Tag: diet

bullying, parenting, Uncategorized

Santa, bully!

Katrina Russell

I read an article today about a 9 year old boy getting fat shamed by Santa. I couldn’t believe it. I mean I’m all about trying to get and stay healthy and feel that this country is out of control with #bodypositive excuses to enable obesity, but there is a time and a place.

Santa is supposed to be the epitome of unconditional love. He is supposed to bring joy tosanta-1 children. He is not supposed to bully them and make them cry, and that is exactly what he did.

I have commented on this before when social media went crazy and fat shamed a teenager in her
prom dress, but this is even more disturbing behavior. This is a grown man insulting a 9 year old. A 9 year old doesn’t really have that much control over his eating habits and his lifestyle. Slamming him for eating too many burgers and fries is like slamming a 4 month old for being fed formula. He does not do the grocery shopping. He does not cook the dinners. He doesn’t even  choose what the menu at his school is.

This poor boy who just went to tell Santa what he wan
ted for Christmas was met with ridicule and hate. He will never look at Santa or Christmas the same again, and I can tell you, this is not going to help his self esteem and there will probably be a lot more emotional eating in his future.

I was not over weight as a child. My son, thus far, is not over weight and I don’t see him becoming so given our lifestyle, but if Santa or any other adult ever bullied my kid and made him cry, getting reprimanded at his job would be the lease of his problems.

The only epidemic that I find more dangerous in this country than obesity is hate. People no longer careczageorxgaij1lo about their neighbors or fellow human beings. They have spent all of their time, over the last decade, sitting behind a keyboard insulting others. Now it’s even spilling into real life. People are all about not being PC and everyone is so easily offended and cry babies… but that’s not really it. It’s more that common decency has flown out the window and now people just want to prove what a dick they are.. because they can.

Should the kid lose weight, probably. Is it Santa’s job to ridicule him into submission.. NO!

coaching, Health

The Obesity Business

Katrina Russell

The interesting thing about the new Lane Bryant’s ad is the models they chose to use. They are trying to promote that big is beautiful, and I get that because that’s their gabourey-sidibebusiness, but the funny thing is that they only used one really big woman, a woman who is famous for playing a really big woman and a woman who has worked hard and decided to lose weight since that movie.

The majority of the women used in the commercial say that they are a size 14, which, though technically is plus sized, is also sold in most “regular sized” stores. The women are not obese, they are mostly curvy.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that anyone should be shamed for anything. I don’t

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think that overweight people are ugly or gross, but I do know that being overweight is unhealthy. This ad seriously sends a mixed message. A message that it’s ok to be “fat”… which it’s really not, but uses women who are either still within the healthy parameter and a woman who has realized that her weight was actually a bad thing and has chosen to become more healthy.

Ad campaigns like this are very difficult. Obviously Lane Bryant would love the obesity epidemic to continue… it’s their bread and butter, so to speak, but they are actually using healthy people to tell others that it’s ok to not be healthy. This is why society is so screwed up. No one wants to be responsible for themselves, no one wants to think about how their actions affect the future. “It’s ok to be obese because I’m still beautiful”. Yes, yes you can still be beautiwilliamperryful at any size, yes a little roll when you sit down is completely normal. No, you do not have to be a stick to be attractive.
The girl who is on the cover of Sports Illustrated is correct, she did open eyes of many. There are many people who say that you can’t be athletic and not be skinny, but anyone who has ever seen a real athlete knows that’s not true. Most athletes have a lot of muscle and even a little big of healthy body weight.. that is completely normal. The problem with campaigns like this is not that it’s promoting self esteem. The problem is that it’s comparing healthy and curvy with obesity and saying it’s all the same. It’s not. We need a campaign that says healthy is beautiful!

parenting

Taste the rainbow!

Katrina Russell

OK, I may get a little flack on this one, and I’m alright with that.I’m sure you’ve all seen the post about the mom who was “snack shamed” for sending her kid to school with Oreos, and I get that as parents we have the right to feed our kids what ever we want. But here’s the thing. School is a place where we go to send our children to learn things, and fist of all, learning good nutrition is also important, but on top of that it has been regularly proven that we learn better when we can concentrate. When our blood sugar levels are all over the place we can’t.

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I’m not saying that an Oreo now and then is going to kill you, but these teachers are dealing with 20 kids in their class, and the last thing they need is 20 maniacs running around from a sugar rush, and then crashing and not being able to focus or listen.

And yes, I understand that the new cool thing is to accept everyone no matter how unhealthy they are, but learning good habits as a child will help them become a more healthy adults, who may actually live to see their own children grow up. Obesity is real people. Diabetes, heart disease these are not made up conspiracies by the fruit and veggies market. These are real diseases that are killing people.

