Mr. Reyes said that he and Mr. Agassi learned not to let the scale rule your life. “We had a little bit of a phrase,” he said. “The weight scale to most human beings can be like a Ouija board. It can start messing with your head.”
We don't have weight scales at Camp Biche. I don't want people to be made psychotic by a number that has no meaning.
If you feel good; if you feel comfortable in your clothes; If you can easily complete an hour of strenuous activity; then you don't need a scale to validate the current state of your body. You're where you should be.
Before he retired from tennis, Mr. Agassi would sometimes gain weight and then stop eating, trying to shed the pounds fast. Mr. Reyes discouraged this. “I said to him, ‘Why do you feel like you have to stop eating to lose that weight?,’ ” he recalled. “ ‘What if you were to eat 10 to 15 percent more, but train 40 percent more?’ ”
This has been my guiding fitness philosophy all my life. Love food! Love moving!
I ran 21.21 kilometers Sunday. In cold weather. On muddy trails. With two dogs, one not my own, tripping me up.
I am really in awe of how powerful my body is . . . if I just get out of its way and don't provide it with any excuse to stay indoors and remain sedentary it can outperform any preconceived notions with which I have burdened it.
I love and appreciate my body for everything it does for me.
This is our mantra at Camp Biche.
I love and appreciate my body for everything it does for me.
I don't expect my body to look like anyone else's body. I don't expect my body to win beauty contests. I don't expect my body to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
I don't want my body to be different.
I simply love and appreciate my body for all the joy it brings me and for all the places it takes me.
My objective for Camp Biche is to make sure that every client leaves here loving and appreciating their body . . . as it is right now . . . while knowing that it is capable of achieving the most wondrous accomplishments.
There's a big, big, big connection between your ability to push your body's endurance limits through physical exertion and your mind's ability to cope positively with stress.
This is one of the primary reasons that regular exercise is life-enhancing.
Friday, I was frantic for a solution to a dilemma I had been handed that day. I contacted two people who I thought could help me out; but one had job conflicts and the other was ill. All my options seemed to be exhausted. I was feeling anxious and with no solution in sight, I went for a 10km run to diffuse the frustration I was feeling.
While running with Albert at my side, the HUGE problem started to shrink. I smiled realizing that no matter what fiasco I was about to face, it wasn't the end of the world as I knew it. I suppose I could have convinced myself of this same conclusion if I had just sat around and stewed over the issue. However, the burden quickly lifted when the pent-up frustration was expended as energy during the run.
When I returned to the car, there was a message on my phone that my last hope for a solution was not able to help me out. Upon hearing his response, I smiled, because now I was free to pursue a new solution that had come to me while running . . . a solution that seemed far superior to the others.
And it was.
Exercise doesn't solve everything, but it does solve or ameliorate most things.
It's January, and that means that many people have made resolutions to lose weight by dieting; and so the allure of the quick liquid diet seems appealing. (Remember, you need to add exercise if you want to feel good, look good, and keep the weight off permanently.)
The main liquid diet product in the U.S. is SlimFast. It's four main ingredients are dry skim milk, sugar, fructose, and cocoa. LOTS of refined sugar . . . which is exactly what you don't want because refined sugar creates a craving for more refined sugar. You'll never get off the junk food treadmill.
I'm not an advocate of drinking your calories, unless they're in a wine glass. However, since I've been training for a marathon, I've ended up altering my view on this rule after developing my own healthy fast shake that sates my desire for more food, is quickly digestible, high in fiber, has the right mix of protein and carbs, and powers me on my runs.
I'm not advocating a liquid diet. I am offering this recipe as a healthy replacement for any manufactured diet or energy drink that you're currently consuming.
Marathon Shake
I'm giving you the simplest version; but feel free to add or substitute other fruits. I especially like blueberries, strawberries and pineapples. Try to use fresh fruit, but okay to use frozen fruit that has NOTHING added.
This would also be great served in small 1/4 portions after a meal as a dessert substitute.
