Author: Chris Brown (Page 20 of 41)

Lifting My Spirits with Tammy White

February 9, 2021 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

In episode 76, Jill and Chris talk with Tammy White about her transformational story.

In her 40’s Tammy White was busy teaching high school and she felt she was too busy to make self-care a priority… As a result, her health took a nose dive. She was told by her doctors that if she didn’t find a way to make a change to her lifestyle, she would die early.

She found a way to change her mindset, build consistency, and improve — both her health and her confidence! Tammy went on to compete as a body builder at age 50 and continued competing 5 times by the time she was 55. In 2018, she retired from teaching high school.

Now Tammy combines her teaching experience with what she has learned as an older athlete to help her peers create their own health transformation story.

In this podcast we discuss:

Why changing your body composition makes the difference
The importance of a trainer
Having a “no date” mindset”
Setting goals and little decisions along the way
Using baby steps to move forward
Fat loss versus muscle gain
Why a bodybuilder physical is NOT the most health

On social media her amazing transformation photo was viewed over a million times.

Links:

Her e-book: Lifting My Spirits: A Lifelong Dream Deferred No Longer – Transformation from a Fat Chick to a Body Builder after Age 50
Tammy White’s website: Lifting My Spirits

Jill and Chris also discuss the #2021VeggieChallenge as a way of eating more vegetables.

Tracking Food is Making Me Aware

February 6, 2021 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

There is no question that tracking food and water helps me to be more aware of what I’m eating.

I notice that I consciously switch to a lower calorie choice or delay making a choice when I’m keeping track.

Since I recently started keeping track of the amount of water I drink and tracking what I am eating I have noticed these changes:

Snacks have been fruits – granny smith apples, bananas, frozen berries
I’m choosing more lean chicken breast for the protein
I prep food more often
I go back and look at prior days to find out what works
Putting together the grocery list seems easier, more purposeful
Tracking gives me another routine to the day (which helps me to separate the days during the sameness of the pandemic.)

I really wouldn’t think that all that comes from just tracking food, but I notice one step leads to another. I track my food in an app on my phone that shows calories as well as the macros, but I track that I’ve tracked my food each day by filling in a little piece of the coloring page that was posted on our Facebook Group by one of our members.

Healthy Swaps:

I am definitely drinking more water because of tracking my food. With the cold temperatures, my furnace has been working over time and forcing hot dry air in the house. I know I feel better with the right amount of water and it is noticeable.

Another positive change – when I actually enter the food into the app before I eat it, I often make a slight switch to a different ingredients, or en drop something all together.

This has lead to an “AH-HA” moment. I think I am going to try to re-frame my thoughts about cooking. Instead of thinking about having “leftovers”, I’m going to think about cooking as “meal prep.” Meal prep to me means making something that is not for the immediate next meal. I usually think of cooking as the step for eating. Having a “meal prep” readily available – (I almost wrote leftovers! this is going to take a while!) – is handy to have ready when I need to pack a lunch or dinner. Doing meal prep when I’m not hungry is something that I really enjoy.

The other benefit is when I make food myself, I know exactly what is in it. Much easier for tracking food.

While becoming more aware, I noticed something else about my attitude. It’s surprising to me that I enjoy cooking, because normally I don’t. The difference? I make more things when I am not hungry. Food prep on a full stomach, instead of a watering mouth, makes more sense. Perhaps I hit on a good key for me to learn and enjoy some new recipes. Seems like a simple thing – probably something that everyone else learned many years ago – when they learned to cook. It’s eye opening to me, but probably a “duh” to you all.

I took my time and played some music, got all the ingredients out first. Last night I made some more stuffed green peppers and cabbage rolls. Because the stuffing in both is so similar, I made plenty of the filling. This time I tried adding a secret ingredient: water chestnuts! It bulked up the ground beef/onion/rice filling and gave me another vegetable for the 2021 Veggie Challenge! Best of all, even after baking they still give a bit of a crunch.

Three Words:

Food prep and food tracking is another activity I want to encourage in my life. Finding the time to prepare food and fit it into my schedule takes a little planning. Every day that I track food helps to strengthen my resolve.

There is still a long way to go for my activity to be considered real exercise, which is what I had in mind when I selected that word. At this stage of winter, activity in the right direction of good health is a considered a win.

Thanks to one of our members in the Becoming Elli Group for posting this great idea to track my tracking food habits! This tool is working for me. I love the motivation and inspiration from the group!

How are you doing with your plans for yourself this year? If you have a goal, resolution, or three words – maybe a training plan, action plan or other tool, let me know how you’re doing! Leave a comment below or email me at Chris@BecomingElli.com

Mental Performance with Jen Borovica

January 26, 2021 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

In episode 75, Jill and Chris talk with Jen Brovoica about mental performance, triathlons, and overcoming trauma.

