Wednesday Bubble – a little inspiration: Big dietary changes one small step at a time. A guest post by Miz Fit
I’ve been wanting to share a few inspirational thoughts about fitness and healthy eating for some time now. So I thought that there was no better person to do that than my Twitter friend MizFit.
Miz Who?!! MizFit, creator of MizFit Online, whose philosophy reads as follows:
To embrace and love whom you already are.
To be wholly comfortable in your own skin.
To realize that, by virtue of BEING, you are enough.
To be unapologetically yourselves.
I truly admire this woman and know that you will enjoy her post. Show her some love!
This post is all about you.
The collective you.
The greater you who fill my in-box (which I adore) with your questions about health, fitness, tattoos and more.
Recently I’ve been receiving variations on this question a *bunch*:
I’m ready to change my eating habits and don’t want to do a diet (I’ve done WW before and Jenny Craig and South Beach). I want to try and eat intuitively which I know you do. What can I do starting now? Please don’t tell me to read a book 🙂 I’m so busy. What’s the first step in your opinion?
I chose this email because it said “in your opinion.” My apologies to the rest of the emailers but it saved me the dizclaimer yammer. Another reason I chose this email is because of the ‘what can I do starting now’piece.
We all know how easy it is to do the “starting Monday I shall” or “on the first of the month I will…” & yet we all know (in our hearts. where it counts.) that it really is all about starting right.this.moment.
So I give you what I did.
When I finally decided the time had come to shed my freshwoman forty I followed about six steps & they’re the same kind of thing I still do on a daily basis. When I finally decided the time had come to shed my freshwoman forty I had no acronym with which to remember it all.
I give you an acronym to use. STARTING TODAY:
Mini-meals. I’m a believer in spreading the calories through out the day. For the most part none of my meals are bigger than any other (I do often eat more at breakfast out of hunger. Intuitively.) Beyond the fact I think this helps me stay lean—-it definitely helps my blood sugar levels stay even & I have far more energy.
Intuitive eating. Start this one today – slowly Listen to what your body is saying. Pay attention to how you feel after eating certain foods. JOURNAL. For me this isn’t journaling *caloric intake* but feelings. Noting how, when I crave sweets, it’s mainly AFTER I’ve had a high processed carbohydrate meal. That sort of thing. Perhaps you begin by not even CHANGING your foods—just logging your body’s reaction to them.
Zero HARD & FAST RULES. Again, this is just what has always work for me. I’m a rebel. Make a rule that I can not have or do something & it is immediately the ONLY THING I THINK ABOUT.
Fiber, Fiber, Fiber. At this point I think we all know why (want more info? still unclear? desire a list of fiberfoods? please to let me know in the comments.)—be sure you both KNOW and are acting on it.
Invest in YOU. For me this takes the form of spending lots of money on quality foods & less money on (quality) clothing. I love me some sushi grade tuna. I’m happy with clothing from Goodwill-type places. For some this may be an investment in a personal trainer. For others, in a gym membership. I have more than a few non-wealthy friends who invested in cooking lessons in their homes so that they could learn a handful of easy healthy meals.
Which leads me to…
Tried & trues. Always have a few meals which you know you enjoy, which are healthy, & which are easily prepared in your arsenal. I tend to have the T & T’s already prepared and waiting in the fridge for those moments I’m too tired to cook. Other people prefer just to have ingredients on hand. Whatever *you* decide, I’m a firm believer in the fact that these T & T’s help to set us up for food success.
That’s me, People.
What I did starting out (sadly sans-acronym. I love me some acronyms) and, what I do today.
When I’m feeling completely scattered, out of my element and CRAZED I figure if I can stick to these six things Ill re-find my groove in no time.
Now you.
What would you tell the emailers who ask:
What’s the one thing I can do, starting today, to clean up/change my eating habits?
Hit us all up in the comments.
