TAKE ME AWAY USA- A food sensation

( photo credits _ Carlos Porto)

I don’t normally socially comment on my bog site but my recent time away in America has compelled me to do so. So bear with me and read my mundane travel blog ☺

We started off on the 7th of July with a flight from Perth Western Australia to Sydney (4hrs). We took off 20 min late from Perth and then on arrival at Sydney, bad weather forced us to be held over the city for 30 -40 min. We were already late for our international fight!

We raced without knowledge of where to go from domestic to international terminal via underground train triumphant that we had made it to the United Airlines check in at last, only to be told we were 3 mins late for boarding. We would not be allowed on the plane for our San Francisco destination. This meant a 24hr delay in Sydney. We had to find already checked through luggage, o/night accommodation, phone San Fran hotels, change organised tour dates for Nappa etc etc.

Not a great start to the long awaited holiday!

A few good wines, a reasonable sleep and 24hrs later, we were happily on board our United flight with pretty good seats + leg room, our sights set firmly on San Fran 15hrs away. We were blessed with great travelling companions next to us; one was from the town of Saratoga where we were to spend some of our time so we gained some local information!

5 movies, 2 indigestible meals and 15 hrs of thoughts about how much water we were flying over later, we arrived at SAN FRANSISCO.

We breezed through baggage claim, customs + immigration, walked outside and grabbed a cab immediately. Our first destination hotel Marriott Union Square was only 30min away.

Memories of the main streets of San Fran came flooding back as we were expertly driven (that means holding on for grim death in the back of the cab), though Market, Grant, Sutter + Powell Street.
Our Union Square hotel was in a prime location. Nearby it was easy to hop aboard a cable car or enjoy Union Square people watching, shopping, and is also near popular Nob Hill, Chinatown and minutes from Fisherman’s Warf.
We spent a day in the Nappa Valley tasting great wines and champagne, took the ferry over to Sausalito, revisited Fisherman’s Warf, shopped and generally had a ball there.

Oh, did I mention the shopping (only the third time now). I only succumbed to 6 new pairs of trainers! That should keep me going for at least 2 years or until I retire!

After 4 days in San Fran we took a short fight to Seattle where my real taste sensation began. Actually from here on in until we arrived home, food had never tasted so good.
Meals at the fabulous Hotel 1000 just short walks from the Seattle Warf were outstanding.
The Pike Markets had a full selection of fresh produce both from the earth and the ocean. Punnets of any kind of summer berry for ridiculously cheap prices (these were picked fresh that morning by the way) were being sold for only $2.00US. Fruit was in abundance and soooo cheap. It was good to be able to eat bananas again cheaply. The seafood to die for. The shrimp I saw were bigger than our Aussie King Prawns and again a steal by comparison prices. We made the most of purchasing here.
The next week and a half our time was shared between countryside Seattle and, countryside California. The food taste sensation remained the same…Excellent!

Now finally to my main point. The flavour of the food I tasted, the quality and freshness were unsurpassed. Berries picked that day, apricots and nectarines as large as apples ( aussie sized apples I mean), were delicious. The Washington state apples were also awesome and enormously big. I ate as much Salmon + Dungeness crab as I could. Food had a new flavour and I marvelled at the affect it had on me.

I ate very well and healthily for our entire trip. Not that I don’t normally, but this felt so very different.

Were the new sights and sensations around seducing me? No…I don’t think so. This food was truly amazing, including the food we had served in many restaurants in Seattle and California.

I analysed the differences and upon returning home tried some of the same types of dishes here only to be disappointed. I was back to no flavour, poor presentation and most of all lack of quality service at most restaurants back in Oz.

My first trip back to the supermarket for convenience shopping also proved a disappointment. How much of our food particularly fresh produce is stored for months before it is put out to buy? How is it maintained by the store once placed out for purchase? How often have you bought strawberries for instance only to find the bottom fruit already white and mouldy?
We pay top dollar for our produce only to find quite often it s second rate and we put up with it. The purchase price in America was ridiculously low compared with 100% more quality.

