The NEW Shoe -- The RIGHT Shoe

Many people are ignorant to how vitally important it is to wear a really good pair of shoes for working out. When we are exercising in either a formal exercise setting, in recreational activities or in athletic competition we are putting a lot of stress and force upon our joints, muscles, tendons/ligaments and often times that all begins with the weight bearing impact from our foot against the ground or some other surface. For example in running, each time the foot hits the ground forces over 10 times one’s body weight are sent down into the ground and then an equal and opposite force is sent back up through our foot to the rest of the body. It is our muscles, bones, joints etc that absorb the impact. A good pair of shoes is vital to help absorb and dissipate those forces so that we don’t sustain injury during or after activity. I cannot tell you how many times I've been working with or speaking with someone who complains about how their feet, knees and/or ankles hurt during exercise and after assessing their shoes, I conclude that the shoes could likely be the culprit. I've sent them or even gone with them to buy shoes and almost instantly the problem is gone. A NEW SHOE -- The Right Shoe can make all the difference.

The following are some questions and answers regarding SHOES:


What is the best brand of shoe to wear for exercise?

There are many different shoe companies that make fitness & athletic shoes. My recommendation is to go with a brand that specializes in fitness shoes only.

Is there a specific shoe I should wear for different types of exercise?

There are specific shoes for specific activities. Each shoe is designed for the types of movements involved in the activity, the forces & impacts the body will sustain, & even the surface that may be involved.

For example:

Running shoes are made specific to running (although they can be used for general fitness & walking). There are different types of running shoes for different body types such as those with high arches, low arches or flat feet, people who run on their forefoot vs those who have a definite heel strike. And there are also Trail Running shoes which are specifically deigned for running on trails with uneven surfaces and rough terrain.

Hiking shoes are made for uneven surfaces, rough terrain, and varying temperatures.

Basketball shoes are made for basketball and the fast, quick movements. The tread is specific for the court.

Tennis shoes are made for the fast, quick multi-directional movements of tennis and are tread for the court.

Aerobic shoes are made for the types of movements of a dance/step aerobics routine.

Cycling shoes are made specific to road cycling, mountain biking, triathlons, indoor spinning respectively.

Cross Trainers are best if you are just lifting weights and or doing the cardio machines. Although a running shoe can work here as well, provided it is the right shoe for your body type.

How often should I buy new shoes?

There is not a clear cut answer to this question. It can vary from how often you work out, whether you only use those shoes for working out or whether you use that shoe as an everyday, everywhere shoe. Here is a rule of thumb – a shoe breaks down from the inside out. Which means your shoe could look pretty good on the outside, but inside the structure is broken down and is no longer providing you the support your body requires. In running, it is recommended to buy a new pair of shoes every 500 miles or every 3 to 5 months, which ever comes first. If you are just a general fitness person who exercises 3 to 6 times per week, you may want to re-new those shoes at least every five or six months. If you are wearing the shoe for other activities and/or all the time, then you may want to replace them more often.

Where is the best place to buy shoes?

I always recommend going to a specialty store to buy your gear. So runners should buy their shoes from a specialty running store, cyclist shoes can be purchased at a bicycle shop, etc. One of the advantages of this, is that the sales people are most often active in that sport themselves and they are highly knowledgeable about each brand and model their store carries. They also will allow you to test drive the shoe by taking a run on an indoor treadmill or outside on the sidewalk. Really good stores will have you run on an indoor treadmill while they video-tape you running in a neutral shoe, based on how your foot strikes the ground they can determine whether you require a cushion shoe, a motion control shoe, or a stability shoe. Shopping at big department stores and even athletic chains like sports authority you may not get the best advice on what is the best shoe for you. Once you find a shoe brand and model you love, you can search for on-line discounts or make purchases on e-bay.


