Sunday, February 28, 2010

The Trans-Fat TRAP!

Ding, ding, ding, ding! Winner, winner, (healthy)chicken dinner! Two of my very smart friends who also happen to be two of my living healthiest friends realized that I was talking about trans fat in my last post. Trans fat SUCKS and I want to tell you why. Good work Nom and Jen! You girls are nutrition geniuses!

What exactly is trans fat? Trans fat is the fat that increases our LDL cholesterol which is the "lousy" cholesterol and it decreases our HDL which is the healthy cholesterol. It's created when hydrogens are added to liquid vegetable oils.
Eating trans fats increases your risk of developing heart disease and stroke. It’s also associated with a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The way my boss put it to me is that trans fat is the fat that your body cannot eliminate or digest. Trans fat that you eat today will stay in your body forever and is the fat that clogs your arteries. Companies use trans fat because it's cheap and it lasts a long time so if you buy foods and notice that the expiration date is a long, long way away, (think oblong little sponge cakes with white cream inside of them) chances are it contains trans fat. If the words "partially hydrogenated oil" of any kind are on the label well, then it's got trans fat in it.

Why do I get peeved about labels? Because companies are allowed to say that a product contains 0 grams of trans fat as long as it contains less than .5 grams of trans fat per serving. The reason this is dangerous is because we should not have more than 1.5 grams of trans fat per day and serving sizes are small... SMALL! Companies have adjusted their serving sizes to be able to say 0 grams of trans fat but if you have more than the serving size, chances are you're having very close to, or above the amount you should be having and if you're doing this every day well, you're clogging your arteries even when you don't realize it. It's a trap! A trans fat TRAP and I think it's basically a legal way to lie to the American people.

Let's take what I consider to be one of the biggest culprits of this... coffee creamer liquids! I have lots of members in my groups who choose coffee creamers in their coffee because they think it's a good way to add creaminess and flavor to their coffee for a low amount of calories yet the third ingredient listed is "partially hydrogenated soybean and/or cottonseed oil." You probably realize that on labels, ingredients are listed in order of proportional quantity, meaning the biggest amounts are first and the smaller amounts are at the end. The "serving size" of coffee creamer is 1 Tablespoon which seems rather small to me, but even if you're having that amount, if you're having coffee creamer every day, chances are you're consuming quite a bit of trans fat.

On the coffee creamer website, one of the FAQs is regarding trans fat and the company's answer is so irritating to me, in a nutshell, they say,
that their liquid flavors contain less than .5 g of trans fat per serving although the ingredient statement lists partially hydrogenated oil, the amount is trivial. Therefore it can be listed as 0 (per FDA guidelines) on the nutritional statement. Frankly, I think they're just hiding behind the stupid FDA guidelines just like every other company that uses partially hydrogenated oils in their products.

I was going to go on and list the foods that contain the most hidden trans fats but as I was doing my research, I found this article which I think sums it up better than I can. I encourage you to do your own research on trans fats and read labels in the store (and in your pantry.) If you weren't already aware of this trap, you might be very surprised about what you're consuming and/or feeding to your family.

In my opinion, it's all about being educated and not liking it that the government is legally allowed to hide the truth because big companies claim they cannot survive without using trans fats in their products because remember trans fat is cheap and keeps the products on the shelf longer. A really easy way to avoid trans fats is to eat real, whole foods and to stay away from things that are processed. I know it's not possible to stay away from all processed foods so when you do eat processed foods, just read, read, read those labels and don't buy things that contain "partially hydrogenated oils" if enough people did this and knew about the dangers of trans fat, then perhaps the companies that manufacturer our foods would stop using them.

Thanks for reading, I hope I helped educate you or at least helped to reinforce information you already knew about being healthy.

One last pet peeve of mine that has absolutely NOTHING to do with nutrition is spelling errors and grammar errors on blogs. I know I've probably complained about it before but I sometimes hope that the people who blog with these errors frequently will read my blog and learn proper grammar from it. (I recently even saw one use the word "grammer" to refer to proper grammar... Oh! the irony) I do not claim to be perfect but I will say that I proofread and try my hardest to make sure that I am usually correct in my grammar and spelling. I even have my own personal proofreader who sends me e-mails when I have errors (Hi Daddy!) and I correct them ASAP, feel free to also act as a proofreader if you see any errors on my blog, I appreciate the feedback. Anyway, A brief, very brief reminder...

