Primary Foods

So I've been off the grid so to speak.  I feel a bit like I've been living under a rock.  

 It's summer, and when you work in a school for a living, the last thing one might want to do is be inside and on the computer. At the same time, I've been working on my second career. I'm studying to become a Nutrition and Health Coach through The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Through my own path to wellness, I've come to realize that I want to relay all the tips, tricks, and hard work I've put in to me into others because quite frankly the things I've done have radically changed my life.....for the better....forever. However, I've discovered that the path to whole wellness is never ending. In fact, sometimes, it's a struggle. Shocker, huh?!

One of the many great things about the I.I.N. program is the promotion of Primary Foods

You can see the Primary Foods on the outer ring of the IIN Food Pyramid below.

I've thought a lot about my own Primary Foods throughout my training and how they impact my health and fitness.  As an avid Crossfitter, I am most interested in eating to get leaner, perform better athletically, and to be the healthiest me I can be.  Imbalances in my primary foods directly impact the food choices I make.  So being in touch with these four items (spirituality, relationships, career, and physical activity) are key.  For me, I often get overwhelmed with things and have issues prioritizing.  In turn, this impacts my relationships with others and so now I have two primary foods out of whack, my relationships and my career.  As my stress levels increase, I, like everyone else out there, will look to food to compensate:  hence, the never-ending battle.  So that's me. 

If you are interested in learning more about how your primary foods impact you, feel free to drop me a line at...

craig@cspinhealthy.com  

I am available for individual health consultations which would give you a preview of what it would be like to work with a Nutrition and Health Coach.  The consultation is free of charge and can be done in person, over the phone, Skype, whatever. 

You can see more about what I do as a Nutrition and Health Coach by clicking on the logo below.

New Page Added

I started this blog October 16th, 2010 with one purpose in mind:  To have a creative outlet that will keep me motivated to stay on track with my food and fitness.  At that time, I was four months into my Crossfit training and found major success with the Paleo dietary lifestyle.  Today, nine months, 124 blog posts, a few dollars, and a Facebook page later, I find myself thirteen weeks into a one year program to become a Holistic Health and Nutrition Coach through The Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

My mission:  To help individuals young and old make good food choices to accomplish their own health and wellness goals.

With a Health and Nutrition Coach clients will learn about:

increasing energy levels
learning what foods are right for them
understanding how life stressors impact diet
managing food cravings
creating a fitness plan that is sustainable
bridging the gap between food and fitness

If that means losing weight, great.  If that means, eating to gain athletic performance, wonderful.  Or if that means, to just learn how to eat and feel better, perfect!  I've mentioned a few times that I work in a school for a living.  My mission their is to help students grow academically and socially.  That passion extends to my work as a Health and Nutrition Coach as well.  

So I've added a new page to the blog.  Give it a look and drop me a line if you have interest in working with me as a client, if you have interest in the Health Coaching field, or if you just have general questions.  I'll be taking clients starting in August, 2011, and I am available to conduct talks in your office, home, wellness center, or anywhere that you'd like to gather some folks and discuss issues about food and wellness.  I have a variety of topics.  I'm also available to provide free health histories, a chance for you and I to sit down for no more than 50 minutes to discuss your health and wellness.

Don't forget to check cSpinHealthy out on Facebook.  I'd love it if you'd "LIKE IT".

These are Not the Fries You're Looking For

These are not the fries you're looking for.........I hope.

I like french fries (and Star Wars) just like any other natural born American.  However, I try to stay away from fast food simply because I don't like how it makes me feel, and I know fast food is the fast way to fast el b's!!  But....when it's time to splurge with no guilt (check this blog out from a fellow Institute for Integrative Nutrition colleague of mine on no guilt eating.) I try to eat fast food that is not packed full of "stuff".  

Wendy's is promoting "Natural Cut Fries".

.....and the truth of the matter is they are not all that natural.  

--They are sprayed with sodium acid pyrophosphate, a chemical that prevents them from turning brown from two baths in frying oil

--They are coated with dextrose, a sugar derived from corn, for similar purposes

--They contain dimethylpolysiloxane, a silicone-based chemical that helps keep the vegetable oil from getting foamy after countless rounds of frying.

Here's the article I found explaining this in more detail and comparing how Five Guys Burgers is a better choice when it comes to your french fries.  If  you are going to splurge and eat fries, you might as well eat with no guilt and no crap in them.  

  

It's all Connected

Lately I've been thinking how interconnected things are in relationship to my overall health and fitness.

Need a break from work.

Not as focused on my dietary habits as I want to be.

I want to be more flexible and want to make this more of priority.

