Think for Yourself

I’ve been talking a lot about being real in your endeavor to be healthy.My thoughts are so ridiculously simple, it’s almost embarrassing  But you know what? My approach works. It simply does!

If you are interested, here is Barb’s Fit U’s ridiculously simple common sense approach:

• Don’t go for crazy, stupid diets that promise you to lose 10 pounds in two days
• Don’t decide that you are going to work out ten hours a day if you don’t even get off the couch right now
• Be realistic
• Drink lots of water, but
• Start small, master one thing, and then go on to the next
• Face and tell the truth
• Celebrate your successes
• Be consistent
• Concentrate on the positive, not the negative: build new habits instead of trying to get rid of bad ones
• Learn life while you are getting healthy
• Cook your own food and discover the joy in it
• Have fun
• Eat what your body tells you you need, not what the commercial says you need
• Commit to health
• Make it a journey is self-discovery
• Think for yourself.
• Breathe…

 

Cranberry Bites

Protein in a few bites, sweetness that stops my cravings but doesn’t get me to the place where I can’t stop eating.

Full of protein sweet tart goodness… I think this might be my new favorite!

8 dates, pitted

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1 T Chia seeds

Put all ingredients in food processor and process until it is a moist paste with cranberry chunks.

I formed each bite by filling a tablespoon with the dough and inverting it unto a plate.

16 protein goodness bites. To eat right then and there or refrigerate.

You Ugly Fat Cow

Many, many women spend most of their waking hours thinking about dieting. Or losing weight. Thinking about basically trimming fat off of their bodies so they can be more pleased with the reflection in the mirror. Or healthier.

Many, many men spend most of their waking hours thinking about sex and how good they might look to prospective girlfriends/wife. Thinking about what to do to tone up, bulk up, firm up so they can be more macho. Or healthier.

So we work out and we pay attention to what we eat and don’t eat. And most of us don’t get permanent results if all we are doing is move more and eat better. Because it’s all backwards.

Because Life happens from the inside out.

But interestingly enough, we want the out before we get the in. We are so backwards sometimes. Investing into changing our minds, nourishing them, cherishing them, changing them, stirring them up a bit seems lame. Too labor intensive. Stupid.

Yet come to think of it, controlling and growing our thoughts in the right direction is truly the first pillar of change. Because we won’t ever live above our thoughts. And this is the one pillar that will cause all other pillars to be strong. And only when this pillar is well established can we actually change the shape and health of our bodies. Because everything in life starts and happens from the inside out.  

In my career as a personal trainer, I once had a lovely client who saw herself as an “ugly fat cow.” Every time she would see herself in my wall-to-wall mirror, she would point her chin to the mirror and say, “you ugly fat cow!” Probably three times a session. Or maybe more.

You ugly fat cow.

You ugly fat cow.

You ugly fat cow.

She said it, she believed it, she was it in her own mind. And you know what? As long as that is where her mind was, her body never changed. No matter how hard she worked. No matter how little she ate. Nothing changed.

You ugly fat cow.

As I gained her confidence, I began to talk to her about her thoughts and her speech. Eventually, we got to the place where she was forbidden to say “you ugly fat cow.”

And then she began to believe me.

She changed her mind about herself. She changed her thoughts.

And her body changed.

Feet 101

What would we do without our feet?

They touch the ground whenever we are standing, walking or running. They are extensions of the legs, which help move us. Actually, our feet  are the foundation of our bodies, the basic bottom line. Keeping them healthy is a big deal.

