Whole Pieces Champion : August

I absolutely cannot believe we are here already at the end of August. I wanted to touch base with everyone who has been waiting for the August Champion. I am disappointed to say that I was unable to put the time into this piece this month. However, I do think this is the perfect opportunity to bring up time management, stress, priorities and our wellbeing.

I first had the realization on or about August 20th that the August Champion piece may not happen this month. However, I still held out hope that I would be able to put the necessary work and love into the piece to complete it within a week. Around the 25th it became obvious my high hopes were ridiculously unrealistic. When I select a champion they are someone that I regard as special and deserving of the time and effort the piece takes. Therefore, I did not want to throw something together and cheat that spectacular person.

It did occur to me this would be a perfect opportunity to talk about stress and our obsession to be perfect to all people at all times. I am the first person to preach on balance. I try not to accept commitments I don't think I will be able to or will not want to keep. Above everything else, I know the way for me to be the best me possible I need a few things: proper sleep, good nutrition, regular workouts, and a little time to myself. I have learned in these 33 years, if I don't have most or all of these basic things on a regular basis I am no good in other parts of my life. I need these basic things to be a good wife, coach, employee, daughter, and friend. Notice I said, "good". I will never be perfect at all times in all of these roles. I accept that.

I think the best way to think of balance and being the best you you can be is thinking in terms of a bank account. I make deposits: adequate sleep, proper nutrition, regular workouts, and time to myself. I also make withdrawals: cooking and cleaning, taking care of the poodle, completing projects for work, etc. When you start bouncing checks because there aren't enough deposits it creates financial distress. It's the same for your life. You have to have enough energy to be the best version of yourself. Try to think about what your deposits and withdrawals are and see if you are in the red.

This month, I got my basic needs in, but I had a few other competing tasks. These tasks took me temporarily away from some things that I love to do. Highlighting that special person is one of these things. I had to accept that it wasn't going to happen this month, and I had to be OK with that. As disappointed as I am, I am hopeful that being honest about not being able to do it all, all the time, will help someone out there. It's a good time to think about your emotional bank account. Are you making too many withdrawals?

Watermelon Frozen Greek Yogurt Pops from ZinnRunner!

From Whole Pieces: I would like to introduce you to a friend and fellow health enthusiast, Alison Zinn, who is graciously providing us with a guest post today. Her blog is ZinnRunner, where the focus is mainly exercise (running and hiking) and food (recipes and food/restaurant reviews). In sum, her message is: live healthy through balance. Do your best to make the right choices and don't beat yourself up when you don't.

From ZinnRunner: We all want to be healthy. I think there are variations of what is "healthy", but usually it involves regular exercise and eating right. As you can see from the pictures, in this post, the focus is eating right.

When it comes to food, always be cognizant of how important food is. I notice that a lot of folks trying to lose weight deemphasize the importance of food. This might be a good course to explore if your appetite is triggered by emotions like stress or sadness; however, it is okay to embrace food and find the right place for it in your life. Remember, food is our fuel, it dictates everything from how our bodies perform to the healthfulness of our hair and skin. In addition, food is one of the most natural parts of our lives. When you think about it, food is a life force coming to us straight from the earth with all of its flavors and colors.

Choosing the healthy fruits, veggies, and meat are important to me. I do my best to eat organic foods as well as dairy and meats that are hormone and antibiotic free. I find that doing so 100% of the time is pretty darn difficult so I try to make the healthy choices as often as I can to find that balance.

Whether you are healthy, trying to get healthy, at a weight you like, or looking to change your body, you can still feed your sweet tooth. Feeding your sweet tooth doesn't automatically mean you are straying from a good diet; sometimes, it can be just the opposite. Fruit is a great way to feed your sweet tooth! Also, you can find plenty of other all-natural choices that can help satisfy your craving. And, occasionally, you might eat something that's not your best choice, but then recall that you only live once and the occasional less than healthy indulgence is okay.

Today, I am sharing a pretty darn healthy all-natural ice pop: The Watermelon Frozen Greek Yogurt Pop. These guys are a little less than 100 calories a pop dependent upon whether you use sherbet or frozen greek yogurt. Frozen greek yogurt ups the protein content, so I highly recommend it. If you use lime sherbet, you'll get the green color and then the pop will look like a watermelon slice but, you may lose out on the all-natural aspect as sherbet often contains artificial coloring. The choice is up to you!

