Veggie Wraps

Ingredients:
• 1 package spinach, sun dried tomato or other flavored tortilla
• 2 tablespoons Trader Joe’s Tomato Basil hummus
• Fresh spinach leaves (stemmed)
• ¾ cup filling of choice (tuna with lemon juice and balsamic vinaigrette, marinated tofu, lunch meat)
• 1/4 cup peeled, shredded carrots (or 1/2 large carrot)

Dress tortillas with a thin layer of hummus and cover completely with a layer of stemmed spinach. Cover 2/3 of the open wraps with filling of choice and then grate carrot over the open wrap. Roll up and secure with toothpicks to cut into three equal portions. Makes a great appetizer, snack or even a light dinner!

What's Your Motivation?

Probably the most important thing to do before trying to implement any significant lifestyle change is to get clear on why you're doing it. Ask yourself sincerely:

"Why do I want this?"

And then answer the question bravely and honestly (sometimes bravery is a pre-condition of total honesty, I've learned slowly and often, the hard way.) You may even consider writing your motivations down. And here's a tip: If you're too lazy (or scared) to even write them down, you may not be ready to make any changes right now. So don't.

"What?" "Did he say 'don't'"? "Isn't that fitness sacrilege?"

Maybe, but here's why I'm saying it: People who think they want to make fundamental improvements in their health but aren't really ready for what the effort will require in terms of time, commitment and personal discipline, usually drop out of the process early and label themselves "failure." That's too bad. We don't call people who are halfway through law school and not yet ready to take the bar exam a failure. We don't label the 14-month old who teeters and falls in her first attempts to walk a failure. They're just not ready - yet. And maybe you're not either.

But I hope you are.

So, if, after looking at your reasons for doing this listed on that piece of paper, my first instruction is to cross out every negative one ("I'm too fat", "I don't want to slowly break down and die prematurely", etc.) They won't sustain you. But you know what will? A positive goal. Every long-term healthy lifestyle practitioner will tell you that no matter how they started, at a certain point they fell in love with the quality of life benefits that exercise and healthful eating provide. And that's what made them converts for life.

It's not so hard to come up with one or more positive motivations. You can even start with one of the negative motivations you already wrote down and abandoned. Just restate it in positive terms:

"I want to be strong and lean."

"I want to live a long time, have energy and stamina and I want to be able to do things my parents couldn't at the same age."

Now get going on that list.

Late Night Munchies..?

If your goal is to trim excess body fat, the point bears repeating (and emphasizing):

The closer you get to bed time, the fewer calories you should consume.

Why? It's just a simple equation of calories in versus calories out. As your metabolism slows, preparing for rest, you need fewer calories to get through the rest of the day, and you have less of an opportunity to burn off what you do ingest. So if you're going to need 700 calories between 6:00pm Tuesday and 6:00am Wedesday, and you want to lose a pound of fat this week, you'd better only get in 200 calories in that time frame. The trouble is that most people take in their single biggest chunk of calories in during this window of time. A major contributor for many is after-dinner snacks.

I'm targeting this topic today because, in my experience with hundreds of clients, this is one of the toughest habits for many people to break. So one way to minimize the impact of late-night snacking on the daily calorie equation is to keep the snacking to one of these three low calorie, high nutrient-density options:

1. Carrot sticks - this is a good choice if you're into the crunchy texture more than anything else. They're high in fiber and essential vitamins and minerals, and you literally cannot physically consume so many that you'll be making a serious dent in the calorie deficit you worked so hard to create earlier in the day.

2. A glass of non-fat milk - the perfect combination of easily digestable carbs (unless you're lactose intolerant) and highly bio-available protein, which will help to keep you satisfied longer than strictly carbs. Plus you get the bonus of healthy doses of calcium and vitamin D.

3. Frozen grapes - you have to try this if your weakness is a late-night sweet tooth. They're fun to pop in your mouth, taste delicious and you have to eat them more slowly when they're frozen, so it's harder to stuff yourself. Grapes are also rich in healthful anti-oxidants.

Try one of these great alternatives to cheetos or ice cream and you'll find that you can have your cake (well, maybe not cake!) and eat it too!

Not Guilty

Ok, I admit it - I ate like a pig last night. Well, that's not technically correct (not to mention unfair to the pig). While a pig eats fast and sloppy like he may never eat again, he rarely eats because he's bored, nervous, there's a lull in the conversation or well past the point of being satisfied simply to avoid being impolite to the host. At a holiday party, I did all that (and more.) I ate rich food. I ate sugary food. I ate a lot of it. And I ate late into the evening. A conservative estimate of my excess calories yesterday would be about 1,500 - 2,000. If I ate like that every day, I'd weigh about 330 pounds a year from now.

