That's Fit

So, Bethany, and all others who are dying to know what this man has to say, here's a sneak peak.

Obama reports that he works out for 45 minutes, six days a week. Sometimes it's a squeeze to get his workout in, and he admits there are times when sleep trumps time at the gym. When he does make it to the gym, he goes before he starts his work day. And while there, the 47-year-old lifts one day and does cardio the next. Obama's wish -- besides scoring that job as President of the United States -- is that his exercise sessions were longer. A 90-minute workout would be ideal.

He may be running for President, but that doesn't mean that Barack Obama has stopped taking care of himself. In fact, the Democratic presidential nominee will be on the November cover of Men's Health, the magazine's 20th anniversary issue.

It's got to be difficult to exercise and eat right when you're busy campaigning across the country, there's no doubt about that. But maintaining a healthy diet and workout routine is a great way to relieve stress. And with only a little more than a month left until Election Day, I'm guessing stress is a pretty big part of Obama's daily life.

I'm curious to see what direction Men's Health steers their interview. Will they ask him about his personal fitness routine? How he'd maintain that routine if he's elected President? Or will the focus on the broader issue of health care for all Americans? We'll just have to wait and see until the issue comes out.

If you could ask Barack Obama or John McCain a diet or fitness related question, what would it be?

We planted our first vegetable garden this past spring and enjoyed it so much that we just spent the weekend doubling its size for next year. With a very small financial investment and a little bit of physical labor, we've been able to contribute fresh, healthy, organic foods to our menu and teach our kids some lessons about food production as well.

Rising food costs, food safety concerns, and an increased awareness about environmental issues have lead to an increase in backyard gardening. And some food activists are hoping to encourage that trend by putting an organic garden on one of the most well-known lawns in Amercia ... The White House.

When OnDayOne.org asked citizens to share their ideas for a better world, Eat the View shot quickly to the top. Eat the View is a program that advocates the placement of edible landscapes in high visibility places. You don't get much more visible than the White House! Activists hope that by promoting these kinds of gardens, backyard gardeners will again be encouraged to pull out their seeds and hoes. The idea is, if people start growing more of their own food, there will be less pollution created by food miles, pesticides, and waste.

So will the next President grow a garden at the White House? Time will tell. Sustainable practices aren't a new idea at the Presidential home; in 1917, President Wilson replaced power lawn mowers with a herd of sheep.

Come November 4th, 2008, a new President will be elected into office in the United States. This much we know almost with certainty. What is not known, however, is who that person will be. While I would love to wax on about my political beliefs and who I think the next person will be to sit in the Oval Office, I have no interest in causing a war of words -- polemics aren't really our thing here on That's Fit. Things concerning the human body? Yeah, that's more our speed.

To that end, there are very specific physical traits that many of our past Presidents have possessed, some of which may serve as a predictor of who will win the race for the White House. Newsweek recently used this criteria to create a physical feature-by-feature breakdown of how John McCain and Barack Obama may fare come November.

Here's a summary of their findings...

HEIGHT: Four of the last nine elections have been won by the shorter candidate, giving the 5'7" McCain a fighting chance against the 6'3" Obama. However, in most of those cases the height disparity was not significant, whereas in this case McCain is giving up 6 inches to Obama. The last time anyone overcame such a blatant difference in height was in 1852. What's more, we haven't had a shorter-than-average President since the 5'6" Benjamin Harrison. Advantage: Obama

Although I will expand on Randy Pausch, I imagine you're already well aware of who he is. He's the unstoppable man, who has inspired millions and millions of people around the world by his passion for life while he fights an almost impossible battle with pancreatic cancer. I learned of Dr. Pausch many months ago as Diane Sawyer interviewed him on ABC. He blew me away with his humor, dedication to his family, and outrageous courage.

His journey since his diagnosis put him on stage at the University he was a professor at, Carnegie Mellon, for his Last Lecture. This Last Lecture made it to YouTube (embedded below) and then became a best selling book, The Last Lecture. His outlook on life and stories of his childhood and career have inspired other cancer patients to fight harder and regular people to just be better. Although he's truly only concerned with getting his message across to his three young children, he's positively affected millions of others as a side effect.

Recently, President Bush was compelled to write to Randy Pausch. This can't change Randy's fate with cancer, but as a representative of the American people ... it was a fantastic way to show our appreciation for Randy setting a new standard for 'goodness' and dedicating his life to teaching others.

We're currently right smack in the middle of one of the most interesting presidential races of our time, and although trying to keep on top of the latest developments and deciding who to support may seem like a daunting and sometimes stressful job imagine what it must be like on the campaign trail for the candidates themselves. Running for President is an exhausting, stressful, "go-go-go" type endeavor and it can be downright hazardous to your health for a variety of reasons.

One of the more obvious health issues is the constant traveling combined with tightly packed schedules making finding time for working out difficult, but that's just the tip of the iceberg.

How running for President is hazardous to your health:

Sleep deprivation
We all know how important sleep is for everything from being in a good mood to controlling your appetite and slowing the aging process, but for a presidential candidates it might be an even bigger deal that lack of sleep can also lead to memory slips, poor decision-making, and even inappropriate comments or outbursts.

