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I have mentioned many times before that I ride a bike to work and during the last few weeks have been up and down with it so I thought it may be a good time to try to communicate the issues that I have run into.

I have been riding my bike to work for years but here in Calgary the weather in the winter is really cold so I have always taken a few months off in the winter and done some exercise in the house instead, be it weights or elliptical trainer or stationary bike. This winter the weather was mild and I have access to a shower at my work so I was able to ride often right through the winter.

I was pretty excited to be on the bike and have the freedom of exercising to start the day in November but by the time January came I was not sleeping enough and my body was feeling pretty beat up, I continued riding but was resenting it. The coldness of the morning was making me cold and I felt like the exercise was not a good enough reason to be riding but felt like I would be a bit of a whimp to be taking the car instead when it was not really cold enough to use the winter excuse.

All of this silent rage kind of got to me in February. I felt like I had no energy anymore and my muscles were sore and the road seemed a little unsafe. I knew the spring was coming and that I was not going to get a break and would be riding every day again until at least fall. Finally, I got off the bike and drove for most of four weeks and started sleeping more as well as stretching again. You would think that I would follow my own advice from this blog but no, I often don’t and should really know better. When I finally got back on the bike I felt refreshed and energized. I had more energy in my legs and the attitude that was so destructive was gone.

Now I realize that anytime that there is a problem with my attitude, and really it is 99% attitude as Arnold Schwarzenegger says, then take that break and get back to the basics. We may all be striving to better ourselves everyday but sometimes you need a short time to regroup and get you head back into the game as they would say so that you can push yourself hard again.

Honey We’re Killing the Kids! offers a startling look at the causes of America’s childhood obesity epidemic and issues a critical wake-up call for parents. In the series, nutrition expert Dr. Lisa Hark shows how everyday choices can have long-term impacts on children, and offers both the motivation and the know-how to help turn these families’ lives around. Using state-of-the-art computer imaging and certified assessments based on measurements and statistics, Dr. Hark first gives Mom and Dad a frightening look at the possible future faces of their children – and a dramatic reality check. Then, introducing her new guidelines and techniques, Dr. Hark works with parents to reverse course and give their kids a healthy diet and active lifestyle.

The family then has three weeks to overhaul its bad habits under the direction of Dr. Hark, who delivers a set of life-altering rules with the aim of completely transforming the children’s future health and lifestyle. Dr. Hark’s rules are straightforward and simple – rules like “Sack the sugar,” “Family eats together,” “Set a bedtime routine,” “Limit television hours” and “Exercise together” are introduced each week.

How are the families responding to the challenges set by Dr. Hark? Are the children trying new healthy foods? Can Mom quit smoking? Will Dad agree to become more involved in family life? Will the children try rock-climbing? While not always initially easy for the families, the rules often become fun, as new experiences are brought into their routines.

At the end of the three weeks, Dr. Hark meets with the parents to discuss the modifications made to the family’s diet and lifestyle. Taking all of the changes into consideration, she then provides a new simulation of what each child could look like in the future, if they continue their healthy nutrition and exercise habits on a long-term basis.  But not all families have an easy time adopting to Dr. Hark’s rules.  Tune in each week to see which families can correct their nutritional attitudes and habits.

But hold on. While these types of large-scale trials help researchers and policy planners, they do not by themselves help consumers craft a healthy diet. That is because standards for conducting such studies and analyzing data have built-in limitations.

The dietary pattern studied in the Women’s Health Initiative – low fat with five servings of fruits and vegetables and six servings of grains – was based on research available when the study began in the early 1990s. This diet stressed proportions of fats and carbohydrates. But more recent research takes into account the quality of fats and carbohydrates, not just quantity.

Study of Fats in Our Diet

The Women’s Health Initiative study of fats in our diet, for example, takes no measure of high-fructose corn syrup. This is because, while the presence of this processed product in the food supply has increased more than 1,000 percent since the late 1970s, its negative impact on health has only recently been discovered. Similarly, when the study began, experts assumed that trans fats, such as those in margarine and oils used for French fries, were a healthier alternative to saturated fats derived from animal products. The negative consequences of trans fats were not widely suspected until around 1992 and were not a factor in designing this study.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, research on positive effects of another type of fat – omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids – has grown widely since the inception of the federal study, but they weren’t factored into the study.

In a long-term research project, scientists are reluctant to change the study diet midstream, despite advances in nutritional science. The diet studied in the Women’s Health Initiative would not be considered among the healthiest diets to follow today.

Long Term Health Studies Problems

It also is difficult for long-term researchers to anticipate dramatic changes in the food supply. For example, after research in the 1980s demonstrated that low-fat diets are healthier, the food industry responded by flooding the market with highly processed low-fat foods of poor nutritional quality. While nutrition experts and researchers are thinking that a low-fat diet equals brown rice, beans, chicken, fish, vegetables and whole fruits, consumers go to the market or a fast-food restaurant and pick up some low-fat sugary cereal, sugar-packed yogurt parfait or smoothy and a huge serving of refined pasta.

Consumers think they are following a healthy diet when in fact they may be increasing their risks for chronic diseases.

Although researchers in the Women’s Health Initiative study of fats in our diet intended for subjects to follow a healthy low-fat diet (20 percent of total calories), our food culture makes it very hard to eat healthy. Only about a third of the subjects assigned to the low-fat diet were able to follow it by the end of the first year and only 14 percent toward the end of the study. The differences in fruit, vegetable and grain intake between the low-fat diet group and the usual diet group were modest at best. Fiber intake was below recommended intakes in both groups. Potential health benefits were lost.

Yet, as is standard research practice, the results of the Women’s Health Initiative were compiled as if all subjects assigned to the low-fat diet actually had followed it. Analyses on women who did comply with recommendations provide evidence that these women did benefit. In the case of calcium with vitamin D, there was a decreased risk for hip fractures among women who took the supplements as recommended.

So what’s a confused consumer to do?

First, remember that genetic research reveals that there is no one ideal diet for everyone. Eating the healthiest fats from foods such as nuts, seeds, olive oil and avocados, and the healthiest carbohydrates from foods such as vegetables, beans, soy and whole grains will promote health. Avoiding or limiting highly processed foods, even if low-fat or low-carbohydrate, also is a good idea. However, individuals’ ideal mix of fats and carbohydrates depends on their health, family history, activity level and other lifestyle factors.

Second, realize that every study has its limitations. As the science moves forward, individuals need to consult a registered dietitian or physician trained in interpreting what the research really shows and who knows their particular medical history and health status. These people can help consumers put together findings from many studies. That’s the most useful way to make sense of them.

So next time you do look at a study of diet remember to look at when the study started and ended and what kind of assuptions that the scince was making. We all have see many study of fats in our diet and there is still a lot of info to learn.