Category: Health

Kickboxing: The Only Workout I Can Stand

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Flickr Creative Commons, Phicen Kickboxing, Edward Liu

It’s been a while since I kickboxed, but it was, by far, my favorite form of exercise. It’s the only thing that ever got me looking forward to class, and kept me coming back 3 or 4 times per week. Now, I’m thinking about getting back to it again, but all kickboxing classes are not created equal.

There are a few things I really love about kickboxing:

  • I don’t need to do anything else. My favorite class incorporated 15 minutes of ab work at the end of class, after I’d punched and kicked an inanimate bag into submission. Then we would stretch. There was no need for any other kind of work out.
  • I’ve never liked exercising for the sake of exercising. I don’t like to run just to run, or lift weights just to lift weights. But with kickboxing I felt like I was learning to defend myself, which made it feel like more than exercise.
  • I like to hit stuff. Let’s be honest, we all spend a lot of time being more civilized than we might like. I don’t yell at other drivers, or cuss out strangers in parking lots. But hitting stuff is fun!

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I’m Not Moody, I’m a Normal Human Being–And So Are You

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Lately, much of my regular media diet has been made of up of discussions of Moody Bitches: The Truth About the Drugs You’re Taking, the Sleep You’re Missing, the Sex You’re Not Having, and What’s Really Making You Crazy. From NPR to Slate, everyone’s talking about it. Here, take a few minutes to catch up:

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Going Vegetarian, Getting Rid of Sugar, and Becoming Smoothie Obsessed

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20130818-191659.jpgA few weeks ago I decided to tackle my sugar addiction once and for all. You can blame NPR for reporting the dangers sugar poses to the cardiovascular system, and for someone telling me that Agave nectar is as bad for you as high-fructose corn syrup. There was also the small fact that I was chowing down on donuts all winter like a bear preparing for hibernation. It was a huge problem. My pants were getting a little too tight.

My cousin started the Paleo diet a few months ago, and while the program didn’t seem right for me — that much meat is bad for you, and for the environment — there were some rules that made sense to me. I don’t believe in “diets” because they aren’t sustainable. Eventually you go off of them, and then what? I’ve always been a big proponent of adopting rules that make sense for you in the long-term. But when my cousin told me how she’d cheated on her Paleo diet during the Super Bowl, and woke up the next morning feel so hungover she almost had to call out of work, it convinced me that there were some changes I could make that would have me looking and feeling better.

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Everything I Know About Cats and Urinary Tract Infections

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She's not sick, she's just very hot.

She’s not sick, she’s just very hot.

A few years ago one of my cats came down with a urinary tract infection. The first sign of this unpleasant feline problem is an excessive amount of litter tracked around the house from the constant in and out of the litter box. Then you start to notice the poor cat actually going in and out of the box. And then, and this is the weird part, you’ll find them trying to pee in sinks and tubs (or at least my cat did) and wonder, “How does a cat know what a drain is?” And eventually you get to the vet and they tell you that, in the case of male cats, UTI’s can be extremely dangerous if they develop crystals in their urine–the crystals can lead to a blockage.

It’s been a long time but I recently went through the experience again, and over the years I’ve learned a lot about the problems so I thought I’d share my extensive knowledge. This is one of the more frustrating (and annoying) health issues to deal with and I know I wish I’d had all this information 4 years ago.

Originally my cat was put on a prescription food, which was super expensive and had pretty crappy ingredients. So after a few years I decided to do some homework and found out that giving your cat the crappiest wet food is better than giving them the most expensive dry food, at least when it comes to UTI’s. It’s all about the moisture content. Continue reading →

An Ode to the Burrito

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I don’t know why I didn’t think to write this post years ago, because there have been times over the last three years or so where I’ve eaten burritos at least once a day…if not more.

It started with breakfast burritos. I love eggs, but scrambled is boring and sometimes I get sick of friends eggs and toast. So I started making breakfast burritos. I’d scramble an egg, smear some refried beans on a tortilla along with some salsa, warm it, and then add the eggs — perhaps with some guacamole.

It wasn’t long before I was declaring this the perfect food. Tons of protein combined with fruit and vegetables, all in one tidy (sometimes whole grain) wrapper.

Recently I became re-obsessed with burritos after a visit to Moe’s, which is about as close as I get to eating fast food these days. But I didn’t see any reason I should be getting one burrito for $7 when I could spend the same amount to eat a whole week’s worth of burritos! So now I’m back on a kick, with a new recipe. Continue reading →

My Non-Resolution: Why I Built a Standing Desk

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I’m not big on New Year’s Resolutions for the same reason I don’t believe in diets. If you can’t sustain change, making it in the first place is pretty pointless. So I don’t generally make resolutions, though I do sometimes take the impetus to change that a new year provides and I make something happen. This year I made one, easy to keep resolution: to finally get around to changing out the faucet in my downstairs bathroom. But I also decided to make a bigger change in the way I work, a decision that was driven by the media coverage surrounding the dangers of sitting.

I’m not ready to go this far…

Yes, sitting is apparently the “new smoking.”

I work from home which both allows me to be more active, and more lazy than the average employee.Yes, I take my dog for a lengthy walk in the middle of the day — when most office workers are stuffing their faces with lunch under fluorescent lights — but I also don’t have to get up and walk to co-workers’ offices or desks. I do get up a lot to let the dog or cats out (or in), and sometimes I do chores for a quick work-break. Toss in a load of laundry, empty the dishwasher, or vacuum the living room. Still, that wasn’t enough to keep my back from being enraged at the end of the day. I bought a yoga Groupon but that membership has ended and I needed a new solution to help me feel better at the end of the workday. Continue reading →

Why I Hate Running

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esbjorn2, Flickr Creative Commons

Yesterday afternoon I headed over to my gym for a yoga class. (Yes, I did find my way back to yoga despite this.) I know you’re supposed to be all focused inward and stuff, but I can’t help it…my mind wanders and I start looking around. There was a woman a few feet away from me who looked to be in her 40s and in really good shape, but for some reason she didn’t seem to be able to do some pretty basic yoga poses.

