Did you know that Outback Steakhouse's Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing has 2,900
calories? And 182 grams of fat? And that even if you split the appetizer with 3 other friends, your calories for your portion are equivalent to a complete meal?
Did you know that Macaroni Grill's Spaghetti with Meatballs and Meat Sauce weighs in at a whopping 2,430 calories, 128 gms fat, 207 gms carbs and 5,290 mg sodium? Consuming 2,400
calories for 1 day regularly would result in a significant weight gain for most women, let alone
consuming 2,400 calories in 1 meal.
Men's Health editor in chief David Zinczenko (with Matt Goulding) has written a fascinating book
called "Eat This, Not That" giving the calorie counts, fat, carb and sodium content of many restaurant foods. Zinczenko calls the Aussie Cheese Fries "the worst food in America".
Want to know the worse Chinese entree to eat? The worst pizza? The worst breakfast?
(yes, there is such a thing!). Well, take a look at this book and you may be appalled by what
you've been enjoying at your favorite restaurant. Very eye-opening.
It's not all bad news-Zinczenko also recommends healthier options and gives the calorie counts for those dishes as well. You can check out Zinczenko's top 20 Worst Foods at www.menshealth.com/eatthis Clink on the 20 worst foods in America. I like his book-he gives a dish he says to eat in place of a dish he says to avoid (eat this, not that). The choices are side by side and it's simple to compare the nutritional information of both dishes.
If you eat out a lot, you owe it to yourself (and to your body) to know what you are putting in your mouth. You may decide, on the basis of this information alone, to make some changes in your dining choices. I use to eat out multiple times a week. Going to a restaurant was a treat for me. I enjoyed being waited on, sitting at a table, reading a book or visiting with a friend while someone else prepared my food. Very lovely. However, having someone else prepare my food meant that I didn't know how it was prepared and with what. Predictably I was quite overweight. After losing the weight and now in maintenance mode, I avoid eating out. When I do, I think about where I go, what I order and the portion size. I don't drink alcohol or eat desserts so I am able to avoid a lot of calories there.
Consider the typical restaurant scenario for dinner: most folks will have a glass of wine or a cocktail, some kind of appetizer or salad, bread and butter, their main dish and maybe a second glass of wine, coffee and possibly dessert. That constitutes a massive amount of calories, fat, sodium, carbs and sugar and represents one meal. What else did these people eat that day? It takes about an hour of vigorous exercising to burn off 300-500 calories depending on what you're doing. That fictional meal I just described could easily translate into 2,000 calories on top of the other meals consumed that day. That's 4-6 hours of exercising to burn off one meal. Wow. No thanks.
Check out the link and/or the book. Fascinating and appalling.
In health,
Laura
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Breakfast, again
Do you know that the USDA Agricultural Research Service has determined that people who eat most of their food between 4PM and 8PM have higher cholesterol, higher blood pressure nad higer blood sugar levels than people who eat 3 meals a day?
Surprisingly, both groups consumed the same number of calories. The big differences were how
the calories were consumed and when.
The USDA also found that the folks eating the most calories at night felt hungrier and less satisfied during the day and that they often made poor food choices (high calorie, nutrient deficient) when they did eat.
I interpret this information to mean that the folks consuming the majority of their calories at night don't eat breakfast. It seems obvious to me that of course these people would feel
hungrier and less satisfied during the day. They're literally starving their bodies. Most likely
their blood sugar levels are crashing through the floor, they've dragged themeselves through their day and don't have the energy physically or mentally to make any kind of healthy choice
for dinner. Basically they're ravenous and they need calories NOW, immediately.
Other studies show that folks who skip breakfast carry excess weight to the point of obesity
than people who eat breakfast.
So I get on my breakfast soap box once again. What does your breakfast look like? Are you getting about 400-500 calories of balanced nutrients? Complex carbs? A little good fat? Protein? Fiber? You're all intelligent people. I trust you can figure out that eating a banana or a muffin does not equal a balanced meal.
What about this word: breakfast? How do you break a fast? By EATING!
If you don't eat breakfast regularly, please consider experimenting by eating some kind of small, balanced meal first thing in the morning. If eggs and bacon or a big bowl of cereal turns your stomach (literally) then consider something smaller (but still balanced please) and start there. Many choices exist. Give yourself permission to experiment: don't feel constrained to eat breakfast foods for breakfast. If eating a lunch or dinner type food seems appealing, then try that. I use to love eating cold pizza for breakfast. Many cultures eat what we may view as
non-breakfast type foods for their first meal of the day. Go by how your body feels.
Also think about your night-time eating habits. Do you wait until late in the afternoon or early
evening to eat the majority of your calories? If you do that, what kind of food choices are you making? Do you fall into the category of hungry, feed me now, your arm is looking mighty
appetizing?
We have enough stresses in our daily lives. What small, manageable choices can you make to healthily feed your body?
In health,
Laura
Surprisingly, both groups consumed the same number of calories. The big differences were how
the calories were consumed and when.
The USDA also found that the folks eating the most calories at night felt hungrier and less satisfied during the day and that they often made poor food choices (high calorie, nutrient deficient) when they did eat.
I interpret this information to mean that the folks consuming the majority of their calories at night don't eat breakfast. It seems obvious to me that of course these people would feel
hungrier and less satisfied during the day. They're literally starving their bodies. Most likely
their blood sugar levels are crashing through the floor, they've dragged themeselves through their day and don't have the energy physically or mentally to make any kind of healthy choice
for dinner. Basically they're ravenous and they need calories NOW, immediately.
Other studies show that folks who skip breakfast carry excess weight to the point of obesity
than people who eat breakfast.
So I get on my breakfast soap box once again. What does your breakfast look like? Are you getting about 400-500 calories of balanced nutrients? Complex carbs? A little good fat? Protein? Fiber? You're all intelligent people. I trust you can figure out that eating a banana or a muffin does not equal a balanced meal.
What about this word: breakfast? How do you break a fast? By EATING!
