Winter Blues

I am finding it difficult to go to the gym and exercise when its freezing cold out. I can just imagine what the rest of the world is going through. I finished my ninth road runners race on Sunday, so I now qualify for automatic entry into the New York City Marathon 2008. However, I have to really start training and when its 30 degrees out, its fairly less than motivating to get out there and run 10 miles...but I will, next week. Today, I will swim in the warm waters of the 92nd street Y pool.

Its two weeks before the Christmas holidays. I feel like the world has stopped and everyone is already feeling the holiday cheer. Everywhere I look there are cookies (and they aren't made with whole grain flours or sweetened with agave nectar) or fruity drinks and I find myself surrounded by unhealthy choices at all the networking events I am attending nightly. Its incredibly difficult...but I endure. I carry dark chocolate goji berries and cashews with me. I try to drink water whenever possible, but I also relax and let go. However, I am finding that it often becomes a nightly event and I cannot allow myself to partake every evening.

So how about this self: a night on, and a night off. Enjoy yourself one night - but in moderation and the next - drink water and head toward the raw vegetables and away from the baklava. Or better yet, take a night off from networking. I will do this as well.

I hope the rest of you are enjoying the holiday season with the cookies and drinks. The vegetables are there - you just have to steer away from the dessert table. I know its hard...but its doable.

I find that I have been having a lot of gastric discomfort as well with the holidays near. I suppose I have detoxified my system of negative food additives, sugar and other harmful substances and now eating them in holiday foods and food at networking events is causing me immediate reactions. Its funny how the body works. I am going to try to eat just before I go to one of these events. This means having a supply of grains and greens/other vegetables and some form of protein always prepared in the fridge so it is ready to go and I don't arrive hungry (or thirsty to an event). I will keep a bottle of water in my bag and follow the advice of a friend to sip it when I feel stressed or overwhelmed. I have found my tolerance for alcohol has also decreased and my body has started to revolt against its introduction and I will feel happy with my water or my club soda.

I am planning to add resources for farm fresh vegetables in New York City to my website www.sobelwellness.com. I am hoping to expand this offering on the site to a community where my members can upload all the resources they know about for fresh food delivery in Manhattan and even begin to offer direct ordering through my site. Especially in those neighborhoods where there are no health food stores or access to farmers markets - such as Harlem and much of the higher upper west side. If you are a distributor or vegetables, meat, or fresh eggs/diary, please email me at meredith@sobelwellness.com to discuss how I can promote your services through the site. My goal is to offer fresh/quality local groceries to New Yorkers at a price they can afford.