The Health Blog: Free Health & Nutrition Information

I just received this email from Amy Goetz and had to share it.

Basically, she asks the question: “If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, what can a slice of pizza do for you?”

Then she proceeds to answer it. I’ve posted her entire analysis, unedited, for your review.

You’ve gotta read this. The results of Amy’s research are really frightening!

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One portion of Tombstone Sausage & Pepperoni Pizza (appropriately named) — (weighing 125 grams) contains 327 calories,16.4 grams of fat, and 31 milligrams of cholesterol.

One medium apple (weighing 125 grams) contains 74 calories, 0.45 grams of fat, and no cholesterol.

If you want to shed one pound of fat from your body weight, you would have to burn 3,500 calories.

Compare one person to another.

Person A eats an apple each day and person B eats just one portion of Tombstone Pizza each day.

After one year, the pizza person would supply his or her body with 92,345 more calories than the apple eater.

That represents 26 pounds of body fat.

There are 5.38 milligrams of cholesterol contained in 1 medium-sized slice of cooked bacon.

In one year, the person eating the Tombstone Pizza would consume the equivalent cholesterol contained in 2,103 slices of bacon.

That’s nearly 6 slices per day.

The apple eater gets no cholesterol.

During that same year, the pizza eater would eat 12.8 pounds more fat than the apple eater.

Picture a small French poodle weiging 12.8 pounds. Now picture the same sized ball of fat.

Picture the Tombstone Pizza eater’s thighs.

What might they write on her tombstone?

She did not eat an apple a day…

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I tell you what, reading this reinforces my love for apples! :-)

Ever since Stephanie and I started working out together again, we’ve been super consistent.

We hit the gym at least 2 times every week, usually 3.

After Owen’s birth, we had to exercise separately. I’d go while Stephanie watched the kids. Then she’d go while I watched the kids.

It effectively doubled the amount of time it took for us to both exercise.

Now we’re paying for a gym that has affordable child care. It’s so worth it.

When I’m feeling lazy, Stephanie motivates me. When she’s lazy (hardly ever), I motivate her.

Everybody should have a workout partner like Stephanie. Always disciplined; always motivated to burn calories.

If you can find an exercise partner, I highly suggest you do. It’ll make you both more disciplined.

I’ve got a question: what’s with the heavy metal at the gym?

Talk about a bad choice for exercise…

Sometimes they’re playing popular music. Sometimes heavy metal, classic rock, techno, country, etc.

It all depends on who’s “stereo captain” for the day.

I can handle everything but the heavy metal. It’s just horrible to listen to for any length of time.

If I had my pick, I’d play techno or popular music.

The techno is sometimes a little weird, but the fast rhythms are great for keeping up the pace when doing cardio and circuit training.

It’s almost like I can’t slow down… because it wouldn’t jibe with the beat!

If you have any techno music (or can influence what’s played at your gym), you might give it a whirl the next time you exercise. It’s really great for high-intensity workouts.

This last week has been a doozy.

My two kids got sick over the weekend, then passed it off to me and Stephanie on Monday.

We’ve been sick all week.

The doctor says it’s probably rotavirus. Nearly 100% of children get it before the age of 3.

Symptoms include: vomiting, diarrhea, congestion, runny nose, cough, and headache.

Children react to it a bit differently than adults. My symptoms are basically like a cold. Steph and the kids got the full treatment (no fun!).

To fight off the sickness and get well again, I’ve been sleeping 10 hours a day, which is a lot for me. I’m used to sleeping 6 and a half to 7 hours. Under normal circumstances, I can’t sleep for 10 hours. This week I can’t sleep less than 10 hours.

But the sleep has been good, even though the waking hours have been tedious. In fact, I’ve found sleep is one the best possible things I can do to get well.

If you’re sick, get some sleep. You’ll feel better and get well faster.