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Get Off Your 'Buts'! Booty Camp Now

]]> http://thetruthaboutfatlossforwomen.com/2010/10/12/get-off-your-buts-booty-camp/feed/ 3 http://thetruthaboutfatlossforwomen.com/2010/10/03/today-my-run-turned-into-a-rescue-operation/ http://thetruthaboutfatlossforwomen.com/2010/10/03/today-my-run-turned-into-a-rescue-operation/#comments Mon, 04 Oct 2010 02:58:27 +0000 Lani http://thetruthaboutfatlossforwomen.com/?p=4796

Sunset from our room above Cannon Beach, Oregon

Irresistible, these Bursts on the beach (see Burst Training Beach Style) . Running barefoot in the sand as hard as I can, then trolling my toes in the surf until I get my wind for another.

More on Today My Run Turned Into A Rescue Operation

Sunset from our room above Cannon Beach, Oregon

Irresistible, these Bursts on the beach (see Burst Training Beach Style) . Running barefoot in the sand as hard as I can, then trolling my toes in the surf until I get my wind for another.

But today's run took a surprising  turn when I encountered a fledgling murre – an ocean diving bird – stranded in the surf.   A gathering of gulls caught my eye, and a closer look revealed a smaller bird floundering low in the water.    As I approached, the gulls scattered, but not so the little murre, by now feathers soaked and floppy.

Having had the privilege of handling many birds in my time, I reached down quickly to cradle this little guy to bring him up to the beach for a closer look.

Fledgling murre, stranded in the surf

Feet looked fine.  Wings wet to the bone but nothing broken.

I stayed by baby murre until my sisters were close by,  then jogged from the beach to a nearby hotel while they stood guard.  With humans and their canine companions strolling the beach in regular intervals, this helpless bird was not long for this world without intervention and guardianship.

Long short? Resort looked up number for Bird and Wildlife Rescue.  Hotel found a small box for me in which to house our little friend while Bird and Wildlife hustled on out to pick him up.  Everyone was absolutely wonderful, eager helping hands everywhere.

Four Lessons To Learn From Bird Rescue

The plight of this little bird draws a parallel to our experiences with growth and change, aspiring to our goals, like this fledgling bird aspiring to hunt and fly.  Here's the second story the murre told today.

1)  Avoid the temptation to jump back into your comfort zone. When stepping up to claim "better!", turning back to doing things as you are used to doing them will abort the change process and quite possibly spell doom.  The baby murre instinctively turned back toward the surf because that was all he knew, even though he was soaked and skinny and to flop toward the sea would have spelled inevitable doom.  We can be quick to back peddle on new challenges because of physical and psychological discomfort.  But they are part of the liberation process, just as they were for this fragile bird.

My sister Pam and I, part of the rescue team

2)  Welcome assistance and don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. Without the intervention of a human, whether myself or someone else who may have come down the beach after me, this bird would have continued to flounder and would eventually have been taken by the water or a predator.  Sometimes we are so insistent on doing things ourselves that we don't get anywhere.  Too proud to accept a helping hand?   When it comes to big goals and endeavors, and you're learning to fly, someone who has been there and successfully traveled the leg of the journey before you can save you a lot of missteps, false starts and grief by coaching you through the process.

3)  Get support. It took a team to make the rescue happen for our murre friend.  First, initial rescue from the surf.  Guardians to stand watch while I ran for help.  The call to and arrival of help from Wildlife Rescue.   Sometimes you don't have the best results when you go it alone.  Support with a team, group, and like-mindeds when it comes to fitness or any other important endeavor can make the difference.

4)  Embrace the plateau. Progress and success come in uneven spurts.  We may give up when just on the cusp of a win.  I spoke with Wildlife Rescue later today, to check in on baby murre.  They said he was thin and being fed, was wet and is now warm and dry.  He may be ready for release before long, but if the winter storms come in soon they will keep him in sanctuary through the winter, training him to feed and buiding up his strength and skills for the warmer weather of spring.  In other words, time for the practice, practice, practice that is part of mastery.  On the one hand, this may seem like stalled progress.  On the other hand, a time necessary for the best test of one's skills , when strength and mastery have been cultivated.   A kind of plateau.  We can learn from this.

