My Radio Gig – Call-in and Live Chat Details

As I mentioned in a previous post, you can call in to the Blogtalkradio show to ask a question or make a comment about my talk on humor and its connection to wellness and good health. 

Phone Booth and Big Ben sxc-hu-pmos

I’ll be the guest speaker April 7th, this Sunday at 11:00 a.m.  

You can call in to the Wellness Coaches show who are the hosts and will be interviewing me. The number is: (917) 889-9079. This is a free call on Skype.

Caller with a Question      sxc.hu/Cieleke

You also have the option to use the live chat feature on their webpage with any questions or comments you’d like to make.

If you decide you like the show, you can sign up on Blogtalkradio to receive automatic reminders to hear your favorite shows or any show you like: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/?glogout=true

Just FYI, the Wellness Coaches shows are listed under the category of Self Help. There are 19 categories in all.

I hope you will listen to my talk. Since you know that my blog is about good health, get your unbuttered popcorn, your diet soda pop, and maybe even your mom and pop together to listen in; it should be an interesting show!

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New Food Friday – Almond Milk

In my search to find lactose free foods that are high in calcium, I found almond milk. This particular brand (Silk), has 45% DV calcium with no lactose. I am very pleased to say that it is also delicious and is therefore the pick for this New Food Friday!

I love almonds, who doesn’t? So it’s no surprise that I love almond milk too.

Almond Heart sxc.hu sateda

Almond milk tastes like chocolate milk without the chocolate. But before you lactose intolerant folks run out and buy some, you should know that there are differences in the various brands of this type of milk in the event you want to cook with it. Aye, there’s the rub. There’s always a catch, isn’t there?

First, what about freezing it? Since an opened container of almond milk should be used before 7-10 days, I wondered if I could freeze some in the event I couldn’t drink it all in that time span.

According to the Silk website, the product changes in texture when thawed although you may still use it for frozen dessert recipes.

As it turned out, I had no problem drinking one cup daily for breakfast and finishing the container before the 10 days was up. The almond flavor goes great while eating a banana. I’m not a cold cereal eater in the wintertime, but I bet almond milk would be great in a bowl of cereal with sliced bananas!

So, can you heat it? Yes, you can with the Silk brand of almond milk.  I can’t wait to make hot chocolate with it. By the way, the recipes on their website are decadent! See http://silk.com/recipes 

If you can heat it, then you can bake with it so I made a batch of carrot/walnut/raisin muffins with one cup of almond milk.  

Carrot/Walnut/Raisin Muffin made with Almond Milk

They came out great!

Many people make their own almond milk. It’s not that difficult. Here is one example.

Almonds and almond milk are very good sources of Vitamin E. Vitamin E helps with less cognitive decline as you age.  Some say almonds keep you thinking clearly and boost brain power. So, the benefits of almonds and almond milk go further than adding calcium to your diet and helping folks with lactose intolerance.

One cup of Almond milk also contains 25% DV of vitamin D. Vitamin D as you know, is the sunshine vitamin. We don’t get as much sunshine in the winter as we do in the summer when we’re outdoors more. It isn’t easy to get the vitamin D we need everyday so almond milk can help you reach those dietary needs too.

Here is the nutritional information.

Almond Milk Nutrition Facts

 

This is an almond grove.

Almond Trees sxc.hu pv

 

This is an almond branch with almonds.

Closeup of Unhusked Almonds sxc.hu pv

 

This is your brain on almonds and almond milk.

This is Your Brain on Almond Milk   sxc.hu plrang

The milk mustache in the Featured column is by Vengel Crimson - flickr

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My Radio Gig – An Update

As I mentioned in this post, I will be a speaker on Blogtalkradio on April 7, which isn’t that far away!

Microphone sxc.hu katagaci Moi Cody

I wanted to give you more details about the show and also to give a heads up to my newer followers who may not have seen my first post on the link above .

The hosts of the show are The Wellness Coaches, Marilyn Jess and Tatiana Abend.

Wellness Coach Marilyn is a registered dietitian. You can learn more about Marilyn here. Wellness Coach Tatiana facilitates Vtrim© courses presented by the University of Vermont. You can learn more about Tatiana here.

If you would like to listen to their previous shows on Blogtalkradio, you can listen here. All their shows are related to health and wellness. Sound familiar? It is no wonder we’ve gotten together since we have the same interests: your good health!

My talk will be about humor and its relationship to your good health. This is a call-in show so if you have a question or a comment, feel free to call in. Every show is 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning. I will post the call-in phone number one week before the show.

ON AIR sxc.hu martwork

My goal is that you take away some piece of information from my talk that you didn’t know before and that you enjoy your time spent with Marilyn, Tatiana, and me.

If you miss the show, it will be archived so that you can download it and listen to it any time from the Blogtalkradio website, or from the link on my post which I will publish on my blog following my talk.

RADIO sxc.hu drella

I’m looking forward to it and hope that you are too!

P.S. If you have an entrepreneurial spirit and would like to know more about the creator of Blogtalkradio, its inception and what is in store for its future, (tuning in to Blogtalkradio on your car radio)

Car Radio   sxc.hu mans1ay3r

listen to the interview with our own WordPress Jacqueline Jax  and Blogtalkradio’s CEO Alan Levy.

