My gym puts up flyers of happenings during the month, an inspirational quote and even a recipe or two in each bathroom stall to give you something to read while you’re on the john. This month’s flyer had the following quote by Unknown: “It’s not what we eat between Christmas and New Year’s that we should worry about. It’s what we eat between New Year’s and Christmas.” The norm is the former and the extreme is the latter.

So one point is that yes, I do read those flyers while I’m evacuating the systems, as my running buddy likes to call it!

The other point is that because of the unhealthy eating done between New Year’s and Christmas people flock to the gym on January 2nd to start their new workout regimen. Surely, exercise is the cure. Exercise alone is going to undo the all the damage they’ve done to themselves by eating crappy, unhealthy food. Adding a behavior instead of fixing the one that’s wrong is surely the answer. There’s a name for these people. My fellow gym goers and I like to call them New Year’s Resolution People.

New Year’s Resolution People race to the gym on January 2nd, sign up for a gym membership with a 2 year contract, go for about 2 months and then come back January 2nd of the following year…assuming they come back at all. New Year’s Resolution People have no clue how to use the machines, and they don’t ask anyone either. They come to the gym at peak times wearing jeans (seriously??? who works out in jeans) and a plaid shirt (no comment…plaid is bad) and hog the treadmills, elliptical machines, weight machines, pool lanes, etc. They are a nuisance for two months, make regular gym goers slightly miffed and then drop off the face of the earth. They give up on the gym and stop exercising, still continue eating badly, do more damage and then come back to repeat the cycle the following year.

Really, if this is the lifestyle that you choose, then please just stay home. Save the sanity of the people that do workout regularly. We’ll appreciate you more for it in the long run.

On the plus side, New Year’s Resolution People are good for one thing: they help keep the gym open. Think about all of those unused memberships. People are contracted for 2 years paying XX dollars per month, and they never go except for maybe two months out of the year. That’s less wear and tear on the machines, less towels used, less cost to run the gym overall. It’s ironic that the gym earns more money off of people that don’t go to the gym than the people that do go.

So thank you New Year’s Resolution People for helping keep our gyms open.

Exercise and good eating go hand in hand. If you put healthy food in your body, you’ll feel better, have a better work out and will lose weight on that end. In addition to healthy eating, if you decide to join a gym, going regularly and doing some basic weight training and cardio in actual workout clothes (cotton is rotten..remember that) will help you lose weight as well. Doing just one or the other doesn’t always produce the best results. That’s the reason New Year’s Resolution People quit. They usually do one or the other, diet or exercise, and when they don’t see results, they quit. They never change their behavior. They just add another behavior thinking it will solve the one that’s really troubling them.

I’m a big believer in eating healthy and exercising. It has so many benefits and it’s so simple that you don’t even need a gym to do it. Go for a walk outside 5 days a week and eat healthy meals every day and you’ll see a change. You’ve got to change your behaviors to see results. Be open to change. Change is a good thing. If you’re not open to change, then please just stay home.

Sara

A friend of mine posted a blog the other day that was about something close to her heart: weight loss. I’ll refer to my friend as Kara for now to keep her identity safe. The blog referenced the TV show “Biggest Loser.” Kara is an inspiration to myself and many other people that follow her blog. Kara was featured in Fitness magazine about her weight loss success story. When I read Kara’s blog post, she commented on “Biggest Loser” and said some of the diet and weight loss techniques were a bit extreme. She felt the techniques they use are a tad extreme for weight loss purposes and she questioned whether they were safe and even realistic for the average Joe or Jane watching the show that is not on the “Biggest Loser”. For instance: working out 6 hours a day. Is that really realistic for any severely obese person? My opinion is no. However, one of points Kara made was that these TV shows like this often represent an unrealistic picture which in turn motivates people to want to lose weight and then have unrealistic expectations and they get let down in the process.

As a professional ballroom dancer I will attest to the same exact thing with a show called “Dancing with the Stars.” When you watch an episode of “Dancing with the Stars” (DWTS for short) you see a lot of smoke and mirrors. These stars go on this show, train for around 8 hours a day and go out there on TV in a fancy, sparkling dress and the public goes nuts. The average couple (I’ll call them Frank and Sally) watching the show sees this and decide they want to take ballroom dance lessons. They get on the phone and the first studio that answers the phone schedules a private lesson for them with a dance instructor. When Frank and Sally show up for their first lesson here’s what typically happens:

1. Frank and Sally show up at the studio and are enrolled in the studio’s “Introductory Program” which consists of 2 25 minute private lessons for $25.00. They think to themselves, “Why didn’t I sign up for dance lessons sooner. This is a really great deal.”

