4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, January 14, 2000

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Why you 're fat and I'm not- The

420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
daily.letters@umich.edu
Edited and managed by
students at the
University of Michigan

HEATHER KAMiNS
Editor in Chief
JEFFREY KOSSEFF
DAVID WALLACE
Editorial Page Editors

Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the
Dailys editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect
the opinion of The Michigan Daily.

Celebrating diversity
Students should participate in MLK events

ost students today are eagerly
anticipating their impending
three-day weekend and are thankful for
the small break from classes it will pro-
vide. But Martin Luther King Jr. Day
should be more than just a chance to
sleep in. It is a memorial to one of this
country's most important figures and the
causes of civil rights and social justice
that he championed. The University is
providing a huge array of activities for
MLK Day, as it does every year. Students
should take the time to attend some of
them.
This is a wonderful opportunity to
learn about diversity on campus and
learn about King's legacy. MLK Day is
also a great chance to see many musical
performances, lectures by such noted
speakers as Henry Louis Gates Jr. and
attend discussions on diversity and civil
rights. There are also films and special
exhibits being shown around campus and
a march at noon where students can show
support for making King's vision a reali-
ty.
Of course, the most important reason
for MLK Day is to get people more inter-

ested in issues. Anyone who has any inter-
est in working on furthering diversity and
equality can learn about what they can do
to help keep King's dream alive on
Monday.
This is also an important time to learn
about diversity because of the lawsuits
against the University's use of affirma-
tive action. Large numbers of minority
students across this country are denied
adequate K-12 educations and it is an
incredible injustice to also take away the
good university educations that are avail-
able to them because of affirmative
action. This has already happened in
some of the biggest university systems in
this country, such as those in California,
Texas and Florida. We could be next.
People who believe in this issue should
use events on MLK Day to see how they
can help protect diversity at this and
other schools.
MLK is a day off from classes, but
should not be a day to sleep in. The best
way to remember Martin Luther King Jr.
is to help keep his legacy alive. Take part
in some of the activities offered at the
University on Monday.

W eare a nation of fat people.
Americans today are more over-
weight than ever before, despite modern
scientific miracles in the fields of exercise
and nutrition. Why is this? Most people
who are overweight
fall into one of two
categories. In catego-
ry one are the people
who just don't give a
damn. 'They eat asw
much of whatever
they want because
they are either secure
enough with them-
selves or they just
enjoy the taste of
food more than thev
care about the condi- Branden
tion of their Sant
physiques.
Category two is far
larger, and is com-
prised primarily of
people who honestly
do watch what they eat and exercise, but
just can't seem to shed those extra pounds.
You see a lot of these types on campus, and
sadly, many of my female friends fall into
this category. These girls are not truly "fat"
(even though some think they are) but are
just not quite as lean as they would like to
be.
Again, why' With all the super "diet"
and "low fat" foods we have out there, with
the accessibility of gyms and health clubs
everywhere. you would think that we would
all have bodies like Greek statues. But this
is most certainly not the case.
It is my humble opinion that misinforma-
tion is the biggest cause of this problem. It
never really occurred to me how bad this
was until the other day when I was in the
check-out lane at Meijer. I started looking
at the magazine racks around me and saw
that. to my surprise. I I of the 19 magazines
present were "women's" magazines such as
Cosmo, Shape, Glamour, Vogue, etc.
Noticing such a profusion. I looked a little
closer and saw that nearly all of the maga-

zines had some sort of "shape-up tip" or
"miracle diet" in bold on the cover. On a
whim. I decided to check out a few of these
articles and discovered that they were
almost all misguided. or at the worst, dead
wrong.
For the record, I am not a medical doctor
and my opinion should by no means be
considered the gospel truth. I am, however,
a personal trainer with more than 10 years
experience at the diet and exercise game,
and I can cite documented scientific studies
to back my opinions up. So, ladies and gen-
tlemen, here's the skinny (pardon the pun)
on a few of the most overused myths in the
battle of fit versus fat.
Myth: If you eat less fat, you will lose
fat. Fact: Fat has been demonized because it
contains more calories per gram than either
protein or carbohydrates, but when people
forego fat, they often substitute fast burning
carbs such as simple sugars or processed
flours. The truth is, unless you are a serious
athlete. high-carb, low fat diets just do not
work. Why? Because these carbs are digest-
ed and absorbed into the bloodstream so
quickly your body has no chance to burn
them off before they are converted to fat.
Another factor in this goes back to the
Stone Age and, unlike our diets, our diges-
tive systems have evolved very little in the
past 10,000 years. When you do not eat
enough fat, the body senses a shortage and
interprets that shortage as a period of
famine. Therefore, the body will do any-
thing necessary to hold on to the fat you
have, even to the extent of cannibalizing
your own muscle for energy. What to do?
Eat more fat and protein but avoid breads
(yes, this does include bagels), pastas, rices,
and anything that ends in "ose" like the
plague.
Myth: You need three meals a day, no
more and no less. Fact: Actually, the ideal
way to eat is to spread your daily caloric
intake over a five or six-meal span. Smaller
meals means the body has less to digest at
any given time and you can burn off any
excess calories quite easily. Likewise, sev-
eral small meals means a constant flow of

