It’s the fall right now but winter is around the corner in New England.  We will go from balmy and 70 degrees one day to dry and 30 degrees the next.  When that happens, the first thing on your body to “complain” is your skin.

I’m going to let you in on a secret:  my skin is a source of stress for me.  There is very little in my life that bothers me quite like my skin does.  Now you know I am going to tell you it is all my fault—because I am my own worst enemy.  So I am a sun lover for sure!  Nothing I love more than lying out in the sun…in Aruba…on the equator…with oil on me…and a meat thermometer to make sure I’m not overcooked. Hehe.

Yeah, I know, read me the riot act.  But I am now paying for my over indulgence of the big fireball in the sky with age spots.  Now truth be told, it could be worse.  I could have a whole host of things cropping up left and right for as much as I abused the gift of the sun, but I do not because of my insatiable love of omega 3 fatty acids.  Besides keeping my wrinkles at bay and smoothing out the texture of my skin, EFAs provide the structure necessary for skin with “snap”.  You know, non saggy skin.  So let’s get right into it and talk about what you might be going through this winter:

Dry skin:

Ignoring the fact that you want to shower with molten lava and wash your skin with heavily perfumed soap, you may find that no matter what you do you cannot rid yourself of dry skin.  The first place to look is your diet.  Are you hydrated and are you eating fats?  You want to have at least ¾ of a gallon of water per day and at least 3 to 5 servings of a good omega 3 rich fat source preferably in the form of an oil.  A long time ago I was told by a well known naturopath that you should have as much oil as you can tolerate that leaves your skin moistened after coming out of the shower.  I can tell you right now, none of y’all will try that, so let me ease your burden a bit with this recommendation:  if one serving of good fat per day does not help, add a ½ serving per day until it does.  Give it as much as a week to kick in before going up in the fat and cut a little bit of something else out during the day to make up for the extra cals.

Greasy skin:

You have a sweet tooth, girl.  Knock it off.  Too much sugar and fat helps the body to form a layer on the skin that is shiny.  If you replace those sweets with EFAs, you will fair much better.  Feel free to share those sweets with the rest of us so we may help you to move on from your bad habit.  Hopefully it was brownies you were eating…I’m just sayin.

Bumpy skin:

Increase the amount of orange foods in your diet (Vit A) and ease off the dairy a bit.  These occur more as an allergy to a food and typically dairy is the chief offender.  I know you love your greek yogurt, but 2 in a day is a bit much.  Let’s diversify a bit, shall we?

Acne prone skin:

Just like the greasy skin, walk away from the processed fats and the refined sugar.  They are killing you.  A clean diet with adequate hydration should begin to give you some relief although it is not always the full answer.  Also, a vitamin deficiency will also cause your acne to come out more and you know how I feel about vitamins so this should already be handled! [giving you a hairy eyeball]  If you are an athlete, or as active as one, you will not get all that you need from food alone and then your body begins to give you a hard time.  Listen to it when it talks to you, it knows more than you do.;o)

Nutritionally there is more to it than just EFAs if you want to survive a rough winter.  Vitamin E, Vitamin C, zinc, Vitamin A and selenium all aid in keeping your skin soft and healthy and are abundant in a clean, varied diet.  If you can venture out of your zone and eat more than just the same two veggies and one fruit that you eat every day, you should be well ahead of the game.  Another thing to note is, all those vitamins and minerals also do well for you topically.  So if you can find a good moisturizer with any of those added, grab it.  The more back up you can provide your skin with, the better.

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I have sent my Menu Planning series to the “Keeper of My List” (do you like how mysterious that sounds?) so that she may send out the final few posts to those that are signed up on my blog to make way for us to begin the next series:  Perform Beautifully.  If you are signed up you will receive how to liven up your menu and how to optimize your menu, the last two letters of the C.O.L.O.R. series.  For the rest of us, it is that time to move on.

I want to really take time in this post to really touch upon where I want to go with this and to whom I am actually speaking.  The minute I roll out the word beautiful I feel as if every man turns his ears off and every woman begins to think cosmetics or heavy creams.  You cannot be further from the truth for either.  For my male clients, I am going to hit you where it counts:  skin, hormones (i.e. sexlife—did I say that?) and your athletic performance.  For my female clients, I am going to hit you where I know you are sensitive:  emotions (hormones), overall outward appearance (skin/hair/nails/teeth) and your athletic performance. 

There is much to talk about with this topic but I am going to try to keep it brief in that this series will be no longer than 8 posts, most likely about 6 or so.  I am going to center them all on Tuesdays and Thursdays (off to a great start, *sigh*) so you know when to tune in to them.  I am interested in what you may want to know about in terms of performance nutrition so please feel free to either email me at Jodi@jodiojo.com or leave a comment below.  Much of what I will speak about will be in relation to you performing at your best while still maintaining your physique or getting the physique you have always wanted through performance, but I am willing to touch upon anything else if I can fit it into the lecture series. 

