Not Dodge Ball Again!

Janet and I are working on a series of blog posts dealing with childhood obesity and P.E classes in public schools.  Being that we're both teachers, we are very passionate about the welfare of children.  

We would like your help.  Please share with us your experiences from gym class.  Did you enjoy P.E or was it an hour a day you dreaded and wanted to hide from?  Feel free to leave your stories here or email them to me here.

Band Geeks Unite!

The Band Geeks, Aaron and Janet Morgenstern, are pledging to step away from their keyboards, horns, and mallets and focus on their health, with the hope of balancing Geekdom with their repressed inner Jocks.

 All are welcome, even Orc Dorks, Choir Goobs, and all others whose stereotypes include a decided lack of social skills and a fondness for fundraiser candy.

Life is not a race, it’s a journey, and for many of us, getting healthier shouldn’t be a competition.

Musicians know how to do things together.

If a foot race was run like an ensemble, we would all run across the finish line at the exact same time with our feet pounding at an identical tempo (well maybe one or two people would rush and end a bit early).

Musicians know how to build each other up.

Many band geeks rush into the arms of the music department because we feel accepted and valued, and to give us a creative outlet that we cannot find elsewhere.

The Band Geeks: Aaron and Janet, strive to create an environment in which our students feel safe to try something new, despite the risk of failure.  We would like to create that same supportive and fun culture on this blog for whomever would like to live a life long and healthy enough to gripe about one’s grandkids’ music.

Talk to us.  Tell us your stories, and join Band Geeks everywhere as we run, arm in arm, across the finish line together.

And then there was RUN!!

As I think I've said before, I'm a music teacher.  This weekend I'm in Missoula at a music convention.  This is actually one of my favorite events each year because I get to see a bunch of my band director buddies from other towns.  However it't been rough on my diet and workouts.  UGH!!

I ate horribly today.  And I felt gross because of it.  I guess I should be happy that eating badly has that effect on me now.

One of my students who's participating in our All-State Music Festival is also a cross-country runner.  The state meet is Saturday right after the music festival is over.

Since she needed to get some running in, and our hotel had a few treadmills I thought it'd be fun to join her running.

Now do realize that I've been working out regularly since June, so I'm in much better shape then I use to be.  But I've been doing Power 90, not running.  So I wasn't quite sure how that would translate.

Turns out it translates well.  I was able to run 3 miles easily.  I never lost control of my breath and I actually felt like I could have kept going.

This is exciting news to me since I've had this thought in my head for awhile now that I'd really like to be able to run races someday.  Well a 5k is in the cards now!  I think I just found a new life goal.  I would really like to be able to run a marathon someday.  In fact, I will run one someday.  Yeah for music festivals and treadmills!

New Fitblogger!

Check out this new site!

It's a place where people interested in fitness blogging can share information.

Fitblogger

Enjoy

Aaron

The Next Goal!

Since I actively started trying to lose weight in June, I have lost 30 pounds.  I'm now at 200 even.  I haven't been this weight since High School!  I'm finding that it's really easy to not make time for regular workouts during the school year.  I've been trying to do around 3 a week.  Some weeks that happens, sometime not.

I've been reading a lot of runner blogs lately and have been feeling inspired to start running.  I really don't know why.  My step-sister ran a half-marathon this summer and did really well.  For some reason I really want to run a race with her some day.  I think it could be fun, especially if I could get my step-brother and my oldest sister who were both cross-country runners in high school to do it with me.

The only problem I have is finding time to run.  Fitting in workouts isn't so bad, but finding time to run an hour or longer is going to be difficult.  Though I'm determined to eventually find a way to do it. It might have to wait until next summer, but I really want to be able to run a race some day.

On a completely different subject.  People who haven't seen me in a long time are noticing that I've lost weight.  It's a nice feeling to be noticed for making a positive change in your life.

The Good, Bad and the Ugly on my diet!

The Good

The Bad

The Ugly

I have completed one round of Power 90.  I  enjoyed the process of it a great deal.  I was even able to lose 27 pounds.  I intend to continue doing Power 90 through the school year and then start P90X at the end of next May.  The one thing that I'm still really struggling with is eating well.  I could sit here and make excuses for why I haven't quite accomplished breaking my bad eating habits yet, but I'm not going to.  It's a daily struggle and I think I'm slowly getting better at making food descions.  Mostly.