Keep tuning in FOR YOUR GOOD HEALTH!

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New Food Friday – Lactose Free Dairy Products

As each day goes by, we all become more and more lactose intolerant. Yes, that is the sad news folks. Gone are the days when we could drink bottle after bottle of milk with no aftereffects.

Baby drinking Milk sxc.hu/Cylonka

Lactose intolerance increases with age. The good news is that New Food Friday will be covering a few of the most common dairy foods that you CAN eat that won’t cause intestinal distress.

These foods are:

Milk

Ice cream

Yogurt

Cheese

I’m not talking about dairy substitutes. For example, I bought a new Silk product that was a soy-based yogurt. Ick, is all I can say. I tried two varieties. Both were very watery. The second one I couldn’t even finish it was so bad. 

I’m talking about dairy products that include the lactose enzyme which enables you to eat it without any digestive distress.

Dairy Farm sxc.hu/iamiam

Ice Cream

The first dairy product is Breyers Lactose Free Vanilla Ice Cream. This is sinfully good. I think it tastes even better than their regular vanilla ice cream.

Ice Cream Sundae sxc.hu LotusHead

Although I am not a big ice cream eater, I found it very difficult to not go for a second helping. Those of us who watch our weight should not allow this ice cream in the house because it is too tempting and too good for our own good! So, sadly, I can’t recommend it if you are lactose intolerant! You would have to have a will of iron to just eat 1/2 cup and who among us has that?

Dairy Farm with Cows sxc.hu/lekyu

Yogurt

The next lactose free product is Yoplait Lactose Free Yogurt. Yoplait’s Lactose Free Yogurt comes in four flavors. My two favorites are the Peach and the Vanilla. The Strawberry and the Cherry are also very good. Each are 170 calories per 6 oz container so they are not low calorie. They also contain 20% calcium per container including Vitamin D. While I am not a big fan of yogurt, I can easily make an exception for Yoplait’s Lactose Free. It is delicious and I can recommend it heartily! I feel satisfied after one container and am not tempted to get a second one. That is the good news.

The bad news is that my local Meijer discontinued carrying it! Yoplait has a store locator on their website so you might find their products using the locator.

Then again, you might not. It is still showing that my local Meijer stocks the lactose free yogurt. It also shows that my local Wal-Mart stocks the lactose free Yoplait. Well, I went to the Wal-Mart near me and they didn’t have it either. So much for the Yoplait store locator. I hope you have better luck than me! (And by the way, I’ve contacted Yoplait about all this.)

But the good news is that  I recently learned that Chobani Greek yogurt is 95% lactose free! 

The bad news is that Greek yogurt is more expensive than Yoplait Lactose Free Yogurt.

Not all Greek yogurt is equal. For example, I bought Meijer Greek yogurt and it only contained 15% calcium per container.  Strangely enough, on many websites touting Yoplait Lactose Free Yogurt, the nutritional value for calcium shows 50% not 20%! I don’t know where they are getting their information but the containers I bought all showed 20%.

Stoneyfield also makes a lactose free yogurt but the manager at the Wal-Mart I went to said they discontinued it.

It doesn’t make any sense to me that these lactose-free products are being discontinued when companies must know that as people age they become more lactose intolerant! Since baby boomers are coming of age where, once they realize they have become lactose intolerant, they will be demanding  more lactose-free products.

Symptoms for lactose intolerance can be mild to severe depending on how much lactase your body is still making: bloating, abdominal cramps, stomach pains, diarrhea  nausea, and vomiting. 

It’s the lactase enzyme in your small intestine that breaks down the lactose (without me getting too technical on you). When you’re a baby, your body produces a lot of lactase which enables you to drink milk, your primary source of nutrition.

I found a Stonyfield Greek Plain Yogurt that contains 30% calcium. I will probably be buying that again.

Cheese

Many of the harder cheeses like cheddar or Swiss are more easy to digest. You may be able to tolerate them.

Cheeses sxc.hu/VictorBR

The only way to know is to try them. Generally, the harder the cheese and the longer it ages, the less lactose it contains. Check the label too. It might show the lactase enzyme in the ingredients.

Milk

While I haven’t tried this product myself, you can buy milk called Lactaid. Lactaid milk comes from cows not treated with artificial growth hormones, according to the Lactaid website. It contains the same nutrients as regular milk and is lactose free. If you still suffer from lactose intolerance because you haven’t tried any of the lactose free dairy products that I recommended, don’t blame me! But there’s no sense in crying over spilled milk.

Spilled Milk       sxc.hu laswift

The next time you go to the supermarket, pick up a few lactose-free products and let me know how you liked them.

Related articles

• Dealing with Lactose (betterspines.com)

Standing/Sitting Desk Workstation – Free!

Too much sitting has been under the gun as the latest bad health habit. Momentum has been gaining in companies to offer standing desk workstations to their employees. Some include treadmills!   What about us bloggers who sit in front of the computer day after day? We can’t run out and buy the latest standing desk workstation. Some will run you upwards of $4,000!

Standing desk with chair 2.0 (Photo credit: A.J. Kandy)

Some say women will get increased problems with varicose veins using standing desk workstations. My thought was that some people would have swollen feet. Since this is a rather “new” idea in the workplace for many, there isn’t much data to prove that standing all day is better than sitting all day. So, like most things, my feeling is that it’s best to do both standing and sitting in moderation. 