Perform beautifully.  You have heard me mention this before and now I have a whole series dedicated to it.  I love to see a body in motion operating to its fullest capacity.  I have been in the business of bodies for over 15 years now.  When I first began I really had no idea how much I was eventually going to love what I do.  I won’t go so far as to say it was a hobby, but I certainly did not think it was going to become my career.  I was a Mechanical Engineer who was very much in love with human side of the mechanics (I pursued biomechanical engineering—I have an extensive biology, anatomy, physiology and chemistry background) but truly missed the boat back then of how much poetry in motion surrounded me.  I had set in my mind that I was going to do prosthetics for a major company or design sneakers and etc. and I also taught aerobics and trained clients on the side.  As my engineering career developed I realized I had more of an impact on the bodies I love personally training them than I did developing products for them.  Enter a husband and some children and the rest is history as they say.

The human body is a true wonder that needs to be respected.  One of the themes that you will continually hear from me in this series is how much control we *don’t* have over our bodies.  Somehow, long ago, we became arrogant in believing that we control the inner workings of our body and that we can will it to do as we please.  With all the obesity and sickness in this world it is blaringly obvious how far from the truth this is so as we talk about what makes this gorgeous vessel of ours function, you are also going to learn how to respect it.  I have had my @ss handed to me by my body (now there’s a visual) and nothing will teach you humility more than stubborn weight loss, physical goals that you cannot accomplish or a disease. 

Let’s first start by just acknowledging what I mean by “you do not control your body so you will learn to respect it by the end of this series.”   Go grab a piece of candy.  Like a butterscotch or something.  Go ahead, eat it.  Now, stop your pancreas from secreting insulin.  Go ahead.  Stop it.  Oh, you can’t?  Ok, how about…don’t go to bed tonight or any other night this week.  Tell your body you are staying up and then try functioning at work. Futile?  Please lose 2 pounds by the time you are done reading this article.  Can’t?  I wonder why…  Ok, slow your breathing for 2 min. and then accelerate it for 3 min. without using exercise.  Can’t?  Hmph.   I thought you controlled your body?  No?  Then why are you so pissed when you cannot lose weight?  Why do you force yourself to workout aimlessly without off days or neglect to properly fuel it when it is obvious it needs replenishing?  I don’t understand…

If you want to master your body and push it to the farthest reaching point then you are going to have to realize that you have been given a gift (your body) and it is up to you to respect it and obey its limitations.  Bowing to the master of all masters requires you to fill it with the best foods for the activities you want to participate in, rest it when it needs to be rested and push it when it needs to be challenged.  After you have done all that, then it needs you to nurture it with love and affection (such as vitamins, post workout foods and etc.).  Does this sound like something you can handle?  Then let’s get to Performing Beautifully.  See you tomorrow..   

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Today was an interesting day for me.  I went “home” (it’s 17 min. by highway from where I live—not much for travel this weekend, lol) to a family fun field day at my old neighborhood’s park.  It was great to see so many people that I grew up with at this event and to see their children.  It brought back lots of great memories and it was just a feel good time for everyone. 

For me, that lasted about 30 min.  Then I started taking stock in the joint.  Who was truly taking care of themselves and who was not.  I want to make sure I point out that when I do this, I am not looking at monetary status items or etc.  I am looking at teeth, hair, nails, skin and etc.  This is my job!  Gotta stay on it!

But I began to notice a trend.  The ones that really looked good and were healthy all had some common traits about them.  I will call them the “Beautiful People” and the following is a list of their traits that help their cause.  First, so you know how I came about this list, I surveyed those that I could as to what they were up to nowadays.  Second, I remembered much about them from when we were younger.  Lastly, I have added my experience from working with other BP.  What I ended up with is a top 5 list of things they are doing that you may not be for you to review:

1.        Eating Fat

Honestly if you are not eating a source of good fat everyday you might as well just cut right to the chase by heading to your nearest vacuum cleaner and just manually suck the years off of your life now.  Why wait until your 45-50 years old?  Put a new vacuum cleaner bag on right now and just remove those precious years from your metabolic cup.  Sllllllpppppppppp!  Better yet, go buy a good face paint set from Silly Farms and draw the wrinkles in now.  Put 2 very deep creases on either side of your mouth, crows feet by the eyes and add at least 1 inch of extra skin on the belly that just hangs there.  Pretty huh?

2.       Sleeping

Here’s a hot one for you.  Now I am truly the pot calling the kettle black on this one because Lord help me if I sleep more than 5 hours a night, but I have made this a priority and I have gotten better at it as I am averaging about 7 hrs/night right now.  But if you really want to lose weight, maintain a great body or stay on the young side of life you will get in the bed now.  In fact, you’ll sleep at your desk at work too.  And when your mate breaks into a long winded story, you’ll check out for a few minutes there too.  Just don’t nap while driving because I will drive you right off the road and think nothing of it!  And stay out of rotaries…ugh!

