Yesterday's Observations. Today's Thoughts.

Yesterday's Observations (YO):

• I didn't eat enough yesterday and didn't eat dinner until 8:30 PM (replaced the sautéed kale with baby spinach raw). My only protein was 1/2 of black beans.
• I need to drink more water. I had a bit too much coffee and not enough water. Woke up this morning thirsty... steps away from a headache from dehydration.
• Worked too late and skipped bedtime yoga. :(
• The Warm Up (10 M) program really gets your heart pumping!
• Running 2 miles was much easier 10 pounds ago

Today's Thoughts (TT):

• Did Morning Yoga (10 M), 2 miles on treadmill and Abs I (15 M) before I checked email!
• Took a photo of my breakfast, see our Twitter feed.
• Had 2 nalgene's of water before coffee.
• Will take a break from work to make dinner at a reasonable hour. 

If you have no idea what this means, I'll explain. Have a great day!

Day 1: My Move.Eat.Be. Plan

If you missed my earlier post, you can read for my weight confession and how irony hit home this morning courtesy of my scale. As promised, I devoted some time this afternoon to planning my exercise, eating and "Be." for the week. I used our Move.Eat.Be. journal which is available to Cybercise members during the 24 weeks of our program. It occurred to me this document may be useful to some of you, even if you haven't yet joined Cybercise. So, here is a little gift for you. 

What I have learned today? My first lesson was it does take some time to plan wellness into your week. I spent about 20 minutes planning my exercise and food for the week. Then I spent more time checking recipes and making a grocery list. Then I went to the grocery store. Let's just call this an hour of my day. I'm hopeful it will take less time as the weeks progress. 

The most powerful lesson today was creating my Move.Eat.Be. calendar in relation to my work and social plans for the week. For example, I'm attending a birthday party for my nephew this weekend so I know dinner on Sunday will be a surprise. As I look at the meals for the rest of the weekend, I can plan to eat a bit more carefully on Saturday and earlier Sunday so a surprise dinner won't wreck my overall food consumption for the week. I was also able to count up the servings of fruits and veggies I plan to have and make some adjustments before I went out for groceries. 

I also decided the best approach for Move. this week was to schedule several short workout sessions throughout each day. I know I feel my best if I do yoga each morning, followed by jogging a couple of miles (I like to call this "running" but I think at my pace, jogging is more appropriate). While I've maintained this daily ritual for much of the last several weeks, clearly something is missing. I think it is important to add some other cardio, stretching and strength training to slay the 10 pounds. 

My Move. calendar includes over 500 minutes of exercise this week. When I added it all up, it sounded impossible. But, when I look at each day and how the schedule is divided into many short sessions, it seems doable. Here is a look, if you're interested (not the best quality graphic - I'll work on that going forward).I decided to stick with this plan and see how I progress throughout the week. 

Generally, I am pleased with the time I took today to put together my plan. Hopefully, it will save some time later in the week typically used up by deciding what to eat each day. 

For now, since I've spent this day working, planning and writing, I have some exercise to do and dinner to prepare. There is sautéed kale in my future. Yummy! 

And Then There Were 10

A few busy weeks of site upgrades and writing, and then the Health 2.0 conference, and then a week of vacation, and then the scale read 135 this morning. What?!? I fall out of my routine for a few weeks and I gained 10 pounds? Egad. For the record, I really do love being in my 40s. Best decade, thus far. I do long, however, for the days in my 30s when a few weeks of gluttony didn't show up as digits on a scale.

My 5'6" body likes weighing 125. I like it when my body weighs 122 because that gives it a little room to fluctuate with the daily water gain and loss. And, since I'm in full disclosure here, my ego secretly really likes when my body is 118 though that is the point when family and friends exclaim I'm too skinny. Bah, "I'm in great shape!" is my typical reply. At this moment? I'm mushy. Ugh.

Why am I telling all of you all of this? Well, I started a company to help people get healthy, to lose weight, to exercise every day and to eat well. And, I have fallen victim to the very same thing that plagues the very people that come to Cybercise for help and hope. Our schedules get full, deadlines loom and "we" are the last thing we take care of. I preach the opposite on a regular basis and it seems I'm not immune from needing my own lecture. Irony!

Trust me, it requires a bit of courage to post my weight for all the world to read. I recognize this post will live in the websphere forever and the day I weighed 135 will go down in recorded history. Sure, it would be easier for me to keep this to myself and secretly do what I know needs to be done and drop the pounds and nobody would be any wiser. And, with every challenge comes opportunity.

If you're reading this and you are well north of 135 and you're thinking to yourself, "She is complaining because she weighs 135? You've got to be kidding me! I'd kill to have her problems." Perhaps some of you are also shouting expletives at the screen. Okay, so I hear you.... but go with me on this. There was a point, no matter how much you currently weigh, that the weight gain started out with 10 pounds. Then 10 became 15, and 15 became 20, and the next thing you knew you were so far above your ideal weight you forgot where you started. If you had a good way to stop the initial trend before it crept over 10 pounds, things would be different today.

So, no matter what you weigh right now and no matter how many pounds you need to lose, I'd like you to focus on 10 pounds. I have a theory that if we concentrate on 10 pounds at a time the path to long term, sustainable wellness is much easier. We have to learn to take care of ourselves first, no matter what.

I, for better or worse, am going to write about my journey to lose 10 pounds. Let's face it, I have what I need to make this happen. I have Cybercise (including a sneak preview of the new exercise videos we're due to release soon), I am a certified personal trainer, a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and a certified Health Coach. With all of that, you'd think I wouldn't have gained the 10 pounds in the first place. Alas, apparently I am human. Pesky truths. My hope is that by sharing my journey, we'll learn ways to make Cybercise even better to support you on your journey. I'd love for you to join me and I'd love feedback and ideas.

