Can you juggle?

That's what it seems to take sometimes. I feel like I have to juggle to maintain everything on an even keel and on schedule.

The picture here is my kitchen butcher block covered with several "juggling" projects. It's Sunday morning, I met "R" at the gym at 6 am when they opened, we did our own workout for an hour then met in the basketball court and set up a circuit boot camp for just the two of us.

Wall slams with a leather med ball, floors slams with that same ball, overheard throws against the padded wall with a hard med ball, squat tosses with the same ball, and backward pushing of the freestanding punching training bag (we don't have any prowlers or sleds at our gym).

5 circuits and we were just about wiped out. I guess it didn't help that we got together with our husbands the night before and polished off a few bottles of bubbly and wine.

Once at home, my husband was gone and already well into lacrosse practice with my son and I had to shower, eat and package lunches for the week, then drive out to Stanford to visit a friend in the hospital.

I am eating and cutting and packaging all at once, I just don't have time to sit down and eat. I had cooked the chicken and vegetables the day before but still had to cut and weigh them. I promised my husband I would make pizza for lunch too once I returned from the hospital....

You know what made it all worth it? Seeing the face of "O" as I walked into the hospital room. We talked for an hour, I sat and relaxed it was nice. It also made it worth the rushing around and hustle of the morning.

As I walked out, telling him I would be back when he had chemo, so we could sit and chat some more, I pondered that I am lucky I have to juggle, that I have the opportunity to "rush about" and actually lift weights, have to "fit it in" with a job I (usually) love, a "busy" home life with a husband and son I love very much, friends I "have" to meet and or sit around and have a bit too much to drink with, friends who "must" be visited, food that "must" be cooked and packaged up and just "not enough time in the day" for anything.

I guess it's just how you look at it all.

We should all be fortunate enough to have to juggle this way.

Supplements

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I subscribe to lots of different communications, and I read everything. I especially enjoy reading and learning about supplements and foods.

It i s important to remember that anyone can write a book, a website, heck even a blog! You need to carefully consider your sources, especially if you plan on incorporating any of their advise into your life.

Supplements are fascinating to me, actually it is the marketing of them that I find most interesting. Companies spend billions of dollars just to get us to use their "amazing miracle supplement" and people will take them without even researching what is in them and what they may do to their bodies.

Everyone seems to be looking for that one pill they can take so they don't have to do any exercise or diet. I know people who will drink alcohol everyday, eat fast food and garbage then spend hundreds of dollars on some "revolutionary" new work out system and useless supplements, and they don't know why they don't have a body like the ones they see on the TV ads, or in the magazines hawking these products. These are intelligent people! Why do they do this?

Most people don't even think about what "supplement" means. Here is a definition:

–noun
1. something added to complete a thing, supply a deficiency, or reinforce or extend a whole.
–verb (used with object)
5. to complete, add to, or extend by a supplement.
6. to form a supplement or addition to.
7. to supply (a deficiency).

Do you read anything in these definitions that says "replaces"? Nope, me either. If they really thought about what "supplement" means, they would know that supplements need to be used along with proper nutrition and exercise. And if you were ever considering taking anabolic steroids, you simply cannot just takes those and expect growth, you still need to practice proper nutrition and follow a rigorous exercise routine.

I will read a lot about anything before I decide to put it into my body and spend my hard earned money on it.

I usually check to see if a "meta-analysis" has ever been published on a supplement. What exactly is a meta-analysis? Here is another definition:

Meta-analysis is a statistical technique for amalgamating, summarising, and reviewing previous quantitative research. By using meta-analysis, a wide variety of questions can be investigated, as long as a reasonable body of primary research studies exist. Selected parts of the reported results of primary studies are entered into a database, and this "meta-data" is "meta-analyzed", in similar ways to working with other data - descriptively and then inferentially to test certain hypotheses.

Meta-analysis can be used as a guide to answer the question 'does what we are doing make a difference to X?', even if 'X' has been measured using different instruments across a range of different people. Meta-analysis provides a systematic overview of quantitative research which has examined a particular question.

