October 2007 Newsletter

An Inspirational Quote

"The challenge to every individual is to determine the diet that is right for him and to implement that diet in a way that does not divorce him from the company of fellow human beings at mealtimes."

Sally Fallon, author, Nourishing Traditions

The Role of Antioxidants
by Nina Lynn, Nina@totalfitness.net

Most people nowadays understand the need for antioxidants, but they may not know exactly what they are or how they can include antioxidants in their diets without buying some expensive "concoction" from the health food store.

Antioxidants are merely vitamins and minerals that were once readily available in the foods we ate before they became overly processed for the sake of convenience. These nutrients include the water-soluble vitamins C and A, and the fat soluble vitamin E. Another group called carotenes include beta-carotene, lycopene, reservatol, zeaxanthin, and leutin. Lipoic acid and glutathione are also powerful antioxidants. Catechin, quercetin and hesperetin are antioxidant flavonoids found in plants. Antioxidants also require "helpers" to do their job, like vitamin B3, selenium and zinc.

So. what exactly is their job? Antioxidants "mop up" free radicals and render them harmless. Free radicals are atoms in a molecule that have lost an electron, and subsequently "steal" one from a healthy molecule, leaving that molecule without an electron, and so on and so on. This process damages cells, which become damaged tissues, which become damaged organs, which leads to advanced aging and disease.

Free radicals are formed by the normal chemical reactions of cellular metabolism of every cell in a healthy body. We are designed to handle this moderate level of free radical production by eating nutritious whole foods that our DNA was programmed to run on, providing we are getting moderate daily exercise, living a low stress lifestyle and sleeping eight to nine hours every night. Needless to say, most of us fall short in most if not all of those categories. Anyone who is engaging in a heavy exercise program should also be including plenty of antioxidants in their diet due to the oxidative stress of exercise - particularly high intensity aerobic exercise. Add in the oxidative stress and free radical production of environmental toxins and it is clear to see the need for antioxidants in our diets.

Because of current conventional farming methods the soil is void of nutrients and our produce and farm animals are laced with pesticides, herbicides and growth hormones. Consequently, we are not getting quality antioxidant nutrients from conventionally farmed or raised food. That is why we at Total Fitness recommend eating organic produce, and organic and free-range animal products.

Here is a list of fruits and vegetables that are good sources of antioxidants:

• BETA-CAROTENE: apricots, cantaloupe, carrots, pumpkin, red pepper, parsley, sweet potatoes
• LUTEIN and ZEAXANTHIN: Kale, broccoli, spinach, winter squash, Brussels sprouts, celery, dill, leaks, Summer squash
• LYCOPENE: tomatoes, pink grapefruit, mango, oranges, peaches, papaya, watermelon
• VITAMIN C: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, citrus fruits, green pepper, kiwi, papaya, peaches, Strawberries, potatoes, lettuce
• VITAMIN E: wheat germ, seeds, nuts, dark green leafy vegetables, avocado, sweet potatoes
• SELENIUM: brazil nuts
• ZINC: oysters, red meat
• LIPOIC ACID: dark green leafy vegetables, especially spinach and broccoli
• FLAVONOIDS: apples, citrus fruits, flaxseeds, lentils, onions, rice, blueberries, cranberries, chamomile tea, olive oil
• POLYPHENOLS: dark chocolate, grapes, nuts, oranges, strawberries, turmeric

Antioxidants have been shown to protect the body against several types of cancers, nervous system disorders like stroke and alzheimer's, diabetes, eye diseases, respiratory diseases, inflammatory diseases like irritable bowel syndrome and arthritis and of course premature aging. And they provide beauty benefits - include plenty of antioxidants in your diet and witness how your skin glows. It's often here at Total Fitness that we start a client on a program of healthy eating and personalized supplementation and they say, "Wow! What are you giving me that is making my skin look so good?"

