Sanoviv: Fitness Lecture, Staff & Class Comments

Yeah fine – I lied. One more post.

• 

• 

We had a great lecture last night by Omar, who heads up Fitness here. It was the more amazing because, while all the lectures here have been in English, he did it simultaneously swapping back and forth between English and Spanish.

I really like Omar. He knows a lot about Fitness. There are three guys in the Fitness Center, and Omar is the quietest and perhaps “least muscular looking” if you want to put it that way. But he is infinitely smart about not only fitness, but also how to get the ‘best out of’ every single person he sees.

In this post, I’m going to list some things about some of the Staff that you might “miss” at Sanoviv, or might want to be sure that you do not miss. Then I’ll talk about the Fitness lecture.

Before I start though, I thought I’d mention that I got my hemoglobin A1C and fasting insulin blood tests back yesterday. Both are normal. Because of the “inability to lose weight” issue, the doctor wanted to check these, even though my Fasting Glucose was fine. They’re more specific tests for insulin resistance and diabetes. As I said to her when she told me, I’m glad that they’re normal, but I’m also frustrated that they are normal. My DUTCH test won’t be back until we’re back home. THIS is what the results will look like.

Staff

I thought, since I’m writing, I should make a quick post about some of the Staff at Sanoviv. As I have mentioned before, you don’t tip the staff here, though when you do your check out and final billing, you can add to it for their “Christmas Fund.” We are adding $1,000, just by way of example. That said, here are a few completely random notes about Staff folks:

Roberto: He’s the shortest one in the kitchen/wait staff, but in my opinion has the best English. He has a great sense of humor, too. If you need something, see if you can snag Roberto. He’s very shy though, snag lightly. :-) He has the nicest smile.

Eunice (pron: you-NIECE-si): She is the Goddess of Massage. I’m not kidding. Her Swedish is the best I have had – In. The. World. And not only am I personally a licensed massage therapist, but I tend to “get massages” (and facials – more on that in a second) everywhere I go. This “honor” was previously held by a massage therapist in Sayulita, Mexico. Eunice’s Reflexology is outstanding as well – better than even the teacher who taught us reflexology at massage school. I have had 3 Swedish massages here, 2 from Eunice. The 2 she gave me were radically different, which is also important. She does a “once over,” then concentrates on what you need. She’s not just “following a template.” The first time she massaged me, I went from the Swedish to the Detox Bath – I’ve discussed that before. It knocked me out! The Reflexology is done with Parafango on your back (you lie on it), and is a great experience. Eunice goes through what she “found” after your Reflexology session (if you’d like), and she hit the nail on the head for me. WARNING: Her hands, elbows, etc. are Made Of Steel. She is no bigger than a minute, but believe me, if she asks you “Media, or Hard?” go for “Media.” Trust me on this. There will still be some excruciating points she finds, but I can’t imagine what “Hard” would feel like. (Her nickname is pronounced “niece.”)

Roberta: She doesn’t have a ton of English, but she’s the Goddess of Facials. If you like (well, not like, but desire/need) extractions, this is the woman. As those of you who feel that the “best” part of facials are the extractions, again, this is the best I’ve had – In. The. World. There was one gal up in Salt Spring Island (Canada) and another in Denver, Colorado who were tied for this “blue ribbon” before, but Roberta now has it, hand’s down. Warning: The extractions are as painful as painful can be. Breathe and pinch your hand or something. She does every. single. millimeter. of. your. skin. Including, like, in your ears. Yeeeee-owch!

Priscilla: Her seaweed wrap is the best. I had a couple, and she’s the winner. She’s hilarious, and she speaks English well. If you actually are going to Sanoviv, you can tell her that you understand that she learned her first English from Marvin Gaye “Let’s Get It On” (when she was six….) She’ll likely squeal though. ;-) She and her father are very musical and she mentioned it’s why she thinks some folks are better with languages than others. She said that her mother and brother aren’t that good musically and, in fact, neither of them “has English really at all.” If you’re doing a seaweed wrap, she’s your girl. If you have a good eggnog recipe, you can bring that to her, too. (She had her first eggnog this past Christmas and though she was freaked out at what was in it, she of course took one sip and had “eggnog love.”)

Brisi: She is the cutest kitchen/wait staff person (and only female). I don’t think that she would have a problem with me mentioning that (ahem) she somehow trails a little trouble after her when it comes to breakables. When we first arrived and were waiting for our tour, she came out to a table and dropped a tray of glasses on the floor. (Quite a crash!) Then a day later, another of the kitchen/wait staff “crew” were trying to hand her a pitcher of green juice, something slipped, and it wound up hitting the deck and all the green juice went up on her. A day or two later, she turned and knocked a glass off of the table with another spectacular crash. Just the other day there was a crash in the kitchen when I was standing outside the door, and she actually saw me through the window and held her hands up over her head like ‘It was not me!” She’s just the cutest.

