Fun and festive study breaks

Posted on December 13, 2011 by ZenLizzie

Management, evaluation and environment - I guess flashcards aren't a very advanced studying technique, but until someone gets me and iPad, these are the best way for me to study while waiting in line at the post office or doing cardio at the gym.

This may sound crazy, but studying for exams has been surprisingly relaxing. Not the actual studying or exam taking, since ya know.. grad school ain’t cheap and I’d like to graduate sometime this decade, but being able to clear my calendar for designated “Study Time” and “Break Time.”

I’ve also had the opportunity to spend a lot more quality time with my friends and family in the last two weeks, and that really means a lot. I guess it is the season of gatherings, out of town visitors and commiserating study groups.

This week, my semester exams are done and now I’m reviewing for my OMG-Big Mama-Comprehensive Exam. Tomorrow, I’ll sit in an icy computer lab for hours, cranking out essays about public health program planning, theory and evaluation. And then? I’ll wait to see if I get to graduate in May. I’m happy to report that I’m almost finished wrapping up the loose ends for my field placement next semester. I can’t say much about it, but I’m excited to do something new and to work on a program addressing health disparities, which is one of my main areas of interest.

But, Ok, enough about school…

Last week I baked my mom's oatmeal-coconut Christmas cookie recipe for Kat's cookie swap. It is hard to explain why these are so good, but really they are so. good.

It isn't the holiday season without cookies and festive booze.

Yesterday, my friend from my FloMo days, Michael came to visit. We went to the Body Worlds Vital Exhibit at the SC State Museum. I know this is going to sound either nerdy or disturbing depending on how well you know me, but..It was really interesting to see what disease looks like inside the body.

Photography wasn't allowed in the exhibit, but lucky for you, we have these other charming photos of our day.

I’ve also being trying to get in the holiday spirit as much as possible by surrounding myself with glittery things lit by twinkle lights. It helps!

Sparkly trees fight S.A.D.! Try it.

And I’m really excited to announce that I was chosen as a grand prize winner for the “Lee Brother Your Holiday Recipe” contest from the Lee Brothers and the SC Department of Agriculture. They wanted recipes that used local ingredients, so I submitted my vegetarian collard recipe and won my category! My family is amused by this because growing up I hated collards, and now I’m spreading my love for greens all across the state.

And now.. I’m off to get in some movement and relaxation (cardio and yoga!) before I have to go back to studying!

Sunny weekend

Posted on May 2, 2011 by ZenLizzie

I was going to put off writing this post and go to bed, but since I’m glued to my laptop’s streaming news coverage of the Bin Laden announcement, I might as well go ahead and share my less-important weekend.

I participated in the Mid-Carolina NAMI walk Saturday morning. It was a 5k walk at Riverwalk Park, and there were lots of people there showing support for the organization that works with people who have mental illness.

It wasn't a race, so the atmosphere was pretty relaxed.

Some of my fellow "Public Health Strut"-team. We even had tshirts!

The Riverwalk is one of my favorite places to walk/run and the weather was PERFECT on Saturday. Not too hot, and really sunny. After the walk, I headed straight to the Rosewood Crawfish Festival. The festival, conveniently located in my neighborhood, featured Cajun and Creole food, local art and live music. The “headliner” was Eve 6, and if it weren’t for drinking beer in the middle of the afternoon, I would have sworn I was back in middle school!

Something about those little beady eyes looking at me... I just couldn't do it.

Instead I had some shrimp and crawfish etouffee, a cajan soupy dish. It was just OK. Not spicy enough for me!

Instead I had some shrimp and crawfish etouffee, a Cajun soupy dish. It was just OK. Not spicy enough for me, but it does inspire me to try to make some Cajun food at home.

I forgot to get any photos of me in the festival, so instead I have this awkward photo outside the gate with a Columbia police cruiser.

Luckily, I remembered the sunscreen, but being in the sun all day made me exhausted! I think I fell asleep at about 7 p.m. After being on autopilot for the last few weeks, I finally was able to just crash and rest.

