Many miles in 2010

Happy New Year everyone! I have many things to post, I never did post the rest of the Warrior Dash photos like I said I would... I might get on that this week. I am however, transferring my running mileage over to the blog from my sidebar.

Drum roll please...

In 2010 I ran 621.5 miles! That's a lot! Here's the breakdown:

January running totals...
71.75 miles
February running totals...
82.75 miles
March running totals...
78.50 miles
April running totals...
69.25 miles
May running totals...
10 miles (Broad St. Run!)
37.50 miles
6.2 (Kennett Run!)
Total 53.7
June running totals...
41.25 miles
July running totals...
27.50 miles
August running totals...
35 miles
September running totals...
35.25 miles
October running totals...
34 miles
November running totals...
42.50 miles
December running totals...
50 miles

I will admit that I might be off by a mile or two, there may be days that I forgot to record my miles or days that I wrote down more than once but all in all, I think it's pretty accurate. It's interesting to me that after I discovered Zumba, my mileage drastically decreases. I am not big on the "New Year's resolution" however my resolution for this year is to track all of my exercise, not just my running. I'm still formulating a plan on how that will be done exactly.

So Folks, (if anyone actually still reads this blog) I'll try to be a better blogger in the coming year but I ain't making any promises.

Hope you enjoy your New Year's Day!

A break I don't want.

Hi All! I don't mean a break from my blogging although admittedly, that's happened too. It's been a very busy summer and I never seem to get around to blogging about it.

The break I am referring to is one with my running, and unfortunately, my Zumba classes. I think I have tendonitis in my ankle. I say "I think" because I didn't officially go to a doctor. I consulted a doctor, my BIL, over the phone. He's a gastroenterologist, not a sports medicine doctor or anything like that but he runs... and has ankles so I think he's qualified. ;) He helped me to figure out that I most likely do not have a stress fracture which was my first worry but he assured me that it would be MUCH more painful than it is and after discussing things with him, we decided I have tendonitis. He advised me to take a break from all "weight-bearing" activities for two weeks. TWO WEEKS WITH NO RUNNING? He also advised me that if I didn't, I might be taking off longer from everything... MUCH LONGER so I am listening to him. I am sticking to biking, (ugh.) elliptical, (boring.) and swimming (haven't done that yet.) I also took two days off in a row earlier this week. I get weighed today and have a feeling I will not be happy with the number on the scale. As much as I hate the saying, "it is what it is." I guess that's all I can say at this time.

The good news is that my ankle feels pretty good. I might do a Zumba class on Sunday. One. Class. Don't judge me. I promise I won't run and then I won't do another class until next weekend, that will be officially two weeks. If things don't feel a whole lot better at that time, I will actually go to a doctor.

Well, that's all from me for now, I have to teach a class this afternoon and then attend a class where I will get my (sure to be disappointing) weight and then I'll be teaching another class later this evening. Hope all is well with everyone out there. Happy Thursday!

Horsin' Around

Howdy All! Busy, busy, busy around these here parts as usual. I've been working in the mornings at the Y's summer camp and during the day at my nutritionist job. I'm really proud of most of my group members, they're focused and working hard to get (or stay) healthy. You go Ladies! (and a few Gents!)

About a week ago, in between heat waves, I was give an excellent opportunity... horseback riding! I tell ya, I haven't been horseback riding in a long, long time and one of The Husband's colleagues, and now my friend, Martha, works at Gateway Stables in Kennett Square, PA and asked me to join her. I was so excited! The Brandywine Valley is just beautiful and I couldn't wait.

I took this shot of the stable from atop my new BFF, Popeye, he's a big guy for sure!

These are some kids who were attending a summer camp at the stable, they did not go riding with us but I thought they were so cute that I had to take their picture. What a great camp for little girls, wouldn't you have loved that as a kid?


Here's Popeye, he's a kind old soul and treated me pretty well. I found horseback riding to be challenging as I am a "Dog Person" and quickly realized that dogs and horses are completely different. It was not intuitive to me and Popeye probably realized it but I'm sure it wasn't his first time with an inexperienced rider. Here he is thinking, "What the heck does this woman want me to do?" Isn't he sweet?

