Crazy K!

John and I ran a 5K obstacle course for charity today!  My parents came and snapped some pics.  My only goal, after not training at all for this, was not to walk.  Even if you could walk faster than I was running, I wasn't going to walk.

Goal met.

John said he'd stay with me the whole time, and he did :-)  Although, he probably could have finished 10 minutes earlier if he didn't.  He's getting pretty good at this whole marriage thing!

I also want to add that huge positive for this event, which I am sure was very difficult to organize.  You know that gross, paper-thin toilet paper that most large public places use?  It comes on one big roll and the holder is that big black monstrosity?   Well, the Champaign County Fair Ground's bathroom was no exception, however the people that put on the event bought Quilted Northern and put it in each stall!  They also bought REAL hand soap and put it with every sink instead of that runny pink stuff that takes forever to leather up.  Man, that was impressive.  Well done, event organizers, well done.  Like I've said before, it's all in the details.

And we're off!

Smile for Pops!

Hay stacks! 

We rocked this girl.

Foam slide!

Loved it, clearly.

Finished! 

The Dream Team.

Bananas.

Where I Wanna Be

John and I really want to move somewhere before we start procreating.  We just want to experience something different for a little while.  I feel like once we have kids, we won't be doing a lot of moving!  I was recently thinking of all the things I would want in a town, if I could choose.  This is the list of things..

1.  Trader Joe's:  healthy, organic food at a good price.  Why wouldn't that be on my list?

2.  Whole Foods:  because I won't get everything at Trader Joe's and this is the next awesomest thing.

3.  A gym where I can work out next to older people and not 30-year-old guys clearly on steroids, drinking a protein shake, trying to impress all the 18-year-old girls that read a magazine on the elliptical for 3 hours.

4.  Some place with people that aren't crazy liberal or crazy conservative.  I don't want to go the grocery store and hear about how the president is screwing up our country or to the farmer's market and hear about pro-abortion rallies.  Or hear my patient talking about how bad the hospital is and saying, "well, I guess I'm getting a taste of Obamacare."  Because that let's me know that you have no idea what you're talking about and I feel like I'm drowning in a room of awkwardness and don't know how to surface.

5.  Somewhere with a legit hospital.  I gotta work, ya know.

6.  Somewhere with a great church, but without the overly-enthusiastic worship leader-guy that's always smiling.  Always.  I know you love God, but are you really that excited.. like, all the time?

7.  A college town.  I love living in a college town, people from literally everywhere live in CU.  I love meeting new people with completely different backgrounds.  Plus, I get used to the students being here in the fall, winter, and spring, so I have something to look forward to in the summer... you know, not almost hitting a pedestrian on their cell phone walking in the middle of the street who then flicks me off.

8.  A place with an airport that's not real small.  John and I are trying to step up our travel-game.

9.  Somewhere with a pizza place almost as good as Papa Del's.  It doesn't have to be as good because, come on, we all know that's not real.

10.  Rita's:  because I know Rita's is in heaven, and therefore I want to be as close to heaven as possible.

11.  IKEA:  although sometimes I think I should live as far away from one as possible so that I don't go broke in 4 months.

12.  Some place WARM.  I don't want to need a snow blower.  I would like a white Christmas, but not a 17-below zero Christmas. 

13.  Some place with something historical or somewhere within driving distance of some place kinda cool.  I like history, but here's only so many times you can go to Lincoln's tomb. 

So, if you will kindly Google all of these things for me and get back to me with a list of potential places, I'd appreciate that.  Just not Chicago.  I think literally all of those things, except the winter and Rita's thing, are in or around  Chicago.  No offense, Chicago is cool, but it's the last place I want to live.  I get too stressed around there.  I hate the traffic of the burbs, getting around the city, the cost of living, and just how busy it all is.  I enjoy a good visit, but not having my address there.  I expect a spreadsheet with places, cost of living, distance, population, and the percentage of my preferences that each place meets.  You have two hours.

Show Me the Butter Baby!

Last night I went to a lecture at Personal Performance about the most delicious thing in the world ... FAT!  David, a personal trainer, and Deborah, a family doctor, gave the talk.  The purpose was to inform and enlighten about the importance of fat in ones diet.