What You'll Need:
3 oz. paper drinking cups
popsicle sticks

Ingredients:
5 cups seedless watermelon pulp
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1 pint of frozen greek yogurt (I used Adonia key lime) or lime sherbet, softened

Directions:
1. Puree watermelon and sugar in batches in your blender or food processor until smooth and strain into a medium bowl.

2. Cover and freeze until puree is slightly slushy, but not quite solid, about 2 to 3 hours.

3. Remove from freezer, stir well and add in chocolate chips.

4. Place 12 of your disposable cups on a plate or freezer safe dish and spoon watermelon puree into cups, leaving about a 1/2 inch left from the rim.

5. Place pan in freezer for 2 hours, or until puree is solid, but not rock hard.

6. Allow yogurt or lime sherbet to soften a bit, then spread over top of each portion of watermelon puree so that it comes up to the edge of the cup.

7. Smooth sherbet with the back of a spoon and cover each cup with plastic wrap.

8. Cut a small slit in the center of each cup and insert a popsicle stick into each pop so that it almost reaches the bottom of the cups.

9. Freeze overnight (or until solid). These will keep in the freezer, covered, for 3-5 days.

10. Allow pops to sit at room temperature for about a minute, then gently pull out from cups or tear the cup away if pulling doesn't work.

11. Serve and enjoy! You will love these.

I hope you enjoyed our recipe with Zinnrunner. Please follow her here!

Celebrate Independence Day without the Guilt

It can be so frustrating going into a fun holiday, like the 4th, when you are concerned about what you will be eating. After all, we should be thinking about the history of our country, and celebrating our rockin' nation with friends and family.

Unfortunately, if our friends and family aren't as committed to a healthy lifestyle as we are, it can be excruciatingly frustrating. The solution to this dilemma, is to simply have a plan.

While this resolution is important each day of our lives, it is particularly useful when up against a wall of temptation and peer pressure. This upcoming holiday I encourage you to create a do-able and realistic plan setting yourself up for success.

Ideally, you will have the day off of work, giving you a little extra time to accomplish your goals. Here is a realistic angle propelling you to a successful and guilt free holiday while still having a blast.

-Start off the day with a workout. There are lots of fun 5k's and walk/runs to enter. If not, maybe grab a yoga, or kickboxing class at your gym. This will automatically put you in a good frame of mind. Even if it's a walk around your neighborhood, get your blood flowing and DO something.

-Next, hit the grocery and and bring your own healthy options to your grill out. Some phenomenal grill options are Portabella Mushroom burgers, sweet corn, pre-made grilled chicken, buffalo, or shrimp skewers, you can even do potatoes on the grill.

You can easily do this with a little preparation. You will feel so good about yourself and it's a great opportunity to prove to yourself that you can be successful! I can't wait to hear about your success story! Happy Independence Day!

Just Plain Irony or Actual Hypocrisy?

Each day we are inundated by conflicting information surrounding our health care. Mixed messages send us into a confusion spiral in which we are forced to dump it all, proceeding with the status quo. As if that isn't difficult enough, we're also flooded with information from those who don't have a stake in our health, but have a lot to gain financially and politically for the positions they take. It simply drives us to the point of exhaustion. This morning I happened to catch Howard Schultz, Chairman and CEO of Starbucks, in an interview commenting on the soda ban proposed by New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg. If you are not familiar, Mayor Bloomberg, in his attempt to make his contribution to fight the war on fat has proposed a soda ban. The proposed ban targets 16oz and larger size sodas.

I found Schultz's response to Charlie Rose's question regarding the ban quite intriguing. Schultz exclaims, "I applaud the approach, and obviously the objective", and later comments, "I am not sure it's the right approach, but we are obviously going to follow suit and respond to him because he is doing something that is quite important." I am curious how Starbucks intends to "respond" to Mayor Bloomberg. Let me be clear, I am for free enterprise and capitalism, as well as allowing grown adults to make their own health choices and parents to make the choices for their children. What I find questionable is the stance Starbucks takes regarding their responsibility and potential contribution to the obesity problem in this country. From Schultz's comments one might infer they are supportive of this ban.