So, I got saddled up, (and by "I got saddled up" I mean Martha put all the equipment on Popeye and I watched) and we were ready...

It was a GORGEOUS day and the Brandywine Valley countryside was so lovely!


We finished about an hour later and Martha showed me how to hose down the horses and then squeegee them off. I had no idea that horses got squeegeed but I used this giant bread-crumber like tool to remove a great deal of the water from Popeye and then he got to have a snack. You can also really see in these pictures how BIG Popeye is, I am 5'8" and have boots with about a 2.5" heel on them and I look practically petite next to him. I'm so tiny. ;)


I felt very lucky to have gone on this little trip and want to thank Martha, Gateway Stables and most of all Popeye for having me that day. Hope we can do it again someday!

Have a great weekend everyone!

The Kennett Run!

A few weekends ago, The Son and I took part in the Kennett Run, a local race that is very well known in our area. They have a 5K, a 10K and a kids 1 miler. Last year it was the very first race I did and I did the 5K. This year, I decided on the 10K. I had some neighbor friends who told me they were doing the 10K but never actually decided to sign up for it. I joked that they were afraid to be beaten by a girl, which I think I found a lot funnier than they did. Turns out though, that I did beat them. They only did the 5K and if you doubled their times, they would have been longer than my finishing time. I finished the 10K in 1:01:50! I was thrilled, I know that's not a terribly fast time, but it is under ten minute miles the whole way, so for me, that's great! I'd also like to add that the Kennett Run is notoriously hilly... HILLY! I train on hills around my house but they didn't prepare me for the inclines of this particular course. I took advantage of the downhill and really sped up when I could. I have a few pictures to share with you...

Here I am with The Son, walking to the start line (for me) and then stretching before the race.



Not my most attractive angle but The Son looks cute...


Here I am waiting for it to start, the 10Kers started first and then the 5Kers followed. The Son's 1 mile kid race was later in the park.


Here I am after finishing... I was HOT and irritable, can you tell?

And here I am last year... Can you see the difference? Last year, I finished the 5K in 38:50 which at that time I was quite pleased with, it's a respectable time.

So that's the Kennett Run for me in a nutshell, I have some shots of The Son doing the kids' one miler that I'll post next week.

Have a great weekend everyone! And thanks to my few loyal readers and comment leavers. You know who you are and I hope you know how much I appreciate you!

Go! Go! Go!

Hi Friends! I've been absent for a few days because, as usual, I've been a busy lady. It is officially three days before The Broad Street Run and the anxiety has set in. I know I can do the ten mile race since I did it two weeks ago on the treadmill, but I have anxiety about all the other logistics... how to get to the expo, taking the subway to the starting line, finding my family and friends that I'll be racing with since they are going to be much faster than I am... lots of logistics.

All that being said, I am super-duper excited! I think back to this time last year when I never would have thought that I would be tackling a 10-mile race! I also think back to the fact that I knew some people who were doing the Broad Street Run and it was a rainy and cold 53 degree day! I felt for them, I really did... well, let's just say I felt for most of them, some of them were the cliquish "mean moms" from the Y so I didn't exactly feel for them. ;) Anyway... the temperature THIS year is supposed to reach 87 degrees! Yeah! I am thrilled by that because I am thinking that it will be a perfect temperature for running in the morning and not 87 until the race is over. Either way, in my mind, 87 is WAY better than 53 and rainy! Go Mother Nature!

The whole weekend proves to be lots of fun, my cousin Chrissy and her friend Cherie are coming from Connecticut tonight and will be racing with me. I have to work on Saturday morning but we are heading into The City immediately after my classes. We will check into our hotel and then head to the "Not for Runners Only" Expo on Saturday afternoon. After that we have a friend who is a former concierge who is making dinner reservations for us somewhere in The City and she's also joining us for dinner. My BIL will be joining us for dinner too, should be LOTS of fun. I'm thinking we'll head back to the hotel to get to bed fairly early... not that I'll be able to sleep very well!

