Fitness Friday: A Little of This and a Little of That

According to a recent University of Pittsburg study, you can reduce your rick of heart disease by 10% just by breast-feeding. And the longer you nurse, the better. One explanation: Breast-feeding helps reduce belly fat, which has been shown to stress your heart. Almost makes me want to have another baby. Except that would completely stress my heart, by about 1000%. That’s counterproductive, isn’t it. On second thought, maybe I’ll just do more cardio.

In the 1970’s, the average female weight was 144 pounds. Today it’s 164. In order to get back to the weight of the good ole’ days, we’d have to cut out an average of 500 calories per day. You may also want to smoke while you’re pregnant, let your kids bounce around in the car unbuckled and use Breck hair products.

Here’s a picture of Jon and me at a 70’s party.

And here’s Jan Brady in the 70’s.

After you’ve dropped some weight, it’s a great idea to ditch your “fat clothes.” Having your clothes get snug, with no other options in your closet, is a great motivator to stay in shape. Or to go shopping. I’ve actually done that—ditched shorts that were too big, only to have all my skinny clothes stop abruptly at my hips the following summer. I had to buy all new shorts again in the big size until I could lose a few pounds and get back into the skinny ones. That was sort of a pointless story, wasn’t it. I mean, I totally just disproved my own point.

Did you know plaque on your teeth is bad for your brain? Me neither!! According to Michael Roizen, MD, “The plaque between teeth can cause an immune reaction that attacks the arteries, which then can’t deliver vital nutrients to your brain cells.” That’s just crazy. Who would think to even study that?

According to Dr. Oz, almonds are the best snack of all. Because they are high in fiber and protein, they’ll satiate you so you’ll never be hungry. And his perfect breakfast? Oatmeal, topped with fruit and nuts. Dr. Oz allegedly eats that every morning. And if it’s good enough for Dr. Oz, by golly, it’s good enough for me.

Don’t like fruits or veggies very much? Try buying one or two new ones each week and experiment. Try grilling, steaming, chopping in a salad, or adding to your marinara. You are bound to find something you like when you get creative. I absolutely LOVE grilled red peppers, zucchini and asparagus. Just drizzle with olive oil, a little salt and pepper and throw them on your grill until they get some pretty char marks. It brings out a sweetness that is just delish! You can also put them under the broiler for the same effect. Make extra, because you can chop them up the next day and toss them in an omelet for breakfast. Try grapes, mandarin oranges, apples, pears or pineapple in a tossed salad. Try spaghetti squash with a small pat of real butter and a little salt as a main dish.

Corn is getting sweeter and cheaper this time of year. Wanna great side dish recipe involving corn?

Fresh Corn Saute (From Light Cooking cookbook–which I’ve had since 1996, so I’m sure it’s not even in print anymore. So sorry.)

4 ears fresh corn

4 ounces fresh pea pods

1 red pepper sliced into strips

¼ cup sliced green onions

1 ½ teaspoons chicken bullion (I don’t like to use bullion because of all the chemicals. Find a natural one, if you can. If not, add a little chicken broth to the bottom of the pan with the oil and let it boil down a bit to concentrate the flavor.)

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

Remove husks and silk from corn. Cut corn from cobs. In large skillet, cook and stir corn, pea pods, red pepper, green onions, bouillon and sugar in oil until vegetables are tender crisp. Serve with black pepper. Serves 4 to 6. Calories per serving: 111

And last but not least, I read a great post this week at Musings of a Housewife on eating all natural foods. She says it all with such wit and grace, I thought you may enjoy it. Here’s a snippet:

Not too long ago someone saw me carrying the book Real Food and asked me about it. (No, I do not carry it everywhere I go, but if I could afford it, I would buy a box of them and keep it in my car and pass them out to everyone I meet. It’s THAT good.)

Him: “So, what’s it about?”

Me: “Um. Eating well. Getting back to traditional foods…”

Him: “So, like, organic?”

This is where I start to fumble: “Um, not exactly. It can be… It doesn’t have to be… Um…”

And that was about the end of the conversation because I couldn’t get my thoughts together, which is nothing unusual, but it got me thinking about the subject and how I can concisely explain what I’m doing.

Traditional food MAY be organic, but it doesn’t have to be. Conversely, not all organic food is good for you. I mean, there are organic oreos. Hello? Organic is just a certification, and if you read up on it, the requirements are rather nebulous. Eating well is less about buying organic and more about rejecting the industrialized foods that have emerged only in the last 100 years in favor of traditional foods grown and prepared in traditional ways — local and seasonal produce (preferably grown without chemicals), whole grains, unrefined fats and oils, meat from animals that are fed traditional diets (without antibiotics and growth hormones), etc.

To read more of her post, click here.

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Want to know how to work your favorite “bad” foods into your over all fitness plan? You may want to check out Sarah at All Pain No Gain. She’s practices what she preaches and has seen amazing results.

Are you having trouble getting started in your exercise routine? Debbie at Heart Choices is the girl for you. Go read her post today.

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Read any good health tips this week? Have a great way to serve a fruit or veggie? Favorite healthy snack? Leave a comment and tell me about it! And if you write your own Fitness Friday post, please let me know…I’ll link up to you!

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Thank you, Health magazine, for your inspiration this week. I was fresh out of Fitness Friday ideas, and you came to my rescue.