Tank Top Arms

LOOOOOOOVE the bosu!! Oh and by the way, I really like the bosu too :-) Have you heard of it? No it’s not a detox plan, or a dance move. It’s a ball. Well, a half ball. Actually, a half ball with a flat base. Oh geez, below is a bosu!The BOSU trainer, which means Both Sides Utilized, is designed to encourage muscle fiber recruitment. The unstable nature of the ball demands fiber recruitment in the muscles in order to maintain balance and support. Nowhere is this more on display than with leg workouts! This single piece of equipment is fantabulous and   can be added to any exercise routine through cardio, strength training, core, and flexibility. Once a week, I use this for my entire strength training session. Talk about burning calories! Not to toot my own horn, but I’ve gotten pretty darn good at flipping it upside down, and doing one legged squats and dead lifts with minimal movement. Yeah, I know…pretty cool :-)

You want some HOT legs? The bosu trainer will sculpt them bad girls into next year! Remember that your legs run from your tush all the way down to your ankles. Don’t kid yourself….real men like curves, and when the curves are toned, even better! Aside from legs, you can work on your upper body as well. Push-ups, shoulder presses, lat raises and core. Please, please please visit BOSU exercises!! This page has TONS of info on this magic tool. By far, it is one of my favorite pieces of equipment to use in the gym, at home and at the office. Not so easy to travel with, I admit, but the other three places covers most of us. I can confidently say that I don’t have any problems wearing my bathing suit without a lower cover. It’s true. I have seen such awesome changes in my legs. Not to mention my core too! I’ve incorporated so much balancing exercises in conjunction with legs on the bosu that not only is the tone there, but I feel so much stronger. And THAT’s a great feeling :-)

Have you ever known someone that you admired and/or looked up to, only to find something out about them that doubted what you knew about them? Today at the gym, I was talking to one of my friends who happens to be a trainer. She and I have had many conversations about anything and everything. One of our favorite topics happens to be fitness of course :-)

Anywhoooooo, we both have talked about and agreed on the ramifications that diet pills can have on a person and both of us have maintained that we do not use, nor do we promote the use of any diet pills to accelerate weight loss. Well, as she was getting ready to leave, her bag fell over from the bench and guess what rolled out of it? You got it…diet pills!! I couldn’t believe it! I called her out on it and she apologized to me over and over. Truth be told, I think she needs to come clean and apologize to her clients, not me! Clients pay good money to look up to someone they BELIEVE is living their life in a healthy and safe way. They seek accountability, motivation, support, knowledge and even friendship. To find out that your trainer is cheating to “stay fit” is a slap in the face in my opinion. Now don’t get me wrong, I drink protein shakes after a good strength training workout, so I’m not talking about that protein drinks. According to the FDA, an analysis of the ingredients in 72 over the counter products showed that they contained undeclared active pharmaceutical ingredients, including the controlled substance sibutramine, an appetite suppressant legally sold as the prescription drug Meridia; rimonabant, a drug not approved in the United States; phenytoin, an antiseizure medication; phenolphthalein, a suspected cancer-causing agent; and the diuretic bumetanide. No prescription drug—even a diet aid like  an appetite suppressant—should be taken without medical supervision. And because some of the products contained doses higher than the levels approved for prescription drugs, the risks are higher as well. Potential side effects are scary: seizures, heart attacks and strokes. So much for safe and natural.

I can’t stress enough about the importance of a healthy diet and plenty of exercise being the TWO key ingredients to living a healthy lifestyle. Getting “help” in a way that puts your body in danger is not smart. Let me put it to you this way….it’s down right STUPID! First of all, if you are not heavy to start with and are just looking to lose 5-10 pounds, I wouldn’t suggest to lose more than 1 pound per week. On top of that, the National Institute of Health recommends that you only lose up to 10% of your body weight for the first 6 months. If you can keep it off, THEN you can lose a few more pounds.

