Settle Up Reebok

This snippet is from a blog post written on August 27, 2010 -  more than one year ago-

Oh, and I saw a lady walking wearing those shoes that are advertised (falsely according to a ACSM report) to tone you up or burn more calories etc. Though it is a silly waste of money on the surface, if it means that person is going to walk, which WILL help them, then let 'em wear the shoes, right!

 I am not sure how the lawsuit was started, but apparently someone read that ACSM article (American College of Sports Medicine) and sued Reebok. Or it may be that the Federal Trade Commission took action on their own.  You can read more about the charge of false advertising in this FTC press release which announces a 25 million dollar settlement that Reebok has agreed to pay.  The claim that the shoes tone the legs and butt muscles more so than walking in "other"  shoes is made without proof.  As we noted over a year ago.

The shoes that I talked about this year (last month) are from Sketchers and I am not sure how they advertise.  Those shoes, which have lots of cushion and bounce, actually lead me to over pronate. 
Pronation : When we walk we naturally have a bit of an ankle turn in.  It is ever so slight with each step.  IF someone over pronates their ankles dip in by inches and if they under pronate, they tend to walk on the outside of their foot.  (It is entirely possible that I have this backward, but I do not think so).  Anyway, over or under pronating is a sign of an imbalance that needs to be corrected - usually with a shoe insert.  Since my spongey, cushiony, 50+dollar shoes cause me to over pronate - I think I too have wasted my money, but for an entirely different reason (I never intended to get a work out from my shoes).  I probably can't sue Sketchers either :)

Motivation

Have to give my walking friend credit for two things - one is the opportunity to get in a 2 a day and the other - blog fodder.  

She switched our walk to the afternoon today, so I rode my bicycle this morning.  I really start the day best when I exercise before breakfast and we usually walk at 9am so when she had to reschedule I thought - oh good, there is that eighth day I was trying to find (to cycle).

This is the friend who has as her only exercise, our one hour walk on Saturdays.  You may recall the post regarding her agreeing to get up 15 minutes earlier (she wanted to do 30) and using her tread climber in the morning before she went to work.

Monday was the first and ONLY day that she attempted this.  Of course, she did not listen, she got up 30 minutes earlier and was so exhausted she could not function - or something to that effect so said her email (:)

She also started working some over time hours and that - which is sedentary brain numbing work, leaves her exhausted at the end of the day.  Ironically, it is medical coding work and often has to do with billing for treatment of cancer - lung and breast cancer cases filled her day today...

But we talked as we walked this evening and regrouped.  She is ready to go again on Monday.  She says she will get up only 15 minutes earlier and she will have a spot of caffeine, half cup coffee or the equivalent and get on her tread climber.  As I told her, if she only ends up exercising for 5 minutes, it is 5 more minutes that she has been doing.


My friend is important and she is a good example of all that I discuss for health promotion and policy.  [She  knows that I am talking about her.]  She has had gastric bypass surgery - and as I told her today, she risked her life doing that and is not taking care of herself.  She is much like the population in general - it is easier (should they choose to do it) to eat 100 calories less than to burn 100 calories more.  However - that is a weight loss issue.  For optimal health and prevention of disease, daily exercise is vital - it is the ONLY answer.


She knows all of these things - she does not have the intrinsic motivation to do it - but we are working on that.

Heart Health

I mentioned in one of the little blurbs from last week's Odds and Ends that I was invited to speak at a conference later this month. The name of the conference is the Heart of a Wise Woman. It is being held in Greensboro NC on November 20th if you'd like to come!

All of today and some of yesterday, I spent creating the PowerPoint that will accompany my presentation. I uploaded it to google docs and author stream and the second one seemed to have kept MOST of my formatting and animation (except the sound on the first slide - its a heart beat :)).

Remember, the power point isn't meant to play by itself - the presenter, ME, is responsible for engaging and educating the audience. Still, I am going to share it with you in its first draft form - well, I revised it a time or two, but I am sure it still needs work - my eyes have gone cross eyed at this point. You should be able to access the show by clicking here.

Now, time to relax.