Cashew Crusted Cod
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:
4 cod loin fillets
1/2 cup cashews, very finely chopped
2 tablespoons silken tofu
4 tablespoons chives, chopped
1 teaspoon mustard
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
salt and black pepper

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2.  Place cod in a lightly greased, shallow baking dish.
3.  In a separate small dish mix the tofu and mustard, season with salt and pepper.
4.  In a small dish mix chives, horseradish, lemon zest and juice.
4.  Cover cod evenly with both mixtures.
5.  Top with cashews.
6.  Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the fish is just done, and the crust is golden and crunchy.

Ginger Broiled Salmon
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:
4 4-ounce wild salmon fillets
2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
2 tablespoons umeboshi plum vinegar
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/4 cup water

Directions:
1. Mix the vinegar, oil, water and ginger.
2. Place the fish in a baking dish and marinate in sauce for 30 minutes.
3. Preheat broiler, then broil fish skin side down for 6-8 minutes, depending on how you like your salmon
cooked.
4. Baste once or twice while broiling.
5. Serve, using the remaining marinade as sauce.

Tuna Steaks with a Cucumber Dill Salsa
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:
4 tuna steaks
half a large cucumber
1 cup purple kale, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
salt and black pepper

Directions:
1.  Scoop out the seeds of the halved cucumber. Then dice and mix with the dill and kale.
2.  Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Rub a bit of oil on tuna steaks and cook for 2-3 minutes on each
side. Time will vary due to thickness and preference. Most enjoy tuna medium-rare, leaving it pink
in the middle.
3.  Place tuna steaks on plates and top with cucumber salsa.
4.  Keep skillet over heat and add oil, vinegar and a pinch of salt and ground pepper to taste. Let sizzle for a
few seconds and then drizzle over fish with salsa.
5.  Serve immediately.

Variations:
Substitute fennel for the cucumber or bok choy for kale, for a twist.

Have a great weekend!

One of the most awesome things about working with awesome people is they always expose you to awesome opportunities that end up being awesome for everyone involved. (Ok, I’ll stop with the awesome…but I was having fun for a second there.) Heather, our Monday girl, is the Chief Kahuna in her workplace for fitness. She smacks everyone around to keep it in gear, stay focused and continually reach for more. About 3 months ago she started a “Leanest Winner” contest in the office and recruited folks to set a goal (lose body fat) and to stick to it (for 12 weeks) with the foreknowledge that they would be “judged” at the end and win a prize—and no, it was not a date with Heather or winning any of her amazing hats, either. Upon putting that contest in motion, Heather had to pick a judging panel…you guessed it…us girlies!! YIPPY!! We have the privilege of judging everyone’s entries over the next week to see who, out of all them, will be the leanest winner. I’m super excited—you have no idea!

A contest like this, though, requires some set guidelines for judging so as to be fair and consistent throughout. For us to ensure this, I have to create a score sheet–for lack of a better word—that will give points for things such as pounds lost, pounds of muscle gained and so on. Having to do this brought me to this post: after all these years, I am still amazed at the bad information that is still in the world today about health and fitness. And even more bad info when it comes to changing the appearance of your body (ie. lose body fat, gain muscle). Can we just all take a moment to review?…

Yeah I know I mentioned Megan Fox and this is a picture of Jessica Alba.  I ran out of time.  What are you gonna do about it?  Right.  I didn’t think so.

Losing Weight vs. Losing Body Fat
Losing weight is easy. If you want to lose weight, cut off a limb. Really. Twenty pounds will drop off of you faster than you can say anesthesia. No fuss, no muss. All jokes aside, losing weight is simple when that’s your main goal and you do not care how you look when you are done. This is “The Biggest Loser” mentality. Endless cardio, starvation and some weights here and there make for an ugly shar pei at the end. However, if you want to lose body fat get ready to work hard by dotting your I’s and crossing your T’s. The most prevalent mistake/issue that I run into with this situation is pride and arrogance. Everyone thinks ‘what they gave up/where they came from’ should automatically put them in a position for a hot body. So because you stopped eating pizza for breakfast, drinking every weekend and scoffing pints of B & J at one sitting, you should automatically have a body like Megan Fox. Umm…no…sorry. Now the real work begins and it is not fun. Who has this the worse? Girls who are on the thin side already but are “skinny fat”. Probably one of the hardest things to stay focused for because you have nothing to tell you that you are on point but body fat and most folks never accurately find theirs out. Thin girls have to lift like Arnold, eat like a saint and endure the jeers of those who don’t get how hard it is what they’re doing. Sigh.

Ask Amy–Tuesday blogger–just how hard it is to gain muscle.  Strong as an ox, as streamlined as the yogi nut that she is.

Gaining Muscle
Men are bad with this but not as bad as women. For some strange reason there is this psycho sect of women who believe if you just lift heavy for 12 weeks, you can somehow enter a figure contest and win. It blows my mind. Some even think, “Well, I know that that’s not true. I need at least a year.” Hold on, I am trying to stop laughing to finish this post. Honestly, good solid muscle that is noticeable in terms of density and structure takes about 2 to 3 years to develop. You are lifting that entire time. So…not…3—12 week cycles of lifting, but the ENTIRE time. And you are eating right that whole time, as well. Can you gain some muscle before then? Of course. Will you look like it? Um, maybe—but not the way you think. Ask any NATURAL—hold on, that bears repeating…any NATURAL–that means drug free…including growth hormone because you have those that will tell you that growth is natural (rolling my eyes)—girl that has any amount of muscle or size how long it took her to gain muscle and she’ll tell you years. If it took anything less than that, they were a gymnast.

