Another go around with almond milk...and this time I win!

A couple of years ago when I was trying to consume less dairy I bought already made almond milk and man did my taste buds find it nasty. This time around knowing that I have a moderately unhappy reaction to dairy gives me more motivation and I found my brain in a better place to try almond milk again. I took the challenge in a little different direction this time though, I decided to try making my own and see if I could come up with something that I would be happy splashing in a coffee drink (since that is about all I actually use milk for anyway these days and guess what...I did!
It turns out that almond milk isn't rocket science. It also turns out that it is much better with a little added sweetness which a couple of dates and a little vanilla are well suited to provide! I read every recipe on the web I could find (they were all very close versions of the same) and it only took following one to realize that I like a texture that was more milkier than it is watery so no problem smaller amount of water or a few more nuts and the problem is solved!
It is now easy and quick enough for me to make that I even took my ingredients (and my mesh bag for squeezing the pulp out) on a trip to NYC so that I wasn't tempted to have a splash of dairy where it wasn't an actual splurge! This was great because it allowed me to eat mindfully and to make each and every splurge really count in a city that is FULL of amazing food! 

Continuing the lifestyle changes...and enjoying the process!

Several pretty great things have happened this week. I discovered that I can make lemon curd with honey instead of refined sugar and it is pretty stinking fabulous. I found a way to make quinoa for breakfast that I actually enjoy AND I created a whole new daily routine, to add to the new weekly routine of 3x a week of infrared therapy that I started a couple of weeks ago. See? Great stuff happening around here!

A check in on the inferred therapy shows that contrary to my suspicion it is VERY helpful! When I first get done I will admit that I don't feel great I feel sort of gutted and my vision is awkward, which at first was super disconcerting BUT after a bit of consideration when a marathon runner is done running or a power lifter is done lifting, they also feel extreme fatigue they might not loose their vision but still, knowing that this is temporary and will clear up as I cool down makes it ok and sort of put me back in the no pain no gain game...which I love!!! SEE?!? It really is all in the attitude!
The immediate benefit I am getting from this therapy is that I am able to get up as little as only three times the night that I do it! THREE TIMES as opposed to getting up every 35-45 minutes all night long!!! Also my muscle spasms are reduced for quite a few hours! So better sleep and less pain...that a winner in my book! I am looking forward to keeping up with this therapy!

Onto my quinoa! OMG can I just tell you that if you make it according to the package (Ic water 1/2c quinoa) it is not spectacular at all BUT if you add 2TBL of coconut milk (the real stuff in the can) and two chopped dates to the water when you cook it ooolala it becomes great! This makes enough for two breakfasts so you only have to make it every other day...which is also a plus! I top my bowl with another TBL of coconut milk and I gotta say I will be okay for breakfast in May when eggs are eliminated!

At first I am pretty sure that I won't be having much that is sweet at all with even fruit likely being held to a minimum so I really wanted to try and see if I could make lemon curd with honey instead of refined sugar that was actually good not gross so that once I could have some extra sweetness and hopefully eggs) I had something in mind that I already knew would hit the spot. (Its all about being prepared even though it will be august at the EARLIEST by the time this happens) Other than the honey, I made another change, I decided not to strain it of the egg bits, why take that protein away? Instead I got out my trusty immersion blender and poof, silky smooth unstrained lemon curd that was as amazing warm as it is chilled!

Onto the daily change, or the biggest daily change anyway. Last week I started doing 30 minutes of yoga after I walk the dog and before showering every morning. This had been amazing. How have I never done this before? Well actually I know why, yoga didn't interest me, it isn't an adrenaline rush like lifting something heavy can be, but seriously it is time for me to stop feeling sorry for myself and start rolling with the punches that have come my way, which in part means finding a challenge that I can stick with. Because yoga incorporates flexibility and balance with strength and breathing this seems like an obvious choice to anyone outside the box, but for me it took a long time to wrap my head around. Then in walks yogaglo. Well in walked a friend who has practiced for 30 years, and she told me that she had started using an online subscription for yoga and so of course I had to check it out...(after thinking about it for 6 months hah I told you I suck)
If you have never heard of yogaglo and you have EVER considered doing yoga in the comfort of your own home you really do need to check them out. It is an online subscription (there are a lot of them, this is the Cadillac version just go for it, it's worth the extra money per month) featuring thousands of sessions with top notch instructors. There are literally 44 different focuses to choose from and 32 specific body parts to narrow it down for you!

