Review: From Fat To Finish Line

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from-fat-to-finish

Finally saw From Fat To Finish Line and I loved it. Whether if you are a runner or not, this moving will inspire you.

Last night the hubby and I settled in the watch a film I’ve been waiting to see for nearly a year – From Fat to Finish Line. The documentary tells the story of 12 people who’ve collectively lost 1,200 pounds and team up to run a 200-mile relay race from Miami to Key West. You learn of their weight loss highs, lows and how running gave them focus.

The film shines the spotlight on each runner telling about struggling with weight loss. All experienced the doubts from family, friends and themselves. I could relate to everyone on the team. Their struggles and successes were exactly like mine.

Many on the team started running as a way to shed pounds. But what clearly shows is the shear joy many on the team feel from doing what humans are physically designed to do – run.

Running also became their compass: a way to keep moving forward to their true north, no matter what life tossed their way. As the Rick, the team captain says, when asked how he felt after running his first mile: “I feel like I can do anything.”

That’s what this film does best. Even if running isn’t your thing, this movie will inspire you to keep moving forward.

It really is a wonderful film and I suggest you bump it to the top of you Netflix queue.

My Recipe Project

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steak & zoodle salad

I’ve started organizing all my recipes so healthy and tasty dishes like this don’t go the way of the Dodo!

I’ve spent months researching a good recipe manager. Nothing seems to meet my needs. Am I that picky or are these programs designed by people who don’t cook healthy foods? It seems like a little of both. Besides having a consolidated location for all my recipes, I really want one that can do the nutrition calculations. I thought I found it with MacGourmet. Nope!

The program isn’t intuitive, the nutrition calculator is horrible (the big selling point for me), and  frankly it wastes my time fighting serving size selection and missing ingredients — it really has no clue that something called sea salt is real. As an added bonus, I’m stuck with hundreds (if not thousands) of non-LCHF recipes unless I want to manually delete each one. Grrrr! Read More

Fall’s Here: Time For A Facial Routine

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How do I know fall is here? Right on cue there’s a chill to the evening air, the leaves are turning color and my skin is drying out. Once the weather turns cooler my hands and legs become itchy and flaky. There was never enough lotion in the world to stop the itching. Of course I’d always start applying lotion consistently when the painful cracks appeared.

Thankfully my fear of loose skin kicked my daily care routine into high gear. I’m much more proactive, applying lotion daily and staying hydrated (water really is the key to great skin!). Unfortunately I was so focused on all the areas with loose skin (my body) that my facial routine went out the window.

So it shouldn’t be that big of a shock when I woke up this morning with a dry, flaky nose and forehead. Ugh! Read More

Cookbook Review: Nom Nom Paleo

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nom-nom-cover

I spent the holiday weekend drooling over the recipes in Michelle Tam’s Nom Nom Paleo cookbook.

I picked up a wonderful cookbook – Michelle Tam’s Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans. It’s been out since 2013 but it is still one of the most creative cookbooks I’ve come across. And it is a fun read…how many cookbooks can you say that about?

I’m a big fan of Tan’s blog (same name as the book). If you are looking for healthy recipes and cooking inspiration, you need to check out her site.

Like her blog, the book includes recipes and cooking tips that are easy to follow. The combination of her witty prose, awesome cartoons and wonderful photography (by her husband) depict her love of real food, kitchen gadgets, and cooking.

You can’t read this book and not want to have fun in the kitchen. Regardless of your diet of choice she inspires you to turn away from the processed crap. Read More

Preventing Pelvic Collapse By Building Muscle

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Pelvic floor muscle

With my hysterectomy, I have too much room down there and organs can start shifting, causing major problems. Good news there is an exercise to prevent that from happening.

While waiting for my doctor to give me the OK for becoming more active, I’m doing a lot of research on any changes to my workout and diet routines following a hysterectomy. I’m officially in menopause now. That means muscle and bone loss are two key challenges heading into my golden years.

Well lo and behold I’ve discovered that I’m at risk for a Pelvic Organ Prolapse. Read More

10 Tips For A Successful Fast

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water 1

Staying hydrated helps me stay on track during a fast. Cucumber-mint water is one of my go too drinks when fasting. Yummmm!

