I ONLY SELL WHAT I BELIEVE IN!

If you know me, you know that I don’t sell much of anything out of The Fitness Connection except my training services. I sell Arbonne, which is a skin care line that I absolutely love and I sell Mona Vie, a high antioxidant juice product. I am not a hard sell type of person and the truth of the matter is, I am uncomfortable asking people for MONEY!!!. While I only sell what I truly believe in, it does not come easy to me.

Last October, I became a distributor of the juice product called Mona Vie. I am selling this juice because I became convinced that it might possibly be the superfood that slows the aging process. It has a reputation for aiding in the healing of disease and it has particular success with people in the arthritis, diabetic and macular degeneration communities. I have also read and listened to stories from people who have had relief from fibromyalgia, sleeplessness and there is also a community of parents who feel that Mona Vie has improved the lives of their autistic children.

Because of its high antioxidant level, due particularly to the Acai berry, one of the 19 fruits in this juice, this product is actually a nutrient dense food that has aided in helping to heal even end stage cancer patients. While it is only a FOOD not a supplement or DRUG, it has proven to be a very integral part of the fight against diseases, amongst other things.

I came across a video on-line that really hit home with me. It explained WHY Mona Vie is doing what it is doing and it also gave me hope that while I personally was not experiencing these life changing results (most likely because I don’t have much wrong with me!!!), I was definitely doing something very positive to fight my aging. At least, I didn’t think I was experiencing life changing results!

When I first started taking Mona Vie, nothing dramatic seemed to happen to me. Although when I went off it for 5 weeks because life got in the way and I got off track with everything, I got SO sick, I was down for 7 days. Was it from being OFF Mona Vie? Who knows – who cares! I’m back on it. But it wasn’t getting sick and then having this epiphany that I hadn’t had Mona Vie in several weeks that made me bring it back into my daily consumption. It was my memory problem.

Many of you have heard my story (and it’s in my blog) that I have been battling memory issues since shortly after my son Michael was born in 1999 at the age of 42. It got so bad that it scared the living crap out of me and I sought medical help – to no avail – and was forced to figure it out on my own. I started taking pharmaceutical grade fish oil in mega doses, and in all honesty, I am positive it worked. Having a parent die from Alzheimers is scary. I did not want to end up that way. I was so positive the fish oil worked, simply because I got lazy, once again, a few years in to taking it and stopped and within 6 weeks, I started having brain blanks big time. I went back on the fish oil and I was good to go again.

I got lazy with the fish oil back in February when I came back from vacation at the same time that I got lazy with the Mona Vie. My memory went into a big black hole and again, it scared me to DEATH. I started getting more regular with the fish oil but I felt like something was really not right still. I was still having awful memory blanks – scary memory blanks – not just “trying to recall that actor’s name” blanks. I racked my brains trying to figure out why this was happening and what was I going to do. It was really stressing me out. Let’s face it, my kids are 6, 7 & 8 and I do not have time to age. I need to be present and accounted for, for a long time!

It occurred to me one day, that I was not taking Mona Vie anymore. I literally asked myself if it could be that? So I started taking a double dose each day – some days I took two 4 ounce doses and some days I forgot (stop the jokes please!!!) and took just one 4 ounce dose. It’s been 3 weeks and I am no longer experiencing those scary blanks. Do ya THINK???????

The only thing I can come up with, is that when I stopped feeding myself this high antioxidant, it allowed the free radicals to go crazy in my body/brain. It’s the only thing that makes sense! Because the fish oil didn’t create the dramatic effect I experienced last time until the Mona Vie was consumed for a few days. So call me crazy, but I don’t care. I’m on both for life.

Please take the time to watch this 20 minute video. It’s very enlightening. The speaker is an end stage cancer counselor (not an MD). What he says blew my mind. In the beginning, the audio breaks up and it’s really annoying, but if you could just stay with it, it levels off and it really explains a lot. This was the final argument for me to believe this product is important. And you may say, well why not something cheaper like the Acai Juice at Stop and Shop. If you really want that answer, email me and I will give it to you. Is this product expensive? Wicked expensive. But I will do everything I can to keep the cost as low as I can for you.

