2 September 2010

11 Tips for Exercising Regularly

These tips are pretty fabulous!

1. Always exercise on Monday. This sets the psychological pattern for the week. Along the same lines …

2. If at all possible, exercise first thing in the morning. As the day wears on, you’ll find more excuses to skip exercising. Get it checked off your list, first thing.

3. Never skip exercising two days in a row. You can skip a day, but the next day, you must exercise, no matter how inconvenient.

4. Give yourself credit for the smallest effort. My father always said that all he had to do was put on his running shoes and close the door behind him. Many times, by promising myself I could quit ten minutes after I’d started, I got myself to start—and then found that I didn’t want to quit, after all.

5. Think about context. I thought I disliked weight training, but in fact, I dislike the guys who hang out in the weight-training area. Are you distressed about the grubby showers in your gym? Do you try to run in the mornings, but recoil from going out in the cold? Examine the factors that might be discouraging you from exercising.

6. Exercise several times a week. If your idea of exercise is to join games of pick-up basketball, you should be playing practically every day. Twice a month isn’t enough.

7. If you don’t have time to both exercise and take a shower, find a way to exercise that doesn’t require you to shower afterward. Twice a week, I have a very challenging weight-training session, but the format I follow doesn’t make me sweat. (Some of you are saying, “It can’t be challenging if you don’t sweat!” Oh yes, believe me, it is.)

8. Look for affordable ways to make exercising more pleasant or satisfying. Could you upgrade to a nicer or more convenient gym? Buy yourself a new iPod? Work with a trainer? Get a pedometer to keep track of your walking distances? Exercise is a high life priority, so this a worthwhile place to spend some money if that helps.

9. Think of exercise as part of your essential preparation for times you want to be in especially fine form—whether in performance (to be sharp for an important presentation) or appearance (to look good for a wedding) or mood (to deal with a stressful situation). Studies show that exercise does help.

10. Remember one of my favorite Secrets of Adulthood, courtesy of Voltaire: Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Don’t decide it’s only worth exercising if you can run five miles or if you can bike for an hour. I have a friend who scorns exercise unless she’s training for a marathon—so she never exercises. Even going for a ten-minute walk is worthwhile. Do what you can.

11. Don’t kid yourself. Belonging to a gym doesn’t mean you go to the gym. Having been in shape in high school or college doesn’t mean you’re in shape now. Saying that you don’t have time to exercise doesn’t make it true.

I also love how the article ends:

People often ask me, “So if I want to be happier, what should I be doing?” and I always say, “The first thing to do is to make sure you’re getting plenty of sleep and plenty of exercise.”

I know that answer doesn’t sound properly transcendent and high-minded on the subject of happiness, but research shows that you’d be wise to start there. And I’ve found that if I’m feeling energetic and well rested, it’s much easier to follow all my other happiness-inducing resolutions.

Read the full article.

What keeps YOU exercising regularly?

1 September 2010

What You Own

RENT, anyone? Sorry, I used to be obsessed. Or actually, sorry, I’m not sorry!

And speaking of not being sorry, ever since Rachel (blogger extraordinaire and Your Nutritionista Consulting life coach expert) wrote a post about owning your life, I’ve been stumped. What could I own that I haven’t already?

I’ve already owned that I heart fat.

I’ve already owned that I eat meat (though I’ll happily make you a vegan meal!).

I’ve already owned that I think commercial processed food is nonsense.

I’ve already owned that I believe certain high-calorie foods are totally healthy.

Well, I finally thought of something else to own that you guys might not already know.

I’m a total old lady! Anything past 10pm is too late for me on a work night, and midnight is pushing it on weekends. I don’t like to drink a lot, listen to loud music, or “party” in general. I don’t miss the partying of my college days at all. Call me lame, just don’t call me sleep-deprived. Sorry, I’m not sorry!

