Tag Archives: food

Read Any Good Books Lately?

2 Jul

Balancing nutrition, exercise and mindfulness……….these words are music to my ears. Recently, during an in-home personal training session, a client of mine mentioned a book about combining nutrition, exercise and mindfulness.  My ears perked up!  Three key components to living a healthy lifestyle.  I could not wait to get my hands on this book.    Interestingly enough, this book is titled TriEnergetics, authored by Sanford Severin, MD and Todd Severin, MD.

For those of you who know me, I am a health nut and a nerd when it comes to both fitness and nutrition.  Being in the fitness business, I constantly meet wonderful people who are seeking weight loss, muscle tone and 6-pack abs. The most popular question I am asked (actually almost daily) “how do I get rid of this” as they point to abdominal fat. I always respond the same, healthy nutrition, not technically a diet, exercise and mindfulness (meditation). Over the years, I’ve heard all sorts of stories (sometimes horror stories) on countless “diet” attempts for weight loss.  I’ve heard promises “with this specific weight loss program, you will be in a size 6 by December”.  What????  I try not to show my emotions, but can’t help but think, what kind of program or person makes those promises.

Anyway, back to the book!  TriEnergetics is everything I personally believe in and is how I live my life.  This book is easy to understand with testimonials on how people have transformed their lives with this program.  By the way, this is a 6-week program to yes, change your life.  This is not a loose promise, the only promise is to yourself, because you deserve to live a healthy life!   This book is about creating specific changes that lead to a healthier lifestyle, by blending high quality ingredients of healthy nutrition, exercise and mindfulness.

How do you become mindful your thinking? Incorporate a few  minutes daily of mediation (not easy, but if you do daily, it becomes a habit).  Have you experienced your body in stillness?  We go all day long 90-miles an hour.  Sit, chill for a second, close your eyes, just  be with yourself.   Relax your face, jaw, shoulders, feel your heart beating, feel the air on your skin, notice the sounds around you.  Just sit, do nothing and watch your breath.  Your thoughts will come and go, replaying a conversation from the other day or reviewing your grocery list.  All normal, I do it too.  But now, connect back into your breath, notice moments of no thoughts, thoughts, then no thoughts.  Open your eyes after a few moments, experience the difference.

Another way of becoming mindful is through the magic of a regular and daily yoga practice!  Ok, I am partial here, but it works! I’ll come clean, I have a small yoga/fitness  business( www.getcorepower.com).  I am the best example, as I never was mindful in my life, until I incorporated yoga into my lifestyle.  The biggest advantage about mindfulness,  you become aware of how you are feeling, your thoughts, emotions and how you feel after you eat certain foods.

It’s the 4th of July weekend, experience mindfulness as it relates to food.  Notice your body over the next few days after eating. Experience your body on how it feels when eating good healthy foods.  Notice if you have more organic energy (no caffeine needed), you may feel lighter, more energetic and your clothes may fit a bit looser!  Check out how your body feels after eating heavy fattening foods, ice cream, cookies or just an absolutely delicious fattening meal you love to eat!   Wait a bit, notice how you feel; maybe more tired, less energy, craving for sugar, maybe your meal is not complete until you eat something sweet.  I used to be that way, always craved the sweetest dessert I could sink my teeth in.  When you dramatically decrease sugar in your life, cravings magically disappear!

TriEnergetics will explain the physiology of stress, how your body uses food, understanding what foods are healthy, good carbs vs. bad carbs, diet myths, how your body digests foods, specific exercises(no gym required!), deep breathing for health/vitality and so much more.  This book is absolutely the real deal, nothing fake, just down-to-earth plain vanilla facts and no gimmicks. The best part of this book, advocates a healthy “diet” with exercise.  This is a marriage that can not be separated, you need one with the other, otherwise maintaining your weight is nearly impossible, especially as you age.

If you are looking to trade up to a healthier lifestyle, I would highly recommend this book filled with a wealth of health knowledge!

By the way, if you are so inclined to try this program, please share your transformation!

Lynn
Core Power, LLC

Confessions of a Health Nut

1 Mar

What’s your body image gripe?  Being in the fitness industry I meet so many people, mostly women who always have the same topic on their minds……how to look better, learner, how to get flatter abs, tighter triceps, thinner inner thighs (ok, I’ll admit, this one is mine) and eliminate saddle bags (extra bulge outside of the hips).

It is way too easy to get caught up in today’s society with body image issues and wanting to look new and improved.  A better approach is to be healthy and take care of yourself first from the inside out.  Eventually, everything else will fall into place. 

A lifestyle you can live with is essential to the success of your health.  Living a 90%/10 rule or 80%/20 rule making healthy decision most of the time and giving yourself room to “play” 10 to 20% of the time. My health nut lifestyle started at age 33, slowly starting eating healthier and adding in exercise, none of this was short term, 14 years later still living my healthy lifestyle and maintaining my 20 pound weight loss.

 Below is a list of “rules” I play by that have helped me sustain my healthy lifestyle, I confess to the following:

  •  Never counting calories
  • Reading food labels
  • Using the full version of  half and half for my one and only coffee of the day
  • Never ever using artificial sugar….. these fake sugars bloat the belly and you’ll never get flat abs!
  • Never ever using low-fat or fat-free products
  • Limiting intake of processed fake foods
  • Never wasting non-nutritional calories and fat on the wide array of coffee/lattés
  • Drinking freshly squeezed lemon and warm water before eating in the AM (cleanses liver and other things)
  • Eating a healthy breakfast one hour upon waking (keeps metabolism revved up)
  • Generously pouring cinnamon into oatmeal, cinnamon reduces blood sugar levels and has a host of healthy benefits
  • Eating carbs, yes, good ones as your body needs carbs (i.e., fresh fruits, veggies, beans, quinoa, nuts, brown rice)
  • Eating limited dairy products, no milk, no yogurt
  • Snacking every 3 to 4 hours
  • Eating a hard boiled egg daily (great source of protein)
  • Eating several vegetarian meals a week
  • Allowing myself a free pass one day a week to enjoy anything I want, the skies the limit (helps control bingeing and enjoying the foods you love)
  • Cooking healthy meals in bulk on Sundays to prepare for the week
  • Drinking white wine instead of red wine
  • Drinking water, seltzer and green tea
  • Performing some type of physical activity daily 30 to 40 minutes
  • Practicing yoga daily
  • Practicing Yoga Shoulderstand Pose (to reduce cellulite) and Fish Pose to help bathe and stimulate the thyroid and parathyroid glands with a fresh supply of oxygenated blood
  • Being an interval training junkie – no machines required!
  • Never working out on a treadmill (i.e., the dreadmill)
  • Loving yoga with weights, yin yoga, pilates reformer and biking (preparing for a 50-mile challenge in June)
  • Doing a fitness challenge once or twice a year to see what you can accomplish no matter how old you are! 

 What are your health nut confessions?