Post Thanksgiving trim down

Hi fellow food and fitness fans,

(how's that for alliteration?)

One week ago, we all ate ourselves into oblivion, right? I know I did. Now's the time to buckle down so we can move that buckle down (belt buckle...did you get the pun? did ya? did ya?) I don't know about you, but I officially have approximately 1 month to look awesome in my New Year's Eve outfit, and I don't believe in waiting until a new year to start a resolution.

Boston is a big running city, and those hard-core runners keep it up during the winter. But I have a specific problem of which I'm sure many people share: I'm allergic to the cold. Okay, allergic is a strong word...I strongly dislike being cold. And newsflash: Winters in Boston = @#$)*@%$ cold! (That was my way of saying an obscene word without actually saying the obscene word.) As one of the non-hardcore runners, I will not run until it's warm again. So what do we, as cold-fearing active people, do?

Here are some things I do that do not require venturing out into the arctic. Let's stay warm and cozy. Health benefit to this--Less chance for injury!

1st: STRETCH.
Do. not. forget. to. stretch. This is especially important during the winter months to reduce the risk of injury. The cold makes your muscles tight so warm them up BEFORE you stretch. Just walk around a bit, do 20 easy jumping jacks, or jog in place for a minute. That brief little warm up of your muscles before stretching is important to avoid pulling or overstretching during the cold weather.

2nd: INSANITY.
See my previous blog on this program here: Insanity: No word is more accurate. It's pretty Bee-Ay.**

3rd: AB ROUTINES.
Go to almost any fitness magazine and you will find a 10-15 minute ab routine. I'm working on testing the effectiveness of one I found. Research is in progress and blog will follow... (dot dot dot)

4th: YOGA.
Hot or cold. We all know I prefer Hell Yoga as I so blatantly explained in my blog Yoga on Fire.

5th: DANCE!
Dancing is done indoors so there's no need to be fearful of the cold. And it's common knowledge that dancing is my favorite thing evah! Just remember to warm up first!

Some good ideas that don't require a gym membership! New Year's Eve outfit, here I come!! 1 month and counting...now to just find the dress ;)

**Bee-Ay=phonetic way to say the letters B and A which together stand for a cuss word. If you don't get it, go away. just kidding. sort of.

Beer Bread Deliciousness

Beer!

Bread!

...Just naming 2 of most 20-somethings' favorite things. Alright, let's not lie...2 of most Americans' favorite things.

I don't remember who taught me this recipe, but I will attribute it to someone I met in college. So thank you whoever taught me this.

This is the second recipe in a row I'm providing because it's the season of eating (and giving gifts and being thankful...so they say). Well I'm going to GIVE you this beer bread recipe as a gift and am THANKFUL to whoever gave it to me. Done and done.

Ready? Set? Go!

1. Preheat oven to 375. (degrees that is...375 degrees)
2. Mix the following ingredients:

• 3 cups of whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup of Splenda (I always add a wee bit more than that)
• 1 tsp of salt (unless it is self-rising flour)
• 3 tsp of baking powder (unless it is self-rising flour)
• 1 bottle/can of beer of your choice**

3. Spray bread pan with Pam and pour mixture into bread pan.
4. Melt 1/4 cup of fake butter or margarine and pour it over the mixture
5. Bake for 1 hour and cool for ~15 minutes.

This tastes great with butter spray or low fat cream cheese on it.

Of course if you don't want to go the healthy route, use regular white flour, regular sugar, regular butter, etc. (See what I did there? I used the strike-out tool to deter you from using unhealthy ingredients and encourage you to use healthy ones...brainwashing...no bigs.)

**Good choices for beer are fruity beers and pumpkin beers. One time I used Wachusett Blueberry Ale and put fresh blueberries in the mixture before baking. OMG. delish!

Enjoy ;) 

...and your welcome

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

This year I will eat healthy on Thanksgiving...

...said and did no one ever.

As people start planning their gluttonous feasts for next week, take a look at this Livestrong article. It gives ideas for 5 healthy side dishes and a reason for what makes them healthy.