Arturo: If you have any issues giving blood, ask for Arturo to do it. He’s magic. I have all sorts of issues (rolling veins, small veins, collapsing veins) and he took the gallon that they require with no sweat. (He doesn’t have English though.)

Frankie: Frankie is sort of the “jefe” (boss) of the kitchen/wait staff. He’s not really (Sue Ward, Director of Nutrition, is), but he’s the one actually in the kitchen who will ensure that you get what you need at meals. Don’t be a douchebag though. Eat what they have, unless you have a medical reason not to. Believe me, in four weeks I have seen folks running the kitchen ragged with their “desires and choices.” The kitchen has to make special meals for folks who have medical reasons not to eat what is available at that meal. (For example, I am allergic to fish. So every time fish was the protein at lunch, they had to grill me up chicken. Similarly, hubby tested low in protein. So for dinner, which is always vegan, they would give him an animal protein.) There was a girl that would only eat kale chips and protein shakes. Another who wanted everything as sandwiches. This isn’t a resort – it’s a medical facility. So if you really do have allergies or sensitivities and you’re going to Sanoviv to get a handle on them – then whatever you and your Nutritionist have decided, your name will be on a “stick” at the front of the buffet – pick it up, and the kitchen will have a meal prepared for you. If you’re a Companion and have actual allergies, then put those in your intake form, and they will accommodate you. But if you don’t happen to “like” strawberries and so you go to the kitchen door to wheedle Frankie to “perhaps just bring me some of those blueberries we had for breakfast,” that’s being a douchebag. Just don’t eat the strawberries – there’s plenty more on the buffet. Enough said.

Dr. Sandra: She does the sound meditation class on Tuesday morning, which is wonderful and you really should go. (It’s in the Education Center, not the Meditation Room.) She also does the Energy Medicine/Meditation on Saturdays. Great classes. After sound meditation, head down to the Fitness Center for the Stretching class. Though it says “wear athletic shoes” on the calendar, that’s just the default for anything in the Fitness Center. If it’s yoga, stretching, tai chi, or the like no, you don’t need to wear athletic shoes.

Dr. Fernando: He was my psychotherapist. He does the Energy Medicine/Meditation on Thursday and Friday. He also does the Laughter Yoga in the Education Center on Monday mornings. It’s great. I was a little … ?suspicious?…can’t think of the word (didn’t want to go), but I did and loved it. I went the week that hubby was in the hospital in Tijuana, but then the next week we had to go back to the hospital to get hubby cleared (so missed class) and this week, Dr. Fernando is on vacation! So I only got to go once. It’s worth it, go! And here is a little secret: Fernando has a voice like an angel. If you ask him to sing, he was once told that “If people ask you to sing, you need to sing. If people do NOT ask you to sing, don’t sing!” He is very shy about it but his voice really is that beautiful. Make him tell you the story of serenading his (hopefully to be) wife under her window. :-) And don’t let on where you know this from, I’m sure that he can send the “evil eye” all the way back to San Francisco to “get” me!

Stretching, Kundalini Yoga, Swiss Ball Stretching, Water Aerobics, Tai Chi, Moving Meditation, Cooking classes: All the classes are great. While stretching sometimes is packed, they’ll make room. And I never did a water aerobics (Tuesdays) where there were more than 4 of us in the big pool. Today, it was only 2 of us! All these classes are for anyone (Companion or patient). Sometimes they are not listed on the patient’s schedule, due to a conflict with a doctor’s visit or the like. As such, be sure, if you go as a Companion, to keep your “group” schedule handy. (They give it to you at Intake.) You can go to any class, even if your patient is doing something else. Remember to bring them up their Snack before you go, though! They’ll be so grateful. (As an aside, I am surprised at how many Companions seem to just be swanning around not looking to their patient’s needs. Today, I took hubby up the Snack and his prescribed shake, and there were 6 people in the IV room, 2 of whom have Companions. They all ‘begged me’ to get them their Snack, or shake, or [whatever]. If you’re Companion-ing, come on, champ, do your job!)

The Fitness Lecture

Here are some notes that I took during Omar’s talk. It was a great talk, but the entire time I kept thinking about Greg Glassman. Everything that Omar said is exactly what Greg talks about constantly. The intersection of Physical Fitness and Functional Fitness. . . Eat real food, not too much, mostly plant-based . . . Sleep enough . . . Be your own Health advocate . . . Here we go with the notes:

Physical Fitness is “the ability to carry out daily tasks with vigor and alertness, without undue fatigue, and with ample energy to enjoy leisure-time pursuits and respond to emergencies.” — definition by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Functional Fitness is doing the things that you need to do every day, without pain or trouble. Examples that folks came up with – getting out of the car, picking up a heavy bag of groceries, but Omar said: Start smaller. These are things like bathing yourself and tying your shoelaces. Some people can’t even do that. It’s being able to do everything that allows you to “function” without pain or help.