Although I’m getting a little nervous about not having a summer job yet, I’m very excited to have a little more time to get things done now that the semester is over. Ya know, those temporarily “nonessential” things like… laundry.

I’m also excited to get back on a regular running/training schedule. I’ve been able to work out most days of the week even through everything, but I haven’t been able to make a lot of progress in mileage. Also, maybe I’ll be able to construct an actual meal rather than just PBJ sandwiches.

Beyonce is on Team Public Health!

Posted on April 27, 2011 by ZenLizzie

Beyonce has paired with Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” Campaign to continue the movement to get kids healthier through better nutrition and exercise. She has reworked her song, “Get Me Bodied,” and the choreography that goes with it into the teen-friendly- “Move Your Body.” A lot of the routine reminds me of moves I’ve done in Zumba, and I’m confident that kids (and adults!) could do most of the routine. Obviously I am partial to dancing, but I love that she is encouraging activity that is fun, doable and accessible.

Targeting kids who might not gravitate toward sports or other “fitness” activities is really important. Not everyone is going to be an athlete, but dancing is for everyone. It doesn’t cost anything, you don’t need a special place to do it, and it can be a really good work out.

Child health and obesity is a complex issue, but putting it on the national agenda through the Let’s Move campaign is a start, and in my opinion, showing that fitness isn’t just sprints and sit ups is a good way to package the message for young people.

While I’m taking exams today, I want you guys to all learn this dance and meet back here tomorrow so we can move our bodies with Beyonce, K?

Public Health Talk: Don’t forget about safety

Posted on April 7, 2011 by ZenLizzie

So, as I’ve said before.. I’m kind of a nerd for public health. I love my classes, I love the issues, and I love jabbering away about the (millions) of issues related to health and society.

This year’s National Public Health Week is themed “Safety is NO Accident: Live Injury Free,” except, when I stop to think about how I’ve stayed injury free most of my life, some of it has been an accident. A lot of safety stuff might seem like common sense, but looking back at stupid things I’ve done reminds me just how lucky I’ve been to avoid injuries. Talking about safety isn’t supposed to be alarming, but just about bringing more mindfulness to the things we do everyday.

And yes, car accidents… injuries from over training… burning yourself because your desire for fresh-out-of-the-oven cookies temporarily disabled the smart part of your brain that says, “Don’t touch that, dummy!”.. those are all public health issues! (Ok, maybe that last one is just a personal issue of mine.) If you think about the physical and mental damages caused by injury, it seems clear that we have to consider safety a public health issue.

The American Public Health Association offers some good tips on how to stay healthy at work, at home, at play and on the move and also ways to get your community on board for large scale safety improvements.

Stretch

My top three (obvious, but worth repeating) safety moves:

Figure out the best way to stretch – Dynamic stretches before a work out, static stretches after. Dynamic stretches are the kind that get your blood flowing and loosen you up, but aren’t meant to stay held in one position (Ex: Butt kicks, sports drills, aerobic warm ups). Static stretches are the ones we typically think about as stretches. These are the stretches that make your muscle fibers long and prevent soreness, but done before a work out can potentially thwart your work out efforts by decreasing your results. (The National Strength and Conditioning Association offers more examples of good warm ups and cool downs.)
Avoid creepy/dark/isolated places while running (and also generally) – I’ve really liked having Carlton around lately to go run with me, because even though I live in a relatively safe neighborhood, I don’t always feel comfortable going out for long runs by myself in the evening. Also, it is a good idea to a) stop announcing that you’re about to go run online and b) stop running the same “course” every day at the same times. In this case, being predictable works against you if someone was trying to target you. I know it sounds paranoid, but a little paranoia goes a long way! For more practical and less paranoid running safety tips, check out this “How to” guide from Eunice.
Stop speeding. Stop texting. Stop doing things behind the wheel that could kill someone. – Seriously. There has been a rash of pedestrian deaths in my area, and some of them were attributed to driver distraction. Driving is one of the most dangerous things we do every day, so let’s stop stacking the deck against ourselves.

Ok, so tell me.. do you think about injury beyond working out very often? How do you keep you or the people you love safe?

