Clean Eating Cookies

Rich Wood 15

Food is Fuel 
A Journey Through Weight Gain, Weight Loss, Diabetes and Lifestyle Change 

We live in an age where you don’t have to leave your home to buy a book or newspaper or music. Everything is online. It’s so easy to stay in your house and have everything come to you. A gym is a place you have to go to – where your own hard work produces results. A 100lb weight is always 100lbs. It sits there waiting for you to move it.

The company I work for is called Integrity Training Systems which is the brain child of Debbie Portell. We go through very detailed training to make sure you learn the proper, safe way to exercise. Reaching your goals is the objective. We really want you to succeed. Every trainer is different, as is every client. Our system is set up to get you to the right person. I say all this to give you some idea that we are not just about getting you to come in and workout while you count the minutes until it’s over. That’s why it’s important that we train you about your posture, your breathing; things that make the quality of your life better. My approach comes from my training in the martial arts.  

The mind and body connection is real. Once you learn the proper and safe way to perform a move or exercise physically, then you can learn the mental side of exercise. This will get you in touch with real change. I have a fire that burns inside of me to challenge myself. I’m not a super athlete. I’m hard working and curious, and determined to take my mind and body to deep waters and find out what I’m made of. This is what I want to bring to the people I train; to help them believe that they are capable of so much more by having a strong mind and body. I believe being able to relax and breathe while doing something strenuous in the gym will transfer to relaxing and handling stressful situations outside of the gym. I want my clients to focus on getting better, not how many reps we are doing. Learning to focus and push your self is an amazing thing. My love of exercising is to find out what I’m made of, and to prove that I am able to perform under physical and mental pressure. I love watching people do things that they couldn’t have accomplished a month earlier before their training started. They can’t believe what they are capable of. We all need help in life with things, and the gym is not a place to fear. It is amazing to watch someone who is shy or fearful of the burn that starts in their body, learn to relax and embrace it and know they are prepared to handle it, and then learn to love it.  

You and your life are worth being the best possible. Don’t be afraid. We have an answer to the question of what you want your health level to be. I train people who want to lose weight, who are fighters, who are trainers, who want to improve at a certain sport – and every one of them have certain anxieties that they have learned to control. Once you do this, a new world opens up to you, and once you realize you are in control of your health, real change begins. You are worth it. Don’t let stale patterns in your life control you. Take charge of your life and health. Spending everyday in the gym and being there when someone changes their life by accomplishing things they never would have allowed themselves to believe they could do is remarkable. Do something to relieve the stress you are feeling about the weight you are carrying around. You will feel it both mentally and spiritually, even more so than physically. Dedicate one hour a day to make the other 23 better. The weights don’t gossip, back stab or disappoint. The weights bring out the best in you. As long as you’re breathing it is never too late. Once you experience how we do it, you will never want to stop and I will never let you lose sight that these are your accomplishments.

Your mind and body are so powerful. Why would you not want to find out how powerful? I write these things because I know how people no longer want to make excuses and sometimes something can click on a certain day and certain moment that makes today the start of something that is like no other. Your body will respond immediately. Get your mind wrapped around the idea that nothing can stop you from achieving!!! Do you really think it’s too difficult, or is it the first step into something you think about everyday? Stop, take a deep breath and you are already on the path to starting everything that you just read. You are already on your way; the first step is that easy…

Rich Wood 14

Food is Fuel

A Journey Through Weight Gain, Weight Loss, Diabetes and Lifestyle Change

Change: to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone.

Champion: a fighter or warrior

What makes you not believe in yourself? You know in your heart you are capable of so much more. Your body lets you know everyday if how you treat it and what you are doing to it works. Finding the right nutrition program and training program is not hard. It is a phone call or email away. Getting yourself to do it is the hard part. 