There was NO WAY I was doing an article like this without pulling her out of retirement.  What an era!

Losing Muscle vs. Losing Earned Muscle
About 4 or 5 years ago there was a frenzy on the internet among the “gurus” where they literally had you petrified to work out or do cardio for fear of “losing muscle”. It is still around today but nowhere near as bad as back then. People were waking in the middle of the night to eat because they would be “catabolic” if not and so on. It was crazy. This spurred the whole supplement frenzy of either hanging on to your “hard earned muscle” or losing body fat without much effort. I am so glad we have moved on to bigger and better things like cave men vs dead doctors. (Back to rolling my eyes again.)

Let’s just put this out there right now: there is a big difference between losing muscle, losing size and losing earned muscle.

If you are a “big girl”—you know, the kind I want to go drinking with on a Friday night in a not-so-safe area of town—then you know what I am about to say is true: losing muscle is HARD. A muscular girl who wants to be done with her muscle and move on to a more ‘sleek’ look is in for the battle of her life. You are essentially re-programming your DNA. Everything you do to lose body fat and muscle will promote even more.

If you suddenly find yourself with a good amount of muscle and you decide to go starchless for a while, you will lose SIZE. Your pump. Your mojo. But you did not lose your MUSCLE. One cheeseburger with sodium and a bun and you’ll be back to normal. Starches do not make or keep muscle. They just fill ‘em up like an Easter basket.

If you are an “olive oil” type girl who put on a few pounds of muscle—bless you, girl—everything you do will cause you to lose muscle. You have to hold on to that muscle like a barnacle on a boat if you want to keep any of it—in the beginning. But after a year or so, it’s yours. This is important to know because I think a few of you are still getting up at 3 am to eat. OY!

This is just a snap shot of body composition myths that are out there. There are many more that I may tackle one day. Until then, wish the folks at Heather’s job good luck as we head into the ‘back room’ and begin the judging process. Woop woop!

You know how NHL goalies are always kind of in a crouch, waiting to block a shot or whatever?  There is a goal camera mounted a mere 10 inches behind him that inevitably broadcasts his bent over rear end larger than life onto the big screen in the family room, and yes, those pants do make his butt look big!  (haha!)

I’m starting out with how to dress an ample behind, because, well, I have one.  My husband, with a big smile, said recently, “Your butt, it’s higher and smaller these days, like it was when you were competing.”  I think there’s a compliment in there somewhere.

In a world where it seems that all clothing is made for Gisele when she was 15, it’s been my experience that clothing your bootie (or what ever other body part you wrestle with) and the whole package looking right is not easy.  My butt isn’t perfect, but the husband was right – it is high(er) and round (thanks Jodi for setting my glutes on fire every time I enter the gym) and I am not interested in hiding it, but rather dressing it so I look my best.  Anyone but me?  Feel free to embrace or reject any of the following thoughts and advice:

Pants:

*            Straight cut or wide leg trousers are flattering because they fall straight down from your hips.

*            Pants with narrow bottoms, like capris, tapered styles and harem pants accentuate the bum.

*            Flat front styles minimize; pleats and side pockets add bulk (I sew side pockets shut-better to loose the convenience of a pocket to get rid of the flaring out that side pockets always do anyway)

*            Prints and light colors will draw attention and visually add size.  Dark solids minimize.

*            Wear pants in fabrics that have some weight; nothing flimsy or clingy.  Try cotton, denim, lycra blends (like good workout/yoga pants), and wool.  Look for fabrics with a little stretch for comfort and shape.

Jeans:

*            Plain back pockets will not draw attention to your bum.  Contrast stitching, big buttons, buckles, gathers, pleats, rhinestones, big logos, bleaching, etc. will.

*            Patch pockets add bulk; slit pockets, like on a khaki, do not.

*            To make the rear end look smaller, choose jeans with patch pockets that are large, placed high on the butt and spaced close together.

*            The higher the waist, the more attention is drawn to the butt.  Unless you are long and slender-waisted too, choose a mid or low rise style.

*            High waisted jeans can also flatten out your butt.  Proceed with caution.

*            Try the jeans that are specifically made for curvy girls.  These have a lower rise in the front and a higher rise in back that eliminate gaping at the waistband in the back.

*            Dark colored boot-cut styles are great on bootie girls.

*            A v-shaped yoke (the fabric that runs between the waistband and pockets) is more flattering to a large bum than a straight across yoke.

*            Choose a denim with stretch to avoid sagging at the butt and knees.

*            Finishes, washes and distressing (rips, abrasions, whiskering, etc.) while cool (I love that stuff) are distracting and break up the line of the leg, making them appear shorter.  Wear a heel with these styles.

*            Boyfriend jeans are weirdly shaped; the crotch hangs low in the front making legs look shorter, they’re rolled up making legs look shorter, the waist is too big for a belt to lie flat and un-bunchy, and they’re so roomy that your lower body all but disappears.  Hmmm.

Skirts and Dresses:

*            A-lines can be flattering but make sure the flare is not too wide and keep the hem right at the knee to avoid frumpy.

*            Try straight and pencil styles.  Ensure that they aren’t too tight in the bum and don’t pull across your hips in front.  These can be amazingly sexy on a curvy figure!

*            Beware skirt styles that add bulk:  long maxis, full, pleated, drop waist, peasant/dirndl, and pouffy tutu.

*            Beware styles that are tiny:  mini skirts of all varieties.