Happy Friday! Talking about public (mental) health

Posted on March 18, 2011 by ZenLizzie

My St. Patrick's Day was really wild.

So, as you may have noticed from all my whining on Twitter about how busy I am… I’m pretty busy and pretty whiny. And so, I’ve decided to skip town for the weekend to visit my friends at Jubilee. Ok, that’s not exactly the line of logic I used when planning this trip, but I’m sure that’s what it looks like.

I’ve been trying to get a little ahead this morning so that I don’t feel too guilty about being happy and not staring at my laptop screen this weekend, but I wanted to write a quick post for two reasons.

First, I updated my NAMI Walks page with some information about the walk I’m doing with some of my classmates at the end of the month to benefit NAMI, an organization that provides services, support and education to those with mental illness and their families.

Although we sometimes get glimpses of mental health and illness on health living blogs, it can sometimes fly under the radar. There are millions of people struggling with mental illness in America, in our communities and homes. In today’s political and economic climate, many of the programs that reach out to those with severe mental illness are being cut. For some people, less access to services could mean they end up in emergency rooms, on the street or in prison instead.

So, this is my friendly reminder not to forget our minds and spirit when we talk about health and wellness. For some of us, mental health means making time for yoga or calling a friend. For others, it means being brave enough to ask for professional help and support. Either way, I’d like to try to be more mindful of mental health when thinking about healthy living.

And secondly,

Since I will be out of the office, I'm leaving my big booty cat in charge for the weekend.

I’ve never done a walk before! Have you participated in a fundraising walk? How do you incorporate mental health into your wellness strategy?

Doing big things!

Posted on March 15, 2011 by ZenLizzie

I’m the #1 fan of the time change. I realized today that as soon as the sun goes down, I become about 90% less effective and now I have a little extra time to get stuff done! I love having more sunlight. I love longer days. I love love love it. I’m still feeling a little off, time-wise, and sleepy, but I LOVE the later time so much that I’m going to stop whining.

It dawned on me today that some of my readers are probably wondering where my “healthy living blog”-style posts are. Well, most of them are in my brain, floating around as ideas more than posts. My food lately has been pretty boring: eggs, toast, veggie burgers, salads and things I was smart enough to freeze when I had the energy to cook.

My work outs have been awesome. Even though I’m sleepy, I’ve made a No Nap Rule for this week, which helps me prioritize my activities a little better since my productivity after an evening nap is approx: 0% or even -5% (A negative productivity includes something like… ordering pizza and watching Jersey Shore.)

After tweeting, blogging and facebooking about my “30 Day Shred,” attempt, I was able to get my friend Jordy to come run and shred with me today.

This is what post-run-lizzie looks like. Red. But I wanted to show off my NEW OBAMAMMAMA shirt. It only took like, forever to get here, so I might have to explain the State of the Union address reference to non-fans. Anyway, it is appropriate for my life and for my philosophy and for my desire for change.

Jordy recently had surgery on his wrist. But if Jillian Michaels has taught me anything.. it is to SHOW NO MERCY.

I'm too lazy to figure out the timer on my camera. So instead you get this post-RUN-post-Shred photo booth picture of me and Jordy. We felt pretty shredded afterwards. But not too shredded for photos.

It made me feel better about my level of “in shapeness” that Jillian was making Jordy sweat too. (If you want more 30 Day Shred updates, I’m posting them on Facebook.)

In other news.. this weekend was sooo busy! It was great, but one day I’m going to have to learn how to plan to do nothing. Not anytime in the next two months, but soon!

My other BFF Katie came down Friday night so we could get ready for the Rally for a Moral Budget at the S.C. Statehouse. We laid around on my living room floor working on posters and gossiped about.. ya know, social justice. Actually, I don’t know what we talked about, but I’m sure it was really deep.

Katie. She made the sign on the left. She also went to art school. I made the sign on the left. I went to "How to write so that you look insane" college.

Katie. She made the sign on the left. She also went to art school. I made the sign on the right. I went to "How to write so passionately that you look insane" college.

