Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Tony Horton and a Little Tough Love


If you don't know who Tony Horton is he is the creator of P90X. Recently he hosted a chat and went on a rant that include among other things personal responsibility. Some people might read his rant and be offended but I found it very motivating.

So for those of you that like to be coddled or patted on the head and told everything going to be OK you might not like what he has to say.

BTW...thanks to Kajun for passing this on.


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Alright, sit back, and relax.
Let's go over a couple of things.
There seems to be a general lack of willpower,
and there also seems to be, like cani said, poor planning.
Showing up to a party hungry, never a good idea, you're screwed.
Now i could sit here and i could tell you little tips about how to help you control your eating habits,
improve the quality of your food, and i do it week after week, month after month,year after year
and it seems like the same people (i know who you are - you know who you are) continue to just let food win.
Am i correct?
I mean, you do the programs, and you come into the chat rooms and you go into message boards
and you're part of the community and you have been for years, and you lose some weight, and gain it back
then you lose some more, and gain back more, and it's just a cycle that continues.
Sometimes you take it seriously, sometimes you don't.
Blah, blah, blah!
Sad, boring and pathetic, really...
You blame it on your parents and you blame it on work
and you blame it on stress
and you blame it on poor planning,
or on the weather or lack of sleep
and you sort of take the blame, but not enough to make any changes.
I mean, if it doesn't matter
cuz apparently it doesn't
cuz if it did
this would no longer be a problem for most of you.
But the sad fact of the matter is, you know what to do!
It's not like this company is selling you some silly weight loss diet program that is asking you to eat funky portions of stupid food for the rest of your life.
You have temptations and you succumb to them. Period.
Now my job tonight is not to sit here and point fingers and call you names, and say that you are losers.
But it's time for a little tough love people.
As some of you know, i'm 50 and life is extraordinarily short.
I feel like i've lived 10 lives already and as we all get older, it doesn't get any easier, unless we do the right thing.
Succumbing to temptation based on outside influences and influences inside our heads
just makes life such a dull boring frustrating drag.
Ick!
Is this what we want?
Is this good enough?
Is it?
But what the hell you gonna do about it?
Because change is a bit** man.
But if you want the life that i think you think you deserve, then you have to do the opposite of what you're doing.
Cuz i gotta say, when i show up to events (team beachbody events or camps) and i see people who used to be fit who aren't, i just think, what happened?
And i know the economy is rough and things happen in life that are brutal, but since when does food solve any of our problems?
It makes things worse!
We need something to make us feel good for 10 seconds, but all it's doing is making our situation worse!
[lisaerin82] tony__how did you get into fitness? What keeps you going day in and day out? Do you take 'breaks' throughout the year?
Lisa, good question.
Which ties into this topic.
Because i have to!
Because you have to!
Because the alternative sucks!
Many people in this chat room know that it’s too vital, it's too important.
It makes life so much better. Not to do it makes for a lesser life.
So if you don't mind your lesser life keep on eating crap based on all your lame excuses.
I got into fitness because i wanted to look better, i stayed in fitness because i like feeling better.
I like the quality of my life to improve, because i understand that exercise and eating right does that.
I like being fit and i like being healthy.
I understand the importance of those things
i also understand that to achieve them, i have to eat right and exercise at least 6 days a week
my poor eating has diminished less and less over the last few months.
I've almost cut chocolate out. Which is hard for me.
I notice that when i get to that rough patch of 2 or 3 weeks when i'm trying to get off of any kind of a particular bad food habit the cravings go away and i feel better more often.
I sleep better.
My digestion is better.
My energy is up.
My moods are upbeat and positive more often.
Btw, for those of you that are struggling with your diet (which i know is probably more than 11 of you)
if you notice you're struggling in life, guess what?
That struggle comes with what you put in your mouth first, not visa versa
one causes the other.
It's not coincidence that your wack diet is part of your wack life.
Everybody read me?
Hearing me?
Feeling me?
Anybody think i'm talking to them directly?
How does that feel?
Kinda crappy, right?
As dr. Phil would say
how's that working out for you?
When this chat is over tonight i want you to walk away with some thoughts in your head that might not exist after a normal chat.
One thought or question i should say is... What am i gonna do about it?
Because right now you're not doing anything.
You're just letting life push you around.
Super lean, super ripped, super healthy, super strong people do everything right.
People that are pretty ripped, pretty healthy, pretty strong, do most things right
people that are not overweight, not unhealthy, but look ok do about half of the important things right.
I could keep going but you understand where i'm headed.
3 months ago, i was doing my 90/10 % plan and that was pretty good, you know, 6 pack, etc.
But when i cleaned it up more, i'm just leaner and i feel better.
It worked for me
and i don't miss the chocolate.
You kids need a plan.
Anybody want a plan right now?
Free of charge?
Now this plan is so simple it's gonna freak you out!
You have your pieces of paper and writing utensils ready?
At the top of a piece of paper write this;
i, [write your own name] hereby declare that i will follow the tony horton food plan for the next 30 days.
I'm gonna give you kids the hard core version not modified versions of the food plan.
Ok, pick up your pencils again.
#1
for the next 30 days i will not eat white bread or anything made with enriched flour or processed flour
snickers bars.
Done!
Out!
Gone!
