IT'S OFFICIAL!!

Hello again!

Well, the way-to-long hiatus has finally paid off. Today, Jan. 14th, a few weeks BEFORE my 40th birthday, I sat for and passed my ACSM Certified Personal Trainer Test. If this is what "taking a load off" feels like, I highly recommend it!

So, now, to put in motion the all the planning that I had done prior to putting the emphasis into the certification (cart before the horse!) - I'm in business!

Stay tuned for regular science-based, creative and motivating information on how to eat better, get fitter, be healthier, and feel better - all while loving every minute of it.

Here's to an uber-healthy 2009 and beyond!

Scissors for Christmas?

Yes, it's been TOO LONG since I've been here and laid out new information, education and my thoughts on all that's been going on in health and fitness news! And yes, my title of "Scissors for Christmas?" is serious. And frankly, they are connected: what's been happening in our society and my recommendation to purchase scissors as Christmas gifts. Let me explain...

First, my two month hiatus from blogging has been due to an increased focus on studying for my ACSM Personal Trainer Certification Test. My goal of completing the certification before my 40th birthday is about 60 days away - hence the lack of activity here!

Next, let me explain my Christmas plan for 2008 that lends itself to the "Christmas Scissors idea". My husband and I have spoken to just a few friends about this so far, but have confirmed with parents and siblings, and made the pact within our family of two people and one feline, that we will not be purchasing Christmas gifts this year, other than for my husband's daughter and our new little nephew, Jack. Last evening, we also made the decision not to send holiday cards. Even by downsizing from our usual Christmas Card Project (which was always an event in of itself) to a postcard, we felt that the postage funds should go elsewhere. This year we have committed to taking the money we would have allocated on gifts, cards and postage, in addition to the time we would have invested shopping for the gifts and planning the card, and will be 100% focused on helping families in the Tampa Bay area who have been hit by hard times this year and this season. We are committing time and money to two local organizations to help specific families with dependent children have a true holiday, rich with warm food, Christmas decorations, gifts for the children - as well as the parents. We will take a small part in celebrating Christmas with these families, as well as volunteer time to help prepare and serve meals.

Now, what do the Christmas Scissors have to do with all this? Well, this morning as I was eating my chicken and veggie omelet, drinking my green tea and reading the paper, I found a few ads:

• one for "$10.00 off your visit" to Smokey Bones, an Applebees/Bennigans-like chain of sit-down fast food,
• one for my local Surf & Turf market with great lean beef, chicken and deli meat (Board Head: no preservatives/additives!) sales, and
• one for Metropolitan Ministries, advertising that a donation of $1.67 would feed one person an entire holiday meal through Metropolitan Ministries of Tampa Bay.

And the scissors? Last evening while reading the New York Times, they suggested scissors as holiday gifts...for coupon cutting!!

And so, my suggestion for those of you caught up in the holiday hubbub or those of you who just want to do "something" to serve your community but don't know what to do, is this:

• First, throw away the Smokey Bones "deals", chain restaurant dinners with two for one appetizers in exchange for a meal at home with healthy food choices. You'll save money, even considering the coupon, and you'll actually know what you are feeding your body! Or better yet, get together with friends and cook a meal together. Congregate and celebrate - it doesn't have to be at a restaurant!
• Second, buy some scissors. Clip local coupons. And for those of you that I have personally heard utter these words: "I don't have time" - forgo your soap operas, Oprah or CSI for ONE DAY, give up one redundant, non-productive telephone conversation, or get up a 1/2 hour early tomorrow and just do it. Excuses are for the weak. Solutions are for the powerful. Clip local coupons for healthy foods and services you use regularly. Save a few bucks!
• Third, use the few dollars you saved by eating in and clipping coupons...maybe all of $1.67....to make this holiday a little better for someone who isn't as fortunate. It's not about being frugal for those who are afraid of that word. It's about finding the means and will to help someone less fortunate this year have a happy holiday.

Happy Holidays from RebelHealth. I'm looking forward to 2009 - helping people lead healthier lives!

The Race Is Over!

