Anti-inflammatory foods

I received this article by email the other day, and I'm happy to say that most of what I stock in my kitchen and draw upon for meals is listed here.  So for those of you who ask me, "Well what do you eat?" -- just in case I didn't answer in full and complete sentences -- here's the answer.  (Please note, the links to Michael's other articles did not make it through the sharing process, apologies for that.)

One prominent exception, and if you suspect you have hormone imbalance issues then this is for you... I cut out most dairy.  I have a brick of raw/organic parmesan in the freezer which I grate and use very sparingly, and a brick of raw/organic cheddar in the fridge to satiate my husband's need for SOMETHING moist on the turkey burger.  Other than that, to minimize my exposure to the growth hormones and antibiotics routinely found in most dairy products, I skip it.  Soy yogurt is stocked up in the fridge, along with unsweetened organic soymilk.

Here's my anecdotal evidence to convince you that eating this way 80-90% of the time will reduce inflammation:  My IBS symptoms have mostly vanished (sorry if that's too much information), my abdominal bloat has mostly vanished, my allergy symptoms to pollen and dust and mold have mostly vanished (in Savannah!?!!), my PMS bloat has mostly vanished, and the bout of high blood pressure I encountered 7 years ago has mostly vanished. 

If I've ever given you a copy of Dr. Mark Hyman's Nutrigenomics/Friendly Foods list, then you have received scientific affirmation of my experience.  He has promoted these recommendations to thousands of patients and millions of readers around the globe.  And if you would like a copy, drop me an email.

Try it, then please tell me how it goes.  Be Well!! TRAINER JANE
My Top 55 Lean-Body Foods to Build Lean Muscle and Lose Body Fat
by Mike Geary - Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

In most of my Lean-Body Secrets Newsletters, I like to provide a healthy snack or meal recipe that not only is delicious and healthy, but also helps to get you closer to that hard-body appearance that everyone is looking for, while also more importantly, improving your health for life. In this article, I'd like to give you healthy food ideas in a different way. This time, I figured I'd just give you some ideas of what I stock my fridge and cabinets with.

Remember, if you don't have junk around the house, you're less likely to eat junk!  If all you have is healthy nutritious foods around the house, you're forced to make smart choices. Basically, it all starts with making smart choices and avoiding temptations when you make your grocery store trip. Now these are just some of my personal preferences, but perhaps they will give you some good ideas that you'll enjoy.
Some of these will be obvious healthy choices, such as fruits and veggies... however, others on this page I think will surprise you!

Alright, so let's start with the fridge. Each week, I try to make sure I'm loaded up with lots of varieties of fresh vegetables. During the growing season, I only get local produce, but obviously in winter, I have to resort to the produce at the grocery store. Most of the time, I make sure I have plenty of vegetables like onions, zucchini,  spinach, fresh mushrooms, red peppers, broccoli, etc. to use in my morning eggs.  I also like to chop up some lean chicken or turkey sausage (make sure to look for nitrate & nitrite free) or grass-fed bison sausage into the eggs, along with some swiss, jack, or goat cheeses (preferably raw grass-fed cheeses when I can find them). 

By the way I'm talking about whole eggs, NOT egg whites.  Always remember that the yolk is the most nutritious and nutrient dense part of the egg, so only eating egg whites is like throwing away the best part... and no, it's NOT bad for you because of the cholesterol... whole eggs actually raise your GOOD cholesterol.  Try to get free range organic eggs for the best quality. Here's an entire article I did on the topic of whole eggs vs egg whites.

Coconut milk is another staple in my fridge. I like to use it to mix in with smoothies, oatmeal, or yogurt for a rich, creamy taste. Not only does coconut milk add a rich, creamy taste to lots of dishes, but it's also full of healthy saturated fats. Yes, you heard me right... I said healthy saturated fats!  ...Healthy saturated fats such as medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), specifically an MCT called lauric acid, which is vitally important for your immune system.

If the idea of healthy saturated fats is foreign to you, check out my article about why saturated fat is not as bad as you think.

