Posted on

Weekend Link Love – 05.01.2011

Bloggy Stuff – Recipes, Health, Fitness.

Nail Polishes… (These are just a bunch of colors that caught my eye.)

Randoms – Books & More.

What are you loving right now?

Posted on

Jazz Apples and Walking at Home

I think I have a new favorite apple: Jazz apples.

The other day I had mentioned that I like Fuji, Honeycrisp, and Gala apples. Jazz is a hybrid of Fuji and Braeburn. They were on sale at Whole Foods for $1.99/pound and I picked up a few for tasting.

They are crispy and have just the right amount of sweetness. I think they are the perfect apples. I would not use these to make homemade applesauce – I use lower quality apples for that (like a plain Braeburn, or apples that have gotten mealy).

***

Another new thing I tried was a new (free) workout video from ExerciseTV: Start Walking 2 Mile by Leslie Sansone (it’s on Amazon, too). It’s a 32 minute workout that is supposedly equivalent to a 2-mile walk. I think I believe it – I got my heart rate up and was sweating/panting a bit in the middle.

Leslie is a great instructor – she is fun and funny. She takes you through a basic walk, some kicks, sidesteps, kickbacks (hamstring curls), knee lifts, and probably a few more that I’m forgetting.

Walking posts:

Walking is my absolute favorite exercise (even more than yoga for me) and this video delivered. I can’t really walk outside at the moment because New York is freezing. It could rival Ithaca in terms of temperature and misery for the last couple of weeks.

***

What’s your favorite spring thing to do?

Posted on

Healthy Monday: Semi-Homemade Fried Rice (Vegetarian)

Studies suggest we are more likely to maintain behaviors begun on Monday throughout the week. That makes Monday the perfect day to make a change for your health and the health of our planet.

I (finally) cooked!

Kind of.

Source

It was semi-homemade fried rice, courtesy of Trader Joe’s frozen section.

Semi-Homemade Vegetarian Fried Rice

Ingredients (serves 2 – we have big appetites)

  • 1 bag of frozen veggie fried rice from Trader Joe’s (“4 servings” supposedly)
  • 1 bag of frozen vegetables (medley of beans and carrots)
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons sesame oil

Directions

  1. Heat oil in a wok over high heat. Add vegetables. Saute for 1-2 minutes.
  2. Beat eggs in a cup. Add to veggies. Scramble the eggs and veggies for 2-3 minutes, or until the eggs are mostly done.
  3. Add in the rice. Continue to cook for 5 minutes or so, or until the rice is heated through.
  4. Serve!

Delicious. Semi-homemade is the way to go when you don’t have much time or motivation to cook. I got the ingredients for this dish from the new Trader Joe’s on the upper west side. It was a nice ~1.5 mile walk each way.

Healthy Monday: healthy-ish home cooking (whether it’s semi-homemade or fully homemade – homecooking is probably better than restaurant-made) and lots of walking.

What is your favorite semi-homemade dish to prepare? What is your favorite Trader Joe’s product?

Some related posts…

Posted on

Healthy Monday Tip #4: Walk for Exercise!

Healthy Monday is a public health initiative founded in 2005 in association with Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, and Syracuse University. HM’s goal is to end chronic preventable disease in the U.S. by offering people and organizations a weekly prompt to start and sustain healthy behaviors, intentions, actions and initiatives. For most Americans, the week begins on Monday. Studies suggest we are more likely to maintain behaviors begun on Monday throughout the week. That makes Monday the perfect day to make a change for your health and the health of our planet.

I mentioned yesterday that I quit the gym and got tons of great responses. In keeping with the “quit the gym” and “fit for free” theme, today’s Healthy Monday Tip is…

Walk for Exercise!

I wrote about this once before (walking for health). Walking is something that you can add in to your daily routine no matter what – no matter how old you are, how fit you are, where you live, or how much time you have. I am a 24 years old, I work full time, I’m moderately fit, and I live in New York – and I walk every day.