So if you read a label, or magazine ad, or internet ad, or whatever and the thing promises you to lose 30 pounds in 8 weeks, RUN!!!! Run far….you’ll be better off burning up those pounds that way anyhow :-)

THERE IS NO MAGIC PILL!!!!!

If YOU have any questions that you’re curious about, email me at tanktoparms@hotmail.com and look for the answers in the “Food For Thought Friday” posts!

Q: How important is 8 hours of sleep to your health? Just curious, because I think I’m falling behind.

A: Ahhhhh, the old “8 is enough”….or is it? Well, as most of us have grown up with hearing that we need 8 hours of sleep, for the most part it’s true. Getting enough zzz’s is very important to our health, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that EVERYONE can only function properly as long as you’re getting 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 hours of sleepy time. Sleep is an essential part of our lives. If we don’t get enough of it on a consistent basis, our bodies will give out on us.

Some people may find that they only need 5-6 hours of sleep to function properly, while others need 10-11 hours for optimal performance, so it’s safe to say that each person’s sleep requirement is different. To put it simply though, the average adult functions best with 7-8 hours of sleep a night. But remember, you should probably evaluate how you feel during the day to be certain that you are getting enough sleep at night.

Research has shown that when we don’t get enough sleep, there is an increased risk of diabetes, onset of weight gain, irritability, and your attention span is shorter. Among other things, your reflexes tend to be slower and depression could sneak up on you as you fatigue more and more. Get some rest!! Just be sure it’s the proper amount of rest that YOU need.

Q: What are your thoughts on Honey Therapy for allergies?

A: “Oh the allergies have been killing me!” That’s my daily spiel since Spring came around. I see the little cottonwood pollens floating in the air and I just want to hide! Rather than going the medicinal route, many people look to honey as an allergy remedy. Although there isn’t a whole lot of research for or against it, I can comfortably say that it is safe for the majority of people suffering from allergies.

Because local honey tends to have some of the same local allergens in the air, consuming honey actually helps to build your immunity to those same allergens. It works like this: the bees go from flower to flower, tree to tree, etc. when they go back to the hive and contribute their labors to make the honey, they themselves are covered in many of the same allergens that we suffer from. So consuming honey actually helps to build a slow immunity to these allergens, or so that is what is believed.

A word of caution to honey therapy: If you have never consumed honey, be careful because you may have an allergic reaction and not know it until you’ve eaten it. Try just a little bit of your local honey, like ½ teaspoon to see if there is any reaction. If not, you’re probably pretty safe. But you can always run this by your physician as well.

Q: How far do I have to jog to neutralize a small order of McDonald’s fries? What if I replace the jog with a walk? What if I replace the walk with sitting on the couch? Note: the fries cannot be substituted.

A: I’m going to answer this because it made me laugh! Too funny to pass up you know! Here’s the low down on the question: A small order of McDonalds fries has 231 calories, with a total of 11.5 g of fat, and 18% saturated fat. So, you will probably have to jog about 25-35 minutes, depending on your pace; longer time if you’re going at a slower pace, shorter time with a faster pace. If you’re walking, you’ll probably need to walk about 45 minutes to lose those 231 cals. If you’re sitting on the couch, make sure to have the remote close by because even getting up to change the channel won’t help you much! Enjoy the cheat treat!

Q: What are your thoughts on dietary supplements such as pills, smoothies, etc?

A: With one brow raised, I will answer this as honestly as possible. I take a supplement. It’s called a multivitamin. I also use 100% whey protein to make smoothies with. I never have been a big fan of supplement pills to lose weight, gain muscle, raise the metabolism, or to “burn fat”. For one, they aren’t FDA regulated. Nutritionists say most of us can skip taking vitamins altogether, as long as we’re eating a variety of healthy foods. But I know that I’m probably not getting ALL the vitamins and minerals I need from my diet, so that’s why I take a multivitamin. Go to RealAge to see the most important vitamins and minerals you should be looking for on that bottle.