Next….

P.S. A word from Wildlife rescue to pass on to you.  Once a bird or other animal hits the human-and-their-pets, bikes, and vehicles zone, "nature takes its course" no longer applies.  Intervene and get the wild animal access to rescue or sanctuary.

image:  junebeetle

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Yours truly at Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach, Oregon, on the cusp of sunset

Well, this is a fine how-do-you-do.

My two darling sisters, Pam and Kristie, and I have just driven out to the Oregon coastline after rendezvous in Portland from 3 corners of the country.

We drove the winding roads from the city to the coast, stopping for baskets of berries and loaves of fresh bread along the way.  Oh, and some huckleberry jam.

Sunset, barefoot walk on the beach.

The sun just dipped below the horizon.

There's a fire in the fireplace.

The rice cooker is bubbling away, wafting sweet brown jasmine across my laptop.

I'm suspecting late night laughter and the sound sleep that comes in the company of sisters. Morning java overlooking the Pacific from our 3rd floor deck.

Oh, did I mention we have our spa dates all lined up for tomorrow? 

Assembling food and fuel to pack into cooler and boxes for our camping trip to Yosemite! From the upcoming Fit Food Quickies™ Cookbook.

True to my promise to report in on how I fueled the heady and grueling ascent to the top of Half Dome n Yosemite last week (see How A Busy Woman Trains To Climb Yosemite's Half Dome) I'm here to report that we did the whole darn thing on our usual, easy prep fare.

That means piles of plants and potatoes, big bowls of grain, fistfuls of fruit, beautiful grainy breads and colorful beans, and a few nuts and seeds thrown in for fun, flavor, and rib-sticking gusto for long days of hiking.

Eating this way for years has defied the "need lots of protein for muscle and energy" myth that I've seen disproven over and over again.  As a matter of fact, the more I learn, the more it is clear that the very edibles we have been led to believe by the four food lobbies as "building strong bodies" can be crippling to our health and sap our vitality.

Cramming The Cooler

Packing for a 4-day camping trip, when you are used to lots of fresh and fibrous foods as we are, just takes a little more planning – and space – than the cheese and salami route.  Not a problem.  It took one giant cooler and 2 large cardboard boxes, along with my backpack brimming with sandwiches, apples, and snap peas  for the journey en route.

Along with and including  the starter staples as in the image at the top of the page, I packed:

• 2 quarts of brown rice that I cooked in the rice cooker and then froze as part of the "ice" for the cooler
• 1 dozen large fuji apples
• 2 dozen bananas
• several cups of steel cut oats and rolled oats
• raisens
• bag of grapes
• cans of cooked beans
• loaves of bread
• large bag of tomatoes
• jar of peanut butter and jam
• 2 bags baby carrots
• 2 giant bags of snap peas
• McDougall soup mixes – about a dozen
• Annie Chung noodle soup
• almond milk
• flax seed
• Lara Bars

A Day in the Menu

On our big trek day to Half Dome we had a typical day's eats.  As that is pretty fresh (shall we say emblazoned?) in my memory, let me run through the day.

Plant Powered to the top of Half Dome

Breakfast:

Our launch time out of camp was planned for 6:00 a.m., still flashlight time in Yosemite Valley, so I needed to prep breakfast the night before and store it in the bear locker.  I took a couple of cups of rolled oats, a handful of raisens, and soaked it in the pot overnight.  In the morning, a quick heating of same delivered two steamy, sweet bowls of grain which I topped with a full banana each, scoop of flash seed, sprinkle of sucanat, and splash of almond milk.  Full tanks, and ready!

For the hike I packed and we ate through the course of the 10 hour trek, round trip:

• two hummus, tomato, and avocado sandwiches  on sprouted grainy bread
• two peanut butter and banana sandwiches
• four giant fuji apples
• 4 lara bars

Of course, we packed several quarts of water.   As we neared the challenge of the last "sub dome" (I call it a pyramid, a giant stair-step process up to the base of the dome) and the haul up the cables themselves,  I ate my two apples to get more glycogen packed in my  muscles, already sponges to absorb more stored energy from the exertions early on.  This proved to be a good strategy as I never ran out of juice.  Just got a little winded.  After all, we were at nearly 9,000 feet.

