Winter is back, back again. I don’t generally do New Year’s resolutions, but I do change workouts every ten or twelve weeks. My most recent change was to start running more, as I picked up a few more pounds since Thanksgiving than I’d like and running has typically been the best way for me to shed weight.

Of course, health science people will tell you that weight isn’t necessarily the best indicator of health. Neither, for that matter is Body Mass Index or waist size or resting heart rate, etc. Google any kind of health or diet regimen and there will be scholarly-ish articles either supporting or denouncing it. “Exercise is a waste of time, it’s all about how many calories you eat!” “Counting calories is a waste of time, just eat food in its most natural condition!” “PLANT BASED DIET” “Work out just 20/30/90 minutes a day for great results!” “China’s struggling to fight an obesity epidemic because Coke funds their kids’ health programming and ignores the dietary part of the equation!”

The point is, there’s actually no hard-and-fast rule for improving your health. I’m not a doctor or physical trainer or dietician, and you’ll get somewhat different answers from each of those kinds of people (and subsets within subsets). The other variable is genetics: some people are just born better equipped to metabolize their food than others, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

There’s nothing going on in LouCity land, btw, which is why today’s Purple Press is just a stream-of-consciousness blerg about what’s on my mind. You’re welcome!