1. Kale with pomegranate molasses and seeds

2. Mashed celery root and potatoes

3. Wheat berries with roasted acorn squash

4. Polenta with goat cheese and sage

5. Quinoa pilaf with pumpkin seeds

This is quite possibly the only list of dishes I will ever provide that I haven't tried first. Just throwin out some ideas for you folks.

Don't forget to work out extra and eat nothing for the next week in preparation for the day that we chow down on all that is in our presence! (That's a joke...don't do it...it won't work...just be normal.)

Who doesn't love a delicious piece of meat?

First, get your minds out of the gutter. Second, I'll get my mind out of the gutter. Sooooooo wrong. Okay, I'll say it because it would be unlike me NOT to say it: That's what she said. Done. Now let's move on to the real stuff.

Okay health-savy people, we are all well aware that steak is not the healthiest option for a protein source. Even lean steak is not nearly as healthy as chicken or turkey. But sometimes, you just gotta have a steak.

Give this Eating Well Steak Recipe a try. I had it last week and it was Ooooo-so-delicious.

If you buy a nice lean piece of steak, it's excellent. It was listed as 8 points on the Weight Watchers system, but I chose to go light on the Bleu cheese and to use Splenda brown sugar rather than regular brown sugar to take off a few points. This was so delicious, I could've eaten a second piece had I had one. It's not a steak you would get at a steakhouse or anything, but it certainly takes care of a craving for steak if you have one.

A nice side to go with this was the following: fresh spinach cooked with olive oil, minced garlic, and a freshly squeezed lemon.....mmmmmmm.

Bon appetite!

Skin Health

The protector from alien substances. The keratinized-shield of the body. The superhero we rely on--your skin.

Quick anatomy lesson: Skin is made up of a type of tissue called stratified squamous epithelium, which is a fancy way of saying many layers of thin, pancake-shaped cells. There is an excellent reason that the skin has this type of tissue as opposed to another type of tissue. This tissue is typically found in parts of the body that need the ability to undergo abrasions and recover rapidly. What better part of the body to have this capability than the skin? This superhero power makes your skin more durable in the sense that if you get a cut or a burn or a little scratch, and lose a few cells, you've got more layers with more cells!! Good job skin. 


Your skin is pretty smart. It heals relatively quickly. It let's you know when it needs more or less of something: sun, moisture, soap, heat, cold, a towel...pretty smart stuff. But it's soooooooo easy to neglect. Or is it really neglecting? I honestly think the answer to this question is different for every person. Some people (myself) included just have normal skin...no acne problems to speak of, no major burns, no major dryness problems, not prone to sunburns. So if people with normal skin don't do the same things that people with oily or dry skin do, is it really neglecting? 

This is how my internal monologue became intrigued with skin care:

I was given a facial as one of my birthday presents this year :) I had never had one before. First thing the esthetician does is shine this weird light on my face and say, "Wow, you have healthy skin, but it's extremely dehydrated". My brain thought, 'well of course it is, I didn't put on my Equate brand face moisturizer because I just rolled out of bed.' She asked what face wash and skin routine I used. My very blunt answer that I'm not sure she appreciated was, "the shampoo that runs down my face in the shower." True story.

I rarely wash my face and this is why. (Cue the nostalgic background melody.) In high school when everyone was getting acne, I got 1 pimple and decided I had acne too and needed to wash my face. So of course I got some Neutrogena cause that's what all the cool kids did. Well, the more I washed my face with that stuff, the more pimples I would get. Some people would say it was because the facewash was bringing out the impurities in my skin. I called a b.s. on that and stopped washing my face. To no surprise, I didn't get any more pimples. Now a pimple is my body's way of telling me I have too much on my plate--I'm stressed out! So I pop it, decrease my stress, and move on.

Speaking of popping pimples, should you? I pop them for 2 reasons:
1. to make them go away quicker
2. to make them stop hurting.