Well, the inaugural two-man "Team RebelHealth" completed the NYC Men's Health Urbanathlon a few weeks ago, and I'm happy to say that for two middle-aged adventure junkies, we're now fully recovered! No major injuries: a few bruises and calves so tight and bitey, had we not walked the city for the two days after the race, we'd probably still be walking like Frankenstein! All in all, it was an overwhelming success! We were actually overtained. We could have almost double-timed it on the runs and the stairs, and had we done that, we would have made it to the obstacles quicker and avoided the lines (strategies for next year). The race course was absolutely fantastic, even with the overcast skies and misty rains. We ran from mid-Central Park @ the 72nd Street Bandshell, west to Riverside Park, and then south along the West Side Highway and the Hudson River all the way down through the Financial District and Battery Park, and back up to the South Street Seaport. It was amazing to see parts of Manhattan that we'd otherwise not have seen on foot. We stayed along Central Park South on the west corner and explored the Upper West Side neighborhoods for a few days before returning home - what an exquisite part of Manhattan. Very "not midtown" - very pedestrian friendly! We're planning to do it again next year and hopefully entice some of our friends who don't mind a few hours of glamourless activity added to their day!

I have to give another shout out to Big Frog printers who did our shirts, as well as to Jay @ St. Pete Crossfit, who more than prepared us for the obstacles and for "running when already tired" - his strategy. Thanks, Jay!

I got only a few good photos -
this action shot was sort of fun!

As the window of time leading up to the race for next year nears, and the training calendar begins to lay itself out, I'll put the call out to friends, family and clients who might be interested in joining us. It's a little more fun than the standard running race because of the intermittent obstacles, and it's a beautiful time to be in New York City. Until next year...

I Admit It: I Love The Biggest Loser!

Yes, every Tuesday evening for the past two years I sit motionless, like an L-shaped Idaho spud, and for 60 minutes (really 2 hours on premier night, like last night) watch reality TV. I'm not a huge TV watcher. I have it on most times for noise in the background while I clean, cook or study, but to sit and watch something for an hour...OK, I am committed to a few things: Prison Break and 24, when it returns. But other than those two, and now The Biggest Loser, not much. And, typically, I have a magazine or book in my lap at the same time -I just get bored and restless easily and feel like if I'm not learning something or expanding my brain, it's a total drain!

So, back to The Biggest Loser. I was in awe, and truly learned a lot about human motivation the first time I watched it. I watched couples weep when physicians showed them their mortality prognoses. Husbands said to wives "We're killing ourselves". Daughters said to fathers "I want you to be around to walk me down the aisle". And the most profound statement came from a beautiful young woman last season who weighed in at 221 pounds. I'll never forget one of her interviews when she explained how she had gained so much weight at such a young age. She indicated that she didn't realize it was happening....that it happened "5 pounds at a time". She said she didn't get on the scale often, but when she did, at times, it was just 5 pounds more than the last time, versus 55 or 75 pounds more than the first time. This is a huge testament to weighing yourself every day, but more on that some other day.

This season the contestants are husbands and wives, and parents and children. I was struck by the Brady & Vicki, a couple with an overweight daughter at home - by their worry and guilt for her condition; By Tom & L.T. (Little Tom), the father and son cab drivers whose entire family is obese and whose sole focus seems to be food - and of the physician's dire predictions for their future health. And lastly, Jerry & Colleen, the father/daughter team. There was a father/daughter team that began last season, but didn't make it very far. These two will pull on your heartstrings. Jerry has the most medical conditions of anyone who has been on The Biggest Loser so far, and his daughter's concern for both her own health and the health of her father are wrenching. I know, it's "reality TV", but I'm just not so sure it's so far off what so many Americans are dealing with today. Busy, fast-paced lives driving people to fast food joints, lack of education and knowledge about food and nutrition, and lack of physical activity...all contributing to the self-induced, lifestyle epidemic we are currently living through. Yes, I'm a Tuesday night TV junkie. And yes, sometimes I cry, too - both for the contestants pain, and also for their successes. And YES, I know it's reality TV, I keep that in mind and I'm not blind to flash & glass. I'm also not blind that all these people have to do to succeed (other than play the reality TV "strategy" game when voting others off), is to exercise 6+ hours a day and mostly eat what they're given or what they prepare as a group. Who wouldn't lose weight if this is all they had to do? I hear so many friends say: "I could look like 'her' too if I had a personal trainer"... an excuse, I know, but there is an advantage when someone else helps or pushes you daily.

