Thursday - Fallish - feeling like a squirrel readying. Furnace man came yesterday to service the three furnaces (mine plus the two apartments), wood man came the day before and stacked a half cord of wood in the wood crib. Snowblower was serviced and is at the ready. Still on the list, puttying the windows, putting the gardens to bed, winter clothes brought to the front of the closet, boots polished, hats and gloves accounted for. Oh! And I have to flood my cranberry bog and clean out my quail shed. The pumpkin patch will have to be mowed over. The little sweaters I'm knitting for my denuded angora rabbits (ironically made from yarn spun from their own fur) are almost done! My windmill needs winterizing and the lavender harvested and braided into wands. Oh, wait - that's Martha's list, not mine. She and I had lunch the other day - she must have left it behind! Phew!
Last night Sarah actually stayed home! Don't do that too much these days! Was peaceful. My men drifted in from doing battle and on the stove was a big pot of kale potato chorizo soup that I made during the day. It's a great Mediterranean recipe that I've altered to be healthier (the chorizo is from Whole Foods - Amy's Chicken Chorizo with almost no fat). Kale can be hard to love, especially eaten raw but it's so good for you - good cooked in a soup. A dash of Sriracha Thai chile sauce added just a bit of spice. When Elizabeth came to pick up Mr. Joe she was thrilled by the soup. So that's it - the way I'll care for those I love. Soup all winter, all types, all delicious, filling the house with wonderfullness - a pot always on the stove - my house a soup haven - soup for all, even the UPS man.
Josh is high on Chia seeds, he is a Chia seed evangelist. He made me pick up a bag of it from Whole Foods and he quickly set to making himself the most disgusting looking, tapioca-ish, gelatinous, green slimy-looking drink that he made me try. Just looking at it made me want to gag. And when he drinks this Chia drink, it's really a combination of drinking and chewing, weird to watch. He touts an incredible list of health benefits from eating Chia. Amazing really. Here's what I just Googled as the top ten reasons to make it a part of your diet:
- Lose weight without feeling hungry.
- Balance blood sugar for health and energy
- Keep digestion regular
- Have good heart and cholesterol health
- Chia contains a natural source of complete protein
- It's easy to prepare foods with Chia
- Chia adds age-defying anti-oxidants
- Chia cuts food cravings
- Major source of fiber and Omega-3
- Chia is a healthy food that saves you money
The good news is that you can also eat the seeds raw and they have no taste, kind of like sprinkling poppy seeds on your food. This morning I sprinkled my oatmeal with a teaspoon of the stuff. It was benign and didn't affect the taste or texture at all. Now, as I write this, my stomach feels like I just had an eggs, bacon, and hash brown breakfast - feeling almost overfull and I only had 1/2 c. of oatmeal with a few berries sprinkled on top. Thinking Chia just might be the thing that kick starts my weight loss again! If I can cut portions further, using Chia, to trick my body into feeling full, and never be hungry, wow!
Here's another thing. Just read an interesting article in the NYT yesterday entitled, For Weight Loss, Less Exercise may be More. First part of the article describes experiments on a cross section of young men in Denmark, fellows who were heavy but not obese, with no health issues. The men were assigned to three groups: one group made no changes to their sedentary life and ate as they normally would, the second group undertook 30 minutes of exercise a day, designed to burn about 300 calories - they also made no changes to their diet. The third group were assigned to a strenuous hour-long routine, burning on average 600 calories.
The very surprising result at the end of thirteen weeks was that the group that fared the best was the group whose exercise was limited to 30 minutes. At this point I had to read further - this is so counterintuitive!!! When researchers dug further and examined the food journals of the men (who had been told not to alter their eating), they discovered the heavy exercisers had actually increased their consumption - apparently their routines caused them to seek out more calories. It was also noted that the men who exercised more were less active when not exercising. Here's an excerpt:
The men exercising half as much, however, seemed to grow energized and inspired. Their motion sensors show that, compared with the men in the other two groups, they were active in the time apart from exercise. “It looks like they were taking the stairs now, not the elevators, and just moving around more,” Mr. Rosenkilde says. “It was little things, but they add up.”
The overall message, he says, is that the shorter exercise sessions seem to have allowed the men “to burn calories without wanting to replace them so much.” The hourlong sessions were more draining and prompted a stronger and largely unconscious desire to replenish the lost energy stores.This is something to digest! Recently I purchased a monitor from Weight Watchers that was developed in partnership with Phillips. It's called ActiveLink and I've been wearing it clipped to my bra (it's tiny). The concept is to measure all your activity in a day (not just steps like a pedometer does). The device can detect all movement made by your body core (can't measure things like bicep curls). The idea, just as described in the article above, is that it's overall activity that counts most - not just the 30-60 minutes spent in the gym. There are choices we make, continually throughout the day, that translate into a sedentary or active lifestyle. Seems many of us kid ourselves that we are more active than we really are, just because we hit the treadmill for a few minutes a day.
Challenge today is running (not walking) to Whole Foods to buy a bag of Chia seeds - the miracle substance that will apparently change our lives dramatically and sprinkling it everywhere. I personally am waiting for the day when I will look like a walking topiary, a human, living Chia pet! Challenge is also reading the exercise article and enjoying the fact that you can maximize your health benefit without having to train for a triatholon. Apparently thirty minutes of honest exercise and active choices made during the day are the ticket!
Peace,
Sarah
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