We have grown up under the assumption that saturated fat is bad for you.  It's a the top of FDA-approved food pyramid.  It is suggested that only 7-10% of your diet should come from fats.   However, fat is necessary for every single one of the cells in your body to function.  Back in the day, a few flawed studies (Framingham Heart Study, the Kritchevsky Rabbits, and thus the Lipid Hypothesis Theory) were widely published, which cited a correlation between increased fat intake and increased coronary artery disease.  A bad diet high in cholesterol leads to atherosclerosis, which leads to coronary artery disease, and finally death.  Therefore, the FDA, American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, and additional groups promoted low-fat diets.  However, after years of low fat diets, (1954 to today) obesity and heart disease are still on the rise and are still the leading cause of death.  However, it is not a disputed fact that your cells are made of cholesterol and it is necessary healthy function.

Why cholesterol is important*:

• It's part of your cell membranes, which keeps them healthy and functioning properly
• It is a repairing and healing substance 
• It's the back bone of your hormones
• It is vital to brain function and to your nervous system
• It protects against depression because it makes and utilizes serotonin
• Cholesterol is the precursor of vitamin D 
• It's an antioxidant, which protects against free radicals, and therefore against cancer

So, what can cause heart disease if cholesterol doesn't?  There are a lot of theories, but because there not much funding for research that goes against claims of major, well-funded organization and would also mean there is no need for cholesterol-lowering medications (statins).  Such theories include vitamin deficiencies, trans fat intake, mineral deficiencies, and stress. 

Most people that go to the doctor get a lipid panel drawn at some point.  If you cholesterol is over 200, the doc will usually recommend you to be put on a cholesterol-lowering medication to decrease your risk of coronary artery disease.  The danger with these medications is that they basically prevent your liver from producing cholesterol all together.   I'm not a doctor or a medical researcher by any means, but stopping your body from producing something it needs to function sounds like not a great idea.  Also, the liver has a million different functions as well.  If you stop your body from producing cholesterol in the liver, then what else could it be doing in the process? 

Basically, I came away from the lecture feeling informed and happy that my butter is good for me.  I absolutely love butter, mayo, and sour cream.  They did a little demo on making your own salad dressing, showed us some trusted brands to buy, and promoted butter (yay!).  They were advocating the consumption of all natural foods and eating meat, butter, and eggs from grass-fed animals.  Butter is natural and has been used for hundreds and hundreds of years and margarine has NOT.  It is synthetic, made in a lab, and not that different from plastic.  It contains free radials, bleach, artificial flavors, and sterols. Heart disease has not been around as long as butter.. so why would that be the cause?  The first recorded heart attack was in 1912 but butter has been on the scene for thousands of years.  Hhuummmm....

Take away points:  

• Butter = good
• Margarine and other partially hydrogenated oils = bad
• Eat natural fats, don't be concerned with the cholesterol number
• Examples of good fat are butter, coconut oil, palm oil, EVOO, nuts, avocados, and flax oil
• Trans fat = bad
• Eat as close to natural as possible, then you get all the nutrients intended because when things are processed, you lose the nutrients

More reading
http://blog.cholesterol-and-health.com
http://www.westonaprice.org
Eat Fat, Lose Fat: the Healthy Alternative to Trans Fat by Mary G. Enig and Sally Fallon
Know Your Fats:  the Complete Primer for Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils, and Cholesterol by Mary G. Enig

The next lecture by David and Deborah will be October 3rd at Personal Performance!

*Information came from:  Myths & Truths about Cholesterol by the Weston A. Price Foundation, 2010.

Personally Performing

As many of you know, my mother and father in law own a successful business in town.  It's called Personal Performance.  They do training and rehab and train a lot of high performance athletes in the area.  I trained there in high school and during college.  I work out there about 3 times a week right now.  I love it.  I get a great workout but I also know I'm not hurting my body with bad form, lifting the wrong way, or over training.  You have to be careful about things like P90X, yoga, or just running 3-5 times a week.  That repetition can hurt your body.  A lot of yoga poses are dangerous, cause injury, and are not helping/strengthening your body. Weight training correctly and doing cardio workouts are essential to living healthy and you can get both at Personal Performance.

In addition to training athletes, they also do rehab for work-related injuries and consults for various issues.  They have a nutritional focus as well.  Doug, John's dad, reads blood, suggests different natural supplements and does nutritional counseling.  They also have a few massage therapists on staff as well.  When I had some bad knee problems in high school, they helped tremendously.  I also have gotten my neck worked on by one of their massage therapists.

