Day Ninety: Reflection

My husband and I flipped a house once.

We bought a home that was an eyesore. Beaten up and abused, it had been neglected for years. When we purchased, we took the property off the owners hands just in time so that the bank wouldn't take it. When we painted, landscaped, and remodeled, the neighbors were relieved. When we had skilled, professional contractors come in and do polished work, they got recommendations and more work within the neighborhood. And, when we sold the house, a family moved in that would never had realized its potential if they saw where it began.

Everybody won.

Some of us don't realize our own potential. Some of us were abused and neglected by others, then by ourselves. We don't understand what we are capable of becoming. It takes a lot of hard work, difficult days, and an investment to turn what everyone sees as a lost cause into something amazing.

It can be done.

It takes commitment. It takes determination. It takes some elbow grease, inspiration, timing, and a little bit of art. When it comes to our bodies, it takes submission, listening, and working through our issues instead of running away from them.

You've begun that journey...90 days is a long time. But, it's a blink of an eye compared to the rest of your life. Isn't it good to actually be living instead of trying to just get through each day? Imagine what the rest of your life can bring...

Three months into your journey, I challenge you to take pictures. I challenge you to journal, to reflect on what you've begun. I challenge you to read love letters, and maybe write one.

May the rest of your journey be amazing....just like that house, may you realize your potential and come into your own.

Day Eighty-Nine: Milestones

Who doesn't enjoy projects?

Corporate project managers set up their projects according to their timelines, resources, and deliverables. School is wrapped up into a semester, about four months that finish with a bang. There's an exam every few weeks...then a final.

Milestones are an important part of any project.

A favorite way to look at health and fitness goals is as a series of projects. You might have a goal to complete a fitness program, then a goal to run a 5K...then a goal to lose 5 pounds or do a triathlon. It's important to set final goals, but realize there's never really an end...more of a continuation.

Some tips that help with this include:

• Set up a couple of projects a year, maybe 3-4 or so. Having something new every few months helps keep it interesting. It also allows you to cross train, be a more versatile athlete, and avoid injury.
• Utilize seasons...warmer weather can bring about activities that are outdoors, you can plan indoor activities during the winter.
• Break up big goals into smaller ones. You might have a big goal to finish a marathon. That's a year or two commitment. Train for it...5K, 10K, 20K, 30K....and so on. Break up the project into a series of projects.
• Celebrate your milestones as you have them. Every 3-4 months, you should be celebrating something.
• Do not celebrate with time off. Time off is for rest and repair as your body needs it. Celebrate with a massage, buying a new outfit or swimsuit, going on that ski trip...
• Do not celebrate with food. Food is fuel, food is not a reward.
• Overlap projects. As one is wrapping up, already commit to another one. This gives you the ability to finish the current project, celebrate the milestone, take any rest/repair time that you need, and get back into the swing of things so that your next project begins and you're up and training.
• Calendar and structure. As you are planning your project, plan your training for it. Think about your other commitments and responsibilities. Determine what your next several months are going to look like to see if it's manageable, if not...search for another project and come back to this one when you've got the ability and resources. Or, break this project up into smaller, more manageable chunks.

I challenge you to plan your training projects and celebrate your milestones.

Day Eighty-Eight: Your Story

Eighty-eight days ago, this journey began. It was Day One. New Year. You were resolved to change.

It is almost three months later, and your story continues. It is far from over, only a small part of it has been told. No doubt that you looked to others for support and guidance during these three months. Certainly, you searched out inspiration and found people to motivate you. You probably had hard days and setbacks, and looked to others to help pick you up when you were feeling down.

As you continue on your journey, take time to think about giving back.

"The reality is that your health and fitness move beyond you. It impacts the people around you. You, whether you like it or not, have the power to change lives based solely on your own personal transformation. Inadvertently, you become a catalyst for change." -Tony Horton

I challenge you to share your story....the good, the bad, the ugly. In the raw, be real. Other people are motivated by your story. Other people are helped through their rough times by knowing how rough you had it...it lets others know that they're not alone.

Use your gifts, skills, and talents to help others. Teach aerobics. Train runners. Write. Invest in the people around you just as the people around you have invested in you.

I challenge you to share your story and give back. Here's mine.

Day Eighty-Seven: Through The Fire

I'm not who I was when I took my first step. I'm clinging to the promise that you're not through with me yet. So if all of these trials bring me closer to you, then I will go through the fire if you want me to...

The stage was silent. A man emerged from somewhere behind the folds of a curtain. On his arm was a woman. Small in stature, he gently guided her. He paused to tell her something. Unsure, she raised her foot onto the stage...then the other. They slowly made their way to the piano.  Ginny Owens sat down and immediately her demeanor changed. Gone was the woman insecure about her footing. As her fingers ran over the keys and she spoke into the microphone, she was undeniably at home. Then, an angelic song emerged from her tiny body that sounded as if it were written directly for me.

For being blind, her sight penetrated the soul.

We don't know why we were born to the family we were born into. We have no idea why the circumstances that plagued us during our youth seemed to choose us. There doesn't seem to be any reason why Ginny lost her sight by the age of 2, while other children have perfect vision. We don't know why we were given a particular body type, were raised on soda and cheetos, or developed an unhealthy relationship with food at a young age. We hear often as a child that, "the world isn't fair."

It isn't.

The refiner's fire is a fire that purifies us. Just like heating metallic material separates the purified metal from the waste, choosing to walk through the fire burns away the impurities. It takes bravery and courage. It is part of growth...and it's a choice.

Some people may be delivered entirely of their addictions, their unhealthy habits, their poor choices. That would be very, very nice if that were always the case. The rest of us usually have some form temptation that greets us each day. Our food addictions subside considerably, maybe even go away altogether for a long period of time. But, one day they crop up again. It may be when we're shopping on an empty stomach and go down the cookie aisle...it may be when we've had an argument with someone and look for a Butterfinger.

