November 30, 2009

Living optimally on a Mazatlan vacation!

Hola from Mazatlan, Mexico! Due to the seriously slow internet speeds here & prohibitive cost of using the internet, this may be the only post this week but I will continue writing so as soon as I can get on the internet again I can post to you what we’ve been up to in enjoying a healthful (w/exception to the abdundance of margaritas) & fun vacation!

The above pic was taken on sunrise of our 1st day in Mazatlan, this is Deer Island, where all the fun excursions go out to – all of which- include not only active things to do like snorkeling & beach sports, but make sure that you balance out those cals burned with high-quality booze cruise cals coming back in. There’s really no escaping alcohol around here, but for working so hard during the rest of the year, we will enjoy the booze cruising that is included in the activities & sports we want to partake in. 

But booze aside for a moment, let me tell you about what we’ve been up to so far in the world of healthy eating!! *I have some great video to upload as soon as we get home so look out for that! It includes how to turn last night’s dinner into 3 meals the next day!! And not just be reheating the leftovers but actually turning it into a whole new meal…Gluten Free of course!

Drew, my man, making us eggs on morning 1. Check out the 1950’s stove…two burners…only 3 heat levels…no spatula, plate, utensil or cooking oil anywhere in our condo. We purchased eggs, olive oil (in this pic behind Drew’s hand), avocado, forks, & styrofoam plates & using leftovers from the night before, made Mexican Eggs!…seasoned eggs, sautéed green onion & cactus, & melted mexican cheese (we couldn’t figure out what kind it was). Check out the finished product! Nutritious, full of protein, a few vitamins from veggies, and lean on fat! A real winner! Go Drew!

The other big adventure in food was our trip to El Supermercado today! A random rain storm came on shore this morning & stuck around until early this afternoon. It rained so hard that the streets flooded out completely & while we were in the market the power went on & off throughout our shopping experience. Keep reading →

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November 27, 2009

Leaving on a jet plane….planning for travel

Think it’s hard to eat healthy? Think it’s hard to make a workout happen when you don’t have a gym membership?

taking off for warmer weather

 

Starting at 3am on Saturday morning, I’m going to prove that you can stay on a healthy eating schedule & proper workout program while travelling through airports & in a foreign country! 

As you may know, I live a Gluten Free life due to an intolerance to gluten - hopefully I’ve showed you a little about how it really is not all that difficult to eat gluten free!…when in the US. How about doing it in a foreign country? Should be interesting…there is one sentence that got me through & will continue to help me while travelling next week:

When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

 For our vacation, here’s what I made sure we had planned so we are not going to fail on our health & fitness:

  • Booked a unit that included a kitchenette so we can prepare some meals ourselves.
  • Packed in the luggage pre-packaged tuna, GF crackers, GF pretzels, hemp protein powder, greens mix, vitamins & Larabars :-) which will make eating in the airports & on-site much less stressful.
  • Packed the TRX bands for workouts that we can set up under a palm tree on the beach.
  •  Wearing the running shoes so there’s more room in the suitcase.
  • Have 1 set of shorts & workout top in the carry-on to get a workout in even if there’s luggage snafus.

It may all sound crazy, but just because vacations happen, that doesn’t mean fitness doesn’t. So while I’m in the air tomorrow, get your workout in, eat your healthy breakfast, and I’ll be back with helpful tips, stories & tricks for you to get your “optimal fitness” on after we get settled in.

So how do YOU plan for health & fitness when travelling & on vacation?

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November 25, 2009

RK Tip of the Week|Gobble gobble your workout!

Thanksgiving is one of the most fun days to workout, in my opinion. Even if you have 30 people arriving that afternoon, and have been up since 5 basting the bird…there is just something awesome about slipping away for 30 mins or an hour to a workout. And my favorite workouts on Thanksgiving are  done either outdoors or alone, away from the madness of crowds i.e. away from the gym that has every member since they opened in for their Pre-Meal workout.

