Aspire, Perspire, Nourish Yourself

©Jgar

Food has always been a central theme in my life. Growing up, our family life revolved around family dinners, parties where the highlight was food, weddings with multi-course dinners, summer picnics with plenty of junk food and gourmet meals.

As I reflect on the meaning of food, I realize that it more than sustains me; it makes me happy…most of the time. When I overindulge or eat foods to which I have sensitivities, that’s another story! I get miserable and uncomfortable and worst of all I feel guilty about any overindulgence.

Calling My Bluff

©Roman Milert

I thought I had worked out my tipping point relationship with food, where I could control my eating habits to maintain good health.

My commitment to healthy, clean eating has been pretty good until a recent hectic period in my life. In the last 10 months, I have slacked off my nutrition because life has been moving way too fast for me to keep up. I moved to a new country, started a new business (www.apnlodging.com), sold the house I was living in for the past 20 years and am generally trying to figure out life! Have I made enough excuses?

So, when I recently read about The Ultimate Oxygen 90 Day Challenge in Oxygen Magazine, I was draw in by the opportunity. This fitness and nutrition challenge is tagged as a chance to get “your best body ever in 90 days”. When I first read about the challenge, I thought to myself, “This is a great way for me to clean up my act.”

Well, I started the program about a week ago and let me tell you that the meal planning has been more challenging than I thought. The fitness routine – no problem. I can fit in those workouts and do more than prescribed. The nutrition side – totally flying by the seat of my pants! I looked at the sample meal plan and tried to follow it but quickly dismissed it after 2 days. I must admit that there was a lot happening the last week so it was the worst possible time for me to try to follow a strict meal plan: wedding anniversary, two dinner parties that I hosted, a dinner business meeting, and date night with my hubby. All kinds of reasons to cheat.

Realistically, the meal plan outlined in the program is not sustainable for very active people who want to eat clean 365 days per year. It’s designed to prepare bodies for figure competitions as a short term program. Although it’s doable with discipline, I just can’t commit to it. During this last week, all I can think about is FOOD! The meal plan from the Oxygen Challenge makes me think of what I can’t eat rather than what I can.

Flipping the Switch

©Benjaminec

This past week, I’ve been miserable about my inability to stick to the meal plan. In my brain, I know it’s not the right thing for me but I hate being a quitter. Am I rationalizing things? Why is my gut telling me to STOP and re-think this?

A phone call to Mary reinforced my gut feel. She reminded me of the importance of long-term clean eating. Her straight up talk about our bodies needing good fats, staying away from fat-free foods that are loaded with sugars for taste, eating a variety of whole foods, and so on made me feel like a nutrition newbie again! A swift kick in the rear made me realize that I need to do my own thing.

Now What?

Am I a quitter? No. I’m going to finish the Challenge but on my own terms. Since I’ll be starting my marathon training in September, I’ll need to modify the Oxygen training program so why not modify the meals?

Here’s my plan for the nutrition side:

1. I have calculated my calorie and macro nutrient needs based on my specific circumstances, i.e. body fat percentage, current weight, fitness activity level and goals. Although I don’t plan to count calories and specific macro nutrients every day, I will keep a food diary to make sure I stay within reasonable ranges. Once I have a couple of days figured out, I can estimate on the go. Portion control will be the focus!

2. With a breakdown of the fats, carbs and protein needed each day, I will follow the Zig-Zag method of meal planning by Dr. Fred Hatfield to reasonably and safely lose body fat and weight, and build muscle. This means that on my less active days I’ll eat less, and on my more active days I’ll eat more. This keeps the body’s metabolism revved up for fat loss.

3. I will plan meals and snacks for each week in advance. The key is to have it figured out before the week begins. We have a wide variety of recipes on our site that are healthy and clean so putting meals together should be easy.

4. My family will be eating my way. I don’t want to make separate meals for them, and I want them to benefit from good, clean eating.

5. I will be kind and understanding towards myself through this process.

“Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.” – Peter Drucker

Do you have advice and suggestions for me? Please share because the hard work for me is just beginning!

Lia

Recipe of the Week: Salmon Pate

Roll, Roll, Roll Your Way to Flexible Muscles

https://www.wickedfitness.co/shop/the-grid-revolutionary-foam-roller/

As we have discussed in past posts, maintaining good physical fitness involves doing the following general things:

Aerobic training (creating cardiovascular endurance),
Strength training (increasing muscle strength and endurance),
Flexibility training (keeping muscles and joints flexible and mobile), and
Clean eating (nourishing your muscles and brain).

We find that flexibility training somehow gets buried in the list until you have some kind of injury that makes you promise to yourself that you’ll do it faithfully if your injury is magically repaired!

Flexibility training does not need to take a lot of your time. In fact, a small dose of 10-15 minutes per day will do for most people. Our secret to good flexibility? The Roller!

What are Rollers?

http://cardiniaphysioandfitness.com.au/foam-rollers/

We know you’ve seen these in the gym or physiotherapist office. Rollers are cylindrical in shape, various lengths, and typically made from foam. The rollers come in different foam densities to address specific therapy needs. For example, a less dense foam is used for beginners and for people whose muscles may not be as tight. A more dense foam may be needed to release fascia in tighter (over used) muscles.

Foam rollers have come a long way! When first introduced, they were available only to physical therapists and now in the DIY culture, more people are learning to do self-myofascial release exercises.

What kind should I buy?

https://www.performbetter.com

As we mentioned, rollers come in all sizes and lengths. Some have smooth surfaces, while others have ridges or pointy spikes. Lia has 3 different kinds, and her favorite is the travel roller that also comes with 3 balls of different hardness to use for targeting smaller areas/muscles. The balls conveniently store inside the roller. The travel roller is harder in density than the traditional foam roller. It’s also smaller in size so it stores more easily in small spaces.

If you are just starting to use a roller, we suggest that you choose one of medium density. You will quickly progress to needing one of harder density if you faithfully use the roller. Your muscles will crave the firmer pressure as you get used to using it!

http://www.physioroom.com/catalog/Foam_Rollers/3385.html

http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=38922516

How do I use it?

There are many sources for foam roller exercises and we’ve included a few good links for you below:

Some rollers will also include a chart or DVD demonstrating how to use it. Our favorite moves are shown in the photo chart below. We like to release muscles from neck to calf when time permits. On most days, the standard rolling includes IT bands, glutes, quads, hamstrings, shins, calfs, and back. We also use the balls for trigger points in the glutes and calfs.