Tag: diet

The Compound Effect

“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.”
― Darren Hardy, The Compound Effect

I first read Darren Hardy’s book many years ago as a new school leader. The Compound Effect outlined, is the strategy of being consistent with smart, tiny choices over time that will produce significant results. As I read the book I was focused on leadership, yet in the back of my mind I kept connecting back to my health journey. The concept is that smaller steps over a long period of time will have a greater, more beneficial and successful effect on your life than bigger steps in a shorter period of time (that most people will not stick to). Today as I view the predictable dwindling off of the New Year’s resolutionists at the gym I am reminded of this concept.

For many years, I was that person. The one who gets all pumped up for the reclaiming health journey. Those who have followed me over time know that every spring I have a rebirth and start over. Then, every winter I slowly fade away and fall backwards. This year has been different, albeit not easier. The temptation to fall back has reared its head repeatedly, especially on these 18 degree days. Using the concept of the compounding effect, I know that consistency is the key to achieving and maintaining momentum. I have held tight to that concept on my darkest of days this winter and continued with the small, simple habits and daily routines that will add up to a healthier life. My goal this year was to make it through the winter with habits in tact and see where I am come spring. As we are nearing February, I am very hopeful that this year will be different for me. 

Consistency is not easy if you make your habits too lofty, the key is to keep things simple and doable. When I selected daily habits, I’d say I even set the bar lower than I knew I could accomplish this winter. This helped me through the harder days and gave me added bonus boosts when I achieved more and kept me motivated. We all know success fosters motivation and failure often motivates quitting. For my movement goal, I merely set a minimum of a 30 minute walk in nature goal for every day of the week. This goal has been the easiest one to maintain, rain or shine. Setting a doable goal like this sets you up for success and avoids repeated failure that can serve to make you feel like a failure and give up. Obviously, it’s not my only fitness goal, but it’s the one I will never skip. Walking and being in nature cannot be undervalued on any health journey.

Another doable goal I set was to improve my nutrition through simple choices for my meals. I made a commitment to have a healthy breakfast every day. To make it easier, I decided to to a morning smoothie with protein and healthy nutrients, using simple recipes found in Joyfull, by Radi Devlukia. This sets me up for my morning workout and keeps me full until lunch. There are so many great smoothie recipes, but if that feels overwhelming just use a high quality protein powder shake, such as this one from Complement. I like the chocolate flavor when drinking plain and unflavored when using with the recipes from Joyfull. I have been super consistent with this goal as well. No cooking required for this breakfast and the variety of smoothies is endless. For lunch, I generally eat the main meal of the day to allow more time for digestion. I eat a whole food plant based diet consisting of protein, legumes, fruits, vegetables and whole grains. This also is very easy to do as salads are super easy to put together. 

On this cold winter day, I remind you that it’s not about perfection. It’s about the effort we put in and more importantly, the consistency we apply to our health journeys. Approach every day with a clean slate. If you ate too much yesterday (me eating pizza during the football playoffs), it’s all good, just return to your daily routine today. You slept in and didn’t do your gym workout this morning, get up do your 30 minute walk and return to the gym on your next scheduled day. Perhaps your body needed the rest. What we can’t do is give up and stop. Just keep to your routines as best you can and watch the compound effect unfold. 

If you have any questions or comments, please do reach out. I love getting emails at laurakump@reclaiminghealth.blog about your journey. Take a photo of nature from your 30 minute walk and tag me on Instagram at reclaiminghealthblog with #30minutesinnature . Let’s do this together, motivate each other and reach spring feeling healthier. It is only two months away!

Green Means GO

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” — Confucius.

One of the most complicated parts of a healthy lifestyle, for me, is meal choice and planning. Knowing what to eat can really be the make or break of feeling successful. For many years, I have thought I was eating healthy and could not understand why nothing changed. I would eat foods I perceived as healthy and feel good about my choices, only to find out what I thought was healthy wasn’t healthy for me at all. This can be very frustrating. Far worse, the complexity of this can be very overwhelming and truly make one feel like giving up.

Anyone who has read my blog knows that I am about keeping it simple to keep it accessible for all. I need simplicity to feel motivated. Weighing food, calculating macros, meal prepping and all those other strategies are good, but have not been sustainable for me for many reasons. In order to avoid that, I invested in a good food logging app to better understand my eating habits. I have used My Fitness Pal for years and when in doubt about my eating patterns, I always go back to logging to see what is happening. Another app I have used is Noom, an app meant to teach you about your eating patterns by categorizing foods into categories, not based on good or bad, but rather on how much you should consume of each. Both are great apps to gain insight into your eating patterns and uncover why you are not getting the results you want.