Sitting at desk with feet up – sxc.hu/cornnius – Maria Luisa Gutierrez

One of the benefits of doing more standing is that you burn more calories than if you just sat all day. However, some claim that there are many more benefits to standing, including adding years to your life! You know that if something benefits your health, you can be sure that it will be posted in this blog.

Create Your Own Standing Desk

I researched and wrote an article about how I created a standing desk workstation that could be converted back to a sitting desk workstation in less than 5 minutes, (actually less than 1 minute), without spending any money. The initial setup may take a few hours depending on what you have on hand and how creative you are.

I’ve been using my workstation now for over a week. I had forgotten how tiring it is to stand all day! But how great it feels when you finally sit down! Like the guy in the photo, you may want to put your feet up after standing at a standing desk workstation!

Continue reading to learn how to create this workstation and don’t forget to check the links in my article. There are only two. They explain the pros and cons of standing desk workstations along with companies that use them, people who use them, and costs to purchase them. It’s worth checking out.

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I am thankful for my followers, for all your comments, and for your “likes.”

I hope all of you have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving.

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New Food Friday – Breisling Sardines

Fish is the order of the day for this New Food Friday.

Have you ever tried breisling sardines? Now before you wrinkle your nose up and go, “ewww” you need to give these fish a chance. They’re different from regular sardines because they are milder in flavor, tiny, and tender.

King Oscar sardines are caught wild in Norwegian fjords, the North Sea as well as the Baltic Sea. As many as 11 different species of fish are used. Sardines aren’t actually a fish species; it’s the processing that makes them a sardine. 

Each sardine is packed by hand. Healthy for your heart and your whole body. 

Click me to enlarge

Nutrition Facts:

One can is one serving size. Sardines are a top source of Omega-3’s, protein, calcium, and vitamins B12 and D. One serving provides 20% of your daily requirement of calcium. Since I am always looking for ways to increase my calcium intake, I opted to try these sardines.

Another benefit of sardines is that they are low on the food chain and therefore low in contaminants such as mercury (lower than tuna).

Sardines come in many canned varieties:

with mustard

with tomato sauce

with olive oil

with soybean oil, and others.  So chose carefully.

You will notice that when you open the pop-top can, there is no fishy smell.

I’ve had other canned sardines and they tasted just like tuna to me. These olive oil packed breisling sardines tasted more like a mild flavored fish. They are difficult to remove from the can because they are so tender. However, I only had one “casualty” and promptly ate it.

Because these fish are so tiny, and so tender, you don’t have to de-bone them or gut them. They do have a tail which you can probably eat, but I chose to remove it. They are already de-headed.

Sardines can also be eaten fresh. The flavor and the texture is completely different from the canned version. I understand they are very delicious! I never had the good fortune to try them but I would not turn down the opportunity! Grilled fresh sardine is a popular Mediterranean dish.

I sprinkled half a lemon on them and gave them some pepper flakes along with the tiniest drizzle of olive oil since they come packed in olive oil already. They were very good! I was in the mood for a very light meal and they did the trick nicely! I added a sprig of sage from my garden for color only.

If you like fish, I think you will like these sardines. I bought these King Oscar sardines at Meijer for $2.50. They are so good for you, you should really give them a try! Besides, November 24th is National Sardine Day. Celebrate with a sardine!

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Learn to be Optimistic

Are you a person who sees rainbows or clouds? It’s another way of asking, “Is the glass half empty or half full?”

If you passed a water fountain, would you throw a coin into it and make a wish or would you walk on by thinking that your dreams could never come true no matter how many coins you tossed?

It may not be easy, but you can walk to the other side of the bridge to more optimistic thinking.

Once your brain gets into the habit of thinking positive, you can spread your wings and fly!

An optimist never loses hope.

Cape of Good Hope, South Africa

Don’t let the sun set another day without reading these tips I wrote about how you can learn to be an optimist.

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Wine is Good for the Health of Most People Unless You are Allergic

Have you ever had a glass of wine only to get a headache or stuffy head afterwards? Drinking wine is not always barrels of fun!

The Reds Contain Less Sulfites

It’s typically the sulfites in wines that produce allergic reactions in people but red wines  tend to cause less problems than white wines.

Winemakers are Working on this Problem

Due to a recent discovery, scientists have found another culprit in wines besides sulfites that cause allergic reactions called glycoproteins.

If you suffer from allergic symptoms when you drink wine, you will be happy to know that there are wines out there that are less likely to cause allergic reactions.

 

 

 

 

Did you know that many foods also contain sulfites? Here is more information on wines without sulfites and a list of foods to avoid that contain sulfites.

Many foods on this list may surprise you!

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My Health Club is History

I joined a new health club. You already know about some of the problems I was having at my former club. Let me tell you why I left.

I had been in the private shower/changing room, next to the

PRIVATE SHOWER ROOM

ladies’ locker rooms.

There are two of these rooms; two on the side of the ladies shower/locker area

and two on the side of the men’s shower/locker area. As I was IN the shower, a man started pounding on the door, telling me to hurry up! He was pounding hard enough to break the door down. I told him I’d be out in a minute. About 10 minutes later, he was back, pounding on the door again! He said I had been in there 1/2 hour. (I hadn’t.) I was furious!