Mix the following ingredients in a blender until smooth:
one banana
one whole, peeled, seedless orange (I prefer Mandarin oranges)
one half cup natural, unflavored, unsweetened yogurt (preferably goat or sheep)
one-half cup milk or sparkling, unsweetened, unflavored water
one fresh whole egg or egg white
add ice cubes if you want it to be thicker and colder :)
I've been training for the Paris Marathon for eight weeks now. While running 20km yesterday, I realized that throughout the training I have had many parts of my body -- hips, back, knees, heels, even shoulders -- that have been painful and given me problems.
However, one by one, each of the parts has gotten stronger and no longer cause me any pain, nor provide me with any trumped-up excuse to prevent me from going outside to run.
The aching was an indication that parts of my body were weak (atrophying), but by pushing myself every day to build up my muscles and my endurance, the pain has vanished.
Now, the weak parts are strong.
We tell clients that the first two or three days of their Camp Biche experience are very tough. Parts of their legs will be causing them angst. Happily, when day three or four rolls around, the aching is gone -- the sign that their bodies have healed themselves of the atrophy that was taking over.
If you're out of shape, you're going to have to feel some initial discomfort in order to get in shape. Know that this will soon pass leaving you stronger, sleeker, and healthier.
There is only one way to get and stay in shape: meaningful exercise combined with eating fewer yet, more nutritional calories.
For over forty years, the public has been subjected to the pernicious myth that there are such things as "miracle" exercise equipment and diets that provide quick and easy solutions to weight loss. Yet, despite all the marketing hype, high tech equipment, and new-fangled diet foods, the majority of us keep getting fatter; because we willingly ignore the reality that we must break a sweat to get and stay in shape.
Now we have the latest incarnation of exercise snake oil, stability shoes.
The New York Times reports on Reebok's blockbuster EasyTone walking shoe. Reebok claims that this model will firm up your legs and rear end because of it's special destabilizing design. I guess it mimics normal walking where you have to remain balanced in order to move forward and remain upright :)
Reebok claims that the EasyTone works so well that "your boobs will be jealous." Nice Reebok! I'm always railing about the way in which marketers set us up to be mentally at war with our bodies and Reebok blazes new marketing territory with this diabolic ad campaign, brilliantly pitting our body parts in war against our other body parts. Most women can't stand their boobs to begin with, hence the explosion of breast implants; now we're informed that our pitiful boobs are so insecure that they feel threatened by the impending improvement of our derrieres.
The Times points out that Reebok bases its claims for its miraculous EasyTone shoe on a grand total of five women who were monitored while testing the shoe. I'll repeat: five women were tested wearing the shoe.
Supposedly, if you wear the EasyTone shoe while walking to the fudge store, your butt and legs will tone up faster and become more shapely than if you had simply hobbled down the street in the boots that Jane Fonda wore in Barbarella.
Sadly, for those looking for the easy route to the Nirvana of steel buns, EasyTone's basic design premise is based on flawed assumptions:
The EasyTone is the brainchild of Mr. McInnis, a former NASA engineer, who said he was interested in the stability balls used in gym workouts and wanted to translate the technology to a shoe. In particular, he was intrigued by the Bosu ball, a small half-sphere that exercisers stand on during workouts as a way to engage leg and core muscles better.
(snip)
But it remains to be seen whether such effects will make a difference over time. In a July 2008 study of instability boards and balls, Canadian researchers found that among experienced exercisers, moderate instability balls like the Bosu had little effect on muscle activation.
You don't need special shoes to firm up your butt. You just need to walk, walk briskly, walk often. In fact, you don't even need shoes.
"So I saw some fresh pineapple chunks in one of my markets and it reminded me of your pre-running drink. So then I bought them, and made it, [sans oeuf pour moi], but added a peeled, sectioned Clementine instead of squeezing oranges which I didn't have. Loved it! The pulpy pieces of orange gave me something to chew and that was satisfying too. Hunger free all morning...
Then a strange thing happened in the evening. Mark and I have a pre-bedtime fast walking ritual for 30-45 minutes, with a few city hills thrown in. He likes to jog which I normally refuse on the grounds of wanting to keep my joints intact and not broken down for as long as possible. But suddenly, the urge to pick up my footsies struck and there I was---running through the streets and neighborhoods of our village. Hard to believe. Must have been the drink. You need to consider a patent or renaming it---Pick Up Your Leaden Feet Spritzer. So there you go....guess I should keep checking Biche TV on occasion, 'cause there might be a new trick to learn...