I just overheard some women chatting at lunch today about the "hotness" of Governor Mitt Romney. Will that help him in this election? All of the polls and newscasters are predicting Senator John McCain to win the most delegates today, Super Tuesday. Hmmm. Maybe Mitt's sexiness will help him pull ahead.

I just bring up the question, because the chatty ladies put it in my head. I do agree though, that Romney is a looker. If I were a single lady and he were a single man.......I'd let him take me to lunch. But, that doesn't really sway me. I'm not that type of voter. I actually think extremely highly of both candidates. I do find it funny in fact, that Mitt's looks haven't been a topic.

This past week, Democrats from the U.S. House of Representatives were unable to override a Presidential veto from a week ago related to children's health care in the U.S.

The bill, which would have provided health care for many children in the U.S. who lack insurance, was too expensive, according to its detractors. What do you think -- should part of your taxes go to subsidize health care for uninsured children? The total for this plan was $35 billion in expanded care costs

On Thursday, the override vote fell 13 votes short of passing, with a 273 to 156 count. A two-thirds majority is needed to override a veto.

In just the fourth veto of his presidential career, President Bush vetoed legislation this week geared at increasing a popular children's health care program. No surprise there, as Bush's record on social programs for health is pretty well known by most Americans.

But this has to do with children, and by vetoing the bill, Bush risks alienating himself from fellow Republicans, some of whom fear damage to next year's elections as a result.

I'm not sure I would characterize the bill as "cruel and heartless" like many Democrats are calling it, but when it comes to the health care of children, should we leave that up solely to strapped parents across the nation and leave it at that? What do you think here? I do support the idea that cigarettes taxes would have been used to fund the increase, but is that the right thing to do?

Last week First lady Laura Bush toured through several different nations in Africa in an attempt to draw more attention to the $2.5 million dollar Global Business Coalition and its programs that are helping to fight HIV and AIDS, along with other ailments like malaria. 50% funded by U.S. corporations like Coca Cola, Johnson & Johnson, and the NBA it's just a small part of what the U.S. is doing to help. Congress has allocated as much as $15 billion dollars for fighting diseases abroad, and may as much as double that in upcoming years.

Education and awareness is key, and Americans seem more than willing to help. Laura Bush was quoted as saying "I think all of the programs we'll see that are supported by U.S. taxpayers are a good example of what Americans are really like."

Say what you will about George W. Bush, but the man takes care of himself -- If there is something we can all agree to about, it is his excellent physical shape.

And because we are nearing the end of Men's Health Week, I thought our 40-plus male audience might be interested in taking example from the 'head honcho'. If you are looking for a regiment of nutritional supplements, he's your man. Some of you (and you know who you are) have cabinets full of supplements when really you could narrow that down a bit. Taking 15 nutritional pills a day is a bit much -- don't you think? Or maybe you're not taking any at all -- let's see what we can do about that.

President Bush turned 60 years old last October and his health is in the "superior" fitness category for men his age -- greater than the 99% percentile!

It makes no sense, but it seems that as health care becomes a bigger and bigger issue in this country some of the people who should care about it the most, the doctors, are voting less and less. A study coming out of Johns Hopkins Medical School looked at different professions and much they participated in voting in presidential elections and found that although not at the very bottom of the list (laborers came in last) doctors are shockingly uninvolved in the political process. 1 in 4 doctors haven't bothered to vote in the last 3 presidential elections.

And guess who came in first, with the best turnout of all? Lawyers, of course.

Think you're too busy to exercise? If the President of the United States can bike and strength train most days of the week, you can certainly make time to do so. Lots of folks feel lots of different ways about George W. Bush, but the fact of the matter is when it comes to fitness he's the ultimate role model.

He knows that with an incredibly stressful job, two busy daughters and a wife to keep up with skipping workouts is not an option. He needs energy, stress relief, and physical strength to survive each day. Most people would consider being "the most powerful person in the world" an easy excuse to slack on training for four to eight years. Bush doesn't do it and neither should you.

When the pressure increases, you need your workouts more than ever. Get up early, go to sleep late, return to work stinky after a mid-day jog, but don't make lame excuses. Cause if George can do it, so can you!

Just a few weeks ago, first lady Laura Bush had a cancerous lesion removed from her right shin. It was found to be the second most common form of skin cancer, squamous cell carcinoma. When asked why she didn't say anything about it sooner, she answered simply "It's no big deal and we knew it was no big deal at the time." The lesion was about the size of a nickel, and the whole subject came up finally when somebody asked why she was wearing a bandage on her leg at a Hanukah ceremony recently.

As for her "no big deal" comment: squamous cell carcinomas are responsible for less than 0.1 percent of cancer deaths, but they are also more likely to spread to other areas of the body than basal cell (the most common form of skin cancer) and do require more follow-up monitoring.

There also seems to be some debate on whether or not she should have made the issue public sooner, and I have to side with her on this one. Getting a diagnosis of cancer is scary (whether she admits it or not), and since she's not personally an elected official (and so isn't required to disclose the same way the President is) I can't blame her for wanting to keep this to herself and close family -- at least until she knew what she was dealing with.