Bye bye!
See ya later!
No mas!
Sianara!
Got it?
Get it?
Do it!
#2
i will greatly reduce my dairy intake.
And for some of you no more dairy!
Get it?
Do it!
No more pizza with a ton of cheese!
No more milk!
No more ice cream!
Gone!
Out!
Go buy some almond milk or rice milk.
Or i'll smack ya.
#3
no more carbonated beverages.
No more pepsi.
No more coke.
No more 7 up.
No more sprite.
No more dr. Pepper.
No more diet pepsi.
No more diet coke.
No more zero coke.
No more mountain dew.
None!
#4
water and tea only!
If you're a coffee psycho, 1 cup a day.
Shut up and do it!
#5
at least 2 of your meals a day there'd better be vegetables on your plate.
1 meal a day, there'd better be fruit.
Do it
#6
here's how you're getting your protein.
Nuts, beans, fish, turkey, and chicken.
That's it!
Shut up and do it!
Get off the red meat for a while.
Off!
I don't care about lean red meat.
Just get off of it!
#7
for the first 2 weeks of your 30 day plan
write it down!
Write it down!
Every morsel!
"oh, but tony, that's so hard, it takes time, what if i forget a pen? What if i've lost my pad of paper to write down what i've eaten? Does that mean i have to write down everything in my salad? What if there's avocado, peppers, mushrooms, nuts, in different kinds of salad, do i have to write it all down?"
shut up you whiny little bi*****!
If you want to live large and you want this microscopically short life of yours to be worth showing up for
then you'll make a plan.
You'll do what i say and things will be good!
Or you'll keep doing what you've been doing and then you'll just be what you are right now, or worse.
Okay?
This country has turned into pre-rome, and the empire's about to collapse.
The only way we can begin to turn it around is to start taking care of ourselves first, so that we have the energy and enthusiasm to take care of the rest of the crap that is going south in our lives.
Poor eating habits and lack of physical movement has turned the vast majority of us into whiny little cry baby losers.
Far too many people are living in this state of quiet desperation.
It's like joe the plumber...
Good grief!
The guy, and not to get political, because it's not political at all.
Here's a guy pretending to be a plumber
when he's actually an unlicensed contractor who does plumbing, proclaiming that he has the money to buy this $250,000 plumbing business, when in actuality the plumbing business is actually a $100,000 plumbing business. He still owes back taxes and he makes less than $40k a year. Joe is making things up to make a point.
So joe the plumber needs to read law #5
get real joe!
We have to stop pretending that life is something other than what is actually happening to us.
The point i'm trying to make for those of you that are still a little confused is that we have to take control of our lives. The one that is happening, not the pretend one.
We have to take control of our eating.
We have to stop the fantasy version and start believing in the real one.
We have to stop pretending that things are going to get better because we just bought a new crystal, or our palm reading went well, or somebody else'll do it for us, or if we just hope or pray it'll get better on its own.
Good grief!
If you are not happy, it's because of you!
It's just you.
You and no one else.
Not your husband, not your wife.
Not god.
Not your parents.
Not your work.
Not the weather.
None of it.
It's you and the information or lack thereof, inside your brain.
The more you know, the more you can do
i can get in here and show you little tricks about how to eat better or do pushups on your knees but the fact of the matter is success is a deeper more profound look within.
Are you with me people?
Can you dig it?
If you stick with the simple pieces to that puzzle or that plan, weight will come flying off.
Your body will change.
I don't want you to count calories.
I would like you to eat smaller meals.
I would like you to not eat a couple hours before you go to bed.
I also want to say that there's a list in life.
The good life list
things like;
getting 7 1/2 to 8 hours of sleep. It's not like you have to pass an exam to know how to do that
exercise 5_6 days a week. It's not like you have to ask for permission from someone else.
You just do it!
Eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein and not all the other garbage is how you stay healthy.
That’s not rocket science.
You know, stuff like brush your damn teeth twice a day.
Floss once in a while.
Don't blow out your credit card so you can't pay it off.
Choose patience over rage.
Be in the moment.
Enjoy the journey.
Don't be attached to the outcome.
Don't sweat the small stuff, because it's all small stuff.
Open the door.
Try new things.
Change is good.
Surround yourself with like_minded, upbeat, good humored people.
Okay, here's the book of the week
it's called "made to stick"
this book will help you formulate new habits, that stick.
The amazing thing about exercise and eating well...the outcome. If you're consistent.
It's the same for everyone.
I know i got on my box nice and tall here today but i just hate seeing smart people make the same mistakes
over and over again.
It's got to be frustrating.
When it come to health and fitness (in general) there’s 3 groups of people.
The first group is, people who don't know better.
They haven't come across this information yet. They're still buying into weight watchers, nutrisystem, herbal life and other programs that work as long as you use them.
But i don't know anybody who's been doing weight watchers for 15 years.
They’re "weight loss only" products that are temporary fixes.
These same folks are buying stupid ab chairs, ab lounges and some rotating pushup stands. This stuff is supposed to change your entire body?
Give me a break!
They don't know better so they get to be stuck.
Then there's category 2
people that come here and understand that exercise has to happen 5_6 days a week. Variety works!
There has to be intensity and consistency.
These people also understand that healthy food is part of the equation. When folks in category 2 discover this information they understand it's importance like air and water and live it.
Far too many people (there are some of you that are in this chat room) are in category 3
people who know better but aren't willing to apply the information.
It's like knowing how to breathe but deciding to constantly hold your breath to be miserable.
It's such a bummer.

