Are You Getting Ready for 2014?

As we wind down this last week of October, I began thinking that this is the time of year where so many people decide that if they haven't achieved their fitness goals, no need to start now. It is during this time when we start to think about holiday parties and family gatherings. With these gatherings come food, food and more food. Who is thinking about sticking to a healthy lifestyle? What's done is done. If you haven't reached that goal, there's always next year.

My question is WHY WAIT? Why wait to get started? Why take a break if you have been disciplined enough to make it this far? Why let this time of year tempt you into thinking that you should let your healthy lifestyle fall by the waist side? I hope it's not due to the thinking that you'll just start over next year - 2014! 

This is the time of year when you should maintain your "healthy lifestyle" right? Since, when does a lifestyle take a break? I'm sure no one ever decides that they will take a break from bathing, a break from the hairdresser/barber, a break from living? This is when you end the year with just as much force as you did in the beginning, when you set your goal for the year. A year is 12 months, so who are you cheating if you slack off? YOURSELF that's who.

During this time, review where you currently are and set your year-end course to either completing your initial goal of 2013 or getting as close to reaching it as possible. Don't cheat yourself or the healthy lifestyle that you have been living or started living.

 

End this year with a tremendous feeling of accomplishment!  That way, when December 31, 2013 - New Year's Eve - comes around, you will be celebrating your success!!!

 

Feel free to share how you will remain on course to a better and healthier you the rest of the year.

Roasted Turnips

I’ve been on a major adventure kick. New fitness routines, new recipes, tasting new foods.  So, when my mother gave me a bag full of turnips,  I just couldn't pass them up. 

When I talk about turnips, I’m referring to the bottoms. The purple bulbs, or the root of the turnip greens.  During this whole year, I’ve been thinking outside of the box by expanding my food selections.  I’ve had boiled turnips from my mother-in-law, which were delish.  Now, I am preparing them and wanted to have them in a different way.  I decided to roast them.

Turnips have a pretty strong flavor and if you are not a big fan of that, then you and I share the same taste. 

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.  They were quite easy to prepare. After cleaning the turnips, I peeled off their outer skin. Next, cut them up into cubes, not too small.  Then, I poured about a tablespoon of olive oil over the turnips, sprinkled some kosher salt and pepper and mixed them up so that the oil mixture was on all of the pieces.  

Placed the pieces on a baking tray.  Be sure to keep them spaced apart and not touching each other. 

Roasted them in the oven until they start to turn brown, then flip the pieces over.  Continue roasting until they are brown.

You can serve them with potatoes or even greens. The choices are endless.

Enjoy!

 

Green Apples and Walnut Salad

When it comes to eathing healthy, having salads every day or every other day is not my healthy eating vision.  But, when I do want a salad, I enjoy them to the fullest. While in the grocery story, I really wanted to have some fresh strawberries and have them in a salad with walnuts.  Well, the strawberries were so far from being attractive that day in the store.  I was so bummed because I could just taste the salad in my head.

I had already grabbed a bag of green apples, to have for my apples/natural peanut butter snack. I had went to the grocery store primarily to buy some strawberries for the salad.  Then, it hit me. Slice the apples and toss them into the salad!

DUH!!! Before I knew it, my mind had already came up with making some poppyseed dressing to drizzle onto the salad. I regained my excitement and was happy that my lunch menu for the week was even more exciting. 

I'm sure many of you have those moments. Right?

Ingredients:

• Granny Smith apples
• Salad mix of your choice (I used the Spring Mix)
• Healthy Poppy Seed Salad dressing (click here for the recipe)
• Walnuts (rich in Omega 3s)

Salad rich in fiber, healthy fat, Vitamin E and omega 3s - enjoy!

My 2-Cents On...Sitting

I know life happens.  We grow up, we have jobs, careers, families, etc…. Those who have jobs that consist of sitting, have a far greater challenge in becoming very relaxed (pun intended) about their bodies. Think about it. For most, having an office job, your routine may be similar to this – leave home, sit in the car (or bus) to work, sit in a chair for the day at work, sit in the car (or bus) on the way home, sit to eat dinner (when you can if you have little ones), sit and watch TV then lay down for bed. 

