Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

The next session of Santa Barbara Running Strong core foundation class will be held for nine weeks starting April 27th and finishing June 22nd.  SBRS is a mat Pilates class designed to develop and strengthen the core and stabilizing muscles that a runner needs in order to support an efficient stride all the while helping to prevent injuries.  Class is limited to 20 participants.

Please contact: drea@twomotivate.com to sign up.

SBRS is held at the Santa Barbara Running Company in Goleta Friday mornings 6am-7am.  The cost is $100.  Please bring your own mat.

Here are some frequently asked questions and comments:

Is this a mom’s class?  No.  I am a mom.  There are other mothers.  I might make you want yours.

Is this an all girls class?  No.  Almost 50% of participants are men.

Oh!  But I WANTED an all girl class!  Sorry.  You don’t get to be the only dude.

Yes, please sign me up for Hurt for Runners.  They meant the good pain….because they keep coming back!

Counting has now been associated with pain.  Good pain!

You have become a pain in my ass.  Good pain!

I used to be afraid of you.  Um, I’m not sure what changed.

G-Money and Special Sauce, may I please introduce Manuka B-Money.  My friend recently turned me on to the magic of Manuka, but he did not even give me my first hit for free.  I have been sick a lot in the last two years…..wait….since I have had kids.  Five years of little lovies bringing and sharing everything they experience with their mama.  ”Baby, share the cookies, keep the germs.”  Even as a nurse working World Ward Three- I never had this many invasion on my health.

My friend spread the good news of Manuka- a spoon full of honey works as a natural antibiotic to help keep tummy and throat bugs bee-gone.  Bee-uatiful because those are the intruders that continuously attack my system and since I am so quick to jump on the Beet Band Wagon, why would I not want to swallow a Bit o Honey?  I mean- Pooh Bear and I are clearly from the same genetic line up.  Honey is divine.  And wait….there is more!  Why Manuka’s magic stretches as far as making your skin look better and even suggests wrinkles dissipate.  Why with all the Beet-ing and the Honey-ing, my skin will light up like a firefly to BEE seen in outer-space.  ”Nanu- Nanu!  It tis I, glow girl!”

I passed go without my 2 x Benji’s straight for Whole Foods, I mean Whole Pay Check, and stared perplexed at the honey line up.  There were standard clover bee sauce and jars of lavender bee liquids and chunky honey, creamy honey, honey with comb, honey with a perm- OK not really….and  of course there were the little jars of Manuka Honey straight from New Zealand.  Interestingly, the price tags were not well displayed.  I saw some $15.99 and $19.99 and HOLY HONEY a tag that read $32.99.  Yikes!  Did the bee affix it’s sticky gold to a tiny raft and swim it over from New Zealand?  Queen Bee sporting Jimmy Choo-chew chew on that mama bear?

Ah, what the Hell- I picked a jar that looked good.  15+ UMF it boasted.  UMF?  What does that mean?  Apparently that would not be U Manuka Fool- but Unique Manuka Factor.  OH!  I figured the higher the number the better and picked 15- the best WF sold.  Give me the best baby!  So why was I so surprised to watch the little jar bleep $59.99 across the check out?

CHOKE.

When I meet a little Manuka Honey Bee, I am going to shake out his pockets.  A little Bee Bling?  What?  A hive is not good enough for you to jive in?  Living large on the shores of Zealand sipping Oyster Bay?  Bee-have!  I Bee robbed?!  OK.  I could have stopped the transaction right there, but I took my little jar of better-bee-working home and ate a teaspoon full savoring what I figure is at least 2$ a bite.

“What’s that you’re eating?” my husband asks, “Another supplement?” [Eye roll]

I explain.

“Oh, great!” he jumps, “I’ll spread it on my toast.”

I have hidden the honey.  I hope I can find it.  Apparently- higher UMF is not better and in fact- HIGHER can be toxic.  Grrrrreat.  Too many beets can be toxic too!  This holistic health scene is a bit tricky to figure out proving once again that it is a dangerous world when you are OCD.  Which clearly I am not.