One of Katie's pictures of the rally, which I stole from facebook.

This is my favorite picture from the event (also from Katie's facebook). Sorry if I offend all my Tea Party readership.

I was motivated to go to the rally mostly because S.C. refuses to tax on principle, and those who don’t have much of a voice in government (the sick, the poor, the elderly and kids in public schools) are the ones who are affected the most. I may not have a lot of power, but I have a voice. And sharpies. I got a really sweet farmer’s tan and got to see a bunch of South Carolinians who care about the same stuff I do, so I mark that a success.

Then.. the day took a turn for the testosterone when I ended up at an amateur boxing match in Florence, with Carlton. It was held at the Weed and Seed, a community center that has an boxing program for young people.

Your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. Those are two little boxers.

Then we watched “Battle: Los Angeles,” or “The longest recruitment video for the U.S. Marines I’ve ever paid money to watch.” Luckily, Sunday I wrote a paper about tuberculosis and went with my roommate to see the “The King’s Speech” and quickly got my manly levels down to normal.

What is your go-to lazy food? Mine is eggs and toast, and I never ever get tired of it.

Spring Break + First thoughts on 30 Day Shred

Posted on March 11, 2011 by ZenLizzie

I cannot believe the week has flown by! Granted, I think I’ve spent half of it trying to catch up on sleep and exercise, so I feel so much better but I would love another week (or two) to actually start becoming productive.

My biggest fitness accomplishment this week was starting Jillian Michael’s 30-Day Shred. I found it on Ebay for pretty cheap, and I decided I’ve been putting off strength training and abs long enough. I’ll be giving quick progress updates on my Facebook page, but after two days here are my first thoughts:

For 25 minutes, you get a great 25 minute work out without a lot of “filler” explanations and warm up/cool down. After a brief warm up, I stayed in the cardio HR zone for most of the work out.
That said… I think you need to add extra stretching and cool down after the video. After realizing what a huge difference stretching makes after running, I found that I was sore this morning. I expect some soreness after starting a new work out routine, but I felt “inadequately stretched” sore today. I made sure after today’s work out to add in extra hamstring, hip flexor and shoulder stretches. I’ve read a lot of status updates and tweets about the DVD and how much pain they are in, and I think some of the soreness people experience could be helped with some additional stretching.
I am adding the work out onto the cardio I’m already doing: running 3x/week and 2-3 days of other cardio for 30-60 minutes. I think that 25 minutes a day is great if you’re just starting, but it doesn’t make sense for me to work out less when I’m still trying to lose weight.
Jillian doesn’t scare me, even though I can see why people think she is mean. I think that her “If a 300lb person can do jumping jacks, you can do it too!” message really works for me, but I can see how it might be a turn off for people who actually can’t do some of the moves because of injury.

I’m excited to start something new, especially since it seems like a lot of my fitness buddies are interested or doing something similar.

(Pardon the crappy Photo Booth picture and uuuh... the face.) Shred Day 1: I don't really expect a lot of changes. I just hope that my "after" picture doesn't look defeated from being beaten down by Jillian.

And some random pictures that sum up my week:

The collards from the garden are going strong. The planting for this year's garden has just started! I'm so excited!! I can officially call this the second annual ZenLizzie-ZenWalter Father Daughter garden!

This is the empty parking lot at the park this weekend. And looking at these trees gives me terrible flashbacks to last week's allergy attack. I've been eating a tablespoon of raw local honey like the commenters suggested! This week I'm feeling better, and luckily, we've had a lot of rain lately so the pollen hasn't really had a chance to set in.

I love my gym. Even if I've been avoiding it for the last two months. Seeing it during spring break.. during the day without 500 stinky freshman boys crowding around the mirrors.. I remember why I fell in love in the first place.

And… most importantly…

I finally got a haircut! ZenMama took pity on me and paid for it since I've been too broke to afford it. Now I can actually wear my hair down without it looking like a frumpy mess!

I finally got a haircut! ZenMama took pity on me and paid for it since I've been too broke to afford anything besides the necessities and overpriced cat food for my diva cat. Now I can actually wear my hair down without it looking like a frumpy mess!