If you don't eat breakfast regularly, please consider experimenting by eating some kind of small, balanced meal first thing in the morning. If eggs and bacon or a big bowl of cereal turns your stomach (literally) then consider something smaller (but still balanced please) and start there. Many choices exist. Give yourself permission to experiment: don't feel constrained to eat breakfast foods for breakfast. If eating a lunch or dinner type food seems appealing, then try that. I use to love eating cold pizza for breakfast. Many cultures eat what we may view as
non-breakfast type foods for their first meal of the day. Go by how your body feels.
Also think about your night-time eating habits. Do you wait until late in the afternoon or early
evening to eat the majority of your calories? If you do that, what kind of food choices are you making? Do you fall into the category of hungry, feed me now, your arm is looking mighty
appetizing?
We have enough stresses in our daily lives. What small, manageable choices can you make to healthily feed your body?
In health,
Laura
Thoughts on Cardio Machines
What programs do you use on cardio machines?
Quick-start? Manual?
If the answer to my question is yes, please consider an interval/hill program. On the Life Fitness Elliptical (my favorite machine), I like the random program best. On the Precor machines, the cross country program is ok. The hill program on the Cybex Arc Trainer is an interval work-out too.
The reason I'm mentioning this is because if you have a fitness or weight loss goal, a flat line program like quick-start or manual is not going to help you achieve your goal. Interval training has been shown to be the most effective way to improve your cardiovascular health and boost your metabolism (i.e. burn calories).
Watch your speed and notice whether you speed up on the valleys and slow down on the hills. This is a typical human reaction to varying work-load. One way of working is to keep your speed constant regardless of the work-load. It's one way, not necessarily the only way.
Remember variety is the spice of life (and exercising!).
If you have a weight loss goal or you're a numbers guy (or girl like me), the calorie counts on these machines are not accurate. As I mentioned in a previous post, the totals can be off (too
high) by hundreds of calories depending on how long you were on the machine.
Likewise for the heart rate monitors contained in the machine. If you really want to know your heart rate and your calorie expenditure, please invest in a good heart rate monitor. My trainer asked me to buy one for years and I'm sorry to say it took me until not so long ago to follow her advice. It was, and is, excellent advice and I use my HR monitor constantly now. It's a valuable tool to evaluate the effectiveness of my exercising both at that moment in time and
over a longer period.
In health,
Laura
Quick-start? Manual?
If the answer to my question is yes, please consider an interval/hill program. On the Life Fitness Elliptical (my favorite machine), I like the random program best. On the Precor machines, the cross country program is ok. The hill program on the Cybex Arc Trainer is an interval work-out too.
The reason I'm mentioning this is because if you have a fitness or weight loss goal, a flat line program like quick-start or manual is not going to help you achieve your goal. Interval training has been shown to be the most effective way to improve your cardiovascular health and boost your metabolism (i.e. burn calories).
Watch your speed and notice whether you speed up on the valleys and slow down on the hills. This is a typical human reaction to varying work-load. One way of working is to keep your speed constant regardless of the work-load. It's one way, not necessarily the only way.
Remember variety is the spice of life (and exercising!).
If you have a weight loss goal or you're a numbers guy (or girl like me), the calorie counts on these machines are not accurate. As I mentioned in a previous post, the totals can be off (too
high) by hundreds of calories depending on how long you were on the machine.
Likewise for the heart rate monitors contained in the machine. If you really want to know your heart rate and your calorie expenditure, please invest in a good heart rate monitor. My trainer asked me to buy one for years and I'm sorry to say it took me until not so long ago to follow her advice. It was, and is, excellent advice and I use my HR monitor constantly now. It's a valuable tool to evaluate the effectiveness of my exercising both at that moment in time and
over a longer period.
In health,
Laura
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Self Care Part 3
How do you train yourself? More importantly, how do you train yourself so that your exercise routine is safe, effective and intelligent?
People come to their exercise routines through various means: magazines, books, classes, personal training, watching people in the gym, taught by a family member, etc. There's lots of ways to learn and all of them can be useful and effective.
Unfortunately a lot of the information is useless or worse, harmful.
Sometimes the information is just plain incorrect but sometimes it's the wrong information used by the wrong person in the wrong way at the wrong time.
A personal comment: I've been on both sides. I've been a gym member for years (just joined another one this week), a personal training client on and off for years and a groupie extraordinaire of 1 particular group fitness instructor. I'm also a personal trainer, Bootcamp and Group Fitness instructor. As a gym member and client, I made many mistakes causing me significant pain and injury. As a fitness professional, I'm vigilant about keeping my clients safe and injury-free.
How does this help you? I think the ingredient often missing is wisdom. How well do you know yourself? Do you listen to your body? Are you present when you work-out (or in life even)? Answering these questions will go a long way towards helping you get the most of your exercising.
When I work with someone, whether it's a brand new member or a long term client, I look at how they use themselves, how they live in their bodies and what mental ideas they have about
themselves and exercising. Of course I want to know their health and medical background and whether they've had an injury or perhaps have a chronic condition. What are their physical limitations? And sometimes more importantly, what are their mental and emotional limitations?
I am a bear on form. I want to see certain biomechanical principles in action in the most effective way possible for a specific client. I recognize that every body is different and my clients won't necessarily look like the picture I have in my head of how I want an exercise performed. Many people have the similiar patterns of ineffective use of self.
For instance, some clients elevate the tops of their shoulders when they do upper body weight training. That is a no-no. Elevating the tops of the shoulders does not permit the proper muscles to work effectively when doing upper body weight training. However, lifting shoulders is also a common response to stress in our society particularly among women. I look for how clients and class members use their upper bodies, especially the area around their collarbones, front and back. If I have a client who lifts their shoulders and can't stop, I discontinue the exercise and work with them instead around developing more sensitivity to their upper back area. Why would I have them continue to do an exercise like a row or an assisted pull-up incorrectly? If they are not able to control their upper back, my job is to teach them how. Then they can go back to the other exercise and execute it properly. This process takes as long as it takes-days, weeks, whatever. I work towards reeducating their body to function at a higher, more optimal level. Some clients find that their neck and back pain diminishes significantly as a result.
