Inner Core Stabilization, Diastasis Recti, and Flatter Tummy
Pillow belly. That is what my children called the soft, squishy area between my ribs and pelvis. When my children were little they would take running leaps, head first, into it.
During my pregnancies I developed noticeable diastasis recti. Diastasis recti is the separation of the connective tissue in the middle of your left and right halves of the rectus abdominis, the most superficial abdominal muscle, making it unable to contract properly.
Ground Turkey & Chicken Muffins Recipe
We love these muffins. So versatile: throw into a picnic basket, add to a big salad, make into meatballs for spaghetti, quick grab and go lunch.
I often make these, alternating between using ground turkey and ground chicken. If I am remembering correctly I got the recipe idea from Jamie Eason's website years ago. There are a lot of variations on the web, but this is my favourite.
- 2 lbs ground chicken or ground turkey
- 1 eggs (original recipe uses 3 egg whites, but my family like them with whole eggs)
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 0.5 tsp ground cumin
- 0.5 tsp dried thyme
- 2 tsp ground mustard
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 garlic cloves (original recipe uses 2 tbsp powder, but I like adding fresh cloves)
- 1 small sweet onion
- 2 celery
Using ground turkey: 172cal, 7.9g fat, 6.5g carb, 18.7g protein
Joint Pain & Exercise
Several years ago I went through a stressful patch in my life with over programming (driving kids everywhere), too many volunteer commitments, selling/buying house, moving to a new city. And so, amongst all of that I wasn’t taking care of myself all that well: I ate a lot of prepackaged convenience “vegan” foods, lived on caffeine, often skipped meals, wasn’t consistent with exercising, didn’t get enough sleep or even down time. I was about 8 pounds underweight (when I am stressed I don’t eat). So my health was at an all time low. On top of that I started having severe peri-menopausal symptoms: delayed cycles, hot flashes, extreme fatigue, urgency to pee, joint pain. Fun times.
Many of those symptoms were eased by slowing down, cutting out a few programs from the family schedule, making healthy meals at home, eating animal protein, taking a compounded T4 hormone for my hypothyroid. But my joint pain remained. It wasn’t awful, just an...
Egg Muffin Cups Recipe
I was diagnosed as being mildly insulin resistant last year. My doctor suggested I stop eating a high carb, low fat vegan diet and adopting more of a moderate protein, moderate carbohydrate, higher fat Paleo diet. I was vegan because my husband was vegan...for seven years, and he was stubborn about changing. I ate meat out, but didn't cook it at home. After much research, I decided eating a higher fat, animal protein diet would be beneficial to try.
Immediately I gained 7 pounds...eek! But truthfully I needed to gain that, I was underweight. On the vegan diet, over the years I did develop some health issues: irregular cycles, fatigue, hypothyroid. Going more Paleo, I slowly gained my energy back (thyroid meds helped too!). Now I eat more of a Zone style diet: 40% carbs, 30% protein, 30% fat. Over the years since Zone became popular in the late 90s, I have always found this macro ratio works well for me. I should add that when I was eating Paleo I never cut out oats and rice,...
Registry Tracks Successful Losers of Weight
As I was studying to take my ACE (American Council on Exercise) Personal Trainer exam to become re-certfied (I let my certification lapse several years ago), I came across really interesting information on dieting.
In ACE's Essentials of Exercise Science textbook, their chapter on nutrition contains a summary of a very enlightening study.
The National Weight Control Registry is a database that tracks successful "losers" of 30lbs or more and who have maintained that loss for over one year. ACE's book writes that this registry "has uncovered an abundance of tried and true tips to help people lose weight and keep it off".
Brilliant! As I read this summary I became incredibly excited! What an amazing registry! Simple wisdom, easy to implement, and motivating as it provides confidence that following these tips have helped so many others.
Here are the 10 insights:
- Control portions: We live in a time where our portions have expanded. Years ago, muffins were half the size, restaurant...
Author
Amy Goeldner
Certified Fitness Pro
Amy is a certified personal trainer, group fitness instructor, corrective exercise specialist, Pilates instructor, yoga instructor, and most importantly super passionate about helping people build their bodies from the inside out to become strong, move better, and develop functional movement patterns to live your best life possible.