Just watch the video. I won’t be following up with you because, “Yes, I suck at selling”. I just want you to have this information. Maybe you know someone who is battling a disease. If they are open to anything, this may be very helpful. Maybe you are the kind of person who really takes good care of themselves and can see the value in this food product or maybe you take awful care of yourself and this product can battle the effects of bad nutrition and get you on the right path. Whatever – I am compelled to share this. Here's the video (almost forgot - tee hee!):

www.fantasticfruitjuice.com/LouNile.html

Take care and My Best! - Joey

What is HIIT?

You know what amazes me? The human body. It is so complicated that sometimes it's so simple. I had a nagging pain in what I thought was one of my hip flexors on the front of my left thigh/groin area. It only hurt when I worked out and right after, but it went on for months. I went to get accupuncture for it last week and I asked my accupuncturist, Emily (who is also a physical therapist), about the pain. She did some needling, gave me ONE simple stretch to do 3-4 times a day for like 30 seconds and within 24 hours, the pain was gone. Is that amazing or what? I shake my head in amazement.

Do you know how many times I have had an injury over the years and waited it out for often up to a YEAR! Each time I finally consulted with Emily and she resolves my problem, sometimes in 24 hours. Case in point! So simple!

Accupuncture is unbelievable! I swear by it. But you have to find the right practitioner. I drive 50 miles one way, to see mine. She is totally worth it.

Anyway - did you know that you don't have to workout mega hours each week? Do you know that you only have to strength train twice a week and you only have to do your "cardio" for 30 minutes 3x a week to get the results you are looking for - stripping fat and making muscle? When I say "cardio" I mean your workout on the treadmill, eliptical, stairmaster etc. or your walk, run outside - whatever it is you do to burn fat.

The big shots in the industry hate the word "cardio". Me - I think we all know what it refers to so I use it. What they really object to is that people have been lead to believe that they need to do like 45-60 minutes of "cardio" 5-7 times a week to lose fat. THAT is so not true! I also object to that theory. The fitness industry changes their mind ALL THE TIME. But I really think we're on to something with "Interval Training" or High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

This is what HIIT is: Warm up for 5 minutes, do 20 minutes of intervals and cooldown for 5 minutes. DONE! This is an interval - whatever you are doing, treadmill, running outside, walking, do it hard for 1 minute and easy for 2 minutes. That simple. And mix it up. Do it hard for 45 seconds, easy for 90 seconds, hard for 30 seconds, easy for 1 minute, hard for 8 seconds, easy for 12 seconds. Just DO IT for 20 minutes.

What this does is shake up your metabolism. Your body has to recover from all those intervals and that recovery can take from 24-48 hours, in which time, you are burning more calories per hour. Some refer to it as the "afterburn". If you do long slow cardio, your body adapts like a fuel efficient car. A fuel efficient car burns less gas. A fuel efficient body burns less fat. So you get fitter and fitter with long slow cardio, but your body gets more efficient and burns less fat. With intervals (HIIT) your body gets fitter and burns more calories on a daily basis. Combine that with the muscles you are laying down and the clean food you are eating and I see Fit Girl!

So cut back on the workouts if you are being a crazy person. If you do a hard and breathless strength training session for like 30-40 minutes, jump on that treadmill for another 30, that's all you need 3x a week. Just talk to me. I'll make it efficient for you! Results guaranteed - as long as you hold up the food end of the bargain!

See you back here next week!

My Goodness It's Been a Long Time

I can't believe that my last post is dated November 26th. My BAD! I guess the holiday season got away from me. I have to admit, it's the "hap-happiest time of the year!" I just LOVE the holidays and this year was the best! It's all about the season for us and we really made the best of it. We spent priceless time with friends and family and just really tried to stay in the moment. Were there stressful times? Absolutely! But we pushed through it and made it all work. I hope your holidays were as peaceful and blessed.

AND, I hit goal in late November and stayed there. Until I started eating Christmas cookies about 4 days before Christmas. It was all over once the first grain of sugar hit my lips. So - I went with it. Drank some wine each day, ate some cookies, had a few donuts (aghast!) and came out the other side with about 4 pounds of FAT to get rid of. Not so bad though - already feel much better after just 4 days of CLEAN EATING.

