Bryan and Marlys - Personal Training
Inner Icon Testimonial
Our “success story” actually started about 2 years ago. We were both significantly overweight, and out of shape. We were starting to have some health issues; high blood pressure and high cholesterol. But what really got us motivated to make some changes was Bryan being diagnosed with Type II diabetes and having a “heart scare” that fortunately, turned out to only be acid reflux.Bryan went on a high protein diet and joined the health club at Boeing and over the next year lost about 85 pounds. I joined Weight Watchers and did the treadmill 3-4x a week and lost 65 pounds. We were both feeling great – and Bryan’s Diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol were “gone”.
Then we started to slip back into old habits; eating too much and not exercising enough. Bryan gained back almost half of his weight, and I gained about 10 pounds. About the time we were ready to get back “on program”, we found out about Inner Icon and started working out with David 3X a week in June. After our first workout we realized just how out of shape we were – boy were we sore! But we have stuck with it and are both enjoying the challenge of learning new activities and are starting to see the improvement we have made.
Bryan is following the Paleo diet and has dropped 35 lbs. The biggest thing he has noticed is that the sinus drainage he has had his whole life is pretty much gone. I am still using Weight Watchers (in a semi-Paleo way) and have dropped about 17 pounds -- <15 pounds to my goal! We are enjoying finding healthy recipes and sharing them with friends & family.
Some of the improvements we have noticed are:
1. We just feel better, both physically and mentally. Instead of coming home and crashing after work, we actually want to keep moving.
2. We now have much more energy. And even when we work out hard, we recover quickly.
3. It is becoming easier to make healthy food choices. We recently went on a two week vacation, and actually lost weight!
4. When we do have a treat, just a little is enough. At a recent birthday party we shared a piece of cake – and didn’t even finish it.
5. Previous knee pain from hiking and walking downhill is now gone.
The challenge now will be to continue on and make nutrition and exercise a lifestyle change vs something we just did to loose weight.
Recipes
Baked Stuffed Tomatoes
1 can tuna (or fresh crab or shredded chicken, etc...)
2-3 TBS olive oil
1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup walnuts
dashes of cayenne pepper
squeezes of lemon
bunch of basil
fresh ground black pepper
half of avocado
stalk of celery
Combine in food processor! Stuff hollowed out tomato. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
Health Tips
Buy Organic
Foods that were once thought to be very good for your health, are still good for your health. BUT, many of them also have added problems and dangers associated with them that they never had before.
There are some more commonly known problems such as the use of pesticides, toxins and other dangerous chemicals that now exist in non-organic foods. These can lead to various health problems and conditions. Just do a search for "side effects of pesticides" and see what you come up with.
But aside from these issues, there is a very big problem even worse than pesticides; Genetically Modified Foods. The US does NOT require labeling of GMO foods. Fruits and vegetables are some of the most commonly modified foods. They are created in labs and then patented as something the said company owns. There are no laws about the safety of these foods being put into distribution. They are only required to have a patent. Some foods that are VERY likely genetically modified are soy, corn and it's products (canola oil, high fructose corn syrup, etc.) and wheat.
So just by eating the way our pre-agricultural ancestors ate, we can avoid some of our present day dangers all together. We already know that grainfed animals are the "protein equivilant of cardboard." We also now know that there are some potentially dangerous effects of the other foods we are eating as well. So if we are trying to live as healthy and disease-free as possible, let's think more carefully about what we put in our bodies. Buying organic, grassfed, local products is good for the local community, good for your health, and good for future generations.
"A plant, fruit, or animal grown without the administration of artificial pesticides, herbicides, or insecticides, chemical fertilizers, antibiotics or growth hormones (in the case of animal products), most closely replicates wild or untampered-with growing conditions" - Mark Sisson
“The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition.” ~ Thomas Edison
