James A. Peterson, Ph.D., FACSM, Oct 31 2011

1. Natural desire. The appetite is the desire an individual has to eat food, felt as hunger. Existing in all higher life forms, appetite serves to help regulate adequate energy intake to maintain the body’s metabolic needs. A person’s appetite is regulated by an immensely complex process involving the gastrointestinal tract, numerous hormones, and both the central and autonomic nervous systems.

2. Clear cravings. Although both hunger and appetite determine what, when, and why individuals eat, the two states are different. Hunger is the physiological need for food, whereas appetite is the psychological desire to eat. Appetite is linked with sensory experience or aspects of food (e.g., sight and smell of food), emotional cues, social situations, and cultural customs.

3. Inconclusive proof. No definitive evidence exists showing that exercise always increases or always decreases appetite to any noteworthy degree. As a rule, the enegy requirement that occurs during regular exercise more than makes up for any slight increase (if any) a person might experience in appetite. In fact, how an individual’s appetite responds to exercise depends on several variables including the following: frequency, duration, and intensity of exercise; metabolic rate; body fat accumulation; and amount and type of food available after exercise.

4. Hidden casualty. A person may experience a loss of appetite for a number of reasons, including depression, boredom, loneliness, chronic illness, and taking certain medications. The key to dealing with such circumstances is to recognize that such a scenario is not normal, take steps to identify the causes for the reduced appetite, and deal with the relevant factors in an appropriate manner.

5. Kid’s stuff. Some children have a greater appetite than others. This situation is normal. Because children “grow” at different rates, some kids need more energy intake and some need less. As a rule, parents don’t have to worry about their child’s appetite as long as their child’s weight is normal, activity level is good, and food choices are fitting.

6. Prime-time dilemma. Older people often experience a reduction in their appetite. Many individuals, as they age, tend to lose a measurable degree of their sense of taste and smell – a loss that, in turn, causes a loss of appetite. Regrettably, many of these individuals turn to foods high in either sugar or salt in a misguided effort to conserve food that has “flavor” for them.

7. Not the same for men and women. Canadian researchers (Laval University) found that ingesting caffeine 30 minutes before a meal resulted in men consuming 22% less energy. Ingesting 300 mg of caffeine (in this instance, an amount equal to three cups of coffee or 4.5 cans of soda) activates a man’s sympathetic nervous system, thereby increasing his energy expenditure. Unlike men, women, on the other hand, do not eat less when they consume caffeine because they tend to conserve energy when their systems are triggered.

8. What a drag. Among the symptoms that people often experience after quitting smoking is to confuse their craving for cigarettes for hunger pangs. In response, they eat more than they otherwise would. The recommended approach to cope with these pangs is to drink water or low-energy drinks and eat low-energy snacks.

9. Sugar low. Because their body’s cells cannot get enough glucose for energy, individuals who have diabetes often feel like they do not have enough energy. As a result, they experience an increased appetite.

10. Bottomless sushi pit. The average blue whale (the largest animal in theworld) eats up to two and a half tons of krill (a type of shrimp) a day. The whale’s voracious appetite generates an intake of approximately 1,825,000 lbs of food a year – an amount that would easily supply the annual energy needs of an entire small town (or the average National Football League football team).

James A. Peterson, Ph.D., FACSM, is a freelance writer and consultant in sports medicine. From 1990 until 1995, Dr. Peterson was director of sports medicine with StairMaster. Until that time, he was professor of physical education at the United States Military Academy.