I'm not an advocate of drinking calories -- unless it's wine:)
However, since I've started training for the April 11th Marathon in Paris, I've had to resort to drinking smoothies in the morning because I need to digest my breakfast quickly before I go out jogging. (Hopefully, I'll be running soon.)
I've been tinkering around with my smoothie recipe to make it light, nutritious and satisfying.
If you know you need to eat more fruit in your diet, this may be the solution for you.
Banana-Pineapple Fizz Smoothie
Mix the following ingredients in a blender until smooth and frothy. Serve in a chilled glass.
1/4 fresh pineapple cubed
1 peeled banana
the juice of two oranges
optional: one raw egg (I only use the egg white and give the yolk to my dog)
1/2 cup unsweetened, unflavored soy or ewe's yogurt
1 cup Perrier or other carbonated mineral water
(a large handful of strawberries would be a great addition, but they're out of season here and they aren't sold frozen here)
Here's a photo of our local beauties the Blondes d'Aquitaine. They live on the slope below Lauzerte so you can often hear them lowing in the morning when they're getting fed.
Just before I took this photo they were all laying down sunning and chewing their cud . . . but Albert brought them to attention with his drill sergeant routine..
Tastes really decadent, but we're just using small amounts of smoked bacon and Roquefort cheese to add jolts of flavor.
Great idea for turkey leftovers.
Ingredients:
two cups of cooked whole-wheat penne pasta
one cup of water
one chicken boullion cube
one generous tablespoon of cornstarch or flour
two generous tablespoons of coarse grain, Dijon mustard
two paper-thin slices of smoked bacon
8 oz of skinless, boneless turkey meat
2 oz of crumbled Roquefort cheese (or strong blue)
handful of chopped walnuts
In a small saucepan, bring the cup of water and the bouillon cube to a boil. Whisk the bouillon cube into the water as it heats so that it completely dissolves.
Turn heat down to medium. While whisking, or beating with a fork, add the cornstarch (or flour) to the bouillon and whisk until there are no lumps. Stirring occasionally until all lumps are gone.
Whisk the mustard into the mixture and let simmer over very low heat.
Over medium high-heat, cook bacon in a frying pan just until crisp. Reduce the heat to medium. Remove bacon from pan and set aside.
Add turkey meat to bacon drippings and cook over medium heat until the meat is heated through.
Remove turkey meat from pan, and cut or shred into bite-sized pieces.
Chop bacon into small pieces.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, toss together the pasta, turkey, bacon, walnuts and cheese.
Divide into two bowls and serve with the Dijon gravy.
Yesterday, I had a conversation with a friend from elementary school discussing the verbal bullies we had to endure. It was heartbreaking and eye opening to realize the control these silly, random comments from immature, insecure children still have over us.
Through the decades we have nurtured and fed the bullies’ taunts as our own, forgetting who even put the original idea in our heads – never once questioning if they were ever fact-based.
Out of curiosity, I wrote down the ten worse things that happened to me in elementary school.
Sadly, I found that seemingly insignificant things, really humorous now, that were said or done to me forty years ago determined a lot of what I have done, or not done in life.
This is what socialization is all about: to mentally whack us around until we fall back into the timid flock.
Those who are original, those who destabilize the status quo, those are the ones who will be bullied. Consider it a badge of honor that you were bullied.
I hope you will soon feel free to say and do what you truly desire.
"When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find that it comes off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare the timid adventurers." Ralph Waldo Emerson
A few weeks ago I signed up for the Paris Marathon. April 11th.
Following my training schedule, I do the long run for the week on Sunday. Today Craig drove to Faroux to drop off Attila and me. We ran back 14 kilometers to Lauzerte.
I'm sore. I'm tired. But it wasn't as bad as I feared :)
Here are some photos.
5 down, 10 to go . . . don't know how to interpret Attila's gesture.
There is a breast cancer prevention drug and a prostate cancer prevention drug that will cut a person's likelihood of getting those cancers in half, yet doctors don't prescribe them very often, and patients shun them for supplements that don't work.
Many Americans do not think twice about taking medicines to prevent heart disease and stroke. But cancer is different. Much of what Americans do in the name of warding off cancer has not been shown to matter, and some things are actually harmful. Yet the few medicines proved to deter cancer are widely ignored.
