Cookie Months are Over - Get Ready for Mighty May

Happy May, Sarasota! Because I’m from up north, May is synonymous with a panicked health frenzy for me. It’s a routine: spend the winter bulking up, hiding under layers and layers, and then have an “oh sh*t” moment when you realize that it’s time to start wearing summer clothes again. And bathing suits. Bathing suits are always a concern.

While Sarasota doesn’t quite have the climate for winter hibernation, I don’t think there is anything wrong with dedicating a month to health. Maybe, just maybe, actual health can be the focus, instead of a blubber-busting mad dash to the swimsuit finish line.

For a relatively small town, Sarasota offers an extraordinary number of health-optimizing options. I suspect it's because of our healthy population of cougars and trophy wives who need to stay looking their best. If we just take to the outdoors, there are ample opportunities to chisel the waistline and tone up the ticker: walking the bridge or going for a run on the beach, for instance---or taking advantage of the Rec Trail and biking along the bay. Maybe getting adventurous and paddle-boarding with the manatees on Lido.

If we expand the options to include indoor activities, I could easily spend the month talking about different ones every day. We’ve got yoga and qigong and mindfulness meditation. Acupuncture and Oriental medicine clinics abound. Veronica Pastore raves about IntenSati. There are trainers who are willing to kick your butt inside or outside and our very own Evolution Fitness is bringing an International Federation of Bodybuilding (IFBB) competition to town in the fall.

Because (I believe) that what you put in your body matters more than what you put out, we’ll get the inside scoop on the nutrition scene. I’m just learning about fitness food delivery options for busy professionals in town, and I'm still exploring different shopping venues for those of us who have to be more frugal with money than time. I’d like to look not just at Whole Foods and Earth Origins, but also the little Mom ‘n Pop stores around town. And of course there’s the Farmer’s Market. There’s always the Farmers Market.

So, from freeing up a frazzled mind through meditation and massages to working on a chiseled core through paddle boarding and training, I propose a Mighty May. I’ve checked out raw foods and juicing books from the library and am freeing up some fridge space for this Saturday’s Market. I even tried running---without being chased. I’ll try to keep the discussions to how to maximize your health and wellness in a Sarasota-specific way, but I can’t make any promises. This is one of my favorite topics, and I like weird things.

The goal, in addition to developing a bikini-ready body, is to show that we have options. Wellness is a lifestyle choice, one we all can and should choose. I have no intention of visiting places and saying “X is the best, Y is the worst.” SRQ, Sarasota Magazine and Natural Awakenings already do that. I’d prefer to go in and scope out the tone---see if a place is more suitable for yuppies or hippies, better for a day when you want to relax or want to burn off a Lollycakes overindulgence. Ideally, I’d like to show some options that people didn’t know they had (myself included) and encourage people to try new things. I can hardly think of a more “New Girl” worthy activity.

I ask that you wish me luck. Sticking to resolutions: not my strong point. But nothing changes if nothing changes, right?A final confession (before I get my act together): for those of you who think this article lacks substance, I apologize (and agree). It’s an aperitif, a little something to get you ready for the knowledge coming your way this month. And I needed something to do with my hands to keep them out of the cookie jar. My brother brought me down fresh baked chocolate chip cookies and they are not the way to start off a Mighty May.

- Suggestions for Keely to keep her out of the cookie stash? Hit up the comment box or email her directly at [email protected].