Introducing the podcast

Roland and I have been playing with recording a podcast - and it's been fun. I hope you enjoy it - to read all about it head over to the Fit Ink - my new home on the Internet :) Have a great weekend!

What's up at the Fit Ink?

It's been a cool couple of weeks. I am adjusting to a new style of training, with a lot more movement and less weighted exercise (you will hear a lot about my Restorative Exercise paradigm shift in the next few months). Spent 4 cool days at Perform Better in Long Beach, where I got to catch up with the smartest and greatest in the fitness industry and met some very interesting new people (and ate some amazing Jamaican food, yum!).

I am getting ready to leave for Bulgaria, where Diana and I will hold our annual art vacation, with tons of cool stuff to do - movement, cooking, art, lectures, and this time all is happening at the beach so I am thinking it will be better than ever.

Roland and I are working hard on the FitInk, and over the last week released a free workout e-book for busy people, cooked some new and delicious recipes and are constantly on the lookout for projects, like our Gluten free beer review.

Our long awaited book, Man on top, is ready for publishing and we will be releasing it in early October, when I get back from Bulgaria. Our cover is so beautiful, I am seriously considering framing it and hanging it over the bed, taking the risk of being accused of bad taste for bedroom art.

What else? I bough over 20 books in the last month. I don't know when I will be able to read them, but I am working my way through the pile. I have the bad habit of reading 5 books at a time - last month I finished Deep Nutrition and one of Egoscue's books and while it's not going fast, I have started the Diabetes Solution, Wheat Belly, The Shangri-La Diet and When the Body Says No. My wishlist on Amazon is filling rapidly and I hope the 6 weeks in Bulgaria allow some time for reading. 

Hm, what else? I taught an epic spine health workshop with my friend and super star cervical chiropractor Dr Liz Hoeffer, and I am looking forward to teaching it again, as it is life changing for so many people.

Did I mention you can read my Restorative Exercise work in Bulgarian now? Check this out! 

I am probably forgetting something, so just ask me  what's up with X or Z and I will let you know :)

Tropical Traditions ships free - take action :)

In our cooking classes, we show you how to use coconut oil to make delicious omelets, pancakes, desserts and even slow roasted sweet glazed veggies! We have been recommending Tropical Traditions as our favorite source of coconut oil and we are glad to share that they have a free shipping coupon starting today and going through August 16.  Check your pantry and if you are running out this is a great time to stock up! You must enter the coupon number in your cart before checking out! Here it is: Coupon Code 682212 


To order, simply click on the link below and it will take you to the website.

 
Virgin Coconut Oil, Gold Label - 1 quart








note: If you have never bought from Tropical Traditions, know that a new customer purchase is going to give me a coupon, which is sweet, but not the reason why I recommend the product. We have been using Tropical Traditions for all our coconut needs: flakes, chips, flour, cream and oils, and we love them! It feels good to share the love!

A guest post from Roland

Some of you may know that Roland and I have had a few projects under construction - ''Man on top'', a new joint website, so maybe you want to know what's going on and why the @!#%$%^ are you not holding the book in your hands right now and where is that new website? Shhhhh, the website won't be announced till Monday, but in the meantime, read this guest post by Roland, who's done a great job of bringing all the news together :)

So, what's going on?

"What are you waiting for?" you might ask.

I've made all sorts of semi or pre-announcements, here and on JPFitness, yet we continue to hold off on actually putting our stuff "out there." Here are the excuses. Here's the backstory!

Man on Top

The book is as done as we (Galya and I) can make it without a little help.

The cover design is beautiful, and we are awaiting some final touches to it before publishing. For a sneak peak, take a look here.

I said we could only go so far without help, and suddenly we got a little extra help. A pre-reader finished the book and had some questions, which led to some suggestions, which convinced me to make a few small changes. It's all good stuff, and in the blessing-in-disguise department, it also gave our cover designer time to revamp a few things, and Galya time to take a break from the book process and go on an internship; learning some amazing stuff! More on that, later...

The book is coming soon, and I think you're going to love it. If you want more info, sign up for the book announcements on the upper right of this site, where it says "Sign up for upcoming news on the new book!"

The Fit Ink

The Fit Ink is a the name of our newest project. TheFitInk isn't just a place on the internet, nor are Galya and I merely, collectively, TheFitInk; I think it's going to be greater than the sum of its parts, plus many more awesome clichés! Gal and I will be writing there, together and individually, and we're really excited about this thing.

Galya and I have been looking forward to writing together more and more; after talking about it for years. We have another book in the works, along with many article and blog ideas. This new site isn't just a consolidation of our two sites, but a substantive change in voice (at least for me), which allows us to drop some old blog habits, practices, and inhibitions, leaving behind some of the past. For me, my diary-style blogging history tended to keep me from writing more about nutrition and fitness. My old blog started as a journal, before I knew much about nutrition and fitness, and was merely a place to practice writing.

Galya and I, along with our good friend Sean, worked long and hard to come up with a website that's nice to look at, easy to manage, and flexible for the future. Sean did a great job meeting our requirements, and we are very happy with it (and him).

So why the delay? Well, you want everything to be perfect before you spread the word, but we're not perfect people... I'm something of an irregular guy. I'm happy, for example, to shop in an outlet store, where they feature clothes that are also "irregular." Galya, who's more normal, would have likely been happy to "just start," back when the site was more or less ready. Oh well, now we're both ready.

The Fit Ink Team can be found at TheFitInk.com, starting now, even before the official launch. To get updates, you can subscribe there now, or just watch this blog, Galya's blog, and Facebook for updates. We have some fun things coming, including some giveaways, prizes, and contests.

The No-Time-To-Workout Workout

The number one reason I hear for not working out, is lack of time. Workouts take too long, the gym is too far away, home gym equipment is too expensive, ugly, or takes up too much room! Hey, I'm no different; when I get busy, I not only don't train, but I feel guilty about it, which spurs my desire to emotionally eat! Not good. Not good.

Well, finally, I decided to do something about it and write myself a program that would meet my current requirements. But, after a few chats with other busy guys and gals, I decided to take it a step further and actually write it down in a way that others could use, too. I've even tested this baby myself, so I know it's working.

Here's the gist of the program:

• Free
• Short and sweet
• 20-30 minutes per session, including warmups!
• Home or gym friendly.
• Photos and descriptions of all the exercises
• Train as little as twice a week, using short full body workouts
• Train in as little as 30 minutes, and get great results
• Requires just one adjustable dumbbell, although if you have a set  of dumbbells, that works great!
• Fits your schedule, since you can do these short 20-30 minute workouts from 2 to 5 days per week
• A lunch hour workout is now possible, even with a shower!

I could just paste the workout in and leave you to it, but instead, you'll get the system, with pictures, explanations, and tracking forms, plus tips and tricks to make the most of your valuable training time.

It's almost ready to go, so keep a lookout for it! Comment, email me, or let me know on facebook if you want the heads up when it's ready, okay?