My approach? I'm going to start with a Move.Eat.Be. plan for the week. A weekly plan is best done on Sunday evening and something I did not do last night (I was tired - probably because my body is carrying around an extra 10 pounds - and still no excuse. Shame on me!). You're welcome to stay tuned here for my plan and my progress for all the world to read. As for those 10 pounds, they're out of here! Get ready body, here comes determination!

Masking Symptoms is not a Cure

Scientists at the FDA are proudly sharing early results on identifying a "good" bacteria that destroys the bad bacteria which causes salmonella. The link to the article above provides interesting statistics on the dramatic increase in salmonella contamination in fruit and vegetables in recent years.

Is the increase in salmonella outbreaks due to fruit and vegetable contamination a concern? Yes! Should we be trying to find a way to "cure" our food by identifying some way to modify it? Perhaps not.

America has, in many ways, become a culture of the quick fix and easy cure. Feeling blue? Take a pill. Obese? Gastric bypass. Have a cold? Over-the-counter options abound. Eventually we learn that masking the symptoms doesn't really solve the problem.

Am I the only one a little concerned about where this "good" bacteria story will go? The next thing you know our food will be doused in good bacteria at the grocery store. And, some enterprising entrepreneur will sell good bacteria spray so you can treat your food at home.

I, for one, don't want anything (no matter how "proven") altering my food. Trust me, the FDA has precedent here. In 2006, the FDA approved a mixture of six different bacteria that can be sprayed on meat to kill a virus.

The reality of many quick fixes is we simply cannot fathom the long term consequences. History is full of examples of how a seemingly good idea created havoc later. This article from National Geographic tells an interesting story if you want more proof.

I propose we figure out why our fruits and vegetables are increasingly contaminated. Is it our farming methods? Is our water supply tainted? Are our handling and food processing procedures creating risk? Should we shipping food across the country and world?

How now brown cow?

Let's face it, one of the joys of childhood is a cool, freshly stirred glass of chocolate milk. And, let's face it some more, even in adulthood is it a welcome treat. Results of a study were published pointing to the health benefits of chocolate milk. Good news!

Since the article linked above appeared in the New York Times, there have been many more articles and blogs touting the benefits of brown milk (Do all kids think brown milk comes from brown cows? I had a "pet" brown cow when I was little - her name was Brownie... and, her milk? Not brown - so disappointing!).

Many of the subsequent articles on chocolate milk have talked about the benefits published in the study and have omitted critical facts. One of the problems with studies and how they are shared with the public is the person publishing includes and omits information for the sake of column size and special interests. Also, I think it is important to know this study took place in Barcelona, Spain where they have different standards and culture on the quality of food.

To be clear and for the sake of science -- this study gave participants 20-gram sachets of soluble cocoa powder with instructions they mix it with skim milk.

This is not the same as buying a gallon of chocolate milk at the convenience store. This is not the same as mixing some Nesquick (Ingredients? Sugar, cocoa processed with alkali, soy lecithin, salt, artificial and natural flavors, maltodextrin) into milk from cows pumped full of hormones and antibiotics. This is not the same as a chocolate milk shake from your favorite fast food place.

Let's help each other be more aware and educated consumers. Please don't fall for the marketing spin put on every study for the sake of sales (the Nesquick web page already touts the "benefits" of chocolate milk!).

If we stick together and share good information, we can improve our health. You can buy organic cocoa powder online. This one has 1 ingredient Organic Cocoa Powder (100%). Now that is much better. Cheers!

Body Image

You have an assignment. Take all of your clothes off and stand in front of the mirror. What do you see? Are there parts of your body you love? Are there parts of your body you're not so crazy about? Look carefully... where do you see muscle tone? Is your skin clear? Are your eyes more sparkly? Is your hair shiny?

All too often when we catch a glimpse of ourselves in the mirror the first thought that goes through our mind is something negative. Ugh, we say, my (insert your particular flavor of criticism here.)

Have you taken the time to celebrate your physical form and be grateful for all of its hard work and effort? If not, while you're standing in front of the mirror in all of your naked glory, tell your body thank you. It does a terrific job for you each and every day, even when there are things about our bodies we're not so crazy about.

The impact of body image on our overall health and well-being is significant. If you feel better about your body, you're more likely to feel better about you. There are no perfect bodies and many of the people that spend all of their time striving for the perfect body usually do so while sacrificing something else in their lives (often happiness). Eating well, exercising each day and getting enough sleep can improve your body and greatly elevate your body image.

Tell your body it is beautiful. When you do, your body is more likely to tell you the same thing back. 

Salute! Slainte! Cheers!

Happy Friday! Much has been written about the benefits of the moderate consumption of red wine. We won't bore you here with the studies... a quick web search will produce millions of results.

To partake or not to partake, that is the question. The decision? Is yours. Some people don't like red wine, some people do. Of those who do, some have a glass each day, some people only on the weekends. While a truly personal decision, there is one thing worth consideration. A 5-ounce glass of red wine has between 90 and 105 calories. And those calories, like all of them, add up.

If you choose to enjoy red wine, consider the impact on your overall calorie intake. And, while you're making those decisions, think about the other kinds of drinks you consume on a weekly basis. If you drink beverages other than water, you could be adding a great number of "empty" calories to your body. For reference, calories in 1 cup servings of:

• Hot cocoa with skim milk: 135
• Coffee (black): 2
• Cola: 136
• Grape juice: 154
• Orange juice: 105
• Pineapple juice: 132
• Tea: 2
• Tomato juice: 41 
• Water: 0

The important thing is to recognize the calories we consume as liquid. If you choose to drink something other than water, do a little research so you know the impact of your choices. Your best bet is always, always water. And, when you have something else have a little toast. A Votre Sante!