More Coffee?

“I am so tired. I need to stop drinking coffee.”

“No, what you need is more coffee!”

This was a brief conversation I heard the other day.

I don’t think any one would argue that coffee contains caffeine. And few will argue the fact that caffeine is a drug that is addictive. The conversation I heard is a common one. One person realizes they are getting hooked on a type of food and try to break that physical and or psychological connection. While they are reaping the side effects of that food a well-intentioned friend suggest more of the food instead, because “It’s not going to hurt you.”

Lets quickly look at coffee/caffeine and just a few the effects it has on the body.

• Coffee has an irritating effect on gastric mucosa and can lead to development of ulcers.

• People that are heavy coffee drinkers may develop vitamin b1 insufficiency.

• Caffeine interacts with absorption of some nutrients in the small intestines.

• Caffeine is a central nervous system and metabolic stimulant, and is used both recreationally and medically to reduce physical fatigue and restore mental alertness when unusual weakness or drowsiness occurs.

Now the next time you meet someone who is trying to block a physical or mental connection with food in order to improve their health, don’t sabotage their efforts. Help them through the withdrawal period. For coffee drinkers they might be experiencing headaches, fatigue, irritability, an inability to concentrate, and stomach aches. These symptoms may appear within 12 to 24 hours after discontinuation of caffeine intake, peak at roughly 48 hours, and usually last from one to five days.

Think in terms of drug addiction when you are going to stop consuming coffee or run into someone who has. They need help not to digress into the habit, not encouragement to return to their habit. They are asking for help  because it is a rough process to stop one thing and start something new.

I like coffee. I love the smell even more than the taste. I drink an occasional cup of the hot stuff and enjoy an ice coffee during the summer. I have also experienced first hand the side effects when I stopped drinking coffee. Dean and I RARELY drink more than one cup of caffeinated coffee per day, and some days we don’t drink any. Be careful with any dependency, even the “legal” ones.

I don’t think anyone would tell someone who is trying to quit smoking to start up again just because the with drawl process is rough,  so why would we recommend coffee to someone who wants to quit?

To your best health,

Coach Nancy

Get Fit NH Bootcamp Opens Expanded Concord Training Facility

Here’s some photos of Day 1 in our new Concord, NH training facility. Concord’s Best (Hippo Press, Concord Monitor) has been preparing the new space for several months and today was the day! Thank-you all for being part of Making It Happen!

Lost Dog – Please Help!

UPDATE November 10 @ 8:30am – Greta Is Home!

From Natalie:  “GRETA IS HOME!!!! We arrived back to our house this morning after taking Josh to school and she came flying around from the back of the house like a shot! She is soaking wet, so very skinny and looking a little freaked out, but seems OK. Thank you EVERYONE for your eyes and your prayers and your willingness to keep forwarding this story. You’re prayers got her home and kept us sane (sorta!!!) over these last four days. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!“

Get Fit NH Bootcamp client (and our friend) Natalie Walker asked us to reach as many people as possible, so we are posting the following from her as well as sending out an email. There are a couple of pictures of Greta at the end of this post. You can also click this link to download and print out a poster to distribute. Please forward to everyone you know.

Our female German Shepherd bolted from my son yesterday at 07:30 when he was out in our backyard with her. We have spent an exhaustive two days searching for her on foot and by car and have posted almost 200 flyers in town and neighboring towns. I am now hitting the internet and have her listed everywhere. We live in the village of Hopkinton, close enough to I-89 and 202/9 to make it possible that she was picked up by someone or spotted by people traveling this area. I didn’t know if you would be willing to send out this flyer to those you know. Again, if this is uncomfortable for you, I understand! Not offended! Just trying every thing I can think of to blanket this area of the state with her info.

Jingle Bell Run 2010

It’s that time of year again! Join us December 4th, 2010 as Get Fit NH Bootcamp supports the Arthritis Foundation at the annual Jingle Bell Run/Walk 5k!

Last year we ran to support Carrie’s Kids (Click Here for the story), with the largest team ever assembled. Please join us as we run in honor of Carrie and her kids once again.

This is a really fun event and a great opportunity to stretch your legs and support a great cause.

Please Click Here for more info and to join the team!

