Season One
Episode 33
Health, Nutrition, and Mindset with Jaime Grant
Jaime Grant is a physician assistant specialized in otolaryngology and Allergy. She is very active with her state Arkansas Academy of Physician Assistants and the last two years has been the Director of the Continuing Education Conferences. She has a four year old daughter and a golden retriever named Henry AKA her best running buddy. She has been married for five years to her husband Stephen, who is a strength and endurance trainer. Jaime started running after her daughter was born because she had a witching hour and being in the stroller was the only thing that soothes her. Since then she has competed in multiple triathlons ranging from the super sprint distance to the Olympic distance and several distances in one day. She has run multiple half marathons, one full marathon, and trained for her first ultra trail marathon (50K).
TRANSCRIPT OF THE SHOW
Jessica: Jaime, thanks so much for talking today.
Jaime: Well, I'm really excited. Thank you for inviting me to come talk.
Jessica: I'm looking forward to it. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Jaime: I am freshly out of school I guess. Almost four or five years. I feel like I'm fresh out of school because I'm still learning so much. And I have a four year old. We had her birthday party yesterday. And I've been with my husband for almost five years. And I practice as a P.A. and ENT.
Jessica: And you're a specialist - I don't even know if I can say this word correctly - otolaryn...
Jaime: -gology. It's otolaryngology so it's basically the study of the ear, nose, and throat. And head and neck basically. I just kind of tell people that I see everything from the clavicles up, which is really why I love my job. So I do a lot of ear cleanings and that's really my favorite because I get to use all kinds of tools and it's a procedure. It can get kind of challenging, but it's really rewarding when someone comes in and they're all stopped up and then by the time they leave they can hear really well and the pressure is gone. So I get to see all kinds of kids for chronic ear infections who need surgery for tubes or sleep apnea for tonsils. We see a lot of head and neck cancers including cancers in the mouth. See a lot of hearing loss and I really in the beginning wasn't too interested in hearing loss, but over time I've enjoyed understanding the different pathologies that underly hearing. And being able to help the patient understand and kind of navigate through that helps them connect to their world.
I'm extremely passionate about sleep apnea and I could probably do a whole podcast just on that. See a lot of thyroid type stuff and just different types of congenital neck masses, problems with the voice, swallowing, cough. We have a whole part of our clinic that's just dedicated to allergies, which is like identifying the allergies, testing for it, and then starting them on immunotherapy. I see dizziness so yeah - it's a lot of stuff. A lot of variability in my day.
Jessica: How did you decide that you wanted to do this section of, I guess you'd say, the medical world?
Jaime: So in the beginning I was just open to everything. I was just fascinated by all of healthcare and I actually had a rare tumor on my neck on my parathyroid when I was in middle school and I had to go to Children's Hospital and it affected a lot of my life because my calcium was off so I had bone issues and kidney stones so that kind of was my first experience in ENT. And then I had a sinus surgery and so that was kind of my second. And so, you know, I saw the ENT a lot.
I basically had to beg this guy to let me be his student for my elective and I would see him in the surgeon's lounge and I would be like, 'Listen I really am interested.' And he's like, 'I just don't do students.' And finally he let me be his student for six weeks and by the end of it he couldn't offer me a job yet, but he ended up offering me a job later and so it just worked out perfect.
Jessica: That's so cool. I love that. And you're very active and into health and fitness and your husband is as well, right? What does he do?
Jaime: He's been a strength and endurance trainer for probably close to eighteen years. Yeah so he - his biggest thing is that he likes to get active outside and try to get people to take what they're learning in the gym to an applicable part of their lifestyle.
Jessica: Has health and fitness always been a part of your life as well?
Jaime: I mean, I think that I've always kind of been active whether I was playing outside as a child or hiking with my family or riding horses. I grew up water skiing, but I never thought of those things as fitness, but they are. My family ate pretty healthy growing up and I think that's something that kind of came from my grandmother. She always had a garden, cooked from scratch. She'd can stuff and give it to us, but I don't think I really considered what fitness was until I was more like in junior high. I started playing volleyball and running track. Having goals. That kind of thing.
When I was in college, I was on a water ski team and we traveled all over Texas, Louisiana. But I didn't really like work out and I didn't have specific goals and I didn't really think of it as fitness until I had my daughter who is now four. I mean water skiing was an incredible workout and I was doing that 3-6 times a week so it kept me in great shape, but when I had my daughter and I had started working, I kind of had to relook at if I want to be able to continue keeping up with her and my husband, I needed to get kind of serious about it.
Jessica: What does being healthy look like to you? What does that look like?
Jaime: I think healthy is all about balance. Balancing activity, but with rest as well. Balancing fresh foods, but you also have to have some indulgence. And healthy, as I'm learning more and more, it really boils down to a mindset. What the mind sees and thinks, the body feels. And what the body feels, the mind (or at least your subconscious) learns.
And I've seen that in medicine a ton of times so and I've seen it in running. People who are heavy set, but they're great runners and they feel and they are healthy because their mindset and their practice is healthy. And I've seen people where, you know, they get this negativity of a mindset and they start to have aches and pains and they don't feel well and keeping your mind healthy, I think, is a huge part of that.
Jessica: I always say when I go for a run that I have to think positively when I'm running or else, you know, when you think negatively it's like, like if you're going, 'I can't do this. I can't go one more step' - you're not going to, but you have to think positively and I think mindset is huge in our health for sure.
NUTRITION
I would love to talk a little bit about the nutrition aspect of health. I'd love to know if you have any like favorite go-to snacks.
Jaime: Oh yeah. I love to snack. In fact everyone at work laughs at me because I'm constantly snacking, but I really love the Akins protein drinks. You know, there's a bunch of different ones out there, but if they're a little bit frozen I really like them 'cause they have 0 sugar. It's a good source of protein and I have a hard time getting in enough protein. And it's kind of an easy sweet treat like right after I run because after you do activity, you've got about a 30 minute window to an hour to really get your high protein in and so that's just something easy for me to grab. I actually love cheeseburgers though so like after a long run or race, I have cheese sticks, those little 100 calorie little guacamole dips - I love those. I have some, like I always have some type of fruit in our refrigerator like grapes or apples or blueberries. Like we got a pound of blueberries at the farmer's market the other day and like that was a day ago and we're almost through them.
In the mornings I always have those frozen turkey sausage patties and the, you know, eggs or bagels and those are good source of protein and then the bagels are great for carb loading for running. I always have some type of tip whether it's like black bean, tomato corn, you know like with cilantro or I'll have like a cucumber tomato onion vinaigrette. I always have like a giant bowl of something like that in our fridge for my husband or I to just stand there and gorge on. I really love like feta or spinach or fresh mozzarella with basil leaves and tomatoes and just kind of mix it all together. So all about accessibility.
Jessica: Do you have a favorite recipe?
Jaime: Oh yes. So I'm constantly looking for recipes and this recipe is super easy to remember and it's really health.
Recipe: **Easy Pesto Spinach Artichoke Chicken Bake Recipe**
Basically just take out some chicken breasts. Lay it out in a pan and then I cover it in pesto and I like a lot of pesto. And a lot of times I end up buying my pesto in a jar because if we have it fresh it just goes too quick. Then you layer - just top tomatoes on top of that. And I use a jar of artichoke hearts. Just pour it on there. I pour usually a whole bag of spinach on top of that and then top it with mozzarella cheese and just bake it. With the chopped tomatoes and the artichoke and the spinach and the mozzarella, when it's all baked together the flavors are just out of this world. It's so good. And you just throw everything in together and stick it in the oven.
Jessica: What temperature do you usually set it at?
Jaime: Usually 400 degrees.
Jessica: Okay.
Jaime: And then I'll cover it for like about half the time and then uncover it and kind of like use little thermometer and check the chicken. All the flavors and the moisture in there keeps that chicken really tender.
Jessica: Is it on like a flat pan or is it in some kind of baking dish?
Jaime: I put it in a deep baking dish because when you layer all of that up it'll have a ton of juices. And it's actually something I got off pinterest so you could probably google like chicken artichoke pesto type thing and it would pop up.
Jessica: That sounds so good.
Jaime: It's so good. It's my husband's favorite.
Jessica: And do you add any vegetables on the side or rice or anything with it? Or do you, I mean it sounds just great the way it is. I just wondered what else you would make with it.
Jaime: A lot of the times I do rice because it's a little bit of an easy carb and my husband and I both - we go through the carbs!
Jessica: Oh yeah. I love carbs.
Jaime: Me too. Me too.
Jessica: My favorite.
Jaime: Oh can I share one more favorite recipe?
Jessica: Yeah! Please do!