2. When Frank and Sally get to the studio, they fill out an information form which has a section for them to write down their dance goals. In that spot on the form they will write: “We want to look like the people on DWTS.”

3. Their instructor will greet them and take them on the dance floor where they will learn the BASIC STEP in 2 or 3 dances, depending how quickly they pick up the steps.

4. After their 25 minutes is over, Frank and Sally will look at their instructor and ask, “When will we get to look like the people on DWTS? What you showed us doesn’t look like anything they do on the TV show.” In turn, the instructor will respond, “Well, the people on DWTS train 8 hours a day, several days a week and they learn a 90 second choreographed routine. The routine usually consists of more complicated steps than the star is ready for. For entertainment purposes, watching people dance basic steps can be rather boring; however an open level choreographed routine with steps that the professionals do is typically more fun to watch. The stars that you see on DWTS can only dance that set of steps only with their teacher and only to that specific song. That star has hardly any basic knowledge of the dance. They started at the top and never bothered to learn the basics of each dance.”

5. The instructor will walk Frank and Sally back to the table they met at where their completed form is sitting on a clipboard. Below that form lies hidden information: the price sheet with packages of dance lessons listed. The instructor then drops the bomb: for you to continue dancing, it will basically cost Frank and Sally $75.00 per 50 minute session. (That’s pretty cheap too. A lot of studios charge a LOT more than that.)

6. Frank and Sally schedule their second 25 minute private lesson because they’ve already paid for it. When they leave the studio they look at each other in surprise and say, “Wow that’s a lot of money to spend on one lesson a week. They realize that it will cost them quite a bit of money to look like the people on DWTS, get in their car and drive home.

7. Frank and Sally return the following week for their second 25 minute private lesson on their Introductory Program. They take their lesson. When finished, the instructor asks them if they’d like to continue and which package of lessons they’ve decided on. Frank and Sally look guiltily at their shoes and say, “I don’t think we are going to continue right now. We’re really busy right now and just don’t have time.”

8. The instructor knows what that really means: it’s too expensive for them to achieve the goals they want to reach.

Instructors do occasionally get a couple (or a single person for that matter) that will stick and continue with lessons; however, the above is a more typical situation. Like weight loss, dance is something that you have to practice at to be good at it. There are people that look at the price tag, and it means nothing to them—they will dance no matter what and find a way to make the investment because it’s really important to them. If something isn’t important to you, you can spout out all of the excuses you can pull out of your rear but at the end of the day, you’re not going to stick with it. What’s important and valuable to one person is often totally different compared to another.

DWTS paints an unrealistic picture to the average Frank and Sally watching the show. What people don’t seem to get about the show is that these stars on the show have a private instructor with them for every lesson they take. They may learn a waltz or forxtrot, but they aren’t learning basic fundamental steps that every person starts with when they step into the studio.

It’s kind of like graduating college with no experience and expecting to walk into a company and demand to be the CEO. You just don’t have enough experience or expertise. You have to start from the bottom and work your way to the top. Sure, some people have more natural affinity for dance, especially if they’ve done another style of dance (like ballet or jazz for example). But those people, myself included, all started at square one—the basic step in each and every dance. There’s no getting around it—if you don’t understand the fundamentals of the basic, you won’t understand anything else going forward.

DWTS has provided a lot of exposure for the ballroom dance industry and has become an increasingly more popular activity for people to converse about and also to do. But the next time you watch the show and decide you want to take dance lessons, please expect to start at the beginning. Chances are good it will take you a while to obtain the “quality” of dancing on DWTS—and yes, there is a glimmer of sarcasm in that statement!

Sara

This is the first post about meals prepared from my trainer and friend Anna Maria Klironomou-O’Brien’s cookbook entitled Greek Cooking. If you like what you read here and would like more information please visit her website for more information on recipes and how to purchase the book: www.greekcooking.info.

The Chicken Over Okra was very flavorful. This dish had a wonderful crunch from the okra. The chicken is cooked in a way that it simply melted in your mouth. The sauce is slightly savory and a little spicy but not overpowering at all. The sauce compliments the okra and the chicken and yet manages to shine all on its own. I’ve never eaten okra before, and I really enjoyed it. The okra and the sauce were the highlights of the dish for me!

I ate this meal for my lunch all four days of my work week. I had 4 lunches and the chef was allotted one meal as well which made 5 total servings.