That's what it's all about, you know. There's no magic bullet. It's about clean eating. Eating Clean is the healthy way to lose weight and keep it off forever. I am totally confident that no other diet or nutrition program works so perfectly. You don't even need to count calories. I use the following rules of thumb and it takes care of the problem:

The measure are all based on your own body size:

Protein - size of your palm
Whole Grains - 1 handful or ice cream scoop
Fruits and Vegetables - 2 handfuls

If you include these nutrients in each of your 5-6 snacks/meals everyday, you don't need a "diet".

Here are a few tips that will help kickstart your metabolism and get you moving toward your fat loss goals:

1. Water, water water. Hydrate yourself with water to keep your body operating smoothly and to speed up metabolism

2. 5-6 snacks/meals each day. I just read a study where 1 group of people ate 3 meals a day and 1 group ate 6 meals a day. They ate the same number of calories and the group who ate 6 meals lost significantly more weight in the same amount of time. Force it for a week and your body will be screaming for food every 3 hours. I am GIVING YOU PERMISSION TO EAT! What better gift???

3. Make sure you eat enough fiber. It will keep those lazy bowels moving and sustain you longer between meals.

4. Don't go past the point of hunger. Skipping a meal triggers a starvation response and your body will hold onto that fat for dear life!

5. Shoot for 3-5 ounces of lean protein at each snack/meal. Plan, plan, plan. That's the ticket on this one.

6. Sugar is white poisen. Stop eating it, PERIOD. It's addictive and fattening and will slow your metabolism right down.

7. Fruits and vegetables satisfy the needs of an active body. Load up, ladies.

8. Eat a big breakfast - everyday! It's a treat to be able to eat. Take advantage of it.

That's it for today. Gotta go finish making a big pot of lentil soup. Full of protein and fiber. Also making a batch of whole grain muffins. See the recipe page on my website. http://www.thefitnessconnectiononline.com/recipe_muffins.html
Awesome.

Life Lesson

See that title? I learned one this month. BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER! I have been without my address book for almost 3 weeks. My computer blew up in mid November. I finally have access to my favorite places on the internet - like this blog - but still no address book. I had no access to my password list (Do you think I should print it out and hide it somewhere??? HELLO?) so I couldn't get into the many sites I am a member of. ME - the information junkie - was lost. But boy did I get a lot done around the house! No computer calling my name. Interesting study of myself...

Anyway - so how did we do over the Thanksgiving holiday? With the exception of not enough sleep, I did pretty well. Light on the wine, od'd on the desserts one night, but not like I expected, and I worked out HARD 4 times last week. I am completely mentally prepared to get through December without gaining an ounce. How? Because I did all the prep work beforehand. I went off the sugar and wine for 6 weeks with very little stray. I got through Thanksgiving and the cravings have not come back. I have exercised regularly and HARD for months and I refuse to make any Christmas cookies until the last weekend before Christmas!

I plan to go to 2-3 Christmas parties this holiday season, but I'm not worried. A glass or two of wine and if I eat well during the day, I know I can eat pretty much what I want at the party. I will just make sure that I drink plenty of water the days following the party and continue to eat clean. I have NO doubt I will do this. You can too. Make it your goal to either maintain or even lose a few pounds in December and you will be so proud of yourself and feel so good about yourself that going into the new year will be a piece of cake (no pun intended!).

I was blabbing with my friend and client Robin the other day. Robin said that she re-read my logo for my gym, The Fitness Connection and she said she really "got" it. If you aren't familiar with my gym, I have a small gym and I do one on one or small group fitness training - 8-9 women per class. This is my logo:

The Fitness Connection
Lose Weight, Be Healthy, Feel Great...Get Connected

I told her it was great that she understood the whole mind/body connection I believe in - that when you lose weight and/or get fit and healthy, you feel great about yourself. When you are doing everything you can for yourself and you look great too, you just feel great! You're connected. Simple - mind/body.

But Robin was actually looking at the logo a little differently. She thought the logo meant the connection that forms with all the women that workout together and how that connection keeps them coming back every week to workout together. That they wouldn't ever workout on their own or workout as hard as I work them. It was all about working out together and that was the motivation to keep working out (aside from my great training!!)

