The New Year is coming and I predict that all of you single gals who are seeking men are going to be wanting some new ideas on how to make a love connection in 2009. I’m a huge believer in combining your quest to stay fit with your search for romance, so I’ve put together list of the five sports you might want to try to expand your fitness and dating horizons.
I’m sure the Pilgrims and Indians (gasp! I said that horribly politically incorrect word) didn’t know that the feast tradition they started all those years ago would be embraced by a nation far into the future. I’m also sure they didn’t realize that nation would celebrate with food every other day of the year too, in such a big way that their ancestors (us) would be battling an obesity problem.
I thought that since we are headed into the biggest eating holiday of the year, I would show you which parts of the country will be needing to work out the most in 2009! See whether you live in a fat State, or a *f.a.t. State by clicking here.
Whether you are traveling across this great country over the next few days to celebrate, or just staying where you are, check back for some healthy Fit After Thirty turkey recipes for your post-holiday leftovers!
A few years ago, I worked with a woman who insisted she must have thyroid problems because she couldn’t lose weight despite the fact that she did 30 minutes of cardio every night, and kept tabs on every morsel of food she put in her body. The operative word in that sentence is food. As she plucked yet another carrot stick from her zip lock baggy between slurps from her oversized frozen Starbucks concoction, I suggested she give up her daily liquid addiction for three weeks and see what happens to her excess lbs.
It’s easy to discount the calories in something we consume with a straw, because our mind associates chewing with appetite and satiety, and satiety is naturally linked with energy consumption in the form of calories, which translates to weight gain and/or loss. Drinking the calories almost convinces us they don’t exist. Sadly, a lot of the beverages that make up a regular part of the American diet not only have more fat and calories than the average fast food chain sandwich, but have less nutrients than those same sandwiches.
With the advent of electricity, Americans get on average, three hours less sleep per night than our ancestors did before the light bulb. Now it seems that all of the latest electronic media and gadgets are an even bigger distraction, causing widespread sleep deprivation that has a great percentage of the population hooked on caffeine and energy drinks to get them through the day.
I have always been a person who becomes a poorly functioning zombie after just one night of poor quality sleep or not enough hours of sleep. My body needs a full 7 to 8 hours, and if I get 6 I won’t be thinking clearly halfway through the next day; less than 6, my body literally starts breaking down until I take a nap. I will start to get a headache and often even a scratchy throat until I take a nap and get that extra hour my body needs. So, I am always amazed by people who can consistently pull “all nighters” because of a partying lifestyle, heavy studying, crazy work hours or motherhood.
October is breast cancer awareness month, so it’s only appropriate to kick it off with some important information about this deadly disease. I’m not going to talk about all of the horrid statistics, because I think the numbers are startling enough to cause fear and paranoia, and I don’t think that serves us. If you read my Mind Body Medicine interview with Dr. Jacobs, you know that my theory is that by focusing too much on things that make us think the disease is inevitable, it will program our brains to contract it.
Dr. Jacobs says the fear and anxiety around thoughts of getting a disease can weaken our immune system. Because of that, I’d rather focus on the positive. The things we have control over. I’m a huge believer in the old saying our moms and grandmas said – “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
When I look at the list of the breast cancer risks that we can control, it brought to mind my philosophy towards all things health. It’s what I call the cave woman test. I think it’s what our grandparents would have called common sense, but either way, here’s how it works. Whenever I am having an internal debate about what I want to consume to best care for my body, I think about how closely the choice resembles something people would do in cave man days, when they had no choice but to live more in line with nature.
Here’s an example of the test in action:
Of course we all love our dogs and cats, but have you ever considered a chicken as a pet? You may think I am joking, but last spring we added 4 to our family and the rewards have been fantastic! We have a coop in our backyard (yes we live in LA). The girls have helped take care of feeding them and making sure they have fresh water. We have decided to not use chemicals on our lawn and the chickens are fantastic because they’ll eat any garden pest they can get their beaks on (earwigs, grubs, beetles, even moles) and they’ll turn it all into treasure in the form of fertilizer.
First of all, does it sound too weird to say that I think of her as a prophet delivering the gospel on vitality, rejuvenation, sexiness, and well being? It’s not that weird that I’m on my knees bowing right now, saying the words “I’m not worthy”, is it?
Forget about her stupid Chrissy Snow character on the TV show Three’s Company. It made her a household name in the 70’s, but it is her ongoing crusade to educate people on how to stay healthy, her commitment to turning a negative into a positive, and her brilliance as a business woman that makes her a true phenomenon, and the reason why she is our female f.a.t.ty (Fit After Thirty Hotty) pick of the week (and century). There are so many reasons I admire this woman, that if I could choose the same person every week without boring you gals, I would choose her every time, because there is that much to say.
Remember the Seinfeld episode about “shrinkage” where George worries about whether women know that a man’s anatomy reacts like a “frightened turtle” after he’s been in cold water, because a woman saw him naked right after he went swimming? “I was in the pool!” He shouted.
A few years ago, I discovered the female equivalent to that scenario. A friend set me up on a blind date with a good friend of her husband’s. Because he was a trusted friend of theirs I did not mind him picking me up at my apartment. Gotta love chivalry! He arrived smelling very good and looking even better. He was slightly early, so I still had two loads of clean laundry in a basket on my couch that I had not had time to put away. I invited him in and quickly ran to the other room for my sweater.
As I was headed back down the hall, my eye caught the laundry basket long enough for me to notice a horrific site. I had left my “FrumpSista” panties, as I call them, in plain sight, prominently exposed on top of the heap of clean laundry!
You know the panties I’m talking about, right? Not quite as bad as granny panties, but almost. The pair that you bought in a three for five bucks package from the TJ Maxx close out bin, that you only wear during your period when you have to wear a pad and need the wide crotch to wrap the wings around? That pair. The most boring, lace free, unfeminine pair of panties ever known to womankind. The panties with the “frills kills” attitude that all other lacy briefs and sexy thongs refuse to associate with in the underwear drawer. The pair that never saw the inside of a Victoria’s Secret store even in their infancy; and in their wildest dreams, aren’t even a distant third cousin of Victoria.
You know how sometimes you’ll hear a news story that you know must be a joke, and so you do a reality check in your mind on what day of the year it is to verify whether it’s April Fool’s Day?
And after said reality check, when you realize it’s nowhere near April 1st, you seek out the original source to see if it falls into the category of credible, or if instead, it came from one of those spoof web sites? (And you hope it did, because you hate the story so much that you don’t want it to be true)
Well, that happened to me last night. And after it happened, I had to chug a glass of wine and contemplate my increasing loss of faith in humanity, and my burgeoning suspicion that half of my own gender might be certifiably insane. Are you ready to hear the story? Get your wine and have a seat.
In the world of health and fitness, doctors talk a lot about prevention. Everyone’s mom has probably told her “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” With crime, it is no different.
When I’ve attended Trish’s safety seminars for women, I love that she tries to get them to think about their safety in terms of prevention first and foremost.
If we do things to protect our body and health to prevent disease, disability, and destruction of ourselves by eating right, wearing our seatbelt, and not smoking, we should apply the same principal of prevention to our personal safety.
