Hi friends!
Here is your weekly Tri-Tip Tuesday, sharing our current thoughts on food, fitness, & travel. Please forward this to others if you think they may be inspired.
Food: inflammatory oils
Fats. One of the three macronutrients. Just like not all carbs are equal and not all protein is equal, the same goes for fat...not all fats are equal.
Seed oils were introduced to our food supply in 1909 when Proctor & Gamble was looking for a cheaper alternative to animal fats for their bar soap. They started mass producing cottonseed oil, and when exploring additional ways to sell this product, they were delighted that it closely resembled lard, and began industrially producing and selling Crisco.
The rise of cottonseed oils fueled food manufacturers to capitalize on other vegetable oil production, such as canola, corn, soybean, and safflower oils. Vegetable (seed) oil consumption rose dramatically and the industry played into the misinterpreted science fueling fears of saturated fats and cholesterol in Americans.
The saturated fats/dietary cholesterol debacle is another whole discussion. The data/conclusions on saturated fats and dietary cholesterol are now much different than what was published in the 50s and 60s, however, the modern medical and food industries are too big and too slow at clarifying and re-educating the current findings, so the fear still falsely remains of.
So what's the big deal with seed oils? They are a significant contributor to chronic inflammation and disease. The seed oils are incredibly high in Omega 6, which throws off our ideal ratio of Omega 6:3 fatty acids. This leads to systemic inflammation in the body, which is at the root of nearly all diseases. Seed oils are void of nutrients, and full of damaging free radicals. Free radical damage is a major part of chronic and degenerative illnesses such as cancer, autoimmune disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, and cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases.
Seed oils to be aware of and try to avoid are soybean oil, canola oil, corn oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil, vegetable shortening, margarine, and all other butter substitutes. These oils are mostly found in processed foods, restaurant foods, and deep-fried foods. When you start scanning ingredient lists you'll be alarmed at how many foods they're in.
What types of fats should you seek? Explore healthy fats such as olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, grass-fed butter and ghee, grass-fed meats, wild-caught salmon, sardines, organic flax and hemp seed oils, nuts, seeds, avocados, and almonds.
Fitness: make it easier
One of the major rules of habit-building is to make it easier. This means, if you have a healthy habit that you are trying to do more of, make that habit easy to do.
With exercising, this rule is extremely powerful in terms of how you set up your gym equipment. If you don't have any equipment and need to drive 20 minutes to the gym, there is a good chance that some days you may not feel like putting in the 45-minute round trip just to get there, park, and back. That doesn't even include your workout time!
If you have equipment at home, that is awesome. If you are lucky enough to have a home gym, you have the jackpot situation. Just step in, knock out your workout, done!
What about us RVers? It's fair to say most of us don't have a dedicated gym space (although some toy-haulers may!). This means we have equipment that we carry on board. But how accessible is it?
If you have dumbbells stowed away in an exterior storage bay, you have the barrier of going out to it, removing all of the items that are on top of it, and lugging the dumbbells in and out. What's the big deal? You're working out anyway, what difference does this step make? Well, maybe it doesn't. Maybe you do just fine moving 20 things every time you want to work out. But for many of us, it does. It's ONE MORE mental block that keeps us from even starting a workout.
I recommend keeping your equipment right in front of you in an easy-to-access spot. We keep our dumbbells stacked on our living room floor, all the time. They are so easy to use they actually call my name every time I look at them. Same with the resistance bands that I use in combination with my dumbbells. They are stored in my fireplace, right on top. Grab and go!
No anchor points are needed for the bands or the dumbbells. No need to move things around just to start. Make it easy, remove the mental debate, and make it a non-negotiable.
Travel: wellness on the road
One of the biggest hurdles of wellness on the road is not having a set community or network of professionals. I'm talking about chiropractors, massage therapists, acupunctures, in-person trainers, yoga studios, beauty salons, doctors, and dentists.
Many of us travel to doctors for annual appointments and to take care of urgent matters, and that's it. RV life can leave you feeling a bit unkept in the self-care department.
I get my hair cut every 2-3 months, and the odds are low that I leave an appointment loving the cut. I spend a lot of time researching websites, reviews, and Instagram accounts, and it can still be hit or miss. After 5.5 years of full-time RVing, my "Hair Salon Roladex" is still very small. I have a good stylist in Palm Springs, Bend, Cottonwood, and Minneapolis. Not very impressive.
I LOVE massages. LOVE. A good massage therapist is hard to find. And with the cost involved, it's hard for me to take chances on strangers. I usually get a massage once a year, or twice if I'm in pain and push myself into an appointment. If I lived in a traditional home setting I would go monthly, no doubt. I do miss the ability to have ongoing relationships with wellness professionals.
I was in pain this month with a short list of ailments that are ongoing problems for me. I researched and booked an appointment with Tonya at Wings Wellness in Stoughton, MA. She is an incredible therapist and really knows her stuff. If you're ever in the Boston area, book an appointment with her, you won't regret it.
If anyone has tips for finding stylists, massage therapists, and other wellness professionals, please share!
Make it a great week!
Christine Irene
NASM-CPT, Senior Fitness Specialist, Precision Nutrition Pn1 + Pn2 Certified, & Avid Traveler
Pleasures can become punishments when taken beyond a certain point. - MARCUS AURELIUS
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