Swing choreography with Tracy Reifkind

I tend to say ''yes'' to training seminars, workshops, talks and meetings, often underestimating how much physical work we will end up doing when we get there. Last Saturday, Roland and I participated in a workshop, that reignited the fire for swinging beyond what I had expected. It also kicked my butt. No, really.

Tracy is an inspiring speaker, and a role model that is rarely seen in the fitness world. Energized, vivid, exciting, and very down to earth.

He brought Tracy Reifkind's book a few weeks ago, and I flipped through it, thinking, oh how cool, and then put it aside, intending to read it after I was done with my exams. Then I kept going back to it, curious how she teaches the swing, a movement that has so much ''dance and power'' built into it, that it can barely stick on a page. My impression was that the book was extremely well written, had a story that moved, would be a great inspiration for someone who needs to lose weight and believe that it's possible,and in my mind it got shelved under:'' great books I would recommend to clients''.

Click to get it on Amazon

The book didn't make me swing though, after all, I swing a couple of times a week, for a warmup, or for a finisher. The swing is the seasoning of my workouts, not the meat of them. Why would it be any other way?...I have vague memories of the sheer boredom of swinging for 20, 30 or 40 minutes. Boredom that makes me subconsciously want to avoid it and just use it for seasoning ;)

Want to snap out of boredom? Jump in a time machine, and come to last week's workshop, kindly hosted by Northbeach Kettlebell in San Clemente, CA. Our hosts allowed us to use their roof, which added a touch of vacation to our rest intervals, as short as they were. Tracy Reifkind took us through a workout, that she warned: '' we would dread the last 15 minutes of''. It took between 45 and 50 minutes for us to start and stop swinging, with tens of versions of combinations of two arm and one arm swings and power swings. It was practically impossible to remember all the combinations of numbers, ladders, rest intervals, and breaths, all I know is that those 50 minutes flew by and breathing hard, sweaty and happy, we realized we were done.

That afternoon we got home and slept for about 2 hours, recovering. The next couple of days were hard to move, but going from 100 to over 1200 swings in a day was anything but a smooth progression.

Tracy was very kind to sign our book, talk to us about her story, listen to our story and become a friend on Facebook.....and I....I spent the first part of my week sharing her story with my clients and friends, showing them her before and after pictures, and saying: "you can do it, too!'' a hundred times. I loved that she was a living success story, but also a tangible, real, and very very normal person, who also happened to kick our butt.

told you, amazing view!

As soon as I was able to move well again, and as soon as my hands felt like they were healing, I opened the book and was eager to find a workout that was at my supposed level, so that I could start swinging again. Unlike other times when I had been swinging to do the movement, to burn calories, to get more conditioned, this time I was excited about the choreography of swing. Something about the way Tracy taught that workshop woke up the ballerina in me, the one who appreciates combinations, rest, flow, push, pull, effort and the wholeness of it all when you are done.

Those of you who know me personally, know I don't get excited about winning or competing, but I get excited about the process, the creation, the beauty and the growth that are all in the training process. I feel like the swing choreographer inside of me is burning bright after this meeting and she will keep burning bright!

I have completed two workouts from ''The Swing!'' this week, both workout #3, once with 16kg/12kg and once with just 16 kg. It's an ''on the minute'' workout, where you swing as fast as you can at the beginning of a minute, and then rest until the minute ends.

Wanna try? It goes like this:

5 x 10
1x each of 11, 12, 13, 14,15,16, 17, 18 and 19
5 x 20

total time: 20 min
total result: pleasant tiredness and an overall good feeling of energy system training

This week I will be working my way up to 20 kg and then probably try a 1 arm workout.

Like I said before, a time machine is the preferable way of igniting your own swinging fire, but here are some more realistic ways to swing more:

1. Swing with someone else. Play some music in the background. Use Workout Muse of the Gymboss to time yourself.

2. Buy Tracy's book.

3. Go to one of her workshops. You can find her here and here!

Now go swing ;)

FOOD REVOLUTION DAY

FOOD REVOLUTION is just a metaphor, but it expresses what a lot of us feel: an urgency to wake up the world to the importance, value and future of real food. What is real food? The short answer is anything that your great grand mother may have used in her cooking. The 10 000 ft answer is food that's just one thing: beets, lamb, potato, yogurt, as opposed to a list of ingredients like the ones you see with very fine print at the back of a box of cereal (heck, we believe that real food is THE answer to our health, longevity and quality of life so deeply, that Diana and I called our recipe books The Art of Real Food)!

Today is FOOD REVOLUTION DAY - a day chosen by Jamie Oliver to unite the efforts of chefs, teachers, educators, nutritionists, trainers, moms, kids, neighborhoods and communities all over the world. In our own way, today everyone found a way to express the love for food and the desire to reach out and teach.

In charity events all over the world, the common effort is educate and collect funds to support the foundation, all for the love of food and for the great cause of returning food education to schools! Check out the FOOD REVOLUTION website and find where the funds go!

In Rancho Santa Margarita, Roland and I are holding two events, one today, May 19, where we got kids at a local park and did a super fun fruit and vegetable scavenger hunt, ingredient guessing game, obstacle course, planting seeds, and ladybug release. It was so fulfilling to watch kids get excited about discovering watermelons, pomegranates, yucca, mango and all the other foods we had hidden. Kids will get excited about food, and ANY food, including REAL food, if you give them the right environment to play, discover, create and celebrate! It was a blast seeing the kids walk away with watermelons as a prize instead of a candy bar, it was the height of our day looking at them try a loquat or a jicama for the first time!

Our second event is coming up, so you can still join it if you are local- Stone soup luncheon, is tomorrow, May 20. We are having friends come over for lunch, each bringing a real food ingredient that we will prepare on the spot! We will unleash the creative energy in on the spot recipe creations - Roland, myself and Rupina or zen-trition.com - one of the coolest health coaches in our area who also happens to be a good friend of ours!

Excited about making change happen yourself! Our hope is that all we do is going to spark you to cook, teach and create a shift in the way you, your family, your workplace and community think about food!

Watch Jamie Oliver address the world on May 19 and see how sincere and simple change can be! What will you do to bring real food to the people around you?

Yes, you can eat just one

we each ate 1 raisin, 1 chocolate egg and one tbsp of peanut butter

This last weekend I taught a really cool workshop for our friend Lisa Wolfe's clients at Miracle Fitness in Pasadena. The topic was ''Emotional eating'' and we covered physiological reasons for cravings, spiritual reasons for cravings and of course, emotional eating proper - those times when you use food to satisfy needs other than hunger.

If you get hit by an emotional eating episode and you find yourself in front of the fridge at 1 pm reaching for a jar of peanut butter or a bar of chocolate, close the door and take a seat. There is so much you can do:

1. Reconnect with your body - there is a reason you are feeling uncomfortable - using food to cover it up may work for a while, but it will only make you feeling worse later. Sit down, take a few deep breaths through your nose deep into the bottom and the side of your ribcage. Connect with your breathing, your feet, legs, belly, chest, shoulders, arms. Once you have felt your body you can move on to step 2.

