Category Archives: Health

Welcome To The Grind | “Rise and Shine”

Posted on by

Whether the test is physical in nature or not, we all can relate to The Grind. I stumbled upon this last night (not really sure where it came from). While it is targeted for the athlete in all of us, I find it’s motivation applicable to just about anything that requires strife, challenge or sacrifice… anything that life can throw at you (voluntary and by chance). 

The next time life is trying to beat you down, testing you’re mettle… be sure to refer to this. I know I will. 

…

You’re welcome.

Via Welcome To The Grind (Motivation) – YouTube

“Rise and shine.”

6am and your hand can’t make it to the alarm clock before the voices in your head start telling you that it’s too early, too dark, and too cold to get out of a bed.
Aching muscles lie still in rebellion, pretending not to hear your brain commanding them to move
A legion of voices are shouting their unanimous permission for you to hit the snooze button and go back to dreamland, but you didn’t ask their opinion.

The voice you’ve chosen to listen to is one of defiance.
A voice that’s says there was a reason you set that alarm in the first place. So sit up, put your feet on the floor, and don’t look back because we’ve got work to do.
Welcome to The Grind!
For what is each day but a series of conflicts between the right way and the easy way,
10,000 streams fan out like a river delta before you, Each one promising the path of least resistance.
Thing is, you’re headed upstream
And when you make that choice, when you decide to turn your back on what’s comfortable and what’s safe and what some would call “common sense”, well that’s day 1.
From there it only gets tougher.
So just make sure this is something you want.
Because the easy way out will always be there, ready to wash you away, all you have to do is pick up your feet.
But you aren’t going to are you?
With each step comes the decision to take another
You’re on your way now
But this is no time to dwell on how far you’ve come.
You’re in a fight against an opponent you can’t see
Oh but you can feel him on your heels can’t you?
Feel him breathing down your neck
You know what that is?
That’s you…
Your fears, your doubts and insecurities all lined up like a firing squad ready to shoot you out of the sky
But don’t lose heart
While they aren’t easily defeated, they are far from invincible
Remember this is The Grind
The Battle Royale between you and your mind, your body and the devil on your shoulder who’s telling you that this is just a game, this is just a waste of time, your opponents are stronger than you.
Drown out the voice of uncertainty with the sound of your own heartbeat
Burn away your self doubt with the fire that’s beneath you
Remember what you’re fighting for
And never forget that momentum is a cruel mistress
She can turn on a dime with the smallest mistake.
She is ever searching for that weak place in your armor
That one tiny thing you forgot to prepare for
So as long as the devil is hiding the details, the question remains,”is that all you got?”, “are you sure?”
And when the answer is “yes”. That you’ve done all you can to prepare yourself for battle THEN it’s time to go forth and boldly face your enemy, the enemy within
Only now you must take that fight into the open, into hostile territory
You’re a lion in a field of lions
All hunting the same elusive prey with a desperate starvation that says VICTORY is the only thing that can keep you alive
So believe that voice that says “you CAN run a little faster” and that “you CAN throw a little harder” and that “you CAN dive a little deeper” and that, for you, the laws of physics are merely a suggestion.

Luck is the last dying wish of those who wanna believe that winning can happen by accident, sweat on the other hand is for those who know it’s a choice, so decide now because destiny waits for no man. And when your time comes and a thousand different voices are trying to tell you you’re not ready for it, listen instead for that lone voice in decent the one that says you are ready, you are prepared, it’s all up to you now,

I’m jumping back into the kitchen. My attempt at No Bake Berry Bars!

Posted on by

I decided to get jump back into the kitchen this past week after a long lay-off due to school and schedules. My attempts at new Paleo creations has restarted. This time around I’m of course following in the famous footsteps of a Paleoista of sorts, miss Juli Bauer, a.k.a PaleOMG.

