January 2006 Archives

I say we throw out New Year's resolutions in favor of a more inspired and heartfelt approach. So many New Year's resolutions are set according to what we think we "should" do. We should lose weight, we should get rid of a bad habit, or we should be better people.

There is nothing inspirational about "shoulds." In fact, shoulds require us to push, control, and will ourselves to accomplish the goal. They drain our energy, dictate our behavior, make us feel guilty and signify that we do not have choices.

A more refreshing approach is to set intentions that come from the heart; intentions that are so compelling and inspiring that they effortlessly pull us forward. How? Set your intentions in alignment with your values and your sense of being in full integrity with yourself. Your values are as personal to you as your fingerprints and they describe who you are at your core. They have the power to motivate and inspire you to higher levels. Essential to happiness is living in alignment with your values, living a life of integrity.

Many of us have sacrificed our values in favor of other things that we have been told are more important. We have careers we don't want, possessions we could care less about and relationships that are not satisfying. Sacrificing our values results in living a life that is not really ours; it belongs to our outdated beliefs or to people and situations that really don't have our best interests in mind. The result is anything but happiness and fulfillment. Conversely, when we are in full integrity with our values, and intentionally living according to what we believe is important, we experience true joy.

Activity:
Step One: Identify your top five values. There are many to choose from, and here are a few: relationships, spirituality, health, travel, creativity, mastery, security, community, personal growth and accomplishment. With an open mind and heart, begin identifying your values by asking yourself the following questions and journaling your answers:

• What must I have (do or be) in order to be happy?

• What is it in my life that if it disappeared tomorrow would create a sense of loss or emptiness?

• When I am at my best, what is going on in my life?

• When I am so involved in something that time seems to disappear, what am I doing?

As you answer these questions, continue to look deeper into yourself, listening closely to your heart for the answers. Continue journaling until you feel complete. Now, find the common threads in your writing. Use one to three words to describe each of your values. Make sure these words inspire and motivate you. You might find it worthwhile to construct a sentence that accurately defines your value. For instance, here is one of my values (Be of Service) and its definition: Be of Service is my commitment to share my genius and my heart with others so that they might know the full beauty of who they really are and step into a life that is truly extraordinary.

Step Two: Consider each of your values and what you would like to bring into your world this year. What would be very satisfying and enjoyable for you to create? Now set an intention (for each value) of what you wish to have (be or do) and write that intention in one inspirational sentence.

My intention is to _____________________________________________________.

Step Three: If you feel inspired to do so, make a list of three to 10 steps you will take toward manifesting your intention. Set a timeline of when you will begin each step. If this does not inspire you, then identify one step you can take and decide when you will do it.

I will __________________________ no later than ____________________. Once complete, decide on your next step. If you are not inspired to set an action step at all, then question whether or not you have set an intention in alignment with your values.

If you would like additional support in identifying your values and setting your intentions, please visit my Web site www.chrislucerne.com (resources section) for a FREE Values and Intentions Assessment Tool.

Creating an intentional life is not about struggle or doing what you don't want to do. In your willingness to look deep into your heart for the answers, you will find what is true for you; that which will make your life most satisfying and joyful. You deserve to have (do and be) what you truly desire. If you doubt that, then I encourage you to challenge your beliefs and doubt your doubts. I wish you the best in designing a 2006 that exceeds even your expectations!

Chris Lucerne is a professional certified coach. She specializes in two areas: Supporting clients to Build Relationships that Matter, and to Go Beyond Loss and Embrace Life. www.chrislucerne.com.

Trying to find information about running courses in San Antonio is no easy feat.

Not a lot of info on this topic seems to be available in print or on local running Web sites. I hope that this three-part series about running courses reveals the best locations in town so that this knowledge can be passed to a wide audience.

Parts one and two of this series will describe known courses, while part three will include lesser known courses that runners use around their neighborhoods. For example, in part three I'll include some courses I use for my marathon training around the SeaWorld area.

I encourage runners to write or call me about any course, whether it is their favorite neighborhood run or additional information about a known course that I might have left out.

For starters, I decided to refer to one of the few books written about local running. In 1983, Dennis Keating wrote a booklet, Running Around in San Antonio. This booklet included a list of 18 running courses in town and was meant to highlight the common areas that runners would frequent.

Since San Antonio has changed quite a bit since 1983, I'll start by reviewing and updating this list. On each course or location I'll add the run-ability of these venues. One shoe is lowest, while four shoes is highest.

