Outside and Inside the Box

February 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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Every once and a while I like to change up my exercise “routine.”  Though I get more than enough HOURS of exercise, teaching 9 classes a week and working out with some of my clients, my body, like every body, needs to break out of routine and do different things.  That is one of the reasons I love swimming in the 6 or so warmer months of the year, but what about November – April?  I have been trying to take more steps with Blaze, but he ends up doing a lot of sniffing and sometimes those walks are clearly more for him, than me.  Jane and I get in some running, but for neither of us, is it “our” thing.  A couple of weeks ago, I bit the bullet and pulled out my P90X discs and have been revisiting some of the workouts on days that my fitness feels unchallenged.  A little Cardio X, some Core Synergistics and on days that I need only a little something, Ab-Ripper X.  Speaking with Kyle last night, he is also supplementing his elliptical work with some of the P90X routines.  While we both admit that it can be a little boring revisiting workouts that we did religiously for several months, they do get the job done!  In fact, I think I was in the best shape, definitely of my post-menopausal life, after following the exercise part of the plan over an entire  summer.   Being a vegan, I certainly could NOT follow the high animal protein part of the plan, but it didn’t change the fact that I was stronger and more defined than I have been in years.  I still highly recommend this fitness program for anyone who wants to get into better shape.  Whether one follows the 6 or 7 day a week fitness plan for 90 days, or whether one wants to use the videos as they see fit, it’s a great tool to have in the home.

I have also been trying to get in some elliptical workouts…even if it’s only once a week, which is usually all I can afford, physically!  Last Friday, I stayed after my SilverSneakers class and did just 20 minutes on that wonderful machine, but I really worked my butt off for those 20 minutes.  Backwards, forwards, arms, legs, fast, slow, little resistance, lots of resistance…I kept changing it up every 2 minutes.  Went super quickly and I was dripping in sweat.  Here was the kicker, though.  When I was done with the elliptical I went over to a treadmill and did a few minutes of “pushing the cart,” which involves NOT putting the treadmill on and with hands on the front of the machine, pushing with the legs in big strides and trying to get the “floor” moving as if it were on…It was definitely the cherry on top of my Friday workout and I definitely felt it for days to come.

Get outside YOUR box and try something new, or revisit something that has worked in the past.  It’s a great way to supplement your routine and fire up some new muscle fibers while keeping yourself from getting bored with the same old same old.

Speaking of boxes, thanks to Erica and Jeff for the box of food for the food pantry and the soup kitchen.  They cleaned their pantry to get rid of foods with gluten and wanted to make sure the food would get to someone in need, quickly.  That food will go in the pantry TODAY and make it’s way to some hungry mouths by the weekend.   We all need to clean our pantries out from time to time and make sure to get rid of expired foods, spices, etc.  Mitch and I did it recently and threw out way too much food.  Erica and Jeff threw out a lot as well.  I ask everyone reading this to make time to clean out their pantries every so often and after discarding expired foods, perhaps you, too, will find yourself with things that you will never use, or that are about to expire and you won’t be able to use before that date.  Make a box and drop it off at a soup kitchen or pantry near you.  If you are local,  I would be happy to get it off your hands and get it out to Ft Lauderdalewhere bags of groceries are distributed to poor families every Sunday.  Additionally, if you are local and would like an invitation to attend a cocktail party in Parkland, next month, to help raise money to renovate the kitchen, please send me an email with your address ASAP.  The party is Thursday, March 29th and tickets are $50.00 per person.  100% of the money raised at this event will go to the renovation of the All Saints Soup Kitchen as well as to stocking the pantry for daily meals and Sunday grocery distribution.  Thanks to those who have already replied to my group email.  Please remember there will be MANY people invited so NO PRESSURE, but I did NOT want to leave out anyone who may want to be there!!!  Also stay tuned for the date of the evening decompress and destress class that I will be doing to raise money for this cause.  Tentatively looking at Friday, March 23rd at Tamarac Fitness Center.  If you are interested, pencil it in and I will keep you posted.

If we can keep taking care of ourselves and keep taking care of each other, it’s all good.  Remember, we are all connected.  Make it a terrific Tuesday and don’t forget, Biggest Loser, tonight…back to it’s regularly scheduled 8pm slot.

Filed Under: Fitness, The Soup Kitchen ·

And the Trophys Go To…

February 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - FEBRUARY 02: Singer Madonn...

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Congratulations to the Giants (I will always think of them as the NY Giants, no matter where they play) for the big win last night…and to the Patriots for a game well played…Hats off to Madonna, who, though I thought she started off just “OK,” built into a wonderfully explosive finale and as promised, did not disappoint…Congratulations to Carol for finishing her first 5K, yesterday morning at The Butterfly Run.  I am so proud of you, Carol.  What an awesome feeling to not only run through the finish line, but to accomplish the goal and burn off some Superbowl calories AHEAD of time!  Good thinking….Thanks to Jeff and JJR Photography for giving of their hearts and time to take photos at the soup kitchen this past weekend.  With your attention to detail and perfection, I am certain the photos will well tell the story of the clients served.  You are very much appreciated…while so many of us were overindulging in food and drink this weekend, there are so many, right in our own backyards, who were going hungry.  Congratulations to my nephew, David, who is living proof that we are not who we used to be.  We are so proud of you for all you have accomplished.