Here are the organic ingredients I obtained, and also where I purchased them at:

1. Chicken at Costco
2. Canned tomatoes from Costco

Here are the non-organic ingredients, and also where I purchased them:

1. Frozen okra at Town & Country
2. Olive oil at Costco
3. Onion at Town & Country
5. Red wine vinegar at Town and Country
6. Garlic at Remus Farms

I do not have a lot of staples yet for organic cooking such as organic olive oil and also things like onion and garlic. However, after making a trip to Whole Foods and checking out Costco a little more thoroughly, I discovered I would be able to buy organic staples between both places.

While at Whole Foods this week, all of the items on my non-organic list above were available in an organic form. Costco does sell a large container of organic Olive Oil which I am going to purchasing for future use since it is a staple in Mediterranean cuisine.

A note from the chef (my boyfriend, Pete): “Cooking this dish was very easy. The recipe was very straightforward. I had never prepared okra before, and I’ve often heard stories of problems with the okra being too slimy. Prepping the okra the way that Anna O’Brien’s cookbook suggests was very effective. By the time the okra reaches your lips, it’s not slimy at all.”

This coming week will be Baked Lemon Chicken over Potatoes!

Opa!
Sara

Religion. Spirituality. Belief. Faith.

What do you believe in?

I was raised Catholic. I went to a Catholic school for 12 years. My mother took me to church on Sunday until I was 8. I think she got tired of going. I still went to church because it was a requirement of the school. We went twice a week in grammar school. We went on holy days of obligation in high school. I would sit and listen to the Priest drone on and on. My mind would wander, and I would day-dream. Once I graduated college, I never set foot in a Catholic church again.

Somewhere, sometime, someway, something sunk into my brain. Here’s what I got out of attending Catholic church: the basics. Basic rules and principals to which I live my life by. To me, that means being a good person: treating others as I’d want to be treated, be kind to your parents, loving my significant other, and so on. This is the message that I took away. I don’t follow all of the rules of the faith which is why I do not believe I am a Catholic.

I’m religion-less right now. I go to a Methodist Church every Sunday, but I wouldn’t consider myself to be a Methodist. A friend of mine said to me one day, “Come to church with me. You might enjoy hearing the Pastor’s sermon. He’s an excellent speaker.” I’m always up for something new, so I found myself at the First United Methodist Church in Valparaiso, Indiana. I continued going to church after that day because I really liked the message the Pastor conveyed. He captured my interest which is why I continue to go to church now. For me, I love finding a greater message beyond the weekly sermon. I love digging out that message, applying it to my life and trying to make myself a better person.

Believing in something gives me a greater passion about it. When I’m truly passionate about something, I approach it in an entirely new way which adds better meaning to my life. I’m not just passionate about being a better person. I’m passionate about health and fitness, developing relationships with friends and loved ones, my three crazy dogs, etc. Finding belief inspires passion which fuels the fire of an amazing life.

Whatever you believe in is waiting to be discovered inside of you. You don’t have to subscribe to a church to find it either. You never know when something will fall out of the sky, bonk you on the head and take your breath away. You might find something you really believe in while listening to your favorite AM radio station on the way to work, in a song on the FM station (or Sirius Satelie XM), in a picture, while on the morning run, or while eating green eggs and ham. Whatever it is that inspires you to believe, I encourage you to find it, dig in and use it to become the best you that you can be.

Sara

I love eating healthy. Unfortunately, I tend to be one of those people that tends to get stuck in a rut. I’ll find two or three recipes I like, rotate them and keep eating them week after week until I get sick of them. After that, I cannot eat them anymore.

So, guess what? I’m making a change. The change I’m making is going to be eating brand new recipes (one per week) and I will be using mostly organic ingredients.

I have 3 sources of inspiration.

The first source of inspiration is my Greek trainer and friend Anna Maria Klironomou-O’Brien’s brand new cookbook entitled Greek Cooking which uses authentic, healthy, Greek recipes. For more information on the cookbook and some free recipes check out www.greekcooking.info.

Second is the movie I watched this weekend, Julie and Julia. It’s a movie about a New York writer named Julie who starts a blog and vows to cook her way through one of Julia Child’s cookbooks. She writes about her cooking experiences in the blog.

The third would involve movies such as Food, Inc., Forks Over Knives, and other movies I’ve seen that fall into this same category. I haven’t switched to Veganism or vegetarianism (yet). Although I definitely have a lot of respect these lifestyles and do enjoy these types of dishes, I still enjoy eating meat. However, these movies have greatly opened my eyes to adding more and more vegetables to my diet, not eating as much dairy and, most importantly, eating as much organic, unprocessed food as possible.

So, with these three sources of inspiration, I’m going to start what I call The Greek Eating Project! I’m going to eat my way through Anna O’Brien’s cookbook, using mostly organic ingredients and will write one blog entry per week about the recipe that I choose. I say “mostly organic ingredients” because it can sometimes be tough to find every organic ingredient when you live in Northwest Indiana.

