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By: Bruce Corwin : 9/2/2010 5:28:00 PM : 52 comments
: 2,539 views
The Slowest Loser has met his match: The Harshest Kitty.
One evening last month, our six-year-old daughter Annabelle ran into the house crying and shrieked: "There's a bear out there!"
Fortunately, the "bear" was actually a black cat. He meowed at us loudly, then scampered up the stairs, seemingly starved for food and affection. He rubbed against our legs, loved being petted, and jumped into my wife Tami's arms.
"This was definitely once a house cat," Tami said.
"I wonder where he came from," said Annabelle.
We put "Lost Cat" signs up in our neighborhood, fortunately to no avail. The cat won our hearts, and today, he's a Corwin.
We wanted to give him a name that referred to how he found us. I lobbied for Cici, standing for "Can I come in?" But we ultimately settled on "Blakely," an English name that means "from a dark meadow," which describes part of our backyard at night.
Little did I know that Blakely had an alter-ego – a nutrition expert known as The Harshest Kitty, pictured here plotting to eat my goldfish.
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Studies over the last two decades have revealed ways to chemically alter naturally digestible starches. The chemical modifications introduce bonds that make them non-digestible by human enzymes in the digestive tract. Benefits of the newly manufactured starch fiber additives are largely unknown.
We have talked about the new manufactured fibers known as stealth fiber. We have mentioned there is a new fiber category in the midst of the FDA rulemaking process apparently with the full backing of industry. New products are finding a place at the manufacturing table. New fiber enhancement products are being added so baked goods, snack foods, breakfast cereals, and nutrition bars can meet "good source of fiber" or "excellent source of fiber" labeling claims. Now we need to talk about how you can use this information.
You will not find "stealth fiber" listed on the food label. You may see or hear "modified natural fibers" used in marketing campaigns. Strange derivative terms for natural portions of wheat, potato, or corn are more likely to appear on labels. It will be important for consumers to have an understanding of such terms as an indicator of modification. Here are some specifics to help you decipher food labels as you interpret product fiber sources.
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By: Nancy Howard : 9/1/2010 12:13:14 PM : 24 comments
: 9,354 views
Last week's fitness blog featured strength training exercises a beginner could do at home. This week's blog features those exercises that allow you to do a full-body workout routine in the gym.
If you feel you do not have time to incorporate all the various exercises into your busy schedule, according to the American Council on Exercise, "significant fitness and strength gains can be made in just two strength training sessions per week when you target all muscle groups."
Below are ten strength training exercises to do at the gym.
Please be sure to do a nice warm-up and cool-down before and after doing these exercises.
Note that if you have a history of joint problems or health issues you will want to get medical clearance before performing any of these activities.
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You want to be a fit person, right? That's why I'm sharing my own habits for keeping fit and staying healthy in the ongoing Habits of Fit People series.
Here's one that works for me: turning off the TV.
Sounds simple enough, but most people I talk to aren't willing to give up the guilty pleasure of their favorite shows. I get it: TV is an ideal downtime, a mental and physical respite that we welcome at the end of a hard day's work. But besides freeing up boatloads of time that you didn't know you even had, there are plenty of other ways turning off the tube can help you get fitter and healthier.
Even for me, a person who enjoys exercise (most of the time anyway), exercising regularly and consistently is no small feat. It takes time, commitment, and organization. It involves making some tough choices, like waking up earlier than I'd like to or not following McDreamy and McSteamy's latest adventures (sad, I know). If staying fit were easy, we'd all be fit people. But in truth, the most common excuse we use for not exercising is lack of time. Where does all of our time go? We have jobs/school, social lives, and countless commitments, but many fit people maintain all of those same obligations and still make time for exercise. I have an idea for how they do it, because this technique works for me, too: They limit how much TV they watch.
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By: Denise Tausig : 8/31/2010 4:30:32 PM : 24 comments
: 8,025 views
Wondering what to take to the neighborhood barbecue this weekend? We've rounded up a variety of healthy and delicious recipes that everyone will love.
Spicy Turkey Burgers
Black Bean Salad
Mediterranean Chicken Thighs
Macaroni Salad
Awesome Marinated Kabobs
Colorful Italian Pasta Salad
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Friday night I made a whole-grain blueberry crisp with soft-serve banana "ice cream." I experimented with a slow-cooker version of my favorite Turkish lentil soup. (Still tweaking that one.) Saturday I made homemade salsa with tomatoes and peppers from my garden. Sunday, I used that homemade salsa in a variation on my black-bean and sweet potato casserole. I subbed thawed and chopped frozen broccoli for the sweet potatoes and a lemon-coriander brown rice for the quinoa (it's a recipe from the upcoming cookbook, so I can't share it just yet), then paired it with spicy and smoky scalloped sweet potatoes.
This weekend's cooking marathon coincided with some bad news: My grandfather suffered a significant heart attack and will need open-heart surgery this week to clear some blocked arteries. Although he's in good spirits, and the doctors say his prognosis is good, it's still a scary thing to experience. To make matters even harder, my grandparents live in Wyoming, so I can't just rush right there to be with him.
I am staying optimistic, sending as many positive thoughts as I can in his direction. I've called, I've written him a letter, and I've sent photos of my new house and recent travels for him to look at while in the hospital. Tonight I'm going to make a batch of my famous granola for him and my gramma. Needless to say, my mind has been preoccupied at times.
When I'm sad, when I'm stressed, when I'm pondering major life changes, I head to the kitchen. Caramelizing onions, roasting tomatoes, chopping carrots, sifting flour all help to center and ground me. For me, cooking is a form of meditation. From a jumble of disparate ingredients springs forth a cohesive dish that, if all goes as planned, highlights its parts and unites to form an even greater whole.
For as long as I can remember, I've coped with sorrows and stress with food. The difference is that these days, instead of eating said food to numb myself or depriving myself of it as a way to control my life, I cook the food--and then usually eat reasonable portions of it--as a way to process my emotions. Like yoga or running, cooking soothes me. It provides me with a way to nourish the bodies and souls of others and lifts my spirits.
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