So now what? Am I a complete failure who should curl up in a hole somewhere because I went way over the top last night? Please! Give me a break! I'm going to give myself one. You know why? Because I don't eat that way every day. In fact, I stayed up late last night so I wouldn't get indigestion (but I still did), woke up this morning still full (I hate that - I love to be ready for breakfast first thing in the morning) and I know it's going to take about a week of extra vigilant clean & light eating days to break even. But that's okay, because I know it's an isolated situation and I know how to fix it. And I will. So no big deal.

Several of my past and current clients (and many of you reading, I'm sure) would be feeling very guilty about an over-indulgence like that right now. You'd feel bad about your lack of control or about letting yourself down. You might even feel a physical sensation of heaviness or a tightness in your gut and a sense of helplessness, sadness and disappointment in yourself. But what good would that do? In fact, it's the worst thing you could do. It lowers your self esteem and makes you feel even more a victim, it creates a negative association with being fallible (which is only human), and it makes it more likely that you'll just give up on your efforts to clean up your eating because, what the heck, you blew it last night anyway, right?

Worst of all, lingering guilt can obscure the learning opportunity that it initially presents, which is its only real value.

Guilt serves one very important purpose: to show you how you might do better in the future. If you are blaming yourself for slipping up, realize you did the best you could at the time, otherwise you would have done something else. So be gentle with yourself and look for the lesson. It's there, believe me, and you're more likely to find it sooner if you surrender the guilt first. And then you'll not only feel better, you'll know you've grown and then everyone one in your path will be just a little better off as a result, even if you can't see it.

I got up this morning and took two very grateful dogs for a walk they may not otherwise have gotten today if I hadn't overdone it last night. They felt much better after the walk, and so did I.

And then I got home and had a heck of a workout.

Debunking Fitness and Nutrition Myths

There is a concept in Zen Buddhism known as "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind". The basic idea is that in order to truly absorb new information, we must release our long-held preconceptions.

But that's not so easy to do when you've been bombarded by misinformation so often and for so long that the mere familiarity with garbage, masquerading as fact, creates belief. I can't think of a single area of knowledge more fraught with erroneous assumptions than exercise and nutrition. In fact, multi-billion dollar industries are dedicated to fattening their wallets while promising to make you (instead of just your bank account) lighter.

But, if you are willing to put what you may accept as fact aside for a moment, I'd like to create a little bit of enlightenment that won't require you to take out your credit card. Here are three of the most popular (and incorrect) widely-held beliefs about how to get lean. And then, the truth:

1. Aerobic Exercise Makes you Lean.
Not exactly. While a few hours of cardio at a moderate or higher level of intensity each week will certainly burn several hundred calories, you can easily eat enough calories to compensate for that and stay fat. There are overweight marathon runners and very lean people who never exercise. It's not so much differences in genetics or even exercise habits alone, but whether they create a calorie deficit day after day or build and maintain a calorie surplus. It's actually much easier to create a 500 daily calorie deficit through dietary discipline than by exercising endlessly and not controlling nutrient density and total food intake. That's what bodybuilders do to get very lean with a minimal amount of cardio (to avoid diminishing muscle mass). You can do it too.

2. Very Low Carb (or Fat) or Very High Protein makes you Lean.
Wrong. Any highly restrictive diet (except restrictive for empty calories like sweets and excessive fat) will be very difficult to sustain over several weeks or more, and is often nutritionally unbalanced. Why does that matter? Because, on a very restrictive diet (either food groups or substrates like protein, fat and carbs) you can lose hard-earned muscle tissue and compromise your abilities to exercise effectively. Plus, it's just plain unhealthy to miss large segments of vitamins, minerals or to virtually eliminate either fats or carbs, or to go overboard with protein. Nutrient-dense eating with small, frequent meals (with a regular, progressive and balanced exercise program, of course) is the absolute healthiest and easiest eating style to maintain that will lead to a lean, athletic build.

3. Ab work makes you slender.
Lies! All lies! (sorry - I was channeling a character from Austin Powers). But I do get upset about this one since it's the one myth I continue to see even certain fitness professionals perpetuate. It's just a big load of crap. Core work has one primary function: to support and protect the spine. The core muscles help stabilize the upper body during lower body movement, the lower body during upper body movement, and the low back when they're both moving. It's a pretty darn important purpose but it's not trimming your waistline. You do that by getting fit with exercise (so you can burn more and more calories during your workouts and between them), and, more importantly, eating to create a moderate (300-500) daily calorie shortfall.
Tired of looking at the professional fitness models with ripped abs and Ultra-Brite smiles demonstrate the miracle of the latest fitness doodad? Yep, me too.

