BOINK!

I hit the wall! Boinked hard this week!  I've been keeping up with my P90X workout (see my P90X post) and I wasn't taking in enough calories, I never thought I'd say that! I figured in calories for the workout but ignored the fact that skiing everyday burned extra (not a lot) calories.  How it happened:  I was skiing and my legs just said enough when they shouldn't have.  I was so tired I felt like I was lacking sleep and I wasn't. This went on for 2 days and I couldn't do anything but rest and work on the computer.  It finally dawned on me I was boinking and I needed to eat.  I ate a PBJ and some vegan chocolate chip cookies made with maple syrup in place of sugar (yum).  Now I feel great and I am eating enough to stay strong and energetic.  It's a fine balance to eating enough to stay strong, too much to gain weight or too little and crash hard if you are working out the way you should be.
How to calculate your daily caloric intake:
Your body weight x 10 = RMR (resting metabolic rate)
RMR x 20% = DAB (daily activity burn)
RMR + DAB + exercise expenditure = daily caloric needs

Streetchhh!

Getting stiff in your old age?  Stretch!  The trick to feeling young is stretching.  Take a yoga class or if there aren't any near you by a dvd.  Anybody can be more flexible.  Stretching allows you to feel younger not be stiff and avoid injuries.  If you work out like you should and you don't stretch you will most likely pull something.  It feels good to stretch! The two areas on the body that needs the most attention are the neck and the hamstrings.  Make stretching part of your exercise routine!

Cookbook Review

I just received a new cookbook called Power foods by Whole Living magazine.  It has some great recipes and it explains the importance of eating whole fresh foods.  Page 11 is the golden rules, it talks about buying organic and fresh.  I recommend the book especially if you are new to eating healthy.  I don't recommend the recipes that use nutrient robbing refined sugar, white flour or artery clogging mayo & cheese.  Remember calories in-calories out!

My Winter Exercise Plan

Everyone has to find their own way to stay healthy.  You must do what works for you!
A lot of people find it hard to exercise enough and stay motivated in the winter, myself included.  I am fortunate enough to live near ski resorts to spend time outdoors but trust me skiing is not enough, it's a gravity fed sport!
One Sunday a few weeks ago I was skiing with a client that told me he was exercising doing P90X. I vaguely remember and infomercial about it and I usually don't pay any attention to them.  After my ski client told me what it was about and that "it is great" I decided to look it up online.
I purchased it.  I love it. I recommend it.
This is why:
There are 12 dvds (I'm only on # 5).  You can do it at little intensity if you are really out of shape or you can increase the intensity or reps so it never limits you if you are in really good shape.  There is always ways to get better with this system.  Also I have a short attention span and I don't like repetitive workouts.  This mixes it up with the different dvds.  Very cool.  For me personally the hardest part is the yoga session, OMG!
What I use for the work out:
Good sneakers, a doorway chin-up bar and free weights that I bought at Walmart. Eventually I will buy the push-up aids but I am not ready for those yet.  P90X recommends their after work out drink, I use 1 cup of gatorade over ice and my vitamin supplements.  They also recommend their protein shakes but I am not putting chemicals in my body so I choose to get my protein from real food and nutritional yeast.
This work out is my favorite all body everything, feel the burn!!

The Scoop on Bottled Water

Bottled water is not always the way to go if you think that it is "healthier". Bottled water is not regulated in any way and most of it is plain tap water.  So there is no way of knowing what kind of contaminates are in it (unless you want to test every bottle).  And don't forget the plastic, Bisphenol A!
Test your own tap water and purchase a filter based on your test results.  So save your money and the environment and bottle your own water!

Geka's Soul Vegetarian Restaurant

If you are ever in the Elmira New York area you should stop and eat at Geka's Soul Vegetarian Restaurant.  Miss Pam originally from Trinidad is the owner and the chef and her menu is true vegan cuisine.
Don't expect elegance and make sure your car is locked and secure when you park and definitely don't be in a rush.  You will get more then enough food for a very reasonable price including no guilt dessert (I like the cheese cake with blueberry sauce).
When you are reading the menu read the back of the menu and it tells you what all the food is made from.  I recommend the Caribbean Roll and curried vegetables.
This is the one place that my boyfriend and I can order anything off the menu and not have any worries.
800 Madison Ave

Elmira, NY

Tasting Calories

If you are the cook in your family beware of the calories you consume just by tasting!
Every once in a while I count my calories to make sure that I am at the right amount especially if I have been working out hard.  Usually a serving of carbs is about 150kcal./1/2c.  I cook with rice quit a bit and I didn't realize that 1/4c of rice is 150kcals!
I love to cook and I was pretty accomplished at it until I decided to completely over haul my diet and lifestyle.  I needed to learn how to cook almost vegan and with flavor.  I'm not to bad at it now.  I do find it a little difficult because I live in a rural area where it is heard to get fresh food and more healthy choices.
So of course I am constantly sampling my cooking and experimenting with new flavors.
This time of year I like to make bean soups with vegetables and sometimes I serve it over rice.  So I just realized after keeping track of my calories that I can be consuming up to 300 kcals extra a day and I didn't realize it! Count your tasting calories!