Here is all you ever wanted to know about Feet 101

The Gait Cycle: When we walk or run, our body goes through a complex set of steps that makes movement seem smooth and easy. It’s actually a complex cycle called the “gait” or walking cycle. It looks something like this: start with your right heel on the ground in front of you with the rest or your foot in the air; when your heel first hits the ground, it is called “heel strike.” Next, your foot starts to flatten on the ground as it takes on more weight. That’s “mid-stance.” Then the ball of your foot and the toes finally touch down on the ground, just as the heel begins to lift. As the momentum of your body continues to carry you forward, your toes come off the ground and the whole foot/leg gets ready to swing forward. So, basically, when you walk, one leg is always swinging forward, while the other is bearing the weight of the body. Obviously, the slower you move, the more likely both feet will be supporting your body weight at the same time. The faster you move, the more likely one foot will be supporting body weight at any given time. A smooth walking or gait cycle means that the forces from the ground are absorbed by your heels and feet each time you take a step. Energy from the ground and healthy movement is transferred through the feet up into ankles, knees, hips and into the spine, all the way up to the head. Your feet also help you adapt to different terrain like grass, dirt, concrete, etc. Every time we walk, it’s like a cool symphony of movement.

The Three Arches: Foot anatomy is super important  in foot function. Did you know that each foot has three arches: one on the inside of the foot, one on the outside and one across the ball of the foot. These arches are all important and must all be functioning properly to facilitate healthy movement and weight-bearing.

Common Foot Conditions: When our feet do not have the arch support we need, we start having all kinds of problems that can start innocently enough, but can have nasty consequences:

• Excessive Supination: If your arches are too high or over-supported, it’s called “excessive supination.” People who excessively supinate have trouble wearing certain shoes that are too tight because they create pressure on the top of the foot and the ball of the foot. Excessive supination occurs in about 3 percent of the world’s population.
• Excessive Pronation: A more common occurrence is something called “excessive pronation,” which means the arches actually fall toward the floor or flatten out. Stand up and make your feet fall or collapse inward by rolling your feet toward one another. Do you feel the stress on your body? Keep your feet collapsed and close your eyes. Feel the strain on the inside of your ankles, the inside of your knees, the outside of your hips and possibly into your lower back? The stress moves up through your spine to the shoulders, the neck and the head. There are many painful conditions related to your arches collapsing and your feet excessively pronating, including bunions, corns, callouses and toes that stick up or off to the side.
• Other conditions: More serious conditions include plantar fascitis (inflammation of the thick tissue on the bottom of the heel), Achilles tendinitis (inflammation of the Achilles tendon), Morton’s neuroma (thickening of nerve tissue between the third and fourth toes, causing sharp pain on the ball of the foot), anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears, arthritis, and hip and lower back pain. Yikes!

Factors that affect Your feet for better or worse:

Genetics: You cannot outrun your genes. Flat feet or excessively pronating feet run in families.

Surfaces: Concrete and stone are the worst surfaces for the feet. Generally, the harder the surface, the more stress on the arches and the faster they will collapse. Dirt, rubber tracks, carpeting and grass are all softer surfaces that offer some cushion to the feet and help to reduce strain and shock.

Shoe types: If you look inside almost every shoe, sandal, flip-flop, boot, etc., you will notice that there may be some inner arch support. Hardly any shoe has outer arch support or support for the arch under the ball of the foot.

Orthotics and arch supports: Arch supports help to stabilize and support the feet so that they can have healthy movement patterns. This can reduce pain not only in the feet, but in other areas of the body as well.

Put Your Best Foot Forward: We spend much of our lives taking our feet for granted. Take care of these little beauties!

Continuous Progress

You won’t be successful overnight–unless it’s 3646 overnights later.

 Even if you want it really really bad and work hard at it.

Because Continuous Progress is what it’s all about.  The concept of continuous progress may not be really cool, but it works. The only thing standing between you and outrageous success is continuous progress.

So here you go! Seven thoughts to help you along the way:

1. Time clarifies perspective:

Most of us are biased, either because of our past or our present experience.  The last 24 hours of your life have a lot to do with how you feel about your goals, your potential, your stamina, the guts you need to summon to get past the pain and press through.  But the last 24 hours change pretty quick, and a day from now, what you know and how you feel will be completely different.  By making progress every day regardless of how you feel, you learn to look past the pain and fear of the moment and just “take another step”.  Over time you get a better perspective.  You realize that your emotions are less important than you doing something.

2. Iteration builds momentum:

Getting things done fuels our sense of purpose.  And that sense of purpose and self worth is what powers our ability to accelerate through the obstacles and toward our goal. Learning through the journey is the real destination.  By conquering small (but continuous) progress, you go through a series of meaningful steps toward what would otherwise be an unattainable goal.

