My Immunity Boosting Food Detox

I have been reading a new book this past week… one that I got from the library.  As soon as I saw the title, I was intrigued… Boosting Your Immunity for Dummies.  Published in 2013, so I knew the information would be current and not outdated.

I have been a fan of these Dummies books since they first began publishing them many years ago.  They are laid out so that they are easily read, and usually make great reference materials… Sailing for Dummies has been part of our boat library for years!

Why am I interested in boosting my immunity?

After I ran my first half marathon last Mother’s Day I started on a mission to find out what was causing swelling in my ankles and feet.  Through the course of many doctors visits and blood tests, it turns out that I have low levels of proteins in my blood which allows the veins to leak fluid into my tissues causing the edema.  (I am on a wait list to see a hematologist)  I also have a slightly low white blood cell count.  White blood cells are the ones that fight disease and infections so I am conscious of doing everything I can to avoid illness and remain healthy.

I am not a fanatic, but I do wash my hands a lot. I wash the fresh fruits and veggies I bring home from the market before I use them, and I try to be aware when out in public to not touch my face, or put my fingers in my mouth! 

So… that is why this book appealed to me.  If I can do something to actually  boost my immunity, I want to see what it is and give it a try!

I won’t bore you with all of the science, that I have to admit I find fascinating, but does make The Captain’s eyes glaze over a bit when I talk to him about it… but I will say that the nutritional advice given in this book pretty much echoes the nutritional advice in It Starts With Food and The Paleo Diet, and Practically Paleo. The culprits that cause inflammation and problems are: grains, dairy products, legumes, and sugar.

There is a lot of information about the things that we should be eating to support our immune systems and a group of Super Foods and what each one does for us.  I was happy to find that most of these things are already in my diet throughout the week… fruit, veggies, nuts, herbs and spices – a few in particular, such as the spice tumeric, and dark chocolate were a (pleasant) surprise to me.  Who wouldn’t like to have dark chocolate prescribed for their health?

The authors also discuss various detoxes and the reasons for and against… and they outline how to go about doing a mild cleanse that uses real food instead of potions and powders.  I have read this chapter several times and decided to give it a try.

It is pretty similar to the Whole30 Program with a few more restrictions  -  They suggest that your only beverages should be water and green tea.  This scares me a little as I am a huge fan of coffee… and normally wouldn’t even think of trying anything that asks me to eliminate it, so I am going to make a bit of a compromise here.   I just may have a few sips of coffee here and there to keep the raging headaches away… will see how that goes. 

Otherwise, I am on board completely and the foods suggested and allowed are all ones I am happy to eat!

And just as a reminder to myself.. I am not eating nuts, nut butters, or any dried fruit this week, even the naturally dried organic figs that I have been loving so much lately.

And, just in time… I was given a 90-day sample of Epicor to try out.  It is a dietary supplement that is designed to boost the immune system and  I will be taking that along with my regular supplements.

So, I am excited to start today.  I have done a bit of preparation… the fridge is stocked with fresh vegetables,  and  the fruit bowl on the counter is full… I have frozen berries and a huge store of green tea!

The Captain bought me the largest head of cauliflower I have ever seen cause cruciferous veggies are on the list... and he also picked up a bag full of of fresh limes…

so each morning I will have lime and water instead of the lemon and water that I normally would have… along with my Epicor.  Apparently limes "contain antiviral properties which trigger the productions of white blood cells".

Last night I washed and dried a bunch of kale, and massaged some oil, lemon juice and smashed garlic cloves into it, and will use that for salads over the next few days.

I am not a health professional, and I am not suggesting that anyone else try a food detox or even follow a Paleo or Primal diet.  I am doing this for myself and writing about it for my own reference and my own interest in tracking and analysis. 


Have you ever done a detox of any kind?

Best Body Boot Camp... already into week 6

I cannot believe we are into the middle of week 6 of Tina Reale's Best Body Boot Camp already... it really seems like it just started.

But I can tell from the way my arms and shoulders are looking that I have been working hard.  My biceps, triceps and especially my delts are shaping up quite nicely. I will not be hiding them under longer sleeved tees this summer, that's for sure!

I hope that Tina has something really hard in the works for the last couple of weeks.  I am loving the hard work and I am really loving having a plan all laid out for me, put together by a knowledgable trainer.

To be honest, I haven't loved every workout.  But I have really enjoyed the variety of the exercises and pleased that Tina bothers to explain the exercises she has chosen, even if I cannot really do them all very well.  This past couple of weeks have been a couple of moves that I am not strong enough to do yet, but one day I will...

