The Flourishing Experiment

Author Margaret Webb (of Older, Faster, Stronger: What Women Runners Can Teach Us All About Living Younger, Longer) returns to talk about race etiquette, body image, and ways to live a healthier, longer running lifestyle. Serena Marie, RD, and Kari fill the Gratitude Jar this week and also talk about what stress and cortisol levels do to the body. Serena recaps the Eileen C. Dugan Memorial 5K that she recently ran, and Kari updates listeners on her back injury.

Featured Guest: Author Margaret Webb

Kari and Margaret Webb, from self-titled Episode 48, converse about what’s going on in Margaret’s life right now, race etiquette, body image, the top seven ways to live a healthy life, and much more.

  • Margaret has been running in her late 20s, and because of her flat feet, she was always afraid of running too long or far.
  • One day, her sister challenged her to run a half marathon, and she felt she couldn’t say no since her sister is thirteen years older than she.
  • After her first book came out, called Apples To Oysters: A Food Lover’s Tour Of Canadian Farm, she felt she needed to lose a few pounds gained while researching and going on tour to promote the book.
  • She thought she’d try her hand at a marathon, and she was about to turn fifty years old, so she wanted to try to get into the best shape of her life.
  • She had an amazing fiftieth year, ran several marathons, and achieved a personal best (PB).
  • Older, Faster, Stronger: What Women Runners Can Teach Us All About Living Younger, Longer is her memoir as an overweight smoker and couch potato to a fit distance runner. She also talked to long-distance female runners while writing the book.
  • Her largest goal was to turn herself into a runner who could run for life.
  • She found that when you get into distance running, there’s about a ten-year arc where you continue to build your speed and strength but you inevitably run into a slower period.
  • Age doesn’t disappear, and it shouldn’t stop anyone from starting running at any age.
  • Find the age grade running calculator that Margaret mentions here.
  • Kari updates Margaret on her experience of running three marathons (and how it all started in “ Bank Of America Chicago Marathon Race Director Carey Pinkowski” Episode 88) and how she enjoys 5Ks and half marathons much more.
  • Margaret talks about the ridiculousness of thinking we are not runners if we haven’t run the marathon distance. She thinks it’s useful and interesting to have trained for a marathon, because it’s a big goal to achieve.
  • Many women can and do successfully run marathons well into their 70s, 80s, and 90s. But for most of us, in order to be healthy running those distances, we need to cross train a lot.
  • Margaret wants to get into distance swimming, kayaking, and cycling.
  • One major takeaway is to respect your body type and mechanics in order to run injury free.
  • Last year she ran the BAA 5K with some of her running club friends and had an amazing time. The next day, she took a running tour through Boston. Although it’s sexy to run a big-city marathon, there are other ways to run a city too!
  • Margaret thinks that 5 and 10K distances should get more respect. For the BAA 5K, you self select what corral you go in, so those runners who are least experienced go to the first corral to try and get to the finish line faster. In the first corral, there were elites mixed in with slower runners.
  • For folks in the second or third corral, they had to pass the slower runners from the first corral. People were even stopping to walk in the first corral, which made it very difficult for the faster runners who had to dodge and weave around slower folks. It becomes frustrating and dangerous.
  • Her goal was to run a personal best there, and she wanted to try and place in her age group, so she wanted the conditions for a fast race.
  • For someone who’s new to a 5K race, Margaret suggests the following etiquette:
    • All races should have an etiquette guideline with the race kit/bag.
    • For those who are on a run/walk program, during the walking phase, you should make a signal before you start to walk and move to the side of the race course. Kari mentions that when doing the Galloway Method, Jeff Galloway suggests to raise your arm to say that you’re slowing down and to go to the side of the course.
    • Properly place yourself in a corral that matches your ability.
    • Kari mentions a book called Runners of North America: A Definitive Guide to the Species by Mark Remy that satirically classifies 23 different types runners in a humorous way.
  • Margaret talks a bit about body image in her second book.
  • The women’s running movement is still so young and new that most runners have not really experimented or understood the full range of running opportunities that are available.
  • The movement is fixated on the half marathon, but there are many other distances to choose from.
  • One thing that women has largely ignored is the USATF Masters Track and Field movement, which includes shorter distances like the 100- and 200-meter races.
  • You can get tremendously fit by doing shorter distances, and that suits many women in terms of training.
  • What Margaret learned from the sprinters is that they built muscle really well, and older women struggle to keep muscle mass, so it’s important to do activities that enhance muscle gain.
  • Sprinters have a bit of a stronger physique, and they look less “ravaged” as Margaret puts it. The distance runners seemed to be more frail because of less upper-body strength and miles taking their toll.
  • In terms of body image, she’s spoken to quite a few women at women’s-only races who started out their running careers at higher weights. When she started with her running club, she was 40 pounds overweight.
  • Margaret talks about social contagion, which is when you run with a group of positive people, you will catch that positivity. When you run, take some time to get into a positive mindset before you run.
  • For runners who might be insecure about their bodies, she suggests joining a supportive, like-minded group to keep you positive and motivated.
  • There is a movement called City Fit Girls that started in Philadelphia that’s just for women runners, and their mantra is, “No woman left behind.”
  • Kari recently heard about Alexis who moved from Baltimore to Phoenix, who went on a run sponsored by a running store, and she was left behind on a run in the dark, having just moved to the area.
  • It’s key to also find a good running store that takes you seriously and respects you.
  • Margaret is hungry to get back into a regular, disciplined training program soon with a few goal races but more diversified (like the Thousand Islands race series).
  • Kari and Margaret chat about mindset, nutrition, sleep, exercise, meditation, being with your tribe, and being outside. Kari mentions giving up alcohol and sugar, and she feels better without both. It affects her sleep and the way she feels.
  • Going through major life changes like selling a house, moving, moving away from good friends, can all be stressful. She recognizes that getting on a stricter schedule and focusing on the six or seven keys will get her back on track.
  • Kari gives a shout out to Canadian listener Malcolm Richmond who got into both Chicago and New York through the lottery system. His wife ran the Chicago Marathon for the first time, and Kari tells a funny story about Malcolm shouting out of a cab window. When Kari and fellow TRLS listener Liz Whitteberry were talking to meet Serena for dinner, who do they bump into, but Malcolm!