The race starts bright and early on Sunday, in fact, we have been told to board the subway by 6:30 AM to make sure that we reach the start line in time. Ugh... I am SO not a 6:30 AM girl! I think I can handle it this time though. So then, after we join the other 29,997 people who are running in this race, I guess we'll get started! I finished my "Mock Broad St. Run" on the treadmill in just under 2 hours and I have to put it out there, my goal is to finish this race in 1:45 but I think that might be a stretch but I will say that I'll be happy if I finish in less than 1:55. (Hell, I'll just be happy when I finish.)

The Husband and The Son are meeting us in The City at the finish line or somewhere around there but they are not staying in The City on the night of the race... but... we ARE! We've decided to get a room there on the night of the race so that we can go back to the room, swim, relax, NAP, and then go out on the town and celebrate our fantastic finish! I'm hoping to get together with some of my City Friends while there. We'll come home Monday morning and get back to real life...

and possibly...

training for a half marathon? You heard it here first folks... now to find one...

Have a great day everyone! It might be next week until I get back here but I promise lots of pictures and recaps of the race/weekend in The City!

Don't Mock Me!

Hi Bloggy Friends!

I know I've told you all that on May 2nd I'm running my first long race, the Broad St. Run in Philadelphia. I also know that I shouldn't be that specific on my blog but considering there are 29,999 other people running in that race, if you ARE a stalker... good luck finding me!

Well, I decided that I couldn't try to participate in that race without having run the full 10 miles at least once. I've heard the Broad St. Run is an "easy 10-miles." It's "mostly downhill" and that it's a "really fun race," I also heard that as long as I could run 8 miles, I'd be fine for the BSR. I didn't believe that so I decided to stage a "Mock BSR" on the treadmill at the Y on Sunday.

I was psyched. I ate the same breakfast that I am going to eat on the morning of the race, an Asiago cheese bagel from Panera Bread with some cream cheese and right before I left for the Y, I ate a can of pineapple. I like to eat pineapple before I run. It's psychological but I think it helps me with energy and every time I eat it, I have a good run. Why mess with that? I chose the bagel and cream cheese because I love bagels and never eat them any more and for obvious reasons, I don't want my fiber filled breakfast on the morning of the race. Bagel it is! The cream cheese was some added protein for me.

I started the run at 11:40,


and, an hour and twenty minutes later, I had gone 7 miles! I had to stop because the treadmill only allows one to run for an hour and a half, I took a quick break to reset and kept on running...

Three more miles in 34 minutes and I was finally finished!

An hour and 55 minutes later! My goal was two hours which obviously I achieved and I'm hoping I can do it a little more quickly during the actual race.


Not exactly pretty but, pretty happy!



I am continuing my training for the next two weeks by doing my shorter runs and working on my speed. I ran with this guy today and finished 5K in our neighborhood in 28 minutes and I think I'm ready... I can't wait!

On your mark... get set... GO!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I had a busy Monday and didn't get a chance to come on and blog but I can update you about my weekend today!

I had a great weekend! After work on Saturday, I headed out to my sister's house, we were doing a race together on Sunday. My sister invited me to come a day early so that we could go to her gym together and work out and so that we could also go out for a bite to eat together sans kids.

We had a nice work out, did 15 minutes on the stairmill and then ran a couple miles before doing our back, triceps and shoulder weights. We decided that we had to do the same work out because we're sisters and we have to do everything the same. ;) We took a few pictures after we got ready to go out.

This little beauty was already sleeping but I can't leave her out can I? The Baby Niece is a very serious girl, can you tell?

We had a nice dinner but knew that we couldn't stay out too late because we had a big race to run in the next day so we headed home and went straight to bed.

The next morning we woke up, and got ready to go. The BIL who is a high-powered, much sought after, renowned, gastroenterologist had to leave the house at 4:15 AM for his rounds. In other words, he's a newer doctor and he's the low man on the totem pole so he was on call and had to go in on a Sunday morning. It was just the girls, basically this meant that my sister got her girls ready and I only had to worry about myself. We headed out around 7:50 AM.

We got there in plenty of time and guess who was there to meet us? These two handsome guys!