3.       Dotting Their I’s

These people just do that little extra.  They measure their food, they seek out the best moisturizers, they plan ahead, they find the best places to shop, they get the best deals, they are always 2 steps ahead of you.  They are just connected!  Now…again, I am not casting stones here.  I am not this person.  Getting my underwear on without both legs in the same hole is an accomplishment for me.  It’s funny, I am a makeup junky who will have a perfect face for the day and will leave the house with a big ole’ stain on my shirt from oatmeal that morning.  Clearly I am not one of the Beautiful People.  When you find one, study him/her.  It will amaze you.  BTW, this is my husband.  Can someone just tell him to get over himself?  GRRRRRRRRR.;o)

4.       Optimizing

This is sort of an add on to #3.  Beautiful people are not impatient.  They do not become frustrated over little things.  If they do not like how an outfit looks, they will take it back and get another.  If they cannot find the right hairdo for an event, they try different things every night til they get it.  They take the time to lose weight, they take the time to pick out accessories, they seem to have a silent resolve that just puts a hush in the room.  They know what they want and they are not going to stop until they get it. So they are always improving and optimizing.  They understand that they are not going to get it right the first time around–even if they look like they do.

5.       Restoring

Not the same as sleeping, this one is almost baffling to me because I don’t understand why I do not do this as much as I should.  Beautiful People restore themselves.  They rejuvenate.  If you ever try to clutter up their day with a bunch of things to do, they won’t do it.  They’ll shut you right down before you get to task #3.  They do not over exercise, under eat, worry incessantly over details (because they took care of them already), miss their facials or manicures.  No, these folks understand that their maintenance is priority and you essentially are not.  Do not mess with their schedule, it has been set since last Sunday!

Standing there made me realize that those that were gorgeous when we were younger just “got it”.  They knew what was up.  And the rest of us are now just getting the memo.  Standing their talking to some of them go through their days and how they schedule and manage things made my head spin.  All I could think to myself is, ‘No wonder you are stunning.  I would be too if I could do half of these things.’  Ugh.

If you can get at least 3 out of 5 of these onto your schedule, you will be in good standing with the Beautiful People.  Anything more than that and you are living the life!  Let me know if you think I missed any!  In the mean time, I’m going to get some ketchup off of my pant leg.  *Sigh*

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So now you know one of my fears…how about another?  I have a tremendous fear of bad foundation application.  Now stay with me here because I promise to be brief.  (There is no way we can set up our menus for beauty and not talk about skin so hold on while I get off topic for 2 seconds!;)  Nothing scares me more than being *that* girl.  You know the one with the 2 inch layer of foundation/concealer all over her face that just wreaks of bad application.  She is literally sloughing off powder as she walks along the hall.  What caused this to happen?  Bad skin.  Wrinkles.  Excessive dryness.  Or she’s blind—but that’s another post at another time!  But what she’s trying to do is use make up to hide what her diet is lacking:  nutrients. 

Fruits and veggies are the easiest way to get those nutrients for the skin as well as add variety to your diet, yet everyone has the proverbial apple everyday with some form of berries in the morning.  Can we break that habit please?  Let’s talk about some new fruits and veggies to add and then put a system in place to keep you on your toes so you don’t fall back to the same old stand by’s.

First, let me let you in on a secret:  I don’t like fruit.  There, I said it.  I am not a fan.  I eat it because I have to and it adds flavor to my oatmeal.  But if I don’t eat oatmeal, I may not eat fruit that day.  Is that good?  No!  So I had to grow up and be a big girl and start to eat things that I may not always like as much as other things (I don’t *hate* fruit, I just prefer veggies more).  I mention this because I get this one A LOT, “I don’t like other veggies.  I only like àfill in the blankß.”  Really?  I mean, really?  Would you also like me to walk you to school and tuck you in at night?  Yeah, I’m punkin’ you!  What are you going to do about it?  Hit me with some asparagus?  Honestly, if you are over the age of 25 and you are pouting over veggies or any other food item, I can let you spend a week in a third world country and you’ll be over that REAL quick!  Get over yourself and start thinking long term.  I say that as I eat a plum. OY!

Oh but I’m not done with the rant because now I’m coming after the fruitaholics.  You know who you are.  You send me the food diary with fruit (usually all the same kind) at 5 out of the 6 meals and try to justify it with a “big” salad at the end of the day.  Way to go on variety there!  Usual comeback from this person, “I had carrots and tomatoes in the salad”.  Really?  I mean, really?  What are you one of those folks who chews gum after a meal and tries to say that’s brushing?  Get some floss will ya!  Yeah I’m calling you out, too!  Honestly, if you are that creative at stretching things out like that, can you do my taxes? OY!