How to Fit in a Daily Walk

  • Walk to work.
  • Walk home from work.
  • Take a 20 minute walk in the morning before your morning routine.
  • Take a 20 minute walk after lunch and/or dinner.
  • Have a date-walk with your significant other and chat about life instead of plopping on the couch to watch TV.
  • Go to the park and walk around with a camera; take pictures of pretty flowers.
  • Walk around your city or town and check out all the Christmas decorations.
  • Go window shopping (might be a good idea to leave the wallet home).

Why You Should Walk

  • It’s heart-healthy (apparently so is a 3/4 cup serving of oatmeal).
  • It’s good for your brain – as we get older our brains shrink… but the shrinkage is less for people who walk more. (I’m not kidding.)
  • It puts you in a good mood and fights depression.
  • It’s good for your bones (weight-bearing activity).
  • Walking a mile requires the same amount of “work” as running a mile. So why run if you can walk?

How to Walk?

  • Make sure you have proper posture. Stand tall as you walk; don’t lock your knees. Think of how monkeys walk (but don’t overdo it that much or else you will look like a goof).
  • Walk with your arms, too. It’ll increase the exertion.
  • Short and fast steps are good if you want to get your heart rate up, but…
  • Slow and steady steps are good too. Just get moving.

That’s all for today’s Healthy Monday. I’m off to… walk to work.

How much walking do you do?

Posted on

Walking For Health & Walking As Exercise

Happy Labor Day! In honor of this great relaxing day off, I’m going to talk about one of my favorite things: walking. This weekend I got to walk a lot with Coco (and Star, her hubby). There are 2 reasons I walk (in addition to the fact that I just like it)…

Walking As Exercise

When I’m walking as exercise, I like to do a few different things:

  • Listen to music or podcasts
  • Read a book
  • Walk with my husband, or a good friend
  • Chat on the phone with my parents

And sometimes I just walk in silence. Walking in silence is sometimes just as good as (or even better than) yoga for clearing the mind. Walking is almost like meditation.

I use an iPod Nano for my podcasts. I am actually looking for new podcast recommendations so please let me know if you have any in the comments below! I like nutrition, yoga, linguistics, languages, and psychology, but I’m always open to other topics as well.

As for books, I tend to read books that don’t take too much concentration when I’m walking as exercise. I have tried to read more advanced books while I’m walking, but it’s too easy to lose focus because I do have to look up every so often so I don’t run into things/people/cabs. The Emily Giffin books were perfect for long walks.

I read that book 2 years ago – I searched my blog for her name and found this old post. Cool for me to see how I (and my blog) have evolved over the years.

Walking For Health

Okay, so walking as exercise is great, but walking is good for overall health as well. I have read so many articles lately about how being happy and leading a stress free life are actually more important than the foods you eat. That sounds a little bit crazy and unconventional, but I’m temped to believe it.

For one thing, walking is great for weight loss/maintenance. I don’t really do much other than walk these days, and I’m maintaining my weight easily. This weekend I did walk a lot (5-6 miles each day) but normally I only walk 2-4 miles a day. Walking for health = easy to stick to. I don’t really have any trouble fitting in my miles each day and I don’t dread them (unlike some other workouts).

Walking is also a way to take a break from whatever happened to you during the day/week. I like to walk home from work (it’s about 1.5 miles) when it’s not too hot and not too cold. Sometimes I window shop, sometimes I really shop (I got Bobby the jacket below the other day), and I always make sure that I stop thinking about anything stressful – humans need a way to get rid of stress. Stress is horrible for us – worse than cheeseburgers and fast food, for sure.

I think I am getting off topic! Back to walking for health 😉 Walking = relaxing stress-reliever. Walking = good cardio. Walking = kind to your joints. Walking = low-impact. Walking = doesn’t feel like exercise. Walking = awesome.

So instead of sitting here posting, I am going to go out for a walk with my hubby because we haven’t left the house yet today. We had delicious steel cut oats for breakfast/brunch (mine with butter and a touch of honey; his with a bit more honey and 2 pieces of fake bacon; this picture is not from today – it’s from another delicious blogger meetup day almost a year ago in San Francisco).

Why do you walk? Or do you like other forms of exercise better?

P.S. Got a bunch of good questions yesterday! Will answer them tomorrow I think. If not tomorrow, Thursday.