Getting over a groin injury has set my fitness level back just a tad.

Busy times at home going in a few different directions.

Itching to get out of the house more as the weather breaks.

Overall, just yearning for a bit more balance in my life.

All of these things contribute to my health on one way or another.  Getting them working in the same direction at the same time is the key.  It's all connected.........work, home, food, emotions, family, etc.  The Institue for Integrative Nutrition, the school where I am studying to become a Holistic Health Coach, refers to this as my PRIMARY FOODS.  These are the things that impact the food we actually eat which are secondary.  

So the answer for me is to get myself registered for a series of races and adventures in the very near future.  Stay tuned for an upcoming post which will reveal my commitments.  This will force me to get more focused as I'll have something to aim for and will offer some variety to what I'm currently doing.  

This whole topic came to my conscious today thanks to our family friend Mary, educator, and life long learner who shared this video with us. It's a great visual about how things work together.  Enjoy.....

Trying to Keep it Together

If you've haven't been reading my intermittent posts on my own health issues of late, I suffered an injury to to this playing soccer three weeks ago this weekend.....

NOT HAPPY.....I thought I'd be back in action after a couple of weeks.  I tried to run the other night and I felt like this.......

So I got on the rower instead.......Then......a week ago, I got this........

..........and this.......

At least my nose can run!!!!!

So I continue to focus on this.........

Trying to be this guy.....

Stay tuned......Monday starts my year-long path to becoming a Holistic Health Coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

Makeover and More Motivation....

Blog post #2 in one day, I know, but this ice storm has us stir crazy, so while the kids are finally outside sledding....ON ICE....I have a few new motivators to share while it's still today.

For starters.....The blog has a facelift.  No.....didn't go to Oprah again.  However, good old friends are a beyond valuable.  They are irreplaceable.  Our dear friend Kathy, a most talented freelance graphic designer, helped me overhaul the design of the blog today.  Hope you like it a fraction of the amount that I love it.  When I asked if I could advertise for her FOR FREE, she declined.  Take her and my childhood, college best friend and husband out to eat?  Boot.  Trade services once I'm a certified Holistic Health Counselor?  Not interested.  Such a great-hearted friend, but I'll get her.  I'll pay her back and forward.  I can't tell  you how motivating the new look is for me.  Again.  Hope you like it.  And if you blog, feel free to snag my new button.  

The html code is on the left side on the front of the blog.

Secondly, this came in the mail today....

It's all my materials for my year-long program to become a Holistic Health Coach.  All the motivation in the world to keep on truckin'.

This one's for you Mike and Jay (and to my childhood and college friend Kevin who lost his life at too young of an age.  How I miss him!)

Motivation for Today:  Invest time in something I'm passionate about.

Yesterday's Motivation and Today

Yesterday........Another day of school called off due to the recent winter ice storm across much of this part of the country. This let me get out of the house again for the CFC lunchtime WOD which was the following:

Todays skill work with be power cleans. Take three warm up sets and find a good weight where you can perform 8 single reps every minute on the minute.

Skill: 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1 power cleans performed every minute on the minute.

wod:   “Birthday Boy”  for time (there is no RX weight for this wod, find a good weight and work on form)

It’s Lin’s 47th birthday today!

47 pull-ups

47 wall balls

47 ring push-ups (modify with hand release push-ups)

47 kb swings

I was pretty sore from yesterdays workout, so I did all I could do to take some of the best advice I've heard in awhile when pertaining to Crossfit, however I firmly believe it can relate to anyone despite what your workout routine, regiment, or schedule may be. That advice is......

You don't have to go all out, balls to the wall, hard as you can every time out.  Some times it's about working hard, thinking about form, pace, or rhythm and getting a good workout. 

So I didn't, and so I did.  What?!?!?!?!?

I went hard, but I did not put my mind in the same place I did when trying to get after a PR i.e. my baseline last week.  My back was sore from yesterday (freakin' 70 lb. kettlebell will do that to ya, huh?!).  But I came away with not the best time on the whiteboard

But it didn't matter to me.  Today, this is what I could do and I did not have to look at that board and see that I was better than someone else, because on this day it was just about getting in a workout that was challenging (ok, what Crossfit WOD isn't?!??) and safe.  Mission accomplished and I felt good!

I'm sore today.  Go figure.  I'm almost 39, and I don't stretch nearly enough.  My lower back is a bit sore and my legs feel like I ran at least a 10K yesterday.  In my home we are on day three in a row of school being called off, so we are swapping kids with our dear friends.  To go to Crossfit or not?  That would be three days in a row.  Great advice #2 I am starting to follow (from the same person...Thanks Lin!!!!) is.......

