Preventing Preventable Disease...again

Back in March, (DONATING TO THE CAUSE, SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2009) I was struggling with being asked to donate to certain "causes" for the purpose of finding a cure, and since October is upon us and Breast Cancer is in the foreground, I thought this was interesting and pertinent.

Michael Pollan's column in today's OP-ED section of the NY Times speaks to this topic indirectly, with concern over our government's push to reform health care, but continue to subsidize farmers and industrialize agriculture.

I'll not say much more other than this is a good article and makes good, valid points that are difficult with which to argue. So where do we go from here? BIG FOOD VS. BIG INSURANCE NY TIMES OP-ED by Michael Pollan Thursday, September 10, 2009

Fail Strong!!!

OK, I'm loving this catch-phrase: "Fail Strong"! Today, I found that it applies to SO MANY different settings! But first, I've got to give credit to a local celebrity (in my mind, she's a celebrity, anyway) who I first heard this from. Ms. Wendy Arnold (aka "Garanimal"), a Crossfit Certified & NSCA Certified Personal Trainer at my local St. Pete Crossfit / Dammit Gym (and also a Professional Firefighter, former Figure Competitor, all around incredible and intelligent woman... - quality single guys out there: she's a catch!)

...anyway, sorry to digress. Wendy was "motivating me" through a workout last Friday (OK - she was yelling, but I loved it!) and I knew (and she knew) I was not going to get the last few squat reps in before the timer went off. She yelled out "Come on! Fail strong!". And since then, I can't get that phrase out of my head. What a great way to think when you just can't muster "I can do it". It is perfect for the way my brain works with some training sessions, and I've found it's absolutely perfect in other settings - as I learned last night helping with dinner in a friend's kitchen. We didn't have everything we thought we needed to make a few of the things we were conjuring up, and all of a sudden "Fail Strong!" popped into my head! It made me more resourceful. Instead of "we don't have butter", I thought "what can we use instead of butter". Instead of "I'm still hungry and we don't have dessert", I thought "What can we make for dessert from what I have", which was a bunch of dairy based, creamy things like cottage cheese, yogurt and ricotta...and with a little innovation - a dollop on honey, some chocolate and vanilla extract, a bit of almond butter...and whipped cream - not bad! ...satisfied the sweet tooth and didn't break the scale this morning. It all might have failed, but if it did, I was surely going to fail trying my best - with my best effort!

And then just a bit ago, my refrigerator is virtually empty! I fed my poor husband a smoothie for breakfast made with the last of the milk, the last of the chocolate protein powder, 1/2 of the last serving of pre-made oatmeal I had from the week, and a banana I stole from a continuing education seminar yesterday! Now, we're empty. But I have a lot on my plate today and want to be able to make a nice dinner without haphazardly going to the grocery and spending money on things just for tonight that I'll have left over and that may not fit into the rest of the weekend's or week's "plan" - once it's conjured up. So, what to do, what to do???...

Well, let's Fail Strong again. Surely there's not "nothing" (double negative, I know, but effective!) in the fridge/freezer. After searching, I found 1/2 bag of frozen scallops, about one and a half servings of "salad" in my spinner and a little fresh asparagus and cauliflower. My pantry is almost always stocked well - meaning vinegars, lemon/lime juice, olives, capers, etc. And I do have wine...I always have wine...what can I do here? Fail strong! Get resourceful, figure it out and if it sucks, I've tried really hard and the pizza place across the street is programmed in my phone! So, we're going to try for scallops-piccata tonight with a small salad and skillet stir-fried asparagus and cauliflower with a sweet ginger sauce. Not bad for an empty fridge. I think that Fail Strong phrase resonating in my head motivated me to search beyond what I knew was an empty fridge!

So, emboss Wendy's phrase in your head: FAIL STRONG! If you're unsure and can't muster the will to know you're going to conquer the task at hand, know that you're going down trying your hardest!!!

When You Feel Down...

I used to have a teenage version of the Bible, given to my by pastor, called The Way. I just Googled it an ironically can't find the exact cover I have, but the "neat" thing about it is that in the front of the book, there's a section entitled "How This Book Speaks Directly To You" - there are phrases that identify common strife among teenagers, such as:

• When you feel guilty
• When you're tired
• When you're hurting
• When you need courage
• When you think about injustice
• When you've been offended
• When you wonder about the government

At the end of each of these phrases, the book tells you where to goin the Bible to find a Christian answer to that question. It was a great resource as a child/teenager, and frankly, because of how simplistically my brain prefers to work, it's still a great resource. Life, and all that's in it, doesn't have to be complicated - we make it complicated because of how we feel.

Because I'm a health and wellness exit on the World Wide Web's Interstate, I'll keep this post focused on these topics...losing weight, eating healthier, adding physical activity into your life....or, if you're already on those bandwagons...getting back on the good nutrition wagon, getting back to the gym or restarting exercise after an unforeseen hiatus (or upping the intensity) isn't hard, you just have to do it. Not sure what can push you in that direction? Check out this very short but very powerful article by the folks at Again, Faster - it's worth, not just the read, but also a bookmark! Simple, basic and true...just like what we learned in "kindygarten"...play nice with others, share, say please and thank you...

http://www.againfaster.com/articles/starting-over.html

Are You Lost?

Have you ever felt lost? By lost I mean like the answer you're searching for is invisble, missing or misplaced; like you feel stranded on the island of [insert goal or objective here] and there's only room to stand, water all around and no signs of a rescue boat anywhere; or maybe it's just a feeling of hopelessness where you're drained from trying to find the answer to no avail.