2. Rate the hunger in your body. You can use a scale from 1 to 10. If it's under 7 as in most cases when you have already eaten, yet keep looking for food, you can be sure any amount of food won't fix that hunger.A rating less than 7 is a pretty sure sign you are trying to use food to find a feeling that you need at the moment. Just know, there is always a good reason you are looking for food when your body isn't hungry.

3. Find the feeling. Ask yourself if chocolate or other food you are craving will give you peace, comfort, love, joy? Once you find the feeling, visualize a moment or a time when you were completely enveloped in that feeling? Were you at a beach? Did you just get a promotion? Hug your child? Paint a vivid picture in your mind and let the feeling flow throughout your body.

4. Eat with enjoyment. Once you have reconnected with your body and found the feeling, you can go ahead and have a bit of the food you were craving. If it's chocolate, have a couple of pieces, but be present and enjoy them. Unsure that you can eat just one? Learn how to do that from Geneen Roth, I have mentioned her before, she is absolutely amazing and will lead you through a practical exercise of learning that one is enough.

How did you like that exercise? The raisin part was my favorite one!

Impressions from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition Conference

lunch break at the IIN conference - I was happy to see so many people sitting on the ground - my restorative exercise eye at work

Roland and I were guests at the IIN conference in Long Beach a couple of weeks ago. The school is definitely one of the fast growing holistic health schools in the country, with a mission to literally change the way the world eats by 2020. I love their mission and most of the graduates I have met seem to really love the field of nutrition and really care about helping their clients - it's not just about food, but also about improving relationships, work environment, rest and recovery, finances - they pay all round attention to someone's life, in their founder's own words: ''there is no need to prescribe a green smoothie if your client's marriage is falling apart''. 

I have been looking into their program and trying to decide whether to enroll so we visited the conference to find out more about it, and to hear a few speakers whose lectures were open to the guests. 

I thought I would briefly share with you some very interesting highlights, as the lecturers all spoke on subjects we often discuss here, on the JP boards or in person when we meet - why we gain weight, why we crave sweets, what can we do to become better at listening to our bodies, and how can we enhance our nutrition. 

The afternoon opened with Joshua Rosenthal - founder of the IIN, who just made a brief introduction, but some of his message really stuck with me. He spoke about traveling all over the world and seeing how the world copies America everywhere he went. 

''We ate McDonald, they ate McDonald's, we smoked Marlboro's and they did, we drank Coke and they drank Coke! What if we changed what Americans do, maybe the rest of the world would follow a good example?'' 

I found that to be an extremely empowering platform for anything you do as an individual or an organization. What if you knew your example could affect the world? What if? Joshua then went on to explain about the influence each health coach had on people, how each person could affect hundreds and they would in turn affect others, creating a true ripple effect. I have seen this happen with clients' families, seen it happen with whole corporations, especially back when I worked with the managers at Coke. You can choose to behave in a way that affects others and making your lifestyle a healthy one can empower your whole environment.

The next speaker was Julia Ross - the most highly acclaimed nutritional psychotherapy specialist in the country, author of  ''The Mood Cure'' - an approach to balancing emotions, cravings and eating behavior. She was a powerful speaker and really really wanted to drill home the sugar addiction message - she referred to the eating problem we are facing today as  ''the greatest nutritional crisis of our time''. It was intriguing to listen to her speak about sugar addiction being on par with cocaine addiction and cover the physiology of addiction. If one was not sure that craving were as much a mental as they were a physiological problem - they definitely left the room with a new sense of conviction. Julia Ross presented in length about the process of sugar addiction withdrawal - the difficult 8-10 weeks one must endure to be cured of addiction, followed by a period of easier adaptation. She joked that ''mindful eating'' would not work with a sugar addict, stating that intuitive approaches seem all well and good, but asking an addicted person to eat their favorite foods mindfully was equivalent to asking a crack addict to just ''be mindful while using crack''.

What I loved most about her lecture is that she referred back to traditional diets and traditional modes of limiting sugar: our moms and grandmothers knew we were not supposed to eat sugar. I remember my own mom drilling home not having anything sweet before dinner - a concept I now get paid to teach to my clients. I probably have to repeat '' no sugar on an empty stomach'' during every consultation (because I love you, guys!). So our parents knew that sugar was highly addictive and unhealthy, but we somehow lost that knowledge along the way.

Julia Ross went through the symptoms of addiction and asked us to think whether we or our loved ones exhibit any of those behaviors around sugar:

Loss of control - do you eat without measure?

Continued use despite awareness of damage (kidney, heart, liver, diabetes) - do you keep eating sugar despite detrimental effects to your health?

Withdrawal symptoms - do you feel worse when you don't eat it?

Relapse- do you go back after you stopped eating it for a while?

Progressive nature- is your condition getting worse?

I can definitely see some of my clients who have battled those very symptoms blaming their own willpower, yet having to understand that those symptoms are physiological. Please know that you can change this. Don't use willpower until you have none left and then follow control by loss of control, guilt, shame and eating more to feel better. The cycle can be interrupted, but you need to ask for help.

While covering addiction she talked about sugar, but also included a much wider range or addictive substances: starches, gluten, casein, high fructose corn syrup. Even if you don't want to believe that those foods are addictive, you can refer to how rewarding they are. You can go to read more about the Food Reward Theory on Stephan Guyenet's website.  I personally believe that some individuals are more sensitive to certain substances and more likely to get addicted to certain foods or behaviors and once those are identified, certain behavior changes need to be put in place, in order for those people's health to be placed under control.

In my experience, eating real food and enough of it when the individual is otherwise healthy, will usually resolve an addiction, should they choose to develop healthy self care patterns and thought processes. Talking about self care and attitudes, Julia Ross was followed by Geneen Roth, the author of ''Women, Food and God''. She is an expert on compulsive and emotional eating and saying that is barely scratching the surface. 

What I liked about Geneen Roth the most is that she used her own story as a vehicle to show us that ‘’your issues are a doorway to the best things about you’’. She addressed the reasons we eat to disconnect ourselves from who we are, instead of embracing who we really are and only seeing food as food. She had so many quotable statements, such as ''don't try to fix yourself, welcome yourself'' and ''you are not broken, beyond the brokenness that you feel there is a part that has never been broken'''.

Again, using your relationship with food as a doorway to discovering your true feelings, hopes, dreams and potential, really rang very strongly with me. We often view our challenges with food as a curse, yet they are a true blessing. I have found that those of my clients who are really able to embrace the vulnerable moments and stand strong in them, looking at pain, fear or discomfort straight in the face, instead of grabbing a piece of cake, are the ones that have transformed beyond belief. I also know not everyone is ready to face who they are, embrace who they are and then nourish themselves with the food that the creator intended for them - it's just easier to feed yourself with something delicious  - it always provides, never disappoints, always comforts. Learning to be self feeding on an emotional level takes time - it took me 13 years of making mistakes and 3 years of embracing who I really am to reinvent my relationship with food - but it's possible, it's liberating and it's satisfying beyond any delicious piece of anything you ever even laid your eyes on.

Geneen Roth confirmed what I have always wanted to tell my wonderful female clients and friends: '' You will not change with judgement, what you have in you will not get uncovered through being mean to yourself. The only door to yourself is loving, accepting, caring and being kind.''