Thank you, TRLS listeners! “Running And Art: Turn Your Dreams Into Plans” (Episode 124 with Ann Rea) has received a ton of feedback! Many listeners thought it was a refreshing episode, because it portrayed depression and anxiety in such a raw and real light. We LOVE feedback and show ideas, so e-mail Kari@therunninglifestyle.com, leave a note on the Facebook page, or reach out via Twitter.

It’s almost here! The Delaware Marathon Festival in Wilmington, DE, will be held on Saturday, May 7 (5K and kids race) along with a TRLS dinner meetup (details to come). On Mother’s Day (Sunday, May 8), the marathon, half marathon, and the relay races will take place. Kari will be the relay race finish line announcer. Go to the Contact tab of the TRL site to let Kari know that you’ll be at the meetup!

Gratitude Jar (Woot! Woot!)

This week, go-to, real-food dietitian “Speedy Scientific” Serena Marie, RD, is grateful for science. As a dietitian, she’s invested in science, and now she’s reaping the benefits of science in terms of the different types of training she did while she was injured (HIIT workouts and strength training). Now she’s only running twice a week, but she PRed at the Eileen C. Dugan Memorial 5K. She’s grateful that by listening to science and doing HIIT workouts, she’s been able to keep up her endurance and speed without a ton of running the last three months. She was the first woman to cross the finish line! Congratulations, Serena!

Kari is grateful for Serena! She talked to Serena about something that she was taking to heart too much that wasn’t even her own stressor, and Serena snapped her out of it by explaining things in her scientific, millennial way.

Serena Marie, RD
Serena Marie, RD, explains what happens physically to your body when you’re stressed out.

  • Don’t take on other’s issues. It’s important to minimize stressors that aren’t actually your own. When you respond to other people’s stress, you are doing damage to your own body.
  • The hormone cortisol spikes in your body, and it sets off the fight or flight reaction in your body, where your body thinks there’s a major stress going on, even if it’s a slight emotional stress.
  • When we exercise, it’s a healthy stress to our bodies, but when you’re sitting in the car during rush-hour traffic or recounting a stressful situation to your significant other at the dinner table, your liver starts to put out triglycerides (sugars) and LDL cholesterol, which is preparing your body for that flight reaction. When you’re sitting down, you’re not utilizing these sugars and cholesterol, but if you were running and your body reacted that way, it would be good because your body could use the sugars for fuel.
  • Try to be in the present and just breathe. Visualization is powerful, but it’s hard to believe until you see it manifested and actually happen.
  • Take a picture of what you visualize, and use the hashtags #TRLS and #visualization on social media. Mindset is everything, and we are our own worst enemies at times.
  • Serena also chats about her BAA 5K experience, which she loved, because Boston is alive with the spirit of the marathon that weekend. Being a part of the running community was amazing, she thought the starting line was well organized, and she doesn’t recall tripping over other runners or it being too crowded.

Share with us what you’re visualizing for success! Think about a success happening and what you’ll say or feel like. Have you used visualization before, and how did it work out for you?

The first week of May is National Pet Week, so in next week’s episode, Kari talks about how to run with dogs and which breeds are great to run with. She feels honored to chat with Rachael Ray’s go-to veterinarian, Dr. Ernie Ward. Ward is an Iron Man who talks to Kari about Lyme disease, how to care for a bearded dragon, and much more.