Ok, so I sound harsh…but this is important stuff!  Foundation application is at stake here!  You spend $45 on a small vial of that stuff and you’ll find time to vary your vegetables, your fruit, heck your way home from work!  There becomes no limit to your variations!  That’s money right there!  Enough already about that stuff, let’s get past this nonsense and move into the real stuff:  3 Green/Blue fruits and veggies everyday, 2 Red/Yellow/Orange and 1 white per day and you are good to go.  Again, will it work out that well?  No…but it gives you a road map to start with and then you can make better choices as you become used to opening up the diet.

 (Note:  These are not complete lists and some fruits and veggies have been omitted on purpose.)

Green/Blue/Purple

Artichokes, Arugula, Asparagus, Broccoflower, Broccoli, Broccoli rabe, Brussel sprouts, Celery, Chinese cabbage, Cucumbers, Endive, Green apples, Green beans, Green cabbage, Green grapes, Green onion, Green pears, Green peppers, Honeydew, Kiwifruit, Leafy greens, Leeks, Lettuce, Limes, Okra, Sno Peas, Spinach, Zucchini, Black currants, Blackberries, Blueberries, Plums, Eggplant, Elderberries, Grapes, Plums, Pomegranates, Prunes, endive, Purple cabbage, Purple grapes, Purple peppers, Raisins

Red/Yellow/Orange

Blood oranges, Cherries, Cranberries, Guava, Papaya, Pink grapefruit, Pink/Red grapefruit, Pomegranates, Radicchio, Radishes, Raspberries, Red apples, Red bell peppers, Red chili peppers, Red grapes, Red onions, Red pears, Strawberries, Tomatoes, Watermelon, Apricots, Butternut squash, Cantaloupe, Carrots, Golden kiwifruit, Grapefruit, Lemon, Mangoes, Nectarines, Oranges, Papayas, Peaches, Persimmons, Pineapples, Pumpkin, Rutabagas,  Tangerines, Yellow apples, Yellow pears, Yellow peppers, Yellow summer squash, Yellow tomatoes, Yellow watermelon, Yellow winter squash

White

Bananas, Brown pears, Cauliflower, Dates, Garlic, Ginger, Jicama, Mushrooms, Onions, Parsnips, Shallots, Turnips, White nectarines, White peaches

Here are the rules:

1)    No more than 2 fruits per day. 

2)    Do not repeat the same veggie more than once in a day.

3)    Do not become a banana psycho.  We’ll talk about this in another section.

4)  Limit the tropical fruits to 3 per week.  Easy mon, ya hear.

 Getting the green guys in assures that you keep your metabolism revving.  And getting the blue guys in like prunes assures that you keep your colon revving.  Although, keep that under wraps there will ya!  So you have more of those than the reds and such.  The reds/orange/yellows protect you against disease and the whites possess a ton of vitamins that boost immunity.  Spread it out folks.  It’s on!

We’re getting close to putting this together!  Starches and fat are simpler and they are next!:o)

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Menu Planning:  Living Life Beautifully

As we embark on this fun journey together (which will resume on Monday after I finish getting through all the emails that state, “I didn’t know you had a blog and now I need to get caught up on the reading!;) learning how to plan our menus, I feel the need to empty my soul as to why this needs to be so important to you. 

Do you have any fears?  I mean real “wake-you-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night” fears that almost take your breath away because they seem so real?  I do.  More than most of you will ever know.  Some of my fears are irrational just like most people’s fears.  But there is one that I have that is real…and big…and furry (ok, not furry, but I loved how that sounded). 

If you think it is the fear of dying you are wrong.  I do not fear death so much and as I age I am almost embracing it (I make myself sound so old yet I still feel like I am oh so young).  Somehow for me there is an unspoken serenity in a timely death.  No, I do not fear that.  What I fear is living with disease.  Not dying from disease—living with it. 

Now I know what you’re thinking: “Jodi, I already eat clean”.  Yes, I know.  If you are reading my blog, you care what you look like.  However, that’s why I am talking to you about living with disease.  Not dying from it.  I do not want to be 65 with beltway skin, shards of teeth, straw for hair with enough fire in my engine to make it from A to B, but otherwise so depleted that I literally hurt all over to get there.  I am not interested in being 70 but looking like I am 90.  Don’t you feel so bad when you meet that person?  Or how about being 75 with every known condition out there that requires oodles of medication to keep you going?  Not my desire.