Jaime: Okay so I just made this for the first time the other night and it was called Zucchini Burritos. And you just whole out the zucchini and you mix - I did turkey meat/ground turkey meat with like black beans and corn and tomatoes and you put like, kind of your taco flavors in there so I used some chili powder and things like that in it and you stuff it back in the zucchini and you bake it. It's on pinterest. It is so good, but it has a lot of vegetables in it so...
Jessica: Oh I love that!
Jaime: It's very tasty.
Jessica: How do you think that all of us can make health a priority in regards to our nutrition?
Jaime: That is something that's been hard for me to figure out, but it really involves me - Sundays are really my days to collect myself for the rest of the week and I tried meal planning one time and like getting all my boxes and it was just too much. But like sitting down and finding a couple easy recipes and then something that you could have as leftovers, on a Sunday getting all your groceries, and just having those snacks like readily available for you because our problem is we get caught out in the car, you know, my four year old is like, "I'm hungry!" and I'll stop somewhere and I'll have part of her fries or whatever and so having like a little lunch box with snacks in it keeps it easy.
Well and then another thing that I would encourage everyone to try is to go on a no-sugar diet for at least a week. My husband came up with this and it was crazy. It feels nearly impossible to eliminate sugar out of everything, but it really opened up my eyes to how much sugar was just in tomato sauce - it's a lot. And you know these little fruit snacks that have 100% of the daily vitamin C have 30 grams of sugar and that's the max dose for a child under four and so in one little fruit pack she's had her daily sugar. So I mean day four of that I felt like I had the flu or something. I was so tired, but then towards the end of the week it was incredible how I felt and it really opened my eyes to what was in the food we were eating.
Jessica: Yeah. Do you try to eat a lot of whole foods then?
Jaime: Yeah and that was something I used to struggle with. I used to go to the grocery store like once a week and by the end of the week things wouldn't be as healthy and so now I've tried buying some of my - I go about twice a week - and one visit is only for fresh stuff or I'll stop by the farmer's market on Thursday because they have like a little thing in the morning. That way we can have more whole foods so...
Jessica: This summer I'm trying...part of it because I'm doing the health series on the podcast so it's just made me think more about it. Part of it because since I'm a teacher, I'll say 'off for the summer' even though I've still got plenty going on, but it's not as strenuous as the school year so we've trying to add in a vegetable at every lunch and that's been going well. I mean the girls kind of like they don't fight me on it too hard, but they're coming around to it as it's more consistent, but having to plan and really think about that I figure summer is a great time to incorporate it because there's so many great summer vegetables and fruits. You know, the farmer's markets and all that so I figure if I can start it this summer then hopefully I can continue it through the rest of the year. But yeah, sugar is... it's in everything so I'll have to find a way to try that sometime. And do you have to like - once you've had the no-sugar diet for at least a week - do you find that you transition back like right away to what you were eating before?
Jaime: Actually no. I keep it more low-sugar and that was the thing. I didn't realize just how much sugar I was getting. Really the only sugar we had on the no sugar diet was like through our fruit and we do eat a lot of fruit. But I feel like everybody will have times where they're real excited about doing something and they're gung ho and then you start to have burnout. And so my husband and I really try to like recognize when we're kind of burning out or slacking down and we try to make it fun again. I don't know. There's something about picking out your vegetables at the farmer's market or even growing your own tomatoes and picking them. But trying to find ways to like get inspired again. Or inspire each other to stick to it.
Well, I know that when I'm eating bad I feel bad about, I feel guilty about what I'm eating and then it kind of spirals from there and if you feel guilty about what you're eating, you start to feel bad about your lifestyle and then you kind of get into this negative spiral.
MINDSET
Jessica: So how do you stay mentally healthy then and I mean obviously with the nutrition, but remaining positive minded and focused on working towards maintaining physical health?
Jaime: So it's probably my favorite question of all. So I really love this quote. I had it wrote down just to read on here. It says: "our happiness depends on the habit of mind that we cultivate."
So basically the power of positive thinking. And I actually, I had to go to a psychologist when I was in college because I got depressed. I had horrible anxiety and he worked with me. I actually didn't realize the underlying thoughts that I would have about things. I just had feelings about things and he really trained me to recognize beliefs or thoughts and then I had to work to change them and it was quite the process. I'm actually reading a book - I'm almost done with it - called Let Your Mind Run. I love it. It's such a good book. It's a memoir about a runner who used thinking and the power of positivity to make herself a world champion basically.
It's something that you consistently have to work on for a long time to start for it to become more natural. So just taking each day and just really being aware of the moment that you're in and the self-talk that's happening. Consistency is just key with it and so just staying positive about my physical health goals and you know, when I'm tired that's more difficult so I have to be even more diligent about paying attention to the self-talk that's helping or happening.
So just reflection, reading books like the one I'm reading, talking with my friends, and most importantly just talking with God helps me get through, you know. Everyone's going to have times where they're mentally exhausted and just trying to keep healthy with it.
But it's kind of like what you're saying about going on a run and that's what that runner was talking about. She was just naturally gifted and won all these races in high school, but when she got to college it was another level and she started having just really negative self-talk and she'd lose a race before the race ever started, you know. It's amazing some of the stuff she accomplished in her lifetime after she met this one coach who basically was teaching her how to think.
And some of the races I go into where I have no pressure, you know, I'm not really competing in the race. I'm just running in the race or if it's a new race I've never done and it's all unexpected so I haven't trained a specific route, I don't have goals for that route. Those are the races I really excel at.
Jessica: Because you can just... do you think you enjoy it more or you're just in the moment or...
Jaime: I think, you know, there's no expectations and so if I'm not hitting a pace on a certain hill that I've ran before, then I'm not like 'oh my gosh - I need to pick it up. Oh my gosh - I can't believe my legs are so heavy today.' And instead I just run it. So you know new races or races where there's not a pressure like races that I've ran several times, there's a pressure there because I've ran them before so I want to beat those other times. Whereas with a new race, it's like anything flies.
Jessica: Yeah. Interesting.
Jaime: It all goes down to that self-talk during a race, you know.
Jessica: Yeah. Do you find the self-talk translates into other areas of life as well?
Jaime: Oh definitely. Yeah. For sure and that's where you just really have to pay attention because, you know. some days I'll have a hard day at work and I'll feel like, you know, I'm working through a diagnosis with a patient and I'll feel like I don't know everything there is to know about ENT. And then I'll come home and I'm kind of down on myself about not knowing it all and something will happen with my daughter and I'm like, 'man, am I really that great of a parent if I don't know how to...' you know - so it does. It kind of flows into the other parts of your life.
Jessica: There are days where I'm like, 'I, maybe I just won't run today. Maybe you know I feel fine' and then it's like as the day goes on if I'm feeling more negative or something it's like - no, I need to go out and exercise and do something and I find on those days where I really don't feel like doing anything, but I know it's good for me and I go ahead and do it anyway, I find it not only kind of develops this mental toughness, kind of, where and then you know when you're feeling those negative thoughts that it's like, you know if I can just go out and just take even a ten minute walk or do something physical, that it's going to help me be more positive minded for whatever else comes during the day.
Jaime: Definitely. I'll tell you that in the winter it's really hard for me. In Arkansas, it gets cold and really the winter is the best time for races and there were days where it's like snowing and I'm like I hate treadmill running. I will run in a blizzard. In fact I ran a couple weeks ago when there was tornado warnings and all my friends were mad at me and I'm like - I can't do ten miles on a treadmill, but I can do it, you know, in the rain and I'll be mentally okay with that, but what I'll have to do is put all my stuff on and I'll probably walk around my house for 20 minutes with my headphones on trying to convince myself to get out the door. And then I laugh at myself later because I'm like - okay, why did it take me so long to get out here?
Jessica: Right. It's like rather than taking those twenty minutes to just go out there and do it, you would have like you'd have to psych yourself up to go get it, but then it's worth it.
Jaime: Those are usually the days... I mean, those are probably the days I end up doing something awesome with it. You know, it ends up being a great run and I'm really excited that you're building a base. I'm kind of back to building a base right now and you know, taking it day by day and having a plan like you do is so important.
Jessica: Something too with that is I've built or I feel like I've built the base so many times and it gets so frustrating to have to rebuild because before I had Riley- I mean this is like thirteen, fourteen years ago, I was running, you know, I ran a couple half marathons and I could go out and run five miles and it was work but it... and I'm a slow runner, but it was like I could go out there and no problem. And then of course I had her and then I had double foot surgery so it was like yeah. That was when she was eight months old and then it was like so I got kind of over that and then started rebuilding and then I had Julia and then I had to start rebuilding again and then just different life events and so part of it for me was that motivation to keep going.