Of course I have to dive into a dessert / treat / snack: NO BAKE BERRY BARS 

INGREDIENTS:

Crust
12 medjool dates, pits removed
1 cup cashews
2 tablespoons almond butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt

Toppings
6-8 oz blackberries
6-8 oz blueberries
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut butter
sprinkle of cinnamon
pinch of salt

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. First make your crust. Add all ingredients for the crust to a food processor.
2. Put crust ingredients in an bread pan, press down until evenly distributed.
3. Now heat up a small saucepan under medium heat. Add your blackberries and blueberries, along with your maple syrup.
4.Once blueberries and blackberries begin to break down and slightly explode so there is more juice in the pan, add your syrup. Be sure to continuously stir so the mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom or burn.
5. Once you have almost a runny jam, add your melted/softened coconut cream concentrate along with cinnamon and salt.
6. When all ingredients are incorporated, pour mixture on top of crust and press flat. Put in the fridge to harden for 30-45 minutes.
7.Cut into squares and serve!!

Via Again Faster – Equipment for CrossFit – No Bake Berry Bars

After the initial read and watching the video, I knew I could pull it off except for the coconut butter. I tried to find some at my local stores, but came up short. I made a vain attempt at a substitution by adding coconut oil. I don’t think it was an equivalent sub, but it worked out ok.

Here are my ingredients getting ready to start:

2013 04 18 14 58 16

I have no experience with dates of any kind, so I was a lil nervous about chopping up these dates in my food processor… (thankfully they did fine)

2013 04 18 15 02 45

The blueberries did not break down, nor did they burst to help turn the topping into a syrup-like glaze, so my bars had whole blue berries in them (not such a bad thing). I also added raspberries.

2013 04 18 15 26 08

This was the coconut butter I had microwaved and melted down. Like I said, I didn’t know the first thing about coconut butter, so I sort of winged it. I come to find out later, I could have made my own coconut butter! (Lesson learned for the next batch I attempt)

 

2013 04 18 15 26 13

The crust turned out good, although I think I may have added too many nuts. Here I’m pouring the glaze over the crust:

2013 04 18 15 35 25

And the final product:

2013 04 18 15 36 04

I actually let this sit for several hours before I even attempted cutting it up. The glaze didn’t really ‘form’ much, it was still soft and liquid-like when I went to cut it up. Nonetheless it was still tasty and the bars cut up nicely:

2013 04 18 18 22 43

I’ll definitely tweak my preparation by adding the coconut butter next time, and I’ll wait out the blueberries cooking down to see how it should look. Either way, I’ll be making this one again real soon. It was quite tasty.

PROS:

  • SUPER EASY to make
  • fairly quick prep-time
  • minimal equipment: only needed a food processor and a sauce pan
  • tasty: super sweet

CONS:

  • does not ‘hold’ well once out of refrigerator (temperature dependent)
  • raspberry and blackberry seeds make the glaze a bit ‘grainy’ (sees in my teeth)
  • I’ll actually have to make my own coconut butter [;)]

Thanks Juli, for another amazing creation.

Attempting, Finding & Maintaining Balance

Posted on by

NewImage

 

Attempting Balance

My life has metamorphosed over the past decade. I went from simply preaching, to practicing what I preach. My journey, while challenging like many others, has become a complete circle and now that circle will needed to grow.

For the longest time I was just a great bullhorn. I barked the mantra “Do as I say, not as a do”. As a Certified Athletic Trainer I didn’t have the time or the energy to stay physically healthy, and my emotional health was in the gutter since I wasn’t entirely happy with my life. I enjoyed my work, but I was missing so much.

When I found nursing (or should I say it found me) I knew I had found the emotional link I was longing for. I was actually mentally, emotionally and intellectually challenged on a daily basis. Something I didn’t know actually existed. I enjoyed my work, I enjoyed the work I actually did, and it financially provided a new-found security I had only dreamed about. I was finally earning a living. The icing on the cake and the additional gift my career of nursing has given me is the soul-touching and soulmate discovery of my beautiful wife. Without nursing’s intervention I would have never met, courted and married my best friend. 

But I was still only preaching. I still wasn’t finding my balance. I was not physically well, or should I say I was not optimally well. The balance I wanted to achieve was both the yin and the yang. 

