I just returned from the 2012 Consumer Electronic Show (CES) that took place in Las Vegas, Nevada this January.

I first heard about CES on Donny Deutsch’s show, The Big Idea, in 2005. I loved that show. Donny profiled entrepreneurs and their food, tech, recreation, fashion products, aka “Big Ideas” that they created, invented or designed. Every January Donny would always do a special show from CES in Vegas and profile the latest and greatest electronics and gadgets.

Fast forward to 2012 and I was lucky enough to attend CES on my own press pass this year.

As I walked around the massive Las Vegas Convention Center with 150,000 other people (press and exhibitors) from all around the world, I obviously sought out and was most interested in the fitness, health products.

It’s quite a show. We can talk about buffering yourself against convention, travel fatigue later.

But for now, I want to talk about one of the products I received at CES from an Austrian based fitness company called:

Runtastic.

When I downloaded the Runtastic iPhone App I was immediately impressed. This is a very well designed, thought-out fitness app. It goes above and beyond the average app that just monitors pace, miles and elevation.

With Runtastic you can track, log and share:

• Speed
• Miles/time
• Calories burned
• Altitude
• Sunrise and sunset – in case you’re an early morning/late evening outdoor runner, walker.
• Heart rate monitor – which tracks your maximum heart rate and average heart rate.
• Full map – with graphs, detailed stats of the course you took, miles accumulated, your pace, duration and heart rate at any point in your workout.

If you want to get really fancy try recording how you were feeling, what the surface and weather was like and then share your workout log with friends on FaceBook or Twitter. If this doesn’t make workout accountability fun, I don’t know what does!

There are built in interval training workouts, marathon training programs and voice coaching.

I’m still experimenting with mine and learning all its great features and options. It’s not just for running or walking, you can use it during any workout, such as: yoga, biking, basketball, weight lifting to monitor your heart rate and results.

Overall, I’m extremely impressed with this app.

Download the free Runtastic app to your iPhone, Android, Blackberry or Window 7 Phone; then purchase the heart rate monitor through Runtastic and any additional pro upgrades through the app store.The heart rate monitor portion of this device will be available in the U.S. later this year. It’s already widely available in Europe.

Plug the heart rate connecting receiver into the headphone jack of your Smartphone. Then plug your earbuds into the receiver if you want to listen to music.

Attach the heart rate monitor around your chest.

Everything worked great, it was easy to set up and I didn’t encounter any glitches.

Keep an eye out for this Healthy (fitness/tech) Discovery. It is a top notch, well designed investment! I think it’ll be a huge hit in the American fitness market.

Thank You, Runtastic for providing me with this free device to test and review.

Runtastic on FaceBook

Runtastic on Twitter

“Change. It’s the most popular topic on the Internet this week. Some folks love resolutions; some rally against them. Some may call them intentions, rituals, goals or promises.” ~Kris Carr, author of Crazy Sexy Cancer.

This week I compiled a list of e-book Healthy Discoveries to help you create healthy habits and achieve great things via your 2012 resolutions. Regardless of which part of your life you resolve to change, these resources can help you get clear about what you want and why. They’ll teach you how to follow-through and maintain your focus throughout the whole year.

1. Unraveling The Year Ahead – Susannah Conway hosts a popular photography e-course which takes people through The Unraveling Process- using a camera as a tool to unlock how we see not only ourselves but also the world we live in. We do this in the simplest way: we stop and look. Beginning with your feet, you’re going to go on a photo safari into your own life to reconnect with who you are, where you’ve been and where you want to go next.

Susannah also created this FREE download for you to write about and reflect on the past year while focusing on a fulfilling New Year.

2. How To Live Your Best Life- Marelisa and I frequently chat on Twitter. She has a fantastic blog, she writes great eBooks, and she’s a true Healthy Discovery. You can download, How To Live Your Best Life, and all the wonderful bonuses Marelisa provides for only $17.95  Click here to view more details

3. The Right Brain Business Plan - Are you an artist, health and wellness professional, educator, coach, designer, writer, photographer, non-profit leader or all-around creative soul wanting to make a positive impact with your entrepreneurial endeavors? Do you dream of making a living doing what you love but find the process of creating a viable business plan like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole? Jennifer Lee knows what it’s like to make the entrepreneurial leap — and how to do it successfully. The key is using, rather than stifling, imagination and intuition. Lee’s illustrated, colorful worksheets and step-by-step instructions are playful yet practical, transforming drudgery into joy. They’ll enable you to define your vision and nail down plans for funding, marketing, networking, and long-term strategy.

Click this picture for more information.

4.  Sustainable Creativity - Learn to use whatever energy you have available, however limited it may be, to maintain a creative life (or livelihood). Maybe you’re someone, like the author, who has a chronic illness which means the energy available for creative endeavors is severely curtailed.

Or maybe your days are so full of the busyness of life that you have very little time or energy left over to pursue your creative ambitions. Either way, Sustainable Creativity could be for you.