Let's take a look at the data here. A 20oz bottle of Coke has 65 grams of sugar.
Ironically, Starbucks does not give specific sugar information in their nutritional data listed on their website. Based on information given at Livestrong.com, which I consider an excellent source, lists a grande (16 oz) vanilla Frappacino with regular whole milk contains 64 grams of sugar. Interesting.

Is Schultz not recognizing the irony here? A Frappacino holds a cute name, in a fancy cup, but call a spade a spade, it's junk food, and every bit as much as soda. I have no problem with soda, Frappacino's, any other candy or junk food in moderation. We all want a treat from time to time, and when eaten responsibly, I see no legitimate concern. I do take issue with Schultz promulgating support to fighting obesity where food is the primary contributing factor. Personally, my stance doesn't promote banning specific foods to change the root problem of the obesity epidemic. But, perhaps Schultz should consider holding up a mirror. It's the overall hypocrisy I found somewhat amusing, the elephant in the room nobody wanted to address. I had hoped Charlie Rose would challenge him, but sadly, he did not. I, on the other hand, almost fell off the treadmill in laughter by the overall ridiculousness of it all.

What I hope you will take, is the proverbial grain of salt from all the information being blasted at you. Do your best to keep you and your family healthy and safe! Be well, and take care of all of your pieces.

What Can I Get at Cafe Well? Hint... It's not coffee.

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Nicole Mundt, Client Relations & Implementation Director at Cafe Well. She also happens to be a cool, smart and funny chick. Contrary to the title, Cafe Well, is not a place to get a caffeine jolt or a sugar spike. It is in fact, a cyber meeting space where you can connect with others, learn more about your health care plan, get information on various health issues and share stories of success and failure. They are a social networking site providing a community of support to it's members. Anyone can join, it's free to you, and you can remain anonymous if you prefer. Even better, no ad's on the side of the pages.

It's also a place where health insurance companies can connect with their members. Cafe Well does not represent the insurance companies, but does offer the space to connect companies to members, thus bridging the gap between us. The health insurance companies who are affiliated with Cafe Well are showing their commitment to customer service and connecting in a positive way. Let's face it, we don't always have the greatest relationship with our health insurance companies, but this really could help rebuild it and as a result positively impact our care.

Another great feature of the site allows you to create challenges. You can do these with people you know, or people you don't. Make your own challenge, or join another's. How much water can you drink, servings of vegetables, days a week of exercising, and even how many books you can read in a year. This makes putting your health first fun and exciting. As a health coach I know tracking, and little wins are the benchmarks to making a larger phenomenal change. This is EXCELLENT!

You will also find blogs, and discussions for almost any health topic you want to read about or discuss. You can start private groups to discuss anything that's on your mind without everyone and their Mama seeing your thoughts and struggles.

This is my new favorite site and I am so happy to share with my clients, and all of you. Please check out Cafe Well and sign up for an account today and connect with me, wpcoach! What will you get from Cafe Well?

May Champion: Ruth Cornish

I knew right away when I decided to start this piece who would be the perfect spotlight for the first installment. She is one of my absolute hero's and truly one of the most beautiful people I know, inside and out.

Ruth is a dedicated wife to Ken and mother to 3 beautiful girls Abbey, Lindsey, and Kelsey. She is an amazing nurse, and pretty much is headed for canonization I'm quite sure. Ruth came into my life in the disguise of a neighbor to my parents. I say disguise because I truly believe she was an angel sent to help my family through the most difficult period of our lives. As my Mom lived with cancer, and all that comes with that, Ruth and her generous family were there every step of the way. She did things that you could never ask a friend or neighbor to do, and she did them without us asking. She has this uncanny ability to know exactly what you need at the exact time you need it. She is constantly thinking of others, and how she can serve. The picture above is Ruth and my Mama, shortly before she passed on.

Ruth is an avid runner, having completed 11 marathons. Just last month she flew to Texas to run a half marathon with Abbey, where she finished in 1:41:32, first in her division. Have I mentioned she is over 50! The very next weekend traveling to Tennessee completing another half marathon with Kelsey,who was running her first. Kelsey was so grateful for her Mom, and said to me "she stayed with me the whole time, even though I run much slower than her".