To health, To honey, The Manuka’s stole my money!  Pop that bubbly Bee-Bee.

*Tastes better than beets.  Beets stay in the diet, but I have further reduced the dose.  If it works, the Manuka’s will receive my apologies.  I am willing to try swallowing honey.

Bad moods brew and bubble when the Sandman holds out the goods for a few nights and fire ants crawl down your throat.  Good Grief woman!  What?

Oh, I have had insomnia and now I got a wicked sore throat.  Therefor, ill tempered disposition.  I did not feel like I ran that great on Saturday and this morning my workout was again cut short due to all of the above.  I had no complaints on the shortening.  Truth be told, I felt like sugar coated shit.

“Relax Dre,” Rusty assured me.  Oddly, when you slow down the mouthing of the word relax is appears strikingly similar to the word a-t-t-a-c-k.  Relax, relax, relax, ummm, hmmmmm, nah, let’s go agro instead!  I find the best way to turn your sour mood off is to find someway to laugh at yourself.  When I dropped my kids off at pre-school this morning, this white truck decided to pick a fight with me.

Who's Your Daddy?

I got a chuckle thinking up my return beotch slap.  Now suddenly, I am laughing and the mood is lifted.  So who’s your Daddy?

I don’t know, but watch the video. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAEyVlWAFzY

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAEyVlWAFzY]

I am a chronic insomniac.  I do not sleep.  I fall asleep at 9pm and when the clock strikes twelve, I am up tossing and turning.  I have tried a check list of things to bring sleep back into my life: only a half cup of coffee in the morning, no caffeine after 9am, no sugary nighttime treats, no chocolate, no exercise before bed, cold and dark room, eye patches, herbal tea marketed RELAX and BEDTIME, no decaf coffee after 3pm because that has a touch of caffeine, and the list goes on.  Clearly, I get enough daily exercise to induce sleep.  Yet, most nights I am sneaking by with a mere 3 to 4 hours of sleep.

I am agitated and frustrated with my sleep.  Something has been left on my list of consumables that I have not yet scratched.  Today all the little yellow packets of SPLENDA sit in the trash.  I know why I did not want to try cutting that before.  It makes everything taste sweet while allowing me to stay in my bubble of “I’m not consuming sugar.”  Confession: I am a SPLENDA Fairy.  I sprinkle that stuff on everything.

Finally, I did some easily accessed internet research and found multiple confessions out there of insomniacs cutting SPLENDA and enjoying the return of restful nights.  Since I am now at the point of considering prescriptive drugs for my condition, I have decided it is time to kick the yellow packet crap and see what happens.

Too bad I already jacked up my morning coffee with the accused sleep robber.  I suppose the experiment starts tomorrow.  SPLENDA be gone like Glenda.  Sleep, I’ll dust off the door mat for you, come on back!

Splenda adverse effects include: agitation, bloating, cramping, diarrhea, insomnia, weight gain, nausea, muscle cramping, fatigue, and miscarriage.  A recent study held at DUKE UNIVERSITY reports that people ingesting SPLENDA report difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep.

“Yeah,” Rusty says, “You’re not normal.”

Well, I knew that much.  But really?  I am not normal.  Wait, what are we talking about?  Um, you will just have to guess.  In the meantime, let’s just stand around and shoot the shit.

I thought I was just super healthy.  Eating all kinds of super healthy foods and burning a lightning metabolism and just keeping the system running….and rearranging….and prioritizing who gets to stay on board and who has to…well…evacuate.

“Try shaking the dairy.”

I have already made the leap of faith to soy ice cream.  Today on my way home from Saturday workout, I got my first soy-decaf-latte.  Or otherwise known as the “why bother.”  However, I have to say, it was delicious.  It left my tummy feeling settled and cleaner.  Hmmmm, maybe it is the dairy.  I bought a jug of soy milk.  Bye-bye moo-cow, hello soy beans.

I have kissed off the gummi bear, the junkie carbs, the diet cokes, 89% of the caffeine, and now the dairy has to go too?  OK, OK, but don’t anybody come at my wine.  That stays!