You know it's so worth it once - I always find once I can reach 30 minutes or 3 miles, there's just this shift where it's like you can do pretty much anything once I hit that 30 minute mark. So I'm at 22 minutes right now where I can run solidly 22 minutes and then I have to do intervals the remainder of the time. But I think for some people too it might just be knowing - okay it's worth it to build that base and just start where you are.
Jaime: Yeah and I think that's part of the community thing is having friends with like goals who will come over here, into your house and go let's go for a run and I've been kind of struggling with that 'cause I'm coming off of an injury. For the last two weeks I have not ran at all until about four days ago. And you come into this intimidation, I'm sure you experienced that after your surgery, where it's like am I going to mess something up worse? Or is this going to become something chronic that I'm dealing with and so having friends that are like 'come on! let's go have fun - let's not look at our watches. Let's just go explore this new neighborhood with mansions in it, you know.'
Jessica: Right!
Jaime: We do silly stuff like that.
Jessica: Exactly and do you find, do you have any being that you work as an ENT with nose, throat stuff and all of that, do you find that it's difficult for people with allergies to workout?
Jaime: Oh yes.
ALLERGIES
Jessica: How can people who suffer from allergies - what can they do to help their health so that it's more enjoyable when they are exercising?
Jaime: Yeah, so the over the counter medicines are about as good as you can get. Most people don't use them correctly. Consistency is key so starting out with an antihistamine. The ones that are over the counter - Zyrtec, Allegra, or Claritin - and you know the generics, but adding in the nasal spray like Flonase, Rhinocort, or Nasonex are key. Both of the antihistamines and the nasal sprays are preventative medicines so if you're using them when you're already snotty, you're kind of behind the ball. And they're very safe medications to be on every day so if you know that fall is a bad time of year, start kind of in the summer.
There's a few additional prescriptions that may really augment therapy like if you have asthma, you might be on Singulair. But one of my very favorite nasal sprays is called Azelastine and it is a game changer for a lot of patients. It's a nasal antihistamine. It's kind of an older drug. It doesn't really have a lot of side effects, but it's a spray that you can kind of use as a preventative about 30 minutes before you run. It tastes horrible so you don't really want to like sniff it in a lot, but I use it too before I clean something dusty. It's just a great kind of medication to ask your doctor about if the over the counter medicines aren't working.
And if the over the counter medicines help but they're not controlling your symptoms, the next step is allergy testing to see if you're a candidate for immunotherapy and people get all kind of wigged out about immunotherapy. It is an investment in your future and that's really how you have to think about it. It's the only cure that's possible for allergies. It's going to take up a lot of time, you know, it's a weekly shot that you have to go somewhere for usually for several years, but it can be life changing for people with allergies and now drops are becoming more popular. The drops you can use at home. It's a daily thing, but they're not FDA approved yet. I mean they've been around for centuries. They've been doing it in other countries so it can kind of get expensive.
Jessica: And do you find, like, what about neti pots?
Jaime: Oh yes. Neti pots are my favorite. So neti pots are basically saline water and if you think about athletes soaking their feet in epsom salt it's the same principle in that it reduces swelling. It'll wash out any little allergens that are just like sitting in your nose continuing to cause inflammation. And it'll help with crusting and drainage and so I always tell people do it in the shower the first time cause you're going to make a mess.
You know another thing is people don't realize that morning is really where allergens are most active and I'm not - I forget the science behind that, but when do most people run? You know it's in the morning so if you have bad, bad allergies you'll want to limit it to later in the day for times when it's not super, super windy.
And in your car you can switch your air onto recirculate inside the car so that you're not bringing in the allergens when you have your air conditioner on full blast in the summer. There's all kind of tricks like that you know you can google a whole list of things to do to try to help with them.
Jessica: Well, I feel like that might be a hindrance for people who are susceptible to sneezing and you know just feeling terrible and it would keep them from going outside and doing things outside. And I feel like, I don't know, kind of like what you said with running on a treadmill. I used to be able to run on a treadmill for a while and now I just don't like the idea of being cooped up staring at a monitor. I want to be out exploring new neighborhoods and things like that. So I just feel like if there's ways for people who do have those allergies, that it would help them find things they enjoy.
Jaime: Yeah. The azelastine spray, the antihistamine nasal sprays - there's a couple different ones; they're all prescription. Those can be used in addition to the nasal steroid sprays and that's something that someone can do you know thirty minutes before they go on a run or a bike ride. And it can really, it can be a game changer for people.
FITNESS
Jessica: Do most of the sports that you participate in are they outside? Like you've done the water skiing and the running. Are there other things that you do outside?
Jaime: I've been training. I've done quite a few different triathlons and I just I love being outside and where we're at in northwest Arkansas it's beautiful. We're in the Ozarks and there's just so many gorgeous places. Trail running is by far my very, very favorite. I water ski and I've done that competitively since I was in high school, but I also I really like the classes. I used to do a bunch of classes like the barre classes or spin cycle classes 'cause my friends would be there and it's loud music and they, you know, had free childcare and that type of thing. But I've really started to - recently started to swim and it's a really great cardio for me, but it's low impact and so I try to alternate running with swimming and so I do that inside in the pool too.
I have started swimming in the lake prior to certain triathlons to train for that and I always get a little intimidated 'cause I'll like see shadows and I know there's not sharks in lakes, but it totally freaks me out so I'm still trying to get over that, but I do some open water swimming.
Jessica: What do you experience differently in an open water swim compared to in a pool?
Jaime: The elements. So in an open water swim you've got different tides and different you know the waves. I mean inevitably you're going to come up for a breath and there's going to be a big ole' splash in your face and so you've gotta kind of be able to work through that. And you end up swimming a lot of crooked lines so you've got to be able to learn to spot. Whereas in a pool you're looking down. You're in a lane line. In the open water spotting, finding a place on shore, and after you know every three or five strokes, pulling your head like up out of water just enough to see it and straightening yourself back out, that's the most challenging part for me. And so I have a buoy that I clip to my foot when I open water swim. I will swim with my husband will be in the kayak and then also in our area there's lots of triathlon groups and they'll post on Facebook 'Open water swim on Saturday!' We'll all go meet up somewhere.
It's easier to swim in a group in an open water swim to me. You can kind of be in their tide and it kind of pulls you with them. And it helps you stay straight and it's just more fun. So there's a lot of different differences. And too just the intimidation. You don't realize, but your breathing gets faster and your pace changes because you can't see anything.
Jessica: I just think it's neat that you're always so open to trying new things and pushing yourself. And what's your, I guess, your recommendation for helping other people realize that they don't have to stay in a rut? That we can try new things.
Jaime: No. So you know I think the way I got into triathlons 'cause that was intimidating to me because I didn't own a bike and I had never swam before. And I had a friend that was like obsessed. Doing it for a cause. Try something for a cause. That's gonna give you - it's gonna take it off you and you're going to be doing something for someone else. So races that earn money for a certain cause.
So this triathlon that I signed up for supported Multiple Sclerosis and that's kind of something I'm passionate about. And it was in a pool so it was a great starting triathlon. And so I borrowed a bike and I learned how to swim in the six weeks before the race and that was my first triathlon. So find a fundraiser or something. A way that you can get involved and try something new.
Jessica: How do you make it enjoyable as you're learning these new things?
Jaime: That's hard because you want to be really good at something right away. Swimming was definitely one of those things for me because I felt like I was drowning all the time. Just finding things about it like you know like I bought a new swimsuit and I go with my friend and then I make this kind of like... I have this set time that I'm gonna be there and trying to find things you do love about it. You know and...
Trail running is kind of another one for me. It's hard. I mean you're either going up a hill or down a hill and it's hot and there's bugs, but the things that I see in nature it just reminds me how awesome God is and His creation and so that outweighs the bad and so I'm just constantly looking for positives. And that's part of that thinking I was talking to you about is just tell yourself okay what's the next positive? What can I make positive here?
Jessica: So what do you enjoy most about working out do you think?
Jaime: Just trying to figure out how to make it enjoyable. So in the very beginning I loved listening to music and my music and not my baby's music. And I loved listening to crime podcasts. And I love my Garmin watch because it kind of... I love to see myself getting faster or getting farther and I can kind of compare those things and I really love comparing the activities that I've done. Just trying to find things that I do love about whatever I'm doing.
Jessica: I think sometimes too sticking with something for a little while, for me, allows me to enjoy it rather than trying, you know, a spin class one day and a barre workout the next day and doing weights, but kind of doing something consistently over time and then incorporating something new. I don't know just for me that seems to help and something that I've tried to do, because I really enjoy running, is to try to get Riley or Julia to come on a run with me and it's not hard 'cause they're...now Julia's to the point where she'll ask me 'are you going for a run and can I come along?' You know and it's so it's so much fun. Do you incorporate fitness activities with your family?