Contact:

Margaret Webb:

margaret___webb___135_CA6_635512942714725085
Website: www.margaretwebb.com
Book: Older, Faster, Stronger: What Women Runners Can Teach Us All About Living Younger, Longer
Twitter: @MargaretWebb
Margaret's Facebook Page
Website: MargaretWebb.com

Serena Marie, RD:
Headshot
Website: www.SerenaMarieRD.com
Facebook: /SerenaMarieRD
Twitter: @SerenaMarieRD
Instagram: SerenaMarieRD

Kari Gormley:
final unedited 2 (1 of 1)
Facebook: The Running Lifestyle Show
Twitter: @KariGormley
Instagram: @KariGormley

Direct download: margaret-webb-04-28-2016.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am EDT

Ashley Reaver, RD, from Inside Tracker, talks about how endurance athletes monitor their biochemical and physical markers and how you can too. Go-to, real-food dietitian Serena Marie, RD, talks about blood sugar and a new product that can help monitor your blood sugar levels. She also discusses pre-prediabetes. Runner of the Week, Marla Lenox, talks about why she started running, and how her running has influenced others. She also provides a race recap of the Big Beach Marathon in Gulf Shores, AL.

Featured Guest: Ashley Reaver, RD

Ashley Reaver, RD, from Inside Tracker, works daily with endurance athletes to better their nutrition. The Inside Tracker “platform tracks and analyzes key biochemical and physiological markers and applies sophisticated algorithms and large scientific databases to determine personalized optimal zones for each marker,” according to the company’s web site.

  • Inside Tracker’s work with markers sets it apart from your normal clinician’s tests and results, since your primary physician is simply scanning for disease and to make sure you aren’t dangerously approaching a disease state.
  • Most of Inside Tracker’s clients are what Ashley calls “worried well”—which means generally healthy athletes who want to have more information on themselves.
  • The levels of biochemical markers that might keep you out of a diseased state aren’t necessarily the same levels of those markers that you would want for optimal performance.
    • Example: Prediabetes starts at around 100 mg/dL, and your primary physician most likely won’t alert you that anything’s wrong until 99 or 100 mg/dL; when in fact you might be at 98 mg/dL and would have the opportunity to turn the situation around.
  • Ashley gives clients nutritional and supplement advice on how to optimize their health.
  • Kari had a test in February 2015 through Inside Tracker, and compared her results then with her results after running three marathons in six weeks to see if the results differed.
  • Kari’s glucose is a little higher than what Inside Tracker’s optimal range is, but this is typical for endurance athletes (but not to the prediabetic level).
  • This is because muscles’ primary/preferred source of fuel is glucose, and that’s what many athletes choose to fuel with.
  • Ashley suggests that the best time have a sugary fuel (sports drinks or gel, fruit) is right before, during, or after a workout, because your muscles are craving that fuel source.
  • After running three marathons, Kari’s glucose was 94 mg/dL.
  • Ashley’s glucose used to be around 96 mg/dL, but once she cut down on bananas after her own Inside Tracker test, it’s been in the 70s ever since. Her body doesn’t metabolise bananas well, and that’s something she found out after using Inside Tracker’s knowledge.
  • Iron is another vitamin that many endurance athletes are deficient in. The clinical level of deficiency is very low. Inside Tracker also tests a marker called ferritin, which is the storage form of iron. It is the biomarker that you want to have your finger on the most, because it’s the best indicator of iron status overall. Ferritin is something your primary doctor might miss.
  • Women under fifty years old lose more iron than men of the same age (and even more so women who are vegetarians or who don’t eat much red meat). They can include more leafy greens, shellfish, fortified cereals, and so on to help improve iron levels.
  • Ashley says that ferritin is like filling a swimming pool with a garden hose—it takes a long time for your body to feel comfortable storing iron away. The lower the ferritin marker, the longer you’re going to have to take a supplement in order for your body to start raising your iron level in subsequent tests.
  • Kari saw a nice spike in her iron levels, and she thinks it might be because she started using a cast iron skillet.
  • Hemoglobin levels can also play a factor in how much energy endurance athletes have. It’s a molecule on the red blood cells that help transport oxygen to our working muscles. You may have a low hemoglobin level if you feel like you can’t push yourself hard or complete the distance that you’d like because of fatigue. Hemoglobin is made from ferritin stores, so if you have a low hemoglobin level and low ferritin levels, that’s caused by a lack of adequate iron.
  • Vitamin D is another key player. For almost all athletes across the board, Ashley has found that most people are deficient in Vitamin D. Naturally occurring good sources of Vitamin D include fatty fish (salmon, halibut, trout, sardines) and fortified dairy products. The best way for a very clinically deprived athlete is to take a supplement.
  • Ashley likes to see a blood level set above 40 ng/mL for Vitamin D.
  • Another important marker that Inside Tracker tests for is cortisol, which is a response to lifestyle stress, pushing too hard, improper fuel, or not enough sleep. Inside Tracker has been the first business that has definitely told someone on paper that they need to take a break and sleep more.
  • Cortisol is a catabolic hormone, and it functions to increase blood sugar through gluconeogenesis, to suppress the immune system, and to aid in the metabolism of fat, protein, and carbohydrates. It also decreases bone formation.
  • Kari saw a fairly significant decrease in her cortisol from February 2016, which surprised her. There are certain diseases that would cause high cortisol levels, such as thyroid or joint issues. Try to be more mindful of what your thoughts are doing to your body. Meditation and yoga are also good ways to relieve stress.
  • Kari mentions Go Wild: Eat Fat, Run Free, Be Social, and Follow Evolution's Other Rules for Total Health and Well-Being by John J. Ratey.
  • Try to time your Inside Tracker blood test after a really intense training block or a really hard race or before those events.
  • To look for muscle damage, the test should look for creatine kinase. For endurance athletes, Ashley doesn’t see quite as high creatine kinase levels, because running can take more of a toll on joints than it can the muscles.
  • Kari’s creatine kinase levels were fine before and after her three marathons.
  • If you buy one test from Inside Tracker, every year you can update it with a free set of blood from your yearly physical.
  • She encourages athletes to get tested at least through one training season.

