Earn Thy Shower!

   On track with my health improvement goals, I’ve been getting up at 5am to exercise (it’s the only cool time of the day!).  I brought a jump rope, and on Wednesday I jumped rope for 10 long minutes (it got really boring), and then I filled the rest of my time with sit-ups, squats, push-ups, etc.  I won’t be able to run a 10K on June 6^th if I sit around all day!

  The morning Jake Glover (a friend whom I met on my last trip) and I went for a short run.  Now, he’s run marathons, and I’m a little past 5K land, so he was kind enough to slow down a bit for me.  We ran for a steady 10 minutes, paused to walk at the top of a hill, and quickly learned that we were lost.  We walked for another 20 minutes or so, and ultimately found some nice Haitians to guide us back.  All-in-all, it was great to get out, I got in almost a mile at a good clip (faster than I generally run, and it was fun! Thanks Jake!), we got a close-up view of some of the neighborhoods, and we met some nice people.  There were no cars on the roads, only a few people out, and all was calm.  Not too shabby.

   I should note, I did promise my dad not to go out running alone, and I will keep that promise.  But, that said, I felt quite safe, and I wouldn’t hesitate to go out running again if and when I have a willing running buddy… and hopefully this time it’ll be for more than 10 minutes!

   Regardless, I have a new morning mantra.  I intend to earn my showers!  My nice cold, military-style (in, out, soap up, rinse off) showers.  J

My weight loss tips

I'm so excited! I've finally lost 50 pounds. That's almost a small person. I've been through a few wardrobe makeovers (thank you, Goodwill), gone down a shoe size, and significantly changed my appearance. People are starting to notice. I feel like everyone is hoping or trying to do better, but we all know that eating in our culture isn't easy. So I've compiled a few tips which I've gathered over my journey.

1. Only Eat Food that Rots. I believe that this one is from Michael Pollan, and he really encourages people to eat REAL food, minimally processed, natural, nonchemical, normal food.  Not a bad idea.

2. Eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day.  Hard to believe, but I'm a mostly-vegetarian, and I initially had trouble with this one.  It wasn't until I started keeping track that I noticed my omissions.

3. Move, then move more.  I don't think I would have been so successful had I not started exercising.  Check out Couch to 5k.  It's a great start-running plan, which I truly believe that anyone can do.

4. Keep at it.  All of us go-getters like to beat ourselves up when we "fail."  I went out to dinner last night.  I had 2 mojitos, ample olive oil & bread, delicious snapper, and a few bite of dessert.  That would ruin my diet, if I was on one.  But that's life, and I'll eat healthy today.  I'm allowed some splurging, homemade ice cream and sloppy nachos on occassion.  With that in mind, I've lost, on average, 0.6 lbs per week, which I'm statistically more likely to keep off than had I dieted.

For the love of pressure cookers...

     Completely random, I know, but I'm just starting this blog, and I'm still trying decide what to write about and how to write it.  And I realized that Pressure Cookers are highly under appreciated.
     Growing up using a crock pot, I've always liked the idea of putting the meal together in the morning, leaving the pot plugged in for the day, and coming home to a ready cooked meal.  But I'm just not that organized, and my firefighter boyfriend isn't too keen on leaving anything hot plugged in all day.  So, I've rediscovered the pressure cooker.  I can cook dried beans in 30ish minutes- without even soaking them!  Turnips, beets, hosts of hard vegetables... they all take no time at all!
    When I was living in Costa Rica, my host mom cooked rice and beans every night.  In contrast to the cooks I met in Haiti, Guatemala, and Honduras, she spent NO time slaving over the stove.  She's a single mom, works cleaning houses all day, and needs to throw together dinner when she gets home.  The black beans (enough for dinner and tomorrow's breakfast and lunch) go in the pressure cooker for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile she puts the rice in the rice cooker for 30 minutes.  As they're both cooking independently, she cuts up vegetables to steam, makes fresh juice (pineapple, tamarind, you name it), and gets the table set.  Her efficiency inspired me.
   Gary was good enough to get me a pressure cooker last Christmas.  For as much cooking as I do do, it's underused, but not under-appreciated.  I cooked a casserole with bulgur wheat one time and added steamed vegetables.  I've cooked many many random soups.   It's fun to experiment, and I'm thrilled that it makes healthy eating easier.  I can actually cook a meal in the time that it would take us to choose a restaurant, drive there, sit down, order, and wait for the food to arrive.
     Part of my goal for eating healthy involves cooking more.  Going through college (dorm food), medical school (whatever-I-could-grab food), and residency (more-of-the-same-grabbed food), I've finally gotten to a point in my life where I've realized that I need to know where my food comes from.  I need to pay attention.  And learning to cook is part of that.  And yes, Gary, someday I'll learn to cook.  :-)

Anyway, for anyone interested in learning more about pressure cookers, here's a really helpful site.
pressure cooker website

South Beach, Miami- Mini-vacation

I could do it. I could bleach my hair, eat salads all day, buy a pair of high-maintenance-girl sunglasses that would cover half my face, and move down here to join the South Beach crowd of gorgeous waify blondes.... But then what would I do with my time? Talk about who wore what to what party? Spend all day sunbathing and shopping with my rich man-of-the-month's credit card?

I might be able to pull it off, and it might be more fun than 30-hour hospital shifts, but I think I'd get bored. I think I'd rather go running and get all sweaty and gross. Riding on a fire truck after a parade, or commuting in the back of a pick-up truck in a third-world country sounds like much more fun. So, I'm a little different. While finishing my residency in family medicine, I've started running, eating better, living better, and trying to be a better person, while meanwhile trying to set up a program where I can improve access to health care in Haiti.

And this is my first attempt at a blog... let me get started a little, then let me know what you think.