So here’s a workout for those of you not getting out to shuffle your stuffing in a 5K & for everyone who would rather avoid the ridiculousness that will be your gym’s parking lot. You can do this workout at home, with minimal equipment…if others are around, tell them you’re unreachable for the next bit of time, and if they want to see the light of Thanksgiving meal, they will give you your peace until that you finish said workout. Or, if it’s family members you know won’t laugh at you, but would actually sweat it out with you, invite them to join you for your workout!

One last thing about family before we get to the workout; you may be sitting around talking to family today. If you’ve been following my blog or just the Tip of the Week, and you’ve been helped by something I’ve taught you, please share my site as a resource for any family who is struggling with, or working toward, better fitness, health, & wellness. I appreciate all of you who’ve done that already, and would simply encourage those of you sitting across from a cousin or uncle or parent who is moving away from or sitting static on the road to optimal wellness, that you bring up the topic with them…in fact, you can remain totally neutral by bringing up how you go to this site to get health & fitness news & tips & they should check it out too. Then you can leave the “alright-sister-let’s-have-a-talk-about-that-2nd-piece-of-pie-&-you’re-optimal-wellness” conversation to me! You never know whose life will be changed or saved by a conversation you have with them & a direction you point them in. Today is someone’s lucky day!

Now! Onto the workout! Happy Thanksgiving, many blessings to you all. I count you in my blessings, thank you! Keep reading →

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November 24, 2009

PMA: Never thought feta would get me as it has

Before you go skipping this one because you aren’t “into” feta cheese, hang with me for a moment. Feta, is not what you may be thinking it is…

- It is not biting like gorgonzola is with its’ biting line of mold running through.

- Most often these days, it’s kind of sad but true, it’s not made from goats or sheep so if you eat dairy of any kind, you’re already eating dairy from cows that probably also make feta cheese.

I bought 2 bricks of feta cheese a week or so ago for my warm kale, beet & feta salad (recipe located in GF Showcase) & thought, “I wonder if all this feta will go bad before I can eat it all.” I should not have worried. I am officially obsessed with feta cheese. There is just something about the mouth-feel of feta that makes whatever you’re eating it with seem so much more rich and filling – and yet – it’s not! Still calorie controlled, still low in fat, still gluten free!

In the kale salad, it was such a wonderful compliment to the garlic cooked kale – I completely understand greek flavor now, with the salty, creamy flavor of the feta usually combined with garlic in some way.

In my scrambled eggs, it was melty & added a salty quality so  I didn’t need to add any more salt. Just ground black pepper, my eggs, & some feta & life is good!

On it’s own…I’ll admit, I took one of the leftover bricks to work and in between clients would enjoy a few bites of feta along with my apple. There is nothing wrong with digging your fork right into a brick of feta cheese – just watch your portion control!

In my burrito bowl (recipe in GF Showcase), I reheated the leftovers for dinner & tossed  few crumbles of feta in after it had been reheated. I got the perfect bite of feta with chipotle ground turkey & onions – creamy, spicy, savory -  and I was immediately transported back to what was one of my favorite meals growing up that I will never eat again due to its unabashedly unhealthy nature. What was this former fave? My mom’s cheese enchiladads…all I can remember is there was tortillas smothered in, wrapped around, layered with TONS and TONS of cheese. My bite? Super healthy & low fat with the feta’s creamy texture- a little goes a long way, low fat ground turkey is infinitely better for you than half a dozen flour tortillas, and there may have been sautéed veggies in my moms’ version, but I don’t remember them.

So there is 4 ways you can use feta cheese, along w/ the stand-by of serving it with lettuce, red onion, kalamata olives & greek dressing in a Greek salad format. I don’t think I have Greek heritage, but with the Greek yogurt, and now feta cheese, I may just be turning into an honorary Greek! Get out there and keep trying new things people, you never know what’s going to surprisingly tasty!

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November 24, 2009

Gluten Free Showcase: Homemade Burrito Bowls! Ole!

