The Big One – you are more ready than you think to run a Marathon.

It is with good reason that the word ‘marathon’ has such a powerful and intimidating connotation. Marathons are difficult. Most people will never run a marathon. Most people think themselves incapable of finishing. In the story upon which we base the roughly 26-mile race, after all, the runner promptly succumbed to death from his exhaustion following his athletic feat. The Marathon is so intimidating, in fact, that most people make the assumption early on that it is something they will not be able to complete in their lifetimes.

This is a shame, since the Marathon is not only perhaps the most ambitious but also the most useful long-term fitness goal to which a person can commit. A Marathon is more attainable than most people expect and is a fantastic way to stimulate yourself and your fitness. First and foremost, a Marathon is a powerful demonstration of the value of setting and achieving a goal.

“I am all about goal setting,” says Montecito local trainer Kayla Johnson, discussing why she often encourages her clients to push themselves to train for marathons or half marathons. “A goal is a dream with a deadline,” Johnson quips. “Having a goal is fun and makes the process of learning to exercise regularly more interesting. I encourage all of my clients to at least run a half marathon, and they are always glad they did!”

“I think anytime in life you set out to accomplish a goal and you achieve that goal it’s a great feeling,” advises Johnson, “but the physical benefits are of equal importance.” Marathon training is an average of fifteen weeks of regular exercise. Beyond even this, however, she reminds, after the race, you will have created a lasting habit and exercise rhythm that will stay with you long after your goal is completed.

Perhaps the most intimidating step in running a marathon, however, is the first. Before you even tie up your shoes, running a marathon has to begin with planning, advises Johnson. While the eventual goal is completion of the race, nothing is more important than laying down and adhering to an exercise schedule.

“Step one is finding a training program that is right for you,” says Johnson. The biggest factor in deciding upon the most appropriate regimen is your current fitness level. The message that comes with this advice of course, is the idea that a Marathon is not a goal that can only be achieved by advanced athletes. According to Johnson, given enough time, any healthy person can run a Marathon.

Once you have committed to a training schedule, the main misstep that influences her clients to want to give up on their goal, says Johnson, is trying to do ‘too much too soon.’ The scale of a Marathon can skew your thinking and make you feel the need to push yourself too far during your preparation. This should be avoided. A well thought out schedule makes over-exertion unnecessary.

“Do not increase the distance you regularly run by more than 10% each week,” warns Johnson. Running too far when the body is not yet ready to do so can cause physical harm and will go a long way in discouraging you from continuing to train for your eventual distance.

This, in part, is one of the best reasons to run a Marathon. Training for and completing a long distance race teaches body and mind to understand the value of long-term work. Success in exercise and in life takes faith that sustained effort will yield positive results that will not be seen today. As Johnson points out, working up to the full mileage of the final race is paramount.

Luckily, says Johnson, there’s no better place in the world to be when taking on this goal. “The Santa Barbara – Montecito area is a fantastic place to train for any fitness event. There are running clubs, personal trainers, and outdoor fitness events going on all the time that people can take part in to help achieve their goal of running a marathon or half-marathon.”

You don’t run a Marathon to prove to yourself you can run a Marathon. You run a Marathon to remind yourself that with the right preparation, you’re capable of achieving anything. It’s achievable, rewarding and physically beneficial. Plus, it never hurts to surprise yourself.

As the weather becomes colder and we stay indoors more, people often catch colds or other viruses. The cold and flu season can begin as early as October and usually ends sometime in April. While there is no way to cure the common cold or the flu, healthy eating during cold and flu season can help you avoid getting sick.

Foods that may boost immune system
Researchers are finding positive links between immune function and components in food. If you or your kids seem to get one cold after another, you’ll want to make sure they eat plenty of immune-building foods.

Garlic may boost your immune system, increasing resistance to infection and stress. To get the immune power from garlic, crush the cloves with the flat side of a knife before adding them to your food. This releases the garlic juice, which has great immune properties.

Cheese and other dairy products contain conjugated linoleic acid, a natural component of dairy fat which has boosted immune response in animal studies.