She shared the food guidelines she passes on to her students and underlined that those guidelines are coming from a source of love and compassion, something she calls love speaking to you. So here is what love would say:

''Sweetheart, only eat when hungry. Dear, please eat without distractions. Only eat what your body wants. Honey, please stop when your BODY has had enough. And please eat as if other people are watching. Sweetie, eat with love and pleasure''

On parting she reminded us it takes effort to have a joyful life- and don't we know it! Joy is a choice - one that starts with you!

After these two amazing ladies, we got to hear Gary Taubes, and on a topic that we are very very familiar with, as it's laid out in his book ''Why we get fat''. In short, if you've never heard of Gary Taubes, he is making researchers really question the mechanism of obesity. He asks: what if it's not over consumption of calories that makes us fat? What if there is something wrong in the body of the obese individual that makes him produce extra fat and just makes him eat more because he's really hungry. So, Taubes says, calorie restriction won't work and exercise won't work, there is something in the body and the endocrine system that drives fat accumulation and it literally hijacks the person's body who has no choice but to become obese. I believe this theory really has a sound base and is probably very valid within the metabolically deranged population, but in the general population we see both exercise and behavior modification to give amazing results - in short, exercise works and calorie restriction works if you are healthy. I personally think a theory that explains obesity with behaviors as a major cause , better serves what we know about energy balance and body weight management.  Of course health complications pertaining to a percentage of obese individuals, and then we would have an additional theory to add to the behavior theory, but we can't isolate one theory from the other.  Taubes is always interesting to hear though, and you can youtube some of his talks to get a better idea of his theory if this is all new to you.

The afternoon ended with David Wolfe, the super foods guru, who transcends boundaries, space and time to get us what different populations in the world consider to be super foods. He had a stage full of cacao beans, blueberries, grapes, maca, goji berries, medicinal mushrooms, wheat grass, aloe, noni....you name it - if it was not on his table it was on his presentation screen! I personally consider super foods to be an addition to an already nutrient dense diet and I am more likely to recommend something that already grows in your region of the world, rather than something that is brought from 10000000 miles away, but again, if you love your gojis - enjoy! I like them too. He did make us laugh though, claiming that the universe wants choices, because at a recent TV show appearance, it seemed like organic raw bars and bacon were both the craze now!

You know what I am going to tell you - have your bacon and then have your raw bars. In honor of his cool presentation, that night we had extra olive oil and a glass of red wine, both considered to be fountains of youth.

That's all I remember from the IIN conference and I am always overwhelmed after events like this - I am actually glad my thoughts made it to the page ;) Hope you enjoyed!

Special thanks to my friend and holistic coach, Rupina Meer, for her kind invitation to the conference.

So what did you do this Christmas?

We had a lovely Christmas, filled with friends, fun, and lots of precious gifts under the tree! Most of all, it was our first true Christmas as a family and we were so grateful to be together and enjoy these blessed and merry days!

Pick up Katy Bowman's Every Woman's Guide to Foot Pain Relief- you'll love it!

One of the gifts of the holiday season is having a bit more time to catch up on reading. The day before Christmas I finally got Katy Bowman's ''Every Woman's Guide to Foot Pain Relief'' - a revolutionary book that will open thousands of people to the unknown universe of feet. We spend so much time expecting our feet to just be there for us and carry us around, that it's only when they hurt that we pay attention to what we've been doing to them! Katy is a witty and brilliant author, a great scientist and an influence you want to have in your life, if heath is one of your priorities. Find what a ''foot gym'' is, how the feet influence your posture and pelvic floor, how to choose ''healthy shoes'' and have a better 2012 from the ground up!

pineapple guava - look for it and try it!

We ate lots of delicious meals, both at home and at friend's and family parties, but our most favorite discovery was the rare and delicious pineapple guava  - a tropical fruit that apparently does well even in the colder parts of the world. The precious green fruits are hard and glossy on the outside, smell heavenly - like lime, pineapple and cheesecake all rolled up into one, and as you bite them you meet a fleshy inside that is the closest nature has to custard. The little seeds are soft and easy to swallow and you find it hard not to keep going back for more. Guavas last a very short time, so make sure you eat them as soon as you buy them. 

playing with the sled in Central park

Did you get to exercise this Christmas? We got to train quite a bit and went through some fun kettlebell practice and sled dragging - the great thing about this sled is that it's super compact and you can easily load it up with kettlebells and drag, run or sprint. It's relatively smooth on cement, but watch out for wet grass - it slows down dramatically! We were rather sore from it - obliques, glutes and calves, so we took yesterday off and just walked around the pier and watched the seagulls.

inside every seagull is a duck (a big one!)

Be healthy and happy this holiday season, enjoy the end of 2011 and welcome 2012 with joy and excitement! Let me know how you spent your time and what are your plans for the new year!

Quality of movement matters

''First move well and then move often''
Gray Cook

When I find the time, I do my best to contribute to the online fitness community in my home on the Internet - the JP Fitness forums. It's a place that has helped me grow tremendously, meet amazing people, learn from professionals and pass on what I can, to the members who need help. JP Fitness is also home of the forums for the New Rules of Lifting books, legendary work by Lou Schuler, with the contribution of Alwyn Cosgrove and Cassandra Forsythe - you will not find a more focused concentration of people who understand the importance of intelligent programming anywhere on the Internet. Lou also pops in to discuss certain topics! What a treat!

Most of the questions we answer are connected with fat loss, a specific program, some type of injury, not knowing what to do with a specific food or supplement. I am sure you have all seen forums before, and believe me I have asked my own fair share of %$%#$@! questions on forums, but just to remind you, it kind of goes like this:

A: My knee hurts when I run
B: Please tell us more.
A: I just have this pain when my miles go up. Should I change to X type of shoes?
B: How about you get this evaluated by a specialist and see what is causing the pain?
A: I have to run 5k next week. But I will go to check it out after.


or
A: I am doing this program, but I am not sure if it's right for me. I have this nagging shoulder pain.
B: I am sure you can meet with someone to assess you and you can determine if it's right for you.
A: I really want to do it on my own, this program is so cool. Everybody loves it. Just tell me what not to do and what exercises to change.


or
A: I am not getting stronger in the bench press. Please help.
B: How much do you weight and how much do you bench?
A: Well I bench 235 and I have been stuck for 1 year.
B: Have you met with someone to assess your bench press and your ability to do it well?
A: I really just need a new program.

(Insert something from the Bulgarian or Russian programs here, at random)

Do you see a common theme? I feel like oftentimes we end up beating a dead horse. People tend to take movement for a given, and quality movement for a given. They just assume, like the air we breathe, when we wake up, good movement is going to be there and we can count on it. They just assume they can hop on a treadmill, or go to a body pump class or start lifting weights in the gym, and their body will respond with breathtaking awesomeness!

baby model Dina, 11 mo. has no trouble with stability

Let me illustrate that for you: as a baby and toddler you move perfectly. Nature figures out a way to make you stronger and get you where you need to be in space, so you can get hold of a toy or your momma's skirt. You can stabilize your body in crazy positions and do it right. Once you start playing repetitive sports, or sit at your school desk or at your computer or gaming station, things change. Most people looking to get in shape are already not moving well due to lifestyle challenges, work environment or previous injury. Unfortunately, most discover this when they start a training program and they start experiencing pain or discomfort or when they see that their program does not yield the desired result. Did you know not moving well can stress you out so much that your workout can actually make you eat more and you may not see fat loss?

