Beginning a Healthy Weight Loss Journey

Beginning a Healthy Weight Loss Journey

by | Oct 31, 2019 | Asheville, Health, Weight loss

By Julie Werner

When we have a question, we can all appreciate how easy it is to access information on any subject just by typing or saying the magic words into our phone. Sometimes however, it’s simply a frustrating, information overload. What are the facts? What are just gimmicks? Who even wrote that online article? What we really want is to simply make healthy changes. You’re saved. In a nutshell, here’s the practical “How To,” and what I tell my clients when they want me to simplify weight loss for them in a practical way. 

Step 1 – Tracking

Use a tracker for logging in what you are eating. I like the myfitnesspal app. It will calculate the daily calories needed to lose an average of one to two pounds per week. It is not healthy to lose much more than this. Myfitnesspal will also track your intake of macronutrients. Macros are the three categories of food: protein, carbohydrates, and fat. After you’ve entered your data on age, height, weight, and activity levels, the app will provide your daily limit. Stay within this range. “Calories in/calories out” is still, and always will be, the science behind losing weight. Calories aren’t equally healthful, so fill up on veggies and lean protein choices. Also be sure to choose healthy carbs such as whole, unrefined varieties packed with nutrients, not empty unwholesome calories that spike your blood sugar and leave you craving for more soon after.   

Maybe you know tracking alone isn’t going to hold you accountable, and you desire additional support in your weight loss endeavor. Both the American Dietetics Association and the American Council on Exercise recommend Weight Watchers as a healthy and scientifically sound program. If you need additional support or something more personal, I recommend finding an experienced trainer who holds specialty certifications in weight management and fitness nutrition, or finding a licensed dietician or nutritionist. As always, please follow the recommendations of your physician.

Step 2 – Macronutrients and Your Body Type

Macronutrients are protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Each gram of protein has four calories, each gram of carbohydrate has four calories, and each gram of fat has nine calories. These three categories are represented in percentage of total daily calories consumed. What should your personal macro balance look like? This varies in each person due to many complex factors involving your body type. The tracker will make the basic macro percentage suggestions, you can increase your protein, and decrease your carbs and fat if you see you’re not losing as much as you want. The suggested percentage of calories consumed as protein, carbs, and fat per day are just the starting points. The best way to know the right percentage range for you, is to simply monitor your progress. If you lose more than two pounds per week, you’re losing lean muscle, not fat. Drastic measures damage the metabolism, causes energy loss, stress, and won’t last. Remember this is a healthy, day by day journey, not a race of starvation and deprivation. Almost every single Biggest Loser contestant has gained all the weight back and more.

Step 3 – Get Moving

If you have an activity plan in place, keep up the good work. If you aren’t getting at least 30 minutes of exercise four or five times each week, please begin to add this to your day. The calorie deficit is just the tip of the iceberg of the rewards you’ll reap from moving more. Exercise reduces stress, strengthens your body, and literally distributes fresh new cells to the bones. The mental health rewards are unreal as well because they can reduce anxiety and depression, improve general mood and hormonal balance, and aid in sleep. If you need one more reason, I’ll give you three; YOU being at a healthy weight will cut your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and stroke in HALF!

Julie Werner, an experienced ACE Fitness Professional holds Certifications in Personal Training, Fitness Nutrition, and Weight Management.  Discover her at

Instagram: @WDCPersonalTraining

Facebook: Wesley Personal Training

Board Games

Board Games

by | Oct 31, 2019 | Asheville, Body Language, Feldenkrais Method

By Lavinia Plonka

“I think we should….”

“Forget it, we don’t have the money.”

“What about….”

“There’s no budget for that.”

“We need….”

“Yeah, but our financials are so bad, the members will never go for it.”

“I’d like to propose…”

“Go ahead. The complainers will eat you alive.”

Didn’t we, why haven’t we, money, naysayers, money, no volunteers, money, money, money. No wonder we call it a non-profit!

I sit at the board meeting, squirming, checking my Facebook page, pacing the room, staring out the window, even at one point lying down on the floor, feeling like Steve McQueen as a prisoner in Papillon. Nothing helps me endure the chains of minutiae that hang on our organization. If we really wanted to torture political prisoners we could simply put them on a non-profit’s board of directors.

