I Got NO Time to Gab Today!
Hey Kittens!! I’m all about rushing today, so sorry. My BFF is getting in town from Columbus OH (bring me some new OSU sweatshirts! WOOT! Yea, I was a Buckeye!) any second, then I have to drag both her and her daughter downtown because I have a short speaking gig tonight. Poor things.
Anyway, I squeezed in a kick butt workout this morning and FORGOT TO TAKE A PICTURE OF MY Polar HRM readout but it was 850 Calories. Nice. Yesterday I did a little HIIT warm-up for like 5 minutes (Cathe HIIT) and then did an Upper Body Blast for Shoulders. That was about 350 calories in 45 minutes. Not bad. I have to get over it, I only had 45 free minutes yesterday.
So, not only is my BFF and her daughter here for the weekend but Aunt Flo is going to be visiting and let me just tell you that anticipating her arrival has me feeling testy, fat and disgusting. Bigger than a house, wider than a bus, heavier than an alligator and uglier than a rat.
These are the good times associated with being a woman. Shoot me. Or, just get me some Krispy Kremes. hehehe hohoho hahaha Gotta RUN!!! Have a kick butt day y’all!!
Create a Pesto Challenge
August is almost here, and as promised I’m bringing back the monthly challenge. I thought I would go with a pretty easy one this month, and definitely one that doesn’t use the oven. Pesto is naturally gluten-free so you don’t have to worry about any substitutions.
Traditional pesto includes basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil, salt & pepper, and Parmesan, but many other types of pesto can be made. It is also traditionally served with pasta, but if you have other ways of eating it, I’d love to hear about it.
- Parsley
- Mint
- Cilantro
- Broccoli
- Argula
- Asparagus
- Spinach
- Tomatoes
Nuts
- Walnuts
- Macadamia nuts
- Hazlenuts
- Cashews
- Almonds
Seasoning
- Crushed red pepper
- Cayenne pepper
- Cinnamon
A food processor works best for making pesto, but a blender can work too. Place everything but the olive oil in the processor and process until finely chopped. Keep the processor running and slowly add the oil until well blended.
The Challenge: Create a pesto (with old or new ingredients), write about it, then link to your post as part of Gluten-Free Wednesdays. If you don’t have a blog, feel free to email your recipe to me.
Mediterranean Vegan Pasta
Say good by to pasta drowning in red sauce, and say hello to hearty vegetables, healthy Olive Oil, garlic and basil. 
Ingredients
- 1 serving of whole wheat spaghetti noodles
- 1 tablespoon EVOO
- 1/2 cup yellow onion
- 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
- 1/4 cup frozen peas
- 1/4 chopped red bell pepper
- 6 sliced kalamata olives
- 1 teaspoon crushed garlic
- salt and pepper to taste
- a few pinches of dried basil and oregano
Cook pasta according to the directions.
Add olive oil to a skillet on medium, then add onion, mushrooms and a pinch of salt. Cook until soft. Add the rest of the ingredients and let simmer for 8-10 minutes on medium low. Serve over pasta.
![ztashaz_thumb[1]](http://lh5.ggpht.com/_xnK7HWJMdFs/TE5YdxT7fQI/AAAAAAAAF5g/k84mfa-KiPU/s1600-h/ztashaz_thumb%5B1%5D%5B3%5D.png "ztashaz_thumb[1]")
Is There a Supplement That Increases Metabolism?
Hi! I am 41 years old, but still feel young and look young, like I did when I was about 30. I have been eating less but I feel like my metabolism is slowing down. I do go to the gym 2 or 3 times a week and I eat very healthy at breakfast and lunch, but I like ice cream and salty snacks in the evening. I try to eat fruit instead, and control my cravings, but is there any supplement you can recommend that will increase my metabolism? I’ve already had my thyroid checked and it is fine. Thanks! Susie K.
Dear Susie,
It’s great that you are aware of healthier food choices to make, and that you do go to the gym two or three times a week. I’m not sure why you feel your metabolism is decreased, but there isn’t much chance of that. From age 30 to 40 the average woman’s metabolic rate is reduced by about 40 calories a day–not something you’re likely to notice.
What does keep your metabolism going is exercise! You might consider adding a mile walk (about 18 minutes at a fairly brisk pace) to your regimen. Each day this will burn an extra 100 calories–more than enough to compensate for the 40 calories your body isn’t burning due to the process of aging. Each month this is enough to promote a pound of weight loss–which is more than 10 pounds by this time next year, just from walking a mile a day!
As for the night-time cravings, you can fit a low-calorie treat into your diet when you’re eating smart the rest of the day and doing some form of exercise. I like the Skinny Cow Ice Cream Treats, like ice cream sandwiches and fudge bars, which have just about 140 calories and taste great.