Jennifer Borovica is a three-time Ironman finisher and an avid triathlete. She coaches triathletes and specializes in mental performance coaching.

She is a Licensed Independent Social Worker (LISW) in the State of Ohio. She currently runs her own private practice, called RebelRising Wellness where she does individual therapy and has created a sober active community for women in recovery.

Jen is a member of the Applied Association of Sport Psychology (AASP) and is working towards obtaining a Mental Performance Consultant Certification (CMPC) through AASP.

During the podcast we discuss:

How to find a sport community group of runners or bike riders
How her group helped her to make changes in her life
Why the nervous system can get “hijacked”
The effect of mini traumas on ability to be calm
The window of tolerance between hyper aroused, and hypo aroused.
How to control anxiety and deal with difficult feelings
Using power words and incorporating a mantra to manage emotions

She shares her story of overcoming trauma and addiction, learning how to deal with difficult feelings, and gaining strong mental skills to be able to perform.

With her mental performance coaching, she works with athletes on these topics:

Mindfullness
Mental toughness
Mental imagery
Mental rehearsal
Positive mental attitude
Positive Self Talk
Motivation
Goals & commitment
Concentration & focus
Managing emotions

For more information about Jen Borovica, check out these links:
RebelRising Wellness
AJ Baucco Coaching

Three Word Commitment

January 23, 2021 / Chris Brown / 1 Comment

A few weeks ago, my three word commitment for 2021 bubbled out of my annual review of 2020. The prior year had been, in many respects dismal and disappointing, because of a boatload of challenges. I needed more resilience. As I mentioned in that post, I really was affected by so many mental challenges.

Coming out of that post however, I selected my three words for 2021: activity, fit, strong. Funny how I didn’t pick any words that primarily focus on mental resilience. I think I left that all in 2020 – when all of my words centered around attitude.

From 2020’s last three words:
Here is my three word commitment of focus words for 2020:

Grateful – Focus on gratitude. Count my blessings, hug my loved ones and try to look at the good side of situations. It’s too easy for me to get fixated on what is not going well and ignore the 99% of how lucky I am. While I don’t want to be overly pollyanna-ish (I’m naturally opimistic), I do want to be sure not to miss the good things that come from difficult situations. (A good friend calls them growth opportunities.)

Cue – After re-reading the book on building habits, I’m going to focus on the cue to the habits, more than the actual routine or reward. Set a reminder on my phone to take my vitamins. Put out exercise clothes the night before for the next morning. Make my to-do list at the end of the workday.

Declutter – Let go of the things that are too worn, outdated, I don’t need or don’t bring me joy. Finish the projects I start. Discard or donate the things that I’m no longer interested in. In my mind, this word somehow ties in with letting go of procrastination.

If you had asked me in the summer what my 3 words were, I think I would have only been able to utter: “resilience” because that was my focus at the time.

I am taking a cue from Jill and her approach to her 3 focus words for 2021 and making a print out that will remind me daily of the my 3 words.

Activity to me means taking action and actually doing something about it. Not try but do. Not plan to but actually execute. This applies to taking care of myself physically and mentally, along with other ways as well.

Fit is fitting into clothes that I love that remain in my closet because they either don’t fit, or I am not going anywhere that requires a party dress or a business suit or even a 5K race. My clothes don’t fit me anymore and I blame the pandemic mindset of PJ’s, sweatshirts and Zoom meetings. I don’t think I put on my dancing shoes (comfortable black pumps that match dress up outfits and slide around the dance floor, perfect for any wedding), at all this past year.

Strong embraces both mind and body. Strong enough to lift, carry and be physical active for hours. Strong enough to bike for hours and strong enough to seek hills! Strong enough mentally to enjoy the time of care giving as a blessing, not an obligation. Strong enough to be patient and kind.

Quarter Folded Tuna Melt Wrap

January 16, 2021 / Chris Brown / 1 Comment

It seems that a quarter folded wrap is the newest thing in sandwiches. Or maybe I’m really late to the party.

I wanted to try a folded wrap sandwich using a tortilla.

It’s really quite simple. Prepare your ingredients and have them ready to assemble into the quarter folded wrap. I burned my first one because I didn’t have everything ready the first time.

Heat the griddle on medium low. You can spray a little olive oil if you want. Place the tortilla on it. Slice the tortilla from the center to the side.

I find it helpful to picture four quarters. Fill three of the quarters with food. I used mozzarella cheese, tuna salad and spinach. The warm ingredients (cheese) are assembled first (so it can melt) and the cold ingredients are assembled last (so they don’t get too hot!)

Because the cheese needed to be cooked the longest, I put that into the tortilla first, but it became the last quarter to be wrapped.