I have a list in my brain of things I look for in people. Here's another example: most folks sit at a desk for work. Therefore they often slump, rounding their upper backs and rolling their shoulders forward. Ultimately this posture or use of self affects every function in their bodies. I am quite interested in teaching them how to change this. Especially since they will again be sitting at their desks tomorrow and most likely they will return to their original posture without even consciously recognizing it. Body positions affect emotions and emotions affect body positions. A slumped over position is not conducive to a happy, positive emotional state. Try it yourself and see. Fitness professionals often expound on the emotional benefits of exercise.
How about that effective use of self helps promote more positive emotional states? Interesting idea and not so far-fetched.
While we associate exercise with physical movement, exercise is also about intention and how you use yourself. You are either your own best friend or your own worse enemy. This is true for exercising as well as every other area of your life. All strengths (mental or physical) are weaknesses in other circumstances. Every weakness is a strength in a different situation. Yes, this sounds like a koan. Ponder the ideas for awhile. If your head starts to spin, sit down and ponder more.
I spend a lot of time evaluating which exercise is appropriate for each client and why. What are their goals? Where are they at right now, today-physically, mentally and emotionally?
How often do you evaluate what you are doing and why? What kind of wisdom do you bring to your life? We frequently are more perceptive about our friends and family than we are about ourselves. It's so much easier to see a quality (positive or negative) in someone else than to recognize it in ourselves. That's why another set of ears, ears and another brain is so worth-while, be it a best friend or a personal trainer.
I have many tools in my toolbox to help clients achieve their health and fitness goals. If you only have a hammer, you'll see a world comprised of only nails.
In health,
Laura
People come to their exercise routines through various means: magazines, books, classes, personal training, watching people in the gym, taught by a family member, etc. There's lots of ways to learn and all of them can be useful and effective.
Unfortunately a lot of the information is useless or worse, harmful.
Sometimes the information is just plain incorrect but sometimes it's the wrong information used by the wrong person in the wrong way at the wrong time.
A personal comment: I've been on both sides. I've been a gym member for years (just joined another one this week), a personal training client on and off for years and a groupie extraordinaire of 1 particular group fitness instructor. I'm also a personal trainer, Bootcamp and Group Fitness instructor. As a gym member and client, I made many mistakes causing me significant pain and injury. As a fitness professional, I'm vigilant about keeping my clients safe and injury-free.
How does this help you? I think the ingredient often missing is wisdom. How well do you know yourself? Do you listen to your body? Are you present when you work-out (or in life even)? Answering these questions will go a long way towards helping you get the most of your exercising.
When I work with someone, whether it's a brand new member or a long term client, I look at how they use themselves, how they live in their bodies and what mental ideas they have about
themselves and exercising. Of course I want to know their health and medical background and whether they've had an injury or perhaps have a chronic condition. What are their physical limitations? And sometimes more importantly, what are their mental and emotional limitations?
I am a bear on form. I want to see certain biomechanical principles in action in the most effective way possible for a specific client. I recognize that every body is different and my clients won't necessarily look like the picture I have in my head of how I want an exercise performed. Many people have the similiar patterns of ineffective use of self.
For instance, some clients elevate the tops of their shoulders when they do upper body weight training. That is a no-no. Elevating the tops of the shoulders does not permit the proper muscles to work effectively when doing upper body weight training. However, lifting shoulders is also a common response to stress in our society particularly among women. I look for how clients and class members use their upper bodies, especially the area around their collarbones, front and back. If I have a client who lifts their shoulders and can't stop, I discontinue the exercise and work with them instead around developing more sensitivity to their upper back area. Why would I have them continue to do an exercise like a row or an assisted pull-up incorrectly? If they are not able to control their upper back, my job is to teach them how. Then they can go back to the other exercise and execute it properly. This process takes as long as it takes-days, weeks, whatever. I work towards reeducating their body to function at a higher, more optimal level. Some clients find that their neck and back pain diminishes significantly as a result.
I have a list in my brain of things I look for in people. Here's another example: most folks sit at a desk for work. Therefore they often slump, rounding their upper backs and rolling their shoulders forward. Ultimately this posture or use of self affects every function in their bodies. I am quite interested in teaching them how to change this. Especially since they will again be sitting at their desks tomorrow and most likely they will return to their original posture without even consciously recognizing it. Body positions affect emotions and emotions affect body positions. A slumped over position is not conducive to a happy, positive emotional state. Try it yourself and see. Fitness professionals often expound on the emotional benefits of exercise.
How about that effective use of self helps promote more positive emotional states? Interesting idea and not so far-fetched.
While we associate exercise with physical movement, exercise is also about intention and how you use yourself. You are either your own best friend or your own worse enemy. This is true for exercising as well as every other area of your life. All strengths (mental or physical) are weaknesses in other circumstances. Every weakness is a strength in a different situation. Yes, this sounds like a koan. Ponder the ideas for awhile. If your head starts to spin, sit down and ponder more.
I spend a lot of time evaluating which exercise is appropriate for each client and why. What are their goals? Where are they at right now, today-physically, mentally and emotionally?
How often do you evaluate what you are doing and why? What kind of wisdom do you bring to your life? We frequently are more perceptive about our friends and family than we are about ourselves. It's so much easier to see a quality (positive or negative) in someone else than to recognize it in ourselves. That's why another set of ears, ears and another brain is so worth-while, be it a best friend or a personal trainer.
I have many tools in my toolbox to help clients achieve their health and fitness goals. If you only have a hammer, you'll see a world comprised of only nails.
In health,
Laura
Calories count
I found a great definition of a calorie in a health magazine recently and thought I'd share it with you: a calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius.
Ohhh, I can already tell that you're fascinated. Me too.
Not.
Let's try again: a calorie is the amount of energy in food which your body can use. In the digestive process, nutrients in food are converted to glucose (your brain LOVES glucose!) and used to fuel body functions.
Some nutritionists are fond of saying that regulating weight is a simple matter of "calories in, calories out". This means that your intake of energy, i.e. the food you eat, is balanced by your out-put, i.e. the energy your body expends maintaining itself (also known as basal metabolic or the less strict definition resting metabolic rate) as well as any energy expended through exercise. Remember that calories equal energy at a fundamental form, so the exercising you do represents calories expended.