Now I understand that fresh fruits and veggies can be expensive for some and that buying the cheaper chips and cookies are easier, but let’s think about that for a moment. I’m not willing to put a little extra away to buy even raisins to help my child stay healthy… in other words KEEP MY CHILD ALIVE LONGER.

Sugar really is evil. There is study after study about not just how it affects our moods anddownloadjf energy levels and concentration, but also our long term health. Sugar is worse for our bodies than most fats, and most of the cookies and other junk foods aren’t even made with real sugar and natural fats, they’re made with high fructose, partially hydrogenated garbage that increases cholesterol levels, plays havoc with our blood sugar levels and even gives us acne… as if health problems weren’t bad enough!

Cutting sugar isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible either. There are plenty of places to go for help, and plenty of real snacks to take the edge off. In fact, research shows that as one starts to cut out the sugars and salts from ones diet they crave it less, and I have found that my taste buds have grown so that real food’s flavor actually intensifies.

So the next time you get all bent out of shape because someone dared to put your well-being  before your wants, try to remember what your job is as a parent, and be as good to yourself too.

parenting

Please pass the bread

Katrina Russell

I was at a wedding last weekend and I was sitting next to a friend of the bride’s that I remembered a few years back was on the chubby side. Now he was REALLY SKINNY. I could just tell by looking at him that he had made dramatic changes to his eating… but not necessarily healthy ones.

When the bread came around he passed it by and I commented, “you look like you haven’t had bread in a long time”. I was right. Hpaleo_food_pyramid_ireye is on the Paleo Diet. I know this is the new fad thing and EVERYONE must try it and you lose all kinds of weight, but the problem is, it’s not particularly healthy. Our bodies need a certain amount of carbs and calcium, and though dairy is not necessary for calcium, one has to be very careful when one cuts out an ENTIRE food group.

The funny thing is in most cultures food graphs (they take on different shapes) grains is always very high on the list, and carbs is one of the main macro nutrients that people need. So why is it that low carb diets such as the Paleo, gluten free and Atkins are so popular and seem to work… It depends on the carbs that you eat.

56f08dc3150000ad000b2beaIn Japan where carbs are the main staple, people live longer, have less cardio vascular problems and in general are healthier. The thing is the carbs they eat aren’t processed concoctions with barely a nutrient to be recognized. They eat whole grain, mostly rice.. and veggies. Italy is another country that loves it’s carbs. Pasta, pizza, and all the other goodies get eaten in huge portions, but again, they don’t chemically treat all the grains before eating them, they don’t load them down with hydrogenated…. anything.

The problem with the new diets are that people start cutting things like pizza and chips, which is great, but they lose out on the good carbs, like whole grain rices, pastas, and yes, bread. Which is the main macro nutrient needed to give us energy. No wonder coffee and naps are so popular.

coaching, Health

I need a new drug… or not

Katrina Russell

I am proud to announce that all of my hard work is paying off. No I am not a size 2, but I went to my doctor’s and my bad cholesterol is down FORTY points… yes, you read that correctly 40! And my good cholesterol is up 3 points. Also, though my blood pressure was never really high, it is still better than it was.

10310400-largeI have to say this feels like a huge accomplishment. Most people I have read about and come in contact with don’t bother to try to get healthy. They just pop a magic pill. Their cholesterol comes down, and they feel like they are doing so much better after. I never understood that. You’re still 50 lbs overweight, but you take medication with major side affects that could harm you, but hey… at least you can still eat pizza whenever you want and feel like crap all the time… so go you!

I have been very open to admit that my health was not always my top priority, but I have always tried to be at least a little active. I love taking my walks and hikes in the woods with my dog, but now that I have been actually up and really working out… getting my heart pumping and eating foods that make me thrive instead of just survive it’s like a whole new world.

I’m so glad that I chose this route. I know that I could have joined the masses and in-cholesterol-oil-Minnesota-St.-16125medicated myself to death. But that’s not the life I want to live. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that some medication is actually necessary. My dad was a diabetic… there was no getting around taking insulin. There are also lots of people with a genetic predisposition to things like high blood pressure, or cholesterol. My brother had a friend who’s very fit and a vegetarian and still has in the 300s… but for most of us, we need to think beyond the numbers, and start thinking about overall health. This is the only body we get. Now I’m just waiting on the results of my thyroid tests… wish me luck!

Health

Exercise is for losers

Katrina Russell

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I read the most ridiculous article in the world the other day. It was all about how exercise doesn’t help you lose weight. That was actually the title of the article. Seriously! This is what people are writing about? This is supposed to be helpful? Telling people there is no point to exercise because it takes a lot of exercise to burn calories. That’s the theory. If you have to work out for an hour and only burn off one piece of pizza it’s just not helpful. Well, is it better to NOT burn off the calories?

