catmoves2718
Forum Replies Created
-
I know that I am one of the people who suggested a gradual approach, but if you don’t want meat, and eating it makes you feel ill or something, I would not recommend forcing yourself to eat it. There is no reason to eat meat if you don’t want it, and plenty of reasons not to. Do be sure to eat other high protein foods, like beans.
-
If you think of veganism as a set of dietary restrictions and nothing more, then “vegan before 6” is a reasonable name. However, veganism has its roots in an ethical/philosophical perspective that rejects treating animals as commodities. From that perspective, I think “vegan before 6” makes about as much sense as “pacifist before 6.” That said, anything that reduces consumption of animal products ultimately reduces animal suffering, so I won’t quibble too much.
-
As Lucca Valentine and others have said above, if your goal in going vegan is improved health, you may be better off focusing on healthy eating instead of abstaining entirely from animal products. Focusing on healthy eating will likely mean increasing your consumption of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and legumes (beans), all of which are vegan. At the same time you may want to reduce your consumption of meat, dairy (especially cheese), processed food, fried food, etc..
Focusing on adding healthy food, rather than taking away large classes of foods may help you make sustainable change in your diet. Over time, the healthy foods you add will displace the unhealthy food–you just won’t want junk anymore, or you’ll want less of it, less often. You can also think of it as a food swap. Each week (or every few weeks) you can add a healthy food to your diet, and remove an unhealthy food. Either way, slower change will give you time to learn what foods work for your taste/schedule/budget without being stressful or making you feel like you don’t know what to eat.
Another option is plans like Mark Bittman’s “vegan before 6” program, where you eat only plant based foods before dinner, but can have more-or-less whatever you want for dinner. (I really wish he would have called it plant based before 6, but whatever.)
-
While some people seem to do very well on high carb, low fat, vegan diets, it is worth noting that these diets often fail to provide what nutrition professionals generally consider to be sufficient amounts of protein. People’s protein requirements likely vary, which would explain, in part, why some people do well on such diets and others do not. If you are new to veganism, it is probably wise to begin with a diet that provides what nutritional professionals consider to be adequate levels of all macro-nutrients before trying more restrictive diets. For more information on vegan diets and nutrition I recommend the writings of Ginny Messina (http://www.theveganrd.com/). Her books and website provide easily understood information based on current nutritional science. You might also check out the writings of, Jack Norris (http://jacknorrisrd.com/), another vegan and registered dietician.
If you’re vegan, or trying to eat more vegan meals, fast food is not your friend. Freebird’s, Chipotle, and Subway are about your only option. Oh, and the bean burritos at Taco Bell are vegan if you get them without cheese. If you don’t have time for food prep things like canned beans are a life-saver. Sometimes I literally eat them out of the can, along with carrots, sugar snap peas, and whatever other veggies are handy. Is it the best meal? No, but it’s better than a lot of alternatives. You can also use frozen veggies, they keep for a long time, and you don’t have to cut them–plus they’re cheap.
-
http://www.nomeatathlete.com/ has a lot of great vegan recipes. A lot of them are geared towards being nutritionally dense. Also, a second for ohsheglows.com. Look at the blogs and websites those two link to as well.
-
This is awesome for you, and I really hope it works out. However, if it were me, I would have multiple conversations with the potential gym owner about what she thinks the pole program in her gym will look like, the role of her instructors, etc.. I would want to make sure she really understands pole, and how pole is different and similar to other fitness classes.
Space/accommodations are also important. As someone else asked, will pole have it’s own room, but also, will this room be used only for pole? If the room is used for other classes then you may have to take poles up and down for every class. As an instructor this can be tiring and can mean you’re there close to two hours to teach a one hour class (depending on the number of poles in the room). If there are classes where people wear gym shoes in the same room, then making sure the floor is always clean enough for floor work can sometimes be an issue. I’d also want to make sure she plans to pay enough to at least break even on the cost of the training.
My understanding is that being certified can make it easier to get liability insurance, but you might be covered under the gym’s insurance. Aside from insurance, going through a training program may make you feel more confident in your ability to teach, which is important.
I really hope this is a great opportunity for you, but please be careful. I have experience teaching in a gym, if you’d like to talk more you can message me.
-
I do it left hand down, right foot on the pole, or right hand down, left foot on the pole. I don’t know whether it is wrong to do it the other way, but, I think it would be really difficult to do something like apprentice into extended butterfly, or butterfly into flatline Scorpio, if you do it the other way (i.e. right hand down, left foot on the pole).
-
Like poleisnewtome, I find that setting a small goal of 5 or so minutes to start with works well for me. As poleisnewtome mentioned, sometimes my 5 minute sessions last much longer, other times I just do 5 minutes, but feel better for having met my goal. There are two other things I find help me. The first is giving myself permission to just do something easy for those five minutes, like free dance through a song I like, rather than working on something I find more challenging. As with time, sometimes I go on to work on more difficult moves, and sometimes I don’t, but either way I’ve met my goal. Second, I try to not think about it as I “have to” do pole, but as I “get to.” Even though I love pole, when my motivation is low, it can feel more like a chore than something I love, so I try to remind myself not to think of it that way.