I spent the first few days of the New Year at my parents’ house in Pennsylvania.  They were kind enough to bless me with a couple of free trips to their gym while I was there.  Of course, with resolutions being made for the new year, there were lots of people ready to get back in shape.  A quote I had read by performance expert Michael Boyle once rang in my mind (this is not a quote, but just the general idea): to be successful in the gym, basically do the opposite of what everyone else is doing.  The gist of what he was saying was that very few people know really how to work out.  A couple of observations I made at the gym, that I think if the opposite was employed would help to make a great exercise program:

1. I didn’t see anyone performing any sort of movement prep. or prehab movements to warm-up.  Injury prevention is huge.  I think one of the biggest problems in American health is that we look to fix problems, not prevent them.  Doing movement prep. and prehab movements are often more important to health than the cardio most people engage in.

2. The machines were being used far more than free weights.  I saw no medicine balls or bands being employed (although people would have had to bring their own).  When you use a machine you often don’t engage the stabilizing muscles as much (although it is not always the case).

3. Slow and steady cardio was the recipe of the day.  I saw no other person doing intervals.  Interval training is a key component to a good exercise program.

For more great tips, check out this post by Boyle on not wasting time in the gym.  Hope this is a healthy year for all!

I have been absent for a few days due to internet problems and food poisoning.  If you have never had food poisoning, count yourself blessed.  It was my first experience and I have never felt so wiped in my life.  It hit all of us except Elijah.  And according to the doctors here we bought meat from a grocery store that is known for selling meat that is contaminated.  So we learned where to buy our meat the hard way!  I will be back blogging this week as long as the internet holds up!

I had mentioned in my post about seeing people at work with their gifts, that we had seen a podiatrist this summer.  Joe was the first to go and enjoyed it so much that he made appointments for all of us to go.  I am thankful that Joe does such a wonderful job of employing a variety of specialists to be the best at his profession that he can be.  And it is even better when we get to reap the benefits as well!  It was a wonderful time of learning that I thought I would share some of the insights gained here with others.

We wen to Lindquist Family Foot Care where we met Kristen, who was so friendly and wonderful with the kids.  She just watched them all walk around and then had all of us do some more structured walking for her.  Since she had already seen Joe before, she knew he walked with more of a pushing motion due to unstable heels.  This leads to hypermobility that can cause hamstring, IT band and knee problems.  In watching us all, we seem to be a family of all the same type of walkers.  Elijah tends to curl his toes to compensate for this as well.

So one of the first things we did was to learn how to stand properly.  I knew I stood with my knees hyper-extended, so she reminded about standing with softly bent knees with my hips over my feet and with my middle finger at the seam of my pants for proper shoulder placement.  She said standing properly could actually provide a great ab workout for people!  Then we moved into the walking.  Instead of pushing off, we were instructed to lift our leg, engaging our glute muscles.  Until that back foot is lifted, all weight should be kept on the back foot.  Then the foot is lifted and placed softly down with the knee stays soft.  It felt really weird and is something she said takes a good amount of retraining to master.  She suggested with practicing for 5 minutes each day.

Next she gave some good general tips for kids.  Here are some she shared.  Some of them really surprised me.

1. Kids shouldn’t sit in a “W”. This is where they sit back with their butt in between their legs. You can just see it isn’t good for the knees. The best way to sit on the bottom with the legs in a pretzel out in front.

2. When sitting on feet, heels should be together. If you must sit on your heels with your feet underneath you, keep your heels together.

3. Don’t’ reuse shoes. This one killed me as we have gotten many good looking hand-me-down shoes, but she said even when shoes are worn for a short period of time, a person’s foot pattern is worn in and not good for another to wear then.

4. Wear whatever socks are comfortable, but dyes in socks for boys can cause athlete’s foot. Joe loved this one because he hates to see Elijah in anything else than plain white socks.

5. Sneakers are best the majority of the time. For our family because of the hypermobility, a running shoe with a narrow heel, curved C shape and wide toe is best. Abby hates to wear shoes and likes flip-flops, but the flip-flops are out now and we try to keep the kids in sneakers as much as possible.