Runner of the Week: Marla Lenox
January Jabra earbuds winner and Big Beach Marathon runner, Marla Lenox, talks about why she started running and how she fits in running with a husband, daughter, and a full-time job.

  • She started running two years before her daughter was born to get in better shape so that she could be healthy during pregnancy. When she started running, she was about twenty pounds overweight, didn’t feel good about herself, and had poor nutrition.
  • She started eating more vegetables and meat.
  • Running keeps her sane when she’s very stressed.
  • She’s currently doing Serena Marie, RD’s Shake Yo’ Sugar Habit challenge. She tries to substitute the sugary foods (cake and cookies) to healthier, whole-food options now.
  • She ran until about eight months pregnant until she got uncomfortable. She was able to start running again before the doctor cleared her at five weeks.
  • She then trained for a half marathon, and now runs marathons.
  • Because of running, she and her mother have gotten closer and now run Disney races together. Her mother has started running with co-workers too.
  • Her mom is now much healthier, and she seems more relaxed now that she has started running.
  • Marla is married and initially felt guilty for running after she had her daughter, because her husband Josh didn’t quite understand what running meant to Marla at the time.
  • She works full-time, so she gets up around 4:30 or 5 a.m. to get home by 6:30 a.m. to get her daughter ready for school. She does speed work on Tuesday nights, and she does her long runs on Sunday mornings.
  • Marla’s daughter loves to run. She ran a kid’s race at Disney, and was so proud of herself for getting a medal like her mom. There’s a one-mile run for the older kids and a 200-yard dash, a 400-yard dash, and a “diaper dash” for kids at the ESPN Wide World of Sports.
  • Marla ran the Big Beach Marathon in Gulf Shores, AL. The weather was a little warm, the flat course started on the road, went to back-country trails, and then finished on the road coming back to the Hangout where it started and ended. There were not a lot of spectators, and it was a very small race.

Don’t forget! The Delaware Marathon Festival in Wilmington, DE, will be on Saturday, May 7 (5K and kids race) along with a TRLS dinner meetup (details to come). On Mother’s Day (Sunday, May 8), the marathon, half marathon, and the relay races take place. Kari will be the relay race finish line announcer. Go to the Contact tab of the TRL site to let Kari know that you’ll be at the meetup!

Serena Marie, RD
Kari asks Serena Marie, RD, to explain DexCom, which helps diabetics monitor their blood sugar levels. It could also be used for dieters who are trying to monitor their blood sugar levels.

  • Side note: Side Stitch by Ginny has made special TRLS headbands! Serena loves hers so much that she wears it constantly. They’re easily washable and look awesome.
  • DexCom is a blood sugar glucose monitor.
  • If you have Type II diabetes or are born with Type I diabetes, then you have to monitor your blood sugar and may need to adjust how much insulin you take.
  • It’s hard when you’re dieting to increase nutrient density and decrease caloric density, and it will take time to see fat loss. Rather than having to wait weeks to see the effects of your dietary changes, if you could have that immediate feedback of seeing what a meal does to your post-meal blood sugar.
  • In Serena’s Shake Yo’ Sugar Habit challenge, she promotes asking yourself what prompted you to eat sugar and what were you feeling.
  • So many people “double carb load” unnecessarily where they may have French fries with a hamburger and bun, or they may have chips with a sandwich. Some may be walking around with pre-prediabetes and not even know it. Think about Serena’s quote: “You don’t need to carb load for your desk job.”
  • As a dietitian, Serena prides herself on the fact that nutrition is an ever-evolving field of study. The US dietary guidelines are based on science from the 1950s or science that wasn’t really based on science.
  • If you’ve listened to the podcast from the beginning or read Serena’s blog from the start, you’ll see that her thinking has evolved and grown. For example, she’s not as pro-ketogenic diet as she once was and does think that simple, healthy carbs can be good for some people, especially female runners.

