Manifest the Best

Dear Remy Maguire,

You have once again written a no nonsense, practical guide for eating. Learning from you is so much fun, and I love the way to stay on message, sharing the basic ideas in so many fresh, interesting ways. I never thought I'd know the day when fruit could taste like chocolate, but I can turn a fresh fig into a delicious chocolate. Here are some things I couldn't do a year ago: only have one glass of wine at dinner, turn down chocolate, or limit my sweet intake to only one sweet a day, i.e. a few semi sweet morsels. (If I eat more, I don't feel good.) I have eaten kale, collard greens, arugula, salmon, beans, almond milk, almond butter, tofu, spaghetti squash, and now purchase virtually only organic fruits and veggies. See what you've done for me?!
You amaze me and inspire me. I'm so glad that you are in my life. I still have work to do, and always will, but I know you'll be there to cheer me on or kick my butt!

By the way, I felt really good about my run today. 2.4 miles in 35 minutes--20 minutes of that was between 4.2 and 4.7 mph.

Not bad for an old bird like me.

"Heading into my mid 40’s I was getting to be pretty stout and taking some medications for high cholesterol. I’ve spent my whole working life as a professional chef and I just accepted my condition as a price for my profession. Being around delicious food all day, every day can be a blessing and a curse. I also spent a lot of time telling myself that I didn’t have time to exercise. I was out of shape and getting big enough that finishing the last couple of days of my week in the kitchen was pretty difficult physically. Sore back and hips were another price for this wonderful profession. Then the doctor told me about my high blood sugar and metabolic syndrome. That was the trigger for me. Being fat and having high cholesterol were okay but I didn’t want anything to do with diabetes.

I joined a gym, paid for three years so that I would be financially as well as emotionally committed and got on the elliptical. I lost some weight and gained some fitness on my own but working with a trainer took me to the next step in fitness. I’ve been working with Remy at NW Personal Training for the last six months or so. She’s helped me to get farther along in my fitness than I had for the last three years on my own. She keeps the workouts varied and challenging. Just when I start to get full of myself she shows me something new that keeps me moving forward. I’m learning and getting some joy from the idea that this is a lifelong process and not an end to reach. I turned 50 this year and am stronger and more fit than I’ve been for at least 20 years. My back doesn’t hurt anymore, my blood sugar is down, my cholesterol is down, my blood pressure is down, my weight is down (still more to go) and my body doesn’t hurt at the end of my work week any more. It feels good to fill out the top of my t-shirt more than the bottom of it. As important as all of that, I feel good about my health and fitness now. All day baby!"

Happy & Healthy Client

Several years ago, I began to notice I ended most days oddly achy and tired. I thought it was due to my job and the jostling hour-long bus commutes. I was now in my sixties so there was that as well. Then, just over a year ago, a passing comment by a friend, confirmed by my doctor, alerted me to the troubling side effects of statins, the drug I took to lower my cholesterol.

Some who have taken statins for a prolonged period have reported side effects including inflamed joints, impaired cognitive ability, and muscle pain and weakness. The warnings are thought to apply to only 5-10% of those who take statins, but they are chilling nonetheless.
Perhaps, I thought, I was one of them. Within a week of not taking statins, my joints ached less. The side effects returned within days of resuming, no matter which statin I took. With my doctor admonishing “you must make lifestyle changes,” I stopped taking them altogether.
I understood what he meant by “lifestyle change.” It meant real exercise and a fundamental shift in diet. There would be none of the blissful vision in advertising of “value meals,” fast food, and all you can eat dining. That would be a thing of the past.

I started by changing my eating habits. Nutritional guidelines overwhelmed me so I focused just on minimizing saturated fat. This was especially effective because many foods I typically ate – beef, desserts, cheese, and eggs – were sat fat dense. I switched to non-fat milk. That might seem like a small thing but my theory was every gram of sat fat consumed hurt. My wife turned my meat-heavy Midwest appetite to simple cuisine like stir fries and hearty salads. And I learned to favor squash, swiss chard, bok choy, and sushi. (We’re still in discussions about eggplant.)

Then I signed on with NWPT. I knew that to make a difference, I needed someone to press me to exercise hard enough. I committed to a package of training hours, met with a trainer, and scheduled twice weekly training sessions.

I can’t emphasize enough the importance of a trainer. To paraphrase Tom Landry, long-time coach of the Dallas Cowboys, my personal trainer makes me do what I don’t want to do to become what I want to become. She does this by challenging me, adjusting my workouts when necessary to meet the goals we set for strength and aerobic fitness. And she keeps it fun. That’s important because if it isn’t fun, I won’t do it for long. Oh, and she listens to my complaints, but not really, also important.

The realities of aging can be dismaying – aerobic capacity decreases 10% each decade; we lose muscle mass more quickly after the age of 50; bone density decreases 1% per year. Obviously, I can’t stop aging, but I need not hasten the process. Getting and staying in shape isn’t easy – your mind calls you crazy to sweat so! – but the reward is strength, balance, and vitality. Who wants a long life without that?

My dad lived to be 93. He was a ballroom dancer all his life and had good health almost to the end. I don’t think that’s mere coincidence – the body is supposed to move. There is no guarantee, of course, I’ll make out as well as he did, but I like the odds maintaining a healthy body and mind offers."