Looking to the Dietary Gods: Eating Well According to the Ancients131 Comments

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2011/07/08/looking-to-the-dietary-gods-eating-well-according-to-the-ancients/#more-5654

Written by Tim FerrissTopics: Practical Philosophy

(Photo: H.Koppdelaney)

Just a few weeks ago, I received the following from Ryan Holiday:

“…in the last 6 months, I’ve lost 15 lbs and am in the best shape of my life. From adding in sprinting to my running regime, using kettle bells once a week, using a weighted vest while taking long walks, and the cat vomit exercise, I now have abs and — like I said — lost weight in places I didn’t know I was storing fat. It was all from your book and keeping to the slow-carb diet. Here’s the part I really have to thank you for: by changing the way I thought about running, I ran the fastest mile in my life, and that’s after four years of cross country and track in high school. Last Friday, I ran a 4:55 mile. A month before my 24th birthday, I shattered my all time best from track: 5:02. Being that close to breaking five minutes had always haunted me.”

Those of you who’ve read this blog for a while know that Ryan is 24-years old and works directly with Dov Charney as his online strategist for American Apparel. He takes more heat, makes more high-stakes decisions, and takes more risks in a given week than most people experience in any given quarter… and he does so with an unusual calm. Unbeknownst to most, he largely credits this ability to his study of Stoicism, among other practical philosophies.

How did this philosophical bent accelerate his physical changes?…

Ryan made the above progress, in part, because he looked at how to transform choices related to food into a vehicle for larger transformation. If you want incentives to change, losing an additional 10 pounds oftentimes just doesn’t cut it.

So let us look to the ancients.

This guest post from Ryan explores his thinking and features wisdom from Epicurus, Seneca, Epictetus, the Spartans, Montaigne and others.

Enter Ryan Holiday

I’ve been grappling with a dilemma.

It’s a philosophical problem that’s thousands of years old, but fresh in an age of obesity, eating disorders and widespread factory farming: how does eating fit into the so-called “good life”?

What does our diet have to say about our ethics and priorities? The world seems broken down into two camps: those that rarely give the connection a second thought, and those who care too much. Could there be a better way?

And so I sought out the answer in the best way I knew how—by looking to the masters.

A student once asked Epictetus how he ought to eat. This, Epictetus replied, was simple. The right way to eat is the same as the right way to live: be “just, cheerful, equable, temperate, and orderly.” He meant that meals embody the principles and the disposition of the person who eats them. Food means choices and choices mean a chance to fulfill our principles. [So think: being thankful, eating just what you need, tipping generously, caring about where it comes from and how it got there.]

Epictetus was not alone. Philosophers have been experimenting with food for centuries in hopes of finding the best ways to be healthy and to enjoy life. (Seneca, for instance, was once a vegetarian for a year.) They sought to curb the impulse to gluttony just as strongly as they fought the urge to obsess over their weight and appearance. They looked to minimize harm and to live in accordance with nature—just as we wonder about animal cruelty or shop organic today. Ultimately, they understood that everything we do—especially something with life or death implications like diet—is a platform for philosophy, that something you do at least three times a day is worth doing well.

By “well”, do I mean healthy? Or well, as in luxuriously? In fact, I mean both. In this short article, we’ll examine eating “well” through three lenses: ethics, discipline (restraint and release), and health. It’s my hope that you’ll then realize that eating well is not just compatible with the philosophic life, but an integral and essential part of it. And conveniently, it has been baked into the The 4-Hour Body and slow-carb diet lessons.

1) Ethics

The ethics of what we eat is well-trod ground, as vegetarians and vegans constantly point out.

But I think Montaigne expressed the philosophy best when he reminded himself that he not only owed kindness and justice to his fellow man, but to animals capable of receiving the same.

Notice how different this is from most attitudes about food. Justice means doing what is fair and reasoned; kindness means empathy and consideration. Most discussions about diet (from paleo to veganism) are pervasively selfish: ‘But what can I have for dessert?’ ‘Sorry, I don’t consume diary.’ ‘Am I allowed to have this?’ Rarely: ‘is eating this the right thing to do?’ We too quickly condemn what might be best for our health, or conversely assume that the optimal nutrition for us trumps any obligations we have as people. Montaigne reminds us of our real obligations, that we should always try to do what is fair and just—what we can look ourselves in the mirror and be okay with afterward.