But is it really healthy to pop pimples? According to this Huffington Post article, it's not safe to pop them. The main reason is that the act of popping a pimple is forcing the skin to rip. Most often, you are forcing the skin to rip using your fingers that inevitably have dirt and germs on them. This gives a huge risk for those germs to get in the open wound you created. There's also the potential to force some of the gunky pus junk farther into the skin because of the pressure you are applying. Never thought of it that way, huh? Think about it next time you go to pop one of those suckers into the next millennium.

So my theory is, not everybody's skin needs a set routine. So why do they keep pushing it? Why waste money on products that just give me more pimples and make me need to buy more products? ohhhhh nice marketing scheme skin care industry!

To wrap this show up, I'll leave you with 5 tips that this Mayo Clinic article gives for skin care:
1. Protect yourself from the sun. Wear SPF and don't be okay with burns. Melanoma is not something you should tempt.
2. Don't smoke. You shouldn't do this anyway, but the fact that smoking decreases the amount of oxygen and nutrients that get to your skin should be reason enough to quit and not start.
3. Treat your skin gently. This is talking about washing and moisturizing amongst other things. They are saying do it, but do it gently and in moderation. My favorite moisturizer that I've used is a Cetaphil daily moisturizer with SPF in it. It's thin and not greasy at all. Another way to treat your skin gently is to wear gentle make-up. I wear Bare Minerals, an all-natural mineral-based powder make-up with SPF. It is so light that you don't even feel it when it is on. It blends with your skin for excellent coverage for those who like the "natural" look.
4. Eat a healthy diet. A balanced diet can surely promote healthy skin.
5. Manage stress. This is definitely my acne trigger as I'm sure it is other people's acne trigger as well.

So take care of your skin people, but remember, it's YOUR skin. Do what's best for it, not what's best for other people's. Healthy skin increases those superhero powers. So take care of it and then you'll have... Superhero skin to the rescue!!

Eating big at later times in the day

Let' jump right in...

Who has heard the philosophy to not eat after a certain time of night or a certain number of hours before going to sleep?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

I know you've heard this. Many celebrities preach about it. I remember an interview with Hugh Jackman (hubba hubba*) a few years back in which he stated he never eats anything after some crazy early time like 5--that's a little extreme. For a while, I tried not eating 2 hours before going to sleep. The logic behind this is that this act forces your body to use other energy sources during sleep rather than what you most recently ate.

Science 101 starting in 3...

2...

1...
 
Physiologically, your body uses glucose for energy first because the body is a pro at storing fats. Fats are lipids, which in case you didn't know are insoluble in water--lipids hate H2O. The body is not so great at storing glucose; glucose is stored in your liver in the form of glycogen which has water in it. Which one will be bigger and take up more space? The glycogen because it has water molecules taking up space as well. Therefore, your body is gonna go after the glycogen before it goes after the fat. When glycogen (storage form) is converted to glucose (usable form), water molecules are released. This process requires ATP (adenosine triphosphate--big fancy word for energy). Therefore, the body is most likely going to go after the usable glucose that hasn't been converted to glycogen yet. In other words, it is going to use the glucose that you most recently put into your system--food. If there is not readily available glucose to use (i.e if you don't eat for a few hours prior to going to sleep), your body will end up resorting to fat eventually. Makes sense to a certain extent, right? I'm not going to cite that information because I didn't get it from one particular place other than my brain. It's from a combination of many lectures and textbooks. That's my citation.

Science 101 complete.

This is what I lived by even to the extent that I would feel guilty if I ate right before bed, unless it was a night out and I was awake until 3am and food--especifically (this is my new word=combo of especially and specifically...feel free to adopt it into your daily vocab) fried food--was a necessity for survival. Most of you know what I'm talking about. Another time to eat late is during Late Night at a dance event--my fellow west coast swing dancers know what I'm talking about. There comes a point in the night when you either eat something, pass out from exhaustion, or both. But with the amount of dancing we do, it really is a necessity.

Recently, I read this Livestrong article opposing this thought process, sort of. It is suggesting we eat bigger, more substantial meals at the end of the day. The article had some pretty legit ideas and reasoning:

1. Natural instinct--The article explains that back in the day of the grunting cavemen, days were spent hunting and gathering and nights were spent feasting to refuel for the next day. Granted, most of us don't hunt for a living anymore. A huge majority of us just sit in front of a computer most of the day expending little-to-no energy. So this might not exactly apply...but valid point nonetheless.