I was so happy to see them! They were scheduled to do the one mile walk which meant that The Husband was scheduled to carry The Son on his shoulders for one mile because The Son was feeling particularly lazy this day... good workout Honey!

Here they are lining up at the start line for the walk.



Here's me and The Sissy before we got ready to run... it was a smaller race in a beautiful state park. Only 91 runners participated. The race was to help benefit the computer lab of The Niece's preschool which is also a K-8 school.

Here I am crossing the finish line... I finished in 29:44 which is a personal record! I was SO thrilled and never thought I would finish in less than half an hour. I started off really slowly and was actually the last one in the entire group of runners but I knew that I had to pace myself and not start off too fast. My iPod helped me to stay steady and I picked up my speed as I went along and passed lots and lots of runners. It was a somewhat hilly course and I have trained a lot on hills so I am sure that helped me. I ran the entire thing even up the very last steep, steep hill that I thought was going to kill me! What doesn't kill us makes us stronger though right?

I even slowed down a bit when I was able to see the time clock because I was afraid I'd have no room to grow if I finished too fast and I'd like to be able to do a couple more PRs. Speaking of a PR, The Sissy finished in 27:18 but hated every second of it! I'm still proud of her.

I am still thrilled with my time and feel like I want to run around and tell everyone! Thanks for sticking with me if you read this far. I have some more pictures from our super-fun weekend but tomorrow is a special day for a furry member of my family so I think tomorrow's post will be devoted to him... more pictures on Thursday perhaps?

Have a great day everyone! I am off to get The Son ready for school and myself ready for the gym... weigh in on Thursday you know and I had a decadent weekend. Bye for now!

Easter Recap!

We had a lovely Easter with family yesterday. I wanted to report back on our recipes that I posted about in my Easter post. (The links are available there) They were delicious. I know that I've talked about my beloved Broccoli Rabe recipe before, and how I use wild rice and low fat feta in place of the orzo and regular feta, well, my Dad even liked it and that's saying a lot! I'd like to say how proud I am of my dad who has lost 17 pounds in the past three months just by making small, healthy changes to his diet. I'd like to think I can take some credit for it as he is one of the few followers of my blog and I know he reads regularly! (Hi Daddy!)

The Roast Chicken with Lemon and Rosemary was a HUGE hit! It. Was. Delish! I have no leftovers which, I guess is good considering we also served ham and had lots of other things but I must admit, I was hoping to have it for dinner tonight too. Oh well, we'll probably go ahead and make another one this weekend. It was that good.

As for the French Silk Pie can I just say, WOW! It was also delicious. I ended up with 8 servings instead of the 10 they say you get out of it so my calories per slice ended up being 225 but I must say, for the richness in that pie, 225 is not bad at all. I know I mentioned that I had issues finding the cookies to make the crust because I didn't want to use a product with trans fat in it. Unfortunately the Nabisco Chocolate Wafers contained hydrogenated oils so I refuse to buy them. What I decided to do instead was to buy Paul Newman's Chocolate sandwich cookies, and use the equivalent (in grams) to what the Chocolate Wafer cookies would be, after scraping off all the cream.
It worked and no trans fats for my family! The main thing I remembered to do before leaving the store was to look at the weight of the wafers for the 30 cookies that the recipe called for. Does that make sense? For example, the recipe called for 30 chocolate wafer cookies and 5 cookies = 32 grams so I multiplied 32 grams by 6 which would equal the amount in weight of cookies, since I had to scrape off the cream and that left me with two halves, I was then able to get an accurate weight measurement on my food scale. If this is confusing, and you're really interested in what I mean, feel free to ask me to clarify, I get the feeling I'm not explaining it properly.

Anyway, the pie was fantastic we all loved it and I will be making it again, probably on a regular basis.

Lastly, we were so busy cooking and helping The Cousins find things to do that I did not take too many pictures. I have a few that I posted but didn't get any of The Baby Niece. Duh! She's so beautiful and sweet, I don't know how I forgot! Fortunately, I am doing a 5K with The Sister next weekend so I will make sure to take some photos that day... I might just have a new camera by that time too... I'll keep you posted on that one!



Have a great day everyone, it's back to school for The Son and I am heading to the Y (as usual) for a good workout. I hope you all had a fantastic Easter/weekend. Stay Healthy!

It's Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! I am hosting Easter dinner at my house this evening and I'm really looking forward to it. I am serving some yummy dishes, some our traditional items such as ham, cole slaw and deviled eggs and others some recipes from my favorite websites/magazines. We're having Lemon-Rosemary Roast Chicken with Potatoes, Broccoli Rabe and Wild Rice (instead of orzo) salad and for dessert... French Silk Pie! I got some fresh rolls from Trader Joe's yesterday and they look delicious! I decided to make the roast chicken in addition to a small ham because I have been trying to stay away from ham and other salty meats. I am excited to try a fresh, roast chicken since I usually just buy the pre-roasted ones at the grocery store. I'll let you know how everything turns out!

The Easter bunny was very generous to The Son, he brought him two baskets with a few yummy treats, a couple books and a couple toys, he was very happy. He has a cute Easter outfit, complete with tie and hat that HE picked out. Momma's little metrosexual! LOL!

Yesterday was a busy day, honestly, I cannot believe how much I got done... want a list?

I got up at 6:30, left the house at 7:45 to teach my nutrition classes at the Y, one class at 8:30 and one at 10:00. I finished up at the Y at about 11:30 and headed out to Sport's Authority to return a running skirt I bought online, unfortunately, they didn't have the skirt in their computer so it looks like I have to return it via mail. After Sport's Authority, I went to The Christmas Tree Shoppe to find a few more things for The Son's Easter basket and a few little odds and ends to decorate for me, after that, I went to TJ Maxx to look for some work out clothes, I ended up getting a couple clearance items. Next, I went to my favorite grocery store, Trader Joe's. Finally, I headed home where The Husband helped me unpack and I ate some much needed "lunch" it was 4:00 PM after all... oops, I hate to wait that long.

I finished "lunch" and then headed out to the Y to work out, I did my triceps, back and legs and then ran 3.5 miles on the treadmill. Following the Y, I had to head to the regular grocery store to buy the rest of my groceries for today's dinner. It took a while since I had a run in with hydrogenated fat in the cookies I needed to make the crust for my French Silk Pie. I think I won the battle though, I'll let you know for sure after I make my pie. I finally made it home around 8:30 and again, The Husband helped me unpack everything. I got a shower and showered up The Son and got him ready for bed. The Husband made me a delicious dinner of Bison Burgers, baked chips and broccoli while I got my cookies ready for the pie crust. At that point, I felt as if my limit had been reached and as I looked back over all that had been done, I didn't wonder why! Phew... what a day!

Today there is lots more to do so I must sign off for the time being. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter and enjoy spending time with family and friends.... I know I will! Stay healthy!

Spring really HAS sprung!

Hi Friends! If anyone out there still reads (or comments) on my blog that is...

I know I've been on hiatus again, I have to admit I am having difficulty managing to find time to blog and work out and work and take care of my men and all the things that busy moms have to do. I know for a fact that many of you out there will understand!

I am really feeling great about this weather lately. I hope that the title of this post doesn't jinx us and make it turn into Winter again because Pennsylvania has had some big snow storms in March and even in April. Scary... it's been pretty nice around these parts lately and I'd like to keep it that way.

So, let me tell you what's going on with us. I am still working on losing weight but my body doesn't seem aware of that fact! ha ha! I have had quite a few weeks of NO LOSS! Ugh! and it's not for lack of trying and doing all the "right" things. I am so close to my goal of losing 100 pounds that I think at this point, it's just difficult. I am not getting discouraged or giving up because honestly, on the plan I do, there is no "finished" this is just the way I will live and eat for the rest of my life. If I have another week of no loss, I will have to really examine my foods and tweak a few more things to make those last ten pounds LEAVE. It will all come off eventually, it might just take a bit longer than I want it to.

