I'm simultaneously annoyed, frustrated, and thrilled at finding a new way to clean my face.

For 30 years (or more) I've had blackheads and acne issues. My pores are excruciatingly large and therefore prone to filling with junk and causing me to break out. I've always had combination skin, dry around the cheeks and oily across my forehead and around my nose. As a teenager, I usually used an astringent to clear up the oil but it never did anything for the blackheads.

Recently, I ditched all of my other moisturizers for coconut oil, including my face lotion which I usually only used right after a shower.  The coconut oil has been great. It's been moisturizing and kind of evening out my skin, I've noticed my skin hasn't been nearly as oily in general. But again, it does nothing for the blackheads and that's what's been driving me the most crazy for the longest time.

Well, thank God for the internet once again because a new search on how to deal with this problem, naturally of course, has brought me this:

The Oil Cleansing Method

Sounds crazy, right? Well, I was halfway there by using coconut oil, it just needed a little bit of tweaking.

Wellness Mama has done it again, I find all kinds of great info on her site. She describes using a mixture of oils to clean your face with by rubbing it in, letting it sit, and then gently steaming and cleaning the oil off with a wet wash cloth.

I've only been doing this for two days and I can see major improvement in the reduction of blackheads!!!

I was so close, if I had been putting the coconut oil on before my showers, I might have seen a difference, or maybe it really needed to be a combination of oils. Right now, I'm using a half and half mix of olive and avocado oil since that's all I had on hand. I may just stick with that since the improvement has been so great.

This post doesn't have much to do with diet or fitness, which are my usual topics but I just had to talk about this. Also, since I've switched to #lchf, my weight has stabilized and I don't have as much to share. It's working.

Hopefully this will help someone else before they spend 30+ years annoyed by their skin. I couldn't be happier!

I spent over 6 hours with friends and family yesterday. During that time, I was the only one who used the restroom, 3 times! I was also the only one of us out of 8 people that was drinking water. This is not an uncommon theme. I've noticed the same thing at work. Not so much the number of times people use the restroom, ain't nobody got time for that, but the water thing. If anyone is drinking anything at their desks, it's usually coffee or soda.

Now, I drink my fair share of coffee, at least a  couple of cups each morning and most evenings I have one or more alcoholic beverages. But I always, always, drink water as well and sadly, I seem to be fairly unique in this. Friends have made fun of me for not getting hangovers, I think it's safe to say that my water habit is a big reason for that.

My Mother, a 67 year old woman thinks Gatorade hydrates her better than water. WTF? I've also had people say that they don't drink water so they don't have to go to the bathroom. You realize that that's actually a good thing, right?

Drinking enough water is very important and I'm not even going to pretend that I always drink as much as I should. The old adage of eight, 8 oz glasses of water a day is of course a generic guideline but it's not a bad one and that's why I try to shoot for.

Most people are not getting enough water. Rodale Wellness says that "In fact, most of us function in a chronic state of dehydration."

Attempting to function without enough water is similar to trying to run a car that doesn't have enough oil to lubricate its system. And what happens to a car that isn't lubricated? It heats up, and the engine can crack and get damaged. A similar effect occurs in the body when you're not well hydrated, which often happens because you're too busy and your system is running too fast and too long without a break.

There are a host of problems that arise from or at least are aggravated by dehydration: allergies, joint pain, constipation, depression, irritability, or mental fog, bad breath, dry skin, muscle cramps, and many more. You'd be surprised what a big difference a little water can make.

The easiest way I've found to make sure I get the most amount of water each day is by using a 32 oz Nalgene.

No one wants to give up their favorite foods and their "occasional" guilty pleasures. Living without pasta and chocolate may seem like end of the world events but I'm here to offer a different approach. 

Don't give up anything (at first) but make sure to add something healthy to make up for some of your bad habits.