Another simple tool I use is Dr Sears Wellness Institute’s Traffic Light Eating which I learned about during my Health Coach certification courses. Traffic Light Eating is based on the familiar concept of driving a car. A traffic light is meant to guide use when driving and can be used in the same way when making choices about food. It’s so simple, Dr Sears uses this with his pediatric patients! 

Green means “go”
Yellow tells us to “slow down”
Red means “stop” and think

Again, like Noom’s system, there are no judgements made about foods we eat and doesn’t ban foods. We all know that taboo placed on foods can make them more desireable. Rather, this tool focuses us on how often and how much of certain foods we consume. Below are the breakdowns of each category on our traffic light used to help us when making selections of food.

Green Light Foods

Green light foods include all fruits and vegetables. They are grown and not manufactured or process artificially. These foods are low in calories and high in nutrients. They provide color to our plates and can be eaten raw or cooked. Green light foods are foods which can be eaten generally free of worry, barring any personal health issues you may have. They are considered go foods and make great choices for all meals and snacks and should play a prominent role in your selections. They were also the group I noticed I wasn’t eating enough of.

Yellow Light Foods

Yellow light foods are fine to eat everyday, but in moderation as they are considered slow down foods. You do not have to give them up, or feel badly if you do eat them. These are the foods, I learned, made up my entire diet. Yellow light foods include: pasta, rice, bread, tortillas, noodles, eggs, lean meat, chicken, low fat yogurt, nuts and seeds, olive oil, soy foods, whole grains, fish, low fat cheese, and vegetable oil.

Red Light Foods

Red light foods are known as “stop” and think foods. We don’t have to eliminate them entirely from our lives, but we should look for different options, or eat them less frequently. When we do choose then, we should pay specific attention to our portions and go smaller. These foods are low in nutrients and high in calories, fat or sugar. Many contain artificial sweeteners or trans-fats. Think about that cookie you ate last night, that would fall in the red zone. You wouldn’t want to eat the whole bag, or eat them every day, but one cookie will not make you fat or a failure. This group, I learned, was my go to group especially when tired, upset or super hungry.

All these tools are very easy to use and guide you as you learn more about your food choices. I appreciated that none of them made me feel badly about myself for my eating patterns. Rather, they seek to empower you through building your knowledge about food. I find myself making better choices in my overall daily eating, including when eating at a restaurant. The biggest change for me was in increase in my intake of vegetables and fruit. 

I recommend you start by looking at your pantry, refrigerator or dinner plate. Start to think about which category the majority of your fall falls in. No judgement, just notice. If you don’t want to do this, I recommend you think about using an app to guide you. Log your food and notice what the analysis tells you about your food patterns. Once you have this data, you can make some adjustments to your food selection and notice what impact it has on you. They say what gets measured gets improved. I fully agree, but what I’d like to measure is not my quantity of food, but my knowledge about the quality of it. 

If you have any questions about the apps, or traffic light eating, feel free to reach out through email at laurakump@reclaiminghealth.blog , Instagram or through the comment section below.

Hold On

Coming out of the holidays, I found myself feeling under the weather. It is so hard to stay on track when we aren’t feeling well. Our body needs rest and we want to keep pushing, but rest is what we need. I’ve learned that our body knows best what it needs, if we choose to listen. This time, I chose to listen. 

I was in bed for a week with the flu at the holidays. Initially, I wasn’t hungry at all. After, I was so hungry that I found myself craving foods I haven’t been eating, think pizza, pasta and snacks. In the past, this time of year was always when I went down the rabbit hole, beat myself up for being lazy and gave up. If I look deeply at my health journey, I see the patterns so clearly. Spring and Summer, highly active periods with good habits, motivation and weight loss. Fall holding steady. Winter lower energy period with weight gains and loss of interest in healthy habits. When I was young, I used to call it my hibernation period during which I needed the extra weight to get through. It just became the normal flow of my life.

If you’ve been following my journey, you know how central being outside in nature is to it. I believe strongly that being outdoors has helped me physically and emotionally. I realize now that the patterns I’ve cycled through each year, make perfect sense as part of the cycles of nature where I live. It is normal for me to have slightly less energy during the wintering period. Knowing this helps me feel better about myself, but I want to be clear it doesn’t give me a pass to give up on my healthy habits, which is what I have done every year. 