1. South Texas Medical Center Track, on Babcock Road.

Measuring in at a half-mile, it is a very short course. A long-distance runner would go bananas having to do so many laps. Time probably goes by better if you have a partner to run with or if you bring along your MP3 player. At least there are plenty of people using it through-out the day. Another advantage of this course is that it is safe and lit at night.

2. UTSA area.

Perhaps back in 1983, traffic on the 1604 access road was reasonable, but I'm not crazy about running anywhere near 1604 unless it's Sunday morning. There's too much new development and traffic around the UTSA campus area now. The area outside Loop 1604 on Kyle Sealy and Sonoma Parkway has potential, but the UTSA area has become too congested.

3. McAllister Park.

Probably the best running park in town and worth the drive to get there. It is one of the few places in San Antonio that acknowledges that runners do in fact exist. There are some decent trails, paved and unpaved, within its confines. It will probably take you several trips to McAllister to discover all the interconnecting trails. You'll enjoy communing with nature while you are there, but eventually you'll probably have to venture outside the park for serious marathon training. If you've never been to McAllister Park, don't worry -- about 80 percent of the road races in San Antonio are held there. Don't forget to start at Pavilion #1, better known as the Al Becken Pavilion, named for one of the founders of the San Antonio Roadrunners.

4. Olmos Park.

Running in Olmos Park is one of the best-kept secrets in San Antonio. The town has shady streets, gently rolling hills and architecturally stunning houses. And you can't beat Contour Drive for rain forest-like scenery, though it is a bit narrow in some parts. There are ways to run multiple loops and add up some serious mileage around Olmos Park with its curvy streets and traffic circles. Keating's recommendation to access Olmos Park by parking at the Olmos Basin Park on Devine Road and running west on Dick Friedrick into the township is still valid. One drawback to Olmos Park is that the residential streets always seem to be under construction, but it is still well worth a training run there.

5. Trinity University Course.

(Hildebrand and Stadium Drive). It is another short course, about .75 miles long, but because it is a trail, it is a better place to do multiple loops. The trail also has some good ups and downs; you will probably want to jump off the trail and explore some of the flatter areas around Trinity. (Good luck trying to find any!) I would definitely add some mileage to this course by running down campus and locating their all-weather running track next to the athletic fields. Another nice feature about Trinity is that it connects up to No. 6. on the list, Brackenridge Park, via Tuleta Road.

6. Brackenridge Park.

This park is centrally located and is one of the oldest and most scenic parks in San Antonio. My research uncovered some interesting tidbits. Alcohol is not permitted on the East/South side of the San Antonio River on the Witte/Joske Pavilion side, while alcohol is permitted on the Northern/Western side of the park at the Zoo/Koehler pavilion. Needless to say, the St. Patrick's Day 5K finishes at the Koehler Pavilion. The Park itself has a variety of woods, trails, paved streets and sidewalks, and a river runs through it! Runs from two to five miles are possible within the park. I often add mileage by running down the Bike Path off Mulberry and Avenue B to the water fountain at the Brackenridge Golf Course clubhouse, then turning around back to the park. There is also an interesting road that goes behind the Sunken Garden Theater and the Japanese Tea Garden and reconnects with St. Mary's by the Zoo entrance. It's too bad they couldn't have left the wooded area of the park alone and chose to pave it, but it is still too good a place to pass up.

Paul Baltutis is the manager of Soler's Sports at 5933 Broadway in Alamo Heights. He is a certified marathon coach with Team in Training. He can be reached at (210)930-3148 or pbaltutis@satx.rr.com.

As you make your New Year's resolutions for 2006, use them as an opportunity to adopt or reinforce a healthier lifestyle.

To set yourself up for success rather than disappointment, your resolutions should be a stretch, yet reasonably attainable. Try focusing on small, intermediate goals that will ultimately lead you to your primary goal. Don't expect to be perfect. Aim for changes that you are comfortable with and that eventually can become a permanent part of your lifestyle.

The Health Collaborative offers these tips for setting New Year's resolutions for a healthier lifestyle.

Take small steps. Simply establishing the goal of leading a healthy lifestyle or enhancing your current commitment to a healthy lifestyle should make you feel good about yourself. To make that goal more attainable, come up with small goals you know you can meet each day to help keep yourself feeling positive. Accomplishing the smaller goals will leave you with a more immediate feeling of success. If your goals are too large, you may get caught up in them and feel disappointed when you do not see immediate results.