I was intrigued. 

After watching her through much of the class I came to a conclusion. The bad joints, inflexibility, and lean muscle mass were a dead give away: She’s a runner.  Continue reading →

I Love Autumn, but I Don’t Love Deer

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Every year I start to get an urge to write about how much I love autumn. Frankly, I feel stupider for it… Of course I love autumn. I live in New England. I like sweaters and boots and crunchy leaves under my feet. I love walking in the woods without being swarmed by bugs, or having to balance my need to be cool with my need to protect my body parts from things that bite. I love apples and I loooooooove cinnamon… I even kind of like raking. (mostly because my yard isn’t that big, and I don’t have to bag my leaves because the town comes and picks them up).

I don’t always love the garden cleanup — it’s a little depressing and messy — but that’s OK…because this:

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The Art of Slowing Down

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From twicepix, Flickr Creative Commons

I really wish the media would just get out of my head already… Every time I turn around someone is writing an article about or doing a show on something I’ve been thinking about. Most recently, I saw an article from the New York Times pop up in my newsfeed, talking about “The ‘Busy’ Trap.” The basic premise is that you’re probably only busy because you’ve made it that way:

Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness; obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless if you are so busy, completely booked, in demand every hour of the day.

I think about this a lot while I’m lying, motionless, on my couch, or reading a book on the lounge chair in my backyard, or taking an unnecessarily long walk with the dog. Actually, I started thinking about it after my best-friend returned from a  trip to Italy saying she wanted to move there because it was so relaxing and work wasn’t such an all-consuming part of life. Then I started thinking about it again when another friend said he wanted to move to Austin (or really any city outside of the northeast) to find a slower pace of life. Continue reading →

What We Talk About When We Talk About Hiking

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I started reading Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail earlier this week, and it’s got me thinking about what it really means to be a “hiker.” It seems to me that lately everyone thinks they’re one, including me — but most of us are not.

Earlier this spring I hit the internet and started researching hiking shoes after I slipped on a few rocks in the woods, and anytime I purchase an accessory for an activity it means I’m truly invested. So I started looking into more local trails. There are tons of options, but as you might imagine, wilderness in Connecticut is not always easy to come by and I have a new rule: if you see a stroller or a child under the age of 8 on a trail, it’s not hiking, it’s just a walk.  Continue reading →

Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Beautiful

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It’s a wonder we managed not to claw each other’s eyes out.

A (beautiful) friend of mine recently posted a link to this pitiful story by Samantha Brick on Facebook that made me simultaneously laugh out loud and want to throttle the writer. The title says it all, “Why Women Hate Me for Being Beautiful.” Here’s the gist:

While I’m no Elle Macpherson, I’m tall, slim, blonde and, so I’m often told, a good-looking woman. I know how lucky I am. But there are downsides to being pretty — the main one being that other women hate me for no other reason than my lovely looks.

This article presents you with an interesting conundrum as a reader, commenter, or critic. It’s clear that the writer will just assume you’re jealous if you dare to criticize her. In fact, that’s exactly what happened. There was a backlash and the writer’s response was basically, “This just proves I’m right.” Continue reading →

Bikram Revisited: Still Don’t Like It

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I was lucky enough to have my first post about Bikram Yoga make it to the Freshly Pressed page, which led to hundreds of people weighing in on the hottest, stickiest form of yoga. It seemed most people agreed with me: Bikram was not for them. But when I posted I had only been to two of the ten classes I paid for through Groupon. Being a frugal gal, I intend to get my money’s worth. With eight classes left I had plenty of time–usually while sweating profusely in a stinky room filled with half-naked strangers–to think about many of the points the commenters raised. Continue reading →

Happy International Women’s Day from Connie Britton!

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It’s International Women’s Day and a friend of mine who works for Planned Parenthood posted this video on his on Facebook page. Its message is especially important right now, while America is involved in a debate about birth control and just how important access to it is. But let’s face it, while it may not always be cheap, women in the western world have it pretty good when it comes to access to family planning. That’s not true elsewhere in the world. But Tami Taylor… I mean, Connie Britton says it better than I can:

The Problem with Bikram Yoga

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I recently purchased a Groupon for a local Bikram Yoga studio. For $30 I get 10 classes. It was a great deal so I bought it on sight, and a friend followed suit.

I was worried about my friend who has a heart condition that is made worse in hot, humid conditions. She regularly passes out on gross summer days. Doing yoga in a 105 degree room seemed ill-advised. A few minutes into the first class she thought she’d have to give up, but she stuck it out and by the time we got to our second class she had acclimated and did much better.

I, however, still dread going. If this wasn’t a group activity, I think I’d give up. It’s not that it’s hard, because it’s not — at least not the yoga part. I’ve done yoga off and on for years, and the 26 poses done in Bikram are not all that challenging — though they are, of course, harder when you’re sweating profusely and dizzy. I have no problem sitting out a posture if I suddenly feel like passing out, and since many of the people in class are other Grouponers, they are also new to class and sitting out many of the poses. The problem with Bikram is that it strikes me as yoga for people who are hyper-competitive. I imagine helicopter parents and people with OCD enjoy it very much. But I don’t find it relaxing in the least. Continue reading →