Many years ago, before it was a status event, I went to Burning Man. It is located on a desert playa, a specific terrain that transforms radically in the event of a rare and sudden rain. As the rain came pouring down, the soil was transformed from a hard packed gray surface to a bizarre kind of clay that attached itself to the bottom of our shoes. With every step another layer of clay attached itself, so that even if you ran, within seconds you were wearing cement platform shoes. You could no longer lift your feet and you had to stop in spite of the pouring rain to knock the clay platforms off your shoes and run again, repeating the process until you were soaked, covered in gray muck, and exhausted. The difference between this and being on the board of a non-profit is that eventually the rain did stop.

I had taken to calling the board meetings “bored” meetings. The endless questions about the lost revenue, the harried executive director constantly explaining why something ended up costing more, and the eternal discussions about policy filled me with futility. How could we possibly innovate, change, improve anything if we were trapped in an endless loop of protocol? The final straw was when a typo was found in one of the by-laws.

The By-law is up on the screen as part of a Powerpoint presentation. (When Steve Jobs went to meetings, if someone began a Powerpoint presentation, he walked out.) I’m like the mime in the box, helplessly banging on the invisible wall to escape.

“This has to be changed, the name of our organization is misspelled.”

“Sure,” I say, “Let’s do it.”

“We have to vote on it.”

“What?”

“It’s a change in the by-laws. Therefore it has to be put to a vote.”

“You’re joking.”

They ignore me. “Anyone willing to put forth a motion that we correct the spelling in By-Law 48, section 2, sub-section A?”

A hand raises from a zombified board member. “We have a motion on the floor from Cara to change the spelling in the name of our organization to reflect the actual spelling in By Law 48, Section 2, Sub-section A. Do we have a second.”

I think of Kafka. The motion passes. After all that hard work, we have lunch.

Cosmologists have posited that the universe is a living, breathing being and that all life is a microcosmic reflection of the macrocosm of the universe. Each of us contains a sun, the rhythm of the moon. On a smaller scale, our blood is like the earth’s rivers, the trees our lungs. Our relationships reflect the galactic dance. I contemplate the notion that a board of directors meeting is like a black hole – you get sucked in, and nothing escapes.

“So that went really well,” smiles the President. “We passed a motion. Let’s check in with each other shall we? How are things going for you all?”

To my shock, as we go around the table, each board member offers a self congratulatory platitude. “Well, it was a tough year, but I think we’re now on the right track.”

“I’m feeling very positive about the direction we are going in.”

There is a rumbling inside of me. My face is getting hot. If I am a reflection of the planet I’m a volcano, if I’m a microcosm of the universe, I’m about to go supernova.

I take a breath and explode. “I’m sick of us operating from fear. I can’t understand why everyone is operating from an attitude of lack. If we are all about functionality, why are we so dysfunctional? Why can’t we just try to change? So what if we make a mistake? Einstein once said, ‘Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.’”

My voice is quivering. They’re going to hate me. They’re going to tell me I’m over-reacting. A little voice whispers that they are going to kick me off the board. Which actually sounds good at the moment. But no one moves. They sit, mouths open; egos singed, smoke trailing out of their ears.

Like a comet striking the earth, I have disrupted the status quo. Emotional debris is everywhere, smoldering ruins of a meeting. A collective breath and the President speaks. “I’m really glad you said that. Let’s take a risk.” 

Another board member speaks up. “Thank you. I feel the same way, I was just afraid to say it.” The sun begins to shine on our group. 

I’m a volcano. A comet. A storm. My husband calls me Kali, the Hindu Goddess associated with both destruction and empowerment (although he seems to forget the goddess part.) It’s not an easy job, but somebody’s got to do it. I think this is why I wasn’t elected prom queen.

Body language expert, Lavinia Plonka has taught The Feldenkrais Method for over 25 years. 

For more information, visit her at laviniaplonka.com

Jean Jacket Joy

Jean Jacket Joy

by | Oct 31, 2019 | Asheville, Fashion, Style

By JeanAnn Taylor

If you are looking for a lightweight, comfortable, timeless, versatile jacket that works season after season, you’ll find everything you’re looking for in a denim jean jacket.