I recently read a quote that said, if you want different results, you have to do something different. Common sense for sure, but research shows habits are hard to change. For me, I’m keeping it simple this year. I am holding on as best I can. I wake up each morning with good intentions and a plan.

  • I drink my healthy morning shake no matter how I feel, or what I did or didn’t do the day before. 
  • I try to eat healthy foods, but allow myself forgiveness if I veer off course.
  • I move my body every day, rain or shine no less than 30 minutes a day outside in nature. 
  • I get at least 8 hours of sleep and try to maintain my sleep schedule.
  • I found an indoor space so I can continue to play pickleball four times a week.
  • I am now back in the gym lifting light weights at least twice a week.

The best advice I can give is to hold on tight to the goal of a healthy life. It is the most important work we will ever engage in. It’s truly easier to give up, hibernate an just give up. That will only leave us back at it in the Spring and redoing what we have done each year. This year, I hope to start my high energy period in much better health space than any year before. I hope you will join me in that goal. In order to do that, take some time to reflect on your health patterns across the year. What do you notice? What does that mean for you at this moment in time? Most importantly, what will you commit to do this year?

Please let me know what you decide and how it goes. Sharing your journey will help us all to learn and grow. Leave a comment below, visit me on Instagram or email me at laurakump@reclaiminghealthblog.com . I look forward to learning together.

The Rule of Twos:Eating Habits for Better Health

Last week, we discussed inflammation and the impact it can have on our health. As part of my health certification course, we spent a lot of time learning ways to improve our health, including diving deeply into our eating habits. I personally have struggled with inflammation and the effects it has on my health. I mistakenly assumed I could diet my way to good health for years. The problem with that is the word diet, and believe me I have tried them all and had the same results, weight loss followed by weight gain with little impact on my overall health.

I first learned of inflammation, back in 2010, when I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, which is arthritis caused by inflammation. That was the first I learned that certain foods have the power to make us feel better, or worse when we consume them. During this coursework, I went beyond this understanding and added the knowledge that my actual eating habits themselves have an effect on inflammation and overall gut health. 

The Rule of Twos and the opening quote shared above, ”Fast eaters are fat eaters, has my name written all over it. Anyone who knows me, knows I am a super fast eater. As kids, we were taught not to talk with our mouths full, so eating was serious business. Eat, then we could talk, laugh and linger. I had no idea that this habit could actually impact my health, especially my gut health. I thought it was more important to focus on what I actually ate. I have heard to slow down my eating, but thought the main reason was to allow the brain to catch on to the fact that it had been fed. 

The Rule of Twos, is simple and has absolutely helped improve my eating habits. Further, it can help with inflammation, indigestion and constipation. The rule simply reminds you to:

  • Eat twice as often.
  • Eat half as much.
  • Chew twice as long.
  • Take twice the time to dine.

Grazing, or eating smaller amounts of food, throughout the day is a new approach to eating for me. On a good day, when working, I ate one big meal and maybe a yogurt at night. This grazing approach can decrease spikes in your blood sugar levels and help stabilize your insulin levels throughout the day. Eating less can also improve your digestion as your body has less food at once to metabolize, or digest. I find it very satisfying to eat this way and enjoy my healthy snacks as well. The trick there is to have things on hand to nibble on during the day, greek yogurt, humus, cut raw vegetables, fruit and nuts make great, easy to grab and go snacks. 

Eating half as much will help me eat less, but I think of it now as letting my body tell me what it actually needs, guiding my portions. When I make my plate now, I put half as much as I used to on it. When I finish eating that, I pause before even thinking of taking seconds. Most days I realize I don’t need to eat anymore. As the weeks have passed, I find myself satisfied with this new portion size, even when eating out. 

Chewing twice as long is something I am working on as a recovering fast eater. Chewing can definitely slow me down, but there is far more to this than just that fact. Digestion, I’ve learned, starts in your mouth, not your stomach. When you chew your food, it gets broken down into smaller pieces which are easier to digest. When mixed with saliva, chewing allows your body to extract the greatest possible amount of nutrients from the food you eat. This is why it is said you should not drink with, or immediately after eating. 

The last part of taking twice as long to dine, allows me to spend some quality time at the table relaxing and reflecting. In the past, once I was done eating, I would get up and immediately start cleaning up. Now, I spend some time at the table, engaged in conversation, if I am not eating alone. If I am alone, I take some time now to jot down thoughts in my daily journal, or just relaxing before cleaning up.