It wasn't always like this for Ruth, she tells me she was a heavy child, and that physical activity wasn't part of their family's lifestyle. It was only later in her teens and into young adulthood where she began to run and incorporate fitness. These days she works out for at least an hour, EVERY day, mixing it up between running, yoga, bike riding, and the elliptical machine. She combines fitness with a low fat diet and watches portion control. Her motivation is two fold; she doesn't ever want to go back to that overweight teen, and her goal is to always be able to run a half marathon without training, or notice.

I feel very strongly one the most important parts of being well is our connection to our spirit. Ruth is a Catholic, and attends mass each day, a habit she picked up from her Dad. She comments to me, "you know, there are 9 kids in my family, 8 of us are girls, with 23 grand-kids between us. There is not one instance of cancer, no serious illness at all, what are the chances of that?" She attributes this to their strong faith. Running she says keeps her very connected to her spirit. It's in those early morning runs when she is saying her prayers and feeling enormous gratitude.

She is reluctant to give advice but contends when it comes to nutrition and fitness you gotta do what works for you. You will hear a lot of experts give all kinds of tips and tricks. She admits in the past her weight has yo-yo'd a bit, but what she knows now, is that ultimately, it's a balance, and what works for you, and your body is the best advice you can follow.

She doesn't use a mantra when she runs, through laughter she explains though when her and Ken are coming up on a big hill they say, "it's not a hill, it's scenic". I think that pretty much sums up her outlook on life. It's all about how you view the path that impacts how WELL you live.

Thank you so much, Ruth, for being such a great role model and mentor to me, inspiring me to run, and to be a better person.
If you are interested in running a half marathon this year, the Rock and Roll Series is a terrific option, they have races all over the country!

Do you have a champion in your life that embodies great wellness? Let me know about them and maybe they will be Whole Pieces Champion next month. julie@wholepieces.com

Are you like Paddington the Poodle? A Midnight Snacker?

We all have that time of the day when a craving hits. Sometimes we are hungry and sometimes we just have a need for something. If we can agree that many times we are really craving something more than food, that it's an emotional response, then I think we can move on to how to curb it.

For me it's between 4-5pm, lunch is long past, and dinner is not quite ready yet. I have to be conscious of how I handle this time of day. If I have eaten too much in a particular day, I can almost always pinpoint it to that specific time. I have to keep in mind that I need a small snack around this time, somewhere in the neighborhood of 100-200 calories, and hopefully those are meaningful calories. An example of this might be a cup of Greek yogurt. The sugar keeps my mind satisfied, while the protein keeps me full. If I skip my snack generally I tend to overeat at dinner.

I know lots of you struggle with late night snacking. The biggest offender of this habit lives in my house, no, not my husband, Andrew. It's my poodle Paddington, he's what we call "the midnight snacker". He will often eat the majority of his dinner right before he goes to sleep. I have some theories on why he does this, but it's probably not helpful to the rest of us human beings.

Let me paint the picture for you. You are sitting in front of the TV, dinner has been over for a few hours, and the ice cream commercial comes on. Let's assume you are truly hungry and the stomach is growling a little. In this case you won't be committed to ice cream or some other sugary or salty snack. You will be satisfied with some carrot sticks or some air popped popcorn (hold the butter PLEASE). These would be examples of a good snack, while we still have some sugar in there, it's low on calories, and generally filling for the portion size. Also, let's remember, you are not starting your day or leaving for a workout, you are going to sleep. Not a lot of fat burning activity going on there.

Now, for those of us who aren't actually hungry, but just feel like we need a snack. This is when you want to stop and really decide if it's worth it. Let's face it, some days it just is. How do you determine if it's worth it? Honestly, if you really stop and think the answer will be obvious. For many people, it's just a habit, and they have a late night snack because it's part of a nightly ritual, it's mindless and unnecessary.

If you need a little help overcoming this hurdle and making the choice not to snack, these are my tips. First off, drink a glass of water, even if you do end up eating, it will make you feel a little fuller,thus curbing the amount you will eat. Second tip, hit up a stick of gum. This sounds stupid, but it tricks us into thinking we are getting that sugar we are craving as well as the chewing sensation. The next tip is brush your teeth. You are going to do it before you go to bed anyway. It is not appetizing to eat right after you brush. Try these tips out next time you are about to be a "midnight snacker". On our best days we can and do talk ourselves out of the snack, because we know ultimately, it's not worth it. You were on point all day with your exercise and food choices, you are close to finishing the day. You don't want to compromise your great choices. You are worth it, finish strong and healthy!!!!