Yogurt and other cultured milk products contain probiotics, beneficial bacterial with immune-boosting benefits. Look for the “live active culture” seal, which indicates that probiotics have been added. Also check milk product labels for vitamin D. Early research suggests low levels of vitamin D may be linked to a seasonal increase in colds and flu and a higher incidence of respiratory infections.

Vitamin C, found in citrus fruits and juices, may also help the body’s immune system.

Zinc, found in meat, chicken, peanuts and peanut butter, plays an important role in the proper functioning of the immune system in the body

Foods that heal
Fresh ginger root can help you when you are sick by inducing sweating and decreasing nausea and diarrhea. Make ginger tea by grating one ounce of fresh ginger in a pint of water. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add lemon and honey to taste.

Chicken soup and warm beverages increase the flow of nasal secretions, helping alleviate cold symptoms. Of course, the taste and wonderful aroma of chicken soup may be an important part of the beneficial effects.

Healthy eating during cold and flu season means getting the daily requirement of essential vitamins and minerals by eating a balanced diet that contains a variety of foods from all food groups.

Keeping the germs away
The most important thing you can do to keep from getting sick is to wash your hands. A common way to catch a cold is by rubbing your nose or eyes, so to protect against infection wash your hands frequently.

Your hands pick up germs from other people or from contaminated surfaces and hand washing prevents you from infecting yourself with the germs. Use warm water, soap and wash for several minutes for best results.

Other good health practices are not sharing cups, or silverware and cleaning high-contact items, such as doorknobs, faucets and telephones, with soap and water.

Boost your immune system
Even when your hands are clean, staying healthy means more than simply avoiding germs. Healthy bodies have an easier time fighting off infection. To stay healthy and boost your immune system:

• Get plenty of rest
• Eat a well-balanced diet
• Exercise regularly
• Decrease stress

Cut back on unhealthy habits, such as smoking and over consuming alcohol
Studies have shown that a session of moderate physical activity produces positive effects on the immune system. Over time, this means catching fewer colds and other upper respiratory tract infections.

Feeling better
For most of us getting sick is a part of life. If you do catch a cold or the flu, the following advice still holds true

To feel better while you are sick:

• Drink lots of fluids and get plenty of rest
• Use a humidifier – to moisten mucus membranes
• Add immune-boosting foods to your Shopping List this flu season.

When you are sick, stay home so you don’t infect others. If you do go out and need to sneeze or cough, use a tissue or sneeze or cough into your sleeve or upper arm. Don’t do it into your hand, since you can spread the virus to others by touching people or handling objects that others may use.

This information is not a substitute for a physician’s advice or your own good judgment. If you are feeling truly awful, your symptoms worsen or last a long time it is always wise to contact a physician.

I don’t know about you, but this is my problem area. I am a social drinker and the holidays are a social time, so I usually drink too much. Being a realistic person and nutritionist, I know I am not going to give up alcohol but I will at least choose healthier types of beverages and consume wisely.
How Does Alcohol Make You Fat:
The Bottom Line

You are welcome to read a bigger overview about how your body metabolizes alcohol, but here’s the bottom line: It’s important to stick to a drink with the lowest sugar content and the fewest ingredients, just like your food choices. Most hard liquors (1.5 oz serving) are a cleaner lower calorie drink than beer (12 oz serving) and wine (5 oz serving). Beer and wine have higher sugar content, therefore store more fat. Be careful with mixers that are high in sugar, artificially sweetened or contain caffeine. These toxic ingredients will heighten hangovers and damage your metabolism. Club soda is my favorite mixer and adding fresh squeezed fruit is a great way to add natural flavor. Last but not least, drink lots of water to prevent dehydration and hangover symptoms. And if you would like to cleanse your body from all the holiday toxins, make sure to check out my successful 9 Day Detox Program (checkout huge discount on the left side).
Best & Worst Alcohol Choices

