Month: March 2016

How to shape your children’s approach towards hard work….

~ jenthornfit ~ Leave a comment

fight

A big part of the monthly virtual boot camps I run is to encourage everyone to look at their past to see how our environment (families, upbringing, schooling, friends, activities, religious beliefs, etc.) shape the habits that affect our health and fitness.  I work with a lot of moms and typically these are the conversations that help us get to the root of what drives our health & fitness habits (both good and bad).  If you have ever worked with a holistic or doctor influenced by East Asian Medicine, you know that they “treat the entire patient,” not just the “illness” or medical issue.  This exercise is similar to that concept and allows us to recognize what maybe did or did not help or work for us growing up and opens up the conversation on how we can be better and do better – not only for the benefit of ourselves, but for our sons and daughters.

In my current boot camp, I was asking the ladies if their participation in the group is something they would approve of their children doing and the response I got from Ashley, one of the participants, was so perfect, I just had to share it with you.  This spoke right to my heart so I thought it would speak to yours too….

“Absolutely I would approve of my daughter participating in this group. I would be supportive and understanding in any challenge my children take on.

Growing up, I had a very skinny mom who got that way by barely eating. I have four sisters (three older and one younger) that NEVER struggled with weight. So, when I began having self-esteem and body image issues in 4th grade… I had no positive role model to how my body should look or how to maintain a healthy lifestyle (I did not inherit my mother’s figure). My freshmen year in high school I began an extremely unhealthy lifestyle of bulimia …. Which carried me two years until I was hospitalized my junior year for malnutrition and severe anemia. I remember handfuls of hair coming out of my head. My mother berated me and threw out hundreds of negative comments about my lifestyle. I didn’t have the help to see that normal women have to watch what they eat, make healthy lifestyles and choices, as well as find joy in an active lifestyle. Years later, my metabolism has paid for the unhealthy choices I made earlier in my life and keeping the weight off has been an uphill battle.

In college, I began a healthy lifestyle of working out and eating healthy. I was at my best and truly found joy in exercising. I also found it to be a great stress reliever. Since then, I have found it difficult to keep it up…. After having children and working in a high stress job, I put myself and my needs of the back burner and really struggled with myself.

My point is that I will not keep my past struggles from my daughter, I want her to see that life is a challenge and mommy does have to watch what she puts in her body, as well as what she does with her body. I want her to see me making conscious decisions about how I treat my body. She will have to do the same one day- to keep up her energy, have a positive body image, and know that exercise is the best anti-depressant. My mother hid her struggles from me, so when I had a negative outlook on myself or didn’t look like the skinny girls in my class…. I thought something was wrong with me. So I handled it in the most unhealthy of ways.

As a mother, and a daughter of a mother who swept these sort of issues under the rug…. I believe it’s much more important for my daughter to see mommy measure out portions and sweat her butt off (even when it’s so difficult) and to see that real life is not doing whatever you want with no repercussions. Anything and everything in this life is worth having you need to fight for!”

I thought this was so beautifully written and had so many little golden nuggets of truth!  Thank you Ashley for sharing your heart with us!

Creating healthy, lifelong habits does take work.  You have to be willing to spend the time to learn, educate yourself, arm yourself with tools and resources, and support from others to help you along the way.  If you need a little direction, aren’t afraid of a little challenge and are ready to start making some positive changes in your life that will impact your children and your family, then consider joining my next virtual boot camp that starts this Monday, April 4.  You can find me here or email me at jenthornfit@gmail.com for additional information!

Have a great day and here’s to shaping children not afraid of a little hard work!

xoxo

Jen

 

The most amazing (and pretty) superfood….

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Chard Colors

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…not all calories are created equal and food is medicine! I have been having so much fun playing with colorful Rainbow Chard lately! Beyond the fact that it provides a rainbow of colors to your meals, this mighty leafy green packs a powerful nutritional punch, providing over 700% of your daily needs for vitamin K and over 200% of daily vitamin A needs in just one cup!

Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin – a vitamin absorbed in fat globules that travel through the lymphatic system of the small intestines and into the general blood circulation within the body and are then stored in body tissues. Vitamin K plays an important part in blood clotting but is also absolutely essential to building strong bones, preventing heart disease, and is a crucial part of other bodily processes. Vitamin A, another fat-soluble vitamin, plays an important role in the growth and development of several systems in the body; including healthy vision (especially in dim lighting) by creating pigments that are needed to help keep the retina of the eye healthy. Vitamin A helps produce the protein rhodopsin, which absorbs light in the retina and helps support the growth and development of the cornea and other membranes of the eye. It also plays important roles in the development of bones, including the teeth, aids immune function, and helps provide a barrier against infections of the skin, lungs and mouth. Some studies also suggest there may be a link between vitamin A consumption and a decreased risk of the development of some cancers.

