Wholistic Fitness Blog

Today I had Greek food for lunch. I ordered a Greek salad with a side of hummus. Mmm, yummy. Ordinarily, a divine combo. I eat breakfast early and it was about 1:30pm, so I was already getting a little grumpy and looking forward to a good lunch. I looked down at my salad and saw a horrific thing, a tragedy of sorts, a foodie’s nightmare…unripe tomatoes. I know… Deflated with a capital “D!” I got to thinking, why, in a main salad, something SO spectacular as a GREEK salad, would someone serve unripe tomatoes?? It wasn’t some flimsy side salad. It was a “GREEK SALAD.” Greeks are legendary. Ya know, when I lived in NY my friend (who immigrated from Greece) and I would meet two nights a week. We’d hit the gym and afterwards walk across the street to this tiny Greek restaurant that was always packed. I’d order the same thing every time; a Greek salad and hummus. It was TO DIE FOR! Authentic as it gets. There was no lettuce, just big chunks of red, yellow and orange, perfectly vine ripened, room temperature (now that’s the way you eat a tomato!) tomatoes. Some red onion, cucumber, kalamata olives and feta. Heaven. We would sit there for about an hour or so, catching up on the daily drama that had occurred between our meetings. She would talk about her love life woes as we promised one another and ourselves we wouldn’t take one more bite of the steaming hot fresh baked pita bread. After every last bit of that toasty pita bread made its way into our bellies, we would give one another a cheek to cheek “kiss” goodbye, head out into the cold and go our separate ways.

 I’ve yet to find another restaurant who takes their tomatoes as seriously as that place back in NY. It’s been a sad experience for me to see lifeless, loveless tomatoes on my plate and on the plate of others I care about. If I don’t know you, it doesn’t bother me as much , but anyway, if my lunch had nice ripe, room temperature tomatoes enlivening my salad I would eat lunch at that place as often as I could. They would have a customer for life! But nope, that’s not the way things went down today. Would it have really cost the restaurant THAT much more to buy good tomatoes? Wouldn’t the benefits of customer satisfaction far outweigh the perceived cost savings of buying crappy tomatoes? Wouldn’t one single repeat customer coming to your restaurant on a regular basis probably cover the costs and then some of mountains and mountains of ripe tomatoes? Are you listening to me for-crying-outloud, restaurant owners!?! *Sigh* Or, do people just not care that much about their tomatoes? Perhaps I’m over reacting. I don’t know. At any rate, it got me all worked up. I’m just sick of getting crappy tomatoes and now as a business owner I think about the importance of ripe ones more than ever before. With this new revelation, reincarnated at Wholistic Fitness, I vow to always give you nothing but the most ripe tomatoes. We vow to always provide:

 Dynamic and fun instructors, genuine practitioners who continually educate themselves and keep your best interest their #1 priority, soft toilet paper (now THAT is a ripe tomato), name brand tampons in the restroom (we’re shooting for a homerun with this ripe tomato!), good quality filtered water, impeccable cleanliness, only the most natural products from great companies with great values, timely appointments, privacy, cold fresh brewed tea when you’re hot and sweaty and warm tea when you’re cold.

We feel honored to have met so many great women in such a short period of time. The relationships we’ve been developing with you are so incredibly rewarding and keep us focused on our mission here and outside of the center. We’ve had lots of laughs and good times so far.  Here’s to many more years with you all!

It’s Monday night, 9:15 pm. I’m unwinding from a long day, listening to some old Babs (Barbara Streisand) songs. Someone just told me she has crippling stage fright. Imagine that, Barbara Streisand and stage fright?? I can’t. This isn’t a common occurrence (listening to Babs), but when Babs works her way back into my life, I just love it! ”People who need people are the luckiest people in the world,” she belts. You know the song. She’s great, isn’t she? I got to thinking about the lyrics. Do people really need people? Should we? Who should we need and if we do need other people are we the luckiest people in the world because of it?

The word need brings to mind other words like requirement, essential, necessary. The consensus regarding human basic needs starts with the certain and indispensables such as food, water, sleep and others.  Now think higher. After these needs are met, we need safety, love, belonging, respect, family and intimacy. There is another level of need, but lets stay here for a moment. Needing family and intimacy engages other people, a person or people we need.  Is needing another person a weakness or a strength? I’d easily argue that it is both, but I’ll focus primarily on the latter. 

