Strongwomen.com - Your Virtual Trainer with Dr. Miriam Nelson

If you're reading this newsletter, I know you're interested in positive measures for your health. Very likely, you're physically active and you watch what you eat - or at least you're trying to make changes in those directions! I also want to strongly encourage you to have regular medical checkups. We're all busy. When you know your lifestyle is healthy and you're feeling great, it's so easy to postpone a routine physical exam. But please don't.

I've been conscientious about checkups - a dear family member died of cancer when she was in her 40s. But my "annual" checkups are often 14 to 15 months apart, because I usually don't remember to schedule them ahead of time. In the past, these exams have always been uneventful. This year, for the first time, it was not. My health care provider found a small lump in my left breast. She was immediately reassuring: She reminded me that most breast lumps are benign; she told me that this particular lump had the characteristics of the harmless type. Follow-up proved her right - a great relief. Thanks to this experience, I'm more determined than ever to keep up with my own medical checkups. I hope I can pass along the same resolve to you.

Q: I have been doing the exercises every other day for several weeks. My problem is that my wrists are REALLY sore. Do wrists need to get stronger? Or am I doing something wrong like gripping too tight or bending my wrists? If this is a common symptom of doing something wrong, can you tell me? I really want to resolve it and stick with the strength training.

A: The problem could be your form; or it could be that your wrists are weak. If so, these suggestions should help:

First, make sure that your wrists stay straight and in line with your forearms when you're doing the upper body exercises, particularly the biceps curl and overhead press. It might also help to wear wrist braces for a little additional support. If you're interested in strengthening your wrists, try doing wrist curls (description below).

I hope this helps. But if the pain worsens or continues, please see your doctor promptly, since there could be a physical problem that needs to be addressed.

Start with one or two pound dumbbells. Holding the weights, sit in a chair, lean slightly forward, and rest your forearms on your thighs, palms facing up, with your wrists just slightly beyond your knees.

1-2-3-LOWER: Bend your wrists to slowly lower the back of your hands towards your shin.

1-2-3-RAISE: Slowly bring your palms back up, until your wrists are straight again.

For the second set of 8 reps, keep your forearms on your thighs but with your palms facing down. During the second set, your wrists will bend forward, not back as they did in the first set.

Note: Your forearms should never lose contact with your thighs. Only your wrists move, not your forearms or upper arms.

Q: I've started working out at a gym. I seem to have pulled a muscle in my shoulder, and I'm not a happy camper. I had surgery on that shoulder last year and am kind of worried about stressing it. I have bursitis in both shoulders and don't want to make them worse. I'm wondering if you have any info about which machines a shoulder bursitis sufferer should avoid?

A: There are no prohibited exercises for people with shoulder bursitis - so long as the moves can be done without acute pain. Some people even find that strength training alleviates some of their soreness. However, I would be extremely cautious regarding a shoulder that has been operated on, especially since it was just last year. Also, you need to find out if you have, in fact, pulled a muscle - if so, you need to discontinue upper body exercises until it recovers. So first, check with your doctor or surgeon and make sure that strength training is okay. If so, I suggest you progress more slowly with the shoulder that had the surgery - i.e., lift less weight, move through a shorter range of motion, and increase the amount of weight more conservatively on that arm. It's probably best for you to use dumbbells rather than machines, because it will be easier to use different weights on each arm.

Q: I have started your food plan. I eat vegetarian burgers (Boca burgers, garden burgers and veggie burgers). Could you please tell me what category they fall into - grains or protein?

A: Vegetarian burgers vary, but most are made from a combination of soybeans, grain, and vegetables, plus flavorings. A typical veggie burger has 110 calories, with about 60 calories from grain, 40 from soybeans and the rest from vegetables. So count your veggie burger as one Grain plus one Protein.

Q: I purchased Strong Women Stay Young almost two years ago, and it has changed my life. I used to have trouble lifting a case of soda, now I can change the water bottle to my cooler. I have a question regarding reps and sets. I do 13 various exercises at my gym. I go either two or three times per week. I have been doing 12 reps of each exercise for some time. My daughter says I should do two sets of each exercise, but I feel if I am already doing 13 different exercises once is enough. If I have time to do two sets sometimes, but not always, is that okay?

A: Most experts now say that one set is sufficient if you're doing more than 10 strengthening exercises at high intensity. So what you're doing is okay - but if you can manage two sets, it will really boost your workouts.