Autumn Apple Shake

I love the tastes of autumn – who can resist a crisp apple eaten right off the tree?

Here’s a great way to enjoy a power packed protein shake with all the flavors of apple pie!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 1 scoop UMP Vanilla Protein Powder
• 2 Tablespoons dry oatmeal
• 1 Tablespoon flax seed
• 3 Tablespoons plain yogurt
• 2 Tablespoons mixed nuts
• 1 apple cored and sliced
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Add all ingredients in order to a blender. Blend until smooth. You can also add two-five ice cubes after initially blending shake. Blend again for 30 seconds for an ice cold shake.

Take A Step Towards Change

“Change is not an event.  It’s a tiny decision made over and over again. Change isn’t once. It’s daily.” – Don Kuhl

Improving our lives is a choice. It’s an individual choice. The time, the reason, the motivation, the determination, the path we take to improve is all personal.  Each person has to decide on their own when and how they would like to improve their life. We have to be ready to take the first step.

Research shows the top three ways to make life better are

• Decreasing Stress

• Sleeping Better

• Reducing Pain

Guess what? Exercise can help you do all three.

An exercise routine will be lived out one moment at a time. The quality of our life is the result of the sum of our choices.

Isn’t it amazing how much our thoughts control our actions? “I don’t feel like it” is the number one reason we, as parents, hear our kids give us for not actively playing outside. Don’t do we the same thing? Of course we are so grown up that we disguise our emotions in sarcasm “I worked hard for this big belly, I don’t want to give it up now.” Or behind in difference, “ my great grandfather smoked and drank and he lived to be 101, I’m going to go out like him.” Or even fear, “I don’t think I could survive one day at bootcamp”.

Live in the present, it’s the only “place” where you can be active. Actions happen now, not in the past or future. In-the-moment opportunities, such as taking lunch to work, working hard each training session, planning meals instead of gobbling up fast food, and being active outside of your training program.

Stop looking at what happened yesterday, you can’t change it.

Don’t worry about tomorrow, because you can’t control everything that comes your way.

Make today count – Every Day.

Coach Nancy

A Note From Overseas

As many of you know Get Fit NH Bootcamp is proud to have some of our country’s finest train with us. Some of those in the military have just departed for a tour overseas. Michael from the 5 am Epsom class is one of those. He recently wrote to his class, and allowed us to reprint it here. His humor is contagious. His perspective priceless.

Thank-you Mike, for your service to our country!

“Hello All,

Just wanted to let you know that I arrived safe and sound in Kandahar on Oct 1, 2010 hit the ground running and haven’t stopped yet.

We took the scenic route through Shannon Ireland, Bucharest Romania, Kyrgyzstan and on to the rugged moonscape of Afghanistan.
From Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan I got to experience the joy of flight in full “Battle Rattle” (helmet, body armor and weapon) wedged into a seat on a C-17 unable to move anything for two hours. Then when the airfield was in sight we did a combat landing into the airfield (think of jumping from a burning skyscraper, same heat no flames) and an engine running offload into the blazing hot sun. It make the most extreme “Fun Friday” pale in comparison.

I am the oldest guy here and many of my troops want to know what it was like when this place was green. I like to show them the picture I carved in granite and captioned in Hieroglyphics. Their awe is like a living thing.

I’ve started calling this the geezers save the world tour. I hope it catches on the royalties would be nice.

I’m able to keep up with the younger guys here and even won a pushup contest and no one can beat me arm wrestling. I am in good shape and continuing to workout it is kinda quiet however…

My goal for joining “boot camp” was to be able to run when someone said “RUN” but when I got here I found a different scenario when the “big voice” wails we have to hit the floor wait 2 min and get to our positions, Very little running. We do walk everywhere though.

If we find in the future that dust is the key component of either a cure for cancer, time travel or anti-gravity coating then no nation on earth will be able to compete with this one.

I am the Passenger Terminal  Manager here and I work from 0000 hrs to 1200 hrs working to fulfill the traveling GI’s every need (except food, water, comfort, compassion, empathy, sympathy, etc…)

Did I mention I can get them all the dust they need?

I’ve seen the aircraft systems that I’ve worked on, on a lot of aircraft and discussions with aircrews is unanimously positive. It’s very gratifying to be on both sides of this equation.