Following this logic, you maintain your weight if your caloric intake and energy output are equally matched. You lose weight if your caloric intake is less than your energy output. And you gain weight if your caloric intake is higher than your energy output. Unfortunately in our Supersize, 1 portion feeds a family of 5 society, that possibility is all too common.
As an aside, you can have your RMR tested. I did and found it to be useful information. Your RMR is more or less the number of calories your body needs to sustain itself on a daily basis. Then you can look at the number of calories you ingest each day plus the amount of exercise you get. All of this together will give you a good idea of whether your current food and exercise plan
supports your weight goals. You can have your RMR tested for a fee at San Francisco Bay Health's Optimum Health Center. There are other places in the Bay area where you can also have this done.
I won't comment here on whether or not I buy into the calories in, calories out formula. There is hard science underpinning the concept so let's take the statement at face value. It is very easy to inhale a 300 calorie slice of cake (or bag of potato chips) and very time consuming to burn it off running on the treadmill, swimming, walking or on the elliptical. At 10 calories a minute, a pretty good clip, that's 30 minutes.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but don't take the calorie counts on those machines as gospel. Those totals are off by a considerable margin if you are not the model human being on which the algorithm was based. Most of us are not in the center of the bell curve here. I wear a heart rate monitor which computes calories expended and rest assured that my totals based on the machine and based on my HRM are often hundreds (!!!!) of calories different. Bottom line: the machines read high (that's false high). Second bottom line: if you've worked out for 30 minutes and the machine reads 300 calories, deduct a quarter to a third. That's more likely your real expenditure, particularly if you're a normal weight woman. Hey, don't shoot the messenger!
Knowledge is power, remember? Maybe next time, you'll have half the slice of cake or the glass of wine.
By the way, it was a woman who came up with the calories in, calories out mantra. Dr. Lulu Hunt Peters wrote a book on calorie counting published in 1918 which became a national bestseller in 1923. I guess it was a lulu of a book!
Sorry, that was way too tempting.
:)
In health,
Laura
Ohhh, I can already tell that you're fascinated. Me too.
Not.
Let's try again: a calorie is the amount of energy in food which your body can use. In the digestive process, nutrients in food are converted to glucose (your brain LOVES glucose!) and used to fuel body functions.
Some nutritionists are fond of saying that regulating weight is a simple matter of "calories in, calories out". This means that your intake of energy, i.e. the food you eat, is balanced by your out-put, i.e. the energy your body expends maintaining itself (also known as basal metabolic or the less strict definition resting metabolic rate) as well as any energy expended through exercise. Remember that calories equal energy at a fundamental form, so the exercising you do represents calories expended.
Following this logic, you maintain your weight if your caloric intake and energy output are equally matched. You lose weight if your caloric intake is less than your energy output. And you gain weight if your caloric intake is higher than your energy output. Unfortunately in our Supersize, 1 portion feeds a family of 5 society, that possibility is all too common.
As an aside, you can have your RMR tested. I did and found it to be useful information. Your RMR is more or less the number of calories your body needs to sustain itself on a daily basis. Then you can look at the number of calories you ingest each day plus the amount of exercise you get. All of this together will give you a good idea of whether your current food and exercise plan
supports your weight goals. You can have your RMR tested for a fee at San Francisco Bay Health's Optimum Health Center. There are other places in the Bay area where you can also have this done.
I won't comment here on whether or not I buy into the calories in, calories out formula. There is hard science underpinning the concept so let's take the statement at face value. It is very easy to inhale a 300 calorie slice of cake (or bag of potato chips) and very time consuming to burn it off running on the treadmill, swimming, walking or on the elliptical. At 10 calories a minute, a pretty good clip, that's 30 minutes.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but don't take the calorie counts on those machines as gospel. Those totals are off by a considerable margin if you are not the model human being on which the algorithm was based. Most of us are not in the center of the bell curve here. I wear a heart rate monitor which computes calories expended and rest assured that my totals based on the machine and based on my HRM are often hundreds (!!!!) of calories different. Bottom line: the machines read high (that's false high). Second bottom line: if you've worked out for 30 minutes and the machine reads 300 calories, deduct a quarter to a third. That's more likely your real expenditure, particularly if you're a normal weight woman. Hey, don't shoot the messenger!
Knowledge is power, remember? Maybe next time, you'll have half the slice of cake or the glass of wine.
By the way, it was a woman who came up with the calories in, calories out mantra. Dr. Lulu Hunt Peters wrote a book on calorie counting published in 1918 which became a national bestseller in 1923. I guess it was a lulu of a book!
Sorry, that was way too tempting.
:)
In health,
Laura
Monday, August 11, 2008
Movie Recommendation
Ok, this has nothing to do with fitness!
However it might bring a smile to your face.
:)
I saw "Mamma Mia" last week and loved it. Meryl Streep is fabulous, the scenery spectacular (can't beat the Greek Islands in the summertime) and Pierce Brosnan's still looking pretty yummy. Does anyone besides me remember him from the TV show "Remington Steele"?
Yes, yes, the plot is thin at best, the ages and timelines are all off and it's fluff-bubblegum and cotton candy. There's a real Greek chorus (seriously). And the feel-good happy ending is a definite stretch.
I grew up with ABBA. Boy does that date me! It's fun to hear the songs again. And while the ending was a little silly, the notion that you can get a second chance at love is captivating.
Meryl Streep has a beautiful voice and her voice quality (in my opinion) appropriate for the songs. The young female lead also has a nice voice and is the right fit for her songs. Listen to her sing "I have a dream" and see if you agree. Haunting. The friendships between the adult women are a hoot as well as their performances as "Donna and the Dynamos". For you Harry Potter devotees, note that Julie Walters (Mrs. Weasley) plays one of Donna's best friends.