I finished showering, got dressed and opened the door, expecting him to be standing there. He wasn’t but he was walking down the hall towards me. I figured it was him but I asked if he was waiting for the room. When he said yes, that’s when I gave him a piece of my mind. I can count on one hand the times in my life that I went into a tirade over something and this was one of those times. He was not going to get away with this kind of obnoxious behavior.

I was yelling at him in a very loud voice and I did that deliberately to make sure other people heard me. In the end, believe it or not, this guy was literally shaking. I don’t know if that means that I scared him to death or if he was holding back wanting to punch my lights out! I just didn’t care, I was fed up and this was the last straw!

He told me that the men’s changing rooms were being cleaned. I said, “We’ll see about that!”

He kept complaining that I was in the shower for a 1/2 hour. At which point I looked at him in contempt and called him a jackass. At which point he said the “F” word to me.

I stormed off and hailed the first health club employee I could find. I said I needed to speak to the manager. The employee said he was a manager. He was all of about 30? I told him what happened, that this guy kept pounding on the door telling me to hurry up while I was in the shower, and that he used the “F” word to me. The manager kept saying over and over, “We’ll take care of it.” He kept apologizing.

I finally calmed down because I realized that he wasn’t going to do anything about it. So I asked, “Aren’t you going to ask me his name?” “Don’t you have any questions?” He kept saying, “We’ll take care of it.” So, out of desperation, I described what clothes the guy was wearing and what he looked like. In disgust, I left.

I tell you this story for your own safety and for the safety of your sisters, your mothers, and your daughters who go to a health club/gym. All during the time that I was yelling at this jerk, NOBODY came to find out what the ruckus was. If this guy had become violent, he could have easily pushed me back into the shower room, done some damage, and nobody would have witnessed it. There are plenty of cameras around this club but NONE in the hallway leading to the side door of the ladies locker rooms

and the two private changing rooms where we were.

The manager said that they had been giving the mens’ rooms a “deep cleaning.” How stupid do these “managers” of this health club have to be to not put up a sign on the doors letting women know that the men will be using these facilities on this day?

The manager said these rooms are “family” rooms. So, in other words, he was defending this jerk’s right to be on the women’s locker room side using these rooms.

Can you imagine if I went over to the men’s locker side and started pounding on the “family” rooms telling a guy to hurry up and get out? They would probably handcuff and cart me away!

When I was new at this club, one year ago, I went on a guided tour and the guy who gave me the tour told me that these rooms were used for changing baby’s diapers, and also if someone preferred privacy rather than being in the larger open locker room. He never said that men were allowed to use them. In fact, he never took me on the men’s side of the locker room to show me the “family” rooms on their side. He never said I could use the rooms on the men’s side either. I never even considered that men had these rooms on their side of the locker area until this incident. In the year that I had been there, I had never seen any men use the rooms on the women’s side and I had gone 4-5 times a week, on various days, at various times.

The bottom line was that there was no respect for women at this club. I certainly didn’t need to feel stressed out after I worked out!

So, when you are looking for a health club, take into consideration these things:

1. Check to see where the ceiling cameras are located.

CEILING SECURITY CAMERA

Make sure there is one near the entrance to the ladies side of the locker rooms AND that they can “see” all areas of the club.

2. Don’t join a club that is so large that your voice gets “lost” due to the distance between you and other people.

3. Ask questions. Ask if men are allowed to use women’s showers and/or changing rooms. If there is an emergency “cleaning” or other type of emergency can men use women’s facilities. If so, will a notice be posted to let women know?

4. I am in the Silver Sneakers program which allows me to change health clubs easily. Even though they had me sign a contract, it’s fairly worthless and probably nothing more than a sales ploy to make you feel obligated to stay with them. I don’t.

When I was new, employees at this club photographed me and put my name in large letters on an ID card as big as a charge card. This is another thing I didn’t like about this club. Although they provided towels for free, you had to turn in your ID card at the desk in exchange for a towel. Sometimes the desk was unmanned and anyone could go behind the desk to pick up their ID card which allowed them to see YOUR ID card and your name/photo. This poses a security issue for you. I only used their towels once. When I saw the lack of care regarding my ID card, I brought my own towels from then on.

I have been at my new club for two weeks now. In the Silver Sneakers program, the club gets paid every time you swipe your “ID” at the entrance or whatever type of “ID” the club has you use. My current club uses a small numbered tag-like ID that I attached to my keychain. There are no privacy or safety issues with it.

My new club is a small club with only two private shower rooms on each side of the club. One side says, WOMEN’S RESTROOM and I assume the other side says, MEN’S RESTROOM. Ceiling cameras can view all areas of the club.

Final Thoughts

Women have as much right to be at a health club as men. We have the right to take care of our bodies. We have the right to be treated with respect, especially when we’re paying customers. I am left with this question: Why aren’t there more women owned, women run health clubs? Why?

7 x 7 Link Award

Wow! If I had realized how special this award was, maybe I wouldn’t have put other important things to do before it! My sincere thanks go to Peri’s Spice Ladle for nominating me for this award (and for her patience in waiting for me to catch up!)