There are so many different potential negative effects that your body can have from taking dietary supplements that you aren’t familiar with. Unfortunately in today’s society, we are bombarded with magazines, books, shows and internet ads that promote a “perfect” body whether you’re a woman or man. Marketers target desperate people that are looking for a quick fix. Many of these drugs have shown to increase heart rates to unsafe levels, raise cholesterol level as well as blood pressure. The liver, kidneys and pancreas tend to have difficulty processing these pills, but it takes a long time usually to see the side effects. By that time, the damage is done.

Smoothies can be a good source of energy and protein if you prepare them at home with raw foods and maybe a scoop of 100% whey protein. When we purchase smoothies from the outside, such as Jamba Juice, you may think that you’re getting a healthy dose of fruits for the day, but in reality you’re getting a ton of sugar and carbs. As I said earlier, if you prepare your drinks at home, you can make them so much healthier than if you buy it somewhere else. Personally, I use 100% Whey protein from Nectar (brand) in the vanilla bean flavor. I mix it with ¼ cup water, ½ cup skim milk, 1 scoop of protein powder, and I usually add ½ banana, or raspberries, or ½ papaya. For my multivitamin, I take Mega Woman Sport from GNC. Aside from that, I make sure to eat a really healthy diet 80% of the time so I can “cheat” with my food the other 20%.

Q: What are the health benefits of sex, red wine and dark chocolate…

A: Sex: Earlier I blogged a post all about the benefits of sex. Aside from burning about 85-100 calories in roughly 30 minutes (depending on how…ahem…vigorous it is), sex can help relieve tension, improve cardiovascular health and improve intimacy between you and your significant other. Other research has shown that sex can help relieve pain by producing oxytocin, slows the aging process and finally it can help reduce the risk of breast cancer!

Red wine: drinking it in moderation, red wine can have some pretty significant positive effects on our bods. The University of Bordeaux found that moderate wine consumption (about 2 glasses a day) was associated with a 30% reduction in the death rate from all causes; a 35% percent reduction in death rates from cardiovascular disease; and an 18-24% reduction in death rates from cancer. Aside from all the news of chronic illness risk decreasing with red wine consumption, there are also anti-aging effects in red grape skins.

Dark chocolate: According to the Mayo clinic, eating small amounts (notice I didn’t say candy bars every day) of dark chocolate everyday can offer some health benefits. Flavonoids are a naturally occurring antioxidant that is found in teas, red wine and some fruits and veggies. These same flavonoids are found in the deliciousness of dark chocolate. They have been associated with having a good effect on the heart by lowering blood pressure by a couple of points for both the systolic (top) and diastolic (bottom) numbers. Bon apetit!!

How many different commercials, magazine ads, computer pop-up ads and books can you think of that offer you the opportunity  to lose inches or even 50 pounds in two days??? I’m exaggerating of course, but you get the point. The truth is, there is no magic pill….but…you did know that already right? Please say you already knew that.

It’s amazing to me how many people, especially women, still fall for this gimmick. You know, I used to like Jillian Michaels from the Biggest Loser, but she’s really chapped my hide with the recent push for supplements that promise to make you lose weight. I’ve never been a trainer that pushed pills or any specific diet like Atkins or South Beach to name a couple. I like to keep in good fitness health the old fashioned way, through a healthy diet and physical activity at least 80% of the time. Many times, there are long term affects with these “promised” solutions. For example, the American Heart Association states: “Individuals who follow this diet (Atkins) are at risk for compromised vitamin and mineral intake, as well as potential cardiac, kidney, bone, and liver abnormalities overall.” Low carb diets like the Atkins diet may also hasten the onset of type II diabetes. Yikes!! That’s some scary crap people!!

Every New Year’s, millions of people claim that THIS will be the year of shedding those unwanted pounds. “And I’m going to do with hard work….I’m marching myself to the nearest GNC and buying my weight loss!” Yeah. Right. Just doesn’t work that way. Let me rephrase that, it just doesn’t work in a HEALTHY way. These may be temporary fixes, but only contribute to health problems or frustrations at  the end as you may see the weight come back when you get off the diet or supplement.