According to scientific studies, the vast majority of people are not meeting even the U.S. recommended dietary allowances of vitamins C, A, B-1, B-2, B-3, B-6 and folate, or the minerals magnesium, calcium and zinc. This is just further evidence of the need for antioxidants in our daily diets.

As it turns out, your mother's advice to eat your fruits and vegetables was right on. In today's world of processed foods, environmental toxins and stress, the need for antioxidants is overwhelming. We may not have discovered a cure for cancer yet, but antioxidants definitely play a role in disease prevention. Contact a Total Fitness practitioner for a personalized nutritional program and antioxidant supplementation.

Making Change Permanent, Part 3
by James Williams, james@totalfitness.net

In this series so far we've learned that making change involves:

• Being in a whole-brain state and being in the moment
• Expanding your emotional vocabulary
• Making the change now, rather than later
• Getting in touch with the unconscious beliefs holding you back from the change you desire
• Using the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of your being to allow the change

First, a note on willpower before we get into the thrust of this month's article on change. Many people use their willpower to make change, which involves using their thoughts, decisions and action to make things happen. This is change at the mental level only. Often the cost is emotional and physical tiredness, and it yields only partial success because it ignores being in touch with the emotional, physical and spiritual selves. This is like making a decision based on having only 25 percent of the information. It is hard work because other people can get in the way by adding more information.

Many people think they can make change in one step. They aim to instantly go from eating junk food daily to enjoying salads and whole foods, yet wonder why they fall off the bandwagon after a few days or weeks. It is simple: they're making too much of a shift at once. Change requires mental, emotional and physical energy to sustain, as well as faith in ourselves to be consistent and persistent. If a person is mentally or emotionally stressed they have less capacity to change compared with someone whose life is plain sailing. So much of the stressed person's energy is tied up in dealing with the daily stressors that they have little drive left to devote to the big changes in eating habits they desire. The kicker is that their beliefs and unresolved emotional experiences also divert energy away from revising their habits because energy is locked up in the past instead of being used in the present. This is why it is essential to resolve old disagreements with people.

In addition to making the change manageable, it's important to insure that people don't reshape too many parts of their life at the same time. The result is stress, failure to continue, guilty feelings and a lowering of self-efficacy. To make personal transformation successful it needs to be accomplished in baby steps. What a person wants to achieve needs to be broken down into a series of achievable simple actions that won't make them feel stressed. If making a change adds to your stress level because it requires too much mental and emotional energy, then you're guaranteed to fail. Failing at change can also dent your self-esteem, making it harder to pluck up the courage to try again. Using baby steps may take you five to eight weeks to make the change to eating healthily 80 percent of the time - yet at the end of it will feel and eventually look like a success!

"Successful change is akin to a train ride, stopping at many stations before the final destination." James Williams.

When they do reach their goals, many people end up feeling dissatisfied or empty rather than elated, joyful, or happy. Why does this happen? Because they've forgotten to live in the moment during each of the steps they've taken towards achieving the goal. Another additional element in creating successful change is the need to celebrate completing one step before moving onto another. Celebration is key because it reinforces that we're doing something positive. It also generates emotions that are more likely to power us further along the tracks to success.

Many authors of personal growth and success books report that it is necessary to be in the mental and emotional state of already having what you want because this state of mind builds motivation. The danger here is that people try and get into the emotional state of their end goal, yet have a hard time accessing those feelings. The projected emotional state is so different from how they feel on a daily basis that they can't do it. A better step is to access the feelings of what it is like to achieve your first step, and then once you've achieved that step, imagine what it's like experiencing your second step, and so on until you imagine what it's like to be living your goal. The jump in emotional expression is smaller and more manageable.

Both long term and short term, you will be more likely to succeed if you are internally motivated. Other people giving you a pat on the back won't carry you as far as if you are emotionally engaged in your own change process. This is why change requires emotional intelligence, to be able to feel our feelings and express them tactfully and lovingly. When you do celebrate the achievement of your goals, remember that celebration can include buying things, such as purchasing a new outfit, or you can enjoy something for free. Rejoicing in success can involve simple activities such as making time to lie on the sofa listening to music for 30 minutes, going for a walk in a beautiful park, or watching a favorite movie or DVD with your feet up.

Gratitude is also necessary for sustaining long-term change and involves giving thanks for the wonderful things each day which have contributed to achieving the goal. Some people write a gratitude list in a journal, other take notes in a notepad or on their computer in the early evening. It's easy to forget to do it, or be too tired to write it just before bed.

Why is a gratitude list helpful? It can put you in a happier emotional state about your goal, which builds the emotional motivation to continue. Gratitude is also linked with the spiritual component of change. It builds faith and is a way of giving thanks to a higher power for the help we have received. As you begin to spend more of each day living in the moment, it becomes easier to give thanks for things as they arise in throughout the day, and so writing a list becomes less necessary.

So what do you do when you achieve your goal and have celebrated each stage along the way? Create and plan another goal and each of its stages - then live it! Just remember that life changes constantly and that goals such as eating healthily do not end - they live on because they require regular maintenance.

Are You Deficient in Vitamin E?
by Catherine Carrigan, catherine@totalfitness.net

The biggest deficiency of all I see is a deficiency of Vitamin E - Exercise!

Although James, Nina and I all give very precise personalized recommendations for our clients in fitness, nutrition and healing, you can boil down my top recommendation for exercise to this simple statement: Find ways of moving that move your soul and you'll never work out a day in your life.

Our colleague Tom Biancalana in Chicago has recently fallen in love with barefoot water skiing. Henry Edmunds, the Total Fitness business manager, can't wait to plan his next snow camping trip, where he'll be cross country skiing into the wilderness and building an igloo with his friends. James says he likes anything that can be done in half an hour - weights, corrective stretching or balance maneuvers - to fit into his busy schedule. On any given week, my personal exercise program may include the staples of walking, weight lifting, practicing yoga and qi gong, and the compliments of Pilates, gyrotonics, T-Tapp, bike riding, rebounding, hiking or backpacking. I have always loved to move and include some form of movement - usually an hour a day, six days a week.

Many people have some excuse not to exercise but do so any way by finding ways to make exercise therapeutic. Our colleague Nina Lynn is an accomplished Tango dancer in Los Angeles, even though she has suffered from severe scoliosis most of her life. Even when I have been sick at times in my life, I have been able to make myself feel better by practicing qi gong, the Tibetan rites, rebounding or going for an easy walk.

This summer, in the extreme Atlanta heat of over 100 degree temperatures, I saw the consequence with many clients of what happens when people stop moving. When you don't move your body regularly and consistently, your lymph system stagnates, your metabolism stalls, your digestive system becomes sluggish and you feel exhausted and heavy from poor circulation.

If this sounds like you, call me up and I will introduce you to many forms of exercise until you find something that moves your soul.

Just as we want you to develop a healthy relationship with food, we also want you to develop a healthy relationship with exercise.

When I exercise, I always stop if anything hurts. In fact, I choose to move only in ways that actually feel good - both during and afterwards. I move in ways that actually generate energy, so I have more energy than many clients half my age. In fact, the way I exercise always feels so good that even if I feel bad - either mentally, emotionally or physically - I know I can make myself feel better through movement. I realize that I have a larger exercise vocabulary than most people - I know how to stretch to correct any postural misalignment, which yoga postures would open a certain chakra and what kind of movements light up a certain acupuncture meridian, You too can develop this healthy relationship with exercise by simply tuning in to what feels good. Many people fail to develop this healthy relationship with exercise because they believe exercise has to hurt to be effective, or that they have to exhaust themselves to burn calories or achieve the toned look they really want.

Remember the Body Building Equation developed by Frank Zane, three-time Mr. Olympia: B= ExAxRxN

Your Body equals your exercise times your attitude times your rest times your nutrition.