2. The numbers--Go read this section in the article. It makes sense to me, and I definitely can't explain it better. To make a long story short (which I always say, and never do), it makes more sense with our habits, tendencies, and physiology, to eat lighter during the day and a little bit heavier in the evening. I like this. Please note, eating heavier means eating heavier with HEALTHY foods. No Big Macs.

3. Psychology--This is my favorite part. If I ate larger dinners, I might not be so tempted (and give in to temptation most of the time) to eat snacks closer to bedtime. Granted, I don't think I have enough cholecystokinin/CCK. That's another big fancy word for the hormone that tells you when you are full (Side note: I'm pretty sure there was a recent study released on this. I'll research it and blog about it during another week). Also, sometimes exhaustion or boredom, both of which tend to happen at night shortly before bed, are mistaken for hunger. Alright, not sometimes--most of the time.

4. Practicality--This is telling us to make your daily diet merge with your life, not the reverse. Hmmmm that is quite practical. Who woulda thunk it? Remember that game with blocks that babies play? There's a square, a circle, and a triangle. The triangle doesn't fit in the circle hole. You've gotta have a "circle" diet to merge with your "circle" life. Triangle diets don't fit in circle lives.

I still don't think it's a great idea to eat RIGHT before bed. It's really unnecessary if you think about it--the purpose of food is to be your body's fuel. You don't need much fuel while sleeping. Also, if your blood sugar/insulin levels are normal (i.e. you don't have diabetes), eating right before bed will shoot your blood sugar up for a bit of time--giving you a burst of energy. That's exactly what you need right before going to sleep...NOT!

Interesting stuff, right? Definitely worth a shot...a delicious, satisfying shot.

MMMMMM, FOOOOOOD

*hubba hubba is my written text way of respectfully admitting how incredibly attractive he is.

Insanity: no word is more accurate

On January 1, 2011, I started a journey that would change how I looked at exercise forever. This was the day I became Insane, the day I took the first Insanity Fit Test (more on the Fit Test later). I was in decent shape and mainly just wanted to increase my upper body strength and core strength. Little did I know that Insanity would also increase my endurance tremendously, tone my legs more than they already were, and cause me to lose 10-15 lbs that I didn't even intend on losing. 

Starting that day, I followed the Insanity workout calendar every single day until its completion (that is 9 weeks including the rest week in between Month 1 and Month 2. For the record, I followed my typical healthy diet--mainly based on the Weight Watchers system--not the diet plan provided with the DVDs. My results might have been even better had I followed the Insanity diet plan.) Before completing the Fit Test, I could barely do real pushups--I did girl pushups, ya know...the ones where you rest on your knees instead of your toes. By the end of the 9 weeks, I had a legit 4-pack, toned arms, crazy endurance, legs that could scare Chuck Norris, and a sense of accomplishment that no one could ever take away.

I'm not gonna lie to you folks; it was tough. The first 2 weeks were brutal because I woke up sore every morning. It took a lot of will power and drive to make myself do the workouts. But those 35-45 minutes of solid sweat were worth it. Speaking of sweat. Holy sweat balls! People, you start sweating during the warm-up. It's insane (pun very intended).

Here's a quick synopsis of the 13 workouts (don't worry, they provide a big, pretty calendar that tells you exactly what workout to do on each day).

• First, you take the 15-minute Fit Test 5 times throughout the program. This is a series of different exercises and you count the number of times you can do that exercise in 1 minute and write it down. You track it each time you do the Fit Test. This was my favorite day because I improved EVERY SINGLE TIME (even with the exercises I hated with all the fires of Hell.)

Side note, the Warm-up of every single video was more of a workout than most people ever get by just going to the gym. I can't stress this enough. It really makes you think about how you typically do your workouts. 

Your body is capable of much more than you think!

