We talk a lot in this blog about the importance of exercise for the body.  But our brains are organs, too.  People who exercise get better lung and heart capacity.   People who exercise their brains get better brain capacity.

This matters as you age.  Continuing to exposure you mind to mental challenges requires brain cells to make new connections with each other. This process, known as plasticity, helps you both form memories and store them. 

So if you are getting up there in years, do whatever you can to keep your brain active.  It does not matter what it is – reading, crossword puzzles, games, whatever.  Keep it fun.  But do something with you mind as well as your body!

Eating Out and Eating Right: Eating out can be hard to do when you’re on a diet. Restaurants typically serve you oversized meals often twice the correct portion you should be eating. To avoid eating two dinners worth of food, ask for a take out box right away and have half of your meal boxed up immediately to go. Also, if the restaurant offers bread before dinner, ask the waiter to remove it from the table to avoid the temptation to overeat. When choosing a meal look for something that is grilled or comes with lots of vegetables. Avoid fried foods and ones high in sodium. If you’re in McDonalds you are in the wrong place. If you simply can’t pass up the dessert menu, try splitting a dessert with someone so you can both satisfy that sweet tooth without over doing it! 

Danny Jacobs of the Maryland Daily Record wrote an article in the Maryland Lawyer section yesterday about lawsuit by a health club member filed against the Maryland Athletic Club & Wellness Center (commonly known as the MAC), a Baltimore area mega health club, by a woman who claimed her locker was broken into while she was working out.   The lawsuit sought $30,000 for the Maryland Athletic Club’s alleged negligence.

I cannot imagine what the case settled for but I have to think that the MAC overpaid on the claim.  First, and I’m only going off the article, the alleged negligence appears to be she notified Maryland Athletic Club employees that her stuff had been stolen from her locker and requested the MAC check the parking lot.  The complaint alleges no one did.  But assuming this was so (how would the member know?), how does that amount to negligence on part of the MAC.  Exactly what was the negligence that caused her injury?  What should the Maryland Athletic Club have done to avoid the theft? 

 Moreover, the damages were changing her locks and the “hassle” as her lawyer describes it.   The lawsuit also alleged that several weeks later, two men were seen outside defendant’s daughter’s house.  “These men were attempting to find [Plaintiff’s] car in order to steal it, and to ‘case’ [Plaintiff’s daughter’s] house for purposes of breaking into it,” the complaint stated.

Are you kidding me?  They see two strange guys outside of their daughter’s house and then allege in a legal document that this is related to this theft at the Maryland Athletic Club? 

My guess – and it is just my guess – is that the Maryland Athletic Club knew it had no responsibility but wanted to do the right thing and offered to pay for the member’s out-of-pocket damages.  But she wanted more because she wanted to bundle every bad thing that ever happened to her and put it on the doorstep off this theft.  As the case got closer to trial, the Maryland Athletic Club wanted the case to go away and the Plaintiff began to realize the offer was far better than she was going to do at trial.  So a settlement was reached.

Good fights to look forward to in Millersville this Friday. In a six-round junior welterweight bout, Bayan Jargal (7-0-1, four KO's) will take on Sung-Dae Gang of Seoul, South Korea (6-1, two KO's). This is the pro debut in this country for Gang.

Heavyweight Kevin Johnson will fight Joe Blasini of Brooklyn, New York in a four-round matchup. Johnson made his pro debut in May in a bout in Michael's in Glen Burnie, MD.

In women's boxing, Severna Park's own Shelly Sievert (2-1, one KO) will battle Carinne Hamlett of Mount Vernon, NY (0-2-1) in a scheduled four-rounder.

Also on the card are Columbia middleweight Tony "Mo Better" Jeter (5-2, five KO's), Arlington, VA's undefeated junior welterweight Todd "White Lightning" Wilson (4-0, one KO), undefeated Eldersburg, MD light heavy Mark "TNT" Tucker (4-0, four first-round KO's) and Waynesboro, VA cruiserweight "El Guerro" Juan Carlos Robles (9-2, four KO's) are all slated to be on the card. Tucker, by the way, has been training in Tampa, FL with IBF Light Heavyweight champ Antonio Tarver.

Buy tickets while they are still available by calling 443-844-8865.

Writing down every morsel doubles weight loss

Dieters who kept daily food diaries were more successful, new study says...

In the struggle to lose weight, picking up a pen might be just as useful as putting down the fork.

That’s according to a new study that found that people who kept daily food diaries lost twice as much weight or more as those who didn’t keep a tally of their meals.

“There’s a myth in this country now that weight loss is almost impossible and very few can lose weight,” said Victor Stevens, a researcher at Kaiser’s Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore., and co-author of the study, which appears in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. “But we showed that with a simple, straightforward approach, nearly 70 percent of participants were able to lose enough weight to make significant improvements in their health.”

Overall, two-thirds of the study subjects lost nine pounds or more during the six-month study. But those who kept a food diary every day of the week dropped up to 20 pounds, more than twice as much as those who didn't record their every bite.

Karen Donato, the coordinator for overweight and obesity applications at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in Bethesda, Md., thinks one of the big effects of the diary is that it can help people realize when they’re just eating out of boredom or stress. “A lot of times people do mindless eating, under stress, at their desks, bored, just eat things without thinking about it,” she said. “This strategy can help people avoid that.”

So if you are interested in starting a food diary of your own, visit the NHLBI website where you can access a free food diary and a menu planner that automatically calculates calories in common food items.

Something Fishy: Fish is a great food to eat at almost any meal. Fish are high in vitamins and nutrients and low in fat. They are also high in protein which helps build muscle. The oil in fish is also extremely beneficial. Fish oil is said to help lower blood pressure, prevent blood clotting in vessels which cause heart attacks, lower cholesterol, and improve brain function and eyesight. Some good fish to try are Mackerel, Sardines and Salmon. Fish can be served in a number of ways which keeps it fun and interesting, just make sure it’s not coated in bread crumbs or butter.

Tea Time: Drink up, green tea that is. Green tea is that latest trend in the fitness world and for good reason. As the Chinese probably discovered hundreds of years ago, green tea is a great source of antioxidants. Green tea leaves are even added to some lotions which promote anti aging benefits. Additionally, if you drink a few cups of the tea a day it can actually act to speed up your metabolism and burn a few extra calories. Studies are now showing that green tea may even help prevent cancer. So, drink up!