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Happy Healthy Holiday

December 19, 2019 / Jill McCauslin / 1 Comment

Let me wish you a happy healthy holiday!

Here it is, the end of 2019 and we’re in the midst of holiday fervor. I hope you’re enjoying time with family and friends and reaping the benefits of your year-long efforts to be fit and strong.

We are having a different kind of Christmas this year and I am getting to see my sister, nephew, and two grand nieces, as well as my parents, brother, and son and his fiancée. I don’t often spend the holidays with all of them so it’s a treat.

This year has been a challenge for me, health-wise. I didn’t realize until this December just how much pain and discomfort I’ve been in. I’ll save that discussion for the Fit Strong Women Over 50 podcast and probably a future blog post. So, I’ve gone into this holiday being grateful that I can celebrate it and hoping to be able to continue working on improving my health.

I also find myself growing melancholy around this time of year. I miss my husband and I miss our Christmas traditions. So, I try to avoid that by planning new traditions and spending time with family but those moments of grief still creep in.

Most of us don’t get to be 50 or older and not have people we miss and traditions that have changed. And I know most of us have spent the year working on ourselves, as well as caring for others.

Happy Healthy Holiday

So, here’s a few thoughts on how to have a happy healthy holiday.

Enjoy. Don’t abstain from all treats but don’t feel compelled to overindulge either. We say this a lot, I know, but I think it’s good advice. If you love your aunt’s homemade fudge, have a piece. Enjoy it. Savor it and then maybe pass on the store bought candy. Now, if you know that eating one piece of fudge will send you into a candy-eating frenzy, perhaps pass on the fudge and enjoy a different treat.

Exchange gifts. At first I suggested to my brother that we not exchange gifts this year and then I thought, he does so much for our family, I want to give him a gift. I don’t really care if he gives me one but I definitely want to acknowledge all that he does. If the person you want to give to really doesn’t need or want anything, make a donation in their name to a cause that they like. For example, make a donation to a local animal shelter if that’s what your friend or family member really cares about.

Consider giving events or experiences to people, instead of stuff. If someone needs an item, certainly that makes a great gift. Many of us, though, don’t really need anything so perhaps a gift certificate to a favorite restaurant works. Movie passes are a great gift, I think. A family with children would appreciate a membership to the local zoo.

Thank people. There are ways to give to people without buying a gift. Perhaps you share some of the cookies that your friend gave you with your elderly neighbor. Perhaps give a card to someone who has helped you out over the year. Even just saying thank you to someone is good.

Enjoy yourself. Haul everyone off to look at Christmas lights or watch a favorite holiday movie. For that matter, go to the movie theater and treat yourself to a night out.

Don’t forget to exercise! If you’re traveling or hosting family, your schedule may not allow you to make it to the gym or your regular yoga class. That doesn’t mean you should completely forget your exercise. Get in a long walk. If you’re traveling, perhaps check out the hotel’s fitness center or, if you’re visiting family, go with them to their gym. Call a gym, yoga studio or YMCA and ask about using the facility for the time that you’re visiting. You can always do some body weight exercises, such as push-ups, squats, lunges, and that kind of thing.

The important thing is to take care of yourself, acknowledge your feelings, and enjoy your holidays.

I’m enjoying my time with family and hope that you do too.

Have a happy healthy holiday!

Veggie Fritta or Omelet?

December 16, 2019 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

It started out that I was making an omelet for my husband and myself, but after I had all these veggies in the pan, I switched it up to a veggie fritta. It was too big to try to flip!

The only real difference is you don’t flip it. You cook the fritta from the bottom and the top – Usually by putting it into the oven to brown the veggies and the top.

Cheese is usually in these omelets or fritta, but we were out and honestly, I don’t think either of us missed it. This was filled with peppers, onions, broccoli, tomato, celery, mushrooms and spinach – nothing extremely “new” – but I’m still going to call it my #veggiechallenge for the week!

Love all these colorful veggies in my veggie fritta!

