Food for Thought - Sam

I met with Sam the amazing nutritionist this week and she gave me my first breakdown of my nutrition aims and orders. Here's what she suggests for me to concentrate on in the food department (I did not tell her about the sprinkles). 

I just discovered an awesome song as I'm blogging up a storm - Laura Veirs: Wide-Eyed...makes me want to eat a carrot.
In all seriousness though - national carrot day is just around the corner - February 3rd...I hope everyone has super fun national carrot day plans!

Summary of Recommendations                                               

These are the initial recommendations based upon the intake forms and our first consultation. We will continue to explore ways to reach your goals with improved diet and lifestyle. Our approach will be to make gradual changes that are sustainable and effective. Even though your main goal is weight loss, the potential benefits to other body systems such as immunity, intestinal and cardio vascular are far reaching. For example blood sugar will be more controlled and the likelihood of future diabetes much reduced. The liver will detoxify more easily and the intestines will absorb nutrients much more readily.

General

Drink plenty of clean water to maintain regularity and help eliminate toxins. Improving regularity is a priority.

First thing in the morning, add juice of 1/4 lemon to glass of water, to cleanse liver and spark digestion and energy. Wait for 30 minutes before eating or drinking anything else.

For breakfast have a smoothie with fresh fruit, bananas are a good choice to include as they are filling and are rich in potassium for muscle contraction.  Add a tablespoon of flax oil. Vega smoothie with hemp protein is also recommended. Another great breakfast is natural large rolled oats. Cooked with milk to desired consistency. Add chopped dried fruit and nuts to your liking.

Try natural granola with organic yogurt containing active live cultures for good gut bacteria. Ensure that neither has added sugar. (Sam has yet to find out that just the thought of yogurt makes me gag a bit).

Chew very well and eat slowly.

Snack on whole foods such as nuts. Pumpkin seeds are high in iron and zinc. Birth control pill often leads to low levels of zinc. Try organic soya beans as snack/appetizer, i.e. like edamame, a great source of iron.

Ideally, you would benefit greatly from having a large green salad most lunch times. Green leafy vegetables contain magnesium for many functions including energy production. Having a small salad before an entrée optimizes digestion and reduces the likelihood of overeating.

Try one new salad per week, e.g. wild salmon fillet on baby spinach with pine nuts and asparagus with flax oil/balsamic dressing. Adding avocado to any salad will be nutritious, tasty and filling.

Combine protein and veg or starch and veg where possible. For example, steak and salad, stir fry vegetables and brown rice. Choose best quality meats, local, organic etc. Avoid heavy starch and protein meals.

Homemade soups and stews are a great idea, especially in the winter they are so comforting.

Upgrade food quality where possible. For example, choose organic protein, brown rice and no white carbohydrates.

Try Quinoa, high protein pseudo grain, like rice – very nice warm or cold, also good source of magnesium. The carbohydrate is slow releasing which helps to regulate blood sugar levels.

Review quality of fats and oils.  Flax/ hemp oil on salads (buy from fridge in dark bottle and keep in fridge) Olive oil is also a good choice. Don’t eat oils that have reached smoking point.

Choose soothing teas such as lemon, passionflower and chamomile. Avoid caffeine.

Keep favorites, but ensure it is best quality proceeded by crudités or a salad.

Work towards eliminating processed foods. These foods contain many unwanted ingredients such a refined fats, salt, preservatives etc.  Processed foods lead to being overfed but undernourished!

Supplements

Daily multivitamin and mineral complex.

Vitamin B complex, 50mg twice a day.

Vitamin C with bioflavonoids, 2g per day.

Inspiration

"I find imperfection the most interesting thing about a person"
-Anon

Food for Thought - sugar

I thought that one step toward beating my refined sugar addiction would be to clear out all things sugar from my condo so that the option to munch away on tasty treats was removed. I would simply fill my place with healthy options and reach for an apple when I craved chocolate.....apparently in non-fantasy-land what I do is go through every cupboard until at last I discover super delicious...sprinkles? Yep - fully watched American Idol and ate sprinkles.

