named after him! (Maybe if we really start pushing burpees at Fitness Together, I can start a campaign to have them officially known as Burpee Bordens…)

LaLanne was way ahead of his time, and was always straight with America about what it took to be fit – hard work and commitment. He is fond of saying, “You’ve got to work at living – 99 and 9/10 of Americans work at dying!”

He also emphasized the importance of both exercise and nutrition. One of his favorite sayings is, “Exercise is king; nutrition is queen. Put ‘em together and you’ve got a kingdom!” His basic eating philosophy was “Eat fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean meat and fish. No white flour, white sugar. Avoid processed foods. No snacking.”

His advice is simple, but it is timeless because it works. And if you want proof, just watch that part of the video where he pulls 70 boats with 70 people on them for a mile and a half, on his 70th birthday, while his hands and feet were shackled!

To your health and happiness…

I like thinking of myself as a health and fitness “guinea pig”, since I like to try different things and see what impact they have on my health and overall fitness levels. Since I enjoy reading about the latest research related to cardio fitness, strength training, nutrition, and a variety of other health topics, I have an unending supply of new things to try.

As one example, a couple of years ago “Crossfit” was one of the new trends taking place in the fitness world. It sounded intriguing to me, so I made a 12 week commitment to a Crossfit approach to my training. I liked the variety of the workouts, as well as the intensity, and I was pleased with the results. At the time, I was able to get my body fat down to the lowest it has been in a long, long time (around 13%), and I got quite proficient at a number of the Crossfit workouts. However, once the 12 weeks were up, I was ready to move on. I didn’t abandon Crossfit workouts altogether, and I incorporate them now and then into my general fitness routine. One of my next fitness goals is to become proficient in the use of kettlebells, but first I’ve got a marathon to do (see below).

Another example is with my eating habits. I have been a vegan for almost 4 years, and I doubt if I will ever change from this approach to eating. To me, it has become not just a nutritional decision (which was my original motivation), but goes far beyond that, to include issues such as a concern for the environment and a compassion for all living things. But even within the vegan diet, I have tried various approaches. One approach that has fascinated me is a raw foods approach, and in particular a low fat raw vegan approach.

Here are a couple of links to such a diet:

FoodnSport
Running Raw

I have successfully completed two 30-day trials over the past couple of years on such a diet, but now I want to try an even longer attempt. My goal is to be on a low-fat, raw food eating plan for 12 weeks, and I had actually started this about 10 days ago. That was the same day I had completed a half marathon on the erg at our studio. I had set a goal of 90 minutes for the half marathon, and while I was on that pace for about 70 minutes, things started coming apart and I finished in 91 minutes and 20 seconds.

The half marathon was just part of my training for my eventual goal of a full marathon on the erg, with a goal of 3 hours. (Needless to say, I’ve got some work to do). However, I have come across a great 12 week training plan for rowing a marathon which I had planned to start last week. I was going to go on the raw diet in conjunction with this 12 week training plan, since based on what I have read, the low fat raw vegan diet is particularly well suited for endurance athletes.

However, I have already run into a couple bumps in the road. I did great with the raw food for the first five days, but then one day last week was the 32nd anniversary of the night I met my wife in college, and we went out for dinner to Heng’s Thai to celebrate. (If you wonder who would remember such a thing – when you only have enough nerve/confidence to talk to about one girl a decade, everything about such occasions is memorable).

And as far as the indoor rowing is concerned, I think I overdid the training leading up to the half-marathon attempt and I’ve decided to give the rowing some rest. As a result my 12 week plan has been delayed, even though I had the original date of my full marathon attempt circled on my calendar.

Once I get going with both the diet and the training plan, I will provide periodic updates via this newsletter, not just for your curiosity, but as a way of holding myself accountable (like we are always trying to do with our clients!)

The reason I’m sharing this with you is to give you some comfort in knowing that it is OK if you occasionally stray from your diet or from your training plan, as long as you keep the big picture in mind and your long-term goals. In addition, I want you to also know that all of us at FT are just as curious about how our bodies respond to different eating habits and training routines.

We then love to share what we’ve learned, and incorporate that knowledge into your workouts and nutritional suggestions. This way, you are ensured of being up to date with the latest training philosophies, never getting into a rut with your workouts, and having the chance to talk with someone about their real world experience with an approach to eating and training that has worked for them.

To your health and happiness,