*            Wrap dresses accentate a fuller figure in a very good way.

*            Try a dress in soft matte jersey, which will skim curves just right.

*            Slinky, swishy fabrics cut on the bias move a lot, drawing the eye directly to whatever is underneath.

Tops:

*            Choose tops that accentuate the positive going on above the waist – shoulders, great rack, slim belly or waspy waist.

*            Jackets, sweaters, coats, etc. that flow over or stop right below your butt are great over your bootie.  Don’t hide your waist in the process; choose pieces with a tailored or nipped in waist to show off your hourglass bod.

*            Waist and hip length jackets draw attention to and will show off your rear end.

Undies:

*            NO PANTY LINES!  Eliminate these by wearing a thong (I swear by Commando and Hanky Panky) or cheeky styles which are cut higher in the back and front than boy shorts or tap pants.  Always go seamless.

*            Shapewear – I died when I read this advice:  Like a bra, make sure the garment keeps your cheeks separated.  How great is that?  Love it!

Etc.:

*            Belt sweaters or long shapeless tops with a slender belt at the waist.  Pass on wide hip belts.

*            Wear a heel with a little bit of weight with skirts, nothing flimsy so that you teeter around but not too hefty and clunky.

*            Have pants and jeans that are too long hemmed; avoid cuffing them as they add weight to the bottom of your leg not in a good way

Hope some of these work for you.

Sources:

What Not to Wear by Trinny Woodall & Susannah Constantine

What Not to Wear For Every Occasion by Trinny Woodall & Susannah Constantine

How to Never Look Fat Again by Charla Krupp

The Science of Sexy by Bradley Bayou

In the past few months, I have been so busy that I have not been able to make it to a yoga class.  I have been practicing yoga (in some way or another) for 9 or 10 years now.  When I started, I took class two times per week and never missed a class.  As my practice progressed I moved from one style to another until I got to the point that I was done with classes and only took private lessons.  That continued for a few years until I moved away from classes and teacher lead practices all together. 

 I never stopped practicing yoga on my own, but my time away was occupied with other activities that precluded me from getting to class.  (That is a really nice way of saying that yoga class was not my top priority because we all know that if it was a top priority, I would have made it happen).  Nonetheless, I only practiced on my own.  I would hit up a class every now and again, or go through a 4-6 week jaunt where I got into a more regular schedule, but nothing more than that. 

 I then, more recently, got back to wanting to make it to class once/week, but when tax season hit, I didn’t have the time.  Well, now I do – and I realized I was nervous; nervous that in my time-off, I would have lost some of my flexibility and core strength. 

 If you don’t live in a city with a plethora of yoga studios and amazing yoga teachers, then you are missing out.  Boston is a yoga haven.  The teachers are exceptionally good and because of that, the student’s skill is unmatched.  As a result, my two teachers teach classes that on any given day will challenge me, provided I am up for the challenge.  (That is the other amazing thing about yoga, you can make any pose less or more strenuous).

 This past Saturday I made the decision to get my butt to class – Todd’s class that is.  Todd is an amazing yoga teacher who teaches an advanced class.  The class not only incorporates quite a few advanced poses but is physically demanding.  However, I wanted a rigorous class – and Todd did not disappoint.  I had an amazing class and what was even more exciting is that I moved into a pose I had never been able to master.  Eka Pada Sirsasana (I think) – foot behind the head in a forward fold.  (I must admit, my pose did not look quite as graceful, but I am almost there).

 While there are still plenty of poses I want to master, this small achievement really got me thinking: I’ve been focusing on other athletic things yet when I got back to a class, was able to make an advancement.  

But the fact remains, I had taken my focus off of yoga.  Yes, I still practiced on my own (20 or so minutes a day after I’d workout), but I was not trying to improve.  Actually, I was using yoga for mental sanity and for flexibility and joint/muscle health, and nothing else.  But when I got back to it, I was right where I left off and ready to move forward.  As a result, while my focus was elsewhere, by not foregoing yoga altogether due to the fact that I couldn’t give it my full attention, I was able to maintain and prime myself to improve.  (How often do we give up on something all together because we cannot give it our full intention?  Boy am I glad that I did not fall prey to that line of thinking this time, like I have done so many other time.)

 Interestingly enough, I just went through this same experience with lifting.  As I’ve mentioned, I streamlined my training over the past few months.  My lifts have been full body lifts that incorporate plyometrics and agility with the goal of sucking wind and elevating my heart-rate without compromising the integrity of my lift.  Prior to this, one of my focuses was to increase shoulder strength.  However, I knew that any strength gain focus had to take a back seat when my program changed.

 To my pleasant surprise, when all was said and done, my shoulder strength did increase.  I lay the groundwork in Nov/Dec by increasing my weights in a typical strength building workout format.  However, during my recent training, I either maintained that weight or only slightly decreased it (remember when doing a metabolically taxing full body lift filled with plyos, the weight you use in an overhead press half way through the workout is not going to mirror that which you would use for straight sets).  My intent was to lift to my fullest potential, while maintaining good form, and that clearly did the trick. 

 The other day, as I was setting up some crazy giant set, it dawned on me that the weight I was overhead pressing for 10 reps was that which, in December, I could barely eek out for 10 reps while doing straight sets with plenty of rest. 

 In the end of the day, while we cannot always focus on everything all the time, that does not mean we will lose that for which we have worked so hard.  And while I would tell, and have told, clients/friends/anyone else this is true; I’ve always found it a hard concept to believe applies to me.  And so I imagine you might find this concept difficult to grasp as well. 