It’s a question I faced after reading Jonathan Foer’s wonderful book Eating Animals. I knew vaguely that the horrors of slaughterhouses existed and that I could find hundreds of slaughterhouse abuse videos on YouTube in a second or read the flyers PETA gives out, but I deliberately chose not to. In avoiding them, I made the tacit admission that something was wrong, while refusing to examine that feeling further. There is the story of a Spartan King who met two of his subjects, a youth and the youth’s lover, accidentally in a crowd. Embarrassed, the subjects tried to hide their blushing cheeks, but he noticed and replied, “Son, you ought to keep the company of the sort of people who won’t cause you to change color when observed.”

By eating well, we can be proud and transparent, rather than secretly uncomfortable. For starters, by eating more naturally (protein-dense, appropriate portions), we reduce our footprint—the amount we ask of the world to give us. By caring about the quality of what we ingest, we opt out of brutal factory farming and toxic industrial agriculture—keeping excessive blood off our hands. And by eating locally, we support small businesses and entrepreneurs instead of corporate behemoths who have few qualms about poisoning and fattening us (by doing the same to their “product”) if it means greater profits.

Philosophy gives us the tools to root around within ourselves and find these inconsistencies. We can put them out in the open and resolve them. There is something deeply troubling about a system that drives us to obscure the sources of our food. It asks us to not think of what we are eating or why. I don’t arrive at the same conclusions as Foer (vegetarianism), but I made a commitment after reading it, to eat the healthiest diet I could, as honorably and justly as was possible. I’m comfortable looking in the mirror after eating meat from farms like Niman Ranch or Good Shepherd Heritage Poultry. (thanks RareCuts.com!) If I don’t have access to these, it means I must go without, which is not a problem because philosophy helps there as well.

2) Discipline (Restraint and Release)

The Stoics avoided pleasure to prepare for adversity. The Epicureans enjoyed pleasure to help get them through adversity. As with most things, the best option for most people is somewhere in between.

Treat yourself to good meals so you don’t covet and crave them (Tim’s cheat days); learn to love simple foods and they’ll become all you need to be happy. And of course, the Cynics practiced a third way: they saw through the whole charade. Food is just dead animals, they said, plants and liquids we’re eventually going to excrete. No need to get excited nor stressed.

Cumulatively, these three schools all realized that it was important to be disciplined and in control of yourself in normal situations, so that you can develop the coping skills to deal with difficult situations. Modern science adds another layer of insight when it shows us that self-control is a finite resource. Subjects who are forced to resist eating fresh-baked cookies, for example, give up on tough math problems more quickly and have trouble sticking with other tasks. This is definitely not the right attitude if you want to be introspective, dedicated and hardworking. So here we have the the real genius of Tim’s “Cheat Days” and the Epicurean concept of enjoying the little things—it’s an outlet for release that makes discipline easier.

Practicing restraint and targeted release is a deeply philosophic exercise. It means being in tune with your body and living naturally. These are two things that are increasingly difficult in a world of plenty. To be able to say “no,” knowing that what may feel good now will actually feel bad later, is to master the self. To be able to reward the self with simple pleasures is to successful navigate the fine line between self-control and self-flagellation.

Cicero wrote that “need is what provides the seasoning for any and every appetite.” He was observing a truism that was old even in his day–that the most enjoyable meals are not the most expensive or exotic, but come at some moment we never expected. After being sick for a long time, at the end of a long hard day or even, perhaps, not even food but a drink when we are incredibly thirsty. Discipline provide a bit extra seasoning we can add to every single thing that we consume. And if could make the notoriousSpartan black broth digestible, it can work for us in our comfy nerfy-lives.

3) Health

Of course, eating well and being healthy go hand in hand. But philosophers have stressed this connection for reasons you may not expect.