I told myself I am going to change, and I did. I don’t want to be weak minded. I want to be in charge of my mind and body. Food does not control me. When I am in the gym, the weights do not control me, I control the weights. How in any way would making your health a priority be a bad thing? If you read this and think that you would like to change, then start right now…you are worth it. I want to know exactly what I am made of. Putting honest, hard work in at the gym shows me that everyday. You can’t hide your weakness in the gym.  

Your true inner champion will come out by the work you put in.

People will invest in a stock and hope and pray for it to be successful years down the line. Put the same faith in yourself and in your health and success will come immediately. What would be a better long term investment than you? The easiest thing to do would be to let life pass you by. Make today different. I work with people that thought the things they are doing today would have been impossible only a month ago. 

The hardest muscle to train is your brain. Excuses have stopped you before, but don’t let it stop your health and happiness. You have something inside of you that needs to be explored. Challenge yourself to something new. If you wake everyday saying I have to lose weight, or I need to get into shape – or I need to make a difference in someone else’s life…make it your own. Don’t let the fear of failure keep you from anything. The journey is worth it – you won’t fail if you try. Regret is a million times worse than failure. 

There are no negatives to being healthy. Your only obstacle is food?? Do you really want to be that weak? (but Rich…the unhealthy things taste so good…) my answer is, are those worth the anxiety and guilt, and the way you physically feel? We both know the answer. Your body is telling you right now!!! You owe it to yourself to get on the path of happiness and health. These things will not land on your shoulder like a bird; you have to make it happen. Stop thinking in old patterns – challenge yourself. 

Try a new way. My life is full of people trying their best to be healthy. They don’t want the guilt and stress of being unhealthy in their head anymore. I promise you, the solution to whatever problem you are facing is solvable. Take the first step and try. There is no failure in that. I see accomplishments and success everyday. I’m so grateful and humbled by this. Start realizing how special you are, and how wonderful life is. Challenge yourself. Find out what you are made of. Be happy, healthy, and proud. Once you change your mind, your body will follow.

Adrienne Hood 3

A Weight Loss Journey Guide This Week...

It was time for my first workout! YAHOOOO!!!! I was so excited but…I was also VERY nervous. We hit the floor and Debbie put me through the wringer. The workout was difficult but I loved every second, even if I couldn't show it between the sets that were taking my breath away. Debbie kept me on task and made sure my form was perfect. To this day, I take great pride in demonstrating good form in my workouts because of Debbie. It’s so crucial in not only working the muscles the exercise is targeting but to avoid injury. I wouldn't know any of this if I’d tried to do it on my own. I also know I wouldn't have gotten a great workout on my own. Even today, I see Debbie on a regular basis because almost 7 years later, she’s the one that gets me to eek out that tiny extra bit of effort at the gym. Debbie, being the fantastic trainer she is, also kept me on task. When I was struggling, I’d do my best to drag out whatever rest time I was given. Debbie knew better. She ALWAYS knows better. THIS is why you need a trainer.

Sure, you can do this stuff on your own but you may never reach your full potential until you have a professional pushing you, keeping you on track, and keeping you accountable.

With Debbie’s help, I made a commitment to get to the gym at least 3 times a week for a strength workout followed by some cardio. By the end of David’s deployment, the stepmill and I were besties. I also became such a regular that people started to recognize me and give friendly smiles and gestures. I can’t explain how great that felt. I felt like I was being accepted into the world of health and fitness that I’d been longing to be a part of ever since I’d become overweight as a child. It’s exhilarating. It’s even freeing because now you know you’re in control. Not the scale, not the food, not the bad influences that take your eye of the prize. Strangling enough, you begin to even feel accountable to those regulars who also frequent the gym at your regular times. There’s a silent bond with those you exchange smiles with because you know they’re there for the same reason, to be better, to be healthier. Even if you’re at different places on your journey, it’s still the same journey and the same desire that brings everyone to the gym. You can become a part of that!