The other part, that seemed to have been forgotten, is that exercise boosts metabolism, builds muscle and  increases endorphins, all of which helps to not only lose weight, but also makes you actually feel better.

Exercise also helps with things like cholesterol and blood sugar levels. That’s why I started my exercise routine. After my father passed from complications from diabetes and I got the news from my doctor that my cholesterol levels were all wonky (bad too high, good too low), I knew I had to do something. I signed up for boxing classes, and my whole world started changing. As well as my perspective on health and weight. I was working out pretty consistently for about 2 or 3 months and feeling really discouraged because I wasn’t really losing any weight. I was talking to my boyfriend and he reassured me that he could definitely see a difference in my body. I decided to re-take my measurements and I was shocked. I was down about 3 inches in both my waist and my hips.

fat-vs-muscle-5719b712c0afbdfb040bc4e5I always knew that muscle weighed more than fat, but it didn’t occur to me that the reason I wasn’t actually “losing weight” was because for every lb of fat I was losing I was gaining a lb of muscle. It made the scale stay the same, but my body change. Which is the point after-all.

The other thing that the “science” article said was that when you exercise it makes you more hungry which is counter-intuitive to weight-loss, but in reality in order to lose weight you do need to eat… often. It’s just a matter of what you eat. Sure, if you exercise and then go eat a whole pizza you’re not going to lose fat, but if you exercise and eat fruits and veggies, whole grains and healthy proteins the fat will just fall off and the muscle will make you stronger and healthier than ever.

There are no tricks or shortcuts to health. You can’t exercise your eating habits away, and you can’t diet your lazy butt to health. You need to treat your body to both.

 

Health

Body Bullies

Katrina Russell

I don’t know why society has turned to shaming as their favorite past-time. I don’t know when it became the “in thing” to degrade other people but that is all I see on social media ALL THE TIME. It’s like the internet has created an entire society of mean girls.

gymjam (1)I was talking to one of my friends and he said that he was wanting to get in better shape. He’s in his 50s and in the last few years has just kind of let himself go. We were discussing different ways that he could get more exercise and he was hesitant to try anything because he was afraid of what other people would say about him.

That was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard. He was afraid to get in shape because people would make fun of him for not being in shape, but sadly it happens all the time. Why is this ok? I’ve seen articles from other people, mostly women, where the same type of body shaming has happened and it makes me scratch my head. Are they shaming the fat person for being fat or for trying to fix their behavior? I feel like this only happens with people who struggle with their weight. If an alcoholic joins AA no one shames them for doing so. No one shames a gambler for trying to change their habits. Why on Earth would someone shame anyone for wanting to get healthy? I can just imagine if they tried to quit smoking… the snide remarks must just fly.

Health

I love my fitbit!

Katrina Russell

fitbitlineupI started really trying to get healthy a few months ago. After my father died from Diabetes I was a mess for a bit and couldn’t really concentrate on anything. After about a year my brain started to defog and I could think rationally again. That’s when I made the decision to make sure Diabetes never takes me from my son.

I started taking nutrition classes, boxing classes, joined a gym and got myself a fitbit. At first I was a recreational user. I did my best to hit 10,000 steps. Some days I would go way over and some days I’d be lucky to make 7000. I figured it all worked itself out the wash, as long as I was averaging around 10,000 steps a day per week that was good enough. That was considered the average amount a person should be walking… Then I realized. I don’t want to be average!

I don’t want my life to be skating by just trying to make the grade. I could do 7000 steps a day without even trying. On a day that I actually went out and did things I was hitting more like 18,000 steps… isn’t that what I should be aiming for? What’s the point of spending the money and tracking your steps if you’re just going to be average?

What I LOVE about my fitbit is connecting to friends. I have this one friend who is completely insane. He does an average 0f 25,000 steps a day. He is in construction and a boxer and just in great shape. He invites all of his friends to different challenges and really gets everyone pumped. I love checking in at the end of the day. I love seeing my numbers stack up against other people’s. I am a tad bit competitive.

I love my fitbit because I have changed my goal from 10,000 steps a day to 15,000 steps a day and don’t settle for less. At the end of the night, if I’m not close I will pop on General Hospital (don’t judge) and run around my house with my phone or tablet and watch as the steps tick away. I love my fitbit because it keeps me aware. It makes me want to move. It makes being active a game. I love my fitbit because it’s helping me reach my goals to live longer for my son’s sake. 

PS. I am not affiliated in anyway with fitbit.. pick any tracker you like.