Food for Thought - Sumo Wrestlers

How do Sumo Wrestlers gain weight effectively? ....the same way I did!
1) Sumo Wrestlers do not eat breakfast or midday meals (on most occasions). This may seem illogical in respect to gaining weight, however according to Dr. Wayne Callaway, obesity specialist at George Washington University, skipping breakfast can not only trigger overeating later in the day but can also cause a drop in metabolism. It was found in research that people who do not have breakfast, like sumo wrestlers, have a five-percent lower metabolism than those who don't skip breakfast. This is partly because by comsuming calories, our body uses more energy to digest and absorb the food.
2) Overeating at night forces the body to store the extra energy as fat.The Sumo traditional meal is a stew called chanko-nabe. It has some kind of meat (fish, seafood, chicken, pork, or beef) and is served with rice and vegetables. Although the meal is high in protein for rapid weight gain, Chanko-nabe itself is not fattening. The secret is in the amount that they consume and the time of day they eat.
3) Sumo wrestlers also drink large quantities of beer. As well as being high in calories, alcohol increases cortisol levels which leads to fat deposits around the abdominal area, creating the ‘beer belly’. This is desirable in sumo wrestlers since a large stomach makes them more stable in the ring... significantly less desirable in your average Massage Therapist? haha
4) They sleep almost immediately after eating. 

Food for Thought - Cobbs Bread

Darn you Cobbs Bread and your delicious smelling cinnamon buns that I have to walk past between the clinic and the gym.

The first lb!

It has been 5 years at least of steadily adding weight on...today my new scale says I am officially down my first lb! I wish I could frame it like people do with their first dollar.

The dreaded scale

For some reason I can wrap my head around measurements more easily than I can the dreaded scale. Although it sucks to know that the length of measuring tape that just came away from my stomach could easily wrap twice around Candice the super cute IF receptionist, it still doesn't make me want to curl up in my bed and cry (with chocolate in-hand preferably). The scale, however, is another story! I did go to the store today and purchase a fancy (and pretty....I thought that might help) scale for my own private weekly weigh ins. I am not to the point that I can do it in front of my fitness team but it is a start and I can at least track my weight loss and body fat percentage from home :)

Fitness - stairs

I opted for the stairs today rather than the elevator... regretted it by floor 2...happy by the top!

Fitness

Today I had my first of my quarterly "testing" days at Innovative with Kris. The team there does testing with all of their customers to monitor progress and to help them create really individualized fitness plans. I have been to personal training centres in the past and my only experience to date in monitering progress was with weight and measurements. IF did this as well (although I have to admit that I refused to get on the scale), but they also do a comprehensive session in addition which I thought was just awesome. Kris ran me through exercises that tested my agility, flexibility, coordination, strength and endurance, etc which provides such a good baseline for them to see how I'm progressing and where my strengths and weaknesses are. I thought this session would be pretty intimidating, but it was just fine...so far I'm 2 for 2 in feeling intimidated by a session at IF unnecessarily. I think it was the 5km bike ride that was making me nervous the most, but I did it in 11 minutes which isn't so bad (although the super fancy bike hurt my butt a bit - pretty sure that's my butt's issue though, not the bike's haha....we'll see if it still hurts in 6 months when I have less of it).

Impulse Chiropractic

My poor left elbow has been "catching" off and on when I try to extend it - ouch...I wish I could say that it was from pumping so much iron, but pretty likely it's from work. Aaron the Chiropractor worked his ART magic and I didn't feel it at all today which is rad. He says I have to work out my lazy little triceps so that everything in my elbow is doing its job properly. Triceps - officially on the agenda.

Food for Thought

Well my world of refined carbohydrates is about to be rocked pretty hard I think. I met with Sam the amazing nutritionist yesterday over a cup of maple tea (half of which she dumped on the floor...and she calls herself British) and it went really well. We reviewed about 983 questions pertaining to my current diet, sleep, body functions & temperature, digestive issues, health history, likes and dislikes in the food department (I'm sure anyone who knows me is making some joke about mayonnaise....just threw up in my mouth a little when I typed that), etc. It was an extremely thorough and I thought interesting review of my body and nutritional background. I'm so impressed with Sam and with her attention to detail and clear passion for what she does. I really do think that she is such a gift to whoever is lucky enough to work with her. I don't have a nutrition plan quite yet, but so far I am supposed to be expanding a bit more on my previous self prescription (see 2 nutrition posts ago...I suppose she thought this wasn't quite enough haha). I am starting with including more vegetables and fruits, only drinking water or tea (no juice or sugary drinks), and eating more frequently during the day rather than my current routine of Starbucks for breakfast, nothing all day, and enough to feed a whole family for dinner.

Inspiration

"Health is a large word.  It embraces not the body only, but the mind and spirit as well;... and not today's pain or pleasure alone, but the whole being and outlook."

