Fitness Book Club: The Blue Zones
Post by Pamela | March 29th, 2012
Welcome to the second installment of my Fitness Book club!! I hope you enjoyed this month’s selection The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest
Instead of discussing the book here, I want to share with you a change from the book I’ve already implemented in my life.
I’ve decided to take a Sabbath.
Not in a religious sense, but respecting the idea of day without work and, at least in my case, social media.
You see I work all the time, mainly because I love what I do. I always say fitness is not what I do; it’s who I am. Having my own business has led to me working 7 days a week. I train clients Monday – Saturday. When I’m not training I’m prepping sessions, meeting with clients and business associates, balancing the books, blogging, tweeting, pinning and Facebooking. I always feel like in some way I’m working and plugged in.
I read the Blue Zones on the way to and the way back from SXSW. At the same time my husband was reading The Art of Non-Conformity
It was as though the universe was trying to tell me something.
You need to unplug. For your own health and sanity you need to take at least one day away from the computer and away from work.
That is what I have done for the last 2 Sundays. No Facebook, no Twitter, not even checking in on Foursquare. No blogging or working on client programs. My one computer activity was one quick check of my email to make sure I didn’t have any cancellations for my early Monday sessions.
It’s amazing how it’s changed my day to step away from the computer. I am truly able to relax and recharge. My Sunday even seems longer. Somehow without the computer interference I feel able to fill those same hours with so much more.
My workouts have already changed in nature. Instead of having to get it done first thing in the morning, so I can work in the afternoon, I can be more flexible. Last Sunday morning it was too chilly to bike. No problem. Yoga, laundry, lunch and then walking around the Nature Center. I could be flexible because I had left the demands of writing, posting and prepping behind for just one day.
I also have more time to cook. In the morning, instead of checking email I put seitan on to boil before I made our Vanilla Coconut Protein Pancakes. After dinner I had time to make some curried seitan salad to eat the next day. The best part? I was enjoying cooking again because I wasn’t trying to do 20 things at the same time.
Fitness is about more than miles and push-ups. It’s feeling well in all aspects of your life. We put a lot of demands on our body and our mind on this journey. Even I forgot how important it is to take a rest stop now and again. The Blue Zones reminded me that, just like in weight training, recovery is just as important as the workout. To live a long life means taking your rest as seriously as your work.
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I’m Happy When I Eat
Post by Pamela | March 26th, 2012
Pamela with Vegan Bodybuilder Robert CheekeI learned a lot of things at SXSW this year:
- I need to step up my game to be part of the obesity epidemic solution.
- Women are more likely to be addicted to the Internet and one of the signs is checking Facebook on the toilet.
- I’m a much happier person when I eat.
Before SXSW I was trying to shed a little body fat by doing some calorie cycling. I would cut my calories for 3 days and then increase them 1 day to keep my body from thinking it was in starvation mode. I don’t go below my BMR when I do this, I only cut 300-500 calories out of my normal daily allotment of 1800 to 2000 per day. I’m always amazed at what a difference a mere 300 calories a day can make in how I feel.
On lower calorie days, when my blood sugar dips, I get very cranky. I grump around with very little patience, waiting for my next meal. I am not pleasant to be around. At least I am outside of client sessions; clients always lift me up so my disposition is pretty good during the training day. Unfortunately that means my poor husband gets the brunt of it.
At SXSW it was a different story. I was out of my element but I packed my snacks and ate small amounts as my body told me I needed it. As with any vacation, I didn’t count calories. I just ate the best foods I could find, did some focused and efficient workouts and moved as much as I could through out the day. I felt great!
The whole trip my blood sugar was relatively stable, I had plenty of energy (which I also chalk up to a lack of trying to hit every session and party) and I still fit perfectly in my jeans upon my return.
I do think you should keep track of your food on a regular basis. I still keep a food log and food accountability is one of the Keys to Real Fitness. I also believe you need to listen to your body and eat. I have clients who come in eating 1000-1200 calories a day at twice my body weight. They aren’t losing weight and, if they feel anything like I do when I reduce calories, they have to be just a little bit cranky. My first goal to get them to eat so they can feel good and have some energy again.
Food is nourishment and fuel. If we treat is a such, not as recreation or the enemy, our bodies will respond in kind. My body simply wasn't happy to not have it's normal supply of fuel. We're both much happier when I eat.
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Be a Rebel – Live Fit
Post by Pamela | March 19th, 2012
image by Thomas HawkAt the airport on my way to SXSW I had an epiphany. Despite being on my fitness journey for over 13 years it occurred to me (as I sipped tea and ate steel cut oats in the lounge despite the free cookies and wine) one of the biggest reasons why I’ve managed to defy the odds against keeping weight off.
I’m a rebel and I always have been.
I’ve never really been one to follow the herd. In fact, in my high school and college years I was more likely to do something if it made me stand out versus going along with the crowd.
- I hated New Kids on the Block in junior high.
- I wouldn’t go to the Rose Banquet (for the top 10 GPA holding seniors) in high school because it was assumed I would go not asked.
- I wore black lipstick in my senior picture. (No I won’t post it.)
- I’ve never seen the movie Titanic.
In fact, if something was going to make people uncomfortable the more likely I was to do it. I liked to push the envelope a bit, make people think and perhaps redefine their preconceived notions about the kind of girl who wears black lipstick.
Being fit in an unfit world takes that kind of moxie. The same girl who could say no to high school peer pressure has a better chance of resisting the societal pressures that lead to the unhealthy eating and sedentary lifestyle that is the norm in our world today.