That’s us, though.  That’s the path we are headed on.  We exercise daily so we are keeping our vessels healthy.  We do not eat processed food so our arteries are clean.  And we flush ourselves daily with loads of water to keep our cells teeming with life.  But we also secretly stuff ourselves with so many chemicals and artificial sweeteners that if we listen closely at night we can actually hear our livers sobbing quietly looking for relief from the toxins.  We work hard, play hard and pretty much live hard, too.  Don’t forget, we are type A.  And lastly, we eat the same nutrients day in and day out so that when we go to replenish what we rob of our body everyday in our killer workouts, we fall short.  Thereby creating what I call now, “the slow, painful life”—not death.

See we’re going to live.  And we’ll be somewhat vibrant.  Maybe vibrant is too pain free of a word.  We’ll be operational.  But for who we are used to being, we will not be happy.  More than even the processed food loving general public folks who do not value their health, we need to be diligent about food periodization.  That’s a $100,000 word for “not eating the same thing all the time”.  We need to cherish the gift of performance that we have been so blessed to possess. We take for granted things like weight loss, functioning joints, working organs (hysterectomy anybody?) and regeneration. 

Take it from someone with first hand knowledge, regeneration ends.  And when it does, will you be on the good side of that stick or on the bad side?  Don’t get caught out there on the bad side of the regeneration stick!  Hormonal hell, emotional distress and physical therapy will all be staring you in the face.  And they are not that good looking to be that close to you!

I bring all this up because I don’t want this series to be a fly by night thing for you.  You know, you throw a few amens out there and agree with all that is being said to you only to find yourself 2 weeks later eating the same thing you were eating 2 weeks before.  I don’t want that.  I want you to read this, get this, try this, live this.  For that to happen, we need to take it slow and develop some habits.  Food is habitual.  If you think you are going to just wake up and start balancing menus left and right—good luck to you.  Actually, if you find that you can I have a few food diaries for you to help me with when we’re done with this series.  Email me. J

So although the info will be coming faster than it has so far, it will not be coming so fast that we are on the next letter before you have fully taken advantage of the first.  Please try to incorporate as much as you can in between posts so that it is instilled in you in real time.  You learn by doing, not by reading.  Give me feedback as to how it is going and share any tips and tricks that you learn in the comments so that others may learn with you. 

The response from this series so far has been tremendous and it has just started.  I am so excited for the rest and from the looks of my Facebook page, you are too!.  Let’s put this to good use and truly set ourselves up for living beautifully…cool?:o)    

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Dieting for beauty sounds a bit odd for most people.  When you think of dieting, you think of weight loss but you really do not equate the end result to something like ageless beauty.  And when you think of beauty, you think of creams and treatments instead of fruits and vegetables.  But as you go through this series with me you will hear me refer to beauty over and over again.  Why?  Because you are wasting your time just dieting to lose weight, diet to look good at the end! 

Dry hair, brittle nails, wrinkled, leathery skin and a less than bright smile all take away from the weeks of effort you just put in to make your body hot.  So how can we control how we look at the end of all this dieting?  Menu planning. 

Adding variety to the diet allows the body to flourish.  Hitting it fresh from all angles makes you look fresh, young and beautiful.  Instead of walking around with a list of vitamins and minerals in foods, let’s work on easy ways to remember how to get it all in.

Most of us eat many of the same foods day in and day out.  Protein does not change too much throughout the week (here’s a conversation you hardly hear: “I wanted squid today but they didn’t have any on sale so I swung over to the meat department and picked up tripe instead) with us depending on chicken, chicken and chicken for every meal with an occasional ground turkey and shrimp tossed in the mix.  Starches are the same old starches and fruits and veggies are just an afterthought for the most part (Oh look, berries.  I’ve never seen that on a menu.)    If we do not actively have some way to stay on top of our variety, we are just not going to do it.  Instead, we rely on the usual suspects (however healthy they are, they are not the only fruits and veggies in the world) like berries, broccoli and salad (really lettuce) to populate our plates.  Unless, we color code it!

Color adds variety and not just in fruits and veggies.  Meats and starches can be characterized through color, too.  Texture is important as well but that’s how you liven up a menu so just hold your horses will ya?  Jeez! J Here is a different way to think about the colors of protein in your diet:

From light to dark:

Protein may be categorized from light in color (shellfish, white meat chicken, dairy, white fish for example) to various medium tone shades (salmon, lentils, ground chicken for example) to darker shades (skinless chicken thighs, steak, buffalo just to name a few).  An easy way to look at your day is to think 3, 2, 1.  Three sources of light, 2 sources of med tone and 1 source of dark per day.  Do you have to be exact with that?  No.  But it gives you a starting place instead of aimlessly milling around the store picking up numerous forms of chicken!

So what does this really look like?