Also consider keeping a food diary so you can have an objective view of how you really eat on a daily basis. It’s helpful for cueing you to think before you eat, and may encourage you to think about whether you really want to add those calories to your daily intake, or have a glass of water and/or take a quick walk instead!
Enchiladas Verdes
Hydrogen Peroxide Ears
Introduction
Recently, I read an article which spoke about the Brassica family consisting of turnips, kohlrabi, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage and good old broccoli. What it said was that three little compounds found in any vegetable of this family has immune boosting and anti-cancer properties.
Yes, of course. It's old news (thanks to the folks but until now everyone just knew that veggies were good for you. And why? Because Mom (or grandmom) said so.
And where did they get this information from?
Who knows? But as it turns out, according to the research by scientists, your mom, grandmom, aunt, (and wherever she got this nugget of information from) was apparently spot on! And we needed them to tell us that…
Speaking of wisdom emanating from home… er… also known as home remedies, there is a nice little remedy that one can use to remove earwax but first, let's look at what earwax is, before getting to the home remedy.
Ear Wax
It's that yellowish waxy substance that you can't wait to get rid of (for the women) or can't be bother to remove for decades (for the men). Medically, it is called 'cerumen' and is the by-product of alcohols, cholesterol, squalene, long chain fatty acids and keratin (skin protein).
As delightful as this sounds, the thing is that the production of earwax is a result of the body's metabolic processes and which is responsible in ear canal protection, cleaning and lubrication.
So, for all of you who think that its yucky and all that, it actually has anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties preventing ear infections and in its absence, one can have dry and itchy ears to deal with.
However, as with all things in excess, and even though earwax acts as the ear's natural defense system, too much of earwax prevents one from hearing too well. (Well, now you know why men don't listen!)
Removing Earwax
In this case where there is an excess accumulation of earwax, quite a few people are of the opinion that hydrogen peroxide is a good way to remove the earwax.
And here's how one can go about it (but do read the Precautions List if you're trying this immediately rather than going Oops!):
Materials Required: Hydrogen Peroxide (3 percent), cotton balls, eye dropper, olive or almond oil, a bulb aspirator (normally used for babies who haven't yet learned to pick their nose yet) and preferably a spotter (nurse, mom, sister, wife or girlfriend – OK, strike off the last one!)
Step One: Keep the hydrogen peroxide and the almond/ olive oil in a bowl of warm water so its temperatures increase as well, and which the dissolution of the earwax.
Step Two: Tilt your ear to add the heated oil and hydrogen peroxide with the ear that is to be treated facing the ceiling.
Step Three: Use the eye dropper to add 2-3 drops of oil. Wait for 2-3 minutes.
Step Four: Add 2-3 drops of warm hydrogen peroxide in the same manner.
Step Five: Stay in the same position until the hydrogen peroxide stops bubbling. You can place a towel on your shoulder to absorb any kind of spillage.
Step Six: In the instance of impacted earwax, one will have to repeat Step one to five repeatedly.
Step Seven: Now, comes the draining process. Fill the bulb aspirator with warm water and tilt your ear over the sink. Position the bulb aspirator at about 45 degrees to the ear and squirt water into the ear, which will remove and loosen any remaining earwax. Let it drain out after that… and you can do this 2-3 times.
And we're done!
Precautions in Removing Earwax
There are some folks who should not follow the aforementioned procedure such as those who:
a) suffer from ear pain
b) have hearing impairment
c) have sensitive skin.
And if you have ear blockage symptoms, consult a professional physician immediately before trying this procedure.
In Closing
So, girls, clean your man's ears… maybe that's the problem! It's probably that or as always it's just that he's just preoccupied with nothing!
Other Posts You’ll Find Useful:
Oprah Stole My Moment: Intuitive Eating Works For Both of Us
This pretty much sums up my life – except the boogers are generally from someone else’s nose.Oprah beat me to it. As if it isn’t bad enough that the woman rules all media outlets, now she has stolen my own epiphany right out from under me! It was my very own “A-Ha” moment! Oh wait… that is hers too. Crap. This whole time I’ve been thinking that I discovered Geneen Roth all on my own (read: a zillion e-mails from you guys recommending her finally sunk in) when lo and behold the Queen of Everything not only already read and loves Geneen but Oprah also started her own Experiment based on the books.
According to June’s issue of O magazine (which I’m just getting around to reading because I’m way too cheap to subscribe to it and I found an old copy at the gym), Oprah has given up dieting and is working on eating intuitively. Just like me! Thankfully it is going swimmingly for the both of us. Hence, I will share my epiphany with Oprah. I’m big like that.