We get better and better at recognizing our triggers, identifying what our body really needs, journaling, exploring our emotional relationship with food or other substances, releasing negative energy through exercise, surrounding ourselves with accountability partners, and reducing the situations we put ourself into where temptation arises. But, each day presents new choices and new opportunities. Each day may present stuff from our past working its way into our present.

Each day we can choose to go through the fire or relapse.

I challenge you to choose refinement, purification, and letting go and releasing that energy. I challenge you to continue to journal, explore therapy, go for a walk, or take a nap. I challenge you to choose natural over artificial, real over fake, being present over choosing an escape. I challenge you to choose to recognize your vulnerabilities and sensitivities instead of pretending to be strong or telling yourself that they're not there.

I challenge you to walk through the fire. You won't walk alone.

Day Eighty-Six: Subcutaneous vs Visceral Fat

Did you know that there are different kinds of fat that our body stores? Most people assume that fat is fat...where we gain it is up to our genetics. Thats not necessarily true...

The two kinds of fat are named by their location within our body:

Subcutaneous Fat is located just under the skin on the outside of the abdominal muscle wall (sub=under, cutaneous=skin). It is what we see in love handles, cellulite, and the jiggly under the arms and on the thighs. It is what gives women a "pear" shape. It is difficult to get rid of, but poses the lesser amount of risk in relation to the other kind of fat.

Visceral Fat is located underneath the abdominal wall (viscera=pertaining to the internal organs of the body). Because this kind of fat it is located near our vital organs and secretes substances, it can present serious health risks. It is what gives women an "apple" shape and men that "beer belly" or "pot belly". Because this fat is packed in under our abdominal wall, we cannot pinch it...the stomach may feel tight even though there is an excess of adipose and the belly protrudes over the belt. This kind of fat can infiltrate our heart, liver, and other organs. It puts us at serious risk for heart disease, hypertension, and onset diabetes.

So, what are the causes of visceral fat, and how do we reduce it?

While many feel that genetics plays the most important role in where we gain fat, there are many research studies that show that genetics plays some role, but our environment is a large contributing factor. Diets that are high in saturated fats and low in physical activity show an increase of visceral versus subcutaneous fat. And, it didn't get the name "beer belly" for no reason...excess alcohol consumption is very highly correlated with visceral fat. To reduce visceral fat, experts recommend exercise and a healthy diet, replacing saturated or trans fats with unsaturated fats, and reducing alcohol intake.

I challenge you to think about where you gain your fat, and think about your intake and habits. Do you see a correlation?

Day Eighty-Five: Love Your Liver

The liver is an amazing organ, and we often abuse it without knowing it. It is an organ that cannot be replaced, and we cannot live without. It has many different roles...

Detoxification - As nutrients are absorbed from the digestive tract into the bloodstream, the very first stop is the liver. The liver filters and detoxifies the blood before it goes to the heart, lungs, and the rest of the body.

Glycogen Storage - When we eat carbs, some is metabolized into glycogen which is primarily stored in the liver. Glycogen is one of our body's sources of energy.

Digestion - The liver secretes a vital fluid called bile that our body needs for proper digestion.

Blood - The liver plays a principal role in the decomposition of old red blood cells being taken out of circulation by the body.

Can you imagine such a vital organ going into failure? Because of the liver's role in detoxification of blood, toxins such as alcohol, drugs, and medications enter the liver first. When we've had too much to drink, our body lets us know it by responding with fatigue, headaches, even vomiting. When we combine medications with alcohol, this can have a serious effect on the liver, and prolonged use of drugs or medications can damage our liver. Some physicians require ongoing liver testing each quarter while certain drugs are prescribed.

The Mayo Clinic suggests that signs of liver problems include skin/eye discoloration or jaundice, abdominal pain and swelling (the liver is located on the right side just under the rib cage), dark urine, pale or tar-colored stools. People who are at risk tend to be those who drink alcohol frequently, have jobs that expose one to other's bodily fluids, have diabetes or obesity, have unprotected sex, or work an environment with chemicals or toxins. People who've had tattoos or body piercings should ensure that only clean materials are used and testing is done a few months after the tattoo/piercing to spot any health concerns immediately.

As I write this post, I know of two friends of my family that have died this past year of liver disease. Each time I take Tylenol, I think of whether or not some water and a good nap wouldn't just work better. After understanding the importance of this vital organ, it should make us think about our choices before just popping in a couple of pills and washing them down with a swig.

I challenge you to love your liver. If you take care of it, it will take care of you.

Day Eighty-Four: Alignment

The term is a buzz word in Corporate America. Multitudes of highly efficient management teams sit in alignment meetings and discuss direction, communication, dissemination. They want to make sure that everyone's got something so that everything gets covered, nobody's duplicating efforts, and a consistent message is communicated across the board.

Sounds effective.

We, also, need to align ouselves. When our head and our hearts act in agreement, guilt doesn't sneak it's way in. We should set our priorities according to our values...the number of things on the top of the list should be small...only a few. They should be committed to writing. They may vary from person to person, but are probably some form of...

Health. Family. Intimate friendships. Career.

Like a chiropracter adjusting all of the disks that have found their way outside of the appropriate heirarchy, we too must make adjustments. Things that are given too much time are not in alignment. Items that receive a deficit of attention need more. Where we spend our time and money is where our priorities lie, regardless of what we put down on pen and paper. To align, we need to make sure that what we commit to writing is what we act out.

I challenge you to put pen to paper. Write down priorities. Determine where you're out of alignment. Adjust.

Day Eighty-Three: Pretty Poo

We can tell a lot about our body by what is coming out of it. According to about.com, ideal bowel movements are:

• Frequent - twice daily to once every other day
• Easy to pass
• The color of cardboard
• Have the consistency of toothpaste
• Require no straining or discomfort, are not accompanied by bleeding
• 4-8 inches long
• Fall - should not remain on the surface of the water
• Have little odor

While you whip out your ruler and take a good look, here are some of the "why's" behind the above. Eating insoluble fiber as a regular part of the diet, drinking lots of water...not fluid, but water...and exercising regularly makes bowel movements easy to pass and frequent. Foul smell is often caused by too much dairy in the diet. Reducing dairy and using other sources of calcium and fat may correct this.