Additionally, Meryl Streep was 57-58 years old when she filmed this movie. Donna, the character she plays, is about 40'ish, give or take, in the movie. Donna has a 20 year old daughter and gave birth as a young woman, probably in her early 20's. Ms. Streep is a good 15 years older than the character she plays. Well, bravo to Hollywood for casting her. We often lament the lack of roles (in the film industry as well as other walks of life) for mature women. Meryl looks wonderful and her body movements are exactly what you would expect from a grown-up hippie living as an independent woman and inn-keeper in Greece.
Go see the movie! And have fun.
In health,
Laura
However it might bring a smile to your face.
:)
I saw "Mamma Mia" last week and loved it. Meryl Streep is fabulous, the scenery spectacular (can't beat the Greek Islands in the summertime) and Pierce Brosnan's still looking pretty yummy. Does anyone besides me remember him from the TV show "Remington Steele"?
Yes, yes, the plot is thin at best, the ages and timelines are all off and it's fluff-bubblegum and cotton candy. There's a real Greek chorus (seriously). And the feel-good happy ending is a definite stretch.
I grew up with ABBA. Boy does that date me! It's fun to hear the songs again. And while the ending was a little silly, the notion that you can get a second chance at love is captivating.
Meryl Streep has a beautiful voice and her voice quality (in my opinion) appropriate for the songs. The young female lead also has a nice voice and is the right fit for her songs. Listen to her sing "I have a dream" and see if you agree. Haunting. The friendships between the adult women are a hoot as well as their performances as "Donna and the Dynamos". For you Harry Potter devotees, note that Julie Walters (Mrs. Weasley) plays one of Donna's best friends.
Additionally, Meryl Streep was 57-58 years old when she filmed this movie. Donna, the character she plays, is about 40'ish, give or take, in the movie. Donna has a 20 year old daughter and gave birth as a young woman, probably in her early 20's. Ms. Streep is a good 15 years older than the character she plays. Well, bravo to Hollywood for casting her. We often lament the lack of roles (in the film industry as well as other walks of life) for mature women. Meryl looks wonderful and her body movements are exactly what you would expect from a grown-up hippie living as an independent woman and inn-keeper in Greece.
Go see the movie! And have fun.
In health,
Laura
Self Care Part 2
How do you balance working out at an intense enough pace for maximum effectiveness with knowing when to stop so you don't over-do and possibly injure yourself?
Someone asked me this question a couple of weeks ago. Specifically they wanted to know how to maximize their exercise routine while preventing injuries. I had a hard time wrapping my brain around this idea. If you don't presently have an injury, why are you setting up a mental construct seeking to prevent something from happening? If it doesn't exist, you don't need a structure in your life to prevent it. The whole idea seems backwards. What you want is a mental construct which maintains health and well-being.
As much as we may deny it or live in fear of it, change happens all the time, every day and every way in your life. Your body is no different. So the exercising you did yesterday changed your body. I think rather than asking how do you prevent injuries, the better question is what is your body saying right now? Does it want sleep? Does it want stretching? Does it want more food, different food, no food? I had a client say to me that last week was a red meat week. She had a craving for meat, which she normally doesn't eat. Because she is attuned to her body, she noticed the message and had a couple of servings of meat and felt better.
Like balance (see previous posting), health and well-being is a dynamic, fluid state. If you seek to be one thing, one way, one feeling, one mood, you're in for a rough ride. If you seek to exercise a certain way, at a certain intensity, so many days a week for the rest of your life, you're in trouble and headed for an injury, mental fatigue and physical exhaustion. You change on a second by second basis, you just don't notice it. If you doubt me, ask the people around you! Could be an interesting experiment.
Yes, we all know people who do the same exercises in the same way for 30 years (runners come to mind), however I would suggest that they are not necessarily fit and healthy. I was married to a 5 day a week runner who had the same exercise routine for the entire length of our marriage. He had significant back issues, no flexibility, high blood pressure and was easily 60 lbs overweight. Maybe his running forestalled more serious health issues like a major stroke or heart attack. Hard to know. What I do know is that he would have benefitted greatly from switching up his exercise routine on a regular basis.
In addition to spicing up your exercise routine, you have to listen to your body. This is crucial since you will get the information you need on how to tweak things. Your body talks to you all the time. It will tell you if and when you need to change up your routine. It will even tell you how if you listen closely enough. And don't tell me that YOUR body doesn't talk. Of course it's talking, you're not listening!
I've been preaching for awhile that changing your exercise routine is a positive thing. If you aren't proactive, your body will let you know in a fairly obvious way whether or not the routine is still working for you. However, by then, you may already be sliding down the slippery slope of little nagging injuries or poor meal choices or not enough sleep.
The fact that this person asked me a question about injury prevention already indicates to me that something is amiss. It's the way the question is phrased. Certainly I don't want any of my clients to get injured. When I'm training them, I'm focused on giving them safe, effective exercises which help them achieve their personal goals as well as improves their overall health and well-being. This is a different mind-set than preventing injuries.
We all live in this amazing creation called a physical body. We are the caretaker, the shepherd,
the captain of the ship. Our bodies generally require so little attention from us. It breathes without our help, it digests and moves and feels the warm August heat on our skin. If we had to consciously think of every single action which keeps our bodies functioning, it would be impossible. Yet, when our bodies ask for something (rest, food, massage, movement) are we listening? Are you listening to your body?
In health,
Laura
Someone asked me this question a couple of weeks ago. Specifically they wanted to know how to maximize their exercise routine while preventing injuries. I had a hard time wrapping my brain around this idea. If you don't presently have an injury, why are you setting up a mental construct seeking to prevent something from happening? If it doesn't exist, you don't need a structure in your life to prevent it. The whole idea seems backwards. What you want is a mental construct which maintains health and well-being.
As much as we may deny it or live in fear of it, change happens all the time, every day and every way in your life. Your body is no different. So the exercising you did yesterday changed your body. I think rather than asking how do you prevent injuries, the better question is what is your body saying right now? Does it want sleep? Does it want stretching? Does it want more food, different food, no food? I had a client say to me that last week was a red meat week. She had a craving for meat, which she normally doesn't eat. Because she is attuned to her body, she noticed the message and had a couple of servings of meat and felt better.
