Fitness Blog Update - Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Hi, gals! I hope that you have had an awesome week and are enjoying your weekend. I, for one, am very thankful for the rain we have had these past few days. I don’t have to water the yard--YEAH! I have to the cut the grass--BOO! / YEAH! (incidental exercise). We are starting to look like Greenville again (I had changed the name to Brownville because of the drought!). It has been what we call in our house “ducky” weather, although that is spoken quite tongue-in-cheek. While Lucky’s cousins are trying to find a spot to stay dry out of the rain, she sits on her memory foam mattress at the front door, with the oscillating fan blowing on her on warm days, watching the rain fall and feeling not-too-sorry for her cousins. You can easily see how she got some of her nicknames—Diva Duck, Queen La-Ducky (sorry Queen Latifah, it really is a compliment), Spoiled Boo Buttzer (although Lucky isn't spoiled, she's just "loved extremely" ). I think it is so beautiful out when it rains, especially in the spring. The multitude of shades of green with which God paints the landscape is simply amazing. And my sinuses appreciate the “cleansing” of the pollen from the air, although that is a catch-22 for a while, because the rain causes the blooming out of various plants to which I have allergies. Oh well, give and take, just like everything else in life. I will say that not wearing shoes in the house has helped tremendously. About 25 years ago, when I was at the doctor for a sinus infection, my doctor suggested two things to help with our allergies (my whole family has allergies of some sort, and they usually act up in spring and fall). The first one—take your shoes off and do not wear them in the house. I thought about that for a minute, thinking about where my shoes go and what they step on/in/etc. It actually made my stomach a little queasy. So we don’t wear shoes in the house; it’s much harder to get the dirt out than not to let it enter in the first place. The second one, especially during pollen season—wash your hair at night. Why? Because if you are out all day and then go to bed without washing your hair, you lay your head on your pillow, the pollens get on the pillow, and you rub your face in it all night long. So we usually wash our hair at night. Now you might think that washing your hair almost every night is excessive, but if you are exercising regularly and working up a little sweat (and I don't "glow" like some women; I sweat like a pig), you need to wash your hair anyway. Now I still get the occasional sinus infection, but these two things have helped tremendously in that department.

I also want to share a point about food preparation which you might have already heard about, but in case you haven’t, you should know about it. I eat a lot of produce, fresh fruit and veggies, on a regular basis (my family teases I’m part rabbit). I buy some organic produce, but often it is not easy to find in all the varieties of foods that I eat. I thoroughly wash all of my produce with cool, running water, and here is the important one, especially the outside of any melons. Now, we usually don’t think about that because we certainly don’t eat the rind. But here’s the kicker—we cut the melon to get to the part we eat. When you do not wash the outside of the melon (watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, etc.), you drag that knife down through the melon and take all the bacteria, pesticides, etc. that are on the rind right down through the melon and into the part that you do eat. It is recommended that you wash your produce just before serving, as washing often causes the produce to spoil faster. Also, washing with soap is not recommended, since many fruits and veggies are porous and will absorb the soap, which has not been approved for use on foods (and possible ingestion). Cool running water does a great job. You can use a veggie brush on the hard rinds. Just use your hands on the softer skins. As far as commercial produce washes go, that is really a matter of personal preference. Research has shown that produce washes are equally effective to “slightly” (about 6%) better than cool water washing. Our water is very good, so I stick to good old fashioned H2O.

How’s the fitness challenge going? Only 18 “official” days left! Speaking of exercise, I have another one that I like that I want to share. This is the good old fashioned lunge. You stand in place and put one leg out in front of you and drop down until your knee on the opposing leg almost touches the ground. Hold that position for a second, and then return the lunging leg to its original position. Now, do the same thing with the other leg. I do 25 sets of these, but you can do just a few and still get the benefit. There are two important points to remember about the technique with this exercise. First, on the leg that you put forward, your knee should not go out past the front of your foot. You want the lower part of your leg to stay almost vertical. Second, the knee on the opposing leg should not touch the floor (that gives you a break and takes away from the benefit that you get from your muscles contracting to hold the position. This exercise doesn’t take long and requires no special equipment, and is wonderful for the quadriceps and gluteus maximus (thighs and bum), definitely a couple of my target areas.


So tell me, “do you remember”, when was the last time you did a little dance ?…………Blessings —Suzanne.