Stop looking for a miracle in a box. The attainable miracle is a shift in your thinking. A balanced, well-designed exercise and eating program that focusses on nutrient-density, controlled portions and progressive physical challenges always works.

Always.

How Do You See the World?

I saw this guy in a movie called "Living Luminaries", a philosophical/spiritual documentary, and he blew me away. He had an interesting, simple and no-nonsense perspective on how we might go about improving ourselves across the board (physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually). Great stuff.

In this short clip, he challenges us to take a broader view, and a more objective look, at the world and our place in it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxHIoHyTE8I

Hi-Protein, Low-Fat Four Layer Bean Dip

Ingredients:
1 can of vegetarian re fried black beans
1 large ripe avocado½ cup Safeway's Peach Pineapple Salsa
(or any medium salsa)
16 oz. container of 2% Greek Yogurt*
½ cup grated smoked cheese

Heat beans to achieve a slightly warm, soft consistency. Spread on the bottom of a medium sized shallow serving dish. Remove avocado shell and pit and mash meat with salsa. Spread guacamole over beans evenly by dropping multiple dollops and smoothing with the bottom of a tablespoon. Stir Greek yogurt to thin consistency and spread over Guacamole layer. Grate cheese and distribute evenly over yogurt layer. Serve with Stacy's Pita or other firm chips. Serves 6-8.

This stuff rocks and may be the healthiest thing you eat all day (although it feels like your biggest indulgence)!

* I'm a big fan of 2% fat Greek yogurt. Fage is a brand available at both Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's has it's own brand as well (less expensive). It comes unsweetened so if you like, sweeten it to taste with honey, jam or a little bit of flavored yogurt. It can be used straight as a sour cream substitute. Besides being free of all the corn syrup or artificial sweetener of most other flavored yogurts, it is between double and triple the protein content of those other brands.

Dig in!

Embracing Discomfort

Boy - that title makes you want to tear into the article, doesn't it?!

Okay, first let me distinguish between types of discomfort.

1. The guy at the gym wearing hiked-up, super-short, way too tight running shorts while straddling the weight bench. Not good.

2. The feeling you get when, like gawking a pile-up on the shoulder of the freeway, you can't take your eyes off him (although you may want to pluck your eyes out of your head or get self-induced amnesia afterward.) Still not good.

3. It's also not the over-used and badly applied adage that originated with old-school bodybuilders: "No pain, no gain." That slogan had a very narrow relevance for a specific group of athletes who understood well the risks of extreme-intensity resistance training and were trying to reach unprecedented muscle girth development. But it's been distorted and misunderstood when applied to a general fitness context. Some light muscle soreness evenly distributed over the length of the targeted muscle that subsides in a day or two is fine. Exercise-induced joint soreness is bad news.

4. But there is a very positive discomfort you can experience at the gym (or working out at home). It's the feeling that you are challenging yourself and taking yourself a little bit out of your comfort zone. As you train more regularly and increase training tolerance, the body becomes more resilient. As long as the exercises are executed with strict control (correct posture, bio mechanics or movement streams, and fluidity or even cadence), a little discomfort is a good indicator of the main training objective: Gradual, consistent progression.

So, what do you look for in terms of discomfort for the two traditional aggressive modes of exercise (cardio and strength training)? Here are some tips:

Cardio - Deep, accelerated breathing, heart rate elevated so that conversation is difficult but not unmanageable. No dizziness, nausea or feeling of loss of control.

Strength - During a set, incrementally difficult repetitions and either progressive increase in the "burn" in the muscle, gradual loss of power or a combination of the two - but NO loss of coordination or joint pain.

The best indicator that the type and level of discomfort in your training is correct over the long term, though, is increased capacity in both areas of fitness. Over time, with individual workouts, you should be able to do more and recover more quickly. Then, as you build your capacity, you'll also build your self-discipline and ability to focus on reading your body during the workouts.

And maybe you'll even have developed the composure to look the other way the next time mister tiny trousers is working out next to you.

Keeping Your Blood Sugar Stable

What's the purpose of this?

Simply stated, there's no better way to switch from a hunger-response eating pattern to a nourishment approach than to keep your blood sugar stable.

Most of us eat sporadically, with big meals and big breaks between the meals. That sets up a "feast and fast", roller coaster eating routine that makes it much more likely that you'll over-consume for the day. Why? Because when your body gets an erratic and unpredictable stream of energy (calories), it wants to hoard them when it does get them. That usually means large meals that are rich with calories sound and taste best.