It is in the hands of each and every one of us to shout out about bad service, bad food and supply, after all our wage barely competes with our increased prices at shopping each and every week.
Meanwhile, find alternatives to your regular supplier. Try markets and co-ops, or farmers markets, (they seem to be springing up everywhere, even your local school).

For the next few months I will hold onto the memory of what real food should taste like. I have the choice to make a real effort to find better quality local supplies, be resigned to what we have to put up for convenience sake at the supermarket, or decide to go back and live in the USA!

Marg Anderson

GYMSTICK WORKOUTS

GYMSTICK is a leading international fitness company from Finland and is introducing new and innovative fitness concepts all over the world. Gymsticks fitness collections consist of simple effective tools that anyone can use anywhere, anytime.Gymstick enables you to enjoy a healthy active lifestyle all year round with products suitable for indoor, outdoor and in the water.The fitness range will motivate you to improve your physical condition, sport performance, rehabilitation, weight management and overall wellbeing.

Gymstick Concept and Benefits
Stabilization:
There are 640 skeletal muscles in the human body. The larger prime movers and most familiar groups are the Pects, Lats, Delts, Biceps, Triceps, Traps, Quads, Gluts, Hamstrings, Gastroc's and a few more are the so called major muscles. There is also a lot of smaller muscles which are there for support and preparation for exquisite movement in the body. The ability to sequence motor activity requires a progression of muscular involvement from the very deepest muscles proximally to the surface and most distant muscles distally. The smaller stabilisers are "the King" in the human body. When they are working properly, the entire system will work well. If the smaller and more strategic muscles are slow to react, weak or communicating poorly, the process of degeneration, or sudden injury is imminent. With the help of Gymstick both the major and the minor muscles of the body will be trained and the improved muscular balance will lead to a better muscle control.

Muscular endurance and strength:
Developing strength is critical in the protection of the bones, ligaments, and the organs of the body. Strength is important to overcome the earth's gravity so we can successfully move about. The body maintains a primary and secondary restraint system. The primary restraint system is the muscular system. It's job is to protect the secondary restraint system which is the connective tissue or ligaments that provide stability to the bony system. Rehab training must strengthen and protect the primary system of muscles to avoid risking injury to the secondary system. Gymstick provides resistance training for both Type I and Type II fibres in the muscle, also known as slow twitch (Type I) and fast twitch (Type II).

Cardiovascular fitness endurance:
The ability for a muscle or group to perform accurately over a sustained period of time is critical. Fatigue means breakdown of communication, loss of control, poor response and poor stability. Gymstick works to enhance the muscles to perform more accurately over a longer period of time resulting in better posture and performance.

Balance & flexibility & coordination:
Balance is so important because it is the essence of good strength, endurance and power combined. When you have good balance or control of the body, you also have coordination of movement. The ability of a muscle or group to balance the shortening and lengthening contractions of the body with co-contraction of the joints at just the right time contributes to wellbeing and stability. An elderly person trying to raise him/herself from a chair is more likely to fall due to lack of balance and loss of coordinated movements than due to weakness. The more we can provide instability in training to expand the "inner zone of control", the more we move the outer zone "loss of control" away from us. Gymstick challenges the body to make very rapid and accurate movements to improve the control and functionality of our body.

Power
The training of the muscular system for strength alone is not sufficient. Strength should always be a part of rehabilitation but on its' own it will fall short of the goal. Power is the measure of force and the distance of those forces over time. Speed is the key element when the subject of power is introduced. Gymstick trains the body to react rapidly to external stimuli and communicate accurately and quickly within the neuro-muscular system.

Anthrometry – Fat loss:
Fat loss is one of the most important issues for those who want to lose weight. Gymstick muscle training exercises are one of the most efficient ways to get rid of body fat. Working on the major muscle groups and effecting the total body fitness makes the fat loss evident during the exercises. The long lasting series of movements also contribute the fat loss. A loss of 700 calories has been measured after a one-hour Gymstick workout!