• Keep things simple
• The 20-minute a day challenge
• The three-thing (or even one-thing) to-do list
• Recognizing and celebrating your achievements
• Being kind
• Enjoy the journey (or try to anyway)
• Practical ways of working with your energy bank
• The magic of saying “no”

The suggested price is $15.00 but you’re welcome to pay as much or as little as you can afford. Click here to visit Sustainably Creative.

5.  The Spark Kit- A digital book-meets-video seminar to help you rock your business… your way, right away. You: are likely sitting on an empire of content, product, services, and prosperity that needs a spark — or blow torch — to take it to the next level. You: want to rock your revenue and do meaningful things in the world. You: want to do it as soon as possible.

Click this picture to order your Spark Kit today.

6. Secrets of Lasting Weight Loss Revealed – I’m a fan of Kat Eden’s blog because she trained with Charles Poliquin. Poliquin is the creme de la creme when it comes to nutrition, fitness, supplementation, and fat loss. Kat Eden takes the knowledge gained from Poliquin and wrote her own eBook. If you want a legit, top-notch nutrition and weight loss plan for 2012 I highly recommend, Secrets of Lasting Weight Loss Revealed for $37.00 - Click here to visit Play Life Health and Performance Coach and purchase:

7.  I Quit Sugar- Are you ready to take the plunge and remove sugar from your diet? You will look and feel 100% better, plus you’ll have that much more energy to accomplish great things this year!

• An 8-week program that walks you through each crucial stage, week by week
• How + why sugar is making us fat + sick
• A sugar replacement plan: tested + nutritionally sound
• “Sweet” sugar-free recipes
• New treat ideas
• A detox + a suggested supplements list
• A downloadable shopping list of new ingredients to replace sugar in your life

Click here to view more details

As the calendar flips from one year to the next, you may perceive your experiences from the past year as fair or unfair, burdens or gifts, triumphs or struggles. Either way, I love this quote by Ali Smith, “In the end, everything simply began.”

Happy New Year!

 

So, have you jumped onto the Pinterest bandwagon yet? I first wrote about it here and I have pinned over 1,152 pins since then. I love Pinterest.

In case you’re not familiar with Pinterest, (Pin Your Interest), it is an endless source of on-line inspiration and creativity. You will find images, quotes and ideas that will inspire you to cook, take pictures, create DIY home projects and crafts, decorate, travel, stay healthy, spark humor and wisdom in your life and much, much more. Here are some of my recent Discoveries via Pinterest for this holiday season.

Food Ideas For Your Holiday Party

Chicken strips wrapped in bacon and lightly brushed with a honey mustard marinade.

Grilled zucchini rolls with herbed goat cheese & kalamata olives.

Goat cheese with cranberries and pistachios.

Tomato, mozzarella cheese, fresh basil, balsamic vinegar and a tooth pick. Fun and Simple!

Little cherry pies in muffin tins. Cute, small portion sizes!

Tealight candles placed inside apples to illuminate your house.

Cleaning And Storing Food For Your Holiday Party

Mattress cleaning for your overnight house guests. Pour about 1 cup of baking soda into a mason jar and drop in 4 drops of lavender essential oil. Put on the lid and shake up the jar. Using a kitchen strainer sprinkle the baking soda mixture all over the mattress and let it sit for an hour or more. Using the hose end of your vacuum and an upholstery attachment, thoroughly vacuum the mattress. Bye, bye dust mites and other nasty things. The baking soda helps draw up any moisture and deep dirtiness. It deodorizes and leaves the mattress smelling fresh and clean. There is a faint scent of lavender left by the essential oil.

The “miracle” of baking soda and peroxide. Put 1/4 cup of baking soda in a bowl…..add enough peroxide to make a paste. Rub on with fingers or sponge. Cleans EVERYTHING! Stove, oven, pans, stainless steel appliances, even the white handles of the refrigerator door.

Heat a bowl of water and vinegar for 5 minutes in the microwave, the steam will dissolve stuck on stains. Simply wipe off. Genius!

Scoop ice cream into baking cups before the party and put in the freezer. When cake is served bring out the pre-made scoops. (Great idea instead of all the time consuming scooping in the middle of a party!) And helps reduce portion size.

Store lettuce in glass jars in the refrigerator. Keeps it fresh longer.

Large lemon/lime ice cubes. Perfect for a holiday punch.

Make The Holiday Party Fun For Kids Too!

Gratitude does not have to be limited to Thanksgiving: Each person writes down something they are grateful for before the holiday party. Type them up and roll into the dinner rolls. It is fun to find them all – even more fun to guess who they belonged to. This tradition will be a keeper!

A fun holiday lunch for the kids, without the bread. Apples, raisins, nut butter.

Healthy snacks and hors d’oeuvres for the kids served in muffin tins.

So simple but clever – S’mores Pops. Marshmallows on a stick, dipped in melted chocolate and rolled in crushed graham crackers (I would use gluten-free graham crackers, of course!)

Reindeer sugar cookies. I know sugar isn’t healthy, but realistically we all eat it at some point so why not make it fun and pretty.

Use rubber stamps for different and unique sugar cookie designs.