For some, needing another person or having to rely on other people can feel a bit daunting. Maybe they are the kind of people who would rather just do it themselves. It may give them a greater sense of satisfaction or self-worth. Whatever the case, suffice it to say, needing can be uncomfortable. Okay, so I’m talking about myself, but I know some of you feel the same way, too!  You (or me) may stroll along, doing or handling everything by yourself, until you completely burn out and instinctively know you need someone else.

Now, I pride myself on being a strong, independent, self sufficient woman and have strategically cultivated my life in such a way as to avoid “needing” other people, but as I get older and wiser I realize that it’s not so terrible after all to need other people. These days I find myself intensely committed to personal growth and have posed the question to myself; how can I achieve true personal growth if I don’t allow myself to need or at least receive a helping hand when offered? I examine why needing is so uncomfortable and know that it is fear. Fear of loss, disappointment, abandonment, the unknown and a slew of other yucky feelings I try to avoid. So what’s a gal to do when she knows she is no longer able to sustain the “I’M FINE!” persona anymore? One word, three syllables…Therapy

 Therapy may still be a bit taboo in certain parts of the country or within some cultures but I’m from a city (New York) and people where going to therapy is like going to Starbucks. Everyone does it, so I’ve never been particularly ashamed of it. Nowadays (is that one word??) sentences or sentence fragments such as “Gotta go, therapy appointment in 10 minutes,” or “my therapist says….”  Or “I’ll talk to my therapist about it” roll off my tongue quite frequently. Now, not all therapy is the same and not all therapy is helpful, but if you find the right kind and the right person it can dramatically improve your life, as it’s done mine. Good therapy with a competent professional is priceless and I think everyone, including therapists, can benefit from it. Therapy is a safe space for people to explore ways to improve the quality of their lives and work through tough times. It can be an incredible support system during our weakest moments and a wonderful sounding board even when things are going well. It’s very important to find the right therapist for you. Listen to your instincts (not to be confused with your fears) and you will know if it’s the right fit. I’ve gone through therapists like I did hairspray during the 80’s and 90’s and I’m not saying that’s a good thing, but I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for–I just knew that something didn’t click and I wasn’t going to settle. When I found the right one I just knew it, 100%. Although I don’t know a ton of personal information about my therapist I know, and more importantly, can feel, that she has clearly done a lot of her own personal work and growth to be at such a place in her life where she truly excels at what she does, mainly because she is authentic and just an overall great human being with only the best intentions.

 Through therapy I’ve learned that is okay to need, even though it can be uncomfortable at times; to release that fear, allow myself to feel needy and then allow someone to help had a very interesting outcome. It didn’t take away my sense of autonomy, but empowered it even more. I’ve been able to grow in ways I don’t think would be possible without the process. Seeing my therapist keeps me in a reflective mode, focused on what is truly important and nurturing to my being. It has been a tremendously gratifying and positive experience.  I’ve gained a healthy form of needing, learned to allow my inspiration to guide me, gained a new sense of purpose to my life and resurrected my creativity. If you haven’t already seen it, there is a quote on one of our walls at Wholistic Fitness that reads “To make a difference, women need to do impossible things and think impossible thoughts…and that is only done in community” (Marilyn Frye). It’s there because we recognize the importance and necessity of needing other people and have created a space for women to be free to do just that. We hope you all find a wonderful community of support within our walls. We are the “luckiest people in the world.”

        Although I thoroughly enjoy cooking at home and feel it’s the best way to get a truly nutritious meal, I do find myself at restaurants often. Sometimes it’s in the company of friends and the rest of the time it’s for work so I don’t necessarily know the person I’m dining with that well. The waiter or waitress addresses the table and asks us what we would like to drink. The usual for me is “bottled water (sparkling, perhaps still -depending on my mood) ….oh, with a lemon, please!” and my company, if drinking water, normally says “tap is fine for me,” which is followed by a brief moment of silence/ awkwardness. My friend, Cara’s comment plays over in my mind, “you are such a snob” as she pokes fun of me. She enjoys it. It’s not just Cara that thinks I’m a snob because  I won’t drink tap. I have other friends and co-workers that give me a shifty look when we walk into a little dive to grab a quick lunch and a potential uncomfortable water situation presents itself.  The waitress/waiter fills our glasses with tap water and I begin to get anxious. Its mere presence kind of bothers me. I know, they know, that I know, they don’t have bottled water but I ask anyway out of desperation. The obvious disappointment on my face conveys I’m a water snob. I eat lunch, parched. 