Back to the fridge, some other staples:
Walnuts, pecans, almonds - delicious and great sources of healthy fats.  Try to get raw nuts if possible as the roasting process can oxidize some of the polyunsaturated fats in some types of nuts making those damaged fats slightly more inflammatory.  Overall, nuts are still healthy even if they are roasted, but raw nuts are optimal. 
Cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, and yogurt (grass-fed and organic if possible) - I like to mix cottage or ricotta cheese and yogurt together with chopped nuts and berries for a great mid-morning or mid-afternoon meal.
Chia seeds and/or hemp seeds - I add these highly nutritious seeds to yogurt, smoothies, or salads for a great nutty taste and loads of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins and minerals. Don't use pre-ground versions of these seeds as the omega-3 polyunsaturated fats are highly unstable and prone to oxidation, creating high levels of free radicals if you use pre-ground seeds.  No grinding is necessary to properly digest these seeds. 
Whole eggs - one of natures richest sources of nutrients (and remember, they increase your GOOD cholesterol so stop fearing them).
Salsa - I try to get creative and try some of the exotic varieties of salsas.
Avocados - love them...plus a great source of healthy fats, fiber, and other nutrients. Try adding them to wraps, salads, or sandwiches.
Butter - don't believe the naysayers; butter adds great flavor to anything and CAN be part of a healthy diet... just keep the quantity small because it is calorie dense... and NEVER use margarine, unless you want to assure yourself a heart attack.  Most important -- choose organic butter only, since pesticides and other harmful chemicals accumulate in the fat of the milk which is used for butter, so choosing organic helps avoid this problem.  Also, choose grass-fed (pastured) butter if you can find it as it will contain higher levels of healthful omega-3 fats and the fat-burning conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). 
Nut butters - Plain old peanut butter has gotten a little old for me, so I get creative and mix together almond butter with pecan butter, or even cashew butter with macadamia butter...delicious and unbeatable nutrition!  Using a variety of nut butters gives you a broader range of vitamins and minerals and other micronutrients, and gives you variety instead of boring old peanut butter all the time.
Leaf lettuce and spinach along with shredded carrots - for salads with dinner.
Home-made salad dressing - using balsamic vinegar, spices, extra virgin olive oil, and Udo's Choice oil blend. This is much better than store bought salad dressing which mostly use highly refined canola or soybean oil (canola and soybean oil are both very inflammatory in the body).  Here's an article showing why to NEVER use store-bought salad dressings.
Sprouted grain bread for occasional use -- My personal belief from years of nutrition research is that we're not really meant to consume the massive quantities of grains (not even whole grains) that we do in this day and age... a small amount may be okay, but our digestive systems are still primarily adapted to a hunter/gatherer type of diet with only a very small amount of grains, therefore I try to only have breads and other grain-based foods on cheat days.
Rice bran - If we're going to have some grain-based food, we might as well have the most nutrient dense part, and rice bran is one of those parts, since it includes the germ of brown rice too. Rice bran is loaded with vitamins and minerals but without the large amount of starch calories that rice has... and it actually adds a nice little nutty, crunchy taste to yogurt or smoothies, or can be added when baking to add nutrients and fiber to the recipe.

Some of the staples in the freezer:
Frozen berries - during the local growing season, I only get fresh berries, but during the other 10 months of the year, I always keep a supply of frozen blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, cherries, etc. to add to high fiber cereal, oatmeal, cottage cheese, yogurt, or smoothies. I also get frozen goji berries sometimes for a little "exotic" variety. 
Frozen fish - I like to try a couple different kinds of fish each week. There are so many varieties out there, you never have to get bored. Just make sure to ALWAYS choose wild fish instead of farmed versions, as the omega-3 to omega-6 balance is MUCH healthier in wild fish.  Also, as this article shows, there are some possible other health issues with farmed fish.
Frozen chicken breasts - very convenient for a quick addition to wraps or chicken sandwiches for quick meals.
Grass-fed steaks, burgers, and ground beef:  Grass-fed meats have been shown to have as high as, or even higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids than salmon (without the mercury).  Also, grass-fed meats have much higher levels of fat-burning and muscle-building conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) compared to typical grain-fed beef that you'll find at your grocery store.  I recently found an excellent on-line store where I buy all of my grass-fed meats now (they even deliver right to your door in a sealed cooler) - http://www.healthygrassfed.2ya.com/
Frozen buffalo, ostrich, venison, and other "exotic" lean meats - Yeah, I know...I'm weird, but I can tell you that these are some of the healthiest meats around, and if you're serious about a lean healthy body, these types of meats are much better for you than the mass produced, hormone-pumped beef, chicken, and pork that's sold at most grocery stores.
Frozen veggies - again, when the growing season is over and I can no longer get local fresh produce, frozen veggies are the best option, since they often have higher nutrient contents compared to the fresh produce that has been shipped thousands of miles, sitting around for weeks before making it to your dinner table.