Like balance (see previous posting), health and well-being is a dynamic, fluid state. If you seek to be one thing, one way, one feeling, one mood, you're in for a rough ride. If you seek to exercise a certain way, at a certain intensity, so many days a week for the rest of your life, you're in trouble and headed for an injury, mental fatigue and physical exhaustion. You change on a second by second basis, you just don't notice it. If you doubt me, ask the people around you! Could be an interesting experiment.
Yes, we all know people who do the same exercises in the same way for 30 years (runners come to mind), however I would suggest that they are not necessarily fit and healthy. I was married to a 5 day a week runner who had the same exercise routine for the entire length of our marriage. He had significant back issues, no flexibility, high blood pressure and was easily 60 lbs overweight. Maybe his running forestalled more serious health issues like a major stroke or heart attack. Hard to know. What I do know is that he would have benefitted greatly from switching up his exercise routine on a regular basis.
In addition to spicing up your exercise routine, you have to listen to your body. This is crucial since you will get the information you need on how to tweak things. Your body talks to you all the time. It will tell you if and when you need to change up your routine. It will even tell you how if you listen closely enough. And don't tell me that YOUR body doesn't talk. Of course it's talking, you're not listening!
I've been preaching for awhile that changing your exercise routine is a positive thing. If you aren't proactive, your body will let you know in a fairly obvious way whether or not the routine is still working for you. However, by then, you may already be sliding down the slippery slope of little nagging injuries or poor meal choices or not enough sleep.
The fact that this person asked me a question about injury prevention already indicates to me that something is amiss. It's the way the question is phrased. Certainly I don't want any of my clients to get injured. When I'm training them, I'm focused on giving them safe, effective exercises which help them achieve their personal goals as well as improves their overall health and well-being. This is a different mind-set than preventing injuries.
We all live in this amazing creation called a physical body. We are the caretaker, the shepherd,
the captain of the ship. Our bodies generally require so little attention from us. It breathes without our help, it digests and moves and feels the warm August heat on our skin. If we had to consciously think of every single action which keeps our bodies functioning, it would be impossible. Yet, when our bodies ask for something (rest, food, massage, movement) are we listening? Are you listening to your body?
In health,
Laura
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Self Care Part 1
I see all kinds of folks at my club. Folks who sincerely want to improve their health and fitness as well as folks who have been told to improve their health and fitness by health care professionals and/or family members. They start working out, they evaluate their food/alcohol intake, they stop smoking, they get more sleep, they reduce the stress in their life. In short, they decide that in order to feel better, they have to make positive changes in their lives, that is, they have to do, think and be different.
Then there are the folks who do the same fitness routine they had since they were 16. They continue to make bad food choices, drink regularly and/or excessively, smoke, don't get enough sleep and often are under great stress from their daily lives. These folks wonder why they feel like crap and are always tired, lethargic and unhappy. Instead of looking at the current circumstances of their lives and deciding to make necessary changes, they become further entrenched in patterns which haven't worked in years.
You know these folks: in the gym, they have a set routine, done in the same way at the same tempo usually at the same time of day. They're hard to miss-you can find them on the treadmill. Usually they're either walking at a fast speed and think flat is only thing the machine can do (wrong) or they've cranked up the incline to the highest level and are hanging on to the treadmill for dear life. On the elliptical, these folks often look like they're taking a walk in the park, promenading here and there or worse, reading a newspaper, magazine or book. Do you ever see these people breaking a sweat or huffing and puffing?
Their weight training routines are even scarier: a 100 bench presses, 500 bicep curls, leg presses with 10 plates on each side, 700 push-ups, and a 1,000 crazy full body sit-ups. I'm only exaggerating a little. Do they only train the front of their bodies: chest, biceps, abs, quads because that's what they can see in the mirror? Scary, very scary. "Pumping" iron is a mild term-they sound and look like they're pushing 100 tons of steel with every repetition. Their ab work consists solely of full body sit-ups where they wrench themselves to their knees by wildly flinging their backs up to the ceiling. Momentum is their favorite word for lifting in addition to fast (the same in my book). There's no precision, no attention to detail, no thoughtfulness or presence to what they're doing. It's up, down, up, down, up, down, grunt, groan, moan, complain, whine. Add water, repeat.
They don't stretch (that's for sissies and besides they've "never had an injury and don't need to stretch"), they don't use props like physio balls, BOSU's or medicine balls (that's for girly girls), they would never, ever entertain the idea of a class (goodness, class? that's a dirty word). As for hiring a trainer? Are you joking? Heaven forbid, a trainer just might evaluate their program or horrors of horrors, a trainer might give them new exercises and/or change their routine. In short, these people want to continue to do the same thing over and over but magically get different results. There's a name for that. It's called:
INSANITY.
Do you see yourself in any of this? If you do, it's ok, we've all been there in some form or other. The important thing is that if you do see yourself, you identify your patterns and move through them.
How? Fair question.
I've been advocating change for the last couple of posts. I gave you all a challenge for August: change your exercise routine. I gave you some ideas on how to do that, such as mixing up cardio routines, switching machines, changing your weight training, adding a class, hiring a trainer.
I shared my own ideas for myself with you: I've been to two yoga classes, went swimming and took a "Stiletto Camp" class (don't ask) in the last week. I'm swimming again tomorrow as well as taking another class with a different instructor.
Here's another idea for you: I suggest that you evaluate each of your work-out components separately. What are you doing for your cardio? How is what you're doing today different that what you've been doing for the last 3 months?
I asked a client that very question today. Her reply was beautiful: "well, I got a stationary bike from my parents' house 3 weeks ago and I've been riding it a couple times a week". I was ecstatic! Good job! This is EXACTLY what I'm talking about. 10 brownie points for her.
What new class could you try? If you haven't tried yoga, give it a go. Likewise for Pilates or for bootcamp or for kickboxing or for step class or for any number of other possibilities. Of course, do this within reason. If you have a leg injury, now is not the time to start running on concrete or hopping around like a jack rabbit (that's jack rabbit, not the OTHER kind of animal which starts with jack). If you haven't been to an exercise class in awhile, don't try 5 new ones in a week. Read my lips: bad idea. And if you do that, no complaining to me when you can't sit down for a month.
