It’s getting to be that time of year again….

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It’s beginning to look a lot like…no not Christmas.  That’s come & gone for the year.  No, this has to do with the ritualistic obsession we have with the NEW YEAR, NEW YOU premise.

We’ve all made them.  You know those resolutions we love to hate, & often negate 2 weeks into the new year.  From tidying up our lives, organizing our finances, to the ever continuing saga of weight, here we go again.

What is so beguiling about this ritual, that we keep doing it over & over, with limited or mixed results?  Is it the idea of a fresh start?  We begin a new day, each & every day.  But few of us see this as a new or fresh start.  We aerate our lungs 12-24 times per minute.  This is rarely seen as a shining beginning.  Yet it is, & if you have ever struggled with breathing or shortness of breath, this is something you really don’t take for granted.

If exercise, cognitive nutrition, or seeing the scale numbers descend instead of ascend are part of your goals, consider this:  What exactly will change?  Perhaps making a list before going to the grocery store?  Meal planning?  Keeping a food diary?  What types of exercise do you find appealing?  If the answer is none, we can talk.  How many times per week can you commit to an exercise routine?  For how long?  Lastly, are you caught up in the trends?  Gluten free?  Low carb, no carb, high protein?  Coconut oil? These are just a few.  I could easily go on for another paragraph, perhaps even another post.

Perhaps, this year IS the year; for whatever you wish to achieve, to finally take shape.  I can tell you this however, it takes more than a little commitment, and answering the above questions.  It takes a change.  Not just effort–change.  Well what does THAT MEAN?

It’s the motto which appears on my logo, as well as the signs on my JEEP.  CHANGE YOUR MIND, NOT JUST YOUR BODY.  For that to occur, SOMETHING has to rise up in you.  And not just rise up, SUSTAIN YOU.  That SOMETHING won’t care whether you ever make it into a size 4 jean, or get into a bikini.  That may be nice, or an added benefit, but it won’t sustain you; at least not in the long-term.  When that SOMETHING takes hold though, you will know it.

Perhaps, it may even prompt you to give me a call, or drop me an email.  After all, it’s what I do.

 

Like what you see?  Then you’ll love what you hear.  LIFE TRAINING WITH CRYSTAL will be going podcast.  I will still continue writing,  This is just another venue, as well as a new venture.  I hope to have it as part of this blog, for easy access.  More to come.

 

Questions?  Comments?  Contact me at serrenity.c@gmail.com

 

 

Accountability; portion control, or out of control? Not what you think…

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Accountability or liability? They are linked.  Liability for some, fearfully so, puts them on a path to accountability.  The physician, nurse, personal trainer, invests in insurance in case they are sued.  As a nurse, you adhere to standards of practice, in my case the ILLINOIS NURSE PRACTICE ACT, which dictates reasonable care by a nurse, in given circumstances.  Yet insurance as well as that practice act, speak only to legalistic reasons for accountability.

Accountability for some must be dictated; for others it is an innate sense.  It’s a personal compass which guides their actions.

How well does that compass perform when translated to nutrition?  Does it stagger along the spectrum– thinking of food choices as liabilities?  Or does accountability take precedence?  “I’m accountable for my choices; whether it’s the food on my plate, the exercise I skip or do, or whether that extra whipped cream horn is calling my name.”  But I digress.

That continuum is at best for most, a balancing act.

I was recently watching a promo for a weight loss book, on a cooking show.  Sounds a little ironic, but made sense if you saw the show.  What the author said was quite reasonable.  She recommended if you want that candy bar or cream horn, you add 15 minutes of cardio to your routine.  Cookout splurge? Add an extra mile to your walk.  Palate of food combinations?  Had that covered.  She took a paper plate, and divided it with colorful lines, kind of like a pie chart.  It depicted recommended percentages of what should be starches, fruits & veggies, & protein.  I thought it was pretty clever.  All of these ideas are very workable and realistic.

THEN WHAT?

Again, I find these ideas are doable.  They are like breadcrumbs or markers, helping you find your way.  But colorful lines, percentages, adding this or subtracting that staggers between the accountability/liability spectrum. It’s a start–a way to make you more accountable, and put thought into your plate before you put the food in your mouth.  Getting back to my question, however.  Now what?

In my opinion only, this is where many get stuck.  They can’t get off the endless merry-go-round of push this, pull that, eat more fish (yuck!!) eat more protein, this portion is fruit & veggies, no carb, low carb, high fat, low fat….you get the idea.