Chore Magnets – love this idea – each child can pick their chores, with a dollar value incentive to help mom and dad get ready for the party. Genius!

Do you have a house full of restless and bored kids this holiday season? Have them try this!

A Calm Down Jar. Shake the jar and the child has to watch the jar until the glitter settles. This can come in handy during the long winter school break when cabin fever sets in.

And finally, here is a Relaxing Bath Recipe for after the party, holiday.

2 Cups Epsom Salts

2 Cups Baking Soda

2 Cups Sea Salt

5 Tbsp Ground Ginger

1 Cup Vinegar

Combine dry ingredients, storing in a closed container. At bath time add 1 cup off dry ingredient mix and 1 cup vinegar to hot running water. Optional: add several drops of your favorite essential oil. Enjoy!

Benefits:

* Epsom Salts draw toxins from the body relieving aches and pains.

* Baking Soda balances an over acidic system, refreshing, energizing and softening the skin.

* Sea Salt soothes and heals.

* Ground Ginger increases circulation.

* Vinegar soothes and softens skin

If you don’t know anyone who is currently on Pinterest and you’d like to join, email me (jolene@healthydiscoveries.com) and I’ll send you an invite.

I zig and I zag all over the place with this blog, which means I pretty much write about whatever is on my mind at the moment.

However, my original mission statement was, and still is:  ”To connect you to healthy people, products, ideas, books, events and places.”

So let’s revert back to that mission statement for today’s post, shall we?

Here are some of my recent Healthy Discoveries For the Fall of 2011.

1.  You Are The Best Medicine –

Julie Aigner Clark is the creator and founder of the Baby Einstein company.

In 2004, at age 37 Julie was diagnosed with breast cancer. In 2008 the cancer returned and she continues treatment for stage 4 cancer today. She is an amazing woman, mother, entrepreneur and Colorado resident! She recently authored the children’s book, You Are The Best Medicine, that helps mother’s explain cancer treatment to their children in an optimistic and loving way. Julie donates all proceeds from the book to UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. Donations to date: $34,600.

If you know a child who has a parent going through cancer treatment this is a great Healthy Discovery.

2.  Lunch Box Awesome -

My friend, Heather Sitarzewski is a talented artist. She has been making Bento Box Lunches for her son this year. She creates a different Bento lunch for him each day and posts a picture on FaceBook and her blog. Follow along, get inspired and start making fun, healthy lunches for you and your kids!

3. The Science of Food Addiction – Can a donut act like a drug?  This is a well produced video by the University of Berkeley regarding will power, biochemistry and over-eating.

Food Addiction from News21 Berkeley 2011 on Vimeo.

4.  Topricin - 

I tried CrossFit for the first time last week. It was hard. My leg muscles hurt for days. As I staggered (literally) into Whole Foods Market one day looking for relief. I stared blankly at the homeopathic cream shelf trying to make a decision. The nice Whole Foods employee took pity on me and gave me a handful of Topricin sample packets.

“Here, try these” she said. “I swear by this stuff, it works miracles”

So I tried it.

She was right, after 5-days of strained muscle pain, the Topricin cream gave me instant relief. I felt 90% better within minutes of applying Topricin.

Hey, I sound like an infomercial and Topricin isn’t paying me to say this. Topricin is an anti-inflammatory cream that is formulated without parabens, petroleum or other harmful ingredients. It’s for arthritis, carpal tunnel, back pain, fibromyalgia, neck and shoulder pain, neuropathy, plantar facitis, shingles, sports injuries, nerve, joint or gout pain.

After I used up my sample packets I went back and bought a jar of this stuff. It’s a good thing to have on hand.

5.  My new favorite cartoon. 

6.  And finally, my business coach just posted this on FaceBook. I love it!  It’s too good not to share.

LOOK at the camels first and then read the message below.

This is a picture taken from directly above these camels in the desert at sunset. It is considered to be one of the best pictures of the year. When you look closely, you can see that the camels are the little white lines in the picture.
The black images you see are just the shadows!

Sometimes, our “problems” seem to be as big as the shadows…but they are little. Have a lovely day!
LOOK ONCE MORE. YOU CANNOT BELIEVE IT, RIGHT?

Just like clockwork as soon as the calendar flipped over to September the Colorado air started to smell like fall. The mornings are cooler, crisper and one day the high temperature only made it to the mid-60’s.

The seasons are changing.

Personally I’d be happy with summertime year round. I know, that’s blasphemy coming from a Colorado native. Pretty much everyone who lives in Colorado takes pride and boasts about how lucky they are to live in a place where they experience all four-seasons. What can I say, I’m just a warm weather kind of girl!

Anyway, I digress.

As I was researching and working on another project, I pulled Sara Avant Stover’s book out of my home library.

Her chapter on Autumn made me pause.

I was already in the beautiful Colorado mountain town, Crested Butte, by myself when I was re-reading Sara’s book. My intention was to take some time and down-shift a bit as I re-focused my energy. A solitary working retreat, if you will.

But I found Sara’s recommendations so poignant that I want to share them with you now.