The Rule of Twos is super easy to incorporate into your wellness routine, with nothing to buy or study. The changes are indeed small, but the impact on your health and wellness will be large. Why not give it a try for a few weeks and see how you feel? If you do, please let me know how it went. Have questions about how to get started, shoot me an email, or leave a comment and I’ll get back to you to brainstorm a few ideas.

Small Changes, Big Results

As part of my health coach certification, I learned many science based tools for healthier living. I’d love to share some with you, as I have found these small changes have had a big impact on my journey. I am a mere 18 pounds away from my target weight, a goal that once seemed impossible when I was 60 pounds away. I’m no longer focused on just my weight though, as I realize my health journey transcends more than just that number.

Over the next few weeks, I ‘d like to share a few of the tips I found most helpful on my own personal journey to wellness. This week, I’d like to share information about foods that help reduce inflammation in your body. Inflammation is a natural process by which your body protects itself from outside invaders, such as bacteria and viruses. Inflammation is often seen as bad, but it is the body’s way of protecting itself. The problems arise when we have too little, or too much inflammation in our body.

Many of us are battling chronic inflammation, due to our lifestyles, which isn’t healthy for our body. Diet, weight gain, illness, injury and life stressors can wreak havoc on our bodies, as my story has illustrated. Weight gain and inflammation affect the production of the hormone leptin, which works in your brain to regulate metabolism and control your appetite. Lower levels of leptin will make you feel hungry, adding to your inability to loose weight. In simple language, inflammation leads to weight gain and weight gain leads to inflammation. You are effectively stuck in this loop and seemingly unable to get out.

Your diet, meaning the foods you eat, can be considered an outside invader. Whatever you put into your body, must be processed by it through the digestion process. There are foods we can consume that will increase our inflammation, think an unbalanced diet with lots of processed foods, that contain ingredients that can activate an inflammatory response. These inflammatory foods are mainstays of the standard American diet, such as red meat, white bread, pasta, chips, pastries, soda and fried foods.

One of the most powerful ways to maintain healthy inflammation levels comes from the grocery store. Dr. William Sears, shared a simple way to think about what foods to eat when seeking to reduce inflammation as part of your health journey. It has been called the Six-S “Diet” to reduce inflammation, with the word diet being used to mean the food you eat, not a program.

  1. Seafood – primarily wild pacific salmon
  2. Smoothies – multiple dark colored fruits, berries, ground flaxseed, organic yogurt
  3. Salads – colorful, arugla, kale, spinach, red peppers, tomatoes, legumes
  4. Spices – turmeric, black pepper, ginger, garlic, rosemary, chilis, cinnamon
  5. Satisfying Snacks – grazing
  6. Supplements – ONLY as necessary to fill in gaps. Omega-3, Astaxanthium

For me, I found Dr. Sear’s list so helpful when planning my daily and weekly meals. I was severely lacking in variety in my meal choices, especially with fruits and vegetables. I’m a creature of habit and was eating a consistent diet of grilled chicken and chopped green salad. I’ve found that now my salads are more thoughtfully constructed, as I seek to add in spices and colors I was lacking. Grazing has helped me with my digestive issues and reduced cravings. The one area I still struggle with is seafood. I do not like salmon, no matter how much I tried. So in this case, I have been exploring other foods rich in Omega and have added in supplementation to close the gap.

My main focus is on the top four Ss listed above. When I plan the week, I am looking to ensure that my menu revolves around these choices. Yes, I do still eat meat, especially chicken, but it no longer drives the meal plan as the main event. As a known vegetable struggler, I have found soups, salads and smoothies serve as places I can increase my intake. I made a beautiful lentil soup this week, in which I added kale, carrots, mushrooms, tomatoes and pearled farro. It’s not perfect by any means, but this helpful information has given me some much needed guidance. Further, I believe it has helped reduce inflammation in my body, as based on my recent bloodwork and weight loss.

When planning your meals for the week, try to incorporate the six Ss listed above. Let me know how it goes and more importantly how you feel. I’m excited for you and look forward to hearing how it goes.

