TAC Board: The Alaska Club Blog

To make the most of summer, get together with family and friends for a barbecue. Instead of the usual hamburger, ribs, hot dogs, and sausages, you can be creative and make it healthier by grilling more fish, lean meats, fruits, and vegetables. By adding fruits and vegetables, you add more color, variety, flavor, and nutrients. You may be surprised to find out that grilling fruits and vegetables can actually enhance their sweet flavor.

Spring is here, and so is the pollen! Did your doctor tell you that you are allergic to trees, grass, or weeds pollen? You're used to the usual symptoms; breathing problems, sneezing attacks, and teary, itchy eyes. But then you notice that some fresh fruits, vegetables, and tree nuts are starting to cause an itchy mouth, scratchy throat, itchy ears, and swelling of the lips, mouth, tongue, and throat— even when there is no pollen around? You may have something called oral allergy syndrome.

We are in that weird fall/winter limbo season. You know, it’s not really fall anymore because the leaves are almost all completely off the trees, but then again, the snow is a little skimpy and mushy too. Hikers and hunters don’t forget that this is also a really high avalanche risk time as well. It’s very muddy in the woods, there’s puddles galore and bears have a ways to go before they settle down for the winter. The moose-match dating season is still ongoing so watch out for those frisky moose! Some nights are under 32º so puddles freeze. Some nights are not. If you want to give your Begonias a chance to make it to next year, you’d best put them in the garage and let the bulbs dry out.

My journey began on September 22nd, 2019. My best friend called and during our conversation, she told me she had lost 80lbs in the last 8 months. She showed me a pic and she looked amazing. I was not about to have her show me up, so I asked "HOW?". She was eating healthy. She had cut out most carbs and sugars. I was 386lbs and had already thought about getting healthy; and this was the last straw.

First, I would like to thank The Alaska Club for allowing Any Time Fitness members to transfer their membership. With this transfer, I have been able to continue work with my trainer, Joelle Miller. Her patience, knowledge and experience working with a wide range of abilities has greatly helped me.

Just two weeks ago, I attended an education conference in New York City on learning and brain activity in youth and children. The chief concern at this conference was the preponderance of screen time, primarily cell phone usage, teachers witness among their students. While studies have not made a direct correlation to the rise of anxiety and depression seen among children and youth to electronic device habits, bullying and obesity have been positively correlated to cell phone usage by these groups. Consistent with these findings is a greater sense of social alienation found among children and teens who are now logging long hours on their electronic devices and becoming sleep-deprived in the process.

Believe it or not, spring is my favorite time of year to train. Despite coming off a long and fatiguing ski racing season, I am always excited to get back to springtime in Alaska. The weather is generally pretty amazing at this time of year- lots of bluebird days that make for great crust skiing in the morning, awesome trail running in the afternoon, and even better corn skiing in the evenings. With such perfect conditions its easy to get carried away recreating and neglect the body- especially when it comes to running. As someone who has struggled with countless overuse injuries throughout the duration of my career, its really important for me to build into my running progression. I’ve found that if I’m not careful about gradually increasing both distance and pace, my minor springtime tweaks turn into long-term injuries that prevent me from training/racing later in the summer. Picking out the right pair shoes from Skinny Raven also helps avoid injuries further down the road.

As Alaskans, we push our bodies to the limits during the sunny months, trying to fit everything in before a blanket of snow and ice covers the ground. This constant activity can be hard on our bodies and there’s a good chance, as summer comes to an end, you’ve developed an injury.

These days we hear a good deal about Mindfulness, a new form of health awareness. We are not only to live on a high level of the wellness continuum or practice holistic health; now, we are to be mindful of all the detailed and comprehensive factors that contribute to our health. On that note, I’d like to raise a little awareness level myself of one of the most critical and oftentimes discounted features of good health: friendship. There is an abundance of psychological literature, one of my best friends assures me, who also happens to be a psychologist, supporting the healthful benefits of friendship. For years I used to remind her that we really don’t all need hours and hours with a psychologist when a good friend and a good cup of coffee will do the trick. I just happen to have all three: friend, psychologist and coffee in one fell swoop. (Of course, if a good psychologist is what one needs, by all means, seek one out!)

Mother’s Day is right around the corner! Let’s show mom she’s really fabulous this year with a fantastic giveaway package worth over $400 from The Alaska Club. Enter now through May 6th and you could win a 3-month Spa Membership AND a $200 gift card to The Body Shop! Click here to enter.