Lifestyle changes are the best way to lose weight and keep it off. Creating a habit of eating well and being active each day will become a lifestyle change. Did you know that it takes 21 days for something become a habit? Now, I truly do understand that some people have a hard time to lose weight through diet and exercise; I’m not denying that. When that happens, there may be an impending visit to the doc or maybe a registered dietician to see if there is something you may be missing. Perhaps a thyroid problem or very slow metabolism. But for those of you who really haven’t tried as best as you can, are you really struggling? Be honest with yourself please. Denial will get you nowhere.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) states that we should be getting at least 150 minutes of vigorous exercise each week. That breaks down to 30 min each day for only 5 days! That’s the minimum to keep your heart healthy. Now to lose weight, you should really be expending energy for approximately 60-90 minutes each day with one or two days rest. You don’t have to spend the 90 minutes all at once either. Don’t forget you strength training too.

Keeping a journal of your daily physical activity can help too. If you don’t have a personal trainer, this is a great tool to have and it acts as accountability as well (it just won’t yell at you :) In this journal, you can also keep a log of what your feeding yourself. Now THAT can be an eye opener. We usually don’t think of all the “little” snacks we grab on the go, or those 3 peanut M&M’s you just ate….oh….that was me. Anyway, my point is that you have to be completely honest with yourself, and when you decide to do that, you will start to see the change.

You may encounter a plateau. Damn those last 5 pounds!!!!! Curse you!!!!! Ok, ok, settle down now. If you ONLY had the option of losing weight either through exercise or your diet, do you know which one would win? The diet. Ultimately, if you want to achieve the lean physique and toned muscles, eating a clean diet is what will push you over the edge. So be patient. It takes roughly 6 weeks to really start seeing results if you’ve got maybe 15-20 pounds to lose. Remember that the more weight you have to lose (the heavier you are), the faster you will see results. Don’t get discouraged if you hit a wall. We all do. I’ve hit walls, but punched through them.  Stay focused and put your heart into it because at the end, it will thank you!!

If you’re brave, you can take a “before” picture. Place it somewhere that you can see, albeit a private place. Remind yourself that it DOES NOT have to be Jan 1 to start your weight loss goals. It can be Cinco de Mayo or October 25 for pete’s sake! Who cares!! Just don’t use the “New Year’s resolution” as an excuse to wait for your makeover.

Make it happen. YOU, can make it happen!

This is about 10 minutes long, but so worth it if you’re looking for a good laugh for the day! I’ll repost this in the Funny Bone tab as well. Ciao!

Sorry, sorry sorry!! I have been lurking behind school books, indoor soccer window panes, behind desks, in and out of Sacramento and I’m still going! Obviously I haven’t been able to keep up my end of the bargain when I said I wouldn’t let more than 2 days go in between posts. What I meant to say was that I would let 22 days go in between posts….of course I’m joking. So basically I’ve been so busy up to my armpits that I neglected one of my favorite things…my website. *sigh*

So I thought I would just slap some info together for you in lieu of leaving you wondering what the heck I’ve been up to, and then we can just move on. Sound good? Good.

First off I wanted to share with you that I FINALLY did a yoga class! Remember how it was one of my New Year’s resolutions? In case you didn’t know, Yoga has actually stressed me out in the past when I’ve tried it. I’m more of a kickboxing, boot camp, Krav Maga girl, so the s..l…o……..w static positions drive me batty. But I wanted to give it one more try. Perhaps it was the instructor that really made it a great experience for me. Or maybe it was the fact that I didn’t give a flip about how stupid I looked in class, so I was able to relax more this time. At any rate, I was so sore the next two days!! It was awesome! Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to go back because I had to work during that time slot, but at least I want to, right? But for now, even though I don’t have the “best” yoga form, I can still hold my balance pretty well, AND with one foot in the sand!Now I have to tell you this story because it’s funny…and it’s about me. Sometimes we need to laugh at ourselves, especially when we have stressful things going on in our lives. So I’m at the gym the other day and I get on the elliptical trainer for about 20 minutes. Truth be told, I got bored, but I wasn’t done working out, so I decided to shoot some hoops. Yes…basketball. Those of you that know me pretty well know how much I REALLY like watching basketball. I enjoy watching most sports and get very vocal too, but I like basketball the most. Anyway, I’m in the gym and I figure that I’ll shoot hoops and do some drills for cardio for about another 20-30 minutes. For every basket I make, I will do 10 jumping jacks and ten pushups. It was official. The basketball gods has placed a forcefield AROUND the entire darn basket!!! I am not kidding people! It got so ridiculous that I was laughing hard, to myself, and the 4 yr olds that were in there for the childcare were even laughing every time the ball hit the board or I air balled it. I think they thought I was doing it on purpose and playing around with them. I had a good laugh, let me tell ya :-D