Food is medicine! One of the most interesting things I learned about this vegetable was that Chard contains magnesium and potassium, two minerals that when taken in supplement form will not provide the same health benefits as when they are consumed in food. Chard contains both of these healthy minerals and can help improve intake, especially with magnesium.

And if you needed even more reasons why this beautiful leafy green is beneficial for you, here you go:

Lowering Blood Pressure
Swiss/Rainbow chard contains high levels nitrates, which been shown to lower blood pressure, reduce the amount of oxygen needed during exercise and enhance athletic performance. People who consume diets that are low in the minerals calcium, magnesium and potassium are more likely to have high blood pressure. These minerals are thought to bring blood pressure down by releasing sodium out of the body and helping arteries dilate. According to a 2013 study published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, foods high in dietary nitrates like Swiss chard have been shown to have multiple vascular benefits, including reducing blood pressure, inhibiting platelet aggregation, and preserving or improving endothelial dysfunction.

Combating Cancer
Swiss chard contains chlorophyll, which has shown to be effective at blocking the cancer-causing heterocyclic amines generated when grilling foods at a high temperature. Heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are chemicals formed when muscle meat, including beef, pork, fish, or poultry, is cooked using high-temperature methods, such as pan frying or grilling directly over an open flame. Make sure to consume leafy greens and other vegetables high in chlorophyll along with grilled meats to hinder some of their carcinogenic effects.

Managing Diabetes
Swiss chard contains an antioxidant known as alpha-lipoic acid, which has been shown to lower glucose levels, increase insulin sensitivity, and prevent oxidative stress-induced changes in patients with diabetes. n Oxidative stress is basically an imbalance between the production of free radicals and the ability of the body to counteract or detoxify their harmful effects through neutralization by antioxidants. Studies on alpha-lipoic acid have also shown decreases in Peripheral Neuropathy and Autonomic Neuropathy. Peripheral Neuropathy is damage to the vast communications network that transmits information between the central nervous system, the brain and spinal cord, and every other part of the body. Autonomic Neuropathy autonomic neuropathy occurs when the nerves that control involuntary bodily functions are damaged. This may affect blood pressure, temperature control, digestion, bladder function and even sexual function. The nerve damage interferes with the messages sent between the brain and other organs and areas of the autonomic nervous system, such as the heart, blood vessels and sweat glands.
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Preventing Osteoporosis
Adequate vitamin K consumption can improve bone health by acting as a modifier of bone matrix proteins, improving calcium absorption and reducing urinary excretion of calcium. Low intakes of vitamin K have been associated with a higher risk for bone fracture. Increase your vitamin K intake with leafy greens such as Swiss chard, arugula and spinach, which also add extra calcium to the diet.

Improving Athletic Performance
Dietary nitrates have been shown to improve muscle oxygenation during exercise, suggesting that an increased dietary nitrate intake has the potential to enhance exercise tolerance during long-term endurance exercise and possibly improve quality of life for those with cardiovascular, respiratory, or metabolic diseases who find activities of daily living difficult because of lack of oxygenation.

Increase Breastmilk Production & Help Reduce Symptoms of Menopause
A diet rich in leafy green vegetables including chard, collard greens, kale, spinach, and beet leaves are rich in minerals, calcium and iron to support breastfeeding and are high in phytoestrogens. Phytoestrogen is a naturally-occurring plant nutrient that exerts an estrogen-like action on the body and is believed to promote healthy breast tissue and lactation.

So hooray for Chard!  It may not have the most glamorous name but it sure is pretty and dang, can it do a lot for your body!!!