Plans based on small behavioral changes are easier to stick to than vague resolutions such as "I will lose 10 pounds."

If your resolution is a substantial one, add a plan of action that will guide you toward your goal. Rather than "I will exercise more," try "I will go for a walk at lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays and work out in the gym Mondays and Fridays." This way you can feel a sense of accomplishment every day, and if you miss a day, you can get right back on track rather than feeling like a failure.

Change for yourself. Any goals that you set should come from a sincere desire to change for yourself. Research has shown that negative feelings are a frequent cause of relapse in behavioral change, and resolutions that feel like punishment can cause negative feelings.

All resolutions should be perceived as positive changes that will help you reach optimal health and well-being. Don't decide to change to please anyone other than yourself. And remember, resolutions are an opportunity for you to look forward in a positive way rather than to punish yourself for past behaviors.

Be creative. Perhaps you can find ways to be active while also accomplishing other goals. If weather permits, try walking to do errands that are in close proximity to your home or office. Maybe you need to spend more time with your family. Try walking with a family member or bringing your children along on bikes while you walk or jog.

If your goal is to make new friends, try taking classes where you will meet other people who share your same exercise interests. If your goal is to spend more time with good friends, start a walking club or join a health club or exercise class together.

Be realistic. Be sure that your plan of action is realistic. Plan to work out at times when it is convenient for you. If you are not a morning person, do not plan to work out early in the morning, or you'll just be setting yourself up for failure.

Try to make things as easy as possible for yourself. Set your goals at reasonable heights so that you can reach them one by one without feeling overwhelmed. The only way your goal is going to become reality is if you believe in it and, most of all, if you believe in yourself. It may help you reinforce your goal if you can find a realistic role model who is actually living your goal. If they can do it, so can you!

Anticipate roadblocks and reward yourself for successes. If things like weather and illness will prevent you from sticking to your plan, make alternate plans for situations that you cannot avoid. Most importantly, do not let a missed day or two throw you completely off target. Instead, do your best to get back on track as quickly as possible, which should not be extremely difficult if you have set appropriate goals.

It is easier to stick to your plan when you feel good about yourself. Try to find a new way to reward yourself when you meet your smaller goals. If you are trying to eat healthier, be sure that all of your meals are still delicious, and allow yourself a small dessert after a few days of healthy habits.
Be sure to get involved in activities that keep you feeling happy and fulfilled.

Build a support system. Get the support of your family, friends and co-workers. If your resolution involves quitting a serious addiction such as smoking, drinking or an eating disorder, get professional help and join a support group if possible.

Remember that you are your best supporter. You are trying to improve your own health. Appreciate what you have and then try to treat it a little bit better than you have in the past. If you take better care of your body, you will feel better and perform better at all that you do.

Keep in mind that a resolution that is well thought out can be a useful tool to help you live your life the best way possible, starting from the inside.

A cutting-edge, public-private model for solving community health issues, The Health Collaborative began informally in 1997 when several area health care organizations agreed to put aside their competitive business practices to conduct the first community health assessment. Their mission is to improve the health status of the community through collaborative means. Representatives of this group are dedicated to the health and well-being of our community in the spirit of collaboration. Partners include the major health systems in San Antonio and Metro Health.

Joan M. Miller can be reached at (210) 481-2573 or by e-mail at jmmiller@healthcollaborative.net

What does it mean to be fit?
If I am thin, am I fit?
If I am a runner, am I fit?
If I lift weights, am I fit?

In fact, there are several components to fitness, all of which are important. They include cardiovascular endurance, flexibility, muscular endurance and muscular strength. These fitness components can significantly influence conditions such as diabetes, asthma, obesity, stress, cholesterol, arthritis and heart disease. They are also potential indicators of your quality of life and life span. So the key to being fit is understanding the importance of each component and incorporating each one into your fitness routine.

Developing cardiovascular endurance:
Aerobic exercise is the most important component of fitness because it reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. Aerobic conditioning is best accomplished by performing continuous and strenuous tasks involving large muscle groups over an extended period of time. The primary function of aerobic exercise is to condition the heart muscle. Other benefits include increased endurance and a reduction of blood pressure, resting pulse rate, and reduced cholesterol.