• Drink too much alcohol?
• Drink one extra glass of water a day, then two, then three. It only takes a few seconds to choke down a small glass of water. A lot less time than it does to drink a beer. Do it first thing when you get up, when you are filling the coffee pot, brushing your teeth, whenever you think about it. Don't resist! Your liver will thank you.
• Don't eat enough veggies?
• Throw a couple into random dishes, spaghetti is a great place to hide diced zucchini. You can't even taste it.
• I add peas to my tuna mac, I like the contrast and the occasional "pop" of the peas in my mouth. Don't like peas? Try some other veggie diced real small.
• Making meat? Add a frozen veggie side* and eat it first to get it out of the way. No harm in adding butter to make it better! Or kick up your cooking a notch and add sauteed mushrooms and/or onions to your meat. Impress your friends and loved ones! *Fresh is better but I realize not many people actually cook anymore.

•  Do you eat eggs?
• Eggs and veggies were made for each other. Just dice them small and scramble it all together. If you don't like crunchy veggies, add them first and then just stir in the eggs a minute after the veggies are in. 
• Mushrooms, tomatoes, green peppers and green onions are always tasty with eggs. Whatever you can find in  the fridge. It's easy!

•  Eat too much sugar?
• Try to add something/anything to up the nutrition value. Ice cream? Add peanut butter or fruit for protein and nutrients. Candy bar? Can it at least be a Snickers? If not, make a deal with yourself to add an extra scoop of veggies at the next meal. 
• Did you drink a Unicorn Frappe? I'm not sure there is much hope in this case, just forgive yourself, move on, and promise never to do it again.

It's little things like these that will help bring awareness to your eating habits and over time I've found that I start seeing results like better digestion, less hangovers, clearer skin that make it that much easier to move forward to even better food choices (a little more veggies, maybe a little less sugar?). And once you see that vegetables and water really aren't that bad...you get over your aversion and can move toward acceptance. 

It's all about the baby steps or in other words, giving it a half assed try.

Did you know that you don't have to lose your teeth as you get older? When I was younger I assumed that everyone loses their teeth, no matter what they do.

Dr. Jack Cottrell, president of the Canadian Dental Associations says

"We absolutely can keep our teeth healthy for a lifetime [...]"

Trauma, disease, and lack of care are the main culprits in tooth loss and all of these things are more or less preventable.

After asking this question of my dentist and finding out it wasn't true, I was motivated to take better care of my teeth and now I'm fully committed to dying with my own teeth in my head!  I have had some trauma to one of my front teeth from a bike accident so that one might be the exception but the rest of them have no excuse!

Now that you know this, does it change the way you think about the health of your teeth? 

For me, flossing was the one major habit that I had a hard time with. But in this article I provide the tip that made all the difference in the world. I hope it helps you too!

Sugar, and by default, carbs, are killing us. Very, very, very, slowly but insidiously. So slowly that it's easy to pretend that they aren't the culprit. But, once you hear this information, once you know that there are studies that support this idea; if you hear this and don't take action to lower your sugar/carb intake, then I feel you have opted for suicide.

Type 2 diabetes is preventable, and reversible. It is not inevitable and I don't really think it's genetic. It's more a matter of inheriting the behaviors that cause it. (Please note, I am not a Doctor, these are my opinions based on my personal experience). There is a high rate of diabetes, obesity, and other types of disease in my family. I however live very differently than they do and I do not have any of these same disorders and I don't intend to get them, you don't have to either.

In summary as related by the Diet Doctor:

1. Don’t put sugar in
2. Burn it off

So, knowing that there is a course of action that you can take to prevent or reverse diabetes as well as other diseases and all you really have to do (simplified version) is eliminate sugar and starches from your diet...the next time you stick a doughnut in your mouth, what you are really saying is, I don't care about my health, and that the doughnut is better than living a disease free life.

You can't play ostrich with your health, it will catch up to you.

My husband has an unusual job. Not unlike husbands who get deployed in the military, his job takes him away from home for months at a time and then he returns for an equal amount of time. To say the least, it is a very disruptive lifestyle.

When he's home, it's like he's on vacation and by extension, I tend to treat it that way too. We're celebrating him being home, we stay up too late, eat and drink too much and then when he leaves again, I find myself spending the next few months getting my diet back in check.

