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Category: Fitness, Health, Happiness

  • Heelys: Concealed Wheels for the Well-Heeled Kid (or Mom)

    Heelys: Concealed Wheels for the Well-Heeled Kid (or Mom)

    heelys
    Like how I throw my arms out for balance? That's how the cool kids roll.

    I got a brand new pair of roller skates,
    You got a brand new key.
    I think that we should get together and try them out, to see …

    -Melanie,
    “The Rollerskate Song”

    Here’s a little something you don’t know about me (unless you know me in real life, in which case you’ve heard about this plenty).

    When I was younger, I took skating lessons. Roller skating and ice skating for years, and for one short season I played ice hockey. To this day that’s one of the things I’m most proud of, because I was a little kid. But tough. And a strong skater.

    Ever since the things have arrived on the scene, I have secretly wanted a pair of Heelys. I miss skating, and if I’m being perfectly honest I really wanted to recreate that scene in Roxanne— when Steve Martin turns a lever on his shoes to reveal concealed wheels, and then roller skates through an art museum. Holla if you know what I’m talking about.

    (I’m not the only one who thought to do that. Check these guys wearing their Heelys in the Louvre.)

    So when asked if I’d like to test drive a pair and document it, I couldn’t say sign me UP! fast enough.

    I really wanted to order this pair:

    pink heelys

    but Jeff and Jake wear the same shoe size that I do, and they were unwilling to let me hog all the fun to myself. I know. They suck all the fun out of life.

    Turns out, you can’t just turn a lever and have a wheel pop out of the heel. Like Transformers in shoe form.

    Maybe you knew that. I did not.

    When the wheel is in, you have to kind of walk with your weight on your toes. I get now why they say kids aren’t allowed to wear them in school. BUT. You can pop the wheel out pretty easily using a provided “key” and put in a “heel plug” to wear the things as sneakers if desired. They’re not as comfortable as traditional skate shoes (skateboarding sneakers like Vans) but better than Converse.

    But you wouldn’t want to, say, wear these with the heels in to Six Flags for the day, thinking you could get from place to place quickly. Standing in line on your toes for long periods of time would be tough on your ankles, I should think. If you were forward-thinking you could bring the key, I guess, and transfer back and forth, but I’m telling you right now: I’m too lazy for that.

    Basically, they are SKATES that can be worn as sneakers. Not Transformers.

    Heelys are an entirely different skillset than roller skating or ice skating and I’m a little embarrassed to say I did not pick it up quickly. You have to lean back, shifting your weight to your heels, and lift your toe off the ground, and my subconscious is just not down with that. Or possibly the problem is weak ankles, I don’t know.

    Basically I need a push or pull to get started, or I’ll just wind up going maybe a few yards or so before that toe smacks back down and stops me.

     

    heelys learning

    Little kid Heelys come in a 2-wheeled version that you can convert to traditional Heelys when you master the technique. Maybe that’s what I needed.

    I’m working on it, though! When I get better I’ll post my sweet sweet tricks, I promise. I can definitely see this being a way to fit in a fun outdoor workout.

    Jake fared much better, which is not wonderful for my self-esteem, but admittedly makes for a better blog post. Harumph.

     

     

    I’m pretty inspired by some of the tricks and techniques on the Heelys website (they post helpful Skating 101 videos, too) but really I just want to get better than Jake. Yes, I’m competitive. I’ll probably wind up getting him his own pair so we can do head-to-head skate-offs because I am awesome like that.

    They’re fun. You should totally get some. Oh, and your kids might like them too 🙂

    __________________________________________

    Impressed? Intrigued?
    Get Heelys info (including promos, sale updates and all that good stuff):

    www.heelys.com
    http://shop.heelys.com
    www.facebook.com/heelys
    www.twitter.com/heelysworldwide
    www.youtube.com/heelysworldwide

    Disclosure: I received a complimentary pair of Heelys for review purposes; no other compensation was given. As always, all opinions, observations, and embarrassing stories are brutally honest and mine, mine, all mine!

     

  • Buying Organic Meats and Produce: Why Bother?

    [Portrait of Enric Madriguera and Patricia Gilmore on their farm, Connecticut, ca. June 1947] (LOC)

    Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.

    –Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

    I saw this on Twitter last night:

    Anything you have to peel— onions, bananas, garlic— is low in pesticides. Organic is a waste! 7 Supermarket Rip-Offs: (not giving the link traffic, sorry)

    This is classic “not seeing the forest for the trees.”

    It’s true. When you peel away the outer layers of something, you reduce the pesticides YOU ingest.

    While the amount of chemicals you consume along with your foods is worth thinking about, this is NOT the reason I buy organic.

    Sure, babies are born “pre-polluted,” with studies of cord blood finding nearly 300 different chemicals contaminating it:

    Of the 287 chemicals we detected in umbilical cord blood, we know that 180 cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests. (source)

    Sure, there are about 80,000 chemicals currently on the market, and only about 200 have been tested for safety.

    Sure, we’ve no idea what happens when these chemicals bio-accumulate over time, or what happens when the chemicals in our body burden interact with each other.

