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Thursday, September 30, 2010

A Bunch of Unrelated Thoughts

Last night I attended a presentation at my neighbor's house about Juice Plus, a whole food based nutrition supplement. It's in pill form, but it contains the dehydrated juice from a multitude of vegetables, fruits, and grains. It was a very compelling presentation that reminded me just how important fruits and vegetables really are to our bodies.

There was one portion of Terri's presentation that I have to share. Eight years ago for the purposes of the presentations she gives all over the country, she purchased some fast food french fries, a hamburger, and a doughnut. She keeps them in a plastic bag in her trunk. She brought these things out, and they looked EXACTLY THE SAME as the fries and burger that you could pick up at McDonald's today. It was...gross. And enlightening. Her comment was that if any self-respecting bacteria wouldn't attack that food, then neither should we.

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Yesterday afternoon I took the kids to the park. Now that the kids are a little older, I can plant myself on the bench and enjoy the afternoon while they run wild on the playground. As I sat there, I saw an older couple (maybe 45 or 50) holding hands and walking over to the basketball court. They proceeded to stretch, run wind sprints, and then shoot baskets while they talked and laughed.

How awesome is that? How many couples, when faced with a free afternoon, decide to head up to the park to shoot hoops?

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Last night I fixed quesadillas for dinner. And like any time I fix Mexican food, I want chips. I stopped making the chip aisle a grocery store destination quite a while back, so I usually don't have a bag of chips lying around the house. But I got a really good idea from The Sneaky Chef, Missy Chase Lapine. (I know I better give credit where credit is due with that lady, cause if she'll sue the Seinfelds, she'll certainly sue me.)

I take about 4 corn tortillas (I always keep a bag of them in the freezer--they thaw really quickly), cover them with olive oil and seasoning salt, and bake them in a 425-degree oven for 6 minutes per side. They are really good (and healthy with the olive oil omega 3 fats), they satisfy my craving for chips, and we finish the whole batch in one sitting. No bag of chips left to put in your pantry!

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

My Anti-Soda Rant

I like soda. It's sweet. It's bubbly. It's candy in liquid form. Do I eat candy for breakfast? No. But I sure see plenty of people having Coke for breakfast.

(Give me a second to climb up on my soapbox. OK, I'm there.)

News about the overwhelming obesity crisis in the United States is on the news constantly. And every time I see one of those stories, I think about how soda fits into the equation. I'd bet money that if everyone who struggles with their weight gave up soda in favor of water, they'd drop ten pounds within the month.

And weight is just one factor. The other factor is that soda is just plain not good for you. Pick your poison, regular or diet, it all shakes out the same way: soda is nothing but empty calories edging out room in your stomach for something with actual nutritional value.

It breaks my heart when I see elementary school aged kids running around with cans of Mountain Dew or Dr Pepper. That's 40 grams of sugar they're holding (the equivalent of 10 packets of sugar), and don't even get me started on the caffeine.

A few years ago I received a tip in an email forward that said, "If you're ever driving your car, and the windshield is sprayed with oil, pour a can of Coke all over the windshield. It will cut the grease and make it easy to clean the oil off."

So if the ingredients in soda can cut through greasy oil on a windshield, what is it doing to my insides when I drink it?

Here are "8 Ways Soda Fizzles Your Health":
http://waterforlifeusa.com/blog/uncategorized/8-ways-soda-fizzles-your-health/

And if you have a few minutes, here's why diet soda is no better for you than regular soda:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpoAtwVyzZI

In the words of Tony Horton, "Drink your water, people!" Add a squirt of lemon or lime if you need to jazz it up!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

The Shakeology Experiment: This time, it's personal.

We're going to get down to the nitty gritty, now, people. It's day four, and Zach's Shakeology experience has been overwhelmingly positive. Today's lunch was chocolate Shakeology with natural peanut butter and a banana. "It's my favorite recipe so far," Zach said.

If you are squeamish, stop reading here. (Don't say I didn't warn you.)

"My poops are awesome!" Zach exclaimed on the phone to me earlier today. "Super regular, and nice and clean."

Clean? I'm not going to delve any further into that statement.

So I guess we can give Shakeology high marks in the "Regularity" department.

Last night Zach had dinner with co-workers out at a restaurant. It was a pizza joint, but they had some pasta on the menu, as well. He asked for the pasta with broccoli, and requested that they leave the wine sauce off. "But that's the really good part!" the waitress tried to explain. "I know," he said. "Just put some marinara on it."

"I haven't had any trouble with cravings," Zach said. "Maybe it's because I feel like I did all that work to get cleaned out, so I'm motivated to stay that way."

Our blender is working overtime. Between our regular protein shakes and the Shakeology, we may be investing in a new one by year's end. But it's been worth it so far!

Monday, September 27, 2010

The Shakeology Experiment: Days 1-3

Several months ago I started receiving information from Beachbody about a new product called Shakeology. It's "The Healthiest Meal of the Day!" the materials said. These shakes have 70 natural ingredients, essential amino acids, antioxidants...the whole bit.