Gratitude Jar (Woot! Woot!)

This week, Serena is grateful that Brooklyn is located on a body of water, because she is in love with living there. It’s a place for foodies, there are tons of places to go running, and it is near the Hudson River.

Kari is grateful because she went to Tucson, AZ, and Cancun during Spring Break and didn’t get sick like the last time she and her family went to Cancun. She loves going body surfing with her family, and she’s especially excited that she found $25 body surf boards at Costco to use this summer.

Remember, some of the most successful people write in gratitude journals. In the morning, Kari draws a circle sun with lines/rays coming out, and she writes what she’s grateful for on the lines. Her family also has a Gratitude Jar that they use each evening. After they write what they’re grateful for, Kari picks out three different gratitude notes and reflects on them with her family.

We want to hear what you’re grateful for. Use the hashtag #TRLSgrateful to tell us today!

Next week, Kari brings back Margaret Webb, the author of Older, Faster, Stronger: What Women Runners Can Teach Us All About Living Younger, Longer, who appears on Episode 48. They chat about race protocol, runner etiquette, and body image.

Don’t forget to join the TRLS e-mail list by going to therunninglifestyle.com/join today for special announcements!

Contact:

Ashley Reaver:
1537626_10202855807581141_2571086824035636376_o_CA12069_635913273152248962
Website: InsideTracker.com
Facebook: Inside Tracker from Segterra
Twitter: @InsideTracker
Twitter: @ashleyreaver
Instagram: @insidetracker

Marla Lenox:
image_CA12069_635912776422623238
Twitter: @RunSweetPotato
Facebook: /marlalenox

Serena Marie, RD:
Headshot
Website: www.SerenaMarieRD.com
Facebook: /SerenaMarieRD
Twitter: @SerenaMarieRD
Instagram: SerenaMarieRD

 

Kari Gormley:
final unedited 2 (1 of 1)
Facebook: The Running Lifestyle Show
Twitter: @KariGormley
Instagram: @KariGormley

Direct download: ashley-reaver-04-21-2016.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am EDT

Artist Ann Rea, talks about her experiences with anxiety/depression and how running and art are therapeutic. Go-to, real-food dietitian, Serena Marie, RD, and Kari discuss the scale—how to interpret the scale’s reading, why to take body measurements to track your progress, and how to view and approach the scale healthfully. Kari also shares some of her experiences with being a former Weight Watchers facilitator and how to deal with the scale. Finally, Kari shares some information about San Francisco trail running.

Featured Guest and Runner of the Week: Ann Rea

Ann Rea first caught Kari’s attention when she was featured in an interview by Alex Blumberg (from This American Life and Planet Money) during a podcast class.