I realize I could take the easy road and nominate people I have nominated in the past. However, I prefer to search for new nominees not just for my benefit in learning what is out there, but for your benefit too. This way, we both get introduced to more blogs.

Say What?
I had to re-read the rules to this award and I did a double-take at the “previous links” rule. Why, I have to examine my own blog! Now there’s a switch! I get to do some self promotion. Yeaaaaaa!!!

The rules are pretty loose and open to interpretation. They are the most unruly rules I’ve ever come across. This is a good thing and to my liking!

The Rules:

• Give thanks and acknowledgements to the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
• List 7 of your previous links in the following categories. Most Helpful, Most Popular, Most Beautiful Piece, Most Controversial, Most Surprisingly Successful, Most Underrated, Most Pride Worthy.
  
• List 7 things about yourself.
• Nominate 7 other bloggers for this award.

7 Things about myself:

1. I like 7-Up.

2.My favorite drink used to be 7 & 7.

3.Betty White jokes that she has the hots for Robert Redford. When she kicks the bucket, I want to be next in line for Bob. (Sorry Betty.) Then I’ll be in 7th heaven.

4. I’ve never seen the movies: 7 Brides for 7 Brothers, or The 7 Deadly Sins.

5. I’m not the 7th son (or 7th daughter for that matter).

6. I’ve never been to a 7-Eleven. (Or have I?)

7. I’ve yet to see any of the 7 Wonders of the World in person.

And the Awards go to:

1.alicia-prague-blog.com

2.thethirdeyeworld.com

3.ironleg.wordpress.com

4.adudeindublin.wordpress.com

5.themindweave.wordpress.com

6.willingwheeling.wordpress.com

7.remixedamerica.com

Congratulations to the winners! Enjoy your award.

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Top 7 Posts From My Blog

 

This post is prompted by my nomination for the 7 x 7 Link Award. The rules state that I must list my 7 Most Helpful, Most Popular, Most Beautiful Piece, Most Controversial, Most Surprisingly Successful, Most Underrated, and Most Pride Worthy posts from my blog. Here goes:

1. Most Helpful -What Motivates People to Exercise?

2. Most Popular – As far as I can figure, the most popular post is my About post.

3. Most Beautiful Piece – Belated Father’s DayWishes to All Fathers

4. Most Controversial – apparently I haven’t written a post in that category yet!

5. Most Surprisingly Successful -Good Health and Good Gardening Go Together

6. Most Underrated – The Rebuilding of Ground Zero

and Making Blender Compost for the Garden

7. Most Pride Worthy – Exercise: The Doorway to Injuries?

My nominees will be posted shortly. So what do you think? Did I nail them or do you disagree with my pickings?

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What Motivates People to Exercise?

When I went to my health club to work out Friday, I was just finishing up and headed for the floor mats to do some core work. Since they put out new, thicker mats, I was standing there admiring them when a little old lady walked over to me.

“They moved everything around,” she complained. The staff had rearranged all the equipment and spread everything out. Frankly, I liked it.

“It’s safer this way. We have more room,” I said. She introduced herself. Her name is Sally. I noticed that she was wearing a beautiful ring with a topaz stone. I asked if she was a November baby. She looked surprised and said, “yes!” I told her that I was a November baby too and had recognized her topaz stone. Sally asked what day I was born and I told her November 6. She said she was born November 11. She said the man she was just talking to was born November 8. (It must have been November Day at the gym.) Then she joked that she was older than me, 80 years old. I said that I think about getting older and wonder if I will be able to continue exercising when I’m 80. Sally said, “It’s up to you.”

Well, if it’s up to me then I’ll be exercising until I breathe my last breath!

What motivates someone like Sally to exercise at age 80? What motivates anyone? TJ of TJ’s Garden and I were chatting about that recently. In this article you will find out what motivates me and some hints to motivate you too.

Do visions of the Grim Reaper in the distance motivate you to exercise?

Or is it that swim suit number that you’ve eyed recently? For me, I love to cook/bake and my exercise habit counterbalances my love of eating habit.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Hints to Make Yourself Exercise

1. Get on the scale. There’s nothing like seeing those numbers creep up on the scale to make you watch your diet or push you out the door to exercise.

2. Look in a full-length mirror. Do you like what you see in your reflection? If the answer is no, then you know you have to get your butt in gear and go work out.

3. Go shopping for jeans. If you pick out four pairs of jeans to try on in your size and you can’t zip any of them up, you know you have to exercise.

4. Help somebody else. The benefit of helping somebody else to lose weight or to go exercise has double benefits: it encourages the person you are helping and it reinforces the good advice you’re giving in your own mind.

5. Positive affirmations. When you force yourself to go work out (like today, I was really dragging it) and then succeed in doing a good workout, give yourself a pat on the back. Say positive things to yourself. Or, say positive things out loud (when nobody is around). It’s not hokey to say, “Great job! Especially when you were really having a tough time motivating yourself! I’m proud of you!”

6. Sit down, bend over, and try to tie your shoelace. If your stomach is in the way, you need to go work out. It’s easier to tie a shoelace when your gut isn’t in the way. Make shoelace tying easy on yourself; you’ll be glad you did.