In 1880, ten years after Levi Strauss created jeans for gold miners and cowboys, he designed a “triple-pleated blouse” for the rough and tough men who needed a garment that would withstand their hard, rugged work. Now referred to as a “jean jacket,” the “blouse” evolved into western wear and later became trendy in pop-culture. With it’s “bad-boy” vibe in the 1950s, it was popular with motorcyclists, movie stars, and rock idols. Though it was originally a man-only garment, women have adopted the jacket as an integral piece of their wardrobe. The primary difference between a man and woman’s jacket is found in the buttons. Men’s buttons are on the right, women’s are on the left.

There has been much debate about the “double denim” look. Some fashion experts advise to  only combine light washes with dark washes; if the top is light, the bottom should be dark. Some say to keep the hues the same. Others say not to wear denim with denim at all. So, what is a fashionista to do? Wear what feels good to you! Denim with denim can work, I just think it’s flattering to break up the blues with a bright top, scarf, or bold necklace.

Jean jackets are currently available in just about every silhouette imaginable. From the original boxy design to form-fitting, from cropped to long lengths; and in colors from pastel pink to lipstick red. There are also floral and graphic prints available. Embellishments of embroidery, patches, ruffles, and flounces add to the flair of the basic jacket. While the indigo jacket works for nearly every outfit, white jackets imply a more polished, dressy look, and black gives an edgy vibe. You can continue to wear your summer frocks into autumn by slipping on a cropped jacket. Long jackets will break the chill and look best with pants. If the cotton, denim fabric isn’t enough to keep you cozy, add a scarf or lightweight sweater to wear underneath.

The jean jacket can tone down a bright color or busy print. It adds an air of casual chicness and relaxed personal style. The jean jacket’s functionality and innate coolness adds to its status as an iconic element of American fashion.

Style expert JeanAnn Taylor can be reached at [email protected]

Helping People Help Themselves

Helping People Help Themselves

by | Oct 30, 2019 | Acupuncture, Asheville, yoga

By Sandi Tomlin-Sutker

Natasha Kubis came to her healing path even before she was 11 years old. “I had struggled with sleep and digestive issues. My parents had good insight and did not want to medicate me, so they searched for healthy alternatives. Complementary medicine, including acupuncture and yoga became part
of my routine.”

She says she was not very interested in sports as a child, so yoga offered a way to get exercise and manage stress. “Yoga has always been an important part of my physical and mental well-being; a part of my spiritual practice, the way I stay sane.” She cut a deal with her early yoga teacher to exchange classes for babysitting, so she says, “I did a lot of babysitting!”

Born on a flower farm in Maui, Hawaii, Natasha grew up spending her summers on the island, and her school year in a picturesque surfer town on the Jersey Shore. “I have been on a plane since I was two years old; I love to travel and have been all over the world: Morocco, France, Spain, Scotland, Italy, and Eastern Europe, to name a few. It has always been important to me to see how other people exist, outside the American mindset.” That love of cultural diversity was part of why she was always interested in East Asian and Indian philosophy and their ancient models of health. “I hope my next big trip will be Japan!”

She chose Seattle for her college years and then moved back east for acupuncture school at the Eastern School of Acupuncture and Traditional Medicine in Montclair, New Jersey, about an hour outside New York City. “After college, I felt the desire to explore the mechanisms of acupuncture, since it was something that had helped me in my youth. My training was nearly 3,000 hours and I was able to acquire my Master’s Degree in Acupuncture in 2009.”

“I spent my twenties living in NYC and loved that lifestyle. It’s a great place to grow and evolve. I was inspired by my surroundings. NY is a cultural smorgasbord of eight million people with their languages, customs, and religions all coexisting within a rich and colorful framework.” She also found it to be a good place to start her career. After years of living in the hustle and bustle of city life, she felt a bit depleted and began looking for a more peaceful place. “Asheville was a great remedy. There is the best of everything here: a little downtown with lots of art and music, a delightful restaurant culture, a health conscious mindset, and a breathtaking landscape. In the three years I have been here I have found peace, solace, and a warm embrace by the community.” However, she kept her practice in NYC and travels there every few weeks. “I get my “big city” fix once a month and come back to the mountains to get restored and catch up with patients here.”

Why Complementary Medicine?