 While I don’t think an Olympic or even Pro-athlete can rest his/her laurels on this concept, I think the majority of the world can.  You cannot focus on everything all the time (whereas the Olympian/Pro is paid to do so); there are times when things you really love have to take a back seat.  But, that does not mean all is lost.  Maintenance is a very real and attainable option. While I had not purposefully set up a plan to maintain my flexibility, I had set up a plan for my shoulder strength.  I made sure I lifted with integrity every single time; perfect form and to failure; which paid off.  On the yoga side, my daily routine has become second nature to me, so in retrospect, I should not be surprised with Saturday’s new pose.  And while the point of my post was not to plug Jodiojo and Company, I will say that we do put together some amazing maintenance programs to help get you through those murky times when something else has to take center stage.  So regardless of what has to take a front seat in your life, there is always a way to maintain and possibly keep improving.

There are 3 very poignant Easter memories from my childhood that have come up for me this week.

1.       Black Jelly Beans. As my training group discussed their favorite Easter candy with glazed over eyeballs, I suddenly remembered how, after mentioning to my mom that I really like the black jelly beans the best, my Easter basket demonstrated a definite “black jelly bean dominance”.  Now knowing she had everything to do with that, I sent her a little note the other day saying thanks for such a labor of love.  She responded that it was no hardship as she likes those best too.  Then we discussed how the pink and purple ones were just “unredeemed sugar”, and that the green, yellow and orange ones got a “pass” (barely) for having at least a citrus-y tang.  But nothing beat sucking the outside of the black ones off, then chewing up the grayish jelly center.  Mom also said that her tongue was probably equally as scary-dark as mine at church those mornings.  Nature or nuture?  Who cares.  Clearly we connected over this somewhat rare preference.  Don’t get us started on peeps.  {vurp}

It turns out my love of these is genetic.

2.       Sunrise Service. Our church did a sunrise service each year at the cemetery in town.  Before that sounds weird, the Rocky Hill Cemetery is the least creepy place on Earth.  It is beautiful and served as a pass-through when walking to Grammie and Pop-pop’s, the Mary Jacobs Library, and the Montgomery Pharmacy.  It was a place we played, in fact, as it was nearly-literally in my home’s backyard.  Anyhow, my dad walked over to the service alone as I don’t think anyone else wanted to get up that early.  As part of the service, there was a moment of silence to honor Christ, during which white balloons marked “He is risen” were released.  Somewhere around this time, one of us who stayed behind let our dog Gabriel out.  Apparently the balloons were not taking off as planned, but, rather, scattered and blew around the ground or close to it.  Gabriel, who had of course picked up Dad’s scent and headed over to the service, started jumping around, popping the Jesus balloons one by one.  My dad said he was initially horrified as all you could hear during “silent” prayer and meditation was “{pop, pop, pop}”.  Horror gave way to humor when folks started chuckling and enjoying Gabe’s glee.  Leave it to a dog to bring a reminder of joy and how to live in the moment, being authentically and freely one’s self.

To a Christian, this is indeed true.  However, thanks to a ridiculously  precious mutt, the balloons stating as much were not, yet spirits at the service were.

3.       The Easter Bunny at my front door. A few days before Easter, the front doorbell rang.  I answered it and—lo and behold—there was the Easter Bunny!  All reports say that my eyes blew up to saucer-size as the human adult-sized bunny had a chat with me, told me to be good, gave me some treats, then hopped off, presumably to prepare for her busiest day of the year.  Once I regained some of my composure, I scrambled up the stairs to tell my older sister Margaret about it.  She patiently listened to my breathless telling of the visit with all of the appropriate “Oh wows” and “That’s great, Heaths”.  I’m not sure when, but it came out later in life that my sister had dressed up like the Easter Bunny, crawled down our trellis from the balcony that her bedroom opened out onto, acted out one of her finest roles for unsuspecting and totally-believing me, then somehow climbed back up and un-costumed in time for me to get up there and tell her what she “missed”.  Is that a demonstration of pure love from a sibling, or what?

The Easter Bunny, aka My Favorite Sister Margaret.  This woman loves me as much as you can love another person.  The feeling is mutual.

I share these memories with you for several reasons.  It’s Easter, for one.  Also, I’m starting the moving process this weekend—pack, schlep, unload, repeat, repeat, repeat…–so getting scientific and deep is asking too much right now.  But, more importantly, these memories feel good to me and I like to share stuff like that.  I love that even in the midst of the moving melee, I’m able to carry these around with me during the day.  And feeling good emotionally is certainly a wellness concept.  I’m nourished by them as much as I am by the greens I just prepped in the kitchen.  They uplift me as significantly as the best-outside-workout-ever does.  I hope my own memories sparked some remembering and feeling good of your own.  Please share if so.

Pressed Salad
*Start this first.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: None (but it must sit for 1 hour)
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:
6 large napa or green cabbage leaves
1 small carrot
1/4 of a lemon
1/2 tsp of salt

Directions:
1.  Chop napa cabbage into wide strips about 1 inch long.
2.  Slice carrot thinly.
3.  Cut the end 1/4 off the lemon so that it is stable to cut. Cut thin slices.
4.  In a bowl, place the cabbage, carrot, lemon and salt.
5.  Squeeze the mixture with your hands until very wet. Weigh down the vegetables with a few plates or a
plate with a heavy jar on top.
6.  Eat after one hour or refrigerate for up to 4 days.

Garlic Braised Tempeh
*Start this at the same time as the pressed salad.