Your = the possessive form of you. Example: "You need to use proper grammar on your blog."
You're = You are. Example: " You're consuming trans fat and don't even realize it."

Enjoy the rest of your weekend Friends, Happy Sunday!



Friday, February 26, 2010

I'm Peeved...

Do you have any pet peeves? I sure do! I probably have WAY too many that I shouldn't have. A lot of them might border on OCD behaviors, like only using blue ballpoint pen or at least using all the same color ink. My boss was recently helping me with a group and she used black pen on my weight charts, It took every ounce of my being to not say something, but seriously, how are you going to tell your boss to use a different pen? I do realize it's silly.

A lot of my pet peeves come from food labeling. The different words that companies use are so ambiguous that most people don't know what to make of them, words are just randomly thrown around, people are deceived and think they're eating well when they're not. Here's a few that might be confusing you...

"Light"
Light means the food has half the fat, 1/3 the calories OR half the salt of it's
regular version, that means that a food can still be really unhealthy for you depending on what the original food's nutritional content is.

"Made with Whole Grain"
You can do your own research on this one to find out the full details but to sum it up, "made with whole grain" really means that there is very little whole grain in the product. Let's face it, any wheat flour even enriched bleached white flour has to come from a whole grain. I would go as far as to say that ALL wheat flour is at some point, "made from whole grain." What we actually want to look for on our labels is 100% whole grain or 100% whole wheat. The Whole Grains Council has a nifty little stamp that it allows to be put on products that meet it's standards. You can take a look at it and read a bit more about whole grains at their website which I linked to above.

"Natural" vs. "Organic"
Seeing the words "All Natural" on a label makes us think that what we're eating is good for us but it's important to know that there are really no regulations when it comes to using those words. "Organic" however comes with strict regulations and organic foods are produced without antibiotics, pesticides, hormones, irradiation or bioengineering. Organic farmers must follow certain soil and water conservation methods and rules about the humane treatment of animals. It is also important to keep in mind that "organic" does NOT mean it's healthy for you. Cupcakes and french fries can be "organic" and I don't think anyone would ever call them healthy foods. (though I sure wish we could.) If you'd like to learn more about organic labeling or would like to see the USDA's label that they put on organic products, you can click here to go to the website.

"0 Calories"
When a label says "0 Calories" the thing we must remember is that this is PER SERVING. Splenda, the popular sugar substitute actually has 3 calories per packet but because it is less than 5, the government allows the company to say 0. This goes for "Pam" the popular spray oil as well. Pam is 0 calories for a 1/3 second spray but if you spray for a full second, you're getting 7 calories. Yes, these items are going to give you far less calories then the foods they're being used to replace but it's still good to know that they're not truly 0. I just don't like the idea of being deceived by the manufacturer which is why this is a big peeve of mine. Personally, I feel the government should make manufacturers say what the calories truly are even if they are less than 5.

I'm going to end here for today, I have one more labeling "trick" that I believe is the worst and the one that can do us the most harm. It is my biggest pet peeve of all! I also believe it's the one that people don't understand and know the least about. I was recently talking to the Fitness Director at the Y who is extremely fit and healthy (We call him "Hot Bill" and by '"we" I mean I do.) and even he was misinformed about this popular ingredient and no, it's not high fructose corn syrup although I could go off on that crap too! I'll devote an entire blog post to this evil, evil thing tomorrow.

Until then... stay healthy, read labels and educate yourselves about the things that the food manufacturers don't want us to know. Don't bury your head in the proverbial "food labeling sand" like so many people do, and pretend it doesn't matter, you're too smart to be taken advantage of! Enjoy your Friday, we're snowed in AGAIN.... ahhhhhh!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Sounds Gross but it's Cute: Making a Diaper Cake



Happy Thursday everyone! I am participating in Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop today. I was so thrilled when I saw that she had a craft post as an option because I've been working on this one for quite some time.

I have a co-worker who is pregnant with her third child. She has two little boys who are around the same age as The Son and she is having a much-wanted girl this time. Another co-worker of mine thought it would be a great idea to have a little baby shower for her. I agreed and we had planned on having it at my home.