As for my food, one week in, I was finally starting to get the hang of it. I realized the food was going to take time for it to become second-nature. I was working hard on resetting my brain’s idea of what a meal should look like. Do your best! Even when Debbie adjusts my food now, I tell myself to give it a week or two to settle in. Change isn't easy but you’ll get there. I went through craving after craving not because my body was actually hungry or even needed it, but because it’s what I’d been eating for years. My whole life up to then had been about satisfying craving after craving, whatever they were. Cravings are what made up my meals if you could even call them that. The food was in control. Food should NEVER rule what you do with your LIFE. It’s just food. Eat to live, not to eat.

With my new exercise and food plan in place, my commitment started to pay off quickly and the number on my arch nemesis, the scale, was going down! I was stunned at what listening to your trainer could get you! I felt like I was finally on the right path on my weight loss journey. I was feeling empowered to continue…

Janet Yost

Sept 2012

 In September I made a life altering decision.  Let me give you a little background first.  I was diagnosed with MS in 1994.  As a woman of great faith I thought that this would just be a minor hiccup in life that would soon go away.   I was wrong.  The one thing that I forgot is the Bible teaches us “faith without works is dead”.  While that makes sense in the spiritual sense, I did not understand it is also true in the physical world.

My health began to deteriorate, and I began to retreat in food as an escape.  The more difficult it was to do simple tasks, the more I found solace in my poor food choices and sedentary lifestyle.  So much, in fact, that I found myself almost 15 years later as a middle aged woman in her 50’s at almost 250 lbs, and having needed a cane to walk for almost 7 years.  Something snapped in me in 2009.  Perhaps it was the daughter of a friend being diagnosed.  Perhaps it was being told that after 15 years you can expect your health to go downhill when you have MS.  Perhaps it was I was sick and tired of depression and fear ruling my life.  Whatever the reason, I joined a gym for the first time in my life and started working out HARD with a trainer.  Within 3 months I no longer need my cane, and was off almost all medication.  I steadily began to improve dramatically.

Oct 22, 2012

Oct 8, 2012

Nov 2012

My diet was “clean” and I thought it was good.  But around August of this year I began to think “good enough is not good enough”.  Having gone from a size 20/22 to a 12 was good, but I began to think I needed to  get serious again. So I made the life altering decision I mentioned above. A friend and I were discussing my thoughts, and he said I should go to the best in St. Louis – and the best in St. Louis for women training was Debbie Portell.  So I hired Debbie to help me with my nutrition and as a trainer.  The first thing I found out is about 80% of what I was eating, I should NOT be eating.  My diet was clean, I was used to cooking most of my food, but I was still eating gluten, meats, vegetables and fruits that I should not have been.  So in order to achieve optimum health I followed Debbie’s instructions.  Oh, and I totally cut alcohol out of my routine.  As a woman who loved her wine, my friends could not believe this would happen.  Heck, I could not believe this would happen.  But it is December and I have not had any alcohol since September.  Perhaps I will in the future, but never to the extent I used to.  And perhaps not at all.  Because I decided that I am in this race for the long haul.  That means something different to everyone.  Perhaps it is fitting into that dress or pair of pants.  Or being able to look into the mirror and smile.  All of those are important, but I have been working to stay out of a wheelchair.  That gives you a lot of incentive and motivation.So just a few months later I find myself about 2 sizes smaller (no idea of the pounds, I threw away my scales a long time ago).  But more importantly, I FEEL fantastic.  I feel HEALTHY. 

 The food changes I have made will stay with me for life. 

If you know of anyone with health challenges, I urge you to send them to Debbie.  She will encourage them, kick their butts if needed, and be a forever friend.  I am so glad that I decided that “good enough is not good enough”.  -Thank you Debbie, for helping me change my life.

