Life is Healthy

Some mornings I sit staring at the computer screen reading blog after blog, fitness article after fitness article, and I “wake up” an hour later and wonder where I’ve been. Damn, the ‘net is so addictive (and helpful…I wasn’t sure if I should use “addictive” or “addicting” in that sentence and so I looked on Grammar Girl’s site and found the answer!)

I got an email the other day from a woman who works at an x-ray technology school in Arkansas and who put together a “Top 100 Diet and Fitness Blogs” page on their website. Lynn’s Weigh is one of them – yay! – and so are several other sites I’m enjoying reading.

Something I found in my perusing was “The Truth About Weight Training For Women.” Excellent article. As you all know I love strength training and have recently upped my routine (longer time, heavier weights). It’s made the muscles around my arthritic joints strong enough so I can hold my granddaughter Claire for long periods of time. Strength training has also given me bones of a 30-year-old, despite my vitamin D deficiency. If you’ve ever worried that you’d “bulk up” if you life weights, fear not. It can’t happen unless you take supplements and testosterone. Look at my arms! I lift. A lot. And I’m nowhere NEAR “huge.” Never will be. But I love, love, LOVE being strong.

I also like the sites Real Women’s Fitness and Savvy Vegetarian. Some vegetarian/vegan sites are politically top-heavy and really all I’m looking for are good vegetarian recipes. SV and others recommended by the x-ray tech article are just what I was looking for.

***Portion Control Update***

My favorite cereal in the whole world – Nature’s Path Organic Flax Plus Multibran Cereal – claims that one serving is ¾ cup which supposedly weighs 30 grams. Nutritional info is 110 calories, 1.5 grams of fat and 7 grams of fiber. On the mornings I work out, I like to eat a little something with fiber and protein, usually not more than 100-125 calories. So on the workout days I eat this cereal for breakfast, I’ve been measuring out a ½ cup thinking I’m eating about 75 calories, a gram of fat and a few grams of fiber, and I combine it with a few berries and some light soy milk for roughly 125 calories. Taking my own advice, I put ½ cup of cereal on the scale this morning and gee! What do you know? A half cup is 30 grams! I thought I was only eating 2/3 of a serving and yet, that WAS the whole serving!

Now granted, I’ve been eating this cereal this way for over a year and have maintained my weight fairly well, but in my attempt to be more mindful of portions, this was a definite eye-opener for me.

I’ve really loved your comments on this topic. As I said, you’re the best blog readers a girl could ever ask for.