I definitely don’t have a problem with anyone who likes to do those things. In fact, my boyfriend is much more of a night owl than I am, and he has no problem being out way into the wee hours of the night/morning. He says I “can’t hang,” and maybe he’s right. But you know what? Sorry, I’m not sorry!! I like my bed more than I like the bar. I like waking up in the morning feeling refreshed, not like I was hit multiple times with a Mack truck. I’m always up for going out to eat, just don’t expect me to close down the place!

I’ve finally reached a point where peer pressure does nothing to me. If you tell me I’m being a party pooper, I’ll tell you that you’re pooping on my bedtime party. To me, “going out” isn’t ALWAYS the most fun option. Sure, sometimes it’s great. But just because I’m young doesn’t mean I should want to go out all the time. And yup, sorry, I’m not sorry!

Alright, your turn: What do YOU seriously and officially own?

Eating REALLY Local: Food from the Back Yard

This past weekend, my boy and I headed to our friends Chris and Andrea’s for dinner. Chris and Andrea recently moved into a new house and immediately planted a pretty impressive backyard garden. They cooked us a meal almost entirely from their yard (a few veggies came from one of their relative’s garden). It was as delicious as it was gorgeous!

Photo by Chris!

This was my favorite dish: heirloom tomatoes (from their garden), fresh mozzarella, and an edible flower on top. Such gorgeous tomatoes, and such a flavorful, fresh dish. I really want to grow tomatoes on my garden patio.

Fresh tomatoes taste NOTHING like the ones from the store. This was a gorgeous dish. The rest of the meal included:

• Roasted kale, purple potatoes, and beets
• Grilled leaks and jalapenos
• A spicy chocolate martini made with hot pepper-infused vodka and chocolate liqueur (that was one reason for the weird request!)

So much local yum. Thanks, Chris and Andrea!

31 August 2010

Wild Rice and Sweet Corn Pancakes with Guacamole & Smoked Salmon

My dad did it again! He created another truly original, balanced, and delicious dinner — and made it look easy!

We ate our pancakes with a fresh fruit salad. Here’s the necessary info to put together this unique and lovely meal (straight from my dad!):

Wild Rice & Sweet Corn Pancakes (with homage to the Vegetarian Epicure)

Let sit to room temp:
2 C milk
1/2 stick butter
3 eggs

Then, whip whites of 3 eggs to stiff.

Mix dry ingredients:
1 C masa harina (corn flour)
1/2 C white or wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutneg

Melt butter, add milk and butter slowly to flour (mix as minimally as possible). Then, fold in egg whites as slowly as possible. Finally, add 1 C wild rice (long grain, cooked) and corn from 2-3 ears (cooked).

Classic Guacamole

Mash together the following ingredients:

3 avocados
juice of one lime
3-4 tablespoons fresh cilantro chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 large onion, diced fine
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tomato, diced or, optional:
1 tbsp HOT salsa or 1 jalapeno, diced fine

For the salmon, choose a warm smoked salmon. We got ours from Tracklements. A few more notes from dad:

• If you’re short on time, slices of avocado would be fine in place of guac.
• Replace the masa harina with white flour and leave out the rice and corn, and these are the Vegetarian Epicure classic pancakes. [Ed. note: I grew up eating these and they are DELICIOUS! Best pancake recipe EVER.)

30 August 2010

I always say packaged food is all marketing hype and no substance. Now, at least we can use it to our advantage (though I think baby carrots are totally bland in comparison to their full-sized counterparts!).

thedailywhat:

Marketing Campaign of the Day: Ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky were recently hired by Big Carrot to update the packaging of baby carrots with an eye toward appealing to the junk food generation.

The $25 million campaign is set to include such innovations as: Doritos-like package designs; carrot vending machines; seasonal tie-ins (e.g., Halloween “scarrots”); and even an iPhone app “powered by the sound of folks munching carrots in real time.”

Frito-Lay, for their part, say they are “happy to serve as an inspiration.” “We know people don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables,” spokesperson Chris Kuechenmeister was quoted as saying. “We applaud any effort to provide consumers with a wider range of snacking options.”

[usatoday.]