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Amber

I was looking forward to the Run into the New Year at State Fair Park. I have done this race in the past and the temps are usually in the teens or single digits. But yesterday, I had spring fever! I was so excited to be outside. I was just fired up for the race because it was my first one since I ran a marathon in the fall. And the best, was that we had a ton of Wild Peeps running. So I was on cloud nine and just so happy to be there.

But with all the excitement I forgot to pay attention and be in the moment. So during my warm-up, I was feeling great until I stepped off a curb onto some uneven pavement and …… POP! On the ground I realized that the pop only could mean one thing. A SPRAINED ANKLE.

No! My excitement quickly turned to sadness as I sat down on the curb. As I stood up, I knew my day was done. Instead of being coach, athlete, and cheerleader. I just became coach as I sat inside to wait to hear how the Wild Peeps did. (And they all did awesome if you are wondering.)

Now I have had my share of injuries over the years. And my focus is to always heal as fast as possible. I like to play, and being on the sidelines is not my style. So here is my plan of action to heal a sprain as fast as possible. Now, the type of sprain will determine how long it will take to heal. Mine is not that bad. It’s between a Level 1 and Level 2 sprain. Pretty painful, swollen, starting to bruise and I can’t really walk on it. But I can put some weight on it and not be in excruciating pain. So in my book, not that bad.

So, I start with the basic RICE pricinple of healing an injury. Rest, Ice, Compress, and Elevate.

Rest – probably the toughest for me to do. If you know me, I can’t sit for very long. So this is a challenge. The best rest is just staying off the foot. And that means a lot of sitting and lying around. (a perfect opportunity for me to write this.) Also rest means taking a break from running. I will do some cross training like aqua jogging but nothing weight-bearing.

Ice - Oh, the ice feels so good on my ankle. And I started icing immediately and consistently.  In the initial phase of an injury, managing inflammation is key to a fast recovery. I ice for 20 minutes, and then rest for 20 to 30 minutes. I keep doing that throughout the next few days.

Compression –  If I am going to have to move around or leave the house, I add a compress to my ankle. This helps keep the swelling down and relieves some pain.

Elevate - Elevating the injured area allows the icing and resting to work better.  Elevation will keep the swelling down and continue to reduce the amount of inflammation. Basically, it lowers blood pressure so that less blood and other liquids collect and inflame the injury.

This is where I start. But there also a few more things that you can do to heal a sprained ankle faster.

I use a topical analgesic to reduce inflammation.  I am using Tiger Balm to help reduce inflammation and alleviate pain.  This is something I put on before I wrap my ankle or sleep at night. 

Get some acupuncture.  Do I understand it?  Kinda.  Does it work?  Yes.  I’ll be heading to Orchid Acupuncture to get some relief and speed up my healing.  I’ve never done it for a sprain, but I have done it for strained muscles, colds, and other problems and am amazed by the results I get.  

Eating healthy food.  This is the most important time to feed your body healty, organic food.  Avoiding sugar and foods that cause inflammation is so key.  My body is already concerned with healing my ankle.  I don’t want to give if more problems like dealing with gluten or other inflammatory food.  (Not like I eat this often anyway.)  Eating healthy foods only supplies your body with the best tools to rebuild the body. 

So hopefully I am only sidelined for a few days and can be back playing full on soon.  I’ll keep you posted.

Image via Wikipedia

The countdown begins to the holiday festivities. Getting together with family and friends, makes this part of the year extra special. But so often our get-togethers are centered around food. And don’t get me wrong, I love good holiday food. From dinner foods to breakfast staples, you won’t see me griping about a fine holiday dinner or brunch. And for the most part, many of the foods offered at our holiday gatherings are so awesome. Turkey, ham, salads, veggies, sweet potatoes are great dinner items to indulge in. Or maybe you are having an eggs, fruit, sausage and bacon in the morning. Right on. Those are so awesome to eat. But it’s the things that sneak in this time of the year. The cookies, candies, pastries, breads, and other baked items that become the culprits of holiday weight gain or diet disaster.

Now, most of you reading this are health conscious people. But many of us struggle to eat well in the holiday season. Often we over indulge  and are filled with guilt (and bloat) from going overboard. Also, this holiday binge can not just last the weekend but hang around until the end of the year. My advice for you this year is to have a battle plan. Three levels that you can choose from to meet your diet needs this holiday season.

The Stoic: You are not budging. You are feeling awesome, and you know if you play you pay. You have your goal in mind and you are focused. You choose low carb foods and enjoy your fill of meat, proteins, fats and other veggies. And heck, it’s just food. You’re there for the good times with good friends.