Welcome Nunda Nutritional Counseling, LLC

I am happy and proud to announce that I will be opening Nunda Nutritional Counseling.
I am in the process of the business start up and I should be open for business within the month!
NNC will be located in the Nunda Vision Center, 38 North State St., Nunda NY 14517.
I am very excited about counseling clients learning to better their health and improve there quality of life!
If you want more information you can email me at nundanutrition@gmail.com.
I will post the official opening!

Ditch the Toxins

The fact that I am concerned about my health and quality of life I've decided to lose weight and be in better shape.  I've been developing my nutritionally sound diet for almost a year now. Here is a quick review if you haven't read my earliest posts:  calories in, calories out, no caffeine, alcohol, chemically processed foods, factory farmed foods, no trans fat, little of no sat fat, low salt minimal sugar, no preservatives and most definitely no dairy!

I have lost 35 lbs and I feel soooo much better!  If you have any questions on the above listed browse my blog for answers or send me a comment.
Part of taking care of yourself isn't just what you eat and that you exercise but the environment that you live and work in.  I know that we can't change everything but we should always change for the better what we can.
Think about your cleaning products.  They are chemical experiments and the side effects are not only on the environment but on you and your family.  So ditch the toxins!
Replace all your chemically created cleaners to all natural ones.  Here is a list:
Baking soda: scrubbing whitening
Beeswax: polishing wood
Borax: removing stains and disinfecting
Club soda: lifting stains
Cornstarch: absorbing stains
Hydrogen peroxide: disinfecting
Lemon: removing stains and odors
Pine oil: cleaning wood floors
Plant essential oils: chemical free fragrance
Salt: scrubbing
Tooth paste: polishing metal
White vinegar: disinfecting and removing stains

This is not a complete list but it is a start.  You will feel good about your clean home and save a crap load of dough!
This information came from an article in the March/April addition of Natural Home magazine.

Junk Food Addiction

Are you addicted to Junk food? It's just like being an alcoholic except for you can drive and it is more detrimental to your health. The addiction is the fat and the salt.  When you eat real nutritionally dense food such vegetables, it taste  bland because you can't actually taste the food itself.  People who are addicted show signs by being moody, lethargic, sick, high blood pressure, diabetic and are fat.  When you try to take away their addiction the will react with extreme anger, justification and sometimes become violent. A motivated person that wants to kick the junk food habit will need to be patient with the withdrawal and give themselves a few weeks to be able to taste real food again.  Eat a low salt, no sat-fat, low fat diet. Increase your intake of vegetables and fruit to 10 servings a day and eliminate simple carbohydrates to 10 percent of your carb intake. The rest should be complex carbs.

Remember eliminating saturated fat such as cheese and meat and reducing your salt intake can save your life.

A Matter of Life or Death

I watched a Barbara Walters special the other night called A Matter of Life or Death.  It's about heart disease and open heart surgery which she was a recipient of.  Heart Disease is still the number one killer in this country and 80% of heart disease is curable through medicine and guess what?! Diet and exercise.
She and her guests go into details of their ordeal of having heart disease.  When you have to go for surgery so that you don't die of massive heart attacks, they take a saw a cut down your chest bone and then take a pry bar and as Regis Philbin says, "they crack you open like a lobster".
If you continue to make excuses or live in denial of your bad eating and lack of exercise habits, this will happen to you.
I highly suggest that you check this out!
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/barbara-walters-heart-special-matter-life-death/story?id=12810130

Enjoy Winter!

John The Undertaker Mann

Pro Telemark Skier for Xcel Skiing

Enjoy Winter!

Anti-Inflammatory Diet & Pyramid

Anti-Inflammatory Diet & Pyramid


Click on the above link.
This is a pretty good food pyramid.  Note the amount of servings per week.
Vegetables is your what you build your meals around!

Diets Don't Work

Diets don't work mainly because a diet is something that you go off of. Then what?
Change they way you eat, what you eat and how much you eat.
Exercise.
Changing or managing the environment that you work in, live in and recreate in will help.  Doing something new or different that you enjoy and look forward to will also help especially of you suffer from depression.
And mostly believe in yourself, educate yourself on a healthier lifestyle and don't give up.