But I stayed. And the moral of the story is that I didn’t quit, no matter how bad I was. Then there’s my allergies. *another sigh* Are any of you familiar with this? Oh my gosh, if there is one thing I really miss about being in Hawaii is the fact that I never had allergies. They’ve hit me like a ton of bricks, or mold for that matter. I’m always itching my throat, scratching my eyes, wiggling my nose and sneezing. Blah! So that has slowed me down a little bit, but not too bad.

Regarding my cholesterol: THANK YOU for all of you who have inquired and sent me good wishes on this. It was all very sweet :-) All the good joojoos that came my way paid off too! I recently had it checked again and I’m now at 191! Yay!! I admit I was eating a lot more shrimp before, so I cut that out a lot….amost completely for a while to see if that could have been the culprit and I think it may have been. So I’m happy to report that according to my results and doc, I’m not going to be keeling over anytime soon due to clogged arteries and cholesterol. My HDL’s (good cholesterol) were still at 79, so that was great news. Many of the comments have been, “how can you have high cholesterol with how much you work out?” Well guys and gals, it just goes to show that sometimes we can have genetic dispositions (like in my case) and then adding shrimp to the mix isn’t a good idea! No seriously, I do have a genetic disposition in which my body produces more cholesterol than what is being removed. So, I have to take extra precautions to keep that in check. Check out the video on  How cholesterol clogs your arteries. It’s an eye opener!

School is kicking my booty this term. Thank goodness I only have 5 classes left. Or is it 4, or I think 3 actually. * double sigh* I can’t think sTrAiGhT. Either way, I’m almost done thank God. Classes are really busy right now, but I must toot my own horn for a second and say that I’m very proud to have a 3.78 GPA right now! My son asked me the other day, “mom, are you going to get your P.h.D. after your done with your Master’s?” to that I replied, “I’m not sure, but if I do, it won’t be for a while, why?” And he said, “Oh good, because I miss spending time with you”. [guilt trip] At this point I have a blank stare and I hear violins playing in the background. I was bummed, but at least he knows that I work hard in whatever it is I set my mind to, so hopefully he and his sister will catch that fever.

Well, except for all the other little boring details, this is really the big stuff that stuck out in my clouded mind at the moment. Little stuff include: My son wants to start triathlon training now with me in May, I want to start taking photography more seriously, I’ll be renewing and testing again for my personal training certs in June,  work is really picking up as I’ll be traveling outside of CA, I’m now a newly certified level I phlebotomist, my daughter is playing basketball and indoor soccer, my sister is graduating with her Masters in May so I’ll be flying out to DC for that, my car is dirty and I have to fold some laundry now.

Have a great day, afternoon or evening…whatever time it is wherever you are at :-) See you again soon!

How long would you need to exercise to lose weight if you’re 25, 35, 40 or even over 50?

The only thing that I emphasize as far as age groups go within adulthood is that men over 40 and women over 50 should talk to their provider before starting an exercise program if they have been sedentary. In erring on the safer side, if a person is obese and even under those ages, again I would recommend they talk to their provider.