The Picky Eater: “I’m just going to eat my favorites” is your motto.  ”Ritz crackers, yuck”. Skip that. But grandmas decadent holiday chocolate brownies with sprinkles on top. Oh yeah! At this level, you choose only the things you really like and indulge on those items. Every day common junk foods do not appeal to you. You are picky and choosy with what you splurge on and you fully enjoy it!

No Holds Barred: It’s the holidays and get out of my way. It’s just one weekend and it’s a binge fest. What diet? I’m going to free style and just enjoy it all. Why, because I’ll be back on track after this weekend because I have made a promise to myself. So bring it on and I’ll loosen my belt buckle.

At every level of Holiday Eating, there is some amount of restraint. Even at the “No Holds Barred” level, this person knows that it is just a weekend. They are not getting up Monday morning and having cookies for breakfast. A holiday binge fest will slow down your progress, but be aware and know that you will get back on track. You’ll be back on track right away, loosin’ weight and feelin’ great.

And some of you, just don’t want the food hangover after a holiday indulgence. That happens the healthier and better you eat.  So staying on track is the only logical answer.  It’s not a diet for you.  It’s a lifestyle. 

So whatever battle plan level you choose, I wish you wonderful times with family and friends. Be with people you care about. Share great conversations, warm hugs, and form new memories that will last a lifetime.

Have a happy holiday,
Amber

Here are just a few benefits of coconut oil, but don’t be fooled. There are way more uses than I am talking about today. Example, brushing your teeth. Coconut oil with a little baking soda is great for brushing your teeth. Pretty amazing.

But to be honest, I’m still a newbie.  I have only been using coconut oil for a few years.  I am still learning and using coconut oil for more things.  But so far, here are my favorite uses. 

Coconut oil is great to cook with.  Coconut oil can handle the heat.  It has a high smoke point and does not oxidize as fast as other oils such as olive oil or flaxseed oil.  (Oils that oxidize fast become rancid very quickly and cause free radical damage in the body.)  Great for using when you saute veggies or pan-fry foods. 

Coconut oil is nature’s fat burner.  Coconut oil contains MCT medium chain triglycerides.  These MCT’s are converted into energy quickly giving you a boost instead of being stored as fat.  MCT’s promote thermogenesis, which increases the body’s metabolism, producing energy.Take 2 tsp to 1 tbsp in the morning to rev up your metabolic engines. 

Coconut oil is a fabulous moisturizer. Lather up baby!  Coconut oil is fantastic on your skin.  Not only will it give your skin a softer, more hydrated look.  It can also help with rashes and other skin conditions because of it’s anti-fungal, anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties.  If you are concerned with your skin health then reach out for some coconut oil.  It also has antioxidant properties that protect the skin from free radical damage.   Other skin applications?  Use it as massage oil or as an eye make-up remover. 

 So don’t be shy.  Experiment.  Go out and buy a jar of extra virgin coconut oil and enjoy. 

Cook tasty and healthy food.

Have great looking skin.

And lose weight. 

Wow, I’m sold just by reading those food lines. How about you? 

 Sounds like a miracle product.  The only thing it can’t do is help you find the love of your life.  But who knows, science my find coconut oil can do that too!

Image via Wikipedia

I was getting ready to write about coconut oil and the benefits. So of course I though I would multi-task and watch a movie that I was meaning to see. So I put Food Inc. on (sorry Frank it took me so long to watch this) and now I can’t write about coconut oil, I have to write about this movie.

Food Inc. is a documentary made to lift the veil on the food industry and show us  how mainstream food is made. Now what do I mean when I say mainstream? Food sold in supermarkets, fast food chains and restaurants. Food that so many people just blindly purchase and have no connection to where their food comes from. Why? Because we should be able to trust that the food sold in our stores is good for us and will keep us healthy. Sadly, as you will see in this movie, this is not true.

As you watch this movie, be prepared for your stomach to become queasy. From poorly treated animals, to the abuse of chemicals to make food “better”, this movie touches on all the bases of how cruel and disgusting the commercial farming is.  With a motto of faster, fatter, bigger, cheaper do you really think corporate farming is really concerned with our health? 

I don’t want to give away all the details, but if you are concerned about your health you need to see this movie. Food is the foundation of our health and vitality. It makes me so sad that big companies have sold out on their fellow humans to make a buck. And what’s the end result? Americans are getting sicker.

If you need the fuel to make the switch to organic, local food see this movie. Get your food from your local farmers. Know what they feed the animals. See how the animals are treated. See how their vegetables are grown. Humans ever since the beginning of time have had a connection to where their food came from. Now, many people just know that their food comes from the grocery store. Are the cows in the back? Are the vegetables behind the store? Not even close. We have no clue where the food came from and what has happened it.