  • Ann shares how, why, and why she started running.
  • She suffered from severe anxiety, depression, and insomnia for ten or fifteen years. She took the traditional route of seeing a therapist, anti-anxiety medication, anti-depressants, sleeping pills, and every time she would go to her appointments, she was told about new medications.
  • She found she had no passion or interest in her occupations at the time (cubicle Hell).
  • Her psychiatrist said that based on her medical history, she would probably always suffer.
  • She asked for a protocol to wean herself off of her medications, but her doctor didn’t agree. She tried to wean herself off, but that didn’t go well (think Emergency Room).
  • At the time in Sacramento, CA, no one suggested exercise to help with her anxiety and depression, but she started walking anyway, hoping that would help.
  • One day as she was walking, she sprang into a run and started running.
  • When she moved to San Francisco to be a full-time artist and to build her business, she knew that she’d have to manage her stress if she was going to achieve her goals.
  • Ann started running even more consistently.
  • If she had had a psychiatrist, such as Dr. John Ratey, things might have turned out differently.
  • Ann talks about neurofeedback, and she’s become familiar with Dr. George Pratt, who is a noted performance psychologist whose latest book is Code to Joy: The Four-Step Solution to Unlocking Your Natural State of Happiness.
  • Kari says that medicine can be magical, but she also likes integrative medicine.
  • Ann runs every Sunday morning with her friend Felix, who is a renowned psychic medium in San Francisco.
  • Ann worked with disaster relief, and she had to find a way to balance the reality of having to react quickly and finish up cases per day. Listen to her “The Artist’s American Life” interview with NPR’s Alex Blumberg.
  • She had the opportunity to see an amazing cross section of the United States and a real perspective of what disaster is. The good news is that everybody can recover. Physical things don’t matter as much as your health.
  • To get herself out the door and start walking at first, she made small promises to herself. For example, when she was working full-time and selling her art on the side, she was often tired, so she’d get herself up on Saturday morning, get ready for a run, and get out the door. If she didn’t feel up to a run, she’d turn back around.
  • Jim Rohn said, “We are the average of the five people we spend the most time with,” so Ann was very clear in “firing” certain friends and be her own best friend. The act of being your own best friend means that you don’t tolerate certain behaviors, and you look for people who build you up, and you do the same for them.
  • She improved her diet as well, and running became her meditation.
  • Ann talks about running in the middle of the day. It helps her shift from the left brain to the right brain.
  • She chats about the Making Art Making Money semester.She’s also launching a new website called com and has ArtistsWhoThrive.com.
  • Move things from the “dream” category to the “plan” category.
  • She took some a course on how to write a business plan at a small business development center to start her own art business. She was always very interested in marketing.
  • She talks about running in Golden Gate Park, along Land’s End, and the Presidio of San Francisco.
  • Her goal is to enjoy her runs, break a sweat, and clear the cobwebs in her head.
  • She paints contemporary landscapes and works in oil and charcoal. Her subject is color and light, and she was mentored by Wayne Thiebaud.
  • You don’t need to be an artist to be inspired.
  • Ann shares a story about several years ago when she was working as a project management consultant. Two of her co-workers had Stage 4 cancer, and she gained a new perspective on life.
  • Fear is just an illusion that is not going away, so stare it down and run through it.
  • She mentions a book called Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance by Jonathan Fields.

Please find a doctor that you feel comfortable with and who is integrative if you’re having any mental challenges. Every body is different, and we evolve. So at the end of the day, you’re responsible for your happiness.

Don’t forget to join the TRLS e-mail list by going to therunninglifestyle.com/join today for special announcements!

Serena Marie, RD
Serena gets feisty about the scale this week and explains the science behind water weight associated with runners.

  • When Kari was a Weight Watcher facilitator for seven years (2006–2012), she was trained to say, “If you’re trying to lose weight, you should not get on the scale every day. If you’re trying to maintain weight, then getting on the scale every day is OK.”
  • Serena’s take is that the National Weight Control Registry recommends to weigh frequently. This is good especially for someone who is tracking his or her weight to look at trends.
  • This is a really important topic, because it drives Serena crazy as a dietitian, and it drives many of her clients crazy as well.
  • She talks about why water weight is a real thing and explains the science behind it.
  • There’s an app called Happy Scale where you can track your weight daily, and it gives you an average so you can see the trends.
  • Specifically for runners, they may be especially susceptible to the scale changing. When you run, it’s an inflammatory process. We’re creating oxidative stress in the body.
  • The threshold of when that stress becomes overwhelming to the system will vary per person. We can train our bodies to adapt to high mileages, but there is going to be an immediate, acute, short-term effect of inflammation and stress to the body.
  • When you run a marathon, you might find that you gain weight. A capillary leak happens, where you’ve caused stress to the body, and it makes your blood vessels leaky. When that happens, a protein responsible for keeping water in the right place leaks outside of the cells, which can cause water retention.
  • During Serena’s first marathon (as a senior in college), she gained weight.
  • It’s important to figure out what the right distance is for you and what makes your body feel good. Being injured, Kari now has a different perspective on how much she really wants to run and how much her body can take down the road.
  • Serena is very interested in whether or not high-mileage running causes damage to the body.
  • How do you measure and hold yourself accountable? Weight frequently, write down trends, take before/after pictures in the same lighting and clothing, and use a measuring tape to record progress—not by the number on the scale.
  • Any negativity in the struggle to lose weight will knock you down.

Gratitude Jar (Woot! Woot!)

Serena is grateful for receiving e-mails from her clients when they tell her victories that they have had. One of her current male clients has a lot of weight to lose, and he’s doing well with little changes in his life.

Kari is grateful for a quote that has been her mantra for 2016:

“Promise yourself
To be so strong that nothing
can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity
to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel
that there is something in them
To look at the sunny side of everything
and make your optimism come true.

To think only the best, to work only for the best,
and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others
as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past
and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times
and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself
that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear,
and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world,
not in loud words but great deeds.
To live in faith that the whole world is on your side
so long as you are true to the best that is in you.”

—Cristian D. Larson, an American New Thought leader

Kari also likes the following:

“Eyes on your own plate.” ~ Serena Marie, RD

“You don’t need to carb load for your desk job.” ~ Serena Marie, RD

“When you point the finger at someone else, you have four fingers pointing back at you.”

