A Better Life

I’m always striving to be better. Sometimes I meet the mark, sometimes I fall short. I guess that’s what’s called being human. Why do I bring this up? well, to reiterate my 2007 New Year’s goals; I wanted to: 1) Run a Half-Marathon 2) Take better care of my nails 3) Walk Lucy most days of the week 4) Blog once a week Okay – So where do I stand on these Resolutions? 50% isn’t so bad – is it? BUt the year isn’t over yet. I can still redeem myself. Right? I ran the 3M Half Marathon in January. My Goals for the Half were 1) to run continuously (i.e.: not walk) 2) finish in 2 hours. My time was 2:02. WooHoo! I met both of my goals. I’m happy about that. Since then, my running has really taken a front seat to the rest of my fitness goals. Read More . . .

Healthy Eating: beyond poached fish and celery sticks

I love food. I love the flavor of it, texture & aroma. I love eating. I am a self-described foodie. Wikipedia defines a foodie as "A gourmet is a person with a discriminating palate and who is knowledgeable in fine food and drink. The word is a corruption of the French word gourmet, a valet in charge of the wines. It is often used as an adjective for meals of especially high quality, whose makers or preparers have used especial effort or art in presentation or cooking the meal, or for facilities equipped for preparing such meals, such as a restaurant." I don't know if I fall into the gourmet part of this explanation; I certainly don't waste my calories on "common foods" like candy bars or fast food. Although it has to be good, it doesn't have to be gourmet & I'm all about volume. Why do I tell Read More . . .

I think I might be crazy

I have been trying to make myself a runner for years. I had all but given up hope until about 6 months ago when it really kicked in. I was able to do it and not stop. I set goals for myself and reached them. I really started to like running because it allowed me to clear my  head about whatever was on my mind. I enjoy doing it first thing in the morning so that I can set my day. At first, it was all I could do to not think about running while I was doing it – that made it all the more difficult. But eventually, as I was able to learn from my breathing and heart rate whether I should slow down or if I could step it up, it became more fun. I started driving the routes that I took to see how far I Read More . . .

New Year’s Resolutions

I am typically not a person who makes New Year's Resolutions. I definitely make goals, but I guess that I've never put much stock in New Year’s Resolutions because I am continually evaluating my life, where it is and where I want it to be, that I don’t wait for the beginning of the new year to set my goals and start working towards them. I think that the New Year is a good time for reflection; looking back on what has happened over the past year, observing which aspects of my life are better, which have stayed the same, and which are worse off. I’ll often try to imagine myself at the end of this year. What do I want to be different? Just imagining what my life is going to be like in a year, five years or ten sets the foundation for my life; because if I Read More . . .

You are what you eat

For Christmas, Gary gave me a book written by Paul Chek, called How to Eat, Move & Be Healthy. First, Paul Check, for those of you who don’t know him, is a leader in the wellness & personal training industry. The man is brilliant in his approach. Last January, a member on another board suggested that I read the Metabolic Typing Diet. I started it, but never finished (I do that quite a bit). Then a couple of months ago, Gary bought Dr. Mercola‘s book: Total Health. Dr. Mercola also uses the Metabolic Typing Diet. Anyway, even though I didn’t finish it, it really made sense to me that everyone is different in how they metabolize food & therefore we each need different macros & food sources to become optimal in our health. The idea behind Metabolic Typing is that depending on where our heritage originated, the food sources that Read More . . .

The Supermarket Diet

I’ll admit that I’m a product of marketing in Magazines. Those headlines are really aluring: “Lose 20 lbs before Christmas” or “Sexy moves he wishes you knew”. And I’m old enough (and have bought enough) to know that the articles in these magazines NEVER live up to the hype. But this time I was intrigued. “The Supermarket Diet” I had to buy it. What could the basis of the Supermarket diet be about? Eating foods from the supermarket will allow you to lose weight as opposed to eating foods at restaurants? Is that only a big DUH to me? or is everyone else clued in on that too? To my surprise, the supermarket diet was more than just “don’t eat out”. It is a diet book written by Good Housekeeping. It has a 2 week initial phase where participants eat a total of 1200 calories spread across 4 “meals”, then Read More . . .

I’m just not that important

I was just reading this article about how "Cell Phones Blur Boundaries Between Work and Home", and I think it's true. It seems like many many years ago, but when I started my first business, EDK Enterprises, in 1996, I also got my first cell phone. I loved it when it rang. It was almost like a toy. I was so in touch – so available. My business was important. I was important. But then I was trying to sell myself. I needed to be available because if I wasn't, then maybe someone else would be. But then to put it into perspective, in 1996 I was 28 years old, and still trying to play "grown up". My biggest fear was everyone pointing at me and saying "Fraud". I didn't know what the hell I was doing, but riding the train, and getting a call allowed me to pretend that Read More . . .

True Equality

I am completely intrigued by the fact that time is the one thing that we are all dealt equally in life. What we choose to do with it is all ours to decide. With money, you can make the excuse that one person is paid more than another, and that the reason for that is that they were born into a wealthy family, or they received inheritance, etc. but time is the one thing that has no discrimination. We all get 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, and 7 days in a week. So why is it that some people seem to have loads of time, while others are constantly “bizzy”? Is it efficiency? Priorities? maybe a bit of both? What if we could sleep less? Yes, I enjoy sleeping. I’ve needed 8+ hours of sleep for as long as I can remember, or else I’m Read More . . .

You don’t look like a body builder

For the first time in my life I feel like I can call myself an athlete. I competed in two figure body building competitions 1 week apart from one another at the beginning of November 2005. Did I win? No, but I got up there & did it, I am in the best shape of my life, and for that, I won something for myself – something that no one could give me. There are a couple of different reactions that I get from people when I tell them that I am a competitive body builder. First, they look me up & down & state: “You don’t look like a body builder.” I’m never quite sure how to take this comment. Is it a compliment? Or an insult? I assume that “You don’t look like a body builder.” means that I don’t look like a man, so I thank them Read More . . .

Intrepidation

Much fear goes along with creating a blog for me. 1) I need to think up witty titles for each of my posts. 2) I must be witty, at least most of the time within the body of my post, 3) There's no spellcheck or grammar check! All of that aside, my goal in writing this blog is to explain about my quest to be an Ambassador of Wellness. It's a title that Gary gave me several months ago, that I enjoy much more than the title given to me several years ago of "Princess". So what does an Ambassador of Wellness DO? Well, I guess I am trying to spread the word of health, fitness, and a balanced life through lifestyle choices that we make on a daily basis. It's easy to get caught up in the minutia of everyday life & blow off those things that are truly Read More . . .