Light: 

Chicken breast, scallops, shrimp, cottage cheese (1%), egg whites, turkey breast (non deli), extra lean ground turkey, white fish of all kinds, greek yogurt, albacore tuna, lobster

Medium:

Salmon, chunk light tuna, chicken livers, sardines, lentils (yes they are a starch but I am using them as a protein here), egg yolks, protein powder, tempeh

Dark:

Eye of round, buffalo,bison, venison, skinless chicken thighs and legs, flank stank, beef liver (you knew it was coming), lamb, duck

Here are the rules:

1)       Try not repeat items on the list more than twice in a day, but you certainly can within the week.

2)       The items are not listed solely by fat content so you will have to catch the post on how to track your macronutrients. They are listed by color.  Don’t forget that.

3)       Lastly, this is just a fun way to remember how to spice it up a bit.  There is not any major scientific basis for this—yet.  First we learn to crawl…wink, wink.

Using this format, you could have egg whites, chicken breast, white fish, protein powder, salmon and buffalo in one day.  Holy mother of variety, batman!  I think you have covered just about every avenue with that winning combo.  Much more to come on how to put this together, but at least you’re getting the idea.

Why does this matter?  Mainly because if you choose all the same protein sources all the time, you’ll miss out on choline in egg yolks which supports cardiovascular and brain functioning or selenium which is more abundant in dark meat than in light meat.  And since selenium is an antioxidant and staves off certain cancers, I like to think you’ll be adding a bit more dark meat to your diet.

I hope you realize how much you will be learning in this series and you get to stick around for more.  Next we will tackle carbohydrates and give you great ways to think about adding more color to your plate!

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If you have been on my Facebook page today (and if not, friend me now and go check it out) you would have seen my ’smokin’ body’ friend Mandy (and I do mean smokin’ body!) ask me to check out an article.  It was on Time Magazine’s blog and it was about exercise making you more fat.  She wanted my take on the article and you know that’s just asking for trouble!

I am sure everyone thinks that that article is ridiculous–and you know, you would not be too far off!  BUT, on the same hand maybe not.  I am warning you…this is going to be long.  Also, I am going to come from two completly different angles on this article so be prepared to stretch your brains today. 

First point:  I want to always look good naked.  I don’t just want to be thin/skinny/small/whatever.  If you said to me right now, “Jodi, you have two choices 1) thin but with a saggy tummy and an ass that could be mistaken for a sackcloth at an Amish Revival OR 2) big like Queen Latifah but you could lift a small child with one butt cheek”, I would be in a day care right now moving some kids around!  Do you hear me?  I ALWAYS WANT TO LOOK GOOD NAKED.  PERIOD.

So whenever I read these articles I have to laugh.  We want what we want but just don’t want to work for it.  Starve me to be thin but dear God in Heaven–don’t make me work!  OY!  What do you mean I have to work hard?  Sweat?  Oh heck no!  So instead of accepting that the human body was meant to move, exert energy and be active, we conduct study after study after study to prove how inactivity is ok or not ok.  Or better yet, we fool ourselves into believing that walking up a flight of stairs to get to our chair–I mean work–is a good substitute for exercise.  The fact of the matter is if you want to “just” lose weight (and muscle tone), then go ahead and just diet…or cut off a limb–whichever is the path of least resistance to you.  But if you want to be beautiful, hot, sexy, healthy and whatever other adjective you can put in there, then get your butt up and grab a kettlebell and work that posterior chain until you can put a cup on it and call it a tabletop!

Looking good naked is hard!  And it is rewarding.  And it separates you from all the other folks out there.  Looking good in clothes is not super easy but it is not as hard as looking good naked.  I do realize that if you are reading this blog, you want to look good naked. 

So no matter how many of these articles people print up, those that are concerned about how they look as a finished product are not going to pay them much mind.  They know.  And those that are looking for an excuse are going to laminate the article and use it as a place mat for their meals.  Know what I’m saying?  To me this is like politics or religion:  your views are not going to be swayed by one article or news piece.  It’s either you get it, or you don’t.  It’s as simple as that.

Now to bend your mind a bit…

Second point:  He’s right.  Yes, you heard me.  He’s right.  I am a perfect example of what he is talking about.  The problem is, he has the mechanism all wrong.  If he keeps up his research he will eventually get it right.

Most of you know me so you know where I am going to go with this.  I am a big girl.  I have no problem telling you that.  In fact, it’s the pink elephant in the room when you meet me.  I am not ashamed of it nor am I intimidated by it.  But I am frustrated as all get up about it at this point in my life.

I was always thin.  I was the girl that couldn’t get pregnant because I didn’t weigh enough.  I actually had to gain 10 pounds to get pregnant with my first child.  I have had to lose weight 2 times in my life:  when I graduated college (what do you mean I will gain weight if I sit in a library from 4pm til midnight 7 days a week eating Snicker’s bars?  Who knew?) and after my second child.  In between those two very brief times in my life I weighed no more than 110 to 115 pounds.  Then I competed. 