Prep Time:10 minutes
Cooking Time; 10 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:
12 oz of tempeh
1 cup of water
1/2 cup of apple juice
4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon tamari
optional additions: 1 teaspoon curry powder, juice of one lemon, cayenne pepper, etc.

Directions:
1.  Cut the tempeh into 1-inch pieces and set aside.
2.  Bring all of the other ingredients to a boil. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.
3.  Add the tempeh and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until almost all of the liquid is
absorbed.
4.  Occasionally stir very gently. Be careful not to break the tempeh.
5.  Serve hot.

Rice Noodles with Peanut Sauce
*Make this next, see note at end of recipe.

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:
12 oz rice noodles
5 cups water
peanut sauce
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon tamari
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon rice syrup (or other sweetener)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch piece of ginger, minced
pinch of cayenne pepper (or more to taste)

Directions:
1.  Bring the 5 cups of water to a rolling boil. Add the rice noodles.
2.  Turn the heat off and stir the rice noodles. Let them sit in the water for 7 minutes, or until soft, drain.
3.  To make the peanut sauce: bring the water and peanut butter to a boil. Whisk to combine.
4.   Add the rest of the ingredients (except the noodles) to the sauce and whisk to combine. Season to your
taste.

Note: You can make the peanut sauce anytime and reheat just before serving. It may thicken up a little, so you might have to add additional water to it. The rice noodles should be made just before eating. Or you can make them in advance and add a little oil to them to prevent them from sticking together.

Broccoli Stir-Fry
*Make this last, just before you are ready to eat.

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 a yellow onion, thickly sliced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
2-3 heads of broccoli, cut into bite-size pieces
Optional Additions: ginger, garlic, sesame seeds, bok choy or other vegetables.

Directions:
1.  Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan. Add the onion and cook for 2 minutes.
2.  Add the carrots and stir to combine. Cover and cook for 2 minutes.
3.  Add the broccoli and combine. Cover and cook for 2 minutes.
4.  Take off the lid and stir again. Continue cooking until the desired consistency
is achieved.

Spring Menu Shopping List
Produce
1 yellow onion
1 head garlic
1 inch of ginger
1 bunch of broccoli
3 carrots
1/2 a head of green or napa cabbage
1 lemon

Refrigerator
12 oz package of tempeh

Dry Goods
12 oz package of rice noodles

Pantry/Condiments
olive oil
salt
tamari
rice vinegar
rice syrup
apple juice
peanut butter
bay leaf
cayenne pepper

Have a great weekend!

Every so often I get the urge to let y’alls into my bizarre mind. Knowing it is a scary and dangerous place to be, I try not to venture there but sometimes I just feel compelled. Today is one of those days—and I promise I’ll keep it brief because this is not what my post is about. But I had to tell you this because it explains why when you work with us and you have to speak with me every week, I pick up on things you think I have no idea about and then I call you on it.

I have a small obsession with pens. Yes, pens…and journals and notebooks but for this story only the pens matter. In my office, on my desk is a myriad of pens. All kinds of pens of every manner BUT…they all are part of a complete set. In other words, I won’t buy a single pen. I won’t open a pack of pens and only know where 2 of them are. I won’t lose the cap to a pen. I won’t let the pen separate from the notebook it’s been assigned to. Are you nervous yet b/c it gets more bizarre than this. So on my desk are “sets” of pens. There must be at least 8 or 9 sets open, laid out flat, in order of the way they were in the pack and etc. Some still in the pack if it had some kind of special plastic wrapper or something. SAD. Who’s feelin’ this with me?

The other day I sit in my office to get some work done and something’s wrong. Not quite sure what it is but I sense something’s not right. I start to look around my office like a deer in the forest that smells trouble but nothing’s jumping out at me. All of a sudden I realize a pen is missing from one of the sets (mind you, there’s at least 8 sets on my desk in various locations.) I look all over my office: under my desk, under my books on my desk, in the pen cups (this is where the dead sets go) that are on my desk but I can’t find the purple one from my ballpoint pens. I find nothing. I suspect my kids since their desks are right outside my office but I honestly think to myself, “They know better.” I start searching any ways and I realize my husband is watching TV downstairs. He looks at me like a kid with his hand in the cookie jar and I see him…and then past him…and there is my pen. And he realizes that I see him…and then the pen and this is all within 3 seconds of each other—like this secret meeting of the pen people or something and he says in a super incredulous voice, “Did you just come out of your office to look for this pen?” My face at this point is silently screaming, “Oh no you didn’t”…alongside, “You better put that back when you’re done.” And he starts this loud rant of, “I cannot believe with the 1800 pens you have on your desk in all the little piles, that you could figure out that one of them was missing. You can look for your car keys every day because you have no idea where you put them, but you mean to tell me you knew one pen was missing?” Um…yeah. Just keep this story in mind when I call you ladies on something and you are hoping I didn’t notice. Haha!

This week I want to know one thing from everyone: why, as women, are we so cruel to other women?

First, let me preface this question by saying that I do not mean cruel in the sense of hurting each other’s feelings. That’s a different blog post for a different blog somewhere on the internet. I am asking this in the context of food and exercise.

If I am on a diet, my friends are on a diet—or I am going to nag them any time they do something enjoyable.

If I am not on a diet and my friends are, I am going to get them to go down hard with me as I order dessert at a restaurant.

If I am tired and don’t want to work out, I am going to convince them to come to the mall with me and skip their work out by nagging them into next week.

Basically, misery loves company. Why do we do this? Why are we not rah-rah-shish-coom-bah’ing them to keep up the good fight of faith while we languish on the sidelines?