This group of people are the saddest of all.
Not from my perspective, but from their own.
Does this sound like it makes sense to anyone in here?
So we know our plan, correct?
We know what to do, right?
We're gonna do it right?
Why not?
The end result will be awesome!
You can all have what i have and i'm not that smart.
I just follow the rules.
I'm like scott fifer.
Just follow the rules
alright, kids, that's it
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
that's it, i'm out

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Thanks Tony for putting it out there in no uncertain terms.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Breakfast Roulade



In an attempt to find something new to eat, I had seen a photo of some sort of egg roulade on the internet recently and tried my best to create a low-carb version. Some improvisation was required as I did not know what ingredients I might have laying around. So this is what I came up with...

6 Large Eggs
1/2 Cup Sugar Free Almond Milk
1/2 Cup Almond Flour
1 tsp Sea Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
1/2 Cup Shredded Cheese
1/2 Small Onion (diced)
4 slices bacon sliced into small pieces
3 cups of baby spinach

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees. Wisk the Eggs, Milk, Flour, Salt and Pepper in a bowl. Line a 1/2 sheet pan, 9X13 I think, with parchment paper. Spray lightly with cooking spray and pour the mixture in. I had to press the edges down to force the egg mix into the corners. Put in the oven for about 10 minutes...I honestly have no idea but until it cooked but still a little runny on top.

While this is cooking start on the bacon cooking it about 3/4 of the way and then add the spinach and onion and sweat them.