Having a support group is a huge thing. Success rates with weight loss and fitness rise dramatically when you surround yourself with people who think like you do. You know you should workout and watch what you eat. But it's ALOT easier if you have people to do it with, talk about it with, exchange ideas with. The workout may be wicked hard, but everyone is doing it together so it's so much better. So Robin - thanks for pointing that out. I didn't realize my logo went even deeper!! I'm just plain grateful that I have such a great group of women coming to train with me. I love you all!

So - I highly suggest you find a group to workout with. It really changes your outlook on the whole process of taking good care of yourself and it makes it so much easier. Give it a shot. You may be very surprised what you are capable of!

To ALL My Women Friends and To Those I Have Not Met Yet

My friend Karen sent me the link below. I thought you should all experience it. I am not often so touched by what circulates the net. Maybe it's the music, but it really lifted me. We women ROCK!!! Enjoy! -Joey

TheWoman.pps

I GAINED 5 POUNDS!!!! LOL!!

Hello! Is anybody in there? I'm baaack. Have you been waiting with bated breath for my 9 week project results? Actually I lost about 8 pounds and gained about 5 pounds! Seriously - I was so up and down it wasn't even funny. The net is that I lost a solid 2 or 3 pounds out of the 4-6 I wanted to lose. So I am holding at about 2-3 pounds lower. Am I happy? Mmmmmmm - not THAT happy but I'm not quitting now. I'm almost there! And the holidays are here! Last Christmas I ate about 4 dozen Christmas cookies a week for 4 weeks and started the new year 5 pounds heavier! Not this year. I refuse to bake cookies this year - well, maybe some, the last weekend before Christmas - but NO EARLIER. I'll eat them all. That's the truth.

So anyway - no, I didn't make goal but I made a dent and that's what counts. It's a struggle. There is no doubt. You just keep working at it. I am pleased that I have cut WAY back on my alcohol intake and I am virtually eating no sweets. (I cheated on Halloween with 3 mini hershey bars and that was IT.) I am definately leading a healthier lifestyle than I was 9 weeks ago. I am sleeping longer and deeper (thanks to Mona Vie, I think) and I generally feel more energetic. All in all, this was a great way to get back to where I want to be. The lesson for you is that this is a lifestyle change, ladies! I'm not going to just stop doing what I'm doing because I didn't make goal. This is how I want to live my life going into my "older" years. I want to be active, I want to eat healthy, I want to feel great and I want to look as good as I can no matter what age I am. And so should you!

On to more interesting "stuff". I was thinking the other day about all the excuses I hear from women about working out. The biggest one is "I don't have the time." Guess what? I don't believe you. Time is about priorities. If you are not scheduling workout time into your week, it is because you don't want it bad enough. And if you don't want it for the weight loss benefits, you absolutely must do it for the health benefits. Do you want to live through your 60s, 70s and hopefully 80s, in a state of bad health? Do you want your week to consist of going to doctor's appointments, popping so many different pills a day that you need a suitcase to keep track of them and talking constantly about what ails you? Isn't the healthcare system in the United States overburdened enough without adding you to the pile?

You need to workout and take care of yourself. Diabetes and heart disease in this country is reaching epidemic proportions and has slithered it's way into our population of young people. It's disgusting. Stop contributing to the problem and start being pro-active. Start taking care of yourself. Stop taking the easy way out. It's the death of us!

So getting back to working out - where do you schedule it? For most people, you schedule it early in the morning. It will not kill you to get up a half an hour earlier in the morning to work out. You set out your workout clothes the night before, you set the alarm, you get up, get right into your clothes and you do what you have to do. You only need 20 minutes or so and chances are, you will go longer, once you start. Let me tell you - the best part of getting it done in the morning is that IT'S DONE! You will feel like a million dollars all day long. Trust me!

Stay tuned for some workouts you can do in 20 minutes that will kick your butt and get the job done.

Superfood

I am the queen of looking for "stuff" that will change my life. For more than 30 years, I bought dozens of magazines every month searching for the promised "change your life" articles. I consume information like food. The internet has been both an amazing resource and a burden to me because I can't get away from it. I am an information junky. I research fitness, raising kids, natural healing, caring for elderly parents, financials, gardening, books, recipes, nutrition, ways to look younger, cosmetic surgery - I am looking for it all!