So rolling out of bed to a sip of chamomile tea while feeding the dog, leaving with the hubby for a walk with the dog and then coming home to have a yoga session before my quinoa breakfast has made this a really great week...and its Wednesday and usually by Wednesday I am feeling like if I can  just live through Wednesday I will make it to Friday...this week for the first time in the memorable past I am feeling positive!

Embracing the challenge of change in our weekly menu

The fact that I love my kitchen is not newsworthy, well not so much the kitchen itself. I don't love the narrow, cramped galley but do appreciate the counter space after being at Liesl's in New York...each time I return it will seem spacious for a week as I readjust!

What I do love is the fun creativity that happens in the kitchen. As a kid my mom made it so much fun that I remember thinking about how great it would be when I had my very own kitchen! Not a house or a family or a job, just my own kitchen. Obviously cooking was a big part of my childhood, my mother is a genius in the kitchen. She is adept at cooking many different kinds of foods. She was smart, as a young woman each time she made a friend who had lived anywhere but here she would somehow manage to get them to teach them whatever the local cuisine had been where they had lived. She learned to cook some Texan, Chinese, Vietnamese (off the top of my head) all from friends of hers that had spent years cooking for their families in those respective places. Some truly great food came out of her kitchen...it wasn't all that turkey soup that I dreaded! 

When my dads health took a dive, mom had to learn a new way of cooking and she attacked that like she does everything else. Salt, sugar and fat are not easy to leave out of a recipe, especially when you are used to the richness and depth that these ingrediants impart. I think that her attitude has once again been such a good useful example for me. 

If we attack changes in the kitchen as a challenge to learn rather then a sad deprivation sentence I am convinced that the finished product will be much better. 

I didn't used to like quinoa, lets face it it is no risotto! It took me a lot of playing around with it trying to figure out how to richen it up and make it seem like more than it is. In fact until I changed my goal I was never happy with it but once I decided to embrace the texture and be happy with imparting depth and richness, only then did I relax into playing with it. Once we are no longer fighting to make one thing into another and start thinking about how to complement whatever it is we are attempting to cook then things begin to come together. I now love quinoa, for me I found that the trick to teasing great flavor out of it is to toast it first, just as I would sesame seeds in a dry cast iron pan and then I choose what to cook it in from a robust mirepoix to plain old water depending on what I am using it as a bed for or serving it with. It cooks faster than rice, it never sticks, it is not finicky at all and it is packed with protein and iron. If you haven't made quinoa recently give it a try! Make sure that if you want to try toasting it that you buy pre-rinsed quinoa, and heat your broth/water while you are doing the toasting so that you get the joy of seeing the sizzling seeds hit the hot water! 

Even one small change makes a difference. I remember when I read Barbara Kingsolver's book on their experiment of gardening and eating local I came away really loving her attitude of any little change that we can embrace making a difference. (This is when I started gardening). Little differences in the kitchen can help us build a healthier foundation, they provide a platform for us to build on! Our eating habits shouldn't be about all or nothing they should be about making changes that we can be happy with and use over a sustained period of time! 

Quieting unhelpful thoughts and welcoming balance

Knowing that I am getting ready to undertake this three month clearing diet (and the life beyond) has had some interesting affects of my brain.

It seems that I have quite a diverse audience in my head. I have the voice that says cut things out slowly so that you are eased into this and there it isn't such a jolt (or in the case of caffeine and sugar a lack of jolt). I have the quiet murmurer in the back wondering if NYC will be less fun because I have slowly cut things out now if splurge while I am there, will I feel sick if I do, will it be worth it, does that throw away over a month of cutting these foods to a minimum and negate that effort? There is also the very rude hiss from the front row that keeps brining up that I should just cut it all out now and get on with it.

The take away for me, is that this is a really good lesson in balance and control. This awesome experiment is not meant to create a disordered eating pattern or a troubled relationship with food for me. It is meant to be a learning experience for me so that I can see precisely what effect different foods have on my personal system. This will allow me to choose to make whatever choices work for me at any given time KNOWING what I can expect. Having the ability to manage our expectations is HUGE and this will do exactly that.

Having this very clear goal in mind has been really helpful.  Knowing that this is about eating for how one feels is very different than tangling with the emotional ties to food, it sort of cuts through all of the food politicians yammering in the peanut gallery of my brain.