At Sanoviv, they concentrate on both. They do a hand grip test – but that will not only show that you can hold a barbell or a pullup bar, but also that you can open a jar. They do a squat test, which will show your mobility to get under a barbell, but it also will show that you can get out of a chair without pushing on the armrests or the seat. That is why they have the specific Physical/Functional Fitness “intake” test that they do – to see where you are on the spectrum, so that they can design a program that is specific for you, and that you can take home with you.

Physical Fitness has four components: Strength (“How much can I lift in a single exertion?”), Cardio (“How long can I do this exercise, at what effort, and how long does it take for my heart to calm down afterwards?”), Endurance (“How many repetitions of this exercise can I do before I can’t do any more?”), and Flexibility (“Can I move my body in all planes without pain and with good mobility?”). All of these are tested in the Sanoviv Intake Test. The “fifth” component is an overlap with Nutrition and that is your Body Composition.

The workshops and classes offered by Sanoviv address one or more of the above. For example, if you are talking about muscular fitness, that is addressed in Yoga, Rebounding, Pushups/Pullups, and Weight training, which is simulated through bands. (They are obtaining TRX equipment, however, in the next few months.)

Medical studies have shown that the optimal amount of exercise is, at minimum, five hours per week of moderate intensity and 2.5 hours per week of vigorous intensity. This has been “dumbed down” to “Do 30 minutes walking” and such, but the studies actually show that the body needs the 5 hours/2.5 hours at a minimum. This is similar to the “RDA” for vitamins (Recommended Dietary Allowance). The RDA amount that you see on a food or supplement label as a percentage of “100%” of a certain vitamin is so that you actually don’t come down with something like rickets or scurvy. It’s the absolutely minimum. Many people take this as a maximum, but it’s the exact opposite. Similarly, with physical fitness, the studies show that actually 90 minutes a day, with 60 minutes being moderate intensity, is the best level. After 90, the benefits flatten out. Perhaps people will throw up their hands hearing that this is what their body really needs, but instead of dumbing it down so that people will at least “do something” (though only a small percentage even reach that amount), it seems best to actually tell people what the studies show. Just like the RDA/vitamins. You can’t think “Oh, I didn’t get my 100% of Vitamin E today, but I got to 90%, that’s enough, it’s nearly there.” It is actually not – the RDA is the floor of what you should get daily.

When it comes to Strength training, everyone should be doing a minimum of two days per week. This should involve both strength and balance. For example, it could be body weight exercises (situps, pushups), or exercise bands, or yoga, or bar/dumbbells. “Gym machines” give you a false sense, because there is no balance involved in using them. Also doing non-functional movement (“bicep curls”) is suboptimal, because you are not training your body in a way that will translate into Functional Fitness. (example: Deadlifting directly translates into lifting a bag of groceries, whereas a leg press that works your leg muscles in what looks like the same “way” does not translate into lifting a bag of groceries.)

Older adults (NOTE: Hubby and I immediately said “Um, what do you consider ‘older’?” Omar smiled and said “70 and over”) need to do balance training, and should even think about “practicing falling.” Balance training can just be standing on one foot while cooking, then doing it with eyes closed, etc. You can’t start too early. An “adult gymnastics” or aikido or judo type class, if geared correctly towards older adult beginners, will teach falling. And everyone knows that the fall isn’t really the issue – it’s the break. And Strength training helps build stronger bones, as does eating the right foods.

The human body needs and likes being on a schedule. As such, you need to find something physical that you like to do, and block it into your schedule during the same time. Once you’ve been at it a month or two, your body will expect it. If you like to work out alone, check out apps that can help motivate you. If you like to work out with other people, visit gyms in your area and see if there is a class that speaks to you. Most gyms will give you a one-day pass. Find a buddy – you won’t want to “let each other down.”

There are items that can help you get more exercise during the day, such as “walking desks” (treadmill desk workstations) or something as easy as a desk cycle. Think about taking meetings while walking. Set a timer to stand up and do some stretches every hour if you are at your computer.

Hydration is a big issue. Most people don’t get enough water, and it can be an issue all the way down to the cell level. (I blogged about that HERE, a few years ago.) If you are working out, the only reason to step on a scale is to see if you’re dehydrated. (At Sanoviv, they don’t believe in weighing and measuring – yourself, or your food.) If you step on a scale before you work out and have lost weight after, you didn’t take in enough water. And a 1% body water decrease has been shown to lead to a 10% brain function decrease. Omar was a professional caliber soccer player (he now just plays for “fun”) and he said that this is why most goals are scored at the end of the game – because the teams are dehydrated. The team that stays the best hydrated is the team that’s the better able to see how to score.

Okay, since all that is left of today is dinner and then a lecture that we’ve heard before, I think that this really will be my last post! Thanks for reading what you have, and Commenting when you have. It’s spurred me on to keep blogging about this experiences – which I hope will wind up helping someone in the future looking for an in-depth write up from someone who has been at Sanoviv. I sure know I wanted one – so maybe I can be one!

See ya in the good ole U.S. of A.!