I am a firm believer that people should be in charge of their own training and programming, but just like everything, that takes an educated approach and experience, because guess what lies an the bottom of your movement success pyramid? Quality of movement. If you don't have it - you can build fitness on top of it all you want and you will keep getting less than what you expect.

Say you wanted to learn how to play a musical instrument. You would not just pick up a violin and start scratching away. Doesn't sound well? Try scratching away in the other direction or even better find a buddy and you can produce the horrible sounds together. Now produce them in interval fashion? 30 secs on and 30 off. How about joining a violin competition for who comes up with the best random sound? This may be an extreme example, but man, does it illustrate what we see in how people approach their fitness. Want more? You get a new TV. You read the manual. You program the remote. Now watch away.
Your body - well - you just get in the gym or go run outside and expect results. That simple.

This is my point: if you want to be serious about your results, whether your goal is to look good naked, get healthier, faster, stronger, have more energy, be more productive: look at your honest current situation. If you are not educated to do your own assessment of the current quality of movement, hire someone to do it for you. If money is your concern, find a time bank that you can use those services from and donate your own services. Lisa Wolfe over at Miracle Fitness has a lot of experience helping people from time banks. Shoot her a note and find out how to do it. If it's important to you, you will find a way to get assessed by a physical therapist, knowledgeable coach or personal trainer. If you already have a personal trainer, but you have never been assessed properly, suggest that they get educated or go to someone who can provide a better service. It's in your own best interest.

If you are a trainer, fitness professional, coach,  movement therapist, or whatever it is that your business card says, I cannot stress out enough how important it is to get other professionals to look at your quality of movement. Who is writing your programs? You? Not bad if you have been assessed by someone else and you are taking the results into consideration. Never work alone. I cannot thank my coach and mentor Bill Hartman enough for the wisdom, knowledge, methodology and patience he has taught me. I hope one day I can pay him back.

I bet these ladies probably did better when they were babies, don't you?

This is a photo I took during one of the hands on sessions at Perform Better last weekend at Long Beach. 800 of THE BEST personal trainers and coaches in the country were gathered to learn from the giants in the fitness industry. The two poorly executed dynamic planks you see in the shot are not done by clients, they are done by trainers. It's not that those girls were not doing their best, they lacked movement quality and I am sure they didn't know it.

Don't be that person who prefers to keep their eyes closed and pretends everything is OK. If your program isn't working, if you have pain or dysfunction, if you want to know your body better than you do now, get assessed and develop a system for assessment, use every workout, every movement, to insist on movement quality. Get surrounded by people who understand it. Get educated. Look beyond the first program that you happen to like or love. It may not like you back and if it doesn't it's not the program's fault - you are simply not ready for it.

And while we are at it let me close with this: there is no perfect system for movement: you will not find peace in Pilates, Yoga, kettlebell sport, strength training, dance, martial arts or gymnastics. The only system that matters is your body and the quality of movement you can get out of it. You will only find peace in good health and happiness and none of those systems or programs guarantees it if it's built on poor movement quality. It's so important I will repeat it:

'First move well and then move often''

Gray Cook

Portland times

What does a state of the art 21 century fitness facility, food carts, backyard gardens, nutrition planning, coffee houses, breweries, breath taking waterfalls and 5 day muscle soreness have in common? Portland.

I had heard a lot about it but it was only upon landing along the Columbia river that I realized why our friends Chris and Aya left Santa Monica and moved here. As soon as you land, you get overwhelmed by a feeling of freedom and you just want to kick off your shoes, order a local beer and spend a few days people watching. A place like Portland attracts a crowd we don't normally see - people on furry bikes, dog lovers, nature lovers, professional tie die shirt models, artists, an army of cyclists (not driving a car is a local pride), gardeners, hikers, musicians, and lovers of all that is green, sustainable and enduring.

We came to Portland for the grand opening of Elemental Fitness Lab - a place you need to experience for yourselves if you are ever up here. The owner, fitness revolutionary, and a great friend to us - Chris Bathke, has created a space that Lou Schuler described as the Future of the fitness industry and that about sums it up. The ropes, monkey bars, climbing routes, suspension stations, kettlebells, ropes, the vast and spacious stretching and relaxation area (which easily turns into the combat sport area), the warm bamboo floors and the eclectic music all transport you into a space that shapeshifts, depending on who is there, what they are training for and what drives them.

Roland and I participated in the grand opening party, where we met some of the clients and the other presenters at the Saturday's Elemental Fitness Lab Clinic - an education event with all proceeds going to charity that was open to both fitness enthusiasts and trainers. That weekend we saw legendary coaches Robert Dos Remedios and Dewey Nielsen, as well as Chris Bathke, present and make us terribly sore for days and days to come. Roland and I were honored to be the first to present at the clinic, where we laid out our understanding and practice of what makes a successful nutrition plan. Then the pain started. Dewey Nielsen opened with an excellent hands on session on thoracic and hip mobility, offering many variations of movements to accelerate and decelerate for the advanced or the novice or injured client. He has a gift to adapt any movement and bring the most accurate cues to the table making patterns possible and achievable at any level. It was the first time I had ever seen him present and I am looking forward to hearing him speak again soon!

Chris followed with some basic kettlebell patterns, teaching us proper breathing technique and efficiency. He made a clear point for movement efficiency being the base for performance and the development of specific sport skills. An hour later we were tired enough to take a day break, but Robert Dos Remedios had some Docersice waiting for us. He opened with an overview of what cardio strength training is and laid out the basic structures he uses with his athletes. I didn't think he would actually make us go through ALL the main types of cardio conditioning workouts he uses, but being in a crowd of fit and focused individuals, I decided to push through the pain. Maybe you can see how sweaty we are in the pictures and if we look happy, it's mostly because we are relieved we survived. That doesn't stop us from looking forward to the next Elemental Fitness Lab Clinic and hope Chris schedules another educational event soon!

From left: Roland, Dewey, Dos, Chris, me and Rick

Talking about training hard, it took some very very delicious meals to fuel and recover. Eating in Portland is a whole new adventure in itself, especially if you are coming from southern California, where we think we eat seasonal and fresh food. Turned out we don't hold a candle to the light of the food scene in that city. We shopped at natural food stores where the abundant choice of produce, dairy, meats and treats was there to please everyone from the most ascetic of vegans to the most strict of caveman style dieters. You could get dozens of types of local cheeses, fresh and crisp vegetables and fruits and a variety of natural fruit and nut bars like we had never seen. Even our favorite Pure bar was hidden between towering options of tens of other bars competing over taste and ingredients. I told Chris his clients have no excuse to eat processed food, especially after we saw the choices on the menus at a few restaurants. People DO care about what they put on your plate and we enjoyed tender roasts, thick and nurturing soups, fresh and delicious salads, and of course, great sushi.