Jaime: Definitely. So Ella, she likes to run with me. You know we only end up running to down the street, but for me it's easy 'cause my husband is the most outdoorsy person you'd ever meet. We love to go hiking and we have a paddle board which is pretty easy on your body - good fitness. Right now our paddle board is in our pool. We're teaching Ella. So you know we'll grab a meal usually and just go to like a park and try to eat outside wherever we are, but just finding something enjoyable is key. So going to the trampoline park for Ella is great exercise or swimming in our pool. Walking our dog, you know, that type of thing.
Jessica: How do you keep fitness fun?
Jaime: Friends. Peer pressure. We talk each other into races and talk each other into getting up early to train together, but it can't all be that way. You know you've got to do some of it on your own and so just paying attention to my thoughts is key so if I pay attention to the nature during my run, I'll be like 'Oh my gosh!' Instead of seeing an indigo bunting (it's a type of bird we have up here), I'll be like , 'Oh my gosh. How awesome. I just got to see that beautiful bright blue bird' and I'll like just try to carry my thoughts through that for a little bit. You know practicing gratitude. It's like wow I'm up so early in the morning. I have a chance to see fog rising. That is so gorgeous cause I haven't seen that in in a couple of days because I haven't been up that early. Or wow I just saw that kingfisher grab a fish. You know none of the cars driving by saw that 'cause they were going too fast. And just being, just practicing gratitude and not getting in my own head.
Jessica: Yeah. I think the emotional and social benefits - I know articles say this, but it's so true - it's a huge part. It's not just okay I want to lose ten pounds or I want to have stronger legs or you know the physical benefits obviously are there, but I think just seeing all those amazing things around you and being grateful for it is huge.
Jaime: So some of my friends they kind of laugh at me because I smile a lot when I run. And we'll do hill sprints together and I'll force them all to smile and they get so mad at me. And I'm like 'I'm gonna take a picture of you looking all sweaty and mad.' Because smiling like actually releases endorphins. And another thing I have found is that if I'm struggling in a race, if I look around someone else is always struggling too and if you start encouraging them, it'll automatically distract you from your own suffering. It's crazy. And I learned that through that first triathlon that I ran with the Multiple Sclerosis. I do it every year. It's called Tri-Fest for MS. But their whole slogan is to encourage and people are on the sidelines encouraging each other and every racer as you pace they'll like give you 5's cause it's like out and back. And they'll smile and they're like 'you're doing great!' And so that's another way to keep it fun and keep yourself going the right direction.
Jessica: What do you think has been your favorite race experience so far?
Jaime: Oh it's always changing. That's just such a hard question. So one of my all-time favorites is called Outback in the Ozarks Pure Trail Edition. So they have two different races. One is where you ride around in vans across Arkansas and the other one is where you camp and you're only running on trails and it's a relay race in the mountains. So we had a team of eight and you run over 200 miles in 48 hours. So there's different loops. There's a 3 1/2, a 5 and a 7 1/2 mile loop and each person runs one loop each time. Like one person will go out - run the first loop. Then the next person will go out and run the second loop and you just kind of go through it. But over the course, somehow with our pace I was the only person that ran two loops both at night. So I ran the three mile and the seven mile loop at night and it was just terrifying running in the forest at night. And it was difficult to kind of figure out where the trail was because they only had like little glow markers every so distance. But there's a runners village and everyone camps and they have bonfires and they wait around all night cheering people on and any time a runner comes to pass it off, they just all freak out. So that was probably my very favorite.
And then I just ran my first marathon and that one was super fun to me too just because it was a really encouraging race as well and it went through all of Fayetteville and it was just it was really fun.
Jessica: What do you think has been most surprising about pushing yourself in all these different ways?
Jaime: I limit myself. I mean I'm the most... I'm so hard on myself and I don't believe in myself and so with running came confidence. And you know just three miles turned into four which turns into thirty so just learning that you really have no boundaries. You only have the boundaries that you set. And just preparation like learning how to be consistent and coming up with goals and plans. I used to not really have goals, but with it came more goals.
Jessica: Do you think that's just because at first you're just adapting to a new situation or a new environment with the running or biking and so it's just more a matter of doing it first and then setting goals as you become more confident with it?
Jaime: Yeah. Oh yeah. So I mean so here's an example. I ran my first marathon or half marathon like three years ago and I never thought I'd want to run a half marathon. I had no interest in that and my friend was training for it and I was doing a lot of her training runs with her and so finally I just did it.
Well then I learned how much I loved trail running. I'm like well if I can do a half on the road then I can do a half on the trail and so then I did that race. And so it's kind of one thing leads into the next thing. Like I have no idea what next year's goals will hold. I mean I have an idea, but usually it comes from whatever is happening in the current year.
Jessica: Like do you have better belief in yourself now?
Jaime: Oh yeah. Definitely. Oh yeah after you know we ran 20 miles in November in the snow and after that I'm like I don't really think there's a lot that can hold me back.
Jessica: I love it!
Jaime: But you know I hired a coach for this last race that I was training for because I was intimidated by this race. It was 31 miles with 3000 foot elevation in 90 degree heat. I ran this same race last year, but it was the 25K and I saw people throwing up with their muscles just balling up in their legs from dehydration and I knew this distance was going to be a big distance and so I hired a coach and that was helpful in having someone with more expertise than myself to prep me for that.
Jessica: Was this the 50K race?
Jaime: This was the 50K so I like two weeks before I don't know really exactly what happened. I did a trail run and about two hours after the trail run my foot just swelled up huge and I don't remember rolling it. I mean I probably did, but it didn't hurt till after the run and I gave it a couple days break and you know, the swelling kind of went down. And I ran on it again and that's what did me in. So I didn't give it enough break, but now I'm running again. You know I'm starting out small. First I did one mile. Then I did three two miles and then I just I did a three mile and a four mile so I'm kind of building up again, which is so crazy cause I was telling my friend I was at my peak just two and a half weeks ago and I feel like I've almost lost it all. So it's crazy.
Jessica: So it's back to like that mental game probably of knowing you're going to get back to it.
Jaime: Yes I tell you what. I think I went through the five stages of grief. 'Cause at first I was in denial. I was like I'll just give it two days break and do ice and ibuprofen and I'll be good. And then when I did that second run the denial went more to anger. I'm like I can not believe this is happening two weeks before my race, you know. I'm so mad cause I put all this time, I mean it took a lot of time to train those long training runs and then - then I just went to sadness and when I realized that... cause I was giving it time. I was just not going to run for a week and I'll just run the race. And then I realized that just wasn't going to happen and I just had to pull out of the race and it was just, I was so sad. So I went through those five stages of grief. Over a race.
Jessica: I bet. I always feel like it takes so much strength to pull out of a race because mentally if you've trained all that time to do a race, it's almost not easier physically, but easier mentally to go ahead and race anyway with an injury you know? Because you are like I've already trained for this. I'm ready for this and then to pull out feels like a failure almost you know and overcoming that, but I feel like it's a smart and wise decision to listen to your body during that time so that you don't make the injury worse. So I hope you do get to do that race at some point.
Jaime: Yes. I've already kind of started looking at other 50Ks. Now I only have like a handful of friends that are ultra runners. My really close friends, who they don't do ultra runners, they're like why do you want to do this? I'm like I don't really know. Just to see, which sounds crazy 'cause before I had Ella I didn't run so I would've laughed in someone's face if they told me I was gonna be doing that.
Jessica: That's so funny 'cause I assumed that you'd been running a long time.
Jaime: No. Uh-uh. I didn't start running until I had Ella. She had a witching hour at about from 5-7 and you know I had my stepmom was like put her in a stroller, take her outside, put some headphones in so you can't hear her screaming, and just go for a walk. And so I kind of started jogging and so it just kind of went from there. Signed up for my first 5K when I was like 28.
Jessica: That's so cool. I love that. And is there any other advice or things that you would say to people about health or exercise that has helped you or just things that we haven't covered do you think?
Jaime: You know just believe in yourself and try to find ways to be consistent. You know whether it's friends or paying for a class and making sure you're going, but just don't sell yourself short 'cause that's the biggest thing that I have always done is sell, you know, sell myself short on things. And that's the thing about running a race. You're like okay I can do this. Maybe I can do a little bit more. And my next big thing besides a 50K is I'd like to do an Ironman and the swim is what's got me intimidated. That and the crazy training hours you know. I just kind of want to play with my daughter more than I want to do a three hour bike ride, but I'm starting to believe that I can do that and to not sell myself short of well, here's all the excuses of why you can't do it.