There’s No There There

Thinking about this past year, I like to think about how far I’ve come. I’d like to say I have achieved my goal and host a celebration of some sort. But, sadly I’ve been down this road before. I’ve achieved a goal weight or fitness goal, only to regain the weight and lose the fitness strength. It’s not because I am a failure, slacker or loser, though that is how I used to think prior to giving up. Honestly, I bet this has happened to many of us. How many times have you lost and gained the same 20 pounds? I’ve finally realized that creating a sustainable healthy lifestyle is the actual work I need to focus on. Do you know how long it took me to understand this concept? My whole life.

Me at my son’s wedding

Like me, I bet many of you have focused on losing weight for a specific reason. For example, an upcoming special event is always on the list of reasons. A few years ago, I waited to shop for a dress to wear to my son’s wedding. I was waiting to lose weight before ordering it. I almost waited too long and truly cut it close on getting a dress in time. I never did lose the weight either.

NYC Marathon medal

Another time, I worked out for several years to achieve the goal of finishing a full marathon. It took me three years to meet this goal, but over the course of three years of training, I had sustained several serious injuries leaving me wondering why it ever was so important to me to meet this goal. I finished the NYC Marathon, met my goal and then had to give up long distance running as a result of the damage I did to my hips and ankle.

In both of those examples, what was lost on me was that I was focusing on the end result, not the process. What I really wanted, was to be physically fit and healthy. What I focused on was losing weight and finishing a marathon. What I accomplished was losing weight, which I gained back; and finishing a marathon. Both of those were truly wonderful accomplishments, but neither did anything to help me create the sustainable, healthy lifestyle I was seeking.

I thought that by engaging in those two goals, I would become healthy. What I realize now is that living a healthy lifestyle is a process and that meeting one goal along the way doesn’t mean I’ve arrived at my destination. In fact, I’ve learned there really is no there, there. The destination is not something I can reach and be finished with the journey. Rather, I have to commit to creating and maintaining this healthy lifestyle for the rest of my life. It doesn’t just stay in place on it’s own, it takes commitment and work, but it also doesn’t have to be so hard.

These revelations did not come easy and quite honestly can be intimidating. I have tried every diet plan you can think of, had success and then went right back to my “old ways”. In all honesty, I love pizza. As I’m typing this, I am thinking about how hard I tried in the past not to have pizza because it wasn’t “good for me”. Does that sound sustainable? Not in any lifetime, is never eating pizza again sustainable for me.

While reading Prime-Time Health by William Sears, MD, I came across an acronym that has helped me rethink how to achieve a healthy lifestyle, which has been my actual goal all along. He uses the acronym LEAN to outline the four pillars of health.

  • Lifestyle – How we live
  • Exercise – How we move
  • Attitude – How we think
  • Nutrition – How we eat

I have found that this simple tool has led to my understanding that I did not have a strong system in place to create and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Rather, I was specifically focusing on what I ate, what I could do for exercise and what I looked like. I gave very little attention to my lifestyle choices, or my thoughts about myself. When I was meal planning, I focused on the what of eating. What could I eat that wasn’t full of carbs, fat, calories, etc; not, how I could eat to feel better. When I focused on exercise, I focused on what I could do to burn the most calories; not, how can I move throughout my day. This led to me forcing myself to push through routines, even when I was hurting, which ultimately led to stress fractures.

Attitude is the area I am specifically focused on right now. I take time each day to notice, note and move on. If I notice my weight is up, I take some time to think about the possible reasons why and reflect on any changes I might need to make. I come from a place of learning and inquiry. I no longer beat myself up, get down on myself about it, or worse give up. I choose to write positive affirmations about myself every day in my journal. I also have one word that reminds me of my why, my purpose for doing any of this work. I write this one word in my journal every day as well. I have found that just adding these two things to my morning routine have helped me stay grounded in the process of creating a healthier lifestyle and not getting stuck on just trying to lose weight.

I know that sounds so simple, but I realized that I am the one who has made this all so hard, by focusing on the wrong things. I plan to use the L.E.A.N. pillars to keep myself focused on what matters most – healthy living. How about you? How are you doing with your journey? Please continue to reach out, as I enjoy reading your stories.

Me this week with my brothers and dad

Stress

This picture of me was taken just before I decided to retire from my much loved position as Principal of an Elementary School in New York City. It fully illustrates the impact of living under constant, high level stress on my body. Though I loved my position; my community and children, it did not love my body, especially during and after the COVID pandemic. My life was turned upside down during that time, with the loss of my mother, as well as the huge toll of working 24 hours a day to keep my school afloat despite loss of staff, family members, inconsistent messaging, funding and lack of clear guidance from the NYC DOE.

