Brrrrr

    Don't let the chill (and wind) in the air fool you. Spring is just around the corner.  RIGHT NOW is the time to be healthy and steady in your work.  Small and easy changes and commitment to those changes are what will make you happy when we begin wearing less clothes.  It is so much easier to stay in shape and get it shape slowly than to panic and have to "diet".

    As I try to blog daily, or nearly daily, it is hard not to feel like I am saying the same thing over and over again. The reality is that I know from working with so many people over the years that you most likely have the same internal dialogue several times a day. I know that most people have insecurities about their bodies.  Internal dialogues of a negative nature are (as I have said in past blogs) as addictive as any drug.  They invade our thoughts and snake their way into our days.  I have had many clients who have spent years obsessing about imagined "problems" with their bodies.  

    What I have found is that these "comfortable" (I have in the past called them our "go to") obsessions are used to avoid larger issues or problems.  If we can just "lose _ lbs, we will be happy.  The reality is that our happiness does not depend on our body size or weight.  Usually I find that the opposite is true. If we can find the joy in our lives (or fix the problems that really make us unhappy), we can learn to be pretty happy in our physical selves.  The most ironic thing is that the fastest way to change your body is to change your "happiness" level.  

     I am here blogging because I care very much how you talk to yourself.  I care very much how much you are impressed and proud of yourselves.  Insecurity and vanity go hand in hand.  If you truly like who you are, you do not have a "big ego". You are fast with praise and free with compliments.  You can be generous with your kindness because you are happy.  

    Half of the work we do with Liquid Strength is mental/emotional/spiritual.  We are on a journey of bettering ourselves. Whatever that mean to you.  Most importantly, we need to better how we think of ourselves and we treat ourselves and other people.  

    I will be here to cheer you all on.  I will try to inspire you to make the changes in your inner dialogues, to choose well  what you have for dinner tonight, all of it.  I believe it is all interconnected.  

     

Heading into the weekend

     I blogged this week about "Fat Free" and realized that the same logic will basically apply to "sugar free" and "natural" etc. etc. Basically, your choices should be reflective of your personal goals, health issues and "weaknesses".  The more you weigh carefully the positive and negative aspects of your choices, the better choices you will make.  The thing that always jumps out at me is that we are such creatures of habit. We love what we know and are used to. With a little bit of effort though, we can change what we are used to.  Our tastes adapt. We have the power to make that happen.  Even with our children.  I use far less (nearly no) butter than my mother did. When I make brown rice for my kids, they actually LIKE olive oil better than butter because it is what they are used to.  I stopped eating mayo a few years ago and the taste actually repels me now.

    Our generation is living longer than any other.  We are also the most obese.  Our portion sizes have ballooned to ridiculous and we have manufactured food  that doesn't exist in nature.  We have the choice as to what will be our "norm".  

   Next time you grocery shop, try to stay in the produce, meat and fish and fresh food areas. Frozen veggies are great but try to make that the only frozen thing you buy.  It is in the  grocery store that we shape the health of our diets and for what our children's "taste" and "norms" will be.  That is a powerful thing. Let's use that power in a positive way.

    It is freezing in NYC.  As I spoke of a few blogs ago, this is the time of year we are less motivated to get out there are train.  If you can just make yourself do a little bit, the payoffs in your energy level and mood will make it easier to do a little more tomorrow.  Remember that it is lifestyle we are after.  Making small and CONSISTENT decisions to better ourselves is the secret. Hang in there and reach out for support and support the people in your life.

Fat Free

    Fat Free. What a great advertising tid bit.  Unfortunately in many cases that is all it is.  Ten years ago (or more) it was all about no fat/ low fat.  We bought into the Snack Welt buzz.  Since then we have learned a thing or two. Most importantly we have learned that fat is not a bad thing if it is a GOOD fat.  We have all heard of something called a Trans fat (if fat, like witches can be "good" or "bad", this is the Wicked Witch of the West). Trans fat is a fat that has been artificially pumped up with Hydrogen to change it from a liquid to a solid.  That added hydrogen turns the fat into a dangerously artery clogging fat.

     Prepared foods (think cookies, chips and candy) that are completely void of any nutrients, may also happen to be fat free.  Usually to make them taste good they are extremely high in sugar and salt.  Many people are "salty" people. They love, crave and dream of french fries and chips.  I am very happy not to be one of them (as you all know, I am a sweet tooth).  The intense draw that unhealthy foods such as these have for some people is legendary.  

      There is much to say about foods like chips and fries and pizza.  Chances are you have heard it already.  We all know that there are myriad foods that are better choices.  Logic very rarely(as in never) is the driving force behind eating "junk food" though is it?  

     To spare you a very lengthy read (and myself  a very LONG session of blogging) I am going to cut to the chase and just say it:

Fat Free chips or cookies etc. are not good for you. They are a way to make you feel less guilty about eating food you know is not good for you. They are loaded with sugar and salt and other unsavory (ironically) stuff.  You will likely eat more than you would if you were eating full fat stuff.  You would  be better served changing to a healthier choice. IF you are someone who will eat it anyway, read the labels to find the less offensive choice and most importantly be aware of serving size.  Some fat free choices will be better for you if you are avoiding artery clogging fats and you are someone who SHOULD avoid these fats (you have high blood pressure, cholesterol or are genetically predisposed to these things). Eat a rational serving size. Do not eat more thinking that they are "healthier".