30 minutes a day is a MINIMUM recommendation for a person in a healthy weight range to get benefits from exercise. Simply put though, in order to reduce the risk of chronic disease as adults, you need to engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity which you should consider to be above your usual activity that you do from work or home on most days of the week. Of course you will benefit from more intense workouts for a longer period of time. Remember as in posts before, it does not have to be all at once. But for weight loss, maximizing your calorie and fat burning during exercise is very important!! Comprende??

Getting into your target heart rate zone for weight loss is very important! If you are in fact in your target heart rate zone for a longer period of time, you will be able to lose weight at a more efficient rate say if you did vigorous exercise for 45-60 min as opposed to a moderate walk for 90 minutes, regardless if you are 35 or 75 years old. There are a few ways of determining your target heart rate for weight loss, but the best way and easiest way to determine your target heart rate (as I do for clients) is to take your age and subtract your age from 220. This is what is called your maximum heart rate. When doing a cardio workout, you can maximize your calorie burn by working out within 70-80% of your maximum heart rate and sustaining that rate for about 20-25 min. To determine this number, simply multiply .70 x your maximum heart rate and .80 x your maximum heart rate. This will give you the optimal range for cardio workouts. So I’ll use my age with this for example:

220-35= 185 (my maximum heart rate)

.70 x 185= 129.5

.80 x 185= 148

Target heart rate: 129- 148 (approximately) so 148 would be 80% of my MHR for example

Just remember to engage in approximately 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity activity on most days of the week while not exceeding caloric intake requirements to lose weight. To sustain weight loss, try to get in at least 60 to 90 minutes of daily moderate-intensity physical activity while not exceeding caloric intake requirements.

As a side note, you will have to increase your level of intensity to    maintain your target heart rate for weight loss because your heart  is getting more fit as you exercise!

Have fun :-)

Ah. The good old stability ball. I love this thing. I actually had one instead of a regular office chair back in Hawaii. Yes, I used it to sit on..and bounce on when I was being goofy. What can I say? Sometimes it was slow. Anyway, that’s besides the point.

The stability ball is an excellent tool to have at home, the office or to use at the gym. It originated from physical therapy and rehab, but it’s potential was seen as benefiting the general paopulation as well. There are many different ways to use it in order to target different areas of your body. Most people associate it with strengthening the core muscles (abs and back). But we can’t forget that you can also target the quads, hamstrings, glutes (butt), and chest! Folks, Spring is here and we are just around the corner for summer…in other words, bikini season! Or board shorts, one piece, t-shirt, whatever it is that you soak up the sun in.

If you didn’t know, stability balls come in different sizes. In general, the taller you are, the larger the ball you want. It’s really important to find a ball that fits you properly to help avoid risk of injury.  This table summarizes the general ball size appropriate for your height and how tall it is (the diameter) when it’s fully inflated.

You can find these balls almost anywhere these days such as Wal-Mart, Target, Sams Warehouse, Costco, and any sports store. Prices range anywhere from $14-$35, depending on the quality and place you get it at. But personallly speaking, I bought mine for $15 and it has lasted me years.

ONWARD TO THE EXERCISES!!!!………

1. Push-up on the ball. Start off with 5 reps, and work your way up to 2 sets of 15. Targets your arms, chest, shoulders, and core muscles.
2. Squat with the ball. Start with 5 reps and work up to 12. Rest for 30 seconds and do another set. Targets your quads, glutes
3. Overhead squat with a ball. Keep your arms lifted as you do 12 to 15 squats.
4. Ball Pass. Continue to pass the ball back and forth from your hands to your legs 10 to 12 times.
5. Bridges. Strengthens the lower back and hamstrings. Start with 8-10 reps.

These five exercises are a great start if you haven’t used a stability ball before. Remember to take it slow and make sure to have plenty of room around you. Doing these exercises take up more room than you might think!

Aside from using the ball for exercises, you will learn that this sphere is truly a diamond in the rough!

