Quiz: The Secrets of People Who Never Get Sick

Gene Stone has been writing about health (among other topics) for more than two decades.

A few years ago the idea occurred to him that perhaps he was talking to the wrong people. Why not find those people we all know—the ones who say they never get sick—and ask them for their secrets. So he did just that, interviewing many dozens of people around the world until he selected twenty-five people who each possess a different secret of excellent health—a secret that makes sense and has a proven scientific underpinning.

This book tells the story of those people and their secrets, which include food-related secrets—garlic, vitamin C, probiotics, veganism, brewer's yeast. Exercise secrets—the benefits of lifting weights, the power of stretching. Environmental secrets—living in a Blue Zone, understanding the value of germs. Emotional secrets—seek out and stay in touch with friends, cultivate your spirituality. Physical secrets—nap more, take cold showers in the morning. And some wisdom that goes back generations: chicken soup, for instance, and Chinese herbs.

In The Secrets Of People Who Never Get Sick you will find meet 25 people who manage to stay well, along with their secrets, the history and science behind each one of those secrets, and most importantly, how the reader can benefit from the secrets as well. Read on to take a quiz that will teach you The Secrets Of People Who Never Get Sick.

Fitness is a Journey Not a Destination

By Beth Donovan (~INDYGIRL)

I used to think “Someday when I’m thin, I’ll ______.”

I was waiting to live.

Well, guess what? Life is happening now, not 10 pounds from now.

Fitness is not a destination; it’s a journey, and it’s a process. To think that we will arrive at a state of fitness perfection one day and stay there without continuing on our journey, is a dream. Think of changing your lifestyle as evolving, not as something with which you can just be finished. It’s easy to get caught up in the idea that you can achieve a certain number on a scale or a certain body size and be done. The problem is that it’s never enough. You have to maintain your healthy lifestyle in order to maintain those results. You also have to fight the effects of aging on the body and metabolism. It can be done, but not in one act, one step.

Life is Not 'One Size Fits All'

By Beth Donovan, ~INDYGIRL

Healthy lifestyles are not just one of a kind; they have to fit the individual. How many times have you thought that if you could just do what your friend or a favorite celebrity did, you could look just like her? Yet when you try to fit their routines into your life, eat the foods they like, and do the fitness activities they love, you’re miserable. When you inevitably toss out their lifestyle, you feel like you failed. It wasn’t you that failed. It was just a bad lifestyle fit.

Healthy Eating Tips for Singles: 5 Ideas to Help Your Waistline and Your Wallet

Editor's Note: Cooking for one can be tricky! It's even more challenging to eat healthy on a budget when the world (and the grocery store) seems to cater to couples and families instead of singles. So what's a healthy eater to do? Coach Nicole recently asked her good friend Lauren (that's her in the picture to the left), a single gal who loves to cook and eat healthy herself, to share some of her best tips for eating healthy when you live alone. Maybe the other singles out there can learn some good tips from this list!

By Lauren J. Finefrock

Cooking for one can be tremendous challenge that many feel isn't always worth the effort. You don't have anyone there to support you, except yourself, and no one to appreciate the fruits of your labors in the kitchen. So what's the point? Well, as with any challenge in life, if you break it down into pieces, you will find that what you thought was a mountain in front of you is in actuality just a small hill. I love to cook for myself, have friends over for dinner and try new recipes. But it can be challenging since I live alone and don't NEED a lot of food in the house. To prevent waste, save money, and stick to a healthy diet, here are the strategies that I've put into place.

Back on the Job, after 4 Years of Disability

By Beth Donovan, ~INDYGIRL

I still remember my very last night of work before I went on total disability. It was much like the seemingly endless sea of nights before, except this time I knew in my heart I couldn’t go back. Sitting at my desk hurt so much because of my degenerating spine. My discs were herniated, my nerve bundles were pinched, and I had four hernias, suffered from fibromyalgia, and could barely walk, let alone drive. It was hard to concentrate on my work, because all I could think about was the pain. At the time, I weighed 460 pounds and barely fit behind the steering wheel of my car, which pushed on my hernias as I drove home in tears.

In September, after four years, I went back to work for the same company, now 139 pounds thinner. (That's my latest photo!) I still have many of the same issues, but they are easier to deal with because of my weight loss and medical assistance. It wasn’t an easy decision or an easy road to get here.