So how do you fix it? Here are three measures that work well, especially together:

1. Eat smaller amounts more frequently (about 1-2 fist sized portions every 2-3 hours is great).

2. Drink water between, but not during meals.

3. Spread fat, fiber and protein (elements that slow the rise and drop of blood sugar) as evenly across the waking day as possible.

This can help you overcome one of the biggest obstacles to eating healthfully: cravings and impulse eating.

Water Before Meals

One of the best things you can do to both minimize overeating and make sure you're properly hydrated (critical for optimal fat burning) is to stop drinking caloric beverages during your meals.

Instead, start drinking a full glass of water immediately before the meal. Why drop the with-meal beverages? Because your body produces saliva in the exact right amount and the exact right speed based on whatever your current hydration level is. That assures that we take the time we need to get the food down and get to the next bite.

But we're smarter than our bodies, right? Not to mention busier. Who has time to take small bites and wait between bites for each previous one to make it into our stomachs gracefully? Isn't it a much better solution to "cannonball" those big bites and gobble up as much food as possible before your body has a chance to register a sense of fullness? And wouldn't it be ideal if you could wash those calories down quickly with a beverage that has some additional calories of its own? That way, a 400-500 calorie meal that might otherwise take 20 minutes to eat could be more like 700 or 800 calories (or more) and we could have it out of our way in about seven or eight minutes!

Hmm, wait a second...In our increasingly more, better, faster society, sometimes it's a mark of progress. Sometimes not so much. A glass of water BEFORE the meal will do just the opposite, helping you slow down the speed of your ingestion and feel full earlier. Start to practice this habit, especially at dinner, and you'll not only start getting leaner, but you'll feel better throughout the night.

Five Steps to Peace

1. Presence - We are so easily entangled in regret, resentment or guilt over the past. Five minutes ago is as finished as five thousand years ago. It's done. The future, which we become excited or anxious about hasn't happened and has no true relevance yet. Only the present is real. We can only control our thoughts and actions right now.

2. Forgiveness - Holding grievances is the single most destructive emotional act you can experience. Guilt and resentment aren't necessary to act appropriately in the present - only our better judgement - our higher selves need be consulted for guidance. There's a Chinese proverb that says if you are bent on revenge, you'd better dig two graves. If you're abusing yourself with guilt, stop the behavior you feel guilty about and forgive yourself for the time it took you to learn the lesson. Release the poison.

3. Gratitude - How, once you have let go of the past or the need to control the future (and everyone and everything connected to the future), can you feel anything but awareness and appreciation for the countless blessings that surround you. That's not self-delusion - it's clarity.

4. Love - What is this, really? Isn't it being true to yourself and accepting everyone for exactly who they are? Isn't is allowing everything to be exactly as it is, unless it's clear that you have some responsibility to act with courage and compassion (rather than anger and viciousness)? Isn't it being open to life's lessons about hope, beauty and growth?

5. Peace - I believe that peace is a deeply rooted and always accessible state, although sometimes circumstances and the way we are conditioned to react to those circumstances with fear or anger can erect temporary barriers to that sense of peace. But it's always there. And perhaps the level of peace we can achieve is directly related to the enormity and the difficulty of the trials we face. I'd like to believe that.

In any case - I wish for you today presence, forgiveness, gratitude, love, and mostly, peace.

A Matter of Perspective

If you had an appointment scheduled with a friend, or even a stranger, you would do everything within reason to keep it, wouldn't you? And you would be at least irritated, if not down right angry, if they didn't bother to show.

So why do you plan to work out or eat "clean" one day and then just blow it off?

Aren't you worthy of your own respect?

And what if you could do something to help someone else live with more energy and vitality, perhaps even lengthening their life, but certainly enhancing the quality of it? How about a loved one, a friend or even someone you never met. You would do it, right?

What makes you less deserving of this commitment and effort?

*************************************************

"Wisdom is the power to perceive the best ends to aim for and the best means for reaching those ends. It is the power to perceive the right thing to do. The man who is strong enough to know the right thing to do, who is good enough to do only the right thing, and who is able and strong enough to do the right thing is truly a great man."
- Wallace D. Wattles

Straighten Up!

Back about the time CDs were just staring to replace vinyl albums, I was on vacation with my first wife, her best friend Lori, and Lori's husband Larry. Larry was a long-distance runner, lifted weights, taught martial arts and was once profiled in a local magazine in an article titled "Best Bodies in the Bay". He was the one they picked in the male, 20-29 category.

