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Health

Work it off

A new book details how long you have to exercise to burn off your favorite foods. Get ready to walk and walk and walk.

By ROBERT N. JENKINS
Published December 26, 2006

Go on, you know you want it. It tastes perfect with the beer, and besides, how much harm could one bite-sized cracker covered by a slice of salami do to the waistline?

Not much, really: 161 calories. Although that regular beer is another 153. Still, you've been walking regularly in the cooler weather, feeling pretty good about yourself, so you can just walk it off, right?

Sure, if you're willing to walk 80 minutes for that single beer, cracker and salami you indulged in.

Cheer up: If you had opted for a daiquiri and a couple of handfuls of Cheez-It party mix, you'd be looking at 178 minutes of walking - two minutes less than three hours. Even if you are swimming to stay in shape, it would take 84 minutes to burn off those 689 calories.

This important if party-pooping news is contained in a new book, The Diet Detective's Count Down. It's the latest work by Charles Stuart Platkin, who holds a master's degree in public health from Florida International University and writes a newspaper column on fitness and nutrition.

Platkin, also a personal trainer, has plotted page after page of charts in this thick paperback that lists about 7,500 common foods and drinks, including a number of commercially prepared items.

Each of these is accompanied by the calories, fats and carbohydrates per standard serving and - here's the disheartening aspect - how many minutes you'd need to burn off this helping if you are walking, running, swimming, biking, doing yoga or dancing.

Platkin said in an online interview this summer that when he was just 10, he was so conscious of being overweight that he got his parents to buy him the first Dr. Atkins diet book.

It did not help him keep weight off, nor did a succession of what he termed "futile quick-weight-loss diets."

These, he said, reduce calories by severely limiting the variety of foods people can eat. But such restrictions are "impossible to maintain over the long-term."

It was not until Platkin "understood and was able to apply the principles of behavior change" that he was able to lose about 53 pounds and to remain at this desired weight for more than 10 years. He admitted he still enjoys treats such as ice cream, but only in moderation and only in low-fat versions.

The Diet Detective's Count Down, published by Fireside, is $13 and will be on sale in January. Meanwhile, you can go to his Web site, www.DietDetective.com, for guidance on making the right choices, starting with the rest of this holiday season.

[Last modified December 26, 2006, 06:34:03]