Natasha stresses that acupuncture is not a magic bullet that allows us to take a back seat on our road to health. “Sure, most of my patients take a long restorative nap while they are on the treatment table, but I emphasize that once you leave the office, an overall healthy lifestyle is what yields sustainable results.” There are no added medications or quick fixes; the treatments aim to rewire the body to function more optimally. “Acupuncture began around 2,500 – 5,000 years ago in China. It involves the insertion of tiny, sterile needles into acupuncture points along the body. There are over 2,000 of these points located at nerve endings, so we are essentially stimulating the nervous system. It is great for a variety of health issues, and modern science has given us a glimpse into the mechanism of acupuncture, especially when it comes to pain management.” This point is particularly important during the current opioid crisis with its high addiction and mortality rates. Acupuncture stimulates the body’s natural ability to suppress pain without the over-dependence on painkillers. “Studies have found acupuncture points at sites of high-density neuro-vascular structures. When we stimulate those areas, we are promoting secretion of naturally occurring neurotransmitters like endorphins, which help minimize pain.”

Acupuncture is called complementary medicine because it is often used in collaboration with conventional treatments. In addition to Natasha’s practice in East Asheville, she works with Dr. Vicky Scott at Asheville Gynecology and Wellness in South Asheville. “It is a great joy for me to share space with an integrative practice that offers traditional GYN care as well as holistic and lifestyle medicine for women.” Acupuncture can be a wonderful option for women’s health and can be a supportive option to traditional care.  Some areas on which Natasha focuses are fertility support, PMS, endometriosis, and menopause.

Focus on your immune system

“We have this innate ability to heal ourselves; it is called our immune system. Some of us need a bit more support. I like to think of myself as a helper, helping people help themselves.  When people come to me, I am often their last resort. They are depleted, have been dealing with pain and nothing has helped.” She asks her patients to meet her halfway. “It is a collaborative effort. I give people homework, exercises, we talk about nutrition and diet. I tell them at the beginning that this is a partnership, partnering up for their recovery. Healing takes time and effort on everyone’s part.”

I like to hold space for people to relax when they are being treated. It is important to me that patients feel heard and taken care of.” She combines acupuncture with cupping, electro-acupuncture with a TENS unit, yoga, massage, and reflexology.

“For some people, for instance with sciatic pain, I incorporate a personalized yoga protocol (a series of poses to practice) based on the patient’s therapeutic needs.” She completed her yoga teacher training in Asheville and feels some of the best teachers in the country are here. “I have a daily personal yoga practice that resets me; I would be a different person without it. It keeps me open and ready to be the best practitioner I can be.”

“In our culture, we are used to throwing a medication at something, and being really passive in our healing process. Of course medicine is important, but it is also important and empowering to take an active role in your own health and wellbeing.” Natasha’s tool kit of acupuncture, cupping, and yoga gives her patients an opportunity to be fully involved as she helps them help themselves!

You can contact Natasha Kubis, L.Ac. at www.essential-well.com 917.576.9198

Sandi Tomlin-Sutker is a freelance writer and editor. Contact her at [email protected]

Nutrition and Stress Management–for Optimal Fertility Health

Nutrition and Stress Management–for Optimal Fertility Health

by | Oct 1, 2019 | Asheville, Infertility, Nutrition

Many couples begin their course towards parenthood with enthusiasm and high expectations but for more than ten percent of those couples, the blissful voyage to parenthood is obstructed by the diagnosis no one wants to hear—“infertility.”

Infertility is diagnosed after one year of trying to conceive (or six months for women over 35) and can stem from a number of reasons including hormone imbalances, polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis, tumor or cyst growth, thyroid gland problems, eating disorders, alcohol or drug use, excess weight, and high stress.

Reproduction for the modern woman looks quite different than it did for our fore-mothers of the early 20th century who were most commonly having children in their early twenties. Today, women make up half of the workforce and have seen dramatic progress in the areas of education, economics, and leadership. These successes are obviously huge wins for women but can often delay pregnancy, making it more difficult to conceive. Although many women achieve successful pregnancies into their thirties and forties, both the number of eggs and overall egg quality decline with age, which can present a speed bump on the road to pregnancy. This fact contributes to the $5.8 billion fertility industry which includes interventions like In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), Intrauterine Insemination, and a host of various fertility drugs.  