According to Sara, “Autumn is a time to gather, store, organize, and wind down from summer’s high tempo and the relentless forward momentum that modern living usually demands.”

Traditional Chinese Medicine suggests that autumn is the season to acknowledge the grief and sadness we’ve accumulated but have yet to release. It’s a time to reflect and nurture ourselves.

Here are some of Sara’s recommendations for Self-Care During The Autumn Season:

1.  Allow yourself more time to rest since your circadian rhythm is shifting. This could mean going to bed a little earlier (drink some chamomile tea before bed) waking up a little later, or even taking a catnap in the afternoon.

2.  Indulge in quiet walks through nature if possible.

3.  Let yourself cry when you need to.

4.  Turn to the healing power of prayer and ask for guidance, support, and protection during transition.

5.  Infuse your home or bath with essential oils of sandalwood, neroli or geranium.

6.  Light candles or a fire inside. Or even better, sit at a bonfire outside with friends -release whatever you need to let go of into the flames.

7.  Drink warm water with fresh lemon first thing in the morning.

8.  Make yourself a cup of hot almond milk with nutmeg and drink before bed.

9.  Let go of relationships, thoughts, situations and beliefs that are holding you back. She recommends writing a letter to someone or something you’re ready to let go of. Record the things you learned, the unsavory pieces as well as the blessings that you will carry with you as you move forward. This letter is for your eyes only so don’t hold back, write it all down. When complete, burn (release) the letter.

10. Build stability in your body and clarity in your mind through a flow yoga practice.

11.  Massage warm sesame oil into your head (hair if you’re washing it) around your ears and face. Then work downward to your feet, paying extra attention to your belly (use circular motion there) and the soles of your feet. Use long strokes on your limbs and circles on your joints. Sit on the edge of your tub, or lie down on a towel on the floor. Relax and breathe deeply for ten minutes while the oil sinks in. Take a hot shower or bath, washing the oil off with a gentle soap. This is an Ayurvedic practice that helps to ground, warm and calm you during an otherwise cold and dry season. It draws toxins out of the tissues and into the blood stream for elimination.

12.  Choose heavier, denser, cooked foods to ground and insulate you during the cold weather. The dominant color of this season is white. Add daikon (Chinese radish), quinoa, millet, bananas, apples, garlic, ginger, oats, pears, parsnips, turnips, cauliflower, okra, and onions to your diet whenever possible.

13.  Make the nightly ritual of writing down all the things that you are grateful for from that day. If you sleep with a partner, share your lists with each other.

14.  Create an “absolute yes list”. For example, sleep at least eight hours a night, take a candle light bath a few times a week, go for walks outside even it’s just for 10 minutes a day, spend your mornings in silence, eat simple wholesome foods, meet up with friends a couple times a week, totally unplug one day a week.

After a health scare in her early twenties, Sara Avant Stover moved to Thailand where she embarked on an extensive healing and spiritual odyssey throughout Asia and served as one of the pioneer Western yoga teachers in that part of the world. She now lives in Boulder, CO and continues to teach around the world.

To all my faithful readers:  Are you part of a group, organization or company that is looking for someone to facilitate and present health and wellness classes, keynotes and, or offer healthy tips via video for employees? I’ve been teaching corporate workshops for the past 7-years and I customize for specific needs of each company. Contact me for more info jolene@healthydiscoveries.com.  Here’s a demo video that I put together this summer:

Also, I published a blog post on Wednesday and Feedburner (the server that emails and publishes my posts to outside readers) hiccuped. No one received that post. I worked hard on it and I’m proud of it, so if you missed it and you’d like to read My 30 Day Yoga Challenge and How You Can Create Your Own 30 Day Challenge <—- Click that link!

Have a great weekend!

After I finished my 30-Day Paleo Challenge I wasn’t necessarily thinking that I’d take on another 30-Day Challenge, but that’s exactly what happened.

At the end of July I went to Wanderlust Yoga Festival in Squaw Valley, CA and met up with my friend Amy.

And some of her Northern California yoga friends.

It was a fun weekend — we did a lot of yoga, ate yummy food, drank some wine, saw a good movie premiere, went to the Michael Franti concert, talked and sat in the sunshine.

After Wanderlust I traveled onto Southern California for BlogHer and a friend’s wedding. On my last day in California I took a yoga class at YogaWorks in Laguna Beach.

The day I returned to Denver I took another yoga class at my *favorite studio. After a couple more yoga classes that week I realized that I just finished five straight days of yoga (beginning in Laguna Beach). Well, I thought, I might as well do 25 more days and make it my next 30-Day Challenge.

And that’s how my personal 30-Day Yoga Challenge began.

This is me on Monday (Labor Day) in Denver, Day 30 of my challenge.

I DID IT!  30 straight days of yoga. It felt great. Although there were a couple days I was tired, or didn’t always feel up to it, I showed up and took a yoga class anyway.