Flip the empty quarter over the spinach. Then flip the folded spinach part over the tuna salad. Last, flip the spinach and tuna salad over the cheese. I have a quick one second video that shows the flipping. It’s easy once you do it, but maybe hard to picture if you’ve not seen it before. I know the video flipping helped me to visualize how to do it.

Folding the Quarter Fold Wrap

Click the one second video to see how the folding works. It would have been so much easier if it was only a egg salad sandwich with a tomato garnish and a spinach garnish, but because I wanted melted cheese, this involved trying to get the cheese in the place where it would melt and also not have the tuna salad fly out when I was folding the quarters.

Of course I made it harder because I wanted it to be a grilled cheese, tuna melt… not just any sandwich.It’s not real easy folding tuna salad!

I feel I should have started with a beginner sandwich, not a grilled tuna melt!

Do you make quarter folded tortilla sandwiches?

What’s your favorite?

tracking and motivation 3 year anniversary

Tracking and Motivation – Three Year Anniversary Podcast

January 12, 2021 / Chris Brown / 1 Comment

In episode 74, Jill and Chris celebrate their three year anniversary of the Fit Strong Women Over 50 podcast for the Becoming Elli community.

They discuss tracking and motivation while reviewing highlights from past episodes.

“It’s been an exciting three years and we’ve learned a lot about healthy eating, fitness and motivation.”

Mentioned in this podcast:

Veggie Challenge
Strength Training
Cardio
Sleep
Akron Half Marathon
Biking
Goal Setting
Working out at home
Healthy Eating
Food and Fitness tracking
Tracking and Motivation
Mental aspects of Fitness
Discipline
Habits

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

January 9, 2021 / Chris Brown / 1 Comment

This recipe for Stuffed Cabbage Rolls is made from cabbage leaves and is sometimes called “Pigs in the Blanket” or “Rolled Cabbage.” I know if I call it Pigs in the Blanket, most people think of those little hotdogs in a rolled up piece of dough… This is NOT that recipe. I’m not sure when that name turned into hotdogs, but somewhere along the way I missed it! I was born in western PA and grew up in northeast Ohio, where this was called Pigs in the Blanket at potlucks or other gatherings. It really is rolled up cabbage leaves stuffed with rice, veggies and meat, covered with tomato sauce. Now you can go wild making this into a major process where you cook your own sauce and spend lots of time on the stuff part of the cabbage. I like to keep it simple.

Here’s my recipe for Stuffed Cabbage Rolls:

Ingredients: cabbage, onion, brown rice, hamburger, tomato sauce. (Some folks also use sausage and I think that’s the pig part of the name pigs in the blanket. I prefer beef instead of pork, but that’s just me!)

Core the cabbage. Peel off leaves as big as possible.
Steam the leaves. (Some people freeze the cabbage and then let it thaw. I’ve never tried that.) I actually boil leaves in water while I’m cooking some brown rice. Remove the cabbage leaves when they are pliable. I use tongs because they are hot. Set aside and let them cool.
Pour tomato sauce in bottom of 9×13 pan. I used about a third of a can of Hunts traditional tomato sauce.
Cut up the cabbage core and the little left over parts of cabbage that didn’t come out as good leaves… chop into bite size pieces, cook in the water. When they are a bit translucent, lay them on top of the tomato sauce. This uses up the rest of the head of the cabbage. The bottom of the dish is lined with the cooked cabbage.
Drain any left over water. Chop and cook the onion until translucent and put into a bowl. After rice is cooked combine the chopped onion, cooked brown rice and raw hamburger. Salt and pepper. Add a little less than a third of the tomato sauce to mixture.
Now it’s time to make the blankets. Use tongs to remove cabbage leaf. Spread on a cutting board and trim that little hard part of the stem so it will fold easier. Make a small oval ball of rice/onion/beef mixture and place on on leaf. Wrap leaf around the hamburger rice onion mixture.
Line pan with the pigs in the cabbage blanket.
I figure about 12 cabbage rolls for one cabbage, depending upon how big my cabbage was.
Pour remaining sauce on top. Cover with tin foil.

Bake at 375 for about an hour. Uncover for about 15 more minutes to brown. After you take it out, let it rest for a few minutes so it can cool a bit before serving. Delicious!! Remix: Here’s a different version of the same recipe with just a few changes.

different version of stuffed cabbage rolls

Another time I made these cabbage rolls, I really upped the veggies. Instead of adding just an onion, I used a whole bag of frozen green and red peppers with onions. I chopped up the frozen veggies and mixed that in with the meat and rice. I also added an egg to hold it together better. This made more filling so in turn it made more cabbage rolls. The last few rolls were actually made up of pieces of cabbage leaf, because all the whole leaves were gone. I also used some toothpicks to hold the tin foil off the cabbage rolls. So do you ever make this? What do you do differently?? Leave me a message at Chris@becomingelli.com or in the comments below.