Worst 3 Holiday Cocktails:
Egg Nog with Rum or Brandy (1 cup) = Approximately 450 calories, 10 grams saturated fat, 60 grams carbohydrates, 50 grams sugar
Rum and Coke (12 oz) = Approximately 370 calories, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 26 grams of sugar
Hot Toddy with Apple Cider and Whiskey or Rum (1 cup) = Approximately 200 calories, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 23 grams of sugar
Best Alcoholic Drinks
(Lowest in sugar and clean ingredients):
Vodka and Club: If this is too boring for you, jazz it up with a splash of juice and lots of fresh squeezed lime.
Skinny Margarita: You can’t even compare a store bought mix with this clean recipe. I posted it below.
Red Wine: Like I said, wine and beer have a little more natural sugar than hard liquor so drink in moderation. Due to it’s antioxidant content, I choose red wine first, then white wine, and then beer.
My 2 Favorite Cocktail Recipes

The Betsy Special: light and refreshing
1.5 oz premium vodka
1 cup club soda, raspberry flavor (not artificially sweetened)
Splash of cranberry juice
2 fresh squeezed limes wedges

Skinny Margarita: clean and simple
2oz premium Tequila
1 cup club soda or mineral water
4+ fresh squeezed lime wedges
Hope you are inspired to make healthy decisions this holiday season, including your alcohol choices. I want to take this opportunity to thank all my clients and readers for your continued support. I am very grateful to have you enriching my life. Happy Healthy Holidays to all!!!!!!

Sincerely ,

Betsy Markle
Sunshine Wellness

Melody Delshad playing beach volleyball in SB News Press photo.

Congratulations to Health Pro Melody Delshad for being featured in Santa Barbara News Press!

There is an added challenge this time of the year…..the holiday food.  I am determined to keep on track during the holidays.  I will still enjoy holiday food, but I will concentrate on making healthy choices and keeping up the workouts.  My trainer, Kathy, will help keep me accountable and……..bring the scale periodically!    I know it’s not good to get caught up in the number on the scale, but for me, the feedback will help during the Holidays.

So to all of you….hope you all have a great holiday season and keep on being healthy.

P.S.  I am excited to try on some holiday dresses and I know they will look great with my improved figure!

Local esthetician and owner of Cielo Spa Boutique, Roxanne Zbinden says most people underestimate the full importance of skin health. “It’s the body’s first line of defense against infections and potentially harmful environmental irritants such as allergens and pollution,” says Zbinden. Our skin is more than the depth of beauty, as commonly expressed, it is also the medium through which we interact with the world.

“Proper skin care,” she says, “is essential for your health and appearance.”

While some things like sun exposure cause obvious and violent damage to the skin, Zbinden warns that there is a lot more we do to inflict negative effects on our outermost organ. The greatest factors that affect skin health, she explains, (aside from sun exposure) are in fact diet and exercise.

Diet has a direct correlation to skin health. Drinking alcohol and caffeinated soda actually do a great deal to harm our skin. Alcohol has a destructive effect on the body’s supply of Vitamin A. This vitamin is a vital component in the production of collagen, which is the key component in skin’s elasticity and repair. Both alcohol and caffeine have the effect on the skin of robbing from it the tools it needs to keep itself healthy.

Smoking, too, can lead to issues in skin health. It is not a wives tale or misinformation that smoking causes wrinkles, says Zbinden. “The nicotine in cigarettes causes narrowing of the blood vessels in the outermost layers of your skin,” she explains. “This impairs blood flow to your skin. With less blood flow, your skin doesn’t get as much oxygen and important nutrients such as Vitamin A.”

She points out that in addition to nicotine, cigarettes are full of chemicals that damage collagen and elastin, which are both vital to skin’s strength and elasticity.

The good news is that your diet can also help your skin protect itself. Foods like Green Tea, berries and plums are full of antioxidants which protect skin at the cellular level. Free radicals formed within the skin by sun exposure contribute to cell disintegration and premature aging if left unchecked. Antioxidants serve as a guard against these effects by combating free radicals and helping skin retain its youth. Foods full of antioxidants as well as vitamins A, C, E and healthy omega-3 fatty acids are: whole-grain cereals, fish, citrus fruits, berries, tomatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes and green leafy vegetables such as spinach and broccoli.