It’s time to become aware consumers. Why? Because if we don’t our health will suffer. If we don’t our family’s health will suffer.

“You are what you eat” is such a common quote. But holds so much truth. I know it does not mean much to say if you eat high fructose corn syrup you are high fructose corn syrup. But your cells would say different. Your cells are screaming for you to avoid garbage like toxic high fructose corn syrup. They are screaming to for you to avoid hormones, antibodies, and other chemicals that are added to our food products.   And our cells will only scream so long until disease happens.  And then finally we listen. 

The best investment in your health is eating organic food from local farmers. Start there and make your budget start around good,healthy food. Maybe that means not having as fancy of a car or 7,234 cable channels. But what really matters in life. I guarantee that at the moment our life is at the end, we aren’t wishing we would have watched more TV.

Food Inc. is a well done documentary that exposes these large corporations that MANUFACTURE, not grow, the food we eat. Check this movie out and make your own decision. At the end of this movie, I was just fired up and feeling so strong about the decision to buy organic and local. My heart goes out to the many people effected by corporate farming, from the workers to the people inflicted with diseases. My hope one day is that we can all get back in touch with our ancestral need to be connected to our food. It will be the answer to our nations health and obesity crisis.

In the late 1980′s the big fat scare started. Especially saturated fat, that was the big evil. Run from butter and animal fats because they will kill you. Fat free is they way to go to prevent heart disease and to trim your waist. And if you eat fat, make sure they are from plants products. And we bought it. I did. I remember eating low fat yogurts, skim milk, chicken breast (no skin, yikes), fat-free cookies, and so on. For me and most people, I felt that I was being healthy and eating right.

But I never was satiated. The symptom many people feel on a low-fat diet. I also had killer sugar cravings. My cells where crying for the nutrients that fat had to offer, but I kept denying them.

But the truth is fat is so important to our health and wellness. And grains and other starchy carbs are very dangerous to our well-being. For thousands of years, fats have nourished so many people.   Many traditional diets consisted of 30 to 80 percent  fat.  Now the fats I am talking about are animal fats, butter, coconut oil, cod liver oil, fish oil, extra virgin olive oil, and flax-seed oil. These are the good fats that you need in your diet. The ones to avoid are the hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats and industrially processed liquid oils such as soy, corn, safflower, cottonseed and canola.

Now I may be freaking a few of you out.  Especially if weight loss is your goal.  But there is so much information out how a low carb, not a low-fat diet is the way to go for weight loss.  And the key to a low carb diet, is having more fat.  Why?  Because fat keeps you full.  When you eat fat, you natural “I’m done” mechanism kicks in.  You stop eating.  When you eat more fat, you actually eat less because you recognize being full.  It’s awesome.  I remember, I would eat low-fat pretzels.  Heck, I could eat a bag of those and not feel satiated.  I would be full and bloated, but not nourished.  Plus, processed carbs, grains and other starches wreak havoc on our insulin levels which in result creates a host of other problems.  (I just wrote about this in  http://wildworkoutsandwellness.wordpress.com/2010/11/21/a-question-on-fruit/    )

There are lots of articles on the benefits of health in our diets.  Check out www.westonaprice.org and explore.  From fat soluble vitamins to cholesterol fat is vital for us to live a vibrant, healthy life.  We can not survive without fat.  Our bodies need it.  Think about it, our cells all have a lipid bilayer around them.  Each and every cell.  That’s a lot of fat.  But carbohydrates on the other had is not.  Yes our brain runs best on glucose, but we can make it out of protein by a process called gluconeogenesis.  We actually don’t have to eat carbohydrates to survive.  However, I do believe many plant sources of carbohydrates like vegetables provide great nutrition and vitamins. 

Now I know I am treading on dangerous territory.  Many of us love our bread, pasta, low fat yogurt and other process products.  But I am asking you to be curious.  For a month see what a low carb diet is.  Experiment and check in.  How do you feel?  You body will let you know. 

So enjoy bring fat back into your diet and reap the health benefits it has to offer. 

And as Paula Deen said “Butter is just a little stick of smiles and happiness.”

Thank you all for making the 6th Annual Antonia Turkey Trot a success.

Getting the Food out of our Home and into the car

Image via Wikipedia

I love questions ya’ll! This blog is about helping you learn more about health and exercise and how to apply it in your lives. Usually I write about what I think is important. But when I get a question, I feel great that I can meet the needs that you all have. So a big thanks for helping me, helping others and yourself!! Now that’s a win-win-win.