ugly truth
nutrients which prevents your body from
going into the famine mode which slows
down your metabolism and destroys your
muscle tissue. This is also precisely the rea-
son why bulimia and anorexia is so devas-
tating. If the disease does not kill you first,
when you finally do decide to rejoin the
world of normal, healthy-eating people,
you are left with almost no muscle and a
metabolism slower than a sloth or
thorozine.
Myth: Weight training is for guys
because it turns women "bulky." Fact:
Weight training builds muscle, which not
only gives you a nice shape but also raises
your resting metabolism, which means you
burn more calories even in your sleep. For
you ladies worried about "bulking up," fear
not: those chemical-enhanced monsters you
see on ESPN2 have been lifting for years
and years, aided by things you can't get you
hands on without committing a felony
Working out three days a week with
weights will make you look slimmer, NOT
turn you into China from the WWF.
Myth: Women training with weights
should lift low weight with high reps,
because they want to "tone and firm." This
is the most frequent myth I encounter and
the one that pisses me off to no end. Fact:
"Toning and firming" does not exist. It is a
fiction created by the fitness industry to
sell magazines and Thighmasters. You@
CANNOT "tone" your body, nor can you
"firm" it. You can lose fat, or you can build
muscles - that's it. If you want to lose fat,
aerobic exercise first thing in the morning
before you've eaten is the best way to go. If
you want to build muscle, you need to use
heavy weight for sets of four to 12 reps.
Anything else and you are just wasting your
time. You may actually get the results you
want, but you will have to spend much
longer time doing it if you continue buying
into the "three sets of 20 reps" bullshit you
see everywhere.
Keep those resolutions, and happy lift-
ing.
- Branden Sanz can be reached over
e-mail at hammerhead d umich.edu.


THOMAS KULJURGIS

N ~ .~z.fX MLA KVN ~

Room to learn
Overcrowding of classes cannot be tolerated

Students should
support local
businesses

Something is amiss at the University
this semester. While overrides and
waitlists always make the first two weeks
of school little more than a web of red
tape, this term's registration glitches
seem unprecedented in their volume.
University students have had an unusual-
ly difficult time creating their schedules,
as every class seems full and wait lists
are a mile long. If the ratio of students to
classes seems off, there's a reason:
According to the Office of the Registrar,
there were 17,350 classes offered last
semester compared to only 13,100 class-
es offered this term. Even though there is
a slight decrease in the student body due
to graduating seniors, eliminating 4,250
classes certainly puts a strain on class
availability. This has created not only
problems for many students, but puts the
University's dedication to the quality of
undergraduate education into question.
There are multiple reasons for this
semester's problems, and students are
being affected in a variety of ways. As of
Wednesday evening, Spanish 232 had 227
people on the wait list. That's at least
another 11 sections that should be avail-
able but aren't. With language require-
ments to fulfill, an LSA student will be at
a terrible disadvantage to have to skip a
semester and be expected to make it up
later. A lack of GSIs - a position for
which there are rarely several openings
- is probably contributing to the insuffi-
cient number of sections for popular
introductory classes. Serious complica-
tions are arising. Economics 101, which
also has an obscene waiting list, is a
requirement for anyone interested in
entering the Business School. Students
only have until the end of sophomore
year to fulfill such a requirement.
Graduating seniors are also in trouble
they do not have the luxury of putting
off their requirements for another semes-
ter. Jennifer Nieves, an LSA senior, said,
"I am a graduating senior (and I) can't

waived because she could not get into the
courses. Instead of waving courses aside
at the first hint of registering difficulties,
the University should make a point of
providing space for every student in
every required course within each major.
The University should be encouraging
students to try new courses and expand
their horizons. That is the principle of a
liberal arts education. Yet psychology
does not have a single opening in any
100-level course for this semester. If stu-
dents cannot get a spot in the entry-level
courses, how are they to know if that
major is something they should pursue?
Unfortunately, class problems are
restricted to neither the College of
Literature, Science and the Arts nor to
extensive wait lists. Last semester the
School of Music handed out overrides to
all students on the Music Theory 351
wait list because it is a required course.
While it may sound like a great idea to
just let everyone in, 20 students got into
the class only to find they would have to
sit on the floor everyday for the entire
semester because there were not enough
desks.
Ironically, with all of these problems
spread across every corner of the
University, at least one school appears
unaffected. The College of Engineering
has openings left in every single course it
offers. There must be some secret that
Engineering Dean Stephen Director
knows that no one else at the University
can figure out.
A University education costs tens of
thousands of dollars each year. Having to
settle for a class because it is the only
course available is counter-productive to
learning - and graduating. The
University needs to immediately address
the concerns raised by this semester and
address the problem. More professors?
More classes? Fewer students'?
Regardless of the course of action, the
solution requires money, and that money