During the Gratitude Jar segment next week, Kari will read a listener’s e-mail.

Shout out and thank you to Bethany and Alexis for meeting Kari in Phoenix, AZ!

Next week, Kari talks with Ashley Reaver, RD, a registered dietitian, who specifically works with endurance athletes at Inside Tracker. Serena Marie, RD, chats about blood sugar and a product that might be able to help diabetics.

The Delaware Marathon Festival in Wilmington, DE, will be on Saturday, May 7 (5K and kids race) along with a TRLS dinner meetup (details to come). Reach out to Kari to let her know if you can meet up! On Sunday, May 8, the marathon, half marathon, and the relay races take place. Kari will be the relay race finish line announcer.

Contact:

Ann Rea:
400AnnReaSquare
Website: AnnRea.com
Twitter: @annrea
Facebook: /annreainc

Serena Marie, RD:
Headshot
Website: www.SerenaMarieRD.com
Facebook: /SerenaMarieRD
Twitter: @SerenaMarieRD
Instagram: SerenaMarieRD

Kari Gormley:
final unedited 2 (1 of 1)
Facebook: The Running Lifestyle Show
Twitter: @KariGormley
Instagram: @KariGormley

Direct download: ann-rea-04-14-2016.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am EDT

Dr. John Ratey, expert on the correlation between brain activity and how it’s important for us to move our bodies, discusses seven ways to take control of your life, along with the link between depression and sugar, being responsible for our own well-being, and the benefits of exercise. Serena Marie, RD, talks about foods that are great for brain health.

Featured Guest: Dr. John Ratey

Harvard psychiatrist and foremost authority when it comes to the brain and exercise, Dr. John Ratey, discusses the correlation between sugar and depression/other diseases, being proponents for our own well-being, and the benefits of exercise. He has been on TRLS in such episodes as “John Ratey” (Episode 53), “Dr. John Ratey” (Episode 59), “Optimize Your Brain With Dr. John Ratey, Part 1” (Episode 74), and “Optimize Your Brain With Dr. John Ratey, Part 2” (Episode 75).

  • Companies work with people to find better ways to accommodate health in their lives, like startups working with the elderly to get them moving and to get them out into the community more.
  • We’re near a tipping point; people recognize that we have to be more responsible for ourselves and our own health. We’re empowered by Google medicine and also knowing how to be healthier and how to increase our well-being.
  • The biggest thing that Kari read recently is that our genes account for 5% of what can happen to us (from Super Genes: Unlock the Astonishing Power of Your DNA for Optimum Health and Well-Being by Deepak Chopra, MD, and Rudolph E. Tanzi, PhD).
  • Our genetic inheritance can guide us to that wisdom that’s impacted in our genes—to be in the moment, to eat right, to get the proper amount of sleep, to connect with others, and so on.
  • He’s excited about two different Silicon Valley firms that he’s working with who recognize that small tribes are the way to promote a better sense of well-being.
  • He’ll be talking with an artificial intelligence group and another group that has proven that successful entrepreneurs have a passion for taking steps in helping the elderly try to improve their lives and getting them connected with others through exercise and the community.
  • If you have been following him on Facebook, you’ll know that he’s recently been interviewed by Larry King, and to his surprise a group in CA put together a song called “Ratey-O-Active” on YouTube (like “Radioactive”).
  • The “Super Seven” Commandments include eating right, being outside, being with your tribe, meditation, getting enough sleep, exercise, and mindset.
  • Question: Can you get the same tribe feeling from a Facebook group that you can from meeting in person? Answer: It can be a starting point, but it’s never going to be the same. But there are a lot of different mechanisms being developed and that are already in existence (like Meetup).
  • He talks about the November Project and walking or running up and down the stairs at Harvard Stadium.
  • The “dopamine squirt”—the surprise or novelty of an e-mail
  • Using our past history and our biometrics (blood pressure, pulse) as well as what we’ve felt and what we like in the past is called affective computing so that we can be guided to prompt ourselves to move—it increases your state of well-being.
  • You do not need sugar if you are burning fat. Dick Manning is a trail runner in Montana who has eliminated sugar for years from his diet. He’s lost weight and gotten out of depression. He is using fat as his fuel (via a ketogenic diet). High concentrations of sugar lead to inflammation and putting on weight/fat.
  • Ratey cautions jumping on the probiotics bandwagon (meaning purchasing probiotics in pill form rather than eating foods with probiotics) because we know very little about it. We’re on the cusp of learning. Serena Marie, RD, talked about probiotics on “The Hottest “Living A Running Lifestyle” Trends With Kalyn Rozanski” (Episode 118).
  • The first prescription for someone who has gastrointestinal problems is to eliminate sugar from his or her diet.
  • For an injured runner, try to avoid depression by doing things like upper-body aerobics (Conductorcise), boxing, kettlebells, use the elliptical, or some alternative to staying active. Exhaust yourself other ways; when you do that you are raising your heart rate.
  • Kari has been getting in the pool to do aqua running while dealing with her back injury.
  • He mentions a New York Times article called “Learning a New Sport May Be Good for the Brain” written by Gretchen Reynolds. It helps grow your brain.
  • He now starts off his lectures talking about neuroplasticity. That means putting ourselves in a state where the brain cells are the most liable to grow and change.
  • The more depressed/stressed you get, the less plastic your brain gets—the less it’s able to grow and respond to the environment.
  • When it comes to sleep, during the stage of early sleep at night is when you’re more liable to get into restorative sleep where your brain and your body get the best kind of sleep. It’s the early morning where we get into REM sleep. In the late morning is when we dream the most, and that’s very important.
  • In Go Wild, Ratey talks about Dr. Beverly Tatumn of Spelman College (President from 2002–2015). She shut off her e-mail at 9 p.m. to prepare herself to go to sleep by 10:30 or 11 a.m. so that she could get eight hours of sleep. She helped Spelman College put an emphasis on students’ health and fitness.
  • When you go to some gyms/health clubs in northern California for an entire year, you actually get your money back/can go for free!
  • Ratey’s latest book is in process! He and Dr. Hallowell are doing an update to Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood Through Adulthood. Dr. Ratey is also doing an update to Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain.
  • Exercise and Parkinson's—people are raising money for boot camps for recently diagnosed patients that will help to prevent the onslaught of the condition. Norman Doidge recently wrote a book called The Brain's Way of Healing: Remarkable Discoveries and Recoveries from the Frontiers of Neuroplasticity Itself, and he talks about “walking off” Parkinson’s disease.
  • When we exercise, we change the chemistry of our brains and our bodies.

