Yes, Coconut Oil Is Healthy

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big fat surprise cover

Before believing the American Heart Association’s view on coconut oil, I suggest you read The Big, Fat Surprise.

The American Heart Association can go suck it! As Nina Teicholz and Dr. Eric Thorn point out point out in their article, for too long the AHA has ignored a multitude of new research, clinical trials and meta-analyses that show dietary saturated fats DO NOT cause heart disease.

Heck, even the federal food guidelines finally joined Western nations in dropping its misguided limits on dietary fats.

Yet the AHA is doubling down on stupid.

Dietary saturated fats (butter, coconut oil, meat, eggs, cheese, bacon, etc.) are healthy for you provided you are not stuffing your face with processed carbs (breads, grains, pasta) or sugar (including the food industry’s 50+ names for sugar). A diet high in fat AND carbs leads to serious metabolic damage. Read More

Still Healthy!

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HEALTH

The results are in for my 5th annual physical. Pretty much what I expected. Image courtesy of freedigitalphoto.net and Kromkrathog.

I got the results back from my annual physical. I’m still healthy. The news from my physical came about two weeks after my oncologist’s office let me know my test came back negative for cancer. So while I was happy with the results, my oncology report stole my physical’s thunder.

Other than my menopausal weight gain, I expected results similar to last year’s physical. Read More

10K Training Detour: Achilles Tendonitis

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crossing finish line 2015

The big action shot of me crossing the finishing line of my first 5K where I ran the entire 3.1 miles. I am awesome! I’m determined to do the same in a 10K race.

Well this is a fine how-do-you-do. My ankle problem is back which means my 10k training is taking a slight detour. I’m not running for a few weeks. I’m having issues with my ankle once again. My doctor suspects its Achilles tendonitis.

So I’m trying to minimize the impact on my foot. That means no running for a couple of weeks. Instead I’ll go to more spin classes during the week.

Per my doctor’s advice I’m giving up wearing high heals, flats and flip-flops for the time being. My ankle prefers walking shoes. The pain goes away quickly once I put those magic shoes on (provided I don’t stay on my feet for more than a couple of hours).

Since the pain is the greatest in the morning my doctor recommended some stretching to help loosen up my calf muscle (the main culprit) and some light foot stretches. I may pick up an ankle splint too, but I’m waiting to see if the stretching and training modifications help.

Fingers crossed I’ll be back hitting the pavement in August.

Rethinking Low Carb Sweeteners

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cup-sugar-coffee

Image courtesy of Pexels.com

Lately I find myself in the kitchen baking. I use to bake a lot in my old life. It helped me cope with stress. I don’t feel stressed out but I’m baking nonetheless. But baking does require using a sweetener at times.

Oh sure I use my go to low carb sweeteners like Stevia or Swerve. I’m even using less of them, as the normal serving size seems too sweet for me these days. Now I’m thinking about kicking them to the curb completely.

Why? Read More

Ricotta Crepes with Sauteed Strawberries

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Blogging has been far too light lately. That’s due to my schedule. I’ve been on the road for the last couple of weeks visiting family. So to make amends, here is a recipe for crepes and sauteed strawberries. It is tasty, delicious and healthy. What more could you want?

11 Weeks Of Training

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crossing finish line 2015

The big action shot of me crossing the finishing line of my first 5K where I ran the entire 3.1 miles. Can’t wait to do the same for my first 10K…and yes, I am still awesome!

Over the last year I’ve tried training for a 10k with no luck. It’s just hard for me to train without an actual deadline. Well now I have one – September 10. That’s when I run 6.2 miles along the Potomac River to Mount Vernon for the George Washington Patriot Run.

While I don’t want to injure myself, I am going to push myself a little with my training schedule.  My thinking is my body can handle it since I’m not asking it to do something it hasn’t done before (just more distance and time).

Which means rain or shine, I have to run 3 times a week. It also means adding some non-impact cardio twice a week. My gym is testing a 30-minute speed cycling class this quarter. I might as well give it a go.

My current strength training, walking and yoga sessions provide a nice cross training.

But first thing up? Replacing gear. I’m heading out this morning to replace my running shoes.

I think I’ll also re-watch From Fat to Finish Line this weekend.  My training kicks off on Sunday and I’d like to go into it as excited as possible.

Gumbo!

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Here is a low carb attempt at gumbo that turned out pretty tasty.  I’ve made LCHF approved gumbo before, but this is the first time I made it with roux. For those of you from New Orleans, please forgive me. I didn’t use wheat. Instead I combined coconut and almond flour with butter.

Still it came out tasty.  The husband was able to try some before I added the shrimp and he loved it.

New Boost Of Energy

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vitamins

Changing up my supplements has helped to boost my energy level and greatly reduce my menopause symptoms.

Besides mixing up my workout routine, over the last month I started changing up my supplements. Between mood swings, hot flashes, insomnia and fatigue something had to give. For now I gave up the generic multivitamin. I just wasn’t sure what a one-size-fits-all approach was doing for me.

That doesn’t mean the multivitamin is gone forever. I’m just waiting until I go in for some hormone testing next month. At that point, the doctor I’m seeing for menopause will make some suggestions on my supplements and exercise routine based on actual data. What a concept! Read More

A Calorie Is Just A Calorie, Right?

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No, it isn’t true: A calorie isn’t just a calorie. The quality of the calories is far more important. Need proof?  Here’s your tweet of the day courtesy of Dr. Ted Naiman (if you don’t follow Dr. Ted’s tweets you really should).

tweet-of-the-day

 

 

Proof Eating Out Isn’t Great For Your Waistline

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jan-22-weightAs expected I gained weight back after my 7-day fast. However, I think I could have minimized the weight gain if I didn’t miserably fail at my other monthly challenge – giving up alcohol for 30 days. I broke my fast with a birthday dinner and that included wine. OK, not a biggie. I made it to my birthday. So why not celebrate, right?

Well, it didn’t stop with the birthday. The next day we met up with friends we haven’t seen in ages. And the wine flowed.

The next day I didn’t have time to go grocery shopping so we went out for dinner…and I ordered a glass of wine. Soon we’re going out to dinner nearly every night for the last two weeks, which means a glass or two with dinner. Ugh!
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