Here are some of my shoe buying secrets:

Myself being a triathlete, I buy my cycling shoes (specific for triathlons) at a cycling store. I buy my running shoes at a speciality running store. My favorite brands of running shoes (based on my body’s running mechanics and the shape of my foot) are Mizuno and Saucony and some models of NIKE. I buy at least one new pair every 3 to 4 months depending on my mileage. I like to have two different pairs of shoes that I alternate through my training cycle. For my everyday fitness shoe, I wear a running shoe however I do not use this shoe for running; its “sole” purpose is for walking around, weight training, cardio machines in the gym. I always ask the running store if they offer a discount to fitness professionals, athletes (often certain athlete groups will get discounted rates at shoe stores), or if they honor competitor and/or on-line prices. When I lived in Utah, my running store honored on-line prices and so I’d search on-line for the cheapest price of the shoe I wanted. I’d print the price sheet off the internet and take it into the store and I’d end up saving $10 to $20 on a pair of shoes.

Keep your joints, bones, & muscles happy by wearing the right shoes for you and the activity your engaging in and remember it is better to replace the shoe too soon than too late. If you have been wearing the same pair of shoes for more than a year, I highly recommend racing over to your nearest athletic specialty shoe store today. Your feet will thank you!

If you have any questions regarding shoes or shoe buying, please email me at Melissa@yourlifestylementor.com or MGuthrie2@Lifetimefitness.com

Your Healthy Lifestyle Mentor – Melissa Guthrie

Check Out My Blog: www.journeytothegold.blogspot.com

Fruit & Veggie Tales

I often hear people say that they don't like eating fruits & veggies. More often than not it is the "taste" that they seem to have challenges with, and then there are a few people who simply don't know how to store or prepare fruits and vegetables so they don't buy them and thus, don't eat them. I wanted to share with you some of the reasons I am a huge advocate of making fruits and vegetables the basis of a healthy eating lifestyle.

Why do I absolutely LOVE fruits and vegetables?

They are packed with vitamins and minerals.

Fruits are a source of “healthy” carbohydrates, fiber, potassium, & numerous vitamins, namely Vitamin C – a powerful antioxidant, as well as many important phytonutrients.
Vegetables are truly nature’s vitamin powerhouse. Loaded with antioxidants, carotenes, phytonutrients, fiber & numerous vitamins & minerals that are health promoting & health protecting.

They are high in fiber.

Fiber is not a food group, but a component of many plant based foods. The great thing about fiber is that it cannot be broken down by the body and thus does not contribute calories when consumed. There are two types of fiber found naturally in foods – soluble and insoluble fiber and each are important to ingest daily. Dietary fiber can help stabilize blood sugar levels, lower blood cholesterol and help prevent heart disease, slow down digestion helping you feel fuller for longer, and fiber also promotes regularity and thus a healthy colon. The recommended daily intake of fiber is 25-35 gram/day for adults. Fiber sources are fresh fruits, vegetables, beans & legumes, & whole grains. Note: If you are not use to eating much fiber, increase your fiber intake gradually over a couple of weeks. This will allow your digestive system to gradually adapt to the bulk of the fiber, otherwise you may deal with some less than desirable digestive issues if you increase your fiber intake too much, too fast.

They are low in calories, big in volume.

When weight management and/or fat reduction is the goal then it is imperative to consume less calories than we expend in a day. Eating low calorie, bulky foods means we can eat a greater volume of food while consume relatively few calories. Fill up for less, what a bargain. For example, a base-ball size piece of fruit like an apple or orange is roughly 60 to 80 calories compared to eating 5 saltine crackers or 1 fig Newton for 60 calories.
Vegetables are especially low in calories, with the exception of the starchy vegetables like corn, peas & potatoes which actually have a composition more similar to grains. This means you can really eat as many vegetables as you want without risk of consuming too many calories. For example, 1 cup of cooked broccoli has only 50 calories, 1/3 of a medium cucumber has 25 calories, & 1 cup cooked green beans has 30 calories, and you can consume several cups of raw leafy greens for well under 50 calories.


They are portable, great eaten raw and often come in their own packaging.

We live in a very fast paced society and most people I consult with say that “time” is the number one challenge or obstacle to them eating healthfully. I hear “I don’t have time to cook, I don’t have time to shop, I don’t have time to sit down and eat a meal, I don’t have time to….and what is underlying is “My health, my physical & mental well-being is not a high enough priority for me to take the time from all the other activities I’m involved in to take care of me properly.” In the end, all those hours worked, all that money, all of the status symbols, and well-meaning activities will mean little to nothing if one is not healthy. Eating well and exercising does take a little investment of time, yet it doesn’t really take as much as most people may think. Having said all that, fruits and vegetables are great “On The Go” foods that require little to no preparation, and are great eaten raw. Items like fresh bananas, oranges, apples can be thrown in a bag, briefcase or purse without any special container or packaging – a great ready to eat snack anytime, anywhere.