Infrequent movements can be one symptom of other problems or conditions, or it may just be that there's not enough fiber and water in the diet. Pain medication and iron supplements can also cause constipation, so this is something to pay attention to.

I challenge you to gauge what your body is asking for by what's coming out of it.

Day Eighty-Two: Caffeine

Isn't there just something that we love about our morning cup of coffee?

Cream has a way of warming it up...we have our favorite mug and a favorite place to sit while the sunlight drifts in and presents the morning. Sleepy eyed, bed head, morning breath...some of us set timers the night before so that, "The best part of waking up," is already dripping before our alarm clock starts rattling through our heads.
 
I wish that I could say that I stop at one cup, but that would be dishonest. I used to. Not now.

Like other addictions, our bodies become accustomed to the drug caffeine in coffee and adapt accordingly...then it takes more of the drug to get the same effect. The same is true of other caffeinated drinks like sodas or iced tea.  Giving it up can be painful. Reducing caffeine intake can cause headaches, irritability, energy crashes, and reduction in the ability to concentrate or focus effectively. It can make it difficult to get up and get going in the morning.

So why reduce intake?

Coffee can cause increased acidity in the stomach because it has a slightly acidic pH. It activates the "fight or flight" division of our autonomic nervous system. A little bit of this from time to time is okay, but a considerable amount of caffeine daily can increase anxiety, disrupt sleep patterns, and be harmful to a growing baby inside a momma's belly. Caffeine dehydrates us. And, it can get us to the point where we don't feel energetic unless we have it...completely fatigued without it.

If one is trying to reduce coffee intake, most experts recommend reducing morning intake of coffee gradually while replacing afternoon beverages with more reduced sources of caffeine, like hot or iced black or green tea...both contain considerably less caffeine than coffee. The same is true if one is trying to reduce caffeine intake from sodas. Over time and with patience, considerable strides can be made to reduce any dependence.

I challenge you to examine your caffeine intake, making changes where appropriate.

Day Eighty-One: Flexibility

We knew that flexibility was important on our P90X Journey when one of the pre-P90X fitness test components was the measurement of the seated hamstring-stretch....

...and then there was yoga, once weekly for a 90 minute session as a key component to the program...
...and also XStretch each week for 50 minutes as an option to a day off.

In the extreme home-fitness program, Tony Horton discusses the importance of not only having strength, but strength with flexibility. It allows us to avoid injury, and repair more quickly. A key part of each workout is the stretch both before and after for a good 5-7 minutes. Stretching before workout warms up both joints and muscles, and stretching after a workout helps reduce soreness. He often says that flexibility is just like strength...

We have to work at it to increase it.

Ligaments, tendons, and the end of the muscle all come together in the area where two bones meet referred to as the joint. When we increase the distance of motion in a joint, we increase the amount of tension that can be placed on it before injury occurs. Like a rubber band stretching instead of breaking, we are given a greater degree of "give" in the amount of tension a joint can take.  Flexibility increases through stretching this area repeatedly under the right conditions and circumstances.

It is best to do some warm-up before stretching instead of trying to stretch cold. Because body temperature and circulation are both factors that affect flexibility, running in place, light jogging, yoga sun salutations, or any kind of movement that elevates the heart rate is advised for a few minutes before beginning the stretch.

I challenge you to work on ways to increase your flexibility.

Day Eighty: Therapy

Therapy is often associated with words like....Weakness. Need help. Shrink. Depression. Anxiety. Troubled. Mid-Life Crisis.

Therapy is for the courageous.

The day we meet someone without baggage will never come. We all have a past, present, and future. We all have different ways of coping with things, and different ideas of what we find "normal". We all go through times of stress and times of elation, loss of loved ones, feelings of lonliness, natural growth and aging, illness, and death. Some of us learned healthy coping mechanisms during our childhood, when it was okay to make mistakes and learn from them. As adults, some of us haven't gotten the benefit of making mistakes nearly as much as we should have, and we may need a little practice or guidance.

We might make poor food and exercise choices. We might self medicate with chocolate or alcohol. We might use illicit drugs, try to control the outcome, or put ourselves into roles where we're always the victim. We might not know how to handle a situation, worry about our worry, or experience fear. We might have experienced the loss of our best friend and be filled with sadness and regret. We might be dealing with abuse we experienced as a child or things that we pretend didn't happen. We may have no idea how to express our needs, or be completely unable to draw healthy boundaries without constructing a wall instead. Usually, these are not the problem...they are often a result of something else that was/is present.

I believe that our food and exercise choices are just like any other choice we make...our decisions reflect our priorities and values that are manifested somewhere deep inside of us. If someone were to have skin cancer, the treating physician would not only scrape off the skin...they would dig deep until they found the source of the problem and removed it. Then, healing would occur from the inside out.

The same is true here.

The outward behaviors that we see are indicative of a priority, belief, or value inside of us. Compulsive eating, shaming ourselves, depression, addiction to substances, spending money we don't have, fear, and worry are all what we know because they are evident to us on the surface. Deeper down lies the root. Even if we're really good at hiding it from others, its there. Talking to a licensed therapist starts a process that helps us once we've made the decision that it's time to begin healing.

I challenge you to seek therapy if you feel that there are deep issues manifested inside that need to be worked through.

Day Seventy-Nine: Meet Luis

Meet the man who feeds our family.

"Hey, Mom...Hey, Dad...do you think Luis will like my shirt?" Jet asks as we're packing into the car on a Sunday. We head out to an open air market at the intersection of Doniphan and Transmountain Rd where Luis and his family feed many other families healthy produce. We drive up, and he greets us with a huge smile. Jet runs us to him to show him his T-shirt. He's already got a box in his hands as we pile out of the car and he begins tossing in veggies for us. "Limes...you need limes? How about avocados...how many? Garlic...no...here's some anyway.."

We leave with an enormous box full of beautiful, healthy fruits and veggies having only shelled out somewhere between $13 and $16. We come home and make vegan soup. We eat guacamole. I've got apples for the kids lunches and mangoes for snacks. I google a recipe for Sunday dinner.