The right diet is important not because it helps you live longer, they are quick to point out, but because it makes you a better philosopher. Think about what a better person you could be if you didn’t fucking hate yourself after gorging your face at a dinner, or feel sick and bloated with gluten, to which you’re allergic. If you felt in control of, and confident about, your body instead of lethargic and dissatisfied. Jumping these dietary hurdles is, in effect, a dress rehearsal for awareness in other areas. How much easier would it then be to be empathic, kind and generous? To focus on other people with energy that’s no longer directed at your own problems?

A healthy man can help others better and longer. Anntonius the Pious, one of the truly great Roman Emperors, kept a simple diet so he could work from dawn to dusk with as few bathroom interruptions as possible—so he could be at the service of the people for longer. And as Seneca wrote to a friend, the better you eat, the less you need to exercise, thus leaving more time for philosophy. Our keen edge, he said, is too often dulled by heavy eating and then wasted further as we drain our life-force in exercise trying to work it off. It’s ironic and sad how many people think they eat well (whole grains, carbs and fruits) but really sentence themselves to needless time at the gym. Imagine what would have come of that time if spent doing good for themselves and others.

We all know that eating healthily is good, but too often we forget why. It is not just about us. It’s about our place in the world and the role we need to fulfill. Like a soldier’s diet, our choices about food help us with the job we must do, and if we waver in our dietary decisions, we may come up empty at a critical moment elsewhere.

An Athenian statesman once attended a dinner party put on by Plato. When he met his host again, he is reported to have said “Plato, your dinners are enjoyable not only when one is eating them, but on the morning after as well.” The man’s point was that he’d felt good the next day too. He was sharp and ready to go instead of a miserable bloated mess. To me, this is a host and a guest understanding the proper role of food, health and pleasure in our lives

Conclusion:

We live incredibly unnatural, stressful lives in increasingly unhealthy times.

The Japanese novelist and runner Haruki Murakami has a theory along the following lines: an unhealthy soul [whether deliberate or from external forces] requires a healthy body. How we treat this bit of flesh we’ve been given says a lot about what we will become on the inside.

Put in a more uplifting light, in such a crazy world, we need to utilize every positive counterweight we can. Eating well is one powerful option.

The benefits aren’t just physical, but also emotional and even existential. Some of the most important moments in my life and career have come at dinners with friends. I think back on these meals, like an Epicurean, and I can savor the the taste all over again. No matter where I am, what I am going through or how long ago it was, I always have this to turn to, to lean on, to enjoy.

By leaning on the masters, who have meditated with this topic for centuries, we find age-old but fresh perspectives. I followed their lead and began thinking philosophically about food–that is, trying to eat both naturally, reasonably and ethically–and I saw drastic changes. I am in the best shape of my life physically and mentally.

And this is why Philosophy is so important. Because it can turn a simple thing like eating into a lens for viewing the world, a path to what we all want: the good life.

###

Interested in philosophy and excellent reading in general? Consider joining Ryan’s free reading list e-mail. It started as a small private e-mail list for friends, but it has now become a book club of about 1,500 people.

LeAnn Rimes: Weight Loss Is “a Natural Progression of Life”

by Michelle Wilkinson

Original Content with Ads: http://www.helium.com/items/1471947-how-weight-loss-can-take-over-your-life

• Created on: June 05, 2009

In a society where it is deemed desirable to be skinny it is little wonder that so many people obsess about their size and weight. At the same time as trying to remain or become slim people face many temptations which make maintaining their weight goals extremely challenging – there are many calorific foods out there which provide little nutrition but taste good, whilst portion sizes have increased substantially over the years. Stress is a problem faced by many people which can impact upon their weight, as they reach for comfort food. Also most people are not as active as they should be which can obviously lead to weight gain if they are not burning off all the calories they consume.Weight loss requires you to make significant changes to your lifestyle, and can become your whole focus if you don’t keep the process of losing weight in perspective.