They are colorful, versatile, and simple to prepare.

The more colorful the better. The rich, bright colors of many vegetables and fruits are an indicator of high nutrient content. Just for the fun of it take one day and eat nothing but bland color foods like oatmeal or cereal with milk, bread with peanut butter, baked or mashed potatoes, rice, white pasta, cauliflower, cottage cheese, nuts, popcorn, chicken or turkey, tuna, cod or halibut, etc. You'll come to truly appreciate and love eating colorful foods if nothing else, just for the visual stimulatoin. So eat a rainbow everyday. Fruits and vegetables can be eaten by themselves or as a side dish, put in casseroles, soups, stews, breads, hot and cold cereals, as a topping or garnish, added to yogurt, cottage cheese or put in a smoothie. They can be eaten raw, steamed, grilled, broiled, stir-fried, baked, cooked in the crockpot or pressure cooker, and even microwaved (although I'm not a big fan of microwave cooking). Be creative and find new ways to incorporate fruits and veggies into your meals & snacks.

They are inexpensive.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are so inexpensive. I remember going to the grocery store with my roommates in college, you know the typical poor, starving students grocery budget. My cart was loaded with fresh produce and theirs were usually full of packaged, processed foods and of course, junk food. I’d end up with 6 or 7 grocery bags of food and pay around $20-25. They’d have 2, maybe 3 bags of groceries and end up paying at least double what I did. Not only that, I rarely got sick so my medical bills and time off from school & work were almost non-existent. Eating more fruits and veggies is an often overlooked and very essential part of a proper financial plan as well as a health plan.


Training the Taste Buds

Now for those people that whine about hating the taste of fruits and veggies or who complain about their kids hating them, I am going to be honest and blunt. First of all, our dietary likes and dislikes are a learned, conditioned behavior. We don’t come out of the womb craving chocolate and cheese fries, and our kids don’t either. We, along with the powerful assistance of the media, train them and ourselves to only want fast food or junk food. The more often we eat a certain type of food, the more conditioned our bodies come to expect it, it is in our system, much like nicotine or alcohol works in the system of someone addicted to those substances. If you are addicted to fatty, sugary, salty foods, it can be overcome and typically with relative ease. The following exercises are key to creating a healthier nutrition plan that incorporates loads of healthy, disease fighting foods – FRUITS & VEGGIES!!!!!

Exercise 1:

If you are re-training yourself to like fruits and veggies. Simply start by re-programming your mind through the use of positive self-talk. I promise it works. Write yourself messages and post them where you’ll see them, tell yourself several times a day things such as:

I am a happy fruit and veggie eater.
I am building vegetable loving taste-buds.
Everyday I crave fruits and veggies.
Fruits & veggies are my friends.
Fruits & veggies are my favorite foods.


Exercise 2:

For those people who have a food jag – meaning there are only a very select few fruits and veggies you claim to like. This week eat 1 different type of fruit/veggie that you either have never tried before, or haven’t eaten in a very long time, or claim to hate since childhood. I encourage you to eat at least a small serving of it everyday for 1 week and see how you feel about that food after 7 days. You will most likely be very surprised at the end of the week. Remember our tastes are a trained conditioned behavior, we have trained our taste buds to love and crave – refined carbohydrates, sweets, salty & fatty foods. We can just as easily train our body to love and crave the healthy, nutritious foods that will improve and protect our health.


Exercise 3:

If you are currently not eating any fruits and veggies or very little. Then set an objective for the next 1 to 2 weeks to eat just 1 additional piece of fruit and 1 additional serving of vegetables (non-starchy vegetables) each day. Track this in your food journal and celebrate your win each day that you succeed. Once that becomes a natural way of eating, add 1 more serving of fruit and vegetables each day. Baby Steps…Baby Steps…Baby Steps.



May this be the healthiest week you’ve every had.