How do you change your weight training? You can get ideas from the Web, look at magazines or buy a book on weight training. Lest you think that you'll be training some new exotic muscles that you never knew you had, the premise to changing up your weight training is to train THE SAME MUSCLES IN DIFFERENT WAYS. Different can mean a whole host of things-introducing an unstable surface like Swiss ball, BOSU, balance board or using a different machine to train such as swapping out dumbbell exercises for cable ones or using bodyweight exercises instead of machines. Choices abound! Kind of like a great buffet: food is still food but oh the variety! mmmmm........ oops, I digress, a little distracted with all the possibilities of changing your weight training. Ha, and you thought I was distracted by the idea of a great buffet. Nah...
Here's another obvious answer: hire a personal trainer.
Yes, yes, I'm prejudiced and I have an agenda. I know. After all, I am a personal trainer! Let's get that right out on the table. But listen, when you hire a personal trainer, he/she is responsible for creating your program. And you get their eyes and brain trained on YOU! You do the exercises and your trainer watches you and helps you perform the exercises correctly. They may say things like "hey you just raised your right shoulder" or "I think that weight can be heavier, looks kind of easy for you" or "watch your back, pull your abs in and drop your weight into your legs by bending your knees slightly" or even better "do you know how fantasic your muscles look?" Gotta love that one!
A good trainer is worth their weight in gold. (this is my very biased opinion-full disclosure, remember?) The definition of good varies. Basically you get to define what good means for you. Tips for choosing a trainer is another post, which I'm happy to write if you're interested. What I will say here is that the nature of the relationship between trainer and client is very intimate (in a professional sense) so choose wisely. Know yourself and go with your gut. The best trainer/client relationships are based on trust, safety and communication much like the best relationships in life.
You don't have to hire a trainer to have an effective exercise routine, however, having a second pair of eyes and another brain can help enormously. It's your body, your life, your choice.
And by the way, you wear your choices. Anyone with half a brain can see what internal decisions you make because your outer/external self is a manifestation of those internal decisions. Therefore, if you abuse yourself, people can see those choices in you; if you care for yourself well, those decisions are equally reflected in every aspect of your spirit, mind and body.
So what's it going to be? What kind of folk are you? In denial and in an exercise rut or actively making new, different, positive choices to move towards your health and fitness goals?
In health and off to "Butt Lift and Tummy Tuck" class soon (where do they come up with these names?????),
Laura
Then there are the folks who do the same fitness routine they had since they were 16. They continue to make bad food choices, drink regularly and/or excessively, smoke, don't get enough sleep and often are under great stress from their daily lives. These folks wonder why they feel like crap and are always tired, lethargic and unhappy. Instead of looking at the current circumstances of their lives and deciding to make necessary changes, they become further entrenched in patterns which haven't worked in years.
You know these folks: in the gym, they have a set routine, done in the same way at the same tempo usually at the same time of day. They're hard to miss-you can find them on the treadmill. Usually they're either walking at a fast speed and think flat is only thing the machine can do (wrong) or they've cranked up the incline to the highest level and are hanging on to the treadmill for dear life. On the elliptical, these folks often look like they're taking a walk in the park, promenading here and there or worse, reading a newspaper, magazine or book. Do you ever see these people breaking a sweat or huffing and puffing?
Their weight training routines are even scarier: a 100 bench presses, 500 bicep curls, leg presses with 10 plates on each side, 700 push-ups, and a 1,000 crazy full body sit-ups. I'm only exaggerating a little. Do they only train the front of their bodies: chest, biceps, abs, quads because that's what they can see in the mirror? Scary, very scary. "Pumping" iron is a mild term-they sound and look like they're pushing 100 tons of steel with every repetition. Their ab work consists solely of full body sit-ups where they wrench themselves to their knees by wildly flinging their backs up to the ceiling. Momentum is their favorite word for lifting in addition to fast (the same in my book). There's no precision, no attention to detail, no thoughtfulness or presence to what they're doing. It's up, down, up, down, up, down, grunt, groan, moan, complain, whine. Add water, repeat.
They don't stretch (that's for sissies and besides they've "never had an injury and don't need to stretch"), they don't use props like physio balls, BOSU's or medicine balls (that's for girly girls), they would never, ever entertain the idea of a class (goodness, class? that's a dirty word). As for hiring a trainer? Are you joking? Heaven forbid, a trainer just might evaluate their program or horrors of horrors, a trainer might give them new exercises and/or change their routine. In short, these people want to continue to do the same thing over and over but magically get different results. There's a name for that. It's called:
INSANITY.
Do you see yourself in any of this? If you do, it's ok, we've all been there in some form or other. The important thing is that if you do see yourself, you identify your patterns and move through them.
How? Fair question.
I've been advocating change for the last couple of posts. I gave you all a challenge for August: change your exercise routine. I gave you some ideas on how to do that, such as mixing up cardio routines, switching machines, changing your weight training, adding a class, hiring a trainer.
I shared my own ideas for myself with you: I've been to two yoga classes, went swimming and took a "Stiletto Camp" class (don't ask) in the last week. I'm swimming again tomorrow as well as taking another class with a different instructor.
Here's another idea for you: I suggest that you evaluate each of your work-out components separately. What are you doing for your cardio? How is what you're doing today different that what you've been doing for the last 3 months?
I asked a client that very question today. Her reply was beautiful: "well, I got a stationary bike from my parents' house 3 weeks ago and I've been riding it a couple times a week". I was ecstatic! Good job! This is EXACTLY what I'm talking about. 10 brownie points for her.
What new class could you try? If you haven't tried yoga, give it a go. Likewise for Pilates or for bootcamp or for kickboxing or for step class or for any number of other possibilities. Of course, do this within reason. If you have a leg injury, now is not the time to start running on concrete or hopping around like a jack rabbit (that's jack rabbit, not the OTHER kind of animal which starts with jack). If you haven't been to an exercise class in awhile, don't try 5 new ones in a week. Read my lips: bad idea. And if you do that, no complaining to me when you can't sit down for a month.