Opa! Enjoy!

Sara

Make your life whatever you want it to be, but always let your conscience be your guide.

You can plan and plan and plan but if you stop and think about it life really is just around the river bend.

Always be on time. Never rush. You should never be late, be late for a very important date.

What date you ask? I know (hopefully) you’re thinking Disney right now. Why Disney? Why not Disney! I’m a huge Disney fan. Disney World in Orlando, Florida is a very cool place! So why not explore it with me at the Disney Marathon in January 2013? It’ll be a great way to see some of the parks, lots of Disney princesses and get a Mickey Mouse Medal when you cross the finish line!!

Ok, so if running a marathon is not your thing, I totally get it. You can walk it instead!

Ok, maybe not. If you know me, you know how persuasive I can be especially when I want something! That’s right…I will bug you until you say yes!

So what’s so special about flying all the way to Disney World to run a marathon? How about getting married afterwards?

That’s right! Pete and I are going to Disney in January 2013 and are planning to get married after the marathon (which I haven’t been able to convince Pete to run…but just give me time…I’ve got a year)!

You’re welcome to join us in Disney but make sure you’re not late, not late for our very important date!

Happy New Year’s Everyone!
Sara

When someone tells you that you can’t do something that you want to do and believe in, use the doubt to your advantage to motivate you. You can do anything with hard work, motivation and faith in yourself. Use their doubt to fuel the fire of motivation deep within you.

I believe doing what you want to do in life is important. I’ll never forget being 8 years old and discovering my true passion: dance. I loved it! One day after dance class on the way home I told my mom that I wanted to be a professional dancer when I grew up. She laughed at me and told me that she didn’t think it was something I should do. Guess what? I did it. I’ve always kept that image of her laughing in my head. I used it to motivate me to work harder towards my dream. The dream wasn’t her dream—it was mine. By not letting my mom’s negativity get to me, I was able to transform her negative energy into a positive energy I used to fuel my fire to pursuing my dream of dancing and teaching. Bottom lineL I did what made me happy and I was successful at it. Hard work, dedication and belief in yourself will lead you down the road you wish to travel.

In addition to doing what you want in life, it’s also important to stick by the decisions you make, no matter what they are, and to have no regrets. In the autumn season of 2010 I wound up getting really sick for a few weeks. It forced me to take a month off of dancing. I was working 40 hours a week at my day job and teaching dance part-time about 20 hours a week in the evening. When I was well I discovered I had so much more free time on my hands. I felt relaxed and rested and decided that I didn’t want to teach dance anymore. When I announced my decision to stop teaching I received some negative feedback from two people that I love the most in my life. Ironically one of the people was my mother! The other person was my boyfriend Pete. He told me that he didn’t want to see me stop teaching and he felt that I would truly regret it. I took what he said into consideration and decided that I had made the right decision. I’m glad I stuck with the decision I made. I have more free time now to try new things and develop new skills. I also have time for a social life and have had a blast developing close friendships with people. I love my life! I don’t live my life with regrets. I can’t change the past. I can only believe that the decisions that I’ve made are strong decisions and stand by them no matter what the outcome.

If you do have a bad experience with something, learn from it and let the experience guide you to the next level and you’ll learn something along the way. In January 2011 I had a lot of free time on my hands. Since I love the art of sport and movement, I thought I’d take up running. The longest distance I’d ever run at that time was 3 miles. I had a plan in mind, and it was to train for a half marathon. So I went to Fleet Feet Sports in Schererville, one of the local community running stores, and signed myself up for their half marathon running program. One of the training races that we ran to get us ready for the half marathon was called the Taltree 10 Miler. Race day conditions for Taltree were less than desirable. It was a cold, rainy April morning. Making things worse, I was getting over being sick and hadn’t slept well for several days. I wound up feeling sick on the course and had a miserable run, but I did manage to finish the race. After I crossed the finish line, I went straight to my car and drove my sick butt home. My running and performance that day did not go at all like I planned, but it made me want to do more and get better, so I signed up for the Chicago Marathon. Running isn’t something I consider myself proficient at in the same way I do dancing, but I figured running a marathon would put me up there with the best runners. Did it put me up there with the best? No, it didn’t. I’m still slow and at the back of the pack. However, I learned that I really liked running and that I really liked the challenge that marathoning provided me. As usual, it made me want to do more! It fueled my fire!

No matter what you do in life, live passionately, work hard and use life’s ups and downs to learn from and motivate you. By adding fuel to your fire you will keep on burning strong no matter what path you choose in life. Live strong, be strong and don’t let anyone get you down. Keep on moving!

Sara