Here’s the breakdown of the different styles of yoga I did during the last 30 days:

Vinyasa Flow Yoga – 20 classes

Hot Yoga - 3 classes

Nidra (Meditation) Yoga – 2 classes

Anusara Yoga – 1 class

Yoga Blend – Yoga Works (Laguna) – 1 class

Core Power outside at Yoga Rocks The Park – 1 class

Restorative Yoga – 1 class

Forrest Yoga – 1 class

____________________________________

Total = 30 yoga classes from Aug 7 – Sept 5

I kind of stumbled across the 30-Day Health Challenge idea this summer and now I’m hooked. I’m ready to take on another challenge. I’m thinking a meditation or a volunteer challenge will be next.

For now I want to take in and really absorb what I just accomplished. I tend to rush my way through life and its experiences (good and bad). It feels good to pause and let the accumulation of the last two challenges sink in before I start my next challenge. I’ve settled into a comfortable, easy eating routine after my Paleo Challenge (down another 5 pounds) and after a couple days rest I can’t wait to get back to yoga and pilates. For me both challenges were like hitting a major re-set button and it’s been incredibly easy to stick with things. I love the routines I established as a result of both challenges.

So what about you?  Have you ever done a personal challenge?  Are you interested in creating one for yourself?  Either way, hopefully this will inspire you to start your own 30-Day Challenge!

Why 30 Days? – Psychologists agree that it takes 30 days to get into the groove of a new habit. If you are ready to end a bad cycle, pattern, habit, or get out of a rut, 30 days of consistent action will catapult you into a fresh, new beginning. It is just long enough to reap the benefits, yet it is short enough that you don’t lose your focus and motivation. Intense focus coupled with a measurable timeline creates better follow-through and anchors in habits for long term success. On the other hand, ambiguously thinking; “I want to eat better and exercise more” is non-focused, un-motivating and rarely produces any results. Just think about the people who walk around saying those exact words and nothing ever changes. A 30-Day Challenge however, can create big changes!

You’re Stronger Than You Think – I think a 30-Day Challenge is a great antidote to feeling sorry for yourself, or any general life funk you might be in currently. You’ll be surprised how quickly your attitude and inner strength builds when you take daily consistent action. Not to mention the fact that when you change one area of your life for the better a ripple effect happens in all areas of your life. Things are very interconnected.

Stagnation or Transformation – Resistance can show up in our lives at various times and when it does we have two choices. 1.) Stagnation or 2.) Transformation. After doing two 30-Day Challenges in the last 90 days I can almost guarantee that sometime during your 30 day challenge “something” will happen. You’ll have a bad day, you’ll get bored, you’ll get frustrated, you’ll get really busy, you’ll feel tired, you’ll think of everything you could do if you weren’t doing this. But what will you ultimately choose?  Will you become stagnate and quit?  Or will you transform and continue? Just remember, the harder it is in the middle the bigger the transformation is at the end. You can do this!

Be Kind To Yourself- A 30-Day Challenge doesn’t necessarily mean physical exertion, i.e. an exercise challenge.  In fact your “challenge” may be creating silence and resting every day with no distractions for 30-60 minutes. Period. No discussion, no explanation, no negotiating (with yourself or loved one’s). Taking care of your health begins with drawing a line in the sand and saying “enough is enough, I’m ready to do things differently and more healthfully” But use common sense and wisdom when selecting your “challenge.” If you are physically exhausted and depleted I would not recommend trying to exercise for 30-days straight. If you obsess about calories every minute of the day perhaps a nutrition challenge isn’t the best choice right now; instead how about volunteering and helping someone else for the next 30 days. If you give your energy to others all day long, whether at home or at work try a relaxation or leisure challenge for 30 days. Choose the thing that will push (challenge) you out of your normal comfort zone, yet it will still nourish, feed and fortify you. The point is self care, not self abuse.

How You Do One Thing Is How You Do Most Things – When things get hard or uncomfortable do you:  Make excuses, create drama, quit, get angry, get sick, blame others, expect others to “carry you”?  Do you talk excessively about the situation to anyone and everyone but ultimately never change?  Notice how you react and answer these questions. These are the reasons why a 30-Day Challenge is useful.

You see, It’s not about doing yoga per say, although if you want to do a yoga challenge I highly recommend it. The point of any 30-Day Challenge is to confront and change habits, patterns and behaviors that hold you back and make you unhealthy. The actual challenge you choose becomes a backdrop to the life affirming benefits and “ah-ha” moments you receive when you show up and take care of yourself day after day for 30 days. These benefits can be much more rewarding than touching your toes or losing a couple pounds.

So what are you going to do?  Are you ready to create your own 30-Day Challenge?

While diet and exercise are typical places to start you don’t have to begin there.  Here are some ideas to get you thinking, but there are hundreds of choices. Don’t feel like you have to use any of my suggestions. Pick something that resonates with you and is doable in your lifestyle for the next 30 days.

Nutrition – No sugar or drink 80 oz of water every day for 30 days.

Exercise – Walk 2 miles every day (that would be 60 miles by the end of 30 days, Wow!)

Relaxation – Meditate every day for 20 minutes, or go to bed at the same time every night (early) so you get 8-hours of sleep every night for the next 30 days.

