we're all the same

a phrase ive been thinking about so much lately.... we're all the same on the inside. we all start out the same (of course with some exceptions) we all have the same ability to have a strong heart, healthy lungs, and a fit body- inside and out. i dont know why some people sell themselves so short? you CAN achieve ANYTHING you want to- anything you put your mind to. if you see someone running a 7 minute mile and you think i could never do that- you are sooooo wrong! do you think that person started out running a 7 minute mile? or even running at all? no way! small steps guys... start walking 1 mile, then walk a mile and jog a mile, then jog 2 miles, then run a mile and jog a mile, then run 2 miles, and so on. you get the drift! i have been so bummed about losing progress so many times, and every time i have come back. with a little hard work and dedication. i think a lot of people are just afraid. afraid to work hard, afraid of success, afraid of failure, afraid to prove themselves wrong or maybe prove others wrong! people are afraid, and i challenge you to NOT BE AFRAID. have some confidence and who really cares who you prove wrong or right. its not about them- its about you and your life. and how you feel and how you take care of yourself- or not.

americans obsession with meds

or should i say doctors obsessions with drugs? and americans obsession with not asking second opinions. on a side note, i think we all need a course in the differences in doctors training. as a pyschology graduate and counselor, i am always surprised to find out that people do not know the difference bewteen a pyschologist and a psychiatrist. let alone counselors, therapists, and social workers! there are big differences. the reason i think people should inform themselves about these guys, is that if you go to see a pyschiatrist for anxiety, he will prescribe drugs. if you go to see a psychologist, or a counselor for anxiety, they will counsel you. pyschiatrists are medical doctors who go to med school and choose psychiatry as their specialty area, like a gynecologist would choose gynecology. so they dont have the counseling training that a psychologist does, nor do they believe they need it. most, but not all, of them believe that problems like anxiety and depression will be cured with meds. but let me ask you, if you take take meds for depression, what happens when you come off them? it's still there. and ive seen this happen- the drugs are covering up the problem, not solving it. and in addition, they are making matters worse with their side effects. i have watched more than one person in my own life go from being addicted to alcohol or whatever, to being addicted to anti-depressants b/c they had a hard time coping with coming off the previous substance. so when did everything have to be so easy? why are we so afraid to feel and put in a little effort? it builds character people! dont take credit for quitting smoking if you did it with pills- you didnt quit, you just exchanged one form of nicotine for another. how about a little hard work and being so proud of yourself b/c you did it on your own like a big girl? im always so hesitant to post what i feel about things, because i truly do not want to offend anyone. i know life is hard, and if something can help us through the rough times, who cares right? but i guess my point is just that we are stronger than we think. we dont need these crazy drugs that have a billion side effects and put you in a state of permanent spacy-ness! i am more scared of what the drugs do to you than feeling depressed or what it really feels like to get off nicotine for example. dont be afraid to feel! thats what lie is all about- feeling and experiencing. last year i had my 4th baby, and little did i know, had the worst year of my life. i went into a huge depression- hormonally induced, but very very real. my son is 16 months old, and i am just coming out of it. i barely remember the past year, it was so hard and tiring and sad. i could cry just thinking about it. but i fought and fought to get through it, and i knew i would, b/c i have faith in myself. not my doctor, not anti-depression meds, but myself. and i cant tell you how strong i feel for not giving up on myself. i kept working out, i ate healthy food, and i got sleep when i could. i kept in touch with friends and i cried a lot. i mean a lot! but i kept myself from falling deeper by keeping the faith. in myself. doing cardio releases "feel good" hormones in your brain that mimic a happy euphoric high. so i kept at it. day in day out, so many days i didnt want to get up and work out, but i made myself b/c i knew that was my ticket to feeling better.
we are responsible for our lives, for how we see the world, and how we feel the world. dont be afraid to feel your life. and i dont think we should be afraid to work hard and to battle things w/out the help of drugs. thats when we learn the most about ourselves.
on another side note! theres this amazing doctor, dr. weil. and his website is drweil.com btw....
he is a harvard trained MD. but he grew disappointed in the treatment minded medical system, and began focusing on prevention as opposed to treating his patients. he is very well known and in my opinion, an amazing guy who really has a grip on whats important and what it means to be healthy. he discusses exercise, our diet, and disease. he talks about how to heal from things w/out the typical drug cocktails. but most importantly, he feels like we need to put more emphasis on preventing illness, rather than treating it.
check him out! he just developed a food pyramid that we all should follow- throw out your ideas from the FDA and the ADA, and refer to his! it will literally, save your life :)

cardio or strength?