This weekend I’m looking forward to bffKatie visiting so that we can go rally for a moral budget at the S.C. statehouse! The best part of not being in journalism is that I don’t have to be objective anymore. Some things are worth speaking up about! Ok, yes, I am a nerd, but I’m a nerd who cares.

What are you looking forward to this weekend? Have any thoughts to share about the 30 Day Shred?

Public Health Talk: A dress made out of WHAT?

Posted on March 3, 2011 by ZenLizzie

My spring break has officially started, and I think if I had another day like this past week I would have just thrown up my hands and said “Sorry, week! I quit you!” Actually, the last month has been full of things that were both exciting and stressful, but I get a week to catch up on life, so I’m going to stop complaining!

Behind the scenes at Project Condom - With safe sex "Situation" and Snooki and regular me.

I’m excited to share one of the great things (and mildly stressful) parts of this month… Project Condom! Based on “Project Runway,” four years ago the University of South Carolina started the contest to raise awareness on campus. Student groups design a dress made mostly from condoms that reflect themes of safe sex, abstinence or monogamy. This was the fourth “season,” and the dresses were AMAZING. Along with the other graduate students at work, I helped construct… a Snooki dress.

Ok, you might be thinking, “What does Snooki have to do with safe sex??” but I can explain. Since we work primarily with teens, we’ve been paying a lot of attention to the messages from the media about sex, love and relationships, and what better place to start than reality TV? Our dress was a re-envisioning of Snooki. What if the characters on Jersey Shore talked about “safe smooshing” as much as they talk about “smooshing”?

Spray painting condoms outside my office may have alarmed some of the people in the building.

Who knew condoms could be so flashy?

On the cat walk!

GTL - not just gym, tan, laundry anymore!

We didn’t win, but we did make it to the finals, and I’m really proud of our whole team.

Some of the other entrants and Summer Rayne Oakes - the eco-model and celebrity judge for the competition.

Some of the other entrants in their lovely latex gowns and Summer Rayne Oakes - the eco-model and celebrity judge for the competition.

And, in related news… more young people are waiting to have sex! I think sometimes people forget that even comprehensive sex educators love to hear good news that people are taking time to make the best decisions for themselves to stay healthy, whether that is not having sex, waiting, wearing condoms or wearing whole condom evening gowns.

Tell me what you think! Have you ever seen a more glamorous condom cocktail dress? Ok, trick question because I know that is impossible! So, instead.. what are your plans for the weekend? Has spring weather hit your part of the world yet?

The latest in the BBR saga: Changing Carolina 5k

Posted on February 28, 2011 by ZenLizzie

So, after two failed attempts at running at 5k race because of illness and weather… I finally accomplished my goal of running 3.1 miles with other people watching! I’ve participated in other races, but this is the first I ran the whole way.

In full disclosure, I walked up two steep hills, but that was probably a total of 1 or 2 minutes, so I think it counts. Yes, these two hills.

And, if you notice when I put the route into MapMyRun it was actually closer to 3.5 miles rather than 3.1. The race was a free, unofficial course that was the culmination of the 6-week free 5k training that I participated in through the university. It was the first year of the race, and I think the distance might have been off because they had to change the course at the last minute.

No big deal for me since I just wanted to finish, but I’m sure all the running pros I heard bragging before the race about how they were going to “blow past all these walkers” after drinking until 4 a.m. were probably sad they didn’t PR. Oh well. Ya win some, ya lose some, 18-year-old running jerks! Just kidding, but some conversations I heard at the race did remind me of this post I just read about irritating runners on NoMeatAthlete.

For the most part, it was a mixed crowd made up of students, staff and faculty from the university. Some people were obviously runners who wanted to run a free race with a good chance of winning, but most of the participants ran the spectrum from walkers to fun runners to hardcore runners.

