It is that time of year again! New Year resolutions will be in full swing tomorrow and then being failed by about 12pm :)
How about you stick to that resolution this year of eating better and getting active with our January Challenge!
2013 January Challenge
Details:
It is free
There are prizes for most % of body comp lost
It will be over in time for your Valentines day decisions
We will be pushing more of a maintenance phase this time when its over so you are really ready for those spring break vacations
You will have support from me and all the others competing with us!
Recommendations:
Drink 80oz of water per day
Eat at least 7 servings of fruits and vegetables per day
Eat protein at each meal
Completely avoid processed and fried foods
Avoid gluten, high fructose corn syrup and trans fats
Workout at least 3 times per week
Take a fish oil or similar supplement daily
Limit alcohol to 1 drink per week
Limit dairy to 1 time per day
Stick to these recommendations at least 80% of the time. The closer to 100% you are the better the results you will have.
Initial measurements start 1/7and all measurements must be completed by 2/16.
If you want to join us let me know so we can set up your initial measurement time for next week. I will also supply you with a food list and other helpful info!
If you have friends, family or co-workers that also want to join they are welcome. You will be more successful with support.
Happy almost 2013 to everyone! What a year, 2012 has been a year of joy, changes, travel, playing, crying, dancing, working, teaching, running, weddings, happiness, sports, unknowns and love. My year included:
lots of family time with my baby girl
another happy year with my amazing husband
job changes
gaining an appreciation for "date night"
travels to Iowa, Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada, California
watching Adam play a lot of basketball and softball
Addison's first birthday
getting even healthier and fitter
weddings of some great friends
my Broncos ending the regular season 11-0 and securing the #1 seed in the AFC
the worst/best Christmas ever
My Christmas season started off normal and exciting. Addison didn't like Santa this year which was not surprising. We had some great celebrations with friends, co-workers and were getting ready for all the fun with family to begin Christmas Eve. I then received called from my brother and step-dad Christmas Eve morning and they were concerned about my mom.
I then drove to Blaine to check on her. She had her tonsils and adenoids removed the previous Thursday (20th) and had been doing fine. When I got to my moms I found her delirious, with labored breathing and cold. We took her to the ER expecting there was an infection from surgery or dehydration.
For the next couple of hours we watched doctor and nurses run in/out of her room trying to figure out what was going on. Finally after a couple of hours they felt she was stable enough to move to the ICU and wait for more tests to come back.
Things they found going on with her: Lungs Heart Kidneys Liver
Lungs- right lung collapsed, has pneumonia and on was placed on a ventilator until Friday afternoon (5 days). There is still lots of fluid in there but at least is now clear. The pneumonia is still being treated with antibiotics. They feel the pneumonia was caused from her not taking deep breaths after surgery because of the pain. Some blood and a scab from the surgery site fell into her lung while she was sleeping Sunday night which collapsed it. She probably didn't wake up because of her pain medication.
Heart- Started with really high enzymes. They were not sure if she was having issues with it or if it was just the stress of everything else. Now its doing great, high enzymes she had Monday have now came down. Her blood pressure was really low from being dehydrated but has been finally stable. Her blood pressure was so low it damaging the kidneys.
Kidneys- In kidney failure and not coming back yet. She was super dehydrated from not eating and drinking after surgery because of the pain. They started dialysis last week and that will continue this week. Also because they cant give her a lot of pain meds because of possible further damage to her kidneys they were keeping her heavily sedated. She is now conscious but still having trouble focusing and thinking from all the toxins in her body.
Liver- In liver failure, hepatitis, cirrhosis and some still unknown spots. Today it was still failing and enlarged but not getting worse. She was born with liver cancer and 2/3 was removed with her gallbladder and she had chemo when she was 6 months old so her liver has always been damaged. There is also the daily ibuprofen from headaches from not sleeping well because her tonsils were too big, years of drinking and the recent pain meds from surgery.
She is on the road to recovery, it might be long but at least there is a road. We have been very fortunate to have so many thinking and praying for her this last week. We have also been fortunate to have the doctors and nurses working around the clock attending to her every need. 2013 will be a much better year for my mom!
Here is to a Healthy and Happy 2013. Tell those you care about how you feel and make the time to do the things important to you in life. Who knows what 2013 will hold!