If you are interested in Best Body Boot Camp round 6, check out the details on Tina's web site here.

Call Me a Convert … Core Ball Review and Giveaway

Stability Ball… Exercise Ball… Swiss Ball… Balance Ball…Core Ball…

Are you a fan? 

Well I am now. 

But I haven’t always been, that’s for sure.

I have been intrigued by these fitness balls and the various exercises that people do with them for years… I look at the pictures, and read the writeups… and I even had one for a couple of months at one point.

There is a corner in our laundry room at the marina where people leave things that they no longer want or need.  Not junk; the items are in good shape or even brand new.  There are always books and magazines there, and occasionally household items and even sealed food stuffs. I have left lots of things there over the years and picked up some things, too.  

One day I went in and found a colorful new, unopened package that contained a lovely lavender-colored deflated stability ball, a hand pump, and a yoga block.

That particular winter we were spending about 5 months in a lovely little cottage overlooking Admiralty Inlet towards Whidby Island in Washington State.   And since we were leaving the boat to drive there the next day, I tossed that package of goodies into the car and took it along with us.  I would never have had enough room on the boat for the inflated fitness ball and thought that the large open living area in the cottage would afford me ample space to work with it.

Well, I did try it out a few times, but never got comfortable on it, and our precocious English Spring Spaniel, Scout, decided that she liked it more than I did.  She just would not leave it alone, so I deflated it after a few days and when we got back to the marina in the Spring, I replaced the whole package in the laundry room exchange corner.  (And I should probably add that I have only very recently become familiar with using a yoga block… who knew how helpful they can be?)

Since then I have been tempted occasionally to get another fitness ball.  I certainly have more room in the apartment now than I did on the boat, not only to exercise with one of these large stability balls, but to store it as well.    I know that many trainers suggest their clients work with them, and there were a few in different sizes lying around the open exercise area in the gym I recently attended.  The Boot Camp I am currently enrolled in makes a lot of use of the stability ball… so imagine my great delight when I was given the opportunity by Empower Fitness to try out one of their Core Balls.

They come in 2 sizes… and you should select one based on your height.  I opted for their largest ball.  It is 65 cm and a lovely pale green color.  I am 5’ 11” tall and their information suggests that if you are under 5’ 6” you should order the 55 cm ball.  It’s a pretty grey, by the way.

I was really excited when the ball arrived…. it came in a neat little box…

along with a hand pump,  an extra plug,  and a follow-along workout guide with illustrations of the exercises, tips and helpful hints, warnings and guidelines, and inflation instructions…

and a DVD.

Of course I opened the box immediately and The Captain offered to inflate the Core Ball with the hand pump that was included.  I asked him to put as much air in it as he could.  And then  I got distracted and didn’t get back to it for a couple of days.

When I decided to give the ball a try, I sat on it and loaded up the DVD that came along in the package.

And I almost fell off of it right on my butt!  There was way too  much air in the ball, and as I viewed the DVD and watched trainer Gin Miller teaching her student, April, the exercises that they would be doing in the workout, I started letting air out of the ball, just a bit at a time.  And I did that several times until I finally was pleased with the soft and bouncy shape beneath me.

Gin (who is a fun and energetic on-screen trainer – years ago I had some of her STEP workouts) suggests that when you sit on the ball with your spine in a neutral position, your butt should be slightly lower than your knees.

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I watched the DVD, trying each of the exercises as they were demonstrated, and then did the workout with Gin and April. Honestly, I could not do the whole workout the first time through… but that’s okay cause I have something to work toward now.  But I did really enjoy it and could feel that I had given my abs a good workout.  (Even more so the next day.)

If you would like to have a look at a clip from that video, it can be found  here on the top line, 3rd from the left and it is titled Slim & Trim Exercise Core Ball Workout.

The DVD has a fun, dancey, 80’s style aerobic bonus workout on it, also led by Gin  Miller.  It is something that might be fun to get out on a rainy day to lift my dragging spirits a bit.  Nothing to do with the Core Ball, but included just as an extra if you want to do some cardio along with your Core Ball workout.

I have used the ball a few more times and am very slowly getting more comfortable on it.  I have to say though, that I think they should be called INstability balls…  I have started using it in some of my Best Body Boot Camp workouts for things like incline chest flyes and incline chest presses and am starting to master the balance it requires to use the ball properly and effectively.  But I have lots of work yet to do…. and I am thoroughly enjoying the challenge.