About Miz Fit (AKA Carla Birnberg)...Carla Birnberg is an award-winning author and fitness expert. A onetime personal trainer, she owned a boutique training studio, Head2Heel, in Chapel Hill, N.C. Carla also competes in both bodybuilding and fitness including a third place finish in the 2001 NPC House of Pain bodybuilding show. Her writing can be seen on Yahoo!Shine, in the Atkins Nutritional monthly newsletter, Experience Life Magazine, Austin Monthly Magazine and as a monthly health column in Good Life Magazine.
Carla is also the author of the book, The Whole Megillah: Miztvahs, Matzo Balls & Everything in Between (Bluegrass Publishing, May 2007) Carla’s blog, MizFitOnline, has been selected to serve as part of Oprah’s Virtual Digital Blogging Network and is ranked by Austin Monthly Magazine as one of the top 3 health blogs in the city.
Read MoreWednesday bubble: Cheers! (Please, don’t let me burst this one!)
Can red wine help increase a woman’s sexual desire? Interesting data from an Italian study among 798 women between the ages of 18 and 50 suggest that indeed, it just might.
Researchers divided women without any sexual complaints into three groups:
- More than two glasses of red wine and other types of alcohol (including white wine) daily, and occasional drinkers
- One to two glasses of red wine daily (“moderate intake”)
- Teetotallars
All study participants were asked to complete a questionnaire measuring female sexual functioning, as well as report on their daily alcohol consumption. The questionnaire – the Female Sexual Function Index – contains 19 questions designed to assess desire, arousal, confidence, lubrication, orgasm, and the degree of pain during and after vaginal penetration.
The findings? Overall, women reporting daily moderate red wine drinking (one to two glasses) scored significantly higher in all domains of sexual functioning, including desire and lubrication, than women in the other two groups. More striking, however, was that the women who regularly drank red wine were reportedly older than women in the other two groups.
These study findings, which undoubtedly require more research and a larger study group, do suggest a link between moderate red wine intake and sexual desire, even among older women whose sexual functioning and desire, theoretically declines with age. Of course, there are many other factors that come into play for older women; we know that declining hormones affect the vaginal lining, causing pain and interfering with lubrication. We know that hormones can also affect weight and self-image, which affects desire. And of course, how we interact with our partners is also important.
But study after study all point to medicating ourselves back towards sexual desire. Could it be as simple as a few glasses of antioxidant rich red wine, which may help improve blood flow to key areas of the body, such as the vaginal region?
I’d love to think so.
The jury’s still out. But me? I’m planning on drinking a few glasses of red wine tonight…! I’m inspired; are you?
[Many thanks to my friend Daphne Swancutt for directing me to these data!]
Read MoreSolitude
The French novelist Colette once wrote:
“There are days when solitude is a heady wine that intoxicates you with freedom, others when it is a bitter tonic, and still others when it is a poison that makes you beat your head against the wall.”
I have always been a person who needs and cherishes my alone time. In fact, being alone is often a deliberate choice rather than something that is forced upon me. As we get older, solitude allows a break from the busy-ness of life, from the noise, from the distractions. It rejuvenates the soul and provides an opportunity to look closely within, to take stock, to gain clarity and balance.
However, as Colette so aptly says, it can also be detrimental to our health when our needs or when fears, allow solitude to become all-consuming.
At times, immersing oneself in solitude may be the correct path. Other times, solitude may lead to a burrowing that is so deep, that in the end, not only do you lose those who care for you, but your soul as well.
Poetic license with Lao-Tsu: It takes strength to love someone deeply. It takes courage to allow yourself to be deeply loved.
Just a thought for a Sunday afternoon.
Read MoreMen. Oh. Pause. Rewind.
I’d like to welcome guest blogger Amy Ferris.
Amy writes about all things women. She is an author (a greater goode, Houghton Mifflin Publishers; The Buddha Next Door, Anthology, Middleway Press), a screenwriter (Mr. Wonderful, Anthony Minghella, Director, and Funny Valentines, Julie Dash, Director) and an editor. Following is an excerpt from her new book, ‘Marrying George Clooney – Confessions from a Midlife Crisis‘ (Seal Press) which is available by pre-order from Amazon.com.
Show Amy some love!