It should be understood that everything I post to my blog is gluten-free, but the “GF Showcase” name is used on the recipes and products that are a staple in my Gluten Free life and that show off just how amazing REAL food can be, and just how tasty eating gluten-free truly is!

I’ve been doing this staple meal since last year, and it never disappoints. Like Mexican food and/or Chipotle’s Burrito Bowls? I’ve never been a fan of the Everest size mound of white rice (hello insulin spike!) in Chipotle’s version, and when the weather gets cold, my grill no longer cooks anything in less than an hour - and from that, this recipe was born. Seriously, it’s so simple, you can do this one tonight, just hit up the grocery store & cook a full batch. You’ll have enough for leftovers & you can feel good that this meal is seriously easy on the wallet -even when you buy organic produce & pastured meat!

Ole! Burrito Bowls

*Using ground turkey in this recipe makes it really low-fat, low saturated fat & a nice alternative to beef. It is seriously worth your money & effort to get organic & pastured ground turkey. Turkeys are some of the most inhumanely raised animals with an incredibly high stress level as they are grown. This creates an imbalanced hormone level that alters the meat considerably. In addition, most typical brand names (Perdue & others) DO use GMO (genetically modified) feed & antibiotics for much of their life that causes the turkeys to grow so large they cannot walk and are physically incapable of mating. If you’re going to buy something, here is where you should not compromise & get something of value…most supermarket turkey & meat is not something of value. If you pay more anywhere, DO IT HERE!!!!

Ingredients:

- 1 pckg pastured & organic ground turkey *My local Dominicks’ started carrying this, woo hoo!

- 2 bell peppers (any color, look for the what’s on sale, organic is good if you can)

- 1 yellow onion

- olive oil cooking spray

- raspberry chipotle marinade or grill sauce *Read your labels! Get something that has 6-8 ingredients & is free of high fructose corn syrup & other chemicals…brands I like- “Bronco Bob’s” & “Kozlowski Farms”

Preparation:

- Preheat pan to med-high heat. Spray pan with olive oil spray.

- Slice peppers & onion (how much onion is up to you) into long slices.

- Add 1/2 pckg ground turkey per 2 people, more if you want leftovers.

- Let meat start to brown on bottom & then break up into pieces & turn to ensure cooking on all sides.

- Cook meat until no pink is visible on the outside (it should be almost ‘done’).

- Remove meat from pan & put into bowl for later use.

- Re-spray pan with olive oil spray & add sliced veg.

- Cook veg until onion & peppers soften, stirring regularly to cook everything on both sides.

- Add meat back into pan & mix with veg. Add rasp. sauce to pan – start with small drizzle & add more as you see fit.

- Stir ingredients together to coat with sauce. Remove from heat & serve!

1 serving approx nut. breakdown: 240 calories, 20 g protein, 3 g fat

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November 23, 2009

To ‘gram’ your ‘mam’ or not…being your own advocate

It’s been said time and again but now it is more important than ever. You need to be your own health advocate in every single situation relating to your health & wellness. We are deep in the ongoing debate about whether to vaccinate against the flu & H1N1 or not & just recently, new guidelines came out regarding when women should begin regular mammograms.

There is hot debate about both of these topics & thankfully, there is growing dialogue about much of Western medicine today. Not to say that Western medicine is bad, it’s just a really good thing to have open dialogue about other care methods – naturopathic, homeopathic, eastern medicine, chiropractors, massage, meditation, etc. because not every treatment is right for every person & not every medicine does exactly what it should without doing something harmful to another part of the body.

Every person should have the choice of how they are going to manage their health. Health & wellness is so varied from person to person, and sometimes Western medicine is single-focused, so allowing for a person to have the option to seek multiple & alternative methods, is a good thing. What would be even better (and is a growing, although still small, segment of the medical community) would be to have every doctor work as an integrative physician, who incorporates Western, Eastern, homeopathic & alternative medicine methods.