It took another handful of years, but I reached optimal physical health through better eating, better exercising and just better living. I was healthy and physically strong.

Finding Balance

As my years as a nurse progressed, I found I desired more. I wanted more. I wanted to do more. So I dove back into the academic world. I followed the logical steps. First I finished my bachelor studies in nursing. Upon completion I immediately entered my graduate studies. As my grad studies progressed I worked towards a new goal of becoming an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner.

During my time as a grad student I still strove to improve my physical well being. I wanted to be more fit. I wanted to tackle my weaknesses and I wanted to find better balance by eliminating as many chinks in my armor as I could muster.

CrossFit was the answer I was looking for. I found my strength. I found a passion in my physical fitness. I found balance in my strength and I found more strength with my balance.

My circle was almost complete.

Maintaining Balance

As I close the chapter on my graduate studies, I find myself on the cusp of closing the circle.

NewImage

I have only to pass through a couple more doors and my professional goals will have been achieved. I can then begin to balance in totality. The next step is to find some semblence of this balance I have been working towards. With my new career, comes a new home, a new set of responsibilities, a new schedule, quite simply a new life. The life I have been working toward.

Now to find out how to balance my work and my play (CrossFit). It seems that my indomitable will and desire need only fit the pieces together to find my balance.   

“After a long day of work, if I had to do something heavy or intense, previously I would get it done … but now, I’m not sure how much benefit there is in doing something just to do it,” he explains. “I wanted to avoid ‘spinning the wheels’ in training, so recently I have just hit workouts that I feel I would be able to do effectively. I’m achieving more in the long run, saving the intense, heavy days for when I’m a little more rested.”

This mentality makes sense for his profession, too.

“Sometimes I do have to tailor my workout to cases I have coming up … a toasted grip and (unsteady) arms make for shaky hands in the OR, especially for micro-vascular cases,” Martin says. “So the balance takes place in working out when I can, and accepting when other priorities like patient care come first.”

Via As Prescribed: Gary Martin II | CrossFit Games

If others can find the time to balance their own physical health while caring for the ill, then so can I.

I have to take care of me, so that I can take care of others.

I need only find my balance. 

 

Image sources Google:  “balance”

 

 

What I think of on my Birthday today…

Posted on by

These are the things I think of every year on my birthday (not just turning 40)…

Ides of March

In modern times, the Ides of March is best known as the date on which Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. Caesar was stabbed to death at a meeting of the senate. As many as 60 conspirators, led by Brutus and Cassius, were involved. According to Plutarch,[14] a seer had warned that harm would come to Caesar no later than the Ides of March. On his way to the Theatre of Pompey, where he would be assassinated, Caesar passed the seer and joked, “The ides of March have come,” meaning to say that the prophecy had not been fulfilled, to which the seer replied “Aye, Caesar; but not gone.”[14] This meeting is famously dramatised in William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, when Caesar is warned by the soothsayer to “beware the Ides of March.”[15][16] The Roman biographer Suetonius[17] identifies the “seer” as a haruspex named Spurinna.

On the anniversary of Caesar’s death in 40 BC, after achieving a victory at the siege of Perugia, Octavian (later known as Augustus) executed 300 senators and knights who had fought against him under Lucius Antonius, the brother of Mark Antony.[18] The executions were one of a series of actions taken by Octavian as Caesar’s adopted heir to avenge his death. Suetonius[19] and the historian Cassius Dio[20] characterise the slaughter as like a religious sacrifice, noting that it occurred on the Ides of March at the new altar to the deified Julius.

Yeah… hopefully no one will stab me in the back (literally or figuratively)

And since I was an 80’s wild child, of course I think of this…

You gotta love Anthony Michael Hall’s Farmer Ted character

We’re heading out this evening to catch a stand-up act by a well known comedian. My wife claims she booked the event so that I would laugh on my 40th birthday, not cry.