My mom, Addison, Adam and I in North Carolina this summer
Christmas Eve, I left the hospital for a bit to eat with Adam, Addison and my brother Tyler
Christmas at my Moms just a couple of days before her surgery
Christmas Eve, Eve celebration with friends
Playing at her great grandmas
Addison got to spend Christmas day with my grandma and dad. She got an motorized Harley Davidson!
Playing at her great grandmas again, poor Addi was moved all around this past week
Good night, or morning I suppose as it might be when you get to this. I hope everyone is enjoying their Holiday time with family and friends. Sorry for any of you who had to go shopping this weekend, the malls we drove by looked like they were packed!
I am sure there will be a lot of food choices over the next few days and not all of them will be the best. Try to still eat vegetables and protein. I even recommend starting your meal with vegetables, and then protein. At least that way you can get some healthy options!
If all else fails at least stick to some workouts! I plan to start my day tomorrow with a good workout, and did a great job of it this last week.
Have a great next couple of days, enjoy your time with family and friends, stay somewhat conscious about your food choices and get ready for a great 2013!
It is hard to believe but its really almost 2013. Did you get all you wanted out of 2012? If you didn't, there is still 13 full days left of 2012, plenty of time to do some things :)
What do you want to accomplish in 2013? Where do you want to go? Who do you want to be? The great thing about January 1st is that every year we can get a fresh start on a new year.
But....
Do we really have to wait until Jan 1, or Monday or any other 1st to start? No! I do recommend waiting to start something until your ready, but in all honesty if you always wait until your ready or the time is right not a lot would get done.
When it comes to goal setting here are some tips I have
Create a big picture
Make it realistic
Break the big picture into smaller little goals and tasks to accomplish along the way
Write the small goals down
Start working on a plan to hit the small goals
execution!
Here are the top "New Years Resolutions" according to usa.gov
drink less alcohol
eat better
lose weight
find a better job
manage debt
manage stress
recycle
quit smoking
take a trip
save money
volunteer
Does one of your 2013 goals fit in there? If so, try to make it SMART
S - Specific (or Significant).
M - Measurable (or Meaningful).
A - Attainable (or Action-Oriented).
R - Relevant (or Rewarding).
T - Time-bound (or Trackable).
But most of all find ways to stick with it in 2013! If you need help let me know! Here is to a successful 2013
Who else is thankful for AWD and winter tires this week! I just love when a 15 minute drive turns into 60+, at least it is pretty outside.
Tonight we had a yummy classic of fish and chips!
We had baked tilapia with lemon pepper and sweet potato chips (a sweet potato chopped into small pieces and baked as well). It was filling, tasted good and warm on a cool night like tonight!
I am also planning for a great workout in the morning. Since Life Time Academy is on a short break I will get time to workout tomorrow!
-10 minute warm up of basketball
-TRX Circuit
-Right shoulder strength
-Cardio and core work
-Lots of foam rolling my sore neck
Lastly, if this has not been a good week so far, there is always tomorrow!
Try turning the oven on, placing some chicken tenders that are lightly seasoned (I like lemon pepper) on a pan and cook! After the chicken is about halfway done add a pan of asparagus with some sea salt and then you have a quick, easy, yummy and filling dinner. I like to add some Ken Davis BBQ sauce in with the chicken as well! This is a great dinner for me on non workout days. If it had been a workout day I would have added some quinoa or brown rice.
It is always fun to get mail, when its not bills. When I got home today I had a box on the front step and it was my order of supplements! Its even more exciting to open a box. As I opened the box and started to put things away, I came to the realization we have a lot of supplements!
Our supplement cabinet, this does not include the 5 jugs of protein powder in the next cabinet and the fish oil and probiotics in the fridge!
So if you open a cabinet and it looks like this, or similar. And you are not sure why you have all the things in there you do time to read up on some of my previous supplement posts! Enjoy......
Good old spaghetti night! Who doesn't remember coming home excited for spaghetti night? You had grandmas, your moms and even at your friend house. My personal favorite growing up was our carbo loading dinners before basketball games, something nowadays I WOULD NOT recommend.
