Carb and Load

Trick or Treat’s what many kids across Pittsburgh will say tonight, as for me Carb and Load is what im saying. Whole grains, whole wheats, whole oats, oh my!

When I woke up I had an egg white sandwich with blueberries, kiwi

A very healthy assortment of fruit. Kiwi = the bomb of all fruits, but apples are good 2, and blueberries, and goji, acai…. I love fruit!

Speaking of fruit, the mail man delivered my Bear Naked Tropical Fruit Bar sample.

Mango’s, Papaya, Coconut, Pineapple. All crammed into a hand sized bar. I didn’t eat mine yet because I had all my nutrition planned out for today, but Ill be sure to let you know how I liked it.

After church, and running around for find a new running shirt “because tomorrows going to be freezing” It seems my short sleeve shirts are not in season. Anyways, Mom made a delicious salad with whole wheat pasta, bread. Like I said, carbo loading to the max today. The proper way.

• To carbo load you want most of your calories from complex carbohydrates, so the fat doesn’t become a source of empty calories. 4000 calories in carbs is a lot of carbs, but if you put in some peanut butter, and fat, the calories rise and become like an empty source.

A great source of carbs,

the enemy of dieters…

Whole Wheat Pretzels…

Just 7 of these sticks pack on 22g of carbs. Wowza. I never eat whole wheat pretzels, but tonight I was eating everything whole grain in sight. So why not? Sean = Race Car, Carbs = Super Fuel, Spirit of Pittsburgh Marathon = My race. wahooo!

And you have the other kinda carbs. CaNdY! No, I didnt eat any candy, because I dont wanna risk getting sick before my big race. I cant tell you the last time I had a candy bar.

Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet, Give me some Simple Carbs to Eat! ©

I hope you all are having a great Halloween. Be safe.

Perfect Plan For Women Fitness

A lot of women all over the globe are trying to shed unwanted pounds. While some are taking such drastic steps as taking diet pills that might bring more harm to their health, there are others that are going for surgical procedures that pose a great deal of side effects, risks, and complications. However, the fastest and best way to really lose weight effectively and maintain is to adhere to a good fitness strategy. If you are a woman and you want to lose weight, here are three of the most important components that should be included in your plan for health and fitness:

Eating Healthy

The food that you take in every day plays a vital role in your weight loss. This is because your rate of metabolism will also depend on what you are eating, and in turn, your metabolism will also affect the way you will lose weight. For a quick weight loss and better health, you must get rid of processed foods in your diet, especially those that contain unnatural ingredients. You should replace these with wholesome foods that are as organic as possible. This means that you have to throw away all the prepackaged and boxed foods in your fridge and instead consume more fresh fruits and vegetables as well as lean meats and whole grains.

Drinking Lots of Water

You should know that water aids in the proper functioning of the systems of the body. It will also aid in heightening the rate of metabolism. This means that increased water intake could encourage a greater loss of weight and could work well with your other strategies on weight loss as well. On the average, you would need at least eight glasses of water daily. However, if you are exercising regularly, this would have to be increased by two to four glasses everyday. There is a way for you to ensure that you are taking in the proper amount of water every day. You can do this by always keeping a bottle of water near you where ever you go.

Exercising and Keeping Your Body Moving

Even if the metabolism rate of women tends to decrease beginning in their thirties, they can do something to alleviate this situation. They could keep their body moving always so that metabolism could be sped up, calories could be burned continually, and lean muscles mass can be formed. The ideal fitness plan that a woman should have must involve augmenting the muscle tone and heightening her heart rate by at least 65 percent even when at rest.

Because women posses a different structure when it comes to their bodies compared to men, they will fare better with low-impact workouts. There are a number of exercises that could provide these to women, and these include walking, swimming, and biking. It is also best for women to do some exercises for at 30 minutes every day and at least three times per week so that they can speed up their metabolism rates as well as work on the other factors that could help them lose weight. These exercise sessions could gradually be built up to become one-hour sessions done every day.

We'll See...

There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit.

“Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically.

“We’ll see,” the farmer replied.

The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses.

“How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed.

“We’ll see,” replied the old man.

The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune.

“We’ll see,” answered the farmer.

The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.

“We’ll see” said the farmer.

Pushing Past the Pain of Exertion

From yesterday’s New York Times:  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/fashion/29FITNESS.html

Chrissie Wellington of Britain

I had my first visit with my new physician this past week.  It was a sign of the times.  I have been fortunate enough to have had just one doctor, Richard Kahn, M.D. since moving to Maine in 1973.  It has been 36 years of excellent care, from a man who was one of the first in our area to ride his own bicycle bike to work from his home in Union some fifteen miles out.  He sold his practice to Dr. Anderson, and she will be fine. She had been practicing way up in Aroostook County for the past two years.   She read my chart with me, to be sure she hadn’t missed anything.  I was thrilled when she started asking me about my 2007 Appalachian Trail through hike, when she disclosed that she and her husband were avid day hikers and also backpackers.  We learned that shared some trail experiences in Yellowstone as well.

She is an osteopathic physician, and after deciding that my blood work did not indicate any serious problems, encouraged me to schedule my next appointment sometime next Fall after I ( hopefully) return from my 5- 6 month, 2,700 mile Pacific Crest Trail  backpacking expedition, where we could recheck those numbers.