Zach has wanted to try Shakeology for several months, and now that I'm an Independent Team Beachbody Coach (and get a nice little discount on Beachbody products), I finally agreed to let him try it. Here's a brief video that explains some of the benefits of Shakeology:

http://teambeachbody.com/showcase/-/bcp/16664447001/57987?referringRepId=57987

I'm the type of person that needs to see a product in action before I can recommend it to anyone, so we decided to do a 30-day Shakeology Experiment. I'm going to take detailed notes about what he experiences during 30 days taking the shakes, and chronicle his experiences on this blog.

Last Saturday Zach kicked off his Shakeology experience with a two-day cleanse. They actually recommend a three-day cleanse, but he elected to only stay on the cleanse for the weekend. A cleanse consists of a shake for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with some snacks of fruit, plenty of water/green tea, and a salad for dinner with 3 ounces of white meat. (See the Shakeology site for a more thorough explanation of the cleanse schedule!)

Day One
Zach is taking chocolate Shakeology (the other flavor is Greenberry). For the cleanse, he can only mix the Shakeology powder with water and ice. Once he's off the cleanse, there are plenty of recipes to jazz up his shake; the package came with a calendar of 30 different recipes to try!

When it's blended, the shake is really thick and filling. "I'm really full," he said. "I can see how that replaces a meal." After lunch Zach said that the shakes "are really satisfying. I'm not craving anything, even though I've only had two shakes and a banana."

For dinner that night, we went to some friends' house. Zach abstained from his usual social beer and stuck to water with his Red fish (thanks, Jason!) and spinach salad.

Day Two
Prior to drinking his first shake, Zach did an ab workout (can you say glutton for punishment?). "I'm starving right now," he said.

The rest of the day Zach was more low-key, even taking a nap on the couch (which doesn't happen much). I fixed grilled chicken for dinner, and he said it tasted "like a million bucks." I bet that was due to my superior cooking skills. Or his starvation. He wrapped up the cleanse with one last shake in the early evening, followed by a protein shake before bed to effectively end the cleanse.

Here is a breakdown of his two-day weight loss:

9/24/10     10pm     172.0 lbs.
9/25/10     9:20pm  168.4 lbs.
9/26/10     7:45am   166.4 lbs.
9/26/10     8:45am   167.0 lbs
9/27/10     6:15am   165.4 lbs.

That's just about 7 pounds lost on a very restricted calorie (about 1,000 calories per day) cleanse.

Day Three
Zach ate a normal breakfast and mixed his Shakeology to take to work for lunch. He chose the "PB&J" recipe, which includes natural peanut butter and frozen strawberries. He said the recipe was really good and a nice change from the "plain" shakes he's had thus far.

Stay tuned to see how Shakeology works as a meal replacement! I'll be interested to note Zach's energy level and hunger as he works through his first week on the program.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Smells Like What?

Fitness. It smells like fitness!

Why did I call this blog Smells Like Fitness? Because about two years ago, my husband and I bought a workout program from an infomercial, and now we are fitness and nutrition geeks. And big Tony Horton fans. Tony Horton is the trainer/host of P90X, P90X Plus, and P90X One on One, to all of which we subscribe. Somewhere in the many hours of exercise DVDs that we now have, Tony makes that exclamation and it makes me laugh every time. So, there it is.

A few weeks ago we went to see Tony LIVE and in person, and we heard more about Beachbody (the company that produces P90X), and the opportunity to become a Team Beachbody Coach. Now ordinarily I would shy away from anything that involves selling people on well, anything. But the fact of the matter is that I've been selling this program to anyone and everyone who will listen to me ramble about P90X for the last two years, and haven't gotten paid a dime. Why not try to get a little benefit out of it?

So, I have my Team Beachbody Coach site set up (http://beachbodycoach.com/esuite/home/coachSusanH), and I'm ready to get people excited about getting fit, healthy, and happy.

Here are a few things to know up front:

Zach and I work out every morning, Monday through Friday, at 5am. That's five in the morning. Five. In the Morning. When we bought this program we knew that the only way we would stick to it was to schedule it. And with two small kids and a busy career, the only time somebody's not crying or scheduling an appointment is early in the morning. So I reluctantly agreed to that time, and low and behold...I love it. I wouldn't have it any other way. Yes, I hate life from about 5:00 until 5:04. But once we're up and working out, I (almost) never regret it. And come 6:00, your workout is done! You have to whole day to conquer whatever else is on your to-do list.


Like climb up a mountain!

But I'm also the first to admit that Zach is the chief motivator around here. If he says "let's just sleep in today," I'm the first to agree. But...that has happened probably two times in two years.

We are trying to clean up our diets, although we've both never been ones to eat very cleanly. Growing up, my attitude was "I work out, so I can eat what I want!" But now that we're both in our 30s, it doesn't work that way. My other motivation for eating well is to teach my kids about healthy and unhealthy foods. I am so lucky in that I have a son who loves fruits and vegetables...my daughter not so much. We're working on her.

So that's why I'm starting this blog. I want to chronicle my experiences as a Team Beachbody Coach, start discussions about health, diet, and fitness, and hopefully motivate people to want to live a better life.