When we know the people that feed our family, we commune with them. We trust Luis. We trust his family. We hope that we are part of their success just as much as they are a part of ours.

I challenge you to meet the people who feed your family.

Day Seventy-Eight: Make It Yours

I have a dirty little secret.

If you were to take a look at my iPod, the songs I play when it's time to push myself are vile, corrupt, and degrading. Metallica and Kid Rock pump through my head as I go to a place where I feel like I'm floating. Like a hit of a drug, I can feel the switch flip when the natural endorphins kick in. I press myself...then I press more....then I press even harder to move to the place that's just over the edge. "I'm an American badass, watch me kick..."

You knew I had a wild side...just look at my husband.

Here's another secret. I love to run with my hair down...all Florence Griffith Joyner. Just like FloJo did in her time with her break-out style, her multicolored 2-inch fingernails, and her lipstick...I make it mine.

We don't have to put on our worn-out full-of holes T-shirts to go for a jog. We can own it. We can do the things that we need to do to pump ourselves up, make us feel sexy, and send us over the edge so that we can..."Ahhh, push it..." Exercise shouldn't be something that we get through...something we check off the list. It should be something that pumps us up, makes us feel amazing, something that our bodies and minds yearn.

I challenge you to make it yours.

Day Seventy-Seven: The 80/20 Rule

In one's home, 80% of the wear is on 20% of the carpet.
20% of the people in the world own about 80% of its wealth.
Project managers spend 80% of their time and resources handling 20% of the work.
80% of sales come from 20% of the sales force.
And, any people manager will tell you that 80% of their headaches come from 20% of their staff.

The 80/20 phenomena is so often true that it is taught as part of management curriculum in several Fortune companies in Corporate America.

When special occasions roll around, I think of the 80/20 rule. When birthday parties, valentine's day, or any other time of the year when I walk through a grocery store checkout aisle and see, "How To Eat Right Through The Holidays" splashed on the cover of a popular magazine. I think to myself....

..its not what we do during the holidays.

If we ate right 80% of the time, the other 20% would be called cheat days. If we exercise 80% of the time, the other 20% would be called our off days. If we're consistent about 80% of the time, the other 20% seems to fall into place.

I challenge you to think about the 80/20 phenomena. Do you eat right 80% of the time, or do you eat right 20% of the time?

Day Seventy-Six: Nature Versus Nurture

"My grandmother had Type 2 Diabetes. My mother had it, and now I've got it..."  How many times have we heard this? It's not often followed with, "My award winning apple cobbler was my mother's recipe...and she got it from her mother..."

The old argument of nature versus nurture...who's the winner? Probably both.

I'm willing to bet that if we were to run an experiment where we took 100 people that all have Type 2 Diabetes and placed them onto a desert island where the only food that they ate was what they could catch, we'd see an enormous drop in the number of those people who still had Type 2 Diabetes a few months later. At the same time, I'd bet if we were to take 100 people from all different genetic backgrounds and feed them nothing but McDonalds for a year, not all of them would develop Type 2 Diabetes. Some of them may not even be overweight at the end of the year.

Luckily, we'll run neither experiment.

Some of us lucked out more than others in the DNA department...no doubt. Others of us have to work at it a little harder. Regardless of what our genetic background is, one thing is certain....it is out of our control.

The other side of that coin is...what was the environment or culture that we were immersed in growing up? Did we eat healthy food as a family and get plenty of physical exercise? Was eating balanced, healthy meals part of our education as children? Or, is it that our family of origin has a predisposition for weight problems, onset diabetes, heart disease....and we never really ate properly growing up?

Its muddy...its really difficult to draw a line between where one ends and the other begins.

The only thing we really can control is what we feed our bodies, what we do for physical exercise, how we cope with stress, how we deal with emotional issues when it comes to food, and how we hydrate ourselves. What we should not do is roll over and act like our situation is solely the fault of our DNA. Instead, we should understand what is within our span of control and surrender to the needs of our body....give it what it is asking for.

I challenge you to listen to yourself when it comes to nature versus nurture. You cannot control nature. What are you doing to nurture yourself?

Day Seventy-Five: Misery Loves...

"You ever notice that animals look like their owners?" My uncle asked me one day when I was visiting him on my summer home from college. "Whaddya mean?" I ask him imagining someone with whiskers growing out of their face as we watch his sleek kitty cat come into the kitchen for some water.

"You see a fat animal, and chances are that the owner is overweight. Notice how skinny my cat is." He replied with a half-crooked grin across his face.

In the 20 or so years since my uncle pointed that out to me, I've started paying attention.

If someone were to seek treatment for drug abuse, not only do they have to stop the addiction...they have to return home and make many changes in their life. Chances are that their friends were all junkies...chances are that they hung around areas were drugs were plentiful...chances are that in their downtime, they didn't catch a movie or get a quick bite to eat - they sat around and got high.

All that has to change.

On the show, "The Biggest Loser", the same thing happens. The food-culture that the person was immersed in, the pantry stocked full of items with preservatives and empty calories...everything that the person knew related to their old habits has to go. They have to replace the items in the pantry. They have to develop new habits and daily routines. Perhaps the most difficult...they have to learn how to adjust back into their relationships having established these new, healthy habits.

This is hard. It can make one feel like they are abandoning their friends instead of just abandoning their old ways.

Misery loves company, and it can be very difficult to break free of the lifestyle that someone once knew. I believe that it is possible to let people know where we stand and ask them to respect that. But, that's not always the case...each situation is different, the people in the environment that one returns to may or may not appreciate that. There is always the case that even just being around the old food-culture proves to be too difficult. When there's fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and chocolate pie on the table calling your name, eating healthy can be almost impossible, especially if the changes are recent and haven't yet become hardwired.

I challenge you to consider your culture. Do you feel that misery loves company, and the culture and environment that surround you hinder healthy habits? If you feel that a food-culture is part of the problem, I challenge you to seek ways to remedy this.

