The Surgery-Free Facelift...

I have to get this book - “The Yoga Face”.

Everyone wants to look younger, but did you ever think you could use yoga to make your wrinkles disappear? For Annelise Hagen, a yoga instructor and the author of “The Yoga Face,” the journey was something personal.  “When I hit a certain point in my life, my face started to fall,” she says. “I couldn’t believe it, and I thought ‘why not use yoga to lift my face the way it lifted my butt and my arms and everything else?’”  She designed a program using exercise principles to help lift and tone the muscles in the face, and before long, she was selling out every class. Now, she’s releasing a DVD to expose people all over the country to the latest techniques.

 Annelise’s favorite move is the “lion’s face,” which stretches all of the muscles in the face and increases oxygen flow. Though it looks slightly terrifying, she says the animalistic pose also helps to relieve stress.  Want to get rid of rings around the eyes? Try the “surprise me,” a wide-eyed facial move exposing as much white of the eye as possible. It may make you look like a serial killer, but it’s “really good for correcting bags, sags, and crows feet.”

Avocados and Aging...

The green fruit that could has fat. That's right, it contains monounsaturated fat. This is a good thing. The fat is so tiny it can slip through membranes and protect cells from free radical damage. This enhances vitality and mental acuity, and improves skin texture. Bonus: Avocados may also improve bone density thanks to the mineral boron, which helps absorb calcium, and a whole avocado contains 14 grams of fiber, which expedites the removal of toxins that can lead to aging.

Avocados are best served as an unadulterated raw food. (We've never liked cooking avocados.) Make a cooling cucumber and avocado soup with fresh mint or toss some avocado into a mixed green salads, lot's of veggies and some kind of protein - even a can of tuna!

Beer as a Beauty Tip...

I am having a problem with beer this summer - I am addicted to all these new small batch craft beers.  We just had a brewery open up a few blocks away and I walk there to get a growler just about every week!!!  Now I have another excuse, wash my hair with it!  

Yeast and hops help to swell the hair shaft and plump the cuticle, adding volume. The acidity of the beer helps remove built-up product residue. In the shower, after you've shampooed, pour a bottle of beer over your hair. Rinse briefly with fresh water (the idea is to avoid the Eau de Barfly effect while retaining the beer's body-boosting benefits). A rich beer with a high yeast content works best.  Better on my head than on my hips!

Kiwi - Beauty Tip...

The high vitamin C levels in kiwi fight free-radical damage and even out skin texture. When scrubbed on the face, the seeds act as tiny exfoliators, leaving skin smooth.

Peel and slice a ripe kiwi, then mash the flesh thoroughly with a fork. With circular motions, work the kiwi paste onto a damp, clean complexion, avoiding the eye and lip areas. After 30 to 60 seconds of scrubbing, rinse skin with warm water and pat dry. I feel a facial coming in the near future!

Until Monday - Keep thinking veggies and protein!  

Grilled Corn...

I think we might have to try this over the weekend!

Grilling corn adds a smoky bite to a sweet veggie.

Preparation
Top 1/2 medium ear grilled corn with 1/2 teaspoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon crumbled feta cheese, 1 teaspoon lime juice, and a dash of cayenne pepper.

Nutritional Information
Serving: half an ear of corn
Calories: 78

Pocket - App for Smartphones...

I know I usually do something exercise related on Wednesdays, but I just downloaded these apps and all I am saying is - I plan on exercising my organizations skills!

Formerly known as Read It Later, the free app Pocket can be used to save articles, videos, and web pages that you don't have time to read but want to return to later. Like Evernote, the app syncs across platforms for easy access and streamlined link-saving.

CNET gave the app a five-star review, writing: "If you're looking for a bookmarking tool that syncs across devices, then look no further. Better than Instapaper and other competitors, Pocket is the app to beat in the category."

Cashew Milk...

I guess there is Almond Milk - why not Cashew Milk!  If you're on the search for a new milk swap that's low in calories and high in deliciousness, look no further.  So Delicious Dairy Free Unsweetened Cashew Milk Beverage! This cashew-based milk drink from So Delicious is SO creamy and amazing. It's also free of dairy and soy. In Original and Vanilla, each cup has 35 calories and 3.5g fat,  that's less than half the calories of fat-free dairy milk. Look for it at Whole Foods and other supermarkets nationwide. (It's brand-new, but it's out there.) HOORAY!

Zinc...

You know it’s in: Oysters

Surprising sources: Another essential mineral, zinc plays a major role in immune function, promotes wound healing, and supports normal growth and development. While 3 ounces of oysters supplies almost five times your DV, beef, Alaskan king crab, lobster, pork chops, and dark meat chicken are other good animal sources. Zinc can also be found in non-meat goods: A half cup of baked beans, 8 ounces of yogurt, and 1 ounce of cashews all provide more than 10 percent of the DV.