This time around my whole goal was just not to gain any weight while he was here. No going up means no coming down which means no roller coaster, no yo-yo.

Guess what?! I did it!!!

More proof that the low carb high fat diet is successful and sustainable. Even more so than using it to lose weight when he's gone. That's actually pretty easy. To be able to say that I didn't gain any weight while he's home is practically a miracle. 

We've been busy remodeling our house while he's home and that has kept us very busy but I have not been exercising...at all. A couple of dog walks here and there but for the most part, its the diet that is keeping me at my goal weight.

So, needless to say, I'm sold on #lchf and plan to keep at it. It's been so much easier than counting calories. It's easier to recover from a cheat day, it has been providing me with other health benefits as I mention in this post, and it's not difficult to maintain when eating out.

I wish I could sell some of my family members on this idea. There are several who are obese and diabetic and I know this would change their lives but sadly, they are also very closed minded.

All I suggest is if you are truly looking to improve your health on all levels, give #lchf a try. It will probably take 30 days before you see any major differences and it may take longer than that to break some of your other bad habits but if you can stick with it, I know you will be pleased.

One of my favorite motivational resources is Steve Pavlina and he introduced me to the 30 Day Trial. I've used this method several times, sometime successfully, other times not. Sometimes for permanent changes, other times not. If you ever feel like you need a change, this is a good way to give it a solid try.

This is not necessarily weight loss or fitness related but I have a health tip that may help others:

Flossing in the shower.

I, like most people have always hated flossing. Not just because it's another chore, or because it's one more thing to take up my time in a day but it really, really grossed me out!

I'm not sure if it's just me or not but whenever I flossed, it smelled, the chunks that I displaced were not something I wanted to deal with and I was generally disgusted by the whole process.

My solution?

Floss in the shower.

So much less disgusting, easier to rinse, and just far less inconvenient in general.  There is no smell to deal with and my dentist regularly surprises me with good status reports since I started doing this. 

I keep a skein of floss in the shower at all times. They are typically waterproof so no big deal leaving it there. I've been keeping floss in my shower for many years and have had no problems so...

All I can say is, try it. It may just help.

Three things motivated me to start looking into low carb eating. The first was common sense.

I'm not the kind of person to wait around until I have a problem to take action. I like being proactive. And I'm also a bit conspiracy theorist. I don't trust that Western Medicine really has our best interests in mind, I think it has the money in it's pockets in mind the majority of the time.

So I believe that taking care of myself as naturally as possible is the best approach. My back hurts? I do some yoga. I have a  stuffy nose, I grab my neti-pot and my coconut oil. I focus my eating on nutrition and it's been working for me. My immune system is strong and my body is pretty healthy. (As long as I keep up my good habits, I do slip sometimes).

At any rate, I got to thinking about diets and how if you are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes,  you are put on a low carb diet to reverse the affects. At least that's what I thought happened, the more I research it, that is not what Western Medicine recommends even though there is evidence that it works.

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends you eat "healthy". It was a huge red flag for me when in order to find out what that means, you have to actually purchase a food plan from them. WTF?

Fortunately for me, I don't have diabetes, my research has been based on how to avoid it since it seems like it's become the latest fashion anymore; everyone has it. People in my family have it.

The third motivation for me was cancer. Again, I don't have cancer, I want to avoid it if possible. Like most other maladies nowadays, it seems like it's not if, but when you end up with it. I don't buy it.

Again, looking at diet, I was intrigued to find out that ketogenic diets have been used in cancer treatment with success. And even Dr. Mercola says:

From my perspective, it's nothing short of medical malpractice and negligence to fail to integrate this type of dietary strategy into a patient's cancer treatment plan (along with optimizing vitamin D). A ketogenic diet along with intermittent fasting can be easily integrated into whatever cancer treatment plan you decide to follow. Personally, I believe it's absolutely crucial, no matter what type of cancer you're trying to address.

That said, remember that a ketogenic diet, in which you replace carbs with low to moderate amounts of protein and high amounts of beneficial fat, like avocado, coconut oil, butter, olive oil and macadamia nuts is recommended for everyone, whether you have cancer or not. It's a diet that will help optimize your weight and health overall, as eating this way will help you convert from carb burning mode, to fat burning.