~James H. West

Food for Thought

I wish vegetables were made of pizza

Gear

Yesterday the guys at Kintec in Port Moody invited me over to support the new goals and it was a really interesting experience for sure. They video analyzed my gait both walking and running  (that's right) and then had me do it again in several different shoe options to compare foot and ankle function and biomechanics. Ermin the Pedorthist decided I don't need any type of insert for now (they over corrected my small foot issues when he assessed with them in) and I am fine with a pretty neutral shoe. They gave me a pair of Nike Lunar Glides (thanks Kintec!) which are pretty sweet and I already feel like maybe I could pull out a 57 second run in these bad boys.

Inspiration

"Getting my lifelong weight struggle under control has been a process of learning to treat myself as well as I treat others."
Oprah :)

Fitness

I have now had my initial consult and first training at Innovative Fitness and I'm feeling really positive (despite the significant amount of work and challenges ahead) yay!
Consult:
My first session with Innovative was a consult to get us on the same page, ready to train, and give the team there some info about me and my crazy body. They covered a lot of ground with questions about general health and injuries, past experience with fitness, and personal goals. It was clear that the focus is beyond just basic health and weight loss to include a more complete look at mental wellbeing, lifestyle, and personal goals. My short experience has already made clear that this goal oriented, beyond-the-body approach will encourage results to come more easily with lifestyle changes rather than just straight up weight loss goals (I have unsuccessfully been there and done that).
Training Session #1:
I had my first training session with Meyrick yesterday - what a rockstar.
Before heading in to Innovative, I did some secret self-testing to see where I was at and gauge how nervous I should be. I hopped on the treadmill at my condo gym....pumped to be back on the fitness train...excited to show that treadmill who's boss...started running and.....45 seconds! I pushed it to 1 full minute, but I wanted to burst into tears. Needless to say I headed in to Innovative to train with super awesome, endurance running, ironman Meyrick with a touch of hesitation! haha. I am sure that I am not alone in my intimidation of gyms and I wonder how many people out there never make it through the door because of this apprehension. I honestly can say that I'm nowhere near striding through the gym door with confidence and having all heads turn to wish they could be as shiny as me,  but I can certainly say my first session was not worth the anxiety. As I said (refer to line 1), Meyrick was awesome and it took about 45 seconds (same amount of time that I am able to run) for him to settle my nerves. He was supportive and un-intimidating while still challenging me. Although it was difficult emotionally to say the least to feel so out of touch with my body, I can't say enough good things about my experience so far with the team at IF. I am looking forward to the growth (mentally and physically) that is already underway.
Last note....this morning I hurt...everywhere! I actually think I love it - my muscles feel alive for the first time in too long.

Inspiration

Allison reminded me today that I should be treating my body as though it belongs to someone I really like.

Food for Thought

My nutritionist Samantha Cairns uses "Food for Thought" and I think it is a totally appropriate line to steal  to pass on the info I learn from her! I will be starting with Sam next week and in the meantime my first steps are...eat things that grew rather than came in a box, drink actual water, and cook at home. I have to admit that these things did come from me not Sam, but it will have to do for now. She DID teach me that cardboard has more nutritional value than Cheerios so I suppose I'll stay away from that particular cereal...not sure if that means I should be munching on cardboard - I'm going to assume no unless she specifies otherwise :)

Moveo Massage

Today I saw Holly the genius Massage Therapist at Moveo Sport & Rehabilitation Centre. Moveo is my other clinic which I own with two great girls ( in North Vancouver) and is made up of an amazing team of Physiotherapists, Chiropractors, and RMTs. Holly took a long overdue look today at my crazy adhered shoulders which sadly have been giving me a little grief these days. I know she took it easy on me since I'm a big baby when it comes to Massage (ironically - considering I rip people up daily) and despite her consideration, I STILL feel like she punched me in the chest haha. Lucky for me, Holly is rad and I can also feel that my shoulder is more mobile and two days from now I will be singing her praises rather than wanting to punch her back :)

Week One Pics

What's with my hair in pic #3? I'm going to wear it like that every day

The beginning...

My first post in my 2011 health adventure!
This is my 30th year here on planet earth (unless you count the 9months I spent growing... I was in pretty good health at that point anyways) and I have spent my time bouncing around from fat to thin and everything between. I own clothing in every size imaginable and I keep them all just in case I make my way back down the size ladder (I think not an uncommon thing to do although perhaps on a more moderate level than my own haha). Thanks to inspiration (and planned hard work) from Innovative Fitness in Port Moody and my team at Impulse Sport Therapeutics we are going to see how much change can be made to one body (mine!) over the course of a year. Our focus is health (not just weight loss) and I'm looking forward to learning and passing on my experience, tips, inspiration, and ideas! Time to finally take some ownership and control over my body...it's the only one I get!