MountainMornings

Good morning Mountaineers! HA, so funny that I actually thought of a name for y’all. But hey, we are all on a journey, with hills and valleys. And even though everybody is trying to figure out what POTUS will be saying tonight in his shortest (and last 😦 State of the Union ever, I wanted to talk about those 2016 goals we’ve all made over a week ago. You remember, that dubious resolution to “get Healthy” by any means necessary.

The way I see it, we have three options if we ever want our arms to look like FLOTUS:

1 – DIY, get one of those FitBit bracelets, track everything you do, every step and heartbeat, every morsel of food you put in your mouth, and hope for the best. Run or walk every day, maybe do a fitness tape in your living room? This step requires a bit of an OCD attitude and it’s not for me. But if it works for you, yay!!;

2 – Join a Community, sign up for a gym membership, adhere to Dr Atkins, join Weight Watchers or order your food via Jenny Craig. This would seem to me the easy way out, you limit your choices to a certain prescribed set of rules. Don’t eat after 8pm; Don’t eat carbs; don’t, don’t don’t; don’t do this or that. This may work, but often it’s time limited, ie people give up easily.

3 – Eclectic or CustomCare – in other words, pick what works for you from the combined knowledge of our foremothers – one from column A and two from column B. Now this would be the obvious choice, and I was thinking about it while listening to NPR about the rise of “Boutique Fitness.” Cross-Fit, Pilates and Yoga, Soul Cycle, you know the drill. https://onpoint.wbur.org/2016/01/07/soul-cycle-crossfit-boutique-fitness

Has exercise become the new religion or the latest drug of addiction? There’s no denying people can be pretty crazy about their party of choice. But that’s nothing new. When I was younger, it was all about Dance Aerobics. And it wasn’t Disco either ladies, or Jazzercise. It was the early 80s HipHop, when white suburban housewives had no idea what it was and they had certainly never heard of Qtip and 2Pac. We would push our leg warmers down around our ankles, secure a spot on the NY Sports and Racquet gym floor, and feel like fly girls. Literally, I felt like I could fly sometimes!

Because music does that to you right? Well, music and a bunch of endorphins pounding through your brain.

What I’m thinking is it’s about time I got my groove back. I’m not into biking in a gym to a computer and a preacher-like leader, sorry Polli. I’d surely break a bone trying out Cross Fit. But my soul is soothed when I’m dancing, so maybe it’s time to try that Barre class at a little place in Ivy?

Also I bumped into a Nashville dietician, McKel, Hill, who has branded herself the Country Queen of Wellness (or maybe I call her that?). I found an article about her while waiting in my retina doctor’s office. Yes, aging not only gives you crow’s feet, which I don’t mind, but it can wrinkle your retina too! McKel started a blog, “Nutrition Stripped” http://nutritionstripped.com/blog/ – but she may have started a movement. In the heart of Southern Fried Anything, she asks us to eat real, wholesome food, and not only makes it look easy, she makes it beautiful.

I signed up for her Instagram account so I can be inspired by her recipes. I’m sure if I lived in Nashville, and won the Lottery, I could hire her to be my Wellness Coach. This would be the extreme #3 – get yourself a private chef, and a trainer! Which is why I’m wondering why Oprah bought into WW?

McKel asked her followers recently what wellness trends we’d like to say goodbye to from 2015. I’d say so long to chia seeds! What about you. If you won the Lottery of Wellness, what would you do? That’s me in the 1980s of NJ, second from left. Nuff said.