John Di Bartolo’s House of Step

Guys, because of the impending storm, my plans for the weekend of 8/27 have been postponed. I am therefore teaching on Saturday morning at 36th & Madison, so please come if you’re around!!

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Why should women have all the fun? In Beijing, pole dancing is now a workout that men too can enjoy.

Thanks to Jim for the link.

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The jury’s still out on exactly how bad artificial sweeteners are for your overall health. Ignoring any of these adverse effects and focusing solely on weight loss, you would think that a zero- or low-calorie soda would at least have little to no effect on your waistline.

Not so. But how on Earth can someone put on weight when no calories are ingested? The best guess is that artificial sweeteners influence people’s appetites, making them more prone to eat unhealthy foods afterwards.

And if you think going to the gym reduces this effect, guess again. Diet drinks apparently warp your appetite regardless of how much you exercise.

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It should come as no surprise that recent studies at Harvard have targeted french fries and potato chips as fattening foods. The numbers, however, are a bit sobering. A serving of potato chips every day for four years will add over 1.5 pounds to your waistline. Do the same with french fries, and you’ve gained an extra three pounds. (This bit of news in particular makes me want to cry.)

Meanwhile, whole grains, fruit, nuts, and yogurt will all help you lose weight.

More so than ever, it appears that what happens in the kitchen has more impact than what happens in the gym. “Diet and exercise are important for preventing weight gain, but diet clearly plays a bigger role,” said one of the leaders of the study.

Other factors that were found to contribute to weight gain: watching TV, sleeping too much, sleeping too little, and booze (woe is me!).

Thanks to Dave for the heads-up.

My trip abroad is over, but unfortunately a few more class cancellations and subs lie ahead. The schedule will be back to normal soon, I promise! Apologies for all the missed classes, especially to the Saturday crew, whom I haven’t seen in ages!

See you in class!

What’s a nudist to do these days, what with gyms requiring all that restrictive clothing? Look no further. In the Spanish town of Arrigorriaga, you now have a place to work out: Easy Gym!

If you’re counting calories and you’re not not sure how many you are taking in, finding the answer is now as easy as snapping a picture. Using a new iPhone app, Meal Snap, you can now take a picture of the meal in front of you and be told not only what food is in the meal but also the number of calories.

Does it work? Based on the reviews, although a little rusty, it does a surprisingly good job.

How does it work? From what I understand, the pictures are submitted to a human-powered service called Mechanical Turk. Once the food is identified, the information is submitted to Daily Burn, the creators of Meal Snap, and the calorie content information is found in a database.

Magic? Not exactly, but pretty darned close to it.

Move over, Old Spice guy, there’s a new stud in town. It’s Norway’s new celebrity, Mr. Milk!

Hmm… he looks familiar. Where have I seen this guy before?

“The Heart Attack Grill diet is not for everyone. Side effects may include sudden weight gain, repeated increase of wardrobe size, back pain, male breast growth, loss of sexual partners, lung cancer, tooth decay, liver sclerosis, stroke, and an inability to see your penis. In some cases, mild death may occur.”

Ho, ho! That is funny stuff!!

I’ve already mentioned the Heart Attack Grill in a previous post. Why mention it again now? Blair River, the man in this video, passed away earlier this month. He was 575 pounds and 29 years old.

From Jon Basso, the restaurant’s founder and the jackass dressed as a doctor in the commercial: “Cynical people might think this (River’s death) is funny.”

Jon Basso, on the other hand, takes morbid obesity very seriously.

Sorry for the last minute notice, gang, but “due to electrical issues that must be resolved,” all classes at 36th & Madison are canceled on Saturday, 3/26.