How’s your challenge going? Drop me an email at Chris@becomingelli.com or leave a comment below!

Winter Weather Walks

December 15, 2019 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

Even on the cold overcast days of winter, I love to get outside and experience nature to destress. Those winter weather walks are a treasure.

Taking my dog Lady for a walk around a nearby lake, listening to her panting on the trail, watching her ears perk up when she spies a squirrel ahead – those are all simple joys.

Sometimes exercise becomes too much measurement and intensity. Getting prepared for the upcoming holidays and travel can be a bit stressful. After a particularly intense week, a walk around an outdoor trail is just the ticket.

It definitely makes me enjoy the intense days more.

How about you? What do you do to destress during the holidays?

Nuun Sport for Replenishing Electrolytes

December 12, 2019 / Jill McCauslin / 0 Comments

I first picked up a tube of Nuun Sport tablets at the expo for the Akron Marathon. Boy, do I enjoy a good race expo. You can see what’s new in the world of running and choose from a variety of products. Lots of gadgets and accessories galore. There’s also lots of energy gels and electrolyte options. I bought a tube of Nuun tablets from one of the exhibitors, along with some other goodies.

Nuun tablets are meant to be dissolved in your water bottle. They’re similar to Alka Seltzer in that you drop a tablet into water and it fizzes until eventually the tablet dissolves.

It can take a while for the tablet to completely dissolve. I find myself sometimes shaking the bottle, trying to hurry up the whole process. Come on, I want to drink this now! I suppose this means I should do a better job of planning how to use Nuun for replenishing electrolytes.

Nuun Sport

What do I like about Nuun? I like that it’s fairly light. The flavors aren’t overpowering. It also doesn’t have a lot of sugar or sugar replacements in it. The Nuun website says that they were the first to separate electrolyte from carbohydrate replenishment. Therefore, all of the sugars that are in Gatorade or PowerAde aren’t part of Nuun.

I also like the fact that the tablets are scored so they can be cut in half. That way you can slide the tablet into a small opening or only use half a tablet.

Nuun comes in a small tube with a screw on lid. That makes it easily transportable and it can fit in a pocket or running belt. I did throw one into my purse and the lid eventually worked its way off and I had to rummage around to find the tablets and then throw them away. I do not want to eat anything that’s been bouncing around inside my purse.

Flavors

Apparently, this product is a success because their list of flavors continue to grow. Some of the flavors they currently sell are:

Cherry Limeade
Citrus Fruit
Fresh Lime
Fruit Punch
Grape
Lemon Lime
Mango Orange
Orange
Strawberry Lemonade
Tri-Berry
Tropical
Watermelon
Wild Berry

Ingredients

Each electrolyte tablet contains the following: sodium (360 mg), potassium (100 mg), magnesium (25 mg), calcium (13 mg), vitamin c (38 mg) and sugar (1g).

Serving Size: 1 tablet in 16 oz. of water

Potassium: 150 milligrams

Sodium: 300 milligrams

Calories Per Serving: 15

Notice that some of the flavors have caffeine in them.

You can check the website for ways to buy Nuun. I noticed that it’s available around me at running stores and grocery stores, including Walmart. So, they shouldn’t be too hard to locate. Plus, you can order them directly from the Nuun website: www.nuunlife.com.

I like Nuun Sport. The flavors that I’ve tried are light and refreshing. They don’t have that cloying taste of the sweeter drinks. Also, I like that it doesn’t have a lot of sugar or carbs. That way I can separate my need to replenish electrolytes and to refuel with carbs.

I do like the tube that they come in, even if it did fall apart in my purse. Lesson learned, don’t carry it around for weeks without using it.

There’s so many flavors that I’m going to have to try a new one.

Do you use Nuun Sport? What do you think? Let me know by commenting here or on our Facebook page. You can email me at jill@becomingelli.com.