I am not trying to deny the memories and feelings associated with different foods, I have no desire to change any of that at all. Why should I deny that cabbage and butter noodles, a stewed quince, tart warm lemon pudding just beginning to form a skin on top and pomegranates all have ties to my maternal grandmother while chewy gingery molasses cookies, granola, lemon bars, fudge, croissants, humbow and anything raspberry are wrapped in childhood memories with my mother. There are just as many foods that don't conjure up warm fond memories with these same two incredible women, turkey soup, turkey enchiladas, (actually every and anything made with turkey other than a roasted turkey dinner) liverwurst, tuna sandwiches, lima beans and ham, crunchy peanut butter just to name a few.

My point?

Food is not evil, it is what it is. The less power we give it the less of a problem it becomes, and the less chance we have of becoming a disordered eater. There will absolutely be days in my future when I choose to have a bite of my memories, both the amazing ones and the ones not so amazing as that is a distinct way of time travel and that is really going to be ok, because a bite or a serving doesn't need to change a damn thing if we are being mindful, aware eaters. One bite or serving does not predicate the next if we are in control.

My mother used to say that if a person could bottle and sell balance they would be the richest person in the world. She is right. She is almost always right.

This has been really helpful for me to remember in talking back to the peanut gallery in my head, to those all or nothing voices in my head I say say sit down! This is my journey not yours. My science experiment not yours.

I will indeed continue cutting back and keep trying recipes in preparation for this exciting science experiment, and at the same time I am going to continue to enjoy my one cappuccino a day and for now I will have as many bell peppers as I please!!!

The project begins

This new science project has me already stocking the pantry for the months ahead and trying new recipes so that when the end of April gets here and I start the clearing phase I already have a handle on some "go to" ideas that make me happy, and a pantry and fridge that have the required ingredients!
Another thing it has me doing is getting rid of things that I won't be eating freely so that I am not tempted to mess up the clearing process or make it longer than is necessary.

I must admit that since I know that the nightshade family is going to be eliminated at least for a while (god forbid forever) I am eating more than my fair share of peppers! Its funny, I would have thought that I might want to make a batch of my moms fudge or something decadent but apparently (at least right now) I am most worried about loosing my peppers, I eat peppers every single day! In stir fry, in humus, in scrambles, pretty much in everything, they are my favorite...well next to my coffee,  I do sooo love my cappuccinos!

A New Journey

A new journey, but not in a completely different direction, just the beginning of walking a MUCH tighter line down the path of whole food goodness and pursuing a much more focused goal than ever before.
This time around units of energy are not in the forefront, neither is having as many veggies that I eat as possible being grown in my yard or nearby (although my gardening continues)  Units of energy are not the enemy of inflammation, neither is how close to our doorstep our food is grown. Inflammation is the primary enemy that I am choosing to fight right now with hormone imbalance and unhealthy gut bacteria following closely behind in what ever order shapes up to be the best to treat them.  I went gluten free for a year or so and before that I went sugar free for about a year and a half. Neither were a holy grail for me. Neither time that I made these changes was my life quite like it is now. Now I feel the inflammation every day. Every minute of every day. The knowledge that I can clear out some of the things causing and aggravating this inflammation has me motivated to fight with more drastic measures.
This time around I am doing this in a much different way and with a much different mind set. I have a whole team to guide me. A team who right out of the gate was straight up honest about while there is not a cure for Multiple Sclerosis there is a way to get and to keep our gut bacteria healthy and to reduce the inflammation and in turn reduce some of this pain. This is huge. There is something really annoying and demoralizing about people who want to tell you that they have a cure all for a disease that absolutely has no cure or that they know a person who cured their MS with their diet, or their spirituality or whatever other thing that ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT CURE MS so to have a medical team that promotes health and wellness and brining your body into balance in this manner while being real that there is no cure was exciting to say the least.
Appointment #1 was two hours long and fascinating to say the least. I was sent home with test kits for pretty much everything that comes out of a body (ewe)
Super excited for this science experiment to begin!

A whole new way to judge success!

I'm thinking that due to the difference of my workouts now vs. pre MS I am in need of coming up with something tangible so that I can feel truly successful vs okay yeah I had a workout...and after today's session I think I know what it might be!