Very few of us live our lives on portion control.  Those who do, I have found, bust out of their constraints like a double DD cup forced to wear a training bra.  Why?  More often than not, their portion control was out of control.  Their accountability had become a liability.  So you ask “Can you cite any examples Ms. Nurse & Personal Trainer?”

You bet I can.  More to the point, I bet you can too.

 

What is that balance?  How do I find it?  Is this my license to eat whatever, whenever I want?  Tune in next time boys and girls.  We’ll have a sit down and a look-see.

 

All for now.  Keep up and keep at it.

Questions? Comments?  Contact me at serrenity.c@gmail.com

 

 

A Day in the Life…do your own work

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 I believe in homework.  Yet not in the sense of overloading already burnt out students to continue on at home.  Have my own ideas about that, but that’s another story for another time.  No the homework I speak to is much different.  It has to do with doing the work needed to move around the body you’ve been given.

THE CHALLENGE OF WORKING OUT, WHEN YOUR BODY ISN’T WORKING OUT

This challenge wears many faces.  For now, I’m going to focus on one.  This has to do with a client with recurrent chest pain or angina.

To begin, his story started out with trips to his general practitioner.  He was put on high blood pressure meds, because this was a concern prior to developing chest pain.  However, he started to notice tightness in his chest, at different times during the day.  He underwent an EKG, a stress test, and a second more invasive stress test.  All came back normal.  So has the pain magically disappeared?  He wishes it had.  Where does that leave him?  Unfortunately with more questions than answers.  He has been told by his cardiologist that this is not heart related.  Once again, does that mean his pain isn’t painful?  Or should instantly evaporate because it isn’t cardiac related?

Those of us who’ve been on medications for any reason, long or short-term, realize that sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t.  And, if you are taking more than one  for a series of conditions, there are questions of interaction.  Those interactions can cause problems themselves, if not addressed.  But I digress.  Back to the point.  Where does that leave this client?  He wants to work out, his MD wants him to lose about 20-30lbs, possibly more.  Yet if he’s experiencing chest pain sometimes upon waking, at other times while walking on the trail, in the presence of cold, or on the job, what is he to do?

Well this where I come in.

IT’S NOT WHAT GOES IN, IT’S WHAT COMES OUT THAT CAUSES PROBLEMS

I often feel the health & wellness industry, just like medicine and nursing has sold us a “bill of goods.”  Why?  Because there are more questions left unanswered than solutions.  The lift, squat, fart repeat routine holds little credence for me.   Why?  Because not every body is built for that. Nor do many continue with it, past the month of January.

As for the medical community,  the answer given by so many professionals “we just don’t do it that way,” is akin to waving a red flag in front of a bull to me.  Well why are you still doing it that way, is the better question.  Are you too set in your ways to give a new technique a try?  Do we practice medicine or nursing the way we did 20, 30, 40 years ago?  No.  Why?  Because someone somewhere said “we’ve done it that way, but let’s try something else.” Or, the old technique is just that, OLD.  Message to both industries–one size does not fit all. The recipe book has some add-ons.  The lady wants a makeover; call it what you will.

The result has left many frustrated, overweight, over-medicated, & under siege by information that may or may not help, or is harmful.  Disseminating it isn’t easy or for the faint of heart.  However, it is well worth it, if you find what works for you.  That’s the key.  What works for you. 

When is the last time you’ve looked at yourself in the mirror?  Not sucking anything in, or making wishes about what you’d look like 20 pounds thinner? Or kept a diary of what you eat, why you were eating that (hunger, craving, stress, or combo of all three)?  Oh yes, that happens.  Has anyone at the gym asked you these questions?  Given you this info?  These are just a few tactics you have to incorporate, because few have given much thought to this.  In a health club atmosphere, it’s about working you; in many ways.  Again, another story for another day.

Did you know dehydration can mimic hunger?  Alter the way you make decisions?  In the elderly, can mimic dementia?

If you are hypertensive, perhaps lifting the heaviest weights isn’t for you.  Did you know?  Non-cardiac chest pain is still pain.  If you’re a personal trainer, how do you train someone like that?

Those who are fans of the low carb, no carb thing…did you know it’s quite hard on the kidneys?  Why should you care?  Well there are lots of reasons why you should..

These are just a few ideas you should keep in mind, especially if you have been diagnosed with CKD (chronic kidney disease), hypertension, or even if  you are perfectly healthy(a relative term), but train in extreme conditions.

Sorry if you happened upon this site, and the workout tips to lose the Xmas bulge aren’t forthcoming.  Never fear.  There’s plenty out there to help you with that.  It’s just not here.

All for now.  Keep up and keep at it.

Need a more personalized approach?  Contact me at serrenity.c@gmail.com