I can't say that anything I have ever used/tried has really been life changing with the exception of changing the way I eat and exercising diligently - until I started using fish oil. Fish oil literally saved me. I was having really bad memory problems - frightening to the point of fearing the beginning stages of Alzheimers, the disease my mother succumbed to. I started taking pharmaceutical grade fish oil and that all went away!! Amazing! I even went off it for a short time and the memory problems all came washing back. I immediately went back to the fish oil and I will never stop taking it.

Recently, I started a new experiment. I was turned on to a Superfood.

A superfood is defined by Wilkapedia as a type of food that is believed to have more significant health benefits than any other type of food due to their specific phytonutrient content. For instance, blueberries are considered a superfood because they contain significant amounts of antioxidants, phytoflavinoids, vitamin C, and potassium, which are believed to provide important health benefits.

The superfood I am experimenting with is the acai (pronounced a-sigh-e) berry. This berry has been proven to contain one of the highest amounts of anti-oxidants of any food grown on earth. In late 2004, Dr. Nicholas Perricone appeared on The Oprah Winfrey show to promote one of his books where he lists the Ten Super Foods to Rejuvenate the Body. He rated the Acai Berry as #1, calling it one of the most nutritious and powerful foods in the world. It was the ONLY fruit that made his list -- worthy of note in light of the flurry of single-fruit health juices that have appeared in recent years.

Also in 2004, NBC Today's Matt Lauer hosted a road show from the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil, reporting that locals now call the legendary Acai Berry the "Viagra of the Amazon." Hmmm - haven't researched THAT yet!

Check out this Oprah.com page that describes the berry:

http://www.oprah.com/presents/2005/young/life/life_acai.jhtml

Back to the experiment. I have a friend and fitness colleague out in California who introduced me to a product called Mona Vie. Mona Vie is a juice that is blended from the Brazilian acai berry and 18 other beneficial fruits. There are amazing stories relating to the use of this juice.

In particular, many people with joint pain and diabetes, have experienced quick, lasting relief from symptoms and complications associated with the their disease, sometimes after only a few days of drinking this elixer. It has also resolved or relieved other health related issues for some people such as migraines, IBS, sleep problems, sugar cravings, ADHD behavior and more. I decided to order some Mona Vie and put my family on it for our various ailments, conditions and syndromes. In particular, I wanted to see if I would feel any differently after drinking the prescribed 2 oz. 2x/day.

In the last month, I have read a zillion stories about the effects of Mona Vie on health but I didn't have any first hand stories. I turned several clients on to this superfood drink and a few stories are starting to filter back to me. For example, 1 client took some for her father who has bad arthritis in his shoulder and when she brought him the bottle I provided her with, her mother told her that his DOCTOR recommended that he start drinking Mona Vie! A doctor! That's exciting.

Then my Accupuncturist told me she had been drinking Mona Vie for about a year and she got it from her sister-in-law who is a doctor! Another client told her parents about it and her mother told her that her father had been on it for several months. I asked what relief he was feeling from the drink and she told me that he said he didn't realize how much relief he was getting for his arthritis until he went OFF Mona Vie. He immediately went back on it. I heard that story from someone else as well. My friend from California, a fellow insomniac, said she is sleeping like a baby, feeling way less pain in a bad hip, and "things" are really moving well from behind -if you catch my drift! So, there's alot of positive things happening with this juice.

The jury is still out as my family has only been on it for about 2 weeks. I did notice this though. I have a 25 year history of big time sleeping problems, but in the past 2 months, I happily have managed to get some drug-free sleep. So I wasn't really testing Mona Vie in that area.

Interestingly enough, I have been sleeping REALLY deep lately. So deep, that I am sleeping right up until the alarm goes off. That NEVER happens to me. I am usually awake 2-4 times each night and typically wake up 10-15 minutes before the alarm and cannot go back to sleep. This has been my sleep pattern for 20 plus years. Is it the "stuff"? I don't know. But I am keeping an eye on THAT! If you have a minute, go to the link below. It's a smidgeon of inspiration from Dr. Andrea Pennington on how to add vitality to your life and she mentions Mona Vie! Interesting!

http://www.myfoxkc.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=BF986D69A12CECD2B4C26EBF0AA4FA43?contentId=4621431&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1


I will keep you posted!