so the better question is what are your goals? the new trend is to focus more on strength training. but my heart is always with cardio. if i had to choose i would choose cardio. but some go the other way. i personally choose to do both, but there have been periods in my excercise life that i have not done much strength besides yoga, which can absolutely be strength training using your own body for resistance. i think the bottom line is that strength can reshape your body, but nothing can replace the feeling, the high of cardio. i love how it feels, and no amount of lifting weights has even done that for me. yoga also, i just love the way it makes me feel. so if i only have a half an hour to workout, i will choose cardio. but my goals are to feel good, feel well, feel better, and to keep my heart and other organs healthy. some people focus on their outside figure and some focus on health. there is a bridge between these 2, but it seems as though most fall on one side or the other. best case scenario, do both. for me, working out is for health, and a lot for relieving stress. for me, cardio does this. i cant explain the amazing high you get from running, there is really nothing like it. it makes you feel calm and strong all at the same time. it makes you feel lean and svelte, even if youre not! i do other types of cardio, like the bike, and spinning, and the elliptical, but for me, nothing comes close. you have to find that one for you. the one cardio workout that makes you feel good. for some its swimming, or biking, or even rowing. try them all and see what works for you. some people think they cant run- im just not a runner they say. but i urge you to try it- really try it. try anything you think you cant do. we are all capable of working out hard, and we are all strong. find your strength!

life is too short

a lot of people might think that life is too short to worry about diet and exercise- that we just dont have enough time in our days- and i totally get that. i constantly, daily, battle with which things to do now or later, when i can do this or that, and whose needs to put first. do i go running and i know ill feel better and be a better mom or do i spend more time with my kids or my husband or my friends, and forego my excercise? its a daily battle for sure. and sometimes i look at people (who shall remain nameless!!) who dont make time for exercise and im sort of jealous of the extra time (they dont even reaize they have) in their days. but i know i feel good, i feel better if i make time for it. and i hope that it will extend my life so that i can, in the end, have more time for my kids, and my husband, and my friends. we have to think about quality of life too. i know an older man who has never exercised in his adult life and his days are spent in front of the tv on the couch. he doesnt ever feel well mentally or physically, so he has resigned himself to a lonely world on the couch. he doesnt play with his grandchildren or take walks. he doesnt have any desire to do much and is very grumpy. if he wouldve taken those few minutes every day and respected his body, he wouldn't feel this way now. he would have energy, he wouldnt have bad circulation in his legs, he wouldnt have high BP and cholesterol, he would be happier in general (many many studies show how working out=more feel good happy hormones and less depression). so i do agree life is short, and there are some days where i feel like, im just going to skip b/c i want to hang out, i try to think of the future and what it would look like if i didnt work out or take care of myself. its not just an extended life you'll get, but a better one.

measure-ey

so as i was walking out of fitworks and i overheard a trainer/nutrionist meeting with a client. also, that same morning i had the today show on and i remember it being one of the reocurring (yawn) pieces on portion control and calorie intake. the trainer/nutrionist of fitworks had a super boring copy of "the correct portions" you shall intake at each meal. this included such things as tennis balls and softballs. the client looked oh so interested in this sheet of course! and the trainer didn't have to do anything but pass that printed out dated worksheet on correct calorie intake and portion control onto her client to follow to the tee. i mean could we make it a little less robotic please? not to mention completely boring and dare i say not realistic at all? i mean especially for the beginner trying to lose weight- let us tackle one problem at a time before we get to how many peas we're allowed to eat at dinner. and to me, it's so much more important WHAT you eat, not just how much you eat. i mean if you're sitting down to a meal of carrots, who cares if you eat 75 of them? i'm so sick of these ADA following rule following portion controlled calorie intake bosses telling everyone how much and when to eat. it is not one size fits all! i think it doesn't have to be like this. who has time to count calories and measure your food and compare your meals to balls?!! not only is this method of food control completely boring, but it's really a pain and complicated. a healthy diet is actually the opposite of this- it's SIMPLE. let's just focus on eating real whole food and we'll all be much better for it :)
i focus on ingredients PERIOD. i focus on QUALITY, not quantity. even if you eat only a tennis ball portion of cheese puffs- you still subjected your body to cheese puffs. so let's stop being so anal and measure-ey (great word there, huh?!), and focus on the important stuff like what are you feeding your body? what are you feeding your mind?

