Eat, Drink & Stay Fit Anyway
The holiday season is upon us. Grand feasts of turkey and mystery casseroles await. Crazy Aunt Karen will find her awkward platform for her political rants at the other end of the dining room table. Social media will abound with all of your friends’ perfect holiday lives. As I am sure you have all kept up with your healthy eating and exercise since the end of summer, how will you make it through all of this anxiety and temptation? With a little planning.
I personally love Thanksgiving. I love a big meal with the whole family. I love turkey and gravy. I love mashed sweet potatoes. I love pecan pie. How can someone get away with consuming all of those calories in one day? With a little preparation.
Let’s first take a look at calories. A calorie is a unit of measure of energy. It is equal to the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by 1 degree Celsius. This is technically a kcal, but people use the term calorie. One gram of protein contains four calories, which when consumed will either be used for energy or stored as fat. One gram of carbohydrates also contains four calories and one gram of fat contains nine calories.
The average person needs to consume about 2,000 to 2,500 calories a day to maintain his current weight. If we expand that daily caloric intake to a week, those numbers move to 14,000 and 17,500, respectively. If you are looking to lose a pound of fat, it is going to take a weekly deficit of 3,500 calories. So, when thinking about a weekly deficit, why worry about strict daily caloric intake? Looking at your diet throughout the week, it is rare that you are going to eat the exact same thing every day and move the exact same amount every day. That’s why it is sometimes easier to look at weekly caloric goals. One day you may just not be that hungry and the next maybe you are starving. So, listen to your body and eat when hungry and pay attention to weekly goals. This outlook also helps when you have an event coming up where you may be overindulging in turducken. (You know, when you cook a duck inside a chicken inside a turkey.)
If you know you will be overconsuming, you can plan your weekly caloric intake accordingly. For instance, if your usual daily intake is 2,000 calories but you expect to eat 3,000 calories on Thanksgiving, you have the rest of the week to make up for it. That means for six days leading up to Thanksgiving, you can reduce your intake by about 167 calories per day, still keeping your total weekly caloric intake at 14,000. I’m not sure it’s possible, but I might have to fast for six days leading up to Thanksgiving. I wouldn’t recommend it. Of course, choosing the healthiest calories possible is always the best idea. Splurge on some excess calories, but don’t make it 2,000 calories of pumpkin pie. You also have to keep your exercise consistent.
As for holiday stress, my family often starts off holiday nights with a shot of tequila. Again, I’m not sure it’s the best option, but it seems to loosen people up a bit. Stress can have negative impacts on your health and fitness. But just like your diet, your mental state going into Thanksgiving can be helped with a little preparation. Meditation and mindfulness techniques have been proven to be very effective in reducing stress. Breathing exercises such as the Wim Hof Method can help to reduce anxiety and help you to feel a little more relaxed before facing Aunt Karen’s judging eyes. Exercise is also a big stress reducer. Head out for a run before dinner. I also recommend keeping conversation light. If you know who is going to be in attendance, you can think of topics to talk about beforehand. By asking questions, you can shift focus away from yourself and alleviate some of that stress.
If you want to survive the holidays with your health, preparation is key. Planning out your caloric intake can help you keep off those unwanted holiday pounds while still allowing you to partake in excessive turducken consumption. Preparing your mental state will help you banish stress (and stress eating). As far as Aunt Karen’s mental state, that’s beyond my scope.
“Later expansions of additional restaurants and a spa have enhanced The Reeds’ presence in Stone Harbor resulting in a lively downtown area. John and Ed are indeed a credit to our community and we thank them for their vision and fortitude.”
The fortitude pushed them through the customarily draining process of permits and approvals. Once that was met, their shared vision emerged. The property opened in 2013 and further contributed to the Stone Harbor landscape in 2015 with the addition of Buckets the Margarita Bar & Cantina, in 2017 with the Stone Harbor Pizza Pub, and last spring with the Salt Spa at The Reeds, which completed the expansion.
The tandem knew they’d struck a chord during a meeting designed to recruit investors in 2008. Sprandio, who had purchased this property in the heart of town several years earlier, wanted financial company to implement a business plan. He and his wife, Denise, had met with community leaders, observed the enthusiasm of holiday events, and sought a social center to attract more downtown activity.
What Sprandio needed was investors. Or one giant investor. Little did he know a recruitment meeting would entice Breen, the Tyco chairman and a current executive both at Comcast and DuPont. Breen has been named one of the 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics by Ethisphere.
Sprandio, who has spent a lifetime implementing programs to enhance the lives of cancer patients, wanted to advance a business idea outside of that realm.
“During the presentation, and there may have been about 35 people there, I noticed some people listening to every word I was saying, nodding and smiling, they were the friendliest people in the audience,” Sprandio recalls.
“They turned out to be Ed and his wife, Lynn. When that meeting was over, Ed and I literally went out to get a cup of coffee, realized we had the same vision about what is needed in this town, and said, ‘How about just the two of us being the partnership team?’”
Breen recalls the leap of faith they made. Resort communities are considered summer gold mines and nine additional months of significant risk.
“A lot of people did not think it could be a success because the season is too short,” Breen says. “But we really liked the plan involving a wedding venue and an attraction that could spread the season out. That vision is exactly what has happened.”
Sprandio says the venture addressed a social need in the borough.
“If you wanted to go somewhere to have a cocktail or watch the sunset, you had to drive to Cape May,” he recalls. “The seasonal visitors were not having their social and entertainment needs met in Stone Harbor.
“When those needs are met on 96th Street, there is more traffic, more customers, more opportunities for business to renovate, more restaurants, chefs, theaters, etc.”
Sprandio and Breen allow local management to run daily operations while retaining their own high-profile businesses. Both cite the need to deliver services that are highly personal, exceed customer expectations and have employees buy into the vision.
Their partnership, informal for a project of this magnitude, hasn’t changed.
“We work very well together,” Breen says. “We literally have 10-minute conversations or go down the shore to meet for coffee and almost immediately come to the same conclusion. It’s been incredible. We are very compatible; we go over this and that and we never disagree on anything. Our families know each other.
“It feels great that so many people in town thank us,” Sprandio adds. “ When you look at the restaurants, and the stores and the fact that a lot of people roll through here, you see that if you have a Friday or Saturday wedding at The Reeds, there are a couple hundred extra people here that otherwise would not have been in the town.”
Clinton Bunting, a previous Citizen of the Year recipient, launched his multi-million-dollar vision right next door. The Harbor Square Theatre area, which includes a restaurant and mall, provides another potent downtown magnet.
“These guys are both very good at their original professions and they brought that over to what they built here,” Bunting says. “They do things the right way. Their operation is very classy, they keep the place clean and they have a great product with great service.
“We work hand-in-hand. They bring people in town for the hospitality reason and we hope to complete it with the theater and the mall. Right now, Stone Harbor is the perfect beach town.”
Breen and Sprandio fell in love with Stone Harbor several decades back. The borough has fallen in love with them, too.