    Many foods are naturally fat free. Fruit and vegetables for example (there are a few that have fat but they tend to be healthy fats).  Most meats and fish have some form of fat in them. The Fat in fish is very healthy (Omega-3). The fat in red meat is saturated fat and not so good.  The same fat is in dairy products that are not "skim".  Many cuts of meat (such as fillet Mignon) are very low in fat. These are better choices than the higher fat cuts.  Milk the one "fat free" food that makes sense.  You get all the great benefits without the saturated fat.  Choose fat free (low fat if you must) dairy.  Be sure that you are (especially in yogurt and frozen products) not getting more salt and sugar to make up for taste.  If you eat yogurt plain for a few days it really does taste sweet. It simply takes getting used to. There are naturally occurring sugars (lactate) in dairy. 

    I am going to be blogging about how to read labels shortly (in case you are confused). Know what you are eating. Read the labels and choose wisely.  You are fueling the most important and miraculous "machine" there is.

"health" food

     This subject has been swirling around in my head for a week now.  There is so much to talk about that I think it best to break it up into parts. Basically the issue is what exactly does "healthy" mean.  There are a million advertising tag lines such as "wholesome", "light", "non fat", "trans fat free" etc etc. How do we understand the truth behind labels that are often designed to confuse us and certainly to make us buy. The business of "Health" is a multi billion dollar one. I want to teach you how to read labels. I want to educate as much as possible so that you can make the right choices for yourselves.

     I invite you to ask questions. If I do not know the answer, I will find it. It is amazing to me even when you research a topic, how many conflicting facts there can be.  On Saturday I was listening to Doctor radio. They were discussing methods for quitting smoking.  There is a lot of debate over the safety and addictive qualities of some nicotine replacement. It seems especially the gum can be rather addictive.  The discussion called to mind two things for me.  (This is where I wander onto a tangent that seems unrelated but you will understand afterward)

     My Mother and I both have horrible hangnails and chapped lips. The kind of chapped that you get plate like hard spots that peel and bleed.  I carry around lip balm in every coat, pair of jeans and bag I have. You may even notice I keep it in the front of the room when I teach.  My Mom has heard that Chap Stick is "addictive".  She does not want to get "addicted" to it so she won't use it.  She has painfully chapped lips that split and bleed.  I do not.  Now the question is, am I "addicted" or do I simply need to use it to avoid having chapped lips.  There is no correct or clear answer.  Do users of nicotine gum get hooked on it? There likely is no right answer to that question either.  What it really comes down to is making the decision of which is better.  Smoking is so damaging to the human body.  SO damaging.  I believe it is better to be addicted to nicotine gum and to not be smoking than to smoke. I believe it is better to be "addicted" to lip balm than to walk around with painfully chapped lips.

      Now here is where I tie in the "health food".  Many  food choices out there have similar good/bad aspects.  Sugar free being top on  the list.  There are questions as to the safety of sugar substitutes. What it comes down to is making the correct choice for your given concerns and issues. I (and my twins) have horrible teeth. We get cavities like other people get up in the morning. (In one visit my daughter had 9 and my son 8).  We use rinse, floss and brush.  For us, sugar free is important.  If you are someone that has a dreadful sugar habit and anything sweet calls to you like a siren, sugar free may be important to you too.

     A few years ago there was a big buzz about fat substitute that was available in chips and other normally high fat foods. People were very excited about it.  This was big news for "salty" food lovers. It turned out that there were some nasty and embarrassing side effects to this fat substitute and it quietly crawled out of the headlines. 

    We all know that drinking water is important and healthy. Bottled water is a huge business these days.  There are several "unhealthy" questions about bottled water. It seems that the plastic bottles may leach out chemicals into the water. On the bottom of the bottle is a number in a triangle. This number is how many times the bottle has been recycled.  There is no fluoride in bottled water.  The bottles are very damaging to the environment.  

     You get the idea.  Almost every "healthy" option has aspects that we need to consider.  I am going to take them on one by one and help you weigh the benefits and risks.  It is all about knowing what your personal health concerns are.  Your medical history. Your goals and personality.  The more we know, the more we can make the right choices.

Mind/body

Friday's class was much more "imagination" and mind/body based than many others have been. It is really exciting to be at a level where the technical (form) aspects are so solid that we can bring the work to a new level. I believe that the changes Liquid Strength is able to make in our bodies is largely due to the changes in attitudes and awareness of our bodies and our place in them. Every time I teach I am amazed at how foreign some one's body can seem to them. We are so busy in our heads that we forget to be "here and now" and to exist in the present. The words mind/body are so overused that I hesitate to even use them at all. Somehow we have lost our "spirit" in the true sense of the word. I believe it is THAT part of us that belongs between the words 'mind' and "body" but that people are afraid to even say the word. Spirit/soul is so profoundly personal/political/controversial we would rather ignore it all together.
When you strengthen your soul/spirit, you are stronger. Whatever you believe (religion, philosophy etc), I support you in. Faith in anything is magical and powerful and beautiful. Whatever helps you to grow and helps you to be a better human being is perfect. No matter what label someone may call it.