the strength of a woman

every woman's journey is different- i love all the stories i hear every day professionally and personally. i love women and respect our strength- i feel like we all posess this amazing underlying strength. the strength that comes from dealing with all the issues we have to deal with every day, the strength that comes from getting through the most terrifying pain of childbirth, the strength that comes from being a mother, and a friend, and a sister, and a daughter, and a wife. until i gave birth, i didn't know what me, what my body, was capable of. i didn't realize what i could get through and come out the other side- physically and emotionally. i think carrying and having children proves that to us every day. i have always loved to push myself physically. but after having children, i feel like i have never been stronger, and i now know what i'm capable of- ANYTHING! so for me, being a mother has brought me more confidence in my own strength. when i am pregnant, i feel like i am keeping myself healthy and strong for my baby. the stronger i am, the stronger my baby will be. of course, there are different parameters pregnant women have to follow- especially if you have a difficult pregnancy. i have had both- i've had 3 miscarriages, and 1 really difficult pregnancy- i had placenta previa and was on pelvic rest after month 2 until the end- and bed rest on and off with lots of heavy bleeding in between. i also had to take progesterone during 2 of my pregnancies b/c my levels were very low, and with a history of miscarriage, we wanted to be on the safe side. with all of that, i also had 3 relatively good pregancies. i worked out the entire time and felt great about that. i truly believe it helped me and my babies. the research shows that if you and your baby are healthy, exercise is best during pregnancy! of course, a great side effect can be keeping your weight gain in check. but like i've said before, weight should not always be the focus! if you've never worked out, you can begin during pregnancy- but you will certainly need more guidance than those who already do. i would strongly recommend a trainer during pregnancy- this is the time to know your parameters. and to be honest, why not leave the boring research to those of us who do it anyways?!! leave the boring stuff to us, and just enjoy your pregnancy and the strength you can find within yourself and let your body do the most amazing thing it will ever do :)

walking

a lot of people like to believe that if you take walks or take the stairs instead of the elevator or park further away so you walk through the parking lot, they're getting their exercise. the thing is, if you don't get your heart rate up to a certain point and even sustain that, you will not reap all the benefits of exercise. in general, walking does not accomplish this. yes, it's better than sitting on the couch and does burn some calories, but by no means is it as beneficial to your heart and other systems of the body as more vigorous exercise. i like what jillian micheals says, that's sending a false message of lethargy and not doing anyone any favors. we are all capable of working out, and working out hard. not that everyone needs to work out hard every day, but to compare walking to real exercise just isn't a fair comparison. if you have watched the biggest loser, you can see that literally anyone is capable of working out hard and reaping the benfits of working out like getting off all their meds!
vigorous exercise can and will....
decrease depression, decrease anxiety, elevate the happy hormone, decrease stress, improve your sleep, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, give you more energy, allow you to live longer, decrease your risk for premature death, prevent or lessen osteoporosis, decrease risk for a heart attack, decrease likehood of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers like breast and colon (by 60% or more!). have a better sex life, increased mental focus, better digestion, better circulation, increased metabolism, and better immune system.
these are just some of the many ways exercise will improve your life! not to mention increased self-esteem and just plain feeling better. and i can't tell you how much exercise can increase your confidence by making you feel strong and powerful and capable of pretty much anything! and of course, we didn't even talk about losing weight and increasing muscle mass and toning up- my approach is that if you focus on health, the rest will fall into place. so i feel like weight is secondary to all the amazing benefits of working out.

why organic milk? why milk at all?

i don't think people really understand why this organic thing is so important. the amount of toxins that we all take in every day is completely astounding! our food is laced with pesticides and dyes and hormones and toxins and high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils and on and on. these things build up in our bodies and adversally affect all processes.
the dairy we eat contains tons of hormones they feed to their cows, as well as pesticides and antibiotics. (i'm going to talk about how these things affect us, let alone the cows! i'll talk about that later...) so why give hormones and pesticides and antibiotics to dairy cows? well, first they separate the moms from their babies, so we can take their breastmilk and so the babies can't smell and cry even more for their moms and their milk. then to continue production of their breastmilk, they give them hormones- too much and many times they develop mastitis- and if you've ever had this or know anyone to have this, it can be extremely painful. i had it and it was so bad i cried for 3 days! some cows have a constant case... it's an infection of the milk duct or a clogged duct. so, to combat this and other infections, they give more and more antibiotics to the cows. the cows also become malnourished because they are producing so much milk, their bodies can't keep up, and it sucks any nourishment they may have. another reason they give antibiotics is because a lot of the cows develop digestive infections and problems from the grain or corn or soy based diet inflicted upon them. cows are meant to eat grass only- their bodies cannot digest grain and soy and corn, so they develop digestive problems and infections. the cows have constant upset stomachs and this diet affects all processes in their bodies. ironic that it's the same for us! humans are not meant to ingest cows breastmilk, and it's been estimated that about 75% of the world is lactose intolerant (although i would argue that we all are naturally cows milk intolerant- just like cows are corn and soy intolerant, but we keep drinking it and just take lots of meds to offset it's upset of our systems). anyway, to offest all of these issues, they give the cows more antibiotics and meds just enought to keep them alive for us to steal their babies breastmilk. this may seem harsh to you, but if you dug into the research- not the Monsanto (read up on this company!) based or ADA based research, but real research, you'd see the craziness of this. for our planet, for our bodies, for our children, for the cows, you'd realize this is only hurting all of us.
so let's talk a little- and i'm really only brushing the surface here- about the effect of all of this on us. the 3 biggies- early onset puberty, increase in cancers, esp of the reproductive systems, and not responding to antibiotics when we need them. there are more, like upsetting our digestive tracts, increase in fats and cholesterol build up, inflammation- but for now, i want to quickly just address those 3.
hormones- do you ever think that these young girls seem to be developing much earlier than they used to? it's not your imagination, they really are! girls are menstruating earlier and developing breasts earlier, and bigger breasts than in past generations. the term is early onset puberty. and it is an issue- mainly because it leads to increased breast and reproductive cancers for girls, and also problems with reproducing. developmental issues for girls and their future babies. (not to mention the societal pressures and issues that develop)
pesticides- these are all over the food they are feeding the cows and it gets into the milk you drink it large quantities. it also gets excreted through the cows manure and ends up in the soil and eventually gets into waterways where it adversly affects the ecosystems there- there have been many studies on the effects on fish and their development and reproduction and they do trace it back to this issue. pesticides build up in our bodies and can lead to cancers of all types.
antibiotics- so how many times have we given our children antibiotics? times that by a thousand! do you account for all the exposure they've had to dairy and milk over the years? in many cases, from day one in their milk based formula? the concern is that humans are becoming immune to antibiotics and when we really need them, they won't help.
and by the way, just because something is organic, doesn't intrinsicly mean it's good for you- just better than the non-organic alternative of that particular food. for example, if you're going to drink milk and eat dairy and meat- any animal product- PLEASE PLEASE buy and eat organic! but better yet, don't eat the animal product! another example is let's say cookies. organic cookies are better, but it's still a cookie, right?
i'm not saying you should never eat animal products. but my wish is that people be informed- you should know what's going into your body and what it can do to you! and then make your own INFORMED decision.
a great website to refer to is www.sustainabletable.org