Choose your food cart, then enjoy. I vote for Istanbul Delight - it was great!

When we had no time to sit down for a long meal, we ventured into one of the many Portland food courts, where the food cart revolution was in full bloom. Every time we went, the carts were different and you could have Mexican, Thai, Turkish or Italian, and even Guam cuisine right in the same place for a very very low price. The whole time in Portland I did not see one chain restaurant of coffee place. I am sure they exist somewhere, but we didn't see even one of them.

not your ordinary espresso, thanks to BLEND CAFE

Walking around we saw that most restaurants and cafes had their own herb gardens. We soon discovered that almost every house had a small garden and people were growing everything from potatoes to chives and peppers, and herbs and spices were abundant and fragrant at every corner.

 

Walking around makes you want to start your own garden, right now, or at least move to Portland

We were in awe of the natural scenery - in one day you can ski or snowboard and then surf at the shore. The tall mount Hood rises above Portland and it makes you itch for ski boots and fun (it's kind of easy knowing you can go back down to summertime, right?). We did go hiking the last day and saw waterfalls, steep trails, ate sun kissed raspberries and stared in childlike wonder at the temperate rainforest.

Flying back out was hard, and saying goodbye to friends, an incredible professional experience, a dream training facility and heart stopping nature was the biggest effort we had to make that weekend, yet I was starting to miss waking up without my muscles screaming.

For those of you who enjoy photo stories, here is the whole picture album, including the incredible waterfalls!

Our night goodbye was a thrilling concert at the Portland Zoo, where we enjoyed the art and music of Bela Fleck, who has taken the banjo to cosmic levels. See?

Do you train? Do you ''park''?

If you train, you must also ''park'', because well, in most of the world it's summer and there is no excuse to keep your body confined to a gym for all of your workouts. You can ''park'' anywhere, from your backyard or apartment complex playground, to your local or city park, beach, or hiking trail.

Training outdoors is my favorite thing to suggest to clients when spring and summer come around. Here's why:

1. You connect with yourself. You spend quality time outside, away from technology, and that essentially allows you to rest. Electromagnetic waves and neon lights aside, in a standard gym you are subjected to music, computers, television screens, and the sound of treadmills. You hear other people talk. You hear other people's i-pods. If you are a runner, you know what it means to be alone with the road when you can hear just your breath, your steps, the birds, and ultimately, your joy. You don't know how much the gym robs you of your inner peace until you start to ''park'' your workouts.

2. It's a major change of routine. How so? Well, you are not in the gym. Even if you kept your workout structure in terms of exercise selection, you would still be using different tools. You would be using different weights and weight adjustments, different angles of pulling or pushing and even if you just did push ups, well, try some push ups in the grass and then some in the sand and then some on concrete floor, and tell me if it's the same exercise :) We know you will be changing your routine, because training outside also means you can...

3. ...use tools you don't normally find in a gym, like a power wheel, TRXs, Indian clubs, bands, rings, ropes, and balls. No toys, no problem? You have your body, some natural hills, as much space as you need and endless imagination. You can sprint, roll, do body weight movements, crawl, jump, and do a myriad of walks, from spider man to bear and gorilla, through inchworms, you can literally conquer the whole animal kingdom!

4. You have all the space you need. Whether you are doing fat loss complexes, getting better at one leg squats or 1 arm pull ups, sprinting, trying to climb a tree with the help of your TRX or having power wheel races with your workout partner, there is space for all of that outdoors. To make it more fun, the surface is not perfectly even, so you get to do some of your regular training in a naturally challenging environment, making you better at reacting in real life situations.

5. You get the benefits of sunlight and fresh air. Remember how important vitamin D is. Essential. Essential means you cannot maintain health without it. It's integral to the endocrine and immune systems and can be protective against many diseases that we face today. If you live in a climate where winter is long and dark, I bet you have at least felt the effects of sunshine on your mood and sense of well being. If you need to get informed about the many benefits of vitamin D, here is where to get some great information!

If you haven't thought about the quality of air conditioned air you breathe inside your gym, please don't, because you may never step foot in there again. I have seen some authors claim that indoor gym air can be as much as 10 times more polluted than the one in a downtown area. Just know the park gives you more oxygen, and exercise where trees and plants are air conditioning for you 24/7. One of the things I like to now is do yoga by myself outside, instead of doing the group class at the gym. My reason? Quality of air and contact with the ground under my feet - both integral to yoga and both missing from a conventional gym.

Of course there are levels of parking, and I love all levels! On a low key day I may do some yoga, and if I feel like giving it my all, I will join a bootcamp or do a lot of kettlebell work.

Level 1: walk, or walk faster, or walk uphill, do yoga, breathing and stretching
Level 2: walk, and run, or run uphill, bike, roller blade, skateboard
Level 3: run, sprint, hill sprint
Level 4: take your strength training or fat loss workout to the park
Level 5: get other people involved, or join a boot camp, maybe you will learn how to flip tires or carry other people on your back!

Let me know how you park!

The Fitness Summit 2011

Attending the annual Fitness Summit, aka the JP Fitness Summit is the thing to do in May. It's been the thing to do every May for the last 9 years. I have been very fortunate to attend 4 summits and I have loved each and every one of them. Тhis year, due to changed and happy circumstances in my life, I didn't fly in for the summit, we drove, instead. The story of driving from Southern California to Kansas City is yet another blog post itself and I promise to get back to it.

This year's fitness summit was fun, full of great applicable information, challenging workouts, time to relax with friends from the JP fitness forum and plenty of chances to interact with the presenters and experts.

We came back from the summit a few days ago and I tried to explain to a few non fitness minded people what the summit was about: it's about education, networking, and having fun. How is it different from a larger educational event, why do we need another seminar? It's an educational event of very high quality, but executed on a smaller, almost intimate scale. It's an event where you don't just learn, you get to find out. You can approach fitness experts who are there to present and fitness enthusiasts who are constantly looking for improvement and communicate with them on a whole new level, all because they are there to share and give their own experience to the ones who need it and who want to apply it in their life or work. It's an active educational event and it's an active social event, because the JP fitness forum is where the relationships, questions, topics and solutions are born and then get to develop at the summit.

There is a family-like connection between attendees, people who write together on the forums and who have supported each other throughout the years, there is love and tough love and more love beyond that. The summit is a stage for shared dreams and memories and well, shared desserts. The community has long reached from the computer screen and out into real life. Seeing friendships grow throughout the years and being a part of them has been a privilege and true joy.

If this event had a president, it would be Lou Schuler. In previous years he even had a special chair, somewhat reminiscent of a throne and very fitting his position in the fitness industry today. You could not find another book author or magazine contributor who understands the inner workings of what is known, who knows it best and what matters the most at any given time in the huge and complex world of fitness. He has helped us write, dream, think, but beyond all, stay real about the world of writing and publishing. If you are looking for a new challenge, pick up the New Rules of Lifting for Abs and you will find out why Lou is the person whose advice you can always trust.

from left to right Julie Keen, Nick, Bill, Alan, Lou

Lou opened the summit by introducing Nick Tumminello, Bill Sonnemaker, Alan Aragon and Julie Keen, this year's presenters.