Rest and recovery is often the best part of exercise.

I used to never pay attention to this and guess what.......

INJURY

Not today.  The WOD at CFC is all squatting and I'm just getting my knee back to feeling pain free.  Couple that with just being too sore, and it's all the motivation I need to focus on other aspects of my fitness:  stretching and eating well today.

My motivation today is rooted in how far I have come since June (update photos here) of this past year.  I debated on how to share this without appearing self-serving, arrogant, or sounding like a braggart.  I was doing some work for my health coaching career with The Institue for Integrative Nutrition  and I got to adding another picture of my progress to the blog.  As I sat and looked over my pictures from the past few months and reflecting on what has worked and what hasn't, that was all the motivation I needed to past couple of days to start thinking that sometimes......

Working smarter is healthier than working harder.  

Coaching

I've played sports my entire life.  I was a soccer fanatic growing up.  If you ask my mom, she'll tell you I cared about a few things:  eating, video games, my friends, and soccer.  I won a club state championship and was on a team that was a very close-nit group.  The Jake Sweeney Sweepers.  Our coach, my childhood friend's father, was brilliant.  He brought a group of us together at a time when we were buddying adolescent boys more concerned with girls, jean jackets, and the latest video on MTV (yes you young peeps.  MTV used to play these things called videos....they were....oh well...you know.)

Mr. Miller was the first coach I remember making an impact on my life.  He was patient, firm, a good listener, had a sense of humor, and we knew he cared about us as young men more than soccer players.  I often wonder if he knows what an impact he had on my life.  Because of him, I was able to persevere through three high school soccer coaches in four years at a high school that was rich in soccer history.  I had two coaches in h.s. similar to Mr. Miller.  My high school basketball coach, Mr. Martin, was also very influential.  He was a sound communicator, had a sense of humor, was patient, a straight shooter, and cared about us as students and young men.  As average as we were as a basketball team, he was a big influence on my teenage life because of the qualities he possessed.  I hope he knows he was successful with me as a human much more than we were in the win column.

At one point in my life, I thought I wanted to be a soccer coach.  But in Indiana it's a different sport that most play.  Can you say, "Hoosiers.....Bobby Knight......the greatest high school basketball tournament that once was."

Based on Milan High School in Milan, Indiana....here's one of the best speeches by a great coach.  Based on a true story in that town.  

Love that classic sports movie scene.  Lots of great "Hoosier" coaches......


Rockne, Knight, Keady, Wooden, Dungy, Yeagley


Say what you want, all these folks...they all possessed great qualities that made them successful.  Yes, even Knight.  Ok....so he did this....





Not one of his better coaching moments (depending on who you ask in this state)....however....


I often thought of my 8 year teaching career from a coaching aspect.  I was not as passionate about finding comma splices and literary irony as some of my great colleagues over the years, rather I cared about getting students to learn, improve, and achieve.  I feel wired the same way as a school counselor.  It's usually about getting another person to make change in his or her life, and there are specific skills that need crafting to get others to make such change....the same way a coach draws up a practice plan, a drill, a motivational speech, etc.  


These days, I've been sticking with Crossfit as my main method of exercise.  If you know nothing about Crossfit, you do not work with a trainer, rather a coach.  At Crossfit Carmel, there are a few coaches and all have their own unique style and talents when it comes to communicating with clients about form, fitness, and overall health.  I like how each is concerned with form over output.  If my form is off, I run the risk of getting hurt.  The better my form over time, the better my performance will eventually be, hence the better my fitness will become.  It's this approach that's kept me Crossfitting day after day, month after month.  I can not imagine where I'd be without going to CFC on a weekly basis.  


As I put all these thoughts together, I've decided to embark on a new chapter in my life.  I've decided to enroll with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition to become a Certified Holistic Health and Wellness Coach, a one year program that I'll start in March.  It's my hope that I can help others with what I'm most passionate about:  Achieving personal wellness.  I've found that so many people either talk about one of two things:


1.  Working out......or
2.  Eating


But the key is bridging the gap between the two.  I'm convinced you can just eat well and be healthy.  I'm convinced you can just eat well and get results.  But if you eat well and exercise regularly......consistently.......you will lead a healthy lifestyle that is as natural as putting on your shoes in the morning.  But that is easier said than done.  So much complicates us from eating well and exercising let alone doing it consistently.  


So it's my hope that I can take a bit from Mr. Miller, Mr. Martin (and even Gene Hackman), and the other coaches who have made a difference in my life.  Because....there is nothing more rewarding than helping someone else make a difference in theirs.