Developing cardiovascular endurance can be achieved by doing an exercise that raises your heart rate three or four times per week for 15 to 60 minutes continuously each time. If you are beginning to incorporate aerobic exercise into your routine, start with the minimum of minutes and then focus on increasing either the intensity, the times per week or the minutes each time you spend exercising. This will help you to remain challenged and to meet your goal. Use modest increments to avoid muscle soreness or injury, and listen to your body to be aware of signs and symptoms that might prompt you to slow down or speed up.

Examples of aerobic exercise include brisk walking, jogging, swimming, using the stair stepper or an elliptical machine, and cycling.

Developing flexibility:
Although it is frequently over-looked, flexibility is an important comp-onent of physical fitness. It is defined as the capacity of a joint to move freely through a full range of motion without too much strain. The length of the muscle seems to be the most significant determinant in the amount of movement possible at the joint. When muscles are not used, they tend to become shorter and tighter, causing the range of motion at specific joints to be significantly reduced.

It is important to have a full range of motion at each of the major joints of the body. Without this flexibility, performing everyday activities, like bending to pick up a newspaper, or to tie your shoes, or even getting up from a chair or out of the seat of a car, become difficult.

Stretching on a regular basis for maximal development of flexibility should be preceded by a very mild warm-up. Stretching should be done slowly through the full range of motion until tightness, not pain, is felt. This position should be held for 10 to 30 seconds. Contrary to what many of us were taught in physical education many years ago, stretching should not involve bouncing. After holding the extreme position for 10 to 30 seconds, slowly repeat the stretch to see if you can stretch farther. Stretching in this way on a regular basis will enable your muscles to become more flexible, thus increasing your range of motion. Yoga is an excellent and increasingly popular form of exercise that can increase flexibility.

Muscular strength:
Each person needs a certain amount of strength in order to carry out many simple everyday tasks. Strength is defined as the ability of a muscle group to exert force against a resistance. Strength training is important to overall fitness because it can reduce the incidence of joint injury.

A weight-lifting program designed specifically to develop strength will involve a low number of repetitions with a high resistance. Strength training makes your muscles strong enough to dissipate the force generated by doing a lot of cardiovascular (high impact) exercise and injuries caused by repetitive motion.
Exercises that promote strength include weight lifting and floor exercises. These can be done at home by purchasing free weights, stability balls and resistance tubes with handles.

Muscular endurance:
Muscular endurance is defined as the ability of a muscle to sustain a contraction or sustain a given contraction for a period of time. For example, to determine the endurance of the abdominal muscles you would need to measure how many abdominal crunches (sit ups) you can do in a given period of time. The more sit ups that can be performed in a given amount of time, the higher the level of muscular endurance.

Muscular strength and muscular endurance are, of course, highly correlated. Your level of endurance will determine how long you can carry a suitcase, for instance, while also holding it off the ground. A weight-lifting program specifically designed to develop muscular endurance will involve a high number of repetitions with a lower resistance. This is the exact opposite of muscular strength training, which involves a low number of repetitions with a high resistance.

Some exercises that promote muscular endurance include weight lifting, floor exercises, sprinting and some water exercises.

Recommendations:
For distance runners, most of their time will be spent developing cardiovascular endurance. But they would be inviting injury if they did not incorporate muscular strength training and stretching. The same goes for the body builder who has developed incredible muscular strength but has little cardiovascular endurance and potentially limited flexibility.

To be truly fit, it is important to incorporate a certain amount of each fitness component into your exercise routine.

Jennifer Herriott is the program manager for Steps to a Healthier San Antonio (Steps-SA), an initiative for the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Steps-SA initiative identifies and promotes efforts that encourage our community to make small behavior changes to reduce the burden of diabetes, obesity and asthma by addressing three related risk factors -- physical inactivity, poor nutrition and tobacco use.

Find the plan that works for you.

By Kelly A. Goff

Did you make your annual New Year's resolutions to lose weight? So did about half of all Americans. While many will break them, research shows people who explicitly make resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain their goals than those who don't.

Making the resolution is easy to do alone. Where most people need help is turning the goal into reality. Weight loss programs are a popular way to kick-start resolutions because you have to make some kind of commitment, whether it is time or money. The media is bloated with advertisements urging you to "Call Jenny!" "Take charge of your health!" and "Turn around your life!" It's hard to know which programs are effective and right for you.