It is particularly difficult to focus on anything other than your weight when you are following a fad diet. Faddiets are generally based on restrictive eating practices, and so you will constantly be thinking about what you can and cannot eat. Also, because you consume so few calories on such a diet you will be constantly hungry, lethargic, and irritable, and the only thing keeping you going will be the thought of stepping on the scales to see a hugeweight loss or finding that your trousers have grown too big for you. Therefore your whole day is framed around when you next get to eat and what you are allowed to eat and what the results will be for your waistline at the end of the day.

Even simply incorporating healthier lifestyle habits in order to lose weight can lead you to become obsessive, though maybe not as much as in the case of fad diets. You will probably make a note of all the foods that you eat, and start to examine the nutritional content of everything you put in your mouth so that you know how many calories everything contains. The chances are that you will plan your meals in advance so that you can stay in control of everything you eat, and rather than grazing on food all day you will have set meal times, which means you might constantly be thinking about the next time you get to eat.

Weight loss can take over your life as whether you feel good or bad about yourself can depend on what the number reads on the scales. If you don’t lose any weight you might be tempted to give up following a healthier diet, if you are taking a sensible approach to weight loss in the first place, and thus sabotage all your weight-loss efforts by seeking solace in comfort food. Even then, though, you can’t get your weight out of you head, and simply end up feeling guilty and preparing yourself to start again next week. Sometimes you find that exercise can release you of some of the guilt but actually become obsessed with exercising every day so that you can eat more.

It is therefore important for people to find a balance in their lives so that weight loss isn’t always at the forefront of their minds, since weight loss should be about re-establishing control over your weight; not letting your obsession with your weight control you.

Learn more about this author, Michelle Wilkinson.

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CodeRedSlim.com

With Code Red Slim I can take a person with moderate self-control, who never participates in artificial, intensive “work-out” sessions at the gym, but rather eats the right combination of flavorful and satisfying foods, engages in natural, moderate activity that doesn’t strain the joints, with a true desire to lose weight and turn them into a “skinny” person.  It works every time.

Posted: Coach Ball

 

South Beach Diet Author On Four Reasons Why America Is Still Getting Fatter And Sicker – And What to Do About It

Love Thy Savior Asked: I feel like giving up on my weight loss. Help?

Im 18, 5’4, Female, 130lbs. I used to weigh like 127, apparently I’ve gained these past few weeks. I go to the gym 5 days a week for 90 minutes(sometimes a little more or less) usually doing an hour on treadmill, 45 minutes weights.

Im eating fairly healthy, I practically cut off everything sweet, bad and delicious. I’ve exchanged the bad for whole foods, even cut out meat this week (but thats cause Im fasting it for a religious reason). But I GAINED!!!

I really want to be 120, but I feel like thats impossible. Lately I havent been doing much weights, only cardio, so it cant be that I gained muscle! I dont know what to do! I think its cause I eat too much. I can eat up to 2000 calories a day if I work hard at the gym! Thats freaking A LOT! Im supposed to be eating 1600 calories a day, but it feels impossible. I feel like im depriving myself.

Yesterday I binged so bad, and I woke up this morning feeling happy that I actually ate normal for once -_-

What food do I have to cut out in order for me to lose weight???? Do i have to workout more??? wtf as if i dont work out enough.. >.>

My usual meals and snacks are sweet potato, sometimes grilled chicken (thats the only meat I eat practically), corn, avocado, tomatos, granola bars, coffee, beans, yogurt, LOTS OF WATER, whole wheat bread (a lot), turkey burger, lettuce, spinach, salad, exc.These meals are never over 400 calories unless my mom cooks whole wheat pasta or something…

HELP ME O_O im desperate. Really desperate. And im not in starvation mode, trust me. Cause I eat a lot.

October 4th, 2011 by John and Christine

A great look at the town that changed overnight. We opened the Wild Card on the first day of gambling and it’s been a great ride. If you have additional questions about how it all happened contact me with the expanded story. This post mostly talks about what happened after gambling was passed. There is more to the story when you consider the road to legalization.