BALLAST BALL WORKOUTS

The Ballast Ball is similar to a swiss ball or fit ball with a few differences. It has dynamic weight inside which creates challenge to the abs and back allowing for more functional core training.

The weight also makes the ball more stable on the ground which is excellent for exercises where you want the ball in place for example in standing to seated exercises such as the squat to ab curl.

The shifting weight inside the ball allows for more challenging exercises. The shifting weight forces you to use your core and stabilizer muscles to keep the body static as the weight pulls you in the opposite direction.

Overall, the Ballast Ball is a great tool offering a unique way to work the core. The Ballast Ball gives workout variety with the ability to target the entire body including the hips, glutes, thighs, abs, back and arms!

TRX SUSPENSION TRAINING

Benefits of Suspension Workouts _ Personal Training Sessions are NOW AVAILABLE with TRX

The TRX allows your body to train utilizing your own weight while your body moves through natural patterns of motion. The TRX provides the ideal mix of support and mobility enabling you to to train strength, endurance, coordination, flexibility, and core stability all at once across a wide range of resistance.

With the TRX, functional training principles can be integrated into the program. It can be used to achieve / enhance sport specific actions for such sports as golf,tennis, football and swimming.

Using the TRX will provide you with improved strength, endurance, coordination, flexibility and core stability which specifically in turn, will increase caloric demand whilst training!

One of the best qualities of Suspension Training is the ability to adapt and apply the training principles to all fitness levels, beginners to the advanced athlete.

The TRX has amazing versatility, provides a fun element for clients and provides an
opportunity to train outdoors for variety

When you use TRX it's all core all the time!

TO MOVE WITH MINDFUL FLUIDITY.
Flow - Yoga is a safe effective user friendly class for all ages and fitness levels. Flow – Yoga is based on ’Hatha Yoga’ principles and has been developed and adapted by 2 leading American physiotherapists / fitness educators
De De Daniels and Denise Klatte who have taken this to the world by educating instructors at international forums.
With the objective of harmonizing mind, body and spirit, Flow - Yoga allows for the connection of thought, breath and posture. By creating gentle movement patterns and poses, energy is expended on a physical level, encouraging a calm mental state and decreased stress levels.
Flow – Yoga will help you develop balance, inner strength, improve posture and flexibility all with the benefit of increased well being!
Marg is a qualified Intermediate Flow-Yoga Instructor and trained with De De and Denise in Queensland Australia.
Flow - Yoga can be incorporated into any one on one personal training session or you can attend a class with Marg at -

NEXT GENERATION SOUTH Bibra Lake 8.30 am every Friday
THE MEETING PLACE SOUTH FREMANTLE - 7 week course commencing throughout 2012 (see recent post)

Move more and eat better in 2011 using these six simple strategies

Hi to everyone and welcome back to a new year of training, better health and wellness. We are already half way through January…how time flies!
We always start our year with positive and good intentions; I personally think this year will be a great one! If you have the same resolve and have already kept your positivism flowing that is great. You may however have already wanned from your New Year resolves? Whatever the case, I have included some healthy tips to help restart the fire or help to keep you on track

Healthy weight is necessary to maintain good health. It is easy to make a New Year resolution regarding losing weight.
However, it is not easy to implement the resolution if you are not realistic about your goals and plans.
Remember it does not make sense to wake on January 1st and say "I will start the day with an hour of exercise, have only fruit salad for breakfast, parboiled vegetables for lunch, an apple and a cup of sugarless tea in the evening and rice cakes for dinner."
1. Mix it up. The big trend in fitness isn't one thing, it's everything. Avoid drudgery, avoid stressing the same muscles and work your entire body by doing a variety of workouts.
"Incorporating several different forms of exercise in a training program can be an excellent way to develop the various components of fitness," according to the American Council on Exercise. If your goal is to lose weight, varying your exercise regimen - walking one day, lifting weights the next, taking a Zumba class after that - keeps your muscles from becoming too efficient at any one exercise and thus burning fewer calories.

