FAQ’s Installment 10

Good afternoon!

We got quite the beautiful snow storm last night and today:

This is what was in front of me as I ran today:

As much as I love how beautiful snow looks, I find myself really craving Spring lately. Just come already!

Unfortunately, living in Canada, our Springs don’t really start until mid-April or later. Agh.

What do you to beat the winter blahs?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FAQ’s Installment 10

You can find the previous 9 installments here!

107. Mary asks, “Just curious, I noticed the advertisement for Foodbuzz on your blog. Is that new?”

Thank you for noticing! Yes The Foodie Blog Roll is new from Foodbuzz. I do not get any compensation for having it on my website, but it does provide food bloggers a way to ‘get their name out’. Your blog has to be first approved by Food Buzz. Once approved and you have it on your website, your blog will be listed under the ‘Most 5 recent blogs’ for up to a day. Some of you may have noticed that Oh She Glows was featured on it yesterday. My website had a lot more hits because of it. It is a great way for foodies to stay connected!

108. Carolinbee asks, “My question for you is about DRY SKIN! ugh, it is plaguing me this winter…any tips? Thanks!”

Dry skin used to plague me every winter until I started doing a few key things:

• Exfoliate: A few times per week I exfoliate my skin in the shower with an exfoliation glove. I also exfoliate my face once daily with an exfoliation glove and a gentle facial cleansing scrub.
• Moisturize: When my sky is 50% dry, I apply my favourite Winter body cream: Nivea cream for dry skin. I use the Nivea for regular skin for summer months, but I have recently switched over to the dry skin for winter and seen great results. Apply a facial cream morning and night, with your night time cream being ‘heavier’ for dry skin.
• Humidify your environment: When Eric and I were living in our small condo, it was very dry. We ran a humidifier all winter long to help with dry skin (and static!). Not only was our skin less dry, but our plants lived longer too! :D
• Get Fat: Healthy fats that is! Make sure you are getting enough Omega 3 fatty acids in your diet. They have been found to improve the condition of your skin, hair, and nails. My nails are super strong and long since I have been getting lots of nuts and flax in my diet.
• Drink Up: I know that research doesn’t support the theory that drinking water improves your skin, but I say it can’t hurt. I drink 8-10 cups of tea or water per day and I swear this does help.
• Shield your skin: When outside in the colder months, cover up your skin! Exposed flesh is more prone to drying out. Cover the hands, head, ears, and face and protect yourself from the drying elements.

109. Sam asks, “How do you avoid injuries? My knee is really sore after running Sunday and a military workout class Monday.”

I had a lot of knee pain when I first started to run. I went to see a podiatrist and he determined that I have high arches and would benefit from Orthotics. Once I got the orthotics, my knee pain had been reduced significantly. On the odd day my left knee will hurt, but only ever so slightly. I highly recommend seeing a podiatrist if you are having problems because the last thing you want to do is hurt your body long term. Knees are such a sensitive part of the body. Luckily I have a good insurance plan at work that covered 80% of my orthotic costs because they are expensive.

I also make sure to take rest days. Preceeding or following a tough run (e.g., speed run or a long run), I will take a rest day so my body can heal itself. If you wake up in the morning and your knee is sore I would not run on it. All of the research I have read on running advises against running when you are injured. It usually means you will end up having to take several weeks off running in the end, instead of a few days here and there.

And be sure to stretch. After every workout, I do these 5 best stretches for runners from Hal Higdon. I have also heard that Yoga improves running, and has been something I would like to try.

Goodluck!

110. April asks, “Hi! This seems like a stupid question, but I was wondering if you could show us exactly how you wear your heart rate monitor? I just recently bought one but nowhere does it show how to position it and I think I’ve been wearing it wrong!”

Great question! I took some photos for you this morning as I was putting it on before my run:

1) Your HRM strap should have two places where you are to run water over it to activate:

This is me running the tap over these two spots on the strap:

Place strap around your chest, just below your breasts. Clip on HRM to strap (if you have a soft strap):

I then pull my sports bra over top of my HRM strap to hold it in better and keep it from shifting. I also put a dab of vaseline underneath the plastic part on my skin to prevent chaffing.

Next, strap on the watch.

If you have a Polar HRM with Foot Pod, turn it on to activate speed/distance measure:

And now you are ready to go!

111. Melissa asks, “I’m sorry if I missed this, but did you ever discuss the title of the blog? Also, what type of jeans were you wearing in the ‘What’s Inside my Fridge’ videos?

No worries! I did a post called ‘The Creation of Oh She Glows’ where I talked about the significance of the blog title and how I came up with it.

The jeans I was wearing in the video are from Gap. They are long and lean bootcut style. It is gap’s best selling jean. They really do make the legs look super long! They also have a higher rise in the back, so when you bend down your butt doesn’t fall out. :)

112. Foodbubbles asks, “Will you try to make up for missed running days due to illness or unexpected travel?”

This is such a great question and one that I honestly had not given much thought to yet. I do worry about these things, as well as unexpected injury, that would prevent me from reaching my 1,000 mile goal for 2009. The fact is, there isn’t much we can do about these unexpected things in life such as illness or travel. I am not going to stress too much if I get sick for a week and have to take it off running or if it looks like I will fall short of my 1,000 mile goal at year’s end. Life happens, right?

What I am going to make a conscious effort to do, is to plan ahead. There are some events in the summer I will be involved in (such as Leah’s wedding mid-August!) so I will be planning my runs in advance to make the week before and after go as smoothly as possible. For unexpected travel, I will be throwing my sneakers and workout clothes into my suitcase and hoping that I can get some time to run outside! That is the beauty of running. :)

113. Leah asks, “This might get a bit personal. :p but do you find since you stopped eating dairy that it has helped with digestion?”

In a word: Yes! I used to have a lot of digestive problems and since I have stopped eating dairy, I have noticed a huge improvement. I used to get bad stomach cramps and didn’t know why. It is estimated that around 70% of adults have some degree of lactose intolerance, so it is no surprise when people limit their dairy that they find improvement in symptoms that have been nagging them for years.

114. Crewser says, “Do you find that your grocery bills are much higher since buying organic/specialty products?”

In the words of Will Smith….Heeeeelllll YES! Organic and specialty items are expensive, there is no way around it. What Eric and I decided a couple years ago, was that we had to prioritize what we wanted to spend our money on. We realized that we were wasting our money on edible junk, when this money could be going towards wholesome & healthy foods. We stopped going out to eat (except for the odd special occasion) and we started packing our lunches. We also logged every penny we spent on food and other items for several months. This was a huge eye opener and I would suggest it to everyone. We also limited our entertainment costs too, such as going out to the movies. We would rent one instead and save $15 bucks! By being conscious about where our money was going, we were able to put the money towards buying great food. I know a guy who claims he is a huge penny pincher, yet he goes out to eat probably 50% of his meals! Sure most of his meals are from fast food chains and buffets, but still- it really adds up!

I suggest buying local produce whenever possible. We have a great Farmer’s market about 10 mins. from here and we will save so much money by shopping there in the Spring/summer months.

I found these 17 great tips for buying organic produce without breaking the bank!

115. Regarding finding things on the blog:

I know it can be difficult to find certain posts on this blog! I am not a huge fan of how the categorization is set up on here. In the past several days, I have been working on creating new pages so that you can find what you need quickly! I also added my Road to Health stories and before and after picture to the ‘She’ page. I also will be adding a recipes page in the future.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.”

~Oscar Wilde