Final Questions:
Tea, coffee, or something else that suits your fancy - Macha Green Tea or Iced Macha from Starbucks; Nuun or Tailwind Hydration Drinks
Artists, song, or genre - Fast Pace (electronic dance music) or Long Runs (podcasts)
What is something you do, or try to do, every day - Gratitude; Texts with a friend every night to share three things that she's thankful for that day. Spinning all that is going on and keeping it positive
How to get in touch with Jaime - Facebook: Jaime Grant Turner
Episode 33
Health, Nutrition, and Mindset with Jaime Grant
Jaime Grant is a physician assistant specialized in otolaryngology and Allergy. She is very active with her state Arkansas Academy of Physician Assistants and the last two years has been the Director of the Continuing Education Conferences. She has a four year old daughter and a golden retriever named Henry AKA her best running buddy. She has been married for five years to her husband Stephen, who is a strength and endurance trainer. Jaime started running after her daughter was born because she had a witching hour and being in the stroller was the only thing that soothes her. Since then she has competed in multiple triathlons ranging from the super sprint distance to the Olympic distance and several distances in one day. She has run multiple half marathons, one full marathon, and trained for her first ultra trail marathon (50K).
TRANSCRIPT OF THE SHOW
Jessica: Jaime, thanks so much for talking today.
Jaime: Well, I'm really excited. Thank you for inviting me to come talk.
Jessica: I'm looking forward to it. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Jaime: I am freshly out of school I guess. Almost four or five years. I feel like I'm fresh out of school because I'm still learning so much. And I have a four year old. We had her birthday party yesterday. And I've been with my husband for almost five years. And I practice as a P.A. and ENT.
Jessica: And you're a specialist - I don't even know if I can say this word correctly - otolaryn...
Jaime: -gology. It's otolaryngology so it's basically the study of the ear, nose, and throat. And head and neck basically. I just kind of tell people that I see everything from the clavicles up, which is really why I love my job. So I do a lot of ear cleanings and that's really my favorite because I get to use all kinds of tools and it's a procedure. It can get kind of challenging, but it's really rewarding when someone comes in and they're all stopped up and then by the time they leave they can hear really well and the pressure is gone. So I get to see all kinds of kids for chronic ear infections who need surgery for tubes or sleep apnea for tonsils. We see a lot of head and neck cancers including cancers in the mouth. See a lot of hearing loss and I really in the beginning wasn't too interested in hearing loss, but over time I've enjoyed understanding the different pathologies that underly hearing. And being able to help the patient understand and kind of navigate through that helps them connect to their world.
I'm extremely passionate about sleep apnea and I could probably do a whole podcast just on that. See a lot of thyroid type stuff and just different types of congenital neck masses, problems with the voice, swallowing, cough. We have a whole part of our clinic that's just dedicated to allergies, which is like identifying the allergies, testing for it, and then starting them on immunotherapy. I see dizziness so yeah - it's a lot of stuff. A lot of variability in my day.
Jessica: How did you decide that you wanted to do this section of, I guess you'd say, the medical world?
Jaime: So in the beginning I was just open to everything. I was just fascinated by all of healthcare and I actually had a rare tumor on my neck on my parathyroid when I was in middle school and I had to go to Children's Hospital and it affected a lot of my life because my calcium was off so I had bone issues and kidney stones so that kind of was my first experience in ENT. And then I had a sinus surgery and so that was kind of my second. And so, you know, I saw the ENT a lot.
I basically had to beg this guy to let me be his student for my elective and I would see him in the surgeon's lounge and I would be like, 'Listen I really am interested.' And he's like, 'I just don't do students.' And finally he let me be his student for six weeks and by the end of it he couldn't offer me a job yet, but he ended up offering me a job later and so it just worked out perfect.
Jessica: That's so cool. I love that. And you're very active and into health and fitness and your husband is as well, right? What does he do?
Jaime: He's been a strength and endurance trainer for probably close to eighteen years. Yeah so he - his biggest thing is that he likes to get active outside and try to get people to take what they're learning in the gym to an applicable part of their lifestyle.
Jessica: Has health and fitness always been a part of your life as well?
Jaime: I mean, I think that I've always kind of been active whether I was playing outside as a child or hiking with my family or riding horses. I grew up water skiing, but I never thought of those things as fitness, but they are. My family ate pretty healthy growing up and I think that's something that kind of came from my grandmother. She always had a garden, cooked from scratch. She'd can stuff and give it to us, but I don't think I really considered what fitness was until I was more like in junior high. I started playing volleyball and running track. Having goals. That kind of thing.
When I was in college, I was on a water ski team and we traveled all over Texas, Louisiana. But I didn't really like work out and I didn't have specific goals and I didn't really think of it as fitness until I had my daughter who is now four. I mean water skiing was an incredible workout and I was doing that 3-6 times a week so it kept me in great shape, but when I had my daughter and I had started working, I kind of had to relook at if I want to be able to continue keeping up with her and my husband, I needed to get kind of serious about it.
Jessica: What does being healthy look like to you? What does that look like?
Jaime: I think healthy is all about balance. Balancing activity, but with rest as well. Balancing fresh foods, but you also have to have some indulgence. And healthy, as I'm learning more and more, it really boils down to a mindset. What the mind sees and thinks, the body feels. And what the body feels, the mind (or at least your subconscious) learns.
And I've seen that in medicine a ton of times so and I've seen it in running. People who are heavy set, but they're great runners and they feel and they are healthy because their mindset and their practice is healthy. And I've seen people where, you know, they get this negativity of a mindset and they start to have aches and pains and they don't feel well and keeping your mind healthy, I think, is a huge part of that.
Jessica: I always say when I go for a run that I have to think positively when I'm running or else, you know, when you think negatively it's like, like if you're going, 'I can't do this. I can't go one more step' - you're not going to, but you have to think positively and I think mindset is huge in our health for sure.
NUTRITION
I would love to talk a little bit about the nutrition aspect of health. I'd love to know if you have any like favorite go-to snacks.
Jaime: Oh yeah. I love to snack. In fact everyone at work laughs at me because I'm constantly snacking, but I really love the Akins protein drinks. You know, there's a bunch of different ones out there, but if they're a little bit frozen I really like them 'cause they have 0 sugar. It's a good source of protein and I have a hard time getting in enough protein. And it's kind of an easy sweet treat like right after I run because after you do activity, you've got about a 30 minute window to an hour to really get your high protein in and so that's just something easy for me to grab. I actually love cheeseburgers though so like after a long run or race, I have cheese sticks, those little 100 calorie little guacamole dips - I love those. I have some, like I always have some type of fruit in our refrigerator like grapes or apples or blueberries. Like we got a pound of blueberries at the farmer's market the other day and like that was a day ago and we're almost through them.
In the mornings I always have those frozen turkey sausage patties and the, you know, eggs or bagels and those are good source of protein and then the bagels are great for carb loading for running. I always have some type of tip whether it's like black bean, tomato corn, you know like with cilantro or I'll have like a cucumber tomato onion vinaigrette. I always have like a giant bowl of something like that in our fridge for my husband or I to just stand there and gorge on. I really love like feta or spinach or fresh mozzarella with basil leaves and tomatoes and just kind of mix it all together. So all about accessibility.
Jessica: Do you have a favorite recipe?
Jaime: Oh yes. So I'm constantly looking for recipes and this recipe is super easy to remember and it's really health.
Recipe: **Easy Pesto Spinach Artichoke Chicken Bake Recipe**
Basically just take out some chicken breasts. Lay it out in a pan and then I cover it in pesto and I like a lot of pesto. And a lot of times I end up buying my pesto in a jar because if we have it fresh it just goes too quick. Then you layer - just top tomatoes on top of that. And I use a jar of artichoke hearts. Just pour it on there. I pour usually a whole bag of spinach on top of that and then top it with mozzarella cheese and just bake it. With the chopped tomatoes and the artichoke and the spinach and the mozzarella, when it's all baked together the flavors are just out of this world. It's so good. And you just throw everything in together and stick it in the oven.Jessica: What temperature do you usually set it at?
Jaime: Usually 400 degrees.
Jessica: Okay.
Jaime: And then I'll cover it for like about half the time and then uncover it and kind of like use little thermometer and check the chicken. All the flavors and the moisture in there keeps that chicken really tender.
Jessica: Is it on like a flat pan or is it in some kind of baking dish?
Jaime: I put it in a deep baking dish because when you layer all of that up it'll have a ton of juices. And it's actually something I got off pinterest so you could probably google like chicken artichoke pesto type thing and it would pop up.
Jessica: That sounds so good.
Jaime: It's so good. It's my husband's favorite.
Jessica: And do you add any vegetables on the side or rice or anything with it? Or do you, I mean it sounds just great the way it is. I just wondered what else you would make with it.
Jaime: A lot of the times I do rice because it's a little bit of an easy carb and my husband and I both - we go through the carbs!
 |
| Best Zucchini Burrito Boats |
Jaime: Me too. Me too.