Your exercise lights the fire. It provides the catalyst to make the changes you really want. You can take all the supplements you want, eat organic food, and great healing work, but you'll never achieve true health until you find the ways of moving that suit you. You'll know when you have found it when you can't wait to enjoy your exercise.

Client Success: Hally Schreiber
by Hally Schreiber

"Allergy tests have revealed sensitivities to every food commonly eaten, but most prevalent are allergies to milk products and grains - precisely the two foods added to man's diet when he changed from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to one of cultivation and domestication." Sally Fallon, author of Nourishing Traditions

My Background Story:
I started struggling with my health as a teenager. At fifteen years old, I had to miss school due to excruciating abdominal pain, frequent urgency to run to the bathroom, weight loss and blood loss. I was visiting doctors, having blood drawn, undergoing x-rays, colonoscopies, sonograms and MRIs in search for an answer for my ills. My diet was dismissed as having nothing to do with the cause of my issues. Doctors diagnosed me with ulcerative colitis. I was treated with various medications including steroids. The steroids seemed little help. Rather, they left me undesirable physical and emotional side effects. Soon, I was in the hospital attached to IVs providing nourishment and more medication. I underwent a number of blood transfusions to keep me alive. Soon, I became so ill that I underwent surgery to remove my large intestine. After this initial surgery, though feeling better, I had to learn how to live as a teenager with an ostomy bag. Two more surgeries were scheduled to reattach my digestive trac and reverse the ostomy. After my final surgery I felt healthy for about 8 years. When I was 22 years old, I began to experience similar symptoms to when I was a teenager. I was then diagnosed with Crohn's disease and forced to undergo further surgery and increased medication, including immunosuppressants. I did not like the idea of being on these drugs and although the doctors all reassured me that the side effects of the medications were minimal, I always knew that there had to be a more natural way to heal my body. That is when I met Catherine Carrigan.

My Experience in Convalescence:
Catherine listened to my story with compassion and quickly educated me about the impact of my diet and lifestyle choices. She worked with me at my pace, helping me to make changes when I was ready for them. I started with changes to my diet, soon began to add supplements recommended by Catherine and quickly felt better than I had felt in years. Catherine identified food sensitivities I was experiencing and taught me how to eat the way my body needed me to. I learned to eat meat for the first time in 6 years - something that has helped me immensely. I eliminated foods that I never thought I could live without - my individual food sensitivities that had been irritating my gut. It's been about 8 months since I've eaten these foods and I don't even get cravings where I used to constantly crave things like cookies, breads and sweets. I am also completely off the immunosuppressants! My medical doctor is happy with my progress and the medical tests show I am improving even better than when I had been on more medication.

Beyond helping me heal through nutrition, Catherine helped me with changes in my lifestyle that were effecting my energy and general health. I learned to meditate - something I never thought I could do, despite years of doing yoga. I learned the value of resting - the cheapest and easiest way to heal my body. I learned that I could be more successful by working smarter rather than working harder at my job. I feel I have achieved greater health than I have before by working with Catherine. She is a truly gifted coach and healer.

My Recommendation:
If you are seeking support for physical, mental or emotional difficulties, or if you are healthy but want to learn how to maintain and optimize your health, there is no doubt that you should consider Total Fitness as a resource for health, happiness and success.

Yummy Banana Bread
by Elissa Lorenzen

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
• 1 packet (teaspoon) stevia
• 1/4 cup carob chips
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced almonds
• 2 bananas mashed
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 egg

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• In a bowl mix all the dry ingredients.
• Mash the bananas in a separate bowl.
• In a small bowl, beat together egg and coconut oil,

Bananas are high in B6 and a good source of potassium. This recipe is gluten-free, so it is great for all those who are sensitive to wheat.

Elissa Lorenzen is a Pilates teacher, personal chef and Total Fitness client. She has contributed many healthy recipes for Total Fitness radio show. You can find other delicious healthy recipes by visiting the Recipes section of our website.