Alright, now the staples in my cabinets:
Various antioxidant-rich teas - green, oolong, white, rooibos (red tea) are some of the healthiest.  One of my newest favorite teas is yerba mate, which is a south american tea that is loaded with antioxidants and other nutrients. I've found some delicious yerba mate mixes such as chocolate yerba mate, mint mate, raspberry mate, etc.
Oat bran and steel cut oats - higher fiber than those little packs of instant oats, which are typically loaded with sugar.  If I'm trying to reduce body fat and get extra lean, I make most of my breakfasts based on eggs and veggies and bison sausage, but if I'm on a muscle building phase, I increase carbohydrate intake and use more oat bran and oatmeal.
The only healthy oils I have in my cabinets are virgin coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil. Macadamia oil may also be a reasonable choice as long as it's not "refined".  But other than that, all "vegetable oils" (which is usually soy and corn oil) are total junk and very inflammatory. Never use soy or corn oils!  Also, always avoid canola oil, as there is nothing healthy about canola oil, despite the deceptive marketing claims by the canola oil industry.
Cans of coconut milk (loaded with healthy saturated MCT fats) - to be transferred to a container in the fridge after opening.
Brown rice and other higher fiber rice - NEVER white rice
Tomato sauces - delicious, and as I'm sure you've heard a million times, they are a great source of lycopene. Just watch out for the brands that are loaded with nasty high fructose corn syrup.  You also want to make sure that the tomato sauce is made with olive oil instead of unhealthy soybean oil or canola oils. Also get tomato sauces in glass jars instead of cans, as canned tomatoes are notoriously high in the dangerous chemical, bisphenol-A (BPA) due to the acidic leaching of BPA from the can lining.
Stevia - a natural non-caloric sweetener, which is an excellent alternative to the nasty chemical-laden artificial sweeteners like aspartame, saccharine, and sucralose.
Raw honey - better than processed honey... higher quantities of beneficial nutrients and enzymes. Honey has even been proven in studies to improve glucose metabolism (your efficiency in processing carbohydrates).  I use a small teaspoon every morning in my teas.  Yes, I know that even honey is pure sugar, but at least it has some nutritional benefits... and let's be real, a teaspoon of healthier raw honey is only 5 grams of carbs... certainly nothing to worry about, and a better choice than refined sugar.
Organic REAL maple syrup - none of that high fructose corn syrup Aunt Jemima crap...only real maple syrup can be considered real food. The only time I really use this (because of the high sugar load) is added to my post-workout smoothies to sweeten things up and also elicit an insulin surge to push nutrients into your muscles to aid muscle recovery.
Organic unsweetened cocoa powder - I like to mix this into my smoothies for an extra jolt of antioxidants or make my own low-sugar hot cocoa by mixing cocoa powder into hot milk with stevia and a couple melted dark chocolate chunks (delicious!).
Cans of black or kidney beans - I like to add a couple scoops to my Mexican dishes for the fiber and high nutrition content. Also, beans are surprisingly one of the best sources of youth enhancing antioxidants!  Did you know that black beans and kidney beans have more antioxidants than blueberries...it's true!
Dark chocolate (as dark as possible - ideally more than 70-75% cocoa content) - This is one of my treats that satisfies my sweet tooth, plus provides loads of antioxidants at the same time. It's still calorie dense, so I keep it to just 1-2 small squares after a meal... but that is enough to do the trick, so I don't feel like I need to go out and get cake and ice cream to satisfy my dessert urges.