Jessica: My favorite.
Jaime: Oh can I share one more favorite recipe?
Jessica: Yeah! Please do!
Jaime: Okay so I just made this for the first time the other night and it was called Zucchini Burritos. And you just whole out the zucchini and you mix - I did turkey meat/ground turkey meat with like black beans and corn and tomatoes and you put like, kind of your taco flavors in there so I used some chili powder and things like that in it and you stuff it back in the zucchini and you bake it. It's on pinterest. It is so good, but it has a lot of vegetables in it so...
Jessica: Oh I love that!
Jaime: It's very tasty.
Jessica: How do you think that all of us can make health a priority in regards to our nutrition?
Jaime: That is something that's been hard for me to figure out, but it really involves me - Sundays are really my days to collect myself for the rest of the week and I tried meal planning one time and like getting all my boxes and it was just too much. But like sitting down and finding a couple easy recipes and then something that you could have as leftovers, on a Sunday getting all your groceries, and just having those snacks like readily available for you because our problem is we get caught out in the car, you know, my four year old is like, "I'm hungry!" and I'll stop somewhere and I'll have part of her fries or whatever and so having like a little lunch box with snacks in it keeps it easy.
Well and then another thing that I would encourage everyone to try is to go on a no-sugar diet for at least a week. My husband came up with this and it was crazy. It feels nearly impossible to eliminate sugar out of everything, but it really opened up my eyes to how much sugar was just in tomato sauce - it's a lot. And you know these little fruit snacks that have 100% of the daily vitamin C have 30 grams of sugar and that's the max dose for a child under four and so in one little fruit pack she's had her daily sugar. So I mean day four of that I felt like I had the flu or something. I was so tired, but then towards the end of the week it was incredible how I felt and it really opened my eyes to what was in the food we were eating.
Jessica: Yeah. Do you try to eat a lot of whole foods then?
Jaime: Yeah and that was something I used to struggle with. I used to go to the grocery store like once a week and by the end of the week things wouldn't be as healthy and so now I've tried buying some of my - I go about twice a week - and one visit is only for fresh stuff or I'll stop by the farmer's market on Thursday because they have like a little thing in the morning. That way we can have more whole foods so...
Jessica: This summer I'm trying...part of it because I'm doing the health series on the podcast so it's just made me think more about it. Part of it because since I'm a teacher, I'll say 'off for the summer' even though I've still got plenty going on, but it's not as strenuous as the school year so we've trying to add in a vegetable at every lunch and that's been going well. I mean the girls kind of like they don't fight me on it too hard, but they're coming around to it as it's more consistent, but having to plan and really think about that I figure summer is a great time to incorporate it because there's so many great summer vegetables and fruits. You know, the farmer's markets and all that so I figure if I can start it this summer then hopefully I can continue it through the rest of the year. But yeah, sugar is... it's in everything so I'll have to find a way to try that sometime. And do you have to like - once you've had the no-sugar diet for at least a week - do you find that you transition back like right away to what you were eating before?
Jaime: Actually no. I keep it more low-sugar and that was the thing. I didn't realize just how much sugar I was getting. Really the only sugar we had on the no sugar diet was like through our fruit and we do eat a lot of fruit. But I feel like everybody will have times where they're real excited about doing something and they're gung ho and then you start to have burnout. And so my husband and I really try to like recognize when we're kind of burning out or slacking down and we try to make it fun again. I don't know. There's something about picking out your vegetables at the farmer's market or even growing your own tomatoes and picking them. But trying to find ways to like get inspired again. Or inspire each other to stick to it.
Well, I know that when I'm eating bad I feel bad about, I feel guilty about what I'm eating and then it kind of spirals from there and if you feel guilty about what you're eating, you start to feel bad about your lifestyle and then you kind of get into this negative spiral.
MINDSET
Jessica: So how do you stay mentally healthy then and I mean obviously with the nutrition, but remaining positive minded and focused on working towards maintaining physical health?
Jaime: So it's probably my favorite question of all. So I really love this quote. I had it wrote down just to read on here. It says: "our happiness depends on the habit of mind that we cultivate."
It's something that you consistently have to work on for a long time to start for it to become more natural. So just taking each day and just really being aware of the moment that you're in and the self-talk that's happening. Consistency is just key with it and so just staying positive about my physical health goals and you know, when I'm tired that's more difficult so I have to be even more diligent about paying attention to the self-talk that's helping or happening.
So just reflection, reading books like the one I'm reading, talking with my friends, and most importantly just talking with God helps me get through, you know. Everyone's going to have times where they're mentally exhausted and just trying to keep healthy with it.
But it's kind of like what you're saying about going on a run and that's what that runner was talking about. She was just naturally gifted and won all these races in high school, but when she got to college it was another level and she started having just really negative self-talk and she'd lose a race before the race ever started, you know. It's amazing some of the stuff she accomplished in her lifetime after she met this one coach who basically was teaching her how to think.
And some of the races I go into where I have no pressure, you know, I'm not really competing in the race. I'm just running in the race or if it's a new race I've never done and it's all unexpected so I haven't trained a specific route, I don't have goals for that route. Those are the races I really excel at.
Jessica: Because you can just... do you think you enjoy it more or you're just in the moment or...
Jaime: I think, you know, there's no expectations and so if I'm not hitting a pace on a certain hill that I've ran before, then I'm not like 'oh my gosh - I need to pick it up. Oh my gosh - I can't believe my legs are so heavy today.' And instead I just run it. So you know new races or races where there's not a pressure like races that I've ran several times, there's a pressure there because I've ran them before so I want to beat those other times. Whereas with a new race, it's like anything flies.
Jessica: Yeah. Interesting.
Jaime: It all goes down to that self-talk during a race, you know.
Jessica: Yeah. Do you find the self-talk translates into other areas of life as well?
Jaime: Oh definitely. Yeah. For sure and that's where you just really have to pay attention because, you know. some days I'll have a hard day at work and I'll feel like, you know, I'm working through a diagnosis with a patient and I'll feel like I don't know everything there is to know about ENT. And then I'll come home and I'm kind of down on myself about not knowing it all and something will happen with my daughter and I'm like, 'man, am I really that great of a parent if I don't know how to...' you know - so it does. It kind of flows into the other parts of your life.
Jessica: There are days where I'm like, 'I, maybe I just won't run today. Maybe you know I feel fine' and then it's like as the day goes on if I'm feeling more negative or something it's like - no, I need to go out and exercise and do something and I find on those days where I really don't feel like doing anything, but I know it's good for me and I go ahead and do it anyway, I find it not only kind of develops this mental toughness, kind of, where and then you know when you're feeling those negative thoughts that it's like, you know if I can just go out and just take even a ten minute walk or do something physical, that it's going to help me be more positive minded for whatever else comes during the day.
Jaime: Definitely. I'll tell you that in the winter it's really hard for me. In Arkansas, it gets cold and really the winter is the best time for races and there were days where it's like snowing and I'm like I hate treadmill running. I will run in a blizzard. In fact I ran a couple weeks ago when there was tornado warnings and all my friends were mad at me and I'm like - I can't do ten miles on a treadmill, but I can do it, you know, in the rain and I'll be mentally okay with that, but what I'll have to do is put all my stuff on and I'll probably walk around my house for 20 minutes with my headphones on trying to convince myself to get out the door. And then I laugh at myself later because I'm like - okay, why did it take me so long to get out here?
Jessica: Right. It's like rather than taking those twenty minutes to just go out there and do it, you would have like you'd have to psych yourself up to go get it, but then it's worth it.
Jaime: Those are usually the days... I mean, those are probably the days I end up doing something awesome with it. You know, it ends up being a great run and I'm really excited that you're building a base. I'm kind of back to building a base right now and you know, taking it day by day and having a plan like you do is so important.
Jessica: Something too with that is I've built or I feel like I've built the base so many times and it gets so frustrating to have to rebuild because before I had Riley- I mean this is like thirteen, fourteen years ago, I was running, you know, I ran a couple half marathons and I could go out and run five miles and it was work but it... and I'm a slow runner, but it was like I could go out there and no problem. And then of course I had her and then I had double foot surgery so it was like yeah. That was when she was eight months old and then it was like so I got kind of over that and then started rebuilding and then I had Julia and then I had to start rebuilding again and then just different life events and so part of it for me was that motivation to keep going.
You know it's so worth it once - I always find once I can reach 30 minutes or 3 miles, there's just this shift where it's like you can do pretty much anything once I hit that 30 minute mark. So I'm at 22 minutes right now where I can run solidly 22 minutes and then I have to do intervals the remainder of the time. But I think for some people too it might just be knowing - okay it's worth it to build that base and just start where you are.