…

Thanks babe. ;)

My thoughts on my mid-life crisis & turning 40

Posted on by

I’ve been talking a lot about my impending mid-life crisis that is now immediately upon me. My wife claims I have “issues”, but that I’m far from having a mid-life crisis. And my training buddy thinks my wife is correct. 

;) (Thanks babe)

Personally I’ve been waiting for the ball to drop, or the sky to fall, or the rug to slip out from underneath me… (Insert whatever colloquialism you’d like to use.)

I’ve been waiting for the ‘BIG 4-0 MOMENT’ when I question my mortality and sink into the hole of utter depression and angst. What does one do when one needs answers, ask Google of course! According to the profound experts of wikipedia:

Midlife crisis is a term coined in 1965 by Elliott Jaques stating a time where adults come to realize their own mortality and how much time is left in their life. A midlife crisis is experienced by many people during the midlife transition when they realize that life may be more than halfway over. 

…

Midlife is a time from 40-60 where a person is often evaluating their own life.

…

Individuals experiencing a midlife crisis have some of these feelings:

  • search of an undefined dream or goal
  • a deep sense of remorse for goals not accomplished
  • a fear of humiliation among more successful colleagues
  • desire to achieve a feeling of youthfulness
  • need to spend more time alone or with certain peers

They exhibit some of these behaviors:

  • abuse of alcohol
  • acquisition of unusual or expensive items such as motorbikes, boats, clothing, sports cars, jewelry, gadgets, tattoos, piercings, etc.
  • depression
  • Having remorse for one’s wrongs.
  • PAYING SPECIAL ATTENTION TO PHYSICAL APPEARANCE SUCH AS COVERING BALDNESS, wearing youthful designer clothes, etc.
  • entering relationships with younger people (whether sexual, professional, parental, etc.)
  • placing overimportance (and possibly a psychologically damaging amount) on their children to excel in areas such as sports, arts, or academics

Whelp, I can’t seem to fit any of the above bills (maybe one..) I particularly like the above bolded text about covering up baldness.

…*crickets chirping*…

Yeah, the baldness boat set sail a LONG time ago for me. Maybe I should of had my crisis in my mid-twenties then? (that’s when I lost most of my hair)

The truth be told, I couldn’t be happier stepping into the “40 year old” shoes. I think I’ll wear them well. I have so many things to be thankful for, that I have a hard time finding the so called ‘stressors’ of approaching my mid-life.

Keeping in-step with those Wikipedia fellows, here are my feelings :

  • I’ve found my dream career, and I’m continuing to grow in it
  • I have a deep sense of pride for achieving every goal I’ve made so far and all the accomplishments along the way
  • I’m not embarrassed by my colleagues success, I’m happy for them
  • My youthful nature has never left me, and I physical feel almost more fit than I did in my 20’s
  • I’m content with whom I do or do not spend time with. I surround myself with the people that make me happy

I exhibit the current  behaviors:

  • I don’t remember the last time I had any alcohol? It doesn’t make me feel the same way it used to, so I steer clear of it (I’m definitely getting old)
  • OK, OK, so I bought an expensive electronic toy (Beats By Dre, and they were on sale!!), but nothing nearly as pricey as a new vehicle (Oh, and I plan on getting one more tattoo after I graduate)
  • Sorry, I’m far from depressed
  • I’ve learned from all my wrongs, so as not to repeat them
  • Uh, yeah. I’ve been bald for just shy of 20 years. I’m good. Besides I feel better, and physically can perform many things I never thought possible at my age (heck any age). Thank you CrossFit
  • Nope, I’m still madly in love with my  beautiful wife. I’m good
  • No children to obsess over, just my beautiful wife and our two crazy cats

Like I said, I’m going to calmly slide right into these 40 year old digs. I think they’ll fit me well. I’m advancing my education, improving my physical fitness level and skill while maintaining and growing a wonderful marriage with a beautiful woman, all the while with the support of a very loving family and great friends.

40 year old birthday? Yep. Bring it on.

Obesity rises even as calorie consumption lowers

Posted on by

I was doing some light reading and I came across an article this morning that caught my attention. It discussed the discovery of continued obesity, even though as a population we are eating ‘fewer’ total net calories.