Mission Accomplished!

Our arsenal of eats proved to be perfect for the day, we had enough to go on and even came back with a couple of the Lara Bars.   And ten hours later, after crashing into camp,  we caught our breath, and then treated ourselves to veggie burgers and salads at Yosemite Lodge.

What are your tricks for packing and eating healthy on the run or camping?  Share your ideas in comments below!

Triumph at the top of Half Dome

Terror grips your gut even before you slide up onto the near vertical granite wall you've got to glue your nose to if you want to haul yourself to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite.  Call it a summer highlight or sheer foolhardiness, but this week's ascent of Half Dome ranks as one of lifetime's peak experiences.

The crazy journey to summit Half Dome begins with an over-eight-mile hike (yes, that's one way!) and UP nearly 5,oo0 feet of steep mountain trails,  with the most challenging leg – hauling yourself up the cables with sheer arm strength and purpose of will to the top – the last.

The cables. Straight up. Here I go.

We hoofed it out of base camp at 6:15 a.m., steeled by a cup of courage and giant, steamy bowl of oats and bananas.  Backpacks crammed with water bottles and a full arsenal of eats (more on food and fuel in another post), we layered up against the 4,000 ft. elevation Sierra cold, fully mindful that the day's trek would more than double our elevation, with the Half Dome summit hovering at just under 9,000 ft.

How Does a Busy Woman Train For This One?

What kind of hours do you imagine you might need to get into this kind of shape?

Truth is, with just 2 tweaks to my usual, time-minimized workout routines for busy women, I was primed for the job.

How 27  Minutes Of Workout Time Got Me To The Top

Believe it or not, my weekly workout routine time – totaling 3  1/2 hours/week overall – that averages out to about 27 minutes a day – did the trick.  Here are the key pieces that put me, literally, over the top.

1)  Burst Training: I knew, looking ahead to the Half Dome climb, that I would need explosive bursts of energy to meet the demands of clawing up the cables the last portion of the climb.  I not only kept up with my 3x a week 15 minute Burst Training (see my FREE Fitness Breakthrough Kit for complete instructions and schedule), but I added one more 60-second burst.  Still did the whole bit in 15 minutes per session.

With Greg at the top of Half Dome, west horizon

2) I added pull-ups: Using my ballet bar as fitness toy, I added  2 – 3 sets of 15 reps per week.  With my feet on the floor, body in table position and an overhand bar grip, this move strengthens arms, shoulders and back – really targeting the lats in a big way – for the task ahead:  Pulling my body weight UP those cables, with feet as stabilizers and back up.

3)  Quad strengtheners: Thigh Warriors, Fit Quickie #6, has proved to be my best friend in building rock-solid thighs and were my ace in the hole on this one.  I did my usual routine on this one, just making sure I pushed my limits each time.  (How low can you go?)

4)  I kept up the calf work: Knowing that gecko-style climbing and holds on vertical faces demand strong calves, my usual calf-raise routine did the trick.

5)  Glutes and hamstrings: Fit Quickie #6, Gorgeous Glutes and Hamstrings are a mainstay of my workout schedule and proved to be excellent prep.  Incredibly, I came back without a sore fiber in my backyard.

Here's The Best Part

The same targeted body-shapers that I've come to love for the feel and look they create turned out to be the very best tools for building the body I needed for undergoing the strength challenges of the Half Dome quest.

And when you think about it, this makes perfect sense.  At least for the cable-climb portion of the journey, extreme demand on muscles held under tension was critical to prepare for.

Later, at moonrise from Glacier Point, Half Dome floating in the background

Much of the time was spent hovering in bent knee position, calves and quads tensed for the hold.  Arms, doing same, with short pause points at crossbars on the granite face, following by explosive seconds to the next landing.

As it turned out, I had the wind, the arms, the back and the legs to do it.  And make it back the full 16+ mile hike round trip, hitting camp once again after 4:00 that afternoon. And all on my focused, minimized workout schedule.  Yahoo!

Next time I'll tell you all about how I fueled for this one.  This may surprise you, too!

Did you notice how trim Bill looked in Chelsea's wedding photos? With the motivation of his daughter's recent wedding festivities still in clear memory, Mr. President Bill Clinton is on a trajectory to stay trim So far he's down 20 pounds.