I walked into the studio and up the stairs (one at a time) on my own power with no help, and walking out I needed the trusty 100yr old tobacco stick that has been fashioned into a cane with an antique glass knob as the handle to help me out! I'd say that just might constitute success! 

Maybe I don't hate that ugly thing as much as I think that I do. It was certainly better than not being able to work out! I caught myself worrying as we left what the people across the street and in the running shop downstairs and of course at the training studio next door were thinking if they were looking out,  seeing me hobble out like a little old lady and guess what? I didn't care! know why?

Cause my workout kicked total ass and it felt great to be wobbly and spent! I felt lucky to have a daughter that was willing to spend the time working out with me making sure I wasn't doing anything crazy and stupid, and was willing to carry the ugly stick upstairs for me instead of making me carry it when I didn't need it! 

This just all goes to prove that it really is all in the attitude doesn't it? The cane can be my judgement stick as to how well I actually worked out! 

I think I like it!!!

Confession time:

It has been a long time since my last real workout. I mean a workout in a traditional sense. Each day I find SOMETHING to do no matter how stupid it feels to only do one or two things. I have just been so afraid of screwing my life up any worse. What if I fall and break something, what if my foot gets stuck and I break something, what if I cant walk after I am done what if I don't recover and that then is a new normal? What if God forbid, I over do it and cannot make it through the rest of my day that is booked solid with clients? 

Omg I know better, most of the above wouldn't kill me (in fact other than a new less desirable norm being set, all of the above would be all right)  but my heart is afraid. My emotions are controlling my actions and that is terrible! Its just not me. Its not who I am or who I have ever been or ever wanted to be. So it has got to stop. I am going to make a major effort to be braver. Otherwise things will not go well. So of course this means humble pie for me :-( it means not leaving home without some sort of med, and the stupid cane. It means doing a workout regardless of the fear of  defeat. Things are different but I need to adjust instead of resist and cower. I need to trust that my body will indeed recover, and I need to honor it by giving in to what it needs even if in the end that means humility, which leads me to ponder why it is that each time I make time to write it somehow involves my need for humility? 

Last time I wrote I hadn't been diagnosed, and I was feeling such admiration and 
respect for my clients who had scary things that they couldn't control going on with their bodies. Now somehow by a rude twist of whatever you want to call it, I have joined them. 

Somehow, during this journey I have developed this (very wrong very arrogant) idea that I can somehow control what is happening to my spinal cord and brain. It has been 
insidious. I have modified an awful lot (in my opinion) thinking that if I do ABC then 
XYZ will happen.  Well, XYZ is going to happen if it's going to happen. In the meantime  I am going to work hard to not fear the loss of control after a workout or during a long day at work. I am going to work on not dreading the leg going funny (not really so very funny at all) as the day drags on and I am already exhausted. I am determined to be smarter about whatever my body needs to be okay and get through my life, knowing that once I get my feet up and a bit of rest things will be better. I never wake up burning and red like I am when I go to bed at night, and the pain in my hip is never as acute in the morning as it is during the day,  a bit of rest always always always does me good. Even the spasms that bring me to my knees sometimes are better in the morning when I have had a rest from being on my feet. This is all what I will be working 
hard to dwell on. Time for a grateful diary again huh? Time to stop being afraid and 
angry and start getting control over the things that I can control...more sleep more 
exercise and smarter about meds being with me at all times. 

Yikes okay this was by far the scariest post I have ever attempted. We will see how long I feel like being honest, maybe it will be another two years before we talk again!! I hope not. My soul is sooo over this!!

What a challenge it is to work on ones personality.

I have known for a very long time that I have this problem but never really ever cared to actively work on it. Somehow now I've decided that I am not exactly happy with this warped way of looking at life, which means unfortunately for me a ton of work, fortunately for my family hopefully a better more pleasant to live with me?!

You see mentally, my days are split into sessions, 30 45 and 60 minutes long. This is the problem with me working for myself (had to change that from "working for oneself" as I realize that this is MY issue not everyone's HA) no matter where I am or what I am doing I measure my joy or fun oe whatever by the dollar ammount I would be bringing in if I were at work instead of wherever I am. I am constantly assesing to be sure that the fun or relaxation I am having is worth not being at work. This is exhausting & unhealthy and it's a terrible way to exist!

Enough!

Have I learned nothing form working with my clients who have found themselves faced suddenly with terrifying illnesses/diseases?

Time for a bit of humility on my part.