There are many benefits of training with stability balls. Here are just some of them:

• Promotes muscular balance
• Increases postural awareness
• Improves balance and coordination
• Allows you to work through a greater range of motion than you can with many traditional exercises
• Targets your core muscles
• Strengthens and tones your muscles
• Provides dynamic exercises for your entire body
• Strengthens weaker muscles
• Improves kinesthetic awareness and helps prevent injury
• It’s portable and inexpensive
• It can be used anywhere

I hope that I’ve given you enough info and motivation here to get on the ball! Good luck and have fun!!!

Today was another day at work. Pretty routine as far as doing blood pressure measurements, cholesterol checks, glucose screenings for diabetes and of course health coaching. As so, there were a couple of times during the day where we had a few lulls and we would walk around…organize the education pieces…talk with other health educators, and so on.

Well, at some point, I decided that, “hey, I want to check my cholesterol just to see where it’s at”. I mean really, I’m pretty fit, I eat healthy foods and have a consistent blood pressure reading of 106/69….what could go wrong, right?????

I waited the normal 6-7 minutes that it takes for the blood to be read and like an easy bake oven, the beep went off. My co-worker turned the machine towards me and as I casually (and confidently) read the numbers, I couldn’t believe my eyes. 241. That’s it. I saw 241. I looked at her, then looked at it again and I saw 241. Did I mention that it was 241?

Oh My GOSH!!! I knew that I was somewhat border-lined due to a genetic disposition, but I had never even gone over the recommended max of 200, and yet here I am, fit as a fiddle, health nut mom and owner of a health coaching company and I was just sideswiped with a 241 cholesterol reading! *sigh* but I digress. What to do, what to do.

This is a perfect time (I think) to not only say, “I told you so,..I’m NOT superwoman”, but to also engage you on the topic of cholesterol. It’s an important number to know for your overall health. Cholesterol builds up in your arteries along the walls, similar to how a drain slowly gets clogged up over time until water can’t get through it anymore. Eventually if it gets totally clogged up, your heart can’t do it’s job and you have a massive coronary and bye-bye (shock factor). But just because you get a high reading, doesn’t mean you’re about to pop like a kernel and drop dead, but it’s a pretty good idea to know what it is so that you can do something about it if you do happen to pull a high number. 
First things first: what exactly is cholesterol? Well, in a nutshell, it’s a waxy substance that is produced by your liver and travels in your bloodstream. Kind of sounds nasty huh? It is also found in fats, particularly animal fats. Our bodies produce approximately 1000 mg of cholesterol per day, so we really don’t need to consume much of it at all…but we do, don’t we! Don’t mistake me though, not all high cholesterol occurs because of poor diets. Sometimes (like in my case) our bodies produce more than necessary for one reason or another and it’s hard to remove the excess. Total cholesterol is broken down into several categories: HDL (high dose lipoprotein-Healthy kind), LDL (low dose lipoprotein- Lousy kind), and Triglycerides. My 241 includes all three of these, but in the test that I was screened in, out of the three it only shows the HDL number, which I scored a whopping 75! (you want to be above 45). Guess what this means? I’m going to be taking a trip to my provider to get a complete cholesterol test done. I’ll have to fast for 12 hours before, but that’s ok. I want to know all my numbers!

Speaking of numbers, here’s the scoop on that: According to the American Heart Association, which is what we also use for work, less than 200 mg/dL of total cholesterol is desirable; 200-239 is considered to be borderline-high risk; and 240 and over is considered high risk (DON’T REMIND ME), but I don’t consider myself to be a ticking time-bomb. Wanna know why? Because my HDL was pretty darn high. HDL cholesterol is also known as the “healthy” kind. In the average woman, HDL’s range from 50 to 60 mg/dL. An HDL cholesterol of 60 mg/dL or higher gives some protection against heart disease. Score one for the Spanish girl! What I don’t know yet is my LDL levels or triglycerides. The lower the number for these two, the lower the risk for heart disease. At least I have my HDL going for me!