The Blizzard of 2010 decided to come on the same night as the scheduled party and... Surprise! We had to cancel. I was bummed, my co-workers were bummed but the guest(s) of honor had no idea because it was supposed to be a surprise party anyway. We rescheduled the party for the following Monday night after the mom-to-beX3 was finished teaching swim lessons. I didn't take pictures of the actual party because no one wants to be photographed at almost 9 months pregnant, let alone almost 9 months pregnant AND just completing a couple hours teaching swimming lessons in the pool. Trust me on this one.

I didn't know what to give as a gift and had always thought that diaper cakes were a little bit odd but now that I've been a new mother, I know that diapers are a wonderful gift because they are one of the items that you need right from the beginning and keep on needing. Presenting a case of diapers as a gift, isn't very creative or pretty so the diaper cake makes a cute way to present something that's a rather well, let's face it... unpleasant part of parenting. I had a friend at my shower give me a pack of diapers along with the books, "The Gas We Pass" and "Everyone Poops" which I thought was hilarious but I'm not sure this particular guest of honor has quite the same sense of humor as I do so I decided the diaper cake was a better option.

Making a diaper cake is actually pretty simple. I looked up a couple different varieties on line since I had never made one before, and decided on the kind that doesn't roll up each individual diaper. It came out beautifully and I'm sure was much quicker than the other kind, not to mention better on the diapers.

First, you need a round object to put in the center, this will NOT be staying there as it does in other diaper cake varieties so it really doesn't matter what it is, it's just there to hold your diapers up as you form them into a circle. I started with four diapers layered on top of each other kind of like steps and rested them against my center object.

Continue to lay your diapers all around the object, kind of with a pinwheel effect.

You will need the following amount of diapers per layer, the first number is the diapers that will to around the outside and the second number will be the numbers you put into the middle:

Bottom = 40 and 8
Middle = 28 and 4
Top = 14 and 2

After you put all your diapers around the round object, tie them tightly with a piece of string or other thin ribbon. I used curling ribbon. I put the ribbon around, tied them part way, removed my round object and then tied them the rest of the way, there should be a smallish area still open in the center. After you tie them you can arrange them to make them more even.


After you like the way they are arranged, take the smaller amount of diapers and roll them up all together to stick them in the middle.


Do this for all three layers. One of the tutorials I saw suggested using a pizza pan to put the bottom layer on but honestly, I used a piece of cardboard from an old calendar that was much smaller than my bottom layer but worked just fine, I found that once everything was tied up, I didn't even need it.


The decorating was the fun part. I found this thick white ribbon and made that the base for all my decorations. The important thing to remember with this project is that you don't want to glue anything to the diapers OR to the objects with which you're decorating. I wrapped the ribbon around and used my hot glue gun to glue it to the other side of the ribbon. Remember, NO glue on the diapers. I am saying this twice because as obvious as it is, if you are a big glue gun user, you might get carried away and want to start gluing all over the place. I had to keep reminding myself not to do this. I used small pieces of ribbon and glued them to the white ribbon and then used them to tie various things on.


This little cutie was the thing that inspired the whole theme of my cake, I knew that my friend wouldn't have any little toys like her because, like I said, she has two boys. I loved the pink and brown colors and she's really soft. I got her at Wal-Mart, she's made for their store's Carter's brand. I tied her to the top layer and rested her so it looked like she was seated on the middle layer. So cute!


Here's another angle, I used some onesies, a few toys, some bibs and a little brush and comb set as my decorations along with some various pink and brown ribbon. I made a big bow for the top and secured it through the center and then just tied everything around to make it look cute. (Such technical directions, huh? ;) )

I did not attach the three layers to each other so the cake was easy to transport and just assemble when we got to the party. It was a big hit and made a really cute decoration on the table. I was very happy with it.


One final note, I read a lot of tutorials in order to come up with the way I was going to make this and noticed that a lot of sites comment that diapers are very absorbent to smells as well as liquid so if you're a smoker or cook a lot of "fragrant" types of food, it's a good idea to make your diaper cake away from these various odors. This wasn't an issue for us, but I can only imagine how a beautiful diaper cake could ruin a baby shower for lots of people if it reeked of cigarettes. Ewwwwww...