The Dirt on Heirloom Vegetables...

Some heirlooms your family passes down—say, that hideous lime green vase—just make you scratch your head in wonder if they’re actually worth anything. Heirloom vegetables, however, may look just as odd, but definitely deserve a place in your kitchen.

Heading to the farmers market this weekend you are most likely going to encounter loads of heirloom veggies!  Generally, an heirloom vegetable is a variety that is at least 50 years old and grown from seeds passed down through several generations of growers. Open-pollination (the seeds produce their own offspring plants) is the hallmark of most heirlooms.  In response to burgeoning demand, a greater variety of heirloom tomatoes and other vegetables have been cropping up in suburban backyards, on the menus of restaurants and trendy cafes, and even in the produce section of some forward-thinking supermarkets. Here’s why you should embrace the oddball shapes and colors of sun-kissed heirlooms, which are now starting to come into peak season.

A Taste Adventure - Heirlooms are the true taste of summer. Commercially grown vegetables and fruits are often picked while still in their under-ripe state and then artificially ripened, leaving them with a bland taste. On the flipside, locally grown heirlooms are almost universally harvested when ripe and then sold shortly afterward, giving them the distinct and intoxicating flavors that are always worth the yearlong wait.

Nutrition Bonanza - While research comparing nutrient levels of heirlooms to garden-variety vegetables is sorely lacking, many nutritionists trumpet the nutritional prowess of vegetables that are allowed to ripen fully as Mother Nature intended, as opposed to being picked will still unripe and boxed up for the boat, airplane, or truck. Plus, selecting more old-timers at the market will increase the diversity of your diet, which will expose you to a greater number of disease-fighting compounds. Case in point: A watershed study from Colorado State University found that subjects who ate several different phytonutrients from a wide variety of fruits and vegetables experienced lower levels of DNA oxidation—an indication of the free-radical damage that promotes aging—than those who ate larger amounts of only a handful of plant foods and, therefore, fewer total antioxidants.

Until Monday - Keep thinking veggies and protein!  

Carbs Without Cause...

White Bread has pretty much become bad-for-you public enemy number one; who doesn't automatically order their turkey and Swiss on whole wheat? The reason, of course, is that white bread is processed—it's had all its goodness stripped away, leaving a soft, squishy slice that was all the rage in the last century. But even if you're a whole-wheat convert, other processed carbs may be finding their way into your diet, many with more than an entire day's worth of recommended carbohydrates.
Fancy Coffee Drinks.  Not only can these have as many calories as a meal, (sometimes upwards of 400) their carb count can be on par with a pre-marathon pasta binge; some have 60–80g of carbs per serving. Add in sugars, saturated fats in whipped cream, and chocolate flavorings, and you've got dessert in a very large plastic cup!

Decisions...

I have to make up my mind soon if I am going to go for another half marathon!  Trainings got to start sooner than later!  Plus - I LOVE this t-shirt :)

Things You Didn't Know About Eggs...

I eat one or two eggs almost daily, and they are always the organic, omega 3 eggs! 

Eggs are a delicious way to get a battery of B-vitamins, nutrients, and protein. Although there is some controversy over their effect on heart health, most experts agree that a diet that includes eggs is a healthy one. One study even found that a breakfast of eggs, when compared to cereal or no breakfast at all, helped people reduce cravings for sugary and fatty foods later in the day. 

Eggs Are a Perfect Protein

Eggs are the "gold standard" when it comes to protein quality. That's because all of the protein found in an egg can be absorbed and used by the body,

Egg Yolks Help Brain Development!  Egg yolks are one of the richest dietary sources of the B-complex vitamin choline, which is associated with better neurological function and reduced inflammation. Additionally, there's evidence that dietary choline helps with fetal brain development when pregnant women eat it.

A diet rich in choline is also associated with, well, happiness. Choline breaks down into bethane, which is used during the methylation cycle, which in turn helps produce "happiness" hormones (and neurotransmitters) like serotonin, dopamine and norephinephrine.

Rice Bran Oil....

I mentioned last week about Bob cooing with rice bran oil.  Here is some benefits of this new trend!  Not that we fry or cook this way often - it is good to know that we can make it healthier!

• Rice Bran Health Oil contains the right amount of oryzanol (antioxidant) to provide cholesterol lowering properties. It reduces cholesterol formation and absorption thus reducing blood cholesterol, also reducing blood clotting by retarding platelets aggregation (thus lowering possibility of heart attack) and increases cholesterol excretion thus reducing total cholesterol effectively.