The other day I walked into a favorite store of mine. I go there often so they know who I am—not to mention I’m hard to miss. I am a big personality, I am incredibly happy and I love to spread love. So when I go in there, I am like Norm from Cheers.

This particular day I was the only one in the store so as I walked in and headed toward the counter, I began to speak right away. “Hey girl, how are you? I haven’t seen you—“ I suddenly cut my sentence short because I noticed a box of chocolate brickle type candy to my right and I scream—literally, “Oh my goodness who brought this in here and what are you trying to do to me?!” I mean scream—did I mention I am loud? And she laughs (probably out of both amusement and fear because there’s a big afro coming at her in 3d and it is being preceded by a big mouth) and motions for me to have some and says something to the tune of, “Don’t leave me here to eat this all by myself.”

WOW. How can she do me like that? I’m a good customer. I pay my bill on time. I give them great business. And on the counter is 45 min on an arc trainer, 2 weeks of dieting and an increase in my dress size all packed in this little white box. A decision needs to be made here: do I go down hard or do I stick to my guns. Here’s my thought process…

It’s just a small piece. What’s the big deal?
You don’t need it. Nor did you work it into this week. It will make you want more.
I would tell a client to live a little and have it. Life is too short and calorically it’s negligible.
You just had a post about what not to have as a cheat meal—don’t be a jackass.
I love chocolate/caramel/heath bar crunch kind of brickle. Satan dropped this off 2 min before I arrived. Rat bastard.
You can get this anywhere, at any time, knock it off.
Wait…is that peanut brittle under there?

Who understands that all of that conversation shot through my head in less than 2 seconds while I was still being a big head of uncontrollable hair in her store? HOLY MOLY! My simple plea is this ladies:

We must support the cause. We need solidarity. Just say no to samples of candy given by honest, hard working store clerks.

These intermittent attempts to bring each other down are just so unfair and exhausting. I promise I won’t do this to you, why must you do it to me? Of course I am being dramatic—that’s my M.O. but there is a spirit of truth here. On one hand we need to learn moderation and have a treat here and there, on the other hand we need to keep that kind of stuff to ourselves and give big afro’d women a break from time to time. KWIM??

In all seriousness the big take away here is know your limits. Have it if you know you can shut it down—don’t if you know it’s going to mess you up for the week. But calorically, a piece is not going to do any harm so please do not let that be the reason why you say no.

I will be spending today putting the rest of the finishing touches on the new website coming for Trans4mation Station. If you have the answer to this problem, would you mind putting it below? Somebody shed some light on this conspiracy, please! Slinking off to my office…defeated…because that was peanut brittle under there…yum…but hopeful…because of full knowledge of where all my pens are…hehe…woop woop!

I sort of know how to dress my figure but am clueless about bodies that are very different than mine.  In fact I have two grown daughters whose physique are practically opposite mine and I’ve never been any help to them when it came to questions about clothes.  This has been on my mind because younger sister submitted older sister to the tv show What Not to Wear.  I had to talk to the casting person about her, her style, her clothing choices through the years, taste and body issues, etc.  It was hugely uncomfortable and I probably got her removed from the running because I couldn’t say anything negative about her.  As if I’m going to trash talk my daughter.  Get out of here!

If she makes it on the show they will set her up with a new wardrobe and all the specifics about how to dress her body.  She won’t need me to help her get dressed.  But I’m on a mission to be able to (if someone actually wanted my help).  Man there is a lot to know, but in general, here’s what I’ve learned:

The basic idea is to visually create symmetry.  When I first started working with Jodi I was positive I had a big butt.  Angel that she is convinced me that in fact, I had small shoulders.  I needed a little width up top to balance the width below.  This can be corrected in the gym (it was-thx girl!) but is also an easy fix with the right clothing.

And sometimes you want to visually create space.  So if you have a short neck, you want to elongate it visually with necklines, jewelry and hairstyle.  There are tops and necklaces that will make the neck shorter and tops and necklaces (and even earrings!) that will make it look longer.  Ditto for short waists, short legs, short all over, etc.

There are ways to dress body parts that we wish were smaller than they are, like boobs, butt, thighs, ankles, arms, etc.  Simple things like a solid color over a print, fabric type and cut, hem length, the width of a belt or the size of your handbag (!) can accentuate your shape for the better or draw the eye right where you don’t want it.

I figure a few ideas on how to dress what we’ve got as beautifully as possible, while we’re working towards looking great naked, would be kind of cool.  There is a massive amount of info out there that I’ll pull together by specifics and present it in the coming weeks.  But in the meantime, here are some ideas to get you thinking:

• Wear clothing that fits.  You will either highlight chubby areas with clothes that are too small (stuffed sausage) or visually add bulk and size in clothing that is too large (and look frumpy and big).

• If you’re short, outfits in one color scheme elongate your body.  Contrasting top and bottoms visually chop the body in half, making it look shorter.

• Bootcut and straight leg jeans work on wide hips because they visually create equal proportions between the hips and ankles.

• Belted dresses, tops and jackets are not the best choice of top on bellies.

• Heels that are close to the color of your skin (or tights) make the leg look longer.

• Please don’t wear leggings as pants.  It makes people uncomfortable.

See ya soon.

Last week I wrote about being close to the end, close to a goal.  Well, this week I am sitting on the other side, the end has come and gone and now I am finished.  In my case it means that I have just finished a long hectic time at work and am now on vacation.  You’d think I’d be happy right?  Well, anyone who has ever accomplished anything can tell you, the time immediately after said accomplishment can be a tough place to be.

