A Rewarding Morning

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I'm a weather wimp when it comes to seasonal workouts. Even so, I went for a run yesterday when it was barely 30 degrees out. This was my first official workout run in preparation for the half marathon I plan to run in April.

If you know any runners, even casual ones like me, you've probably heard them say that getting out the door is the toughest part. Figuring out gear and stretching or warming up a bit, deciding where today's run will take you... it's seems easier to just skip it. The reality, though, is that once you're out and running everything changes, and that's what many runners know - just get out there and it will be well worth it. Yesterday's was another run like that.

When I run I'm a purist - no earbuds for distracting music, and rarely do I wear sunglasses. I want the whole experience, all the sights and sounds (and smells... this is Lancaster county, after all). So here are some of the things I was blessed to experience on yesterday's run:

• a biplane chugging along its approach to Lancaster airport
• the sunrise over Welsh mountain
• several dogs with their owners, one of which really wanted a piece of me
• a neighbor calling out, "run some for me!"
• about 10 cyclists out for a morning ride (who looked as funny in their cold weather gear as I'm sure I did)
• about two minutes looping through the cemetery at Jerusalem church, where a good number of the headstones are from the 1800's
• a lap around the polo field, which is close to where we live

For me, the experience is a big part of what a morning run is all about. I've always had a memorable time on a run when I've made a start and just did it. Overcoming the inertia of doing nothing is the toughest part. If you have a goal you're looking forward to in 2015, jump in and get to it...You'll be glad you did.

By the Way

While I only did 3.8 miles (I had settled on a 40 minute run), I felt like I could have gone on for another 40 minutes easy. Since I've been making power pantry choices in my eating and lifestyle, I'm amazed that my physical energy and stamina just keeps coming. My legs don't cry out for a break like they used to, and I can actually kick it up a notch at any point for a burst of speed or a hill. That's a cool rush when I had gone for decades not remotely considering the possibility of a rewarding morning run...

Merry Christmas!

The Christmas season is a rich time of connecting with family and friends, celebrating, and finding fullness in the lives we're blessed to live. And it's solidly founded in the gift of God to all of us - the gift of Christ, Emmanuel, God with us...

Blessings to you from the Mullers, and we trust you will find the peace and light of Christ as you seek Him out this Christmas.

By the Way

Wait til you hear about the really cool kitchen gadget I got for Christmas! An excellent addition to our power pantry... More on that soon!

Recovery Made Easy

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The holiday week is here, and maybe you're like us, having already shared a pre-Christmas celebration of food and cookies and gifts. It's a wonderfully rich time of year for traditions and family gatherings and, of course, more food than we'd eat in a month...

With all the feasting which is bound to happen the coming week(s), wouldn't it be great to have a simply 'recovery' plan to get back to our power pantry eating routine? I think it would... and I think I've found a good tool and guide. Dr. Joel Fuhrman recently shared an article from his website library calling out the ten best foods for health, and ten worst foods which lead us away from health. This is a simple road map of the way to recovery after holiday indulgences leave us bloated, up several pounds, and feeling guilty.

Check out the article here:
Ten Best and Worst Foods...

It's interesting to note something not on either list: most grains (especially whole grains). While refined white flour is on the Worst list, other good grains like brown rice, quinoa, millet and amaranth are missing as well. That means they're not the best, nor are these the worst - they're somewhere in the middle.

So if you find yourself indulging in too much of a bad thing this holiday season, maybe this list will provide a tool for recovery. Lean hard into the list of healthful, nutrient-dense foods that Dr. Fuhrman calls out on his 'Ten Best' list, and if you stick with it for a month or so, you'll no doubt be back in great shape.

By the Way

I've posted before that I try to be a 90/10 eater when it comes to power pantry choices in my diet. What I mean by that is I attempt to consume 90% of my calories as healthful, nutrient-dense foods, with the other 10% being more convenient, standard American fare. So out of 20 or so meals a week, two of them may be regular old American menu items (even a burger with fries, cheesy lasagna, or pot roast with all the trimmings) while all the rest lean hard into nutrient-dense, plant-based selections. When in 'recovery mode' it's even more important to be an 80/20 or 90/10 eater.