Well, there you go.  Only time will tell but it seems to me it's typically easier to avoid problems than to try and fix them...I think I'll keep it up.

Finally!

After two weeks of suffering from some sort of upper respiratory infection, I'm back to good health and I went running again for the first time in two weeks. Any other sickness and I would have been back at it sooner but running and breathing kind of go hand in hand so I had to wait until I was fully healed before attempting it.

It felt so good!

When I stopped, I was just starting the 8th week of The 13-Week Walk-Run Program. The intervals had gotten to 10 minute runs with one minute walks and they were kicking my butt! I'm not sure if I was getting sick already and these did me in or if these wore me down and I got sick but it was a bad combo. During week 7 I was getting very light-headed, extremely tired and run down and even feeling nauseous.

Deciding where to pick up after such a long break was kind of challenging. I wasn't sure how much progress would be lost and I was nervous of over doing it to soon. I ended up starting back on week 4. This was the last recovery week before I stopped and since the 7th week was so rough on me I figured it couldn't hurt to go back and build back up to it again.

As I've said before, consistancy is the key. And, as you can see, I'm starting over.......again. Even though I've had setbacks; my scale dying, getting sick, whatever other excuses I can think of; I keep at it. While I'm not seeing any weight loss results so far and my clothes are still tight, there is one thing I am doing (or not doing as the case may be)....I'm not gaining any weight. That counts for something!

Try the Calorie Counter at MyFoodDiary.com

I track all of my calories using the Calorie Counter at MyFoodDiary.com. It provides a great deal of detailed information regarding the food that you eat breaking it all down to what percentages of your daily intake are fats, carbs, and protein; giving you a breakout of nutrients as well as a summary of what you ate that was good and what was bad.

There are two recurring items of concern for me, sodium and trans fats.

According to WikiPedia:

Unlike other dietary fats, trans fats are not essential, and they do not promote good health. The consumption of trans fats increases the risk of coronary heart disease by raising levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol and lowering levels of "good" HDL cholesterol. Health authorities worldwide recommend that consumption of trans fat be reduced to trace amounts. Trans fats from partially hydrogenated oils are more harmful than naturally occurring oils.

Because of these health risks, the experts at MyFoodDiary.com recommend eating absolutely zero trans fats. This can be a difficult task as trans fats are commonly found in items such as, commercial baked goods (cakes, cookies, doughnuts, biscuits, etc), fried Foods (French fries, fish sticks, fried chicken, etc.), margarine and vegetable shortenings, and chips and crackers. The main reason manufacturers use these unsaturated fats is to increase product shelf life and improve the texture of some items. Those sound like poor reasons to subject your customers to health risks to me!

As with most dangers, awareness and avoidance are key in keeping yourself safe. Paying attention to food labels, particularly looking for items with zero trans fatty acids or hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils is your best bet. Increasing your intake of fresh foods such as fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, grains and low-fat dairy items are a good start toward reducing your exposure to trans fats. Cooking for yourself using butter and other oils high in unsaturated fats is much healthier than eating highly processed although usually more convenient and tasty foods found in restaurants and drive-through locations.

Try the Calorie Counter at MyFoodDiary.com

A question that has been on my mind for years is this: Why is it that being healthy seems to be so hard for humans to obtain? I mean seriously, we're humans, shouldn't doing what's best for a human come naturally? Don't wolves instinctively know how to hunt, what to hunt and they eat what they need when they need it? Don't rabbits nibble on the right plants to fill their bellies but not on the ones that will kill them? Why is it that humans have lost this ability, or really, did we ever have it?

Nothing seems to be easy or instinctual for us anymore. I say that, assuming that at some point in human history it was...I don't know that. Since I've been alive, eating right, exercising properly and doing what's best for us seems to be a lot of work as well as a lost art. Or maybe, I'm overgeneralizing. Maybe it's just Americans. That could be.