It is hard to resume life after an all-encompassing event.  For example, I know quite a few runners who, after running a marathon, can’t seem to figure out what to do with themselves.  They are all runned out, have no desire to run for a period of time, yet can’t seem to be ok with themselves for not running.  The same holds true when you finish a diet phase.  You have reached your goal and now is the time for (dare i say it) maintenance.  You must open up your diet, ease up a bit on the training, but you are scared to do so.  At the same time, the thought of eating as strictly as you have been for the past 3 months makes you want to run headfirst into a tub of ice-cream.  Well, the same holds true for the period of time right after a wedding, or right after a crazy busy couple of months at work.

The first thing we often forget is just how much we have asked of ourselves.  I had repeated conversations with Jodi this past busy season that went a little something like this:

Me: Jodi, feel like I should be pushing it harder in the gym.  But I am so exhausted.

Jodi: Aren’t you still in the middle of a psycho time at work?

Me: Yes, but I only billed 55 hours this week, not 70 like last week.

Jodi: (If she didn’t hang up on me right then and there) Really Kas?  You think that means all of the stress isn’t still there?  And you really mean to say that you shouldn’t be tired with a 55 billable hour week, after 8 straight weeks when you worked just as much, if not more?

Yet it was still  hard for me to grasp the concept that I was throughly exhausted and burning the candle on both ends.  Well, the end came on April 15th and since then I have been a zombie. It is like every part of me knew the end had come and gone and it could just let go.  I tried to be productive Saturday but that didn’t happen.  I slept/watched t.v. most of the day.  I did make it to the gym on Sunday and got in a great lift, but then promptly headed home to my parents house and proceeded to sleep for 2 hours on the couch and then go to bed nice and early.  Today, Monday, is no different.  I got up and got in some cardio, and have since been nothing but a couch potato.  In fact, I can barely keep my eyes open and if it was not for having to blog, would be napping on the couch right now.

What makes it even worse is I am constantly hungry.  With the stress of work, my appetite went out the window.  Now that I am resting and recuperating, I can’t seem to eat enough.  (Which I don’t think I have to tell you, makes me extremely anxious).

But I have been through this many times before.  I went through something similar after ever competition season came to an end.  I went through this after my half marathon; and I went through this after taking the bar exam.  Having to sit in this place between goals, between a long hard journey and starting something new, just plain sucks.  Jodi has written a lot about how hard maintenance is.  She has also written about how hard it is after a goal.  And she has helpful hints and tips to get you through.  I might have to go back and read those posts now.

In these “in-between” times, having a hard and fast plan of attack, while sounding good, does not always work out the way we want.  Sometimes you have to let the exhaustion take over.  You have to allow yourself the peanut butter and jelly sandwich you are craving because you can’t seem to quench the hunger, and you have to recover.  Sometimes giving yourself a week to “get away” is what you need to get back at it.  It isn’t healthy to run from preparation for one event and then the event, right into preparation for another event.  The mind and body need time to rest.

But I will be the first to tell you that resting-time is no fun at all.  This is where you really start to see your own insecurities.  ”What if I take the week off from agility drills?  Will I go back to soccer practice next week and suck?”  ”What if I eat an off-diet meal every day this week while on vacation with my family?  When I get back to it next week, will I have gained x-amount of weight and never be able to get it off again?”  ”What if I can’t get into a gym with a squat rack this week and am forced to workout with nothing more than a pair of 15lb dumbbells?  When I get back into the weight room, will I be weak?”  You name it, the insecurity will rear its ugly head.

Well, I am going to try my hardest not to let it take me down.  I know I am exhausted and need sleep and I am sure I am going to eat one or two meals that are less than ideal.  But I also know that I have this week to recoup and will then be back to my normal schedule.  I’ve taken many such weeks in the past at the end of a goal and have survived them all – I just need to remember there is nothing different about this one.  So my hope is that all of you will do the same at the end of whatever you are working towards.  Give yourself time to recover, be it you just ran the Boston Marathon (man am I glad I was not in Boston today) or you just finished tax season.  Because if you don’t, you will not have full energy to give to the next task you set your mind to.

No, I don’t have a headache.  In fact, those are a thankfully rare event in my life.  (Don’t hate me for that.)  What has my neurons begging for mercy is the fact that a patient asked me about the Blood Type Diet (ala author Peter D’Adamo) last week, and it got me struggling to remember the details.  I’d long since donated that book and dozens of other diet-of-the-moment books.  However, I suddenly wished I hadn’t as those are great resources for moments like that.  Fortunately, the patient was Type O blood and so am I, so I was able to speak to her in generalities at least, being most familiar with that type’s recommendations.  But, being a curious little person, I was dying to know the specifics all of a sudden.  So off I went on a little journey of info-seeking…

“Gee.  Not one single one of these is entitled ‘How [insert your name] should eat, given her current age, weight, activity, and hormonal status’.  Now what?”