These days our spaghetti night looks much different from the gluten filled pasta, high fructose corn syrup filled sauces and garlic bread oh garlic bread of the past.
Spaghetti night tonight involved:
Salad-Romaine leaves with celery, carrots and peppers with a light olive oil dressing
Gluten free, brown rice noodles, Tinkyada to be exact
Grass fed ground beef
Victoria Italian veggie marinara, yes I could make the sauce from scratch but who has all that time on a Monday night
Southern Vineyards Oktoberfest White Table Wine, again its a Monday night, there is football and I have been dealing with a sick kid all day
That looks way different than spaghetti night of years past, but let me tell you it was still good and good for us, well mostly.
The main course
Pasta Sauce, Costco special
The gluten and wheat free pasta, I really like it and cannot tell a difference, I also have not had regular pasta in a long time so my taste buds might be skewed.
The wine, yes there is still some left, I try to stick to serving sizes with my alcohol
Good night, and how about those Broncos! Playoff bound!
Are you taking Vitamin D? Do you know why? Are you getting enough or have you had your levels tested?
My short answer about Vitamin D: It is essential for bone health, energy and also been shown to help with most autoimmune disorders and cancers. You get some from the sun but as soon as you shower it rinses off. Even most southern states are populated with Vitamin D deficient kids and adults. My daughter has been taking vitamin D since she was 1 week old. My long answer about Vitamin D:
It is a fat soluble vitamin we get from the sun or certain foods like Vitamin D milk.
Since it is fat soluble, you can take too much, research has shown taking 50,000 IU daily over several months can lead to toxicity (that is a lot)
For a normal healthy adult it is recommended to take 4,000 IU daily
Low levels have been associated with mortality, bone health, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis cardiovascular disease, cancer, rickets, birth defects and higher risk of catching viruses.
Yes, you can get vitamin D from the sun, but just an SPF of 8 can reduce your absorption by 95%, plus when its cold and the sun is far away there is not a lot of time to spend in the sun
1913 is when taking Vitamin D was first discovered as beneficial
Those with thyroid issues should really consider taking it to boost calcium absorption
Canada recognizes it in their health system and on their labels that Vitamin D is the best nutrient for bone health
There are 5 types of Vitamin D, D1, D2, D3, D4, and D5. Vitamin D2 & D3 are the most beneficial for humans
Vitamin D has been shown to help with brain function, especially later in life
Vitamin D has also shown to help complications with Diabetes including blood glucose metabolism
I highly recommend you take Vitamin D, get your Vitamin D levels tested and share some of this info with friends and family so they can realize the importance of vitamin D.
Good evening! This last week sure has been a great time of family, friends and fun.
Work was fantastic last week, it is so great to enjoy what you do all day, everyday.
We had a great family afternoon on Wednesday which included some shopping and movies.
Thursday I was fortunate enough to run in the Drumstick Dash 10k around Lake Harriet and finish. It was 55 degrees out at the start which is also over 20 degrees warmer than my last 10k in October, oh Minnesota.
After the running and breakfast at home we watched football. If you have ever met me you should know I enjoy watching football, so it was a great day. In the afternoon we went to my Grandmas for Thanksgiving dinner. It is always great to visit with family and eat good food. I am not a huge fan of eating crazy things or pies so nutritionally I did pretty well. I also wore a dress, but did not get a picture, sorry.
Addison and her cousin Lucas, they were both born July 8th, just different years
Friday I started my day with a workout. I was so sore from the run Thursday I could barley move. Then somehow I got roped into joining bootcamp, lets just say by the time I left it was not good. When I got home I drank a TON of water to try and get all the lactic acid moving. After we packed Addison's bag we went to my moms to celebrate Thanksgiving again. Again I ate really well loading up on the veggies and protein with no dessert or alcohol (I know so lame). Addison had a blast playing with her little cousin Joel and she even got to spend the rest of the weekend with my mom.
Cute video
We then got home late Friday night, packed for a weekend away and got about 5 hours of sleep before a trip down south! Adam and I met his parents for breakfast in Clear Lake, Iowa. Good old Denny's! I did good with eggs, ham and bacon, I really don't think I could have done better at Denny's at 7am.