I’m in the red shirt at the signing of the Colorado Gambling Bill in Gov. Roy Romer’s office. 1991

Post by: Craig Ball

303.261.8261

executor (at) texacotrust (dot) com

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THEN AND NOW — A look back at the past 20 years of gaming in Colorado

by EDITORIAL on SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

By Linda Jones

Before Colorado approved Amendment 4 to allow Limited Gaming in Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek, this is what the center of Black Hawk looked like. Photo courtesy of the City of Black Hawk 

Oct. 1, 1991, was the Big Day. Media and press came from across the nation to photograph the beginning of Limited Gaming in three mountain mining communities in Colorado: Central City, Black Hawkand Cripple Creek. Central City was considered the prize at that time because of its nationally-known opera festival and tourist appeal. Black Hawk was the unknown, rundown town tourists drove through to visit Central City. Amendment 4 was born and nurtured in Central City as an answer to the need for funds to restore the incomparable Victorian architecture. Both Black Hawk and Cripple Creek were only written into Amendment 4, allowing Limited Gaming, when their towns’ leaders requested they be included and agreed to come up with their shares of the funds necessary to mount a campaign to win over voters.

Colorado’s voters had overwhelmingly approved Amendment 4 in November 1990, despite the hostility of Gov. Roy Romer to the new business. The appeal of casinos within a short drive of the state’s largest cities was undeniable.

In Central City, the Smaldone brothers owned a casino in the 1930 – early 1950 era. Photo courtesy of Gilpin County Historical Society 

Amendment 4 imposed strict limits on the new casinos: bets over $5 would not be allowed, casino hours were limited to between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. and only three games were allowed – poker, slots and blackjack. The original plan of the amendment’s Central City writers was that only 35 percent of the square footage of a building would be allowed to contain gaming. They envisioned a few slots sitting in all the shops, bars and restaurants. That dream was crushed when the enabling legislation was written, stating that only the actual square footage under slots or tables would be included as gaming.  That allowed all the other necessary areas that accompany gaming, such as aisles, cashiers cages, offices, customer service desks, restrooms, ATM machines, break rooms and food service areas to be counted in the 65 percent non-gaming, with the result that buildings could be 100 percent casinos.

Central City 2011 has eight casinos and tons of shops and restaurants to keep everyone in the family busy and happy. Photo by Linda Jones 

On that anticipated First Day of Gaming – Oct. 1, 1991 – only seven casinos were open. More would open during October, but only seven were open on that notable day: the Teller House Casino, Long Branch, Baby Doe’s, Annie Oakley’s and the Gilded Garter in Central City; and the Gold Mine and Wild Card in Black Hawk. Long Branch wasn’t certified by the Division of Gaming to open at 8 a.m. that day and by the time they were allowed to open, shortly after 10 a.m., a huge crowd blocked Main Street waiting for the key to turn.
On that historic day, two of the biggest supporters of limited gaming were mayors of the host cities: Bruce Schmalz in Central City and Bill Lorenz in Black Hawk. Remember those early years? Coupon books were given out freely, children could frequently be seen nodding beside a slot machine and parking was in remote parking lots served by shuttles. Silver tokens were minted by each casino that could be used in any of the casinos in town, bringing a new job to the area. A company was started, employing several people, to collect from each casino the “foreign” tokens, count them and return them to the proper casino. All the casinos in both Black Hawk and Central City were small and in historic buildings.

But the potential was obvious. The original owners, mostly local, were courted with attractive offers from casino corporations, which then built larger casinos, mostly in Black Hawk. Parking garages were built adjacent to individual casinos, and the casinos themselves now included multiple restaurants, including fine-dining establishments.

Ameristar is the largest of the casinos and hotels in Black Hawk and is very noticeable when you enter the town. 