Rich Wood 13

Food is Fuel
A Journey Through Weight Gain, Weight Loss, Diabetes and Lifestyle Change

The unhealthy food you are eating does not care if you have a heart attack, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol count or a stroke. YOU have to care!!! You are in control of what goes in your body. When you wake up every morning and tell yourself “I have to do something about my weight,” and then go make the same food choices that you did the day before – you can’t blame the food. Every time I ate something
unhealthy I knew it was bad for me – my body would let me know. Your body is letting you know.

If you have been overweight for a long time and you look at all the money and effort you have put into looking and feeling this way, why wouldn't you put the same effort into feeling great? Please write me and tell me the downside to going through life feeling your best. Honestly you can no longer be this weak about food. Time to change!!! Prove something to yourself, whatever problem you face in your life, being unhealthy through those obstacles does not change the problem. You need to start believing in yourself. You are still on this earth to be a happy, healthy, productive person. You are able to get up and walk around. Think about how many people in wheelchairs would trade one day to be able to walk on a treadmill, much less go for a run. Whenever I am feeling tired, sore or wasting time, I think about all the people who would love to be able to go to the gym and improve themselves. You are totally capable of making the necessary changes. How can you complain about how you look and feel, when you are able to do something about it but choose not too?

I come in contact every day with people who are determined to change themselves. They are doing it. There is a reason the gyms are open 24 hours a day!!! You can watch your favorite tv show later. Skip baking the cake and cookies and do what is best for you in the long run, not short term pleasure. How about long term health? Some people will ignore this because it’s too real, but write down what you eat and how you spend some of your time. Put it on paper. Be honest with yourself. No one else has to see it. The answers on what you need to change will be right in front of you. Make the most of everyday you have on this earth, you owe it to yourself and your family and loved ones you have lost. See what it feels like to run at the optimum level. Think and live like a champion, you can do it. I’m living proof. Make the New Year everything you want it to be. It’s time to do work. If you put the time and energy into your health it will pay off – I promise!!! I’m going to train. You need motivation? Do you think you are the only person who is busy?

Are you ready to begin?

Rich Wood 12

Food is Fuel

A Journey Through Weight Gain, Weight Loss, Diabetes and Lifestyle Change

My passion for improving my own well-being has caused many changes in my life, besides just physical.  I have changed my entire life and career to become a certified personal trainer.  It has become my life’s work to help others feel better and find their passion.  If you need inspiration, or haven’t found that one thing you are passionate about – be passionate about your health.  It will improve all other areas of your life.  I still go to a trainer to help me achieve my goals.  I know the importance of asking for help, and I know how effective getting help from the right person can be.  I surround myself with people who are passionate about what they do.  It drives me to have the same passion about what I do.  I never lose sight of how lucky I am to have people in my life help me stay focused and help me strive for greatness.  Let their words inspire greatness in you:

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Debbie Portell

Personal Trainer/Nutritionist Coach

Why did you become a personal trainer, what do you love about training people, and why are you so passionate about it?

I became a trainer because 10 years ago I was so sick I nearly died.  No one could figure out what was wrong with me.  I fought daily to uncover the reason why I was losing weight, then gaining weight and could not get out of bed due to rapid heart rate, persistent dizziness and terrible tremors.  I thought for sure it was the end for me.  I finally tried one last doctor.  It was the 22nd doctor in 2 years.  He asked me what my blood type was.  I told him O positive.  He said you are eating everything wrong.  I said that cannot be, I meet with the hospital dietitian regularly.  He changed my food and I was feeling better within a week.  I had suffered for 2 years.  Thought for sure I was going to die.  I was feeling 60% better in a week.  Food is fuel.  It can save your life or it can cost you all the joy and pleasure you have in your life.  I am so passionate about it because who wouldn't be if they experienced what I did.  God must intend for me to share this information.  I made an agreement with him after I started feeling better daily.  I told him I would save lives every day he gave me on earth.  That’s exactly what I do, along with kissing my sweet doggies every day.

What are you trying to achieve in the future, and what does seeing someone succeed do for you?