Leisure – Set aside 60-minutes every day to do the hobby that you love, but never “have time.” i.e. painting, photography, etc.

Money – Save $20 every day.  At the end of the 30 days you’ll have $600, at the end of one year you’ll have $7200. That’s a nice little rainy day fund.

Spirit – Keep a gratitude list, every day write down: What inspired you today?  What touched your heart today?  What surprised you today?

Volunteer and Relationships – 29 Gifts, How A Month of Giving Can Change Your Life (offer up one Random Act Of Kindness to another person) add one more day and make it 30 days.

Emotions – Write in a journal every day. Research shows that journal writing can be very healing and therapeutic to our emotional health.

Career – Turn off the computer, phone, TV at 7PM and take a digital, electronic sabbatical for 30 days.

As I was lying on my yoga mat, waiting for class to begin on Day 28, this song played on my teacher’s iPod. I thought it summarized very nicely how I felt after this 30-Day Challenge, and I think it’s a nice way to end this post as well.

So go on, create your own 30-Day Challenge. You can do it, I know you can!

* I want to give a big shout out to Kindness Yoga in Denver.  I did 95% percent of my yoga there and all the teachers are fantastic; Patrick, Cameron, and Tina are three of my favorites.  If you live in or around Denver or you’re visiting sometime soon, check ‘em out, they are a wonderful Healthy Discovery.

Three Healthy Discoveries have recently crossed my path and I want to share them with you.

1. Wheat Belly:  Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health

In full disclosure I have not read this book, yet.  But I have heard all the buzz regarding its August 30, 2011 release. I did listen to an interview with the author, William Davis, M.D. who is a cardiologist. It’s a fascinating interview and you can listen to it here.  Dr. Davis has treated over 2,000 patients in his medical career and he attributes gluten to many of our modern day diseases and health issues.  For example he believes:

• Gluten is the single largest contributor to our nationwide obesity epidemic.
• There is a strong connection between eating gluten and behavior in schizophrenics (and I would suggest other mood disorders as well.)
• The glycemic index of wheat and how it negatively affects blood sugar.
• Wheat has changed over the years and its modifications have affected our ability to digest gluten.

I’m looking forward to reading this book.  I think most people would look and feel much better and their health would improve significantly if they took gluten out of their diets.  The science is strong and gluten-free is not some “silly diet fad” that will fall out of fashion. But don’t take my word for it; experiment for yourself, completely avoid gluten for 1-3 months and see what happens.

With that said there is an interesting rumble that happened in the Paleo/Primal community a couple weeks ago.

2.  Mathieu Lalonde – “There are no absolutes!” – Things are debated and new discoveries are constantly being made when in comes to nutrition.

Mathieu Lalonde is a Harvard trained organic chemist and he was one of the speakers at the Ancestral Health Symposium at UCLA last month. Mathieu is part of the Paleo community but he is also a nutritional contrarian. As a well-trained Ivy League scientist Mathieu delivered a bit of a smack down to the Paleo Community.  I say Bravo!  I value critical thinking. Whether it’s an individual, an organization, an institution or a philosophical position there must be a set of checks and balances. I hate propaganda wrapped in vague, unverifiable language. I think it is far to easy to jump on a bandwagon and a soapbox and become dogmatic and rigid in our thinking; nutrition or otherwise.

At the end of the day there are no absolutes.

Sure, I sit strongly in the Paleo camp when it comes to nutrition. As I’ve written here before, I’ve had great results personally and with my clients when eating Paleo. But Mathieu cautions which words, terms and definitions we use as well as making sweeping generalizations. His points are well taken.  The fact that the Paleo community can be flexible, humble and smart enough to have a dose of reality built into their annual conferences makes me respect their nutritional position even more.

To listen to Mathieu’s full smack down lecture, click here.

3.  The Slow Down Diet:  Eating for Pleasure, Energy & Weight Loss

Lately I’ve been thinking and talking to people about the emotions and the psychology that surround healthy eating and weight loss. As much as I love the geeky science that surrounds Gluten-Free and Paleo I believe the physical food (while important) is only one piece to the pie.  No pun intended.

Last week at church I ran into a friend who I hadn’t seen for a couple years.  She serendipitously mentioned that she was looking into the Institute For the Psychology of Eating in Boulder.

Huh?

How is it that I did not know about this place?  And it’s right in my own backyard. Well okay, 40 minutes away, but still.

The website lists the classes, certifications and resources available to the public.  I dashed to my local bookstore and bought the book.  The general philosophy is:

“When people stopped denying and began nourishing themselves (in all areas of their lives).  When they chose healthy pleasure over pain and worked with natural rhythms rather than against them, they ceased being victimized by food, by their bodies, and by anyone else’s standards.  They took responsibility for making simple but profound changes that created an empowered metabolic state.”

Eight-Universal Metabolizers

Relaxation – The more you regulate and lower the stress hormone (cortisol) through sleep, consistent relaxation and deep breathing practices the better you metabolize food.

Quality- Choose high quality foods as much as possible and eliminate poor quality foods which slow metabolism and digestion.