Jaime: Yeah and I think that's part of the community thing is having friends with like goals who will come over here, into your house and go let's go for a run and I've been kind of struggling with that 'cause I'm coming off of an injury. For the last two weeks I have not ran at all until about four days ago. And you come into this intimidation, I'm sure you experienced that after your surgery, where it's like am I going to mess something up worse? Or is this going to become something chronic that I'm dealing with and so having friends that are like 'come on! let's go have fun - let's not look at our watches. Let's just go explore this new neighborhood with mansions in it, you know.'
Jessica: Right!
Jaime: We do silly stuff like that.
Jessica: Exactly and do you find, do you have any being that you work as an ENT with nose, throat stuff and all of that, do you find that it's difficult for people with allergies to workout?
Jaime: Oh yes.
ALLERGIES
Jessica: How can people who suffer from allergies - what can they do to help their health so that it's more enjoyable when they are exercising?
Jaime: Yeah, so the over the counter medicines are about as good as you can get. Most people don't use them correctly. Consistency is key so starting out with an antihistamine. The ones that are over the counter - Zyrtec, Allegra, or Claritin - and you know the generics, but adding in the nasal spray like Flonase, Rhinocort, or Nasonex are key. Both of the antihistamines and the nasal sprays are preventative medicines so if you're using them when you're already snotty, you're kind of behind the ball. And they're very safe medications to be on every day so if you know that fall is a bad time of year, start kind of in the summer.
There's a few additional prescriptions that may really augment therapy like if you have asthma, you might be on Singulair. But one of my very favorite nasal sprays is called Azelastine and it is a game changer for a lot of patients. It's a nasal antihistamine. It's kind of an older drug. It doesn't really have a lot of side effects, but it's a spray that you can kind of use as a preventative about 30 minutes before you run. It tastes horrible so you don't really want to like sniff it in a lot, but I use it too before I clean something dusty. It's just a great kind of medication to ask your doctor about if the over the counter medicines aren't working.
And if the over the counter medicines help but they're not controlling your symptoms, the next step is allergy testing to see if you're a candidate for immunotherapy and people get all kind of wigged out about immunotherapy. It is an investment in your future and that's really how you have to think about it. It's the only cure that's possible for allergies. It's going to take up a lot of time, you know, it's a weekly shot that you have to go somewhere for usually for several years, but it can be life changing for people with allergies and now drops are becoming more popular. The drops you can use at home. It's a daily thing, but they're not FDA approved yet. I mean they've been around for centuries. They've been doing it in other countries so it can kind of get expensive.
Jessica: And do you find, like, what about neti pots?
Jaime: Oh yes. Neti pots are my favorite. So neti pots are basically saline water and if you think about athletes soaking their feet in epsom salt it's the same principle in that it reduces swelling. It'll wash out any little allergens that are just like sitting in your nose continuing to cause inflammation. And it'll help with crusting and drainage and so I always tell people do it in the shower the first time cause you're going to make a mess.
You know another thing is people don't realize that morning is really where allergens are most active and I'm not - I forget the science behind that, but when do most people run? You know it's in the morning so if you have bad, bad allergies you'll want to limit it to later in the day for times when it's not super, super windy.
And in your car you can switch your air onto recirculate inside the car so that you're not bringing in the allergens when you have your air conditioner on full blast in the summer. There's all kind of tricks like that you know you can google a whole list of things to do to try to help with them.
Jessica: Well, I feel like that might be a hindrance for people who are susceptible to sneezing and you know just feeling terrible and it would keep them from going outside and doing things outside. And I feel like, I don't know, kind of like what you said with running on a treadmill. I used to be able to run on a treadmill for a while and now I just don't like the idea of being cooped up staring at a monitor. I want to be out exploring new neighborhoods and things like that. So I just feel like if there's ways for people who do have those allergies, that it would help them find things they enjoy.
Jaime: Yeah. The azelastine spray, the antihistamine nasal sprays - there's a couple different ones; they're all prescription. Those can be used in addition to the nasal steroid sprays and that's something that someone can do you know thirty minutes before they go on a run or a bike ride. And it can really, it can be a game changer for people.
FITNESS
Jessica: Do most of the sports that you participate in are they outside? Like you've done the water skiing and the running. Are there other things that you do outside?
Jaime: I've been training. I've done quite a few different triathlons and I just I love being outside and where we're at in northwest Arkansas it's beautiful. We're in the Ozarks and there's just so many gorgeous places. Trail running is by far my very, very favorite. I water ski and I've done that competitively since I was in high school, but I also I really like the classes. I used to do a bunch of classes like the barre classes or spin cycle classes 'cause my friends would be there and it's loud music and they, you know, had free childcare and that type of thing. But I've really started to - recently started to swim and it's a really great cardio for me, but it's low impact and so I try to alternate running with swimming and so I do that inside in the pool too.
I have started swimming in the lake prior to certain triathlons to train for that and I always get a little intimidated 'cause I'll like see shadows and I know there's not sharks in lakes, but it totally freaks me out so I'm still trying to get over that, but I do some open water swimming.
Jessica: What do you experience differently in an open water swim compared to in a pool?
Jaime: The elements. So in an open water swim you've got different tides and different you know the waves. I mean inevitably you're going to come up for a breath and there's going to be a big ole' splash in your face and so you've gotta kind of be able to work through that. And you end up swimming a lot of crooked lines so you've got to be able to learn to spot. Whereas in a pool you're looking down. You're in a lane line. In the open water spotting, finding a place on shore, and after you know every three or five strokes, pulling your head like up out of water just enough to see it and straightening yourself back out, that's the most challenging part for me. And so I have a buoy that I clip to my foot when I open water swim. I will swim with my husband will be in the kayak and then also in our area there's lots of triathlon groups and they'll post on Facebook 'Open water swim on Saturday!' We'll all go meet up somewhere.
It's easier to swim in a group in an open water swim to me. You can kind of be in their tide and it kind of pulls you with them. And it helps you stay straight and it's just more fun. So there's a lot of different differences. And too just the intimidation. You don't realize, but your breathing gets faster and your pace changes because you can't see anything.
Jessica: I just think it's neat that you're always so open to trying new things and pushing yourself. And what's your, I guess, your recommendation for helping other people realize that they don't have to stay in a rut? That we can try new things.
Jaime: No. So you know I think the way I got into triathlons 'cause that was intimidating to me because I didn't own a bike and I had never swam before. And I had a friend that was like obsessed. Doing it for a cause. Try something for a cause. That's gonna give you - it's gonna take it off you and you're going to be doing something for someone else. So races that earn money for a certain cause.
So this triathlon that I signed up for supported Multiple Sclerosis and that's kind of something I'm passionate about. And it was in a pool so it was a great starting triathlon. And so I borrowed a bike and I learned how to swim in the six weeks before the race and that was my first triathlon. So find a fundraiser or something. A way that you can get involved and try something new.
Jessica: How do you make it enjoyable as you're learning these new things?
Jaime: That's hard because you want to be really good at something right away. Swimming was definitely one of those things for me because I felt like I was drowning all the time. Just finding things about it like you know like I bought a new swimsuit and I go with my friend and then I make this kind of like... I have this set time that I'm gonna be there and trying to find things you do love about it. You know and...
Trail running is kind of another one for me. It's hard. I mean you're either going up a hill or down a hill and it's hot and there's bugs, but the things that I see in nature it just reminds me how awesome God is and His creation and so that outweighs the bad and so I'm just constantly looking for positives. And that's part of that thinking I was talking to you about is just tell yourself okay what's the next positive? What can I make positive here?
Jessica: So what do you enjoy most about working out do you think?
Jaime: Just trying to figure out how to make it enjoyable. So in the very beginning I loved listening to music and my music and not my baby's music. And I loved listening to crime podcasts. And I love my Garmin watch because it kind of... I love to see myself getting faster or getting farther and I can kind of compare those things and I really love comparing the activities that I've done. Just trying to find things that I do love about whatever I'm doing.
Jessica: I think sometimes too sticking with something for a little while, for me, allows me to enjoy it rather than trying, you know, a spin class one day and a barre workout the next day and doing weights, but kind of doing something consistently over time and then incorporating something new. I don't know just for me that seems to help and something that I've tried to do, because I really enjoy running, is to try to get Riley or Julia to come on a run with me and it's not hard 'cause they're...now Julia's to the point where she'll ask me 'are you going for a run and can I come along?' You know and it's so it's so much fun. Do you incorporate fitness activities with your family?
Jaime: Definitely. So Ella, she likes to run with me. You know we only end up running to down the street, but for me it's easy 'cause my husband is the most outdoorsy person you'd ever meet. We love to go hiking and we have a paddle board which is pretty easy on your body - good fitness. Right now our paddle board is in our pool. We're teaching Ella. So you know we'll grab a meal usually and just go to like a park and try to eat outside wherever we are, but just finding something enjoyable is key. So going to the trampoline park for Ella is great exercise or swimming in our pool. Walking our dog, you know, that type of thing.