According to Clinton, Regular exercise and a near-vegetarian, plant-based diet are at the core of his program to "ensure he gets to enjoy any future grandchildren".

A far cry from the days Mr. Clinton used to pop into a burger joint for a Big Mac break while on a jog loop from the Oval Office.  You go, Mr. President!

John McDougall, M.D., Lani Muelrath

Lively debate (they don't agree on everything). Spirited discussion (everyone kept their sense of humor). And perhaps surprisingly (there were plenty of eggheads in the mix) clear education.

The Advanced Study Weekend (ASW) proved to be thrice its weight in information gold.  If you wanted solid, don't-give-me-hype-or-quack nutrition science, that is.  Something you can wrap your head around AND sink your teeth into.  Literally.

The presenters roster read like a Who's Who from my nutrition bookshelf and web archives;  Dean Ornish, John Robbins, Dr. John McDougall, Jeff Novick, RD, Doug Lisle, author of The Pleasure Trap.  And that was just for starters.

Everyone proved to be heavy on thought provoking to entertaining, and usually both.  Everything from McDougall to Piraro.  Yes, Bizarro's Dan Piraro, long time animal welfare advocate was our Saturday night entertainment.

The program was intense, with barely breathing space between sessions.  But that didn't stop the McDougall camp from preparing endless, bountiful buffets for each and every meal.  What an unimaginable treat to be able to dive into a food line and not have to ask after what the cook might have dumped into the pot.  Yes, it matters.

You see, the delicious never quit. Besides a colorful salad bar and all the veggies you could

Catching up with John Robbins, Diet for a New America

ask for, there were potatoes (mashed or baked or latkes?  You name it!), pizza, lasagna, shepherd's pie mountains of salsa and bowls of gravy and dressings, burritos, and hey – a dessert table with brownies and ice cream.  Nothing with a face or a mother anywhere.  Nothing swimming in oil to spoil your figure and yet keep your appetite unsatisfied. Eating this way, hungry and full can be your guide.  Just like it should be.

As a matter of fact, true to form, I ate my fill.  And, um, not the 80% rule, more like the 110% rule because I was having such a ball NOT being the cook.  My attitude was "More of everything!"

With just a few shy of a dozen guest speakers with varying opinions, you might think that a "nutrition" weekend would close leaving you with more questions than answers.  Certainly, the presentations opened new windows of thought opportunity.

Dr. Dean Ornish shared about the Medicare win: inclusion of the Ornish program for heart disease

Yet I came away with new respect and reinforcement for what I have found to be an optimal diet for fitness, staying trim, excellent energy, and vitality to match.  It's the foundation of the eating guidelines you recognize from my Booty Camps.

Whole foods.  Mountains of quality whole grains or starchy vegetables with piles of veggies.  Throw on a cup of beans or legumes for the day, and decorate it with a couple of fruits.  Sprinkle on some nuts or seeds.  Save all the rest for decoration, condiment, or feast occasions. There you have it.

For a  review of the weekend events and a slide show of the headliners to boot, go to my Healthy Living Column at examiner.com.

You'll find the slide show at the end of the article, just click on one of the photos and click your way through.

With Bizarro's Dan Piraro right after his show tonight

Another AMAZING day here at the Advanced Study Weekend in Santa Rosa.   Since yesterday's check in, I already have about 5 more stories to tell.  And it's so late I really should just turn out the light and catch some zzzs but there's such a full agenda again tomorrow, the backlog will be enormous!

Let's start with the end of the day. Dan Piraro of Bizarro fame had us rolling in the aisles with his after-dinner show tonight.  Briefly?  A hilarious life story told in slides, and a take-no-prisoners jump right into a boatload of Bizarro cartoons with Piraro's strong environmental and humanitarian vegan message.  You've seen it in his work.  We got to see a pile of them all at once with inside anecdotes and spontaneous hilarity.

Dr. Michael Greger, US Humane Society

Other stories from today?  Oh, man!  Where to start?

Breakfast with Dr. Michael Greger (left), Director of the Humane Society of the U.S.  Full of energy and ready to go with an amazing arsenal of research reports from the Clinical Journals, Michael educated and entertained us TWICE today with a wildly informative and entertaining presentation which he delivered game show style.