The Truth: I feel like I’ve been let out of jail.
Rereading my farewell post from a month ago, I’m struck now how depressing it was. I didn’t see it at the time because it was just the place that I was in. I’d come to a crossroads: either I was going to spend the rest of my life trying to willpower myself through every new diet/exercise regime that comes along and then crying in my closet when I inevitably failed or I could just… give it up. Just eat and be happy.
It shouldn’t be that simple but it is.
I’m delirious with relief and happiness and, honestly, a little nervous that this euphoria won’t last. This past month has been so freeing. I worked hard (and it is hard work, at least at first) to stay focused while I ate and to pay attention to what my body was telling me and it works. I’m not broken after all! And if I’m not then I can say with confidence that you are not either.
Here’s the proof: two solid months of eating following Geneen’s food “guidelines” and my weight (yes, I’m still weighing myself – baby steps, people!) has remained within 1/2 pound the entire time. For a girl that is used to going up and down 3 or more pounds in a single week, this is huge for me. I ate peanut butter cookies for dinner (the recipe: 1 egg, 1 c peanut butter, 1 c sugar. Bake at 350 for 8 min. Do it. You will thank me.) and my weight stayed the same! I had salmon on salad with dressing and didn’t resent it for not being the peanut butter cookies and my weight stayed the same! I ate beef ribs. White bread. Homemade strawberry ice cream. And my weight stayed the same. What this all means is that my body does in fact know how to run itself.
While I do still wish that the weight I have stabilized at is about 7 pounds lighter, I have finally come to accept that what I need to work on fixing is not my weight but my head. I can’t say that everything is all fixed in my brain – decades of dieting programming will take time to unlearn – but for the first time in a really long time I am hopeful that this will not be the thing that defines me.
The result of all this has been a remarkable freeing of my soul. All the energy, both mental and physical, that I’ve been devoting to remembering food plans, research, calories and so forth I’ve been able to devote to other pursuits. I just finished reading 21 books in 21 days and not a single one was a diet book! I play the piano for an hour a day! I meditate, pray, do yoga and snuggle the Jelly Bean on a much more frequent basis! (Did you know Jelly Bean gets pit sweat? She does and it even stinks! I don’t know why that cracks me up but I adore that about her. She’s already so like her mama!) I finally signed up to take that aerial dancing/circus class I’ve been dreaming about for so long! And a power yoga class in a real yoga studio! And a dinner cruise with my hot husband!
I had to share this with you guys because you have been so integral in my progress. You have no idea how much each of your comments/blog posts/e-mails/texts/FB messages/tweets and so forth have meant to me. You all have had me in tears (beautiful, happy, cleansing tears) and then in hysterical laughter so many times, just when I needed it. I am so blessed. And so very grateful! I love you!!
So now that I’ve exceeded my monthly quotient for inappropriate exclamation marks, I will leave you with this:
Get your underage teen bikini pics, hot off the presses!! Seriously, I blogged about the Kendall Jenner (of Kardashian notoriety) scandal for HuffPo – check out how I work Lindsay Lohan into it! (You cannot write a pop culture article these days without referencing Lindsay Lohan. It’s like in the rule book and everything.)
London Broil on the Grill
Last week Safeway had a good sale on top round London broil ($1.99 per pound). It was packaged in large quantities and the pack I picked up was about six pounds. I decided to cook both steaks and freeze the extra rather than freezing one of them raw.
You can probably tell from the picture that it got overcooked. It was still slightly pink in the middle, but I prefer it to be a darker pink. That was, I think, the fault of my new thermometer which I had not calibrated. It was still good, though. Here’s how I prepare London broil.
Marinating
I works best to marinate London broil about 8 hours before cooking. Any marinade will work, but here’s what I used. It’s a recipe I got from my sister-in-law that I have adjusted slightly. I should have doubled this recipe for both steaks, but didn’t and regretted it later.
Meat Marinade
- 1/4 c. olive oil
- 1/4 c. gluten-free soy sauce
- 2 Tb. honey
- 2 Tb. apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp. minced garlic
- 1 tsp. powdered ginger
- 2 Tb. chopped green onion
Combine all ingredients and pour over meat in a glass dish or zip top bag. Turn the meat one or twice while marinating.
Grilling
Wipe the steak with a paper towel to get rid of excess oil and avoid flare ups. Grill the steak on high heat for about 3 minutes on each side. After that, turn the steak over again and at about a 45 degree angle from the direction it was the first time to get the crisscross grill marks. Reduce the heat to medium and cook approximately another 10 minutes per side. It really depends on the thickness of your steak. A thermometer should read 145° for medium rare.