Technology, which seems to have improved every other aspect of our lives; safer cars, better sports equipment; seems to have backfired on us in the food area. While we were working on ways to make food last longer, we started adding this ingredient and that ingredient...the next thing you know we've got isles and isles of different cookie options and umpteen different varieties of preservative laden food items that taste good and provides basic nutrition but nothing really healthy or lasting.

To be perfectly honest, I don't have the answers to these questions, I wish I did. So what I am really doing here is opening this up for your ideas and comments. I'd love to hear them.

Try the Calorie Counter at MyFoodDiary.com

My recent travels have left me ill. More than 12 hours on a plane breathing recycled air and several hours on the public bus system have taken their toll. My head is alternately clogged and draining, my throat is so sore the only thing I want to swallow is cold water, and I am; tons of it. Nothing sounds good to eat.

This situation reminded me of a blog entry I read by Dead Rooster called I Lost 5 Pounds on the Near-Death Flu Diet!. I'm not nearly in that situation but I know someone who was recently after visiting a Micronesian island and drinking the water there.

I'll post again when I am feeling better. I've got a weigh in and a weekly report coming up in a couple of days. The book I ordered on running came in and I'm inspired to get started, as soon as I feel better.


Try the Calorie Counter at MyFoodDiary.com

There are four common body types for women, I'm a pear. I gain weight in my hips and thighs first and that's the last place I lose it.

The descriptions (according to Wikipedia) are:

Apple (triangle downward)
Apple shaped women have broader shoulders and bust, and narrower hips. Apple shaped women have (much) higher androgen levels compared to women with other body types. Because of this high androgen level, the skeleton develops in a masculine pattern. Fat is mainly distributed in the chest, face and abdomen.

Banana or straight (rectangular)
The waist measurement is less than 9 inches smaller than the hips or bust measurement. The body has a relatively high androgen level compared to the estrogen level, and this causes the skeleton to develop in a more masculine pattern and body fat to be distributed predominantly in the abdomen, buttocks, chest and face.

Pear or spoon or bell (triangle upward)
The hip measurement is greater than the bust measurement. The distribution of fat varies, with fat tending to deposit first in the buttocks, hips and thighs. As body fat percentage increases, an increasing proportion of body fat is distributed around the waist and upper abdomen.

Hourglass shape (triangles opposing, facing in)
The hip and bust are almost of equal size with a narrow waist. Body fat distribution tends to be around both the upper body and lower body. This body type enlarges the arms, chest, hips and rear before other parts, including waist and upper abdomen. Because of the preference shown to physical symmetry, many celebrities falsely claim hourglass measurements but actually rate closer to a straight figure or apple.

According to an article by AOL Health, a study, conducted by University of Utah anthropologist Elizabeth Cashdan, found that women with a higher waist-to-hip ratio are stronger, more competitive,and better equipped to deal with stress and overall healthier than those with a smaller waist.

Further studies by The Institute of Preventive Medicine in Copenhagen (IPM) found that women with a hip measurement of 40 inches (a size 8 or 10) or more may live longer than apple-shaped women. Because pear-shaped women carry most of their fat on the hips they are less likely to gain dangerous visceral fat in their abdomens. Plus, subcutaneous fat located under the skin and stored on the hips is relatively harmless and may also result in an 86 percent reduced risk of coronary heart disease and 46 percent reduced risk of developing cardiovascular disease, according to IPM.

It's not all good though. Pear shaped women are more likely to experience more severe symptoms of menopause and develop osteoporosis because subcutaneous fat produces a less potent form of estrogen. I'm not so excited about that news at all.

You can find out more about the health benefits or risks of your body shape from the book The Body Shape Solution to Weight Loss and Wellness
by Marie Savard.


Try the Calorie Counter at MyFoodDiary.com

Have you ever noticed how cheap calories are?

At the drive thru a 770 calorie Whopper at Burger King is only $2.39 (in my area), for something like another $2.25 I can add fries and a drink for another 550 calories. That's $4.64 for 1320 calories! What a deal.

If you go to the grocery store, the high calorie, ready to eat or quick fix items are always the cheapest. Box of mac-n-cheese...$.99, bag of chips...$.99. Quick easy, mindless.