Jessica: How do you keep fitness fun?
Jaime: Friends. Peer pressure. We talk each other into races and talk each other into getting up early to train together, but it can't all be that way. You know you've got to do some of it on your own and so just paying attention to my thoughts is key so if I pay attention to the nature during my run, I'll be like 'Oh my gosh!' Instead of seeing an indigo bunting (it's a type of bird we have up here), I'll be like , 'Oh my gosh. How awesome. I just got to see that beautiful bright blue bird' and I'll like just try to carry my thoughts through that for a little bit. You know practicing gratitude. It's like wow I'm up so early in the morning. I have a chance to see fog rising. That is so gorgeous cause I haven't seen that in in a couple of days because I haven't been up that early. Or wow I just saw that kingfisher grab a fish. You know none of the cars driving by saw that 'cause they were going too fast. And just being, just practicing gratitude and not getting in my own head.
Jessica: Yeah. I think the emotional and social benefits - I know articles say this, but it's so true - it's a huge part. It's not just okay I want to lose ten pounds or I want to have stronger legs or you know the physical benefits obviously are there, but I think just seeing all those amazing things around you and being grateful for it is huge.
Jaime: So some of my friends they kind of laugh at me because I smile a lot when I run. And we'll do hill sprints together and I'll force them all to smile and they get so mad at me. And I'm like 'I'm gonna take a picture of you looking all sweaty and mad.' Because smiling like actually releases endorphins. And another thing I have found is that if I'm struggling in a race, if I look around someone else is always struggling too and if you start encouraging them, it'll automatically distract you from your own suffering. It's crazy. And I learned that through that first triathlon that I ran with the Multiple Sclerosis. I do it every year. It's called Tri-Fest for MS. But their whole slogan is to encourage and people are on the sidelines encouraging each other and every racer as you pace they'll like give you 5's cause it's like out and back. And they'll smile and they're like 'you're doing great!' And so that's another way to keep it fun and keep yourself going the right direction.
Jessica: What do you think has been your favorite race experience so far?
Jaime: Oh it's always changing. That's just such a hard question. So one of my all-time favorites is called Outback in the Ozarks Pure Trail Edition. So they have two different races. One is where you ride around in vans across Arkansas and the other one is where you camp and you're only running on trails and it's a relay race in the mountains. So we had a team of eight and you run over 200 miles in 48 hours. So there's different loops. There's a 3 1/2, a 5 and a 7 1/2 mile loop and each person runs one loop each time. Like one person will go out - run the first loop. Then the next person will go out and run the second loop and you just kind of go through it. But over the course, somehow with our pace I was the only person that ran two loops both at night. So I ran the three mile and the seven mile loop at night and it was just terrifying running in the forest at night. And it was difficult to kind of figure out where the trail was because they only had like little glow markers every so distance. But there's a runners village and everyone camps and they have bonfires and they wait around all night cheering people on and any time a runner comes to pass it off, they just all freak out. So that was probably my very favorite.
And then I just ran my first marathon and that one was super fun to me too just because it was a really encouraging race as well and it went through all of Fayetteville and it was just it was really fun.
Jessica: What do you think has been most surprising about pushing yourself in all these different ways?
Jaime: I limit myself. I mean I'm the most... I'm so hard on myself and I don't believe in myself and so with running came confidence. And you know just three miles turned into four which turns into thirty so just learning that you really have no boundaries. You only have the boundaries that you set. And just preparation like learning how to be consistent and coming up with goals and plans. I used to not really have goals, but with it came more goals.
Jessica: Do you think that's just because at first you're just adapting to a new situation or a new environment with the running or biking and so it's just more a matter of doing it first and then setting goals as you become more confident with it?
Jaime: Yeah. Oh yeah. So I mean so here's an example. I ran my first marathon or half marathon like three years ago and I never thought I'd want to run a half marathon. I had no interest in that and my friend was training for it and I was doing a lot of her training runs with her and so finally I just did it.
Well then I learned how much I loved trail running. I'm like well if I can do a half on the road then I can do a half on the trail and so then I did that race. And so it's kind of one thing leads into the next thing. Like I have no idea what next year's goals will hold. I mean I have an idea, but usually it comes from whatever is happening in the current year.
Jessica: Like do you have better belief in yourself now?
Jaime: Oh yeah. Definitely. Oh yeah after you know we ran 20 miles in November in the snow and after that I'm like I don't really think there's a lot that can hold me back.
Jessica: I love it!
Jaime: But you know I hired a coach for this last race that I was training for because I was intimidated by this race. It was 31 miles with 3000 foot elevation in 90 degree heat. I ran this same race last year, but it was the 25K and I saw people throwing up with their muscles just balling up in their legs from dehydration and I knew this distance was going to be a big distance and so I hired a coach and that was helpful in having someone with more expertise than myself to prep me for that.
Jessica: Was this the 50K race?
Jaime: This was the 50K so I like two weeks before I don't know really exactly what happened. I did a trail run and about two hours after the trail run my foot just swelled up huge and I don't remember rolling it. I mean I probably did, but it didn't hurt till after the run and I gave it a couple days break and you know, the swelling kind of went down. And I ran on it again and that's what did me in. So I didn't give it enough break, but now I'm running again. You know I'm starting out small. First I did one mile. Then I did three two miles and then I just I did a three mile and a four mile so I'm kind of building up again, which is so crazy cause I was telling my friend I was at my peak just two and a half weeks ago and I feel like I've almost lost it all. So it's crazy.
Jessica: So it's back to like that mental game probably of knowing you're going to get back to it.
Jaime: Yes I tell you what. I think I went through the five stages of grief. 'Cause at first I was in denial. I was like I'll just give it two days break and do ice and ibuprofen and I'll be good. And then when I did that second run the denial went more to anger. I'm like I can not believe this is happening two weeks before my race, you know. I'm so mad cause I put all this time, I mean it took a lot of time to train those long training runs and then - then I just went to sadness and when I realized that... cause I was giving it time. I was just not going to run for a week and I'll just run the race. And then I realized that just wasn't going to happen and I just had to pull out of the race and it was just, I was so sad. So I went through those five stages of grief. Over a race.
Jessica: I bet. I always feel like it takes so much strength to pull out of a race because mentally if you've trained all that time to do a race, it's almost not easier physically, but easier mentally to go ahead and race anyway with an injury you know? Because you are like I've already trained for this. I'm ready for this and then to pull out feels like a failure almost you know and overcoming that, but I feel like it's a smart and wise decision to listen to your body during that time so that you don't make the injury worse. So I hope you do get to do that race at some point.
Jaime: Yes. I've already kind of started looking at other 50Ks. Now I only have like a handful of friends that are ultra runners. My really close friends, who they don't do ultra runners, they're like why do you want to do this? I'm like I don't really know. Just to see, which sounds crazy 'cause before I had Ella I didn't run so I would've laughed in someone's face if they told me I was gonna be doing that.
Jessica: That's so funny 'cause I assumed that you'd been running a long time.
Jaime: No. Uh-uh. I didn't start running until I had Ella. She had a witching hour at about from 5-7 and you know I had my stepmom was like put her in a stroller, take her outside, put some headphones in so you can't hear her screaming, and just go for a walk. And so I kind of started jogging and so it just kind of went from there. Signed up for my first 5K when I was like 28.
Jessica: That's so cool. I love that. And is there any other advice or things that you would say to people about health or exercise that has helped you or just things that we haven't covered do you think?
Jaime: You know just believe in yourself and try to find ways to be consistent. You know whether it's friends or paying for a class and making sure you're going, but just don't sell yourself short 'cause that's the biggest thing that I have always done is sell, you know, sell myself short on things. And that's the thing about running a race. You're like okay I can do this. Maybe I can do a little bit more. And my next big thing besides a 50K is I'd like to do an Ironman and the swim is what's got me intimidated. That and the crazy training hours you know. I just kind of want to play with my daughter more than I want to do a three hour bike ride, but I'm starting to believe that I can do that and to not sell myself short of well, here's all the excuses of why you can't do it.Final Questions:
Tea, coffee, or something else that suits your fancy - Macha Green Tea or Iced Macha from Starbucks; Nuun or Tailwind Hydration Drinks
Artists, song, or genre - Fast Pace (electronic dance music) or Long Runs (podcasts)
What is something you do, or try to do, every day - Gratitude; Texts with a friend every night to share three things that she's thankful for that day. Spinning all that is going on and keeping it positive
How to get in touch with Jaime - Facebook: Jaime Grant Turner
Comments
Post a Comment