• When you eat a low carbohydrate diet cooked in with rice Bran Health Oil, it also helps reduce triglycerides (a kind of blood fat), reduces the bad cholesterol (LDL) and improves the good cholesterol to bad cholesterol ratio (HDL/LDL) which is very important for heart health.
• Rice Bran Oil has a balanced fatty acid profile close to the World Health Organization (WHO), American heart association’s (AHA), the National institute of Nutrition (NIN) and the Indian Council of medical research (ICMR) recommendation.
• Rice Bran Oil has more antioxidants (like oryzanol, tocotrienol, tocopherol, squalene) as compared to other cooking oils. This essentially results in health benefits like :-

• Better Skin :-  Squalene softens the skin as it is a natural moisturizer . This effectively helps delay wrinkle formation and protects the skin from sun damage and maintains a healthy skin tone.
• Enhances the immune system :- Due to its high antioxidant content, it fights the free radicals that harm the immune system thereby protecting the body from disease. Besides benefiting the lipid profile, oryzanol also has anti dandruff and anti ageing properties.
• Helps prevent cancer :- Rice Bran Oil is rich in tocopherol and tocotrienols (vitamin  E) which are powerful antioxidants. These are anti-mutagenic elements that curb the cancer causing free radicals thereby reducing cancer risk. Until recent times the health aspects of Rice bran oil have not been adequately highlighted. It is important for people to know that rice bran oil has not only cholesterol lowering properties but also has anti viral, anti itching and anti cancer effects.
• Nervous system and endocrine health :- The antioxidants found in Rice Bran Oil also benefits the nervous system. Vitamin E helps improve neurological functioning and balances the endocrine hormones.

The best thing about Rice Bran Oil is that it retains antioxidant stability even at high temperatures. It has a high smoking point of 254°C. The usual frying temperatures are between 180°C- 190°C. Rice Bran Oil remains stable upto more than 250°C. So it has a high heat stability which is important when you are looking for a healthy cooking oil. High temperatures are known to produce mutagenic elements in edible oils as well as in the food that you cook in it. But this is not the case with Rice Bran Oil. It does not breakdown into toxic compound under high heat. Rice Bran Oil is less viscous so it does not stick to the food – which means that the food absorbs less oil which in turn reduces the oil content and the caloric value of the food making it healthier.

It is a known fact that food cooked at high temperatures absorbs less oil. Since Rice Bran Health Oil is heat stable, one can cook at high temperatures (if needed) without having to worry about decomposition of the oil. This allows less oil to be absorbed by the food. Thus making it lesser in calories and therefore beneficial for your waist line and health in general.

Red Snapper...

Bob made the best red snapper Veracruz ever!  He grilled two whole red snappers to perfection! He sauteed an assortment of pabalano, serrano, and habanero peppers, added onions, tomatoes, herbs and spices, a few olives in just a little bit of rice bran oil (seems to be the newest rage in healthy oils that have a high heat capacity).  Than to top it off he took some plantains, cut them up, smashed them, then fried them in just little more of the rice bran oil.  A glass of red wine and I felt like we were in the tropics!

Until Monday - Keep thinking veggies and protein!  

Greek Yogurt That's Not Good for You...

The trend of adding a “hot” ingredient to a food to attract more consumers is definitely nothing new. It has happened in the past (and continues to) with oats, flaxseeds, omega-3 fatty acids, and acai berries, to name a few. Unfortunately I feel sometimes this is more of a marketing ploy than an opportunity to really enhance a product’s nutritional value!

The latest craze is Greek yogurt, and it seems like almost every food company wants to join this bandwagon. A typical 6-ounce container of low-fat plain Greek yogurt provides 130 calories, 17g protein, 7g sugar, and 200mg calcium (10 percent of the daily value). It is not surprising that it is so popular, especially among nutrition experts, with this nutrition profile. But a lot of the new products that use Greek yogurt as an ingredient don’t even come close to these numbers.

There are products like, granola bars, cereal and  a trail mix that features Greek yogurt front and center on the packaging, fails in comparison. One serving can have up to 160 calories, 3g protein, 12g sugar, and 80mg calcium. The yogurt actually comes in the form of “Greek yogurt drops, coated or swirls,” with the first ingredient of these being sugar. Probiotics were added to these items since obviously there isn’t much real Greek yogurt to begin with.

What’s the lesson here? Don’t always believe what you read front and center. Turn the package over and read the nutrition facts label and ingredients list closely. And in the case of Greek yogurt, at least for now, buy plain, fat free, go grab your spoon, open up your container, and pile on the berries.

Hot Hot Hot...

A few tips about running, training or doing any exercise in the heat of the summer.  If you're doing all of your training during cooler early morning hours or indoors in the gym, you'll need to gradually get used to training in the heat of the day when you'll be competing. Acclimatization is an important way to train your body to work efficiently in the heat. Normally it takes 9-14 days to acclimate, but it takes less time for conditioned athletes, and changes occur in just a few days. 