Awareness – The less aware we are of what we eat (shoveling a burger in our mouth while driving down the free-way) the more the brain sends signals that it is constantly hungry.

Rhythm – Time of day effects how we metabolize food as does the time of the year and the season.

Pleasure - A pleasurable experience of the meal increases metabolism.  The French sit down, enjoy and savor a meal for a couple hours with loved ones which improves their metabolism ten fold. The type of food doesn’t matter as much as the atmosphere in which it is eaten.

Thought - Negative self-talk “I am so fat”, “I shouldn’t eat this”, “I can’t lose weight”, “I hate myself therefore I will punish myself with food” restricts the nerve pathways, hormones and neuropeptides that are responsible for digestion and metabolism.

Story – Our bodies hold memories. Current body image, feelings about sexuality, relationships or emotional boundaries get tied up in how we metabolize food.  People unconsciously try to buffer, hide and protect themselves (because of past abuse/trauma) and the body will therefore slow metabolism in order to “pad the body” with extra weight for protection.

Sacred- Creating routines and ritual in the actual cooking, preparing, sharing of whole food, along with blessing and giving thanks while eating are all metabolic enhancers.

So there you go, a couple Healthy Discoveries for you to chew on and think about, until next time…

Last month I was in Dallas, Texas visiting my cousin and her family for a week.  While I was there I took a Tread Fitness class.  I immediately deemed it a Healthy Discovery!  My cousin started taking classes at Tread Fitness last year and she looks fantastic.  She is an almost 40-year old mother of three young children and she is leaner than I have ever seen her.

These 60-minute, high energy group classes are comprised of two sets of 15-minute weight-lifting exercises interspersed with two 15-minute treadmill interval sprints. It boosts your cardiovascular stamina and leans you out very quickly.

It works, and this is why it works:

• Sprints are one of the most effective exercises to develop strong and muscular abs, and they literally teach your body how to be an effective fat burner.*

• The sprint is so powerful for fat loss because it sets into motion biochemical reactions that turn on your fat burning machinery. In exercise research, this effect is called oxygen debt.  It represents the body’s attempt to recover oxygen losses from intense exercise. Anyone who has ever run a 100-yard dash or walked up a large flight of steps knows what oxygen debt feels like. It is that period of time just after stopping intense movement where you have to stop and gasp for air. This increased respiration is just the tip of the iceberg. Deep in the body, biochemistry is manipulated and changed to partition fuel to help in recovery.  This intense exercise releases a chemical soup, including adrenaline and human growth hormone (HGH), that leads to sustained fat burning for hours and even days after the workout has ended.*

• An article in February of 2005 printed in the Journal of Applied Physiology showed that six weeks of daily sprint training elevated a fat burning enzyme called citrate synthase by more than a third. Another article in the same journal in 1998 (vol. 84) showed that this same enzyme stayed significantly elevated for 6 to 8 weeks after the sprint training had ended.*

• If you are still unconvinced that sprinting is the most effective form of abdominal exercise and fat burning go try it. Go find a track and run as fast as you can for 50 yards.  Slowly walk back to the start, and do it again. Do it one more time and call it a day. If you are beginner to this type of exercise and skeptical of this assertion, you won’t be tomorrow when you wake up.*

*Source: Jade and Keoni Teta

My Tread instructor in Dallas coached us through a series of interval sprints.  We would sprint for 1-2 minutes at various speeds and grades (inclines) on the treadmill.  Then we would stop, slow our breathing back to normal, and do it all over again.  After 15-minutes of sprints we moved onto weights and followed the same process. We used small hand weights and lifted for 1-2 minutes.  We stopped, caught our breath and repeated the process for 15-minutes.

If you want to lose body fat quickly and not lose muscle mass, I highly recommend this method of exercise along with a Paleo diet, of course.

Unfortunately, Tread Fitness is only in Dallas, although they may franchise soon.

But don’t despair you can easily re-create this method of efficient fat-burning exercise at home or in your own gym.  Re-read my blog post on Burst Training for Fat Loss and use that template. It is the same idea as Tread Fitness and you can sprint, jump rope, bicycle, use the stair-master or the elliptical machine.  It doesn’t matter.  Just “burst” for 2-minutes.  Create an oxygen debt to the point where you can’t continue and you HAVE to stop and catch your breath. Recover for a minute or two and then do it 2-3 more times.

Don’t push past the 2-minute mark!

Your body composition will begin to change quickly but you must rest in equal parts to your bursts.  The recovery period is critical to this process!  That means taking a day or two off between burst sessions too, only do burst or interval training 2-3 times per week.

CrossFit uses this same philosophy, so if you have a CrossFit gym near you check that out as well.

Finally, for more information and a manual on how to create a Tread Fitness type fat-burning routine at home using sprints and small hand weights pick up Jade and Keoni Teta’s book, The Metabolic Effect:  Eat More, Work Out Less, and Actually Lose Weight While You Rest. It is fabulous. It outlines routines for anyone to do at home.

Good Luck. I think you’ll be very happy with how quickly you will lean down and tone up if you use sprints, interval training, or bursts.