Here is to a new way of living. Living in the present! Breathing feeling and existing in the present!

To take or not to take responsibility for our lifestyle choices?

There was no way I was going to read the following (which is paraphrased) and not get back to blogging...

"The advantage of modern pharmacopoeia is that we can abdicate responsibility for how our lives are lived. What and how much we eat, what and how much we imbibe, how much we work, the games we played etc.
Unhealthy habits can now be enjoyed and the disastrous results minimized by a little colored pill."

The fact that this is the basic rule under which our society now operates should scare the hell out of us. How do we change these rules for ourselves and our families? Is there a way that is viable for us to begin taking a bit of control and learn to be more aware of what our needs are? Can we realistically give up the "need" for instantaneous relief from whatever ails us?

Hmm how to begin such a process?
Of course (for those of you who know me well) it would be a no brainer to begin with our brain, the center of everything.

Do you know that the nerve cells that arise when we are still in the womb can live 100 years or longer? This is super impressive life-span when compared to the cells in the lining of our intestines which live only for a few days and red blood cells which have an average lifespan of three months!
In the old days it was believed that once the nerve cells died that was it, game over, they were not replaced but now we know that new nerve cells do arise and in more than one region of the brain...even in older brains not just the youth!
As always with knowledge comes responsibility, this time it is the responsibility to nourish the cells that we have and to do our best to stimulate the growth of new ones.
With this in mind we are going to begin discussing a series of thoughtful lifestyle choices that each of us can employ on a daily or weekly basis, that will help us be able to give up the need for a "quick fix" from a little pill by being more in tune to our needs and by being proactive with our health! In other words we will begin to learn the process of taking care of our brain so that it in turn can better take care of us!

I have spent a good deal of time thinking about gratitude lately. Really I guess it all started this week on Tuesday with a simple email. The message was from a woman who sounded confident and strong, clear headed and not at all sick. It was a simple, short message that changed the way I felt all week, hopefully for longer than that!

In the email this woman told me that she had been diagnosed with a motor neuron disease, which was causing foot drop on one side. Her goal was to have help getting in as good of shape as possible, so that she will be able to have the best quality of life as she adjusts to the progression of the disease that she has just been diagnosed with. She was looking for a personal trainer to supplement her weekly sessions with a physical therapist, (which by the way is who gave her my information and suggested that she get a hold of me, thank you Laura). 

Of course as with any potential client with an issue that I have not worked with before I got busy doing research.
The exact diagnosis that was given her last month was that of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease" what is this exactly? Nothing quite as simple as foot drop sounds that is for sure! I'll let the ALS Association describe/explain exactly what this is.

"Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.

A-myo-trophic comes from the Greek language. "A" means no or negative. "Myo" refers to muscle, and "Trophic" means nourishment–"No muscle nourishment." When a muscle has no nourishment, it "atrophies" or wastes away. "Lateral" identifies the areas in a person's spinal cord where portions of the nerve cells that signal and control the muscles are located. As this area degenerates it leads to scarring or hardening ("sclerosis") in the region.

As motor neurons degenerate, they can no longer send impulses to the muscle fibers that normally result in muscle movement. Early symptoms of ALS often include increasing muscle weakness, especially involving the arms and legs, speech, swallowing or breathing. When muscles no longer receive the messages from the motor neurons that they require to function, the muscles begin to atrophy (become smaller). Limbs begin to look "thinner" as muscle tissue atrophies."

What a new challenge this will be, for both her and I. Together with a team of 10 health care providers we will be working as many days as possible to gently give her as much strength as possible for the months/years ahead.

What a different experience it was for me to discuss fat as stored energy with a person who is likely to need that stored energy to fall back on in the near future. How much easier is it to accept the fat vs. fit idea when one is faced with ones own mortality at an unexpected point in life? (I will add at this point that she is not obese whatsoever which would indeed in itself make life harder on her joints).
How frustrating is it to know that every bit of mobility lost will stay lost, there is no going back and trying to rehab what is gone with ALS. Once it is gone it is gone, period. This is not at all what I am used to in working with personal training clients.

I have had an amazing rewarding 18 months or so spending a lot of time focusing my research/reading on my stroke clients issues, and they have been having fabulous results! It has been and will continue to be such a rewarding experience with good happy results, and now here I begin another journey, one that will not have a happy ending but will certainly make one woman as strong as possible to face what the future holds for her and will absolutely play a role in shaping how I view everyday life from here on out.

