If it is early in the morning allow yourself about 30 minutes before you start to workout to eat something like ½ of a pink grapefruit.  You can use a packet of Stevia or local honey to sweeten it.

Post Workout Tips
After you have finished a workout your body’s blood sugar has dropped and you are on empty.  If you don’t eat quickly your body will crash.

If you don’t give your body food high in protein in will begin to take protein from your muscles, which is what you don’t want to happen.  So instead, try 1 cup of Trader Joes’ Non-Fat Yogurt or 1 cup of Greek Yogurt like Fage or Oikos.  Add in ¼ cup of Bear Naked Peak Protein Granola.  That will give you about 25g of Protein.

You should eat this about 30-45 mins after your workout.  The next thing you should be consuming is a meal.

Let me preface this article by saying this is not a shot to anyone that runs slow, LOL.  I know you are wondering where I am going with this, so keep reading.  Many of you know the story of the tortoise and the hare.  Like the Hare, it seems that many of us want the results but face either 1 of 2 problems.

1. We want them quickly.  Sometimes overnight.
2. We are disillusioned about the hard work it takes to get the results we want.

1. Did I put this weight on in just 4 weeks? NO
2. Is it safe for me to lose this much weight in so little time? NO
3. Is all weight loss good? NO  (Fat Loss is great, but Muscle loss is not so great)
4. In the past when I lost a lot of weight did I put it back on? YES

My goal for this article is to provide a little education about stress and a lot of encouragement for increasing your coping skills and improving your ability to manage stress. But, before we get into managing stress, first we need to understand it. A friend of mine gives what she calls a “whiteboard talk” on stress – in other words, the key points you need to know. I’ve included a few of the most important ones here. If you’ve already got the background, skip this section. If not, definitely read it – you’ll be glad you did. If you would like more on the subject of stress, send me a note and I’ll consider a more in-depth educational piece for a future newsletter.

Managing Stress

I’ve always believed that we can improve our stress management skills if we only attend to four things: exercise, nutrition, sleep, and prayer. These will remain my top four, but there are others to consider. Here are 6 key ideas for improving your coping skills and your ability to manage the stress in your life.

Start with physical conditioning.  If you struggle with this, then do it first thing in the morning (5 am or 6 am). Get a trainer, attend a class, set goals, listen to great music, find a workout accountability partner, or get involved in a competition.  We just celebrated the completion of our NuBody Boot Camp Spring Challenge and this year’s winner was Kimberly Kraut. She decreased her body fat, increased her pushups (over 140 straight), and drastically improved her core strength all because of her complete commitment to health and fitness.  Kimberly’s “all-in” attitude contributed to her first place achievement and the $500 prize money. But, the longest lasting effect of this level of commitment is the impact it will have on her physical and mental health. That’s the real prize.

Make sound nutritional choices.  Eat like a king or queen in the morning, a prince or princess at noon and a pauper at night. Follow a plan like Racheal Keesee, who has lost over 30lbs on our Nutrition Is Easy program. Plan ahead for trouble zones: air travel, late night hotel arrivals, lunch and dinner presentations that cause you to miss a meal, etc. Pack some meal replacement bars. Research restaurants that offer healthy options. A great idea I heard from a client is to refuse the menu (too many temptations) and order without one. Ask for simple fish, grilled chicken or petite lean steak prepared without oil or butter, lots of steamed veggies, and a side salad without dressing. Request dressings or sauces served in a very small portion on the side (or not at all) and you can’t go wrong!

Get a good night’s sleep. So many adults have trouble sleeping… insomnia, sleep apnea, the list goes on. Nothing lowers our stress threshold faster than lack of sleep. How much sleep do you get? If you are a 5-hour a night sleeper, I challenge you to get 6 or 7. If you are a 10-hour a night sleeper, I challenge you to exercise more. A healthy adult should not need 10 hours a night. Here’s a good rule: go to sleep relaxed and you will wake relaxed. That means turn off the computer 30 minutes before going to bed, disconnect from all electromagnetic waves that can actually disrupt the quality of your sleep, put some lavender on the pillow, read a great book before retiring to bed, take a hot bath, or just listen to some soft, relaxing music. (Now, that’s stress management!)

Create “holy” time.  This is time for YOU.  Read, pray, meditate, listen to great music, but take time to nourish your soul. How often do the words, “I don’t have time to think” come from your lips? Hit the pause button daily and feed your mind with words and music that lift you up. We cope better with the reality of today when we have faith that tomorrow will be brighter.  I like to have “holy” time in the AM before my day starts up, but the bottom line is just get it in.

Learn to say no. Nothing reduces stress faster than turning off the flow of demands you require of yourself. And, while you’re at it, take some time off!  Start small if you have to (half-days, three-day weekends), but be warned! Vacations are addictive.  We all need more  “down” time.  A quiet afternoon, a lazy Sunday, a road trip… It won’t be long before you’re hooked and happier than ever.

