Bon Appetit!

6.26

To maintain great wellness, I've consistently ascribed to an 80/20 or 90/10 approach to meal planning and eating. Once we find our nutritional groove , and know what foods brings us health and healing, we should lean into those foods for the majority of our calories. It's okay if 10-20% of our calories originate outside our wellness goals...

Thanksgiving is the biggest celebration of food that we have every year. A time of family and community and feasting. But not a time to completely set aside our wellness convictions and goals. With that said I wanted to pass along a fun and engaging food resource that highlights tremendous foods, and I think it can help anyone enjoy this season of celebration and gratitude.

The resource is the Bon Appetit  channel on YouTube. One of our kids turned us onto Bon Appetit last year, and it has become a fun 'cooking show' distraction for us to watch together. This Channel is a sister to the Bon Appetit magazine and web site of the same name, and gives the viewer a behind the scenes look at the world-class staff and editors that make it all possible.

Note well, Bon Appetit isn't about foods that are particularly healthy or healing, but they are certainly about quality, taste and community. And their recent YouTube post are all about Making Perfect Thanksgiving...from turkey to sides to desserts, they have Thanksgiving covered.

So be sure to celebrate gratitude, providence, community, family and more this Thanksgiving. Maybe mix in a new dish that respects your wellness goals, while at the same time taking advantage of the abundance available to us. Bon Appetit!

By the Way

If you are looking for great holiday recipes that DO respect your wellness goals, go over to Dr. Josh Axe's content, or Mark Sisson's (Mark's Daily Apple). Tons of valuable content from these two sites!

The Joy of Gathering

6.25

Fall is here, summer is over, and it's time to settle in for the Holiday season. Hard to believe...

As we work on our wellness lifestyle, and our health, and express concern for those around us, we have the opportunity to do life together, and grow and appreciate the days we're given. That's really what a wellness lifestyle is all about. Have we engaged in today, in a significant way? Have we sought healthy foods, healthy movement, and healthy relationships?

With the holidays come all kinds of opportunities to gather over food. As the decades go by, I think a lot of folks think that the food is the important part of getting together. So many memories are built on cooking, feasting, and celebrating over and with food... But I think the real celebration is in the gathering, not the food.

Think of the best celebrations you have enjoyed. The weddings, the graduations, the birthday parties; the anniversaries, the wonderful holiday celebrations at Thanksgiving or Christmas or New Years. All involved food, yes, but they also involved wonderful opportunities to connect and reconnect, time to celebrate others, and to celebrate milestones.

If we think that celebrations are more about the food, as we age and our relationship circles grow smaller, we may lean on food at the catalyst to rekindle the great memories of the past. But if it was actually about the gathering (not the food) we may have a frustrating journey of misplaced expectations and unfulfilling celebrations.

So make sure you're finding a great circle of friends, relations or family to do life with this holiday season. Find joy in gathering to enhance your wellness journey.

By the Way

New circles of friends can come from unlikely sources. Don't miss opportunities to connect with folks in areas related to work, or a local gym or fitness club, or maybe a place of worship. And be wary of online gatherings to fill this need - while technology can keep us aware of the world around us, it is a poor substitute for actually meeting with other people, face to face. Keep your gatherings real.

A Good Brew

6.24

Years ago I was a coff-alholic - I consumed significant quantities of coffee daily, with little regard for how much I was actually drinking. Then at some point, maybe about 15 years ago, I realized that the rush of caffeine was less energizing and more stressful than what I wanted to live with. I bailed out and felt much better over time. One problem is that I really enjoy a good, hot mug of fresh, black coffee.

Since adjusting my coffee consumption, I've ebbed and flowed between decaf (it can really be a poor stand-in for regular coffee) and no coffee at all. Recently, I've found a better middle ground of a cup or two a day, several days a week. Not nearly the highs and lows of caffeine I experienced years ago.

So is coffee good for you or bad for you? The answer is really a bit of both. Much depends on how it is prepared (high-quality water and fresh ground, appropriately roasted beans) and how much we consume. There are great anti-oxidants in fresh brewed coffee, and numerous, everyday health benefits.