Last weekend I attended The Cooking For Well-Being Conference, a Weekend of Traditional Cooking Techniques.  Monica Corrado, certified nutritionist and chef taught the course.  The class was centered around the research from Weston A. Price and Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions – The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and Diet Dictocrats.

Weston Price was an American dentist who traveled the globe in the 1930′s. Price studied cultures that were healthy, thriving and free from modern day diseases.  His research shows their diets and food preparation techniques had these things in common:

Healthy Diets-

1. Eat whole, natural foods.
2. Eat only foods that will spoil, but eat them before they do.
3. Eat naturally-raised meat including fish, seafood, poultry, beef, lamb, game, organ meats and eggs.
4. Eat whole, naturally-produced milk products from pasture-fed cows, preferably raw and/or fermented, such as whole yogurt, cultured butter, whole cheeses and fresh and sour cream.
5. Use only traditional fats and oils including butter and other animal fats, extra virgin olive oil, expeller expressed sesame and flax oil and the tropical oils-coconut and palm.
6. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables, preferably organic, in salads and soups, or lightly steamed.
7. Use whole grains and nuts that have been prepared by soaking, sprouting or sour leavening to neutralize phytic acid and other anti-nutrients.
8. Include enzyme-enhanced lacto-fermented vegetables, fruits, beverages and condiments in your diet on a regular basis.
9. Prepare homemade meat stocks from the bones of chicken, beef, lamb or fish and use liberally in soups and sauces.

Unhealthy Diets-

1. Do not eat commercially processed foods such as cookies, cakes, crackers, TV dinners, soft drinks, packaged sauce mixes, etc. Read labels!
2. Avoid all refined sweeteners such as sugar, dextrose, glucose, high fructose corn syrup and fruit juices.
3. Avoid white flour, white flour products and white rice.
4. Avoid all hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats and oils.
5. Avoid all refined liquid vegetable oils made from soy, corn, safflower, canola or cottonseed.
6. Do not use polyunsaturated oils for cooking, sauteing or baking.
7. Avoid foods fried in polyunsaturated oils or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
8. Do not practice veganism. Animal products provide vital nutrients not found in plant foods.
9. Avoid products containing protein powders as they usually contain carcinogens formed during processing; and consumption of protein without the co-factors occurring in nature can lead to deficiencies, especially of vitamin A.
10. Avoid processed, pasteurized milk; do not consume ultra-pasteurized milk products, low-fat milk, skim milk, powdered milk or imitation milk products.
11. Avoid factory-farmed eggs, meats and fish.
12. Avoid highly processed luncheon meats and sausage.
13. Avoid rancid and improperly prepared seeds, nuts and grains found in granola, quick rise breads and extruded breakfast cereals, as they block mineral absorption and cause intestinal distress.
14. Avoid canned, sprayed, waxed and irradiated fruits and vegetables. Avoid genetically modified foods (found in most soy, canola and corn products).
15. Avoid artificial food additives, especially MSG, hydrolyzed vegetable protein and aspartame, which are neurotoxin. Most soups, sauce and broth mixes and most commercial condiments contain MSG, even if not indicated on the label.

Today the Weston A. Price Foundation continues to provide valuable resources to the public.  They have monthly meet-up groups all around the country where people learn and share about local organic farms, grass-fed meat, raw milk resources, and so much more!

They also offer cooking and healthy eating classes throughout the year.  On July 15th I attended my first Weston A. Price Cooking For Well-Being Conference in Broomfield, Colorado and I loved it.  I highly recommend attending a Weston A. Price conference for an in-depth understanding of why grass fed meat, traditional fats, pastured eggs and dairy, nutrient dense fruits, vegetables, non GMO foods, pure water, and wild seafood are so important to prepare and eat with your family on a regular basis.

On Friday night our course instructor, Monica opened the conference with a two-hour lecture called,

What Is Real Food? And Why Does It Matter?

Then on Saturday and Sunday we learned how to cook the Weston A. Price recommendations since we’ve lost many of the traditional cooking techniques which maximize digestion, absorption & nutrient availability

Traditional Fermentation Techniques:  Lacto-Fermented Vegetables, Condiments and Beverage

• Aids digestion.
• If you eat, drink lacto-fermented foods and beverages, you can skip that probiotic pill every day

We made:

Salt solo sauerkraut, salt brine sauerkraut, salt and whey brine sauerkraut and fruit kvass (fermented fruit beverage) with berries, apple (core included), grated ginger, whey from kefir, water and salt.

All recipes can be found in the Nourishing Traditions Cookbook.

Nutrient Dense Stock

• Stock is an original super food. Rich in valuable minerals. Athletes, pregnant woman, nursing women, growing children should all drink stock!
• Check out US Wellness Meats for grass fed, meat and bones.

The Beiler Broth was my favorite. Recommended for energy, overall health, fasting.  This combination of vegetables is ideal for restoring acid/alkaline and sodium/potasium balance to the organs and glands. Especially the adrenal glands.  Beiler Broth is highly recommended for anyone under stress.