Chard Pink

The greatest act of love, ever…

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Greatest love story ever

I snapped this photo of Ethan and I about 5 minutes before I made a huge mistake; one which could have ended in him getting severely injured or honestly could have killed him. You see, it was the perfect bluebird day, we were rippin’ groomers, he was turning, stopping, rocking the power wedge, smiling ear-to-ear, lots of fist bumps… You get the idea…and then 3 or 4 minutes after I snapped this photo I thought he was ready to go “off harness” (or ski without me pulling him from behind). He followed me so carefully and slowly down the cat walk, stopped on his own several times, then we started going down the ski run.  And then it happened…. Slow motion at first, but then he was gaining speed, gaining speed, passing me and still gaining speed and he was bee-lining it straight down the ski run; not doing any of the things he had been doing the rest of the day up until that point. And I was screaming at him to “stop,” “stop Ethan stop,” “stop!” And he wouldn’t stop and then there were just trees ahead of us and a giant catwalk with a ledge that I knew could potentially launch him into the trees and rocks and whatever else below…and I couldn’t catch him, and I was screaming, and my heart was beating out of my chest, and I finally got close enough that I was contemplating skiing into him to take him out and measuring in my head what would be worse; potential injuries of me taking him out or the alternative, flying off the catwalk into the trees and rock field below.

And then I witnessed a miracle; not two feet from the edge of the catwalk he caught an edge, double ejected and finally stopped.  It was horrible.

Those moments were horrible and even worse is thinking about how this day, that started so perfectly, so beautifully, could have ended so very differently, so very ugly.

Many of you would say “complete #momfail” and yes, yes it was.  But I’m a Christian and I know feelings of guilt are not from the Lord but from the lying mouth of Satan.  God allowed this to happen but you guys, he also allowed the miracle of nothing to happen (to Ethan) because no joke, I witnessed a miracle today.  That’s the only explanation I have – it was a miracle Ethan didn’t go flying off into the abyss today.

So, why am I telling you this story?  Because it’s a love story that I think all parents or anyone who has ever loved anyone else or who knows what it feels like to be willing to lay down their life for another, can relate to. And, I strongly feel that anytime God allows himself to be seen mightily working through events (both good or bad), it’s an opportunity for growth and learning.

Here’s what I learned today, and I figure if I learned something by having my heart literally pop out of my chest, there might be something here for you too:

Moments are important.  You’ve heard this before but your life, the lives of those you love can change in an instant.  Heaven forbid those moments take a turn for the worse because of a decision you made, like the poor decision I made today.

Pride is dangerous.  Most of us have heard all the things love isn’t, and love is definitely NOT proud!  I was not loving Ethan when I put my pride in his ability to ski today; I wanted to show off his “skills” to make his daddy and our friends proud of him, just as I was.  It is horribly shameful to admit this but I must: my pride could have cost all of us a lot today.

Finally, the most important lesson I learned today was about love and sacrifice.  When I was skiing down that mountain chasing after Ethan, my arms flailing, my adrenaline rushing, every possible good and bad scenario flashing through my mind, the most powerful thought was that I would do anything to save him.  I was desperate for anything to enter my mind that would allow me to save him; something to throw at him to steer him off course, some part of his body to grab onto, questioning if I should run into his skis to stop him, or throw myself on him to stop him.  I had nothing.  I could do nothing to help him, to save him.

I spent a lot of time yesterday reflecting on the incident.  Earlier that morning we had attended church for Palm Sunday and the image of Jesus riding the donkey into Jerusalem right before he was crucified entered my mind.  And then it hit me; there I was struggling and wanting to so badly do anything in my power to stop Ethan, to save him from the pain he most likely would endure if he went off the ledge, and I had nothing; I had no power, I could do nothing.  I wonder how God felt knowing that he had all the power, in all of the universe, incomprehensible power, and could have easily breathed the words, or just even thought them, to save his son Jesus from being crucified on the cross.  God had all the power in the world and used restraint so that those who believe in him shall have eternal life, but he sacrificed his one and only son so that we may have life.  I had nothing, no power to save Ethan yet would have given up everything to save him in that moment.  It is staggering to think he had all the knowledge and the power in universe to save his child but did not.  Instead he sacrificed his one and only child for the benefit of others.

So today as we go into Easter week, I want you to meditate on these thoughts.  How hard it must have been for God to let his child enter into Jerusalem, knowing the fate that would beget him; knowing that he could save him yet didn’t/wouldn’t for the benefit of mankind.  Think about the sacrifice, the pain. And then, if you have ever been a parent, try to imagine the heartbreak of having to watch your own flesh and blood be tortured and then nailed to the cross, and have the control to sit there, silently upon your hands, and just watch.  This is the sacrifice God made when extended hope to mankind, he was willing to endure that pain just as his son Jesus was willing to endure it on the cross, so that we may have life.

Hug your babies a little tighter tonight when you tuck them in and remember this: life can change in a moment, love is not proud, the greatest sacrifice anyone has ever made is God sending his only son, his son who had lived a perfect life, to die a criminal’s death; the death we all deserve in our imperfectness but by grace alone are we saved from.

xo

Jen