Mat Day 7: Our Bodies Remember...

Whitney Houston: August 9, 1963 - February 11, 2012

My Mom called me last night to tell me that Whitney Houston had died. The music superstar was found dead in her Beverly Hills hotel room-- she was only 48 hours old. It saddens me that so often, the most talented people, like Houston, or Amy Winehouse -- another recent loss to the music industry-- ultimately cannot shake the demons that haunt them throughout their platinum paved careers.

Houston's cause of death hasn't been released yet, but her many years spent battling drug addiction no doubt played a significant part. It brings me to the subject of the post today: Our bodies remember. The truth is, we can't outrun the damage we do to our bodies, no matter how "healthy" our changes are down the road, no matter how many times we try to rehabilitate our behavior.

I was reminded of this yesterday, before Houston's passing, when my left foot started aching. In the last 2 years, I've had two incidents of metatarsal stress fractures-- the little bones at the top of the feet that plague ballerinas with problems-- (which is about the only comparison I have to ballerinas, folks-- but, I digress.)

I am convinced I weakened my bones in general from spending most of my 20's starving on various versions of what I used to call the "3 C's Diet"-- Camel Lights, Caffeine and Cauliflower. I would spend days eating nothing but steamed cauliflower dipped in mustard with a side of Diet Coke and whatever appetite suppressant I could get my hands on.

To this day, I can't stand the smell or taste of Cauliflower since it reminds me of that horrid diet and the twisted mind frame I was trapped in back then. Did I spend 30 years denying my body the nutrients it needed to thrive? No, but even without having had an actual bone scan which would show the strength or weakness of my bones, I know I did some irreparable harm.

We all have our demons. The question is, how do we keep them from destroying the best parts of ourselves, our bodies, and ultimately, our future?

In Whitney Houston's case, despite reports that in recent months, she looked healthy and beautiful, the damage she did to the body which housed, arguably, the most exquisite pipes in music history--was simply too much.

170 million albums sold... but she'll never get to see her daughter, Bobbi Kristina, follow her own music and acting dreams.

I saw Whitney Houston once, when I was working as a waitress in LA (back when I was on the 3 C's Diet) at a restaurant called Gladstone's 4 Fish. Whitney was with having dinner with a girlfriend and a guy I assumed was an agent at a table in the back of the restaurant. It was the end of the night and I was doing my side work, wiping down tables; I watched them get louder and louder, the more drinks they threw down. I think my manager actually had to cut them off.

Whitney was visibly intoxicated, and later, a waitress would swear she saw her snorting lines of cocaine in the bathroom. I just remember thinking, that woman has more talent, more God-given gifts than most people on Earth, and here she is getting plastered at a Malibu restaurant. What a waste!

She was a train wreck that night. But damn, she was so beautiful. Like, stop in your tracks, can't stop staring, kind of beautiful. The kind of person who has an aura about them that just radiates STAR.

But no amount of star power can help you outrun your demons. Whitney Houston is testament to that.

We all have addictions we struggle with-- whether it's cocaine, alcohol, sex, or in this girl's case, McDonald's chicken nuggets. Yup. You read that right. McDonald's chicken nuggets.

Chicken Nugget Addiction

This 17 year old girl collapsed after ONLY eating McDonald's chicken nuggets since she was 2 years old!!! Mickey D's chicken nuggets-- EVERY DAY!! Talk about DAMAGE. DAYUM. Doctors said her body was so deprived of nutrients that she had to be injected with them. Seriously, even if that girl started eating a perfect diet today, she'd probably still drop dead before age 40 from the damage she's done to her body!!

They say it's never too late to make a change for the better, but sometimes "better late than never" just isn't good enough.

Good enough is the perfect segue to discuss workout and diet this week. It was my first full week at work and I am happy to report that I got up every morning to work out! Monday through Thursday, I got through the entire TAM Mat workout (which is almost an hour long, people!) And 30-40 minutes of rebounder cardio. Friday I only did cardio and yesterday I took a rest day since my foot was so achy.

It's getting easier to wake up at 5am-- and I've decided it is definitely better to knock out both mat and cardio in the a.m. By the time I get home from work, I'm so tired that I could literally fall into bed immediately.

The walk from the parking deck to the State Capitol is about 15 minutes-- so a 30 minute daily walk to and from my car. I've had to start bringing sneakers to save my feet! (Maybe that's why my foot is aching-- from the trek in high heels.....hmmm.)

The mat workout is by far, my favorite TAM Muscular Structure routine-- and I feel changes after only a week-- my whole core is tighter, and Muffintop and her nasty sis, Gutty McFatty have their bags packed! ( ;

Diet has been pretty good for the most part. The challenge, like during bootcamp, is to plan ahead. By the time I get the hour and a half workout in each morning, it doesn't leave much time to cook an entire breakfast and lunch. I realize now that I have to start making my lunch the night before.

My new favorite breakfast is a scrambled Mexican wrap-- (I've never liked Mexican styled eggs before, for some reason, but this is simply delish!) I scrambled one egg and one egg white together, added some roasted corn, a few chopped jalapeño bits, some hot sauce and a sprinkling of Mexican "cotija" cheese (kind of like Mexican parmesan, if you haven't had it before) all wrapped up in a warmed corn tortilla. It was heaven. And, most importantly, it kept me full till lunch.

Mexicali-fabulous Breakfast

What wasn't so much of a success, was the turkey breast I roasted-- with the netting on. Awesome. And I like to call myself a Chef?! UH, note to self: Remove netting before baking or your turkey will look like the below photo after you try to take the netting off. I was able to pick through some un-netted meat for a meal, but it was, um, difficult.

Turkey Netting Disaster

OK lovelies-- enjoy the rest of your weekend and get your workouts in! Your body will remember....and thank you for it!

xxoo

In Memory of Whitney, here's one of her first big hits, circa 1988, and one of my all-time favorites, "I Wanna Dance with Somebody"