Check out this article from Dr. Josh Axe on the top 8 Health Benefits of Coffee. Coffee is great for heart health, liver health, and controlling things like asthma and Type 2 diabetes. Beyond those, coffee increases energy and mental concentration, fights depression and improves athletic performance.

The key to benefiting from coffee consumption, like so many things, is moderation. Thankfully, I've landed at that place of moderation myself, after all these years, and I think I'm at a sustainable place. If you're a coff-aholic, like I was years ago, consider cutting back to a few cups of coffee a day. If you're not a coffee drinker, no need to start, but maybe you'll develop a taste for the aromatic, tasty brew that has revved up societies for centuries.

By the Way

Be aware of numerous coffee look-alikes, that aren't the real thing. A lot of high-volume coffee vending comes from reconstituted coffee concentrate that may contain stabilizers, preservatives and 'natural flavors' to extend shelf life and yield a good-tasting end product. It's not the real thing, even if they've mimicked good tasting coffee.

Tune In

6.23

We come up with so many excuses for living in unhealthy ways. No time. No direction. No one to journey with. As an 'old' guy, I could resonate with many of those. My reality, though, is one of conviction and perseverance - I choose to tune in to my wellness daily.

This weekend I've taken yet another step to keep up with what is new, useful and challenging in the wellness realm: I created an Instagram profile. It's not that I was resisting following Instagram, I just hadn't done it. 

But Facebook... that is something I resist. To me, it is a resource that doesn't benefit me compared to the distraction it creates. Yes, I have a Facebook profile, but I only visit it once or twice a year.

Now that I'm on Instagram, I can tune in to what my kids are doing and posting (some of the stuff they follow is really cool) and I can more closely follow content that is meaningful to me. I have a bunch of profiles I'm already following, including the faith community, Spartan Race, Crossfit, as well as some of the best Wellness gurus of our time.

I appreciate the guidance of Dr. Josh Axe, and Mark Sisson, so those are two profiles I'm already following. The content from Spartan and Crossfit is inexhaustible - so I'll not get bored anytime soon with all that is available.

What good is all of this? It is motivation. It is grounding. It gives us a vicarious tribe. It keeps our head in the game - our game, our journey, our wellness choices. So consider tuning in. If you're not on at least some form of social media, maybe give one a try and see if it fits for you.

By the Way

My user name is "b.dedic8d" - I use "dedicated" as a foundation for why I live a wellness lifestyle. It is actually from a quote that captured my attention years ago, "Obsessed is a word that lazy people use to describe the dedicated."

Grow and Thrive

6.22

What I have grown to appreciate about living a wellness lifestyle, is how it keeps me out of trouble. I have a fitness regime that now spans 7 days a week. None of it is too grueling, but it is certainly demanding, and I'm disciplined enough to be consistent.

Investing in wellness grows us in ways we often don't anticipate. In the Spartan Race world they call it obstacle immunity and resiliency. What I would also call it is resistance to vices and illicit habits. Who has time or need for booze and philandering when you're healthy, well-adjusted, and physically beat at the end of the day? And knowing that tomorrow morning brings the next recovery run or endurance workout (not to mention family, work, and community engagement), sleep becomes precious.

Signing up for regular races will also bring you an opportunity to thrive. I eat very cleanly the last 10 days to 2 weeks prior to a race. No inflammatory foods, coffee, chocolate dairy, etc. And what's great about that is how healthy I feel and the energy I have. And no aches or pains beyond simple muscle exertion. That's a great place to be...

What supports a wellness lifestyle like this? Some conviction...Some basic nutritional knowledge...A deep and growing understanding of our own body and how it responds to foods and movement... A tribe to journey with... (including support from spouse and kids, and those close to you...)

Then we simply journey on. We invest in a great wellness day today, and string those together into a healthy wellness week, which becomes a successful wellness month. Pretty soon we have lived a thriving wellness year.

So, if you haven't tuned into your pantry recently, give it a once-over and see what's in it. Make some healthy substitutions. Find your tribe, and get moving. Set a great goal, and better yet, a growing vision for your wellness lifestyle. Then go live and grow and thrive.