Surround yourself with positive people. Research tells us that a strong and loving support system is highly effective in improving our abilities to cope with life stresses. Feeling low or overwhelmed? Phone or visit a friend. Invite a neighbor to go for a walk. Share your life with others and remember the power of laughter – it is the best medicine. Stay connected with the people who lift your spirits. Thank them for the impact they have on your life.

We can’t completely remove stress from our lives. The good would go out with the bad. We need some stress in order to perform at our best. What we don’t need is excess stress – more stress than we can cope with successfully. Most of us struggle with life balance. We are challenged daily by professional and personal demands. The goal is to know our personal threshold for stress and to do our best not to exceed it. For me, the many hats I wear (business owner, leader, trainer, mentor, manager, presenter, coach, etc.) often pull me in opposite directions. Added to this, my role demands that I am “on” all the time for everyone.  So, just like you, I seek peak performance but sometimes exceed my threshold for stress, and I too can suffer the consequences. For me, my back and my hydration levels are my barometer for stress and they will often let me know when my stress level is too high.  If I listen and pay attention, I am fine.  I will go to bed earlier than normal, get a massage, get in a great workout, relax with a good book, or just stop to spend more time with the people I love.  If I don’t listen, it could literally put me flat on my back and force me to slow down.

Stand: 20 minutes

Makes: 8 servings

1  cup fresh or thawed frozen corn

¼  cup finely chopped red bell pepper

2  tablespoons chopped chives

1  tablespoon finely chopped shallot

1   tablespoon finely chopped seeded jalapeno

1  tablespoon cider vinegar

1  teaspoon olive oil

1/8  teaspoon salt

1/8  teaspoon pepper

Stir together all of the ingredients; let stand at least 20 minutes before serving.

Serving Size:  ¼ cup

Calories                  25

Fat  1g (0g Sat; 0g Mono; 0g Poly)

Cholesterol  0mg

Protein  1g

Carbs  5g

Sugars  1g

Fiber  1g

Iron  0mg

Sodium  1mg

Calcium  3mg

Recipe from Health Magazine June 2010

Neuromuscular Therapy (NMT)

Neuromuscular Massage is a very detailed massage of muscles, tendons, ligaments, connective tissue, etc. Precise massage therapy releases problem areas that are missed by general massage.

Neuromuscular massage techniques often use the thumbs or fingertips to explore tissues in detail. Elbows or forearms are also used, when necessary. Tense muscles often form bands of muscle fibers even tighter than the rest. These are areas of hypertonicity and ischemia. Searching thoroughly, I can feel bands of tight muscle fibers; the areas that are in the most trouble. These are found and treated until they release.

Neuromuscular Therapy has grown to include treatment of the craniosacral system, joints, connective tissues and internal organs. Problems in any body system can create high-intensity nerve impulses that stimulate muscles to contract, leading to pain.

Sports massage can be used as a means to enhance pre-event preparation and reduce recovery time for maximum performance during training or after an event.  Athletes have discovered that specially designed massage promotes flexibility, removes fatigue, improves endurance, helps prevent injuries, and prepares them to compete at their absolute best.

The focus is on the deep layers of muscle tissue, tendons, and fascia (the protective layers surrounding muscles, bones and joints).

Unlike the Swedish Massage, where the strokes are with the grain of the muscle, a Deep Tissue Massage strokes are against the grain of the muscle.  The deep finger pressure may be slightly uncomfortable and can cause muscle soreness before reaching the desired relaxation and pain relief.

The muscles are rubbed with long gliding strokes in the direction of the blood returning to the heart.

Additional techniques include circular pressure applied by the hands and palms, firm kneading, percussion-like tapping, bending and stretching.

Lotion is used to reduce friction and stimulate the skin.

It is recommended that an average American consume 2,300 milligrams per day (the amount of one teaspoon of table salt) according to the Dietary Guidelines, but in fact, we consume about 1.5 times more sodium in a day than we should.  Over doing it leads to much greater health problems like high blood pressure which is a major cause of heart disease.  It also puts our body out of whack when it comes to balancing our need for potassium, calcium, magnesium or other nutrients.

Even if you don’t sprinkle your food with salt, you are still getting an unhealthy dose in processed foods and meals eaten outside of the home.  These contribute to about 80% of our dietary sodium.

Tips on how to reduce your salt intake:

• Lay off the Salt Shaker
• Pay attention to food labels and food ingredients
• Choose Lower-Sodium and No-Salt products
• Add fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products to your diet
• Stay away from items like soy sauce, cheese, and ham when you eat out

How do you recognize Salt hidden in food?  Look for these names for salt listed in the foods ingredients.

Processed Foods:  Sodium Citrate, Sodium Phosphate

Condiments & Seasonings:  monosodium glutamate, sodium nitrite, sodium saccharin, baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), and sodium benzoate

Table Salt:  Sodium Chloride