May 23, 2014

   Reporter: Cal Lee   Editor: Ron Brown    Photographer: Leander Hauri                   

President:  Hays Englehart 2013 - 2014          

PRACTICALLY TWINS

You look at Mark Larks and you immediately think of Michael Jordan, right? Well, at least Mark apparently is a fan, as he quoted MJ to the effect that after 9,000 shots, 300 games, and 26 big shots (this must have been early in MJ's career), he figured the key to a successful career was to give it the effort over and over. (The MJ he quoted was not those you would think of first - Arnold or Marggraff.)

GUESTS

All had Rotarian ties without being Rotarians themselves.

            Brad Wait (after debate had been settled that Susan is no longer a guest)

            Mark Larks' proud parents - Gordon and Linda

OCCASIONS - PRESENTED, OF COURSE, BY MS. ROBERTS

Dan Herbert paid $11, so guess what year he joined LSR.

Mark Larks paid $3 which he shamelessly pried out of his parents; same guess.

Thomas Raeth, for a 23rd anniversary present, bestowed a Giants game on Tamara. "That's why I married her."

SARTORIAL SPLENDOR IN THE BRANDING (MS. ROBERTS)

An early presentation of our brand-new logo was proudly made by Claire, on the newly created polo shirts. Details were colorfully set forth on a handout. One shirt is provided by the Club, but we must turn in our choices of size and color. This sloppy writer didn't catch the precise procedure if you didn't sign up on the spot, but an email to Ms. Roberts would seem to be a reasonable guess. Claire will have order forms at the next meeting and TGITLFOTM as well. You can order additional polos, a denim shirt or a sweatshirt as well and those will be on your next club billing, so you can live on the float in the meantime. The only downer is that there will be no pink shirts.

SUSAN WAIT, PRESENTED BY MS. ROBERTS

Rotary started 109 years ago and now has 34,000+ clubs worldwide. But it never really got going until 1990 when Susan Wait took the oath at the prompting of her sponsor, past-prez Bob Schwein, and straightened things out. She was the first female president of LSR in 1996-97. She was first female District 5160 Governor in 2001-02. (Editorial comment:   She was the rebel who held the District Conference out of state, in Ashland, and the infamous bike ride from here to the Conference was made on her watch.) Other activities in her history have been UC English major, St. Mary's MBA, kids, banker, greeting card peddler, and Asian Art Museum docent. With all this, she learned from an old grizzled PDG, George Chaffey - her greatest pride is that we're a fun club. This will be proved at the next TGITLFOTM on Friday.

Bob Riegg is now the proud owner of a Sponsor Pin for dragging Susan back in here.

A FEW ITEMS PRESENTED BY OTHER PEOPLE

John Fazel's 15th annual 3/4 Century Club luncheon is on for June 18th at Orinda Community Church, given for Orindans aged 75+. A handsome pink printout was distributed which revealed that the special guest speaker is MJ - you know, the astronaut-inclined one, of sub-orbital flight fame, of Marggraff persuasion. She might present a bit more of the future than the 3/4 Club is used to. Voluntary culinary assistants are always appreciated - see John.

Paul Fillinger announced that Carolyn Fulcher, Gary's bride, is in a rather serious hospitalization with chemo involved. Carolyn undoubtedly has had plenty to do with enabling Gary's valued contributions to the club including the creation of nautical classics and furnishing the location center of the amazing Home Team. Undoubtedly a word of encouragement to Carolyn would be appreciated.

Speaking of Home Team and Gary's shop, Leander Hauri announced the next Home Team venture is on May 31st at 9:00, NOT 8:00. About 8 to 10 seniors will be served, so volunteers are desired. Leander also expressed appreciation to Ms. Roberts (who else?) - something about a few miles of electrical cable at Rehabilitation Center.

 MARK LARKS, BODY MASS

Elbowing Ms. Roberts aside, Thomas Peeks handled the introduction of our distinguished non-guest speaker, his former employee Mark Larks. Well, not just an employee, but a stellar employee. Thomas was the owner of Fitness Together health and fitness studio from 2003 to 2009, located quite conveniently for Rotarians breakfasting on Friday mornings. Mark is now a nationally certified Senior Fitness Specialist and Sports Injury Specialist, and the owner of Shur-Fit Training in Lafayette.   The age range of his clients has been from 2 to 102 (what if you fall outside the range?). Thomas feels Mark is exceptional because he really cares about each person that he trains.

Mark gave straight talk about a hot topic, obesity. Central to that subject is the Body Mass Index Chart (BMI). It's not exactly new - it was created in the 1830s by a Belgian mathematician. Basically, it broke down the height and weight of populations of the time. The chart did not have an auspicious start; it basically just sat there until 1972 when Ancel Keys produced an analysis of insurance application forms over a 40-year period for comparison with the BMI. Insurance companies then adopted and used the Index in determining insurability. In the mid '80s, the US Government's National Institute of Health commenced using the BMI, and other countries followed suit.

There are a number of drawbacks to the BMI tables. They don't take into account the differences between bone density and the heavier muscle density. Under the BMI, all athletes and Hollywood stars are "obese". BMI also doesn't allow for gender and the fact that a male should weigh more. It also overlooks age; after 30, muscle is lost each year.

Why is this chart used? The most famous line back in the day of US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart (which he probably came to regret), "I know it when I see it", doesn't work in this case. Specific standards are needed. But proponents of the BMI say it shows a link between obesity and sickness/mortality.

But a bell curve has shown that people who are toward the obese side of the chart do not have a greater rate of early death unless they are extremely obese. Actually the longest-lived persons are between the mid-ideal weight to mid-overweight.

Regardless of size and weight, active people live longer and healthier. You can be fit and fat, if you are active. Why don't we hear about this? Major factors are politics and profit.

The government goes to people in the weight loss industry for advice. These people have a motive to keep the public scared, and to continue getting grants. One result, in June 1998, was that the numbers were adjusted and 25 million Americans woke up being classed as obese overnight.

Most studies in the '90s were funded by pharmaceutical companies. They had pills coming; up for approval, particularly Fen-phen. Thousands died from side effects. Undoubtedly, failure to use the drug as prescribed was a major factor, but the process nevertheless was suspicious.

Fitness is a billion-dollar industry. Most diet books don't work; people lose motivation and gain the weight back and then some.   But they keep coming back seeking magic for weight loss. The body has a predetermined range, and a 10% natural fluctuation either way. Of people who try to push past that wall, 95% gain it all back. You can't program someone to be bigger or smaller than they really can be; it stresses the system and can result in heart disease.

Is there an obesity epidemic? That term should apply to actual communicable disease, not weight. The trend is heavier, but also taller. There is insufficient evidence linking high BMI and chronic disease or mortality rate.

When Mark went to college he heard that everyone was overweight and dying. This was deemed common knowledge and was not questioned. But he had an "aha! moment" which led him into his fitness career. A middle-aged diabetic client tried some diets and lost weight and gained it all back. After 6 weeks with Mark, he only lost 2 pounds but his lab numbers got better. After 6 more weeks, only 1 pound was lost but the lab numbers were still better. The weight change continued to be minimal, but he was shortly able to get off meds altogether. But his doctor still wanted him to lose 30 pounds.

Mark and Anne-Liise have an interesting bedtime activity - reading medical journals. They have found none linking weight to disease.

Skip McCowan jumped in as one who has learned this stuff the hard way as a trial lawyer. He advised that plaintiffs' lawyers are a big cause of the problem.

Dr. John Fazel, quoting a Stanford expert of running acquaintance, announced if you move your glutes, everything else falls into place.