Serena Marie, RD
Go-to, real-food dietitian, Serena Marie, RD, talks about fat and sugar as related to brain health.

  • Serena talks about omega-3 fatty acids--which are anti-inflammatory, polyunsaturated fatty acids that are most bountiful in fatty fish (salmon, sardines, anchovies, tuna), in seaweed, and in nuts and seeds (macadamia and walnuts). Grass-fed meat is another good source of omega-3s. The version of omega-3 fatty acids that you receive from meat is very bioavailable. When we’re getting it from nuts, seeds (chia or hemp seeds), the conversion is very low, so it’s harder to get the appropriate amount from a diet void of fish. Aim for 1,000 milligrams a day or so.
  • Over half of the brain’s weight is made of fat. To keep our brains healthy, we need to be eating the thing that they’re comprised of.
  • Our brain is made of DHA. Studies show that having DHA intake during your lifetime is going to help with cognition. It’s shown and correlated with having better memory and executive function. Studies recommend one to four servings per week.
  • Some research says that DHA helps with depression as well.
  • Insulin is the hormone that your body needs to run through the bloodstream to holla, “Let me in!” to your cells. Studies have shown that those people who are insulin resistant have been associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer's disease. The proposed pathways are complicated, and there isn’t one that’s well studied or understood. Because insulin is unable to do its job and sugar is hanging out in the blood stream, there’s increased oxidation of stress and contributes to deleterious effects in memory.
  • Studies have shown that less than 20 grams of carbohydrates a day is a great way to combat memory problems and dementia.

Gratitude Jar (Woot! Woot!)

Kari is grateful that integrated health professionals exist, that the science exists and is being talked about, and that people are trying to live healthier lives. Serena is grateful that Siggi’s yogurt started making 4% milk fat yogurt. She’s obsessed with the strawberry rhubarb flavor (but they also have plain). It has 9 grams of sugar. People with a lactose intolerance can sometimes handle yogurt and hard cheeses.

Next week, Kari talks with artist Ann Rea who runs as a form of relaxation and to help her be an even more beautiful artist.

And don’t forget that on Sunday, April 17, Kari and Dr. Marjorie Dejoie will be at Philadelphia Runner in Center City at 9 a.m. leading a vision board workshop. You’ll leave the event with your very own vision board!

Contact:

John Ratey:
John___Picture_CA5_635556203474603675
Website: JohnRatey.com
Facebook: The Ratey Institute
Twitter: @jratey

 

Serena Marie, RD:
Headshot
Website: www.SerenaMarieRD.com
Facebook: /SerenaMarieRD
Twitter: @SerenaMarieRD
Instagram: SerenaMarieRD

 

Kari Gormley:
final unedited 2 (1 of 1)
Facebook: The Running Lifestyle Show
Twitter: @KariGormley
Instagram: @KariGormley

Direct download: john-ratey-04-07-2016.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am EDT

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