It took one hearing for the judge to find me disabled, and all of the official doctors only found more wrong with me than my doctors had found originally. I felt every visit to the doctor was an adventure in “Welcome to your new life! You now have _____ and it will never improve, but it will get worse over time.” Every doctor I saw urged me to have weight loss surgery, but I didn’t want it. I told them that I felt sick enough already and if anything else were to go wrong, I didn’t know if I could handle it.

I agreed to attend a few weight loss surgery meetings at the local hospital, where I became certain that weight loss surgery was not the cure for me. It is stomach surgery, not brain surgery. I am an emotional eater. The other emotional eaters there, who were post surgery, were no better off and complaining of being hungry after eating and having the same difficulties I was having. It became clear, that even after surgery, a diet had to be strictly followed, even more strictly than I had ever followed one before. A person could still want to eat after they were full and a person could still choose to eat the wrong foods and gain their weight back. Since I was already in the boat of needing to diet and cope with my emotions, I decided I would do it without the surgery. Doctors refused to treat my degenerative spine, my herniated discs, and perform other needed surgeries because of my weight. Apparently the only surgery they would do is weight loss surgery. Even then, they wanted to question whether I had the discipline to endure the plan.

I had to be willing to help myself to get out of my then bedridden state and reclaim my life. I wasn’t sure I had what it took, to tell you the truth. I have been dieting since I was a child, and I have never lost this kind of weight before. I’ve gone to many weight loss clinics and through many programs, bought all the latest books, taken the prescriptions, and still no long-term success or massive weight loss. My husband was sure I couldn’t do it and was very angry with me that I would not have the weight loss surgery, that he was sure would save my life.

I needed a plan I could do from home, since I could barely get out of bed. I turned to my computer and found SparkPeople. Usually a fitness plan would start out with me jumping in with both feet and all ablaze for thinness until one failure. Then I would lie on the proverbial floor berating myself and telling myself that I knew I couldn’t do it. This time started out differently though. I started by changing one thing with a SparkStreak. Then I changed one more in about a month when the first felt natural. I kept doing this until both the weight was falling off and my life was changing.

I started to dream again.

For This Healthy Chef, It All Began with a Walk

Hi dailySpark readers! My name is Emily, and I write a recipe and running blog – The Front Burner. I am a vegetarian chef who recently graduated from culinary school, and in just a few short weeks I’ll be lining up at the starting line of my sixth full marathon. But food and fitness haven’t always been my passions. In fact it was quite the opposite – they weren’t even on my radar. For the first half of my adult life, my health and well-being were placed, you might say – on the back burner.

My journey to being unhealthy is fairly predictable. Growing up, I probably had it better than most kids my age – my entire family sat down together to a home cooked meal each and every night. There was always something green on every plate, and fast food was an indulgence saved only for long road trips. I didn’t really know why we ate the way we ate – most of the time I was just happy to eat what was in front of me. Even though I ate well and felt healthy, I had no actual understanding of nutrition or personal health.

I went off to college at a normal size and weight but with very limited understanding of health and nutrition, and what sort of choices I should be making now that I was on my own. In college I dragged through life on a cycle of very little sleep, way too much partying, and late night fast food. My main forms of activity came from walking to and from class during the week, and dancing in the bars on weekends. After four years of fun, I packed up my car on graduation day, and headed home with 30 extra pounds on my frame.

But the post-college years were still not my turning point. I landed in a desk job that kept me seated most of the day, and I lived off of Diet Coke, 100-calorie snack packs, and processed food. The problem was not that I was overweight; in fact my weight may have still been in a normal range. The problem was that I was unhealthy. I didn’t sleep enough. I wasn’t getting necessary vitamins and minerals. I didn’t feel alive.

The year 2005 brought a new boyfriend and a new burst of excitement into my days. For the first time in a long time, I wanted to feel good about myself again. I was tired of wearing extra layers to hide what was underneath, and I was ready to finally do something about extra weight I was carrying around. It all started by simply going for a walk.

Dallas SparkTeam Holds First Rally

By Jerome Merlau

September 26, 2010 is a day that I had been looking forward to for several months. Back in July, the decision was made that The SparkDallas team needed to have a get together so we could meet our teammates in person, share stories and spend some time together. Picnic, everybody loves a picnic, so that’s what we decided to do. Random is the best way to describe how the date was selected for this event. That’s it I thought, this is going to happen. I didn’t care if there were two or 200 who showed up, we were going to attempt to bring a group together for a little meet and greet.