We were in a seaside town strolling by various shops - the girls were in front of us, Larry just in front of me. Larry didn't just enter a room - he glided in like a sleek, massive jet rolling out of the hanger. As we passed our reflected images on the adjacent smoke-tinted shop window, I watched each of our images mirror us as we passed. Vanity has always been a weak point (I'm proud, but not proud of that fact, if that even makes sense), so, of course I looked at my own reflection after watching Larry's pass by in the mirror.

Big mistake.

Somehow I had mysteriously transformed into some hideous cross between a unibrow, knuckle-dragging Neanderthal and a ridiculously twisted Elephant Man. Ok, it wasn't that bad, but after seeing Larry's reflection a split second before mine, well, it wasn't pretty.

It wasn't that I had a terrible body, but the way I carried the one I had: slump shouldered, crane-necked and shuffle-stepped. Was I just some defeated creature looking for a place to lay down and die? At 21?

Flash forward to the present day. I teach a couple of Pilates classes each week, strength train to balance all the functionally opposing muscles and hold my head high whenever it's not on a pillow. When I compare pictures from 20 years ago to recent ones, besides the fact that I have more muscle, less hair, more wrinkles and less fat (a pretty even trade off down the line, don't you think?), the big difference in appearance is that I always looked tired. In recent pictures I usually look crisp and energetic. And I never have back or neck problems - a very common trait among my peers. Training is a big reason. Posture is the other.

So how do you quickly and easily correct your posture?

Here's a great visualization I learned in a local yoga class: Imagine you have three strings attached to your body; one each to your shoulders and the third to your crown. Each is being pulled in its respective direction (left, right and upward.) This opens you up and stands you tall, rather than forcing a pinched, rigid unnatural stance and carriage. It feels good too.

The other instruction I give my Pilates students to correct the ever popular one-side hip-lean is, when standing, to always feel your weight evenly distributed between:

1. Each foot (lateral)

2. The balls of the feet and the heels (forward/back)

It's also good to engage the core, which you can do by gently contracting the low abs and slightly drawing the navel toward your spine (not vacuuming the entire abdominal wall like the desperate pot-bellied middle aged dreamer as the hot bikini-wearing nymph floats by on the beach.)

If all this seem like just too much to bother with, start with the "three strings" and see how much difference it makes in how your back feels (you can do this sitting as well as standing.)

You may just like the way it looks too.

Savory Winter Soup

This soup tastes great, whips up in a flash and lasts all week (if it takes that long to eat!). Plus, you can make a double batch and freeze half for later. It's very healthy and filling.

• 1 jar (25 oz.) roasted garlic pasta sauce• 2 boxes (16 oz. ea.) vegetable broth
• 2 cups uncooked whole grain pasta
• 3 cups frozen mixed vegetables
• 3 cups frozen chopped spinach
• 4 Chicken apple sausages

Heat broth and pasta sauce on medium in a large pot. Add pasta, frozen spinach and veggies. Dice sausages into 1/4 inch segments; add to soup. Simmer for 15-20 minutes and let sit for 30 minutes before serving. It's even better the next day!

Variations: other flavors of pasta sauce, chicken veggie pot stickers (pan-fry them first so they don't fall apart in the soup), black beans, garbanzos, etc.

Enjoy!

Shifting Your Thinking

The single defining characteristic for a person who consistently (and wholeheartedly) embraces a fitness lifestyle is this:It's part of who they are.This is a person for whom regular, challenging physical activity is as natural as showering and brushing their teeth every day. If they went a week without it (other than because of illness and injury) they would feel awful.So, is that an addiction? Is getting your kids off to school on time every day an addiction? Is eating?

I have a general rule for my clients regarding excuses: It's never about someone else or about other events; it's always about how important it is to you. If you do it, it's important enough. If you don't, it isn't.

There have been times I've gone a week without exercise that had nothing to do with my health. Every summer we go to a farm on a river for family camp and I don't usually get in any structured workout there. That's fine because I'm very consistent throughout the year, so I don't worry about a single week. My mom hasn't been able to exercise regularly for a few weeks because she has her hands full taking care of my dad after his recent knee surgery. I'm sure she'll resume when things settle down, because her functionality and quality of life are far better when she is working out regularly.

In both of those examples, exercise was less important to us that other current priorities.That's no cause for judgment. It just is what it is.

So the bigger issue is, over the long haul (several weeks to several months and beyond), how important is exercising and eating healthfully to you - really? Not important enough yet?

Well, today is a new day, isn't it..?___________________________________________________________________Being impeccable, you take responsibility for your actions, but you do not judge or blame yourself for anything.- Don Miguel Ruiz