Remove to a plate and let it sit about 10 minutes. Slice the meat across the grain making the slices as thin as you can get them. An electric knife works well for this.
The sliced meat it great served alone (with sides of course) or on a salad or sandwich.
What is your favorite way to eat London Broil?
For other great recipes visit these blog carnivals:
Useful Mnemonics
Mnemonics are indispensable part of Medical education. We know as the area of study is so vast that it isn’t possible to remember things easily. So Mnemonics are popular in this field.
Some of the helpful well created Mnemonics Submitted in our Facebook page .
Easy Pharmacology Mnemonics
ST elevation causes in ECG:- remember “ELEVATION”: -
- E:Electrolytes,
- L:-LBBB,
- E:-Early repolarization,
- V:-Ventricular hypertrophy,
- A:- Aneurysm,
- T:- Treatment (eg pericardiocentesis)
- I:- Injury (AMI, contusion),
- O:-Osborne waves (hypothermia),
- N:-Non-occlusive vasospasm
Morphine: side-effects MORPHINE:
- M:-Myosis,
- O:-Out of it (sedation),
- R:- Respiratory depression,
- P:- Pneumonia (aspiration),
- H:- Hypotension,
- I:- Infrequency (constipation, urinary retention) ,
- N:-Nausea,
- E:- Emesis
The simple way to read a “CHEST FILM”:- remember the phrase “ABCDEFGHI”
- A:(airway):- see the position of trachea(is it in centre or shifted either side)..!!.
- B:(bony skeleton):-see the clavicles,sternum,ribs(normal or any # line and presence of cervical rib)..!!
- C:cardiac silhouetee):-see the borders of heart n large blood vessels..!!
- D:-(diaphragm):compare left n rt one/air bubbles under lt diaphragm n presence of hemidiaphragm).
- E:-(effusion and/or empty space):-see the costophrenic n costocardiac margins…!!
- F:-(fields..i.e. lung fields):-small airways n vascular margins..,cavity,air bronchogram,local or descrete lesion,consolidation,etc…!!
- G:(gass bubbles):-presence or absence under left diaphragm..!!
- H:(hilar reason):-see any lymphadenopathy n all..!!
- I:(inspiratory effort):-look for either patient has inspired enough.normaly incase of normal quite respiration 1o anterior ribs should be visible.look also for the position of patient..i.e. either patient is rotated?? coz incase of rotation usualy mediastinum n hilar shadows r altered….!!
SUBMITTED BY: Dr. Santosh Kumar Bhagat
On Our Face Book Page
Product Review – WooHoo Foods Gudernoobs + giveaway!
The kind gals at WooHoo foods sent me a sample of their ever-so popular, Gudernoobs. What is a Gudernoob? A Gudernoob is a bite size, decadent date snack. No added sugar, no added dyes – pure whole food ingredients. A perfect snack for kids and adults alike.
 |
| Thank you for the package! |
I first learned about Gudernoobs from a recent comment on my blog from a mother asking me what I thought of this product. This was the first time I had ever heard of this product – they are a local Florida company and from the looks of it, only Florida carry’s this product at this current time. I contacted the Queen Goodernoob herself, Holly Murphy, and asked if I could sample her product.
Gudernoobs remind me a bite size Larabar. They are soft, chewy and very delicious! They come in four flavors – Apple Cider, Banana Oatmeal, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Brownie.
 |
| Mmmmmm…. |
My favorite was Apple Cider, but I am very partial to apple and cinnamon flavors. They were a wonderful treat and a filling snack.
I love the nutritional breakdown of these bite size jewels. All natural, very clean, vegan AND raw! Hence their slogan: Keep it Real. Love it!
From their website, these little snacks are geared more towards the younger crowd as a portable, healthy snack, but I sure do love them, too! And of course, I tested them on J… which he also loved!
WooHoo foods – you get my clean eating, veg and AND raw food seal of approval! Keep up the wonderful job and keep promoting your healthy snack! Any chance you will be moving into stores around the country? In the meantime, you can participate in their Call to Action plan and submit a letter to your local store manager.
If you are interested in purchasing their product, you can do so here.
Since they had sent me not one, but TWO packages I have decided to give one away to my readers! Ya, I kinda like you guys. =)
There are a few ways you can enter to win:
1 – simply leave a comment stating you would like to try this product
2 – Follow WooHoo foods on Twitter.
3 – tweet about this giveaway and/or put it on your facebook
4 – link back from your blog stating this giveaway.
Each one you do you will receive one entry. Enter up to 4 times! This giveaway will end Saturday, July 31st.
Good luck!
AND thanks again Holly, at WooHoo Foods!