Fruit is a tricky topic. We love it because it’s sweet. But is fruit really ideal for everyone? The question that was asked is about fruit and the glycemic index. I want to touch on that and of course expand.

Most fruits are mainly carbohydrates. And as we know, carbohydrates can influence our insulin levels. The glycemic index is a scale given to determine how carbohydrates effect our blood glucose and insulin levels. An increase in blood glucose, creates an increase in insulin, because it needs to lower our blood sugar. It does this by taking the sugars into our cells and either using them for energy or storing them as fat. And more often than not, we are not using that much energy so the high starchy food calories often get stored as fat.

Some fruits have very high glycemic index like a banana and others have a low glycemic index like a raspberry. Here is a link to a list of glycemic values.

So now what.? You can see that some fruits can greatly affect our insulin levels and others not so much. If you are focusing on eating a low carb diet, then choose fruits that are lower on the glycemic index. And never eat fruits alone. Eating fruit with nuts or other fats and proteins really help reduce the effect fruit has on blood sugar.

What if you want that banana? Well post workout would be okay if you can tolerate the carbs and don’t have a bad response.   That is the time that you want your body to store and replenish energy. 

Protein types don’t do great on a lot of fruits because of their metabolic type. So you need to focus on your response after eating fruit. Do I feel good? Or am I craving sweets, moody, spacey, ect? You body will let you know if fruit works for you or not.

Fruit is a tricky subject. I’m not a huge fruit proponent and don’t really feel we should have more than a serving or two a day. The fruit that we eat today is very different from the fruit our ancestors ate. Most of the fruits are hybrid varieties to make them very sweet. Also there are lots of concerns on fructose – the sugar in fruit and the effects on the body.

Here is a great article on the effects of fructose on Dr. Mercola‘s site.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/01/02/HighFructose-Corn-Syrup-Alters-Human-Metabolism.aspx

So when it comes to fruit, choose low glycemic berries first. Then try green apples and peaches. See how you feel. And always make sure to pair your fruit with a protein and/or fat. Spiking your blood sugar and insulin has a detrimental effect on the body. From storing fat to emotional disturbances, high insulin is the first step to disease.

Come and join our Thanksgiving Tradition.

The Antonia Turkey trot is the best way to kick off your Thanksgiving morning with a little exercise. It’s also a great way to collect food to donate to those who need it this holiday season.

2 MILE WALK     5K RUN/WALK     8K RUN

This is a social, noncompetitive event. Just bring a nonperishable food item to donate.  All food goes to the Bay View Fodd Pantry.   

Start time: 9:00am

Date: 11/25/10

Location: Cupertino Park corner of Russell and South Shore Drive

RSVP to wildworkoutsandwellness@gmail.com

All I need to know is…..

WHO’S COMING WITH ME?

Now let me break it to you lightly. There is nothing magical about making a goal on January 1st. Sorry. I wish there was some new years fairy dust that could make change happen to you. I do. But the change that you could make then, you can make right NOW. So what are you waiting for.

Think about your dreams and your passion. Your health is very important to achieving these things. You need the energy and vitality to be the best mom, teacher, runner, mountain climber, knitter, or whatever else you want to do.

And just because we are heading full force into the holiday season, don’t get sabotaged by all the parties and social gatherings. Don’t fall prey to the holiday weight gain. You can still be social without sabotaging your success.

Over the next few weeks I will write about eating well at your holiday gatherings. The best is when you host your own gathering. You are in total control of what you make and serve. And here is the best advice I can give:

DON’T TELL YOUR GUESTS THEY ARE EATING HEALTHY/SPECIAL FOODS

Really they don’t need to know. My husband has no clue half the healthy stuff I put into food. He just knows it tastes good. And that is good enough.

I just hosted a kids Halloween party and everything was gluten-free. Now if you know me, I go a little nuts. So the menu is quite extensive. But I did not here any complaints about the pizza I made, the cookies or the crackers.

Here is a list of what I made:
gluten-free pizza – one cheese and sausage, the other pesto and artichokes.
gluten-free crackers and cheeses
wings with gluten-free ranch
cut fruit and fondu
gluten-free cookies
corn chips and salsa
hot peppers stuffed with salami and goat cheese

I wanted to focus on gluten-free this time around and would like to do dairy free next time. Everyone enjoyed the food and did not feel like they were forced to eat gluten-free.   The recipe page also has a great selection of gluten-free recipes you can serve to your guests.

Have fun this holiday season and take the reins when you have company over. The Atkins books have great party menus to eat low carb when having company over. Plus we know the internet is a great resource.

Remember, holidays are about having fun with family and friends. Food is a small part of it, but don’t make it the focus. Plan games and other activities to take the focus off the food and back on having fun.