I am still training for the Broad Street Run which is a 10 mile race on May 2nd. I am feeling a bit nervous because I can't seem to get past 5 miles comfortably and 7 miles with a lot of effort. I'll keep trying though and know that I could walk 10 miles right now so if that's what I have to do, at least I know I'll get through the race. I downloaded some music to run to and I have to say that BPMs have changed my running life... don't know what that means? I'll tell you in another post, it will give me something to blog about!

The Son is doing BEAUTIFULLY in Kindergarten. The Husband and I had his conference this week and his teacher couldn't say enough good things. He's mastered all the Kindergarten skills and is now working on first grade skills. She told us not to expect him to master the first grade skills this year because they are much more complex than the Kindergarten ones. I am not worried. I have no plans to rush him, he's still just a little guy. He needs to work on his printing because it's very sloppy and he also needs to work on putting spaces between his words, other than that he's doing really great. His standardized test scores were in the 99th percentile for math and the 97th for reading... PROUD! I will add that as a former teacher, I know that standardized tests are only one indicator of a child's intelligence and abilities but as his mom, I am still very proud of him indeed. His teacher also said that he is a very "nice boy" and that he treats the other students with respect and is friendly with everyone. I hope this is an indication on how he will be as he progresses through school because I couldn't be happier.


We're going on a little spring break vaycay this weekend... it's not THAT exciting but I'll tell you about it soon. It should be fun.

I still keep wanting to do a post on healthy cooking/eating as well as a post on BPMs that have changed my life... I'll try, try, try to be a little more proactive with the blogging because it really is something I like to do, it's just hard to find the time.

Lastly, I got a haircut and I am really happy with it! My hairdresser didn't take off too much but she did just enough to make it a little more manageable and now I have some shape. Here's a picture. Funny enough, The Son took this picture, he's pretty good for a six year old, as long as I help him know how to frame it and place him the right distance away, he's getting the hang of it.

Final addition... I wrote the above post earlier today and forgot to post it. Duh. I got weighed at 1:00 today and was down 1.6! Yahoo! That makes my official total 90.2 pounds. only 9.8 to go for my goal... that could take another year but I'll get there. (I'm only half kidding!)

Have a great day everyone! Stay healthy!

Is it really here?

Spring that is! We've endured quite a few days of rainy, yucky weather and today when I woke up I saw the sun! The warm, beautiful, welcoming sun. However, it's March 16th and I hate to get too excited about Spring because Mother Nature can be a big tease, taunting us with these lovely, pleasant days only to rip them away and dump another ten inches of snow all over us. I will just try to enjoy these days while they're here and not get too excited lest they be cruelly ripped away from me as I am plunged into the depths of Winter Hell once again. (Who are you calling overly dramatic?)

So anyway... as you can see, I'm still here. I've been feeling a little "non-bloggy" these days. As usual, I've been busy and when I'm busy, there are things that have to be put aside. Blogging is probably one of the first things to go because it certainly isn't going to be The Son or my work outs or my healthy eating, those are always things I make time for because those are the things that keep me healthy and feeling good.

The Son is doing well, growing like crazy, I cannot believe that he's more than half way through kindergarten. His Nannie recently sent him a down vest from L.L. Bean and then found this cute hat to go with it.


The Son loves it so much that one night he even wore it to bed! He got dressed this morning at 9:30 and put it on so that he "would be ready to leave when it was time to go to school." People, the child goes to school at noon! LOL! He's playing in the sunroom now wearing his vest waiting to go to school. He's a funny kid, my boy.

Thanks Nannie! We really love the vest (and you!)

I'm still training for my ten-mile race, I feel like I hit a wall with my training but I'm going to overcome it. Ziggy (my German Shorthair Pointer) and I are going to go for an outdoor run today. I think getting outdoors will help me get back into the swing of things. I've been running plenty, don't get me wrong, it's just been difficult to get past the max of seven miles that I've achieved. I'll get there... I'm determined.

I have a few posts that I'd like to do about excuses (not making them) and about ways to incorporate "real healthy eating" into our diets, not "faux healthy eating" with bars and frozen meals. They'll get written... one of these days.