3. Practice compensates for failure:

Success isn’t a day in time and neither is failure.  Failure is just another practice round. I never thought my kids were failuresthey couldn’t shoot a basket at 2 years old. I was okay with that. So why do we get so frustrated when we can’t master our wildest dreams in a single six week spurt? Practice is the secret.

4. Movement trumps lurching:

Stopping and starting is better than nothing, but it’s messy. Steady progress is the key to success.  Any of us can do an “all-nighter” now or then.  Maybe even do 50-60 straight hours on a single project.  But then we are exhausted and we need a break. Continuous progress is a kinder (more impactful) way to move forward and get closer to our goals.

5. Passion builds investment:

When you put enough of yourself, into something, you kind of find of way to make sure you come out on the winning end of things.  When you jump into a quick “emotional fling”, you have so little invested that it’s easy to give up on yourself.  Your commitment to long-term success forces you to build a passionate investment in your success.  That investment is the antidote to the setbacks you can anticipate along the way.

7. Lasting yields differentiation

We all know that showing up is where it’s at. It’s actually 99% of the battle.  If you don’t have the guts (the stamina) to keep fighting for your goal, then you’ll ultimately end up losing.  You can’t help it.

Continuous progress is the ultimate way to stand out from everyone else.  You’re still around when everyone else has given up.  When they are gasping for air, you are pumping your legs and pushing for the finish line.

You don’t have to do it all today.

You have the rest of your life to realize outrageous success.

You just need to get started…

Get Moving.

 

The Alphabet of Health: K is for KICKING

In the alphabet of health, K is for Kicking for more than one reason.

Yes, kicking is great exercise. Kickboxing will cause you to burn zillions of calories, and help you release lots and lots of stress. There is just something about hitting a heavy bag with gloved hands or a strong foot. If you have never tried it, do it! You might just love it!

But kicking is also for kicking bad habits. Because no matter how hard you work out, if your eating habits are deadly, you will probably get frustrated because you won’t reap the benefits you expected to reap from your sweat. And if you eat well but spend every moment of your day with your butt on a chair, your strength is not going to improve… Studies have shown that sitting for 8 hours a day increases your chances of death by 11 % and the percentage goes up from there. Sitting just isn’t pretty: the body’s metabolism goes to sleep, muscles stop moving all together and the heart slows down. Your calorie-burning rate plummets to about one calorie per minute — a third of what it would be if you were walking.  Insulin effectiveness drops, and fat and cholesterol levels rise. Yikes!

Whether your “bad” habit is sitting, or eating junk all night long in front of the TV, or yelling at the kids, or… you name it, kicking it is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. And kicking it is just that: kicking it! It involves serious violence. Because your body and minds won’t want to let go of the familiar.

The best way I know to kick a habit is to replace it with another one. Because the more you think about what you should not do it, the more you are going to do it. But if you are involved with something else, you might just get used to that something else and let go of the bad habit.

What do you think? Easy? Not at all. Feasible? Heck, yes!

 

Guacamole

I love avocados. It’s that simple. So it was pretty much expected that when I went to Mexico, I fell in love with guacamole. I went home and tried to make my own.I could hardly believe how easy this was!

This is the result. Maybe not as perfect as theirs, but pretty good if I do say so myself!

2 ripe Hass avocados

3 cloves garlic

Garlic powder to taste

2 sprigs Cilantro

Salt and pepper to taste

a few pinches of crushed cayenne pepper

1 pint grape tomatoes

2 T lemon juice

1. Place peeled garlic cloves, lemon juice, crushed cayenne pepper, cilantro and peeled avocados in food processor. Process until well blended but still a bit chunky.

2.In a bowl, chop the grape tomatoes.

3.Add the avocado mixture. Taste. Add salt, garlic powder and black pepper to taste. Enjoy!

Confidence Confessions

Living life to match a number on the scales or in your clothes is not living. 

There, I said it.

And I should know. Because that’s been the story of my life until I finally got a hold of myself.