Imagine this scenario if you will: you’re in the Holland or Lincoln Tunnel, all of a sudden, without a warning, all the lights go out, including all the headlights on all the cars. You’re stuck. There’s no going forward; there’s no going backwards. Complete and utter darkness. And you know in your soul that others are going through the exact same thing – but no one, not one person gets out of their car.
Welcome to menopause.
I have been depressed, anxious, forgetful, lost in a fog, angry, and resentful, with an emphasis on ‘angry’. I have been filled with tremendous hope, and in the next unexpected moment, filled with the exact amount of despair. I have cried uncontrollably from my gut, and I have laughed from the depths of my soul. I have felt like throwing my life away, as in literally jumping off a bridge. I have witnessed my body grow one full size while sleeping so undly.
In the midst of this fresh hell, I decided to quit smoking. I’m not sure if it was an act of courage or just simply self-destructive behavior. Much to my husband’s grand delight, not to mention my friends and family, I decided to divorce the one constant that kept me from experiencing my feelings fully – a cigarette.
So, not only were my hormones doing a ferocious dance – now my suppressed, discarded feelings were vying for attention.
This is the point in the story I get to introduce my husband. Please raise your hand if any of you have turned into the devil doll on a dime. You know what I’m talking about – that moment when your husband (or wife, or partner) says or does something trivial, innocuous, a casual throw-a-way and without a moments hesitation you respond by burning a hole in their heart with your tongue. And it’s all down hill from there. The only word that comes to mind to describe my behavior is vile. The only word to describe my husband’s reaction is stunned.
Along with weight gain and mental anguish, insomnia is yet another ‘side dish’ accompanying menopause. So, late one night while unable to sleep and tossing a coin – heads, Ambien, tails, Ambien – it occurred to me that it was time for me to put into practice what I deeply believe. To a) truly embrace and love every single part of me. Not just the good and kind and generous, but the bad and unattractive and mentally unstable. And b) find the enlightened side — it was my obligation and responsibility to acknowledge and hold dear the privilege of my very own life.
Every single woman I know, without exception, has or will experience some deep inner turmoil or upheaval because of menopause. It is a part of being a woman. Period. I have known women of great equilibrium to wobble horrifically because they were in the process of dealing with this huge change of life. The good news: most women credit this hell as the single most profound experience, which has enabled them to uncover their own greatness. I can definitely embrace that.
And here’s the enlightened side: Menopause is just like couture fashion. Some of it is just really ugly.
Welcome to my world.
Read MoreAre you rubberstamping the ‘cougar’ narrative?
I’ve been somewhat amused and a wee bit miffed at the double standards placed upon women who “prey” on younger men. While their sugar daddy counterparts get away with endless forays into the dating world without nary a word, these women are dubbed “cougars” and frowned upon. However, have you ever considered that these younger men don’t feel preyed upon at all but prefer the company of a well-rounded, intelligent, sexy woman who can titillate their minds, souls AND bodies?
Perhaps the cougar ‘narrative’ and its fallacies should be put to rest.
If you have even a wee bit of doubt about what I’m saying, I’d like to introduce you to 73-year-old Rio de Janero resident Lina Merceis. Lina is the star of a documentary short entitled “Bye Bye, Cest Fini,” and the ultimate inspiration for any woman who believes that life ends at midlife and beyond. Lina, having suffered early disappointments in marriage and love, is now dedicating herself to herself. Lina deliberately chooses the single life, claiming that men are too much work. ‘Seductress to a slew of 30 somethings, she enjoys her lovers, acknowledges her occasional loneliness, and confesses to a good friend (as they sit on the beach eying the candy) that sex and fun are her life prescriptions not options. Not surprisingly, the young men who are fortunate to become one of Lina’s lovers are happy to oblige.
My friend Twitter friend Erika over at Redheaded Fury wrote an interesting missive last week in response to a Denver Post article about ‘Cougars on the Prowl.’ Her point? That society’s caricature of the lonely older woman preying on younger men might not be entirely accurate. I think that Lina is a testament to that. More importantly, watching Lina onscreen taught me that life gets started when you decide, not when something (or someone) else does.
Take the reins ladies; there’s no time like the present to write your own narrative (and be proud of it).
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