After breakfast we made our way down to Kansas City, Missouri. The whole way I was on my phone trying to find us tickets to the Denver Broncos vs. Kansas City game and it paid off! We got front row tickets on the 40 yards line for Sunday, right behind my Broncos bench!
When we got to Kansas City we went straight to the stadium to try and take a tour. They were all booked at that time so we had to come back later. We explored the Kansas City Royals stadium, downtown Kansas City and the NCAA headquarters. We also took a visit to the NCAA Hall of fame, pretty cool!
Our tour at Arrowhead Stadium Started at 3:45 and lasted until after 6pm, it was so cool! Lots of walking, visiting all the suites, exploring the field and press rooms and lastly seeing their Superbowl trophy. Something you Viking fans know nothing about.
The field was covered to keep it warm for game day
After the tour we went to the Casino, I love my gambling and had a nice BBQ dinner. I had coleslaw, bbq pork and some sweet potato fries. I also did drink some but made sure to keep it gluten free!
SUNDAY MORNING! Game Day has finally arrived. Of course the continental breakfast at the hotel was loaded with junk. We managed to eat a banana and a couple peanut butter packets.....yummmy
We made it to the stadium nice and early for tailgating. We did lots of walking and teasing the KC fans. Adam won a Kansas City t-shirt, which we later destroyed with marker. We made it to our seats right as the gate opened. Since they were so close we wanted to be there early to watch warm ups and harass KC some more. At the game is where I made my worst choices, only because I had to drink my hometown Coors and popcorn was about the only decent option for food.
The Broncos won, we didn't get kicked out of the stadium and we had a great time so that's all that I care about!
My new favorite QB, Peyton Manning, we got him to smile at us.
After the game we decided to drive all the way home with just a stop for gas. I made it to work today in one piece while Adam got Addison and played with her all day.
My last week was a great week again filled with family, friends and fun! If your still reading I want to leave you with this, a way I live my life.
Anything you want in life you have to make the time for it. If you wait until you have the time it will never happen. This goes for everything, health, relationships, fun and rest. With the holidays upon us it's going to be easy to get side tracked from your good decisions. Make sure to make the time for what is important to you. Sometimes just knowing or thinking what is important is not enough. Write it down, take a picture, publicly announce it. If you say you want to do something, think it through and create a plan. That is the only way to get things accomplished.
P.S. Addison didn't like Santa when my mom took her Sunday
Ever heard the term metabolic efficiency? If not, that's ok, a couple of years ago I hadn't either.
I was fortunate enough to hear a nutrition/exercise speaker today to learn more about the body, don't be too jealous. The best way for me to learn is to take my notes and de-brief them so here you go.
Speaker info: Bob Seebohar MS, RD, CSCS and many others- was a vegetarian for 10 years, now a carnivore, he is also a writer and ultra marathoner www.bobseebohar.blogspot.com and www.fuel4mance.com Plain and simple, we need to teach our bodies to burn more fat and preserve carbohydrate stores. We store in our bodies: 1,200-2,000 calories of carbs 80,000 calories of fat (super lean athlete still stores 35,000) If you control your blood sugar, you use fat for energy. Different factors that limit your fat burning are age, gender, activity level and sleep. Fat Burning is what Bob called metabolic efficiency. He will work/test people all the time that cannot even effectively burn fat. The only way to truly know if they are burning fat is through metabolic testing. If you want to change your metabolic efficiency you can through exercise (25% of your results) and nutrition (75% of your results). When you improve it you will improve your body composition, reduce GI distress (gut health) and change your nutrient use.
Controlling Blood Sugar to burn more fat! Blood Sugar varies every 3-4 hours, so you should be hungry that often and eat 5-6x a day. It takes a body 4-8 weeks to adapt to a new nutrition plan and then we plateau. It will take 12 months to really create a change. After just 2 good weeks our body will start burning more fat. After just 1 bad week it will revert back to old ways though. If we fast then eat a lot it creates a high blood sugar, when our blood sugar is high we produce more insulin, insulin turns off fat burning (lipolysis)!
Protein, fiber, and fat are what help regulate blood sugar and keep us from producing/releasing a lot of insulin. Burning fat will help you look good on the out side and from inside out...