The impact on my physical body is clear to see, as I present as obese, haggard looking and quite honestly old beyond my years. The emotional toll is not as easily visible to the eye, but believe me it was there. By this point in time, it was getting harder and harder for me to find the will to engage in any social functions. Invitations to meet for dinner with friends caused anxiety and led to endless cancellations on my part. I was not able to sleep well and found myself lying awake each night filled with anxiety over all the things I needed to get done. It wasn’t uncommon to get a text, or social media post, from me at 1 AM during those times as I was wide awake.

This photo of me was taken this weekend, 8 months post retirement. These past 8 months have allowed me space and time to heal, both emotionally and physically. I wish I could say the healing was easy, but it wasn’t. During this time, I supported my husband’s healing from medical issues and cared my for aging dad in our home. But, despite those stresses, I still carved out space to focus on my own healing journey.

The impact of stress on our health cannot be underestimated. I hope my photographs serve as a reminder to us all that long term stress can destroy your health. Examining causes of stress and making changes to reduce it must be our driving force in our health journeys. For too long I acknowledged that I was under unrelenting stress, but yet did nothing about it. Rather, I used it as my excuse for being so unhealthy, as if it was expected. Finding the strength to make changes was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, yet I am so grateful I made the move as I am worth it. Living to see my grandson grow and thrive was worth it.

A dear friend said to me when I was struggling, “Laura, if you die tomorrow, there will be an ass in your chair before you’re even buried. We are all replaceable. Your family, however, will be forever changed. Your work family will move on and adjust pretty quickly to your absence. Your family will not.” That conversation really stuck with me and was what gave me the courage to step away.

Focusing first on my nutrition, helped by having to cook healthy for my two men, was pivotal. I worked with a nutritionist for the first few months to really look at what I was eating and gained knowledge of the impact of my choices on my healing. Slowing adding and increasing movement each day and tracking the impact on my body was next. Finally, returning to a yoga studio to connect with other yogis and more importantly, to myself.

I wish I could say I’m completely cured, but that would diminish the actual process of this journey. It’s a process, not a cure. I am most definitely feeling healthy again. I have a vibrant social life and have met and connected to so many great people in our new community. I have found a sport I love to play and engage in – pickleball. I have lost weight and gained better emotional health. My sleep is improving, but still not where it needs to be. I am sleeping well and getting quality REM, but still need to examine my Restoration sleep, which is still impacted by my restlessness during the night. Improved for sure, but not where I want it to be.

My next steps on my journey begin next week. I have been accepted to and registered for a Master Health Coach certification course with Dr. Spears. My specific focus will be on Adults and Aging. I cannot wait to learn more about the role nutrition plays on the body as we age as I continue on my road to Reclaiming My Health. This blog may undergo some updates during the year long coursework, as I look forward to sharing my learning with you all.

Please share your experiences with stress and nutrition. I’d love to hear what you have done to reclaim your health.

Your Diet, It’s Not What You Eat

Most of you know I’ve been on this journey to health for quite some time now. I have had good times and bad, just like all of you. I cleaned my eating, I exercised endlessly and still went up and down in weight. Up much easier than down always. I blamed stress, my job, no time, etc. Even when I retired and began once again, I still had the same results. At that time, I blamed age and decided to just accept that this is where I was at this point in my life. But, something about that finality of thought kept nagging at me.

When I was training for running, there was a saying that stuck with me – You can’t outrun a bad diet. That led me to really reflect and be very careful about what I put into my body, as food was the driving force behind being successful in running. Trouble came when I wasn’t training for running anymore and decided it didn’t matter what foods I ate. Another of my favorite sayings – What get’s measured, gets improved. True, until you stop measuring because you just don’t want to see the results, or decide they don’t matter.

When Things Fall Apart, Pema Chodron, has long been a favorite book of mine. There are so many quotes to be found here and if I really reflect now, perhaps the reason for my falling back time and again. Pema says,  “The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy. ” Perhaps my constant ability to not make room for healing, make room for grief, relief, misery and joy was the wall I just couldn’t get past.

My trainer Stephanie spoke with me about my mindset when we first met. How ironic, as that is something I’ve studied and worked hard on for years. The issue is I never gave myself the grace I gave others and my focus was always through the lens of leadership. I have had a steady stream of holding myself to high standards and pushing myself constantly to do more, often at the expense of my emotional and physical health. This quote about diet, truly captures the piece that I’ve been missing. My constant putting other people’s needs before my own, helping them navigate life’s challenges, sharing their grief and joy, left little emotional energy to devote to my own needs. I could help others become more mindful, express gratitude and engage in self love. I knew the importance of it and took joy in the work. But, the work never fully extended to myself as I was too exhausted, busy and just trying to get it all done.