How do you change your weight training? You can get ideas from the Web, look at magazines or buy a book on weight training. Lest you think that you'll be training some new exotic muscles that you never knew you had, the premise to changing up your weight training is to train THE SAME MUSCLES IN DIFFERENT WAYS. Different can mean a whole host of things-introducing an unstable surface like Swiss ball, BOSU, balance board or using a different machine to train such as swapping out dumbbell exercises for cable ones or using bodyweight exercises instead of machines. Choices abound! Kind of like a great buffet: food is still food but oh the variety! mmmmm........ oops, I digress, a little distracted with all the possibilities of changing your weight training. Ha, and you thought I was distracted by the idea of a great buffet. Nah...
Here's another obvious answer: hire a personal trainer.
Yes, yes, I'm prejudiced and I have an agenda. I know. After all, I am a personal trainer! Let's get that right out on the table. But listen, when you hire a personal trainer, he/she is responsible for creating your program. And you get their eyes and brain trained on YOU! You do the exercises and your trainer watches you and helps you perform the exercises correctly. They may say things like "hey you just raised your right shoulder" or "I think that weight can be heavier, looks kind of easy for you" or "watch your back, pull your abs in and drop your weight into your legs by bending your knees slightly" or even better "do you know how fantasic your muscles look?" Gotta love that one!
A good trainer is worth their weight in gold. (this is my very biased opinion-full disclosure, remember?) The definition of good varies. Basically you get to define what good means for you. Tips for choosing a trainer is another post, which I'm happy to write if you're interested. What I will say here is that the nature of the relationship between trainer and client is very intimate (in a professional sense) so choose wisely. Know yourself and go with your gut. The best trainer/client relationships are based on trust, safety and communication much like the best relationships in life.
You don't have to hire a trainer to have an effective exercise routine, however, having a second pair of eyes and another brain can help enormously. It's your body, your life, your choice.
And by the way, you wear your choices. Anyone with half a brain can see what internal decisions you make because your outer/external self is a manifestation of those internal decisions. Therefore, if you abuse yourself, people can see those choices in you; if you care for yourself well, those decisions are equally reflected in every aspect of your spirit, mind and body.
So what's it going to be? What kind of folk are you? In denial and in an exercise rut or actively making new, different, positive choices to move towards your health and fitness goals?
In health and off to "Butt Lift and Tummy Tuck" class soon (where do they come up with these names?????),
Laura
Monday, August 4, 2008
Laura's 6 words of wisdom
I had a Jr. High School principal who, when he got annoyed with his students, use to say, waving his index finger at us for extra emphasis, "a word to the wise should be sufficient". He must have been annoyed quite a lot and I guess we weren't very wise since I remember him often making that comment.
I don't recall where I found these ideas and therefore don't take credit for them but here are 6 words (5 more than my principal's!) which have been extremely helpful to me in life:
Ask questions
Talk less
Listen more
In health and happy from swimming (yay me!),
Laura
I don't recall where I found these ideas and therefore don't take credit for them but here are 6 words (5 more than my principal's!) which have been extremely helpful to me in life:
Ask questions
Talk less
Listen more
In health and happy from swimming (yay me!),
Laura
Friday, August 1, 2008
Oh, Nuts!
Many people hear the word "nut" and think "Salt! Fat! Calories! Bad, very, very bad!"
However, a 2007 study published in the Journal of Nutrition touted the health benefits of eating nuts. And the May, 2008 Yoga Journal magazine included an article about nuts being a "happy snack".
What's the low-down on nuts?
Well, nuts are a source of "good" fat, protein and fiber. About 20 pecans have the same amount of fiber as a medium apple. Scientists have determined that eating nuts regularly could lower total cholesterol. Eating 1 ounce of almonds each day (about 23) provides 50% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin E. Hazelnuts are also a source of antioxidants and monounsaturated fat (the good kind of fat). Many of my clients are aware that walnuts are a significant source of Omega-3 fatty acid. Omega-3s support heart health and your immune system. A serving of walnuts (about 14) is double (!) the recommended daily value of Omega 3.
Yes, nuts are a calorically dense food. The key is to watch your serving size and to keep to one portion.
I like my nuts raw. I add walnuts to my morning cereal and sometimes to my oatmeal. I like pistachios with chicken and rice which gives the combination a more Middle Eastern flavor.
Advice for you: Try raw nuts and see if that's palatable for you first. You may find that you don't miss the oil/salt taste particularly if you mix raw nuts in with other ingredients. Many of us grew up with roasted, salted nuts and that's the flavor we associate with eating nuts. However I can assure you that raw nuts are quite tasty and generally more healthy for you than nuts which have been more processed.
See what you think and don't dis the nuts.
In health,
Laura
However, a 2007 study published in the Journal of Nutrition touted the health benefits of eating nuts. And the May, 2008 Yoga Journal magazine included an article about nuts being a "happy snack".
What's the low-down on nuts?
Well, nuts are a source of "good" fat, protein and fiber. About 20 pecans have the same amount of fiber as a medium apple. Scientists have determined that eating nuts regularly could lower total cholesterol. Eating 1 ounce of almonds each day (about 23) provides 50% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin E. Hazelnuts are also a source of antioxidants and monounsaturated fat (the good kind of fat). Many of my clients are aware that walnuts are a significant source of Omega-3 fatty acid. Omega-3s support heart health and your immune system. A serving of walnuts (about 14) is double (!) the recommended daily value of Omega 3.
Yes, nuts are a calorically dense food. The key is to watch your serving size and to keep to one portion.
I like my nuts raw. I add walnuts to my morning cereal and sometimes to my oatmeal. I like pistachios with chicken and rice which gives the combination a more Middle Eastern flavor.
Advice for you: Try raw nuts and see if that's palatable for you first. You may find that you don't miss the oil/salt taste particularly if you mix raw nuts in with other ingredients. Many of us grew up with roasted, salted nuts and that's the flavor we associate with eating nuts. However I can assure you that raw nuts are quite tasty and generally more healthy for you than nuts which have been more processed.
See what you think and don't dis the nuts.
In health,
Laura
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