Remove the egg from the oven and spread the bacon, onion and some of the spinach over the eggs and put it back in the oven until it's firm. Seems like it took another 5-10 minutes. I went outside and shot a few baskets with my Son so I am not positive how long it was.

When it was done I removed it from the pan by the parchment paper and set it on a cooling rack for a couple of minutes. Don't let it sit too long because cold eggs are gross. Once it's cool enough to handle pull it from the rack and set on a flat surface and using the parchment paper roll it up.

I put some of the remaining spinach on a plate and put the slices on top. The drizzled with a little Chulula. Only thing left to do is eat it and enjoy.

Friday, March 19, 2010

2010 Race #2

OK, so am I regreting my past excitement for the 2010 race season starting. Perhaps, dunno. Been having lots of pain in my knees and legs in general recently. The only thing that is new or different is I switched from Asics to a New Balance neutral shoe.

Since that switch any runs over about 3 miles become very uncomfortable. It's not a stabbing or intense pain but my joints seem loose and flimsy as if my knee could just as easily bend in either direction. So I am going back to the Asics and see how they hold up. Perhaps these NB will make a good pair of cross trainers.

Because of this I have not been pushing my training very hard as it's just not really been that much fun. I don't want to feel like I need to force myself to get out there and run. However, I am also not naive enought to think there will never be days where I just don't feel like it because their certainly are.

So here we go, race #2. In January my training runs that were at a 6 mile distance were around 54 minutes. I was hoping to be closer to sub 50 for this race but I guess I am just going to have to be happy with something closer to sub 60.

On On

Thursday, March 11, 2010

124 Ways Sugar Can Ruin Your Health


Contributed by Nancy Appleton, Ph.D., www.nancyappleton.com
Author of the book "Lick The Sugar Habit"

In addition to throwing off the body's homeostasis, excess sugar may result in a number of other significant consequences. The following is a listing of some of sugar's metabolic consequences from a variety of medical journals and other scientific publications.

