the common cold

I am currently suffering from my second cold this winter. Not impressed. These colds have come after a first time experience with strep throat. I was also not impressed when I had that. All this sickness has made me think, what the heck? What is with my immune system that I am so susceptible to illness. So I looked it up on the internet. What to do to boost your immune system and here was the list.

• Don’t smoke. - CHECK
  
• Eat a diet high in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and low in saturated fat. - CHECK
  
• Exercise regularly. - CHECK
  
• Maintain a healthy weight. - CHECK
  
• Control your blood pressure. - MOSTLY CHECK
  
• If you drink alcohol, drink only in moderation. - MOSTLY CHECK
  
• Get adequate sleep. - SOMETIMES CHECK
  
• Take steps to avoid infection, such as washing your hands frequently and cooking meats thoroughly. - CHECK
  
• Get regular medical screening tests for people in your age group and risk category. - CHECK
  

 I do most of these things all the time. My sister has also been quite sick this winter and after speaking with her yesterday she said something that resonated with me. She said I feel like I should start smoking, drinking and being lazy...doing all the right things is not helping. I think I agree with her. Do we try too hard to do all the right things thereby making things worse? Strange logic right? All I know is that I have never been as sick as I have been in the last couple of years and I don't like it. 

Suggestions welcome.

saucy spaghetti squash

Tonight, for the first time, I made spaghetti squash. What a cool vegetable! In my effort to eat healthy and not want to bore my taste buds into nonexistence, I have been trying out some new foods. It looks like any other squash as you cook it, but when done, it pulls apart just like spaghetti stands. I made a tomato, white kidney bean and sweet pea sauce to go with it. For the tomato sauce I use Victoria's All Natural Marinara Sauce from Costco. It doesn't have any extra sugar or additives like many others and it tastes amazing! A few chillies and some hot sauce to finish it off and wow! It was great! Even my meat loving, I won't like anything vegetarian finance loved it. Success!

rita's power protein crepes

Due to my upcoming Mexican adventure, I have been watching what i eat - bathing suit and all. A friend of mine is a fitness model and she looks far better in a bikini than I ever will so I take what she says as gospel. She passed along her breakfast routine and turns out it's really tasty, super healthy and fast! 

 Here's what you need to do:

1 cup of egg whites
1 egg
1/4 cup of oats
1 banana
1 tsp almond butter

Combine eggs whites, egg and oats together and blend. I use a hand blender. This is your batter. Pour a small amount into a frying pan (spray first with Pam), make sure that you spread it around a lot and make a thin crepe. Repeat 3 times.

Mush up the banana and add the almond butter together. Add this filling into the crepe and roll them up.


Enjoy!!

Winter Wimp = Spin Class!

Now that I have officially wimped out on winter running I thought I should pick up a new cardio sport to tie me over until I get un-wimpy in the spring. So, last Saturday I took my second spin class in life. And let me tell you, this one was better than my first, almost of throw-up, experience. I actually really enjoyed it! You have to go at your own pace to start that's for sure, but what a great work out. I really felt like I worked out hard. And even when you cheat a little to catch your breath, you're still working...bonus! I very much recommend spin for those winter wimps like me who can't get motivated to run in zero to minus degrees outside. (who can blame us though right? - really!)

Old Methods

I suffer from terrible headaches and migraines. So, my new plan of attack to combat these annoying episodes is acupuncture. I have only gone a few times now, but I have high hopes. So far I don't feel very different; but, with that said, I have only had one really bad headache since I started going two weeks ago and that's a change.

According to Wikipedia, the earliest written record of acupuncture is the Chinese text Shiji (史記, English: Records of the Grand Historian) with elaboration of its history in the second century BCE medical text Huangdi Neijing. I figure something that's been used for so long and has a good reputation for healing must be worth a try!