Fit for the New Year

        As I lumbered out of the library the other day with my 10-pound book called, Capital in the Twenty-First Century (it will be a New Year’s miracle if I finish this one), I noticed a much smaller, more appealing book called, Eat Move Sleep, by Tom Rath. 

       I quickly grabbed it and told the librarian I would promptly return it in three weeks.  She was quite agreeable to the arrangement, and well, I’ve never met a librarian who wasn’t.

      In about an hour I had read a third of the book, making me realize how easy it is to write a bestseller these days.  Simply refer to some popular health studies, include some anecdotes about your own life, add some tips for readers to follow, and most of all, keep all chapters under five pages in length.  Voilà, you’ve got yourself a million-dollar book.

       I particularly enjoyed this review posted by a reader on Amazon: “Read the title, and you don't need to read the book. Trite, repetitive, and incredibly simplistic, Rath's new book made me want to sit on the couch and stuff my face with Oreos.”

      With that so eloquently said, I still say it’s a good book.  There’s something to be said for simplicity and brevity, particularly when it comes to making changes to one’s lifestyle.  The reminders are all good: eat your fruits and vegetables, exercise and move around regularly, and sleep well.  Yes, almost anyone could have written it, but we didn't.  Personally, I prefer writing low-profit blogs. 

       There were a few points in particular that reminded me of how I needed to change my own lifestyle.  For one, I sit too much.  Whether it’s at work, which largely involves sitting in front of a computer, or at home, where I’m either sitting at the table or on a couch (maybe even occasionally watching TV), I sit a lot for most of my day. 
       Inactivity has always been a bad thing, but sitting has actually been shown to be in itself detrimental to your health. According to a study published a few years ago, those who have desk jobs end up shaving four years off their lives on average.  Cancer rates are actually higher for those who sit most of their lives.  Sitting is the new smoking.

       And of course sitting hunched over a keyboard is terrible for one’s back.  About five years ago I suffered my first serious back problems, largely due to my work posture.  The issue resurfaces every few months, reminding me that I haven’t done enough exercise or stretching throughout the week.

A cool pedometer does wonders for your health

      I’m not yet tempted to get a treadmill at work with a laptop mounted to the front, as the author did, but I did buy a pedometer the other day.  Got one for my wife and daughter as well.  Really cool ones that have names like “Wave” and “Reef” that link to our phones and blink red lights.  I’m a sucker for technology, but it’s a great way to motivate us to be more active every day.

      As far as food choices go, the author also reminded me how much sugar I consume.  Given that I’ve just spent December eating three to four chocolates per day (maybe a couple more each night), I’ve committed, like my seven-year-old daughter, to reduce the amount of sugar I eat in 2015.

      Not only sugar added to my coffee, but also sugar in other foods like bread, cake, rice, and all the other wonderful white foods we consume every day.  The foods that are full of colour and generally keep you from going for seconds are the foods you really need to eat more of.

      And while I’m not overweight or out of shape, it doesn’t mean that my body isn’t deteriorating due to diet.  Once you pass that magical threshold of age 29,  you’ve got to do everything you can to stop that thing from falling apart.

     The author’s final point is in regard to sleep.  As in, get more of it.  I’ve heard that you need at minimum eight hours to function normally, but nine is even better.  To most of us this may sound unachievable, but to me it sounds delightful.

      That’s Eat Move Sleep in a nutshell.  Save yourself $15 and ask a kind librarian to borrow it. 
      As for the Capital book, it’s the perfect weight for a light toning cardio workout (as in, I’m still in the introduction).

You can bet it won’t happen in 2015

            Now that the new year is upon us, everyone likes to predict what we will be in for in 2015.  It’s an interesting exercise because, of course, nobody really knows.  And who ever goes back in time to see if someone actually predicted the truth?  Did anyone predict the huge drop in the price of oil?  Oh wait, I did – check out my Scoop’s View in November 2012 (yah, brag, brag, brag…)

Nevertheless, it’s probably safer to predict what won’t happen.  And so here are my predictions of what won’t happen in 2015.  Each of these has a moderate to high likelihood of not coming true.

            In the world of popular culture, which I am so familiar with (ahem), Justin Bieber will stay out of jail.  Not only that, but he will form a non-profit organization to help celebrities like him stay out of jail.  This will lead to an outpouring of public support where funds will be raised by people dumping moderately heavy objects on their heads.  It will catch on like wildfire, with many well-known non-jail-going celebrities participating.  Before anyone knows what they’re raising money for, they’ll have raised millions.

Too cool for yoga - skipping is the new rage.

Speaking of fads, in 2015 a new fitness trend will emerge involving extensive skipping.  Not just skipping with a rope, but actually skipping down the street like you’re really happy and about to break into some kind of cool dance.  Skipping sessions will become the new rage; new fitness videos will come out; people will start carrying them around like their coffee mugs; and work places will feature skip breaks instead of coffee or yoga sessions.  Ah, yoga... that was so 2014. 

            In the world of sports, the Blue Jays will win the World Series, the Toronto Raptors will win the NBA finals, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers will win the Grey Cup, and the Toronto Maple Leafs will win the Stanley Cup (even saying that one as a joke seems wrong).  It will be such a year of Canadian teams ruling the world (and when I say the world, I mean the United States), that we won’t care anymore what the U.S. thinks of us (unless it’s about the way we talk).

In the world of new slang, the term, “Zah boyz” will start to catch on.  While the attempt to first propagate this term in 2000 only caught on with a few of us university students, its general appeal (through the extensive help of You Tube) will finally spread in 2015.  The term, originally meant to convey, “Oh boy” is essentially a play on “oh” and “boy,” as in, “Toronto really won the Stanley Cup?  Zah boyz.”

            In the economic realm, world traders will realize oil is no longer valuable to our world economy and the price will drop to $2 a barrel.  This will follow a sudden  crash in commodities, after which Putin will be deposed as a dictator and democracy will return to Russia.  The rock-bottom oil prices will last a few days, until investors realize that the world does need resources, and the price of oil will again double... to $4 a barrel.

            Finally, in the political realm, the NDP and Liberals will come together in the spring to form a new party called the New Democratic Liberals. With Justin Trudeau and the guy with the beard becoming co-party leaders, they will be a force for Harper to reckon with in this fall’s election.  This will ultimately lead to the first time in Canadian history that our nation will have not one, but two equally powerful prime ministers.  This will create a new division of powers in Canada, where either Trudeau or the guy with the beard can effectively veto the other.  In this unprecedented arrangement of power, the two sign an agreement where they must share the same Prime Minister’s office, and cannot attend a meeting of any importance without the other being present.  There will be only one division of responsibilities: the guy with the beard will respond to the media and Trudeau will attend just-for-fun speaking engagements (if no journalists are present.)

            Take them or leave them, these are my bold, non-predictions for 2015.