It is a grand adventure, the locals provide fireworks for us that are breathtaking to behold, they even serenade us 6 times a day from the minaret outside my quarters.

I live in a thing that has been nicknamed a “can”  it is a living space made out of a sea/land container and that has all of the comforts of solitary confinement except that I have a roommate. It has the feel of a walk-in freezer.

The base is a shared command with the Canadians currently in charge (go figure eh!), They are complete tools and are making the best out of being on top for once, makes for some wildly entertaining episodes.

I have taken to singing the national anthems for various international soldiers that are traveling through my terminal. And have been serenaded in turn with our anthem sung in just about every language you can imagine, aboriginal dialect and tagalong from the Philippines.

Did I Mention the dust? The entire country is made out of dust the consistency of drywall sanding residue, grey in color, the whole place looks like the rest of the world has been emptying their vacuum cleaner bags here. There is NO vegetation, yet somehow they manage to grow 90% of the worlds opium. There is plenty of suck here to pass around and I am very glad we got a hold of our government and avoided this mess, it’s much better to have it here.

They even have Navy groups here whoda thunk it, I wonder how they got those big boats here?

If anyone is foolish enough to visit  I will save them a warm bottle of water and we will toast porcelain toilets and privacy, however that sounds like something that could be done at home also.

I miss Laurie, Kate, and you guys, it is good to do this on so many levels and it sharpens the realization of just how good my life really is. I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.

On a lesser level I also miss water in the toilet, clean sheets, empty hands, sleeves that you can roll up, shirts you can take off, colors other than tan or grey, food you choose, food you cook, food you can eat, an office that is not under the stairs and that I can stand up in, not having to tell travelers that the fragmentation grenades they have in their hand carry bags cannot go through the x-ray machine and no I don’t care if you do it all the time. No we don’t run the dogs through the x-ray even though we do send them as baggage. The list goes on and on.

It is a very weird feeling to take firearms of all types from passengers, send them through the X-ray, seeing the images on the screen and then returning them to the people at the other end.

I even got a “man kiss” (kind of a french two cheek thing) from a Jordanian Army officer who felt I was very helpful to him and his crew, his culture.

I was awarded the call sign of “professor” By a 2 star general as he transited through for those who don’t get it its a good thing.
I was coined by a one star for outstanding accomplishment, again a good thing.

All in all a unique experience. If you are interested I’ll send pictures (as soon as I lose 10 lbs, lost 6 in just the first week)”

Michael (5AM Gang in Epsom)

Pan-Seared Salmon

Ingredients:
Two 8-ounce salmon fillets, without skin
1 tbsp coconut oil
Salt & fresh ground pepper, to taste

Pat the salmon fillet dry with a paper towel, and then season both sides of each fillet with salt and a generous amount of pepper. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering but not smoking. Add fillets to the skillet and cook until edges are opaque and bottoms are golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes for 1-inch thick fillets. Gently flip the fillets with a spatula and cook another 2 to 3 minutes, until it is firm yet tender and moist, and the flesh has become opaque with a slight translucence. Serve immediately garnished with chopped fresh parsley if desired. Serves two.

Tip: When is salmon cooked just right?

Cooking your salmon until it’s ‘flaky’, as commonly suggested, can result in overcooking. Here’s how to cook it just right: use a paring knife to peek inside the middle of the fillet. If the flesh is translucent, it is undercooked. If it is opaque and slightly flaky but still juicy, it is ready to serve. It is overcooked when the flesh falls apart and looks dry.

Standing Tall

Not so good...

Good body mechanics manifest in good posture and vice versa. To help you evaluate your current posture here are a few keys to look at.

To visualize what normal posture would be, imagine a weighted string hung from your ear. To someone looking at you from the side this string will pass through the center of your ear, your shoulder, the curve of your lower back, your hip, and the outside of your knee down to the outside of your ankle bone. When all these landmarks are lined up, the body is best able to support and distribute your body weight.

Your posture from the front should find your feet square to the ground with your knees pointing forward and your shoulder and pelvis level to the ground with your head rising above your shoulders. Your head should not be tilting to one side or the other. If you drew a line on the ground and stand toe-to-toe to it, your knees, hips, and shoulders should also be square to the line.