I used to travel a lot for my job, usually with others on a project team. I always got teased and poked at about the way I ate. Whether it was the fact that I don’t eat meat (another choice that goes against the grain in the Midwest) or my food bag that I brought with me everyday, I was always explaining and defending my choices. If I hadn’t been so sure of my path, so sure of myself, it would have been very easy on these trips to just go with the flow and eat and drink as those around me did.
To be successful on this journey, I need you to be a rebel. Don’t be afraid to challenge the status quo:
- Ask for modifications to meals when you eat out, you’re paying for the meal so make sure you get what you want.
- Demand healthier options in school and work cafeterias. They won’t do it until you let your voice be heard and vote on the choices you want with your dollars.
- Sit on a stability ball at your desk. Do the hula or bounce. Your co-workers may laugh in the beginning but in a couple weeks they will be joining you.
- Stand up instead of sitting down in meetings. Better yet, when you hold the meeting make it a walking meeting.
You have to lead the charge and shake things up. You may not change the status quo but you will change your life. Be a rebel, live fit.
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What’s Wrong With the American Diet?
Post by Pamela | March 15th, 2012
image by hitthatswitchDo you know what product is really annoying me right now?
Juice Plus
I attend a business networking group were it seems every chapter has someone selling this product. If you’re not familiar with it, here is the product description from their own web site:
Juice Plus+® is whole food based nutrition, including juice powder concentrates from 17 different fruits, vegetables and grains. Each ingredient is specially selected to provide a broad range of nutritional benefits. Juice Plus+ is a complement to a healthy diet. Juice Plus+ is the simple, convenient, and inexpensive way to add more nutrition from fruits and vegetables to your diet, every day.
I don’t have a problem with supplements or multivitamins in general. But this type of product exemplifies what’s wrong with the American Diet (and perhaps the American Healthcare system):
- The “inexpensive way”: Why are we always looking for the cheapest way to get our food or fitness? We have placed way too much importance on cheap food. I live on a budget just like everyone else. Our food budget is $365 a month. Our entertainment budget (which includes eating out as a couple) is $75 a month. We value food and the quality of life it brings us vs. spending money on going out to eat, movies and other things we don’t really need to be happy.
- The “simple” way: What’s so complicated about eating an apple? Putting a bunch of extracts in a pill may seem simple but our food is actually a complex mechanism. How those nutrients work independent of the other components of real food is up in the air. If you can get them from the source you're more likely to get nature’s intended benefits.
- “Complement to a healthy diet”: This may be the lip service on the page but how I hear this product sold in real life is as a way to get your fruits and veggies when you don’t have time to eat them. You’re going to eat, which you need to do, why not eat the things that nourish your body instead of junk? If you’re taking your fruits and veggies in a pill, then what are you going to eat? All the other stuff that’s really the root of the problem: overly processed nutrient devoid foods or Diet Foods. For some reason we want an easy button to our health, a magic pill to make it all better so we don’t actually have to address the root cause of the issue or change how we live.
I feel a little bit like I am ranting, so I will stop. Let me just say, because I know I am going to get some flack for this post, I don’t have anything against vitamins. I take a multi-vitamin as my insurance policy, to cover gaps. I just don’t believe that supplements are the cure to our many health care problems. To fix the problem, to get real, we have to do the real work, not pop a pill.
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5 Essential Fit Nutrition Basics
Post by Pamela | March 12th, 2012
image by Andreas LeversHappy National Nutrition Month!
Of course, I think every month is nutrition month. One, because nutrition is the most critical but least adhered to part of a fitness journey. Two, because there is always something happening in the nutrition news.
That’s what makes eating for health and fitness so confusing for most people. There is always a new study coming out, often contradicting the last nutritional breakthrough. For example we were told not eat to eggs, at least the yokes, because they are high in cholesterol and public enemy #1 when it came to heart disease. Now it appears they aren’t as high in cholesterol as we once thought, dietary cholesterol isn’t the culprit for heart disease and there’s lots of good stuff in the yolk like vitamin D and choline. Talk about a 180 in thinking. No wonder most of my clients come in confused about eggs.
I have some basic beliefs when it comes to food and nutrition. Despite everything we’ve learned since I started my own fitness journey 13 years ago, I believe these basics will give you the biggest bang for your nutritional buck. They aren’t earthshattering or revolutionary but if you follow these nutrition basics you will notice a difference in how you look and feel.
- Drink plenty of water. The human body is made up of approximately 60% water. Our mental and physical performance can be significantly impacted when we are as little as 10% dehydrated. You can’t go wrong with making sure you drink half your body weight in ounces of water each day.
- Eat breakfast everyday. Don’t rely on caffeine to fuel you in the morning. Your brain needs glucose to think. By eating a good breakfast of carbs and protein you will have enough fuel for the body and the mind to start the day.
- Make your plate as colorful as possible. No, I don’t mean to always eat off Fiestaware (although we do at my house). I mean minimize white/beige foods (white bread, white potatoes, white sugar) and maximize the bright colors in things like sweet potatoes, spinach, apples and berries. The more colors you consume the better; the different colors symbolize different phytonutrients.
- Most of your calories should come from foods you make or prepare. Even white bread you make from scratch is going to be better than white bread from the grocery story. It will have fewer preservatives and you won’t be adding high fructose corn syrup in your own kitchen. Things like beans, pasta sauces and salad dressing are easy to make on your own, taste better and you will avoid hidden sugars.
- Take a multi-vitamin daily. I know I am going to get a lot of disagreement on this one but I will stand by it. A multi-vitamin is an insurance policy. I don’t know how much zinc or selenium I got in my foods yesterday and you probably don’t either. My goal is to get a wide variety of nutrients from my food but my multi-vitamin is there to cover the gaps.
I listen to all the latest discoveries in the nutrition field but it will take a lot of evidence for me to sway from these basics.
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