7. Ask yourself, How much do I like myself? If you like yourself, you will treat your body well. You know the poem: How Do I Love Thee? Let me count the ways: 1. I love thee for taking such good care of thy body!

8. Lie to yourself. When you are on your way to the gym, tell yourself that you are only going to work out for 10 minutes. (I do this all the time.) Once you complete the 10 minutes, you start to feel better so then you say to yourself, “OK, I’m only gonna do 10 minutes more and that’s it. That’s enough.” When you’re done with those 10 minutes, then you can either stop or say that you might as well do 10 minutes more, it won’t kill you. There are days when I have this conversation in my head and I end up doing 45 minutes on the elliptical machine! I not only feel very proud of myself but I feel physically good too. So will you!

9. Compete with yourself. I always go for burning 400 calories on the elliptical machine. It doesn’t matter if I start slowly or how many miles I do. I just want to get to that 400 calorie mark. You can start at a lower number, of course. Just try to do more each time. You want to beat your old record.

10. Hire a Personal Trainer. You can learn a lot from a trainer in a short amount of time. See if the trainer will train two of you at a time: you and a girlfriend. The friend can help motivate you too.

Here are more ways that I motivate myself. Click the link, you won’t regret it.

What motivates you to exercise?

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Exercise: the Doorway to Injuries?

I often participate in exercise with gusto. Sometimes I take on a home project with the same enthusiasm. Home projects can be as good a workout as an hour at the gym.

Four-Hour Exercise Workout

For 15 years I’ve put up with wood folding doors that hide my washer and dryer where one side didn’t shut properly. Yesterday, the left side panel decided it had had enough and came out of the track from the above door jamb.  I thought this would be a simple fix. I had no idea it would be a four-hour exercise workout.

I looked for the easy solutions first: pushing the door back onto the track. That didn’t work. Tightening the screws at the top of the door that attached it to the track. That worked for a couple of seconds. Unhinging the hinges from the doors, studying the difference between the two doors, reattaching the hinges… nothing worked. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what was causing the door to not close properly.

Take a Break From Exercise

Finally, it hit me. I looked on top of the door and I knew then that one of the screws was stripped. (Thanks to me having seen the This Old House episode recently with the stripped door screw.) This meant that I had to take the entire door down which was made of two heavy panels. I unscrewed the hinges (again) and laid the panel with the stripped screw on the floor. By this time, my neck was hurting from always looking up. My shoulder was hurting from straining to screw and unscrew screws. So, I took a break.

Home Exercise Equipment Was Never Like This

I had my step ladder out and my Phillips screwdriver and a Flathead screwdriver.

Flathead Screwdriver

I had a large flashlight out because my hall light is out and I need an electrician for that problem. When I came back from my break and made holes in the door panel the old-fashioned way, with elbow grease, I realized that putting up the door and screwing together the two panels at the hinges was not going to be possible from standing on the outside of the doors. At least that’s what I thought at the time. I decided to climb on top of the washer and dryer. This was no small feat for a 5’8″ 170 lb person in such a cramped space, but that wasn’t going to stop me. I was a locomotive barreling down the track intent on getting the door back onto its own track by hook or by crook.

If The Foot Doesn’t Fit We Must Acquit

I was able to position myself on top of my dryer but I couldn’t squeeze my right foot inside the door. No matter, I was able to push the door panel into the slot with its new screw and new position that fit better against the door jamb than ever before! I had to climb down to get the other door panel to re-attach the hinges. This meant that I had to climb up on the washer and dryer again. Before I climbed up for the second time, I decided to shut the washer door which I had previously left open. I could have easily fallen in the first time. Wouldn’t that have been a sight! Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get out! (When I used to do kickboxing at home, my son would say he didn’t want to think about it because he pictured me falling and breaking a leg or something. Good thing he didn’t see me yesterday with my doors!)

Exercising at The Gym Pays Off

If I didn’t exercise at the gym, I’d never be able to lift these door panels. They were heavy and awkward because they were so long. I had a heck of a time trying to screw the hinges back in. The only positive in all this was that none of the screws were in so tight that I couldn’t get them out, even after all the years they were in there. It took some long arm reaching around the outside of the panel to get the panels to meet so I could re-attach the hinges. Lucky for me I have long arms.

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A Mystery is Afoot

After four hours of intense labor the job was complete. The door glided evenly with no resistance. The doors met in the center without buckling. Somehow I found the energy to make dinner.  I even cooked some chicken so that I could eat it tonight. I had my dinner, washed the dishes, and thought I must have stepped wrong somehow because my right foot started to hurt. The more I was on it, the more it hurt until the pain was getting to be too much. I still had to take a shower. I took my shower and that didn’t help my foot. I knew it was time for my frozen peas in the freezer. I save a bag of frozen peas to put on injuries to help reduce swelling. By this time it was 9:00 pm and I decided the best place for me was in bed with my peas; peas on my foot and not under my mattress for I was not feeling like a princess at this point. I was feeling more like her scullery maid.

I have no idea what I did to hurt my foot. This foot had suffered many previous injuries. It has an arthritic toe and metatarsalgia. It’s had a sprained ankle and plantar fasciitis. It has been viewed by many a doctor. I’ve been wearing an orthotic in the shoe of this foot for about two years. Clearly I shouldn’t have been climbing aboard washers, dryers, or lifting heavy doors for that matter. But who’s going to stop me?