By the Way

Yesterday I ran my 9th Spartan race. This one was with a team from work, and it was a blast! This year Spartan reformatted their stadium races into the 'Stadion' format. Different than other Spartan Races, the Stadion mixes in gym exercise movements (box jumps and ball slams, the assault bike and weighted burpees) to keep it interesting. It was a beautiful day at Citizen Bank Park in Philly, and we finished together, and really enjoyed the race.

Burpees and Calories

6.21

Soon enough it will be the holidays, and we'll be treated to the joys and foods that make holiday celebrations so memorable. With all the festivities come calories and loads of inflammatory foods that our bodies would do better without. But there are some simple disciplines we can put in place to help.

The reality is, our body weight comes down to basic calories-in-calories-out calculations. Our caloric needs change as we age, and it is different for men and women, but to maintain our current weight, our nutritional food intake needs to yield a zero-sum with our activity. If we favor food, we gain weight; if we favor activity, we lose weight.

Try out this great calorie calculator from Mayo Clinic - it shows the estimated calories you need to maintain the weight you are, based on current height, weight, age and activity level.
Click here for the calorie calculator

My Garmin tells me I burn about 2700 calories a day, mainly because I do 40 minutes of functional training on weekdays, and 1-2 hour workout-run sessions on Saturdays and Sundays. On a heavy workout day when I'm also cutting the lawn, that might be a 3500+ calorie day...

The point is, we only need to get our bodies moving to burn some calories. Walking is a great, low-impact activity to burn calories. So it swimming. So are burpees! Burpees are one of the best all-body exercises (arms, core, legs, plus coordination, and aerobic stamina.)

Spartan did a great article a few weeks ago about how many burpees are needed to overcome our less-than-healthy food choices. Check out the article here.

This is a great time of the year to incorporate simple activity disciplines with our healthy eating choices. The foundation we build now will serve us well a few months from now when holiday festivities are everywhere, and that foundation will serve us well for a lifetime.

By the Way

There are innumerable activity calculators that show calories burned with certain activities. Try out one today to see how much activity will get you some good burn. Here's one from www.healthyeater.com  - click here for the calculator.

Taking Stock

6.20

Where is 2019 going?! How can it be the unofficial end of summer, the restart of school for all the kiddos, with fall arriving in just a few weeks? Well, it can be, and it is. As we finish these last few months, and take stock of all that happened over the last 12 months, hopefully you can look back with good memories and gratitude.

For me, this has been a great year. I have continued to focus on simple wellness goals, to regularly evaluate our pantry and fridge for great food choices, and to stretch my physical capacity with challenging workouts and races. While I set out to achieve a Spartan trifecta of some challenging events beyond just Spartan races, I'm realizing that a better plan probably resulted from the Spartan races I've participated in. I completed my first Ultra, and I think there will be more of those in my future.

Our family enjoyed a great vacation a couple weeks ago, and took our wellness pursuits with us. We traveled to Canada, where I included a couple of runs to enjoy the local scenery, and my older daughter and I did a great workout along the Ottawa River. We shared some tasty poutine and beaver tails (Canadian fun-food) while at the same time sticking to our 90/10 eating goals and healthy choices.

To close out the year I may end up doing 3 more Spartan races. We gathered a team from work to do the Stadion Sprint in Philly (at Citizens Bank Park). It's been great to share a training schedule and encourage each other to grow and step up to a challenge. This is a first Spartan Race for most of the team. I also have two pending trips in October where I can tag on a Spartan Race local to my destination. Destination races are always a good time, because the venue is always an adventure, even if we know what to expect in the race.

I'd say my biggest wellness accomplishment of 2019 has been further study of collagen and the healing benefits we get from this simple 'bone broth' protein foundation in our diet. I know my body is healthier still from supplementing with collagen.

How about your journey? You set out with particular goals for 2019. Did you achieve what you hoped? Even if you needed to modify things because circumstances changed, did the initial vision pull you forward? 

By the Way

As a family, we are also starting to launch our older kids into their lives and careers. As they establish their own routines and households, it's cool to see them making legitimate wellness choices in their food and fitness. Who knows what races we may do together in the coming years, and what we'll be able to learn from them.