Now, if you don’t have Type O blood, don’t leave.  No matter what your blood type, this blogpost, while wrapped around type O is about all of us.  Anyhow, I looked up the Type O food and lifestyle recommendations and compared them to what I know about myself.  Allegedly O is the “first” blood type to show up in humans, therefore O folks are said to respond to regular intense exercise (check!), are prone to thyroid disorders (check!), anxiety/depression (check!), and ulcers (no check, whew).  Food-wise we are supposed to emphasize animal protein, non-starchy veggies, and good fats, while shunning grains, most beans, and certain other items that get very specific, such as: peanuts, blackberries (but not all berries), cabbage and Brussels sprouts (but more for the thyroid than anything else), any pork, coconut (and any product of it), and dairy, while also avoiding coffee/caffeine and alcohol (esp liquor and beer).  There’s more, but you get the gist.  Also, if you give me a metabolic typing questionnaire, most of the time I’ll come out “protein-type” or “mixed-type” (never “carb-type”) or “fast-metabolizer” (same thing as protein type, it seems).  I get it—I need to eat protein, fat, low-starch.  But Type O is pretty much Paleo + specific limitations.  Which sent me over to Paleo… (of course).  Similar lists, depending on the site/practitioner—for example, some say yes to root veggies, some say no; some say coffee okay in moderation, some say no to any bean across the board; so on, but the recommendations were shockingly similar.  When I compared the success rates of the Blood Type Diet (very unscientifically), it seemed to me that the % of people who do well on it sort of matched with the % of people who are Type O in the population.  Are we Type Os better at sticking with the diet?  I sort of doubt it, but it almost makes me wonder if, of all folks who try the blood typing method, the Os do best due to a default portion-control or elimination of: starches, all processed foods and sugars, gluten-containing foods, alcohol and stimulants, dairy, trigger foods like peanuts, and an increase in whole fruits, veggies, lean meats, and quality fats.  I’m not trying to be snarky.  But, really, I wonder if the Type As (blood type, that is) really do better shifting to a vegetarian diet full of grains and starches recommended for them.  (I want you As, Bs, and ABs to chime in if you have anything to report.)

To be perfectly honest, I ‘m much more concerned with knowing my blood type for emergency situations, not for things like planning my diet.

Why am I bringing this up?  Partly because I know that our readers are curious folks, and have likely gone on similar knowledge-gathering journeys for information on how to best customize nutrition to ourselves.  What I find most interesting, however, is that if you take Type O + Paleo + logic, shake them up in a box and spill them out, you get a good starting point for me.  Do I do better on plenty of protein?  Yes.  Do I feel like crap when I do a lot of starch, good starch or not?  You betcha.  Do a couple of beers feel great at the time, but ultimately make me feel sleepy/unproductive/low blood sugar/bloated-swollen?  Yeah. (dammit)  Am I good with a cup or two of coffee, but pretty much WAY too dependent right now?  Mmm-hmm.  Throw in that I definitely thrive on intense exercise most days + tons of green veggies and some fruit and you pretty much have intuitive “Pale-O”.  When considering my thyroid, however, I do need to consider that Brussels sprouts (to which I currently have an unnatural addiction) and other “Brassica family” veggies are fairly well-known to slow the thyroid down.  I also need to consider the fact that peanuts seem to make my fingers swell.  All of that being said, if you completely yank starch from me, I’ll bonk all over the place within 2 weeks, stick my head in bag of chips, and not come up for air.  So much for exclusively Paleo.  I have more little insights, but the point is that I’ve got a base to start with, and then my own observations to work with in “customizing” my nutrition and lifestyle.  Well, that and intelligent testing via lab work to remove the guesswork—however educated—from the equation when getting super specific with regard to supplementation.  For another person, we could just as easily take the base diet, add more starch—even some fast-acting ones, decrease some of the fats, eliminate anything known to negatively affect that individual, thereby making it more optimal for them.

Here’s the kicker: Guess who has encouraged me to take these guru-diets, extract the basics and the logic, use it—taking notes and making tweaks, for ME (not a Type O, Paleo-bodied being)?  Yep, you guessed it.  Jodi.  Are we there yet?  (Meaning: Am I the picture of perfection, inside and out, with regard to Heather-optimization?)  Nope.  Coupla reasons for that, one being the fact that I screw up sometimes. (“Mmmm…beeerrrrr…” I need that tee-shirt.)  But also because we’re dealing with a dynamic body that is crossing over into Menopause Land.  Seriously, want to stump some smart chicks?  Take a female body, torture it with an eating disorder for way too many of its younger years, take it up and down the weight scale from anorexia to shopping in size 16-20 and anywhere in between, give it hypothyroidism, have it compete in 8 physique competitions until it won’t cooperate anymore, then make it perimenopausal and hormone-imbalanced with a diagnosis of infertility and predicted early-onset menopause.  In case this is a synaptically-challenged day for you (hey, we all have ‘em), I just described me.  Interestingly, this is GREAT.  Yeah, I said “great”.  Why?  Because I represent a huge-and-growing-huger segment of the population that Jodi and I are both eager to help.  That, and because it’s always good to find the positive in an outwardly notso-positive scenario.

Really, with some additions and tweaks according to individual need and tolerance, this just looks like good old-fashioned real whole food to me.

My bring-it-on-home-Heath point is that with Jodiojo there’s no black and white.  We’ll take what makes sense generally with regard to what we know about someone, and then tweak the snot out of it until we get it right.  For some clients this can take longer than for others.  I am one of those “clients”, but, without our combined brainpower, I’d easily be back over 200lbs and crying on a treadmill while running my chunky little heart out for an hour at a time.  (This happened.)  Also, there are some gems to be found in most diet philosophies.  And even BIGGER gems to be found in your journals—training, nutrition, and mental-emotional status.  Track it all, that information is gold to you, and to us if we’re your coaches.

So, have you ever tried to pigeon-hole yourself into one sort of eating style based on parameters such as blood type, religion, eye color, first letter of your middle name?  Did it work?  Then years later did it not-work?