We are trying to achieve a lifetime of optimum health. I hope Rich will change lives daily the same way I do.  Just through his story.  His testimony is amazing and he is a walking inspiration to others.   What does that do for me?  Blesses my life more than you would ever know.  Makes it clear that I am doing exactly what I should be doing with my life.  Explains why I jump out of bed every day to do it again and again with each new day.

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Kyle Watson

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt/Instructor

What do you love about training people, and why are you so passionate about it?

I love interacting with people and more importantly helping people. I have also always enjoyed the satisfaction of sharing knowledge.  With my passion for Jiu-Jitsu, creating my own gym was a natural fit. On a daily basis I get to surround myself with great people, and help them by sharing a passion of mine that just happens to positively affect everyone it touches. Simply put, it was meant to be!

What are you trying to achieve in the future, and what does seeing someone succeed do for you?

In the future I see not only creating many champions, but I plan on sharing the many life-changing benefits of this art with as many people as I effectively can.  I hope to have multiple locations so I can reach out a broader spectrum of people. This is much more than an art to me. It is a platform that I can use to help people stay healthy, live happier less stressful lives, teach people to be more humble and live by a code of honor, develop many healthy friendships, conquer fears, build self-esteem, empower people to protect themselves, and develop future leaders.

It is hard to describe in words how my students’ successes make me feel. Although I do not have children, I imagine it would be similar to a proud parent.  It is a sense of happiness, not that you achieved something for someone, but that you showed them that through hard work they could achieve it themselves. It is gratification at its highest level, and I am truly blessed that I get to experience this feeling on a varying scale every single day.

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Sid Gee

 8^th Degree Black Belt, Kenpo Karate Instructor

What do you love about training people, and why are you so passionate about it?

My passion for training people comes from how it changed my life. I can take a shy kid and give him confidence. Take an out of shape person and make him fit. Take a person that's lost in the world and give them a chance to get better at something. The bottom line is that it gives a person confidence, with confidence you can do anything you want in this world. My favorite quote," how do you put a price tag on that".

What are you trying to achieve in the future, and what does seeing someone succeed do for you?

Karate has an endless path; I tell my students enjoy the journey not the destination! We all hit road blocks when we dedicate to something. You have to find what you really want out of your journey. Some people want self-defense, some want to sport fight, some want to get in shape. Everyone has goals. If I have a student that's burned out on katas or techniques we will spar or we can do mitts. All these things will get you to be happy training in martial arts. It's not all about belts; it’s about being happy improving yourself and getting better at something.

I believe Rich has changed his life because he wanted to change, he just didn't have a vehicle to do it. He found it through Martial Arts. Rich and I have a common bond in many ways but especially in MMA, We both have a passion for the stand-up part and we understand it very well. I'm still looking for my first world champion in MMA, someday it will happen.

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    It’s important in life to not be afraid or ashamed to ask for help.  I interviewed this group of important people in my life to show you just how anxious people are to help.  Stress can cause you to feel overwhelmed, and maybe you can’t change that immediately, but the one thing you absolutely can control and change instantly is your health.  There are many options available to help you start.  Chase your passion in life, no matter what.  I’m not telling you to quit your job because you've always had an interest in playing guitar, and then overnight hope to be Eddie Van Halen.  But, what I am saying is: go buy a guitar.  Take a lesson.  Pursue your passion.  Life is a journey, and by taking chances you will come in contact with incredible people who will make an impact on your life in a very positive and meaningful way.  If you have any fear about how to get started, and getting yourself on the path to a healthy lifestyle, let these words help you make the first step.  You can contact any one of us to help get you on your way.

Everyone mentioned in this blog has had their own obstacles to overcome.  We can each relate to whatever it is you’re going through.  You’re not alone in this; it’s ok to do something for yourself.  Everything in life can and will get better if your health is running at its most optimum level.

Food for thought: Chase your passion, not your pension. 

-Rich Wood