Well, I'm off to say hello to Mother Nature now and beg her to keep that sun shining and those temperatures warming up. If you see her, do the same, perhaps she'll decide to let Spring stick around for a while! Happy Tuesday! Stay healthy!

Randomness...

Hi Everyone! I need to post because it's been quite a few days, I'm still mulling over the Breast Cancer 3-Day Dilemma. I think today is the day I have to sign up for it if I'm going to get that discount and I think I'm going to. Thanks for all who helped with your advice, I appreciate the input so much.

So, some random thoughts for this sunny Monday...

• I lost another 1.6 pounds. My total is now 89.2. I've been journaling all my foods and exercise in a good old-fashioned notebook. It seems to be the best thing for me. 10.8 pounds left to reach that goal of 100! I might go lower, I might not... we'll see when I get to 100.

• I love the Wendy Williams Show. There. I said it. Don't judge me. Wendy Williams is hilarious, gregarious and super-duper cute. I love her and I'm not ashamed to shout it from the bloggy rooftops. I LOVE YOU WENDY!

• The Broad Street Run is in a little less than two months. I am excited but feel as if I've hit a "wall" with my training, I am having trouble getting past the 5-mile run. I will keep working on it. So far, I've done 7 miles in 1 hour 26 minutes which is slow but I think it at least shows that I can do the 10 even if I have to walk some. I also think that two more months is a good amount of time to improve that time. I will do it! I will do it! I will do it!
  

• Speaking of goals... my friend Andrea from Run, Eat, Date Sleep, completed the Disney Princess Half Marathon on Sunday. I am so proud of her! I don't think she blogged about it yet but I guarantee she will. Check her out, she has a cute blog and is very inspirational with her goals and achievements.

• According to Hungry Girl, Laughing Cow cheese is coming out with three new flavors... in June. Ugh! I hate to wait for June, The flavors are 1. blue cheese (The Husband will LOVE this) 2. queso fresco and chipoltle (meh.) and 3. mozzarella and sun-dried tomato (YES!) Is it normal to say that I can't wait for June because of this? I simply love me some Laughing Cow.
  

• I have to get The Son ready for school and me ready for the gym now. I've been eating well over my calorie limit this weekend because I have been truly, truly hungry! I've been writing it all down so if I don't have a loss, there will be proof as to the reason why. I go a couple hundred calories over each day so I'm at like 2300+ but remember, I have a very high calorie range AND I work out a lot. Most people cannot lose weight at that many calories per day, I just happen to be lucky. Anyway, this is all in one random thought because it means I must have a really, GOOD and HARD work out this afternoon to burn off many of those extra calories. The scale might not be so kind to me this Thursday...
  

Have a great Monday everyone! Keep it healthy!

Breast Cancer 3-Day... I can't decide what to do...

I need a little advice people. I have been asked by a good friend of mine, to do the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk.

I really, really, really want to do it with her.

Sadly, she lost her sister to Breast Cancer and wants to do the walk in memory of her.

I really, really, really want to do it with her.

It's not until October, my fantastic boss has agreed to cover my Saturday classes for me to be able to participate and...

I really, really, really, want to do it but... I am hesitant... very hesitant... why?

Because in order to do it, participants MUST raise $2300! EACH! You cannot do the walk unless you raise the money or guarantee it with a credit card. Yeah. That credit card part, is NOT going to happen. It just seems like such a huge amount of money and I am not good at asking people to donate, particularly in these "difficult economic times."

I'd like to think of some ways to raise the money, I'm creative, I am not against some kind of fundraiser(s) but the problem is, I don't know where or what or how to go about doing it. So, I ask you, what would you do? Do you think I should just register and go for it and try to raise the money or is it just out of the realm of possibility for me to actually get $2300 for this very worthy cause? I don't have tons of time to devote to this so it has to be something fairly simple. There is a $25 discount on registering up until March 9 so I want to make this decision quickly, plus, the sooner I register, the sooner I will be able to start the fund raising. Any opinions? Suggestions? Input? I appreciate it!

As I type this, I just saw the commercial for the 3-Day Walk and I want to be a Pink Warrior! Has anyone out there done this and found ways to raise the money?

I really, really want to do this...

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!

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!