TO THE DAILY:
Thank you for the editorial about
Starbucks ("Sell out I 13 00). When I
first heard that a Starbucks was going
into the old Gratzi space. I had hoped
that students wouldn't spend their money
there. Unfortunately, the ugly-awninged
store has always been packed whenever I
walk past it. Students should understand
that they hurt local businesses by sup-
porting large chain stores like Starbucks:
choosing a different coffee shop is a
small. but symbolic Vesture - one that
helps maintain the unique character of
downtown Ann Arbor by keeping its
locally-owned businesses running.
I 'e heard more than a few people say
that they don't like Starbucks-style gen-
trification, but gee whiz. Starbucks cof-
fee sure is goocI. and that's why they go
there. Well. you can't have it both ways:
either support local businesses through
your purchases. or realize that if
Starbucks is w~ildly successful. Ann
Arbor might become another strip mall in
a downtown's clothing. If you're a
Starbucks patron. please think about
where your money is going. It makes a
bigger difference than you think.
ANNIE TOMLIN
LSA SENIOR
Editorial did not
explain issue of
prisoners with AIDS
TO THE DAILY:
The Daily's ,Ian. I I editorial entitled
"Segregation. 2000-style" confused me
and I am writing in the hope that the
Daily's editorial board will clarify its
position.
While the editorial was quite clear
(and in my opinion correct) regarding the
importance of AIDS HIV education and
support in general, I failed to discern
how this was related to the specific issue
of AIDS infected prisoners in Alabama.
This leads to my first question:
"What does the majority of the Daily's

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editorial board understand the term 'pris-
oner' to mean, and what consequences (if
any) does the editorial staff believe fol-
low from being a 'prisoner'?"
I ask this because the editorial did not
clearly distinguish between those who are
the victims of a crime (like rape) and
those who are found guilty and sentenced
to a prison term for a crime (like a
rapist). In many cases both of the above
are infected with the HIV virus, yet it,
seems hard for me to believe that both of
the above are seen as the same in the eyes
of the majority of the Daily's staff.
This leads to my next question: "Is it
the position of the majority of the Daily's
editorial board that isolating convicted
felons (including rapists) from the gener-
al prison population is a civil rights vio-
lation and the equivalent of the segrega-
tion of minorities?"
The editorial states: "The people who
find it necessary to isolate people are not
in fact, protecting the healthy" ... regard-
ing the isolation of HIV infected inmates
from other prisoners. Does the majority
of the daily staff agree with this state-
ment? Is the editorial board of the belief
that HIV cannot be contracted in prison?
Does the Editorial Board believe that
there is no unprotected sex or intravenous
drug use in America's penal system (not
to mention rape)? If so, I would like to
see your position clearly stated.

Donating meals
outside cafeteria is
a bad fundraiser
TO THE DAILY:
I understand the need to fundraise or,
campus. but what I don't understand is the
tactics that the University allows people to
use to solicit money. In particular is the
meal sacrifice program. As I walked out of
dinner this evening, the bottom of the stair-
way leading from the cafeteria was crowded
with people asking me to give up a meal.
Evidently, the Alternative Spring Break
people wanted me to give up a meal so that
I can send them to Mexico.
I understand that it's a good cause, but A
sacrificing a meal a good way of supporting
it ? I don't think so. I pay money to the resi-
dence halls so I can live and eat, not donate
money. Additionally, what would my moth-
er say.
Beyond the basis of the issue, is it
appropriate that they are able to monopo-
lize the exit of the cafeteria for this pur-
pose? Again, no. To add insult to injury,
after I explained to them my reasoning in
not giving up a meal they called me o
"jerk" as I left.
This is no way to accomplish "good"
things in the world. So sure, alternative
spring break is a great concept, but its
inappropriate to badger students into sup-
porting it.

ALEXANDER CRAWFORD JAMES WILSON
LSA STUDENT LSA FIRST-YEAR STUDENT

Congress should pass cyber-protection laws

Problems with computer hackers hax e
risen with the nonilaritv of the Internet and

day. While the government says no top-
secret material has ever been accessed by

studying computer security in exchange for
their agreement to work for the governnent