Light in the Darkness

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When we think of a wellness lifestyle we probably consider better nutrition and physical activity, and maybe making some down time in our schedule. But there are other aspects to living out power pantry choices, and I think the Christmas season highlights one of the best. The truth is, there is real darkness in the world, and there is real light. At Christmastime, we have the opportunity to experience both.

I love living in the northeast US and seeing the change of seasons, and the winter solstice, which is upon us, has always been interesting to me. It's the shortest day and longest night of the year, so it certainly brings literal darkness, and a good reset and appreciation for lengthening days. Beyond physical darkness, there's no lack of spiritual darkness in the world as well. We don't need to look far to find junk and weirdness...

What Christmas promises is the introduction, or re-introduction, to the Light. God has always known there would be spiritual darkness in the world, so he gives us the opportunity for light, and He sent Christ thousands of years ago to be that Light. While I grew up in a Catholic tradition, it wasn't until I was in my 20's that I made a choice to follow God through Jesus Christ. Literally, when I made that decision, the light of Christ became a part of my life.

My spiritual well being is a significant part of my power pantry lifestyle. Not a day goes by that I don't connect with God by reading the Bible, or in gratitude or through some dialog where I need His direction. The great thing is that when I seek Him, I find Him, and we're promised that when we draw close to God, God will draw close to us.

So this Christmas season I hope you'll seek out the Light. There is a peace and assurance available to all of us, which is beyond anything we can understand. There are a few days left before Christmas... I'll encourage us all to seek and follow the Light... that's what Christmas is all about.

By the Way

I've  heard it said that Jesus is a gentleman. He doesn't force His way into our lives, but patiently waits for us to be ready to follow Him. The Bible even says He stands at the door and knocks. I like that. As part of your wellness journey, maybe this Christmas you'll seek the Light, and even answer the door.

Whole for the Holidays

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Can you believe it is Christmas season 2014? I'm still wondering where the 4th of July went... but I welcome the change of the seasons, and we love the celebration and winter reset that Christmas and the new year bring. Maybe you're new to a wellness lifestyle and power pantry habits, and this is a good time to take a positive step for your health and the health of those around you.

Have you taken a good look at your pantry and fridge recently? Maybe you've tried to 'see with new eyes' and challenge your food shopping habits a bit, like Jen and I have done so many times over the last several years. I recently posted that our power pantry journey is really about one positive step at a time, in the direction of better choices toward whole foods. Sure, we can do a pantry purge and throw out every bit of artificial food and processed stuff from our pantries (actually that's not a bad idea) but more likely, we'll choose to say goodbye to high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils, and never go back. And next month, in a burst of inspiration, maybe we'll swear off of enriched white flour or white rice...

With all the cooking and celebrating over food, the Christmas season is a tremendous time to make some much-needed edits in our pantries, and our buying and eating habits. This year, we're trying to do better with our cookie baking. I think we've even found a good alternative recipe for 'magic cookie bars' (those gooey, nutty, sweet treats with the graham cracker crust...mmmmm.) We'll definitely be making some great oatmeal cookies (with real butter and turbinado sugar - my favorite) and the kiddos will be rolling and cutting out regular old sugar cookies (which we make with whole wheat flour). As a bonus, check out some of these healthier cookies from www.eatingbirdfood.com .

Can you think of some whole-food additions and edits you can make this holiday season? The other day I made 'homestyle' stewed apples (that is, I left the skins on the apples and just cooked them up with a bit of raw honey... they are delicious.) That's something I wouldn't have done years ago, but it's so simple, and it's a great, natural treat which we can all enjoy (and it makes the house smell wonderful while they're cooking.)

Take a look at your Christmas cooking traditions and maybe pick one or two where you can make a power pantry choice this year, and there's a good chance those whole food edits can stick with you into the future. A tweak here and a better choice there, and we're well on our way to a healthier power pantry.

