Is excersise overated?

I have been doing a lot of thinking on this subject lately as I have had some weight return (about 45 lbs). Being a truck driver I dont get much in the way of excersise, then when I get home its a flurry of movment to get chores done and I am sore for the next two or three days.

Ever since basic training I have hated the very word excersise so I decided I would do a little research into it.

It takes burning 3500 calories to loose one pound of body fat.  Okay, so how much excersise would I have to do to do that?

The answear is, a lot!!!
Check out the chart on this web site:
http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/physicalactivity_calories_used_table.html

Not very engouraging.

But, its not just the burning of callories thats important.

I learned that excersise strengthens the heart, incresses blood flow, reduces bad cholesterol, uses excess sugar, improves resperation and incresse the basel metabolic rate wich in turn incresses the amount of calories you burn while sitting on your behind.

I have also found a web site that has exercise that are specific to truck drivers:

http://www.healthtrucker.com/good-workout-for-truckers.html

https://www.thehealthytrucker.net/in-cab-exercises-for-truck-drivers/?utm_source=Exact_Target&utm_medium=email&utm_content=10_In_Cab_Exercises&utm_campaign=Fit_Email

Now the real question is will I do it?

So far the answer is No!

I want to change that but how does one overcome a lifetime of hatred towards a healthy accctivity?

I' ll get have to get back to you when I get it figured out. Till then keep the rubbber side down.

Coffee VS. Cola

Hi all, I have caught a lot of flak over the years for my serious coffee addiction. I am embarrassed to tell you how much coffee I drink, so, I won't.

I have noticed over the past five or so years that soda is quickly becoming the beverage of choice for truckers. I know neither drink is good for our bodies but really which one is worse? 

Just off the top of my head I would have to say soda is.

Why?

Because soda contains sugar as well as caffeine. Sugar is a drug much like heroin and contains a good deal more calories than coffee, empty calories that contain no nutritional value. An 8 ounces serving of soda pop averages about 120 calories, 8 ounces of coffee averages 1 calorie, big difference. It's no wonder I know people who say all they had to do was quit soda pop to loose 25 pounds.

In an article on WebMD sugar, "...not only makes us fat, it also wreaks havoc on our liver, mucks up our metabolism, impairs brain function, and may leave us susceptible to heart disease, diabetes, even cancer."

A lot of drivers have told me that they switched to soda because it seems to work better at waking them up, this doesn't surprise me, even when considering the fact that soda contains less caffeine than coffee, an average of 95 to 200 milligrams for 8 ounces of coffee, and 23 to 50 milligrams for a 12 ounce soda. What makes the difference is the sugar, it's all those calories being dumped into your system.

Caffeine of course is also a drug, it affects our nervous system and gives a feeling of wakefulness, it increases our heart rate and blood pressure and may even cause the heart to beat irregularly and can interfere with a good nights sleep. It is also a diuretic which explains why you have to pea more. It also has the added effect of becoming tolerated in your system meaning that you must drink more to get the same effect and it is addictive just like sugar. The FDA had put together an informative brochure on caffeine, you can get it at:
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/UCM200805.pdf.

So bottom line here. Neither drug is good for you. Soda Pop will put pounds on and coffee will mess with your nervous system. Both are addictive. Best choice, drink water.

What will I do? What do all addicts do...

Keep the rubber side down. Till next time.

Les

Healthy Eating on the Road

Hi all, pictured on the left is my typical lunch. As you can see it's not a small amount of food. Eating this way initially gave me a weight loss of 160 lbs. I got a bit lazy last summer and began adding some foods that weren't on my food plan and put about 60 lbs back on.

The good news is I have gotten back on the plan and have already dropped 15 lbs in about 3 or 4 weeks.

Since I began this journey into healthier eating (Feb. 2011) I have managed to reverse my type 2 diabetes and have not had to take any drugs since July 2011, I still test 2 to 3 times a day and have a A1c test done twice a year. My lowest A1c was last July(2012) at 5.6. This past January even with the weight gain it was 5.8 still well in the normal range. All without any regular exercise, nor have I quit smoking or drinking coffee. If I had perhaps the results would have been better, faster.

I have learned a few new things about eating healthier on the road that I would like to pass on to you.

The first is the importance of eating your meals 4 to 6 hours apart.

I have learned a bit about how our digestive tract works and why this spacing between meals is so important.

Our bodies are much like our trucks in that they require a consistent amount of fuel and raw materials be delivered to the intake manifold, meaning our small intestines. This is done through our stomach where the food is broken down into a slurry and extruded slowly into the small intestines where the different types of fuels are then routed along with minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients to the blood stream. Here they are then sent to where they are needed most.

When the stomach is empty and the fuel requirements are no longer being met, the stomach begins to spasm informing us that we need more fuel. This process keeps our bodies fueled and happy. When we space our meals too close to each other we throw this system into confusion and it doesn't know if it should pull some calories from the warehouse, ie, fat cells or store some. Too far apart and the system thinks we are in a state of famine and therefore when calories are once again present it will delivery some of  them to the fat cells for storage.You can see it's a logistics problem.

Eating on a schedule can be a problem for those of us who make our living driving truck. While the latest HOS rules have made it better, there are still some times when it becomes necessary to flip our schedules, for those times what I do is eat my first meal, breakfast, within the first hour I am up regardless of when my last meal was and start my clock from that point. It's not a great solution and still causes the body some confusion but the impact seems to be minimal. I also use my snacks to fill in those times when it is just not practical to stop and fix a meal, again not a great solution but it does work.

To those people who think "grazing" (eating small bits of food many times a day) is a good solution please hear me, it's not a good solution for many reasons but especially these two. First you really can't keep track of just how many calories you are eating this way. And, second you are short circuiting your bodys normal hungary/full response, hence you never know when you really do need food or when you are full.