yoga

every single time i go to a yoga class i fall in love with yoga all over again! i cannot recommend it enough! for all ages, all sizes, men and women- it just makes you feel so good! i do powerful yoga, relaxation yoga, slow flow, vinyasa- whatever class i do, i absolutely love :) it brings a calm to your day. it makes you stop and just be- if you let it. i wish i could take a yoga class every day- i do it at home, but there's something about the yoga studio with a really good teacher who can guide you through and adjust your body as you go- and the best is the end- when they come around and massage your head. or when they push you further into a stretch. someday, i will become an instructor for sure! or maybe i'll just keep being a student- it's great to be a yoga student :)

forget the scale!

don't make it about your weight- that number, that we all can obsess about!- does not always give you a good indication of your health. i think we all know this, right??? but as women, it's hard to not focus on the numbers. i have given up weighing myself now- after my last baby, it just got too frustrating! you can feel changes in your body, but the scale may not reflect those changes. i think if you have a lot of weight to lose, the scale can be helpful for sure. it's a great tool to keep track of your progress. but it can also hinder us when all it does is make us upset. once you get w/in your range- or w/in that last 20 pounds or so- maybe we should try to give it up for a bit- your regular weight at age 25 or even 35, may not be a good weight for where you are right now. if we focus on health instead of weight, we will get to where we need to be.
i think thats key- at least for me and in my training- i focus on health and the rest will all fall into place.

simple

being well. seems simple you know? but we all struggle with the right things to do, the right things to eat, the right exercises, the right cleaning products to use, and on and on. i think of a few things when i think of being well- but then i start to branch off and realize how much there is to think about. but we don't all think about these things every day- some people aren't even aware of some things they do or don't do that could improve their lives. it is so easy, so simple- yet so detailed and overwhelming too! i prefer to keep things simple- the less i have to think about or worry about, the better! with 4 kids and the crazy life we lead, the simpler the better for me. maybe that's why i choose to not eat meat- i don't want to worry about which meat to have or not have, or how much or how often- to me, if it's mostly not good, then i'd rather not bother at all. even when i run outside, i hate to worry about my route too much. i'm not one of those people who like to experiment with taking a bunch of turns and things- i like to clear my mind when i'm running. i like clean slates- i like my body to feel clean. and for me, i do that by being aware of what i put in it and how i treat it. i feel cleaner, leaner, (a better machine maybe?!) when i eat well and rest enough and exercise enough. i just plain and simple feel well! and i want everyone to feel well, i really really do. some of my friends and family might (ok, or do!!) get annoyed if i say or even imply anything to do with what they're eating or not eating and how much they are or aren't exercising- but i do hold back my opinions a lot(hard to believe i know!). i feel like we all do what we're ready to do. and me nagging isn't usually going to help anything. in fact, a lot of the time, it can make it worse. but the hard part is, i know how much better your life can be with a few simple changes- and i so desparately want to share that with everyone i care about!!!