If you are anything like much of the rest of the country, you either ate too many wings, drank too much beer, or both, last night.  If first you play, than after, you must pay!  With  a full day of fitness ahead of me, even with  hamstrings and glutes that are still screaming from Friday/Saturday workouts, I will hit the trifecta of fitness…cardio/strength and flexibility…personally, I am burning off deconstructed guacamole and stuffed mushrooms…relatively harmless, but still the scale is not my friend, this morning.  It’s all good, as we will make up by tomorrow.  If you, like me,  were lucky enough to have more than enough this weekend, lets not just work on burning it off, but also on being thankful.  And speaking of more than enough, thanks to Erica and Jeff for cleaning out their pantry and filling a big box to go to the soup kitchen today or tomorrow and make some hungry tummies, very happy.

Filed Under: Food, Football, The Soup Kitchen ·

We all Gotta Eat…

January 27, 2012 by 1 Comment

Judy, you are right!  We do think way too much about food in our society…and I read very deeply into things regarding health.  I always have, and I always will.  In 6th grade, my teacher gave me 2 books at the end of the school year as a gift for being the biggest reader.  While I don’t remember what one was, the other was a book about a girl with a physical disability and I loved it and it began a life time of interest in all things related to the human body AND the human spirit.  Through my years of teaching fitness, I have pushed people to jump, run, dance and lift more because I always believed it to be the magic bullet (and I still do).  More recently I “push” the plant-based diet thing, because I believe there are some disconnects.  I promise, I don’t do it for me, I do it because I believe it can cure the incurable.  No, Rita, you are not alone, because others that are perfect weight, or even on the low end of their ideal weight, have also been diagnosed “pre” diabetic, so there is a disconnect somewhere.

There is also a disconnect between how much food we have in our country and the fact that still, people go hungry.  Thank you Lesley and Richard, for allowing me to join you at the soup kitchen yesterday and get a glimpse into what it is that’s going on there, how you are helping and how I can help, too.   If you are local and you are reading this and know of any restaurant or store that discards ANYTHING food-wise or otherwise at the end of the day, please let me know so I can pass that information on.  This place is in need of most everything, yet they manage to feed over 100 hungry people each day (amongst other things that they help with).  I will be organizing a fund-raising effort in the form of a Friday evening class, probably in late February or early March.  More about that as I figure it all out!

* “Because the suffering of any human being diminishes all of us, it’s our responsibility to try to ease that suffering. It is not a matter of titles, but of responsibilities.”
– Khaled


Filed Under: Food, health and happiness, Plant-based diet, The Soup Kitchen ·

The Reason for the Season

December 16, 2011 by 4 Comments

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQt84tKLJ3TY4Z-eurb2_AS5RfPaXZ0KbW93WR4TgTyDwuqOyI2 Yesterday was a perfect day.  Lesley and I did a lot of damage at The Children’s Place and Old Navy, finding great deals on great clothes for 5 boys who we believe will really appreciate having some new clothes, and even some choices…like do I want to wear the black jeans or the blue ones?…with sneakers or shoes?  Thanks to Suzanne, the Manager at The Children’s Place, who was sweet, warm, helpful and even saved us some money.  Les and I  were on the exact same page picking out clothes and after a great lunch (thanks, Les) at Falafel Bistro we sat ourselves down on her bedroom floor and sorted and bagged up 5 big bundles for Richard to get to the soup kitchen in plenty of time to make Christmas a little brighter.

I purposely did NOT fuss with cooking and baking for Vegan Feast Thursday, as I wanted the “kids” to know how my day was spent and how very fortunate they are even though they all struggle (as most are) with the economy as they juggle work, school, paying bills, etc.  I bought some Tofurky cold-cuts, bread and picked an assortment of lettuce from the garden to go on their sandwiches.  Thankfully I had already made a pot of hearty bean and pasta soup as Michele, Pete, Veronica, Aldo and Dave all joined us.   Michele is just back from her last animal rescue mission in Virginia, which she declared a success.  Derek and Pete shared their fall semester’s grades, all As and Bs.  Great job guys!  Veronica baked and brought me the yummiest smelling candle.  Pete and Michele got the whole table cleaned off.  Thanks, all.  I love these “kids.”  I love that they gather every week at our house and I love that we get to feed them.

The outlook on hunger was reported in the newspaper this morning, and it’s definitely NOT good.  More people are expected to be hungry in 2012 than already are.   Some days, when I wake up and spammers have hit this website in full force, and I am busy deleting comments about everything from where to buy Uggs and Cialis to how to make money doing anything and everything, I wonder why I am even blogging.  Yesterday, I learned that my entry about the soup kitchen was shared by many and offers of donations started coming in.  If all these months and years of rambling leads to some full bellies, I can stop questioning.

On a totally lighter note, if you want to get your kids to eat more veggies,  studies show that rewarding your children with stickers after they take bites of their vegetables, actually leads to them liking them more and hence eating more.  Stickers…hummm…seems so easy.  Get those favorite stickers and keep some in the kitchen.  We really are smarter than our kids :)

Thanks, also, to Carol for that great email reminding yourself of all you are grateful for.  I loved that and it worked into my day just perfectly.  So did seeing one of my own fairy godmothers, Jill, at Publix.  When I met her almost 29 years ago, and was pregnant with Derek, she gave me ALL her hand-me-down maternity clothes, which was an insane gift for me at that very broke time in mine and Mitch’s lives.   My mom was the nursery lady at the gym I taught at and Jill attended.  My mom took extra special care of Jill’s boys.   She has continued to pop in and out of my life at the most appropriate times and we ALWAYS pick up the conversation as if we had seen each other yesterday.  It was meant to be that we bump into each other yesterday and have the chance to catch up and wish each other good holiday cheer.   Just the icing on my cake (vegan, of course) like day.

Wishing you a sweet day filled with love, gratitude and of course a little peaceandfitness.

Filed Under: Food, Holidays and celebrations, The Soup Kitchen ·
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