For all you “slow pokes” running 11 minute miles… My pace was about 15 min/mile (calculated for 3.5 miles), and I’m happy with it for now. Nobody said BigBootyRunning was going to be speedy. I write that not because I want sympathy, but to let everyone know that you are not slow! I am kind of slow, and I’m still faster than all the people who were in bed on Saturday morning!

I’m going to keep running hills and keep doing speed intervals, and I hope to be able to mark “Run 5 miles without stopping” off my list before summer really sets in.

The weather was perfect, and even though it was a free race, there were water stations, gift bags and post-race snacks. There were even two special guests… JaQuin and Larialmy Allen from Biggest Loser Season 11!

I stole all of my pictures of the race from my friend Karla, in the pink, with Julia and the Biggest Loser couple and USC staff .. Larialmy and JaQuin Allen!

I stole all of my pictures of the race from my friend Karla, in the pink, here with Julia and the Biggest Loser couple and USC staff .. Larialmy and JaQuin Allen!

And I am not a sentimental person, the best part was being able to do it with my classmates and friends. When I started grad school, I thought “I am a chubby, awkward nerd, and there is no way I’m ever going to be able to make friends with these girls,” but now, after a semester I realize I was wrong. I mean, I am a still chubby, awkward nerd, but sometimes people like that!

Aww...public health and social work representing! Thanks again to Karla who not only kept me accountable for the Saturday morning training runs, but also uploaded her pictures to facebook. I remembered to bring my camera but not the battery. Whoops.

Aww...public health and social work representing! This isn't everyone, but this is the best picture before everyone got sweaty and gross. Thanks again to Karla who not only kept me accountable for the Saturday morning training runs, but also uploaded her pictures to facebook. I remembered to bring my camera but not the battery. Whoops.

Thanks to all the race organizers (many of my classmates from public health), my runner friends and ALL the support from the blogging-twitter-facebook world!! I’m always nervous about sharing my struggles, but being open has really made it possible to receive a lot of encouragement and it means a lot.

What are your plans for the week?? I’m going to Project Condom tomorrow to show off a sparkly latex dress we’ve been working on for two weeks at work. It will make more sense when I can actually post pictures, but trust me… it is awesome.

Let’s talk about dudes, man: Prostates and Mustaches

Posted on November 2, 2010 by ZenLizzie

I made this black and white because apparently mustaches are very classy in some circles.

I’ve never been the type of girlfriend to have strong opinions regarding a dude’s facial hair, or maybe I’ve just always dated people who were ideologically aligned with me when it came to facial hair: Nothing too sparse, nothing too insane looking and NO CREEPY MUSTACHES.

But, in the spirit of taking one for the team, I am willing to embrace “Movember,” a month where dudebros around the world commit to growing just a mustache to raise awareness and funds for the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the LIVESTRONG foundation.

Without pointing any fingers, (Ok, innuendo-based “breast cancer awareness” campaigns, I am talking about you,) there are a lot of awareness campaigns that don’t do very much in my opinion. I think that this is a really great idea to get guys talking about prostate cancer. I mean, of all the things that guys WILL talk about, sometimes it is the most serious stuff that they are unwilling to bring up with one another or even their doctors.

So, even though the health blog world has been a predominantly women-centered universe with a lot of focus on women’s health, I think we can be a positive influence on the guys in our lives: boyfriends, husbands, friends, dads, brothers, cousins, blogger friends, mailmen, whoever, and support their health too. Encourage them to get regular physicals, eat healthy and stay active, and be informed.

I would like to show my support for the bros growing their (potentially creepy) mustaches this month and the researchers and educators who are working hard to address prostate cancer and other dude-related issues.

According to the CDC, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and in 2006, more than 203,000 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer.
If detected early, prostate cancer is 90% curable.
The PCF says that black men are 66% more likely than white men to develop prostate cancer, and 2.5 times more likely to die from the disease.
It is estimated that 2 million American men are living with prostate cancer.

For more information:

Movember and how to donate

Prostate Cancer Foundation

National Health Institutes – Prostate Cancer Homepage

CDC Men’s Health

Creepy for a cause.

Living! with ZenLizzie

Live simply, eat mindfully, laugh inappropriately

Category Archives: Public health