In just a few short days I have consciously become aware of being grateful for the ease in which I can move my joints, pick my feet up off of the floor and walk, for the ability to swallow, breathe, touch, feel and of course for the ability to speak, for without that ability communication is much more difficult.

Being part of this journey is going to be a humbling experience for me, as you can see it already has made me think long and hard about even some seemingly simple but vital things.

Keeping our brains fit and flexible with neurobics

If there is one thing that I have learned from working with my clients who've had strokes, it is just how much I have always taken my healthy brain for granted. I have never truly focused on any sort of strategy for keeping my own brain fit and flexible at all, until that is I started looking for ways to enhance workouts for my clients whose brains had sustained damage.

Once I started down the path of searching for everyday exercises for the brain, it became sort of like a scavenger hunt! One that makes complete sense when you stop to reason on the theories behind why different things work so well. Of course all I can do is read, read, read! The cool thing is, that with the ability to look at and image a brain, literally as it is thinking, neuroscientists are able to learn more about enhancing and improving our mental capabilities, this means a lot of fun reading for me to choose from!

I think it is just crazy that the new scientific evidence clearly shows that our brains do not have to go into steep decline as we age, in fact in 1988 a team of American and Swedish scientists showed that in adult humans NEW brain cells were generated!


This lays the responsibility of keeping our brains sharp and fit squarely upon our shoulders doesn't it?!

Here is where Neurobics enters the scene. Neurobics is a big key to taking charge of our mental health and fitness. Basically what Neurobics is, is a cute little name for literally giving yourself a mental workout! How do we do this? It is so simple, we do this by breaking from our routines and patterns, so anything that is non routine and unexpected is good. Why? Because by reliance on different senses than what is our normal pattern or routine we create new patterns for neuron activity in our brains!

Think of these exercises as you would think about the training that you give your core. Keeping your core strong and fit enables you to move and exercise with less difficulty and more efficiently, do the same for your brain!


Here are some great ideas, don't get discouraged if it is harder than you think, have fun pretend like you are a little kid! If you get frustrated just think how much harder these would be had you already sustained some sort of damage to that wonderful brain in your head!


Wake up to a different smell in the morning than you are used too, instead of coffee keep an aroma in a container next to your bed and release a little smell each morning for a week. This will link different smells to your morning routine thus activating new neural pathways


Put your toothbrush on the opposite side of the sink or in a different drawer


Brush your teeth with your eyes closed


Shower with your eyes closed


Move the shampoo to a different spot in the shower


Eat with chopsticks


Eat with chopsticks with the WRONG hand


Perform tasks (that are safe) around the house (this could just be moving about from room to room) while blindfolded


Write with your Wrong hand


Wear earplugs experience the world without sound


Don't drive the same route each day change it up


Swap cars with someone so that you are driving with different controls


Don't sit in the same chair at dinner, or while watching TV change it up!


Okay I'm sure you get the idea, no getting old and set in your ways!
Go for it, see for yourself how much fun and how challenging this can be!

Challenge for week of Jan 4th

I know that many of you saw this on our fb page, but for those of you that did not here is the challenge of the week.
Rid your home, and or office space of all the holiday goodies that may have accumulated! This of course does not mean eating everything in sight, as was pointed out as one option on fb (thank you Sam)! Pack it up and give it away (to someone that you know will welcome the goodies.) Or how about simply tossing stuff that has already seen it's best time for being eaten. If this seems incredibly wasteful to you, think about it this way, you will either waste it in the trash can or you will wear it for the next few months in the form of extra pounds! What will it be? Are you up to the challenge?

New year brings new changes at Fitness by Design!

A fresh year is always bound to bring new challenges, new rants and raves and new awesome accomplishments! There will be new recipes to share, and new ideas to kick around. What will never change is our need as humans to have a net in place that is always there to support us with our everyday healthy endeavors!
Last year Fitness by Design tried adding a forum to the website as a trial to see how many of you would get on and talk, or at least read in silence and be encouraged.
While there was plenty of traffic there was not a lot of talking going on, so I am making some changes! If I am going to do most of the talking this is a much nicer platform to use! I will be leaving the recipes on the fitnessbydesignseattle.com website as they will be cataloged easily.
I also am discontinuing the newsletter in favor of the blog. It is my hope that this will be more interactive!