    Scary as that is— that’s not why I buy organic either.

    Because there are always going to be studies and tests that say, this is fine for you, and these levels of pesticides are OK, and whatever, and I just don’t have the time or inclination to stay on top of the latest and greatest and argue with detractors.

    This, however, I think is inarguable:

    All those chemicals and pesticides are going somewhere for sure, and do you know where that is?

    Into our soil, our water and our air.

    And into our farmers, and our farmers’ children.

    (Not to mention, into you. And your children.)

    So when I buy organic produce, I do it to support farms that don’t knowingly pollute. Who don’t force their workers and families to handle dangerous chemicals on a day-to-day basis.

    And when I buy organic meats, the principle is the same. The bio-accumulation of chemical-laden feed worries me, but my main concerns are the ethics of the farmers. How do they treat their workers? Are the animals handled humanely? (Aside: it’s a nice bonus that happy cows and pigs tend to taste SO MUCH BETTER than their factory-farmed counterparts.)

    Yes, organics are more expensive. It simply costs more to take care of things properly, to oversee a farm rather than “spray and pray.” The price you pay is the true cost of healthy, ethical eating. Of quality.

    When your roof is falling, do you go for the cheap fix? When your child’s tooth is hurting, is your first concern “Do I have a coupon for this (regardless of quality of care)?” Why do we accept sub-par quality in favor of unnecessary quantity when it comes to what we feed our families?

    Discounts? Cheap beef? That’s corner-cutting, compromises made on morality and health that may save you a few pennies now, but will cost you in doctor’s visits in the long run:

    • cancer rates are up 50% since the mid-90s
    • allergy rates, 18%
    • instances of gout have doubled
    • In 1994, about 23% of the population was obese. Today, about 33%. At that rate, by 2030 half of the population will be obese, and health-care costs will be astronomical as millions of people develop type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer due to their diet.

    We need to start eating mindfully. We are what we eat.

    I know money is tight all over, so try these tips:

    –Save on organic produce by buying from farmers’ markets and staying in season; this year I’m going to try canning and freezing.

    –Incorporate more grains (rice, quinoa, whole wheat pasta) into your menu plan, so meat portions don’t need to be as big for your meal to be filling.

    –Buy organic meat online from a reputable source or from ethical, local farmers in bulk to freeze.

    –Designate one day of the week (or more!) as meatless.

     

    Do you buy organic meats and produce?
    What are your reasons?

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    Disclosure: I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog and was compensated for my time. However, all views and opinions are my own.

     

  • Parks Are Good For Play. Parents, Not So Much.

    Parks Are Good For Play. Parents, Not So Much.

    fearless play

    The very existence of youth

    is due in part to the necessity for play;

    the animal does not play because he is young,

    he has a period of youth because he must play.

    Karl Groos, evolutionary biologist

    File this one under “this week in DUH”…

    A newly released study suggests that hovering parents, over-concerned with their kids’ safety, stand in the way of active outdoor play. Which, in turn, cultivates learned habits and priorities that contribute to sedentary behavior and obesity, and a whole host of related health problems that really are something to be concerned about.

    The study, which will covered in some detail in the September issue of the American Journal for Preventive Medicine, also came to these conclusions:

    • Formal programs and facilities (soccer programs, basketball courts) increase the likelihood that kids aged five and up will participate in a higher level of activity.
    • If there are even just a couple of kids engaged in higher physical activity, other kids are more likely to increase their own levels.
    • Physical activity was negatively associated with gender; girls were just less active. But, girls were less likely to be hovered over in parks, and while engaged in higher levels of physical activity.

    The object of the study is to find out what stimulates active play in public parks so that parks can be designed with these factors in mind (for instance, providing shady areas for helicopter moms to sit and give their kids some freaking room and freedom to be kids). Which is nice and I’m glad these studies are being conducted, but I find it really depressing that parents are letting fear get in the way of active outdoor play.

    Fear of their kids being hurt.

    Fear of their kids being taken.

    Fear of their kids being pushy or being pushed.

    And fear of just stupid stuff, like their kid getting dirty. I was at the park for soccer practice the other day, and there was a little girl happily doing these big long jumps, pretending to be a frog. And every couple of jumps, she’d hit a mud puddle, because it’s rained here for 40 days and 40 nights straight (or thereabouts). A fairly normal, active thing for a kid to do, right? An inventive, harmless way to while away 90 minutes while her brother played soccer?

    I know you know where this is going. The second her mom realized what she was doing, she made her come over and sit down so she wouldn’t get her shoes dirty. “I’ve asked you a million times not to do that…”

    What we need is a study letting us know how to not let the fear rule our lives. And ruin our kids’ childhoods.

    Hey parents? Take your kids outside to play today. Somewhere where there are other kids. The more, the better.

    And then back off and leave them the hell alone. It’s good for them.

    For the record, I find the pictured rope structure terrifying. Which is why I always bring a book or a basketball to the park. She’s fearless, and I’d like her to stay that way.

     

    [source]