Then we talked pain, something I have been increasingly familiar with.  I consulted about putting together a backup medical kit that would prepare me for any emergencies.  I  did hear her when she made the observation that pain is often a signal to the body that something is wrong and that stopping may be the best solution, rather than to dose pain with analgesics or stronger ( opiates) and push through  to some preset goal.

Then this article came out and it assisted me in placing pain into  a better perspective.

Endurance athletics exposes one to eventual pain.  It is important to train for the ability to sustain exertional pain, while at the same time accepting that the acute pain of an injury, such as  shin splints, a broken metatarsal bone,  or a bad back is a message from the body to stop for a while and heal.

 

Lucy in the Plinth

In Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom stands the famous landmark, Nelson’s Column. Around the column are 4 plinths, 3 of which have statues on them. However, the fourth plinth remains empty. Many suggestions have been made as to what should be on the plinth and several pieces of temporary art have graced the plinth over the years.

Recently, the well-known English artist, Antony Gormley (famous for his Angels of the North which stands just outside Newcastle in the north of England) was commissioned to create a work of art for the Fourth Plinth.

Antony decided that the Fourth Plinth should be occupied for 100 days continuously by members of the public for an hour each. Occupation started on 06 July and finished on 14 October 2009 and 34,520 people applied from all over the UK to take up one of the 2400 sixty minute slots.

Lucy Croucher was one of the lucky ones to be chosen and her one hour slot started at 11 pm on 06 August 2009. When she made the application to be on the Plinth, she had already decided that she would spend her hour doing yoga and she was very excited when she received confirmation that she had been chosen. She immediately started to plan her practice and realised that she would need some good equipment to get her through her hour of fame. So she wrote to Yoga Paws to ask them if they would be prepared to donate a set of Yoga Paws for her to use on the Plinth. The answer “Yes” came back immediately and a couple of weeks later the Yoga Paws arrived through the letter box.

You would expect the weather in August to be pretty good and it was on 06 August until 7 pm. Then it started to rain really heavily and it did not stop at 11 pm. Lucy spent a very wet hour on the Plinth but it was so fantastic – the most amazing experience ever. Despite the rain, she managed to get through her whole practice just as she had planned. The Yoga Paws were invaluable as her mat was like a sponge and became useless after about 5 minutes.

If you would like to see Lucy in action on the Plinth wearing her Yoga Paws, please visit www.oneandother.co.uk, click on Plinthers, Week five, select Thursday and look for the 11 pm slot (the last one of the day).

Fitness Fun

This weekend I took The Boy and The Girl hiking. While we were waiting for The Boy’s scout buddy to arrive, we took a quick walk around the entrance area of the park, and found an exercise center. We had a lot of fun trying out the different stations to see what we could do. The Girl was particularly excited about the incline push-ups. She tries her best to do push-ups at home, but is a little too young to really understand proper form. Using the bar though, she was able to do four on her own!

It gave me a chance to challenge myself as well. I took a look at the pull up bar and decided I was going to give it a go. I’ve never been good at pull-ups. My first attempt as an adult was one. Yeah. One. After 6 months of training I was able to improve my perfermoance by 100%. (That sounds a lot better than saying I could do 2!) This weekend, though- I did 5. It’s still not a highly impressive number, but I’m proud- darn it!

The Boy, The Girl, and I are already making plans to go to the park again this weekend. It probably won’t be Bonita Lakes (we have to go to Jackson) but I know we can find another park with a fitness center to play at.

And now, just for fun, some more pictures of our park workout!

The Girl- showing off her awesome push-up form!

The Boy- able to leap hurdles in a single (heart stopping!) bound!

The Mommy- feeling like superwoman

CORPO SEM LIMITES

“COMO A CIÊNCIA ESTÁ CONSTRUINDO A NOVA ETAPA DA EVOLUÇÃO: VAMOS VIVER MAIS, MELHOR E COM
CAPACIDADES SOBRE-HUMANAS”

Galileu

“Sem limites
Dean Karnazes vive de desafiar o corpo e a ciência. Já correu 563 km sem parar e diz que pode mais

Dean Karnazes gosta de dizer que é um cara de sorte. Para ele, sua capacidade de correr 563 quilômetros sem parar, enfrentar 50 maratonas em 50 dias seguidos ou suportar 40 graus negativos em um prova no Polo Sul não passa de uma coincidência feliz. “Tenho apenas um bom corpo e uma baita sorte por poder viver dele.” O corredor diz isso com um sorriso que quase convence que ele é um cara comum. “Fui colocado na Terra para correr. Simples assim.”

Mas, por trás dessa aparente simplicidade, esconde-se alguém com uma profunda vontade de ultrapassar os limites humanos. Aos 46 anos, o americano quer saber qual é o máximo que seu corpo suporta. Foi assim, afinal, que ele começou a correr, 16 anos atrás.

No dia em que festejava seus 30 anos, com o organismo lubrificado de tequila, Karnazes teve um estalo: tirar a roupa e sair correndo. Na hora, a ideia pareceu excelente. Vinte quilômetros depois,…” (Leia mais e comente a matéria)