Day Seventy-Four: From Exercising To Training

The iron man triathlon is a bear. It's a 2.4 mile swim (usually open-water), a 112 mile bike ride, and a marathon...26.2 miles of running.

I've had an uncle finish it. In Denver. One mile high in elevation.

I did a traithlon with him when I was 19. He kicked my hiney...and I was a scholarship swimmer for the University of Houston at the time. I've had another uncle run competitively, an aunt who wasn't far off of his tails, and that same uncle and a cousin win the bike race Tour de Tucson for their respective brackets at different points in their life. This photo is of said cousin. Look at him go.

Athletic genes run in my blood.

There is exercising, and there is training. There is a difference. Exercising is doing something every day, several days a week, for the purpose of getting or staying in shape. Training is exercising every day for the purpose of competing or completing an event. Training is about athletic performance.

Incorporating training into our exercise routine can do many things. It can shift our focus. Getting up to get going can be very motivating if we are training for an event. We often train with other people...a partner, a coach, teammates...accountability partners. We often look to beat others or to beat our own prior performance. It shapes everything we put into our body. We think, "Will this contribute or detract from my performance?" We don't take much time off after an event if we've already scheduled our next event prior to the completion of the current one. We may take a few days or a week, but then we've got to get back to it so that our body doesn't lose the groove.

We can run fun runs, 5ks, 10ks, and up. We can cycle, swim competitively, or do triathlons. Usually, these involve getting into local running or triathlon clubs where people train and compete together.

I challenge you to set a date, and train for an event.

Day Seventy-Three: Metabolism

Open a Cosmo, Redbook, or Allure magazine at any given time and there will be an article on how to speed up the metabolism. We are intrigued by our metabolism, and how to rev it up. So, how does it all really work?

Metabolism is the sum total of all chemical reactions in the body.

Food enters through the mouth. We chew. We swallow. It moves through our digestive tract undergoing digestion and absorbtion. This food is transferred into energy that our body either uses to do work, or it is stored by our body as fat if we've eaten more calories that our body metabolically needs. As time goes on, our metabolism naturally slows down with natural decreasing activity, age, and with loss of lean body mass (ratio of muscle to bone to fat).

It is largely regulated by an area in the brain called the hypothalamus.  The hypothalamus controls many of our body's automatic functions. It tells us when we're hungry or full, it regulates much of our smooth muscle tissue and endocrine glands, and helps us to regulate our body temperature...all of which are factors for our metabolism.

So what are the tips that magazines offer, and why do they work? Here are some tips from Redbook and my explanations of why I believe they are effective.

-Don't overdo calorie cutting. Cutting calories drastically causes our body to think its starving. It compensates by changing our caloric expenditure so that we burn the least amount of calories necessary. If we were on a desert island, this would be good as a survival mechanism. Because we're not, skipping meals decreases our metabolism and does more harm than good. Instead, one should eat small healthy meals frequently throughout the day.

-Eat breakfast. Same reason as above.

-Go for high-fiber carbs. Focusing on veggies, fruits, and whole grains provides fiber with the carbohydrates. They're usually healthier for us and create less of an insulin surge than the carbs that come from white bread or table sugars. Insulin surges can promote fat storage and possibly impact our metabolic rate.

-Skip alcohol. The body tends to burn off the alcohol first. What that means is that any caloric consumption is not burned until after the alcohol is burned....translation - the alcohol will most likely be used as fuel while the meal will probably be stored as fat.

-Eat spicy. The capsaicin in hot peppers tends to stimulate stress hormones, which temporarily speeds up the metabolism.

-Get sleep. Multiple studies have shown that getting too little sleep over a period of time can have a lowering effect on the metabolism.

-Get balance. Excessive chronic stress can effect viceral fat levels and often triggers appetite.

-Lift heavy. Strength training changes our lean body mass. It increases lean muscle, increases bone density, and burns fat. This, in turn, causes our resting metabolism to increase...meaning that we burn more calories throughout the day doing our normal, everyday activities.

I challenge you to incorporate ways to increase your metabolism.

Day Seventy-Two: Time Away

Spring break started yesterday.

We're heading to the mountains of Ruidoso to stay in a hotel with an indoor pool where we'll take the kids swimming. We'll go on some good hikes, take naps, and eat ice cream. We'll take photos, and just enjoy each other.  When we come back, we'll resume our eating habits, daily activities, and return to a sense of normalcy.

We won't feel guilty about the ice cream we ate, the pound or so we put on, or the extra sleep we got.

Time off and time away can rejuvinate us. It can reconnect us with ourselves and with those we love. When we're taking time away from our daily activities, feeling guilty about breaking our diet isn't something that we need to put on ourselves. It doesn't mean that we eat sugar for breakfast, lunch, and dinner...or that we completely go berserk when it comes to portion sizes because, "I'm on vacation..." But its a time when its okay to stay up late and sleep in a little.

Isn't that kinda the purpose?

We have a date to return to normalcy. At some point, we come back and resume everything. We don't allow a day or two off to turn into a month or two off. Its okay to sip a mai tai on the beach because at some point we're not on the beach anymore and we dont have a drink in our hands.

Enjoy the mai tai.

I challenge you to take some time away and enjoy every moment of it.

Day Seventy: One Day At A Time

I once saw the movie, Julie and Julia. The idea is that Julie is cooking her way through Julia Child's cookbook one meal at a time, one day at a time...365 days and over 400 recipes. She has a bad day at work, but it all seems to be made right when she combines egg yolks, sugar and butter with cocoa and condensed milk.

There's something to be said for that.

When we do something every day one day at a time, there is a certain sense of calmness in the predictable. This is especially true when the predictable is something we enjoy, something that feels selfish even if others reap the benefits...something in which we take solace.

Me time.

I feel the same way when I put my iPod & sports bra on or when I climb into my swimsuit & pull my goggles down over my eyes. There's just something about it that cannot be put into words. We don't have to take over the world. We don't have to figure out the master plan for the rest of our lives. We only really have to take each day one day at a time...enjoying each moment.

I challenge you take each day, one day at a time.

