Hello Refinery Family!
The holiday season is in its beginning stages. This time of year begins the seasonal trifecta of sugar, excess food, and drinking merriment. Creating time in our lives for celebration rituals and intentional togetherness with our people are signs of cultural health. Even with Daylight savings, this is also the time of year when the daylight is shorter and the darkness is longer. We can protect our physical and mental health during this season by maintaining our workout schedule, making meal planning a priority, and savoring our nightly bedtime routines. We can really enjoy the uniqueness of the next two months by balancing their celebratory nature with a daily life grounded in movement, rewarding work, personal connections, wholesome nutrition, and proper sleep. We are here to support you in all of it!
Speaking of the holiday season, this is a big year for The Refinery, as it is turning 10 years old the week of Thanksgiving! Many of you reading this were there when we started or shortly thereafter, which is an amazing testament to all of us. For those of you reading this that have been with us for some part of the journey but now live in Salt Lake City, or Des Moines, or Bend, or Austin, or Hood River, or California, or Hillsboro, we still miss you and hope you are still getting your sweat and smile on in your local fitness community! For those of you who have joined us somewhere in the last few years as you moved into the neighborhood, or your gym closed, or your trainer moved, or your health professional told you that you needed to integrate strength training into your life, we are so glad you found us and are bringing your personal sunshine to the gym.
We are starting the holiday season and celebrating our appreciation for you with a Client Appreciation and 10 year Anniversary Party on November 19th! Leave your credit card at home – we got you covered. Just put on that drip and grab your girl (or boy) and get out the door, and we can meet on the dance floor!
Saturday, November 19th
The Big Legrowlski
812 NW Couch
7-11 pm
Food from Verde Cocina,
cocktails and mocktails and everything in between!
Stay for a bit or stay all night – can’t wait to see you!
Peace and pumpkins,
Ashleigh
Please RSVP in MINDBODY! so we have an idea of the number of attendees. Our max is 100.
Holiday Thoughts
Amidst the uplifting of our spirits through the lights, songs and scents of the season, this time of year can be stressful on a few levels. If you struggle with seasonal depression, unwanted weight gain during the winter months, and/or superfluous spending and consumption related to Hanukkah and Christmas, finding the positive at the beginning and end of each day can become harder and harder.
I encourage you to do a few things to combat these and to turn this time of year into a time of empowerment and inspiration.
First of all, maintain or increase your workout schedule. Movement is medicine. Everyday after you do something that is physically challenging, your mood and attitude is elevated. Feed your being the good stuff! While I’m not handing out gold stars if you do 30 workouts at The Refinery in 30 days, (I think that kind of stuff is a marketing ploy and has more to do with someone’s profit margins and less to do with your health,) I am urging you to move and be challenged someway everyday. Whether it’s a class, a training session, a run, a tennis match, lacrosse practice, a long strenuous bike ride, a day on the mountain – get up and out and MOVING EVERY DAY. I trust YOU to make a plan and respect yourself enough to do it. What WE offer you is a place where your coaches know your name, your workout schedule, your strengths and weaknesses, your excuses and temptations, and will help you stay accountable. This equation is much more meaningful in creating a lifestyle that will help you maintain your goal weight, body composition, promote healthy choices with food and alcohol, build supportive camaraderie, and get you out of bed each day ready to be challenged, even during the holidays. Additionally, add time for gratitude to your dinner time or bedtime routine – a sentence or three said aloud or written down will help your focus shift to the things that lift you up even as the rain is pouring down. These small steps provide significant positive impact.
Second of all, declutter your home and reduce the holiday spending pressures. Before adding the tree/menorah and pulling out the ornaments and decorations, look around your house and check your gut response. We are always holding on to more than we need, in the corners and behind closed closet doors. Schedule a few hours in November and another few hours in December to release what you no longer use or need or like. Hire an organizer or call on a friend or partner to help you complete the task. Evaluate the gift exchanging. Maybe write your closest friends and older children heartfelt cards, letters, poems instead of a purchased gift. Maybe make a small photo book of your memories together over the year. Maybe sign up to take an art class with a friend or partner instead of giving another bottle of wine or pair of wool socks. I think looking for ways to create experiential connection instead of wrapping paper waste clutter could be a nice reprieve for the soul.
Lastly, the food and drink challenge. The big holiday meals can be switched up to match your preferred style of eating by finding recipes that stay within the flavor profile of the holiday but the macronutrient profile of your fitness goals. Maybe you’ve reduced your gluten intake – cornbread stuffing is delicious. Go find a recipe that uses more broth than butter! Maybe you’ve reduced your processed food intake – green bean casserole does not need to include cream of mushroom soup, try using broth and sautéed mushrooms instead! A simpler palate is a more sophisticated palate. Exploring new recipes from new sources can be a creative and inspiring path to eating healthy during the holidays. I know you’ve been enjoying grandmas stuffing since you were eight years old, but you can build a new recipe around hers that will honor your heart and hips at the same time. I get many of my recipes from 1) the New York Times cooking app, 2) The Modern Proper website (themodernproper.com– you can plug in “gluten-free,” “low-carb,” “vegetarian,” and many more options to help guide your search) and 3) Delish (while this site has more traditional recipes, I find them to have a more relevant nutritional bend than say Bon Apetit, Martha Stewart and Epicurious.) Drinking alcohol unfortunately interferes with sleep quality and you need your sleep! Maybe give the Hop infused or adaptogen infused waters a try. Maybe give warm turmeric and ginger tea a try. Do both! Save the cocktails, robust reds, and hazy IPA’s for special occasions, and even then – slow your roll! Your body and mind will thank you!
These three themes have the potential to make January 1st a day where you do not need to bother with resolutions of any kind, because you’ll have already put in place the habits that will get you TO and THROUGH 2023.
Thanksgiving Schedule
Of course we’ve got you covered on Thanksgiving. We are so grateful for you and are offering three ways for you to get your day started right!
Ashleigh is serving up the gravy and preparing for the pie with:
7 am Wheelhouse
8 am Burn
9 am Reboot
Register in MINDBODY!
11/23 Wednesday 6 pm cancelled
11/25 Friday 6 am and 7 am classes canceled