Competing brought my body to another level.  I had muscles on my muscles and if I got any leaner you would be able to see the outline of my intestines through my skin.  But just like this article, I was too extreme.  I dieted to the macro, worked out to the very last minute that I could each day and never backed off.   One month after I got off stage for the last time, I let myself gain about 15 pounds to put me at about 10 pounds above my normal skinny weight.  I hung out there for a year but get thisàI never stopped show dieting and didn’t stop working out like a clown.   Instead, I fried myself into a state of fatness gaining 40 pounds in 4+ months with no change in diet and no change in exercise.  And for the first time in my life, I was “fat”.

My fault? Yep!  Cause? Jackass behavior and metabolic disruption.  Plain and simple: I fried my adrenals and depleted my metabolic cup.  Could I have fixed it?  Sure—if I knew then what I know now, yes.  But it took me 4 years to learn that diet and exercise can make you fat if you are not responsible about it.

So this brings me to his shortcomings in the article, and honestly, the short comings of America.  Why do we have to be so SO?  Why must we be just SO far to the right or SO far to the left?  The point that he is bringing up in this article is valid but he did not QUALIFY it.  Instead he SENSATIONALIZED it and made it trivial and silly.  He made it so ridiculous that you cannot see what is really going on here.

Exercise doesn’t make you fat.  EXTREME exercise makes you fat.  Extreme exercise while over-dieting really makes you fat.  Endless deprivation.  No good fat in your diet.  Lack of sleep.  No recovery.  I could go on for days.  But working out and then “rewarding” yourself with a muffin is not even worthy of an article never mind a deep discussion.  No, let’s talk about the REAL deal.  Most women are bingeing and (not always) purging themselves into the land of heaviness.  JUST EXTREME ON ANY END WILL DO IT.

This is now what I am all about:  BALANCE.  Hormonal balance, emotional balance and physical balance that will elicit that beautiful, lookin’-good-naked body to perform on a level it never did before.  Bring on the balance!

Now I am not a “soap box” kind of girl.  I don’t typically champion causes or want everyone to “get fit” because I am.  That’s great for you if you are that way.  I am much more of a sharp wit and would rather sarcasm you into the right way to do things than rah-rah-shish-kum-bah you.  But this is now my new mantra because seriously ladies, I cannot stand to see the look in your eyes when this happens to you.  It’s devastating. 

So just know, this guy is a putz.  His article is too simple and lacks merit.  But the underlying message is real and you need to take heed.  In the mean time, I am going to go try and pick up my 3 ½ year old with my butt cheek because although I am now a big girl, I am tight.  See you at the gym!  WOOP WOOP!

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Oh it’s about that time.

You know…when we stop being so serious about hormones, looks and such and discuss what’s really on our minds:  bad driving!

Oh you know it bothers you!  If it doesn’t, then you are who I am about to talk about!hehe

In this day and age, we need to be careful of stress.  Free radical damage is serious and having high levels of cortisol can cause your hormones to go out of whack (thereby causing unnecessary weight gain) and your body to be off kilter.  So how can we keep this happening?  GET RID OF THESE BAD DRIVERS!

OH HEAR ME WHEN I SPEAK, PLEASE!

If you think a stop sign secretly reads PARK–I am talking to you!  Please don’t camp out at these things!  They did not want you to stay for long so they made the sign short:  STOP.  Not…STOP AND READ THIS SIGN FOR 10 MIN WHILE CONTEMPLATING THE FONT USED ON THE SIGN AND THE SPECIAL COLOR RED IT IS PAINTED ON.  You got me?  OY!

If your car goes from 0 to 60 in 5 min.–remove it from the road!  You are a hazard to society.  If I can run beside your car the whole time while you are trying to gain speed, you need some new pistons.  Honestly!

If you drive so slow that my 3 year old has to call you out: “Mama, why you behind dis’ slow poke?  MOVE! Mama, can you go pass him? Pass him, mama!  MOVE IT!”  It’s a shame folks but he’s learning early!

If you slow down to gawk at an accident I hope you pop a tire on any free flying glass!  It’s you clowns who cause 5:00 o’clock traffic!  In fact, you also slow down for tire changers AND disabled vehicles.  You deserve to run out of a gas on a long stretch of road…in the dark…in a foreign country…while it’s snowing…up hill…both ways…lol.

lastly…

If you cannot solve a rubiks cube with one hand while building a lego castle with the other, don’t talk on the phone while driving.  Clearly this task is beyond you.  I have had the luxury of seeing some outrageous things lately like talking on the phone while eating and driving a stick.  Actually, that was me, but I got it done!  Unlike these other yoyos who try it and end up 3 lanes over straddling 2 lanes at the same time.  This also applies to putting on make up while driving too!  Honestly, lip liner is meant to line your lips–not trace your major facial features!  Try a mirror in your bathroom please…

Keeping your stress levels down is key to a beautiful face and body.  I recommend that you pull over, stop the car and help a fellow brother or sister out by turning the car off.  Walk to the nearest bus stop and get on.  Suddenly, they will notice fine lines and wrinkles disappearing and their youthful glow will be back.  It’s time for you to give back to others and get off of the road.  This has been a public service announcement from your local annoyed trainer/nutritionist.  Peace!