Women who are trying to conceive should work with a fertility specialist to address any underlying medical conditions. It is also important to focus on the areas of nutrition, stress management, and a healthy lifestyle for optimal fertility health.

NUTRITION

Eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats will supply you with vitamins and minerals necessary for proper reproductive function. Here are some of the major players in reproductive health:

Vitamin D is needed to help the body create sex hormones which in turn affects ovulation and hormonal balance. Sources include eggs, fatty fish, dairy, and cod liver oil. You can also get vitamin D from sitting out in the sun for 15 to 20 minutes per day.  

Vitamin B6 may be used as a hormone regulator and has also been shown to help with luteal phase defect. Sources include tuna, bananas, turkey, liver, salmon, cod, spinach, bell peppers, turnip greens, collard greens, garlic, cauliflower, mustard greens, celery, cabbage, asparagus, broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts, and chard.

Vitamin B12 may decrease the chances of miscarriage. Some studies have found that a deficiency of B12 may increase the chances of irregular ovulation. Sources include clams, oysters, muscles, liver, fish, crab, lobster, beef, lamb, cheese, and eggs.

Folic Acid helps prevent neural tube defects as well as congenital heart defects, cleft lips, limb defects, and urinary tract anomalies in developing fetuses. Deficiency in folic acid may increase the risk of going into preterm delivery, infant low birth weight and fetal growth retardation. Food sources include liver, lentils, pinto beans, garbanzo beans, asparagus, spinach, black beans, navy beans, kidney beans, and collard greens.

Iron is also important and a deficiency can cause lack of ovulation and poor egg quality. Food sources include lentils, spinach, tofu, sesame seeds, kidney beans, pumpkin seeds, venison, garbanzo beans, navy beans, molasses, and beef.

Selenium is an antioxidant that helps to protect the egg from free radicals and chromosomal damage which is known to be a cause of miscarriages and birth defects. Food sources: liver, snapper, cod, halibut, tuna, salmon, sardines, shrimp, crimini mushrooms, and turkey.

Zinc works with more than 300 different enzymes in the body to keep things working well. Without it, your cells can not divide properly; your estrogen and progesterone levels can get out of balance and your reproductive system may not be fully functioning. Low levels of zinc have been directly linked to miscarriage in the early stages of a pregnancy, according to The Centers for Disease Control’s Assisted Reproductive Technology Report. Sources include oysters, beef, lamb, venison, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, yogurt, turkey, green peas, and shrimp. 

Essential Fatty Acids have been shown to help fertility by helping to regulate hormones in the body, increasing cervical mucus, promoting ovulation and overall improve the quality of the uterus by increasing the blood flow to the reproductive organs. Sources include flax seeds, walnuts, salmon, sardines, halibut, shrimp, snapper, scallops, and chia seeds.

Stress Reduction and Quality of Life

Navigating the emotional and physical journey of fertility can be a roller coaster ride for many couples. Stress can lead to hormonal disturbances which can disrupt normal ovulation cycles. This is why some women may stop having a menstrual cycle during particularly stressful times in their lives. How is your body supposed to get pregnant when it is in fight or flight mode?

Some stress reducing activities can include spending more time in nature and with friends, journaling, cooking, music, art and talk therapy. Exercise is another way to reduce stress and boost fertility. Ideally you want to have 45 minutes of exercise, three times a week with a mix of cardio, stretching, and strengthening such as yoga, Pilates, swimming, dancing, and hiking. Other forms of relaxation include massage, acupuncture, and meditation. Wherever you are on your path to fertility, it is important to keep basic nutrition and stress reduction techniques in mind to create an internal landscape that is best suited for conception and a healthy pregnancy.

Natasha Kubis is a licensed acupuncturist and certified yoga teacher. For more information, visit essential-well.com

Bren Photography-a Business that Fits Who She Is

Bren Photography-a Business that Fits Who She Is

by | Oct 1, 2019 | Asheville, Photography

By Sandi Tomlin-Sutker

Starting and sustaining a small business is challenging enough. Add to that process a marriage and birth of two children and it takes an amazing woman to succeed. 

