I Was Lifted (and not talking levitation or any weird crap like that)

I started this week feeling like shit, full of self-doubt, it happens. I looked on Instagram (as if that’ll help any insecurities) and found that I had been tagged by Heather in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

She posted a quote from LittleBook of Thin and explained she was home with a sick baby. She could sit on the couch and eat Cheeze-its or get up and “be the boss of her body.”  My messaging was helping someone else, that’s why I do what I do, thank you Heather.

The next day, Marc and I watched the docu “if you’re not inthe obits, eat breakfast” on HBO.

It’s about kicking ass in your 90s. One woman, who is still running at 100, told her story. She used running to get over a family tragedy (tragedies actually). It got her out of bed, it got her to climb out of her grief. Jerry Seinfeld (not 90 but his mother was in the film) talks about his life principles, one of them is “bust your ass”. Whatever you’re doing, bust your ass at it. Get up, bust your ass- a theme was building

And on Wednesday, I’m telling you it was a week weird signs and signals, I ran into a friend. We have a high profile friend in common. I say that only because it’s relevant. My friend said, “do you know how I met her?” I didn’t. She explained that this high profile person wasn’t as high profile when they first met. She found out my friend’s husband was in a position to help her take her career to the next level. She didn’t mince words and asked my friend to meet her husband. I joked with my friend “wow, she just flat out asked for what she wanted, I could do more of that.” My friend, as she walked away, said “yes, you could.”  For the record, I’m a terrible “asker”.

Finally, last night Carolyn and I went to a book party at Hu for the fitness phenom Holly Rilinger. Holly’s new book “Lifted” offers fitness advice but also life advice (and my favorite nutritionist contributed to the book). Holly joked that she’s a journal keeper. When she reviewed her journals, in writing the book proposal, she constantly said “again”?  Holly said, “10 years later and the same issues?”We all have these reoccurring emotional themes we need strategies for. So whether you’re 40-something or 90-something, your words can “lift” someone else. Or, as Heather in Kentucky or the 100-year-old runner (I need to go back and learn her name) did, lift yourself.

Anybody or anything lift you up this week? Are you someone who asks for what you need?

Are you going to order LBT or Lifted right now?

The MUNCHIES: What too little sleep and marijuana have in common

If you read our manifesto, The Little Book of Thin, from cover to cover like you better have (wink wink), you know sleep is one of Lauren’s 10 Steps to Svelte. When you sleep your hunger hormones recalibrate. We’ve known that less sleep generally means more hunger but a recent study found that sleep deprivation could trigger eating similar to the “marijuana munchies”.  Uh oh. 

In the study, participants slept for different amounts of time (8.5 hours vs 4.5 hours). On the 4.5-hour nights, subjects report significantly higher scores for hunger and a stronger desire to eat. On the sleep-deprived nights, they ate about 400 more calories and almost twice as much fat when they were given access to a buffet full of cookies, chips and candy.

What does this have to do with POT?

Sleep deprivation produces higher peaks of a lipid in our bloodstream known as an endocannabinoid that seems to make eating more pleasurable – our endocannabinoid system is the same one targeted by the active ingredient in weed. “Sleep restriction boosts a signal that may increasethe hedonic aspect of food intake”… Yup, too little sleep and you’re basically stoney baloney … without the fun.

So what should you do? Aim for 7+ hours of sleep per night and turn off those screens to avoid the “MunchieZZZZ” (props to the NY Post for that pun). And for our Non-religious lent, Lauren’s committed to going to bed earlier, join us for #NRL, it’s not too late!

How much sleep do you typically get a night? Have you noticed “munchieZZZ” when you sleep suffers? Do you still  get stoney baloney?

Office Offender- meet Cookie Push

It’s hard enough to walk the healthy walk with our own “stuff”. Our sleep, work stress, family life, hormones and cravings are obstacles on any given day. But so are other people and sometimes it’s not even the people closest to you. We spend a lot of time at work and coworkers can affect your behavior. In the Little Book of Thin I talked about the candy bowl person.  There’s usually one candy bowl person per workplace but there’s another type of office offender.

A few weeks ago, I opened the door from my office to our waiting room. A client* sat on the white couch with an It’s Sugar shopping bag next to her. She noticed that I noticed and said, “It’s not for me” and stood to come into my office.  I had to ask, “So who is it for?” “It’s for someone at work, she loves Reese’s” my client said and proceeded to pull out a package of peanut butter cups the size of a shoebox (a shoebox lid). We joked a little, she told me to take a photo for Instagram (I passed not knowing it would help this post) and switched gears.

This past Wednesday, I saw this same client again. I could tell she was aggravated from the instant I saw her. Before the two of us could sit down she started spewing details from her week. After a two-second intro she said, “and there’s this evil bitch in my office who bakes” I nodded. “And she doesn’t even eat what she bakes, she actually bakes things she dislikes.” This is actually fairly common but my client wasn’t finished and I could tell there needed to be gushing before guidance. “I come to Foodtrainers, another guy has his nutritionist, my boss is attempting paleo and the person next to me is gluten-fucking-free for real, like celiac. None of us want to eat this.”  For the record, gluten fucking free is a direct quote.

The candy bowl person mentioned generally doesn’t eat the candy but Candy Bowl and Cookie Push are a little bit different. The candy bowl person generally enjoys people congregating near them, they exchange Werthers or Starbursts for office Intel. I realize you may feel I’m being cynical, couldn’t it be Cookie Push has pure intentions and my trying to walk the healthy walk client is misinterpreting things?

If I’m betting…no. I do not know Cookie Push personally. However, it’s very common in eating disorders to constantly bake (for some reason it’s baking more than cooking) for others. Cookie Push likely enjoys the feeling of control in resisting the cookies while others indulge. This is very different form someone sending a popcorn tin for the holidays or putting a sweet in the break room once in a while.

What to do? You can unionize, rather than making things personal, ban together with the other office mates and thank Cookie Push for the goodies but say something to the effect of “it’s January and we’re trying to be healthy and we don’t have the resolve you have” wink, wink. Or, suggest “if you want to bring something in maybe something that’s not edible like office flowers or if it is food possibly something healthy.” Cookie Push will get the message. Or, you can do what my client did and fight flour with flour, the ginormo Reeses were for Cookie Push.

Do you agree with my assessment of Cooking Push? What would you do? Do you have a Candy Bowl or Cookie Push at work?

 *I received permission from my client to blog about this