Day Sixty-Nine: Forgiving Ourselves

So many of us have done things that we're not proud of.

We may have hurt someone....we may have hurt somone in a relationship, said things that we wished we could take back, refused forgiveness, or used our words as daggers to attack. We might have manipulated, stirred up drama, or participated in gossip. We might have abused them by taking advantage of their good nature, neglected their needs, robbed them of their innocence, or enabled them. We may have lied to them to avoid a difficult conversation when we should have told the truth.

We may have hurt ourselves...we may have allowed someone to abuse us, sacrificed our needs for theirs, or allowed someone to take advantage of us while refusing to stand up for ourselves. We may have placed our self worth into what others have thought of us, not lived up to our own expectations of ourselves, or acted against our priorities. We may have abused our bodies, engaged in addictions, become involved in an eating disorder, robbed ourselves of years of productivity, or lied to ourselves.

We may have broken down and binged on ice cream sandwiches.

Refusing to forgive ourselves can keep us trapped in a vicious cycle. It can keep us engaging in that same behavior repeatedly because we refuse to acknowledge our wrongdoing. It can rob us of our self worth and make us feel shameful about who we are. It can make us think that nobody would really love us if they really knew us.

People see through that. We're not fooling anyone but ourselves.

If we've hurt someone else, to forgive ourselves, we must first ask the person we damaged for forgiveness. We must confess, we must apologize most sincerely. We must own up to what we've done and request forgiveness from them. There is cleansing in confession. There is beauty in humility.

To forgive ourselves, we must acknowledge to ourselves our wrongdoing. We should ask for strength to change. We should release our pain, realize that we are imperfect, and do our best to live each day as a changed person.

It's easier said than done.

 I challenge you to being working on forgiving yourself for anything you've done that you're still holding onto. If you've binged, if you've overindulged in alcohol or drugs, if you've involved yourself in an eating disorder, if you've been addicted to something, if you've hurt someone else or hurt yourself....whatever it is you've done...it's worthy of forgiveness.

Day Sixty-Eight: Stress

Americans don't know stress. When I was growing up, I used to watch my mother as she'd gather everyone's clothes...her children, my father, the inlaws, everyone...and she'd carry them in a basket on top of her head to walk down to the river. There, she'd wash all of our clothing. Each day, she had to search for clean drinking water for us to drink. Now, that is stress.

In America, the stresses we have are self imposed.

I love being a student. I love the insight that I gain from my professors, and the passion with which they teach their material to educate their students. This quote above is a paraphrase from one of my professors as she was discussing her childhood.

We have deadlines, we have soccer games, we've got traffic to battle, long work hours, paying bills, getting a babysitter for the event, mortgage payments, test dates, and meetings with the client. We have stress. Granted, much of it is self imposed...much of it is not related to getting our basic physiological needs met like having clean drinking water. However, stress does affect us. Sometimes, it's good to have a little bit of stress in our lives. However, chronic stress can have a negative impact on our health.

Chronic anxiety can affect sleep, raise cortisol levels, compromise our immune system, affect our cardiovascular system, make us more prone to emotional outbursts. If you've ever had a really good cry after not having much sleep because you've been experiencing so much anxiety, you understand this.

Balance is key in lowering our daily stress levels. Also, heavy cardio sessions and massage are great ways to reduce the negative energy in our system.

I challenge you to find ways to reduce your anxiety if it is impeding your health.

Day Sixty-Seven: Oral Fixations

The psychological theories that surround oral fixations date back years and have been highly debated. While many scholars have theories about how oral fixations develop and if they truly exist, this post won't delve into those prevailing psychological ideas.

One thing is for sure....if I were a lip gloss maker, "Oral Fixation" would definitely be the hot, new name I'd use to sell my product.

Many times when we're looking to snack, we're really just looking to put something into our mouth. This is often true of late night eating...after dinner...after the kids are in bed...in front of the TV. Something crunchy seems good, or maybe something sweet. We can tell it because we're not really hungry, but we kinda just feel like we need.....something.

Jackie Warner has an amazing remedy for this - herbal tea. Each night instead of dessert, coffee, or after dinner snacking, she advises her client to make a cup of hot tea. Her formula is simple - use two teabags...one decaf green tea and the other a decaf tea of your choosing. Around 8pm or so, sip the cup of hot tea while engaging in whatever downtime activity is used to unwind.

I challenge you to try hot herbal tea to satisfy any oral fixation you may have.

Day Sixty-Six: The Skinny On Fat

You go to a McDonalds and order french fries. You look across the metallic kitchen as you see a teenager lift up a basket out of dripping grease, fling the strips of potatoes into a bin, add salt, and then scoop them up into a container to be served to you so that you can put them into your body.

Not good.

Fat gets a bad rap...but there are a lot of misconceptions out there. Fats in our diet are vital for the functioning of our nervous system. The protective sheath that surrounds nerves is comprised mainly of fat. These nerves run in the entire body, beginning with the brain and spinal cord. This sheath that surrounds the nerve helps with the speed by which the nerve conducts its signals.  Fats constitute the cell membrane of almost every cell in the human body. It helps to provide a semi-permeable barrier around each cell.  Fat intake is vital during development, and momma's milk for a young babe is very high in fat for this reason. The rich, creamy hindmilk is just what a baby needs along with the other amazing ingredients that breast milk provides.

So, if fats are important, then why aren't those french fries good for you?

Saturated fats are most often animal fats. Because of their structure, they are harder on our bodies. They are often solid at room temperature and feel fatty in our mouth when we eat them. Examples include fatty meats, butter, and lard. Some vegetable oils are also high in saturated fats. Too much saturated fat in the diet puts us at risk for heart disease, can clog our arteries, and raises our LDL levels ("bad" cholesterol).

Trans fats or Hydrogenated fats are commonly used to extend shelf life of processed foods. They got their name by the chemical process that they undergo where hydrogen is added to an unsaturated fatty acid to make it into a more solid and saturated form. They can raise LDL levels, and are found in items such as cookies, crackers, onion rings, french fries, cakes, and doughnuts. They are sometimes used in spreads. If you read labels of processed foods carefully, these often come up as, "Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil".  They are also not good for us.