What you must do is research, research, research. Know that you need to look beyond basic news coverage & what your doctor tells you in the 4 mins they are with you in the room. Example: I was getting a physical & the doctor was inspecting my skin. I had a slight rash under my arm from running with my iPod arm band on. I told her I knew that it was a rash & where it came from & that it would go away, but she thrust in my hand samples for a prescription cream & said, “If you like these, I can get you a script for them.” A prescription recommendation for something that runners have used Vaseline for since runners started running wearing garments that chafe your skin…seems odd.

And know that ‘research’ does not just mean going on WebMD and trying to self-diagnose. Not only is this potentially dangerous since you are not a doctor, this is also often misleading. Example: Keep reading →

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November 21, 2009

Write your story, but be open to revisions along the way

As we grow older, one thing we get really good at is telling “our story.” Our story is made up of everything that got us to where we are now. What our story was not meant  to be, though, was a crutch- or explanation-  for why we are (or are not) one thing or another.

A new day dawns on your story...where will you take it today?

I get the pleasure of being a part of many peoples’ lives as they venture into the realm of fitness education via the many fitness consultations I do each week. At this meeting, we sit down & they get to tell me about why they are the way they are, how they got to where they are today, and where they want to get to (which is where I come in!). And time and again, while I appreciate hearing them tell their story & empathizing with each individual, I’m stunned by how one thing kept them from optimal fitness or wellness, which led to another thing, and 3o years later, it’s snowballed into joints that do not move, 50 extra pounds, posture that is painful & crumbling, or diseases that are now requiring big-time dollars to be spent on prescriptions & doctor visits.

We all need to pay attention to whether our “story” is remaining as a descriptive narrative of where we came from and what we did to get there or if it is starting to mold who we become in the future. Something that happened to us in the past does not have to be what determines who you become in the future – however all too often people fall into that very slump. If we allow what we used to be, or what we used to do or not do, determine who we are becoming 30 years later – we are relegating our lives to be only that which we can see already, rather than that which we cannot yet see on the horizon.

What you used to do is not a reliable indicator of what you’re going to do now – unless you fulfill your own prophecy.

What happened to you in the past is not a Magic 8 Ball predictor of what’s going to happen to you in the future – unless you want it to be.

What you’ve never done before is the worst predictor of what you will or won’t do in the future. Keep reading →

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November 20, 2009

PMA: Make someone happy with a healthy gift!

Looking to be that good person who gets that special someone in their life a little something nice this holiday? Even in a serious recession, where many will not be giving very many gifts at all, we all still have someone in mind who we’d really like to do show our appreciate, love, and gratitude to.

Here’s something that you should really consider as a gift this holiday. And with a little spin, this not so special thing becomes ‘awww’ special. Behold, the gift card.

But not just any gift card! Oh no – rather than getting a certain coffee company’s gift card that $10 worth gets you 3 coffee drinks – head on over to a place that could really do something good with $10. It doesn’t matter if you can do a gift card for a small amount or are willing & able to purchase one for someone for a higher denomination – this gift card is giving one of the most important & easily impacted things in a persons’ health.

This season, head on over to the local health food grocery store – Trader Joe’, Whole Foods, your local Vitamin Shoppe or similar store. When you give this gift card, you can make it for even a small denomination & the person receiving it will be able to purchase something that will impact their health. And that is a gift that makes that little card worth so much more than the plastic it was printed on.

Just consider it this holiday season – $10 gift card to the coffee house or $10 gift card to the health food store so a person can begin or carry on a nutritious healthy life? Both are nice, but one is infinitely more practical & impactful to the life of the person you are giving a gift. And bonus points to you if you attach a little note to the envelope saying something like, “Thanks for all you do, now go get something good for you~”

More simple & healthy gift ideas coming as we get closer to the holidays!

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November 18, 2009

RK Tip of the Week: Finland got it right & we can too

Finland is no longer fat. Whether you’re big or small, you need to care about this fact. Whether we’re saving your life or simply saving you money on healthcare premiums, it’s a really big deal that we care about Finland no longer being fat. 