Alan has presented at a few summits and he has become the go-to person for everything nutrition and nutrition science related both on and off the JP fitness forum. You can read more from Alan every month in Men's Health magazine, you can subscribe for his state of the art research review , a monthly review and critical analysis of scientific studies on training an nutrition, you can visit his blog, or you can read his numerous posts on the JP forums. Alan's lecture was titled ''Things that matter'', to name those findings, facts, tools and techniques that do make a difference in a world full of growing and often confusing nutrition information. Here are my favorite quotes from his presentation:

1. ''Body fat measurements and calculations vary widely and have errors within -+ 10 points. They are now finding significant errors with the BodPod, too. Calipers always give the lowest readings. Why people still want to know? They want a number they can emotionally attach to.''

This is also the reason why I would rather have my clients use pictures to assess progress, rather than use the scale or an unreliable method of body fat testing.

2. ''Know that on the way to your target weight you will experience several plateaus. Your end weight is a plateau, hence it only makes sense to practice being at a plateau in between. Expect plateaus and practice maintenance.''

I have noticed how sometimes clients get upset because their weight gets stuck. This is a part of the journey, a necessary practice for your body and a time for it to establish new rules, new processes, and a new comfortable weight. Once this weight has been established we can introduce a new stimulus and keep making progress. Expect your plateaus and celebrate them.

Alan pulled a few people from the attendees to share their weight loss success stories. JC, Roger, and Brynda summed it up with ''know that you are awesome, know that you have to believe, be consistent, do not get bored and keep doing the right thing over and over again''. These three people had not only done their best, they had made their best their plateau.

Julie Keen presented on the topic of injury prevention and reminded us about the importance of self myofascial release, using balls, sticks, foam rollers, and various other soft tissue toys that have sprung up since the dawn of that self help technique. She talked about the importance of training the foot and toes and went in depth to talk about what shoes do to out feet (ouch!). Julie also reminded us about how often people come to the injury forum at JP, where they share how they have been to numerous specialists, and yet they don't know what to do about this or that injury...moral of the story: ''participate in your healing and actually do what you are advised to''.

Talking of trigger point fun, that was the topic of Bill Sonnemaker's hands on session, in which we used great toys from the TPTHERAPY store to get into the inner workings of the fascia, break up the fascial knots and free up the lines so we could train better. Bill suggested doing self myofascial release on three spots along a given fascial line, starting with the foot and calf and moving up to the glute medius and rotator cuff or starting at the foot and moving up to the psoas and the pec minor. He suggested not only rolling out the sore spots, but spending time on them under constant pressure while taking the adjacent joint through full range of motion a few times and also moving on the sore spot against the line of the collagen fibers to create some friction. Bill's lecture posed a good question: "If personal trainers do not have the necessary education to properly describe a movement, how will they effectively communicate with therapists and doctors and earn their trust?''. You can learn more about Bill and his state of the art facility here.

Nick Tumminello opened with a quote worthy inspiration: ''think technically, act simply''. He went on to present his view of core training, and did an excellent job of defining the core and its function in performance. His knowledge and comfortable use of research made everyone wish we had at least a week to talk about the TVA. He talked about gaining strength from a neurological and physiological perspective and made a good point that both should be pursued for optimal performance in sport. For someone like me, who doesn't train athletes, but deals with people looking to be healthier and fitter, the part of his presentation describing low level low load pain was the one that made the biggest impression. Ultimately, it would do little good to treat low level low load muscle pain with medium and high level effort. The moral of the story: the next time you try to do a renegade row to help someone with the low back pain they get from walking, think twice and refer out to a physical therapist.

Nick's hands on session focused on fast ways to involve the core in warm ups, such as short circuits of Swiss ball rolling sets, and went on with integrating the core and rotary movement into standing pushing and pulling movements. He also tortured us with his tight rotation 2.0, which you can find on his site.It's a move well worth including in an advanced core progression program, if you have already covered the basics. And the news for those of you NOT looking to lose weight? The heavier you are, the more you can push, so there is something to celebrate.

The above doesn't even come close to describing what happened during the weekend of excellent presentations, novel take home training practice, great communication, new friendships, early breakfasts at the hotel cafeteria, not to speak of the really late conversations over local beers. There is only one way to experience it, and that is not to miss the 2012 Fitness Summit, next May.

I would like to thank JP for introducing all of us to each other and creating a place where our large fitness family can get together, Nick, for being a one of a kind host, who makes this event not only possible, but better, John, for his kindness and support in holding the Mahlership so more of us could attend, Lou, for being a great mentor for all of us believe in the future of writing, Julie, for her helping hand to everyone injured and in need of support, and my wonderful husband Roland, who I met at the fitness summit, and who is my favorite forum peacemaker. I love you all, and I can't wait to see you again in less than a year!

A banana what?

It's Tuesday morning...I skipped breakfast. We are driving towards LA and I am starting to get hungry. By the way, if you are a superhero on the way to LA on a Tuesday morning, please don't use a car, fly. Traffic jams work up an appetite...

We stop in front of Starbucks. We go in and I know, I know, I am saved, because they have fruit. I can have a banana and it will hold me over till we get someplace decent to eat.

As I wait for the lady in front of me to order a ''skinny mocha latte, no foam, one pump caramel ...'' I look at the bowl of bananas next to the tip jar and I try to choose the nicest one, so I am ready to grab it when it's my turn. Then I stand in front of the cashier, proudly hand him my Starbucks card and say: '' May I have a banana please''.

He looks at me, incredulous, and for a second I wonder if I said that in English .

Then he asks: "' A banana what?''

I grab my banana and smile: "A real banana!".

He looks back and says: " I am sorry, this rarely happens!''

Happy Easter

Wishing everyone a blessed and wonderful weekend, spring weather, colorful fun, thick and fluffy Easter breads, great time with family and friends, and new hope and light like you have never felt before. It's a very special time of year to be thankful, to be hopeful, to pray, to dream, to wish and to make it all come true! Enjoy it and let's see each other Monday!

For ideas on how to color your eggs naturally, here is a great post from Diana and I (only in Bulgarian)

And if you missed it, here is last year's egg coloring!

today's random thoughts

I don't have it in me for full blog posts on any of these subjects, but here is my randomness from the last few days.1. Tropical Traditions approved one of my recipes and placed it on their blog. The prize is a whole lot of coconut oil, so look forward to some serious coconut recipes in the future. Coconut oil is an amazing traditional fat, great for higher heat cooking, unbeatable in baking....and oh well....great for your skin, so with the summer coming, you can use it after you get home from the hot sun and enjoy its effects - it will nourish and moisturize like nothing else.