Lastly, another thing that's hard to go wrong with is a good variety of fresh fruits and berries. The staples such as bananas, apples, oranges, pears, peaches are good, but I like to also be a little more adventurous and include things like yellow (aka - mexican or champagne) mangoes, pomegranates, kumquats, papaya, star fruit, pineapples, and others. Also, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, black raspberries (the highest fiber berry) and cherries are some of the most nutrient and antioxidant-dense fruits you can eat.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this special look into my favorite lean body meals and how I stock my cabinets and fridge. Your tastes are probably quite different than mine, but hopefully this gave you some good ideas you can use next time you're at the grocery store looking to stock up a healthy and delicious pile of groceries.

Wow, it's been that long? Or rather, Cross Training 101

I knew it had been a while since I posted anything, but I'm honestly surprised to see it's been two months. Huh.


Well, even super-perky-hyperactive-always-lookin'-on-the-bright-side trainers hit a little speedbump now and then.  My muse went on hiatus... uh, like, my dog ate my homework... um, so, you know, the power went out and my alarm didn't go off....


And BAM, before you know it, it's almost marathon training time again.  Has it been fun running without training for anything in particular? You betcha!  But I have now joined the C.R.E.W. marathon coaching team over at Fleet Feet Sports/Savannah and I am very psyched about helping a whole bunch of great people finish their first marathon - or improve upon their previous efforts, as the case may be.  The Savannah Rock 'N' Roll Marathon is November 5th, and the C.R.E.W. programs for the half marathon and full marathon kick off on May 28th.


Carol Ann, another coach, and I were plotting our strategy and comparing notes the other day.  One of the topics we discussed was what type of cross training to recommend.  I got to thinking about cross training during my run this morning and so I shall share my thoughts with you.  (While running this morning I also thought about the words to the songs, Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Pat Benetar and Overjoyed by Stevie Wonder, among others.  Sparing you the sharing on those.)


Cross training for the runner, or for any other active individual, means a change up on several levels.  You want to spend a couple of sessions per week moving in a different direction from your usual activity.  Runners are almost always going in the sagittal plane, aka forward from a standing position.  So adding sessions which are dominated by lateral or rotational patterns would be cross training, like dance or tennis or swimming (especially breast stroke).  Repetitive bounding foot strikes make running high-impact, so low impact cycling or yoga or pilates activities would qualify. 


Also, most runners challenge and improve their aerobic energy system for greater endurance and cardio-respiratory fitness.  Great cross training choices to challenge the body's anaerobic energy system include weight lifting and boxing.  These improve your power, and your speed, depending on your training ability and progress.


What other cross training choices can you come up with?  Please share your ideas or questions.  Be Well! TRAINER JANE

Resting Heart Rate Research

In the beginning of February, I launched an indoor cycling class at The Landings Club called “Heart Rate Ride.”  Training within certain heart rate boundaries can result in very specific health and fitness benefits.   So the cyclist, who is strongly advised to wear a chest-strap heart rate monitor in class, learns those boundaries which create a health-, or an endurance-, or a performance-related response.  Every rider also learns how to use their heart rate monitor to measure their own resting heart rate (RHR), and to incorporate the RHR to find their estimated target heart rate range using the newly revised Karvonen formula.  They can apply their target heart rate range to all their cardio-vascular exercise and activities, and manipulate their intensity levels to better reach their fitness goals.

Whew.

Upon learning their RHR, most clients will come and ask me, “Is that good?”  And my honest answer, up until now, has been, “Well, it is all relative, I’ve never heard of a definite link between RHR and heart health.  But as your fitness improves and your heart grows stronger, your RHR usually decreases, and that, relatively speaking, is good.” 