Everyone always wants to know, What should I eat and how much? Here are some tips: -Diets consisting of 25% carbs have shown to lower cholesterol, lower triglycerides and increase HDL -Diets 65% fruits/vegetables, 35% protein, better controlled blood sugar/energy -Eat your foods in this order: Protein/fat, fruits/vegetables, whole grains (quinoa/brown rice), misses (everything else) -No cheat days, they promote bad things -When you feel like you need it, have it in minimal amounts ex.Chocolate -Cravings happen when your blood sugar is low, control your blood sugar to limit cravings -CHANGES ARE TOUGH, it takes 7-10 days to acclimate, when you go through carbohydrate "rehab" you will be crabby
-Only need to eat during exercise if it is over 2 hours of activity
-Focus on around 20g of protein post workout, more wont be useful
-Eat to train, don't train to eat
-Only supplement he has found to immediately increase metabolic efficiency/fat burn is generation ucan, I haven't tried it yet so wont personally recommend it -My new favorite trick for when I am asked how much/what to eat:
Look at your hands, your left hand is how much protein to put on your plate and your right hand is how much color!
Hope you learned a couple things, I learned some new tips/tricks I am excited to teach all of you!
How aggressive do you want to be in changing? If your ready and can answer that without hesitation let me know!
What really is gluten and all the hype around it? Per Wikipedia: Gluten (from Latin gluten, "glue") is a protein composite found in foods processed from wheat and related grain species, including barleyand rye. Gluten gives elasticity to dough, helping it rise and keep its shape and often gives the final product a chewy texture. Gluten may also be found in some cosmetics, hair products, and other dermatological preparations. Where else will you find gluten?
Sources of gluten in picture- Top: High-gluten wheat flour. Right: European spelt. Bottom: Barley. Left: Rolled rye flakes.
Others: Cereal, bread, pizza, bagels, pastry's, imitation meats (pork, chicken, fish, beef), some pet foods and ice cream.
So in Steph's words: Gluten is a cheap ingredient that can bind things together and adsorb water to make it look larger while adding flavor to make things taste good. No wonder companies want to add this to their foods.
What is the big deal with gluten?
Gluten issues have been around for a while. It used to be that just people with Celiac Disease where known to have issues with gluten but more and more people without Celiac are finding they have issues with gluten.
Celiac Disease is:
a genetic, inheritable disease.
Approximately 1 in 133 people have CD, however, only about 3% of these have been diagnosed. This means that there are over 2.1 million undiagnosed people with Celiac disease in the United States.
characterized by damage to the mucosal lining of the small intestine which is known as villous atrophy.
responsible for the malabsorption of nutrients resulting in malnutrition.
linked to skin blisters known as dermatitis herpetiformis (DH).
not age-dependent. It may become active at any age.
Celiac Disease can be life threatening
Celiac disease cannot be "caught," but rather the potential for CD may be in the body from birth. Its onset is not confined to a particular age range or gender, although more women are diagnosed than men. It is not known exactly what activates the disease and Celiac disease is life-long and currently incurable. The only known treatment at this time is strict adherence to a gluten-free lifestyle.
Great, I don't have Celiac so that means I can eat all the gluten I want? Not exactly.
Symptoms of a gluten sensitivity include bloating, abdominal discomfort, pain or diarrhea, or it may present with a variety of other symptoms including headaches and migraines, lethargy and tiredness, attention-deficit disorder and hyperactivity, muscular disturbances as well as bone and joint pain.
Until recently, the terms gluten sensitivity and Celiac disease were used interchangeably in medical literature. However, emerging research indicates that gluten sensitivity has a broader scope than Celiac disease. If the medical history of a patient, along with clinical tests, rule out Celiac disease and wheat allergy, a diagnosis ofgluten sensitivity can be considered. However, certain criteria need to be met before a diagnosis of gluten sensitivity can be confirmed.
Treatment for this condition is agluten-free diet. Prescriptions are typically not necessary since its a sensitivity. Sensitivities can also decrease or cease with time unlike Celiac Disease.