2. Find what works. If you don't enjoy it, you won't do it. Think, personal trainers advise, about what you like to do, or what you liked to do in the past. Did you love riding your bike as a kid? A preponderance of fun-to-ride bikes - from the aptly named "comfort" bikes to speedier and more aggressive urban bikes - has flooded the market, and with miles of cycle paths nearby, it's easy for the grown-up you to rekindle your childhood love.
Or maybe you get so caught up in the joy of dance you don't realize you've had a good workout until the following morning. Dance exercise with a Latin zing, is a popular dance options. (Check your instructor’s qualifications)

3. Eat smart, eat simple. It's a paradox, but the more we learn about food, the poorer we seem to eat. In "Food Rules: An Eater's Manual," good-eating advocate and author Michael Pollan writes, "for all the scientific and pseudoscientific food baggage we've taken on in recent years, we still don't know what we should be eating." Pollan, whose "In Defence of Food" and "The Omnivore's Dilemma" were both best-sellers, doesn't claim to have all the answers, but his "Food Rules" offers 64 succinct suggestions for common-sense eating. They range from "Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food" to "Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle" (fresh food generally lines the walls, processed foods are in the aisles). Some suggestions are only a sentence; none takes up more than a page.

4. Try the unthinkable. Running, for instance. Few exercises elicit a more visceral negative reaction than running. Yet an increasing number of people who find their metabolism slowing as they pass 40 are turning to running as a way to keep the pounds off. Consider: A 170-pound person who walks three miles in an hour will burn 337 calories; that same person will burn more than twice that many calories (775) running six miles in an hour.
One reason running doesn't seem as arduous anymore: an explosion of walk-to-run programs. A walk-to-run 5K program takes nonrunners and, over the course of 12 weeks, converts their walks into runs to the point that they can run an entire 5K (3.1 miles).

5. It's a lifestyle, not a quick fix. There's a reason programs such as Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and TOPS have been around so long while the all-grapefruits-all-the-time diet fads quickly fade. Fad diets - promising fast results based on a quick fix - may work in the short term, but once you've dropped that 20 pounds, you're back to your old, bad habits. Programs that focus on changing behaviour have a better chance of helping you lose weight and keep it off. According to WebMD.com, a healthy weight-loss program should include a daily minimum of 1,000 to 1,200 calories for women and 1,200 to 1,600 for men; promote slow, gradual weight loss, generally 1 to 2 pounds a week; offer flexibility in food offerings; and not cut back on your recommended daily allowance of vitamins, minerals and proteins.

6. Persevere. Losing weight, moving more and adopting a healthier lifestyle aren't easy. It won't happen, in a healthy way, overnight. And studies have shown that most resolutions fall by the wayside before January is over. But if you slip up, don't throw in the towel. According to a study by the University of Scranton, 71 percent of people surveyed who achieved their resolution slipped up at least once (and usually early on, in January). So you miss a day at the gym or a seductive slice of cheesecake crushes your vow of no desserts? Look at why you slipped up - maybe five days a week at the gym is too much with your schedule, maybe one dessert a week isn't a bad thing - and adjust if you think it will help you reach your goal, and carry on.

(NEW CERTIFICATIONS)

MARG IS NOW CERTIFIED IN THE FOLLOWING....

SMART BALL INSTRUCTOR (Music N Motion) Sept 2008

BOSU INSTRUCTOR (QPEC Fitness Solutions) Feb 2009

LEMOND ACADAMY FOUDATION CYCLING INSTRUCTOR May 2009

SENIOR FIRST AID RENEWAL Dec 2009

CERT IV SPECIALIST PERSONAL TRAINER CHILDREN + ADOLESCENTS, SPECICIAL POPULATIONS, OLDER ADULTS Dec 2009

TRX SUSPENSION TRAINER CERTIFICATION Feb 2010

BODY BALANCE ADVANCED INSTRUCTOR MODULE May 2011

LIFESTYLE AND WELLNESS COACHING LEVEL 1 June 2011