Until now.  Research published in American Heart Journal lends some long awaited clarity to the question, “What’s a good resting heart rate?”   The study tracked over 21,000 middle-aged adults for an average of 12 years, which is a nice, long retrospective study period.  The results indicated that women with a RHR above 90 beats per minute were three times more likely to die of heart disease during the study than those with a rate below 60 beats a minute. Men with rates above 90 were twice as likely to die of heart disease.  The results were consistent when adjusted for age, gender, total cholesterol, physical activity (categorical), systolic blood pressure, body mass index, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (aka “good cholesterol”).

There’s a little more food for thought in here.  Women’s heart rates are typically higher than men’s, because our hearts usually aren’t as large and therefore have to beat more often to pump the blood around.  Look at those numbers in the paragraph above with that in mind.  Women might not have as far to climb to get over 90 beats per minute, and likely have to work harder to get the heart strong enough to drop below 60 beats per minute.  So, ladies and gentlemen, get with me here, we really need to get fit and keep those hearts strong to get that RHR number down.

Reference: Am Heart J. 2010 Jul;160(1):208. Laatikainen, Tiina

Fish, Fish Oil, Krill, Mercury, and More

According to Dr. Mark Hyman, nearly all Americans are deficient in heart-healthy omega-3 fats.  These aren’t the only type of omega fats which are important to your optimal health, but they are the ones you hear about the most. 

You also hear a lot about fish oil supplements, prescription medications made from fish oil, and high mercury levels found in many types of the fish we usually consume.

To help make your fish and fish oil decision making a little bit easier, I want to pass along this PDF format report I received this week.  One of the authors of the report, Jayson Hunter, also happens to be marketing a krill oil supplement product.  So you’ll find the last few pages are highly promotional for his product.

I am not endorsing the krill oil product.

But I do find much of the content of the report compelling, and I think you’ll find the chart on page 15 is particularly handy for choosing the low-mercury varieties of fish.

If you are not eating either “fatty” fish, walnuts, eggs, or grass fed meats at least once every day, then you are probably omega-3 deficient.  And if you can’t eat any one of those things every day – whether you are allergic or a vegetarian or you just plain don’t like them – then quality supplements could be a good idea.**

Great information on quality supplements from an independent testing laboratory can be found at http://www.consumerlabs.com/.

Here’s the link to get your own copy of the report.  It’s lengthy but worthwhile reading:

http://athletesacceleration.getprograde.com/viewpdffile/What-Your-Doctor-Never-Told-You-About-FishOil.pdf

Now you say to yourself (after you’ve looked at the chart on page 15), “Self,” you say, “have I been eating so much contaminated fish that I might have mercury poisoning and not even know it?”

Well, that’s a perfectly reasonable question.  There are other ways to become overexposed to mercury, too.  So as a special bonus, I’m going to turn you on to a very comprehensive article from the aforementioned Dr. Hyman about mercury toxicity and how to recover from it. 

http://drhyman.com/how-to-rid-your-body-of-mercury-and-other-heavy-metals-a-3-step-plan-to-recover-your-health-523/

**Extra-extra-extra-special bonus tip from Trainer Jane:  Get advice from your doctor, AND your pharmacist, AND a good lab where you can get blood and urine analysis done to determine your own unique deficiencies or toxicities before you take any supplement beyond a basic multivitamin.  You may already be on a medication that can cause an adverse reaction when combined with a supplement, or have a condition that could be worsened by one.

Here in Savannah, Brighter Day Natural Foods on

Park Ave.

provides great resources for local labs which perform this type of testing.

The more you know about your own individual needs, the better you can personalize your optimal health plan.

Be Well!

$*&)%$)!! My Mom Emails Me

This weekend my mother sent me an email which she had received from a friend, who had received it from another friend.  It was entitled, "Dr. Oz On Eating Fruit."  Mother is cautious about the emails she sends me about fitness and nutrition, she gets a lot of these things from her friends.  But this one made a lot of sense to her and she thought I might find it very interesting.

Oh, I found it interesting, all right.  First, the way it was displayed on the page didn't have any of the hallmarks of a marketing email format one would expect of Dr. Oz, fabulous television personality and remarkably level-headed health advisor to millions. 