I’ve been retired for 8 months and feel busier than when I worked. There are so many things to do each day. For 5 months, I worked hard at cleaning up my nutrition. I was cooking for my dad who has kidney issues and my husband, so it was truly important to cook healing foods. I finally had time to exercise every day and was excited to be back at it. But, the scale was moving so slowly it was ridiculous. When my trainer kept saying, do less, do yoga, take self care days; I kept saying I can’t, I don’t have time.

Fast forward to today. I have been doing a lot of journaling, reflecting and self reflection. I have slowed down on the daily workout grind. I still am active every day, but I am approaching it with a different mindset. I walk, I do yoga, I swim, I play pickleball, I journal and I most definitely have turned a corner. The scale started moving consistently, which I never would have thought possible doing less intense workouts. The quote posted about your diet really captured what I’ve experienced. Focus on diet alone will not work. Focus on exercise alone will not work. Focus on mindset alone will not work. But, put the three together and you’ll be on a path to success. Everything that goes in your body and I mean everything, will impact your health in one way or another.

As you cleanse for the fall, consider cleansing your mindset. Reflect on – What is cluttering your mind and time? How is that impacting your overall health? Are you sleeping well? Eating well? Moving your body? Engaging in self care routines? If not, where can you add this in? It may just be the missing link in your health journey.

Turkey London Broil

This weekend was opening day for my running group.  Our first meeting of the season and our first run together in my favorite place – Central Park.  I have such a long history of going to Central Park and whenever I return after an absence, it feels as if I’ve come home.  I wandered those rocks, tunnels and paths as a child and teenager.  I spent countless days discussing life on those rocks, as we sunned ourselves and laughed the day away.  When I was 13, my friends Stacey, Michele and I used to ride the train from school to the park and hang out.  We spent so many days just wandering around and I remember how grown up I felt to be there.  We spent a lot of time at the zoo and just enjoying being in the city.  There’s really not a better park in New York City that I know of and none that holds so many of my memories.  Forty years later, as I run past those rocks, I find myself glancing up hoping to catch a glimpse of my younger self as we were back then.  Oh, if only for a day…

StaceyCentralPark
Will look for photos from our middle school Central Park days. This is Stacey, front and center, circa 1979 in Central Park.

This weekend, my running group met at the YMCA on 63rd Street and proceeded to walk over to the park together.  We did our loop of the park and then returned to the YMCA for a breakfast meeting with Olympian, Jeff Galloway.   This run was my first run since that fateful injury in late October, just two short weeks before the NYC marathon.  I must admit I was slightly nervous, but knew I had worked hard on my functional strength over the long winter.  I’m not at my running weight yet, but my legs are strong and ready to begin again.  Thankfully, the first run is just one quick loop around the park.  Anyone who actually enjoys running knows what I mean when I say how good it felt to be able to run again.  It was a gorgeous, sunny day and I had my friend Helen by my side.  My husband and dog were hanging out in the park, waiting for me at the finish.  Life doesn’t get any better than that.

This is the group entering the park at Columbus Circle.  You can’t see me, but I see Helen’s blue shirt.  We are in the middle front, behind the woman in the pink jacket.

Today, I am happy to say my glutes felt like they were used on the run.  I woke with slight muscle soreness and was so excited that it wasn’t in my quads, or feet, where it normally lands.  The training is working and I will continue to strengthen my core and glutes. This morning, I went for a 90 minute yoga class which ended up being a beautiful mix of flow and stretch, ending in a wonderful restorative resting pose.  It was exactly what my body and mind needed.  When I got home, my husband showed me a beautiful Turkey London Broil he had purchased.  I’ll admit I wasn’t as excited as he was, but quickly set out to prepare for our Sunday meal.

As I stared at the beautiful turkey meat, I dreamed of making a rolled and stuffed turkey meal.  Oh how great would mushroom bread stuffing be on this cloudy day.  I also thought about making a lovely mushroom pan gravy to eat over the meat.  Then, I remembered that I’ve got a goal ahead of me and my husband really wanted it grilled.  I mixed up a quick marinade and put the turkey in to sit for about 3-4 hours, turning once midway through.  I then spent the day relaxing, what a difference from the endless meal prepping I used to do on Sunday’s.  I love cooking, but not cooking all my meals for the week opens up the day to do anything I wish.  Plant based meals are generally super easy to prepare and can be cooked in 30 minutes.  This allows me time to make a quick, fresh and delicious meal when I get home from work.