In closing, gluten is a cheap ingredient found in a lot of different foods that is hard for our bodies to digest. Just about everyone I have worked with could benefit from reducing or cutting gluten out of their diets. If you are noticing any of the above symptoms or struggling with weight loss try an 30-90 day elimination of gluten. You might just feel better then you thought possible and its not that hard to do either! For more info check out my sources and websites I study! www.lakewinds.com www.wikipedia.com www.wsj.com www.webmd.com www.gf-blog.com
All results are finally in and
tallied, it was so close. All of you in the top 5 were just tenth of
percents away from victory!
Top Body Fat % Lost: Alison S Danica C Becky M Jen G Lisa T
Top Weight Lost: Jen G Lisa T Diane T Alison S Jessica B
Congrats
to everyone in the challenge, even with small results you can say you
accomplished something. Yes, we did have men in the challenge but all
the females saw the best results. Congrats to Alison for taking
victory.
Good luck to all of you over the next two months. It
will be tough with the holidays but keep up your activity, think about
your nutrition and check out this post for more holiday eating tips: http://stephaniewinters.blogspot.com/2012/11/holiday-eating.html
Our next Challenge will be in January. If you want to see where you are between now and then let me know!
It is November and that means that our next 8 weeks will be filled with good times, family, friends and a lot of food. All of those things can be great in moderation but when you have party after party and event after event the calories will add up. Here are my success strategies to your Holiday eating, and drinking!
Be realistic, don't try to lose weight during the holidays
Make a realistic goal to maintain your weight or workout 3x per week
Don't skip meals, you will be starving and then overeat
Pre-eat, when your heading to an event have some healthy veggies and protein at home ahead of time to limit the unhealthy calories at the event
Throw away or give a way leftovers, if they are in your house you will eat them
When filling up your plate don't forget to add the veggies
Focus on eating while sitting down with a plate, grazing over the buffet line can be dangerous
Be careful with alcohol, it can lower you inhibitions and create you to overeat
Alcohol is also a lot of empty unneeded calories, have a glass of water in between each drink
If you overeat one meal don't let it ruin your day, get back on track with the next meal
Take the focus off food, volunteer at a shelter, feed my starving children or a church to spend time with family
Plan group activities like a lighted holiday walking tour or window shopping at a local mall
Make items you can't eat like a gingerbread house, snowflakes, decorations and ornaments
When eating at a potluck bring a healthy dish
Always eat all your food on a plate and don't let the food on your plate touch, you can only have so much that way
Stay on top of sleep and your workouts, when your not sleeping well or in your normal workout routine you will want to eat more
When your ''bored eating'' clean, take the dog for a walk, brush your teeth, drink some water or chew a piece of gum
Don't over restrict yourself, you will crash and burn at some point if you do
Make a goal for January 1st and stick to it, don't let your holiday eating continue into the New Year
Have a great holiday season and spend some time with those you care about
Here are some tricks to help make your holiday favorites a little more healthy
Refrigerate your gravy and after it cools skim some or a lot of the fat off the top to reduce the amount of total fat
In your dressing use less bread and more onions, garlic, celery and other vegetables, add fruits like cranberries and apples to sweeten and moisten with low sodium broth and applesauce
Skip the dark meat and skin on the turkey
Cook your green bean casserole with potatoes instead of cream soup and top with almonds instead of fried onions
When making mashed potatoes avoid a ton of whole milk and butter and substitute with chicken broth, garlic, garlic powder and rice milk
Make your own graham cracker crust for desserts to lower calories
Quick Holiday Nog — Four bananas, 1-1/2 cups skim milk or soymilk, 1-1/2 cups plain nonfat yogurt, 1/4 teaspoon rum extract, and ground nutmeg. Blend all ingredients except nutmeg. Puree until smooth. Top with nutmeg.
Desserts — Make a crust less pumpkin pie. Substitute two egg whites for each whole egg in baked recipes. Replace heavy cream with evaporated skim milk in cheesecakes and cream pies. Top cakes with fresh fruit, fruit sauce, or a sprinkle of powdered sugar instead of fattening frosting.
I hope you were able to find a few pointers to help in your holiday success, if you have other good ones let me know or leave a comment below!
How is your sleep? Are you getting the 7-9 hours straight you need a night? Above you will see a breakdown of our nightly cycle and what our bodies are doing while we sleep.
Here are some tips to help you get your sleep!