Tap Dancing to Fitness

December 10, 2019 / Chris Brown / 2 Comments

Tap Dancing to Fitness Episode #47 of the Fit Strong Women Over 50 Podcast

Jill and Chris discuss life changes after 50 with Lois Krebs and how she keeps fit with tap dancing. Lois moved from working in a corporate office, went back to school and launched a new career as a nurse.

Although Lois felt she was “horrid” when she tried tap dancing in her twenties, she found many advantages when she took up tap dancing again in her 50’s.

“I noticed the other day, when I go down steps at work I go as fast as I can, down the middle of the stairs, not holding the handrails. My balance has definitely improved.”

Benefits of Tap Dancing:

Your brain memorizing the dance routines
Organized evening out
“Got me off the couch”
Movement and rhythmic
Love the sound
Fun to do – active
Strengthen legs/ankles
Coordination improvement
Making new friends
Emotional – Social – Physical – Mental

Other exercises that Lois does during the week:

Yoga – one night a week – relaxation/ breathing and stretching, improving circulation and balance
Exercise at home with hand weights/ dumb bells
Core, upper body, legs – strength training
Cycling – I ride on trails. I used to do 100-mile rides, fairly often.

We also talked about her success in working with a fasting elimination diet for 6 weeks and what she learned. It has changed how she prepares food and what she eats. She has worked with a chiropractor. She also did an endurance test and worked through a functional sports medicine program.

Some Examples of Importance of Functional Fitness:

Gardening – working the beds requires strong muscles to get out and work the soil
Carrying groceries for yourself – from the store to the car to the house/apartment without help
Putting luggage into the overhead bin on an airplane – you can’t travel if you can’t move your luggage!
“Something I read a while ago, one of the number one reason people go into assisted-living facilities is that they can’t get off the toilet by themselves.”

Food – how she organizes her eating:

Smoothies in the morning (vegetables, greens & some fruit)
Eggs on her day off for breakfast
Hot lunch at work (brings from home) her big meal of the day
She likes to stir fry when she needs a go to recipe.

She avoids all the high calorie snacks that many families bring into the residential facility where she works (such as cakes, donuts, cookies) by making sure she’s not hungry.

As someone who works at a residential living facility caring for people as a nurse, Lois offers this advice for aging well:

Keep the weight under control (most important)
Stay as active as your body will let you as long as possible
Find new interests and hobbies
Do things with friends so it is fun
Accomplishing a goal and meeting challenges

Mentioned during the podcast:

The Blender Girl cookbook with recipes using your blender. Edamame and spinach makes a great green hummus-like dip.
Lois’s elimination diet and her chiropractic doctor: Dr. Blueter at Ravenna Chiro
Pelaton bike ad https://youtu.be/ijof8uw4OHs
Ryan Reynolds Vodka ad

Veggie and Fruit Smoothie of Green Goodness

December 9, 2019 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

This veggie and fruit smoothie isn’t exactly within the parameters of the #VeggieChallenge, so let me explain! We’ve been working on our #VeggieChallenge for almost a year now!

At first, it was easy to try a new vegetable every week. I did pretty well with that for about the first 6 months or so. However, I’ll tell you 24 new vegetables are hard to come up with! (Let alone 52!!)

So then we modified it a bit. The veggie challenge became, try a new vegetable or a new vegetable recipe once a week. That actually went well too.

But this week, I’m going backwards. I’ve gone back to something I used to do quite a bit – veggie and fruit smoothies with a spinach base.

I used to drink these veggie and fruit smoothies on the way to the office, when I had a 30 minute commute back in 2014 and 2015. I was deleting the fruit and adding lemon. However, I found that one day I think I went too far. It didn’t go down right, or I had eaten them too many days in a row.

Now, I’m back to these with just a few days left in 2019, so I guess it took me several years or so to get my taste buds back for this.

I do have to say: This is a DELICIOUS way to enjoy your vegetables. So I’m posting this recipe today for my weekly #VeggieChallenge.