Unsaturated fats are most often found in plants. Unsaturated fats raise our HDL ("good" cholesterol) levels. They come in several different forms, one of which is "Omega-3 Fatty Acids".  Winter squash, walnuts, soy beans, avocados, and navy beans are all great sources. Fish such as salmon, tuna, and halibut are also good sources of Omega 3s. While there is not a formal Recommended Daily Allowance for these fats, many experts have come to agree that about 20-30% of our calories in a day should come from unsaturated fats....depending on stage of development, age, current health, and total caloric intake. This translates to about 40-55 or so grams of fat for a healthy adult. The average avocado has about 30 grams of fat, so one can see that it isn't hard to get in our fat intake.

I challenge you to think about your fat intake and the sources it comes from in your diet. I challenge you to make adjustments where necessary.

Day Sixty-Five: Fe

You go to donate blood, and one of the first things that they do is prick your finger with a needle. The blood is drawn into a long clear tube and dropped into some blue fluid in a beaker. Following this test, many are told that they were unable to donate blood because of their hematocrit.

What does this mean, and why is it important?

Iron is a chemical element. It is found on the periodic table with the symbol, "Fe" given for its translation in Latin: Ferrum. It is the most common element on the planet, and it is the fourth most common element that comprises the Earth's crust. It is a metal, and is commonly mixed with other metals to be used industrially.

Iron has many other biological functions.

The red blood cells that transport oxygen throughout our body do so with the aid of iron. The iron binds to oxygen inside of a protein called Hemoglobin. After it has bound with oxygen, the hemoglobin inside the red blood cell can move the oxygen throughout our bodies, delivering it to tissues in need. If our iron is low, then our oxygen-carrying capacity is reduced and it can result in anemia. Anemia can cause one to feel tired, short of breath, look pale, feel dizzy, or have dark circles under their eyes. Iron-deficient anemia is tested by the hematocrit...the test described above.

For an element that is so abundant, getting enough iron into our diet can be tricky. This is partly because iron may be consumed, but is not always absorbed. Coffee, tea, and calcium in milk and cheese have all been suggested as items that can block absorbtion of iron. This can easily be remedied with intake of different items at alternating times each day. Women, in particular, seem to have a tough time getting in enough iron, and women who are pregnant often have to take iron supplements.

Iron can be found in both animal and plant sources. Meat, chicken, oysters, and eggs are all iron-rich. Dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach, dried fruit, beans, lentils, chickpeas, soybeans, artichokes, and iron-fortified cereals are all excellent plant sources of iron. Because of the rate of red blood cell production, it may take a few weeks to a few months for the iron increase in one's diet to translate to increased iron in the blood.

A common complaint among those who take iron supplements is constipation. If one is taking iron supplements, it is important that insoluble fiber and water consumption are both adequate, as well as regular exercise.

I challenge you to think about your iron intake and absorbtion, making adjustments where necessary.

Day Sixty-Four: Our Own Worst Enemy

Some people identify with Beaver Cleaver. They had the same two parents raise them from the time they were born until they gradulated from high school. Their dad went to work each day, and they may have had a stay-at-home mom who did laundry, cooked dinner every night, made potluck for church on Sunday nights, and made sure that the carpet was always vaccumed and clean clothes were laid out for school.

This post is not for those people.

Some of us came from dramatically different backgrounds. Some of us had people float in and out of our lives, making it difficult to know when people were trustworthy. Some of us had parents who were alcoholics...who weren't reliable means of transportation after school. Some of us never had sleepovers because we'd rather go to our friend's house where they had a "mom". Some of us tiptoed around, trying our hardest not to make any waves so that the night would go smoothly and we could go to bed without any yelling or tears.

Some of us knew how to make a scotch and soda in the 5th grade, and knew by the look on our parents face if it had been a 4-drink night or an 8-drink night. Some of us taught ourselves how to study, wore the same shirt three days in a row, got asthma from second-hand smoke, had a parent who walked out, raised our brothers and sisters, and came to believe that the best in life was meant for other people...that we ourselves had somehow been dealt a bad hand.

This post is for those people...I am one of those people.

Our parents issue was our parents issue. Their fault as parents has nothing to do with us. That doesn't mean that they don't love us. That means that they didn't love themselves. They were given a beautiful child, a beautiful life, and they came to believe that their gift was somehow a burden. We have to move past the ever-present subliminal question in our mind about whether or not it was about us.

That's much, much easier said than done.

Perhaps the worst violation of the above is that we come to feel at a very young age that success is meant for other people. We come to believe that we deserve less in life. We cannot trust. We find it hard to forgive. Many of us try desperately to please others, many more of us put up walls to keep people out. We come to the conclusion that other people win the lottery, other people have beautiful relationships, other people get married and have the perfect life...we are destined to live a life of less.

We start to be untrusting when things go well...we wonder about what's around the corner because things can't go right for very long - sooner or later, there is a drop somewhere. As adults, we wait for the "but" of every situation... to the point that we sometimes seek it out because it is familiar. When we feel the pain, we know we're at home.

Sometimes, when we were raised in a bad situation, we learn to self-sabotage. We become our own worst enemy.

I believe that this translates into what we put into our bodies, what we believe when it comes to our body image, and what we feel we ultimately deserve. We deserve more than what we give ourselves. We deserve more than what our parents gave us. If our childhood was somehow taken from us, that doesn't mean that we need to allow it to take our adulthood from us, as well. We can break that cycle...we don't have to be afraid of success. Often, this takes a few years worth of therapy, anger, grief, confrontation, love, and ultimately forgiveness.

Every one of us is worthy.

I challenge you to work through any childhood issues you may have....this could take journaling, it could take therapy...it could take years. You are beautiful and strong. Success is something you, as well as everyone else, is capable of and worthy of achieving.

Day Sixty-Three: Getting Rubbed

I find that people either seem to love massage, hate it, or are somewhat afraid of it. There are multiple health benefits that come from regularly getting rubbed.