I won't say much else, other than I do admit subjecting myself to this type of entertainment (can I call it that?) once a week. And it motivates me. Goals can be achieved, and one person at a time, I hope I'm there for people the same way this crazy broadcast is there for these people.

If you have absolutely nothing to do on Tuesday nights at 8pm, tune in to NBC. I will say, however, it does compete with House, which may be a tough sell!!

Compliments.

Have you ever received a compliment and not been 100% totally sure how to respond? Well, how about a compliment at the giver's expense? Compliments such as: "I'd love to have your legs!". or "I wish I could have a flat stomach like you but I've had two kids". I don't profess these comments out of arrogance, pride or even a lack of humility - quite the opposite. I provide this information out of an honest desire to provide the giver the answer to what they are requesting, which is typically, "How'd you get like that?". I find that often times when people offer compliments at their expense, they are desirous of the magic bullet or the quick route they perceive is the answer...and it's never a quick route...it never,ever is. I do it all the time when I admire something about someone else - but I've also become quick to begin my compliment with "I'm humble enough to admit" for example "... that I envy your lifestyle...or that I'd love to have your abs."

A few months back my husband and I were at dinner and while in the ladies room, two women approached me and asked who did my hair and who my personal trainer was. That made me stand up straighter and pull my shoulders back! That was a great night! It felt good, but at the same time, I was being asked for a solution to two things: either a new hair style or color, and how to shape up and get leaner. I was only prepared for the first question. It's easy to roll someone else's name of your tongue (my hairstylist), but how do you say, without sounding arrogant or less than humble, that my body is my own masterpiece, and it's a work in progress? (Ooooo - I like the way that sounds - a work in progress!). Maybe that's just how you say it. But to offer that information, you're almost acknowledging that the giver or the questioner, is flawed and that you have the answer.

I am 110% overly sensitive to the feelings of those around me - which is probably why I abhor people who lack humility, a natural sense of "realness", and who ooze arrogance. Can't you just envision the slimy green goopy arrogance oozing from the pores of someone who just feels or acts superior? Ugh!

I recently read that an appropriate response to a compliment at the giver's expense, such as those I mentioned above, is this: "Thanks, but no body's perfect." And how true is that! At the gym today, I was flailing through an unplanned workout, which is simply the worst feeling. I was ending with a few sets of split squats on the Smith Rack with very low weight. I noticed that the woman on the leg press next to me was watching me. I was totally self conscious, so I made eye contact to ease my own insecurities - specifically because whether it was the shorts I had on or the ice cream from the night before, to me, my quads looked huge today, and not in a good way! I'd seen this woman before and knew her to be new to the gym and from what I could tell, new to exercise. I said hello, and she engaged me with one of those compliments..."Can I tell you...", she said, "...yours is the body I'd love to have". I quickly pulled out my recently learned response and replied "Thank you, but trust me, no body is perfect!". It brought a smile to her face and a nice conversation thereafter. I got her name, and made a nice new acquaintance. And before I ended my conversation with her, I made sure to compliment her back by indicating that I'd noticed how hard she worked when she was at the gym, and at times, I wish I had her intensity. Good deed for the day done - and a true compliment at that.

Compliments are a great thing, when they're not at the giver's expense, unless perhaps qualified or specified. What I mean is that if I'm going to give a compliment, it should be straightforward, graceful or with finesse, and without any attachments. "That color is great on you!". "Your arms look fantastic." "I love your new car! I bet you're really proud!". See, no strings. Not..."Your arms look fantastic. I wish mine didn't look like bat wings", or "I love your new car. It really puts mine to shame." Think about it next time to give a compliment. And if your compliment is truly meant to ask the recipient a question - just ask the question - no need to belittle yourself. Find a bit of old Ben Franklin's humility. You will feel better because you organized your words a little more strategically, and the recipient will feel better, as it's easier to answer a question than to defend the compliment so that you can spare the implied insecurities of the giver.