• The Plyometric Cardio Circuit, Cardio Power and Resistance, and Pure Cardio are each about 45 minutes long and do exactly what they describe. They all use max interval training, which is basically just an extreme form of circuit training. You know that "I'm sweating so much, I might drown in my own sweat and so out of breath, I've utilized all of the oxygen in the room" feeling? Probably not if you haven't done Insanity. That's how you feel approximately 97% of the time during these workouts (inaccurate statistic).
  
• Cardio Recovery is the video you do once a week during the first month to "recover". (ha!) You have 5 hard workouts a week, 1 workout to stretch and release your muscles (this one) and 1 day to do nothing. This is the workout you really look forward to every week. Imagine holding your breath out for a really long time and then taking a big deep breath in. That big deep breath is Cardio Recovery.
• Cardio Abs is a 16-miniute video that kills your abs. It's awesome. I still do it when I can. No sit-ups or crunches, just standing abs and the C-sit position. It works (it got me my 4-pack--that is now gone. oops)
• Core Cardio and Balance is the video you do every day during the recovery week in between Months 1 and 2. It's a combination of yoga and pilates targeted to really give your muscles and joints a break before the craziness that is Month 2. After doing such intense workouts for a month, this one gets kind of boring to do every day for a week. You just think, "dude, is that all you've got? Bring it!"
• Well he brings it in the next month with Max Interval Circuit, Max Interval Plyo, and Max Cardio Conditioning--the Month 2 workouts. Imagine the Month 1 workouts took steroids...that's Month 2. They are each 10-15 minutes longer and more difficult. It hurts so good.
• Max Recovery is the equivalent to Cardio Recovery but a little more difficult because it is Month 2. It's like an even bigger, deeper breath.
• Insane Abs is the roided-out (may or may not have invented this word) version of Cardio Abs for Month 2.
• Max Interval Sports Training is an extra video. It's really really tough. Quite an accomplishment to finish this one. I think I only did it once so I shouldn't really write about it. Fail.

Let's talk about max interval training for a minute. This method of circuit training has you increase your pulse to a very high rate and push hard for a 3-4 minutes followed by a short 30-second rest. Then you do it over and over and over etc. That 30 seconds is just enough time for you to take the biggest, fastest gulp of water ever. I probably looked like a dog during these 30 seconds. You know how dogs act when they are even the least bit thirsty and get around water of any kind. They lap up the water like there's no tomorrow and end up getting more water on the floor than in their mouths. I'm gonna go with a Great Dane because they're huge like me (not, I have little woman syndrome-don't judge.) Here is a link giving an overview and strengths/weaknesses about max interval training.

A few positive things about this program. Safety! Shaun T (the Insanest of the Insane) is a huge proponent of safety and hydration on the video. He has the perfect balance of pushing you so hard you want to punch the television and reminding you to be safe and rest if your body needs it. There are even words scrolling at the bottom reminding you to stay safe, rest if your form starts to diminish, and hydrate often.

Another thing I loved seeing was how hard the athletes on the video had to work. Most workout videos show these people in amazing shape and say "You could look like this after 1 month of doing this video!" They're all smiley and barely breaking a sweat. Their hair looks perfect and their chiseled abs make you feel like a failure (too far? probskies.) Insanity marathon runners, fitness instructors, spinning instructors, dancers, etc. These people are in fantabulous shape and still sweating so much even their eyes start sweating (or were those tears-just kidding, sort of). They have to take breaks just like you do. It's so refreshing to see a video portray the difficulty level accurately.

Listen guys, this is a tough gig. It takes dedication and motivation. If I had the time to stick with it, I'd do it again in a heart beat. It definitely worked because I have never in my life felt as healthy as I did for the few months following Insanity. The results lasted for quite a while too (of course results don't last forever if you don't keep it up).

I highly suggest this program if toning and endurance are things at the top of your list. This is a program designed for people who are already in decent shape. If you are starting from scratch, I do not suggest this program yet! (yet is the key word) 

Here is the link to Insanity. You can also buy it on amazon or ebay though I'm sure. Mine still sits next to my DVD player and it is my go-to workout when I have the time and energy.

DIG DEEPER!! -Shaun T