The nonprofit consumer group Consumer Reports recently rated commercially available diet plans. The ratings are based on combined scores for nutritional value and weight-loss effectiveness.

"For the first time we have some good information on how these diets work for real people, as opposed to just having the claims of people who created the diets," says Consumer Reports senior editor Nancy Metcalf, who wrote the report for the June 2005 issue. "And now we have new dietary guidelines, so that gives us a nutritional standard to measure these diets against."

To rate the diets on effectiveness, Metcalf's team looked at clinical trial data published in medical journals. There wasn't enough effectiveness data for four of the nine diet plans, so only five of the plans got ratings.

Consumer Reports also examined how the diets did in terms of nutrition, dropout rate at six months and one year, and weight loss at six month and one year. For the complete report, visit www.consumerreports.com.

How they rank

On the 1 to 5 rating scale -- where 1 is best and 5 is worst - Weight Watchers got the highest rating, and Slim-Fast came in second. The Zone diet was third, with the Dean Ornish and Atkins programs coming in last. South Beach Phase One and Two, eDiets, Jenny Craig and Volumetrics diet plans were also reviewed but not rated by Consumer Reports because of insufficient scientific evidence. Excerpted from Consumer Reports, June 2005

One plan doesn't fit all

The report is set up so that you can see how the diets performed in the areas you want to work on individually. For example, although Weight Watchers came out on top, it is not the best for short-term weight loss. Slim-Fast and Atkins do better. And Slim-Fast does better at weight loss at one year than Ornish.

In fact, a study published in the January 2005 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association showed little difference in the amount of weight lost after randomly assigning 40 overweight or obese adults to the Atkins, Weight Watchers, Zone or Ornish diets. A doctor and dietitian coached participants on their program for two months, then they were on their own until the end of the year, which concluded with a weigh-in.

• On average, those on the Atkins plan lost 4.6 pounds. 53 percent of participants stuck with the Atkins plan for one year. • Those on the Weight Watchers plan lost an average of 6.6 pounds. 65 percent of participants stuck with the Weight Watchers plan for one year. • Those on the Zone plan lost an average of 7.1 pounds. 65 percent of participants stuck with the Zone plan for one year. • Those on the Ornish plan lost an average of 7.3 pounds. 50 percent of participants stuck with the Ornish plan for one year.

The people who lost the most weight were the ones who followed their program most closely, regardless of the plan. Not surprisingly, those who did not follow their plan (42 percent ) didn't lose as much weight.

Ultimately, researchers say, the most effective diet plan is the one you like the best. "I would suspect that most of the popular diet books in the bookstores are likely to produce weight loss if you follow the plan closely, since almost all plans are similar to the diets we studied, or a cross between two of them," says study leader Michael L. Dansinger, MD, director of obesity research for the atherosclerosis research lab at Tufts-New England Medical Center, Boston. "Most eating strategies will work well if you stick closely. The key is finding a plan you can stick to."

Dieting is like finding true love

Dansinger recommends "dating" the diets until you find a life partner. "The best way is to try a number of them and give each a fair chance. There is a whole spectrum of options out there. The main finding of our study is that we need to find a way to improve adherence rates to the various diets that are available," says Dansinger. "The best way might be to be open-minded about all of the options rather than focusing on finding the same 'best one' for everybody."

The "low-fad" diet

The key to weight loss is a focus on not just food quantity, but food quality, notes Robert H. Eckel, MD, a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Health Science Center and president-elect of the American Heart Association. In an editorial accompanying the Dansinger study, Eckel gave his three-way prescription for weight loss/obesity prevention:

1. Eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables, whole grains and fish.

2. Get regular exercise.

3. Eat just a little less, and keep it up.

Tools you can use

In addition to formal diet programs, you can also formulate your own weight loss plan using some free online tools. The old one-size-fits-all food pyramid has become individualized with the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Visit www.MyPyramid.gov to assess your food intake and get information on your diet quality. After providing a day's worth of dietary information, you will receive an overall evaluation by comparing the amounts of food you ate to current nutritional guidance. To give you a better understanding of your diet over time, you can track what you eat up to a year using the MyPyramid Tracker.

In the end, successful weight loss all comes down to the approach that works best for you. There is not magic pill. If you reduce your calories, you will lose weight. It's finding a healthy combination of appropriate portions, quality food and physical activity that will keep those New Year's resolutions in business.