I am just all about investing in fitness. I love my ipod nano, I love my Vibram Five Fingers, My Sun Lamp alarm clock, I spend tons of money at fancy gyms and classes (and always actually go to them), and just recently bought the UP band by Jawbone (find it here).  I also just like spending money, apparently.





Jawbone's tag line for their UP band is "Know Yourself. Live Better." This band is basically a fancied-up pedometer. There are a few on the market right now (Nike and FitBit both make similar bands). You wear it on your wrist day and night, and it tracks your steps and activities. It can sync with your smart phone and gives you a visual of how well you are moving around AND sleeping. It has three modes- a day mode, an active mode, and a sleep mode. During the day mode, the band will always be tracking your steps. In active mode, you set it to time an activity, and when syncing it with your phone, you record what kind of activity it was, it tells you how long you were active for, and how many calories burned (based on age, weight, sex, height, etc.). In sleep mode, the bracelet measures how much deep sleep and light sleep you get, as well as how many times you wake up. The app for the phone allows you to track your diet, and you can also set alarms for the band. For example, if the band senses that I have been sitting relatively stationary at my desk for 30 minutes, it starts to vibrate to remind me that I am being a lazy bitch and to get up and start walking around. I also have a morning alarm set so that it vibrates at 6:00 am (this way it will wake me up after I have snoozed my sun clock, which does not re-alarm). This is a daily re-occurance for me. 

You can even set it for a power nap, but who am I kidding, I have an annoying dog who doesn't let me nap. The bracelet will vibrate to wake you up after the optimal amount of sleep once you fall asleep (research shows this is 26.5 minutes after you fall asleep) so that you don't feel groggy after your nap.



The UP band plugs right into your phone to automatically sync



I have been wearing the band for the past three days and have found myself more motivated to get more steps in. In fact, 2 of the three days I have done 2 workouts to get more steps in! Also one of those days was my day off, so that's not going to be something that happens often, the double-workout thing.



This was from my day off. I got a lot of running and walking around in the mall done that day.



It's amazing the bracelet actually knows when I have been sitting, and keeps reminding me to get up and go. I have gone and done a trip up and down the stairs every time it reminds me (and this is a reminder of how truly out of shape I am- huffing and puffing and ready to die after 5 floors). I thought it wouldn't know I was sitting, since typing and desk work moves my wrist around, but it actually can tell the difference! Typing counts as an activity, right? I was even out to eat the other day, and it let me know I had been sitting for more than 30 minutes, even though I had been talking (and I always use my hands to gesture while talking, probably excessively) and eating and drinking (water, I swear!!).

Though I don't need the band to tell me that I don't get enough sleep and that I wake up about a bajillion times in the middle of the night, its interesting to see my sleeping trends. I can see what time I went to bed every night, if I am being consistent, and what nights I wake up more.



I need more sleep!



I should experiment and see if I get more sleep, and wake up less, if I kick the dog out of the bed. He takes up a lot of space and is also a cover hog.

You can have "teammate" friends who also use the UP band, and see their steps and status updates. The problem is, hardly anyone uses the UP band, so I have no UP band teammates. I guess the problem is also I don't have that many real-life friends to begin with. I don't think Facebook friends count as real friends.  

All in all I give it a thumbs-up, if you are into the pedometer kinda thing! And if wearing a pedomoter makes me a dork, you can just shut-your-face.

I recently started reading the book Wheat Belly, right around the same time I decided to go crazy and join District CrossFit gym. Wheat Belly is a book written by a doctor who discusses the negative effects (and what exactly causes them) of consuming wheat (and sugar and carbohydrates). Warning: This book will terrify the poop out of you. You will never look at that donut, or pasta, or oatmeal, or sandwich the same again. They all grow little devil horns and start running around with a pitchfork, or at least you see them that way, after you read this book. CrossFit gyms promote a "clean eating" Paleo diet. You may have heard this called the cave-man diet, as in you can only eat it if it is something running around on 4 legs and you hunt it down, kill it, and devour it. Let me clarify what Paleo means: Paleo means no sugar (let me repeat that, NO SUGAR, as in not even zero-calorie artificial sweeteners like stevia to make your day start off right), no grains (wheat, rice, barley, oat, or anything of that nature), no potatoes, no legumes-beans (and yes, peanuts and peanut butter are considered legumes, not a nut, damn you peanuts), no soy (as soy is a legume), no dairy, (but I guess there are exceptions for butter from grassfed cows- cavemen didn't have butter or cows?), and basically nothing that tastes good. If you need a lesson on Paleo, there are several "is it Paleo" flow charts available.

And gluten-free products are not an option, since the only thing that is actually WORSE for you than gluten from wheat are things that they use to make gluten-free items with (corn strach, tapioca starch, etc.). And these usually just contain another form of grain anyways.