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Since I am so hell bent on a beautiful body and face, I think it is worth me defining what I mean by this.  Unfortunately, our culture/country is obsessed with our outward appearance in a very negative manner.  Being thin seems to be worshipped as well as being young.  Both of these traits garner much attention in the media so they create a sort of undercurrent of pressure for the average woman.  We tend to worry about how we look in a certain outfit, whether we can compete with those “20 somethings” or if we are still acceptable in some men’s eyes.  This is not what I mean by being beautiful. 

One of the most attractive things to me is a woman is “good” with who she is, how she looks and how she presents herself.  She may be 20 pounds more than the ideal but she dresses like a fashionista so you would never know.  She could be 60 years old, but her skin makes her look 52.  She might be 45 but her attitude is that of a 30 year old.  Beauty defined by the dictionary:  The quality that gives pleasure to the mind or senses and is associated with such properties as harmony of form or color, excellence of artistry, truthfulness, and originality.  Beauty defined by me:  taking excellent care of one’s health via food, exercise and supplementation; presenting the best package that you have been given sole rights to by nature.  You cannot get any better than this. 

I want to make it very clear that vanity is not where I am going with any of this.  You do not have to spend hours in front of the mirror or spends thousands on a wardrobe.  You could be a jock in heels with not a care in the world about how you dress but your skin is amazing and your teeth are healthy.  Or you could be a book worm that wears glasses and is addicted to sweat pants but your nails are healthy and your estrogen levels are where they should be.  All of this to me is beauty. 

Being thin does not mean you are beautiful—in fact, it’s quite the contrary.  Most thin people (as a result of perpetual dieting) are very unhealthy.  Being high maintenance with hair appointments and body treatments does not mean you are beautiful—usually it means you need to get over yourself. J  I could go on and on but I think you get my point.  Beauty means that your body is functioning at its fullest potential because you gave it everything you had in terms of outside resources and it is reaping the benefits from that pampering.

Next time you notice how soft your skin is, how regular your cycle is, how even your moods are, how strong your nails seem, how great your memory is at that time, how normal your blood pressure and cholesterol is, how strong your sex drive is and how agile you are at your age, and all of these things got that way because your diet is healthy and you exercise, I want you to think to yourself:  dang, I’m beautiful!

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It is a rarity nowadays to speak to any woman who isn’t on some sort of diet.  Low carb, no carb, South Beach, cookie, Blood Type—you name it, they’re on it!  There is no shortage of deprivation and suffering amongst us women!  But there is a very serious shortage of information out there of how to diet to be beautiful.  Face it, when you get to the end of your diet, don’t you want to look good, too?

I have dieted many women in my short 15 year career.  I honestly can put that number in the thousands and still be very accurate.   Over the years I have seen more and more of a sense of desperation among woman:  an “At all cost” approach to dieting.  It really disturbs me simply because when you get to that stage your sense of judgment goes out the window.  When did this become so prevalent?

I don’t know about you but when I reach my diet destination, not only do I want to be the size I desire to be, but I also want to be healthy and beautiful at the same time.  Dieting, however, is not very healthy and you are lucky if you come out of it without a major case of wrinkles, loose skin and brittle hair–or even worse, hormone issues.   What’s missing in our diet adventures that causes us to look like a vagabond when we declare “scale victory”?  I would have to say attention to detail.

The foods you choose (or do not choose) can have more of an impact on your diet experience than the actual diet itself.  I hear so many people going back and forth over carbohydrates and whether they should have grains vs. potatoes but that has so little to do with you looking hot at the end.  And let’s be honest here, how many women really want to suffer through a diet only to come out haggard and beastly?  Why bother?  I would much rather be fat, happy and gorgeous then skinny, deprived and wretched!  Heck—if that was my only choice I would say bring on the Krispy Kreme!  Hair must be shiny, skin has to be dewy, nails long and healthy—and my cycle better be regular! 

I will be talking about this A LOT!  So many foods to cover, so many diets to pick apart…all with one thing in common:  beauty!  You need to look good mama!  And looking good is not about facial features or the prettiest girl in the classroom.  Beauty is about health—inside and out.  Hormones that work properly so that your hair, skin and nails shine;  healthy teeth and bones so they last a long time; make up that compliments your skin and preserves the environment.   Ladies, it’s time to get fit AND gorgeous!!  WOOP WOOP!

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