LDL Cholesterol Levels (American Heart Association)
Less than 100 mg/dL	Optimal
100 to 129 mg/dL	Near Optimal/ Above Optimal
130 to 159 mg/dL	Borderline High
160 to 189 mg/dL	High
190 mg/dL and above	Very High

So now you have your number (assume), and it turns out that it’s above the desirable 200 mg/dL. What can we do? Diet: Foods that are low in fat are best. Saturated fat in particular is a BIG culprit. Saturated fats are those that typically become solid at room temperature. If you cook ground beef and leave the grease behind to cool off, what happens to it? It hardens right? That’s your saturated fat. The more lean your meat is, the less saturated fat it will have. Milk, egg yolks, cheese, and butter all contain fats, but you can modify the amount of fat by choosing the skim or 1% milk over the 2% or whole; reduced fat cheeses are available; egg beaters have no cholesterol and 2/3 less calories than whole eggs; chicken breast and fish are excellent protein sources as oppose to red meats and chicken legs/thighs/wings. These are just a few examples of little changes you can make to reduce your saturated fat consumption. More fruits and veggies is ALWAYS a great idea to incorporate into your diet. Eat more fiber! Remember that there are no bad foods…everything in moderation. Learn some discipline and self control.

Physical Activity: I said it before and I’ll say it again. Do something you enjoy!! If you don’t, you’ll quit. To lower cholesterol levels, aerobic exercise is better than strength training, but I’m not saying not to do weight bearing exercises, ok? Don’t put words in my mouth. Aerobic activity specifically helps to raise the HDL levels too…bet you didn’t know that! On the flip side, exercise doesn’t always lower the cholesterol for everyone. Just keep that in mind, but please don’t dismiss it. We need to be physically active either way because it is part of a healthy lifestyle.

Tobacco use: Just don’t. Can I be any more clear? It’s bad, it’s bad, it’s bad. In case you didn’t know also, it’s bad. Just don’t do it. Medication: You and your doctor will work this part out together. She/he will decide (with your feedback) if medications will be necessary. In my humble opinion, a good doc will opt for lifestyle changes first. Perhaps the simple addition of fish oil pills, skim milk and walking an extra 2 days a week will help to reduce your numbers. Who knows, but what I do know is that if your doc recommends putting you on meds immediately after taking one test…I would get a second opinion.

Well, well well. Shall I go crawl under a rock and wallow? Of course not! I’ve come out! Well, sort of…I am a fit, healthy eating 35 year old mom of two, triathlete, and health educator….and my number is 241!

I’m off to the doctor now….

It may not seem like such a long time, but I must say for as much as I enjoy keeping my website up to date, it has been a while since I posted anything. And to all my readers I just want to say I’m sorry! Apparently the world didn’t stop turning for me!!! Lol…

I’m back now and I don’t plan on leaving you again for more than 1 day in between posts :-) Like all of us sometimes, I was going through some yucky personal stuff. It took some  time and reflection to realize that occasionally, a negative dip in our lives is required to appreciate the better things around us. It’s when things are not going as well as we like that our faith is tested. Look at it as a requirement or reminder that keeping the faith will always get you through tough times…no matter how “small” someone else may make the situation to be. Below is one of my favorite lines from Jewel’s “Stronger Woman in Me”,

I’m gonna love myself more than anyone else, Believe in me, even if someone can’t see. I’m going to be my own best friend, Stick with me till the end, Won’t lose myself again, never, no, ’Cause there’s a stronger woman…A stronger woman in me

Take this and apply it to your life. It doesn’t matter if you’re having a great day, a crumby one, are getting back into the groove of things (like me) or see a “dip” coming up. Share it with your children, your parents, your friends, brother or sister and co-workers. And most importantly, count your blessings and thank the good Lord for the strength he gives you every day and the opportunity to wake up and make a real difference in someone’s life. Sometimes the worst feeling in the world is that of being taken advantage of or taken for granted…I believe this happens because the “taker” needed it more than you did and you were stronger :-) !!

So go and punch that crap in your life to the side and go for a run! We are back!!!