Second, it was full of misinformation.

After reading it all the way through, and then huffing-puffing-snorting a bit, I went to Dr. Oz's website to see if this attribution was correct.  Sure enough, there were no articles or discussions on his website which matched the content of this email.  Check out DoctorOz.com when you get a chance yourself, there's a great deal of quality content and Q & A there.

Then I spent some quality time on the phone with my mother, and dissected the email with her so she could learn more about what nutritional approaches are appropriate for her conditions. 

Check The Sources.  If you get an email that isn't from Dr. Oz, or Dr. Jones or Dr. Doolittle for that matter, but claims to be approved by that individual, double check that attribution.  For instance, when I forward information which I deem valuable from Dr. Mark Hyman, I usually include the direct link to his website so there's no confusion about the source.  Verify.

Here's some of the info my mother sent me... with my commentary IN ALL ITALIC CAPS.  Enjoy the lunacy.  BE WELL! TJ


"EATING FRUIT" 
"We all think eating fruit means just buying fruit, cutting it up and popping it into our mouths. It's not that easy. It's important to know how and when to eat fruit.

What's the correct way to eat fruit?

IT MEANS NOT EATING FRUIT AFTER A MEAL! FRUIT SHOULD BE EATEN ON AN EMPTY STOMACH."   (IF YOU HAVE DIABETES, HECK EVEN IF YOU DON'T, IT'S ACTUALLY HEALTHIER TO HAVE A SMALL AMOUNT OF PROTEIN OR FAT ALONG WITH YOUR SERVING OF FRUIT. IT SLOWS THE SPIKE IN YOUR BLOOD SUGAR.) 

"Eating fruit like that plays a major role in detoxifying your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities.

FRUIT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOOD."  (ALL PLANT FOODS ARE IMPORTANT, NOT JUST FRUIT. AND BALANCED EATING IS IMPORTANT.)

"Let's say you eat two slices of bread, then a slice of fruit. The slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines, but it's prevented from doing so."  (ALL CARBOHYDRATES HERE.  THE SIMPLE PROCESSED CARBOHYDRATE IN THE BREAD WILL DIGEST PARTICULARLY FAST, AND SO WILL THE FRUIT.)

"In the meantime, the whole meal rots and ferments, and turns to acid. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach, and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil." (THE LAST TIME I CHECKED, YOUR STOMACH IS AND SHOULD BE AN ACID PIT. FOOD GETS CHURNED ABOUT AND BEGINS BREAKING DOWN THERE. FOOD DOESN'T "SPOIL" IN YOUR STOMACH IN THE PRESENCE OF FRUIT ACIDS, AS IF YOU LEFT IT ON THE KITCHEN COUNTER FOR A WEEK.)

"When you need to drink fruit juice drink only fresh fruit juice, NOT the concentrated juice from the cans. Don't drink juice that has been heated. Don't eat cooked fruit; you don't get the nutrients at all. You get only the taste. Cooking destroys all of the vitamins." (NOT ALL OF THEM, AND NOT COMPLETELY.  GIVEN A CHOICE BETWEEN NO FRUIT OR COOKED FRUIT, HAVE THE COOKED.)
 "Drinking Cold water after a meal = Cancer!"   (OMG, SERIOUSLY???)

"Can you believe this? For those who like to drink cold water, this applies to you. It's nice to have a cold drink after a meal, however, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you've just consumed, which slows digestion." (OK. POP QUIZ.  HOW HOT IS YOUR MOUTH? AVERAGE 98.6F DEGREES.  HOW HOT IS YOUR ESOPHAGUS?  AND YOUR STOMACH, THE AFOREMENTIONED ACID PIT? RIGHT, HOTTER.  SO HOW COLD IS THAT WATER GOING TO STAY AND FOR HOW LONG?  ANSWER: NOT LONG ENOUGH TO HARDEN ANY FATS IN YOUR STOMACH.)  "Once this 'sludge' reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal."  (IN FACT, WATER AIDS DIGESTION. ACCORDING TO THIS, FAT IN YOUR INTESTINE = CANCER. WHICH, FRANKLY, IS ABSURD.  THIS ARTICLE IS DRIVING ME NUTS.  FAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE ABSORBED THROUGH YOUR INTESTINES.  AND THERE ARE MANY HEALTHY TYPES OF FAT.)