Having someone take your picture with as few as clothes on as possible will help you to study your own posture. Take pictures from the front, sides, and back. Look at the height of your knees, shoulders, and hips. Are they equal in height to each other, and to the ground? Can you draw a straight line through all the points described above? Do your shoulders slouch forward? Does your upper body lean back a bit? Is your head in front of your shoulders?

Answering these questions will help you to find if your posture is in balance or not. Joint pain can be caused by our body compensating for a lack of balance in our posture. Gravity is our universal enemy. It never grows tired and it is always at work. Our body can stay strong and healthy by keeping a proper alignment in our posture.

It takes work. It takes work just to stand correctly. But we are not stationary creatures, we sit, walk, run, and move in various directions. To move correctly we need to stand correctly.

Take a look at your posture. Are you standing tall?

Coach Nancy

Are You Chicken?

I love to watch chickens peck and scratch. For some reason it is relaxing, unless of course they are scratching in our mulch and scattering it across the driveway.

The labels on chickens and eggs at the grocery store reveals a need to write a book to decipher them for us to sort through. Chickens, like many other protein sources, should come with a dictionary to explain the terms used on each different label.

Since I’ve never seen a government regulation book at the store (not that I want to) we need to study in advance. Otherwise, we are left to the advertising departments pretty pictures of chickens roaming freely to entice us to buy “healthy”.

And while the label makes it difficult, so do the array of commonly accepted words used by the media. “Free range”, “Grass – Fed”, “Pastured Poultry”, all can be found on chicken labels in the meat department. Lets explore what each of these means.

The term grass-fed poultry is a very broad term. It is so broad that “Free Range and Pastured Poultry” can fit under this term. Grass-fed poultry means birds that are allowed to forage on as much living grasses as they desire. Using our chickens in Epsom as an example, they used to be allowed to roam free from morning to night. The only time they were confined to their coop was at night to keep them safe from predators.  All day you’d find them in the front yard, hiding in the weeds, and up near the road.  That is what most consumers envision when they hear or read the term ‘grass fed’. We did supplement our chickens diet with a grain based feed mix. Chickens unlike cows are adept to eating corn. Only a very few chickens are truly grass fed. Unless you can interview the farmer when it comes to “grass fed” and chickens, assume they have access to grain feed as well.

“Free range,” as used commercially today, simply indicates chickens that are not in cages and do not have a physical barrier between them and the outside of their building. That sounds wonderful but without knowing the farm where your chicken grew up, it could mean the outdoor space is bare dirt. “Free range” conjures up picture of chickens running around a healthy, bustling farmhouse, eating grass and other things to their hearts’ content. It is the term of choice. The term sells chickens at a high price but doesn’t necessitate that the bird was given all the grass and other goodies it naturally eats. The chickens we keep at the house would be termed free range. If you come to Epsom you will find our chickens confined to a small pen with an attached coop.

Pastured poultry is raised right on top of living grass. This is most commonly done with chicken tractors. “Chicken tractors” are movable pens. They are moved to a new spot of fresh pasture as often as necessary.  Dean and I would love to move our chickens into a “Pastured” system. They’d have access to the outside but would be protected from any animal that loves to eat chickens. (Remember our dog, Annie?)  It is an ideal system.

So what does all that mean when it comes to the chicken on my plate?

Go back to the vision of chickens roaming freely. The closer you can get to chickens raised that way the better the nutritional value. Pastured Poultry has an increased nutritional value compared to chickens raised in cages, confined to eating all processed feed. Essential fatty acids, which control a myriad of bodily functions, fall into two families: the Omega-3’s and the Omega-6’s. The Omega-3 group comes from the leaves of green plants, while the Omega-6 group comes from the seeds (for example, grain used in animal feeds). Animals that eat quantities of green plants have very high levels of Omega-3.

A healthier more naturally raised chicken is higher in Vitamin A, plus their meat has a significant decrease in total fat compared to chickens raised in crowded pens.

The very best, most healthful way to eat is to build a relationship with a local farmer, which allows you to eat as fresh off the farm as possible. There is something in farm-fresh produce of all kinds that imparts health like nothing else can.

Or better yet, don’t be a chicken, and raise your own!

To your best health,
Coach Nancy