Would you like to have an Empower Fitness Core Ball of your own?  Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter the giveaway.

There is one mandatory entry to be completed:

• Leave a comment and tell me about your favorite exercise that uses the Core Ball.

There are several ways to earn additional entries:

• Check out the Empower Fitness web site and tell me the name of another product you might like to try
• Like my FB page for eat run sail
• Subscribe to my blog posts by email
• Follow me on Pinterest
• Tweet about the giveaway
  
  

  All entries will be verified... any not done correctly will be discarded.

This giveaway is open to Canadian and U.S. residents.  The winner will have their choice of a 55 cm or 65 cm Core Ball, and it will be shipped directly to them from Empower Fitness.

The giveaway will end on Monday, May 13th at 11:59 p.m. PDT.  I will select the winner and attempt to contact them by email on Tuesday, May 14th. If I have not had an reply email claiming the prize by 11:59 p.m. by Thursday, May 16th, I will select another winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

  

Empower Fitness supplied me with the Core Ball and accessories, and is sponsoring the giveaway but the opinions expressed are my own.

Friday Fotos

The city is really at her finest in the Spring.

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All of the flowering trees are at their peak… the plums, cherries and apples are absolutely gorgeous.

There are turtles on the log in the lake across the street from our place.

The Children’s Farm in the park has new baby piglets and goat kids. The herons are nesting and laying eggs… the ducks and geese are sparring and mating, and I know that we will be seeing peahens with their peachicks soon too.  Little update... The Captain just spotted a mama duck with a train of wee yellow fuzzy ducklings swimming behind her.... hurray!

The tour guides are doing a booming business on beautiful sunny days.  And the harbour is very busy with the new Hippo land/sea buses, whale watchers, water taxis, float planes, harbour ferries, international car and passenger ferries… along with all the regular traffic… pleasure craft of all sizes, police and other government boats, tugs and barges, tall ships, kayaks… and cruise ship season has begun.

People are smiling more and seem friendlier.

What do you love about Spring where you live?

Energy to Burn… Working Hard and Reaping the Results

Hurray, hurray the first of May, outside… and  I won’t reveal the rest of the dirty little ditty that The Captain sings to me every first of May every year! 

But I will tell you I woke up this morning with energy to burn and just raring to start my day. Not sure why… perhaps it is because I have been eating pretty strictly Paleo the past few days and feel very good again… perhaps it is because I am running a bit more lately and loving it… and perhaps it is because I have been working out regularly thanks to Tina Reale’s Best Body Boot Camp and I am seeing results in feeling stronger and seeing muscle growth.  It’s all good.

So I drank my lemon water and then thoroughly enjoyed a cup of hot dark coffee before getting changed into my workout gear and attacking my designated strength workout from BBBC.  It only took 21 minutes so I added 25 squats holding 8 lb. dumbbells and then I laid on my new exercise ball and did 15 crunches… stretched, drank some more lemon water and then made us an awesome breakast.

Yesterday I weighed myself and took my measurements and was happy to find that after 4 weeks of BBBC I am down 3 pounds and have lost an inch around my waist and half an inch from my hips.  I can really feel that my abs are tightening up, my butt is rounder, my lower tummy is flat and my shoulders and arms are no longer shameful!  I am thrilled… and this just motivates me to work harder.   Weight loss is not my goal here, but inches and shape change certainly are!  Thank you, Tina.

Okay, back to my morning… about an hour after breakfast we changed into our running gear and headed out for a 5 km run. I have mapped a new route around the neighborhood and we did it last week in a leisurely 42:30.  Today I hoped to pick it up a bit as this run will count for my entry into the 5 by the 5th series that Laura from Mommy Run Fast is hosting.
 
It’s a nice route… and because it is such a lovely day, the off-leash doggie area on the waterfront is busy with happy pups running and playing and chasing each other… and that makes me happy.  I could tell I was running at a pretty good clip cause I kept wanting to slow down. Hah.  But I kept up the pace for the most part and we finished in 32:45  - happy, happy me.  Any time I can come in under 34 minutes is thrilling.  And this route has lots of ups and downs so is a bit more challenging than our usual 5k loop.

It was almost lunch time when we came in, so we drank lots of water and had a good long stretch and then we made some lunch… and now we are waiting the required hour before we change into our bathing suits and head outside for a swim.

What is that term? Tiger Blood? I feel like I really have it today….

What are doing this lovely first day of May?