That’s a great deal of sitting.  Just how many hours a day does one actually sit with a routine like that?

It’s easy to become adjusted to that routine. Oh, and then on the weekends! If you are socializing, or running around with family, I'm willing to guess that your mind isn’t on eating right.  Or, on the numbers of beers or glasses of wine you may be consuming. And, yes, you're sitting doing those things too.

Take into consideration that over a long period of time, years for most, while your routine has become second nature to you, your body has become the major item of value that you have neglected. Of course there were signs.  Discovering that those jeans you favored so much have gotten extremely tight.  Or shopping and finding out that your clothing size has increased.

 

Take a moment to look at this IDEA fitnographic (click here). Images can do so much more than words.   

 

As stated in the fitnographic, the longer you sit, the higher your risk of certain types of cancer. So, when you "sit" down and think about your routine and how much sitting you do, I hope that you come to the conclusion that it's worth so much more to your valuable body to have it up and moving, rather than "sitting" around.

 

That is my 2-cents on sitting.

 

 

 

Life with a Goiter - Part 1

Before I go deep into just how my life was with a goiter, let me first define what a goiter is.  

As defined by the American Thyroid Association, a “goiter” simply refers to the abnormal enlargement of the thyroid gland. It is important to know that the presence of a goiter does not necessarily mean that the thyroid gland is malfunctioning. A goiter can occur in a gland that is producing too much hormone (hyperthyroidism), too little hormone (hypothyroidism), or the correct amount of hormone (euthyroidism). A goiter indicates there is a condition present which is causing the thyroid to grow abnormally.

Well, for my bundle of joy, which you can clearly see in my photo below, I was living with a problem and really didn't think much about it.  I was coughing a lot.  Always seemed like there was something in my throat.  But, the coughing seemed to occur mostly at night.  Since, many people really didn't seem to stare at my neck, I didn't think it was necessary for me to focus too much on it.  Really, my previous endocrinologist, would do ultrasounds yearly, blood tests and send me on my way.  Everything was normal, TSH levels and no signs of cancer was what I was told at every visit.

Looking at my neck, you can see the goiter. 

Why even worry, is what I thought. No cancer with things are normal, why even push to have it removed?  Time passed by and my husband kept forcing the issue regarding my goiter. He was seeing something that I apparently wasn't. He was just so bothered and kept telling me it's just not normal.  He wouldn't stop even if I wanted him to and so I got a new endocrinologist.  

At one of early visits with my new endo, she asked if I had ever had a needle biopsy.  From the sound of that alone, I'm sure that had I never had one, I would have clearly remembered a "needle biopsy"- the sound alone says, OUCH! Since, I hadn't she performed one.  

It was a little needle that is placed inside selected areas to retrieve tissue that is to be tested. I remember little pricks, but nothing like the prick you get when a dentist gives you novacain! It wasn't nearly as bad as I had imagined.

Sadly, the results were not instant. I had to wait a few days to find out if there was something to be concerned with. 

Then, I got the call with the results. [Sigh!] There were some questionable areas, which were identified as "gray" areas.  The only way to be sure was to remove the one side (left) of my thyroid.   

A Little Dose of Fitness Motivation

Weighted Rear Leg Lifts

The target areas for this exercise are your glutes and hamstrings. You will need a pair of ankle weights for this exercise.

 

Attach the ankle weights onto each leg. Get on all fours. Keep your back parallel with the floor, don’t arch it. Extend your right leg out and begin to raise your leg upward, as shown, then lower it back down to the starting position.  Barely let your toes touch the floor. Raise and lower the right leg again. Repeating to complete one set on the right side. Then, repeat on the left side. 

 

Your butt and hamstrings will love you!

Weighted Side Leg Raises

The target areas for this exercise are your hips, butt and the obliques. You will need a pair of ankle weights for this exercise.

 

Attach the ankle weights onto each leg. Get onto your knees. Lean slightly to the right, place your right hand on the floor and your left hand on the side of your head.  Extend your left leg out straight.  Begin to raise your leg up to hip level as shown, then lower it back down to the starting position.  Continue to raise and lower the left leg. Repeating to complete one set on the left side. Then, repeat on the right side. 

 

 

This is the “happy hips” exercise. [Smile]