1. Sugar can suppress the immune system
2. Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in the body
3. Sugar can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children
4. Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides
5. Sugar contributes to the reduction in defense against bacterial infection infectious diseases)
6. Sugar causes a loss of tissue elasticity and function, the more sugar you eat the
more elasticity and function you loose
7. Sugar reduces high density lipoproteins
8. Sugar leads to chromium deficiency
9. Sugar leads to cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostrate, and rectum
10. Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose
11. Sugar causes copper deficiency
12. Sugar interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium
13. Sugar can weaken eyesight
14. Sugar raises the level of a neurotransmitters: dopamine, serotonin, and
norepinephrine
15. Sugar can cause hypoglycemia
16. Sugar can produce an acidic digestive tract
17. Sugar can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline levels in children
18. Sugar malabsorption is frequent in patients with functional bowel disease
19. Sugar can cause premature aging
20. Sugar can lead to alcoholism
21. Sugar can cause tooth decay
22. Sugar contributes to obesity
23. High intake of sugar increases the risk of Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis
24. Sugar can cause changes frequently found in person with gastric or duodenal
ulcers
25. Sugar can cause arthritis
26. Sugar can cause asthma
27. Sugar greatly assists the uncontrolled growth of Candida Albicans (yeast
infections)
28. Sugar can cause gallstones
29. Sugar can cause heart disease
30. Sugar can cause appendicitis
31. Sugar can cause multiple sclerosis
32. Sugar can cause hemorrhoids
33. Sugar can cause varicose veins
34. Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses in oral contraceptive users
35. Sugar can lead to periodontal disease
36. Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis
37. Sugar contributes to saliva acidity
38. Sugar can cause a decrease in insulin sensitivity
39. Sugar can lower the amount of Vitamin E in the blood
40. Sugar can decrease growth hormone
41. Sugar can increase cholesterol
42. Sugar can increase the systolic blood pressure
43. Sugar can cause drowsiness and decreased activity in children
44. High sugar intake increases advanced glycation end products (AGEs)(Sugar
bound non- enzymatically to protein)
45. Sugar can interfere with the absorption of protein
46. Sugar causes food allergies
47. Sugar can contribute to diabetes
48. Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy
49. Sugar can contribute to eczema in children
50. Sugar can cause cardiovascular disease
51. Sugar can impair the structure of DNA
52. Sugar can change the structure of protein
53. Sugar can make our skin age by changing the structure of collagen
54. Sugar can cause cataracts
55. Sugar can cause emphysema
56. Sugar can cause atherosclerosis
57. Sugar can promote an elevation of low density lipoproteins (LDL)
58. High sugar intake can impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in
the body
59. Sugar lowers the enzymes ability to function
60. Sugar intake is higher in people with Parkinson’s disease
61. Sugar can cause a permanent altering the way the proteins act in the body
62. Sugar can increase the size of the liver by making the liver cells divide
63. Sugar can increase the amount of liver fat
64. Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney
65. Sugar can damage the pancreas
66. Sugar can increase the body's fluid retention
67. Sugar is enemy #1 of the bowel movement
68. Sugar can cause myopia (nearsightedness)
69. Sugar can compromise the lining of the capillaries
70. Sugar can make the tendons more brittle
71. Sugar can cause headaches, including migraine
72. Sugar plays a role in pancreatic cancer in women
73. Sugar can adversely affect school children's grades and cause learning disorders
74. Sugar can cause an increase in delta, alpha, and theta brain waves
75. Sugar can cause depression
76. Sugar increases the risk of gastric cancer
77. Sugar and cause dyspepsia (indigestion)
78. Sugar can increase your risk of getting gout
79. Sugar can increase the levels of glucose in an oral glucose tolerance test over the ingestion of complex carbohydrates
80. Sugar can increase the insulin responses in humans consuming high-sugar diets
compared to low sugar diets
81. High refined sugar diet reduces learning capacity
82. Sugar can cause less effective functioning of two blood proteins, albumin, and
lipoproteins, which may reduce the body’s ability to handle fat and cholesterol
83. Sugar can contribute to Alzheimer’s disease
84. Sugar can cause platelet adhesiveness
85. Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance; some hormones become underactive and
others become overactive
86. Sugar can lead to the formation of kidney stones
87. Sugar can lead to the hypothalamus to become highly sensitive to a large variety
of stimuli
88. Sugar can lead to dizziness
89. Diets high in sugar can cause free radicals and oxidative stress
90. High sucrose diets of subjects with peripheral vascular disease significantly
increases platelet adhesion
91. High sugar diet can lead to biliary tract cancer
92. Sugar feeds cancer
93. High sugar consumption of pregnant adolescents is associated with a twofold
increased risk for delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant
94. High sugar consumption can lead to substantial decrease in gestation duration
among adolescents
95. Sugar slows food's travel time through the gastrointestinal tract
96. Sugar increases the concentration of bile acids in stools and bacterial enzymes in the colon
97. Sugar increases estradiol (the most potent form of naturally occurring estrogen) in men
98. Sugar combines and destroys phosphatase, an enzyme, which makes the process
of digestion more dificult
99. Sugar can be a risk factor of gallbladder cancer
100. Sugar is an addictive substance
101. Sugar can be intoxicating, similar to alcohol
102. Sugar can exacerbate PMS
103. Sugar given to premature babies can affect the amount of carbon dioxide they
produce
104. Decrease in sugar intake can increase emotional stability
105. The body changes sugar into 2 to 5 times more fat in the bloodstream than it
does starch
106. The rapid absorption of sugar promotes excessive food intake in obese subjects
107. Sugar can worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD)
108. Sugar adversely affects urinary electrolyte composition
109. Sugar can slow down the ability of the adrenal glands to function
110. Sugar has the potential of inducing abnormal metabolic processes in a normal
healthy individual and to promote chronic degenerative diseases
111. I.Vs (intravenous feedings) of sugar water can cut off oxygen to the brain
112. High sucrose intake could be an important risk factor in lung cancer
113. Sugar increases the risk of polio
114. High sugar intake can cause epileptic seizures
115. Sugar causes high blood pressure in obese people
116. In Intensive Care Units: Limiting sugar saves lives
117. Sugar may induce cell death
118. Sugar may impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in living
organisms
119. In juvenile rehabilitation camps, when children were put on a low sugar diet,
there was a 44% drop in antisocial behavior
120. Sugar can cause gastric cancer
121. Sugar dehydrates newborns
122. Sugar can cause gum disease
123. Sugar increases the estradiol in young men
124. Sugar can cause low birth weight babies