Well Friends, I hope you all have a lovely day. If you stopped by from Mama Kat, thanks! Leave me a comment and I'll be sure to stop by your blog too. If you want to see what we're doing today, click here for yesterday's post. Yes, it happened, or I should say, it's happening. Again. Stay warm people! Live healthy!



Wednesday, February 24, 2010

You Have Got to be Kidding Me!




Remember a week or so back when I told you about the giant snow storms that we got here in Pennsylvania? Well, they say it's going to happen again tonight and by "they" I mean those jerks we call our local weather forecasters. UGH!

That's right, this...


is going to happen again.

Some of us,

are very happy about it.

Others...

Not so much.

I hate to be a big cry baby but you know what? I'm going to be. I felt like I finally got myself back into a routine, the snow was melting, spring was just around the corner, I had a new Lilly Pulitzer dress to wear to work on Thursday, (did you know she made clothes that aren't pink and green and actually look cute in the winter?) I had a night out planned with my neighbor across the street, and now it looks as if it's all going to be buried under 6-10 more inches of snow.

Here we go again...

Stay warm and happy everyone... this can't last forever, Spring will be here someday. I'm sure of it!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Refocusing works!

Hello Friends!

In my last post I talked about excuses and refocusing my goals and all the little things I do to undermine my weight loss. I gave it a lot of thought and realized that as much as I know, if I want to lose than I MUST, must, must journal my foods. It's the most tedious part of losing weight for me and for just about everyone but I cannot stress enough how well it works for me.

I realized that I tell my group members this all the time but when I really looked at myself, I knew I wasn't doing it faithfully. I would track and journal my breakfast and my lunch and sometimes my snack but by the time dinner came and I knew I had 1000 calories left to eat, I became a slacker.

I also added a few extra croutons here, a bigger smear of butter there and conveniently "forgot" those few extra glasses of wine each week. The good news is, I know how to live healthy and I know I will be able to maintain my weight, that's a biggie but now it's time to get this last 20 pounds off!

I've been journaling faithfully, I've been trying new recipes, lots of them and BOY, did we try some GOOOOOOOD ones!

I've been working out, not that that had ever changed. Did you look at my running total for this month at all? HELLO 62 miles and there's still a week left in the month! I am so proud of myself. I'm still working on the triathlon challenge but have lots left on the bike, it's apparent that the bike is not my favorite form of exercise, isn't it? ;) I'll keep plugging away since the bike is the only thing left that I have to do.

So, I'm off to the Y as soon as I put The Son on the bus, I need to get my work out clothes on and get myself moving and grooving! Hope you're all having a great Monday. Stay Healthy!

Friday, February 19, 2010

Winter Complacency

Do you find yourself getting complacent with yourself and your life in the winter months? Well, I surely do as I haven't lost any weight in weeks... WEEKS! I am maintaining my 87 pound loss which is fantastic but the fact remains that I have about 20 more pounds that I want to lose and I need to get back on track.

The snow didn't help, the Y was closed for four (very long) days, I wanted to munch, munch, munch, The Husband and I enjoyed some extra bottles of wine during the storm, I'm already wearing a size 10, I like the way I look and feel, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I know these things are all "reasons" for no loss but let's face facts and call them what they really are...


EXCUSES!

I've come so far, and I am not about to stop now. I want to reach that goal of losing 100 pounds and then some. When I lose 100, I will be 152 pounds which is an excellent, healthy weight for a woman my height (5'8") but... going just a few pounds lower will put me in the "140 category" which I think is where I really want to be, I'll reevaluate when I get to that 152 but I do believe I'll want to go a bit smaller.

I know that the thing that works better than anything for me is also the thing I dislike the most... faithfully journaling my foods. I've taken our group's journal this week and next week I will be journaling for my boss/weight loss guru who also wants to take off a couple pounds herself. We are going to be "journal buddies" and switch journals each week. I know this is the refocus I need to get that last 20-ish pounds off and gone forever! I can do this, I know it will happen, the last few pounds is always the most difficult.