“Aside from diet,” advises Zbinden, “the best way to promote proper skin health is exercise.”
There is no specific exercise that affects the skin greater than another, rather it’s important for people to exercise regularly. Exercising does three things for you:

1. It flushes impurities out of your skin that accumulate through sweat, dirt and environmental pollutants.
2. It facilitates the production of sebum, the skin’s natural moisturizer.
3. Exercise improves blood flow to the skin. Your blood carries oxygen and valuable nutrients to help maintain skin health.

Finally, though it should be common knowledge to most of us, taking sun exposure seriously is the only way to ensure the efforts expended trying to keep the skin healthy. That glowing tan you worked so hard for and take such pride in is in fact a visible sign of skin damage, a kind of fashionable scar tissue. When UV rays enter the skin, the skin tries to protect itself by producing more pigment and melanin, which gives the skin a golden or red color. Too much sun can cause the following: premature wrinkles and skin aging, freckles and age spots, skin texture changes, dilated blood vessels and skin cancer. Although these changes won’t show up for many years, the damage starts when you’re young.

Skin is not something we should be taking for granted. We need to be mindful of how our skin’s condition can affect our overall health, as we need to be mindful that our overall health will be displayed in our skin. We need to respect the face that while beauty lies within the skin, the organ’s connection to the body is far greater and more complicated.

I am now ready to go on my trip and to do some hiking and I fee really good about that!

Let me explain.

In the pursuit of health and fitness, there are many ways in which a joint endeavor with a significant other can benefit everyone involved and lead to a more enthusiastic, strenuous workout. Working out together will help a couple motivate each other, and encourage both to push themselves through that extra mile. The other side of the answer, however, has to do with just how vastly different the training and exercise needs of every body are.

For specific, targeted workout programs, no two people share a set of needs. Everyone is built uniquely. Everyone moves differently from everyone else. A successful training program must be focused on and tailored to the specific needs of a single individual in order to be effective. I have never created the same training regimen for two people. As an extreme example, take an athlete and a post-operative back surgery patient. The obvious differences in the needs of these two cases demand totally different approaches to exercise; and while the disparity in these two patients is severe, it illustrates the differences present in the needs of any two people. Our minor muscle imbalances, ranges of motion, body types, genders, ages and countless other factors make it impossible to create any targeted set of exercises that will benefit two different people.

Now, while that may sound pretty discouraging to the whole idea of couples exercise, there’s more to be said on the matter. There is a whole realm of cardio workouts and general exercise that benefit greatly from the company of a spouse or significant other. Active, general exercise like walking, hiking, running and other outdoor activities are perfect for couples. The connections couples develop in their lives together work wonders for creating a team atmosphere in exercise that drives both parties toward getting into shape with more success than that of an individual effort.

I heartily endorse couples to:

1. Schedule a run, walk, hike or bicycle ride once a week.
2. Decide together to commit to the schedule.
3. Work with some positive peer pressure to keep each other from playing hooky from the workout.
4. Actively encourage each other to push the workout just slightly farther than you might alone.

The mutually supportive nature of a couple can also affect health beyond exercise. The pursuit of fitness and better health demands more than just working out, after all. When it comes to a healthier lifestyle, diet is a primary factor that can benefit from a cooperative attitude. Most of us are able to say from first hand experience how easy it is to cheat on a regimen of healthy eating. In my experience, however, couples are able to stick to a healthy diet with much greater success than an individual. For one thing, it’s more difficult to cheat when you are being held accountable by someone who shares in the goal of getting fit. Secondly, when couple that makes a decision together to eat healthy, they will be able to limit the presence of bad food in the house that might remain if only one member of a couple decides to alter his or her diet.

For a healthy diet, couples can and should:

1. Work together to research a healthy diet.
2. Plan grocery lists together.
3. Eat meals together.
4. Agree together to keep an eye on each other.

As we strive for health, we all need workouts designed to fit the unique needs of our bodies. Despite this, the going is often smoother and the results often come faster when we are not alone as we embark on a program to get healthy. Making this decision together means that you and your spouse or significant other will have a champion, a competitor and an inescapably watchful companion that can help keep you honest, confident and focused.