Take Two Aspirin and Call Me in the Morning

I took two Advil and I kept my frozen peas on my foot for an hour while I lay in bed watching the TV. I wondered in a half doze how long this injury was going to last. Days? Weeks, Months? I thanked my lucky stars for going grocery shopping earlier in the day, pre-door hanging. I wondered if I would be able to sleep because I was in a lot of pain and couldn’t find a comfortable position. After an hour the pain subsided to my surprise. I set aside the peas and turned off the TV and quickly fell asleep. Around 2:00 am I awoke and fearfully set out to the bathroom. My foot hardly hurt. Was I dreaming? I got back to bed and fell asleep.

I stayed in bed until 10:00 am today not looking forward to putting any weight on my foot. I got dressed and walked to the kitchen. The pain was gone. I couldn’t believe it. How could that be possible? I haven’t exerted myself at all today and I’m not tempted to “try out” my foot to see what it can do.  Sitting at the computer is the perfect place for me.

Exercise and the  R.I.C.E Method

R.I.C.E. is a mnemonic to help you to remember how to treat soft tissue injuries.

R – Rest, get off your feet, don’t use the injured part.

I – Put ice on the injury. A bag of frozen peas works best; keep it in the freezer for immediate use.

C – Compression. Alternate compression with ice. For my injury, the bag of peas with my comforter on top was all the compression I could handle.

E – Elevate the injured part. Ideally, it should be elevated above your heart.

I’ve used the R.I.C.E. method before for injuries but typically didn’t have access to ice immediately when the injury occurred. This time was the exception. Apparently, timing of the R.I.C.E. method is of the essence! I’ve often used ice for times when I get  cooking burns and splatters and that works incredibly well for me. Ice may be another miracle worker.

I hope my story helps you to remember to use the R.I.C.E. method for soft tissue injuries. Thanks to Susan T’s Kitchen for her request for a post on sports injuries.

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Don’t Be THAT Guy!

As I was reading through some health blogs, I came across Bob Doucette’s post titled, Don’t Be That Guy.  He made some good points about guys (and girls) who practice what Bob calls “douchebaggery” (ill manners in the gym) and I immediately recalled an incident that had aggravated me recently at my health club.

 

I told Bob I was going to steal his title because I liked it. I’m also going to steal his style of telling the story because it is a good one. I’m not going to steal his term douchebaggery because he coined it and fair is fair. I prefer the term dolt.

 

I’ve made it to the gym two Fridays in a row and I don’t usually go on Friday. Last Friday as I was working my biceps on the fitness machine, an old coot walked over and stood very close to me so that I felt uncomfortable operating the machine. Guys: don’t ask me if I have beer in my water bottle. I don’t find it charming especially coming from you with your over-sized beer gut at my eye level. I told this dolt that I don’t drink much in case he was screwing up the courage to ask me out for a brew. He made another comment about how he only drinks one…and then another one, and then another one. I put my head down as if to say I’m going back to working out now, goodbye! He left. Don’t be THAT guy.

Are You This Guy?

 

When I work out, I get very focused. I’m busy counting my repetitions and I don’t have much time for chat. I’m working with machines and I don’t want to be hurt while using them by not paying attention to what I’m doing and making small talk or whatever. I was working (this was the same Friday) at the machine for my adductors, or my inner thigh muscles. Ladies, this machine puts you in an uncompromising position similar to the one at your OB-GYN doctor’s office except that you’re sitting down. A friend of the old coot had placed the bottle of cleaning solution near me. He bent down to take a look at a part of me (that I’m not going to describe here), pretending to pick up the bottle. I ignored him but I heard a woman’s voice from behind me yell, “WATCH IT!!” as a warning to him. He was sufficiently embarrassed because she had caught him in the act. He sheepishly asked me if I wanted the bottle and I said no. That was dolt number 2. Don’t be THAT clown!

Don’t Be a Clown!

 

When I walk on the track, especially after I’ve worked out and am sweaty and exhausted, don’t pretend that you don’t see me on the track and cut across in front of me making me stop short. I can’t tell you how many men (and a few women too) have done this. I’d hate to see them driving in traffic! I got so ticked off at people doing this that one day, I saw a guy walking towards the track and I could see from the speed he was walking that he wasn’t going to stop. He looked directly at me and I looked directly at him; glared is more like it. If he dared to cross in front of me that day I was going to give him a piece of my mind that the entire floor would have heard! In other words, if looks could kill, he’d be dead. He saved his life by stopping until I walked on. Don’t be THAT guy or THAT girl!

 

I like facing the big picture windows when I use the elliptical trainer machine. I go for 45 minutes which is what I normally do. Just because I did 45 minutes this past Friday, it doesn’t mean I was waiting patiently for you to take the machine next to mine when there are 25 other *$#! elliptical machines on the floor. I’m not interested. Read my body language: I’m not looking at you, I’m not smiling at you, I’m not talking to you. What does that tell you? Don’t be THAT guy!

I’m working out at the gym.