Let me explain. It’s a really big deal because it means that someday, the US can enjoy not being fat too. Finland represents the light of possibility for what we can become IF we do a few simple things. Getting millions of people to do things, even if they are really simple things, has not always been easy – but that does not mean it’s impossible. I’m not going to get in trouble by comparing a country losing weight to ending slavery, but both required a movement in our culture’s attitude, a shift in our actions – I know that one is massively different from the other, but I’m just saying…history is riddled with movements that required millions upon millions of people to change the way they do things.  

So check out what Finland did & then consider how you play a role in the shift in our country. George Halvorson wrote an article detailing how “a decade ago the Finns were the country with the worst health in the western world, having the highest rate of heart disease mortality rate & having a majority who were overweight. They faced this problem as a country, & created a national ‘culture of health,’ by getting people revved & going on better eating, better food, more physical activity & a general understanding at every level of community – from high-level government to local city groups – that health should be a goal & a value.” 

Guess what happened? A decade later the Finns are 20% below the European averages for both obesity & heart disease. In only 10 years! While as a fitness pro, I would love to see this kind of reversal happen as quick as possible in the US- just like losing weight as fast as possible is not the way you’re going to keep it off- getting an entire country turned around on their ideas & values of health & fitness isn’t going to stick if we do the 3-day fat flush of our McDonalds’ & sedentary lifestyles. 

I’m going to hedge a bet that when the Finns got fit, other things in their life got better too. They probably started having more productive days because they had more energy, they probably started having better relationships because they weren’t cranky about their aches & pains since those were lessened as they got healthy & fit. They probably also started having better sex since their body image improved & they were more confident. Can anyone tell me why Americans wouldn’t want to have more productive, more friend-filled, more sex-filled lives? Anyone? Anyone at all?  Keep reading →

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November 16, 2009

Self- talk|How you think determines how you are

“It runs in my family.”     “People my age don’t really do that.”      ”That’s never been me.”positivity

Say it & it will be so. Wayne Dyer calls statements people make such as these, “mind viruses.” And they really are virus-like. They spread to the rest of your brain, your actions, your belief system & inoculate you with matching actions, thoughts about yourself & actions or non-actions.

I met a man last week in my work consulting with people about their health & fitness. He said that he listens to tons of music while he works in his study. When we discussed him getting out & walking or biking a few days a week to keep the heart disease he’s at risk for given his other medical conditions at bay, he told me that “people his age don’t really do the whole ‘download music, wear headphones & go out exercising.” He was 68. I told him I had to disagree with him on that statement, given that I could think of immediately think of 3 people who are 65, 67, & 75 who all download music & use ipods while exercising!

The age that you feel- the ability you think you have- are all dependant on how you see yourself. 68 is really not that old. Granted, some people will not have good health or good fortune that will allow them to live until 68 – but the vast majority of us could have health that takes us to 100 years old – and I’m talking coherent at 100, not sitting in a chair drooling on yourself at 100.

It is possible to live healthfully, but in America, it will require more vigilance over your healthy habits. There are populations all around the world that still have people who live well into their 90’s & who still do chores, run a household, ride bicycles, and carry on as if they were only 65 years young! The populations where this is not common are places where American lifestyles and eating habits have moved in. I hate to break it to any proud American, but study after study of “native” populations has shown that they have massively better health than Americans do…UNTIL American ways seep into the native cultures. Exactly at that time, rates of diabetes, heart disease, depression, and obesity sky rocket. Michael Pollan outlines this extensively in In Defense of Food, a “readers’ manifesto” that will show just how broken down we have made food & how most of what Americans eat is not, in fact, food. (*Sidenote: Probably my fave read of this year, if that helps you decide to read or listen via audiobook this one)

To have the chance at every opportunity available to you, you’ll need to harness the power of your thoughts. Keep reading →

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