2. I have been doing a lot more walking since I came to the US. This was supposed to make up for my lack of physical work, since I don't work with clients here yet. Most of what I do during the day is computer based, so I get zero movement unless I get to the gym or walk. It's been a pleasant surprise to see that walking anywhere from an hour to 3 a few times a week has made for a nice activity and I have leaned out despite the fact that I don't stand in a gym for 12 hours a day. Since walking is a very repetitive movement, if you plan to walk a lot, don't forget to stretch your hip flexors, piriformis, ITB/TFL and calves after you are done.

3. Ok, there is more. I have almost stopped sitting in front of the computer, I get 1 hour of sitting and maybe 8 of standing in front of it. It has improved my mood, energy and concentration while typing and reading, it has also entirely prevented me from getting low back pain from sitting and it has allowed me to stay leaner. Standing may burn an extra 50 calories an hour, so if you are desk bound, it's not a small number. My reason for standing was mostly to improve posture and concentration, but it has had nice and unexpected side effects, like the added calorie burn. You can start doing that for an hour a day and see how your own body adjusts. I found that as I got more used to working standing, my body did not like me to sit down, there was more of a natural resistance. Here is an extremely interesting link on Katy Bowman's blog, picturing different resting positions from around the world. Try one today!

4. I found an extremely interesting and effective supplement, called d-mannose, while looking for a natural remedy to alleviate urinary tract infections. You can hear Dr. Mercola talking about it in the video below. My personal experience with d-mannose has been extremely positive. I have tried every potency of cranberry extract in the past, with very little success, as well as some unusual teas and concoctions. I have to say that for how safe d-mannose is, and how affordable, it is definitely a supplement every woman should have in her medicine cabinet. It's safe if you are pregnant or diabetic. If you ever get a urinary tract infection, start taking it immediately, using 1 gram every 2-3 hours with a glass of water. You can reduce the dosage as pain subsides. Bear in mind that it's only effective if you have an overgrowth of e.coli and if the pain remains, you should see your doctor immediately, as your case may require antibiotic treatment.



5. If you have no time to get to the gym, and for some reason feel that you need to work on your glutes right now, here is a great video courtesy of Bret Contreras, aka the Glute Guy.

A desert story

As some of you know I just got married last week and it was a magical day for both Roland and me. While it's traditional for newlyweds to take off on a long vacation, we decided to make ours short, true to our love for small but frequent trips. I had wanted to visit Joshua Tree National Park for a while and to see the desert and Desert Hot Springs, so we made that our getaway destination.

It's spring time now, so the desert was not too hot and not too dry, but as we drove deeper into it, I started seeing more and more drought resistant plants, taller cacti, some random yucca and Joshua trees. That was the desert, no doubt? I could stop asking ''are we there yet?". As we drove into higher lands, more rocks appeared and it certainly didn't look like any scenery that I had ever seen. There is something awe inspiring about seeing a work of nature for the first time and your mind almost goes into sleep mode, making the experience entirely visual.

As we drove up into the Desert Hot Springs hills, I thought how little I knew about the way people choose to live up here, how few places I have seen, so close to city life (LA is probably a bit over 100 miles away and Riverside is barely an hour's drive) yet so distant, like a snapshot of life in the 30s, with time stopped, a store saying Desert Food Mart instead of some chain name, a Gun store, a thrift store to buy a gun closet to store the guns from the above mentioned store, a place to buy cactus for your garden....dig up your own, it's just 59 cents. I kept asking Roland questions, like a tourist who not only wanted to see, but to excavate the motives behind what she saw. This was, I found out, where people got away from it all, where things slow down, where everything costs less, sells less, stresses you out less, moves less, while surprisingly, pleasing more. We drove by clothing optional spa hotels, golf resort hotels, weight loss detox retreats, a museum of history...and finally made it to our small spa retreat - La Hacienda, a boutique hotel done in old California style, part Spanish architecture, part small back yard British garden landscaping, with desert elves hiding somewhere....and a very distinct and pervasive smell of lemon blossom, mixed in with orange, grapefruit and tangerine blossom, a smell so heavy and sticky, if it wasn't for the wind, you would think you could get permanently immersed in it, with no chance of going back to civilization and ever smelling city air again.

The Hacienda was home to amazing healing hot water springs, with a jacuzzi and a large pool, a place to cook your own food outside, a wonderful garden with plenty of beautiful plants and herbs, trees and flowers. Rosemary bushes reminded me of its use as a wedding flower, as we walked to our room, cozy, with a patio all to ourselves, equipped with an ancient bath tub, the grandfather of the jacuzzi that was proudly embedded in the garden.

Back in my home country of Bulgaria, hot mineral springs are successfully used to treat muscle and joint aches and pains and I was happy to discover that jacuzzi jets, when strong enough, can be used for trigger point therapy and fascia release. We were tired, I had some stiff muscles to work on, and the jets saved the day. They worked like magic. If you ever have the chance, give it a try.Find a hot spring and get into the jacuzzi. On one hand the temperature and minerals are strong relaxants and on the other the deep pressure of the jets gets to the most painful spots, whether it is a stiff muscle or just your tired feet after a day climbing rocks in the desert.

Speaking of the desert, I had never been in Joshua Tree and it was breathtaking. The silence, the colors, the size of the rocks, the feeling of sand underneath your feet, the challenge of the climbs, and the ever pervasive fear of encountering a rattle snake (or sitting on a cactus), briefly interrupted by the excitement of spotting a squirrel or a jack rabbit, all these wrapped into one to create a feeling of amazement and humility, which here seemed to fit well as a mixed emotion.

The few hours of hiking left us hungrier than we expected, since our breakfast was unusual for both of us. When we cook breakfast, we make sure to have some eggs, cheese or meat, and maybe add some fruit or yogurt. Protein rich breakfasts hold you full longer, so we were not surprised that after the delicious granola with fruit and almond milk, we felt like we could eat sooner than expected.

Granola IS delicious, but as you know from previous posts, it's not the choice of food when you want to stay full for a long time.

That night we cooked our own meal, grilling some kabobs and vegetables and we had a wonderful time. The smell of those lemon blossoms while we were cooking made me think of cooking something with them and we came up with very successful fruit and blossom grilled fruit kabobs, as you see here:

Apple, orange and mango with a touch of lemon blossom. Grilled, they are divine.

It was hard to leave today, with the relaxing memories of listening to old Astrud Gilberto and Beatles records till midnight and the soft purring of the house cat still in our ears, but all good trips come to an end and this one should be no exception.

We read a number of books on the way and back, and had heated discussions over the role of insulin in obesity, the rules of punctuation, the origin of watermelons and the birth and death rituals of different nations over the world. Those discussions were great, but my mind was restless. Even at the end of the trip, I kept thinking and asking...how are the desert people different, what are their priorities, why are they out here...is this where you get away from it all? Driving back, looking at the thickening traffic and looking for a place to get healthy lunch, I could confidently say ''yes, that is where you get away from it all''. That is where you cook, because the closest place to serve you food is an hour away, that is where you learn that old records require all our attention and can never be background music, and this is where you go to stop time so you can be, well, you. I can't wait to go back.

You can see more desert pictures from this trip on my profile on Facebook.