I am getting ready to go to the grocery store and buy some salmon for dinner. YUCK! I really don't like salmon but it's lent, The Husband won't eat meat on Fridays and it can't hurt me to try another new thing. I might even find that I kind of like it. I'll let you know what I do with it if it turns out remotely appealing. ha ha! After the grocery, I will be heading to the Y to try my next challenge of running six miles in a row without stopping. I did six miles last week but had to stop a couple times for very-mini walk breaks and I need to challenge myself to complete the whole thing without stopping. I'll get there... I know I can do it! I am goal oriented and will reach my goal! No more complacency for me! It's time to kick it all up a notch!

Lastly, I did sign up for the Broad St. Run which is a 10-mile run in Philadelphia on May 2nd... it's safe for me to say this on my blog because there are 30,000 participants... if I do have a stalker, good luck finding me among the other 29,999 registered runners! ;)

Have a great Friday everyone! Enjoy your weekend.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Risotto... Make it for the one you LOVE!

Hello Everyone! Happy belated Valentine's Day! I had a wonderful day with my guys yesterday, The Son gave me a beautiful potted red tulip plant and The Husband gave me a book on "SuperFoods." We had a low-key day as far as gifts are concerned but Valentine's Day isn't about gifts, is it? I should add that it was the 17th anniversary of my engagement to The Husband... can you believe he kept me that long? Through thick and through thin... literally!

I have been INTO making risotto lately, I think it's because of the cold weather and snow we've been experiencing as well as the fact that risotto is delicious! DELICIOUS! Now, as a nutritionist, I will admit that risotto isn't the most healthy thing you can eat but there are plenty of ways to work it into your diet (diet meaning the food you eat, not a plan you can't live with) and the fact that if you make it at home, with out a pre-packaged mix, it's all natural, not processed and it tastes so fresh! It also takes a bit of time to make so that helps me limit it to once per week, therefore, we're not eating too much of it.

I really enjoy the process of making risotto, it's soothing, stirring in cup after cup of broth as the smells of garlic or shallots or mushrooms waft up and as your hearty, delicious dish thickens and gets tastier by the minute. I always tell The Husband that it's a dish you make for the one you love because it takes time and dedication to do it right... just like marriage!

I've been scoping my favorite recipe Internet sites for various risotto recipes and of course, the best ones I find are on Cooking Light and Eating Well, two of my favorites. I had a guest photographer yesterday who took pictures of me as I cooked, The guest photographer is also known as The Son and I think he did a pretty good job!

Here is a cooking tip for you and yes, I am totally and completely serious... I wear swim goggles when I cut onions, or in this case shallots. I know it helps that I am a swim instructor so of course I have goggles but you can buy a cheap pair at any Wal-Mart or Target as soon as summer gets here if you don't already have some. My eyes are sensitive and I cannot stand the way they feel when the fumes burn them. I know I look ridiculous but honestly, it's the only thing that works...

Plus, it makes The Son laugh...

I also like making risotto because usually it calls for a half a cup of wine or so and that means that I can have a little glass of wine while I'm cooking, it makes the stirring and stirring and stirring just a bit more entertaining.

So, I am not going to post the recipes here that I've tried, I'll supply you with a link and my opinion and you can give it a try yourself if you want to make them.

The first one I tried was from Cooking Light and was Porcini Mushroom Risotto with Marscarpone cheese . This one was by far, my favorite. I cut a little bit of the fat by using half the olive oil and replacing it with non-stick spray which is something I do with just about every recipe I ever make. At times, I don't even use the olive oil but in this case, I want a bit of that EVOO flavor. I made this recipe twice and the second time my grocery store was out of dried porcini mushrooms, I used oyster mushrooms and the were not as flavorful but still quite good, if you don't like a really strong mushroom flavor, they would be a good option for you. I preferred the porcinis as did The Husband.

Last night, I made Eating Well's Winter Squash Risotto, the nice thing about this one was that by adding the Butternut squash, you lower the calories per 1 cup serving. The Husband had requested this one and it too was very yummy. My tip for this one is, if you can, buy the squash already peeled and seeded. Doing that saved me loads of time, this recipe calls for optional saffron which I was unfortunately unable to find at my grocery store. It was good without the saffron but I think it would have been even better with. I added a few fresh enoki mushrooms along with the fresh shitakes that this recipe called for just because I think they're cute and yummy. Here's the risotto in the pot...