Client Success: Gabe Horrisberger
by Catherine Carrigan, catherine@totalfitness.net

Gabe Horrisberger is one of our many clients who has benefited from antioxidants, not only for his physical health, but for his looks. This summer, he went to the dermatologist for advice about acne. "I had acne all over my back, face and shoulders," he recalled.

The medical doctor recommended a course of antibiotics. After a month, the acne had not only gotten worse, it had spread to other areas. "They didn't recommend anything else - they didn't even recommend any cream - they just told me to keep taking more antibiotics," Gabe said. "My back was itching and my face was just gross."

Frustrated, Gabe came to visit me. I identified food sensitivities that were aggravating his skin problems, put him on an individualized supplement program, including antioxidants, and taught him about the benefits of fresh vegetable and fruit juices.

I also gave Gabe a scientific medical research paper outlining the connection between acne and nutrition. Acne is aggravated by a high glycemic diet. I recommend he cut out soda pop and taught him an eating plan that helped to keep his blood sugar more balanced.

The skin is your largest organ of detoxification. When the liver, kidneys and colon are overloaded, toxicity shows up on your skin. I advised Gabe to have his liver function scientifically tested, and we discussed simple things he could do to start cleaning up his lifestyle. We used kinesiology to evaluate his skin care products. I recommended that he wash his face with plain water, rather than slathering on products that would only make his condition worse.

"The first week my skin was twice as better. After two weeks, it was probably 80 percent better," Gabe said.

"Antibiotics do not work for acne. They will either have no effect or in fact make it worse. I think the best course of action is to address your diet and toxic load. As the acne clears up, you will feel better at the same time, not only because you are looking better but because you are healthier internally. I already have more energy, I'm losing weight and other issues that I have got going on are being addressed simultaneously."

Upcoming Guests, Total Fitness Radio Show

Tune in every Friday at 7 a.m. PST/10 a.m. EST for the latest edition of Total Fitness. Have your fitness, nutrition and healing questions answered for FREE by Catherine and James and our guest experts by calling toll-free, 1-866-472-5792, during the LIVE broadcast.

Afterwards, listen to the archives for FREE, 24/7, by visiting this link: http://www.totalfitness.net/radio_show_past_shows.htm

Oct. 19: Catherine Carrigan and James Williams - "The Total Fitness Approach To Exercise"

Oct. 26: Tosca Reno, author, The Butt Book - "How To Shape A Better Rear End"

Nov. 2: David Getoff, naturopath and clinical nutritionist - "How To Use Nutrition To Prevent Cancer"

Nov. 9: Dr. John Briffa, author of Ultimate Health - "Eating True for You - The Key to Ultimate Health"

Nov. 16: Colin Tipping, author of Radical Forgiveness, Making Room For The Miracle - "How Forgiveness Can Improve Your Health"

Nov. 30: Dr. Lawson Wulsin, author of Treating The Aching Heart - "The Link Between Heart Disease and Depression"

Remember, you can listen to the archives of our previous shows for FREE, 24/7. Or, purchase copies to listen to on your iPod or MP3 player while you exercise or driving in your car from our webstore.

Yoga and Qi Gong Classes in Atlanta

Yoga Classes: Every Tuesday and Thursday, 7:30 p.m.
Holy Spirit Catholic Church
4465 Northside Drive, Atlanta, GA.
$15 per class or $65 per calendar month.

Qi Gong Class: Every Wednesday, 5:30 p.m.
1951 Northside Drive, Atlanta, GA. $15 per class.

Booking appointments with Total Fitness

To schedule an appointment to find out about a personalized fitness, nutrition or healing program that will help you get results, please contact us:

In Atlanta

Catherine Carrigan catherine@totalfitness.net

James Williams james@totalfitness.net

In California

Nina Lynn nina@totalfitness.net

You can also visit us on the web at www.totalfitness.net