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Older Bolder 2019 Challenges: Four Thoughts on Getting Your Wellness Journey Started

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As part of the challenge series for 2019 that I introduced a few days ago, here are four thoughts on getting started on your journey to improve your health and fitness this year.

The Best Way to Get Started Improving Your Health: Start TODAY

This is a caveat well-learned from personal experience.

How many times have you said to yourself, or someone important in your life: “I’ll do it when…”

For those of us prone to procrastinate, putting a task off using “the when” ploy can be a stroke of genius – it’s ridiculously easy to set a target that’s so nebulous, so distant, so unlikely, or the final domino to fall in a complex, convoluted chain of events that you never have to step up, make a decision, and act.

I’ve been there, I’ve used this contrivance many a time, and heard so many versions of “the when” I should write a book about it (maybe I’ll get around to that when I get the current book finished).

A dear friend and mentor years ago stopped me right in my tracks after using “the when” ruse and verbally slapped me up the side of the head and said to just do it. He was right.

It’s time to start your health and wellness journey (or recovery) today. Just take the first step and start. You don’t have to leap, or cover huge ground. Tiny steps, coupled with a resolve to change and improve, count just as much.

Begin Your Health Journey with The End in Mind

The same guy who provided the wake up call mentioned above offered another great piece of life advice – begin any life adventure with the end in mind. His analogy built around the reality that you might not be able to define precisely the path you’ll take, but you can capture a vision of your eventual destination.

A few days back I offered a few reminders about goal setting using the SMART approach in particular; framing your vision (setting goals) should be encouraging and fun. I encourage clients to develop big, longer term visions of how they’d like their lives to look down the road, and set concrete, attainable, SMART goals along the path to get there.

Begin your health journey with the end in mind.

Strive for Flexibility (And Not Just Metabolic Flexibility)

I truly love the concept of metabolic flexibility (in a nutshell, being able to effectively and efficiently utilizing different nutritional substrates to thrive in different situations).

It’s important to develop another form of flexibility on this health and wellness journey, a flexibility that recognizes and embraces the likely fact that you’ll need to use different approaches at different times along your way to achieve your optimal results.

What the heck does that mean? Probably the most common example I see in my coaching practice is very close to this actual story. Let’s say Lindy has decided it’s time to drop 65 pounds, and enthusiastically starts in on a Primally-aligned nutrition program, and the first 25 pounds seem to fly off by April Fool’s Day. Her weight loss slows in April, and by the end of May she’s only down another 7 pounds, and while her heartburn has resolved, she’s down two dress sizes, and feels great, she’s frustrated and even a little panicked about having stalled.

Her friend, who happens to be a health coach, looks over her diet, and finds she’s eating a bowl of fruit every day. Lindy agrees to cut fruit to once per week, and adds in a walking program that she loves, walking 30min a day initially, though by week four she’s walking an hour a day or more, sometimes out again for another walk in the evening with her husband on those long summer days.

By September first, Lindy’s weight loss now totals 58 pounds, though while being chased by a dog at the park, she stumbled off a curb and fractured a metatarsal in her left foot, ending her walking program for six weeks.

Encouraged by her friend, Lindy decided to give a run of nutritional ketosis a try, and coupled with an intermittent fasting trial, lost another 7 pounds effortlessly over the next six weeks waiting for her fracture to heal.

The point is simple – as your metabolism (and overall physiology) improves and changes, particularly if you’re starting from a point of genuine metabolic derangement (metabolic syndrome), you’ll likely need to change your approach to nutrition and activity multiple times along the way.

Learn, Learn, Learn (Get Good at Finding Nuggets and Filtering Noise)

Finally, and probably my favorite concept in the entire health and wellness universe right now, it is critical that you embrace the reality that you’ll be learning vital and useful information from this point forward as you take greater responsibility for your wellness and fitness.

There’s a literal flood of great information available at your fingertips today, much of it free for the taking, and you have the ability to access experts worldwide via digital communications easily.

Granted, there’s a lot of noise (generously put – less useful, even frankly misleading information) out there. Finding nuggets of useful information takes a bit of sifting, and filtering the noise can take some effort. Sorting the best information from the rest is a skill you’ll get better at with practice, though I’d encourage anyone wanting to improve their health and fitness to read widely and frequently.

You’re unique, your body and physiology are unique to you, and your challenge is to find the package of nutrition and conditioning that make you the best you can be this year.

Need help sorting it out? We can help you anytime.

It’s time to get started.

the Older Bolder Life Sauce Sunday 6 January: Homemade Everyday Ketchup (or Ketchup No. 1)

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One of the most common food questions we field from friends, family, and clients as they begin to actually read and pay attention to food product labels is how to replace some of their favorite condiments, ketchup and some form of barbeque sauce probably being at the top of that list.