The appeal of meta-analysis is that it in effect combines all the research on one topic into one large study with many participants.

I like Will Brink, he has a lot of opinions of many supplements and will tell you exactly what he has researched and whether or not he would spend his money on them. This is a goofy video he posted on his site about this same topic.


The Brink Zone

Black Forest Muffins

The other day my nutritionist, Kim Porterfield (The Institute of Eating Management and Relapse Prevention Center) sent out a recipe for Black Forest Protein Muffins, and they sounded delicious but were protein only, no carbs and I wanted muffins that were a compete meal, something I could make ahead and then take with me to work for a complete morning meal.

I came up with this recipe based on her idea. My 16 year old son said “these are actually very good” and my husband said “I could eat these with a cup of coffee”. He then proceeded to eat several after dinner, while I typed this up. Considering these are a total healthy meal, contain all of the complex carbs and protein that you need, this is high praise!

This will make 24 muffins and the nutrient breakdown is as follows:

Men 6 muffins Calories 308.8; carbs 36.8 g; protein 30 g; sugar 4.5 g, fat 4.5 g
Women 4 muffins Calories 205.9; carbs 24.5 g; protein 20 g; sugar 3 g; fat 3 g

Don’t forget after an intense weight training session you really should have more carbs, so immediately following your workout you should be ingesting a carb/protein drink with a ratio of 4 to 1 (carbs to protein) and then eating this as your breakfast within the next hour and a half.

You must use aluminum muffin liners (it changes the consistency).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients:
4 cups liquid egg whites
1 1.4 ounce package sugar free instant chocolate jello pudding
1 20 ounce can Comstock lite cherry pie filling (buy sugar free if you can locate it)
2 cups Quaker oats
2 Tbsps baking powder
4 Tbsps unsweetened cocoa powder
8 Tbsps Splenda

Blend all ingredients (except pie filling) in food processor or blender until smooth. Pour into a bowl and allow to rest about 5 minutes until thickened, stir in pie filling. It will be thick like cake batter.

Place the aluminum cupcake liners into a cupcake tray, then spray with cooking spray. Fill each muffin cup up completely to the top.

Bake 25 minutes, let muffins rest in pan 5 minutes then remove muffins to a rack to cool. Bake second batch.

Muffins will be puffy and beautiful when they come out, and then fall and look just a little wrinkly when they cool.

My husband suggested slathering them with peanut butter, I think that sounds great, but maybe only a little bit of it!

Andrographis

I rarely get sick, in fact I have been told by a specialist at a medical research foundation that I have what is called a "super immune system" and have more NK (Natural Killer) cells than the average person, and I will most likely never get sick, or at least not feel the effect as much as others do because of the immune system I have.

It's a long story as to why he knows this, really has nothing to do with this anyway, and will just make you hate me, so I will not elaborate.

A huge part of why I don't get sick is that I take care of my fine piece of machinery, I eat right, get sufficient rest, exercise regularly, I don't take drugs, rarely drink alcohol and I ensure I get proper nutrition through supplementation.

I believe the last time I was "sick" was over a year ago. I am getting sick now though and I can tell because I have a sore throat and that is where I first notice it. I have been burning the candle at both ends, I should have taken a week off after my competition and did not, so my body needs a rest. I have been tackling two jobs at work due to lack of staffing and my personal life has been rather stressful the last couple weeks.

As soon as I feel a sore throat coming on I start taking Andrographis, 800 mg three times a day. I start immediately and then continue for 5 days after I feel better. This is a miracle cure. I will never feel the full effects of any illness, and many people will not even notice I am ill, they mainly notice I am not as perky as usual, that's about it.

What is Andrographis? Andrographis is a shrub found throughout India and other Asian countries that is sometimes called "Indian echinacea." It has been used historically in epidemics, including the Indian flu epidemic in 1919 during which andrographis was credited with stopping the spread of the disease.

It is widely cultivated in southern Asia, where it is used to treat infections and some diseases, often being used before antibiotics were created. Mostly the leaves and roots were used for medicinal purposes.