High school was not a fun time for me, I was overweight and had bad skin…  To say the least, I was not confident.  But later on in life, something amazing happened: a few key people express confidence in me.  And the transformation was the coolest thing; not so much what happened on the outside, it was what took place on the inside. I was finally doing things to make myself be the best ME I could be. I was polishing up the rough edges. I started working out. I started eating better.

Eventually, my skin started looking better. And I started walking taller and with more confidence.

I began paying attention to what was going on in the world and started investing myself in things I believe in. That meant I had to really get a hold of what I believed in for real. I had to establish clear personal boundaries and stick to them.

And I learned that health from the inside out comes from doing the best I can with what I have. And letting who I am shine through.

After I changed how I treated myself, people changed how they treated me.

I am so much more than numbers on a scale.

And you, my friend, are so much more than a number on a scale. It’s time to invest in yourself. It’s time to start living a healthy lifestyle, not to be skinny, but to feel good and to live a long, strong and healthy life. That’s how we find inner happiness, confidence and beauty.

We actually do have control over the ME we are. and the ME we project. Don’t do things backwards.

We can choose to be pitiful or powerful. No victims here!

Sweat

You probably all heard one time or another that sweating is good for you. But what is sweat?  And what makes it good for you? And why the heck do we sweat?

Well, first of all, sweat is made up mostly of water mixed with salt and small amounts of waste. It’s secreted through sweat glands that are activated by hormones, stress, emotions and physical activity. Sweat manifests on the surface  of the body and as it evaporates, it cools the body. So sweating is your body’s cooling system when it becomes overheated, either by sickness, exercise or other means (stress, hormones,  saunas, steam baths, sun bathing etc….)

Sweating removes toxins and disease out of the body, and it does it faster than the kidneys. Kidneys can take up to 24 hours to remove harmful toxins like lead and mercury out of the body. Sweating can also rid the body of harmful substances like alcohol, cholesterol and salt. Research as found that as much as thirty percent of the body’s wasted is eliminated through sweat.

As you heat up and produce sweat, your heart works faster to improve circulation and in the long run, sweating actually improves cardiovascular health.

The water you lose while sweating is not weight loss as your body needs to re-hydrate, but as your body heats up through exercise, fat becomes water-soluble and exits the body through sweat–I read somewhere that sweating can burn 300 calories an hour!

We all know that skin care has a lot to do with a healthy diet and proper exercise. But sweat definitely helps as well for two reasons: (1) sweat contains small amounts of antibiotics that can combat some of the bacteria that are found naturally on the skin, and (2) sweating can also unclog pores which will help improve the skin‘s tone, clarity and texture. But you should definitely clean your face after a good sweat because it contains toxins that are being cleansed from the body. 

Last but not least, even though sweating does not lower stress or boost your mood, increasing your body heat by exercise or saunas does have a positive effect on mood and stress levels as endorphins (happy hormones) and other chemicals are released during exercise that naturally improve mood and lower stress levels. So indirectly, sweat helps your moods…

So sweat away!

 

 

 

Salmon Patties

I love  salmon almost as much as I love pumpkin. Smoked, fresh, canned, frozen–you name it, I love it.

But I know not every one feels that way about it. So here’s a recipe for you to try if you’re not too sure about salmon; it might just change your mind.

Barb’s Salmon Patties

1 small green pepper and 1 small onion, diced small

2 T lemon juice

2 6-oz cans skinless boneless salmon (I use Pink Wild Alaskan Salmon)

Dash crushed red pepper

1-2 T Worcestershire sauce

1/3 cup oat flour

Mix all ingredients together.

Form into 5 patties.

Cook on stove top in oiled and heated pan (I use nonstick cooking spray in a cast iron pan) for a few minutes on each side. That’s it!  We ate these with wild rice and stewed green peppers. YUM!

Per patty: 106 caloires, 2 g GREAT fat, 7 g carbs, 17 g protein and 1 g fiber.

PS I wonder if there is a correlation between loving Pumpkin, Salmon and the color Orange; maybe it’s in my genes…