Great List.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

2 Year Health-O-Versary!


So here it is 2 years since I began this journey to better health and I am happy to report that I am still at goal and working hard to maintain this lifestyle. Since hitting my goal in November of 2009 it has not always been easy trying to transistion from weight loss to maintainance. The learning curve is steeper than I would have anticipated and not without pitfalls.

Your first instinct when you hit goal is to celebrate. Historically I would do that with a feast! Woo Hoo!!! So what do I get to eat for my big party...hmmm. Not sure how to deal with that one so instead I just made little of the event and moved on.

As the weeks passed I was finding myself lost in how to handle this success and began to understand how many people fall right back into the same traps that made them overweight to begin with. You spend so much time obsessing about every little detail of what you eat, what now? I can allow myself the occassional treat now, right? Perhaps a piece of cake after dinner, some ice cream or maybe just a cookie? What to do, what to do.

I had also been posting my weekly weigh-in's for the last 20 months. Not sure that it still makes sense since I have nothing left to lose it would only serve to show that this week I have lost nothing. Don't know if that's a good thing or not, perhaps I might feel like a failure if I don't continue to lose even though my body has clearly stopped responding to my efforts.

I am finding out from those I have met online and the message boards I frequent that the key to success may be to continue to be completely obsessive about every detail of my diet. This is no different that before only now I am not concerned about losing only maintaining.

So that is my plan for now, continue to obsess about my weight, diet and exercise routine with the new goal of staying the same.

BTW...my race went well. While I did not hit my goal time of a sub 25 minute race. I did finish in 25:55 and was very happy with it considering it was my first 5K and slightly different strategy than running a Half Marathon or other long events. No need to hold back on this short distance, just run to you think you might vomit. Then go a little harder because it would be over before you know it.

Planning to sign up for at least 2 more 5K's that I know of for now this year. Hopefully in one of these I can reach that 2010 goal of a sub 25 minute 5K. For now I have a 10K up next in 2 weeks would like to see if I can PR that as well.

On On

Monday, March 1, 2010

First Race Week of 2010 is finally here.



So after a lazy January and sickly February it’s time to get serious again. My weight has hovered around the 175 mark +/- 3 lbs since last November and I was really hoping to have dropped another 10 by now to make me faster. I am excited about the season starting up again. However, disappointed in how crappy my training has gone to date. I will take the blame for Jan but whine a bit about Feb.

To get started I had my longest run of the year last night at 10 miles and it was brutal. It was misting sleet the wind was kicking up strong gust and it was cold at about 27 degrees when I left. Not really what I had in mind when I set out for this run. This was also my first longer run off a treadmill in a while and I had forgotten how much harder it is to run on the road. Anyway, that run is behind me now and while I am little sore I am managing.

I was so proud of myself this AM for getting up early to get my swim in prior to work. That was cut short when the fire alarm sounded about 500 meters in to a planned 3000 Meter swim. Everyone was told to exit the building immediately but there was no way I was going out there in my wet jammers. So I decided I would take my time and go ahead and dress for work calling it a day. My daughter has been wanting to swim for the last couple of days so we will go together tonight.

First race of the season is coming up this weekend and I am completely un-prepared. While it’s only a 5K I was really hoping to start out the year finishing around 7.5 – 8 minute miles on this run but I don’t see how this is very likely. Since I have never run this distance in a race I am not really sure what strategy to take. My Brother suggests the distance is short enough that you should just run until you feel like you need to puke then push a little harder. If you crap out late in the race you can still probably slow down and push through it. If you save some for the end you likely did not finish as fast as you could have. Seems like logical advice so that is my plan for now to puke right on the finish, not a moment sooner or later.

On On!