The facts and jokes were so fast and furious I didn't have time to keep up with my notes!

Dr. John McDougall took stage early today with a jam-packed presentation about diet and Multiple Sclerosis.  Deeply woven into the presentation was his work with Dr. Roy Swank, his mentor and inspiration from decades ago, who pioneered investigative research into the connection between diet and M.S.  A moving, and quite technical  presentation, though quite clear, in Dr. McD's usual well-illustrated style.

Dr. Daphine Miller delivered a fascinating and colorful piece about her work The Jungle Effect: The Healthiest Diets from Around the World.

Daphine Miller and John McDougall grab some chat time before her sho

Daphine traveled all over the world spending time in medical practice, volunteer work, and pure investigation to find out the health secrets of selected cultures and discovered several commonalities:  whole foods, simple traditional edibles from their gardens and farms, sense of community, and simplicity.

She had some amazing photographs from Peru, Crete, Camaroon, Iceland, and more.

More surprises! I shared a meal with Ann and Larry Wheat (below) , owners of Millenium (world famous vegan restaurant in San Francisco!) 

Their restaurant (long-standing success at 16 years and running!) according to the buzz is THE place to go for a good meal in San Francisco, no matter what your dietary persuasion.  I've got a copy of their menu and more details so that I can put together a great feature for my Healthy Living San Francisco column at examiner.com.  Watch for that!

Oh!  Millenium chef Stephanie Boston did a LIVE cooking presentation with Savory South Indian Breakfast Foods.  And passed around samples.  Indian food?  BIG fan.  Perfect.

Jeff Novick, R.D., amazed us all with his presentation on "Nuts and Health:  What the Science Really Says".  How he gets all the facts from the papers organized into simple graphs, logical interpretation, and with his usually entertaining and humorous flair is always impressive.

More to tell but it's almost tomorrow and we start EARLY around here.  Tomorrow Dr. Dean Ornish, Doug Lisle, John Robbins, more Jeff Novick and John McDougall and Hans Diehl.  Whew!

With the adorable Jeff Novick, R.D., my Nutrition Consultant

The McDougall Advanced Study Weekend is underway!  Minutes after my arrival I ran smack dab into Jeff Novick, RD, my Better Bodies for Busy Women Nutrition Consultant.  Jeff is on the weekend's agenda with 2 presentations.  First, he'll be presenting the findings from his recent research and paper on "Nuts and Health:  What The Science Really Says".  And I can't wait to hear his "Calorie Density" presentation once more.  Always enlightening – and funny.

Dr. McDougall opened the conference with a presentation based on his brilliant paper on colonoscopy – of course after all kinds of good humor about "pre-dinner" topic choice!

Dinner was amazing, and I had the privilege of sitting at the reserved Forums table along with Jeff (Nutrition Expert at McDougall Health and Medical Center) and several other friends from forums.

Reservations! Table for forum friends (l to r) Linda, Terri, moi, and Jim (see Jim's story in video lower on page)

I think we all went back for seconds. Well, at least I did, and I wasn't the only one elbowing the fast-flying trays of veggie lasagna.  Oh, and there was Shepherd's Pie, yams with peanut sauce, summer squash, all the salad, beans, and other fixin's you could want, 2 kinds of soup, tabouleh, and oh! ice cream and brownies for dessert.  And I didn't have to cook a minute!  Ya- hooooo!

THEN (I can't believe how much has happened already) I met Ann Wheat, owner of the very, VERY famous Millenium Restaurant in San Francisco.  I'll track her down tomorrow for more conversation.

Off to evening festivities then with Dr. Hans Diehl, the creator of the brilliant CHIP program – Coronary Health Improvement Program – that has changed the lives of tens of thousands all over the country through a specific curriculum that teaches

eat foods AS they are grown – and exercise, stress reduction, and balanced living.  I've been wanting to meet Dr. Diehl since presenting at the local CHIP program and seeing the impact of this powerful program.

Tomorrow's itinerary is jam packed.  And of course more great food!

"Health isn't everything, but without it, everything is nothing"  ~ Arthur Shopenhauer.