On the other hand, buying fresh meat and vegetables and cooking at home takes a lot more time and typically will run you more money. For one it's perishable so if you don't eat it right away, it's completely wasted. If you take a look at this article at My Money Blog you can see that as you spend more money on the 200 calorie example used, the food gets healthier and fresher.

To quote the article:

We Are Getting Fat
You can really see the differences in prices as you go down the tables. The cheapest calories are from very basic items like flour, sugar, and oil. The next items are primarily processed snack foods - potato chips, candy, cheetos, and crackers. The most expensive calories include all the fresh fruits and vegetables.

How does this affect us? An estimated 30% of adults over the age of 20 are obese, and that number is rising. On top of that, the poor tend to be more overweight than the rich. Is this because we like to buy the cheaper (and more calorie-dense) food, with the poor even more so than the rich? I certainly ate my share of $2.99 Value Meals in high school because I could afford it. If you’re hungry and broke, you just want something that’s cheap and filling. Donuts and chips sound much better than white bread.

Maybe the less affluent are not as well educated about nutrition. On one hand, I can’t see how people can confuse a Burger King Stacker for health food. On the other, I think if there was a huge calorie label painted in food coloring on every single thing we ate, including eating out, it would definitely change my behavior.

I don't know if it's possible to reduce this trend or not but the wiser we are with our food and money choices, the healthier we will be overall.



Try the Calorie Counter at MyFoodDiary.com

I find that the number one thing I slack off on when traveling is my water intake. In an unfamiliar environment or extended time trapped in a vehicle make drinking water less of a priority because I may find myself a long way from a bathroom when I need it. It's kind of a lame issue but I find that it happens repeatedly.

Typically I carry Nalgene bottle with me everywhere I go; work, meetings, the gym, around the house, everywhere. I like it because it's portable, convenient and I can see exactly how much water I'm actually drinking because of the measurement scale on the side. I shoot to drink two per day which equals the recommended 8 8oz glasses guideline. There is a lot of controversy over that amount but it's more than I take in when I'm not trying so it's a good goal number for me.

Water affects how much you weigh. If you chug down a big container of water and hop on the scale, you will weigh more until your body processes it and eliminates it. If you are dehydrated, you are going to weigh less than when your body is adequately hydrated. One way to know that your weight fluctuation isn't because of water retention or dehydration is to keep your intake consistent.

I'm happy to be home again, back in routine with access to my filtered water and where I know exactly where the bathrooms are.

Does anyone out there have any tips to offer on keeping hydrated while traveling...or do you just go with it and get back to you routine as quickly as you can?

Awhile back I was complaining because my knee hurt. It hurt so bad I pretty much stayed off of it for a whole week. It was weird, most of the time it was fine but then other times it was throbbing, aching and every so often a very sharp pain would shoot through it bringing tears to my eyes. I made an appointment with my Doctor but the soonest I could get in to see him was December 13th. This was in late October.

Since it hurt so bad and I couldn't wait, I started looking around on the internet. I really didn't find anything helpful. Nothing that seemed to fit what was going on with my knee exactly....some of it was close. Mostly the advice was to stay off of it, put ice on it etc. etc.

Since the symptoms didn't match anything I was reading, I really made a focused effort to fully experience what was going on as I had these brief attacks of pain. I have a very thorough description to give my doctor when I finally get there but guess what? It quit hurting. Guess when it quit? When I started the Stronglifts 5x5 program. Hmmmm. It seems starting a strength training program would be the last thing you would want to do when your knee hurts but I guess not.

When the pain was at it's peak was when I was sitting around whining about it and "resting" it. That was not doing me any good. I don't know if ice would have helped. I didn't have any swelling. I had the feeling that the reason my knee was hurting was because it wasn't strong enough. I had started running (if you can call 10 minutes on the treadmill running) when I first noticed the pain. It still doesn't explain why it was so sporadic; I'll let my doctor figure that out but it doesn't hurt anymore and that's all I was really concerned about.

I'll give an update after I finally make it to the doctor. I'm interested to see what he has to say.