Ironically, my husband has lost a ton of weight eating what I’m eating.  He didn’t even need to lose any weight, as he was already at a very healthy weight.  Isn’t it the way?  Of course he would lose more weight than me and fast too.  He’s so excited about it too and keeps telling me how good he feels.  Me, I’ve lost 10 pounds so far and have more to go to get back to a comfortable running weight.  The next phase of my online course will reintroduce foods that were eliminated to see how my body responds to them.  This will be done slowly, over the course of the next 3 weeks.  I’m truly not craving anything and eating intuitively has allowed me to eat what I need.  I haven’t been stress eating and mostly eat my meals and no snacks.  It’s been a great learning experience and I’ve decided to continue with the plant based meals, as I feel they are fueling me better and I just plain feel better.  I’m going to cycle through the online course again as it was a lot to process the first time through.

Turkey London Broil & Chopped Salad

Marinade Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp ginger
  • 1 Tbsp organic raw honey
  • 1 scallion, chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic chopped
  • 1 tsp rosemary
  • 1/4 tsp thyme
  • salt and pepper to taste

Marinade Directions:

  1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
  2. Whisk together to combine.
  3. Place Turkey London Broil into the marinade and turn over to coat both sides.
  4. Cover bowl and place in refrigerator for 3-4 hours, turning once.5150C680-BD2A-4453-AF25-86CD7B62F4B3.jpeg

Turkey Cooking Directions:

  1. Take turkey out of marinade and discard the marinade.
  2. Salt turkey on both sides lightly
  3. Place on hot grill and cook about 8 minutes on each side.  (I use a T-fal grill so no need to turn.  This grill has a sensor and tells you when the food is ready.  It comes completely apart when cooled and goes right in the dishwasher.  I’ve had it for years now and it was the best investment ever!)
  4. Let turkey rest for about 5 minutes before carving.
  5. Slice to desired thickness.

Leftovers can be used in salads or sandwiches all week.  It was a delicious, light meal which we plated with a hearty chopped kale, broccoli slaw salad.

This is the grill I use. Click on the picture to see further information.

Highlight Reels

When you are recovering, or rebuilding your strength following an injury social media can be tough to view.  Each day my feed is full of photographs from my running friends who are sharing their successes. Most weekdays I wake to photographs of beautiful scenery from their runs.  Weekends are full of race medals, smiling faces and finish line celebrations.  Sure, I am happy for all my running friends who are continuing their journey.  Sure, I celebrate all their accomplishments, support and congratulate them – and I mean it.  But, that doesn’t mean it’s not hard for me and that I don’t feel like time is passing me by.  I miss my runs, I miss my races and I miss my running friends.

Recently, I went on Twitter and noticed a photo of a group having a meet up run.  I must admit I felt left out to not have even known about it.  It’s not that they didn’t tell me they were meeting, it’s that I wasn’t able to be there to run.  This run happens every year, I just wasn’t watching the run group calendar of events as I am currently on break.  I had that FOMO moment and really started feeling sorry for myself.   I got that nagging, whiny feeling of – “Why me?”  “Why is everyone else able to run without any injury and I get injured when I think about running.”   Then I reminded myself, that these photographs come from the “highlight reel” of their lives.  Every runner struggles with injury, aches and pain because running is hard work.  For every smiling photograph on social media, there are many other not so pretty moments on the journey.

This time of year can be especially hard on many people and social media can heighten these feelings.  If you are feeling overwhelmed, it may be a good time to take a break from it.  Get involved in something else to occupy the time you normally spend on social media.  I have been walking instead and to stay motivated I joined a Fitbit Challenge called the Workweek Hustle.  My work friend has been pushing me to walk more each day by upping her steps in this friendly competition.  The walking has helped me to clear my mind and spend less time on the computer.  That’s a win win for me on this recovery journey.  I hope you consider doing the same.

Last year around this time I wrote a blog about similar feelings that you may find interesting.

Me, Myself and I

Knowing you are not alone in the struggle can often lift you up.  Drop me a line and let me know how you’re doing.  Your notes of encouragement lift me up and often put a smile on my face.  Thanks to all who take time to comment each week, I greatly appreciate your thoughts.