This morning I’m in hour 40 of my 48-hour fast and I feel great. My energy level is high and I’m managing the hunger pains easily. It’s a far cry from my very first attempt at fasting (I broke the fast within 4 hours).

Since I incorporated fasting into my way of eating there are a few things I’ve learned to be successful when choosing to go without food. Read More

Finding My Ideal Body Weight

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tape measure fork

Rather than randomly setting a goal weight, I’ve decided to use some science to find my ideal body weight. Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhoto.net and Mister GC.

When I tried losing weight before I always picked a random number and tried shooting for it. Of course that never worked. First of all I was too focused the number on the scale, not health. Second, I didn’t consider if I was losing only fat. The last thing you want to do is lose muscle.

In my efforts to kick cancer’s ass and regain my metabolic health, I’m recalibrating my diet. To do that I’m starting to focus on maximum fitness and a reference weight, (AKA, my ideal body weight).

BMI vs. Reference Weight
Thankfully the Body Mass Index (BMI) is being exposed for the bad science that it is when it comes to defining healthy weight.

BMI is the preferred method of the US government to determine those obesity numbers the news media loves to report. All BMI does is measure the relationship between your height and weight. But nothing relating to muscle mass, bone or body fat.

It’s not a very good measure of health and fitness to say the least. Read More

Plateau From Hell: Battling My Body’s Set Weight Point

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weekly weigh in april 30

Not the progress I was expecting this week. I’m up a pound. Time to rethink my tactics.

Bleh! I was expecting a loss this week and instead I’m up a pound. What’s really frustrating is I’ve been bouncing between 182-185 pounds for a year. One. Freaking. Year.

Rethinking Tactics
I recently finished reading The Obesity Code by Dr. Jason Fung. Regular readers know I love Dr. Fung’s blog and his online lectures. A review of his book is coming soon (hint, you should read it!), but right now I’m looking at shaking up my intermittent fasting tactics for one simple reason — changing my body’s set weight point.

It’s believed that our bodies have a set weight point. When a healthy person’s weight goes above or below that set weight, the body compensates — slowing or raising metabolism, increasing hunger or satiety hormones — and works to get back to that person’s set weight point. Read More

Attempting Homemade Broth Again

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broth 3

Success! After my first failed attempt at making broth, I finally succeeded. This lovely vegetable broth is destined for my tomato soup!

For the last few weeks I focused on getting back into the kitchen. We’ve been eating out way too much for my liking. The pounds I lost recently is a clear sign that good things happen when you control the ingredients.

So this week I was making a tomato soup and decided to try yellow heirloom tomatoes as they finally appeared at my grocery store. I was determined to make it from scratch but that meant making my own vegetable broth. Ugh!

My previous attempt at making my own broth didn’t go that well. I used my Thanksgiving turkey carcass. The actual cooking was just fine. It was the storage where I ran into problems. Once I let the broth cool, I ended up dumping it into freezer bags.

  • First problem – I’d have to thaw a whole bag rather than just what I need.
  • Second problem – When I did thaw a batch it tasted like it sat in a plastic bag in the freezer for about a month.

I ended up tossing the broth. Read More

Loose Skin Triggers Belly Button Infection

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belly button

Thanks to lots of loose skin around my stomach my belly button is infected. Keeping the moisture out is going to be a challenge this summer.

This weekend I got a nasty surprise – a yeast infection in my belly button. I didn’t notice until Saturday morning when my belly became very itchy. When I looked to see what was going on I discovered an infection.

If you have an innie, fungi love them. They provide a warm, moist crevise to grow in.  What they love more is lots of loose skin. Moisture getting trapped between the folds is a big problem. That’s how it start.

Since last summer I’ve dealt with an inflamed belly button a couple of times. After a run, if I forgot to dry it out after a shower, I’d find a very pink belly button in a day or so. This time was different.

After some soap and hot water it was time to dry my belly button. Here’s where I think my problem lies. Simply using a soft towel isn’t working anymore. My belly button is pretty deep and I have a lot more loose skin around my abdomen, making it difficult to get in there with a towel. Read More