Mass marketed, commercially-prepared ketchups (and many other condiments) are most often made with stunningly bad ingredients – high fructose corn syrup, we’re looking at you in particular (the image to the right is taken right off a ketchup bottle produced by one of the ‘big boys’ in the game).

We’ve been encouraging people to make their own condiments for years now, and for three obvious reasons. Of course one reason, and perhaps the most critical one, is that you want to control the quality and sourcing of the foods you’re consuming, and that includes eliminating foods/ingredients (like HFCS) that are frankly unhealthy.

Two, customizing your favorite condiments to suit your tastes is limited only by your imagination and willingness to experiment a little. Take this Homemade Everyday Ketchup recipe for instance; you can vary the spices and vinegar/acid components with ease, as well as how sweet you want it to be. Around our house, we like to drop a chipotle pepper (with lots of adobo clinging) in, and don’t use any additional sweetener at all (OK, my wife may make her version with a teaspoon or two of good raw honey).

And three, this recipe, like the Homemade Avocado or Olive Oil Mayo recipe we’ve shared before, is so simple a child could do it, and it takes literally minutes to do.

A good quick ketchup recipe is always handy to have in the fridge (or the ingredients on hand to make in a flash), and can serve as the base for that barbeque sauce you’re hankering for, or a number of salad dressings as well (I have a great Catalina-inspired dressing to share later…).

For those ketchup purists out there who might argue the only way to truly make a great ketchup at home is to literally start from scratch with a half bushel of fresh tomatoes, we’ll have another, more involved ketchup recipe posted in the months to come.

1 12-ounce can organic tomato paste
1/2 to 1 cup raw apple cider vinegar
1/2 to 1 cup water
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 tsp onion powder OR up to 1/3 cup minced onion
2 tsp good salt
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/4 tsp dry mustard

Optional
1/4 – 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2-5 tsp raw honey OR good maple syrup

This one couldn’t be easier; throw everything into your trusty food processor (or a deep bowl and use an immersion blender) and combine well, adding more vinegar/water to achieve whatever you deem the ideal ketchup consistency.

Enjoy.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know (Older Bolder Links, Reads, and More) 5 January 2019

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A Few Older Bolder Leftovers from Thinking About the New Year

Powerlifting at 76? Damn right.

Asparagus and hangovers.

This trainer never lets her clients “go on a diet”.

Another good read from Shape about body composition and size stereotyping.

Older Bolder Topics We’ve Been Reading This Week

Thinking about cancer risk and body weight; here’s some interesting data broken down by state, and the details.

Can your skin cells predict how you’ll age? Maybe.

Supercharge your brain and become sexier? Some of the invisible benefits of exercise – but you already knew this…

Even NPR is jumping on the “cold is good” bandwagon.

Brain tumors (GBM) and the battle of the sexes – interesting study.

Miki Ben-Dor discussing the cooking hypothesis. Looks like a blog to follow…

Our Older Bolder Life Recipes from the Week

Blue Cheese Pecan Slaw

Fasolakia (Greek-Style Green Beans)

Thai-Inspired Slow Roasted Short Ribs

the Older Bolder Friday Feast 4 January: Thai-Inspired Slow Roasted Short Ribs

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Last March or April Chef Libby sent us this jaw-droppingly good recipe for Thai-Inspired Slow Roasted Short Ribs that she’d adapted from one published in Bon Appetit. She noted back then that she significantly upped the ‘spice package’ for the spice-infused coconut milk the ribs slowly roast in for nearly six hours (!).

She also added a bit of heat, in the form of a sliced jalapeno or fresno chile, to the toasted coconut, cilantro, and lime gremolata sprinkled over the top.

Our daughter Jess from Missoula recently visited over the holidays, and I slow roasted five pounds of short ribs using this recipe one coolish, windy afternoon her first day in town. The enticing aromas of coconut, ginger, and lemongrass drove us crazy during the last half of the roasting time, and we all agreed this was probably the best tasting short rib prep any of us had ever chased around a plate.

Libby also had shared a tip last year about using lemongrass; if you’re not feeling up to actually prepping lemongrass stalks, you can certainly using some of the pre-prepared lemongrass purees that are available in produce sections around the country. (We’re big lemongrass fans, so I actually used both…)

Take your time with this one, and get those ribs fall-off-the-bone tender.