Does being a water snob in the company of a non-water snob convey that I’m some sort of classist jerk?    Tap is good enough for my company and everyone in the restaurant but not me…or you (if other water snobs are reading- unite!). Maybe it’s my tag line, “with a lemon please” that pushes me into snobhood and not the bottled water request after all.  I don’t know. At any rate, let me explain why I think the #1 thing everyone should do to move towards better health is to become a water snob. We live in a toxic environment, there is no way around it and unfortunately there is a lot we can’t control but our drinking water, which is our most important nutrient, is one of them.

I’d actually really enjoy spending the next hour or so writing 3 more pages on exactly why we shouldn’t be drinking tap water but I’ll summarize for the sake of the masses that may not be as snobby and because I need to get to work.

1. Chlorine and Fluoride – It’s in our water. Chlorine is used as a disinfectant to kills bacteria. Similarly, an antibiotic (anti-life) kills bacteria too. Good right? Not so much. The problem with this is that our bodies are loaded with good bacteria, the kind that keep us healthy and when we ingest antibiotics or anything else that kills bacteria we kill off our good bacteria. This leads to slow deterioration of our immune system and makes us susceptible to all sorts of pathogens. Chlorine ingested during pregnancy is also shown to increase a child’s risk of heart disease, cleft palate and brain defects. If chlorine weren’t bad enough the DBPs (disinfectant byproducts) that form when chlorine react with natural organic matter like decaying vegetation water are more than 10,000 times more toxic than chlorine itself. Fluoride is highly toxic to the body as well. The amount of fluoride in one tube of fluoridated toothpaste could kill a small child if consumed. Fluoride is a pollutant – a by-product of copper, iron and aluminum manufacturing. Before fluoride became “good for strong teeth” it was used as an insecticide and rat poison. Ewww.

2. Drugs and hormonally active chemicals – The drugs that people consume (anti biotics, anti psychotics, tranquilizers, beta blockers, birth control pills etc) and the drugs we give our pets and impose on livestock find its way back into the environment and our water one way or another. That means you’ve probably given yourself a mini dose of Prozac with your morning cup of coffee. Yay, happy people  These drugs are not neccesarrily screened or eliminated during the sewage treatment process.

3. Heavy Metals
Heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead; mercury and nickel can seep into your water, are inorganic, have relatively high densities and are toxic even at low concentrations. Heavy metal poisoning can cause blood disorders, impair brain and kidney function and can cause nerve damage within the body. These heavy metals usually accumulate in your water supply through industrial and consumer waste. In homes built before the late 1980s, copper and lead can leach into passing water from water pipes.

Gross, right? I know. But, there is good news!  You can be very proactive in combating the toxins in your water today by opting for bottled water (the quality of bottled water and how to choose the best ones is a whole other blog!) and by investing in a good water filtration system for your home. If you don’t get one for your whole home at the very least have a filter on your kitchen faucet to filter drinking and cooking water. One for your shower is a great idea too but if you don’t have one I’d opt for a quick, cooler temperature shower as opposed to a long hot bath, soaking in who knows what.

Writing this blog was therapeutic and gives me strength to continue being a water snob in the face of societal pressures and personal insecurities to resist it. I hope you’ll join me.

Hi Everyone,

I thought I’d give you all an update on how things are going over at Wholistic Fitness. Things are going well (as well as things can possibly go for a large project). Dust is flying over here! Floorplan, HVAC, sprinklers, insulation, framing, drywall, electrical work, paint, and prepping for the floor install has kept us all on our toes the last month or so.  We’ve hit some road bumps along the way, last week was particularly challenging but as my friends and construction crew remind me, things could always be worse - With “worse” in mind, I am grateful for all the hardworking men that have been putting in long, tiring hours (with no A.C up until today) to build a center for women. So, this post is for the guys! See our facebook page for more pics and videos  

http://www.facebook.com/WholisticFitness#!/WholisticFitness

Thank you for your interest in Wholistic Fitness! We are in the final countdown towards our opening in August. Yay! If you are local, you may have driven by to see a lot of construction going on to the front exterior of the building (Where the entrance to the Volpe’s new home renovation showroom will be.) There is even more going on inside! Both the Volpe’s and our group at Wholistic Fitness have been working hard to bring this building into the 21st century  Over the next few weeks we will be in the final stages of renovating our space and will keep you informed as we get closer to opening, which is on target and should be the 1st week of August.

We are so thankful to all the members of the community that have shown support, share our vision and are looking forward to our opening. Until then, stay positive - stay healthy.