Update 2/20/11:  According to Ayurvedic medicine, drinking iced water during a meal slows the "digestive fire."  No mention of turning stomach contents to sludge or fat into cancer.  However, Ayurvedic does promote non-iced water during and after meals as a digestive aid, and suggests optimal meal composition as two thirds solids and one third liquid. 

“LaLanneisms”

I can’t even really believe that Jack LaLanne has passed away.  You know what they say, though, it isn’t a matter of if, it’s about when and how.

Ninety six years is a good ripe age, and he enjoyed a very high quality of life. 

I remember so clearly watching Jack LaLanne’s television show when I went to visit my grandmother’s house.  It’s not clear to me why we never watched in our own home, maybe I was in school or someone in the house who was older than I took charge of the boob-tube when his show was on.  Sometimes I’d exercise along with him and sometimes, ironically (though I was too young to know I was being ironic), I’d just lie on the floor and listen.

It would be overreaching to say he was an inspiration to me in my choice to lead an active lifestyle, or to pursue a career in fitness education.  But he was wonderfully handy to point to as living example of what one can accomplish with disciplined exercise and healthy eating.  It is no small feat for a man in his 80’s to swim across San Francisco Bay, towing several of his closest friends behind him in a row boat.

Jack didn’t drink coffee, but he did partake of red and white wine.  So, a toast to the memory and the mission of Jack LaLanne!  May his words, deeds, and spirit be inscribed in the book of life.

Here are a few of Jack’s words of wisdom:

• Anything in life is possible and you can make it happen.
• Your waistline is your lifeline.
• Exercise is King, nutrition is Queen, put them together and you’ve got a kingdom.
• Don’t exceed the feed limit.
• The food you eat today is walking and talking tomorrow.
• Ten seconds on the lips and a lifetime on the hips.
• Better to wear out than rust out.
• Do – don’t stew.
• People don’t die of old age, they die of inactivity.
• First we inspire them, then we perspire them.
• You eat everyday, you sleep everyday, and your body was made to exercise everyday.
• Work at living and you don’t have to die tomorrow.
• I can’t die, it would ruin my image. [Whoops.-JO]
• If man makes it, don’t eat it.
• If it tastes good, spit it out.
• What’s it doing for me?
• Your health account is like your bank account: The more you put in, the more you can take out.
• If one apple is good, you wouldn’t eat 100.
• It’s not what you do some of the time that counts, it’s what you do all of the time that counts.
• Make haste slowly.
• Eat right and you can’t go wrong.

A Magical Marathon



High fives at the finish!



Fair warning, this is a long post.

I planned on a winter marathon, and by golly I worked my plan and planned my work and ran that baby.  If you've not completed or competed in an endurance event before, it's hard to understand why one would put oneself through the arduous training, the black toenails, the mysterious aches and pains, the conscious eating... and the fear of doing something wrong along the way to foil the plan. 

Talking in the gym about the marathon training with a runner friend of mine, someone piped in, "Oh, I hear that marathon running is very bad for your heart and your knees."  Well, each of us has a different body and mine tolerates long distance running fairly well.  It's not for everyone.  I've read the research about the impact of marathoning on the body.  Proper long term training, proper nutrition, and adequate rest are essential to minimizing heart damage, orthopaedic damage, any injury.  As usual, safe progressions and good biomechanics are the keys to proper training.  It also helps if running feeds your soul, as it does mine.

Every minute of every day is a risk.  We wrap ourselves in a blanket of some kind of security and then, as my friend Ellie likes to say, we tip our horns down like a bull and just go.  The reward at the end, the sense of being able to do something you were not entirely convinced you could, is a great feeling.  To top that off, Disney World Marathon is a huge fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and it certainly feels good to make that contribution.