4-5 lb beef short ribs
Good salt

3 lemongrass stalks (see note above)
2 medium shallots, trimmed and chopped
5 large garlic cloves
3 jalapeno chiles, stemmed, seeded, chopped
2-inch piece of ginger, peeled, finely chopped
1 tbsp + 1 tsp good curry powder
1 can (14-ounces) full fat, unsweetened coconut milk
Optional: 1 tbsp fish sauce

For the gremolata
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1 cup cilantro leaves and tender stems, chopped
1 jalapeno or fresno chile, stemmed, seeded, sliced into half rings
2 tbsp fresh-squeezed lime juice (one average lime)
Salt to taste

Preheat your trusty oven to 250.

Trim the uppermost three quarters of the lemongrass stalks off and lay in the bottom on your dutch oven or large cast iron skillet (if using the prepared lemongrass puree, skip this step of course). Salt the short ribs generously and lay atop the lemongrass, bone side up.

Into the blender go the coconut milk, shallots, garlic, jalapenos, ginger, curry, the lemongrass (at least 1 tbsp of the puree if using, grate the bottom quarters of the stalks in otherwise), and the optional fish sauce, puree until smooth. Pour over the ribs, and slide into the oven.

Roast at 250 for 3.5 hours; you’re looking for the meat to begin to tenderize, and the liquids to reduce by roughly half. (It will look broken and oily, don’t worry about that). At 3.5 hours, turn the ribs on their sides and throw it back into the oven for another 2 hours (maybe 2.5) until the meat is fall apart tender.

During the last hour, toast the coconut until golden (10-15 minutes), set aside to cool. When cool, combine with the cilantro and sliced pepper; add the fresh lime juice and salt just before serving.

When the ribs are done, serve hot with the gremolata spooned over the top.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder 2019 Challenges: An Introduction

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Very shortly we’ll be launching a new blog series looking at challenges related to improving one’s overall health and fitness levels this year. This is in part driven by a flood of questions that friends, family, clients, and potential clients have been throwing my way over the past month in particular.

Pundits and prognosticators have been pontificating about how tumultuous 2019 is likely going to be politically and economically (pending I suppose through what lens you view things of an economic nature, where some see chaos, some see opportunity). Let the soothsayers pontificate and conjecture away, and take care to not get distracted from the much more important matters at hand – improving your health and fitness this year.

For what it’s worth, I’ve very intentionally decided to label these posts as challenges. We like to be challenged around our camp; challenges have the potential to create significant learning and growth opportunities, along with dishing out the occasionally lump or bruise too, though those ouchy lessons are (for most of us anyway) typically the most durable and instructive.

The first of these follows in a few days, and deals with what we’ve come to call the D-word…

the Older Bolder Life Vegetable Wednesday 2 January: Fasolakia (Greek-Style Green Beans)

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I’m almost ashamed to admit that my lovely wife and I had never truly tasted genuine Fasolakia (Greek-style green beans) until a couple of years ago, at a then newly discovered wonderful little family-owned Greek place in a nearby town.

The tender green beans, coated with a rich, tomatoey, and well-spiced sauce became a favorite and often were part of a Greek gyro salad dinner for us in the months following our discovery. The restaurant is owned and managed by a charming Greek immigrant in his late 70s; he’s working every single day we venture in, and always welcoming and chatty.

I finally pestered him for the spices used in their version of this dish, and he rattled off the list below, including the admonition to use “lots of garlic and oregano”, and to not forget the spritz of fresh lemon juice at the end.

We also follow his technique of simmering for 15 minutes on the stovetop and then braising in the oven to finish, though you’ll find lots of recipes that complete the entire process on the stovetop. And while we most often prefer to use fresh vegetables, this is one recipe where frozen green beans work like a charm.

1.5 lb fresh green beans, or bout 8 cups frozen green beans (2 small bags)
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp avocado oil or EVOO
1 medium onion, trimmed, grated
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 and 1/2 tbsp good dried oregano (maybe a bit more)
2 tsp ground cumin
2 14.5-ounce cans organic diced tomatoes
3 tbsp organic tomato paste
1 bay leaf
Good salt to taste
Fresh ground pepper to taste
Lemon juice (1/2 lemon)
Optional: 1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves

Preheat your trusty oven to 300.

Heat 1/4 cup of your oil of choice in a dutch oven or oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat; add the onion (and any onion juice that’s collected while grating). Sauté for 5-6 minutes until the onion has softened and is just beginning to color and the liquid has reduced a bit.

Sprinkle in the dried oregano, cumin, and the garlic, sauté for another minute or so, then add the green beans, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, along with at least a teaspoon each of salt and pepper.

Bring to a gentle simmer, then cook (uncovered) for 15 minutes, stirring several times. Now cover and pop into the oven for another 30-40 minutes (check halfway through to see if you need to a little water). When the beans are tender, stir in at least another tbsp of oil, 2-3 tbsp fresh lemon juice, and the parsley. Adjust seasonings and serve hot.

Enjoy.