Health

#healthybodyimage

Katrina Russell

We are a country obsessed with size. The size of our TVs, houses… unmentionables.. and mostly our dress size. This is completely skewing what it means to be strong and healthy. I saw an article on Facebook about a guy who was outraged that his girlfriend’s “XL” top fit him just fine when he normally wore a small or medium sized men’s s13119068_10153502081641497_5650394151177940883_nhirt. He couldn’t believe how women’s clothes are so demeaning and making women feel bad by doing so…

There were lots of people commenting on both sides. One saying that women are made to
feel inferior if they’re not a size 2 and some saying that in actuality sizes now are even bigger than ones of yesteryear, but here’s the thing. He is a guy… yes, that makes a difference. Let’s say this guy was 5’9″ and had an average to small build, which is why he is in a small-medium sized men’s shirt. That would make sense. He is small to medium for a man. Now, let’s say his girlfriend was also 5’9″… still had a medium build, but now let’s throw in a good healthy bust area… guess what? She is large for a women. She just is.

I had this problem in high school and how it was handled completely screwed up my self image for a really long time. I am 5’10”. I also have a DD cup bra…. I am not small. I have not been small since I was a child. At age 11 I was 5’6″ 125 lbs. Yes, totally healthy and normal. I also had a B cup bra at that time. I was the size of a medium sized woman. And I was good and healthy. One of my best friends at the time was like 4’8″ and maybe 80 lbs. Again, completely normal and healthy, but I felt HUGE next to her.

No one bothered to explain that this was ok. That people came in different sizes and that my being “big” wasn’t a bad thing. My aunt told me that “someday I’d grow into my size”. I still don’t have any idea what she could have possibly meant by that. But I started to feel really fat. A couple years later I was up to 5’8″ 145 lbs and a C cup bra. Still, completely healthy. I was now in a Large. I felt like a tub a lub. It was horrible. My aunt decided to make me feel better she would start taking me shopping at the plus sized store “so I would be the smallest one in the store instead of the biggest”… yeah.. that’s encouraging.. it’s like saying… well sure you’re fat, but you’re not as fat as THEM.

My whole life changed after that. I was afraid to exercise in pubic.. even in gym class. I wore really big baggy clothes that just made me look huge and frumpy and I stopped caring about what I ate at all…. why should I? I’m already fat. My whole self worth was thrown in the toilet and I had a carnival mirror image of my body. As time went on I started to grow into the person that I thought that I was and my body got bigger and bigger and pretty soon I wasn’t the smallest person in that plus sized store.

Years later I was blessed with two amazing God daughters. Both of them completely gorgeous and both very tall with decent builds and muscle structures. When they each hit about 12 years old they started comparing their legs and arms to their friends who had smaller frames and were talking about how “fat” they felt. I remembered how I felt at that age and how I had wished some
one had straightened me out then before my habits got out of hand.
I explained that people are different. That height and muscles and bone structure makes a difference and that if they really looked they would see that there was hardly any fat to be found on their bodies. They each did the classic bend till a roll appeared on their belly.. I explained that skin is not fat. The funny thing is when I had this conversation with the younger one the older one was present. She said that she remembered the same conversation about 5 years earlier and that it really helped.

We are so concerned with being the right size that we forget that numbers aren’t the problem. I used to work with a girl who was trying to get into the Army. She was not very tall but she was extremely muscular. She had played sports all through high school and college and had built up quite the physique. The problem was according to the BMI charts she was fat. Well over the average. When she went for her physical she almost failed based on the paperwork, but when they tested her body fat count she was at 6%. Needless to say, she got into the Army and did quite well there, but had someone not bothered to look past the numbers on the paperwork a very strong very healthy young woman could have been turned awashley-graham-sub-600x800ay under false pretenses.

Now the world is going crazy about this new plus sized model that’s hitting all the covers. People are saying that we shouldn’t glorify obesity… I COULDN’T AGREE MORE! The only thing is, Ashley Graham and girls like her aren’t obese. They are simply large. She has hips. She has boobs. She has muscles. She has healthy body fat. She is one of those girls who, like me, could either be the largest one in the “normal” sized store or the smallest in the plus sized store.

Sizes, weights, BMI.. they are just numbers. They are not an actual representation of health. They are not any representation of beauty. We need to start becoming a society of #healthybodyimage and not #sizematters.

Health

What happened when I stopped drinking coffee

Katrina Russell

Everyone keeps writing about the health benefits of giving up coffee… so I tried it.

  1. I yelled at my kid

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2. I didn’t get off the couch

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3. I hated my boyfriend

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It was the hardest 2 hours of my life!

In actuality coffee isn’t bad for you. It’s full of antioxidants and great for energy and tastes good too. It can be a great treat and motivate you to start your day. It can help prevent Type 2 Diabetes, Parkinson’s, certain kinds of cancer and Alzheimer’s. It also boosts your metabolism to help you burn fat. It’s what you put in your coffee that matters. Coffee is a wonder bean. Cream, sugar, mocha swirl, and/or caramel… not so much.