Once upon a time I was convinced I could never run a marathon.  Then again, I was at one time certain I would never run more than five miles.  Then I went to New York City to witness my friend Ellie (the aforementioned bull) run the marathon to mark her 40th birthday.  I was completely enthralled and ultimately the idea took root in my noggin that I could marathon, too.  Ellie is also a client (with asthma) who went from walking to running to marathoning in about 5 years of training -- you get the idea, she's a driven sort.

Disney World Marathon, January 9, 2011.  Orlando is not supposed to experience 40 degree temps, but it did.  I once swore never to run a marathon with more than 10,000 entrants, but I did.  My running buddies from New York and I were slated to run together, but we didn't (though we did fuel up together the night before :-).  I trained to be able to finish the marathon in 3 hours 50 minutes, but I didn't.  All of this made it an exceptional day... and it was a terrific experience in spite of all those shifted expectations!

Race day is a good day to let go of expectations.  Stay positive but go with your gut.  Sixteen weeks of plenty-difficult combinations of speed, tempo, and distance running workouts through Georgia heat and Georgia rain and Georgia snow (!) leaves you marathon-distance ready.  But every day is a new day, every race a new logistical experience.  Seventeen thousand runners need to be delivered to one start line a full hour and a half before the race begins so the roads on the course are not clogged with vehicles.  Disney did its level best to distract us all from how little fun there is to be had in that part.

An hour and a half of standing and shuffling in 40 degree temps and you can't feel your feet for the first four miles.  At least, that's what happened to me.  No feeling in feet = no keeping race pace.  Just one of those things.  When I saw how slow my time was for the first 5 miles compared to my race goal, I decided it to leave it be.  I was afraid of turning an ankle on those numb feet, and cranky about training all those weeks alone and then racing alone even while surrounded by 16,999 friends I hadn't met yet.  I couldn't make up that time and stay on pace the rest of the run and have any fun.

In letting it go, believe me, there was a lot of fun to be had!  It's Disney World, for crying out loud!  There was actually a young spectator on the course, around mile 11, announcing over and over, "this is the Magic Kingdom, the happiest place on earth, why aren't you all smiling?"  LOL!

Some people run with iPods and MP3 players.  Maybe because I'm a musician, I have songs in my head, and some very specific songs that help me keep my race pace. So I don't partake of the iPod.  But Disney has live musicians and musical accompaniment to Disney costumed characters and recordings blasting nearly every single mile along the way.  The volume control in my head can't compete with that.  And then there's the theme parks...enchanting, engaging, all those words Disney loves to use in its marketing messages.  Was I tickled pink when I ran through Cinderella's Castle?  You betcha.  Did I get a kick out of Lucille Ball's commentary on the street in Disney Hollywood?  Abso-tively-Posi-lutely.  The green Army guy from Toy Story was a raging riot -- who wants to race by and miss anything!??

For the first time in my marathoning history, which began in 1999, I didn't hit the wall.   I had the energy to sing along and "arm-dance" while I was running to "Whip It" at mile 9 and "Sweet Caroline" at mile 21.  Felt so good at the finish I started disco dancing, right after the high-five with Donald Duck.  Even with the frozen start, I was well fueled and well hydrated and thrilled to feel like I coasted through the 26.2, compared to previous marathons.  Though I shared hugs and thrills with pals Diane and Jerry among the roadside spectators at mile 21, I still couldn't find my friends in the throngs at the finish.  But my family found me dancing around at the finish line and it was amazing to share with them.  My dad was particularly overcome, because he always wanted to try to run a marathon and never did.  He's to blame, his are the legs I inherited.  Running with him when I was a kid allowed me to put off the chores at home with mom, but the thinking time and physical outlet for stress made me an addict.

Ever goal oriented am I, and I have the Savannah Rock and Roll Marathon in November to look forward to.  When you find a training scheme that works, you can't help but to do it again!  But for now I'm happy to rest and heal a little, get back on my bicycle without fear of screwing up some running schedule, and forgive myself for not making my goal of 3:50.  Color me Coral -- the nail polish shade that's covering my black toenails!