Now, speaking along the lines of health and fitness, what about being lost here? I mean, you get up, you know you need to eat healthier, but you don't know where to start or you're so confused by all the conflicting and confounding media reports where today tuna is healthy and tomorrow it's toxic. Does your morning start off like this:

"Should I have eggs?...or is there too much fat in the yolk?...so maybe I should just have egg whites...but then do I lose all the nutritional value of the yolks? Or,

"Should I have a salad for lunch? Should I add protein to the salad? If so, what kind? And what about salad dressing? Should it have fat in it? I've heard that you need fat to help with the absorption of the vitamins and minerals in the vegetables (fat soluble vitamins/minerals) - but then again, oil has so many calories...what to do???"

Or what about with exercise? Have you ever thought: "I know I need to exercise, but I just don't know what to do?" Or, worse: you know what to do but you're so stuck in a rut or are so bored with what you're doing that you just feel lost? ...almost paralyzed?

Well, I've been there too - seems from eating to exercising to life - I've definitely been lost, and it's truly hard to find your way back. I started thinking, I wonder if the rules for getting "un-lost" are the same with health and fitness as they are if, say, you were lost in the woods or even in a parking lot - looking for your car?

It turns out that with a little due diligence, the answers I found to being lost in the woods can help us with many of the scenarios I described above. And it's ironic that these answers are so crazy simple - like everything I seem to be drawn to these days that produces results or success: the basics!

So, here is the answer I found as a common solution to getting lost in the woods - so common the Boy Scouts use it! (compliments of The Boy Scouts of America and Equipped To Survive)

S.T.O.P.

Stop/Stay put. Take a deep breath. Calm yourself. Recognize that whatever has happened is past and cannot be undone. Your "survival" situation (the situation you're in - your feeling of being lost or stuck) is reality, and you must move forward.

Think. Take no action until you have thought through the situation. Your brain is your biggest asset.

Observe. Take a look around you and assess your situation and surroundings. Consider your resources and personal capabilities.

Plan. Prioritize your immediate needs and establish a step by step plan to systematically deal with and resolve the situation, inclusive of contingencies. Be flexible and prepared to adjust to changing circumstances.

These steps seem so ridiculously simple, but really look at how effective the outcome can be with such a simple (and easy to remember) plan! There's no 10 step system, worksheets, $100/hr shrink sessions (although I am a huge proponent of talk therapy) - just a simple-to-remember acronym and basic elementary terms strategically ordered to produce a result.

The "basics" are always a good place to start - whether it be fitness or nutrition - and the STOP for survival acronym is certainly worth a try.

So, let's test 'er out, shall we?

Lose 5 in 7 - Day 4 (late post)

Dinner's done and I "feel" the bonk. Between the feelings of dehydration and general fatigue, my 10 minute "150 wall ball" workout was truly more than I could take. Totally zapped me, even after that great breakfast. But I half expected to be a bit fatigued today. Didn't do the afternoon run - simply didn't have the energy.

Calories were up today and have good intentions for tomorrow.

Meal plan for tomorrow is as follows:

Breakfast: 1 cup Egg Beaters, 1 egg, kale, red pepper and onion in an omelet with 1/2 cup blackberries

AM Snack: 1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese with 1/2 cup broccoli

Lunch: Kale, red pepper, onion, 4 oz ham and 1/4 cup fat free mozzarella cheese

PM Snack: 1/2 scoop protein powder in 1 cup almond milk

Dinner: 4 oz chicken, 1 wedge Laughing Cow Light Swiss Cheese, 1/2 cup spinach - rolled up and baked, with 1/4 cup Lima beans and small salad.

This will provide approximately 1100 calories, 130 grams of protein, 77 grams of carbs and 29 grams of fat. I have appointments all morning, so hope to either Crossfit in the afternoon or long run from home - maybe even local gym for stepper and core.

I anticipate begin back up around 127, probably where I really was today if fully hydrated.

Lose 5 in 7 - Day 2

Woke up this morning at 129.4#. Down...whew.

Stayed on the meal plan today with the exception of the a.m. snack - had maintenance people in the condo and didn't want to eat in front of them.

Did about 20 minutes of BORING stepper this morning early, then a pretty tough WOD at the gym - only about 16 minutes, but HR was high enough I had to break several times. 600 feet of walking lunges - good workout for legs which were still sore from soft sand run on Easter morning - plus 81 pull ups and 81 sit ups (WOD called "Cough up a Lunge").

Onward and upward! Tuesday's plan:

Tomorrow's a busy day - a few appointments and a MILLION errands! Will pack the cooler bag and take everything with me for the road. But here's the "tentative" plan:

Exercise: Hopefully, some cardio in the morning before the first appointment, then HOPEFULLY, I'll get errands and other appt done in time to hit Crossfit in the late afternoon - but not sure.

Breakfast: 4 egg whites cooked in 1/2 tsp EVOO, 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1% no salt added, 1/2 cup strawberries and 1/2 oz slivered, toasted almonds

AM Snack: 1 cup radishes, 1/2 cup carrots and 1/2 oz toasted walnuts

Lunch: 1 can tuna over veggie salad with vinaigrette

PM Snack: 5.3 oz container Fage 0% yogurt

Dinner: 5 oz salmon broiled, served with 1/2 cup balsamic strawberries, 4 oz Brussels sprouts

and...sf jello!

This will give me about 1100 calories (I'll do a pre or post workout shake if I workout to add calories), 120 grams of protein (44%), 57 grams of carbs (21%) and 37 grams of fat (30%). I'll be busy so won't focus on the hunger so much. The likelihood of making the workout is slim, so I'll plan on jacking up the calories and the activity on Wednesday.

So, that's the plan for the full Day 2 (Tuesday). Heading to the fridge now for jello - lots of jello!