Get plenty of sleep before racing, avoid alcohol for at least 24 hours, stay hydrated and eat well. You can try staying cool by soaking a hat or bandanna in water, then put it in the freezer to wear while training (you can wear the bandanna on your head or around your neck). You can also put ice cubes under your hat or wrap them in your bandanna and wear them as they melt. Mainly, just take it easy and don't expect to get your best time. But know the warning signs of heat stress before you get out there to prepare yourself. These are: muscle cramps, thirst, profuse sweating, fatigue, headache, and weakness. Take a break and stop at the emergency stations along the course if you start feeling this way.

Crushed Bugs...

Warning - this could gross you out - it did me!

What it is: Carmine, a bright red food colorant, is actually the crushed abdomen of the female Dactylopius coccus, an African beetle-like insect.
Where it is: Look for it in red candies and red-tinted yogurts and juices (particularly ruby red juices) -- it's often listed as carmine, crimson lake, cochineal, or natural red #4 on ingredient labels.
Why it's bad: Not only is the thought of eating bug juice gross, but it also poses an ethical issue for some vegetarians and vegans.  Not sure I will ever eat Red Velvet Cake again!

Movie Theater Popcorn...

A great ay to escape the summer heat!  Go to the movies!  It may seem obvious, given the size, but for many of us it's a key part of the movie-going experience, and besides, even if you order a bag once a week, how bad can that be? VERY!  Popcorn is already about 1,200 calories, almost all from carbohydrates (and a whopping 580mg of sodium) for a large-sized bag. That's before you add the butter. Don't waste an entire day's worth carbs and calories while you mindlessly munch your way through any movie!

SORRY!

Computer issues today:(

Until Monday - keep thinking veggies and protein!

Happy Birthday America!

4th of July and watermelon go hand in hand!  Low in calories, one cup of diced watermelon is approximately 46 calories, not too expensive and it’s 92 percent water…which quenches your thirst and fills you up on a hot summer day!  A Holiday treat!

Quick Workout....

In an ideal world, you’d hit the gym four times a week and ride your bike to work the other three days. But since you’re a human being living on planet Earth, that’s probably not going to happen anytime soon.

Luckily, we’ve found a few sneaky exercises you can do in secret as you go about your day. Watch this video to see the moves in action, or read on below.

The park-bench press Blast your tris (yes, we just said that) with this do-anywhere arms routine. Stand with your back facing a park bench, then squat and place your palms on the edge of the seat. Bend your elbows to dip yourself down as many times as you can without getting weird looks. (This can also be done on an office chair while you’re on speakerphone.)

The step-it-up Once you’ve finished your presses, use that same bench as an aerobics step. A few up-and-downs and we guarantee your heart will be pounding.

The coffee-line calf raise Got a three-minute wait for your iced vanilla latte? Hold on to the counter and slowly lift and lower your heels for a quick calf and glute workout.

The broken elevator We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Take the damn stairs!

Tomatoes: The Superfood Cure-All...

Summertime and tomatoes! Who knew that the secret to everything from disease prevention to glowing, healthy skin could be found in the world’s most popular fruit?  Tomatoes are a nutritional powerhouse, due in part to their high amount of lycopene, a powerful antioxidant that gives tomatoes their red color, and may lower the risk of heart disease, improve vision, lower ‘bad’ cholesterol, and even decrease the risk of 9 common types of cancer.

Americans eat over 20 pounds of tomatoes each year. Botanically a fruit, the tomato belongs to the nightshade family, along with eggplants, peppers, and potatoes. They’re nutrient-dense and low in calories—a cup of tomatoes has only 32 calories! In addition to lycopene, the ruby-colored fruits are also loaded with vitamins A and C. But not all tomatoes are created equal! Organic tomatoes have higher concentrations of vitamin C and lycopene. Although conventional tomatoes are larger, the organically grown ones pack more of a nutritional punch.

I love the fact that tomatoes beautify the skin and may even prevent sunburn  Want gorgeous skin? You’re in luck—lycopene boosts pro-collagen, the molecule that keeps your skin firm and youthful looking!

Sleep Tip...

Sleep is just to important!  Make your bed with separate sheets and blankets. It’s a small change with a big payoff. This will reduce co-partner disturbance from movement and disturbance because of temperature.  Use only one fitted sheet to start. Then make the top-of-bed with twin size flat sheets and blankets to meet each person's needs. If you're worried about how that will look—no problem—you can cover this up with a single comforter or bed spread when dressing the bed each morning.  

Better yet - get separate beds!  We did!  We were in the market for a new bed when we made the decision to get two.  The adjustable king was really just two twin beds - just not big enough.  Me - covers on, covers off.  Bob - sleeps across the bed!  This decision was about the best thing we did in a long time!  Most people think we are crazy, but I say - whatever works