As a young woman in her early twenties, Bren Dendy was deeply into active sports; white water rafting on West Virginia’s legendary Gauley River and rugged New River and trips to Colorado in the winter for skiing. To fund this exciting life, Bren tapped into her passion and skill at photography, working for rafting companies to snap and process candid photos, and even videos of customers running the rapids.

As a young woman she was exposed to photography through two grandfathers. One was a wedding photographer, the other was a strong hobby photographer. At age 14, she began to receive camera gear from one of them. “They just enabled, influenced, and inspired me. I was surrounded by their work and it was always a priority in our family life (photos or portraits to commemorate even the simplest days). When she decided to settle down in Asheville it was a natural progression to grow that passion into a business.

In 2006, with her dog and all her things in her truck she drove down to Asheville to visit friends from the boating world. During that time, she worked in the hospitality industry and at Wachovia bank. Seeing the “writing on the wall” in the news every day, she realized it was time to create work that better fit her independent streak. So, she enrolled at AB Tech community college, taking a variety of photography, business and marketing courses. “I had professors who had worked at Harvard, decided to move to Asheville and taught a couple of courses there. I really had a strong pool of people to pull from.”

 Just before the 2008 real estate crash her husband-to-be Joe bought a house, they got engaged, and began their married life. In the midst of it all, she gave birth to their first child, a son they named Quinn. She was lucky to have a professor who supported her in bringing the child to class when needed, and she worked for him as a teaching assistant. She also worked at her computer at home, sometimes nursing the baby in her lap in the middle of the night. She and Joe wanted to have their kids while fairly young so two years after Quinn, they had their daughter Charlie. 

 Luckily, Bren is a self-motivated and resourceful person, determined to succeed and finish anything she starts. They didn’t have family here at the time who could provide physical support, no solid babysitter, so it was all on them to figure it out. As she built her business Bren says, “I worked a lot at night. Since it is digital, I can process the photos when the kids are sleeping. When they were babies and I had to get up with them, I’d just stay up and work. I had very little sleep for quite some time.”

 Self-care in that situation was not really on her radar! “We are in a place in our society right now where we expect women to be strong career women and to also be very involved in raising their kids. You can’t get it totally right and taking care of yourself ends up on the bottom of the list.”

With a supportive husband she did find ways for self-care, and she was able to take workshops, join a book group, and basically take time to figure out who she was and what else she wanted in life. And in terms of growing her business she found doing wedding photography especially workable; since the events were typically on weekends, she didn’t need to find a babysitter.

With her children back in school, and a new schedule, Bren decided to end the wedding photography part of her business. Fortunately, she found that shifting out of wedding photography was a natural progression. And, she’s on track to meet or exceed her previous income from weddings with her commercial branding work for a range of clients. “I capture a complete and curated collection of images to fully represent the values, mission, and sales of a company. Here at Bren Photography we believe in listening to clients and we assist with style concepts, logistics, models, and location suggestions.” Supporting her clients to reach their visual marketing goals is primary.

 “Asheville is all about relationships and supporting each other, so finding photography jobs was initially mostly word of mouth.” She does a lot of branding photography work, for instance, for Motif Medical, which is a branch of Aeroflow Healthcare on Sweeten Creek Road. “I have done product photography, lifestyle photography, and general branding photos for them. My work is consistently on their website and that showcases me to our community.”

 Another great example of “personal, genuine connections” in her work is a Chicago company, Hadley Capital, a business that hires her to create natural images of owners and the operations for a variety of industries around the country. Achieving a natural look actually takes a lot of planning and attention to detail before going to these places, often sight unseen.

 Her natural and personable style helps clients feel comfortable about a process where many might feel vulnerable. “I love the ability to give and share with others, to create a lovely image.” After ten years in this business she now focuses on work that is a good fit for who she is. Her strong background in outdoor and adventure sports has led her to attract clients who are concerned about the environment, are caring and have a positive attitude. That concern also shows up in her new online campaign (see the link on her website) to raise money for clean water initiatives around the world by selling prints of landscapes she has taken during her travels.

 “My business needs to evolve and grow with me. I don’t feel like being in a box! And I listen to what the Universe is telling me.”

 That attitude will continue to lead Bren Dendy to a full, satisfying life of family, friends, and business relationships that truly do “fit who she is.”

[email protected]

brenphotography.net

 (828) 419-0484

UA-146562848-1