And, on the plate with some roasted asparagus and a petite filet... a yummy, hearty, healthy meal for just a bit more than 500 calories!


And see... he loves me!


And... so does he! I'm a lucky girl!


Thanks to The Son for taking most of these pictures, please don't mind the few dark spots on some of them, that's where his finger was over a portion of the flash, he tries so hard, I don't have the heart to correct him.

Have a great President's Day, we're meeting friends at the Y which I'm really looking forward to. They're calling for more snow tonight and I'm hoping it's just a dusting and won't affect whether or not The Son has school tomorrow the child needs to go back... Bye for now!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Writer's Workshop: A List of Do's and Don'ts

Mama's Losin' It

I haven't blogged in a few days because I've been busy and preoccupied with snow so today, when I realized it was Thursday, I hopped on over to Mama's Losin' It to see if there was a writing prompt that I could use to participate in her always fun Writer's Workshop. I've elected to do the Do's and Don'ts list and with help from The Husband and The Son, we've composed...


The Do's and Don'ts of how to Survive Two Major Snowstorms
Within a Week of Each Other!


Do...
Plan on spending lots of time indoors watching some favorite TV shows and playing Wii with your family.
Don't...
Expect anything you have planned to tape on your DVR to actually be the scheduled program, it will inevitably be "LATE BREAKING COVERAGE OF THE NOR'EASTER OF 2010" for hours on end.

Do...
take photographs of the storm in progress.
Don't...
call them "snowtographs."

Do...
let your dog out to play and frolic in the wintry wonderland as the snow accumulates.
Don't...
step in the "presents" he leaves WAY too close to your front step when you open the door.

Do...
make sure you have plenty of bread, milk and eggs in case you need lots and lots of french toast during the storm.
Don't...
forget you also need to make sure you have plenty of toilet paper.

Do...
Spend lots of time working on the computer and by working I mean facebooking and playing hidden object games.
Don't...
prevent The Husband from using the computer for two minutes to check if he actually has to go to work.

Do...
Take the time to make homemade whole wheat bread and delicious homemade Wheat Thins.
Don't...
eat them all in one day.

Do...
Pay $30 to have someone shovel and plow your driveway and front walk.
Don't...
hesitate to tell everyone you did it yourself "for exercise."

Do...
Enjoy being able to have snow days off from work and school and the gym...
Don't...
forget to spend the time with your family, playing in the snow, laughing and making great memories.

Happy Snow day to everyone who's having one! Stay warm! Have fun! Stay Healthy!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

I'm alive...

just really busy! I'll try to blog later today. Lately my life has been...

snow,
cooking,
work,
working out,
child care,
husband care,
dog snuggling,
laundry,
snow,
snow,
snow, and guess what's on the agenda starting this evening?

SNOW!

I'll try to blog more later! Have a great day friends!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Bummer...

I hate to have to write this but someone already won the Ironman Triathlon competition at our Y. Last year, it took the winner 2.5 weeks and I heard she was there more than once a day. This year, it took 3 days? Seriously? I worked SO hard for three days and still only managed to do the 2.4 miles of swimming, 8.5 miles of running and 32 miles of biking. There is no way I could have physically finished in three days, even if I did have the time. I'm a little bitter because I really hate to lose but also because I didn't know all of the rules going into it, apparently, you were able to bike or run at home and in my opinion, that's not fair. I'm sure that the girl (at least it was a girl ;) ) who won was honest because you'd have to be a really crappy person if you weren't. I'm happy for her, I'm just bummed for me. I look forward to finding out if she did any of it at home. I know I'd feel a lot worse if it was a man. LOL!

The only positive side to someone else winning is that now, I don't have to be so stressed out because I was seriously stressed out about it. I am starting a new group for my weight manaegment classes this afternoon at a local shoe store/comapny (yay! Shoes!) and I have another group this evening that started a couple weeks ago. I was going to work out in between which would mean that I would have to get ready for work and shower twice today and now I won't have to do that. Honestly, it's a relief. I have some fun things brewing for this weekend that I cannot tell you about until after they happen and I can now concentrate on those things. They are forecasting LOTS of snow for us this weekend so I might get to have Saturday off and if someone hadn't won the competition, I'd be in the gym all day trying to win myself, so now, I don't have to worry about that, again, a relief.