By the Way

One functional shopping approach I like to live out is to do more of our food shopping around the outer edges of the grocery store. Almost all grocery emporiums are set up with the fresh foods and better choices around the edges: produce, dairy (if you're still into dairy), fresh seafood and meats (skip the deli...) and the bakery (again, skip the refined, processed stuff as much as possible). For our shopping, we fill about half of our shopping cart with fresh fruits and veggies, and there's chicken and fish and seltzer and beans, and we've found several good brands of staples like natural salsas, better, simple potato and corn chips, hummus, etc. Start shopping the outer ring of the grocery store more aggressively than the aisles and it will step up your power pantry.

On the Run

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My "running habit" hasn't exactly been habitual. While I had planned to run my first half marathon in 2014, that did't happen... mostly because life did. I'm undaunted, though... there's always next year. With that in mind, I'm making plans for my running schedule, and putting the half marathon on my 2015 goal list. Problem is, I need to start preparing now to be ready for next April!

Do you have some scheduled, disciplined habits as part of your power pantry lifestyle? I know how tough it is to keep at regularly planned exercise, and fun-time and quiet time, but all are essential to our wellness. Life gets in the way, expectations go unmet, and yet another year flies by without achieving that essential thing that we anticipated. The best thing to do? Get right back on the horse and start riding again.

I'd also say not to wait for making a New Year's resolution. To me, there's nothing special about the change of December 31st to January 1st that it deserves the distinction of rejuvenation and renewal. Better to ride a wave of innate, gut-level inspiration into a new endeavor and let it lead us into what gives us energy.

I'm using some recent inspiration to launch into training for my first half marathon. The event is held in April, and it takes a good 12 weeks to prepare, so I've got about 2 weeks before I need to get started on my running schedule. I'm going to use something like this great beginner-runners schedule to prepare: 12-week Half Marathon Training

I'm sure you have something in the back of your mind that you're really itching to accomplish. Why not put it down on paper or commit it to your goal list, and get started? When you look back in six months, I know you'll be glad you did.

By the Way

If you'e an aspiring runner, a good rule of thumb for training is about one week of running for every mile of the event you're planning to run. For a true first-timer, you may want to double that kind of time frame for your first 5k (which is about 3 miles, so that would yield about a six week training period). For the most part, though, a graduated running schedule is what will build endurance and lung capacity to get you across the finish line of your first big event. Good luck!

A Sauce Solution

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I'm not much for giving out recipes, but there are some things that are really beneficial for our power pantry, and need to be shared. Some time ago, I did a post on great seeds, and one of those is chia. It is a fairly new darling of the health-nut crowd, being overlooked for decades because of its small humble nature. Fact is, chia seeds have been a great nutritional addition to food for thousands of years (I like including it in my breakfast because it's known as the 'warrior seed' of the Aztecs - it gives me an attitude boost besides the health boost.)

What's so good about chia? (check this link for 11 proven health benefits.) Beyond the fiber, Omega-3 fatty acids, beneficial minerals and protein, they have this interesting propensity to gel. Simply add water or any liquid, and within minutes you get a gooey, gelatinous mass; thin it out and you get sauce, or add more chia and you get something more like a spread.

I've been adding chia to my breakfast muesli for a long time, and I've been wanting to try it in more things like spreads, sauces, smoothies and pie or cobbler fillings. This holiday season is a great time to experiment, so we bought a big bag of chia at Costco the other night... now we're all set.

I can't yet vouch for these recipes from our own experience, but check out some of these creative ways of using chia seeds to thicken old favorites and new treats as well. Basically, instead of using tapioca, pectin or sugar (honey, etc.) you use some combination of chia seeds and liquid as the base for your next syrupy concoction, or as a great grainy addition to a bread or crust.
This is a great list from Daily Burn - 14 Creative Chia Seed Recipes
And a good one from Chosen Foods - Chia Seed Gravy

So go out on a bit of a limb this holiday season, and replace that corn starch or wheat flour, gelatin or tapioca, with some humble chia seeds. It's far healthier and a tremendous power pantry addition.

By the Way

One of the best things about chia seeds is that they are basically tasteless. You'll get all the nutritional and functional (thickening) benefits of adding them to recipes without any odd tastes to overcome or get used to. By using ground chia, you overcome any aesthetic issues with the seed hulls floating in your favorite gravy...