About a week ago my wife and I started using Shakeology as a substitute for lunch at our jobs.   We love it.  It tastes great and its really good for you. We both love dark chocolate and Shakeology does a great job satisfying that craving for us as well. We did the math and figured out that it's actually cheaper for us to use Shakeology than to eat school lunch everyday.  Our school lunch program is very good as far as school lunches go, however, I still don't believe it's designed to really meet good nutritional needs.  I've been pleasantly surprised by how good I've felt the last week simply by changing what I eat for lunch.  Then today happened.

Today I decided to eat lunch at school instead of taking the 45 seconds this morning it takes me to mix a shake.  School lunch today was pizza.  I love pizza.  In fact pizza might possibly be my favorite food.  In high school I ate pizza everyday at school.  I worked at a pizza joint in the evenings and ate pizza most nights as well.  In college I memorized Domino's phone number, I think I still know it.  Even after all of that I still enjoy pizza.  A LOT.  Which is why I didn't make my own lunch today.

By 2:00 I regretted my decision. While lunch was really good, I didn't particularly great just an hour and a half later.  I wasn't really sick, but I noticed the energy I had all last week wasn't there.  Also my stomach while not really upset just didn't quite feel right. Then during my prep period at school a stumbled across this article written by David Zinczenko.   Talk about guilt and bad timing.  Now I realize some of this could be psychosomatic, but I really think after having eaten healthy lunches for a week my body was yelling at me.  I realized the pizza wasn't worth how I felt the rest of the day.

This morning I took my son to the doctor for his 24 month well check up.  He did great.  While waiting for the doctor to see us I read over and over a poster he has hanging in his examination room.  It says, "People who don't make time for diet and exercise now will have to make time for sickness and disease later."  Talk about the world conspiring against you especially since I read that before lunch.

I'm really starting to make exercising a priority, now I need to make eating healthy all the time a priority as well.

Can someone please tell me about a really healthy pizza?  I don't think I can give that one up just yet.

Band Geek Recipe

Hi.  My name's Janet, and I'm a carnivore, and I despise fish.  Fish is pushed in most diet plans for very good reasons.  It's high in protein and good fats.  It's low in bad fats.  Whoopee for fish.

When my dad was in college, he got rip-roarin' drunk, ate an enormous seafood dinner, then promptly decorated the floor.  As a result, fish was never allowed at our house unless he wasn't home, which was almost never.  Not that you can get fresh seafood in Wibaux, MT....  At any rate, my reaction to most kinds of fish is only slightly less violent than Dad's.  I had super fresh halibut in Alaska, and fell in love.  That's about it.  I was a good girl and tried my husband's fish creations, but he hadn't quite figured out how to tell if it was done.  Guess which piece I got.  Ewww.

There's a lot of debate about what place beef has in a healthy diet, which I will rant about in an upcoming post.  One of the best, healthiest meats I have access to is deer.  Personally, I would rather gnaw on a bloody bone than eat deer steak, but I love deer sausage.  Sure, there's a little pork added to make it stick together, but it's still low in bad fats.  I can't give you specific numbers because it's made with game sausage, but I can tell you that it's high in protein, fiber, and iron.  

My husband and I have developed this recipe after years of experimentation.  We have also noticed that we lost weight when we have it regularly for lunch.  The tomatoes kill the flavors in the cabbage that I find mildly unpleasant, and it reheats for lunches wonderfully. 

The downside to this recipe is that it's geared toward a very specific sausage.  We have our game processed at Shafer's in Billings.  The Smoked German Brats are very strong and salty, and making them into soup diffuses the salt and spices into the vegetables.  It's heavenly, and even folks who don't like game love this soup.  The sausages are cooked, so if you want to try it with another brand of sausage, shoot for pre-cooked and strongly flavored.

Schafer's Sausage Soup

2 packages Schafer's Smoked German Bratwurst

Lots of water-sorry, I never measure
1 tbs shallot pepper

2 cans of stewed tomatoes, undrained
2 packages frozen spinach

1 head of cabbage, sliced.

Slice the sausage into 1/4" rounds.  Place in the crockpot and fill approximately halfway up.  Don't forget to give a few pieces to the toddler jumping up and down on your leg.  Add the tomatoes and the shallot pepper.  Set the crockpot on low and let it stew for a few hours.  

When the water has turned a nice golden brown color, or about a half an hour before you would like to serve, add the spinach and cabbage.  Let the toddler sneak a few pieces of meat.  He really likes meat.  Serve once the stew is again hot and the cabbage is tender.