There is a third and critical reason, balanced nutrients cannot be obtained when eating like this, therefore some part of your body is always in a state of famine. Eating this way will cause you to fail at any attempt to lose weight.

A practical tip that I learned from my wife and was surprised to find worked so well is that you don't have to have a microwave or stove top to fix wonderfully tasting oatmeal, just put the uncooked oats in a bowel ( I use a closable soup cup) with the proper amount of milk or water, mix and let sit overnight. By morning it will be the same as if you had cooked it, room temperature of course, but still very edible. Also, I now use almond milk in my oatmeal, it adds sweetness without adding as many calories as cow milk and far less than adding sugar or honey.

You can find the food plan I use at this link http://truckershealth.blogspot.com/2012/04/numbers-are-in.html
I did have a Nutritionist go over it with me and she liked it and thought it to be a great way to meet our bodies needs and lose weight. I received it for free so I am passing it on for free.

'Till next time keep the rubber side down and God bless.

Les

Death on the road

 A problem occured for a close relative of mine that involed his father dying of natural causes while on the road. 

This problem seems to be fairly common for the family's of truck drivers who die while working. Here is one other example when a driver died working for SRT. 

My family members father was working for CRST. The problem was made even worse by the company as the Sherifs office who had recoverd the body asked if the company wanted them to notify the family, CRST said no, they would. They did, some 24 + hours later. What's up with that? Then they offered no help in recovering the body or his possesions, and no bereavement funds or death insurance.

So, as you can see you really are valued as nothing but property as long as you can drive their truck. But, develop a disqualifying health problem or God forbide, you should dare to die on their time, well that's your problem.

The good news is not all companies are like this but the bad news is far too many of them are.

So, wannabe truck drivers are you sure you want to join us; better read my book first before deciding, it could save you thousands of wasted dollars and untold amounts of time.
Leslie R Auger

Fustration for doing what's right

Hi all

Really frustrated today, dealing with any but my local government always results in great frustration

.

A little background here before I get into my rant for today.

I’ve been a truck driver for the past 27 or so years, before that I worked factories janitorial and restaurant work. I have seldom been out of work more than a few weeks except when I wanted to be and had the resources to be. But all that changed Nov 2 2009.

I had a Dr. appointment with an endocrinologist on November 2 2009, I have been diabetic since 2000 and had controlled it successfully with diet at first, and then with oral medication but beginning sometime in 2008 I began to lose control even with both methods. That is the natural progressive nature of type 2 diabetes.

So, in the interest of not loosing my appendages or creating more serious medical conditions I agreed to go on insulin.

In case you don’t know, the Federal Government monitors truck driver’s health by requiring that a driver be medically “certified” to be able to operate semi-trucks. They do this by requiring a driver to submit to a physical every two years as long as there are no problems, if there is a problem, at the discretion of the physician that time period can be shortened to as little as 30 days. Of course there are guidelines that the physician must follow laid down by the Feds. There are some medical conditions that will automatically disqualify a driver, such as, diabetes controlled by insulin, out of control hypertension, untreated sleep apnea, the loss of a limb, loss of eyesight or hearing, and some types of mental illness. All of this to protect the general public and as a driver I have no problem with this except…..

Now my rant.

Except, the automatic disqualification by reason of insulin use. I understand that in days-gone-by, insulin use did sometimes cause low blood sugars that could cause a person to pass out, not a good thing when driving down the highway at 60 or 70 miles per hour with a 60 to 80,000 pound vehicle. Oral medications are more likely than insulin to cause this kind of reaction but oral meds do not mean instant unemployment for the driver.

Agreeing to do the right thing and begin insulin treatment does. Why?

Here is what I really take offense to, insulin use makes a driver unemployable by statute, but he doesn’t qualify for unemployment in many states, or Medicare or any other type of public assistance.

There is a waiver available thanks to the diligent work of many including the American Diabetes Association, however the process takes a minimum of six month’s and many Dr.’s visits. Of course, you have no or little income to pay for those Dr appointments and no insurance and few places to turn for financial help.

My frustration today comes from two sources, first is unemployment, I was lucky enough to qualify from another state but now that has run out and I cannot get an extension because I do have funds available through my state, now another waiting period and God forbid you need to get a hold of them, I’ve been trying for three days now and am writing this while on hold which has taken me all of three days of calling them to get this far

My second source of frustration is the Federal wavier program. I called them yesterday to check on the status of my application but of course I could not get through to them and had to leave a message, they are supposed to call back the same day, they didn’t, nor have I heard from them since the last time I sent them any paperwork, about three weeks ago

Later…

Unemployment answered, and I found out much to my surprise my former employer still has me listed as out on medical leave, errrrrrrrrrr. Now I am disqualified and have to go through the appeal process, meaning at least 4 weeks without income.

While on the phone with unemployment the Feds called and guess what the Dr screwed up the paperwork for the second time, Gerrrrrrrrr, so now at least a couple more weeks before my paperwork can be sent to the review board, we are really cutting it close since the Dr reports are no good after 6 menthes and the eye Dr appointment was at the end of December which means if it don’t make it to the review board soon then I have to go for another visit to the Dr.’s. Double Gerrrrrrrr.

Ok, So now I am totally frustrated. You would think that some one would figure this crap out and centralize all of this and streamline it for drivers who are caught in this terrible catch 22.

The only good news out of this is that the gal at the Federal Transportation Safety Administration, Diabetes Exemption Program said that 98% of all waivers are approved, a cause for hope.

I have written an e-book for those of you interested in becoming a truck driver. My experience can save you thousands of dollars and I am giving it away for a mere five bucks.

You can get it here http://xr.com/BeATrucker