Massage is the manipulation of both superficial and deep layers of muscle and connective tissue to enhance physiological functioning and promote balance and well being. It dates back to prior to 460 BC when Hippocrates wrote, "The physician must be experienced in many things, but assuredly in rubbing."

Lymph and blood need to move through vessels in our body. Both are involved in our immune system. The movement and increased circulation that these systems experience when muscles and tissue are manipulated can help improve our immune system functioning. Massage greatly contributes to tissue repair and regeneration, improved flexibility, reduced tension headaches, and reducing both stress levels and chronic joint & back pain.

When one leaves the massage, they often experience a sense of nirvana. There are theories that suggest that the body's natural endorphins are released during a deep tissue rub. It has also been suggested that fatigue and anxiety are both reduced, and concentration and sleep quality are both improved.

For many who are trying to change their habits, getting a massage regularly as a reward can be a great motivator for staying on track. The chocolate cake doesn't look nearly as good when one has to consider giving up that weekly massage for it.

I challenge you to try a massage.

Day Sixty-Two: Sodas

In the 1960s, the average size of a soft drink sold was 6 and 1/2 ounces.

Today, the average soda size is 20 ounces. Sodas are sold at just about every gas station, convenience store, movie theater, grocery store, and shopping mall. They are sold in 64 ounce containers at both movie theaters and convenience stores. At fast food restaurants, they often come with free refills.

Alarming?

According to the National Soft Drink Association (NSDA), consumption has surged in America, and is now estimated at over 600 12-oz servings per person per year. The highest consumption population is amongst males between the ages of 12-29, who average a 1/2 gallon per day. In the early 1980s, the average 12 year old boy used to drink over twice as much milk as soft drink. Now, that's reversed.

So why do many health food advocates call soda, "liquid candy"?

According to the NSDA, about 21% of the sugar in the American diet comes from soft drinks. It is a huge source of unneeded and unwanted caffeine in the body of a growing child or adolescent. High fructose corn syrup, highly correlated with obesity rates in children, is the sweetener of choice in soft drinks as very few sodas use cane sugar as a sweetener. They are linked to osteoporosis, are acidic in nature, and correspond with depleting oral health (teeth and gums). Multiple studies have been published material correlating soft drink consumption with cardiovascular disease, stroke, heart attack, and high cholesterol levels.

So, how about that diet soda?

Just because diet soda doesn't contain sugar or high fructose corn syrup doesn't mean that its good for you. In fact, its quite the contrary. High amounts of artificial sweetener consumption has been linked to cancer. What diet sodas lack in calories, they make up for in sodium. Too much sodium causes us to retain water, so instead of looking thinner we look and feel bloated. Also, artificial sweeteners that are used in sodas often cause hunger cravings. So, we may drink less of our calories, but make up for that by what we snack on.

There is no health benefit to drinking a soda....none. While fruit juices are high in calories and sugar, and milk can be high in fat, they both have health benefits. Iced tea, hot tea, green tea, even coffee all have antioxidant benefits, but a soda....nope. People can drop a quick 3-5 pounds just from giving up soft drinks...between the water retention, the empty calories, and the mindless snacking that accompanies consumption of these beverages.

I challenge you to think about your soft drink consumption, making changes where necessary.

Day Sixty-One: Learn To Be Still

Meditation, prayer, quiet time, zen, sanctuary, chi...whatever it is that we call it....refers to turning inward and connecting with a higher power. In a world where we hustle and bustle each day, there are multiple physiological benefits from getting into the still calmness of our soul.

When we purposefully dedicate time to stillness, our heart rate often will decrease. Our breathing deepens, we experience a deep relaxation and usually arise with more energy and awareness. Usually, we experience more blood flow even though the heart rate is lowered due to dialation of our blood vessels.

There is another benefit, as well. Understanding our body's needs requires that we listen to it. Often, when there's so much chaos going on around us, it can be difficult to hear the whisper of our inner self. This means that we need to get very quiet, calm, and relaxed to listen and respond appropriately.

I challenge you to find a place in the center of the storm where it is calm, where you can get in some quiet time each day, where you can be still.

Day Sixty: Reflection

Today is day 60.

If you started out on New Years Eve with the resolution to change, then two months have gone by since you've made that decision. That's a long time.

It's time again to take photos, journal, and pause for reflection. Its time to lift our head up and look out at the horizon where we're going instead of concentrating only on the ground immediately in front of us. It's time to pull out love letters we've written ourself, think about everything we have to be grateful for, and realize that we deserve the best...just like anyone else.

Success isn't just for other people. It's for you, too.

Day Fifty-Nine: Fiber

Everyone knows that we need more fiber in our diet....but why? There are two kinds of fiber...insoluble and soluble.

Insoluble fiber is fiber that we always hear about. It is the fiber that the human body cannot digest. Because it cannot be digested, it moves through the colon acting similar to a snowscraper on a windshield. It picks up all of the gunk and sludge that is inhabiting the digestive tract. It absorbs water as it moves through the system. It makes it easier to pass a bowel movement, and often makes them more regular...about once daily is normal.

Where do we find insoluble fiber? In plants.

The skins of fruits and potatoes, nuts and seeds are all high in insoluble fiber. Celery, cauliflower, green beans, and leafy veggies like cabbage and romaine lettuce are also great sources.

Soluble fiber can be dissolved in water. It forms a gel-like consistency in the digestive tract. It binds to the "bad" cholesterol in your system, which is called your "LDL Cholesterol". It basically acts as an emulsifier to break down fats and actually lower the levels of this bad cholesterol. What's amazing about eating more soluble fiber is that it actually cleans out and begins to repair the damage that we've done by eating poorly.

Where do we find soluble fiber? In plants.

Peas, soybeans, beans, oats, rye, barley, the pulp of most fruits, broccoli, carrots, artichokes, sweet potatioes, and onions are all great sources of soluble fiber.

I challenge you to eat your plain oatmeal with some fruit with the skins on. Getting both your soluble and insoluble fiber in during the morning will help lower your cholesterol levels while also making you regular.