6. If you have a good pair of orthodics, you can wear pretty much any shoes. Joe has orthodics he wears in his shoes and the rest of the family will be fitted for them next summer.

7. Babies should be put in stable shoes as soon possible. Although I love the Robeez, she said she thinks Naomi would have walked sooner if put in proper sneakers. It was amazing that as soon as Naomi had the New Balance sneakers put on, you could see she started walking the proper way.

It was a very enlightening trip and well-worth the money spent. You may want to check out if there is a podiatrist in your area!

Some of you know my interest in food and nutrition. It has been a journey I am still working through.

- In 2003 when I was pregnant with Abby I read a few books, including Maximum Energy by Ted Broer.

- I then took courses at the Global College of Natural Medicine in nutritional consultant, not so much to think that the certificate actually counted as anything as really just to look at the alternative side of nutrition more.  At this point I was pretty much a vegetarian and using all natural products in my personal care.

- Abby was born and I had less time to think about nutrition and had to figure out how to survive as a mom.

- When Abby was a year old I had my first overseas experience with a child.  It was REALLY hard to find the foods I wanted in a town in Poland and when we came back I was tired of hearing how much weight Joe had lost.  I realized I had to figure out a way to eat healthy, but also to fuel my husband.

- When we came back I was still passionate about eating healthy, but saw how expensive it was.  I had to try and think through living naturally with being a good steward of the money God had given us.

- By the time Elijah was born, I realized that kids’ taste buds are a little harder to please than adults.  Although Abby never had a sweet food (a cookie) until she was over 2 years old, Elijah started in at 16 months and Naomi much earlier.  With Naomi a lot of my rules were thrown out the window because she struggled so much with her weight.

- I have had to step back many times and see that what I am passionate about is not a black and white issue.  Although I do feel people are not taking care of themselves as they should, many just want to be blind to the truth.

So where does that leave me today?  Here are some things I am still pretty strict upon:

1. We don’t drink cow’s milk.  Although we do still eat other dairy (we live in Italy right now, so I am not sure what we would eat if we didn’t), we do search out soy or rice milk wherever we are.

2. I try and avoid all trans fats/hydrogenated oils in products.  I have yet to find a product that can’t be replaced with a more natural version.

3. We don’t eat scavenger animals (ie. pigs, lobsters, shrimp, etc.)

4. When in the U.S., I do try to buy certain fruits and vegetables either local or organic

5. Our main beverage of choice is water.  We don’t ever buy soda or fruit drinks (other than orange juice for breakfast, which really only Abby and Joe drink)

6. We love fruit smoothies, vegetarian meals consisting of beans, rice and lentils, that we know others find odd.

I tend to go in cycles it seems though with my green/natural living.  This new movie, inGREEDients, has stirred in me another spark to really be diligent about what our family puts in our mouths!  Joe and I are both looking forward to watching it and hope to expose some areas of our lives where improvement could be made.  Check out the trailer and see if it might be something you are interested in knowing more about as well.

Core Performance linked to this article by the New York Times, so I thought it was worth the read.  For any of you who are even mildly into fitness and health, take the 10 minutes to read it and watch the video.

Joe’s friend Kevin just recommended this book and reminded me how much I enjoyed it when I read it about 4 years ago. To some people, Dr. Fuhrman’s diet may be a bit extreme, but the premise is really good. His key to healthy eating is nutrient density, meaning

Health = Nutrients/Calories

In other words, you want to get the most bang for your buck. Picking foods that are the highest in nutrients, while also low in calories is the way you get nutrient dense foods and therefore better health.

There are some simple ways you can improve your nutrient density in a day:

1. Aim to eat each color of the rainbow of fruits and vegetables each day (red, orange, yellow, green, blue/purple and white)
2. Try to make half of your plate fresh fruits or vegetables.
3. Choose fats carefully and try to pick healthier fats like nuts, fatty fish and vegetable oils over saturated fats.
4. Cut back on refined sugar and satisfy your sweet tooth with a variety of fruits.

Happy eating!