The ingredients are very simple:

Water
LOTS of spinach
carrots
celery
grapes
Granny Smith apple

If you like it super cold, you can add ice, but I since most of the ingredients are refrigerated and I use cold water, it’s fine for me without ice. For people who are into the macros,yes, this veggie and fruit smoothie is almost all carbs, but also has good fiber and nutrients as well.

I am alternating days with the veggie smoothies with other things so I don’t get into a rut and over do it!

What’s your favorite veggie/fruit smoothie? Leave a message and let me know. 330-970-6662 is the Becoming Elli voice mail. Thanks!

Keeping My Toes Happy

December 8, 2019 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

I have challenges with my toes. While not nearly as serious as some of my friends, I noticed changes in my toes and feet over the last few years.

My feet are starting to look like my mother’s. I’ve got some bunion action on two different joints. My baby toe and 4th toe now stay in the rolled position on both sides. Toes 2 and 3 are not looking hammered, so that makes me very happy. However, it is big toe, number one, that is starting to give me some grief. They have developed a distinct angle to them, which is not natural.

We have lots of sayings about them too: “Toe the line.” “Going toe to toe.” “From head to toe.” Toes are the foundation. When you have a weak base, it can cause other problems as well. Toes are so important to balance. That’s one of the reasons why I focus on my toes.

I think one thing that really caused the problem was having worn high heels, every weekday, 9-5 at the office, from age 22 until I was 38.

I remember the day I threw away my high heels. I was standing on the second floor of the R&D building at work… in front of the copy machine, xeroxing a memo for the weekly marketing department production schedule. I was in pain. Those stupid shoes were sending shooting pains up and down my calves. The shoes weren’t stupid, but I was for wearing them! That was my last day in high heels at work. I went out and bought some low pumps. Thank goodness or I’d have much worse toe problems today.

Also when I was a kid, I’d pretend to be a ballerina and stand on my tippy tippy toes. No, not the top joint, but actually having the tip of the toe nail touch the floor. Now that I think about that, it was fun balancing, but probably a bad thing to do to my joints. Luckily I usually only did that around Christmas time, inspired by the nutcracker ballet.

So at this stage of my life, I am working with what I’ve got… which is some pre arthritis and maybe some arthritis as well. I am trying to keep my toes happy! I value “comfort” over “cute” when it comes to footwear. And I do preventative and rehab on my toes and feet.

Here’s how I am exercising:

Lots of exercise modifications:

I do a warm up of my toe joints before class.
During class, I try not to get carried away and do something that would jolt the joint.
Burpees, while great for cardio, are a big no-no for my toes. When the group exercise calls for mountain climbers or burpees, anything you have to slam down on your bent toes, I step back and carefully place my feet.
I get down very carefully for push-ups.
Quick pylo lunge jumps are painful so I modify. I get my cardio by changing the movement to something that doesn’t force the toe joint quickly into a bent position.

Go slowly:

Getting into downward dog is something I do very carefully, especially the first few times from certain positions.
Planks are okay if I get into them slowly. I find I have to have more of the “palm” of my foot on the ground than what I expect I should.
I do separate exercises for my feet and toes. I call it my “Toga” (toe yoga, get it?!)

Here are some of the foot and toe exercises I do to help keep movement, maintain good position and reduce pain.

Toga exercises:

Roll the golf ball – I have high arches. It feels really good to me to GENTLY and lightly roll the ball on the planter facia ligament on the arch of my foot.
Hold the golf ball with your fingers on the bottom of your instep. Wiggle the toes. Slowly raise and lower the big toe. Careful placement is the key here.
Widen the space between the toes – put the soft gel sponge that they goes between the toes during a pedicure to separate the toes while applying polish
Interlace your toes with fingers
Zipper up your toes by interlacing your two sets of toes – I usually need lotion to get the toes to move into position.
Toe lifts
Towel scrunches with the toes
Working on the big toe after a workout
Foot massages by using my knuckles to really dig into the fascia

I really try to protect these important joints. Doing stretches, PT type exercises and loosening up tight tendons (very gently) really helps to keep my toes working better. I need to keep my toes happy for darned near everything like standing, walking, going up stairs, running, and once in a while, even jumping.