For women who are doing six or eight exercises at home, I strongly recommend two sets of eight repetitions. Our research has shown that's highly effective.

Women who want to go further with strength training sometimes ask me to recommend sources for additional exercises. Here are four excellent books:

Complete Book of Butt and Legs, by Kurt, Mike and Brett Brungardt (Villard Books, 1995)

The Tufts University School of Nutrition occasionally sends informative mailings about our department's research and other activities. If you'd like to be on this mailing list, please send your name and snail mail address (your postal address, not your e-mail address) to: rseguin@hnrc.tufts.edu. Some of these mailings, but not all, can be sent outside the US.

Stealing Time, a three-hour PBS special on the new science of aging, airs on June 2, starting at 8 p.m. The second hour of this excellent program features Tufts research - including an interview with Miriam Nelson.

If you're in California. . . On Saturday May 15 at 2:00, Miriam Nelson will talk at Nordstrom's Department Store at the Stanford Shopping Center. For more details call 650-324-3496.

If you're in Nebraska. . . On Thursday May 13 at 7:00, Miriam Nelson will speak on "Empowering Women through Strength Training" at the Gateway Shopping Mall Auditorium, 61st and O Street, Lincoln, Nebraska 68508

An interview with Miriam Nelson is featured in the April issue of Weight Watchers magazine.

Here is an excerpt from a few of the inspiring letters we received last month. If you enjoy reading them, check out the longer collection of reader mail on our Web site.

"I just wanted to say thanks for saving my life. My doctor suggested I read your book over a year ago. I finally did it in January. I've been following the 1600 calorie a day plan since then and I've lost 24 pounds!! I've started Yoga and Taebo and I just bought my 10-pound weights yesterday. I now believe that I won't die at 60 like my dad... on the table during his SECOND bypass surgery... and now I won't die like my Grandma, after a stroke that left her paralyzed and unable to speak for seven years. Or get diabetes like both of them!! I was insulin dependent with both my pregnancies... I just didn't want the to happen!!! You have helped me find the way to a health life style! I can even keep up with my 3 and 5 year old now. Twenty-six more pounds to go.. and I know I can do it."

"I have been using your program for about 3 months. With the arrival of the baseball season, my nine-year-old son asked me to pitch so he could practice hitting. I was so surprised when I could throw with speed and strength (I still need to work on my accuracy). He was also surprised. He called me a "great pitcher." My shoulder did not hurt. I felt strong. Prior to this I have never been very good at sports. This has motivated me more to continue my program and even add to it."

"I have been exercising aerobically for many years and just recently added consistent strength training. I was always frustrated that aerobic exercise did not give me the toned, tight muscles I wanted. I cannot believe the difference strength training can make in a relatively short time. I am hooked on it. I am 35 years old, and feel very lucky to be starting with this program at a time in my life when I will be able to halt bone and muscle loss in its tracks! My goal is to be interviewed on TV when I am 92 because I am in amazing physical shape and accomplishing all kinds of volunteer work!"

Stuffed Baked Potato

The rich and creamy taste of these stuffed potatoes comes - surprise! - from cottage cheese. This recipe requires very little effort, but you do have to plan ahead, since the first ingredient is a baked potato. Just make a few extras the next time you're baking potatoes or using the oven for a roast. Serve the stuffed potatoes as a side dish for dinner, or feature them as the main event for lunch, with a salad accompaniment.

To bake potatoes: Scrub potato. Use a sharp knife to make a slit in the side. Bake at 350 degrees for two hours. This long baking makes the potato insides very soft, while the skin becomes crispy. Slitting the skin allows steam to escape, so the potato won't burst open in the oven.

Ingredients

1 medium potato, baked

1/3 cup regular cottage cheese

pinch salt (or to taste)

pinch pepper (or to taste)

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Cut the potato in half lengthwise. Scoop out the insides and put on a plate. Put the potato skins on a baking dish. To the insides, add the cottage cheese, salt and pepper and mash together with a fork. If you're making several stuffed potatoes at once, it may be easier to put the potato insides into a bowl and use a masher, a mixer or a food processor.

Divide the mashed potato in half, and spoon each half into a potato skin. Top each potato half with a tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the top of the potato is browned.

Per serving:

2 Grains

1 Dairy

2 Extras

Note: A small potato counts as either 2 Vegetables or 1 Grain. But if you're having a medium potato - which would be 4 Vegetables - it's best to consider it as 2 Grains so that you have enough remaining vegetable servings to get a good variety during the day.