A Good Pal

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A couple of months ago I got a Fit Bit Zip tracker, and I'm now just about acclimated to the feedback it provides and finding the time and energy to keep it happy. What I like about wearable trackers is that they don't lie. I have great days where I'm busy and active and log 17,000 steps, and other days where I'm lucky to crack 6,000 steps (like today - I'm totally blowing my averages...)

If you don't yet have a good quality, wearable tracker, maybe the holidays is a time to put it on your wish list (and talk it up with family) in the hopes you'll get one in your stocking. I have found that just keeping the tracker with me daily, and downloading and reviewing my stats, gives me enough motivation to go do something every day. Another cool feature with Fit Bit is the weekly progress email they send. This email shows me what I've accrued for steps and any other things I've tracked (manually).



With daily tracking in mind, I was encouraged to get an email from our wellness folks at work which highlighted some top apps to help us survive the holidays in a healthful way. Here is one of them which appears to do really well at encouraging physical activity and healthful eating:
My Fitness Pal- www.myfitnesspal.com

The holidays are a wonderful time to enjoy relationship and connection and family traditions. But having these bountiful, yearly interactions doesn't have to come at the expense of our power pantry journey. I think there is plenty of benefit and opportunity to do both. So keep that tracker on your Christmas list, and let it enhance your power pantry choices. It keeps physical activity top-of-mind, and that's the best way to survive the holidays with your hard-fought health intact.

By the Way

I like that My Fitness Pal has a ton of apps to connect to a variety of trackers. I can download the Fit Bit app for it and the Fitness Pal food tracking then integrates with my physical activity stats recorded by my Zip tracker. Very cool... check out their web site and see if it might work for you.

Be Dense

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Hopefully you had a great Thanksgiving, as I did with my wife and family. We are grateful to have shared a delicious butterball turkey with all the trimmings (although our sweet potatoes didn't have the little marshmallows on top...) And I have to say we did fairly good in the nutrient density department, respecting our power pantry choices. We made some great substitutions (like a gluten free stuffing along with regular stuffing) and subtractions (our green beans were sans cream of mushroom soup and fried onions...although they had some crumbled bacon...) The big question is whether our holiday food choices are worthwhile when it comes to nutrient density, that is, how much nutrition is packed in each calorie we choose to eat.


I've posted about nutrient density before. It's a concept popularized by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, one of my favorite nutrition-focused writers and thought leaders. Dr. Fuhrman's formula for health is H = N/C, where H stands for health, N stands for nutrients, and C stands for calories. So our health can be determined by how many nutrients are packed into the calories we consume, our nutrition per calorie. Overall, he refers to this N/C concept as nutrient density.


I had a good nutrient-density conversation with a business friend last week, concerning his health journey and his growing awareness of healthy eating. He is benefiting from nutritional adjustments to help him overcome years of back pain. The great thing is that it's working! Being conscious of the nutrients in the food we choose to eat can make all the difference in the world.

You can review that previous post on nutrient density for some other food-choice ideas, but the point for our holiday food choices is to focus on whole foods over processed foods, and to overwhelm our diet with calories from high-nutrition sources. Yes, there may be holiday cookies and pies, and those little sausages every now and then, but by making some power pantry choices of a big salad, some steamed veggies and brown rice, and desserts focused on berries, fresh fruits and pomegranates, we can lean into high-nutrient choices. The result will be a deep-breath kind of confidence come January, and while we'll have really enjoyed the holidays, we won't be sorry at all for our food choices. Here's to some wonderful Christmas preparations and enjoyment of the season!

By the Way

What we're really after, nutritionally, with our whole food choices are phytochemicals, or phytonutrients. These are the naturally occurring healthful constituents of unrefined plant foods, and it is the basis of nutrient density. For instance, a 100 calorie portion of broccoli has almost twice the protein of a 100 calorie portion of steak. And kale and romaine pack way more nutritional punch per calorie than animal-based foods, grains or even beans and seeds. So stock up on your fresh veggies this holiday season!