Do you have trouble with your toes? What do you do to keep them working? Any toe or foot exercise that you do often that really does the trick? I’d love to know new ways to keep my toes happy! Send me a message or leave a comment below. Thanks!

So Thankful and Grateful

December 1, 2019 / Chris Brown / 1 Comment

I have a giant list of things I’m grateful and thankful for!

My Family
My Friends
My Health
Freedom to do what I want
Being physically able to work out
Feeling optimistic about the future
Being able to enjoy the holidays

The morning of Thanksgiving I went spinning which set the day up with endorphins. We made the turkey and stuffing the night before, so when I got home from the gym, I just had some potatoes and roasted veggies to prepare before heading to my parents.

If I haven’t said that I am grateful for the Becoming Elli community before, let me say THANK YOU now. I know that this group, this community and my dear friend and co-host Jill has had a very positive impact on my life during the past few years.

Here we are entering December and I am feeling very thankful for so much in my life.

My weight is probably the most minor thing, but not gaining over Thanksgiving is a big accomplishment for me. And keeping the weight off is important to me for many reasons.

If I haven’t thanked you before, let me say it now, loud and clear: THANK YOU!!
Chris

Eating Healthy During the Holidays

November 26, 2019 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

In Episode 46, Jill and Chris discuss the importance of protein for women over 50 from an earlier recording with personal trainer, Brian Kennell. They also discuss the challenges of eating healthy during the holiday season and offer tips.

Limited time, free special bonus: Downloadable food planner and tracker PDF for eating healthy during holiday feasting with 20 tips.

In this podcast we discuss:

Ways of eating healthy during the holidays
How many grams of protein a day women over 50 should eat
Why cutting calories to lose weight and exercising to lose weight at the same time can be a problem.
3 reasons why women over 50 don’t always get enough protein
Strength training to build muscle
Sources of lean protein
Why changes in body composition toward more muscle and less fat are a lot slower than losing just weight on the scale
Thanksgiving food preparation ideas
Getting enough protein and exercise
Gluten free and vegan ideas and options

(Along with eating healthy during the holidays, you may be interested in hearing more from Brian. Here is a link to our earlier podcast with Brian Kennell when he talks about how women over 50 can stay Healthy, Fit and Active.)

CBD Products for Improving Health

November 19, 2019 / Chris Brown / 2 Comments

I’m just not sure about the CBD products that are on the market. I have to say, when it comes to this, I am not an early adopter. As a baby boomer who grew up super straight in the Midwest, I remember being severely cautioned on the effects of marijuana by my parents and watching the scare movie called Reefer Madness.

So now that 33 states have approved the legal status of cannabis (marijuana) for medical purposes and the remaining 17 allow cannabidiol (CBD), maybe I need to rethink my outdated opinions on it. In Ohio you can buy it in many places, right off the shelf, over the counter.

Even my local grocery store is touting the benefits – not only for humans but for dogs.

I understand it’s used for arthritis pain, for anxiety, for sleep, even epilepsy and schizophrenia.

It’s not about getting high, but even so, misconceptions and confusion abound. Some of the results are still unproven, according to an article AARP.

Like all supplements, CBD products aren’t necessarily regulated like pharmaceuticals. The dosage could be higher or lower than what the label says. The National Institute of Health cautions, “Care must be taken when directing patients toward CBD products because there is little regulation, and studies have found inaccurate labeling of CBD and tetrahydrocannabinol quantities.

Some people report side effects, but others say it really works well for them. In a 2019 survey by Consumer Reports, 15% of people over 60 have tried it and in the general population, 3/4 said it worked at least moderately well with 48% reporting it was very or extremely effective.

Some of the women over 50 who blog about their workouts have talked about it, like Wendy when she reviewed the book, “The Athletes Guide to CBD“.

Have you tried it? Why did you use it? Does it work? How do you use it, by rubbing the oil into your joints? (I’m referring to aching joints and ligaments.)