Children sitting bored or sleeping on the gaming floors while their parents gambled were an irritant to many gamblers in the early years. One such gambler was a state legislator who proposed legislation, adopted in 2002, which prohibited anyone younger than 21, already prohibited from gambling, from even “lingering” in a gaming area. Several casinos then began banning anyone younger than 21 from entering, while others allow those younger than 21 to patronize their restaurants or hotels, but prevent them from entering the “gaming floor.” Look on the casino doors for the individual casino policies.

Bullwhackers built a wonderful indoor children’s play area, which was a favorite of local and visiting children, but the facility’s revenue didn’t support it. After it closed, the casino moved its offices into the cavernous building behind the casino. Easy Street opened an arcade in its basement, which is still open today. The access to it is through an outside door into an elevator that accesses only the arcade.
When Colorado allowed casinos they were still a rarity, but other states swiftly followed. The $5 limit began to discourage gamblers and Amendment 50 was adopted by the state’s voters on Nov. 4, 2008. This more reasonable law allowed all casino games, including craps and roulette, allowed 24 hours of operation and allowed bets up to $100 IF the individual gambling cities’ voters approved. All three cities adopted these new regulations, which took effect on July 2, 2009. Amendment 50 helped minimize the sting of the more stringent no-smoking rules the state legislature approved on July 2, 2006.

The gaming business employs thousands of people in the state that include jobs with full benefits. Many visions of golf courses, theme parks and planned communities around the gambling cities have crumbled through the years, but a large apartment complex and a condominium community have been built near Central City and annexed into the city.

Lodging, once non-existent, is now plentiful in the Gilpin County communities, with hotels in Century Casino, Fortune Valley, Isle Casino Hotel Black Hawk, Lady Luck, the Lodge and Ameristar. The top-rated entertainment once presented in the large ballrooms included in the Riviera and the Isle casinos is now history; those ballrooms were phased out in favor of office space and larger restaurants respectively. But top bands appear regularly on weekends in the bars of the large casinos.

Family activities can be found with little effort too. In the summer, many museums and tours are available in Central City and one of these, Washington Hall, stays open year-round. The guide there will, when asked, give tours beyond the summer season of the Teller House, Opera House and Thomas House.  A mine tour is open in Central City in the summer and a working mine, the Hidee, just a few miles outside Central City is also open in the summer for tours.

Despite the common misconception, there are still shops in Central City. The biggest collection of artists’ creations imaginable is in the Mountain Menagerie on Main Street. Approximately 60 artists display their various skills in this Main Street building across from Easy Street. Just a few feet down Main Street is Bevy Sue’s Emporium.  Shoppers will find an antique store, the Visitors Center and Ermel’s Thrift Store on Eureka Street across from the Teller House.

Outdoor enthusiasts can find many hiking and biking paths, often on right of ways created for the historic railroads. Railroad enthusiasts particularly enjoy exploring the original Gilpin Tram right of way, and mining historians treasure the many mine drainage tunnels in and around Central City. Four campgrounds are close to Black Hawk and Central City: the Dory Hill Campground, KOA campground and two in the national forest, Columbine and Cold Springs. The bonanza of old mining roads makes for memorable four-wheeling and hiking, and visiting the historic cemeteries is popular year-around.

Plentiful employment within the county is a definite benefit of this boom. The county’s population has grown since 1991, although slowly, as the residents clearly want slow and measured growth. Gaming and property taxes have benefited the county as well as the cities. The county now offers a state-of-the art recreation center, a new justice center and a wonderful library. Perhaps the biggest gain to the county is increased income for the school district. Black Hawk passed a small sales tax in 2008 that goes 100 percent to the Gilpin District School. Since the tax inception in January 2009, the school has received an extra $1,510,725 above and beyond property tax revenue. In an era of school budget-slashing across the state, the county’s small school, less than 400 students from K-12, is expanding teacher salaries, teacher training and classroom amenities.

Gaming brought many changes to Gilpin County, without a doubt, but the history of the county is one of booms, busts and booms again.