More Healthy 5-Minute Lunches

Hey, dailySpark readers! It’s Anne again from the food and fitness blog fANNEtasticfood! If you’re in a rut with your packed lunches, this quick post is for you.

My previous “How To Pack Lunch in 5 Minutes” post was such a success that we’ve decided a follow-up post is in order. Here are some more of my favorite delicious and super easy 5-minute packable lunches. Most of the posts include an afternoon snack idea as well! Try these portable lunches for work, school, or anytime you’re on the go!

Finding Energy When You Feel Like Your Tank is Empty

By Beth Donovan (~INDYGIRL)

Shhh. I have a secret to tell you. I’m a recovering caffeine addict. I haven’t been your typical caffeine addict either, as in drinking colas, coffees or teas. Those things do have caffeine, but I’ve gone straight for the over-the-counter caffeine pills and have taken anywhere from 200-800 mg a day. That sounds like a huge amount and it IS, but it is also still easily gotten from 4 large coffees. That makes it sound innocent, doesn’t it?

Caffeine helps you feel alert and temporarily reduces the feeling of being tired. It gives you a higher capacity for mental and physical work temporarily, as well. The problem is that soon, a small dose is not enough and you need more to keep going at the same pace. Eventually you would even go through withdrawal without it.

In the meantime, caffeine triggers the production of adrenaline and cortisol--two substances associated with the body’s fight-or-flight response, panic attacks, and stress. Cortisol has been brought into question for causing weight gain, especially in the belly area. Caffeine also raises blood pressure. Other risks with too much caffeine are increased heart palpitations, headaches, restlessness, and insomnia, among others.

So why had I been taking these pills? Well, quite simply, I was exhausted and didn’t know any other way to feel better. I was fairly young when I started, in my teens. At the time I was the fat girl at school and wanted to slim down and have energy without eating as much. Then in my 20s, I was in the 300-pound range and needed energy to keep going at work. I actually fell asleep while working a few times, and my doctor discovered I had an underactive thyroid. In my 30s, I was in the 400-460-pound range and was bedridden from degenerative joint disease in my spine, pinched nerve bundles, herniated discs, bad knees, osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia. I could barely stay awake and was in pain if I tried to move. I justified that I needed them to give me the strength to move.

How to Keep Going When the Road is Long

By Beth Donovan (~INDYGIRL)

You might think that after losing more than 130 pounds, motivation comes easily to me. It doesn't come to me, I have to find it. But I find it more easily now because I've discovered where to look.

One of the first and best tips I have to offer you is to find motivating mantras, powerful sayings that have enough meaning to you to change your mind or at least make you stop and think. I have some to share with you that I use to keep myself going. Here are my most powerful mantras:

"Baby steps still get you there... you just aren't too worn out to enjoy yourself along the way."

"If you got a traffic ticket would you break every traffic law the rest of the day? Then why toss the whole day over a slice of pizza?"

"Tea and sympathy, not cake and apathy."

"You don't have to be perfect; you just have to stick with it."

"It is what you do consistently that shows."

"Never treat your body like a garbage disposal for leftovers."

"One slice of pizza is always going to have fewer calories than 2 slices of pizza."

"If your going to think 'I may as well', then you might as well think 'I may as well not.' "

"Life is happening now, not 10 pounds from now."

"Lose, maintain, just don't gain."

"Aim for better every day rather than perfect right away."

"Be the girl who orders small."

"Dress the part. Act the part. Suck it up."

SparkPeople Ghost Runners Do Their Share to Support the Hood to Coast Team

Mike Brennan

Many of you may have read earlier this week Kate Eakman's blog regarding a team of 12 SparkPeople members who have joined together to run the Hood to Coast Relay--a relay beginning at the Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood and finishing 197 miles down the road on the shores in the small community of Seaside, Oregon.

While the team will be running the actual course in Oregon, we have been blessed to have a group of supporters who have been given the title 'ghost' runner. These members will be supporting us from all around the globe.

The question now is, what is a ghost runner for the Hood to Coast relay in 2010?

A ghost runner is all about supporting the 2010 Sparkin' Hood to Coast Team as they run their three legs of the relay. We have runners from all over the United States, Canada, Scotland and England who will be running the same legs as their assigned runner.