I imagine I'll try to complete the competition but at this point, I'm not going to stress about it, I can get back to my regular weight lifting and cardio routines instead of just these triathlon activities. I'll get over it. Someday.

Well, I must go fix myself up and find an outfit that looks cute with my boots manufactured by the shoe company at which I'll be running a group. I will have to make sure they know my size, you know, just in case they need any testers or anything. You never know, it could happen...

Happy Thursday everyone!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

A Snowy Wednesday and Recipe Resolution

Hello there everyone! I've been working on the triathlon competition at our Y and trying to get some other things done in my life, you know, cleaning, work, all those kinds of things. We woke up this morning to find a couple inches of snow on the ground. Our school district has a two-hour delay but since The Son is afternoon kindergarten, it doesn't affect us. Yay! I will be heading to the Y after I put The Son on the bus and hoping to complete at least 5 miles of running and 10 or more of the biking in this challenge. I finished the swimming portion yesterday morning but unfortunately, so did some of the other participants. Winning is going to be a challenge and I don't think it will happen but I can just keep plugging along. If the competition is still going on on Sunday, I think I can get a lot done that day. I am the tortoise, not the hare...

I have been trying new recipes, especially after my high-blood pressure episode, but I have slacked on blogging about them. If you remember correctly, my new year's resolution was to try two new recipes a month and blog about them. The trying has happened and then some. I never take pictures of my cooking because frankly, it's not that interesting or helpful but I will continue to let you know when I try something delicious that you might want to try for yourself. For example... Lemon-walnut chicken! I found this recipe in Fitness magazine (my favorite) and made it last night, it was extremely delicious and very, very simple. I served it with brown rice and broccoli and The Husband and I both loved it. I'll be eating the left over piece for lunch today. YUM! Give it a try, I think most kids would love it too. It didn't taste like walnuts at all but more like butter and there's not a stitch of butter in it! I imagine that the same recipe would work nicely with pork chops too for variety. It's definitely going into my rotation.

Well, I'd better get busy and pack up for our day, I feel like I have to pack for a vacation when I go to the Y on Wednesdays because I have to bring swimsuits, towels, changes of clothing, and lunch and snacks, it's tedious. Ugh.

Have a great day everyone! Stay healthy!

Monday, February 1, 2010

What did I get myself into?

It's been a couple days since I blogged, I've been going about my normal business, working, working out, taking care of my family, etc. Nothing all that exciting. I did manage to lose five pounds this past week. Before you think that sounds too great, remember, I gained 3.8 the week before because of my blood pressure issues so really, I lost 1.2 pounds giving me a grand total of 87.6! All in all, that's pretty good and I'm thrilled!

I signed up for a fun event at our Y, at least I think it will be a fun event. It's an ironman triathlon competition. It costs $5 to enter and then we have as long as we need to complete all the events in an ironman triathlon. That means 26.2 miles of running, 2.4 miles of swimming and 112 miles of biking. The first person finished wins the entire pot of money. I think it's up to about $200 right now and I want to win! I am mostly worried about the 150+ laps of swimming. Obviously, being a swimming instructor I know how to swim but... I am not a fast swimmer, we are allowed to swim any stroke, I'll probably concentrate on breast stroke with a bit of side stroke thrown in when I get tired. The run doesn't concern me since I run about that much in a week anyway. Others have told me that 112 miles on the bike is really hard but I am planning on going to the Y next Sunday and spending the entire day on the bike. We're allowed to do the recumbent bike so I think that will help me out. Hopefully, no one finishes before that time. The person who won last year finished in 2.5 weeks. I think I can beat that considering I don't have a full time job and on occasion, I have been known to be very competitive. ;) It should be fun, CityMomma/CountryMomma is very goal oriented.

Tomorrow, when The Son is in school, I'll be working on the swimming to see how much of that I can get done. I'll probably head back to the Y for a bit in the evening to get some biking done, at that point I'll know if I stand a ghost of a chance at winning this thing. My race training is taking a back burner until this competition is complete but I'll still be running of course and the cross-training with the swimming and biking can only help me.

Have a great Monday everyone and I might add a very Happy Birthday to my beautiful Sister! Hope you're having a great birthday Cathy!