I tried Paleo, like for real, once and last about one and a half days before I was keeling over on the floor out of energy because I thought there was nothing I could eat. I tried to go running, after eating I think some lettuce. I didn't get very far into my run. Maybe not even a mile, before I had to stop. This is back when 5 miles was no biggie. That wasn't going to work for me.

So now that I joined this fancy (and when I say fancy, I mean too expensive) gym which is promoting Paleo, and anything traditionally considered a carbohydrate scares me because I don't want a wheat belly or diabetes or arthritis or to grow old quick or any of the scary things that Dr. William Davis has told me will happen to me if I eat a bagel, I have decided to revisit this Paleo diet.

I have successfully removed wheat and dairy from my diet. When I say removed, I mean that I have not really had these things, although Lindsay did bring home one of my favorite treats, Rosemary shortbread from Spring Mill Bread Co. that I gave in to, and I tried some non-homogenized milk from grass-fed antibiotic free local cows, because I really wanted to know if it tasted different (and it tasted REAL good). But those were both conscious decisions and not mindless munching on wheat or dairy products. It has been much easier than I thought. I wasn't a big snacker to begin with, though. I never had things like pretzels or crackers sitting around. But we did used to eat pasta on a regular basis, and sandwiches, and oatmeal for breakfast, and pita with hummus and things like that- all things that I thought were healthy for me. And I never really thought that things like yogurt or cheese were doing too much harm. BUT, I have managed to get rid of them from my diet.

Where I have completely failed is the elimination of legumes and sugar. I have a love affair, no an addiction, to beans. Since I spent the majority of my life as a vegetarian, beans are what have sustained me for the majority of my life. I still have to do the research on why legumes are supposed to be so bad for me, so for now, they aren't ousted. It's hard to sustain yourself on nothing but meat and veggies. I feel like I need beans right now.

AND SUGAR. oh god, sugar. Did you know French macaroons are made with almond flour- not wheat flour!So they are basically Paleo, except for the sugar, which I haven't cut out yet, so Paleo enough for me. So I have been eating too many French macaroons since my discovery of The Sweet Lobby, and I need to cut my sugar addiction out. Starting, tomorrow? But really, I am not eating too much, most days its just fruit. Am I eating too much fruit? But I NEED carbs in some way. I feel like maybe the Paleo diet wasn't intended for people who actually work out. I mean the kind of work-out where endurance is required. I don't have any problems with my 5-20 minute intense CrossFit WODs, but running miles and miles is difficult now.

So you are supposed to feel completely different after going Paleo, but I don't. I don't sleep better, I don't feel better, I'm still generally tired, I am still a grumpy bitch, and I guess maybe I feel better about myself for doing it, but really not physically better. So I guess maybe the beans and sugar/fruit have to go to feel these effects? Shawn thinks this is temporary, but I am pretty sure I won't go back to eating grains or dairy, especially grains (except for rare indulgences for very special occasions) since I know so many scary things about them. I wonder if when I have children, can children be Paleo? Like ALL infant and child products contain wheat in some form.

Why can't humans just start over?

 

It's true. I. Am. A. Hoarder.

But not like the kind you see on TLC. I am a good ideas, cute pictures, recipes and things I want to do hoarder. This has been manifested in my collection of magazines shoved in a cabinet, the numerous list of favorites I have in my explorer bar, and the millions (really, I mean it probably IS millions) of sticky notes and lists I have written in my lifetime about things I need to do, things I want to do, things I want to buy, goals, etc.  I just would hate to lose any of those good things!

The Internet Gods have answered my prayers and now there is Pintrest. Most of you probably dont know what Pintrest is, but it is a sort of digital hoarding. It is a website where you can create your own boards and "pin" or tag items of interest to it from websites or other peoples "pins." These boards then have a collection of pictures that link to websites or photographs. They serve as bookmarks and reminders for the things you want to keep, but all digitally (and best of all, they take up no physical space in your home, like stacks of magazines or recipe books)!

So if you are a pintrest member, you have probably "unfollowed" me by now due to my excessive pinning, but if not, you should join pintrest (or follow me here) so that you can post great things too and so I am not the only one wasting my time (I mean, I really do stay up late doing this, its ruining my beauty sleep).

Bulldog, on a bulldog! 

Bulldog snuggles. 

So sorry to interrupt you, pooch. 

This is what happens when I try to do my statistics homework.... 

Pictures of the dog from when he had a cone from his eye surgery. 

Poor poochie couldn't play with his ball, as hard as he tried. 

He actually fell asleep like this. 

The best attachment for the Kitchen Aid is the ice cream maker, hands down. 

Flavors we have made: 

Fig

Vanilla

Rose

Honey

Pistachio

Coffee

Making coffee ice cream: 

Boiling the coffee beans in milk

And the best ice cream topper- Chocolate Chips!