(Reuters) – U.S. adults have been eating steadily fewer calories for almost a decade, despite the continued increase in obesity rates, according to survey data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Researchers, whose findings appeared in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, analyzed trends since the 1970s and found that among adults, average daily energy intake rose by a total of 314 calories from 1971 to 2003, then fell by 74 calories between 2003 and 2010.

“It’s hard to reconcile what these data show, and what is happening with the prevalence of obesity,” said co-author William Dietz, former CDC director of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, to Reuters Health.

“Seventy-four calorie sis a lot, and as I said before, we would expect to see a measurable impact on obesity.”

(And then the post finished by saying…)

But by now, “people should be losing weight,” Dietz said. The fact that they are not could be bad news

Via Despite obesity rise, U.S. calories trending downwards | Reuters

Once again, I’m no expert, but don’t you think this may have something to do with the QUALITY of the calories we are consuming, not the QUANTITY? 

GARBAGE IN = GARBAGE OUT

I’m Tossing My Hat In the Ring: CrossFit Games Open 2013

Posted on by

CrossFit Games | The Fittest on Earth

After almost two years of ‘trying’ CrossFit, I finally made the plunge. I registered for the CrossFit Games 2013 Open today.

NewImage

I’m excited, but I’m very realistic.

Do I plan on winning the games? Probably not.

Do I plan on giving it all I got. Yep.

The irony of this CrossFit environment is that I’m ‘competing’ with individuals whose full-time job is just to simply train. They don’t have a day job. They’re ‘job’ is to workout. And then about ⅛ of the competitors or maybe even ¼ of the competitors are CrossFit box owners. So they’re full-time job is to train other’s. They spend their entire day doing CrossFit.

And then there’s me. I am the average 40 year old joe, who might do CrossFit 2-4 times a week. I don’t have a coach. I don’t even workout in a traditional Crossfit ‘box’. I workout independently on my own at my local ‘globo-gym’. Follow my own programming, and truly live the theme of ‘random’. Yet, I’m paying the registration fee to ‘compete’. To be a part of apparently over 100,00 registrants and counting.

Why am I doing this?

For the love of the game. It’s that simple. To have another whack at being a competitor. To see what kind of mettle I have. To compare. To train. To improve. To test my limits. Physical fortitude is forged through mental toughness. What better way to improve my mental toughness than to test my physical limits?? Who doesn’t’ need to improve their mind? Or their body?

Even though I’m a 40 year old blue-collared citizen with a 40+ hour a week job, school, family and social responsibilities, for the next 5 weeks… I can be called a competitor. I can be called an athlete. Regardless of the outcome, I get to participate and then watch other athletes perform in a ‘game’ that I’m a part of. That is the draw of CrossFit, to watch these amazing athletes perform skills that I myself have tried, and for the most part can perform. I can empathize with these athletes on a level that is not understood with other sports. When I see the ‘elite’ performing, struggling and showing their mettle, I can truly understand what they are going through, and what they’ve gone through to get where they are.

I mean, how cool is that?

That is, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Care to join me?

Not everything is as seem..

Posted on by

Via Karate Kid – YouTube

I was talking with my wife the other day about how some of life’s most important lessons that have ‘stayed’ with us the most are the lessons that were ‘taught’ to us without us even knowing we  were being taught. While I don’t think the character Mr. Miyagi is some secret life-altering guru of any sorts, his character in the 1984 “The Karate Kid” was probably one of the first instances that I can remember from my childhood where “Not everything is what is seems”.

That look on Daniel-san’s face in the above movie clip… yeah we’ve all had that moment at least once in our lives. And I’ll bet you remember the moment in vivid detail.

(sigh)

They just don’t make them like they used to huh?

Hope you enjoyed the video, I know I did.

 

Pinterest sometimes reads my mind

Posted on by

 

I saw this Pin on Pinterest this morning. Oddly enough my body is SOOOOORE, from my workouts the past two days.

So I must be sexy huh? 

It’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.