Planning for a GREAT 2021

January 2, 2021 / Chris Brown / 1 Comment

My first post of 2020 was full of hope and optimism. WhileI believe this first post of 2021 will help me in planning for a great 2021, I realize that I will temper my hope, enthusiasm and optimism. I have a pivoted my perspective due to the pandemic.

For the majority of 2020 I have been dealing with a “new normal” during the pandemic and I adjusted my life accordingly. Intensified family situations have increased stress. Through all this I learned how my sense of community and loose ties make such a difference in my day to day mental attitude.

Last year my 3 words were declutter, habit and grateful. I regrouped around March 15 and many times just tried to just focus on building mental resilience. I really worked on improving and activating my parasympathetic nervous system with 4-7-8 breathing, yoga nidra and meditation.

As you can see by the photo, my regular exercise – as tracked by my FitBit activity minutes – took a nose dive. My daily activity during the prior four years ranged in the high 70’s/low 80’s for daily minutes. My pandemic year of 2020 dropped to a mere 50 minutes per day. Not exercise, just active minutes.

I feel that the biggest difference was not going to the gym. I used to average 4 or 5 days a week there. Other things contributed, for example, my dog passed away this past year. My usual walking trails became less appealing. My usual bike riding went from 2 or 3 rides a week to just one – a twenty two mile ride that stopped when the weather got nasty.

My goal this year… get activity minutes average back up to high 70’s low 80’s. Definitely one of my 3 words this year will be activity!

While I am planning for a great 2021, stay tuned to my next post for my action plan. This is the where the rubber meets the road and I’m still working this out! I’m going to review the 3 stages of a habit (cue, action, reward) as well as my basics and baby steps plans. I am determined to make fit & strong an important part of 2021.

My 3 words for 2021: activity, fit, strong!

Thinking about New Year Goals

December 28, 2020 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

I am considering my plan for next year and thinking about making some new year goals. I guess it’s that time of year for many to do New Year goals, resolutions or making a plan.

With such a challenging year filled with struggles and new normals, I can only imagine that everyone is looking for better days. I know that thinking about making a change sometimes proceeds a change, but being committed makes the difference.

I’m reading a book called “Innercise” which is the opposite of exercise. It’s about interior thoughts, your mental game, not the physical, outward motions. I heard about it on a podcast that I often listen to called Marathon Training Academy.

The author, John Assaraf, asks a most important question about commitment vs interest. “Are you committed or just interested?” It is such a valid point. If you’re interested in something – or in my case just thinking about something – you’ll continue to come up with every reason and excuse not to do it. The author describes it as rationalizing or “Rational Lies” which is where I think I’m standing at the moment.

On one of our podcasts, we explained to our guest that we named out community Becoming Elli because we wanted to become fit and strong. The guest, Christine Phillips was talking about the power of affirmations and gently explained that the brain doesn’t click in with trying or becoming. You either do it or you don’t. Just trying isn’t enough.

I believe that is the root of the big question “Are you interested in achieving your goals or are you committed?”

Have you ever struggled with making a commitment? It’s odd that I can know things intellectually, but still not be able to overcome a stuck feeling. I’m taking a few baby steps this morning to get moving in the right direction and get unstuck.

Do you ever get stuck? How do you overcome your inertia?

Finding Joy Through Creativity with Tracy Keenan

December 22, 2020 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

Episode 73

In episode 73 Jill and Chris talk with Tracy Keenan about finding joy through creativity. Jill has known Tracy Keenan since high school. Over the years they lost touch with each other, and then thanks to social media and a high school reunion, became reacquainted. Tracy Keenan is a Presbyterian pastor, an Enneagram-based coach, and sees creative work as essential to sanity, health, and well-being.

Tracy studied music as an undergraduate, and has continued writing and performing music, but she actually has her degree in Early Childhood Education. She has both a masters and doctorate in ministry, has pastored 4 churches in the course of 30 years, and is now a mid-council leader in New Castle Presbytery in Delaware.

We talked about live giving energy and how knowing more about yourself will help you to integrate stress tools to move and grow beyond where you are. Self awareness of your emotions and impulses helps you to make choices with wisdom.

Tracy sparks joy and enthusiasm with music and her writing. She cherishes friendships among a wide variety of people from various traditions,
conditions, religions, and opinions. She and her husband Jim Mehler have two grown daughters. She writes music, fiction, and poetry, rides a Harley, and looks for the joy.

For more information about:Enneagram of Personality, the nine types of personality, and Tracy’s music click through the links.