Reasonably good evidence tells us that this extract can reduce the severity of cold symptoms. It may also help prevent colds.

Since ancient times, it has been used in traditional Siddha and Ayurvedic systems of medicine as well as in tribal medicine in India and some other countries for multiple clinical applications. The plant extract exhibits antityphoid and antifungal activities. It is also reported to possess antihepatotoxic, antibiotic, antimalarial, antihepatitic, antithrombogenic, antiinflammatory, anti-snake venom, and antipyretic properties to mention a few, besides its general use as an immunostimulant agent. A recent study conducted at Bastyr University, confirms the anti-HIV activity of andrographolide.

Several double-blind clinical trials have found that andrographis can help reduce symptom severity in people with common colds. Though the earliest clinical trial among these showed modest benefits, later studies have tended to be more supportive. Standardized andrographis extract combined with eleuthero (Siberian ginseng), known as Kan jang, has also been shown in a double-blind clinical trial to reduce symptoms of the common cold.

I used to buy Andrographis and Ginseng and take them together, but later stopped and now only take Andrographis when I am starting to feel ill. I am never without it in my cupboard, and will order more now that this bottle is getting low, as you must start taking it immediately at the onset of a cold.

As with anything else I discuss here, you must be consistent with it,you cannot take a morning dose then forget the next two and expect it to work.

Give it a try, you will be amazed.

Rice Rice Rice

I love this rice cooker, you can set it for various kinds of rice and it cooks perfectly, every time. I eat copious amounts of brown rice, my favorite is short grain that I buy in a big bag at a huge Japanese market, they have everything there.

I actually just had brown sweet rice for the first time last night, it was great! I enjoyed the nutty, crunchy texture of the grains.

You may have had sweet rice before, this is the name you usually see on the bag but most people know it as the "sticky" or "glutinous" rice that you eat with Thai food.

According to legend, it was used to make the mortar in the construction of the Great Wall of China, and chemical tests have confirmed that this is true for the city walls of Xian.

Rice doesn't have to be eaten for lunch or dinner, I eat it quite frequently for breakfast. I will take a glass bowl, spray it with cooking spray, add my egg whites (I use one cup of liquid whites), 4 ounces of cooked brown rice and sometimes even throw in a bit of spinach or chopped tomato or cooked mushrooms. Microwave 3 minutes, then stir around to incorporate the liquid uncooked egg, microwave one more minute and you have a "scramble".

This has the required protein from the egg, the carbohydrate from the rice and is delicious! You can top it with reduced sugar ketchup, hot sauce, salsa, fat free sour cream and/ or some reduced fat cheese.

Stress management

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a
glass of water and asked, "how heavy is this glass of water?" Answers
called out ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied, "The
absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to
hold it."

"If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an
hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day,
you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight,
but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

He continued, "And that's the way it is with stress management. If we
carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes
increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. As with the glass
of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding
! it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden."

"So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down.
Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens
you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can. Relax...
pick them up later after you've rested. Life is short. Enjoy it!"

Here are some ways of dealing with the burdens of life:

* Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.

* Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.

* Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

* Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.

* If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

* If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was
probably worth it

* It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a
warning to others.

* Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you
won't have a leg to stand on.

* Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

* Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.

* The second mouse gets the cheese.

* When every thing's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

* Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

* You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the
world to one person.

* Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.

* We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty
and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different
colors, but they all have to live in the same box.

* A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Have an awesome day and know that someone has thought about you today... I did.

Reverse Hyper

The wonderful reverse hyper! Most gyms do not have a Reverse Hyper, so you can use a flat bench.

This is one of the best exercises for the glutes.

Be sure that you have a bench you can hold onto.

The Iso Reverse Hyper is when you bring the legs up and hold it for a period of time, start with 15 seconds, do three sets.

You can also put a weight between your feet at the ankles, and lift that up and down or hold it, again for a period of time.

Try to work up to 45 seconds if possible.

Check out my Sunday morning video below.