 

I tried to find a good video from YouTube to insert into this blog since Bob had one on his blog, but they were all pathetic. There was one video about meeting women at the gym that almost made it into this blog until one of the guys in it made the comment, “But she had makeup on.” Just because I comb my hair and wear lipstick to the gym doesn’t mean I’m there to pick up men. It’s hard to believe I have to defend that. Really, aren’t you grasping at straws here fellas? Women go to the gym for most of the same reasons as you: to get in shape and be healthy. Don’t demean us by thinking otherwise.

 

Here’s a clue: be extra diligent cleaning the machine that you’re on when you see me waiting for it. I dig your message of respect. Be THAT guy. It’s OK for you to look silly stopping short and nearly falling when you’re exhausted from working out and about to crash into me when I’m on the track. I appreciate YOU making every effort to avoid a collision. Be THAT guy. Finally, it’s OK to tell me that I don’t have to wipe down the machine after I’ve finished using it because you’re just going to put your towel on the machine anyway. Be THAT guy. I’d go out with THAT guy.

 

There may be a follow up to this post because there is no shortage of dolts at my health club. I just picked the ones from recent memory.

 

Ladies, what ticks you off at your health club?

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What Information Would You Like to See on This Blog About Your Health?

 

Do you have a desire to learn about something regarding your good health but have been too busy to research it yourself? Now is your chance to let me do the research for you.

What topic(s) would you like me to cover on this blog?

So far, I had a suggestion to cover allergies and how it effects your health. Just about all of us suffer from them. That would be a good topic here.

Remember, this blog covers everything and anything about good health and how to attain it.

Brilliant Idea!!

You may leave me a comment with your suggestions and ideas. There is no charge – it’s free!

UPDATE: If you would like to comment anonymously, fill out the form in this post and I will respond to you privately. Sorry I didn’t figure out how to do this when I originally published this post. 

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Teaching Kids to Like Vegetables

MIKE EATING “CANDY” FOR BREAKFAST

It does your heart good when your child wakes up in the morning wanting to eat Sugar Snap Peas for breakfast. It just makes all the work in the garden worthwhile, you know?

He wolfed down those sugar snaps. I didn’t think I would have any left over to serve with a meal!

Not that I’m complaining. He still loves vegetables to this day and in fact loves to cook Thai dishes. If you’ve got little ones at home, you don’t have to force them to eat vegetables. There is a much easier way. Read on….

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Your Health Depends on Your Lawn

I don’t know about you, but my lawn looks pretty dried out. All that is growing are weeds and even they are having a hard time with this drought.

Weather forecasters keep saying we’ll get scattered showers but I’m not seeing any. I haven’t mowed my lawn since June 5th because it is not growing! It is all brown.

In case you were wondering, how is lawn mowing connected to good health? Well, it usually takes me 2 1/2 hours to mow my lawn and I usually do some weed-pulling and pruning while I’m at it so that comes to around 3 1/2 hours of exercise in the sun. If I don’t mow, I don’t get my exercise or my sunshine (Vitamin D). Therefore, this is a problem to my health!

I was wondering what to do with my lawn or IF I should do anything with it and began to do some research.

You may be surprised to learn what I found out about lawns in  drought conditions.

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Art and Your Good Health

Do creative outlets help your health? Take art for example. Do your doodles or sketches make you feel better or release some negative emotion?

Does something or someone inspire you to create your sketch?

In the above mountain sketch, I was inspired by the Impressionist painter Georges Pierre Seurat, who developed a technique called Pointillism. The idea behind this technique was that instead of mixing colors on the palette, colors would be mixed “in the eye. ” I was intrigued at the results he attained and tried my hand at it. It wasn’t the result I had hoped for but it gave me a better appreciation for the technique and the artists who used it. Eventually this technique was abandoned because it was too time-consuming and some of these artists were in poverty. They needed a faster, easier technique to sell their works to bring in income.

Do you complete your masterpieces at one sitting or do you stop at some point and then pick it up at some other time?

When do you do these doodles and sketches? When you’re on the phone? In a classroom? Watching TV? On the train? In a plane? Or boat? In a car (with someone else driving)?

What is your mood like? Are you sad? Glad? Mad? Introspective? Frustrated?

In my other sketch, The Forest, I found a small color painting that I liked and tried to do a pencil rendition. It wasn’t easy using just one pencil to attempt light and dark colors, shadows and white areas. However, I’ve always had a strong appreciation of black and white photographs and their gradations of color, especially after taking a black and white photography class in college.

In these two sketches, I was relaxed, sitting in a chair watching TV. I felt happy because I hadn’t picked up any artistic instrument (paintbrush, palette, sculpting tool, etc.) in years. Art was my first love and got me through some unhappy periods in my life. 

These days I don’t gravitate towards it. I have many other creative outlets – blogging for example, photography, cooking, gardening. But I miss art sometimes. I feel wistful about leaving it on the sidelines.  I was happy, however, visiting with my old friend after all this time.

There are many more creative outlets that are beneficial to your health. Read more about them here, for your good health.

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Did You Remember to Put Everything into Your Gym Bag?

There is nothing more frustrating than arriving at the gym realizing you forgot something. Like, socks, your lock, or something essential. Something that you can’t do without. So, after you rushed to get there you now have to turn around and head home. Here’s help. If you wear these socks in the photo, you may really need help!