Happy New Year from All of Us at Older Bolder Fitness

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On one hand, we hope that the skies of your 2019 will be a beautiful tropical blue and the seas (or in the image above, the bay out of Rockport) smooth.

On the other hand, we’d much prefer you heed the advice of Mark Twain –

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover.

Three Reasons You Should COMMIT and Not Resolve This New Year

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For nearly twenty five years as a physician (and now as a wellness and health coach) I found it fascinating to query patients in my practice about their “resolutions” for the New Year.

Though it was not uncommon to hear something along the lines of “I’m too tired/weak/pained/sick to even think about making resolutions”, the most common responses could easily have been pulled right off the most popular New Year’s Resolutions of All Times List – such as get in shape, lose weight, stop smoking, get more sleep, watch less tv, drink less, get a raise, buy a new car, get married (or divorced), and so on…

As an aside, it’s reported that over 92% of us who make a resolution don’t complete it over the next twelve months; in fact, it’s reported that over 80% of resolutions have failed by the second week of February. I’m not sure how you’d ever complete hard research to confirm these data points, but intuitively (and as an observer of human behavior now for almost four decades), I’d believe it.

And while I typically wouldn’t ask the next obvious question – how many of those resolutions were on last year’s list? – my own experience from younger years had already provided the answer. Most of us never truly engage with and act consistently upon our New Year’s resolutions, and those issues impacting our lives negatively never get addressed in a meaningful, lasting, and consistent way.

Over the past decade we’ve (as a family) worked through a process to look at the New Year though a somewhat different lens – committing to specific goals; here’s three reasons you should too.

Commitment Reflects Your Deeper Motivation (Get the Why Right)

There’s no question that defining the why behind your desire to change helps cement your commitment to the process. I’m suspicious that many if not most of the resolutions that will be bandied about this week are things that people think they “should” do, when they really should be committing to things they will do for a specific reason(s).

A mentor and friend used to say often that we do what we do because we believe what we believe. What we truly believe, for instance about our health, drives everyday decisions about what we eat, how we move, how we challenge and condition our bodies and minds, and manage our physiology over the long haul.

A simple example – not understanding the why behind the disastrous, accumulating over the years damage that unfettered consumption of highly processed grains and sugars produces leads to ever-expanding waistlines and festering metabolic damage that eventually erupts in catastrophe.

Defining the why’s – the true beliefs or reasons behind your behaviors (or intended behaviors) – allows you drill down to the heart of the issue, and yields deeply motivated eventual success.

It’s ok to have some fun with this; one of my most successful client couples dropped over 200 pounds and became more fit than ever before because they wanted to improve their sex life. (It worked by the way; incentives are important.)

Commitment Implies SMART Goals

You’ve no doubt seen it before, but setting SMART goals can be an absolute game changer as you look at what you’d like to get done this next year. Here’s a quick refresher on the SMART goal process; you need to make goals –

Specific. Drill down and be as specific as you possibly can; split hairs and break big goals into component parts if needed.

Measurable. I love the sense of accomplishment that attaining a goal milestone brings; it doesn’t have to be a huge, life-changing milestone either. Set thoughtful (and meaningful) measurement markers along the way and cherish the victories as they roll by. Success begets more success.

Attainable. Be brutally honest with yourself here, think big but set goals with targets you can reach. A great example here is clients that want to lose over 100 pounds; for most of us, that’s a tall order for one year, but a piece of cake to do in two…

Relevant. One way to look at this is consider time lines, we all have short, intermediate, and longer term goals, create a balanced mix of all three time frames to align your progress this next year with the overall direction your life is taking.

Time-bound. Even if your goals are somewhat open-ended, or you’re not absolutely convinced your time-line projections will work (i.e. weight loss), define a set of deadlines that drive you with a sense of urgency and purpose. Dates can be wiggled.

Commitment Works for the Long Haul

Let’s face it, there will be days when you don’t feel like working hard to take another step toward achieving your goal(s), days you just don’t feel it, days where the first mile, not to mention the extra mile, simply looks too long, and you’ve lost sight of the longer term results and outcomes. Take heart, you’re not alone; we all have those days.

Commitment, however, isn’t based on how you feel. (Sorry, but it’s not, and may those who are attempting to define feelings are the absolute arbiter and driver of behavior should be condemned forever to the depths of perdition.)

Commitment, among other things, means completion. It means results. It means change. Commitment isn’t in any way dependent on feelings.

We’ve been conditioned to expect instantaneous results when we want something these days. The most valuable things in life, health and wellness treasures in particular, but material things as well, most often come about after our commitment over time to something – whether you want to define that as a lifestyle, a process, or specific goals is up to you.

It’s time to commit to be the best version of yourself you can be this year.