Doug used to play football and baseball for the Illini in the 70's and was also a member of the Cleveland Brown's until a career ending knee injury.  John's mom was also ballin on the Illini volleyball team as well.  They are both great trainers, especially for local high school athletes with aspirations to play at the collegiate level. 

This is an outside view of the gym.  It's located on Lincoln Ave in Urbana, right across from Capstone Apartments, near the intersection of Bradley and Lincoln.

View of the main gym area

View of the second gym area, a recent addition. It looks great!

They also have a wall of fame.  So many athletes have trainer here, from football players to dancers, they have trained a lot of different types of athletes.

Part of one Wall of Fame

Dougie K during his Illini days!

Local athletes that train at PP in the news!

Wall-O-Vitamins

Quinoa Tabbouleh Creation

John's mom always makes Syrian food for special occasions and an important staple to that meal is tabbouleh.  Typically, it's made with bulgur, which is a whole grain.  However, John's dad, sister and John don't tolerate wheat well and she started making it with quinoa.  Quinoa is delicious.  I love it.  It's a complete protein, gluten free, and beyond good for you.  It's also really easy to make.  Essentially, you make it the same way as rice.  It goes with a lot of different things, but we've been adding sauteed vegetables with some olive oil and it's so yummy.  I looked up a recipe online for quinoa tabbouleh and made that recently for dinner.  It was super, super easy.  Here are my ingredients:

carrots, parsley, cucumbers, tomatoes, sea salt, green onions, lemon juice, olive oil, and quinoa.

I just boiled 2 cups of water, added a cup of dry quinoa and brought it to a boil.  I reduced it to a simmer, then covered it and took it off the heat for 15 minutes.  Fluffed it with a fork, and set it aside to cool.

Then I got out my Magic Bullet and separately chopped up the carrots, parsley, cucumbers, tomatoes, and green onions.

Veggies!

Veggies + cooked quinoa

I took all of the vegetables and threw them in a bowl with 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt, 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1/4 cup lemon juice, and some fresh ground pepper just for the fun of it.  I made it about an hour before dinner so I just put it in the fridge.

MMMmm.....

Quinoa tabbouleh, chicken breasts stuffed with goat cheese and artichoke hearts, and a spinach salad!

It was definitely easy and really, really good for you.  We will be making that on the regular.

One Year Celebration

Yesterday was John's day to celebrate our anniversary.  It started with him making me a yummy breakfast.  Coffee, OJ, bagel, and eggs with some salami and cheese. 

Next, he told me to get ready because I had an appointment at 11:15am.  He then dropped me off at Bodyworks for a 1-hour massage and told me someone would pick me up.  I didn't really think much of it, assumed he was making his brother come help him and went and enjoyed my massage.  I walked outside at 12:30 pm and saw this guy walking up ...

Monty!

Monty driving me around!

 He introduced himself as Monty and said he would be my driver for the day.  He said we were going to Tuscola to the outlet stores to go shopping.  Monty said that he had been working with my husband, John, and he gave him instructions to get me specific things I had been wanting/needing lately.  I cleaned up pretty well!  He also made sure to bring the appropriate water cup for the day:

The bride cup we got as a wedding gift!

When we got back he said we had some time to kill before dinner and we could do whatever we wanted.  I said I wanted to rearrange our bedroom.  John says I'm just like Monica from Friends.  Well, maybe that proves it since that was what I wanted to do most.  The last time we traveled, I did tell John that one of the reasons that I enjoy traveling was because it tests my organizing capabilities.

Back to our day.. I jumped in the shower to get ready for dinner and when I got out of the shower, I saw this:

A homemade sign and all of our anniversary cards that we have received recently!

Here is a close-up of the sign if you can't read it..

pLace - where it's ok to sleep with your waiter!

One red rose for one year.

Bathroom sign.

My chef, hard at work.

 

He made me a delicious dinner, we had some yummy red wine, and enjoyed the evening together.  I would say he did a great job!  I'm taking him out this Wednesday for my celebration, so stay tuned..

Latest iPod Playlist

Count on Me - Bruno Mars
Let it Be - the Beatles
Samson - Regina Spektor
Blackbird - the Beatles
Words I Never Said - Lupe Fiasco
Just the Way You Are - Bruno Mars
Hey Jude - the Beatles
Blackbird - the Beatles
The Longer I Run - Peter Bradley Adams
Beautiful Things - Gungor
Lead me to the Cross - Hillsong
Act Naturally - the Beatles
I've Just Seen a Face - the Beatles
Laughing With - Regina Spektor