Two weeks ago, I became an accidental bread baker when I made some dough for homemade pizza, had some leftover dough and threw it in the oven the next morning. Wow was that a heavenly experience!
Now I've been baking bread almost every day and have been experimenting with different types.
A Scottish nobleman gave me some high-quality, finely ground, Scottish oatmeal and so I threw it in today's batch.
Here is a photo of the delicious oat bread that just came out of the oven fifteen minutes ago, and which will probably be gone in the next ten . . . and I'm home alone!!!!
Morison's Oat Bread
one and a half tablespoons dry yeast
three quarters cup of warm, not hot, water
two and a half cups of whole wheat flour
one quarter cup finely ground oats
two teaspoons sugar
one teaspoon fine salt
tablespoon and a half of olive oil
(If you want to turn this into pizza dough, leave out the oats.)
Sprinkle the dry yeast into the cup of warm water. You don't want it to be too hot as it will kill the yeast. Let it sit at least 15 minutes until it starts bubbling.
In a medium bowl, mix one and a half cups of the flour with the salt, sugar and oats.
In a large glass bowl, take 1/2 tablespoon of the olive oil and oil the inside of the bowl.
When yeast is bubbling, pour it into the dry ingredients with one tablespoon olive oil.
Mix with your hands (it's very fun) adding more flour as needed -- you don't want the dough to be dry, and it should be sticky to the touch, but you don't want it sticking to your hands. Knead about two minutes.
Form dough into a ball and put in the oiled bowl. Cover with a clean dish towel then set in a warm part of the kitchen.
Leave dough unattended for two hours, then punch it down, and quickly form another ball by kneading for a couple of minutes. Cover and ignore for two more hours.
Punch dough down again. Shape it into the desired form you'd like . . . little rolls, big loaf, pretzel shapes, etc. and let it sit out on your counter and rise for another hour.
Now you can bake the bread in a hot over, 210C or 400F until the crust just starts to brown -- or you can wrap it up and place it in the refrigerator, let it sit out for an hour in the morning, and then bake.
Here is an inspiring story about a man who finally got fed up with being obese and through hiking, and then changing his eating habits, he transformed his body and his life:
Four years ago, my brother-in-law, Tom Vance, weighed 361 pounds, had high blood pressure and sleep apnea and was miserable from a divorce. He's since used hiking at Bay Area parks to help turn his life around, including losing 115 pounds, and he has also remarried.
This mind-blowing video was brought to my attention at the beginning of the week. (Sometimes when this video runs, the first 20 seconds include Ms. Hunt and her horses . . . just be patient and the performance of Moorlands Totilas will appear.)
To my great surprise, it the most inspirational thing I have ever found to get me to go out and RUN!
This horse expresses the natural beauty and exquisite joy that is manifested from a fit body . . . and the great value that has to the being that possesses it.
Quick, Delicious -- Guaranteed to sate your pizza cravings in a healthy manner.
Serves 4 -- takes ten minutes from start to finish!
loaf of crusty French bread
tablespoon of sesame oil (or olive)
three tomatoes
one small red onion (or yelllow)
two cloves of garlic
chunk of Mozarella cheese equal to 4 tablespoons grated
4 ounces of smoked tuna
high-quality Modena Balsamic Vinegar
Turn on the broiler in your oven. Situate an oven rack within 6 inches of the broiler.
Finely chop the onion, garlic and tomatoes. Mix together in a bowl. Set aside.
Cut off two pieces from the French bread, four inches in length and then slice those pieces through the middle as if you were going to make a sandwich.
Place the bread on a cookie sheet, crust side down and brush the top side lightly with sesame oil.
Put cookie sheet on the rack under the broiler and bake just until edges of bread start to brown.
Grate the equivalent of four grated tablespoons of Mozarella cheese. When bread is browned on edges, remove cookie sheet from oven and sprinkle one tablespoon of cheese on each piece of bread and return to oven.
When cheese is melted remove cookie sheet and bread from oven.
Place bread on plates.
Top bread with slices of smoked trout, then load with the tomato/onion/garlic mixture, and drizzle with a high-quality Modena Balsamic vinegar.
Sunday, February 7, 2010 at 9:27 