Having ghost runners partake in the journey was the brainchild of our Co-captain, Kate Eakman. It is the opportunity for our SparkPeople friends to come and join in the spirit of the event without having to leave the comforts of their own community.

This has really turned into a SparkPeople event! Everybody involved in this race are all SparkPeople members. Twelve runners, three volunteers and the two drivers are all a part of the team. Eighteen SparkPeople runners signed up to run as ghost runners.

See Yourself as Fit Person, No Matter Your Size

By Beth Donovan (~INDYGIRL)

Sometimes the difference in whether you gain or lose is how you see yourself. Sports trainers often use visualization to help athletes meet their goals by simply by having them imagine or see themselves as winners. What if we all stopped looking at ourselves as dieters and looked at ourselves as fit people? Would we still be so depressed about our situations that we would eat that extra helping? Or would we have a little more bounce in our step and park a bit farther away from our destination? Would we train for a 5K? The possibilities are endless if we don’t limit ourselves with a label of “unfit.”

Yes, so maybe we really are not at peak fitness, or anywhere in the vicinity. I personally am disabled and have more than another 100 pounds to goal, although I’ve lost 132 pounds to date. Part of how I lost weight though, was thinking of what I could do. Sure, there are plenty of things I can’t do, but there are also plenty of things I can.

Take a good look at yourself in your mind and consider yourself fit. You are fit. You are fit to do something about your situation. You are no longer a dieter. You are fit to make your own healthy choices and, if you desire, you can make the occasional indulgent one. The ball is in your court. It’s time to pick it up and play.

SparkPeople Members Take on the Hood to Coast Relay

By Kate Eakman

Imagine running four or five miles in the dark on a back country road. You ran six miles yesterday afternoon. And you still have another five or six miles to run later today.

You haven’t showered since early morning yesterday. You haven’t slept in a bed since the night before last and you won’t get to sleep in one for another day. Rest breaks are in a van filled with five other sweaty runners all doing the same thing you are doing.


Ice and water are your friends.

Exhaustion--well, exhaustion is your enemy.

You paid good money to do this.

And you are having the time of your life.

Welcome to Hood to Coast, a 197-mile relay race that begins at Mt Hood’s Timberline Lodge and ends at the Pacific Ocean in Seaside, Oregon. Every year 1000 teams of runners strap on their running shoes and prepare to participate in the Mother of All Relays. The runners take turns completing legs of four to seven miles, taking 14 to 36 hours to complete the course, one that tests physical and mental strength and stamina.

Meet the Man Who Keeps SparkPeople Up and Running

Editor's Note: By popular demand, our Behind the Scenes at SparkPeople feature has returned.

Name: Josh Knepfle

Position at SparkPeople: Chief Technology Officer

Age: 34

Family: My wife, Julie, and I have 4 kids: Joellen (7), Jacob (5), Janie (2) and Jonathan (7 months, above)

How long have you worked for SparkPeople? I started working at SparkPeople in October 2001, but I had worked with Chris previously at eBay and Up4Sale.

Tell us your proudest accomplishment at SparkPeople or a fun fact about your job: I’m most proud of the efficiency of our team in keeping the busiest diet and fitness site running well 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

How do you stay in shape? I like to take advantage of our small gym here at the office. I’m here before 7 a.m. most mornings, working out on our elliptical machine and recumbent bike before I start work. I also try to incorporate my kids into my workouts (taking them to the park for hikes, wrestling with them, having them sit on my back while I do pushups, etc).

What's your favorite food? I really love crab legs, and the raspberries, blackberries, and tomatoes from our garden taste so good right now, too.

What's your favorite indulgence? I have trouble turning down any chocolate, especially when it comes in a baked good. My mom’s brownies come to mind. But, I also love a really good fruit pie or cobbler, especially blueberry.

Bidding Adieu to 'The Last Supper' Mentality

By Beth Donovan (~INDYGIRL)

Before SparkPeople, I used to have what I now call the "last supper mentality," as in swearing off a certain food and recommitting to a "diet" after one last hurrah, aka a binge. The last supper mentality is the difference between perfectionism and the middle ground where lifestyle really is.

So many times I used to say to myself:

"OK, this is the last piece of pizza I'm ever going to eat."

It never was.

"This is the last time I'm going off my diet until I get skinny."

It never was.

It never was the last anything. I would wake up the next morning, and Pizza Hut was still delivering, and chocolate was still as sweet and delicious as the day before.