-Limit your caffeine to the morning with none after 2pm
-Do a brain dump 2 hours before bed
-Turn off computers and TVs one hour before bed
-Later sip on decaf tea, listen to soft music, do some light reading
-Leave phones and electronics outside of your bedroom
-Make sure your bedroom temp is low 67-69F
-Take Epsom salt bath 1 hour before bedtime
-Try small protein and fat pre-bedtime meal
-Take magnesium at dinner or before bedtime
Happy football Sunday to you all. Addison is napping and I am watching my Broncos beat up on Cincinnati.
While I sit on my bum I figured I would get some writing done and food cooked. The bonus is it keeps the house warm and cozy! Here is what I am cooking for the week....
Brown rice
soaking black beans
chicken - spicy, BBQ and plain
Spicy chili chicken soup
Recipe for soup: 2 1/2 teaspoonschili powder
2 teaspoonsground cumin
1 teaspoondried oregano
1 teaspooncracked black pepper
1/2 teaspoonkosher salt
1 1/4 poundsskinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips
My favorite thing about cooking is mixing ingredients I think would taste good together then trying it out. I also enjoy searching different recipes then adding/omitting different things to make it a healthier option.
Enjoy your Sunday and go Broncos!
If you are looking for some more reading check out another blog I contribute to www.osrpt.blogspot.com
Happy Halloween! We all know what that means, candy, junk food and that November is here! No shave November starts this holiday season, winter and day light savings. All of those will want to demolish the results you have made and then some.
Our Halloween was a great night of visiting and getting candy. Addison enjoyed playing with all her candy, putting it in her pumpkin bucket but most of all playing with her pumpkin necklace, thanks Beth (it lit up and made noise, cant get much better than that).
Do you ever wake up in the morning with sore feet when you take your first steps? While we sleep all night our feet are pointing down (plantar flexion), when we step out of bed in the morning we flatten our feet (dorsi flexion). Since the facia and muscles on the bottom of our feet where shortened all night when we take that first step we stretch the facia/muscles which can be quite painful.
If you wake up in the morning with foot pain, wear heels, suffer from headaches or want to work on leg flexibility here is a simple stretch to try. Move the tennis ball around until you find a tender spot and then hold for 20-30 seconds and repeat on the other foot.
There is still time to get your final measurements! I have time this week to pinch you! If we don't have a time set up please let me know what works for you.
In the meantime if you play sports, have a kid in sports or are suffering from lower body pains check out my post on OSR's blog.
It's hard to believe but it is almost Halloween! After Halloween means its November, then the holidays and new years. Where dose the time go? I am still in the process of taking final measurements and getting some good ones! Great job to all of you who worked hard these past few weeks.
Halloween Candy Tips:
Buy Candy you don't like
Buy your candy on Halloween (it will even be on sale)
Give out healthy options or stickers!
Avoid the candy dish at work, home or gatherings
If you get a craving start with water or gum
Good luck this week and Happy Halloween!
This past week I was lucky enough to get away to Sin City for a great learning experience on incorporating fitness with de-conditioned individuals and in clinic settings. I was also able to take Adam with me while leaving little Addison home. She had a great time with my mom but we sure did miss her.
Here are some fun highlights from my trip:
Adam on top of the Stratosphere hotel, 112+ stories in the air
There I am going 165mph in a NASCAR at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Volcano show at the Mirage
Some of the Pirate show at T.I.
More of the pirate show at T.I.
Here are some of the tons of pictures, well at least the ones I am willing to share, remember what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas :)
Top of the Hoover Dam, before our Dam tour (how would you like to say that all day). Great tour with lots of history, plus we got to walk all through the dam.
Bellagio fountain show
View of the strip from the top of the Stratosphere, 112 stories up
Joan Rivers and I at the wax museum
Us with Barack at the wax museum
Welcome to Vegas!
Venetian before the gondola ride
Me suited up in the NASCAR
The doctors were in for the Halloween parties
Statue of Liberty at NYNY, we even did the coaster and I didn't get sick!
View of Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam from the plane ride home.
Other fun things included lots of gambling, eating, lots of walking on the strip, driving to California and Arizona, comedy show, magic show, visiting Pawn Stars Pawn Shop, downtown Vegas and Fremont Street. Plus more I am sure!
