Reader Feedback

Fitness Forum: Your feedback, concerns and insights

What Members Have Liked Recently

I’ve had good intentions of writing every month when I receive [IDEA’s] publications in the mail. I’m finally getting to it. Like many others in the field, I am bombarded with publications, e-mail blasts and all manner of material. Sadly, much of it never gets read—except yours.

The IDEA publications have come so far in content, look and feel. The format is truly classy, and the length and usability of the articles are without peer in the industry. You have come such a long way, and your commitment to creating differentiation is so very clear. I’m a member for life to be sure, and I want you to know how much I appreciate what you are bringing to the industry. All of us in the field are so fortunate to have you continue your leadership position in the industry. Thanks for your continued pursuit of excellence.

Gregory Florez
CEO, First Fitness Inc./FitAdvisor.com
Salt Lake City, Utah

We loved Lawrence Biscontini’s article “The Blends Justify the Means” (March 2008)! I copied it for all my instructors and distributed it at our [March staff] meeting. This article helped me illustrate the need for creative diversity in our programming. I am convinced that we all have a fresh, new perspective in looking at our menu of classes. Thanks for keeping your information current and up-to-date—it keeps us on the cutting edge!

Cammy Dennis
Fitness Director, On Top of
the World Communities
Ocala, Florida

Thank you for the lovely layout and hard work you did on my article “Core Design” (March 2008)—it turned out great! Every­thing looks as I had envisioned it. In fact, all the articles are so well put together and so informative that it makes me bummed that consumers don’t get the opportunity to read such a high quality journal; with all the junk out there, I think many would certainly appreciate it. Thanks for the opportunity, and I look forward to working with you again in the future.

Cameron Chinatti
Lakeshore Athletic Club—Flatiron
Boulder, Colorado

Yoga Nidra

The yoga program at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland, includes “Gentle Yoga,” “Yoga for Women,” “Yoga for Stress Management,” “Yoga I,” “Yoga II” and the latest addition, “Yoga Nidra.” Taught by certified yoga instructor Jordana Carmel, yoga nidra has added a new dimension to our yoga program in helping people find ways to manage chronic pain and improve their overall quality of life.

Yoga nidra is an ancient form of yogic meditation known as “yogic sleep.” It is a deep relaxation process that helps students find freedom from negative emotions while alleviating the impact of various chronic conditions.

Through a guided exploration of the conscious and unconscious mind, yoga nidra provides an outlet for letting go of painful situations and internal struggles. It creates awareness of physical sensations, breath, feelings, emotions, thoughts and images and ultimately helps develop a sense of inner peace. It has been said that 1 hour of yoga nidra is as restorative as 4 hours of sleep.

“We use yoga nidra to investigate and go beyond our limiting beliefs and conditioning, so that we may live a contented life, free of conflict, anxiety, fear, dissatisfaction and suffering,” says Richard C. Miller, PhD, spiritual teacher and yoga nidra expert.

Sarah McKechnie, MA, CES
Manager, Community Fitness,
Holy Cross Hospital
Silver Spring, Maryland

Editor’s Note: See the Mind-Body-Spirit News column for more on yoga nidra.

Personal Trainers and Nutrition Advice

After reading the Warm-Up editorial “Nutrition: To Advise or Not?” (March 2008), I felt compelled to bring to light a side to this nutrition “puzzle” not addressed in your publication.

Have you read Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price, DDS? Or Pottenger’s Cats by Francis M. Pottenger Jr., MD? I feel these two important books point the way squarely to our society regaining its lost health. If you did nothing but look at the pictures in these incredibly well documented and researched books, I’d be completely surprised if your thoughts on what is good nutrition weren’t thrown for a loop. While I don’t carry the coveted [nutrition and medical credentials] that are the gold standard in most of this industry, I am qualified to coach clients toward regained vitality through practical/traditional nutrition, versus what many of us from this side of the fence label as “politically correct dieting” (eating low-fat, high-grain foods, shunning red meat and saturated fats, etc.).

What I continue to challenge experts all over the country to consider is this: “What did humans consume over millennia (I’m talking hundreds of thousands of years here) up until the last 100 or 150 years? What did/do the healthy, long-lived peoples of the planet eat? How did we get here without all these statins, artificial sweeteners and foods made more functional? What comprises 50% of our cell walls?” I am continually surprised at how stubbornly [these nutritionists] refuse to acknowledge those materials that are researched by experts not under the umbrella of big food and pharmacology!

What I also find incredibly interesting is who is driving the market on lowering cholesterol numbers. Do you know what “normal” cholesterol levels were in the 1970s? Who stands to make billions of dollars off an increasingly sick and obese society?

You’ve heard the saying “One man’s cure is another man’s poison.” Why wouldn’t the foods we eat be the same as those our ancestors ate, depending on where in this world they came from? If you fed a native Inuit (before white man’s “civilized food,” such as white sugar, flour, homogenized milk and salt, appeared) the diet of a Pacific Islander [and vice versa], each would become sick and likely die. Why is that?

And why would we be any different today? Eating for one’s metabolic type helps each individual find the fuel mix that is best for his engine. What happens if you put diesel in a high-powered race-car engine? It is, indeed, no different with [people]. When I ate a high-carb, low-fat diet, I gained belly weight, had miserable hot flashes, ached horribly, could be most unpleasant and had a nasty temper. The allopathic approach would have been medications to treat symptoms brought on by foods that were—to my unique set of genes—poison! All of these symptoms are G-O-N-E—and without wonder drugs to boot. Hmm, . . . did I mention my own physician is a client of mine?

Thanks for giving my note a read. I’ll keep pressing on here, inspiring the world to wellness, one person at a time.

Nancy L. Jerominski
Owner, NLJ Fitness & Wellness
Consulting
Seattle, Washington

Omission

Please note that we unintentionally omitted the company “The First Step” from the Resources sidebar on page 45 in the “Kids in Motion Stay in Motion” article (February 2008). You can reach Karen Wells for more information about creative kids’ movement programming at www.the-first-step.net.

SIDEBAR: We Want to Hear From You!

Send your letters and opinions to Ryan Halvorson, IDEA Fitness Journal Fitness Forum, 10455 Pacific Center Ct., San Diego, CA 92121-4339; fax them to him at (858) 535-8234; or e-mail them to rhalvorson@ideafit.com. You may also leave a voice mail letter in the editorial voice mail box at (858) 535-8979, ext. 239. (For general membership questions or information, however, please e-mail member ser­vices at member@ideafit.com.) We reserve the right to edit letters for length or clarity.

© 2008 by IDEA Health & Fitness Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited.