Fruit Loops is a smart choice?

There is a labeling program called Smart Choices, which is suppose to help shoppers identify smarter food and beverage choices. Products can now display the Smart Choice label on the front of the packages. This symbol is suppose to help you make smarter food and beverage choices.The concept of this program could be a great idea if used properly, but foods such as Fruit Loops have the Smart Choices label? Since when is Fruit Loops a smart choice? Are you suppose to get your daily requirements of fruit by eating Fruit Loops? Or maybe it's all the "natural" grain and fiber in the cereal?

My solution is just read the ingredient labels on foods to see what it actually contains instead of relying on a company's marketing campaign to have people believe that they are making "smart choices"! Fruit Loops is not a Smart Choice in my opinion!

Importance of vitamin D

This year's cold and flu season is supposed to be more risky than usual and I am already stocking up on supplements. I am a bit of a germophobe, so I already have the disinfecting and hand washing part covered. I have the regular preventative supplements including Echinacea and Air Borne, but this year I am including zinc tablets and vitamin D. I don't usually take extra vitamin D supplements (except for what's already in my multivitamin), but I have been reading a lot about vitamin D lately and how beneficial it is to overall health.

Vitamin D is known as the "sunshine vitamin" and is critical to keeping your immune system functioning. The immune system contains vitamin D receptors. If there is not sufficient vitamin D present to bind these receptors, immune cells become weak and cannot protect the body from infection. I used to think that I would be able to get all of my vitamin D from the sun (it is produced when ultraviolet rays from sunlight strike the skin and trigger vitamin D synthesis). There are not too many foods that contain vitamin D so it's difficult to get it from food (most foods that contain vitamin D have it added, such as milk). I read recently that in the winter, it's impossible to produce vitamin D from the sun if you live north of Atlanta because the sun never gets high enough in the sky for its ultraviolet B rays to penetrate the atmosphere. So now I am supplementing with extra vitamin D!

7 Benefits of Exercise

If you wanted some more reasons to exercise here they are:

Daily exercise, just 20 minutes a day will help you:

1. Sleep better: The more active your body is during the day, the more likely you are able to relax fully at night and fall asleep easily.

2. Better mood: A study was reported recently, in which an exercise program was equal in benefit to routine doses of Zoloft, a common antidepressant (I am sure you have all seen the commercials).

3. Reduced risk of breast cancer: A USC study found that women exercising for five or more hours per week experienced greater decrease in risk of developing invasive breast cancer compared to less active women. Remember, this month is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

4. Less cellulite: Exercise can reduce or eliminate cellulite by toning and firming the skin.

5. Live longer: The three-year survival rate was about three times higher for active 85-year-olds compared with those who were inactive.

6. Builds self confidence: In a recent magazine poll, women stated they felt the most sexy after exercising.

7. Reduce bad cholesterol: Studies have shown that regular exercise can help reduce cholesterol. One of the best exercises to reduce cholesterol is to simply walk for 30minutes.

Just Do It!

Men's Health Magazine

President Obama is on the cover of the October Men's Health magazine. My husband purchased this issue and there are a lot of interesting articles in this magazine. I was quite surprised by all the content. It is definitely worth getting a subscription.

Some idiot wrote that President Obama should not be on the cover because he isn't healthy. Their belief is that since he smokes he cannot be healthy. As if smoking is the only method of measuring someone's healthy!

Hilarious Shake Weight Exercise for Women Video

Every time I think I’ve seen it all, a new ridiculous fitness gadget comes out on the market. Now there is the Shake Weight! I don’t even know where to start with this one. When I first saw this I didn’t think it was real. I thought it was a joke and a skit from SNL. If someone thinks they will get toned arms using this gadget, then I don’t know what to think. The website states the following “get strong, sexy, sculpted arms”. Whatever! The website also states “An Independent Scientific Study shows that the Shake Weight™ causes over 300% more EMG activity than the traditional dumbbells of the same weight”. Do most people even know what EMG (electromyogram) activity is, and who funded this independent study?
Perhaps this device might be useful for someone who is bedridden! Why not just us free weights? What's interesting is that the ads show women with toned and muscular arms using the Shake Weight. Do people really think they got those arms by using this device?
All I can say is don't waste your money. Why not just pick a bottle of Coke and shake it? Afterall, that may be more useful than drinking it!

Stability Ball Push Ups

On Saturday I did a circuit training workout that included things like box jumps, jump rope, mountain climbers, burpees, and stability ball push ups. Stability ball push ups are not easy and when I first started to do them earlier this year I could only do about 4, now I am happy to say that I can do 20 consecutive stability ball push ups. So there I was doing my circuit workout and I was doing it in one of the group training exercise rooms at my gym. There was another guy working out in the same area. Well, I noticed that he grabbed a stability ball and tried to do them. The poor guy could not do them. I kinda wanted to go to him and tell him to first start with the ball against a wall, but I didn't because I don't really offer advice at the gym unless someone asks me. It sort of irritates me when people give me advice at the gym and for the most part they tell me crap. Like one day this guy told me not to do step ups because I could get injured? Basically you can get injured doing almost any exercise if you don't do it properly!

I've attached a link to how a stability ball push up should be done correctly, click on the title above to view, enjoy!

Are you Loving it?

I continue to hear over and over again that eating healthily is too expensive and many people do not eat healthily because it is too expensive. This woman wrote the following comment on a website “I believe one of the reasons so many Americans are overweight has a lot to do with the high cost of eating healthy. The average hard working American cannot afford to go to the grocery store and buy Meats, Vegetables, and Fruits.” This woman claimed that she would go to McDonalds and get 2 double cheeseburgers and feed a family of five for $10. Okay, I have not been to McDonalds in like forever, but since when can you feed a family of five with 2 cheeseburgers? All I remember about McDonalds is that their burgers were not that big and definitely did not look like those in the McDonalds commercials.
Personally I went to Safeway last week and chicken breasts (okay it was not free range chicken) were $1.99 a pound, so I got about 3 pounds of chicken for about $6.00. Do you realize how many meals 3 pounds of chicken can make? I can buy an entire cabbage for less than $2.00 and it will serve several meals. In my opinion, if you were to give people a choice of free food and one choice was a healthy meal and the other was junk food, they would choose the junk food. If the choice was fruit over a bag of chips most American’s would choose the bag of chips. When are people going to stop making excuses? The fact is Americans like junk food and that is what they eat! I was buying blueberry yogurt yesterday and the cashier said to me, “blueberries and suppose to be good for you but I don’t like them because they don’t have a taste”! My thought was what the hell is wrong with your taste buds – Nuff Said!