Your Healthy Lifestyle Mentor -- Melissa Guthrie

A New Year and A New You

For the past couple of decades, the #1 New Year Resolution has been "to lose weight & get in better shape." I recently learned that this resolution will be bumped out of the number one slot and go all the way to number 3. "Get out of debt" is now taking over the #1 position, followed by "Make More Money" in slot 2. Nonetheless, with obesity rates skyrocketing along with stress levels, depression and general poor health countless Americans are once again setting a New Years Resolution to lose weight and get in shape. We've heard the statistic all before, the majority of those who start an exercise and healthy eating program will stick to it diligently for about 3 weeks at which point their enthusiams will start to fade and within a few more weeks they'll be back in their old rut and feeling worse than ever for not persisting and following through on their good intentions. Why is that? Is it because people are lazy by nature? Maybe. Is it because they are on the wrong type of program? Maybe. Is it because they just don't have what it takes to be successful. Definitely not! Is it that they don't have the will power? Maybe. What I truly believe is the problem is that people are not clear on how to manifest the results they desire by behaving in a manner congruent to that desire.

BE...Do....Have!

The Be...Do...Have principle is very simple and this is how it works. First, you have to decide very clearly on what it is you want most. Do you want to be a lean, healthy energetic person or do you want to be overweight, out of shape, low energy always sick & tired person? Of course, you want to be the healthy, fit person -- so get a very clear image in your mind of what that person looks like, how they behave, how they dress, how they utilize their time, their habits, their relationships, etc.

Exercise 1: Once you have a clear image of the ideal healthy, fit person. Take out a piece of paper and start writing all about this person -- how they look, how they feel about themselves and others, what type of relationships they have, how they talk, how they walk, how they dress, their daily habits, how they eat, how they care for their body, how they manage themselves in time, their work habits, etc. Now imagine that YOU are this person. At this very moment start acting as if you are this person and you already possess everything you've just written. Read and re-read this every day! You will find that when you become this person in advance of having the results, you will automatically assume the behavior of the healthy, fit person and then it is only a matter of time before you literally possess all of those ideals you wrote about.
(BE...Do...Have Principle in a nutshell)

Exercise 2: Find pictures of your ideal body/physique, ideal healthy lifestyle, etc. Perhaps you have photos of yourself when you were in your best shape or find photos in magazines. Post these photos all over your house, car, desk, so that you are constantly seeing and visualizing what you are becoming.

Exercise 3: Write "I AM" Statements. Take a sheet of paper or a 3 x 5 card and write positive statements affirming the healthy, fit person you are. Read these every morning & every evening and multiple times throughout the day. You may also consider writing some of these on your bathroom mirror with a dry erase marker and/or laminating them and posting them in your shower.

For example here are some of mine:

• I AM a lean healthy 112lbs. (put your own ideal weight, of course you want it to be realistic for your body frame)
• I AM sleeping 8 hours per night and feel refreshed and renewed each morning.
• I AM eating 5-6 small healthy well-balanced meals each day.
• I AM drinking a gallon of pure water each day.
• I AM exercising daily and love the energy and mental clarity I feel.
• I AM a super healthy eater -- eating whole grains, fresh vegetables & fruits, and healthy, plant based proteins every day.
• I AM a fat-burning machine.
• I AM building a beautifully balanced life.
• I AM a healthy role model and inspiration to others.

Reducing unwanted body fat and becoming optimally fit is an inside-out project. It isn't just about having the right exercise program and following a specific eating plan. Everything in life has to be created mentally, emotionally & spiritually before it can be created physically. Working with countless clients over the past 10 years, I see a dramatic difference in the degree of results and the time frame in which the results are obtained and sustained when they use the strategies I have outlined above. I firmly believe it is because they are reprogramming their subconscious mind for success by creating a healthy self-image and assuming the behaviors that naturally lead to the desired results. We can never out-perform our self-image. So I encourage you before you jump into that new exercise and eating program, take some time to got through the exercises above. Create the ideal you, then become the ideal you, consistenly & persistently do the things that healthy person does, and you will with out fail, yes I said WITH OUT FAIL, have the results you desire.

Here's to the IDEAL YOU in 2007!

Your Healthy Lifestyle Mentor -- Melissa Guthrie

check out: www.journeytothegold.blogspot.com